Five Month Old Fun, Foods and Photos

While we were on the beach you turned 5 months old! And we were so busy doing beachy things, that we didn't have time to do any new developmental milestones and tricks with you.

So the second we got back home to Dallas, we rolled out some new fun, food and photo sessions.

First off, we took your five month picture which, as you can see above, turned out great. There were tons of you smiling, but, unfortunately, you're an animated smiler and all the smiley shots turned out blurry. And you were pretty fidgety, and quite interested in your feet a lot too.




See? So, we had to stick with "Serious 5 month-old." After the photo shoot you were in a super playful mood and we had a fun time playing "Daddy makes me laugh, I will touch his beard and then Eat Daddy's Head." It's a really great game.

Don't worry...I think that my hair gel just makes it LOOK like my hair is thinning.

After the photo session, we were able to let you try a toy that, just a few weeks prior, you were far too small to play in. So I hooked up the door-jam-bouncy-swing thing and let you have at it...and despite a few moments of curious trepidation...
...you really loved it! You struck a pose,
Turned around,
And generally bounced all around!

We even have video evidence of what an incredible bouncer you are!

Your Mom and I were so thrilled that on your first outing you had such a fun time! It also made us wish that they made bouncy door jam swings for adults.

And since you worked up such an appetite working out on the bounce master, you had to have a big meal to top it off and replenish all those burnt calories. So, we gave you your first solid foods!

Keep in mind here that 'solid' foods is a relative term. Your first non breast-milk meal was...drum roll please... RICE CEREAL served in a Breast Milk reduction broth. Otherwise known as "gruel" or "mostly breast milk." But it was definitely thicker than anything you'd ever eaten before...and definitely your first time using a spoon...and you were brilliant at it!







I even set up our new waterproof camera (which turned out to be very useful while feeding a baby) on a tripod and I recorded video of your entire first feeding frenzy!

We had you all nekked for your first feeding, but the good news about you starting on 'solids' is that -well, besides all the developmental and nutritional advancements- we finally get to start using the thousands of bibs you have! So, get your bib on and get ready to eat!

So, after three nights of progressively thicker and thicker rice gruel, you were finally able to switch to something more meaningful...like whirled peas. And, as your bib said, you did give peas a chance! And you loved them too!

After three nights of peas came three nights of SQUASH, which you squished all over your face and in your mouth. Squash was a smashing success too!

Judging by the way you're mimicking us when we eat and by the way you eyeball our motions when we feed ourselves on top of this stellar 9-day first feeding frenzy, I'd have to go ahead and call you a grade A eater!

Eight bibs down and 92 to go!

This week was also super cool because you got to have a special baby sitter! No, it wasn't Mimi or Pops or Grandma (formerly known as Nanneh)...it was your Godmother, Aunt Kari!

Auntie Kari got to stay with you all week and had a super fun time with you. She didn't feel up to writing a guest blog entry because she said she wasn't funny or witty. I told her that your Mom tells me I'm not funny or witty all the time, and I still write and that Mimi and Pops didn't INTEND to be hilarious in their guest post. But, we respect our Godmothers' opinions around these parts and, so, Kari's amazing photographs (and hilarious video) will tell you her deepest insights about the week she spent kindly babysitting you!

Aunt Kari's week also happened to be a very special kind of week as well: it was SHARK WEEK! Aunt Kari let you watch a little bit of shark week in the afternoons and you really seemed to follow a roller coaster ride of emotional reactions to a week all about shark attacks. It's only natural to react this way!

As you can see, you really sank your teeth into Shark week, which is actually perfectly fitting because, I almost forgot to tell you, over the past two weeks (Galveston week and Shark week), you sprouted your very own TEETH!

I haven't been able to snap a picture yet, but, I definitely saw the outlines of little subterranean chompers on your bottom jaw in Galveston while you were particularly upset and screaming bloody murder (don't worry...I calmed you down with a soothing song!)

