Happy 8 months, Waylon!

This was a pretty exciting month for all of us!  I feel like Waylon was learning something new every day and it was so crazy to watch.  The most exciting, of course, was when he learned to say "Mama."  True, he thinks it means "more food," but it is still the cutest thing ever.  Look:

Did I mention that baby bear loves to eat?  We can add pasta, meat, olives, enchiladas and caviar to his list of favorite foods  (for the record, his father gave him caviar, not me.  ::eye roll::)

Waylon finally started crawling this month and I love it.  I know a lot of people kind of despair when their kids start moving around but I actually really like it.  It's like having a third little dog in the house, haha.  Well, except that Josie and Belle were easier to potty train.  In addition to saying Mama, he also started pulling himself up to stand.  He especially likes doing this in front of the mirror so he can see himself.  I love this:

He also got his first passport stamp when we went to Cabo San Lucas, Mexico for a friend's wedding!  Waylon just loved swimming and learned to kick pretty quickly.  He also really liked getting to eat chilequiles and beans every day.  We all had such a nice time relaxing in paradise.  It was a great family vacation and so fun to celebrate with our friends.

Look how much he loved swimming!

Here are a couple of my other favorites from this month, Waylon showing off his teeth, and chilling in yard with his cool kid hat on.

Happy 7 months, Waylon!

Well, I guess I can't really say that I do it all at once if I'm not blogging about it.  Yeah, I've been busy.  But I wish I was better about this and I am going to make more of an effort to post once a week.  Luckily, I have been keeping up with Waylon's baby book, so at least I have all the information I need.

By 7 months, we started having nap problems.  As in, this kid decided he didn't want to nap anymore except occasionally in the car.  This was not convenient for me.  Luckily, this never effected how he slept at night, which would have been a way bigger deal.  It's just hard because I'm not really a scheduled person so it's difficult to say "okay X o'clock is nap time every day."  I realize this is my fault, not his, but at the same time I figure that this is our life, so maybe it's better that he doesn't get too attached to a rigid routine in the day if I can't commit to it.  I am thankful for my sweet adaptable baby.

This baby loves to eat.  Anything, everything, in large amounts.  He became particularly fond of salmon and cheese right around this time.  It's so fun to give him new foods and see what is his favorite.  I'm pretty sure he eats way more than average.

Waylon is a social little fella too.  He loves to make noises back and forth with me and "chats" and laughs all day long.  I think once he starts talking he may never quiet down.  He is really cute giving little pets to our two dogs and they have been really good with him thus far too.  He also really loves when we go on play dates!  I've had a lot of fun meeting other moms and their babies near our new house and it is the cutest thing to see the kiddies play together now that they are becoming somewhat mobile.

My mom came to visit for Mother's Day and we all had a really nice weekend together.  Way just loves more people to pay attention to him!

Love my little blue-eyed baby.

SEE?  He used to be able to pass out anywhere.  I miss this.

New favorite game:  starting at that handsome boy in the mirror.

Look at my men.  Aren't they the cutest?

The actual 7 month picture.  I really wish I could find that damn chalkboard.

Happy 6 months, Waylon!

Oh Waylon, your mom is the worst.  Not only has she not blogged in a solid month, but she has no pictures from your christening earlier in April and she lost your chalkboard in the move so now we'll never know how much you grew in the past month.  Mom fail.

April has been a busy month for us.  We started out by heading to Chicago for Waylon's christening.  My brother is his godfather and my dear friend Diana flew in from NYC to be godmother and we have not one picture from the day.  Toward the end of the ceremony, Waylon got really fussy because of the intense stink of the baptismal oil (also, teeth) so we didn't take pictures at the church and just never got around to it at the restaurant.  That's terrible.  It still turned out to be a really nice day with family and friends and I'm glad we decided to do it at the church where I was confirmed. (which has not changed one bit in 17 years.  Literally, not one thing.)

After we drove back (yes drove 15 hours straight with a 5 month old, what of it?) we had about 2 days to pack up our house before the movers came.  What a shitshow that was.  The new house wasn't as far along as we'd hoped when we moved but there's not much we could do about it because we had to be out of the old house.  So after two solid weeks of working on things every day, we are still no where close to being done, but at least our family room is complete (ish) and ready for a reveal.  Remember this super cute room?

