The best gifts a proud mama could ever wish for :)

Creepin' Crawler

After a few episodes of accidental crawling Van finally figured out how to do it on purpose about a week and a half ago (March 12). I would have posted a video sooner, but the camera has been MIA for awhile. I found it under the couch cushions recently :) I think we'll just designate that as it's new home!

Seven Months

Well big guy another month has gone by in the blink of an eye you've really made some big changes this month. You found your voice and spent lots of time blabbering on and on about Daddy (even though I spend every chance I get right up in your face enunciating, "MMMMMama, Mmmmama!") You sprouted two bottom teeth, first the left and then the right. And you perfected what I like to call the seal, using your hands in unison to scoot yourself forward flat on your belly. All in all a month well played!

You've joined us for meals at the table, taking over your sister's booster seat, and you think you're a total hot shot. I usually put some little bits of food out for you to experiment with and you get your little pointer finger out and scoot it all around in front of you. When that's not getting you anywhere, you try to snag some by opening all your fingers and then closing them into a fist hopefully with a few unlucky morsels tucked inside. Sometimes you'll even scoot it over to the edge of the table and then lean over and stick your tongue out for it. You're a big fan of Cheerios and you do your best to pick those out from the rest.

Your favorite game right now is peek a boo. You get so incredibly excited to pull that blanket down from over your face and your whole body tenses up in anticipation. If I'm not replacing the blanket fast enough you'll lurch towards me and grab at it anxious to play again. You also like it when I open my mouth wide and wait for you to put your fingers in. Then I gobble them up over and over and over again while you squeal with delight.

It has become quite clear to me this month that you are a BOY and very different from your sister. You are growing and developing differently than she did and your personality is one of a kind. You've made me rather anxious at times, presenting me with new and different challenges than I'm used to, but I'm ready to tackle them with you and excited to see what new challenges the future holds for us, my sweet baby boy.

Public Service Announcement

from Evander...of course :)

Now, I don't know about you but I think what he's trying to say is, "I want to say Mama, but I can't figure out how, so maybe this will get my point across..."

Six Months

My little love you are six months old and your Mama is absolutely flabbergasted that half a year could have come and gone already. It's so hard to believe that in six more months I'll barely remember what it feels like to tote you around on my hip all day long just like I can hardly recall what it felt like to carefully support your squishy newborn body just six months ago.

You are sitting solidly and focusing your time on getting into a crawling position, though you're still nowhere near actually crawling. One evening as you were working quite intently, your Daddy and I spotted you doing a perfect downward dog. It's so interesting to watch you fight with your uncooperative appendages, reigning them in just a little more each day. You're very determined and you know what you want. You get frustrated when you can't quite figure out how to get it and you sure aren't afraid to voice your discontent.

You're still not interested in food, in fact you're quite frustrating to feed since you won't open your mouth and you try your best to ignore me. Often you turn your head away and won't even make eye contact with me, though I'm pretty sure you're paying attention to the ridiculous antics I perform to try and get you to eat because I catch you grinning in response. You still grab at anything and everything that's on my dinner plate and recently we were out to dinner with your Auntie Heidi and I gave you a wedge of pita to taste. You love love LOVED it, couldn't get enough of it, had a royal meltdown when I took it away from you. Since then I've been trying some bits of table food with slightly more success, so perhaps we'll just skip that smooshy baby stuff on the spoon and go straight for the good stuff.

You are such a snuggle bug and I absolutely love it when you're sleepy and you throw your arm around my neck and plant your forehead into my chest for a little rest. Sometimes you make a contented, "Hmmmmm." and I hum right back. When you're hungry and I'm not moving fast enough for your liking you grab my face with both palms flat against my cheeks and give me big slobbery kisses and you grin like a lovestruck fool when I cover your smooshy cheeks in kisses. I'm really enjoying our snuggly times right now, since I know that all too soon you won't be too interested in staying still long enough to let your Mama rub her cheek on your fuzzy little head.

