Baby Steps

I can't believe that Orion is already trying to make the move from standing to walking. It seems like yesterday when he finally took off crawling on his own, and we're moving on yet again. So far the most he has taken was 3 steps in a row, but that's pretty dang good if you ask me. He will still choose to walk holding on to things if he has any chance at all, so we have to practice far from any furniture, etc however, we're heading that direction. He has gotten really good at clapping his hands, waving at people, and making mad faces. He absolutely loves playing with other kids and gets really excited about going to school in the morning, which makes it easier to take him. What I am saying is pretty much that my son is awesome, growing, and amazing me every day. I'm already trying to start planning for his first birthday. I can't believe that it's just around the corner.

10 months and counting

I can't believe how fast time is flying by. Before I know it Orion's first birthday will be upon us (and boy am I NOT ready for that!!). So, Orion is really trying to start walking, he waddles around the coffee table and is starting to get more daring with his reaches. The holidays were great. We got to spend lots of time with the family and Orion seemed to really look like he was enjoying all his presents....well...at least the ripping the paper part. He got lots of fun (noisy) toys like a drum and xylophone. He also got a large tractor, a fire truck that makes noise, some clothes....the list goes on and on. His grandparents may spoil him a little bit. He is very vocal at this point too, so that's lots of fun. He's definitely trying to start repeating phrases that we say and a lot of what he says sounds like real words. It's pretty amazing. He's incredibly curious, so much so that we actually ended up rearranging our bookshelves so that the shelf he used to reek havoc on is now the shelf with his books on it (take that smarty pants!!). The weather here has been SO cold though and that is frustrating because it makes it really hard to go outside or do anything. I'm beginning to get a little stir crazy. The snow around here has been insane too. We've got more snow in the last couple weeks than we normally get the entire year. Ugh. Anyway, that's what's happening around here. Orion is amazing as always and he's such a smart little boy. We really are blessed in life.

Laughter

Orion's laugh has once again played my little heart strings like a violin. Last night Orion was playing with a piece of paper (yeah my kid is SUPER easily entertained) while sitting on the couch next to Ashley. She kept yelling that he was going to paper cut her face and spazing out like she is apt to do. Finally, after about 5 minutes of this, she slapped the paper that Orion was playing with and it made a loud cracking noise. Orion laughed a laugh that I have never heard, but it truly was one of pure joy. Usually his laughs are somewhat short and almost seem like he's just humoring you. This one was completely different. He was laughing like a "real" person and it really was the greatest thing I have ever heard. Ashley thumped the paper again and the laughter ensued. By the end of it Ashley and I were both laughing so hard that my stomach hurt and I had tears streaming down my face. Orion was happy and having a good time. Nothing could have made my night any better than that moment..the moment I heard the laugh my son will have for the rest of his life. Oh, I almost forgot. He also started WHISTLING last night. I have no idea where it came from, but he does it on accident I think. He makes this surprised face where he makes his mouth into a little tiny "O" and lifts his eyebrows up really high. While doing that he will blow out and yesterday he whistled. He did it all evening. Now I know it was by accident, but still. I think it's pretty amazing, especially since he was able to reproduce it after he did it on accident the first time. Damn my kid rocks.

My son is 9 months old.

I spent this weekend trying to prepare for the holiday season and spending time with Orion and Seth. It was a pretty good weekend. We got some gifts bought for O on Sunday (man it's great that he's too little to know what is going on so he can go shopping with us and test out the presents in the store!!). I really still don't know exactly what I should be buying for him because, well, he's still little but he's so smart. Oh well, I'm sure he'll enjoy the wrapping paper and boxes more than most things we can buy him anyway. He is now officially 9 months old. I can't believe how much he has changed in the last few weeks even. This weekend he started clapping on his own. It is nearly silent, but it is still the cutest damn thing I think I have ever seen in my life. This afternoon is his 9 month Dr. appointment so we'll get to see his height and weight once again. I'm excited to see where he lands there. As far as I know the only shot he'll need is the booster for his flu shot, so that won't be so bad either. Other than that, everything else is been progressing quickly. He can easily pull himself up on everything, can stand on his own when he isn't thinking about it, will walk when holding your hands (although it is a bit stiff-legged and super funny looking), and can maneuver all over if he has something to hold him up. He walks in circles around the coffee table and couch, and is starting to walk behind his push toys. It's amazing to me. He blows my mind. So that's what is happening in our life at the moment. I will try to get an update on how the Dr. appointment went this evening. Have a great day!!

