Ten Months: A Letter

Dear Nicholas,

You are now 10 months-- double digits! I feel like I blinked my eyes at 9 months and then suddenly another month passed. With the holidays ahead of us, I feel like I will blink my eyes again and suddenly you'll be one. It's hard to believe. For now, I am just trying to soak up each precious last moment of your babyhood.

Month ten was action packed and included many new milestones, as well as some ups and downs. We moved into our new house on Friday, October 26th, and we spent most of the weekend unpacking here and cleaning out our old house. You were an absolute trooper throughout, but you ended up getting very sick that Sunday with your first stomach virus just as we were about finish up our cleaning at the old house. (We probably used about half a bottle of Febreeze on the carpet in your old bedroom.) You were sick for a few days, and then I promptly got sick with the same virus. It made for a rough first week in our new house.

The month's highlights included two new holiday firsts.Thanksgiving came early this year (November 22nd), so your tenth month included both Halloween and Thanksgiving. For Halloween, we dressed you up as a pumpkin, and, in my unbiased opinion, you were probably the cutest little baby pumpkin in Texas. And then three weeks later, Gammy and Grandpa visited us to celebrate your first Thanksgiving and our first real holiday in the new house. We had great weather that day and enjoyed time outside on our patio, followed by a delicious meal. Overall, you probably enjoyed water from your sippy cup the most, but you tried a little turkey, cranberry sauce, mashed potatoes, gravy, and stuffing.

During month ten, you also started exerting your independence in what I have been calling "pre-toddler behaviors." This is a nice way of saying that you have decided that you really, really don't like it when we put you in your carseat, up on your changing table, or even sometimes in your high chair-- generally anything that restricts your movement and prevents you from doing what you want to do and going where you want to go. To really send the message home, you will violently arch your back, throwing your head back and sometimes even hitting the back of a chair or the floor, and wailing loudly. I think part of this may be you acting out as you adjust to a new schedule, a new lifestyle at daycare, and a new home. You've definitely been through a lot of changes lately, buddy, so we can't really blame you. It's been challenging for us too.

Your tenth month also included some exciting milestones. You got two new teeth, which surround your upper front teeth. I noticed them at the end of October, and they seem to have appeared out of nowhere. Either you just weren't very fussy due to teething, or we were all so wrapped up in the transition back to work, to daycare, and into the new house that we didn't notice. But now you have an adorable jack-o-lantern grin that we love.

Right around Thanksgiving you also transitioned from your army crawl to the more traditional, up on your knees crawl. You crawled once or twice on your knees beginning in early November, once in particular-- kind of sucking in-- to keep your bare belly off our cold tile floor. But then as soon as Gammy and Grandpa arrived for Thanksgiving, you were up on your knees for good. Show off. ; ) And, that's not all... at this stage, you are pulling up on everything. You haven't started trying to cruise along the floor holding on to the furniture yet, but your legs are very sturdy, and you have no problem standing for long stretches of time-- most notably at your crib rail when you don't want to go down for a nap.

One of the highlights of the month for me is that you've started to give affection. When I ask for a kiss, (sometimes) you'll oblige by closing your eyes and opening your mouth and leaning forward to touch my lips. You've also started lying your head on my shoulder and putting your arms around my neck after a feeding. As we've reduced our nursing to just two sessions per day, I was worried that I'd miss out on our snuggles, but that hasn't been the case at all.

Finally, you are becoming increasingly verbal. You now babble constantly-- your favorite sounds being dadadada, babababa, and guh guh guh. You say dadada pretty regularly, but you've started saying dada  intentionally and consistently when you see your daddy. Since he's pretty much your favorite person in the world (or at least the most amusing person in the world), I think we can officially chalk this up as your first word. It's exciting to see you begin to interact more and more with the world, and I'm looking forward watching you find new ways to express yourself.

Nicholas, you are our sunshine. Even the cloudy days are brighter with you around. I love you to pieces.

Mommy

Nine Months: A Letter

Dear Nicholas,

You turned 9 months old about a week and a half ago-- and what a whirlwind your 9th month was! The biggest events were that I went back to work and you began daycare. This has been an enormous change for our little family, but you  have handled it like a champ. You have already stolen the hearts of your two teachers, and they tell me that after a few days of quietly observing the action in the classroom, you warmed right up and are now a happy, social little guy who loves to play with the other babies.

