Little Explorer

Christopher has now figured out that he has MUCH more room to roam around in. I thought we could keep him contained in the living room for awhile.. and we did, but that is officially over. Yesterday he ventured off and discovered the dining room, entryway and laundry room. There is really no way to gate off anything (except the stairs) so it was bound to happen sooner than later! We have been crawling around on the floor with him watching him find everything. Next, he has to crawl to the right side of the house and discover what's over there! He has certainly kept us on our toes this past weekend. When you go from having 6 people watching him all the time to two it's a little different!

Christopher is loving being scared- we play a mean game of Peek-a-Boo ... or Scare the Baby... every day. We have these random little walls that are great to hide behind! Christopher just laughs and shrieks over and over.

This is called Total Domination. I have no idea how I am going to get Christopher dressed and diapers changed when Matt goes back to work. It is truly a joint effort. The hat worked.... for 2 diaper changes. I told Matt not to be surprised if Christopher is still in his pajamas and has a full diaper- I mean they are supposed to last up to 12 hours right?

What's in this basket?!?! Helping (or un-helping) with the laundry!

This is us trying to get a picture of Christopher in his Braves hat... unsuccessful.

Even though Christmas is over, Rudolph remains.

Thank you Mrs. Neely for my owl (and the books)!

Trying out a sippy cup without handles. I love when he holds his bottle like this. He did it in church last weekend and it cracked me up! I guess whatever works.

Playing around with daddy before bathtime!

This suction toy is AWESOME!

It was one some "top 15 toys for infants" and I totally see why!

Playing the car with daddy while mommy gets her nails done!

Happy New Year!

See you in 2013!

 



Time to Relax

Everyone is finally gone. I always feel so depressed when Christmas is over. The hustle and bustle is over and now it is just time to sit around and relax, which I guess isn't really such a bad thing. It's like going from 60 to 0 in a few seconds and I like gradual change.

Christopher had so much fun over the past week with all of the visitors we had and all of the visiting he did. i snapped shots of most things that we did- but my mom got a lot of great pictures on her camera.... but did I remember to upload them to my computer before she left today... nope! So Matt is currently taking pictures of pictures so that I can share them with you!!***5 minutes later.... Here they are!

Focus on his eyes... not the drool covered shirt!

Loving on his bat! (which by the way, if you dare try to take it from him, he screams)

LOVE <3

This was like the 4th picture I took of the three of them. This was right after Christopher whacked Nana with the bat. He looks so proud of himself (and I am thinking Granddaddy is proud too!)

Waving bye bye to Big Daddy!

Being a ham one morning!

We went and had lunch at Zucca down in Smyrna this afternoon to meet up with Uncle Anthony...

awwww. I know. so sweet.

We switched up his schedule a little bit tonight and bathed him right after dinner. He has been a MONSTER getting dressed for the night- not in a bad way- just crazy squirmy and super tired- so we swapped playtime and bathtime around a little. He got to play in the tub longer and while he was waaaaayyyyyy squirmier (if that's possible) than normal, at least he wasn't fussy. Here are a few shots I got of him playing with his toy from Uncle Anthony.

A dog toy from him is only fitting.

PS - Rocco gets a little spooked by this thing.

HAPPY BABY! Matt made him laugh soooo much today. It was adorable. **I guess is SOMEONE had answered her FaceTime tonight she would have heard the cuteness. **

Here are the rest of the random pictures I have taken over the past couple of days:

We tried pears in this thing last night- Christopher loved it. We also tried an apple but it didn't work out so well. The pear was great because he wasn't nearly as messy as he normally is after a banana!

Reading his book- Christopher really does love being read to!

Not exactly how you are supposed to use it.... but somewhat I guess.

Uncle Anthony had FaceTimed us so dad put the iPad on the ground and Christopher came crawling!

Saving some Cheerio for later!



QUESTION:

When should babies start wearing shoes? I mean in my opinion shoes serve a purpose- to protect your feet when you are walking. The little old lady at Home Depot made me feel like a rotten mom because I didn't have shoes on Christopher the other day.... so you can surely bet that little boy hasn't gone anywhere without shoes on since then! Now I am on a quest to find him some cute kicks- and I want to do this without going to the mall. :) All Carter's had were flimsy ones that wouldn't really give him any support. We did get him a cute pair at Target that you may have seen him wearing in other pictures.

Alrighty! That's it for now! Have a great weekend!!! :) :)

It's Christmastime in the City...

In case you missed it....

this is how Christopher felt about Christmas morning!

Matt isn't quite sure where this face came from or what was happening (for all we know it could be mid-yawn), but I like to think that it might be from seeing this....

or maybe this...

or maybe just the pure joy of Christmas morning!

