You can’t see me, but right now I’m running in circles around my living room twirling a cloth diaper around my head and cheering like only a true nut job can. Don’t worry it’s a clean diaper.
My little dude is about to turn O-N-E. Can you believe it? I can’t. To celebrate Gray’s 1st birthday, Derek took a much more sane and mature approach and made a movie trailer to remind everyone of the blockbuster that will be Grayson’s First Birthday Party! At least I hope it will be. I really need to get my $h!+ together, or this party will tank harder than Mariah Carey’s attempt at the big screen in Glitter. Really, someone had the nerve to name a movie Glitter? They might as well have called it “Rainbows and Unicorns, I Love Ponies”, because it would bring in just as many people.
Sorry, I got lost in my head. I swear, right now it’s just a bunch of thoughts, ideas, and to-dos running around in there screaming “you can’t catch me!” And they are right, I can’t.
So yeah, my baby is about to become a big boy. I’m a little bit happy and a whole bunch of sad about it, but right now I’m trying to focus on the happy.
Just yesterday I was saying, I’m pretty sure he’ll be walking before his 1st birthday. I should have never opened my mouth. This morning I was filming Gray holding on to the couch and walking/dancing. Next thing I know he let go of the couch and started to walk towards me. As you may have guessed…I freaked. Sorry in advance for the 5 million times I repeat “Oh My Gosh!”, and for my high pitched mom squeal.
Unfortunately, Wrigley came to see what I was freaking about and bumped the baby with her e-collar and he fell. He got in 6-7 good, stable, and slow steps. I think he would have made it even further if not for the bump for Wrigley. I’m so proud for my little fearless guy, but I think you can figure that out when you hear me on the video.
I can’t believe this milestone is hear already. Too soon, Baby Boy, too soon.
This is for all you Arrested Development fans out there. If you’ve never watched the show then you won’t really get why I’m posting this video, but for everyone else….ENJOY!
Gray was watching Sesame Street this morning on Netflix. All of a sudden I heard “Final Countdown” blaring. I turned and saw this gloriousness on my TV screen.
Okay, I’ve seriously watched this video like 10 times since we filmed it on Tuesday. It’s so simultaneously cute and hilarious I can’t help myself.
My friend Shannon got her little guy, Gabe, an inflatable bathtub because he was getting to big for his baby tub, and I decided to do the same. I’ve been searching for one at every Target in the city for weeks now, and was just about to buy one on Amazon when I noticed Target FINALLY had them back in stock. Yippee!
I snatched that thing off the shelf, fell to my knees, and shouted to the heavens. Okay, maybe not quite that dramatic, but close. Later that night we decided to break that bad boy in. Did I mention that the tub is a giant rubber ducky? Cuz it is. I forgot to demonstrate it in the video, but when you squeeze the beak of the duck it quacks. Gray finds it hilarious, but not as hilarious as splashing water everywhere. The kid splashes around in the tub so much by the end of the video he has created enough bubbles to have a foam party.
Please don’t judge me for the rust around the drain control just below the faucet. It’s a really old house and a really old tub. I have tried to clean the rust, but I can never quite get it completely removed. I haven’t been too concerned since we don’t take sit down baths in this house (we take showers), but now that the little on will be using the tub I guess it’s high time I tackle that rust once and for all. Dang, more cleaning. I hate cleaning. It reeks of effort.
I can’t seem to stop it. The kid just keeps getting older. The 1st three months were nice. Time didn’t go by too fast, but these last three. Don’t even get me started. It’s like something new happens everyday. I’m loving it, but also hating it. I mean, these are times that I will never get back. It’s like I don’t want to blink or sleep in fear that I might miss something amazing.
I’m not loving the fact that he is turning into a kid, and leaving that “baby” stage behind. I’m trying to soak up every last minute that he will fit in my arms, or let me rock him to sleep. I kiss this baby so much he probably reeks of my slobber at the end of the day. The kid already has enough of his own slobber on his face he surely doesn’t need any of mine. Oh well, he’s not stopping me so I’m not stopping.
Fun (but weird) Fact: I love kissing his ear lobes. They are just so darn sweet.
I couldn’t seem to get the white balance right while shooting these. I tried numerous times using custom WB and the auto settings on my camera. It just wasn’t working for me. I swear I know how to white balance a photo, but when you are dealing with a squirmy 6 month old you don’t always have the time to keep trying. Better luck next month.
Well, kiddo let’s see. This past month flew by. It was a very emotional month for me, but a very BIG month for you. Here is what you’ve been up to…
* By our approximation, you weigh about 17lbs. We haven’t been in for your 6 month well baby check-up yet. That’s this coming Monday. Your doctor decided he wanted to go on vacation. The nerve. So our appointment got moved back by a week. No biggie. We will see for sure how much you weigh then. If you are not 17 you are no more than 18lbs. I have no clue how long you are. You won’t straighten your legs long enough for me to measure. You have grown out of quite a few one piece outfits this month, so I’m assuming you’ve gotten longer.
* You sat up on your own for the 1st time just two days after you hit the 5 month mark. Daddy and I were so proud of you. You still have a bit of a wobble to you, but you get better every day. Every morning you and I get down on the floor and practice your sitting and your pushing up onto your hands and knees. You know…for crawling.
* When you see a bottle these days you get excited, and begin to reach for it.