The other big event during your 9th month was that you got sick for the first time. You contracted a cold within the first week of daycare, and then by the second week it had morphed into an ear infection and fever. I received a call from your school, and we had to pick you up and take you to the doctor, and then you were home for two days. Despite being sick, however, you remained your usual cheerful self.

The following week, we took you back to the doctor for your 9 month appointment. At 9 months, you weigh 20 lbs. 8 oz. (50th percentile), you measure 29 inches tall (75th percentile), and your head circumference is still off the charts at 48cm (98th percentile). During your 9 month appointment, you had to have some blood taken and you barely made a peep as the nurse pricked your finger and then you sat very still and stared in fascination as she squeezed out the drops of blood into a little vial for close to a minute. Such a big boy! (You were not quite as tough about the two shots you received immediately afterward.)

Despite all the hectic busyness of my new job, you starting daycare, and preparing to move, we were able to take one fun family outing this month. During the third weekend in October, we took a day trip out to Stonewall, Texas, to picnic at the LBJ state park and visit the pumpkin patch. You loved the picnic and happily munched on a slice of baguette, a few pieces of Manchego, and-- your new favorite-- puffs. You weren't quite sure what was going on at the pumpkin patch, and you didn't love us depositing you in the dirt for our photo opps, but you sure looked cute!

You are growing more and more adventurous as the days pass. On my first day of work (October 8th), you pulled up for the first time using Dzia Dzia's hands as support. You can now pull up easily by grabbing on to our hands (with no assistance from us), and you can also make it into a fully extended kneeling position when grabbing on to and pulling up on furniture. You have yet to pull yourself all the way up to standing using a piece of furniture, but I know it will happen any day. You still crawl on your belly like a little army man, and I think this may just be your preferred way of crawling until you start walking. You are so fast on your belly, I'm sure you think "why bother?" about the more traditional way of crawling.

You are increasingly verbal, constantly shrieking, giggling, and cooing with lots of ba-ba, da-da, guh-guh consonant sounds. When pulling up on our hands you also sometimes say puh-puh-puh. Whenever I pick you up, I always say "up!" and so I wonder if this may be you trying to say your first word: up. However, it's not a consistent thing, so it may very well just be coincidence. Time will tell.

On the food front, you continue to branch out and try new things and we've started introducing more finger foods. While you still prefer your baby food purees (out of jars or pouches), you have discovered a love for broccoli and puffs. We also gave you some small bites of roasted salmon and Franklin BBQ's brisket, both of which you loved. You now nurse 2-3 times a day, and I pack 3 bottles a day for you to drink at school. I am pumping at work, but you usually have 1-2 bottles a day of formula.

Although I miss you quite a bit while you're at daycare, and the transition back to work has been challenging in many ways, the one silver lining seems to be that you don't nap well at daycare and it just wipes you out, so you've started sleeping through the night a lot more consistently. We still put you down around 7pm each night and you still frequently wake up around 5am for a feeding before going back to sleep until about 7 or 7:30am. But those middle of the night wakings have essentially been wiped out, which makes me extremely grateful. Mommy is extra tired these days and needs her sleep!

At 9 months, you love crawling all over the place, singing songs, eating puffs, pulling up on our hands, bath time, playing peek a boo-- either with us placing a towel over your head and then quickly pulling it up, or with us hiding behind furniture or doors and popping out to surprise you-- and spending time outside. You do not like lying still and are increasingly fussy when we change your diaper or try to put your clothes on.

Nicholas, you are a funny, cheerful, silly little guy, and we love watching your personality grow and develop. You bring joy to everyone you meet, and I hope that never stops. What a wonderful gift!

All my love,
Mommy

A Day in the Life: 8 Months

I decided to document a day in our life so I could remember how we spent our days during this stage in our lives. I can barely remember what I did with Nicholas on a daily basis when he was a newborn, so I'm sure this phase will become a blur at some point in the near future. This particular day (Thursday, September 27th) was a little bit busier than our average day in terms of social plans and activities, but it still gives a good flavor of what we did on a daily basis while I've been staying home with Nicholas.

