or I should say, all Dax wants for Christmas are his 2 front teeth! The bottom 2 are taking their sweet time coming in, with no sign of any others at this point. You can barely see the second tooth coming in, it's the one on the left when you look at the picture - it started coming through Saturday morning.
Yes, that is pumpkin on his face, I've been mixing it in with his oatmeal in the mornings for breakfast and he loves it! He loves his new teeth, he's constantly moving his tongue over them to feel them out, and his new favorite thing to do is feel our teeth. This sends both him and us into peals of laughter.
We went with a Halloween themed party this year, and it was a success! I was pretty stressed out about getting everything done, and I wish I had made and/or bought a few more decorations, but this was truly the first birthday party I have ever thrown, and it was a pretty big learning experience for me :) I am also proud to announce that I did not have a breakdown until after Dax went to bed last night, I'm still trying to come to terms with the fact that my baby will be 1 on Monday.
The cake is not what I had originally attempted to do, but it was the next best option when we didn't have a cake the day of the party :)
I also made up some cupcakes that were inspired by my friend Joanne, who made some Candy Corn Cupcakes (for what it's worth, I used a cream cheese frosting, which I probably wouldn't do again if I wanted to pipe frosting on, it doesn't hold it's shape very well once the frosting gets room temperature):
We also had some homemade pumpkin cheesecake bars with oreo crusts, and little ghosts on top (these are so delicious, i had one for breakfast!):
The table setup:
The decorations:
And the birthday boy himself with his first piece of cake!
It was everywhere :)
And here he is with his present from mama and daddy:
Dax finally has a tooth, and just 2 weeks shy of being 1 year old as well :) We were beginning to think that his almost 5 month old cousin was going to beat him in getting some pearly whites.
Ever since Dax has started crawling, it's as if all of these other light bulbs in his head have gone off at the same time. He's EVERY WHERE at once, trying to walk all the time, crawling up, in, out, through, down, pretty much anything, pulling up on everything, this boy is ready to run. Here are a few "action shots" of him crawling and going up the stairs.
As of Sunday, Dax has officially transitioned into doing a normal crawl. As happy as I am to see him hit this milestone, I will definitely miss seeing his goofy walrus crawl.
Dax is 9 months old today. It is hard to believe that he is only 3 months away from being 1, when it seems like just the other day he was my 8.4lb newborn baby boy! He's now up to 21lbs 2 oz, and we haven't measured him yet, but that is on the to-do list for tomorrow. While he's not crawling yet, he is definitely mobile as of last friday. He has started doing "the walrus" and is pretty fast once he gets going.
He's still really only saying mama, but he's so close to saying dada or papa, I just know it! He loves smiling, laughing, and stealing the show everywhere we go. He continues to be such a great baby and a joy in our lives. I must admit, being a parent is nothing like what I had imagined. I used to think being a stay-at-home-mom meant hours upon hours of endless boring days, with a baby who just cried all day long. I used to think that I would feel that my life had no meaning or purpose if I was at home, and I would just waste away in boredom. It is the complete opposite! Every day is spent playing and teaching Dax new things, and each day I wonder if he'll do something new, or say a new word. The most current feat we are waiting to capture is him actually crawling - trust me I have the video camera on hand at all times these days! Here are some pictures that were taken this past week by a friend of mine.
Dax makes this scrunchy face - he scrunches his nose up, squints his eyes, and breathes in and out really fast. We have NO idea what it means because it is so random when it happens. Sometimes it is followed by crying, sometimes by laughing, and sometimes with a goofy smile. So far I have yet to capture it on video, that is until today hahaha. I was feeding him some lunch (bananas and peaches) and all of the sudden he started doing it. So I busted out the video camera, and he kept doing it and even said mama at the end. Enjoy!
I've been pretty absent from the world of blogging lately, and I'm not sure why. I skipped a few days here and there and soon it became easier to just not update than it was to write a quick post! So I'm back and trying to be better about blogging somewhat regularly :)
We celebrated the 4th of July this past weekend by walking in a parade for a local campaign. Dax was all decked out in his red, white, and blue, including some blue flip flops that had stars on them!!
Dax went swimming in our neighbor's pool and LOVED it! He seems to be a natural in the water, he does really well kicking when he's on his belly, and he even holds still when i lay him on his back with his head on my shoulder. Of course, all of those years I taught swimming lessons to little squirts is coming in handy now :)
We also hung out with some of Derek's friends, and while they played a game of backyard baseball, Dax and I hung out in the shade.
Dax is now feeding himself finger foods (but we only give him the yogurt drops and puffs haha), and is obsessed with drinking out of his water bottles. Most of the time he won't let us help him with the bottle, and he loves that there is a straw in there!!
Dax is officially 8 months old now - time has flown by. It is hard to believe that we are now closer to Dax's turning 1 than we are to when he was born!! He is ringing in at 20 pounds now, and not sure how long, but we'll measure him tomorrow :)
We celebrated our first father's day, and gave Derek a framed picture of him and Roo in their matching Michigan outfits, as well as a much needed pair of jeans. Sometimes you just have to give a practical gift instead of something fun. I don't think Derek minded too much. We met up with my parents and enjoyed a nice dinner to celebrate as well.