Here's how it turned out:

There's a couple little things still to do but I was excited to reveal something!  I am really happy with how it turned out.

Waylon has been so good throughout the whole move.  There's no way we could have pulled it off if he was a little fussypants.  He literally gets cuter and more fun every day.  He's gotten really good at sitting up and has been trying to crawl with little success.  I know I'm his mom, but I seriously lucked out because this kid is really joyful and expressive (best mean face ever) and I'm so glad I get to hang out with him every day.  He has two teeth on the bottom, which he won't let me take a pic of, and he loves just about every food we give him.  He also really loves the sound of his own voice.  I'm telling you, when this kid starts talking, he might never stop.  His eyes are still a very pretty blue color (I'm hoping they stay!) and he still has blondish red hair and really pale skin.  We spend our days playing, reading, chatting, going for walks now that it's warm, and visiting with his new friends at playgroup.  It's a good life.  I can't wait to take him swimming this summer and to hear him say his first words, but I am really enjoying the stage he's in right now.  I can't believe it's been half a year already with this little munchkin.  It's been the blink of an eye but I can't imagine life without him.

I'm so mad I lost the chalkboard!  Here's a couple pics I took on Friday, his 1/2 birthday.

"I've grown tired of your incessant picture-taking, woman!"

Happy 5 Months, Waylon!

Life has been crazy busy around here and there's just been no time for blogging.  We are trying to finish the new house enough to move in the next two weeks and are leaving for Chicago in a few days.  Things I'm planning on blogging about in the next two weeks:

-More detailed updates on Waylon, including his upcoming christening

-My experiences in a mom's group

-Dogs and babies

-Moving!

For now, just know that my little 5 month old Waylon-bear is still delightful and gets more handsome by the day.  He smiles all the time and has such a calm, sweet personality.  He loves avocados, sweet potatoes, beans and broth.  Peas and carrots, not so much.  He still sleeps like a champ and is super alert and engaging for his age (at least that's what other people tell me).  He wants to be mobile so badly, he rolls around a lot and prefers standing with assistance to any other position.  Like I said, more later, but here are some pics I've taken in the last month of the little Sprout.  He's starting to look more like his dad, don't you think?

Here's Waylon getting ready to watch some March Madness last weekend.

Bath time!

So fresh and so clean!

And finally, Baby Badass.

Are you vaccinating?

I can't believe it's been exactly one year since we found out we were having a little Bean Sprout!  I felt so panicky that day, mostly about not fitting into my wedding dress and the fact that I knew absolutely nothing about babies.  A year later and...well, my wedding was fantastic but I still know pretty much nothing about babies.  I just know I got really lucky with mine because he's awesome.  (That's not a humble brag.  I'm not sure I'm emotionally equipped for a fussy baby or a bad sleeper/eater, etc.)

Anyway, Waylon had his 4 month check up on Friday and he's 26 inches tall (81st) and weighs 15 lbs, 10 oz (51st).  Developmentally, he's on pace or a little ahead of schedule.  Again, I had no idea what babies are supposed to do when, so this was nice to hear.  He's very expressive in the face, he laughs all the time (I MUST get video of this, it's the cutest thing), he's pretty good at grabbing at/playing with his toys, and he can sit up very well when propped up and for a few seconds on his own.  He rolls over 3/4 of the way but can't quite figure out how to get his arm from under him.  Oh well, he'll get it.  Here's him chilling halfway rolled over.

The other part of the 4-month visit was vaccines.  Can we talk about this for a moment?  I feel like every day I see something about people no longer vaccinating their children for fear of autism/allergies/I'm not sure what else...is anyone still giving their kids vaccines?  I talked to the doctor for a good 20 minutes or so about this because I was kind of on the fence.  Do people still get polio?  Is there any conclusive evidence that says that vaccines = autism?  I really appreciated my doctor taking so much time to talk to me about my concerns.  Ultimately, I decided to give Waylon the shots (reluctantly) because we are going to Mexico in a few months and I'm just not convinced there's a grand conspiracy among pediatricians to harm the children of America.  But I am very curious about why people do or don't choose to vaccinate.  Do share!

