hairy baby

So the weekend before Christmas, Brooks received his third haircut.  Yep, that's right ... his third!  He also received haircuts at 2 and 4 months, each time taking about 1/2 inch off.  I can only imagine what he would look like if we never cut it.  Here's some pics from his last trim.  Look at all that hair ... and he still has some on his head!  What a hairy baby!

 Look at all that hair!  It's all over his back and arms too.

 My handsome little boy with his new haircut!

6 months

I know I'm a bit late on this post, but on Wednesday our little guy turned 6 months old!  I'm starting to understand why parents say "they grow up so fast".  It's true.  What scares me is that in 6 more months he'll be a year old!!!  I'm not ready for a one year old.  But I truley love having a 6 month old in the house.  He is soooo much fun.  Here's an update on what's been going on in our house.

• Brooks starting eating solid foods about a month ago.  Started with rice cereal then moved on to all the homemade baby food I prepared over the last few weeks.  So far we've tried squash and peas(and I say we because I'm always a bit curious about how it tastes).  Squash is a hit!  Peas will take more work.  He's a good little eater.
• He is now fully aware that the dog exists.  He reaches for Charlie and has on a few occasions grabbed his ears or fur.  I was nervous about how the exchange would go, but I'm so proud of our goofy little pooch.  He just walks away when he's being harassed.  Charlie has also taken to licking Brook's fingers - quite funny if you ask me.  What's even funnier is that Brooks has the attitude of "eh, no big deal."  What a laid back kid.
• This is Brook's first Christmas! He helped decorate the tree last week with mom and dad. And by "help" I mean he puts all the Christmas ornaments in his mouth, then we pry them out of his hands to actually put them on the tree. But he loves looking at the lights and the shiny decorations. I'm just glad that since he's not mobile our tree is safe .... for now.
• Brooks loves to explore everything.  I know that's totally normal for his age, but it's so exciting to see him discover the things around him.  For instance, he loves water.  Whether it's a running faucet or spray from the shower, he loves it!  He touches it, then tries to hold it, then tries to eat it (see the following point).
• Brooks puts EVERYTHING in his mouth.  I mean it ... whatever he can hold onto goes straight into his mouth ... toys, fingers, the dog's ear, blankets, his clothes, his feet, the changing table railing ... you name it.  If it's close to his mouth, it's in it.  Which leads me to the next big news ...........
• He has TEETH!!!  My little guy has teeth!  No wonder he's been chewing on everything.  I wasn't sure if I would be happy or sad at his dental progress, but I was giddy with excitement.  He's so cute with those two little teeth poking out of his bottom gums.

So that's Brook's life in a nutshell (which means that's pretty much our life too).  Next week we'll be traveling to Green Bay, WI to spend Christmas with my parents.  I'm so excited about the trip.  I find I need to physically remove myself from the busyness of life before I can relax and enjoy Christmas.  We're going to try driving at night so Brooks will hopefully sleep most of the time.  We'll see how it goes.  Merry Christmas!

Wal-Mart Wellness Center

This morning I made a list of all the things I had to do and it got me thinking. "Grocery shopping" and "make lunch" were on the same list wtih no distinction in difficulty whatsoever. I feel jipped. Making lunch takes no more than 15 minutes. "Grocery shopping", well, it's a bit more work to say the least. Here's what goes into my weekly Wal-Mart trip:

feed baby, immediately pack up baby (time is ticking), dog-proof the house (dumb dog), load up the car, drive into Sioux Falls, find a parking spot, haul car seat into store, hoist car seat into shopping cart, unbundle baby (so he doesn't over-heat), find toys for him to play with and ...

whew ... now we're ready to begin shopping.

shop for household items, shop for groceries (first dairy products, then meats, produce, frozen, and finally box and canned goods - it's very choreographed), proceed to check-out, unload everything out of cart, load everything back into cart, pay for groceries, soothe crying baby (he ALWAYS cries in the check-out line - who knows why), push heavy cart to car, load baby back into car, take all groceries out of cart and load into car (this is now the 4th time I've lifted these groceries), put cart away (I hate people who leave carts in the parking lot), start car and leave.

oh wait, we're not done yet. Brooks at this point may or may not be crying. On a good day, I've managed my time well and he's sleeping or happily looking out the window. On a not so good day, I've taken too long and now he's getting hungry. But before the outing is over I ...

drive home, park the car, bring baby, purse and diaper bag into house, make three more trips out to the car to bring in all the groceries. If Brooks is screaming I break to feed him, then proceed to move all my items yet one more time into their designated space at home. Put car seat away and ... DONE! If you lost count, by the end of my trip I have lifted/moved the same groceries six times. SIX TIMES!! No wonder I'm exhuasted after it all.

So when I say I've been "grocery shopping" please read into it everything I've just explained above. Thank you.

on the move

One Monday night at the gym all the moms gathered around to give their babies a nice massage. I look over to see calm, relaxed babies enjoying the gentle rubs. Then I look at my child. He's flipped to his tummy. Then he kicks his legs, lifts his head to look around, arches his back to get a better view and rolls back over. He grabs his toes, then eats them. He doesn't stop moving. So much for "relaxing"! Sheesh.

Then it got me thinking about all the moving our little 5 1/2 month old baby does, and he's quite an active little guy. Here's a slice of his day.

He reaches for mom. reaches for dad. reaches for toys. holds toys. rolls from tummy to back. lifts up head. rolls from back to tummy. kicks legs. rocks in chair. giggles when tickled. rocks in car seat. (he learned to rock himself). jumps up and down. stands up. flaps arms. sits up. grabs toes. eats toes. rolls to side. holds pacifier. rolls to other side. rides "bike". snuggles. goes to sleep.

whew. that's a lot of movement for a baby who doesn't even crawl or walk. All I can think is we better keep our running shoes on!

Happy Pumpkin Day

Saturday morning Chris decided he was going to make pancakes for breakfast, one of his favorites. But these ones had a festive flair! Happy Pumpkin Day.

Look mom!

Looks like somebody found his toes!!

Like puppy like son??

Ok, so for as long as I can remember our dog Charlie has had this strange habit of sucking on blankets. No really, sucking on them. He doesn't chew on them (because he gets in trouble for that), just sucks on them. He gathers the blanket between his paws, wraps his mouth around it and goes to town. It's so weird, but I guess if it makes him happy, who am I to stop him?

Well, being that Brooks is 4 months old and likes to put everything in his mouth, I knew this was bound to happen. Both my little guys sucking on their blankets at the same time. ::sigh:: Only in our house!