Swingin' Buddy

Today is such a beautiful day! JD and I have spend most of his awake time outside wearing short sleeves.... we started by painting the last portion of the fence and then we took a walk to the swings in the neighborhood. He loves the big boy swings!

Here are some more pictures because I always take a gajillion and can never pick just one to post on here!

Here's Buddy in his stroller all ready to go.... this was even before we got dressed this morning!

And.... JD's newest trick.... closing his bedroom door. I like to encourage independent play so I'll sit him in the middle of his bedroom with some toys. It doesn't take long for him to crawl over to his door to play with the door stop.... the other day he discovered that the door swings. I was sitting in the hall watching him and he closed his door almost all the way! I told him he's not allowed to lock me out of his room yet!

Dave's parents have been in town for the past week and JD is enjoying his time with Nana and Poppy. We've stayed very busy and JD has been a very good boy all week long!! I'll leave you with a video of JD on the swing....

Getting Around

He's not actually crawling yet but he does the "army crawl" and gets to where he wants to be.... here's a very quick video demonstrating!

Light Speed

I feel like we're moving at the speed of light these days! All the new teeth... he's right on the verge of crawling (he now does the "army crawl" and gets to where he wants to be)... He will now walk while holding on to my fingers - I don't mean a couple of steps - he'll walk all over the house!.... and he's starting to eat chunks of food instead of just purees (see picture of him excited about kiwi above).

I know this is just the beginning... I'll blink my eyes and he'll be going to kindergarten!

Tooth #5

Well, tooth #5 broke through JD's top gum today.... the one that I've been watching for several days now. I don't see any more trying to come in but that's not to say I won't have another one sneak up on me like tooth #4 did!

Tooth #4!

So I posted a few days ago that tooth #3 made it's appearance on the top and I thought that it's neighbor would be tooth #4.... NOPE!

Tooth #4 totally surprised me yesterday morning on the bottom! I didn't even know that he was cutting another tooth on the bottom... I was strapping him in his car seat when he smiled at me and there it was... already broken through the gum! No wonder he's been a little clingy lately... he's a tooth factory these days! I guess the tooth that I can see just under the gum on the top will be tooth #5!

So we had a busy day yesterday. JD woke at 6:15 AM (ugh!) and went down for his first nap around 8:00 AM. When he woke we packed up and left for the day at 9:15. We went to Target first and then to my parents house (where I had oyster stew and fried shrimp for lunch!). After my parents house we went grocery shopping and finally returned home around 5:30 in the evening. Buddy and I were both worn out but he was such a good boy all day long. He didn't fuss once.... not once! Here are some pictures of our day:

JD strapped into his new "big boy" car seat!

I like this picture because it shows his pretty blue eyes!


Here he is practicing his crawling on the floor at my parents house.... If he really wants something he can get to it by scooting on his belly. Most of the time, though, he cries for me to come help him!


Bath time after a busy day... Mommy thought it would be funny to put his name on his back with his bath letters..... He was oblivious, of course, because he was concentrating so much on his toys!

JD is VERY excited that Nanny and Poppy will be here on Saturday for three whole weeks! I'm sure I'll have lots and lots of new pictures to post during those three weeks.....

Valentne's Day

Thanks to those who thought about us on Valentine's Day. If you're not sure why I'm saying this, it's because Valentine's Day was the first anniversary of losing Ashlyn. Yes, I went to the doctor on Valentine's Day last year and found out our little girl had passed away.

I think the anxiety leading up to the day was worse than the actual day.... Dave and I had a quiet day at home with JD. We grilled steaks for dinner and didn't do much, really. We did take the time to remember Ashlyn during one of JD's naps. We brought out her box and just looked through all of her things.... the tiny pink T-shirt we bought for her last year in St. Thomas, her ultrasound pictures, the cards we received in the weeks after her death and, of course, her ashes.

I think this day will be a source of anxiety for me for many years... it sucks when something like this falls on a significant day. I used to love Valentine's Day but now it's kind of like I don't know how I'm "supposed" to react to that day.....

Dave did great, though. Knowing that I probably wouldn't want to celebrate on Saturday, he did Valentine's Day on Wednesday... flowers, chocolate, wine... the works!

