9 Months

Trying to get the kitty. Notice the purse of his mouth...he knows he probably shoudln't be doing this!


After bath he watches his "Your Baby Can Read" video. He always comes out of getting dressed with Daddy with something odd to chew on. This night his hair brush!


Starting to stand up on the swing.

Baby blue eyes! They are so intense. I really can't do them justice. I really need to have Katie (www.howiwonderphotography.com) come and do pictures again!




This post should actually be titled "Bumps, goose eggs, and scrapes"! At 9 months there is no stopping Pres. He is walking from furniture to furniture and loves when you hold his hands so he can walk wherever he wants. We had his 9 month check up today and it was a doozy. He has grown 4 inches since his last visit! He is not a chunker at only 19 lbs, but the doctor assures me that he is just right. He had his first flu shot today. It did not go over well. He is a fighter and a screamer. The poor sweet nurse. She takes it so personally when he cries. She has to give him a hug afterward. My concern was for the next little boy coming in. He heard Pres screaming and tearily told him mom "mommmy-the doctor must be bad, she made the baby cry." Poor thing looked terrified to go into the room as we were coming out.

This new adventure in walking has brought about a scary new chapter for us...lots of boo boos. I have used more bactine this week than I have done in years. He will just let go and try to walk. He then lands hard which ever way he falls. Yesterday it was on the baby gate. He scraped his chin pretty badly on the way down. He's a champ about the wounds though. He happily sits on the counter top while I clean and put medicine on.

We have officially ended the crying at strangers! Whoo-hoo! This is such a blessing. He now gives great big smiles to everyone who talks to him. I think he has finally realized that he likes the attention. For this reason he loves Home Depot and Publix. The sales associates at both of these stores tend to be a bit older and have a BIG thing for babies. They give him all of the cooing a little baby could ever dream of!

Funny things to remember for Pres:

You love to open and close-doors, drawers, lids, toys, books...it's rather annoying, but you love it so!

You call the cats in the cutest way...you smack your lips together and then twist your sweet head from side to side waiting for them to come.

You now will blow kisses and do it at the most random times-you literally melt me at the sweetest times.

You love to play outside as I am weeding. Occasionally you will eat the weeds!

You bang things together- your favorite are golf balls banging on the TV, wall, floor...

You have your first full tooth in and you spend all day running your tongue over it!

I know I am forgetting some things, but that is the beauty of the blog- I can add to it at any time!

Daddy teaching Pres about Sunday lounging!

8 months

Aren't we quite the pair?! This is what I look like after chasing you around all day!




Here you are chasing after a kitty in this picture! Notice the intent look on your face!

I don't even know where to begin. This past month has brought about so many changes. Some have been good...others....not so good! I think the best way to go about this is to just write this blog to my beautiful baby boy.

Dear Pres,

You are now 8 months old and it is hard to believe you used to be so tiny. Your hands and feet are HUGE so it’s clear that there will be a lot of growth in the next few weeks. You have finally cut your first teeth. Your daddy and I didn’t think you would ever get them. They are both on the bottom and they look so cute when you smile. You keep running your tongue over them and grinning as if you can’t believe they are there! Every day you show me something new. It’s amazing. You have completely figured out all of our baby proofing methods so I am in the process of moving furniture to cover any outlets you can get your little hands on. It won’t be long before you can climb over the baby gates too. I see you working on it throughout the day. You start by standing in front of it, then proceed to throw one knee, then the other against it trying to use your fat little toes to climb! Just yesterday you discovered the toilet paper. I came into what I thought was a Preston proof bathroom, to find you with toilet paper stuck in your mouth and the rest of the roll in your lap. You just grinned at me and all I could do was grin back. It’s not your fault it is so irrisitable!

You are coming into your own with your attitude as well. You make it very clear (through much grunting) if you don’t or do want to do something. Sometimes it’s hard for me to tell if the noise means you like it, or you are irritated with it. Just like your daddy, you have a low tolerance for failure. If you can’t get something right away, you grunt at it, then bang it or throw it depending on the size. When you get too frustrated, I have been putting you in your crib for what I like to call “refocusing” time. You calm right down and snuggle up to your blanket. You are going to be quite the handful my little one, and I look forward to the challenge!

