seven months and counting...

it is so hard to believe that our little guy is seven months old today. each month just seems to fly by, with big milestones, sweet little moments and all those great memories that we are trying to hold on to! it seems like every stage we get to is my new "favorite" one, with more personality and independence coming out.

i was able to get a few pictures of the tooth poking through, and it's showing even more now since i took these photos...
the little nub sticking up through the gum line

he's been in a better mood since it finally broke, but i feel like he's starting on another one this weekend....lots of chewing on his fingers and random cries like he's in pain.
we have continued with the sleep training, and we've discovered he likes to sleep on his stomach. it's almost guaranteed that if you put him down on his stomach, he'll be out in less than 5 minutes. in the middle of the night last night, he woke up around 3:45 and couldn't have been hungry--he'd eaten just a little over an hour earlier. after trying and trying to get him back down in the pack and play in our room (where he usually sleeps for the 2nd half of the night) justin took him back to his room and put him down in the crib on his stomach. he stirred for just a little bit and then slept until 7:15! it's been a relief to see some progress, and i just dream of the night that i'll be able to sleep all the way through the night again. i feel like the constant sleep deprivation has really started to get to me, and though the sleep training has really helped, he's still up at least 2 times (and often more) each night.

i had my big allergy test this past week. i didn't ask the nurse to take a picture of my back for the first part of the test, but they had 51 different allergens on my back, done with six different panels. didn't really hurt, just a quick pinch of pressure six times. i could feel welts swelling up and itching from several different areas, and after 15 minutes, they came back in and measured the welts for the ones that had reacted. i had 23 that didn't react on my back, and they had to do those on my arm with individual needles underneath the top layer of skin (like a tb test.)
this is my arm after the 23 had time to react and were measured. four days later, i STILL have welts from several of the allergens, four days later! (and the marker--sharpie that actually came off. i was surprised! i had made the mistake of wearing a tanktop that day and thought that i would have numbers on my upper arm for the rest of the day.)

the final verdict? i'm very allergic to grasses (which is why my allergies were worse this summer), dust, molds and...cats.a small reaction, but still allergic to them. no, grace and milo aren't getting kicked out (though milo does try our patience with his puking, whining and tendency to eat the dog's food now....)

we have had a great relaxing weekend so far. i'm excited that we all have monday off, and we'll get to visit with family and do some photo shoots.

davis is still doing big kisses with us--really adorable (and slobbery and wet....)
going for justin's nose...
and a HUGE wet one. i love this!
we also got his perfectly-sized mickey mouse in the mail this week. he immediately smiled and laughed in recognition of mickey, and it's become one of his favorite toys recently.
today, while justin was getting in some guy time with a movie and video games, davis and i hung out at home and then ran a couple of errands. i had a couple of coupons from babies r us that expired this weekend, so we headed out this afternoon and tried out his seat cover for the first time. he seemed to be a big fan!

we had to scope out the other mickey toys, too... (didn't get either one, but he still loved looking at them)
it was fun just to have him out while i was running errands, and he smiles at and charms everyone that he sees in the store :)
we got home just missing some rain showers, and we looked out to see a beautiful rainbow over the neighborhood--a great way to end our day.
and now that he's down (less than two or three minutes tonight, i think), we're catching up on episodes of friday night lights and i'll be doing some editing from my photo sessions at strawberries on 903 a couple of weeks ago. two more days to enjoy this weekend, and we plan on soaking up every minute of it....

just hanging out

so the last couple of weekends have been nice and relaxing. we haven't had to travel much, which will make up for the next couple of weekends when we're on the road :)

we've gotten out davis' baby pool and will fill it up in the morning, letting the water get warm in the sun until the afternoon. honestly, it's more of an outdoor bath for him because the pool water is nice and comfortable and he's playing with most of the same toys that he does in the tub. the only thing that gets him really excited is the grass outside the pool, and the fact that pepper can run right up to him out there

and mommy or daddy can get in there with him, too!
we're nearing 7 months (this saturday) and i am so in love with this stage. he has so much personality that is coming through, and he's finally starting to try and communicate with us through gestures, or throwing royal fits when we take something away that he so desperately wants. he has favorite toys, this wild curiosity about everything around him, and the ability to observe details and figure out the world around him so quickly. the other day, he was being held up to a window with blinds on it, he knew that as soon as someone held the cord to the blinds, he could look up to the top of the window and watch the blinds be pulled up.
we were so happy to have family come and visit us this past weekend, coming in town for our church's baby dedication and parent commitment on sunday. friday afternoon, justin's sister heather came in town and we got together for dinner that night, complete with s'mores on the back patio.
mmm.... nothing i love better than a good s'more!

