7 Months

Holy smokes, seven months totally snuck up on me! It just keeps getting better and better every day. . . since he was just a few weeks old I keep thinking that there's no way it can get any better than this, and yet it does!

He is looking more and more like a little boy every day. He's a full-fledged sitter. He has alot to say, and he says it often. He loves meal time. He just seems to love life!

Oh, and here's a hint about our plans for the weekend. . .

He was too fast for me to get a picture with the hat on. . . you'll just have to take my word for it that it's super cute! We hope you enjoy a nice long holiday weekend!

Welcome, Friends!

We've had to say many "goodbyes" over the past few months, but luckily we've had a few "hello's" too. The bad thing about the Air Force: having to move every 3-4 years, leaving friends behind. The good thing about the Air Force: you almost always know someone when you get to your new location.

We just said "hello" to the Stahr family as they settled into Colorado! We know Jeremiah way back from our Academy days. Then, after we shared our first assignments in Dayton, Ohio, they followed us to California (though they were in L.A., about 90 miles down the road from us at Edwards), and now have come to Colorado. Along the way, he and Megan have added a few members to the family: 5-year old Mazie, 3-year old Jamie, and 5-month old Jacob.


We went over to their house for dinner over the weekend and Hayden just loved those big girls, I think even more than they loved him! Jacob is very lucky to have such wonderful big sisters. . . he'll never have a boring moment. And I'm sure in the coming months, Hayden and Jacob will be getting into plenty of baby trouble together!

While Hayden was down on the floor for some playtime action, he managed to go from belly to all fours (hands and knees). We're not exactly sure how it happened (and he has yet to repeat the feat), but after seeing him in that position, I realized we better start babyproofing cause he'll be on the move soon!

Thanks for a great dinner, friends! It's great to say "hello"!

Get Better Soon, Grandma!

Grandma had some minor foot surgery 3 weeks ago and was recovering pretty well, hobbling around with a little scooter to avoid putting any weight her foot. This morning she went to the doctor to get the stitches out and mentioned that she had a pain in her leg. A red flag went up to the doctor (thankfully!) and he sent her to the ER. Sure enough, she has a blood clot in her leg.

She's spending the night in the hospital, then will head home to relax with her feet up (literally) for a few days while her body dissolves the clot. Hopefully by catching it early, it won't break off and make a trip somewhere else in her body! Her special little guy wanted to let her know he loves her and that he hopes she feels better soon. . .

Prayers, hugs, and lots of love coming at you!

1,030

That's how many calories were in the entree of my dinner tonight. I was floored when I glanced at the nutrition facts for the recipe! My wonderful husband was flipping through a recent issue of Sunset magazine and found a recipe that looked good. He told me he wanted to cook dinner one night this weekend. Sounded good to me! He even went to the grocery store to get the ingredients so as not to spoil the surprise.

So, as he was starting to cook tonight, I saw the recipe for Ribeye Steaks with Miso Butter on the counter. Mmmmm, I thought. I don't cook steaks very often, this would be a nice treat. Then, I saw that one serving was 1,030 calories and had 81 grams of fat. I almost choked! Just about my entire repertoire of recipes comes from Cooking Light magazine. I almost felt morally opposed to eating it.

Despite my scoffing, Rich pressed on in his preparations and eventually served up the Ribeyes with a tasty Edamame Orzo Salad and some grilled onions. We actually split a portion of the steak, so I didn't feel quite so guilty. And it did taste wonderful. . . so maybe all those calories were worth it!

Thanks for a wonderful dinner, hon!

Gross

When I used to see kids with snot or drool (or food or dirt) all over their faces, I'd think "can't their parents wipe that up and keep them clean?!". Those days are long gone. . . I see the snot and the drool and I know that it is hopeless. It will defeat me (and any other parent) no matter how many boxes of tissues are emptied in an effort to wipe it off.

Drenched shirt, tongue hanging out, strings of drool, pools of snot, sneezes, and a slightly elevated temperature. . . I'm thinking that maybe his first tooth (or teeth) are about to make an appearance. I'll keep you posted. In the mean time, I'm going to go get my raincoat.

Weekend Playdate

After a busy summer, we finally got a chance to head up to our mountain retreat, and we invited our friends, Matt, Jenny, and Wilson, to join us for the weekend. Moms and Dads traded off on babysitting duties which meant that we didn't have to hit the mountain bike single-track solo. Jenny and I did two rides and then Matt and Rich went out.


We even had a chance to all go out together on the trailer-friendly paved bike path. Wilson and Hayden were riding like royalty!

It wasn't just the adults having fun. . . Wilson (who's 10 1/2 months old) and Hayden had a ball on their weekend-long playdate.