1:30am: Due to poor time management the prior evening (a not uncommon occurrence), followed by anxiety about going back to work and starting Nicholas in daycare, I have probably been asleep for just 20 minutes when Nicholas starts wailing. I lie there for a few minutes. Nope, doesn't sound like he's going to stop and go back to sleep. I blearily get up, nurse him, change him, and give him some infant Advil. I'm pretty sure he's teething again.

1:48am: I climb back in bed and gratefully fall into a deep sleep. Until....

5:45am: Nicholas starts crying again. Jason rouses me, but I roll over and try to ignore the baby monitor. He quiets down after a few minutes.

6:10am: And he's crying again. I get up to nurse him and change him again.

6:30am: I put Nicholas back in his crib and tell him it's still night time. Too. Early. To. Get. Up. (The light from the kitchen and the sounds of Jason making coffee don't help my case, but I'm hoping he'll buy it.) I crawl back in my bed hoping to get a little more sleep.

7:00am: Nope, he's not buying it. He's been fussing off and on for the past 15 minutes, so I stumble out of bed again, go get him, and bring him back into our bed. Usually, this results in him crawling all over the bed and repeatedly punching me in the face or trying to poke my eyes out, but he is strangely calm and content to just lie next to me in the bed. He listens as Jason shaves and gets ready for work.

7:30am: Jason leaves for work and the house is quiet. Stroke of luck! Nicholas is dozing off in our bed. This probably hasn't happened since he was 5 months old. I seize the moment and try to doze off myself-- while remaining completely still and crouched on the edge of the bed so as not to disturb the little prince lounging in the middle of bed.

8:15am: I am asleep, but as I shift to finally get comfortable, I wake Nicholas. Oh well. All good things must come to an end. When he opens his eyes and realizes he's sleeping in the big bed next to Mommy, his expression is priceless. We play in the bed for a few minutes.

8:20am: Time to face the world. I pour myself a much needed cup of coffee and grab a yogurt. OK, first I have a piece of the brownies I baked yesterday. Then I grab my nonfat yogurt. Nicholas is crawling around the kitchen floor. I try to ignore the fact that it is absolutely filthy and brush away the bigger, choking hazard crumbs with my feet. Full disclosure here, people.

8:30am: I put Nicholas in his Sassy Seat where he bounces happily while I drink my coffee and browse Facebook and a few blogs. I try to limit my time on the computer while he's awake, but need a few minutes to warm up to the world before I can really get into my day. (As you may have already grasped, mornings aren't really my thing.)

9:00am: Time for Nicholas' breakfast! I make him some baby oatmeal cereal, get him strapped into his chair, and feed him while sipping my second cup of coffee. After he finishes his cereal, I share a few bites of my yogurt with him. It's organic and nonfat, but still has added sugar, so it's a rare treat for him. He laps up several big bites.

9:17am: I sign "all done!" and we do "washa washa"-- a silly song I made up to sing when we wash his face and hands after meals. (It bears a very strong resemblance to "brusha brusha," which we sing when I "brush" or wipe clean his teeth before he goes to bed.)

9:20am: Play time! We play on the floor of his room with his Baby Einstein treasure chest. I sneak in a few chores around his room, including emptying his Diaper Genie (ew) and folding some of his laundry. We discover he likes playing inside the laundry basket-- until he starts to pull up on it and it tips almost all the way over. And our time playing in the laundry basket ends as quickly as it started.

9:55am: Nicholas starts to get fussy, so I begin our wind down for his morning nap. I turn off the lights and we read his Dinosaur board book. Then we go to the window and say bye-bye to the tree, the leaves, the grass, the red truck, and the windowsill latch (his favorite item), and finally pull the curtains closed. I nurse him, rock him, and put him in his crib.

10:16am: And he's down. I get on the computer for a few minutes and begin writing this blog post.

10:35am: He's been moaning a little bit and talking to himself. Now he's actually asleep.