You're very interested in what's happening all around you and you've started to become very distracted when you're supposed to be nursing. You'll nurse, nurse, nurse, and then crane your neck around to see what's happening behind you. You're particularly enthralled by The Wiggles, a favorite of your sister's, and if she's indulging in their music videos I don't even try to nurse you.

Lately I've been trying to think of a good adjective to describe you and I'm really having a hard time pinning down your personality in words. You're focused, but distractable, calm and pleasant, but then furious. The best word I've been able to come up with is intense which, I think it's interesting to note, is a word that I chose to describe you when you were only a few weeks old. My imagination bubbles over when I consider what you might accomplish with such a disposition at whatever it is that catches your interest in the years to come. What a joy it is to be your Mama.

Practicing S

Sofie has a lisp. Whenever she says an s sound her tongue sticks out between her teeth. So, sometimes we practice s sounds. We close our teeth and say sssssss like a snake. She's pretty good at modeling it when we practice, but still goes back to her lisp in running speech. Anyway...this morning we were practicing.

Me: Sssssssss

Sofie: Ssssssssss

Me: Ssssssssssucker

Sofie: Sssssssucker

Me: Good! Sssssssocks

Sofie: Sssssssocks

Me: Good! Ssssssssstar

Sofie: Ssssssstar....and moon! And sun!

Me: Yes! Sssssssssssun

Sofie: Ssssssssssun. I want a sun!

Me: You do? What are you going to do with a sun?

Sofie: Um. Put it in my pocket!

Good luck with that kiddo :)

$$$

Sofie, playing with her wallet: Can you get money in here?

Me: I don't have any money.

Sofie: Oh. We have to buy one at the store.

Well now, there's an interesting idea :)

Goofballs

For those of you who've been complaining about the severe picture drought around here lately...

Smarty Pants

Five Months

Moose, you are five months old and counting and you are growing like a weed. At your five month check up you weighed in at nearly eighteen pounds and at 26.5 inches you've outgrown the height limit on your infant car seat. You are thriving on a diet of little more than mama milk, since you're still entirely unimpressed with baby food. Every couple of days I try again to get you to eat some, in hopes that maybe you'll warm up to it eventually, only to be met with complete disinterest. You'll open your mouth for me once or twice and then you've moved on to crumpling up your bib and working on shoving that in your mouth, gripping the spoon so tightly that I can't pry it from your fingers, or craning your neck around to see what your sister might be up to. I've got my work cut out for me!

You are going through a very sensory stage and your arms seem to have a mind of their own. You hold them out straight and tense and waggle them around until you feel something and then your little fingers grip it as tight as tight can be. The ultimate goal, of course, is to move whatever you've managed to grasp close enough to your mouth to get a good taste of it. You are SO strong. Recently you pulled a straw from my drink and I had a really difficult time prying it out of your hand so I could finish my drink. You're particularly fond of Sofie's hair and manage to get a fistful of it nearly every time she leans over to smother you with kisses. You're lucky she's a benevolent soul!

New tricks you've been working on this month include blowing spit bubbles (this keeps you quite entertained!), sitting up (more and more steadily each day), trying really hard to get up onto your hands and knees, and playing with your socks (more accurately your shoes or socks with the goal of getting one off and into your mouth.)

You are a rotten sleeper, waking up every three or four hours throughout the night. You do NOT like your crib and as much as I've tried to get you used to it you'll almost never sleep for more than an hour in it. You still sleep pretty soundly in your swing (we should've bought rechargeable batteries!) but somewhere along the line, I literally have no recollection of how it even happened, you managed to become an almost permanent fixture in our bed. Now I'm not going to say that the arrangement is getting me much more sleep, as it is certainly poor quality sleep at best, and as I type this sentence I am concurrently brainstorming strategies to get you sleeping better in your own space, but I'd be lying if I said I'm not enjoying your warm little body lying next to me, or that it never strikes me how sweet it is to smell your milky breath each time I stir. You are my little baby, probably my last baby, and I want to savor each snuggly moment I have with you, even if it means waking up crink-necked each morning!