Since Hayden has now mastered sitting, I think he was taking notes on crawling and standing from Wilson. I hope he didn't study too hard, though. I kinda like that he stays in the same place that I put him. After watching Wilson all weekend, I should enjoy the calm and still while I can!

Play Ball!

I love babycenter.com! Since I was pregnant, I've been getting an e-mail every week with fun information about Hayden. Before he was born it was stuff like "today your baby is the size of a walnut" or "your baby can now open and close his eyelids". After he was born it's usually been some interesting developmental fact like "he can now see you from across the room" or "recognize Mommy's voice" or "would enjoy playing with a ball". So, since that "playing with a ball" one was just recommended as appropriate for my 6 month-3 week old. . . that's what we did this afternoon!

It basically goes like this:

I roll him the ball, he "catches" it, I cheer, he smiles, and we repeat and repeat and repeat and repeat. . .

Don't you wish such a simple thing could make you that happy and keep you amused for so long? I guess watching him smile like that comes close (okay, I guess maybe I was enjoying myself even more than he was!).

Adventures in Baby Food

Let the mess begin! After a brief initiation to the world of food in the form of rice cereal, we have moved on to some new tastes. Here’s the tally:

Rice – yum!
Sweet Potato – yum!
Avocado – YUK!
Banana – yum! yum!
Peaches – yum! yum!

We managed to get sweet potato in Hayden’s ear the other day (look closely).

Honestly, I'm not trying to smear the food all over his face. He usually just decides that he wants to help me put the spoon in his mouth, so he grabs it as it's full of food then turns his head. Cute, but messy. It's a good thing bathtime is right after dinner!

I need to reference the next set of pictures if I ever think that maybe giving avocado another shot is a good idea:

He sure loves banana, though. Another fun invention is the "feed bag". Just drop in some chunks of a soft food and let the baby go to town. He ate an entire banana the other afternoon (that was after he had eaten 1/4 cup of sweet potatoes)!

(first, he had to find the right end)

(ahhh, now I've got it!)

Video clips have been in demand, and I like to make my fans happy, so here's a clip of Hayden in action with the feed bag.

He's also been mastering the fine art of the sippy cup. He manages to swallow a few gulps of water at each meal. I think more of it ends up on him or his bib than in his tummy, but he gets an A+ for effort.

Once the meal is over, I've been using sign language and saying "all done". I sign "all done" by putting both hands up in the air (which is slightly modified from the American Sign Language version) . I think he's getting the hang of it. . . (okay, maybe it was a fluke that his hand is up in this picture, but as his mother, I vote for the former. He's such a smart boy!).

Sweet Home Alabama

As promised, here are some of the pictures from our trip to Alabama. Once we got home, I was kind of sad that I hadn't pulled my camera out more while we were there. I am thrilled to have Hayden's 6 month pictures from Erin, however! Check them all out here.

So, here's a bit our week:

After naptime, the kiddo's enjoyed a story in Sarah's big girl bed.

After story time, we headed over to the Huntsville Children's Museum. Sarah loves playing in Biscuit's Backyard and she wanted to show Hayden how much fun it is. He particularly enjoyed the doghouse and rolling around with Miss Erin!

On our last night in town, we got some yummy barbeque then headed to downtown Huntsville's beautiful park for a photo shoot. (there's a camera on the top of those legs and Erin had quite a challenge getting him to look at it. . . those geese were just too interesting!):

A fun shot of one of my favorite families:

And Hayden's grin, summing up our our trip:

(yes, Aunt Laura, I do take requests. . . I'm working on capturing some cuteness on video and will post a clip before the end of the week!)

(AND, on another note, I just realized that I'm about to hit 10,000 visits to this blog since starting it at the beginning of the year. . . a bit scary, since I'm sure I don't know all of the people that constitute those 10,000 hits, but it's been a great experience, a great way to connect with family and friends that we don't get to see everyday. I've also enjoyed connecting to so many other cool blogging moms that I've never met. So keep on enjoying the posts. . . cause I plan to be here through many thousands more visits!)

The BIG Bathtub

The YMCA offers swimming lessons for babies 6 months and up and I couldn't resist signing Hayden up! I even convinced his friends Delaney and Cara to go too! Once a week for the next month he gets to go splash around in the warm pool. I keep telling him it's just like his bathtub, but bigger! He's loving the pool as much as he loves bathtime. . .

After that first picture, I turned the flash off. I think the color is better without the flash (and I credit Erin for giving me that hint). . . the down side is that I have some blurry pictures. In a few images, the blur creates a pretty cool effect. In others, it was just annoying. At any rate, here's a few of my favorites from last Monday night:

When the instructor pulled out the toys about half way through the class, Hayden was determined to get that little duck!

As long as Rubber Ducky shows up next week, Hayden will happily be in the water again!