In other news, the new house is coming along.  We have about a month to get in there and it seems like we are on pace.  I can't wait to share some new photos once we are done (with a few of the rooms anyway).  Right now I am so sick of scraping wallpaper I could punch someone.  Wallpaper is not the look, people.  Just say no.  Also, who puts paint on 200 year old hardwood floors?  Not stain, not varnish, paint.  Ugh.

Happy 4 Months, Waylon!

I can't believe my little Bean Sprout is already 4 months old!  Waylon is the most joyful baby, he smiles all the time and has the sweetest laugh ever.  He is happiest when listening to music, especially when you dance and sing with him.  Lately he's really been babbling up a storm.  I think we are going to have a little chattypants on our hands!  Check that out below.

I feel like he has been changing almost every day this past month, getting better muscle control when playing with his toys and holding his bottles.  Ever since Way was a tiny baby, he has preferred to be held upright instead of cradled and now his favorite thing to do is "sit-ups" where I hold his hands and he pulls himself up from laying down.  Best baby abs ever!  He is still a little wobbly if he's not propped up against something but I don't think we're far away from him sitting up by himself.  He's almost got the hang of rolling over but he just stays on his side instead of going all the way to his tummy.  He really hates being on his tummy.

I have been checking for teeth every day since someone said they thought he might be teething when we were in Phoenix, but so far I haven't seen anything.  This past week, Waylon finally got the hang of eating cereal and now face-dives at the spoon whenever I hold it up.  It's really cute and I tried to get some video of it but it's hard to feed a little boy and videotape at the same time.

He has his doctor's appointment on Friday so I will find out height and weight then but he grew out of my favorite jeans about a week ago so I know he's getting taller.  He just seems like such a big boy right now!  I look at photos of when we first brought him home and I can't believe what a tiny peanut he was.  He will be moving around on his own in no time so I am trying to enjoy the last few months of him being my little snugglebug.  *Sigh*

Waylon's First Phoenix Adventure

Last Thursday we flew down to Phoenix to attend a wedding and so Waylon could meet the Manos side of his family.  I have to tell you, baby boy did awesome.  He didn't fuss at all, not even during take off or landing, and passengers and flight attendants kept telling us what a good baby he was!  Hooray for having a little champion traveler!

It really was a whirlwind weekend, I felt like as soon as we got there it was already time to leave.  But man, it sure was nice to get out of the cold and snow for a couple of days!  I also felt like Waylon got to spend some quality time with a lot of important people which is so nice, considering that we live so far away from everyone.

On Thursday night there was a little party at Annabelle's that my parents were also invited to so that everyone could see the baby.  I wish he had been in a better mood but the traveling and messed up sleep schedule turned him into a little crankster.  Not his most charming moment.  The next morning he was pretty refreshed and got to hang out with his grandma.  She fed him and then they sang songs together.  Here is a cute photo of them deep in conversation.

On Friday night we had the rehearsal dinner.  Waylon did not start the night in a particularly lovely mood but after some walking around he went to sleep and we ended up having a really nice night.  Some of the fam has suggested that he might be teething but I don't know.  Isn't it kind of early?  And wouldn't he be in more consistently crappy moods?  Eh, what do I know?

Saturday was the wedding and my first night out since Waylon was born.  It was so nice to dress up in normal clothes again and abandon my baby with my parents for a night of adult fun.  I know my parents really enjoyed the time they got to spend with Grandson #2.  Look how nicely I clean up!  (Scott too)

Then all of sudden it was Sunday and time for us to head back to Connecticut.  We didn't get back to our house until almost 3 in the morning and I woke up yesterday feeling like I was dying.  Thanks, Germ King who sat behind us on the plane.  I really appreciate your inability to turn your head when you cough/sneeze/hack.  I hope the little boy doesn't get sick, but with both Scott and I under the weather, I don't know how he can avoid it.

Sorry this is lame entry, but I'm off to take 2000 milligrams of Vitamin C and snuggle under the covers.  I leave you with a pic of the little beast's reaction to avocados this morning.