10:47am: I'm done with the computer. I briefly contemplate getting back in bed for a nap (which I should probably be embarrassed to admit I do once a week or so during his morning nap), but the coffee has kicked in and the fact that I'm documenting my day suddenly makes me want to be extra productive. I make the bed; throw in a load of laundry; sweep the kitchen, laundry room, dining room, and living room; and wet Swiffer the kitchen. I find a dead (small) roach while sweeping under the stove and am happy Nicholas' little fingers can't reach that far. We don't see them often, but we live in Texas in house built in the 1920s. Roaches are bound to appear once in a while.

11:18am: I hop into the shower. We're meeting my friend Shannon for lunch at noon, so I need to be quick. I don't have time to wash my hair, so I go for a quick rinse and then break out the dry shampoo. I figure as a soon-to-be working mom, I better get used to streamlining my beauty routine (even more than it already is.) Also, I figure maybe the fact that I haven't invested in a full wash and blow dry will serve as an incentive to squeeze in a workout later in the afternoon.

11:35am: Shoot. I am running behind schedule. I used to be a very punctual person. Then I had a baby. Now I am 10 minutes late wherever I go. I text Shannon to let her know. I run around trying to get the diaper bag ready and realize we have no clean bottles, so I quickly wash out a few, fill one with water, and throw a to-go formula pouch into the diaper bag.

11:45am: I have to wake Nicholas up from his nap. I hate doing this, but fortunately he wakes up easily. I change him, dress him, and strap him into the carseat. But not before we take a quick photo on the way out the door. I am wearing my snazzy new mustard yellow skinny cords. I know you want to see my yellow cords.

I so have a dazzling career in fashion blogging ahead of me, right? Right?

12:08pm: We arrive at Whole Foods. Shannon has scored us a table, so I drop off Nicholas and go forage lunch for myself. I wind up with spicy tuna rolls with brown rice and a side of steamed veggies on top of Asian style noodles. I eat and then feed Nicholas his bottle. We catch up about her recent trip to Seattle, the new house, and my new job.

1:06pm: Behind schedule again. Lunch was too short, and now we're late to Gymboree. Fortunately traffic is light and we make good time up MoPac.

1:20pm: We arrive at Gymboree only 5 minutes late, just as parent sharing time is starting. This week's topic: solid foods. Nicholas plays happily with some bells and other noise makers while I chat with another mom.

After class, we exchange contact info. She lives near our new neighborhood and we make plans to get together once we move in. I may have just made a new mom friend.

2:18pm: We head home. Nicholas is past due for his afternoon nap, so I sing about 7 verses of "Old MacDonald Had a Farm" on the way home while craning my arm back into his carseat to keep him awake until we reach our house.

2:30pm: Success. We arrive and he's still awake. We head in and just a few minutes later Daddy surprises us by arriving to work from home for the afternoon. He helps to change Nicholas and we catch up for a few minutes.

2:49pm: Now Nicholas is way overdue for a nap. We skip story time and instead just say bye bye to the outside. Then I close the blinds, nurse him, rock him, and put him down in his crib.

3:03pm: He is out like a light.

3:10pm: Last night's middle of the night feeding combined with the cold I've been fighting all week prove to be too powerful a combination and I give in to the siren call of a nap.

3:45pm: Aaaaaand we're up again. How I dream of waking up from a full night's sleep or a nap of my own accord, and not due to fussing or wailing sounds from the baby monitor.

3:48pm: I go get Nicholas and take him out to bounce in his Sassy Seat. I grab a quick snack, move the wet laundry into the dryer, and open up my computer to answer a few emails and complete an online request for a moving quote.

4:25pm: Jason is taking a break from work. I show him some videos I've found of Nicholas when he was just days old. Nicholas watches with us with a very concerned and perplexed look on his face when he hears  his newborn self crying and hears my voice say his name on the video.

4:40pm: Nicholas and I head out for a walk around the neighborhood. It's close to 90 and humid, but even this is a marked improvement from just a few weeks ago when an afternoon walk would have been an impossibility. We stop at the park for 10 minutes to play on the swings-- his new favorite activity-- and then we continue on our way.

All that hard work just wipes him out!

5:45pm: We arrive home. It's dinnertime for Mr. Nicholas. Tonight's menu includes half a jar of vegetable pasta puree, followed by a full jar of banana strawberry puree. His appetite is growing by the day.

