Becoming such a big boy

Our little guy is showing us that he isn't such a little baby anymore as so much has changed with him over that last 3 weeks.

First he started crawling, and not just his army crawl that he started out with, full out hands and knees cruising. This has turned him into a very mobile little guy, exploring every inch of the house and getting into things left and right. Most things he can't hurt so our only major struggle are the plants. We usually have a clue he is going after them because he will make a half giggle noise and then you can hear his hands hitting the floor as he takes off as fast as he can.

Next came his teeth. With some extra drool and small amount of fussiness the first one poked through and within the next two days the second one came on out too. We have a tough little guy who did this all without being too fussy and no fever. I pray that they all go this well for him; we will know soon enough as his top gums are very swollen right now, so it won't be long.

Our big boy also has started to drink out of a sippy cup. for a while he didn't like it at all but would drink very well out of a normal cup. We kept trying and now he does great with the sippy and is getting really close to holding it himself. 

Finally, our big boy decided it was time to start pulling himself up. He started out by pulling himself up to stand next to our legs while we were on the floor with him. This was very wobbly and never lasted long, but the sturdiness and length kept improving. This morning while we were eating breakfast he decided to try the couch and made it look super easy. Happened so quickly that I didn't have the camera ready though :(

With all of these new adventures pain will come...He decided to see who would win; himself or the coffee table...daddy told him the table will always win and daddy was right.

It is so much fun watching him explore the house and come find us when we are in different rooms. My personal favorite is when he comes to find me (usually wanting some food from me) and will climb up to rest against my legs with a sweet face that says "Mommy, please" and who could resist.

Making Little Man's Food

When we had our little guy we decided that when it came time we would make our own baby food for him for two reasons...make sure that he gets wholesome foods and it is much cheaper than purchasing baby food from the stores.

Coninsidently I was at the library shortly after we introduced him to oatmeal (this is one one thing that we bought from the store) and on the shelf of new books was a cookbook for baby food...Amazing. I knew the process was going to be simple but I am still blown away by how easy and benficial it actually has been. Don't get me wrong, there is nothing wrong with purchasing baby food for your little one, we just wanted to do something different for our little guy - we eat very little prepared or packaged foods so why should our little guy.

We started by arming ourselves with these items...

1. Emersion Blender
2. Ice Cube Trays
3. Cookbook (see below)
4. Lots of fruits and vegetables
5. An evening after the little guy went to bed

The book that we used is titled "The Wholesome Baby Food Guide" by Maggie Meade. It has been a great resource on how to prepare hundreds of different foods (obviously we haven't done them all yet) along with what freezes well, what doesn't, and so much more.

I went to the grocery store and spent a total of $10.13 on produce for the little guy (the only non-fresh item was the peas, however these are just as good for you and much, much cheaper).

It took two evenings of cooking and blending and the end result was over 60 meals for our little guy. 

Averaged out to about $0.16 per meal and when you compare it to about $0.50 per meal of the leading baby food brand and the stores, it can't be beat (over $20.00 in savings)...especially when it gave Todd and I two nights in the kitchen together and time to chat about just about anything.

Swimming Fun

We had guessed this before just from the major splashing in his bathtub but we definetly have a water baby. 

A while back I joined a bunch of friends at a splash park and wading pool near by and he absolutely loved it. Splashing the water with his hands and wiggling his feet through the water with giggle after giggle.

More recently we took a Sunday afternoon and all three of us went swimming at our club house pool. We weren't real sure how he would react to being in water and not being able to touch the bottom but he did great and loved it all the same. With his floating seat with shade he probably could have stayed out their for hours, however it was getting really warm really fast.

There will be many more swimming days in our future...we just need the temperature to cool off some outside.

7 Months Old

Our little boy is 7 months old today, so hard to believe. The different things he does every day is amazing, he is growing so quickly and constantly adding new things to his milestones list.

I always call him my little boy but that doesn't completely fit any more as he weighs in right around 20 pounds. I figure I can keep calling him that until he is big enough to tell me not to.

Some recent accomplishments...
 -Wearing 9 month clothes
 -Will consistantly do "Sooo Big" when asked
 -Sitting up from laying on his tummy
 -Started Army Crawling (he can make really good ground doing this)
 -First time with a sippy cup - this is still a work in progress
 -Still refuses to take a bottle (must think that if the milk doesn't come directly from mommy it isn't any good)
 -Loves solid foods, some favorites are sweet potatoes, oatmeal, bananas, and pruns
 -Loves the water (see other post for pool adventures)
 -Does pretty well on long car rides, we have made 4 trips to the grandparents in the past month or so and he does well until about the last hour of the trip on the way home; the way up there is usually great.
 -Has two amazingly tickleish spots...his chubby thighs and just under his armpits. 
 -Can giggle for the longest time, especially during play time right after daddy gets home from work
 -Can be clammed during a stressful part of the day by simply hearing daddy's voice on speakphone...great during screaming fits and thunderstorms
 -Napping is still a struggle but we are making progress
 -Goes to bed between 7:00 and 8:00 most nights, wakes up between 6:00 and 7:00 in the morning...daddy's little alarm clock
 -Doesn't want mommy to get him from his bed in the morning, will cry constantly but its all talking and smiling for daddy

Rocking my sunglasses

Looking at the window at Grandma and Grandpa's house

Our silly, silly boy

We love our baby boy more than anything and count our blessings every day for the amazing gift God has given and trusted us with.