7 months old

Preston,

You are seven months old today!

You are such a big boy. Mom and dad guess you weigh around 16.5 or 17 lbs now. You are sleeping 10-12 hours each night - hooray! You are a funny sleeper. You are ALL OVER the crib. Your favorite sleeping position is on your belly, with your legs tucked under you, and your bottom sticking up in the air. You roll around a lot throughout the night, and your mommy and daddy have even caught you mumbling in your sleep. You must be having baby dreams!

It's amazing to how far you are in development. You crawl very fast and you pull up on everything in site. This has caused a few bumps and bruises, but you are learning to catch yourself better everyday. You also cruise along furniture, and have even moved from furniture to furniture a couple times. About a week ago, you stood in place, not holding onto anything for several seconds. As much as your mom and dad can't believe, we think you might be walking soon. Your mom and Mimi walked at seven months, so we will have to see.

So far, you have one little tooth that broke the surface Saturday, August 27. It is your bottom left tooth, in the middle. You have some Mum-Mum rice husks to chew on and some Orajel for relief. You've felt a little warm a few times, so your mom and dad gave you some Motrin for swelling and fever. Your drool is out of control. You have been a little fussy, but nothing too bad.

Eating is still a favorite pastime. Now, you give yourself your own bottles! You have become great at holding the bottle and feeding yourself from start to finish. You are eating 6 oz. bottles every 4 hours or so, and for lunch you have fruit and for dinner you have veggies and graham crackers or mum-mums. Pretty soon, you'll start on finger foods, maybe starting with pizza crusts and larger items so you don't choke. You are so funny in your highchair. When mommy is getting your food ready, you bang your hands on the highchair and give this look like "Give me food NOW!!" You know what the highchair means, and you have absolutely no patience.

You are still spitting up ALL.THE.TIME. It's mostly just annoying for the rest of your family, but it doesn't bother you one bit. You are gaining weight fine even with the spitting. Your doctor told us it will probably last a year, for severe spitters (which you are). Your mom and dad are thinking of buying stock in Resolve. That or completely replacing their wardrobes after this spitting business is done.

You are babbling a lot. You say "dada", "ayayaya", "agoo" and a few other sounds. Sometimes, you say them so emphatically! The other day, you were going on and on about something very intensely and then just looked at your mom and dad as if to say, "Well... what do you think?" It was so cute! Oh, and even though you say "dada" a lot, your dad is pretty sure you don't associate it with him yet, it's just a sound you like.

Another cool thing your dad and mom have noticed is that you have really figured out roles. For instance, your dad just looks at you and you bust out laughing. He is the funniest person in the world. He throws you, plays on the floor with you, wrestles you, plays peek-a-boo and you love every second of it. If mom tries to do those things with you, you aren't as into it. You want your mom to cuddle you, feed you and rock you. You smile at your mom completely differently than you smile at anyone else. You look at your mom and dad differently, which is cool to see.

Your current favorite toys are kitchen cabinets, the brick surrounding the fireplace, every sharp edge you can find, magazines and newspapers, Brother, Brother's toys, fringe on rugs, mommy's hair and jewelry, boxes, and things that made loud noises. Your home is surrounded by nothing but the best in baby toys, yet you want danger and dirty things. Oh, the joys of raising a boy!

You are getting cuter and cuter by the minute. Your personality is just adorable. You smile at everyone all the time! And you laugh a lot too. You have such a happy disposition, which is a far cry from where you started as a newborn. You love to be around crowds and you love lots of activity and stimulation. At Kroger the other day, you were so happy! Sitting in the front of the cart like a big boy, just taking it all in with wide eyes. You LOVED it and smiled at everyone who looked at you. Your mommy and daddy talk all the time about what a blessing you are. You bring so much joy and they love you more than you can ever imagine.

Happy seven months baby boy!

Sir Stud Machine

When we were in college, Brian programmed himself in my cell phone as "Sir Stud Machine." That was almost 8 years ago. To this day, he is still Sir Stud Machine in my phone.

We have a new stud in the house, following in the footsteps of his dad apparently.

He even looks studly eating graham crackers...

And hanging with his mom....

And of course, every stud has to have a cool ride...

And all studs jump...

Super Fun Weekend

We had the most fun weekend ever. Friday night, Preston had some visitors come. Natasha (who is a famous blogger) and Meg came from Nashville. We went to college together. I lived with Natasha senior year in Jefferson Park - so fun! - and I lived with Meg in our sorority dorm, Massey Hall, on the Delta Gamma floor. We were all DGs together. We have so many fun memories from college and now that all of us are grown up, married, and having kids eventually, it's great to be able to spend a night together catching up!

