8 Months Old

8 months old and as cute as ever:









It seems like this has been a big month of growth for Russell in all ways - but I guess, what month isn't with a baby?

Russell:
~Loves to imitate: blowing raspberries, smiling, laughing or crying because you do.
~Separation anxiety has hit hard - he cries and reaches for me as soon as I hand him to someone else, unless he has at least 10 minutes to sit with me beside them to warm up to them.
~Along the same lines, he hates having a bunch of people's attention on him.
~Seems to be so close to crawling - he's doing everything but! Everyone says it will just click one day.
~Loves when you hide from him and then pop up (peek-a-boo style); he thinks it's hilarious.
~Waves! so cute. I don't know if he knows that waving means hello/goodbye, but maybe he does.
~Says "mmmmm" and "num num num" when he eats.
~Is trying finger foods like little pieces of bread, peas without skins, and bananas - he can gum them when you put them in his mouth but hasn't figured out how to get them in there himself.
~Also trying spices on his food - we have done cinnamon, paprika, and garlic so far.
~Still no teeth, but he is teething like crazy - drooly, fussy, waking up in the middle of the night crying, puffy/white gums, etc.
~Down to 2 naps per day. He just started refusing to take his 4:30 nap, so now he naps at 8 am and 1 pm, for 1-2 hours each time.

He is quite the character! You just can't help but love him!

Family Weekend

We had a wonderful weekend full of fun! My parents were here, Jason's parents were here, my brother and his new fiance! were here, and other family as well. I really didn't get as many pictures as I should have, but I am using my cold as an excuse (yes, third cold in 6 months - I really don't know what I'm doing wrong - at least Russell has still never been sick *knock on wood*.)

Of course we had pancake Saturday - here's Jason with his masterpieces:



Pops the Barber gave Russell another haircut. I can't even call it a trim this time, because his hair was growing over his ears! It looks so much better now! Russell decided he doesn't like haircuts - this picture was taken before the crying:



Here he is with PawPaw and Kacki (Russell got some belated Christmas presents, hence the bow in his hand):



And isn't this picture of Russell and Nannie (Jason's grandmother) precious?



So that's about all for pictures - I really should have gotten one of my brother Jon and his fiance Kelly! She is Russell's first and only aunt so far. They have dated for 9 years now - high school sweethearts :) - and got engaged this past weekend.

Hope you had a great weekend too!

(almost) Wordless Wednesday

Valentine

My Valentine:

~Bought me roses



~Took out the Diaper Genie (something he does on a regular basis, for which I am very grateful)

~Got me Ben and Jerry's

~Let me sleep in

~Is the best dad :)

28

28 Things about my 28th Birthday:

the good:
1. MOPS - nothing better than leaving your baby in capable hands while you listen to a funny speaker and chat with friends
2. Target
3. Mexican - if you can believe it, this was the first time the 3 of us went to dinner by ourselves, and it was a blast!
4. Tall Skinny 1/2 Caf Caramel Latte
5. Cards
6. Russell's 3 1/2 hours of napping
7. Facebook birthday wishes
8. 1st bday as a mom :)
9. Free Coldstone ice cream
10. Pretty pink roses from my sweet husband
11. Not cooking or cleaning all day
12. Phone calls from several of my favorite people
13. Sleeping until 7:30 (is it sad that this is late now?)
14. Wearing something other than a t-shirt
15. Someone asked me if I weighed less than pre-pg - no I don't, but thanks for thinking that!
16. Chocolate
17. New clearance baby clothes
18. Didn't get spit up on, pooped on, or peed on today! (If you don't have kids, trust me, this is a big accomplishment.)
19. Garth Brooks' "Shameless" (love that song, it just happened to play this morning)
20. http://freebies4mom.blogspot.com/search/label/birthdays
21. Blog reading
22. Blog writing :)
23. Fuzzy pink socks

the bad:
24. Broke a vase :(
25. Cold - so tired of that
26. Rainy
27. Fussy Russy (but this was my fault - who schedules vaccines for 4 pm the day before mama's birthday? dumb dumb dumb)

the ugly:
28. Waking up at 3 am and 5 am to comfort aforementioned Fussy Russy (again, my fault)


Wow, that was harder than I thought it would be! Did you really read all of that? I don't blame you if you didn't! Anyway, all in all, a pretty good birthday :)

Rattlin' Russell

Russell loves rattles. I suppose all babies do, but if you've seen Russell's signature move - "the tomahawk" - you know that boy was born to have a rattle in his hand. (With or without one, he waves his arm around in a chopping motion.)

Anyway, he was very intrigued with his soccer ball rattle today, so I took it as a photo shoot opportunity :)

Hmmm, how do I get to that thing?




s t r e t c h...concentrate...



this is clearly the best place for a rattle to go:






This kept him busy for at least 10 minutes. Would that we were all so entertained by the little things :)