23 weeks

sparkly eyes.

Our buddy really is a joy.  As he gets older, he just gets more fun!  And I think he's read the baby textbooks because he hits the stages right when they say he will.  I had to laugh when I got this email yesterday, detailing Bo's new "Stranger Danger" phase as if it was written just about him.  

Your baby may start showing signs of one of her first major emotional milestones —stranger anxiety. She may become clingy and anxious around new (and even familiar) people and may cry if a stranger suddenly approaches her.

Keep this in mind when you're around people she doesn't know, and try not to be embarrassed when she cries in someone else's arms — just take her back and calm her down by holding her yourself. Tell your friends and family to approach your little one with slow, gentle movements.

A case of stranger anxiety doesn't mean you have to avoid new faces. Your baby will benefit from being around people other than you and your partner. Just remember that she needs your patience and understanding to get through this very important stage of development.

Bo started shrieking around strangers this past weekend . . . the nursery pretty much didn't happen on Sunday.  But we'll soldier on.  Just approach with caution, everyone!   

little boy, big appetite

This just in:

Bo is now in the 25th percentile for weight (at 14-9) and 90th for height (27").  Can we say skinny?  

Bo at the doctor's office in his monkey toga.

I mean, this kid eats . . . he's even been known to nibble a toe or two . . . 

So, a little food-related story.  Last week I was trying a new trick, propping the Bo up in his Boppy pillow to give him some support while he was sitting.  As you can see, he's doing a great job and looks like a big boy.  

I turned around to grab a toy for him and when I turned back around, he was making a break for my lunch!!  

(Yes, I eat my lunch on the floor.)  

We'd taken a week-long break from the cereal because we realized how convenient it is NOT to feed it to him, but we tried again that night since he seemed so into the big-people food.  

It was a smashing success:

We still don't give it to him every day, he's only 5 months old, but it's safe to say he likes it!! 

gigi and pop!

We just live really far from our family.

I just heard everyone overseas sigh and say, "Try a 13 hour time difference and get back to me."  I know, I know, it could be WAY worse.  I've always lived far from family, I never had the privilege of grandparents in the same town (or time zone), but we just got used to it and spent holidays with good friends and saw our family when we saw them.  I actually lived with one set of grandparents for 2 months every summer, so that's kind of special.  Anyway, now that we have a kid of our own, we're really feeling the difference.  I know our parents miss seeing Bo and we so desperately want to share the little moments with them.  Thankfully we do all live in the same country, so we talk and text and email and visit when we can!  We were so happy to have Matt's parents out last week for a few days.  

As far as visits go, we didn't really see anything or go anywhere . . . most of the time was spent staring at Bo.  :)  They watched him while I was at work so that was great for me, although weird to come home and not know what he did for the past two hours.  And then we took that to a whole new level and both Matt and I got on planes and left Gigi and Pop on their own with their littlest grandson.  Ideally, Matt and I would've traveled to the same destination for our first night away from the baby . . . but he had a conference in Chicago and I had a free ticket to Charlotte.  Gigi and Pop were gracious enough to encourage me to use the miles before the expired and stay home with Bo.

So with this little picture pulled up frequently on my phone to remind me what I was missing . . . 

I left for a whirlwind trip.  I was only in Charlotte for 24 hours, so I didn't get to make the full run of visits that I would've liked to, but it was really REALLY great to sit and chat with friends.  I also had some spontaneous crying moments, but it was just out of love.

God is faithful in providing friends everywhere we go, but it's always so sweet to see my old pals again.  And their babies.  :)  There was always a baby close by when my arms felt empty.  I saw sweet and portable Haddon again and met Adler for the first time.  

He's so handsome.

His parents fixed me biscuits and gravy.

Kerry drove out from Knoxville, which was awesome.  

The three of us can always pick up where we left off.  

Which was here:

 Ha ha.

So it was short, but so sweet.  And then I got back on my JetBlue direct flight to JFK and my non-direct train ride back to Stony Brook while Gigi and Pop texted me the following pics . . . that train could not go fast enough.

 Our little guy grew up while we were gone!!

I'm really glad Matt's parents were so willing to watch Baby Bo while we were gone.  I think they even enjoyed it. :)  I could relax, knowing he was in such great hands.  I wish we could've spent more time together - I think they only saw Matt for one afternoon, since his work schedule is a little unforgiving.  We look forward to being less than a plane-ride away!!  

baby in boston

In order to get to Massachusetts, we decided to ditch the through-the-city-holiday-weekend madness and take the ferry from Port Jefferson to Bridgeport, Connecticut.  I believe I just added a new state to my list.  And Bo took his first boat ride (since being in utero . . . we took several ferries out in Seattle last year.  Does that count?).  An-knee-way . . . 

Goodbye, Long Island . . . 

Sailing on the Sound.  I wish that was us.

Unfortunately I did not get any pictures of Jenna's parents' lovely home on the river in Essex, MA.  However, I did get a picture of this large historic rock in Gloucester.  Too bad I don't remember why it's important.

We enjoyed some lovely seafood . . .

Bo felt a little left out . . . 

Lobster roll.  

Jenna's parents graciously gave us their tickets to a Red Sox - Rangers game.  Red Sox fans are serious - which made it so fun.  Bo borrowed this onesie from Kyalo and he got a certificate that said it was his first Red Sox game.  There were a lot of babies there, actually.   