When they got here, P was already sleeping, so the girls headed to Beauty Shop. I had my bridesmaids luncheon there and I love it. Brian is not a fan, so I have to find people to go with me! They had a blast though. Saturday morning, P woke us all up early ;).

Can I just tell you how much I love his huge toy broccoli? I am going to force it on him as his favorite toy so that he will take it everywhere with him. I mean, it's just awesome. Natasha and Meg were so sweet to bring P some little gifts. Meg brought him a little dump truck and Natasha brought a sweet bedtime book and the cutest little shirt for fall. Cool boys clothes can sometimes be hard to come by, so we love that.

His pulling up is getting better and better. And he crawls SO FAST.

P went down for a nap and we all got ready to go head downtown. We ate lunch at the Arcade on S. Main.

Then we walked to Beale Street. It was nice outside, so we stopped at the Lorraine Motel where MLK was killed. Meg and Natasha enjoyed our little touristy trip of Memphis. P did too! It was his first time on South Main and on Beale Street. Daddy was proud!

Meg and Natasha also learned that strollers are great for purse storage.

We went to the Peabody Hotel (Natasha has been there - haha!), saw the ducks and headed to the roof. Perfect photo opp for P and his new friends :)

He loved these girls, and they were so great with him! They were on the floor playing with him, and even serenaded him to the Little Mermaid on the car ride home from downtown. P loved it and Meg promised him a recording of them singing more songs. Haha!

They headed back home to their husbands, and P enjoyed playing with one of the bags his presents were in.

I love this pic, because Brian does the EXACT same face when concentrating on something. So funny!

Shortly after this, we headed to our next door neighbor's house for Case's 3rd birthday party. They were so sweet to invite us! They moved in shortly after we did, and they also have a little girl who is just two months younger than Preston. How great is that?! Emery is an absolute DOLL. I need to get pictures of the two of them together.

So, P hadn't had his usual afternoon nap and he ended up passing out in Daddy's arms. He hasn't done that since he was really little! We must have really worn him out.

They got this awesome slide for Case's party. It was cute though - Case was scared to go down it, so all the other kids enjoyed it. Eventually, he did go down a couple times, but only with his dad. Case is such a cutie! The cake was from Miss Muffn's in Germantown and I LOVE their cakes. Their strawberry is one of my absolute favorites!

Blowing out the candle!!

Preston thoroughly enjoyed all of Case and Emery's toys. They had this great little table with stuff on top that P liked to pull up on and play on. They also had a really cool tunnel he could crawl through. But the best toy of all was a plastic water bottle. So typical!

Preston and daddy enjoying themselves.

Sunday, Brian had his Fantasy Football draft. He is the commissioner of their league, and the guys love doing it, so I sent some dip with him and they headed over to Robert's house (P's godfather) for the draft. P and I stayed home and played and did laundry. All in all, it was an AWESOME family weekend together!

Milestone

As nervous as I am to blog about this, I've got to record it. Drumroll.....

Preston has slept through the night for 9 days in a row

By sleeping through the night, I mean 9-11 hours of sleep each night. Occasionally, he will wake up, but only for a little bit and he puts himself back to sleep. For a while, I thought P was late to the game on this. I thought that the majority of babies were already doing this. However, I came across a book called Sleeping through the Night and Other Lies that explained to me that most babies his age aren't. There are various reasons - teething, gas, hunger, etc. - that keep babies awake at night. Maybe P just wasn't ready until now. And I don't expect him to do this EVERY night. There will come times when we are still up with him.

I recommend this book. It's the real deal (and funny in a really TRUE way). Here are a few chapters: Visitors are storming the gates; Why you will never again be anywhere on time; Pictures you must never ever take; Theories from grocery store customers on how to stop your baby from crying; The work question; There is a trick to getting kids to sleep - but no one knows it; The nudist years; Babies are technically not anatomical attachments (my fav! there really are people that take their baby EVERYWHERE - it's like, really?!)

Baby Wise and Baby Whisperer just didn't work for him. We tried it, we really did, but probably the biggest lesson I've learned in parenting is that no two babies are alike. Basically, each baby is their own person. I think no matter what Brian and I did, Preston was going to sleep how he wanted to sleep, and when he wanted to sleep.

I was totally clueless to this when I was pregnant. I read these books and thought I could train him. That he would just do it because I willed it so. Well, I AM NOT IN CHARGE. At least, of most things with P. Brian and I kept saying, he will sleep when he's ready to sleep. And he did.

