8 months

Our little 8 month pal:

Well, what to say about eight months besides the same thing every other mom says - I can believe he's eight months old already!  Which is kind of weird to think about . . . closer to one year than baby-baby.  Bo's been on the same schedule since about five months, and I love the consistency of that.  Lately he's had some MAJOR stranger danger, which is not so convenient since we are going to see family for the next two weeks.  Instead of the smiles and waves he used to offer to people, his new reaction is to immediately burst into tears.  Not awesome when you're at the grocery, or church, or anywhere.  But as the nurse reassured me at our 8 month visit - it's normal, right on track, etc.  Just not fun.  Bo's first tooth started peeking in the day he turned 8 months!! (again, how convenient - teething while we travel...)  He acted weird for a couple days, not napping well, but since it has started popping up a little bit, he's been good on the sleep again.  Sidenote- when something goes awry I go into problem solving mode and try to figure out what is causing the issue.  After fiddling with the temp of the room, what was in bed with him, and then blaming myself for enabling him and going in and rescuing him . . . the problem resolved itself.  I guess I just need to relax.

Unfortunately, my lightweight baby really showed his true colors at his checkup when he fell under the 3rd percentile in weight.  I mean I guess I saw this coming since he's been at the 10th percentile for several months.  So now we're adding formula to everything and adding more fats to his diet.  Buddy loves him some cheese!

In other milestone news, it's clear that Bo is becoming more aware of his surroundings and interacting with us so much more.  It is super fun to make sounds for him to imitate and he loves clapping to congratulate himself on a trick.  He still shows no interest in crawling!  But loves standing and is starting to maneuver around a bit that way, holding on to furniture or our hands.  The throwing stage is here in earnest and and I am constantly hunting for toys that he's chucked across the room.

Besides the meltdowns around anyone besides Matt and me, Bo just gets more fun.  We love him.  

family christmas

We're headed out of here for Christmas and I'm the Scrooge who wants to take the tree down before we go . . . so we had a little family Christmas this weekend.  Our present time focused a lot on one little guy in particular . . .

 Not that guy!!

This guy:

We opened our Christmas pajamas and some other gifts that had been mailed here, and Bo got his little Scout the Dog from Matt and me.

It's programmable and it sings cute songs about "Me and my friend BO . . . we like to do everything together!" etc.

New Elfin PJ's:

That afternoon we went to the mall so that Bo could tell Santa what he wanted for Christmas.  

So sweet, right?  Even when it's sandwiched between these two gems?

Yikes.  Poor Santa.

After filling his head with whimsy, we went to a living nativity and bundled up against the cold to walk through a little Bethlehem and read the verses of the Christmas story.  On the way home we looked at Christmas lights, and all my Christmas dreams came true.

34 weeks

Not time to chat... the UPS man just brought round 2 of our Christmas cards.  Somehow round 1 was not sendable but I must give credit to Winkflash for their customer service and quick turnaround on the new cards.  Hopefully these cards will be out by Christmas! :) 

babies take new york

I love visiting New York City at Christmas, but I wasn't sure it was going to happen this year since we now have a baby.  Truthfully, I was scared for a long time to take Bo into the city, but now that he's older and more laid back and doesn't need to eat as often and is less prone to dramatic diaper changes, it  seemed like a good time to go.  That and we hit the last warm weekend before the endless winter sets in.  Our friends Kim and Lucas and their baby Malin (see the post below) came in with us, because everybody knows two babies are more fun!  

It was soon after this picture that Matt noted that his grandfather would've never been seen wearing a baby while the wives walked ahead with their shopping bags.  I appreciate you, dear. :)

And Bo likes the ride:

Pictures by the Rockefeller Tree:

 We didn't do much, but it was nice to be in the city and get a little shopping done.  The babies were great.  Malin did have an unfortunate incident that will probably go down in the books as the most amazing poop of all time.  Matt and I watched puzzled customers in the Korean restaurant dialogue about the strange shrieking sounds coming from the bathroom while Kim and Lucas, ahem, cleaned up.  

SoHo

Train ride home.

I'm so glad we made it in for what is probably our last Christmas in New York!  

holiday romance

Last weekend our friends Kim and Lucas came by so that I could take their family picture, and we could not resist a little photo session with the happy couple:

Malin and Bo

Christmas 2011

One baby is great.  We can sit around and watch him all day.  But two babies?  Two babies are hilarious.  

if you're happy and you know it

I wasn't sure what could top the waving event of last Wednesday . . . until Bo learned how to clap this weekend.  It happened to be the same day as the UK-UNC game so I think this little fan wanted to celebrate the victory along with his dad.  Matt worked with him and Bo got it!  

And now he does it alllll the time.  I love it.  

Now we're running out of tricks to teach him.  Matt was trying to get him to 'clap his feet' while putting him in his PJ's tonight.  Maybe potty training . . .

paper chain

I put a paper chain on the tree this year.  After a moment of skepticism about the logic of committing to making such a thing . . . Matt graciously lent a hand in the stapling and assembling.  

I like it.  

33 weeks

Our 33 week picture didn't go so well . . . 

Because Bo LOVES his blankies and couldn't leave this one alone!

Those Aidan + Anais blankets were a GREAT buy.  After he (finally) outgrew the swaddling phase, which they were great for, he still loves sleeping with them.  Now he literally flails around with glee when it's naptime and I hand him a blankey.  He could easily become one of those Linus kids who drags the dirty blanket around but hopefully we can keep this contained to just naptimes.  Our little routine is to approach the crib, yell out "Blankey!" and hand him the blanket, and yell out "Paci!" and hand him a pacifier.  When I put him in the crib he either rolls over in exhaustion or kicks around for a bit with joy that he is reunited with blankey and paci . . . and generally falls asleep without issue.  It's a great moment for all of us.  

32 weeks

Bo's acting squirrely on his new blanket from Miss Joanna.  All those little animals you see are hand embroidered on there!  I'll get a pic of the other side soon but I was so impressed with her special gift! 

We put up the Christmas tree the day after Thanksgiving.  Bo is enjoying it. 

Breaking News:

Bo waved bye-bye for the first time yesterday!!  And Matt grabbed it on his phone.  We were SOOO proud and kind of amazed, that came out of nowhere. 

I'm sure you were so entranced with Bo you didn't notice my weird outfit . . . I know, it's weird, no comments necessary.