6:00pm: I hop in the shower again while Daddy finishes feeding Nicholas.

6:20pm: Bath time! I fill up the tub and set out all the supplies, and then Jason bathes Nicholas while I go finish drying my hair. We are meeting friends for dinner, so I put back on the snazzy yellow cords (otherwise I would just rinse off, leave my hair wet, and throw on some sweats.)

6:35pm: Nicholas is all fresh and sweet smelling in clean PJs. The idea is that we'll get him all ready for bed, and then hopefully he'll eventually fall asleep at the restaurant in his carseat carrier. I nurse him. Unfortunately his tummy is too full from all the banana strawberry puree and he throws up all over himself (and me.) I wipe myself off, but he requires an outfit change.

6:50pm: Finally, we're out the door!

7:00pm: We arrive at Drink.well, Austin's latest hipster gastropub. I'm not clear on whether it's technically a bar or a restaurant, but we bring Nicholas in and no one seems to mind. Fortunately, we find a quiet table in the corner.

7:08pm: Pete and Jarren arrive. We haven't seen them in months, so it's fun to catch up over an adult beverage and some tasty food. Both Jarren and I go with the ZLT (zuchini lettuce tomato, with homemade chips), the guys opt for the Kobe burger, and both couples get the homemade apple pie Twinkie. Our entrees are tasty, but we all agree the Twinkie is a disappointment. It's more like a Twinkie shaped apple muffin and there's not even any filling inside. Lame. But, Nicholas is on good behavior. We feed him a bottle, and eventually he  falls asleep as hoped. We order another round.

9:15pm: The evening comes to a close and we say our goodbyes and then head home. We change Nicholas, give him some preemptive baby Advil, and I nurse him again and then put him in his crib and say goodnight. He's asleep before I shut his door.

9:49pm: I sit down with my laptop to type out this post while Jason fires up his video games.

10:36pm: It turns out that documenting my day results in the longest post ever. Kudos if you've made it this far. I'm impressed. I finally wrap up this post and then surf Facebook and some other blogs for 10 minutes while I pump.

10:50pm: I head into the bathroom to get ready for bed. I always tell myself I'm going to go to bed by 10pm, but it never happens.

11:06pm: Lights out. It's been a fun, full day, and I am wiped out. Good night!

Ch-ch-ch-changes!

At the very end of August, we received the unexpected news that our landlords want to move back into our house and that we had 60 days to find a new place to live. Thus began a crazy hectic month that has culminated in a few big changes for our family. The first is that we purchased a home. It wasn't at all in our immediate plans, but when we started looking at other rental houses, we found that buying a home was actually only somewhat more expensive and would afford us a much nicer house in a better neighborhood. We are in the right place in our lives to purchase a home, and it just turned out to make more sense. So, we hired a realtor and began exploring neighborhoods. 

The location of Jason's job meant that we could look anywhere from central Austin up to the northern suburbs. After a few long car rides driving through parts of Austin we didn't even know existed, we were able to narrow our search down to our preferred neighborhood. Then, we started looking at houses. We probably toured 25-30 homes. We found one we loved and made an offer, and then promptly lost it in a bidding war. With such a short window to find and close on a house and then move in, we were discouraged. Jason had a business trip to Chicago, but we decided I should go out and look with our realtor again on a weekday rather than wait until the next weekend. There was one particular home that had shown up on my MLS database search that I was interested in seeing, but the morning I had scheduled to meet up with our realtor, this particular house was listed as temporarily off the market. Our realtor made a call and found out the family was moving out that day and didn't want buyers to see it while it was messy, but they agreed to let us in. It turned out to be a fantastic house that would be a great fit for our family. I tracked Jason down between meetings in Chicago and suggested that we make an offer. He looked at the photos online and then decided we should go for it. So I negotiated back and forth with the seller, and by the time Jason returned home the next day, we were under contract on the house. The following day, we drove him out to see the house with our realtor, and he loved it. We are now moving towards closing and will hopefully move in the last weekend in October.

