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

Cougar Football Saturday!

It's no secret that I LOVE college football season...I woke up this morning feeling like I was 5 years old and and it was Christmas morning.  I love laying in bed with my Starbucks, watching ESPN GameDay and hearing all about the games ahead.  This morning was extra special as I was able to share this love with both of my boys.  Raleigh slept in until 8 and was immediately put in his Cougar jersey, which will be the routine every Saturday morning for the next 3 months.  Besides for seeing my boy in crimson and gray, my other favorite part of the morning was seeing the Cougar flag flying behind Kirk, Chris and Lee.

This top photo is a bit blurry, but his two bottom teeth are visible!

GO COUGS!

4 Months

This past month has been a month of change, as I returned to work and Raleigh began to spend his days with both of his Grandmas and friends. As hard as it was to leave him, I was happy knowing that he was in safe hands. My absolute favorite part of the day now is picking him up after work and the huge smile that I'm greeted with from my sweet boy.

Raleigh loves to giggle when his daddy dances for him or makes funny faces, he's ticklish on his neck and in his armpits, he kicks his legs in the tub like a natural born swimmer, he rolls over, he loves to socialize, loves walking around the yard with us to check out the progress on our (out of control) garden, AND he's got teeth! I haven't been able to snap a photo of the teeth yet, but I'll post once I do.

This may be creepy to some, but I love laying in bed in the morning and watching him on the monitor in his crib.  I can hear him chatting to himself and enjoy watching him kick his legs and swing his arms. This morning I did this for about 5 minutes and then couldn't take it any longer and had to scoop him up for some cuddle time in our bed.  I know I've said this before, but I love this boy more and more each day.  Throughout my pregnancy I imagined what motherhood was going to be like, but I honestly had no idea how much it would truly sweep me off of my feet.  I am crazy, madly, deeply in love with my son. 

 

Baby Blue

Sorry to have abandoned you, blog, but my priorities have shifted and this blue-eyed boy of mine has completely stolen my heart and any spare minute that I used to have.  

 

To say I've been a bit busy would be an understatement, but I promise I'll be back soon. 

Indianola Days : 2011

When I was growing up, I'd spent weeks visiting my cousins Matt and Mike, my aunt, my uncle and my grandparents at their homes in Indianola (10 minute drive from the Kingston ferry on Puget Sound). We'd play at the beach, have bonfires, go on long bike rides, jump off the dock, go crabbing and on boat rides...for me it was the perfect summer camp. Each summer, the people of Indianola celebrate their little community with "Indianola Days." I hadn't participated in Indianola Days for about 15 years so it was fun for me to get back this weekend, but even more exciting to share this memory of mine with Steve and Raleigh. I can't wait until next summer when Raleigh can run around with the older kids and swim in the Sound.

We randomly ran into Steve's good college buddy, PJ and his wife and kids who were attending a family reunion at the house next to where we were hanging out on the beach.

Cousin Mike and Raleigh

Paul, Olivia, Lauren, Raleigh and Henry

Cousin Matt bought his wife Lisa a golf cart for her birthday - best.gift.ever!  Steve and I went for a little spin up to check out the country store and the salmon bake.

The infamous Indianola Dock

Somtimes you just need a little assitance going to the bathroom when you've got wet swimtrunks on.