Seven months!

I just realized while chatting away with my mom today that you are indeed 7 months old today!

We learned a new game you love where we'll crank your mobile, and then stand you up beside it, you love holding out your hands for the little colorful bugs that spin by and when you catch on the biggest smile comes across your face as you try to nibble away at it. If you can reach your mouth with it!

Your teeth continued to grow bigger and bigger and we read somewhere to try to give you a big apple slice to chomp on, so we did and you loved it! You sat with daddy and even started to try to hold it on your own, you wore an awesome groove into that little apple slice. This month you've gone from grasping objects for a few seconds, to grasping objects, bringing them to your mouth and chewing. On anything, facecloth, receiving blanket, apple, mum mum, mommy, daddy and last night you very securely held your heaviest (glass) bottle while eating for a very long time, you do get tired though and then frustrated when it drops out of your mouth.

Auntie Kristy missed you very much and decided to take a day off of work and come out to visit with you. You napped like a champ that day, so she got very little snuggle time, I think she still enjoyed seeing us though :)

You are so very specific on your nap times, not at what time they are but when you decide that it is time for a nap, heaven forbid anyone try and make you stay up! This is a picture I was trying to take of us when you decided that it was nap time!

We went for a sleepover with our friend Amy who is expecting a little girl to be your friend in the next few weeks. Like Amy said there will be Roe & Rae. You again slept very well and were a lovely snuggler to Amy's baby belly. You adored their dog as well, who was not too sure what the heck to do with you!

We went and visited Gary & Susan and their kids for a lovely dinner where you were pretty fabulously behaved. Whenever we take you to the nursery at church, the teen girls always vie to see who gets to hold onto you and when we come back to get you the comments are so very similar. Along the lines of a very sweet and snuggly little boy, very happy :)

We celebrated our first valentine's day with you by heading over to our friends Paul & Alisha's house where we had dinner with them and their 4 gorgeous girls (you dressed up in a little vest I just got for you for them). I made some cupcake which maybe next year you'll get to try when I make them again. It made me laugh so hard when one of their girls suggested that I could also make vanilla cupcakes, as I made chocolate. So maybe next year's will be vanilla!

You've started saying mama and dada with extreme clarity and mostly when snuggling one of us or playing in your exersaucer, we're hoping soon you'll start to establish who's who :)

We had our first Family day together as a 3/4 unit family (with d) and we spent it renovating, we also had some delicious breakfasts this past weekend and I made you a little special onesie on Sunday.

this was you trying to lean into the camera and grab it!

You love to shower, maybe because we introduced it early, maybe due to me forcing you to have one after swimming every week, who knows but you reach your little palm out to the spray of water and smile so big at it.

You daddy and I started trying to get you to take steps on your own while we hold your hands, you took around 20 steps in a row with me holding your hands and just allowing you to do what you wanted with your feet. Then your daddy and I started doing a back and forth routine between the two of us with you. We cheered you on with clapping and smiles and you just ate it up!

We're expecting your two top teeth anytime, we can see you gums receding and you've been a bit off, I am also interested to get you weighed soon as you've eaten non-stop for the last couple of days, in a  1 hour period you nursed, ate rice cereal and fruit, and another serving of rice cereal. Then you were finally content!

We love you so much and love seeing you explore everything!
love mommy (&daddy)

***and then on the eve of your 7th month I said ma-ma to you and you stared at me and repeated ma-ma back, heart melt.

On Superbowl Sunday

You sat up on your own on Suzanne & Rob's table, I think it had something to do with the texture of the table and seeing your shadow from an overhead light. You love when we clap and cheer and the biggest smile comes across your face.
I love you roe roe.

six months

my love. my roe.

You are now 6 months old.

You cut your first tooth last week on Thursday (the 20th of January). It was after a day of amazing napping (3.5 etc hours) at a new friends house and then there it was, your bottom right side front tooth. Sharp as anything, luckily you've not as of yet bitten mommy.