You are taking lots of side steps and going from one piece of furniture to the other. Yikes! I am not even used to you being such a good crawler and now you are trying to walk!

You are starting to become more and more friendly. You will easily smile at anyone now, but you are VERY picky about who can hold you. I joke that you are like the dad from the movie Meet the Fockers ( I am sure your daddy will show this to you when you are older). He had his “inner circle” and you certainly have yours! Just this week, you’ve allowed your Grandpa Mike into you “circle”! You now reach for him to take you and say words to you. For some reason any word that Grandpa Mike says to you, you find it hilarious! For me, it is so special to see you interacting with him. Your inner circle now consists of me, your daddy, Dyer, Grandma Vicki, and Grandpa Mike. As you can see, you really are very picky!

There are so many things to share that I don’t know what to share and what to leave out. I love everything about you. I love how you wiggle your hands and feet when you like something or want me to pick you up. I love how you knock all of your books off of the bookshelf to find the ONE book you want me to read to you. I love how you will crawl up to me, jump in my lap, and bury your face in my shoulder. You are such a sweetie! I love how you will lean back when I am holding you and look at me intently, then give me a big grin. I wonder what you are thinking when you do that. I love how you will giggle in the swing. I love how you get so excited when it is time to eat. You attack your food with such gusto that many times you gag yourself on the spoon! I love how you smack your lips together when you really enjoy how something tastes, BUUUUUUTTTTT most of all, I love how you have completely changed my life. You have given me the best gift in the whole world, and that is motherhood! Thank you my boogies! I love you!

Love,
Mommy

My birthday gift!

For the past three years any holiday I have been begging Pete for one particular gift. A new ring. I loved my poor soldier boy and would have married him if he had given me a string to tie around my finger!!! For our second anniversary, he added a band to my claddagh ring that had two diamonds to signify our two years of marriage. The idea was to add one for each additional year we were married which is very romantic and sweet; unfortunately romantic isn't always practical and I didn't want an off center set of diamonds so we decided to wait until it was even. The next even year, we decided to go big on our anniversary with a shark dive and nice hotel and we both completely forgot about it. Then came Preston and our next anniversary after that, all we could manage with a two week old was dinner out. Needless to say, this wonderful idea on Pete's part, didn't pan out as he would have hoped. I certainly don't help matters as I have not one romantic bone in my whole body! I share this with you for two reasons:

1. so Pete gets credit for his original idea
2. so Pete gets credit for his even better follow up!

Year after year, holidays come and no ring. I even had picked the one out I wanted and it managed somehow (no idea!) to always be in our favorites on our computer! Pete said that he didn't want me to just pick it out and then get it. "There's no romance or surprise in that" he kept telling me. "I don't need the surprise or romance" was always my response to him (told ya not even a smidge or romance in me). Lo and behold this year he took me shopping for my birthday. I assumed that my gift would be some new clothes and lunch out (which is actually my idea of a a fun day). That night we had my parents over for dinner and gifts with them (awesome gifts from the rents BTW)and I realized Pete hadn't given me a card yet at this point. Since he always does, I asked for it. I was told I had to wait until it was just he and I. O-KAY...at this juncture in the evening, something smelled fishy! I then remembered that a few weeks back he had asked my ring size. I couldn't wait for dinner to be over and to get my card. We wrapped up dinner with my parents and then I did a jig until he finally gave it to me. Inside was a really funny card and print outs of different variations of the ring I wanted. He told me to pick one and that was my gift!!!!!!! Whoo-hoo! This is was I picked...



For those of you who know me, diamonds are just not my thing. I love gemstones. This was the perfect gift! Thank you SOOOOOOOOOOOO much my wonderful hubby for always keeping me on my toes and being my romatic man!!!! Now that I have offically probably overshared and embarrassed Pete, I will end this post!

Bronchitis and a birthday...

So...I am finally feeling better and have fully recovered. Last week I came down with a nasty case of bronchitis. I seem to get it once a year. This year, I recognized the signs early and went as soon as I could to get some antibiotics. As seems to be my luck, me getting sick came at the exact same time Pete would be gone. My poor hubby had to leave with me bending over the toilet having a violent reaction to my super strong antibiotics! That's a good-bye he certainly won't forget for a while!!!! Luckily for me, Pres seemed quite content hanging out on the bathroom floor. We spent almost all of last Saturday there.