Holidays are here again

So today marks the start of our very long Thanksgiving weekend. In the past Seth and I have tried our best to make it to each family to celebrate, but this year we've decided to cut back, so we will be spending Thanksgiving with his family (which is still two separate events). I'm mostly excited because this is Orion's first real holiday. We'll get to see his aunts and grandparents, as well as Seth's grandparents, which is always lots of fun. The trip back is never fun (a normal 4 hour drive done with a baby and 2 dogs making it a 5+ hour trip). I mean seriously, how do you keep a baby entertained in a car for HOURS with literally nothing to do. I mean all he wants to do at this point is crawl around, climb on things, and explore in general. Instead we have to strap him to a chair with no real view, hand him a couple toys, and say "tough cookies"? Doesn't sound like a good time to me. I will probably spend my time in the back seat with him to try to keep him calm, but he HATES his car seat with a passion. Hopefully the trip goes smoothly. My sanity can definitely not handle hour after hour of screaming baby in the car. However, what I think is even harder and more trying is attempting to make sure that each side of the family has an relatively equal amount of time spent with them so that we don't hurt anyone's feelings/piss anyone off. It's hard. It would definitely be way more convenient for us to spend our whole weekend staying at one house instead of packing up all our stuff half way through and switching, but that doesn't seem fair I suppose. It's just a hassle...and makes reason 183,585 not to get a divorce!! I hope you all have a happy Thanksgiving weekend with great weather, amazing food, and cheerful family.

Oh where oh where has my time gone??

So Halloween went off without a hitch. We decided not to take Orion trick-or-treating, even though the day turned out to be beautiful. Instead we decided to spend at least 1 more year handing out candy to those desperate kids in our neighborhood (we're the only house on the block that does so we feel guilty not doing it!!). We did do other things though instead. We started Orion off in a cute little ghost t-shirt (thanks Aunt Ashley) and played around the house for a while. We then put on the adorable little frog suit which was impossible to crawl in on the wood floors. He hated the costume until he figured out how to move in the dang thing, but was then ok with it. We took him into Seward to the park where they were having all sorts of kiddy games and prizes. He was too little to do too much, but we still had fun wandering around watching all the kids in costume. We also tried to get O to play in the leaves but he just wasn't into that at all...he would stand in them while holding onto me, but would not crawl in them to save his life. We then went home and spent the evening watching movies, playing, and handing out candy. Sunday morning we woke up bright and early to a beautiful sunshiny day and decided to take full advantage of it. Orion was in his Halloween pjs but he looked so cute that I decided to leave him in them for the day. We ended up going to the park and spent tons of time swinging and just enjoying the sunshine. It really was a great weekend. I took tons of pictures, so I thought maybe I would share a few of them with you so you can see how damn cute my boy is!

From Orion 6 Months

Orion in his Ghost t-shirt. He was in such a good mood.

From Orion 6 Months

I love this picture. He looks so beautiful and serene.

From Orion 6 Months

Orion in his froggy costume. He laid around like this for a while...kind of like a turtle stuck on his back.

From Orion 6 Months

O with the bookshelves. Notice he went straight for the Linux stuff!!

From Orion 6 Months

He LOVES to swing. This is one of tons of pictures I took of him giggling!

I have tons more pictures so check out my latest Picasa album. I hope you all had a weekend as amazing as ours was.

Halloweeeeeny Feeeeling

I'm usually one that is SUPER excited to get dressed up and celebrate Halloween. I love the dramatic theatrics, the lame costumes, and the tiny demons that run the streets. I just realized yesterday that I had not even considered a costume for myself this year because I've been too busy getting ready for O's first Halloween. This boy really has changed everything! I look at him and realize how blessed I am. He's grown so quickly that I really can't believe it. I know, I know...it's said too much. However, I've started to notice changes in him the last few weeks that I never really thought about before. He has started pulling himself up on EVERYTHING which means the coffee table is no longer safe for my glass of water....or my supper.....or laptop...etc. He has also decided that it's cool to crawl and is getting pretty damn fast at it. He is growing so tall that his jeans are once again getting to the point that he's almost too tall for them but his butt is still so tiny that size 2 diapers wrap over themselves. I think he's going to be shaped just like his daddy, which is fine with me. We are getting ready for Halloween, like I said, and have already previewed Orion in his adorable little full body frog suit (tribute to mario music here). I've even debated potentially painting his face green. Is that cruel?? I probably won't go through with it, but it'd be soooo funny. We've also debated over taking him out trick or treating. I mean, seriously, he is not even 8 months old. What is he going to do with a bunch of candy? That pretty much boils down to me and/or Seth wandering around begging for candy with a cute baby as a shield. But at the same time, I want to run all over the place showing off Orions' cuteness with the world. Oh well, I guess we'll figure it out...someday, somehow. I'll let ya know how it goes.