And then last week your little vampire teeth emerged from their gummy prisons and finally, over last weekend, reared their sharp, pointy little heads.

They are still very tiny, and still causing you a lot of grief and pain (thank modern medicine for teething tablets, gel and orajel), but you've definitely cut two little itty bitty (sharp as hell) teeth and are trying to chew on everything in sight to ease the pain. That's why Toby and Preston are keeping their distance and breast feeding is a sensitive subject!

But with one more tooth almost on its way to the surface, I don't think your teething is taking a break now that Shark Week's over.

In fact, judging by your appetite and the chompers, by the end of the summer we may be dealing with a Jaws all of our own!

Oh yeah, and you got to meet one of me and your mom's very dear friends: Brianne!

We told you that she didn't bite so that you wouldn't be too scared...but we sure couldn't honestly say the same for you!

Life's a Beach!

Well, it looks like we've been gone for a long time. And we were!

Over the week of your 5-month-iversary you got to take your first trip to the Beach!

And no, it wasn't some crazy old dream: your Mommy was there, your Daddy was there, Your Mimi was there, your Pops was there, 3 of your Uncles, 3 of your Aunts and all of your cousins (so far) were there too! And 1 of those aunts, 1 of those uncles and 2 of those cousins had never met you before...how exciting was that!?!


This adventure was too crazy for words. So I'll stop writing and just let the pictures and videos we took on our cool new HD under-water-safe digital video camera do the talking.

I realize this is a bit like looking at someone else's baby pictures, but it really isn't...because they're YOUR vacation pictures. And who wouldn't like to see vacation pictures involving a cute baby?

You got to meet your Aunt Deborah!
And your Uncle Keith!
And your Cousins Kobi and Ella!
And, of course, some of the folks you've already met got to hang out with you again too, including Uncle Taff!

And Aunt Mendi!Cousin Addy!
Kathryn!
And some regular suspects too:



Some of your jumping cousins!


Cousins Ruthy and Steve came by too!


Kobi was immediately captivated by you. And you were captivated by him too!

The mosquitoes were ravenous. But, don't worry...you didn't get bitten...except for maybe once...on your scrotum. But it went away very quickly! (the bite, not the scrotum). Sorry about that, by the way. That couldn't have been comfortable. And I don't know how the mosquito got there anyway!

Look! You have hair!

And a Mimi too!
You slept on my chest at the beach under the umbrella for a long long time!


We got you a little kiddy pool for 4 dollars and filled it with fresh water for more optimum beach enjoyment! And it turned out to be a family event!

You really seemed to (not completely dis-) like the pool and the beach breeze!

Look: 4 out of the 5 siblings with all of their children! Whoa!


Mimi and Pops (Saba and Safta to your British Cousins) with all 10 of their grandchildren (so far!)
Don't worry: I got you...
Here we go! It's your first time EVER to put your feet in the ocean!
No, don't look at my BFB (that's 'big fat belly'). Look at you! in the Ocean! (Actually it's the Gulf of Mexico, but who's counting?)





What a stud!

By the end of the trip you were so accustomed to the beach you didn't even mind it slapping you in the face a little. You're a little beach bum!



We also visited the historic Galveston strand!

The best thing about the vacation, though, was getting to spend all day with you for 9 days straight! I didn't want to go back to work. We got to show you so many cool things and have so much fun with you and your cousins and aunts and uncles and grandparents.

You grew up so much during that week, or so said everyone who didn't go on the trip. But, I knew it too-- you got to play in the ocean, you stayed in a new town in a new house and slept through the night, you got sand on your feet and got passed around from family member to family member like a hot potato without a gripe! You made it through two 3-4 hour car rides without a major meltdown and you didn't even seem to mind sun screen. You were fascinated with the big kids and even managed to hold your own a little too!

By next summer you'll be digging in the sand and playing in the surf and probably won't want to take a nap all cuddled up on my chest in a beach towel, but your mom and I will never forget how fun it was to show you the beach for the first time...our little beach boy!