thinking about it...

Not crawling yet but seriously considering it - see pic below!



a couple other new things - if you don't like to talk poop, stop reading - otherwise continue. real poop. not runny stuff. or pasty. but real solid poop!

"Hey, come up here!" i shout.

"whats wrong?" he yells, always wary that there is a problem...

"Nothings wrong. i just thought you'd want to see something!"

"What?" he says to me upstairs, as he is downstairs. I know he doesn't want to walk those 14 steps up!

"Just get off the damn computer and walk up here for crying out loud!"

I hear him set down the laptop (i knew it!) and come slowly up, putting each foot down as if it weighs 50 lbs...

"Look, we have real poop." and i show him the diaper.

"What!! oh my gosh... hahah... " husband laughs and views the evidence.

"Kid, you're growing up!" we tell him. then we decide - photo time! Hey, why not! its another first, we must document!


A tiny little poop we know, but its still the real deal! solid as a rock. lol. he'll kill us for this later i'm sure. but when he was born, we promised him and each other to capture every little moment! haha... only upholding our promises:)

8 months old!

the kid is 8 months old now!! we can't believe it... he's eating all sorts of stuff, lunging his body to get what he wants, and expressing his little personality, which emerges more and more each day!

Reporting back on last nights sleep - he successfully slept from 8pm - 4am ! not fun at 4am but i was thrilled he made it that long! SO much better than whats been going on. Sigh of Relief. At 4am, i went to his room, nursed him, and he was back to sleep in about 15 minutes. Me - back to bed till he woke up at 7:15am. Not bad. Not bad at all.

This morning husband asked me, so what do you think helped him? the swaddle, the fan, the humidifier, the quilt, feeding him at 8pm, or??? I said - i have NO idea but i'm doing it ALL again tonight!!

8 months old on Jan 21, 2009 so a quick photoshoot in monkey jam jams with his own little monkey:)

grocery cart

Another first. yep. first real grocery cart ride. germs and all! but it was whole foods!! so, maybe organic germs? haha... anyway, first grocery cart ride this past saturday night and even though the kid was so tired (past his 8pm bedtime) he was all smiles, and stares, and fascination at the store - from a whole new perspective! and you could tell he knew, he was more free, and on his own in the top of that cart.

here we go steelers

I personally, don't really care about who wins. the world series. the super bowl. the cup something? anyway, doesn't matter to me. but husband being from western PA is a huge steelers fan. So its only fitting that the kid gets dressed in his steeler gear on game days, even steeler socks! and its a must since its the playoffs and we got together with other steeler fanatics (me not included on that fanatic part)... abram did watch the game! not because he was watching the steelers per say, but because he actually was allowed to look at the huge flatscreen tv, a big no no at home...


Hey... Hey, Cameron. Who's winning?! i can't see the score...


the games too close!! we're freaking out... !


lets just chill here... even though i'm a little suspicious of my surroundings...


YYEaa... i think we're gonna win!


on a final note, i can no longer brag or even silently enjoy! the kid being a good sleeper anymore. those days are far gone, now that i'm back to work full time of course. i went back when he turned 5 months. he was still sleeping good! around 6 1/2 months those restless nights were becoming interrupted periodically. but nothing i couldn't handle. Then during our christmas travels, his nights were very restless. and since returning home, even more so. i get up for work early - early as in 4:30am. some mornings hes up at 330am and no point in going back to bed at 4:15! anyway, to sum it up, lets just say i'm struggling. and hoping for some serious much needed rest from this. tonight i've put some advice to use up in his bedroom (ie fan on high, swaddled (again!) in warm quilt, fresh diaper, jarred food again before bed plus nursed, teething tablets, etc etc....) my fingers are crossed!! i'll report back... !

to crawl or not to crawl

The cord dangles just out of his reach.

"Come on. You want it, don't you? Come on! Come get it! You can do it. Just put that knee under ya... see? like this..." I encourage him, coaxing him to crawl. tempting him with the unattached computer mouse. weird? nah. he always wants what he isn't supposed to have. why not dangle the no no item to tempt him into crawling? Its like one of those cartoons where the meat is on a string, and the little animated guy runs and runs for it but never gets it. That was my plan. Now, thinking about it, I realize its slightly, well okay just plain ole unfair. I have to tempt him with something i'll actually be willing to give him.

I trade the mouse for his 'cell' phone.... i hit all the buttons, it talks, sings, lights up, does everything except actually make calls. or does it?

"see your phone?? you want it right? just reach for it... come on. right over here.... "

The kid grunts and sputters. his left arm flailing and little feet kicking. the right knee comes up... and it looks like he just might.... nope, he rolls onto his back. repeat of yesterday. I put his knees under him.

"Just do this!! see?! that's how you do it?" i say, as i immediately wonder why in the hell i'm showing him HOW to crawl. thats dumb. right now, he's stationary. i sit him in spot A. he stays in spot A. i put him in his pod. he stays in his pod. i vow to stop demonstrating the crawl technique.

"Yep. You're on your own now kid. whenever you figure it out. I'll deal with it then. Until then, heres your cell phone...!"

the last of 2008

This was the kids gift to us from daycare. TOO CUTE. I wish i had this picture too, not just on a christmas ornament. but we love it and if we ever decide to one day put up a tree (hubby wants to, me no, bah hum bug me i know!) we'll have this one front and center.



The kid with his great papaw... kinda dark but good.


Abram was christened while in TN. grandparents from there and PA were present... dad, being a pastor, performed the christening. I Loved this pic of him and abram looking at one another...


we spent a week away, a brief time with husbands parents in Western PA and then the rest in TN with my family. It went by way too fast, as any vacation always does.

and the kid's only New Year Eve photos - of him trying to drive the car. ha. Actually he was gnawing on the steering wheel while we were on a travel break. drove from TN to our home in PA on NYE. Needless to say, that is the first new years eve i have NOT been awake at midnight since i can even remember. we're parents now. tired. old. in bed early.



Let's Go home Guys!!

and onto christmas

his first wrapped package he opened was from matt/erin. I tell her, you could have really saved yourself some money, he enjoyed the box and wrapping paper more than the gifts. Now i know - glad i won't be wasting my money on anything more than cardboard and old pots/pans for him:) he seems to love my measure cups and tin bowls.

whew, this gift unwrapping is exhausting...


christmas morning pose... in first christmas jam jams... at mamaw's house


whats in here mamaw? at other mamaws house... two mamaws:)


and the box from matt/erin... yum, tasty!


Cheese!!

and onto some christmas pictures...