Our other big change is that I am heading back to work on Monday. I've absolutely loved staying home full time with Nicholas for the past eight months, but it was never a part of our long term plan. I knew that I would return to work outside the home in some capacity. Earlier this summer, my former boss began discussing the possibility of a role for me at his new company. I wasn't sure if I wanted to pursue it, but we talked several times throughout August, and it began to sound like a great opportunity for me. Finally, I had a formal interview with the company and decided I was very interested in the position. I accepted an offer in mid-September, but they didn't want me to start for several weeks-- which worked out great because it gave us time to find a daycare situation for Nicholas. 

At this point, we knew we were moving, so we started looking at daycares near our new neighborhood. I toured several facilities that I'm sure would have been fine, but we were so lucky to get into one of the best daycares in the city. It typically has a year-plus waiting list, but they happened to have a spot opening up the week we would need it. And it turns out the spot was opening up because the daughter of one of our good friends from church (who I bumped into unexpectedly when I went to tour the school) was moving up to the next age group's classroom. It seemed like it was meant to be. And, the best part? The new house, my new job, and Nicholas' school are all within just 2-3 miles of each other. I have mixed feelings about heading back to work. Part of me is excited about the new opportunity, and part of me is dreading leaving Nicholas. I know it will probably be a tough couple weeks as we get used to our new routine, but I feel like the pieces have all fallen into place so perfectly that I feel a sense of peace about this change. I know it doesn't have to be forever, but I feel like this job is where I'm supposed to be for the time being. 

So, big changes all around. I have no idea how I'm going to swing this working mom thing. (If you have tips, feel free to share.) I don't even really know what it's going to entail. I guess I'll find out soon enough. And, then we have the fun of packing up our house and moving across town while I'm still learning the ropes at my new job and easing Nicholas into his new schedule. It should be a wild October. But, we're excited and looking forward to getting settled into our new home and new routine.

Eight Months: A Letter

Dear Nicholas,

You turned eight months a week ago. I say this every month, but you truly have grown and changed so much in the last few weeks. The biggest development is that you're crawling. At the very end of your seventh month, you were occasionally scooting a few inches forward on your belly, but you weren't consistently crawling. Then, on the morning of August 31st, Daddy came into our room and told me you were apparently ready for college football (the season kicked off the next day on September 1st) because you had crawled all the way across your room to get your Oregon football. (Grandpa was very proud to hear this.)

Since then, you have taken off and now crawl easily throughout the entire house. And you are fast. If we take our eyes off you for a second, you are in the other room. Your crawl is army-style, with your belly on the floor, and when you're moving fast, it actually looks like you're swimming. Maybe this is why they call it the "crawl" stroke. We joke that we should just attach a Swiffer to the front of your shirt and our floors would be sparkling.

The other big development of your eighth month occurred the day before you started crawling. On August 30th, we noticed that your right top front tooth had poked through. Now you have all four of your front teeth. The bottom two are fully in and the top two appear to be about 2/3 of the way in. And they are big! It's hard to see them unless you really open your mouth, but it's so funny to see these two big chompers that look like they belong to a five year old in your little mouth. After your second top tooth came in, you seemed to take a break from teething for the rest of the month, but this hasn't stopped you from continuing to chew on just about anything you come in contact with. The other night Daddy found you gnawing on a stray Frito you found wedged under the stove. Despite being freshly bathed, you smelled like greasy snack food. Lesson learned. We're going to have to be a lot more diligent about keeping the floors clean.

You are also growing like a weed. You don't go back to the doctor for an official weigh in for another month, but we think you're just shy of 20 pounds. You are wearing mostly 9 month or 6-12 month clothing. I still put you in some of your 6 month summer clothes, but that's pushing it. Many of your footy pajamas are starting to get holes in the toes because your legs are too long. Time for Mommy to go shopping.

You continue to become more and more vocal. You still make your tropical bird shrieks, but this month you started babbling consonant sounds. Your favorites are dah, duh, gah, and guh. 

