First haircut and a little bit of sun

Last weekend I took Raleigh to get his first haircut at the the salon at Kids Club at U.Village.  He had strands of baby hair that were a few inches long so I figured it was time to get it cleaned up a bit.  The haircut lasted all of about 5 minutes and cost a whopping $25, but was definitely worth it to "drive" a yellow car and stare in the mirror.  We left with a great new hairdo, a photo and a baggy of hair to include in his baby book.  If you're looking for a place to take your little one, I would highly recommend this salon.

Since I work during the week, I'm not able to take many photos of Raleigh when the sun is out. Therefore, I embrace the weekends and take full advantage of my handsome boy and perfect lighting. Today, in particular, the lighting could not have been better...below are a few photos I took in our yard this afternoon. If my baby boy is anything like his dad, he'll be spending endless hours in his "work pants" out in the yard, the shop and the garage.

9 Months

Today Raleigh is 9 months old, but seems to us to act more like a 2 year old.  He's at a stage where if he doesn't get what he wants, he sticks out his lower jaw, shows his bottom teeth, closes his eyes and whines.  For example, if I'm working at the computer, he'll crawl over, pull himself up, hold onto the armrest and whine until I put him on my lap.  I laugh and love this little attitude, but I could definitely see it becoming a problem down the road.

Here are a few things about our sweet boy...

- He loves to dance/listen to music.  He started a little music class at Redmond Town Center this week that he'll go to every week with my mom for a few months.

- He grinds/clenches his teeth and it drives his dad crazy.

- He loves his new play area we built for him a couple of weeks ago and will play alone, but would prefer for Steve or I to play with him.

- He's a wonderful eater.  However, he had fresh blueberries for the first time yesterday, loved them, but got a horrible diaper rash. 

- He still wakes up a couple of times each week in the middle of the night, but we're in the process of letting him cry it out and it seems to be working.

- He loves to go out to dinner with us.  He sits in the highshare and waves at everyone around us.

- He says dada, baba, gaga...haven't really heard a mama yet, but I"m sure it's coming soon.

- He crawls and pulls himself up onto everything.  He has stood by himself for a split second, but will immedialy grab onto to something close by.  He'll fall down and pull himself right back up...he seems to be a pretty tough kid.

- He'll let anyone hold him.  Separation anxiety usually starts at about 8 or 9 months, but we haven't seen it yet.

- The other day we were outside in the sun and I thought his hair looked gray and panicked for a second.  I looked closer and his roots are coming in blonde.

This afternoon before his nap I took a few photos of Raleigh in one of my very favorite sweaters.  As you can see from his eyes, he was on the verge of falling asleep and was out about 2 minutes after these were taken.

We Love you Raleigh John!

SNOMG...Snowmageddon...Winter Freeze

Whatever you want to call it, it was the real deal of winter storms.  By the end of my 4 day lockdown, I felt like I was trapped in the twilight zone and on the verge of losing my mind.  Thankfully, I was able to work from home Tues, Wed, Thurs and Fri and Steve was conveniently scheduled to do a remodel on a home next door so life wasn't too difficult.  Raleigh had a horrible cold all week so I'm glad I was able to be with him, but it was tough holding him on my lap, talking on the phone with a co-worker and writing an email all at the same time.  Unfortunately, we didn't spend much time outside, but below are a few photos to re-cap my week.

Here are a few things that I learned this week...

- I am EXTRA thankful for Raleigh's weekly caregivers - my mom, my mother in law and the fabulous Miss Ali.  It is a tough job watching a very active baby all day.
- As much as I thought I wanted to be a stay at home mom, I'm not quite ready. However, I desperately wish that I could be a part-time/stay at home mom.
- I must get out of the house at least once a day.
- Power outages with a baby make me a little nervous (thankfully ours was only out for 3 hours).
- I need/want new snow clothes.
- If you pull a plastic sled with a baby, they'll immediately tip over.
- The NoseFrida is a lifesaver!  If you're a new mom, going to become a mom soon or have a baby with a cold, you must invest in this contraption...it seems gross, but it's worth for your baby to breath.
- Raleigh needs a mouth-guard...he grinds his teeth on and off ALL.DAY.LONG - any one have a remedy?

Below is a little video of Mr. Raleigh from this week...