Thank you, Preston, for finally sleeping. The funny this is, Brian and I are still randomly waking up at night. You have somehow managed to keep us awake even when sleeping. After 6 and a half months of sleepless nights, you have now trained us into thinking that this is normal. :)

Birthdays

We've celebrated a couple 1st birthdays lately of some of Preston's friends. Preston has a lot of little girls in his life. He really needs more boys. Maybe some of my friends will start having little boys for him to run around with!

Sweet Ellie turned 1 on August 2...

She was too cute with her cake. Very dainty, and then her mom and dad dropped it on the floor. So funny!

Ellie and P will be getting together soon to watch some Georgia football.

We attended sweet Eva's birthday and baptism on August 14. Eva and Preston are 2nd cousins. We are glad Eva moved back to Memphis from Nashville so that they can grow up together.


I just have to say that Preston looked SO cute. He had on a light blue button down dress shirt, with blue and white piping, and white linen shorts. He has the blondest hair and bluest eyes. I could just eat him! We knew we were taking a chance with the white shorts and the volume of spit up that comes from little Preston. They somehow managed to stay clean! Oh, and it was amazing. Brian's Aunt Becky brought her pack-n-play over. It was a long day for P because Eva was baptized at 12:30, then her party was at 2. We put him down around 2:30 and he slept for two and a half hours! Brian and I had a great time at the party, got to hang out with family, and he woke up just in time to go. It was really perfect, and so considerate of Preston ;)

Cousin Campbell was there too..


Family pic in the backyard...

The birthday girl!

Proof

Here is proof that he pulls up... look what I found this morning!

Also, here he is with a sippy cup. He can't quite figure it out yet, but holds it pretty well.

First Day at New Daycare & Updates

Mr. P started his new daycare today. I had a little anxiety over it, but I think he is going to do great there. They are much more scheduled and run much more like a preschool than a daycare. He will be in this classroom (the Bunnies as they call it) with kids his age from August 2010 to May 2011. When he finishes, he'll be almost 16 months old. Can you imagine how different he will be then?

When we received our welcome letter in the mail a few weeks ago, it made me tear up a little. The letter said, "In this classroom, your child will grow and change so much. We will transition from cribs to mats, from bottles to sippy cups, from baby food to finger foods and meals, from crawling and babbling to walking and talking, from two naps to one, and so much more." I just can't believe it. P is soo big!

Here is a pic of his first day with his little friend Martha Kate. I think that we might need to teach P how to NOT attack ladies when we meet them :)

Thank you to MK's sweet daddy for sending me this pic!

In other news, P decided that crawling just wasn't enough for him. Yesterday, Brian put him down for his nap. It was a little too quiet in there (usually P cries when he goes down for a nap). Brian looked on the video monitor to see what was up, and we see P STANDING! He pulled himself up using the bars and he could easily tip over out of the crib. Brian ran upstairs to save him, and when Brian walked in, P gave him the biggest grin as if to say "Look what I did!"So proud of himself. Since then, he has tried to pull up on everything and most of the time is successful. I mean, he is barely 6 months old! My mom and I both walked at 7 months, and P seems to be on the same path. So, needless to say, the crib was immediately lowered and now we can feel safe putting him in his crib. Wildman!

6 Month Check-Up

Everything went great at the doctor. P's stats are:

Weight: 15 lb., 9 oz. (25%)

Height: 25.5 (50%)

Head: 43 (25%)

He took his shots like a champ. He always does. Little tip for moms-to-be or new moms... we have found success by scheduling his well baby check-ups that require shots as late as possible in the day. Shots and the check-up wear P out, so the sooner it is to bed time, the better. This time after shots, we were able to give him Motrin, and it worked so much better than Tylenol for him. He slept all the way from 7 p.m. - 5 a.m., which is great for P! He ate a few ounces, then went back to sleep until around 7:15. Anyway, he was wild as a banchee at the appointment, of course!

Later, we had the Fields over for a last minute cook-out. We made half of a cake to celebrate his half birthday. I said no to singing Happy Birthday, because we've got to save that for his real birthday.

I also have to say thanks for the sweet gifts from the grandparents. P is beyond spoiled. Sometimes I have a hard time with it, but I realize that grandparents really want to spoil, so I have to swallow my pride. I mean, look at this ADORABLE onesie from Mimzie?! They also had matching burp clothes with them... Lord knows we can never have enough of those!

P starts his new big boy day school on Monday. I am excited for him, but a little nervous too. Change always induces a little anxiety for me. I know that he will LOVE it and he already has a little friend in his class, Miss Martha Kate! His teachers are supposed to be fabulous, so I hear from other parents, so we are looking forward to that. Time, will you puh-lease slow down?!