6 months baby!

My little baby is 6 months old! In some ways it seems like it has gone by so fast, but at the same time I can't imagine not having him in our lives.

At 6 months we are going to start solids, and what would be better than starting with birthday cupcakes? Don't worry, we really didn't give him any to eat, but we thought we should still get some pictures. He was not very happy that we wouldn't let him actually eat them. (or at least grab them). We should have taken video, but we only got these pictures.

At first he wasn't so sure. He's thinking, "Really? Are these for me?"

"Mmmmm... these cupcakes are going to be so good!"
"Okay, here I go ... wait, mom, let me get them."
"WHAT? I can't have them? Are you serious?"
"I really wanted them!!"

6 month stats:

Weight: 19 lbs. 13 oz. (85%)

Height: 27 inches (75%)

Head: 43 cm (25%)

He is at a really fun age right now. He is a lot more aware of everything that is going on around him. He wants to touch everything and tries to grab anything that is within his reach.

He has just started to sit up on his own. We have to stay close by because he is very unstable and will topple over very easily. He still has no interest in crawling. He will rarely let us put him on his stomach at all, so I'm not sure when he will ever learn. There are times that he will let us put him on his tummy and he will try to reach for things and flail his arms and legs so maybe someday soon he will get it. He doesn't really roll over either. He is very mobile on his back though. When he is angry he will arch his back and push with his feet and scoot himself around. So I guess if he needs to get somewhere he will find a way.

Sleeping is going pretty well. He is still sleeping through the night 99% of the time. His naps are still a HUGE struggle. He just does not want to sleep during the day. He cries when he goes down and he cries when he wakes up. It doesn't get any easier listening to him cry, but I know he needs his sleep and that's just what it takes to get him there. The big problem we are having is that he is scooting himself up to the corner of the crib and then he just continues to push himself up against the edge of the bed. Or he will get his hand stuck in between the slats. I'm still hopeful that one day his naps will go well though.

He had a great doctor appointment, although he really didn't like his shots. He has always done really well with them before, but this time they gave him the H1N1 so I hope he will do well with that one as well.

He is such a little charmer. That smile gets me every time:

And here is a little video. It's really short because I thought I was taking a picture but it was set to video mode. And it's sideways. I don't know how to rotate it. (anyone?)

Happy St. Patrick's Day!

All dressed up, ready to celebrate St. Patty's Day.

... celebrated too much?

Buddha Belly

Check out that perfectly round belly. I know I am biased, but I think he just gets cuter every single day!

Do blondes have more fun?

Do blondes really have more fun? I guess I am going to find out. If my life suddenly becomes un-fun then I will know what to blame. I wonder if Gavin will recognize me when he wakes up in the morning?

The perfect nap

This morning Gavin had the perfect nap. He usually goes down for his morning nap at about 9:00, one hour after he wakes up in the morning. This morning he didn't become fussy like he usually does, which is the only sign that I ever get from him that he is tired. But he had been awake for an hour, which is usually his limit in the morning. So I thought I would start to get him ready for his nap. I read a book to him which he usually doesn't let me do, and then I wrapped him up in his blanket. I rocked him for a minute and then took him into his room. He was fussing just a little bit as I sang to him and put him in his crib. He smiled at me and then I left the room. I waited for him to start crying, like he always does, but there was just silence. I waited. Nothing. So I looked at our video monitor (best purchase ever!) and he was laying in his crib, awake, just squirming around a little bit. 5 minutes later, he was asleep. He didn't cry! I was so happy!

I then sent a few emails, showered and was cleaning up the kitchen. I looked at the clock and it was 10:30. I couldn't believe that I hadn't heard anything from him. (He usually wakes up mid-nap and cries for 10 - 30 minutes before falling back asleep.) So I kept cleaning. He then did wake up about 10 minutes before his set wake-time and I again waited for him to start crying. He didn't. He just laid in his crib, talking to himself and being perfectly happy. When I finally went in to get him he just started smiling and laughing when he saw me.

So it has taken 2 extremely long and difficult months of sleep training, but we finally did it ... WE HAD THE PERFECT NAP!

Now I know that it won't happen every time. In fact, when I just put him down for his afternoon nap he cried for 10 minutes before falling asleep, and I am certain he will wake early as well. We are still trying to figure out optimal wake time for this nap.

But things are going really well. We usually put him to bed at night around 7:30 and except for a dreamfeed at 10:30 he sleeps through the night until 8 in the morning. WONDERFUL!!

Here he is in his crib. (don't mind the ugly bumpers. I haven't had a chance to cover them yet)

He always pulls the blanket on top of his head. Up until a few weeks ago, he would pull it over his head, let go and then couldn't figure out how to get it off. He would just start screaming and we would have to go in and help him. Now he wants to have the blanket over his face and that's how he gets to sleep.