Weekend Update

Yesterday we spent the day downtown...we parked at Pike Place Market and walked around for a couple of hours, enjoyed lunch at Beechers, shopped and then happy hour with my parents at rn74 - great ambiance, excellent drinks (Steve had a "shot and a beer" which was a Rainier in a beer coozie with a shot of Fernet Branca), and better food.  Afterwards, I dropped Steve off at the Thuderbirds game and Raleigh and I came home to snuggle on the couch.

Today, I ran errands, Steve worked around the house and Raleigh attempted to get in to everything he's not supposed to touch...we're still working on the baby-proofing.  Along with putting cords, cell phones and tv remotes in his mouth, he's on the verge of eating us out of house and and home.  I also think he's already trying to figure out how to talk back to me.  But, whenever he looks at me with his sweet baby blues and smiles his big smile, my hearts melts all over again. 

Just before sunset tonight we went down to the park and took a few photos...he's my favorite model.
 

8 Months

I'm now at the point where I feel like I'm starting the countdown until Raleigh's first birthday - how is it possible that he's only 4 months away from turning ONE?! Time needs to slow down a bit. Each month I say I've reached my favorite age with my boy, but where he is right now is absolutely my favorite. Every night while I feed him his bottle, I can't help but stare at him and just think about how lucky I am to have him in my life. Raleigh is truly one of a kind and makes my heart beat just a bit stronger when he is near me.

Here are a few highlights from the past month...

He knows his name - we say Raleigh and he turns and smiles at us.

He crawls all over the place and pulls himself up onto his toy trucks. I've always thought I've kept a clean house but his white socks and white onesie's would suggest I need to mop a bit more often.

The crawling and climbing have led to a few bumps and bruises, but nothing a few snuggles can't cure.

He says Dada and gaga...and we think we may have heard him say kitty.

His laugh is the sweetest sound I've ever heard in my life.

He waves and smiles at strangers (someday soon I'll teach him about "stranger danger).

He slept through the night on his 7 month birthday and is slowly becoming an all night sleeper.

He'll feed himself a pouch of food, Mum Mums or a handful of puffs in about a minute flat. He has quite the love for food with the acceptation of peas.

He's an excellent dinner date when we go out to a restaurant.

He had no issue with Santa, but that may have been due to the fact that Santa didn't say a peep and for all that Raleigh knew he may as well thought he was sitting on his Dad's lap.

When he doesn't get the immediate attention that he's looking for he lays belly down on the ground, tucks his hands and arms under his face and cries. I usually laugh and try to grab a camera, as I have yet to catch this fit on film.

He has 8 teeth! 4 on the bottom and 4 on the top. When I brush my teeth in the morning I now hand him his toothbrush at the same time and we "brush" together.

Hope you all had a Merry Christmas!

7 Months

Today my baby boy turns 7 months old and yet again I find myself wondering where the time has gone.  I'm absolutely loving this age and at times wish that I could push pause and stay right in this moment for a bit longer.  Raleigh is becoming his own little man with his own personality that I admire with all of my heart.  He's become quite vocal and will let us know when he's hungry, when he's finished eating, when he's bored, when he's happy and when he's mad.  I love the way he wakes up happy from a nap - he peaks his head over his crib and is all smiles. Balloons get my boy very excited. I love our nightly routine of dinner, bath and books. Yes, I comb his hair meticulously each night when he gets out of the bath.  

Raleigh now has his two bottom teeth and has four top teeth working their way in. He is this close to crawling and is currently scooting himself around the room, but sometimes is completely content in the push-up/plank position. We're slowly working on childproofing the house, but I'm thinking this task may need to be accelerated as he is putting anything within reach (especially cords/phone chargers) immediately into his mouth. He's an eater! Loves his food. He's quite social. He loves his naps, but has yet to sleep through the night, we know we're getting close...fingers crossed I'm not writing this same line next month.

Raleigh - there is nothing in the world we wouldn't do for you. You continue to amaze us on daily basis and have made me and your daddy so incredibly happy. You are one in a million and we are so thankful that you chose us. We love you!

6 Months

My blog has obviously been neglected, considering my last post was exactly a month ago today, but we've been busy...real busy.  Hence the reason I'm writing this post at 10pm. 

