pool time

We took L this afternoon on his first pool outing. He loved it...I should have known he would inherit my affinity for the water. He even kicked his little feet around like only a true swimmer would. He also made a buddy, Ethan, 6 months old. He and Ethan smiled and giggled at each other for quite some time. Ethan sleeps from 6:30 pm to 8:30 am (irrelevant to the post just thought I would throw that out there). L and Ethan will become buds, indeed. I was also excited to make a potential mom-friend who lives right behind us, who knew? 

Here is a cute little vid of giggle/spit bubble/squeal time with dad.

Who Rules this Roost?

A perfect example of minority rule is a baby in the house.

-- Milwaukee Journal

Memorable Memorial Day Pics

We decided to venture around on our day off today. It was either going to be Downtown Disney or Downtown Winter Garden. We decided on Winter Garden- I have driven through many times, but never explored. It was very quaint and reminded me of Natchez in many ways. We stopped at this old, beautiful fountain for some splash time and a photo session. Leyton loved the water and enjoyed splashing his feet in the water.

WARNING: sun + heat + fountain stimulation may cause your baby to take monstrous nap (3 hrs)

Future Model?

Guess who Slept Through the Night?!

That's right! My little guy slept until 6am, ate, and slept some more until 8:30. WAHOO! We moved him from his bassinet in our room into his crib last week and began sleep training. I think this was harder on me than it was on him- being that his room is upstairs and ours is downstairs. He wasn't too happy the first night, but he adjusted very quickly. We began letting him cry (gasp, I know) for 10 minutes and then go in give him his pacifier and rub his head and he falls asleep. Luckily he usually doesn't cry more than the 10 minutes. 

I think what sealed the deal though was weaning him from nursing at night. I believe he was waking up, not because he was hungry, but because he wanted some cuddle time. Jeremy took the night shift Sunday night and Monday night so I could sleep (glorious) and I had always heard it is better if the dad goes in during the night b/c they don't smell mom. 

Well last night was my turn-I went to bed around 10:30 (I even skipped out on the end of the DWTS finale- which by the way I was shocked to see who won this morning on yahoo, bummer) with the monitor practically glued to my ear. I woke up at 3am in a panic and ran upstairs to check on him- he was still alive (whew)!

Around 3:15 he started squirming around a bit so I discreetly put the pacifier in his mouth and he was out. He woke up around 6:00 so I fed him and put him back in the crib and he woke up again at 8:30 with a big fat grin on his face!  Now do I expect him to do this every night? Absolutely not. However, I now know that it IS possible...and that, my friends, is enough for me.

Happiness is...

Happiness is getting to wake up to this sweet face every day! 

I love being his mommy.

"The moment a child is born, the mother is also born. She never existed before. The woman existed, but the mother, never. A mother is something absolutely new."

-Rajneesh

5 Months!

5 months already! I think I will cry when he is 6 months- that is half a year! I have to keep reminding myself that he won't be a baby forever- that makes me sad. I want him to stay little always. Oh well- I don't make the rules. Here is a 5 month update:

• He has an obsession with touching faces- especially when he is sleepy. He works his little hand into my mouth and yanks down on my lip as hard as he can. Ouch. He was also quite into his Grandad's beard. He also pops my bra strap when nursing.

• He loves oatmeal cereal and can't eat it fast enough. He gets mad if you wait even 5 seconds in between bites. He even makes "mmm" noises when he eats.

• He can sit unassisted for a few seconds, but he would prefer to skip the whole sitting thing and go straight to standing. When we put him in his Bumbo- he plants his feet down on the ground as hards as he can to "stand" thus ends up doing a backbend...we can't take our eyes off of him for even a second.

• He can now "scoot" when on his tummy if he can get some good traction with his feet.

• He is very ticklish and if you hit the right spot, he gives a good giggle. See video.

• He smiles at old ladies and strangers. He also grins really big when I kiss his cheeks and feet.

• He loves taking his pacifier in and out.

• His hair is filling in quickly, light brown, and his eyes are pretty set at doodoo brown.

• You can see the tops of his bottom teeth coming in- I can't wait for those blasted things to cut through. Teething sucks.

• Prior to our trip home- he was becoming very independent, playing by himself, talking to himself, etc. However, after being held and coddled by grandmas, grandpas, aunts, uncles and cousins- he is demanding 24/7 attention. You know who you are.

• He is still not sleeping through the night, darnit. But it has gotten better- most nights he is only up twice. I hope to report next month that he is sleeping through the night- we are about to start hard core sleep training tomorrow night, I hope I survive.

Here are some new pics of the little guy- and a video of him laughing while his Gran was tickling him.

watch your back, Gerber baby

playing innocent

Making the most of his pouter

Him laughing at Gran...excuse the background convos. 

When the first baby laughed for the first time, the laugh broke into a thousand pieces and they all went skipping about, and that was the beginning of fairies. And now when every new baby is born its first laugh becomes a fairy. So there ought to be.
-- James Matthew Barrie 

Good times were had by all...

We survived our first trip as a family of three. Leyton couldn't have been better on the plane! He was such a trooper and handled everything so well...although he got a little tired of having so many new people in his face. Oh well, that's the price he has to pay for being so cute. Many pictures were taken, but here are a few highlights:

Leyton was very interested in Poppa's face

Family photo op

Family of four? Not yet. Us three and cousin Baylee 

Doing what good southerners do- hanging on the front porch

Leyton, Gigi, and Grandpa John

Trying to pick Grandad's nose (he was intrigued by his beard)

Gran and Baylee

Richard waiting for his bride

He managed to be still for Ging-Ging for a good 5 minutes. Sweet boy.

Leyton and Aunt Anzie. He thought she was hot.

L and Grandpa Knight

Beth (20 wks pregnant with a boy- already a pro) and Aunt Heather

On the plane home-pooped out

In closing, Leyton did have some final thoughts on his first trip to Mississippi. Sounds to me like he enjoyed it.

Leaving on a Jet Plane...

We are headed out tomorrow morning for Mississippi!  My brother is getting married on Saturday so we couldn't miss out on such an occasion. We decided that 12-15 hours in a car with Leyton didn't exactly sound like fun, so we opted for a 1.5 hour flight instead. Please pray for safe travels for us! And pray for anyone in the airport or on our plane that tries to touch my little angelbee- they won't get very far. We will be antibacterial-ing everything in our path. I can't wait to see everyone...I know it will be worth the sleepless nights that are probably going to be had.

Oh, and can I tell you how excited I am that I will be consuming crawfish for the first time in over 3 years? Thank you, Richard, for getting married during prime crawfish season. 

Playing with dad