and our little man was loving being outside. he is definitely happiest there--can watch the birds and trees, all of the neighborhood animals and sounds--lots to keep him entertained.
saturday morning, we were able to relax and take it easy as davis practiced sitting up on his own with some of his big toys.
i did some minor repair work on wubba....and researched some new options for us, since wubba's pacifier is the 0-3 month soothie, and davis really needs a thicker pacifier because we have FINALLY got a tooth coming through! haven't gotten a picture of it yet, but it's his bottom left one that's just peeking out.

our best option so far has been a paci plushie, which gives us the option of changing out a pacifier as he gets bigger. one is one the way, so we'll see how it goes. honestly, he's so cute with that little dog that i hate the idea of trying to replace him...but obviously he's gone through a lot in the last 7 months :)

and while i had the camera out taking pictures, i had to share my pedicure that i got last week (thanks to alan and rachel for their gift certificate at christmas) and i loved the color so much that i had to get it. it's called "melon of troy" and i think it will be my go-to color for this summer.

after mom and grandma arrived, they had just hit up a yard sale and had lots of new toys to share with davis. he thought this duck puppet (that quacks three different songs when you move his mouth) was just the funniest thing ever
we were able to enjoy the rest of the afternoon hanging out at the house, and then justin and i got a date night out, where we had dinner and went for a walk at a park before getting a text from mom that davis was asleep. before that, we were questioning if we'd try to be back in time for his bedtime routine. since he was asleep already, we took advantage of it and stopped in a couple of stores and got frozen yogurt before heading back home. it was so nice to be able to relax and spend some time with justin without being rushed.

the next morning, we all got up and got ready for church. we met the rest of the family there and sat together during the service. right after the welcome, they called up each of the five families participating and showed pictures of the babies on the large screen overhead. i had fun picking out which pictures we would show!
davis was very interested in the big screen behind us and looking at the lights above. i was so glad he did well and was cooperative through the short segment, where we promised to raise him in a Christian home.
after church, we all headed back over to mike and debbie's for a cook-out. i didn't get any pictures, mainly because i was feeling awful and left early to go to urgent care. i woke up that morning with a very sore throat and what i thought was an ear infection. i'm also in the process of getting tested for allergies and had been off of my regular allergy medication for several days. all of the congestion and colds that i had earlier in the month had finally caused some sort of infection, so i was just waiting until i could go see a doctor and was getting really uncomfortable. the doctor confirmed that my tonsils were looking infected and didn't bother doing a strep test, just prescribing a round of antibiotics. (more information about the allergy testing tomorrow, when they do the skin test and see what i'm allergic to. i'm bringing my camera to document if i can :) )

so we finished out the weekend with one last round in the pool.... (he loves this colinder--makes it look like it's raining)
mmm... crab legs (just a squirty crab toy, but everything goes in the mouth.)

and a few laps around the house on this car that also doubles as a walker toy, for when he starts learning to walk (heaven help us)

he was a big fan of riding on the car!
and had to test it for teething qualities, too.

we're excited for the long weekend coming up and the opportunity to see more family. we have a pool/cook-out party planned in knightdale, and then will visit with my aunts and cousins later on. yay for fun family activities :)

random bits

-we've been enjoying some lazy mornings around the house this week. just recently, i went from full-time at work to contract, which means i am in the office to see clients i have scheduled and otherwise make my own schedule. if i don't have clients (or paperwork to catch up on), i don't have to be in the office. we were uncertain about the transition working for us (and honestly, we're just coming up on the first paycheck from this new situation, so that will probably give us a better idea of how well this is actually going) but i have loved having those quiet morning hours with my boy and the animals and relaxed breakfasts and long walks in the stroller and hearing him giggle at disney junior in the background.

-speaking of which, we've reached a point where the disney junior shows are re-runs for us. not a big deal for him, obviously, but when i start to remember which mouskatool they use to get the coconuts out of the tree, it's just a little disconcerting. and when they start off using the mystery mouskatool for the first object--WHOA--hold on to your horses, we're in for a wild ride at the clubhouse today.