In the past month, we've been to Black Butte, Oregon for the Rinabarger Family Reunion (fabulous time), we've been to Pullman for the WSU Homecoming game (we're currently working on Raleigh's college application) and we celebrated my first birthday as a mama (Raleigh spoiled me).  Each of these events deserve a post of their own, but unfortunately, there aren't enough hours in the day for me to do everything that I want to do PLUS sit down and write a post.

In other news, today my baby turned 6 months old...that's half of a year people, that's 180 nights that we have yet to sleep through the night (it's coming soon...) and it's a lot of dirty diapers, but most of all it's the best 6 months of our life. To Steve and I, Raleigh is every bit of the definition of perfection. He is so incredibly happy, has such a huge personality, loves to laugh, enjoys everything we've fed him thus far (except for peas and green beans) and has made us a family. We love our boy more than anything we've ever loved before and remind him of that on a daily basis. So, to celebrate his 6 month birthday, we fed him an extra big dinner, read a few extra books, played a bit longer and let him stay up past his bedtime. Happy 6 month birthday to our handsome boy!

5 Months

Happy 5 Month Birthday to my baby boy!  Raleigh is growing up so quickly that I kind of wish I could just hit pause and bask in everything about this current time.  I'm anxious for the next few months as many of my girlfriends have said that these months were their most favorite time with their little ones, but I'm just loving how Raleigh is at 4/5 months old.  His two bottom teeth are almost fully in, he's learning to sit up, he's a wild man in his crib, he squeals with excitement while I fill the bathtub, he's still getting the hang of eating with a spoon and seems to have developed a liking for oatmeal (was not a fan of the rice cereal). The one thing he has not yet mastered is sleeping through the night.  Every night I go to sleep thinking "tonight is the night he'll sleep for 7 or 8 hours straight" and everynight around midnight my dreams of a deep sleep are shattered....fingers crossed this day comes soon.  This past weekend Raleigh had his first experience of the Puyallup Fair and his first Seahawks game.  The fair was good...the game, a bit tough.  Even with the giant headphones on, the noise was too much.  We figured this was a good preparation for the two or three Cougar games we're planning on taking him to this year.

Raleigh - I love you more today than I did yesterday...And tomorrow I will love you more than today.  The last five months with you have been the best 5 months of my life. Thank you for picking me - I feel like the luckiest mama alive.  I love you.

 The "Boys BOB Brigade" at the Fair - Rocco, Raleigh and Easton

Here's a peek into what it's like to feed a constantly distracted 5 month old.

Tonight was the first time he sat and ate in his highchair.

Updates

We're in the process of teaching Raleigh how to eat...literally. I had no idea that teaching a baby how to eat from a spoon could be so difficult/entertaining/messy. I realize for some kids they immediately pick up eating from a spoon, not this kid. I think I just assumed that Raleigh would open his mouth and immediately know what to do, but that is absolutely not the case. As you can see from the look on his face (aka a deer in headlights) he really doesn't have a clue of what's going on, but something we learned tonight is that he does like the oatmeal cereal and he wants it scooped into his mouth fast...so we'll just keep practicing.

As we finish up feeding/scooping oatmeal into his mouth, I get the bath going and through the excitement on his face, Raleigh seems to know exactly what the next step is - tub time! He loves the bath! After his bath, I comb his hair, put lotion on his tiny body and let him play for a little bit before it's time for a diaper and jammies. I had to share our little nightime routine as this is the highlight of my day.

I realized earlier today that I forgot to mention Raleigh's 4 Month stats from his doctors appointment a couple of weeks ago...

Length: 25 inches - 50%

Weight: 15lbs 6oz - 65%

Head Cir.: 17 3/4 inches - ummmm technically off the charts, but the doc chose to stick with 99%. 

We always knew we'd have a baby with a big head, but never imagined the day that our son's pediatrician would ask to measure our heads after taking his measurement.  In case you care, Steve and I both measured in the 95%.  For precautionary measures, we have another appointment in a couple of weeks to re-measure Raleigh's head to make sure it's not growing too quickly.  Big head means big brains, right?  Maybe we just have a child genius on our hands....that hopefully learns sooner than later how to eat from a spoon.

These Two...

Melt my heart