Dax celebrated his 8 month mark by taking a ride in a swing for the first time. His Grammy R was blowing bubbles for him while swinging and he had a great time.
We also celebrated Derek's younger sister's high school graduation with her open house. It gave us a chance to see his older sister, her husband, and our nephew and 2 month old niece! We took advantage of the opportunity to get a photo of the 3 kids together.
Lastly, as a part of the preparation for the open house, I made about 100 mini cupcakes into graduation hats. See below (the blue and white were her high school's colors):
My little pumpkin is 7 months old today. He has grown so much since October! He fills our days with so much joy and happiness that it is hard to imagine how we ever had fulfilling lives before we were parents. His laugh and conversations continue to be my favorite sounds and bring a smile to my face every time I hear them. For those of you keeping track, he's now 27.25 inches long and a whopping 19lbs - no wonder my biceps are continually sore :)
My sister, Jessie, loaned us the bumbo chair she picked up for her son (still waiting for him to have his birthday!), and while I don't know that it is worth $40 new, it has been quite handy to have around! Dax doesn't love the chair, but he doesn't mind being in it either!
While I have yet to capture this on film, Dax started waving yesterday. It is the CUTEST thing! He takes his fingers and closes them towards his palm and then opens them up again when we do it to him saying "bye-bye". I will get it on video and post that soon!
Dax's first food encounter was with peas mixed with breastmilk. He was not a fan. It was the cutest thing watching him try to figure out what we were giving him. Several times, we had to stop putting the spoon up to his mouth because we were laughing so hard! He would squish his whole face up with this look of utter disgust, as if he was eating a lemon wedge.
Here's the pea and breast milk puree that I whipped up
Mr. Dax-a-roo has been a little chatterbug lately. He's a talker, but he's really trying to speak lately, his tones have been changing and when he moves his lips it's like he's just trying to spit out a full mouth of words! Today, he has decided to squeal more than he's ever squealed in his life so far - he sounds like a 3 year old little girl getting her first barbie.
Our happy sweet little boy has turned into a crying angry monster. He's started teething, his smiles have become cute little pouty lips, his eyes that sparkle when he laughs have turned into sprinkler systems, and he's been fighting low-grade fevers for the past 2 weeks. Today, however, my sweet baby boy woke up his usual self and was the happiest I have seen him in awhile! While there aren't any pearly whites poking through yet, I believe I can see one on his bottom front gums just under the surface. Here's hoping they pop through soon and that he gets a break from teething for a few weeks!
It's official: Dax is 1/3 of a year old and 2 days!! To celebrate, I had a chocolate shake, and Dax we went to the pediatrician for a 4 month checkup. Dax is now 16lbs 15 ounces and 25" long, which means he has doubled his birth weight and grown almost 4 inches since he was born. My baby is growing up way too fast.
We also tried out some cool new sunglasses, and Dax got to sit in his brand new booster seat from grammie Patty! He sat with us at dinner tonight and doubled fisted 2 of his favorite toys while we ate some lasagna.
The other night Derek and Dax were talking, and all of the sudden Dax started cracking up, he was laughing so hard it was adorable. I managed to grab a quick video without him noticing, although he seems to be warming up to the video camera - the regular camera, not so much. I'm still having a difficult time capturing his precious smile, but don't worry I will prevail!
On Monday Dax was exactly 3 months old, 1/4 of a year already, holy cow!! I weighed him on my Wii Fit and he came in at a whopping 15.2 pounds - he's up exactly 2 pounds from December 18th. This would explain my increased back pain over the past couple of weeks. Over the past couple of weeks Dax has been talking non-stop, and I still think he knows how to say "hi". He LOVES to talk with his daddy, they sit there and coo at each other and then Dax just cracks up laughing. Our best method to get him to calm down when he's upset, is to start "talking" to him, the way he talks to us, and he finds that funny so he'll crack a smile and start talking back. It's amazing and melts my heart everytime I hear it. He seems to have inherited my smile - which means his eyes disappear when he smiles and from here on out, people will probably tell him what I've been hearing all of these years: "your eyes are closed, we need to retake the picture" me: "let me look at it....no they're not closed, that's just how they look when I smile", my poor poor son - the hardships he will endure because of this smile :) I have a good feeling that he will survive.
Maybe it's just me, but he sure is getting cuter and cuter every time I look at him! He still is 99% dad and 1% mom, but that's alright - he has my brains and his dads looks, he's going to go places with that combination!
On a random side note, we're not starting solids and won't be doing so until he's 6 months old, but I found this online and have decided we will be getting this in March/April when we're getting ready to start solids:
What is it? This is Squirt it's a spoon that you fill with 3 oz. of baby food, and you squeeze the sides of the top of the spoon for food to come out onto the spoon. AKA mess free feedings, no bottles of baby food being spilled over on to the floor, oh I could go on. The BEST part, it's only $7.99, and I found 2 stores in Michigan that aren't too far away. They have 3 colors, Orange, Hot Pink (let's hope I have a girl next so I can get this color some time hehe), and Blue.
I was finally able to catch Dax in action on his playmat today. He is such a morning person and is so happy, he just laughs and smiles all morning long, I LOVE it!! I still think he can say "hi", so now my next goal is to get that on video to prove to everyone else that he already can talk :)