-his newest cute trick is grabbing your face and pulling it towards him for a full-on, open mouth, sloppy drool-filled kiss.
(and since i still stink at keeping his nails short, it often hurts! i'm working at filing them down when he cooperates)

-over the past week, we've worked on doing sleep training with him. this comes at a desperate time where his bedtime routine could easily take 45 minutes to an hour to get him in the crib and asleep, with several attempts at putting him down only to have him wake up and fuss. i had read several books leading up to this, including "the no cry sleep solution" and "healthy sleep habits, happy child." but the one that motivated me to get this going was "the sleep-easy solution." written by two clinical social workers who have their own sleep practice in LA and work with celebrities on solving their kids sleep issues, they have specific sections dedicated to the emotional side of parents and even a chapter to read while you're doing the sleep training about why your child has to cry some in frustration in order to learn this new skill. we started out with about 30 minutes of fussing the first couple of nights and have gotten it down to about 10 minutes last night. he's still waking up twice during the night to eat, and i'm thinking about working on weaning him from the night feeds over the weekend (they also give you a process to help do that in the sleep-easy solution.)

-i am about one size away from my pre-pregnancy clothes. so close, yet still a large portion of my closet that i can't get into. i've been trying to get just enough basics to get me through the summer, and i'm hoping once i stop nursing i will drop those last few pounds.

-and just because it's so adorable...my little man laughing at pepper and playing with one of his toys while he sits up on his own.

mother's day weekend

it was my first "official" mother's day this past weekend, though i still considered myself a participant in last year's mother's day, too. i remember being about four months pregnant, just beginning to show and meeting mom and grandma at the outlets in smithfield for lunch. we hit up motherhood maternity for some clothes to get me through the summer, and i still felt the joy of being a "soon to be" mom.

my mom and grandma came down on saturday, after we spent the morning cleaning up the house and catching up on chores. we were invited over to justin's mom's in the afternoon for a cook-out, and his step-dad had built a frame for his baby swing. we got davis in it and he was hooked!
(my friend lindsey noted his huge feet here--yes, we think he's going to have big feet!)
i think he has a new favorite spot at his grandma's house :)
after lunch on the back patio, justin and i took him down on the lawn to do his six month pictures. instead of trying to set up our "studio," we decided to take advantage of the gorgeous day and perfect lighting. i was so happy with how these turned out!

we tried this one with justin's hat... too cute!

i am loving his big smile... and i still think i see reddish hair coming in!
he was chewing on his thumb that day, probably another sign of teething.
his pint-sized hat that we keep over at hi grandma's house. i think it made his eyes look blue, though we're not sure what color they're going right now.
i loved the white picket fence for a background--perfect for spring time photos.


we had to get some pictures of his new favorite trick--standing up!
he does a great job of smiling for the camera--thank goodness!
and then a couple of him sitting up on his own!
such a big boy!


we took it easy for the rest of the night, getting davis down and visiting with justin's friend kenny who stopped by. we all got up for church, and justin made me a delicious breakfast of blueberry pancakes and strong coffee :) i had to snap this picture from my spot in church, because it just made me happy to have everyone lined up beside me.
davis did a great job, not even having to be taken out of church. he went down for a nap while we waited for my brother alan and his wife rachel to get there. once davis woke back up, we all went out to lunch where he did great sitting in his high chair and eating some solids before our food came. we left from the restaurant and went to one of the local farms, strawberries on 903, to get some goodies and explore. what a great stop for us to make!
after choosing our baskets of strawberries (you can pick them in the fields yourself there, but we opted for the easier "already picked" kind) and other fresh produce, we walked around to visit all of the farm animals they had out.

they had goats...
he was still trying to figure out if they were friendly (like the dog) or not
and these guys were my favorite. they had little nubs of horns that were just coming in...
then we checked out the peacock, who crowed twice while we were there. who knew peacocks crowed?
i wish it had opened its tail while we were there, but it was still pretty cool to see a peacock next to all the turkeys and other birds in the pens.
there were a couple of cute bunnies...

and the pigs were his favorite. he laughed at them when we first got there and thought they were the funniest things ever.
but by the chickens, i guess he was kinda over it.
we finished our trip with a big cup of homemade ice cream, with banana, peach and blueberry flavors. so good!

it was the perfect mother's day, and i was so glad to spend it with my family, my husband, and of course--my beautiful son. i don't think i could have ever imagined how he would change my life, but it has been such a wonderful journey so far. no one can ever explain to you the love that a mother feels for her children, the sacrifices you're willing to make, and the overwhelming joy that they bring to you--until you're there. i said many times after my labor and delivery experience and that first time of holding davis, "you just don't understand it until you've been through it." other people had told me that, and i guess i figured it was true, but i still thought i could prepare for it and would have an idea... but i didn't. i know i've loved other people, and i know i loved my pets--i mean, pepper was our "baby" for the past two years--but it doesn't compare for the love i feel for davis.

a happy belated mother's day to all of the mother's out there--such an amazing club to be a part of this year :)