All of your physical activity this month has really revved up your appetite. You still have your picky days, but now, more often than not, you will eat a full 4 oz. jar of pureed food for dinner. We also started consistently serving you a solid food breakfast. You nurse about 5-6 times a day, usually around 6am, 9am, noon, 3pm, 6pm, and possibly a middle of the night feed (more on that later.) I usually supplement the noon, 3pm, and 6pm feedings with anywhere from 2-4 oz. of formula. You also eat about 4 oz. of oatmeal cereal around 8am and then eat about 4 oz. of puree for dinner around 5pm. You love any kind of fruit puree, and then most of the sweeter vegetable purees, including sweet potato, carrots, and squash. This month we also branched out with a few new flavors like sweet corn & tomato and vegetable pasta. We are still working on getting you to self feed a bit more with table food. Currently, you'll happily eat little pieces of string cheese, baked sweet potato fries, and, increasingly, mashed avocado or banana.

Sleep continues to be a little hit or miss. You have evolved into a good napper and will now consistently take a 1-2 hour nap beginning between 9-10am (usually about two hours after you wake up) and then will take a shorter (40-60 minute) nap in the afternoon beginning around 1:30-2:30pm. In the evenings you are usually pretty good about falling asleep on your own, and you consistently hit the hay around 7pm. But, you struggle to sleep through the night. This month, you had several stretches where you would sleep 11-12 hours for a few nights in a row. But then you would regress and start waking up in the middle of the night again. Cry it out worked well for naps and going to bed in the evenings, but it doesn't seem to work as well for night wakings. We're hoping we can make some progress in this area over the next month. Regardless, you sure are cute while you sleep!

Your favorite activities include bath time (especially chewing on your rubber ducky); going to Gymboree; singing songs (favorites include Take Me Out to the Ball Game, Old MacDonald, and Fly Fly Fly Your Plane); listening to Mommy make all sorts of crazy sound effects, including animal noises (pig, bumble bee, and lion sounds), space ship noises when I pick you up in your bouncy seat, and chomping noises when I pretend to chew your fingers; playing rough and tumble with Daddy; jumping, running, and swinging in your Sassy Seat; and drinking water out of your new sippy cup with a straw. Dislikes include diaper changes and being contained or constrained in any way.

You are such a smiley, joyful little guy, and your happiness is infectious. You brighten our days and make us laugh all the time. We love you buddy.

Always,
Mommy

A Saturday Night in Texas

What we're up to tonight:

• Hatch turkey chili and hatch cheddar cheese cornbread muffins (courtesy of this gal)
• A Shiner (or two)
• College football (go Ducks!)
• The October issue of Southern Living

Not a bad evening...

Northwest Summer Vacation

Labor Day has come and gone, but I wanted to share a few pictures from our "summer vacation" to the Northwest back in July. We kicked off our week with wedding festivities in Seattle, including a harbor side rehearsal dinner on a gorgeous Seattle evening.

The next day, we enjoyed the beautiful wedding of Jason's best man, Kalani. Seattle pulled out all the stops weather-wise and the bride and groom's beach themed outdoor ceremony was perfect. (You'll notice my groom is the third groomsman to the right.)

Despite a late night out for the wedding, we rallied the next day to enjoy a wonderful reception hosted by my in-laws to introduce Nicholas to all of their Seattle friends. Unfortunately, I didn't get any photos at the party, but we had a great time catching up with many family friends we hadn't seen since our wedding. The following day, Nicholas turned six months old, and we celebrated with a trip to the Woodland Park Zoo with Dzia Dzia and Grandmama. Nicholas loved the giraffes, monkeys, and elephants.

After squeezing in some visits with my Seattle girlfriends (hi Aja!) and Laura, Mike, and Diana, we headed south to Portland. My parents picked us up downtown, and we immediately hit the road to Cannon Beach. The weather was little overcast, but we enjoyed two relaxing nights at the beach with Gammy and Grandpa, eating fresh seafood and dipping our toes in the Pacific.

We returned to Portland for one final night, and my mom organized a family dinner with my siblings and their spouses, as well as my grandparents on my dad's side and my aunt and uncles on my mom's side.

It was whirlwind trip, and went entirely too fast! I could have spent another week in each city. But we had a great time catching up with family and friends, and enjoyed some gorgeous (cool by Texas standards) Northwest summer weather. We're already looking forward to next summer's visit.

He's on the move!