You love solids, love them. Anytime anyone has a bowl, cup, utensil near you, you open your mouth as wide as you can and lean towards it. You eat like a champ, and quickly, forget all that literature about feeding babes slowly, you haven't followed the rulebook much on that one.

We celebrated your first Christmas season, which you honestly seemed to sleep through. I believe I have one sleepy picture of you on Christmas eve and a few from Christmas morning, but other then that you were contentedly sleeping at a relative or friends home on whatever bed we could locate. Thank-you for being so portable in all the crazy travelling we did this and every other Christmas season.

You celebrated new years with your grandparents and you were fabulous (or so we were told). While your dad and I headed out to Toronto for the night. We had a really good almost 2 weeks off with your dad home from work during the holidays, we did some sled rides and just hung out at home as much as we could.

Since the holidays we've started a swim class called babyfit, where you lounge in the water while mommy does aquafit, you're improving every week. The first week it was much too cold for you and we had to get out after about 15 minutes to warm you up.

You're getting much more body strength and you will pull your body forward if we lean you back, not quite sitting yet, but on your way there!

Your grasp and dexterity have improved so much, instead of fumbling for an object, now you'll simply reach right for it, and place it promptly into your mouth to chew on.

You smile, laugh and talk so much now, it makes us smile and the circle continues. A huge smile with short spurts of laughter. You love your exer-saucer as well, you've just started rocking back and forth and making the whole thing move with you; Again you think this is hilarious.

You had your first 24 hour overnight away from us on the eve of your 6 month birthday, word from your grammy, grumpa and nanny is that you were beautiful, I think that means it went pretty well :)

We love you very much and we'r excited to see what this next month will bring.

I love you,
mommy

5 months in

So today you were 24 weeks, I had to google and follow something to another page to put info in to figure out how many weeks old you were, because truth be told I had stopped counting. This post is a few weeks late, to state the obvious. Though I take lots of pictures though to help me remember every little thing I can.

What has transpired this last month? Well you grew. To me you seem so huge now, though people seem to have these whopping infants weighing in at large amounts, you just hit 14 lbs a few weeks ago (around 4.5 months). I weigh you randomly at red tent which we attend every other Friday. I think you enjoy going, I sure do. About a month ago you grabbed another little man's hand while attending red tent and jammed it in your mouth and promptly started chomping away on it, it was pretty adorable.

So the chewing, on a multitude of items, is just adorable to me, unless you're screaming. Than I just want it to stop right in that moment.

For the majority of this month we haven't been able to keep you awake for more than an hour at a time, and then you promptly nap for anywhere from 1.5 to 2.5 hours. It is intense, and it helps me get a lot done (ie. today I made a birthday cake, cleaned, we went on a hike and I made lemon loaf). Some days I think it would be nice if you were awake a bit more too. I know this will happen soon enough though!

We did a lot of travelling in December and you met a lot of new people and had some lovely visits with family and friends. We had your dedication in which almost 30 family members attended and you were so utterly loved as always. We also celebrated your first Hannukah with Zaide & Lori and all of the Silverman family.

You started standing, while leaning on something like the couch on your own. Sometimes you sway back and forth and sometimes your legs just buckle, but your definitely building up your core nice and strongly. I love to hold your hands while you stand and sway back and forth giggling and smiling so big!

You seem to cough when you mean to laugh, a fake tiny cough that is hard to describe, but it is pretty darn adorable.We got a sleigh for you from our neighbors and you seem to like it very much, or more you are subdued by the sub-zero temperatures of northern Ontario.

You've become a FABULOUS baby in your car seat, as long as the radio is on and we're moving and it is your nap time. If any of these things are not in line, we're screwed. You'll scream and scream and cry and scream. So we've learned to be late or early dependent on your schedule. We also started to attempt to schedule you. Instead of eating every 2 hours, we worked it down to every 3-4 and we've introduced a feeding of rice cereal and some fruit before bed. This has made a big impact on how many times you get up in the night.

Everyone who meets/sees you comments on 2 things, your gorgeous big blue eyes and your smile. I couldn't agree with them more when they say how absolutely sweet you are.

