Baby A at 7 Months

This cute boy is already seven months old!

And he has tons of personality and a complete mind of his own! For example, when I tried to take his picture and wanted him to lay happily on the blanket, he decided he would much rather be playing with the blanket instead:

As usual, here are his current stats: 

• Weight: 18.8 lbs.
• Height: 27 inches
• Diaper Size: He upgraded to Size 3.
• Clothing Size: He's chunking up but is still fitting in his 3-6 Months outfits.
• Likes: Eating, playing with his toys, working on crawling, kicking both of his legs at the same time, nodding his head, attempting to stand.
• Dislikes: When mom or dad leave the room.

He seems to be growing up so fast! As his personality develops, we are realizing he is very social and loves being with other kids. He loves watching older kids and seems especially fascinated by 2- and 3-year-olds.

We have a lot of playdates because while A enjoys being around other kids, I definitely appreciate getting "grownup time" with other moms. It's a win-win! As you can tell by the photos, he likes to tell jokes and share secrets with his little friends!

He constantly rolls on his tummy and keeps working on learning to crawl. He deserves credit for his effort but unfortunately the only direction he's learned to crawl is backwards! But he still look adorable and enjoys his new discovery in mobility.

Surprisingly, as much as he is content being on his tummy while he's awake, he has really struggled with sleeping on his stomach. A lot of times in the night, he'll wake up with a panicked cry because he's rolled over in his sleep and woken up on his belly and gets upset over it. He's finally getting a little more used to it but occasionally still has the mid-night panic.

Another thing that has taken some getting used to for him is eating anything chunky or solid. He has these puffy crackers that dissolve really quickly but he still pulls the funniest faces as soon as he gets one in his mouth because he doesn't like the feel of anything besides purees or milk in his mouth.

As I've mentioned before, he has teeth. Like almost all kids, first it was his bottom two. But then he decided to be really unique and have fangs show up next! When he is laughing is the best chance to see them and I loved that I was able to finally catch a good photo of them... despite the drool smeared all over his cheeks and the little treasure in his nostril. Oh well, at least we got a good view of the teeth!

One of my favorite parts of his personality is his curiosity. Ever since he was born, he's been very alert and aware of his surroundings. And as he continues to learn and develop, that sense of fascination by the world keeps growing too. He loves to be involved in anything mom and dad are doing. He is a really quick learner and acts bored and restless if we aren't constantly trying to show him new things. It's fun because he makes monotonous things such as laundry a lot more fun because it becomes a game with him.

Overall, he is a happy baby and makes our home such a fun place with his constant giggles and squeals of delight. I still have no idea what we did to be blessed with such an amazing little boy!

An Idaho Weekend

Last weekend we went to Idaho to celebrate some big events... and Baby A wore his shirt to fit the occasion!

Obviously, he had a blast sharing the backseat with Daddy on the long drive!

First and foremost, it was Uncle Kyle's "welcome home" church meeting after his mission.

I am so proud of him for serving faithfully for two years. I think he is a wonderful example of commitment and of how there is a place for everyone no matter their abilities or talents. He has wanted to serve a mission ever since Brandon, our brother that is just a year older than Kyle, served a mission. Luckily my family lives in an area with lots of great people and Kyle was able to be offered the opportunity to serve in our local high school's seminary with another one of his friends.

These two missionaries served fantastically and it was really neat to hear the stories of the neat things that happened as they served as the seminary door greeters and class helpers.

While we were there, we also celebrated Papa's birthday {which was technically yesterday}. It is fun to watch my family and my son spend time together, but especially my dad because he is the one that has begged for a grandkid like crazy.

I'm so grateful to M for helping me make this trip possible. It's amazing how 3½ hours isn't that far away, and yet in some ways it seems like we live so far apart! I know it means the world to my family to get to spend time with Baby A.

And I {selfishly} love that my family takes tons of photos with their fancy schmancy camera!

Growing Up Too Quickly!

Ever since his teeth started showing through, Baby A has decided he doesn't want to be a baby anymore. He's growing up too quickly!

Happy 4th of July!

The 4th of July has always been one of Meema's favorite holidays. So growing up, my family celebrated big time. One of the best parts of celebrating with my family is the Melaleuca Freedom Celebration, a.k.a. a massively awesome firework celebration, held in my hometown every year. Yeah, this year they launched over 17,000 aerial fireworks in their 30-minute show. It's awesome. And really, really loud.

That loud factor is why we decided we probably shouldn't go this year. Considering the fact that the sound of paper crinkling or Velcro tearing makes A cry, thirty minutes of earth-shaking booms probably would have caused him to have a nervous breakdown.

But we still had a great holiday here in Utah. We started the holiday off with breakfast and swimming at Grandma's house here in Utah. Baby A LOVES swimming and had a blast. He also loved getting to spend time with Abby.

Then we headed home so that A could take a nice, long nap because he was exhausted! Once he finally woke up, we went out for lunch at Taco Bell {because what's more American than Mexican fast food?!} and bought some little fireworks for A. We tried to pick out ones that would be pretty and as quiet as possible.

We started with ground bloom spinners. And A looked terrified.

Then we tried a fountain that the man in the fireworks tent told us is really mellow. He lied. Baby A loved it at the beginning because it really was just a pretty shower of sparks... but then it suddenly turned into a wild eruption of crackles! We had no idea that was about to happen and A shrieked in a way that I've only experienced during shots. Poor baby!

He also saw sparklers, which he handled better but still seemed pretty unsure. All in all, our suspicions were confirmed that 6-month-olds and fireworks are not a good mix! But with lots of cuddles with mom and dad as well as a little snuggling with Kami the Koala {his favorite toy}, his smile was restored and he was happy again.

But despite his fear of fireworks, we were still able to have a pretty awesome evening while he slept peacefully in his crib. Once he went to bed, we turned up his white noise so that the fireworks outside wouldn't wake him up and then we climbed up the mountain in our backyard to watch fireworks throughout the valley. We live in the perfect place because we got to just be in our backyard where we could hear him on his monitor, and yet still have this amazing view.

I love this holiday! Happy 4th of July!!