Nicholas officially started crawling about a week ago. At first it was just a few small little inches forward while we dangled a toy as bait. But, over the past 3-4 days, he's really taken off. He's not exactly up on his knees, but he can cross a room fast. We joke he's like the [really cute] serial killer at the end of a bad thriller, who you think is dead, but who somehow manages to drag himself across the room too quickly in an attempt to finish off the protagonist with the knife/gun/machete that was dropped during an earlier struggle. Nicholas, of course, is usually only after our shoe or that [important] piece of paper we dropped, but still... he's creepy fast. Here's a little video of him on Friday. Disregard his crying at the end. I guess the Clifford book just didn't live up to his expectations. (Joking aside, we're proud of our little guy. Watching him crawl is pretty cute.)

Seven Months: A Letter

Dear Nicholas,

You turned seven months a week ago and we are just having the best time. You are so much fun at this age and really starting to show off your little personality. Like the past six months, month seven flew by in a wink. It began during the second half of our summer vacation trip to the Northwest, including visits with Mommy's Seattle girlfriends where you met your future buddies Silas and Archie, your first trip to Cannon Beach (but second dip in the Pacific Ocean), and a big family dinner at Waverley where you met Great Uncle Charlie and saw your aunts, uncles, and great grandparents again.

Once we got home, you spent the next few weeks getting to know some other little friends at your Gymboree class and trying really hard to crawl. You can move yourself backwards-- although this is usually unintentional and results in a frustrated whine as the object of your desire moves further away. You've also made several small little inches forward--army crawl style-- on a few occasions, but you're still not quite able to move forward consistently. At the very end of your seventh month, you've started getting up on your knees slightly and rocking back and forth, so I know a full fledged crawl is probably just a few weeks away.

Teething also continues. On August 14th, your top left center tooth poked through and you've had a very swollen little tooth bud next to it for the past few weeks, so I know your other top center tooth will be making its appearance any day now. Despite your teething, however, your sleep habits seem to be improving somewhat. About a week ago we had one night when you slept from 6:30pm to 6:30am, which was amazing. We've also had plenty of nights where you've slept from 6:30 or 7pm until around 5am, and then fall back asleep for another hour and a half or so after a quick feeding. We'll take it. We still have nights when you wake up several times, but we hope that these continue to become fewer and further apart.
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We don't know exactly how much you weigh, and you aren't scheduled to visit the doctor again until you reach nine months, but we estimate you're around 19.5-20 pounds. You are getting quite heavy to carry around in your infant car seat, and we've started just taking you out of the car seat and carrying you in our arms when we go places.

You continue to warm up to solid food. You now eat baby oatmeal like a champ and love most fruit purees, as well as the sweeter veggie purees like carrots, sweet potato, and squash. I've started introducing some finger foods, and you are a big fan of baked sweet potato fries. Occasionally, you'll reach for a bite of our food, and you've really enjoyed slices of peach and plum. We also recently discovered that you love string cheese. You'll probably find this item in heavy rotation on your menu for the next few months.

We introduced a sippy cup with water this month and you love playing with it, although haven't quite succeeded in figuring out how to get the water in your mouth without help from mom or dad. But, boy, when you do get a few sips, you absolutely love water. Who knew? You'll drink it out of the sippy cup, and are equally thrilled to take little assisted sips out of a cup or water bottle. I don't know if it's the novelty of  something other than a bottle, or if you do just really love water. You still nurse about 5 times a day, and several times a week we'll give you an extra bottle feeding of formula.

This month you also truly found your voice. While you've been making all kinds of noises for months now, this month you discovered you can use those vocal cords to shriek. And shriek you do whenever you are in a good mood. It sounds like we live with a rare tropical bird, but it's actually pretty cute and I like your chipper shrieking every morning after you've eaten.

At seven months, you love bouncing in your Sassy Seat, staring at your elephant mobile, sitting up to play with toys or flip through the pages of your soft fabric covered books, taking baths, going swimming, lying under the parachute at Gymboree, chewing on anything you can get your hands on, listening to me sing (badly)-- your favorite is "Take Me Out to the Ball Game," and watching all of Daddy's funny antics to entertain you. You increasingly do not like to have you diaper changed, and naps are still sometimes a bit of a battle.

You have such a cheerful, fun-loving disposition. You are just a happy little guy-- and you make us so, so happy. We love you, buddy.

Mommy