I love you very much my roe roe.

mommy.

don't drink and drive

Just a little early Christmas cheer from my little elf.

find yours

I missed the sermon 2 sundays ago, and this past sunday...

but I do have a fabulous husband who told me about the sermon when he went. It was about joy and thankfulness. How we should always be joyful. This led into a conversation about how we always seem to be looking forward to getting over the next step, the next hump, the next big hard thing. Than we'll be able to enjoy life and be joyful.

While we're waiting life happens. Like my tiny roe growing up. I am so excited for when we no longer have to diaper him,and when we can sleep in again, when he can talk and tell us whats going on. If we only focus on getting there we'll miss everything in between. And we do not want that.

Right now we're planning on me heading back to school in September, for 2 full-time years. They're gonna be tough, full of school debt and having someone else looking after our little man. And we keep finding ourselves talking about when I am done school. Just like we used to talk about "After he is born". Than we reflect on what we'd miss out on if we just fast forwarded the next 2 years, all the good. All the joy, all the love, all the memories.

So we're focusing on the now, sure there are things we'd change, but it is not possible right now. So we're gonna focus on the now and reflect on the joy and photograph as many memories as we can and realize that this is life that we're living.

I hope you try to as well and find the joy in the simple everyday. Make your neighbor some cookies. Go for a walk in the snow. Call up an old friend, on the phone. Love others. Find your joy.

Merry Christmas & Happy Hannukah

4 Months

You were 4 months old yesterday. A third of a year if you will, which makes it sound crazy. Everyone and my mother keeps telling me to enjoy it while I can, as it goes by far too fast. Maybe I am alone on this one but I am excited with each passing day, to see you grow and develop. I am so excited to one day be done cloth diapering you and to have you carry on a conversation with me.

This month has lead to a ton more interaction between you and I. You have started laughing, a real little laugh which is so contagious, and your dad and I watch you laugh and coo for so long and than laugh at our newness and excitement of each of these moments. You also rolled over for the first time, I was having a shower and when I got out I found you awake, upset and rolled over! At about 3.5 months old.

We were given an exersaucer from a friend and you love it! Your feet barely reach the ground and there are these three musical song buttons which you press over and over and over, smiling the whole while. So impressed with yourself!

You had your first Halloween, which you almost slept through, you woke up around 9 pm and we quickly got you outfitted and took you over to two of our neighbor's homes. They just love you around here!

We've had lots of fun this past month meeting so many of our friends new babies who've been born in these past few months. You met Julianna, Eva, Jacob, Oakley, baby Rae (in her mommy's tummy), Owen, Julia and Titus (and his brothers and cousin). We've also been able to introduce you to some new aunties and uncles for you, again they've loved you.

When we're at home you are so calm and content but if we take you outside of our home, you seem well just out of sorts. So we've started staying home a bit more.

Your sleep patterns have taken a HUGE turn, for the harder. You now wake up consistently every 2-3 hours a night. Its proven even tougher to adjust back to the way you were when we first came home. Our 6 week teaser of you sleeping 8 hours a night seems a far far distant memory. Hopefully we'll get back there soon.

You my little man are teething like crazy! You have molars coming in. MOLARS. You let us know when you need some special soothing by grabbing and jamming anything you can into your mouth and chomping away at it. We can see the white teeth buds just waiting to break through....and waiting.

You've also begun to take an interest in our meals. Your daddy and I will sit you up on the table in your Bumbo while we're eating and the intensity in which you watch us is so sweet. So on the day you turned 4 months old I gave you the tiniest bit of rice cereal and some apples. You seemed somewhat indifferent to the whole food thing, but you did swallow it, which shows us that you're getting closer and closer to integrating some solids into your diet.

Your dad and I are busy getting ready for your dedication this coming weekend, we have over 30 guests who will be in attendance to join us in celebrating you! I know it will be a fabulous day and once again I'd like to say thank-you God for choosing us to be your parents.

I love you to the moon and back my roe roe

mommy. xox