Dallas Blooms Baby

Last month, when the tulips were still with us, S and I set out to go to Dallas Blooms with the boy to get some photos in the flowers. As many times as I've been to the Dallas Arboretum, I had never been during Dallas Blooms. This is because we used to live near the place, and the streams and streams of cars going at this time of year were enough to keep me away. But, now that I have a little boy to photograph, I was tempted to try it. And, sister, it is always a lovely place. But, it is even MORE gorgeous during Dallas Blooms! It is totally, totally worth braving the crowds to go. We will go back every year now. Following are some photos of the boy with the flowers. I took some cool flower photos too, sans boy. I'll load those into another post.

Here we go:

Checking out which flower to grab first...

The outfit LM has on was purchased last fall on clearance at the Strasburg Children's store. We were there purchasing a baptism outfit, and grabbed up some great deals on a couple of cute little baby boy summer things in a 12mo size. The lady said their clothes ran big, and this played out for the baptism outfit, so I was really quite worried this little outfit might be too big. Ahem. Well, it wasn't too big at all. In fact, it was a little tight around the tummy, shall we say, causing issues with it laying correctly and keeping the straps in place. But, we made it work.

Funny face.

It really took a lot of tries to get a good photo of the boy. He was VERY distracted by the people, the flowers, the grass...really, the best photos were at the end of the trip. So, here are some of the good ones, and some funny ones of him NOT cooperating at all.

Very cute...I need to edit out Daddy's hand though.
He was VERY worried the boy would fall from the rock.


Oops...sorry, he got a petal.
I'm sure it was moments from falling off itself...


Confiscated immediately.


The constant "fixing" of the outfit...over the belly.


He was also rather enamored with picking grass.


And eating pansy petals...again, sorry.


Here's Daddy trying to conjure up enough of a distraction to get a smile.


Immediately after that, more grass lost its life.
Distraction fail. We moved on.


In between we made him wear this hat.
He has now learned how to take the hat off.
Sunscreen, anyone?


My two boys. I love 'em both so much!



In the middle of all this "fun" he took a nap.
During that time, we checked out the art show that was going on.
Very nice.


My pack mule - er, husband.


During photos at this location, he was not cooperating SO much
that we were actually laughing out loud at his antics.


Really, seriously, Mom, Dad, are we done here?


The grass killer struck again!


Then there was THIS location. WAIT! Grab the child before he...
That flower survived. Dad to the rescue.


We later came upon this child size bench.
He seemed to like that it was his size.


And, finally, we saw some smiles.


THERE'S my sweet boy.
Suitable for framing.


Eating the bench was also mandatory. Ahem.


Then, right at the end, finally, it was as if he noticed we were there, entertaining him!


And we caught a few sweet shots.


Look! A tooth!


My favorite.


It was a long day for the boy. He was a trooper.

See you soon.

8 months old

This was the first month when I actually have OTHER things to post, because we're getting out and "doing" more. But, alas, I haven't figured out how to get to the actual posting yet. So, I am here with another month gone by to tell you about this boy of ours.

Seven months on Nana's quilt.

LM turned eight months old on Wednesday, March 23rd. He is growing and changing, sometimes, I SWEAR, overnight. There was one morning when I picked him up out of that crib and I PROMISE he was bigger than when I put him to bed. It's amazing.

Our little monster.

He is babbling even more. Mostly with the same words, but also with lots of screams and squeals and grunts too. More range, I guess you would say.

Before the first swim class, that cousin Sophia took with him.

He LOVES to take baths now. He splashes like a wild man! It's so funny to watch him. It's hard to take him out of the bath when it's time because he just having so much fun. He and S took some swim lessons this month, and he was a wild man there too, splashing the water. He had a blast and then some. He would get SO tuckered out by the end of the class. I, of course, took photos, and you can see the sleep creeping up on him as the class progresses as you look through the photos. I'll do another post about swimming soon.

Splashing at swim class.



Toward the end of the first class - TIRED.

He is not crawling yet, but he is mobile. He gets around by rolling or scooting while sitting up or sort of froglegging it. I am not worried about him hitting the actual crawling milestone. I am instead trying to enjoy every last bastion of subsistence where I can sort of control where he is.

A typical sleeping position - butt in the air.


Another sleep pose - I love those thunder thighs!

Little Man finally got a tooth about halfway through the last month! Lower right, but you hardly see it, because he always has his tongue over it. But it's there! And, I even caught one or two photos where he's grinning wide enough where it's sort of visible. (And one photo is in the April header... look very closely and you'll see it too!)

Clapping!

The little big guy has some new favorite things to do. He likes to clap! He likes to bang things together. He likes to laugh at Mommy and Daddy. We definitely are funny to him. He thinks his teacher Ms. Jackie is also funny.

When we put him in the swing, he reaches out and stops himself. Ahem.

He still, amazingly to me, goes to just about anyone. I wonder when or if that will change. He also will stare you down if we are in a public place and you are not making eye contact with him. He wants everyone to look at him and say hello. Of course, most people do. He finds "big kids" fascinating. They are way cooler than adults, and he has figured out that the grandparents will oogle over him more. He saves up the really sweet smiles for this bunch.

I took some more photos for the store at work.
This is one.


And so is this.


And also this.
His wiggliness factor has increased exponentially.
Makes it harder to get a good "product" photo.