More new stuff...

So JD started fussing around 3:00 AM last night. I went in to replace the pacifier and he was SITTING UP in his crib! Wait, what? Sitting up? Yes! Sitting up! This is the first time he's been able to get to the sitting position on his own. I was shocked to say the least! He went back to his usual lay-on-my-tummy-and-cry-til-mom-sits-me-back-up routine for the rest of the day.

Another new thing: He's started saying mamamamama. Mostly when he's fussy or when he's sitting in his high chair and wanting more Cheerios. This makes me happy, of course, but I don't think he's deliberately saying "mama".... I think he's just talking for now... but I'll take it!

If I stand with him in front of me and hold his hands he will actually take several steps (if he's in the mood)... it's very cute!

Finally: This morning I sat him on the floor right in front of the couch and he came so close to pulling himself up. He got up on his knees, which is more than he's ever done, and reached for me (I was sitting on the couch).... then later this evening I stood him up while he held on to the couch and he actually "cruised" the length of one couch cushion to get the remote control... which is like his favorite thing ever right now!

I really must get on the ball with the babyproofing!

8 Months!

So that means there's only 4 more months until my little baby turns 1?!?!?! Not possible! He's such a big boy now.... in fact, he's starting to look more like a little boy and less like a baby every day!

He is now 27 inches (yes, he's grown a full 6 inches since he was born) and weighs 18.5 pounds. He's not crawling yet but will get up on his knees and rock so I know he'll be mobile any day now. He LOVES to eat Cheerios in his high chair and he still loves bath time.

Here is today's picture in the chair with the bear. The poor bear now gets molested when JD is near.... gone are the days when he would sit still for pictures! He still wanted to play with the bear when we were finished with pictures so I let him stand and hold on to the chair. This is his new favorite thing to do. He can't get to this position by himself but if I stand him up next to the chair or the couch or his crib he'll hold on and laugh for quite a while!

Oh! One more thing... tooth #4 is on it's way! The top tooth I wrote about a few days ago is through the gums and I can see it's neighbor will arrive shortly. I hope it comes soon. He's been a fussy, clingy monster the past few days!!

Bring on the food frenzy!

I've made the decision to stop nursing JD. In fact, I nursed him for the last time this morning..... I'm kind of sad but mostly OK with the decision.

Since my supply was so diminished we were down to nursing only in the morning. And lately it was beginning to resemble a wrestling match. He's just so squirmy and distracted I was having a hard time getting him to sit still long enough to nurse. I knew he wasn't eating much so I would make him a bottle and he would get all excited when he saw the bottle... that's how I knew it was time to hang it up.

So this morning, after I nursed my baby for the very last time.... I had chocolate for breakfast! Oh how I've missed chocolate. I haven't had dairy since July.... that's 7 months without chocolate! And tonight we're ordering a pizza with extra cheese for dinner....oh how I've missed pizza!

So I also have to brag about my incredibly thoughtful husband here because he provided the chocolate for this morning's breakfast! Knowing that I will probably not feel much like celebrating on Saturday, it being the anniversary of when we found out Ashlyn had died, he decided to do Valentine's Day a little early. While I was cooking dinner last night he snuck Valentine's Day surprises into the garage and lured me out there. Imagine my surprise when I was faced with a dozen red roses, two bottles of wine, a bottle of raspberry vodka (great for making tabtinis) and chocolate! I have the best husband ever!

Today is also JD's 8 month "birthday".... we'll do his picture in the chair with the bear after his morning nap. I'll be sure to post it later today. It's supposed to be 72 and sunny here today so we're going to take a walk after lunch to the swings by the neighborhood pool. They have baby swings and I know JD will love them!

Valentine's Day Photo Shoot

Hehe... so you all know how much fun I have with our little in-home photo shoots. I had to do one for Valentine's Day, of course! Here are a handful of my favorites:

This was also JD's first experience with candy.... needless to say, he loved it. He was a sticky mess from head to toe when we were done!

New Stuff

It's so hard to believe how big he's gotten! Every day he makes us laugh.... some of the new things he's doing:

~ He now sleeps on his tummy. As soon as I lay him in the crib he rolls right over. What's even better is that he'll play in his crib for a good 15 or 20 minutes after he wakes up in the morning!

