10 months old

Everybody warned me.  I should have listened better.  Everyone said it (more than once).  I should have paid attention harder.  I’m here to tell you today, that it’s true.  Everyone was right.  Nobody lied.  Boys are soooooo different than girls!!

At only 10 months old there is so much evidence of this.  D is crawling all over the place, up the stairs, has conquered the one step down into the living room, face first.  We’ve had more bumps to the head than both girls combined times three, did at this age.  He discovered the drawer under the oven, something that I don’t think the girls knew existed until HE showed them last week!

This kid is truly a boy.  One hundred percent B.O.Y. 

Here are a few pictures of my (not so) little dude from the last month.

Almost a month ago D needed to get tubes for his ears.  After 6 infections in 9 months we knew it was time.  The picture above is him in his surgical gear waiting for the doctors to come get him.  He was his happy, charming self – completely unaware of what was to come.  He didn’t mind when the anesthesiologist carried him away, he just gave me a cute smile and went with the doctor.

The procedure was quick.  We were called back to see him when he was awake and in recovery about 30 minutes later.  This pic is him after having a bottle, just before we got dressed to leave.  He never cried a bit.  He was a total tough guy, the whole time.  He even let us go out to lunch afterward!

Enjoying an apple slice. 

We visited Santa early this year, before Thanksgiving even.  I like getting to go on a weekday, and since K was out of school for conferences we took advantage of that and went to the mall.  There were no lines and K even went back to sit on Santa’s lap a 2nd time!

On Friday we put up our Tree.  So far D hasn’t bothered it too much.  But we still have to keep an eagle eye on him.  My biggest fear is that he’ll try to pull himself up on it and bring down the whole tree!

Chowing down on some ribs at Dickey’s!

My little helper.  He can be on the other side of the living room, I’ll open the dishwasher as quiet as humanly possible and he’ll still hear it and be in the kitchen before I can blink!  So if you stop over and wonder why the dishes aren’t done, it’s probably because I have too much “help.”

9 months old

It is unreal that Baby D is 9 months old.  He is so active and getting tougher and tougher to keep up with. He’s crawling all over the place (including up the stairs), he’s getting into everything and I’ve already had to break out the baby locks for the kitchen cupboards.

This kid has a smile you can’t resist and a contagious laugh to match. He knows how to clap and wave, only when it suits him, of course.  He makes kissy noises, but we are still working on blowing a kiss and he’s most recently learned how to stick out his tongue and blow raspberries.

Now that he has his tubes and should be able to hear properly – I’m hoping to hear him say “Mama” in the very near future.  At this point, he babbles incoherently and we all just eat it up.

In addition to crawling, he’s pulling up everywhere and has even started to cruise the furniture.  I have a hunch that he could walk by Christmas.  (I’m open to any and all ideas for how to protect my Christmas tree this year).

He rejected baby food so long ago that I gave up and don’t even bother with that anymore.  He eats what we eat, and then some.  His favorites include a wide array of veggies (peas, carrots, corn, green beans, broccoli), fruits (apples and bananas), meats (beef, chicken, and turkey).  He loves his toddler snacks – those melt in your mouth puffs and freeze dried yogurt melts, we take those everywhere we go. 

The biggest hit in the last couple of days has been mashed potatoes, like his Daddy, he couldn’t get enough of those!

Even with all of that eating he still weighs in on the small side at 18lbs 3oz putting him in the 13th percentile.

His sisters still adore him and they continue to fight over who he likes best, who he thinks is funnier, and who’s name he will say first.  (I still think it will be Mama). Don’t ask me why but I really didn’t think that they would still be so enamored with him at this point.  I thought that would have worn off after a few months and/or one he was mobile.  While they have learned to keep most of their toys away from him, I still have to pry his little mouth open and fish out a shirt for Polly Pocket or a shoe for Barbie from time to time.

I can’t wait to see what the next 3 months bring!  Like I said, I’m sure he’ll be walking soon and then the real fun begins!

All photos in this post were shot by Heather at Heather Reese Photography.  Check her out at http://www.hreesephotography.com/ or on Facebook at http://www.facebook.com/#!/hreesephotography.

Baby D gets new ears

November 4th

After enduring 6 ear infections in 8 and a half short months, Baby D was a great candidate for tubes.  Last week we got to take him in for the surgery.

Little Mama had tubes put in her ears around her first birthday so I wasn’t nearly as nervous this time around.

Baby D was a champ.  We handed him over to the anesthesiologist and he didn’t complain a bit. 

Here he is just before we sent him into surgery.

Luckily the surgery is very short and within about 20 minutes they called us back to see him in recovery.  He was excited to see us and they said he never cried a bit.

 
Here he is in recovery after having a bottle.

If only all trips to surgery could be so simple.

(Sorry about the photo quality, my phone is good but not exactly great)

T-R-O-U-B-L-E

I’ve got it.  I’m in it.  However you want to phrase it, TROUBLE has come to live with us for. 

Sweet Baby D will be 8 months old this weekend and while he’s not crawling with his tummy off the floor yet, he can do this:

this:

and most disturbing of all…

THIS!