We love our little guy and we are so happy that he is sleeping better!

Oh, one more funny thing: I always sing the same 2 songs to him when it's time to go to sleep. Supposedly it helps him to know that it is time to go to sleep. I sing him "Twinkle twinkle little star", and "I am a Child of God." I always laugh when I transition from one to the other because I finish singing twinkle twinkle and go right into I am a child of God.

It goes like this:

" . . . twinkle, twinkle, little star, how I wonder what you are. ... I am a child of God, and he has sent me here ..."

So that answers the question. The little star is a Child of God. I like it.

Utah Trip - Random events and photos

I'm finally wrapping up my posts from our trip to Utah in August. Here is some random pictures of other things we did while we were there.

My sister introduced me to Zupas. It is amazing! So good. If you haven't been there, and you live in Utah, you need to go. They have salads, sandwiches and soup. They have so many different choices. This time I got the cauliflower soup and the pina colada chicken salad. It also comes with a chocolate strawberry. I have been craving the cauliflower soup ever since then.
They also have 3 choices of crystal light. I love crystal light. It basically got me through my pregnancy because I am not a big water drinker, but I knew that I needed to stay hydrated so I drank a lot of crystal light. But I have never been to a restaurant that serves it!
While we were eating it was pouring rain outside. When we came out, there was this beautiful rainbow.
We then stopped at Albertsons. Nothing too exciting, except that because of the rainstorm there was a flood in the store! There was so much rain the ceiling had collapsed all over the dairy section.
As we were checking out the guy in front of us was yelling at the cashier that they needed to close the whole store down before the entire roof collapsed and we all died. He was so upset. Seriously ... if you were that upset, then stop shopping and go home. Nobody was forcing him to continue shopping there. People like that really bug me!
One day I stopped by my niece, Kaylee's house. It was the perfect day to stop by because she had opened her own Barber/beauty shop! 50 cents to get your hair done AND nails painted? What a great deal!! Also, only 1 cent to get perfumed. Who doesn't need perfumed?
The master stylist. Isn't she cute?
One morning I went to breakfast with my mom and dad. I had been to Kneaders a lot for lunch, but never for breakfast. I got their all you can eat french toast. This was definitely all I could eat. It was amazing.
One of the nights we had all the grandkids come over to play in the big blow up pool that my parents had bought. It was actually pretty cold outside but they still had fun.
Kaylee decided to climb up the swing set. My parents never would have let us do this, but I am definitely learning that grandkids get away with a lot more than kids do.
Rachel found a way to stay nice and warm in her princess towel.
After a few attempts, Kadin finally made it to the top.
We then went to Kadin's boy scouts. He was receiving his wolf badge. Way to go Kadin! It was pretty funny because I was watching both Seth and Rachel (10 months and 3 years old), and this lady came up to me and commented on me being 8 months pregnant and having those 2 young ones. I quickly made sure she knew that they were not mine. I guess at a Mormon gathering it wouldn't be that uncommon.
I was able to go spend time with my grandma and grandpa. They are so cute! This ended up being the last time that I saw my grandpa before he passed away, so I am really glad that I had the time to go see them.
One night we went with Andrew's family up to a lodge in Millcreek Canyon for a nice dinner. It was absolutely beautiful up there. The mountains and canyons are definitely one of the things that I miss most about Utah.
The food was amazing. Andrew had some scallop dish, he loved it.
I had pork. The grilled peach was so good!
It was a really fun trip. I was glad that we were able to go out there and spend so much time with everyone before we came back home and got ready for baby to come!

Not fat does not equal skinny

Andrew told me that I needed to clarify that "not fat" does not mean "skinny."

And to prove that point, a little sampling of the things I have eaten in the last couple of weeks.




Seriously though, I was not in any way trying to say that I am skinny and/or that I have lost all of the weight that I need to. As you can clearly see, I have a long way to go.

Not fat

When I first went back to work I had an awkward conversation with one of the 13 year old girls on the team. It went a little like this:

Girl: How old is your baby?
Me: 4 months.

Girl: Oh, wow. He is so cute.

Me: Thanks.

Girl: And that's really cool that you aren't like, well, fat anymore.

Me: Oh ... uh ... thanks ... I think.

It was funny.

Fast forward to yesterday when I had the following conversation via text messaging with Andrew (yes, we text each other all day long, we are so in love):

Andrew: You look way different now than you did in those camping pictures. (making reference to the blog post I had just posted here).

Me: Obviously. (I was 8 months pregnant)

Andrew: No, seriously, way different.

Me: Yes.

Andrew: But your face and everything.

Me: I am not fat anymore.

Andrew: Way to go.

Apparently 13 year old girls and 28 year old boys have more in common than I thought.