Motherhood continues to bring me some of the most ridiculous moments. Never in a million years would vomiting be a funny situation for me, but add in a seven month old who is sucking on a hair brush and trying to stand up on the toilet I am bending over, and you definitely move in to the ridiculous category!!!!!

Below is a pic of me on Monday morning after Pete had come home. It was a ROUGH weekend, and I think my pale face (and Pete's old boxers) explains it more than I ever could!!!!



This weekend has gone much more smoothly! I am fully recovered (a couple of pounds lighter) and we had a great time hanging out at the mall shopping for my birthday! Pres is FINALLY over his hatred of the car, so these excursions are tons of fun. Pete had a blast while Pres flirted his way with every young sales associate as I was trying on clothes. I think I was cramping their style just a little bit! It's much easier to get your flirt on without your wife and mom there!!!!! Here's a shout out to the lonely men out there...get a baby with big blue eyes, and the women come by the dozens!!!! I had a great birthday so thank you my wonderful family!

Some more pics!

Pres and Daddy! They are such good buddies now!


Here's what happens when I get bored! I know...I'm terrible! I put it on my head as well, luckily for me, Pres can't take pictures yet!!!




Pres loves Dyer, and Dyer is at that stage where he loves babies! Dyer will carry Pres around the house like that, and Pres loves it! They are so sweet together!

7 months

I simply can’t believe that I have been a mom for 7 months! Those first few months were just awful. No one mentions how hard it is when they do nothing but sleep, cry, eat, cry, cry and cry. FINALLY we are past that- scratch that- HALLELUJAH we are past that! Having a colicky newborn is something I never want to do again! I have a neighbor whose daughter just had a baby. She told me about a phone call she received from her son-in-law a few days ago. He said to her “Mom, we had a fight and she told me that she just didn’t like me very much right now…is it bad that I feel the same way?” I just laughed and laughed when she told me that. I certainly understand that! No sleep, hormones, and a new workload wreak initial havoc on your relationship. Luckily, I was able to remind her that it does pass! I love my hubby now more than ever seeing him be such a great dad. Having said all of that, now we can get to the fun stuff…the second stage of babyhood…when they crawl and talk and eat food!!!!!

Pres has been crawling now for about three weeks. He has it down and is super fast! He makes sweeping an Olympic sport for me. I could win a medal for how fast I go in order to keep him from playing in my dirt pile! The cats are horrified at this new development. He’s rocked their worlds again and again. Just when they were getting used to him being there, he had to go and become mobile. He chases them all around the house. His favorite part seems to be cornering Weezy by the front door and then squealing at her. I love it, it keeps him entertained long enough for me to clean the kitchen!

Now that he has mastered crawling his next challenge seems to be trying to stand up. He pulls himself up on whatever he can-my leg, coffee table, toys and crib. We’ve had to lower the bed again b/c I was afraid he’d pull himself up and over onto the floor! This has lead to lots of falling and bumping of the head. A slow day is when he only has one red mark somewhere on his head! On a busy day, he could have two red cheeks and one on the back of his head. No serious bumps yet (thank God!). Poor thing doesn’t have any carpet to land on gently!

He is blabbering non-stop. He also has learned how to stick out his tongue and makes noises. This is really cute until it’s feeding time, and I end up with spinach in my hair (eeeewwwwwww!). No words yet- he’ll say mama and dada, but not directed at us. Pete and I think his first word will be kitty. If you ask him where the kitty is, he’ll go and hunt down the cats.

Not much else going on. Pete is doing his reserve time for the year right now. After that, who knows! Exciting and scary at the same time! I have my hopes though! I’m having a blast just being “mommy”!




He was being so fussy, that I put the bow on my head to make him laugh! It worked, but he wanted me to put it on his head next. This went back and forth like that for almost 30 minutes!





He gives his reflection kisses! I started that by kissing the baby in the mirror, and now I've created a monster! He'll kiss his reflection in any surface where he can see it!!!!



That is his "I'm going to make a mess" face!