 

It must be engrained in every child to know when it is Christmas because Christopher had been sleeping in, but that morning he was up at his normal time.

So we got him out of bed and had playtime!

Christopher was LOADS of fun that morning. Despite the normal "He won't really know what is going on. Just give him a box and some wrapping paper" remarks that I received from most people, we spoiled Christopher with presents and I am glad we did. He played with everything. He looked at everything we opened and has played with every toy that he got. I have them all lined up from one end of the room to the other and he went down the line this afternoon playing with each toy. I do think he has a definite favorite- Matt got him a baseball bat and he carries it everywhere! The best part is watching him crawling around with it in his hand!

Before opening presents.

Opening his present.

Enjoying some Cheerios!

Christmas Eve we went to celebrate with Matt's sister's family. Christopher got some fun toys and a cute outfit!

Christopher and Aunt Cindy

Opening his first present

Uncle Anthony was in charge of taking pictures of us opening gifts. By the look on Christopher's face I would say Uncle Anthony is snapping too many!

I leave you with 2 pictures (which you may have seen on Facebook, but I must share my Pinterest creations).







Party On!

I had my Christmas work party Thursday evening, which meant babysitter for Christopher! It felt really weird picking him up from daycare knowing that I would be leaving him AGAIN in a few hours with someone else! But thankfully it was Dana and I knew he would be very happy! Of course, Dana sent me pictures and a video while we were out. I think they enjoyed themselves quite a bit!

Matt told Todd he could not take Christopher hunting...

so instead it looks like he was teaching Christopher some wrestling moves!

I'm not sure who had more fun...

Christopher or Todd?!?!

Maybe he did take him hunting? Reindeer jerky, anyone?

Christopher just LOVES making this noise. He will take any toy and put it to his mouth to make the noise on his own. Remember this pictures from last post...

As soon as we gave him the ball that's what he started doing! OBSESSED.

The next day Christopher had his party at daycare!  At his last party (Halloween) he just sat around in his lobster costume. He had just really mastered sitting then so that's basically all we did was sit there with him or carry him around- but at this party he was all about everything! It was so cute to see him interact with all the toys and kids. He had been working all week to get to the top of the picnic table and he finally did while we were there! He didn't get to eat any of the goodies, but he did sit at the picnic table with all of the kids.

I can do it!!! His eyes look so determined.

Christopher loves his daddy (and hats)!

He fell, started whimpering and Ms. Jeanne scooped him right up. Doesn't he look so happy?!?! He also looks quite adorable in his little jeans- we moved him up to 12 month pants because he is so stinking long (and has somewhat of a beer bottle gut)!

Here he is crawling through the tunnel. There are so many fun toys at daycare!

Gift For All The Ladies... That's what his shirt says. (Christopher's- not Matt's. He chose to rock his Apex fleece instead of Christmas colors!)

Alright- who knows who the next blogger might be?!?! Matt's dad is here now and mom and dad come tomorrow afternoon!! I think a Christmas Eve blog by one of them would be nice, don't you? 





8 Months

Well, the little guy is 8 months old... 2/3 of a year. Crazy. What is even crazier is all of the accomplishments that Christopher had in his 7th month. I think it has been, by far, his biggest month.

1. Christopher got his second tooth.
2. Christopher scooted and army crawled for the first half of 7 months and figured it all out very quickly for the second half. I was making his dinner the other night and had placed him in the middle of the living room with all of his toys. In probably a minute I looked down and he was at my feet in the kitchen.
3. Christopher can now do a baby pull-up. :) He is mighty strong. I think its because we worked out so much when I was pregnant.
4. Christopher now eats breakfast, lunch and dinner. Bottle. Fruit. Bottle. Veggie. Snack bottle. BIG dinner- fruit, veggie and some meat! Bottle. That, my friends, is a growing boy!
5. Christopher even went to Level 2 foods this past month. I am still a nervous wreck about feeding him other stuff. He does well with the puffs- You would never know with how much I hover and eat off 2 of the star points, but whatever.

Here are a couple of his 8 month pictures that we took:
(Please note he is wearing his last "Old Faithful." It is very difficult to find baseball clothing in the winter. I think it's fitting that we use these trusty jammies for at least one picture though.)

I had to play Dominick here to get him to sit still long enough for somewhat of a good picture. You can tell he is staring intensely at the iPad.

At least he isn't eating the permanent marker.

And here is a video from tonight. I had no idea that Matt and Christopher had been working on high fives!

GREAT NEWS: Guest bloggers coming soon!! :)