~ He has started giving us the sign for milk. We've been showing him that sign since he was about 4 months old and last week he finally did it. Although, I don't think he quite knows what he's doing. He mostly does it when he's in his high chair eating.

~ He's trying so hard to crawl... but ends up just scooting backwards. Then he gets mad and starts crying.

~ If I'm sitting on the floor playing with him all he wants to do is pull up on me and stand. When he gets to a standing position he smiles really big and laughs like he's just so proud of himself!

~ There is no more laying down in the bathtub. And his bath seat makes it too hard to actually wash him. So he sits in a corner of the tub and splashes away... it's really funny!

~ Finally, tooth #3 has broken through! JD is getting his first top tooth!

That's all I can think of for now. I can't believe he'll be 8 months old next week....and yes, I have already started planning his first birthday party (sniff, sniff).

Babies Playing

Today was a cold and busy day! We ended up taking Sammy to the vet this morning because she sneezed her head off all night. JD loved looking at the dogs in the lobby.... turns out poor Sammy has an upper respiratory infection and will be on antibiotics for the next 10 days.

After the vet I took JD to my friend Liz's house to play with Kendall. Turns out our play dates now actually involve babies playing! Here are some pictures and one video of our day:

Here is JD all bundled up and ready to go... he is just so stinkin cute in that hat I have to take a picture every time he wears it!

Here is JD playing in Kendall's walker. The little thing that he's about to hit that says "Hunny" lights up and plays music... that's why he's about to hit it!

Sweet little Kendall. She has the prettiest blue eyes... and they're framed by the most perfect eyelashes I've ever seen... this kid's gonna be a heartbreaker!

Apparently Kendall's swing is MUCH more fun than the swing we have at home... he certainly doesn't get this excited about ours!

This is Liz's dog, Bella. JD loves Bella!

This picture isn't from today... it's from about 2 days ago. I decided to bring his whole container of toys out of the closet. He had so much fun digging through it... and the hat is one that a friend gave me while I was pregnant. I was trying it on to see if it fit him yet... it does and it is C-U-T-E! I'm glad he doesn't mind wearing a hat. That will make pool and beach trips much easier this summer!

New Blog

Who would have thought that I would start a cooking blog of all things?!?!?! Well, it's kind of a specialized cooking blog. It's dairy-free, soy-free foods.

The idea of cutting dairy from your diet is kind of daunting but cutting soy seems downright impossible once you start reading labels! I really wish I could have found something like this a couple of months ago to give me ideas on what to eat besides sauce-less meats and veggies. The truth is, if you read enough labels in the grocery store you'll find that some BBQ sauces or spaghetti sauces are soy free! But I have wasted A LOT of time reading labels... and I'm sure it's not even close to over!

This blog will hopefully help someone else out that is in my position but it's also a way for me to keep up with some of the meals I've made that I can safely eat! By adding labels I can click on "chicken" for instance, if I have chicken thawed and can't think of what I want to do with it. By clicking my chicken label it will bring up all of my chicken dishes that I've made in the past and posted.

I used to go to Allrecipes.com and wade through page after page of chicken dishes until I found one that sounded good.... now I can't even have 90% of those so it's a colossal waste of my time. Hopefully this system will help be a time saver.

My last hope for this blog is that my friends and family will peek at it when we're invited over for dinner to get ideas of what I can and can't eat. I've been invited to dinner several times and I always get asked "what can you eat?" I don't want it to be stressful for anybody else either... this way I can tell them to look at my blog for ideas!

Anyway, the blog address is www.dairyand soyfreedishes.blogspot.com. Check it out if you're so inclined!

Our friends Jason and Christene came over for dinner last night with their three year old daughter, Kason. We had a great time but I think Kason and JD had even more fun! She is the sweetest, gentlest three year old I have ever seen.... and she loved when JD sat on her lap! She's been asking to hold him ever since he was born and last night she finally got to (with a little "help" of course). And JD loved her! He loves to watch and interact with other children!

Today is Super Bowl Sunday.... we don't have any big plans but Jason and Christene invited us over to their house so we may do that.