* You are shifting objects back and forth between your hands quite well. When you don’t have your hands or feet in your mouth this is your favorite thing to do. Back and forth, back and forth.
* You are destined to be either a runner or a swimmer. While laying on your back you constantly are moving and kicking your legs. If someone holds you upright you are constantly moving and kicking your legs. While in your bouncer and jumper you are constantly kicking and moving your legs.
If Chandler Bing were to see this he would proclaim, “His legs flail about as if independent of his body!” LORD OF THE DANCE! Except, you can’t take dance because your dad and I already decided we don’t want to go to recitals. We get bored. Blame it on my ADD, and blame it on your dad simply not liking recitals.
* I thought you had begun teething before, but now I’m really thinking it. You have been a decent little drooler for a couple of months now, but DAMN! Boyfriend, you drool more than an English Bulldog. So much that you have now developed the drooler’s rash on your chin, cheeks, and nose. I don’t know why your nose, but it’s a bit chapped too. We do our best to keep your face dry, but the second we wipe your face your mouth has released new drool warfare. Not cool.
Then there are the bibs. You go through at least 2+ each day. When you were nursing and NOT drooling all the time I never had to use bibs. You weren’t much of a spitter-upper so there was no use. I thought that we had way too many. Boy was I wrong. I now always on the look out for cheap absorbent bibs thanks to your water works.
Can you see the drool stream coming out of your mouth? You had a bib on until seconds before this shot was snapped. We were trying to get a cute picture of you and your daddy sans bib.
* You now know how to pull your bib off. Not cool. Not cool at all. You need that protection there with the gallons of drool you produce each day.
* You love scratching things with your nails. I think you enjoy textures. A few of your favorite things to scratch on are…
the tin mirror in the living room
your car seat
your bottle
my skin (ouch!)
your bumpers
your rocker in your room (it’s chunky corduroy)
* February 5th was the last day that I nursed you. I hate it, but my milk is almost dried up and it is a pain to pump so long for so little milk. I love nursing you and it really hurts that this time has come to an end. I know you will be fine without it, but it truly was a wonderful bonding experience for us. Now that it is over I almost feel a tiny bit further from you. I know that is not the case, but I feel how I feel. Sometimes I think you look at me confused as to why I am not allowing you to nurse. You still on occasion try to nurse, and can’t figure out why I won’t let you. My milk is slowly drying up and I have started new birth control and I don’t want you to get any in your system. So I don’t. It hurts my heart to see you want to nurse, but can’t.
It was such a hard thing to do, but to do it I had to go cold turkey. I cried a lot that day. I cried while I nursed you for the last time @ 12:30pm. Daddy sat next to me as I held my sweet baby in my arms and kissed your sweet bald head. Daddy rubbed my back and reminded me how much my little boy loved his momma.
I don’t think I would have been so emotional if I had stopped nursing at 3 months, but after almost 6 months it becomes second nature. I learned to love watching you fall asleep in my arms nursing. As a matter of fact, I did get to experience you fall asleep in my arms one last time on Friday. And I will remember that moment forever.
* You are now a full time bottle drinker.
* You have officially been sleep trained! You now sleep through the night. I can’t tell you how excited I am about that. Thank you little man.
* You have a BFF. His name is Beans, and he sleeps with you every night and nap time. Beans is a sweet blue and white puppy dog. You just adore him to pieces.
* You gave momma your first official kiss. It was very slobbery, but most things you do lately are super slobbery. I love and adore your big open mouth kisses. If I give you a kiss on the cheek you will now respond with a kiss on mine. I just melt when this happens. I keep trying to get this on video, but as soon as the camera comes out all you want to do is stare at it. This might be a sign that I take too many pics of you.
* You are starting to get a bit clingy. I can’t say that I mind. Well, I kinda do if I need to pee. Along with the extra mommy time comes you reaching for me. It’s not just the puppies you reach for now. Happy Day!
Here’s a few more pics from this month’s session. This kid was in a very silly mood that day.
See, I told you he can sit up. Gray has been working on it for about a week, and on January 19, 2011 he officially sat up (without help) for the 1st time.
And just to prove to you this photo wasn’t staged…
P.S. – Those brown specks on his crib sheet are fuzzies from the monkey next to him. I swear I don’t make my son sleep in a dirty crib. Swear!
We had plans to go to a friend’s house on New Years Eve for a party, but on NYE the host of the party found out that he had the flu and had to cancel. Since our plans were canceled we decided we would just chill at home have over our buddies, Rachel & Jeremy, and play us some Spades. As far as New Year’s Eves goes it wasn’t super eventful. It was however Gray’s 1st NYE…so that was special.
Check out these awesome playing cards we found in our house when we moved in. On the back they are camo, and the faces of the cards appear to be some of the middle east’s most wanted. Yes, Saddam was on there.
Obviously they are a little out dated. And yes, the previous owner of this house subscribes to some type of NRA magazine. We still get it in the mail.
Oh, by the way the girls kicked the guys booties! What. What.
Jeremy and Rachel thought it would be fun to put on the Baby Bjorn with the baby in it. I did warn them that with my kid in it, it would be HEAVY.
Can you see the drool stream coming out of your mouth? You had a bib on until seconds before this shot was snapped. We were trying to get a cute picture of you and your daddy sans bib.
