Water Sensory Play

Now that Christian is sitting on his own, there isa whole new batch of sensory activities that I can do with him. And on this hot August day, we decided that a water activity was a must! I filled a small plastic tub with a few inches of water and put some bath toy nesting cups inside. I laid this all out on a towel and C went to town!

He could see the color and water, feel the coldness, practice grasping and pouring, practiced sitting on his own... so much learning taking place in such a simple activity!

picking the toys up and dropping them... SPLASH!

\

observing the toys and water

dumping water on himself

Hey mom, this was fun!

The NEW Mr. and Mrs. Day

On August 12th we were thrilled to accept a new member of the Day family and celebrate the wedding of David and Melissa. It was one of the cutest shabby chic weddings I have seen with unique antique decor and we had a blast. It is always a treat to be surrounded by family and Christian was definitely spoiled with attention all weekend. Now we can officially call Melissa "Aunt Melissa" :). We love you David and Melissa!

Hanging out with Grandpa at rehearsal dinner

sunflowers, doors, antique trunks... the decor was just perfect

Christian was a little... excited :) 

family!

Cabin Retreat

Each summer we try to spend a week or so up at the cabin with our entire family. It is a week filled with sun, the lake, movies, Leavenworth, games, laughter and so much fun! 

Here is our week in pictures...

8 months!

Christian James you are 2/3 of a year old!
*** on this 95 degree day, we decided that we needed to take pictures in your diaper :)

8 Month Stats

Weight:  16.7 lbs - 10th percentile

Clothes: C has not grown much this month so he is still in 3-6 month and 6 month clothes. It has been so hot that most of the time he is just in a onesie anyway! This month he also got to wear a swimsuit for the first time! He is still in size 2 diapers.

Playtime: 

Our days are spent rolling, SITTING, playing with water, hanging in the exersaucer, swinging and reading lots of books. The teacher in me loves that this little guy will sit and read books with me. :) He still loves to song songs, be tickled and play with Phent and his ball.

Development: 

Christian has been saying "dadada" and "mamama" over and over so Kerry and I are both training him to say our "name" first! He loves to suck in  and smack his lips. Christian is rolling around like there is no tomorrow and is making his first attempts to crawl by scooting his legs in. (I immediately ran out the next day to buy a baby gate after he did this!) BIG NEWS: C can sit all on his own! He went from 5 seconds of wobbling to full on sitting for 30 minutes straight this month. Cutest development is giving kisses and waving goodbye. He is still on Prevacid but we are going to try and wean him down to 1 dosage a day. 

Eating: breast milk, avocado, rice cereal, banana, sweet potato, carrots, applesauce, pears

Sleep: 

Wake up- 7:00ish (I don't like that this is earlier!)

2 naps- 9:30ish and 1:30ish

Bed- 7ish with one waking around 3 or 4

Still using the wedge and swaddle!

Firsts and Fun!

*first plane ride to Napa

*first wine tasting

*first time sitting in a high chair

* first kisses and waves

*sitting all by himself!

*cabin trip

* future best buddy Isaiah was born

* Uncle David and Aunt Melissa's wedding

The Perfect Baby Shaker

I love to be able to reuse items for new purposes and today's project is just about doing that! Today I made a sensory shaker for baby C using a few items I had laying around the house.

What you'll need:

* an old spice container

*hot glue gun

*duct tape (optional)

*small items for inside (I used bells)

1. Remove the label from the spice container and wash it thoroughly.

2. Wrap duct tape around the bottom half of the container.

3. Fill the bottle with small items.

4. Hot glue to lid to the bottle. (Important safety step to keep the small items inside!)

Senses Used:

* Hearing the bells jingle

*Feeling the smooth duct tape

* Seeing the shiny bells and watching them "disappear" behind the duct tape

*Tasting the container... you know EVERYTHING goes straight into the mouth!

Hmm... what's this?

Hey Mom, this is fun!

