Pre-Christmas/ eating

It is interesting trying to get everything done one is used to doing when there is a tiny human to look after while you do it. This year, as usual, the holidays were chatoic and filled with festivities...

The week before Christmas we all went to Mimi and Papaw's in Bloomington for a pre-Christmas sleepover. Davis slept for maybe two hours and cried when he wasn't being walked. Holy God. I almost went crazy. I just can't imagine having a baby who doesn't sleep. Maybe that means I'm spolied but this kid was NOT happy. Matthew just couldn't understand why he would cry- like he has to have a reason! But, I digress- the evening was nice. Fire in the fireplace and a tree grown by Uncle Damon was in the living room. This one had colored lights and red bells just the right size for Davis to put in his mouth- much more exciting than the boring tree at home that he's not allowed to touch at our house!

Grandpa fed him dinner...he's eating much more these days. He's done most meats- chicken, turkey, and more recently beef and ham. He's on to fruits which clearly is the good stuff. He can't he enough...bananas, apples, pears, raspberries, and just recently mango. Usually in the morning he eats one container that I mix with brown rice cereal, barley, or most recently oatmeal. He's also started some finger foods...rice puffs, graham crackers, mum mums (like a rice cake), and even a little cheddar cheese with plain scrambled eggs. He's had no problems with reactions or allergies. He's a good little eating machine. He's now up to three meals a day and a snack usually in the afternoon.

I can't believe I didn't get any pictures. I am not a good mom...aren't I supposed to have a camera on my hip at all time to capture his first milestones?

Hilton Head

I've been a complete slacker lately on my blogging...so, I'm trying to get caught up.

In the beginning of November my parents, Dana, Matthew, Davis, & I all loaded up in dad's Escalade and drove to Hilton Head for a wedding for Miss Kiley Ohlson (our dads are old frat "bros") and Nathan Leong. He, his family, and friends came all the way from London so there were certainly some interesting people to meet. I just loved the accents too.

In any case, we decided to drive overnight b/c we thouhgt this wouldn't mess so much with Beanie's schedule. And it didn't. It worked like a charm. This kid didn't make a peep til about 6 in the morning. We stayed in a big house in Palmetto Dunes where Stacy & JJ from Chicago & Clay from CA joined us as well. It was nice having family around so when I got sick of mommying duties I could just hand him off! I'm sure he also likes a new change of scenery once and a while. We were there for about a week. Beanie visited the beach and ocean for the first time. The ocean was a little cold and he wanted to eat the sand for the most part. Davis also perfected his sitting skills and started rolling both ways easily. (He'd only been rolling from his back to his tummy for a couple months now...).

Davis has also started trying some new foods...he tried barley (instead of brown rice) and chicken for the first time on vacation. He slept ok, not quite like he does at home but all in all everything went quite well. Here are some pics from the trip.

Halloween.

Our first Halloween with a little one is just a little more festive than normal! This year Beanie was a spider....provided by Miss Shannon who borrowed it from a friend. He didn't much care for it and the hat he wore was clearly made for an 8 year old instead of an infant but he was a good sport. First we went to Christi & Peyton's for some neighborhood fun....they had a grill out and even a hayride! Miss Peanut was a princess. After we were done we went home to greet our tricker treaters. Matthew dressed up as a samurai and gave out the Candy and we let Beanie out of his costmume and just had him in a Halloween T-shirt from Aunt Dana. My folks, Jeff and Dana, and Matthew and I just hung around to see all the kids and eat some pizza. Christi took most of the pics and will send me some soon but here are the couple I got before the batteries ran out.

Some more cute pics from the Baptism (Aunt Joan sent me)

Swim lessons!

  We were just getting in and adjusting to the cool water here. Poor little feet & lips were purple for a bit!

Here we're practicing kicking.

 Above, the instructor has all the little kids "chase" around a little fish to promote reaching & eventual strokes.

In a previous post I said we'd put up some pics but Mimi and I haven't connected on pictures but Davis, Matthew, & I went to Beanie's second swim lesson last night so here are some pics! I took Davis in the water this time. He LOVES when I blow bubbles. That really gets the feet moving!

We LOVE to jump!

So, we have no jumperoo at our house (just at Grandma's) so WE are the jumperoo for Davis!!

Baptism

This past weekend we went up to Chicago to have Beanie baptized. Our minister, Paul Stiffler, who married my parents, Aunt Joan and Uncle Gary, Matthew and I, Dana and Jeff, and Stacy and JJ this coming June- (as well as baptized all us kids)- of course, baptized Beanie- but in the backyard at Aunt Joan's house. We thought that would be easier for all of us. I don't think God discriminates on locale anyway. There were 15 of us including Davis who made the trip including Matt's parents all the way from Bloomington. Stacy and JJ are the official godparents but Aunt Dana and Uncle Jeff certainly do more than their fair share of Beanie care. Here are a few pics. We couldn't have asked for a more perfect day.