I’m not ready for this.  I wanted a little more time with the baby who stayed in the spot I put him in. 
Oh well, I guess I better lace up my running shoes and break out the baby gates because the chase is on!  I’m sure I’ll be running after him for the next several years.  (help.)

This boy also refuses traditional baby food.  He prefers to feed himself toddler food or actual food.

This was him when he first tried rice cereal. I get the same face every time I try to feed him baby food coupled with most of it spit back at me.

Instead he prefers:

steak

carrots and peas

I can’t say that I’m upset he want to eat real food.  It is quite helpful to let him serve himself.  He also enjoys cheerios, yogurt melts, toddler puffs, lasagna, apples, green beans, bananas, chicken, zucchini and I’m hoping for much, much more! I’d love for him to be a better eater than the girls are.

Take Me Out to the Ballgame….

The whole fam spent the afternoon at the ballpark yesterday for the Twins game.  Many thanks to our gracious friend for the tix!

The kids had a blast.  And believe it or not, it was the 2nd game for each of them (even baby D!) D’s first game was earlier this year at a work even for Daddy-Man and the girls was at the dome a couple of years ago (here).

I was a bit nervous about the seats at first, they are up against a wall and I was immediately worried about how often we’d have to crawl over people to get out.  Luckily, though, the girls didn’t ask to leave the seats once and being against the wall was PERFECT for baby D and I to stand and sway for a good portion of the game.  I know the family behind me appreciated that I wasn’t standing in front of them!

After the game the kids got to go down on the field to run the bases.  Being out on the warning track and down on field level was thrilling for all of us. (I’m just going to go ahead and speak for baby D and say that he was thrilled too!)

Of course, I had to stop to for a photo op in the outfield.

The girls walking out to 1st base.

K has left Little Mama in the dust!

Little Mama rounding 2nd.

K headed for 3rd and then home.

 

I wish I would have had the shot just a little more to the left, I think K might be touching home plate in this photo.

Waiting to meet Dad behind home plate.

Waiting for Mom to catch up after getting behind in the crowd taking photos.
(It really is a shame nobody ever takes this girl’s picture, isn’t it!)

We had a fabulous time at the game.  It was such a great family afternoon! 

Four Fantastic Months

I’ve been sitting on this post for 11 days now, trying to come up with some fun and interesting stuff to say about the fourth month of D’s time here on the planet.  As you can see, it hasn’t gone well.  So in the interest of showing you the 4 month photos before the 5 month photos are taken – here you go.

Since the last monthly post he’s found his feet and hands.  Tummy time is is own personal form of torture.  If he could talk he’d tell you anything you wanted to know after about 30 seconds of being on his tummy. If only he’d figure out that he could just roll over and he’d be back where he wanted things would be fine.

4 month stats:

Weight: 13lbs 7oz 21st percentile
Length: 23.74 inches 11th percentile

In our 5th month, we are looking forward to a trip to the Dells for K’s National Dance competition and his first plane trip to California to see family.

To take a look back at the first 3 months, click here.

How to wash a baby…

This is what happens when you are the third child.  There are no photos of your first bath..heck you are lucky to get an actual bath.  Instead, you get a quick wash in the shower once in a while with one of your parents and since the aforementioned parent is, ahem, not fit for photographing…there are no cameras allowed.

I’m pretty sure these photos represent D’s 2nd official bath at home.  The one prior was a major necessity and there was no time for camera preparation or anyone other than little mama in the house to help hold him upright for a photo op.  Sorry D.  I promise we love you even if we don’t have all the photos to prove it.

Three Thrilling Months

Our three month “photo shoot” proved to be rather difficult.  He is very smiley, until I get that big black camera in front of my face and he gets confused and stops smiling.

And then there is the “holy moley what was that bright light that just flashed in my eyes” face that I see if I’m lucky enough to need the flash.  This is usually followed by the “I’m freaked out” cry or the “I’m over this and mad at you” scream.

At 3 months we (unofficially) have weighed in at 11lbs 2.2 ounces. 

He’s getting longer too, but that’s only been measured by my expert measuring eye.

If you are interested in looking back at one and two months – you can check that out here.

We’ve started to use the exersaucer too.  He seems to enjoy it in small spurts – I think he likes being able to look around and see the world from a different perspective. You know, other from lying on his back.

Now, I promise that I’m not leaving him in the saucer so long that this happens regularly – or has even happened more than this once.  It was too cute though, so of course my first reaction was to grab the camera.

Saturday afternoon when he woke up from his nap, I was folding laundry in the living room.  So I put him in the saucer to check out the toys and so I could talk to him while I folded.  I looked down for a split second and when I looked at him again – he was back asleep.  I guess the nap wasn’t really over.

My three bed headed kiddos.

Yes, if you were wondering, the girls do still exist.

They still absolutely LOVE their little brother and are great helpers.

They are starting summer soccer now, so pictures are sure to come from that.

Last but not least – here is a photo from Mother’s Day.

oh- wait!  I wanted to share some chalk art that K made.  She’s turned into quite the little artist.

That’s Ariel…pretty good, right?