Oh look! Bells!

yum yum

Traveling with Baby

We just took our first flight with baby C. I was so nervous preparing for the event. In my head I pictures a screaming baby having a major blowout while others glared angrily at my for hours on end. thankfully, that was not the case. We eased into flying with a short 1 1/2 hour jaunt. Even with just this one adventure under my belt, I found a few things that helped me have a smooth flight.

1. Baby Wear- I wore Christian in the Moby Wrap through the airport which allowed my to have my hands free to help with the luggage, stroller, pack n play, wedge, carseat... man babies need a lot of stuff! (side note: our limit of 1 bag for our family was very helpful too!) I could wear him through security, they just had to dust my fingers for explosive materials after going though the metal detector.

2. Travel Nursing Pillow- Before leaving I ordered an inflatable My Brest Friend (seriously... what a name) pillow from Amazon. It inflated in like 3 breaths and then deflates and fit nicely in my diaper bag. It also has a removable cover which just happens to be super cute! This was so nice not only to have on the trip but also for nursing on the plane and it made it really comfortable. Plus everyone says NURSE, NURSE, NURSE while flying to help calm baby and to relieve any ear pressure.

3. Travel Changing Station- I had a separate changing pad that I could grab to use in the airplane bathroom if needed (which we didn't need thankfully!) and Kerry also used it to change C in the men's room at the airport. Great for being out and about!

4. Extra clothes for the ENTIRE family- I had heard that babies tend to have major blowouts while flying- maybe something to do with the pressure. Well C was a champ and didn't have this problem during the flight but he DID right before each flight while we were still in the airport. Both times this required a complete change of clothes for him. Keep an extra shirt for Mom and Dad as well in case you are snuggling your sweet little one while this happens! :)

5. People are really either helpful or indifferent but no one was super crabby or rude about us having a baby on the plane. Both women we sat next too didn't look up from their books the entire flight... total indifference. While another lady, just my luck, was a lactation consultant who wanted to give me all sorts of personal advice about breastfeeding. (At 7 months, I think I got this down! Thanks though...) The flight attendants were also more than eager to hold a fussy baby for us :)

No the flight wasn't perfect. Yes C did cry. But it really was a whole lot easier than I expected!

Too Cute Tuesday

...because sometimes a picture is just too cute not to share!

First Time Swimming!

While in Napa, Christian went swimming for the first time! We got him all set in his new suit, swim diapers and hat. He was very unsure at first, but once he got used to the water and had mom and dad with him, he had a blast splashing around. 

"I'm ready!"

kisses in the pool

Napa Part 4

On our third day, we went out to explore, what else, more wineries! We went to Black Stallion and then went to Darioush which was a Persian inspired winery. The grounds were pretty impressive. 

Seriously. Could he get cuter?!

Darioush

He was a bit hot and tired :)

Christian learned a new "skill" that week... giving kisses! It is so sweet to see him grab your face, open his mouth wide open and give you one big slobbery kiss!

We also visited Hess, BV, and Sawyer wineries. 

Our last private tasting was a Swanson and there are no pictures of that tasting. Why you ask? Well here is the story... When we arrived, they told us that no one under 21 was allowed there, but they would make an exception. Sounds like the perfect place to have a 7 month old right? We sat down in this unique, quirky, elegant sitting room to enjoy our food pairing and wine. About one wine in, C started getting fussy so I got him out of his stroller to hold him on my lap. That's when I realized WHY he was crying... he had had a major blow out and now it was all over me. I was mortified and looked at Kerry and whispered "I am covered in poop." We excused ourselves, ran to the bathroom and tried to clean up. But needless to say, I enjoyed the remainder of that tasting with poop on my shirt. Note to Self: Keep an extra shirt of your own in the diaper bag! Parenting is not always glamorous people!

Napa Part 3

Our evenings in Napa were perfect: warm weather, favorite wine from the day, beautiful scenery, food on the grill, mexican train dominoes, and great company.

 There is something so wonderful about being able to sit outside long after the sun goes down without needing a sweatshirt. We just don't get that in Washington. And with views like this, we didn't want to miss a moment!