His hair is coming in thicker, mostly in the back, but as it thickens up, it is definitely curly. Poor kid. He's destined to have his parents' unruly curly hair of some variety. Changing him has sort of become an Olympic sport. He wiggles and twists and tries to get away when you're changing a diaper or putting on clothes. I try to distract him with something to hold, like a bottle of lotion or a pack of wipes. This works about 80% of the time. The rest of the time, you just better hold on and be fast. At school, they have a wind chime above the changing table. I've noticed Ms. Jackie uses this to distract him just long enough to get that diaper back on.

One outfit I dressed him in before it warmed up.
He's my real life baby doll!

He still likes the pacifier. We try to keep it to a bed only sort of thing, but sometimes we let him have it if he's not feeling well or teething. He hasn't really taken to any other sort of "thing" like a blanket or stuffed toy. It will be interesting to see if he does that or not.

Enjoying Dallas Blooms at the arboretum.
Hopefully another post about this will be forthcoming too...

We are enjoying our playgroup that meets once a month. It is of course at this point more for the parents than the children, but it will be fun to watch the children grow and start to interact with one another more and more.

Eight months on Nana's quilt.
Do you think he was going to lie down for a quilt photo? No WAY!



Sweet boy.

We are still completely head over heels in love with this little creature. It's just great.

I think the quilt photos have irreversibly changed...

See you soon.

7 months old

That boy, he keeps growing. Another month behind us on this fast, short baby journey. LM turned seven months old on February 23rd. Here are some photos and updates on the last month.

Six months old on Nana's quilt

This sweet boy of ours has continued to grow and develop. He was teething almost the entire month from 6 to 7, but still has no teeth. He tried even more new food and started sleeping fewer lours during the day. And he has become more vocal. WAY more vocal.

I took him out in the sun one day for a few photos.

He says "babbababababa" and "blah blah blah" and "mmmmmmmmmmma" and "drandle" and "uh" "la" "ha" "ooph" and other such very important things. He has this growling noise he uses when he's really into playing with something or when he wants you to know he is not the most happy with the situation - hungry, tired, etc.

He wasn't the biggest fan of this action.

Our Little Man is still the sweetest thing - always smiling and generally happy. We have had a few days where he wasn't feeling so sweet because of the whole teething thing. Actually, the weekend we were in Indiana he had one such day - probably the first of those days when I really knew he was teething. After a couple of days like that, I said to my mom, "No teeth yet!" She laughed and said, "Of course not!" I didn't realize what a long process it is. I thought - tooth pain, tooth will come out! Not so much. We're STILL working on getting that first tooth through.

But when Daddy came out to entertain it was alright.

He sits up much more stably now, really able to flail his arms and legs around and not topple over. He is not crawling yet, but he gets around a little bit. He rolls - not across the room you understand - but, on the playmat from a little ways away, to toys he is interested in checking out. We have this little toy that is supposed to move away from him and encourage him to go get it. Well, it doesn't quite work out that way because LM manhandles it to where it's not sitting upright most of the time. Ahem. I actually think the only thing that might motivate him to "move" across the room to get it would be one of our animals. He LOVES them and wants to get near them all the time. Of course, they are not as big of fans of his, but they do pretty good tolerating him. Once he IS moving, they better WATCH OUT!

I am absolutely, positively in love with this boy.

He still gets frustrated on his belly because he can't quite figure out how to get up and go. But one day soon I'm sure he will. He loves to play in the exersaucer still, since he is upright in that space. He also still likes to check out the baby in the mirror, but he is not quite so enamored with him as he was last month.

And this guy is too.

I am still trying to find that work-life balance after becoming a mom. I feel like after four months of doing it I am finally starting to figure it out. I am sure, though, as he grows and changes and is involved in new things this figuring out will continue. What I should say is I feel like I am keeping the plates spinning a little better than I did when I first went back to work. I feel more in the groove, I guess. I am still pumping at work to feed him breastmilk, and I still think I will make it a year...I am just no longer worried about giving it up. I love it, I am so glad I've gotten to do it, I am so happy it has worked out for us. But, when the year is up I will be alright with it ending. I will have more control over what I eat then, and will have a little more time in my schedule. Perhaps I will be able to add more exercise in at that point. It will be okay to move on.

I mean, what's not to love?

I still regularly look over at this little boy we created and cannot believe he exists. Really. I mean, it is amazing. Amazing he is here. Amazing how my life has changed. Amazing the crazy ride we are now on with him. Truly amazing! How lucky I am to be his mother. A mother. It's quite a gift.

Seven months old on Nana's quilt

I have some video I've taken here and there - if I can figure out how to get it uploaded to Flickr so I can post it here, I'll do it! I hope to have some video up in the next month. We shall see how it goes. Until then...

See you soon.

Holiday Memories

As I post this, it's March and my header still says February. So, it will be no surprise that I'm posting photos about Christmas in March either. Ha.

I decided to try this new website, Pummelvision, to create a video montage of all the Christmas photos I took. And, it worked like a charm. It included all the photos taken, so some are blurry, sideways or otherwise. But, it's a quick look at all the Indiana photos and the few Dallas photos, and at the very end, a montage of photos we took of Luke sitting next to his Christmas presents. You know, so one day in the future when he says we never gave him anything we have proof.

The music isn't much to listen to, so just turn it off it you want. Then you can add your own soundtrack!

Enjoy:

I hope to do something similar with his birth photos. I'll post it when I get it done. When he's 18.

See you soon.