It was pretty sunny for a bit (look at his little hot face!) so I walked Bo around in the stroller for a few innings and Matt let him sleep in the Bjorn for a bit.  Bo really did so well for the entire game, which made it so enjoyable for us.  It was a great game, too, complete with a grand slam AND a fan on the field.  

Matt had never been to Boston before so we visited Cambridge and made a quick trip down the Freedom Trail.  If you've never been to this historic city, the Freedom Trail is a literal red stripe - sometimes painted, sometimes bricked- that leads you through downtown Boston, past several historic sites.  Of note are the site of the Boston Massacre, the old North Church, and Paul Revere's house.

Paul Revere

PR's house

We were a little pressed for time so we kind of did the "Freedom Trail Dash."  I got an app on the sites so I read aloud to Matt as we walked to the next place, gave it the thumbs up, and pushed the stroller on to a new landmark.  Fortunately the trail passes within a block of Mike's bakery, famous for it's cannoli.  We split one as we hiked back to the car . . . so rich and delicious . . . not the best on-the-go food, but man, that was good.

Before we got in the car I made sure we stopped at the ducks in the Boston Common.  I really wanted a picture of Bo on the ducklings, fashioned after the story by Robert McCloskey, Make Way for Ducklings.  Some friends of ours gave us the book before Bo was born, and I thought it would be special.  

  

 

And then it was time to go.

We took a different ferry home, from New London, CT to Orient Point, which is the farthest point east on the North Fork of Long Island.  The ferry was notably more enjoyable.  We got there an hour before our reservation and were able to squeeze in the last available spot to get home a bit earlier.  Literally squeeze - our car is perpendicular to everyone else's and seemed in peril of falling into the ocean.

Bo is our sweet little traveling buddy.  He did SO well on this trip, which was on the heels of a rather frustrating week of no power post-hurricane.  We really loved our Boston experience and hope to go back soon! 

friend visiting

For Labor Day weekend we finally did a real East Coast trip and headed up to Boston.  More pictures are coming of all of the wonderful Bostonian sites, but first, the real reason for our visit.  Our friend Jenna Mulandi was in the U.S. for a few weeks this summer with her son, Kyalo.  Her husband, Dexter, had to hold down the fort and keep the dental clinic running in Kijabe.  We missed seeing him, but couldn't pass up the opportunity to see their awesome baby.  

Kyalo and Bo

Friends Forever

Before I throw a bunch of baby pictures at you, we saw some notable adults, as well.

Here we are with Jenna by the ocean in Gloucester.  It was September 2nd and the trees were already turning.  

It was great to meet up with my friend Jess again.  We went to Taylor together and her parents are best friends with Jenna's parents.  Small world.  

I'm so glad it worked out to see JiHee and Katie, who were seniors the year we were at RVA.  I spent many hours hanging out at their dorm back then.  We had lunch and talked about JiHee's experience at Wellesley and Katie's at Harvard.  Smart girls.

It was so fun to have the babies together.  For one, it is so nice to stay with someone who has a baby, because there is the mutual understanding of how the days revolve around feeding and sleeping.  They also had all the baby gear we could need for a weekend.  And, the boys were so darn cute together.  Bo looked absolutely translucent next to Kyalo.  I wished I had brought our seat because 2 babies in Bumbos is pretty adorable . . . but they did ok sharing.  They already acted like boys, tussling and chewing on each others' toes and fingers.  

Babies are fun.  

22 weeks

5 months

Wow, this month went by quickly.  Bo's fourth month was characterized by both extreme challenges and, on the heels of those, extreme victories.  We went through a rough patch of waking up multiple times a night and some unexplainable screaming sessions.  After those valleys, the miracle of being able to put him down awake, walk away, and have him nap for 1-2 hours was quite the mountaintop.  

Of course not every nap is quite that easy, but I'm coming off a 2-hour no-cry nap time high, so everything seems quite rosy. :)  I'm not sure how that started happening, by the way.  Matt had proclaimed that we were going to start letting him cry it out, and we did let him fuss a bit falling asleep for a few days, but really I think he was developmentally ready to soothe himself once given the opportunity.  He was also developmentally ready to sleep through the night again, although that's a little inconsistent (right now he has a cold, so I'm cutting him some slack).  :)  Matt and I both went out of town (to different places) last weekend and Gigi and Pop watched Bo without (they say) any major issues, so that's wonderful.  

Bo loves playing with his feet, is getting used to his new bouncer, and is an "assisted sitter."  We've given him cereal a few times because we're first-time parents and we think that's exciting, and he gobbles it up.  He is a real grabber and will try to snatch anything, particularly big people food, and can suck a smoothie out of a straw (don't ask me how I know that).  It is funny to watch this tiny guy drink out of a straw, though.  I mean, on rare occasions, it's not like I feed him through a straw.  Anyway . . . 

Bo's a fan of walks in the stroller and is (finally) easing up in the car seat.  In the afternoon he has to spend a good 45 minutes in his seat as we get the boys I nanny from their schools, and thankfully we haven't had any screaming fits in weeks. :)  

We love our little buddy and his quirky ways.  We wouldn't change a thing about him.  

21 weeks

So these were taken around 21 weeks . . . I meant to take his picture last Wednesday but Matt's parents came for a visit and I just forgot!  So here he is in a little outfit from my grandparents on a colder day . . . cheesing for the camera.