Yay for Festivals!

Saturday's Art at the Point here in our little town was nice.  A small gathering of crafters, photographers, and a blacksmith.  We also took advantage of the absolutely gorgeous day and went for a long walk on the toe path down to a C&O canal lock house.  Sam slept most of the time while we were on the toe path, so he missed the trains that were going by.  But he did get to see his very first train in person just as we were packing up to leave!  The engineer even waved at him!  He was unimpressed.

Daddy picked him some flowers, but he was alseep.  So he put them on his head.

Today was the Frederick Octoberfest!  I've been looking forward to this for weeks.  I don't drink beer, but the boys do and have been going to this for several years now.  This was my first time going and I loved it!  They had a lot of kids activities which Sam will enjoy when he's older, authentic German food, polka bands, and of course GOOD beer.  Definitely going back next year, and the next year, and the next year, and so on.

I'm trying really hard not to photo bomb you.

But this needed special attention drawn to it.

OH - and they were giving out free pumpkins to all the kids today so I grabbed the smallest one they had for Sam.  His first pumpkin!!!!

First of many.  I can feel the pumpkin crazy coming on.

Saturday Selfies: Take 3

Black and white.  Why was this week so hard to do?  You just take a photo and then convert it to black and white.  Easy, right?  No, apparently not.  I sat down several times this week taking photos to use for this challenge only to be completely disappointed with them once I saw them in black and white.  But last night, at 8pm, after the husband came home late from work, after a long week of cranky baby, I took a bath for the first time in 4 days.

Yes, I admitted on the internets that I went THAT long without showering.  I'm not proud of it.  But it's the truth.  Being a mom does weird things to you.  Like lower your personal tolerances and expectations.  Before you know it a couple days can pass and you don't even register that you have not showered.  But 4 days is quite a stretch and I was very happy last night to be able to hand off a woeful baby to the husband once he finished eating his cold dinner.  And I snuck the camera upstairs with me.

Can you see how tired and relaxed I am in the corner of that eye?  A hot bath at the end of a trying week = best gift you can give the mom of a wee one.

Oh - and the photo is meant to show my hair floating on the top of the water.  

Swing by Audrey and see who else is taking part in Saturday Selfies.  See some black and white photos that are actually good.

TGIF

It's been a rough week over here.  All baby does is eat, scream, and sleep.  And when my little demon angel does sleep it's a shallow sleep so I have to be quiet.  I suppose that's why I've been trying to find new things to entertain him and posting on here so much this week.  Lots of time on the computer trying to type quietly.

Today we did have a little time when he was his usual happy self.  We sat and played in the dining room where he could watch the sun make the leaves on the trees cast funny shadows across the window.  That always mesmerizes him.  So we had a good solid 20 minutes of good play and photo light.  Yay for small victories!

That face.  That face right there.  That's the face of a baby Sam who just heard a cat meow.  Damn, does he love those cats.  They'll probably spend even more time upstairs during the day than they already do once Sam learns to crawl.  'Cause I guarantee you there will be no peace for them otherwise.

It's also been rough this week because Morgan continues to be spending a lot of time at the Freemason lodge studying.  Plus it's the end of the fiscal year for the government so he's super busy at work and not working from home much.  Meaning no down time for mommy.  Whatever Sam's issue is (teething, growing pains, frustration in general with me) I hope he gets it out of his system before this weekend.  Lots of plans.  Arts festival tomorrow and Octoberfest on Sunday.  Please baby, mommy needs some social time and sauerkraut.

Sensory Bag

Thank you, Pinterest.  I joined about two weeks ago and have found many things on there that are beautiful, fun, or both.  Today I found a pin about sensory bags.  A 5 minute project.

Ziplock bag, a bit of glitter, water, duct tape, and some random things I found around the house.  Random things including a couple of cat toys that the cats have not played with in years until they saw me grab them for the baby toy.

The tutorial I found suggested using hair gel, bath wash, or some other kind of liquid substance thicker than water.  It also suggested putting a drop or two of food coloring into the liquid to make it pretty. Yes, that would be rad.  But I fear for my carpet and baby blankets if this thing starts to leak.  And leak it eventually shall.  Plus it would look prettier if I had fun duct tape in a color or pattern other than gray.

But Sam doesn't care that it's not nearly as nifty as it could be.  He thinks it's awesome!  Squish it, smack it, mouth it, and scream at it!  Baby joy.

Is it leaking or is it drool?  Only time will tell.

7 Months Old

Yup.  It's that time of the month already.  On this chilly Tuesday morning we celebrated by going to the library for baby play time while still wearing his warm pj's.  Where we saw that ALL of the babies were still wearing their warm pj's.  So library time turned into a pajama party.  

Speaking of baby clothes, I have decided that 9 month clothing is a joke.  I bought an array of outfits in that size and less than a month later he is already growing out of most of them.  Either Sam is hitting one hell of a growth spurt or there really isn't any point to buying 9 month clothes.

What My 7 Monther Does:

Has solid food breakfast and dinner, sometimes a shared fruit snack in the afternoon with mommy.

Favorite foods - peach cobbler, mangos, prunes & apples.

Has started playing with his hands in a waving/twisting wrist motion.  He gets super excited when you mimic this hand action back to him.

Has started sleeping in a few times a week.  The latest so far is 8am!

His babbles are starting to take on a definite word sound.  The most common of which is "Daddy".

Is no closer to crawling than he was a month ago.

Continues to be a master at sitting up and drags toys closer to himself.

Is knee deep into stranger danger territory!  But as long as he can see me anyone can hold him.

Has started to show more interest in putting weight on his legs and standing.

Favorite past time is beating things.  Toys, counters, me, etc.

7 Months Owl!

"I wanna sit up!"

"Oh, hai."

Fire!

This past weekend we had a feast meal on Saturday and a birthday party on Sunday.  Both involved baby's first exposure to fire.  The results were mixed.

Mesmerized by the fire.

Michaelmas was held at Ryan's house this year.  Typical feast meal of food, drink, more food, and even more drink.  Then we had a fire in the backyard.  It was a chilly night and the fire was so warm.  It was a wonderful night.  I was happy that Sam liked to watch the fire and snuggle.  But baby was restless and didn't want to take his naps. . . so yeah.  He tried really hard to be good.  But he was in full on meltdown by the time we went to leave that night.  Mainly because he finally did fall asleep and then woke up alone in a strange room and was scared.  Poor thing.

The B family.

The other B family.

On Sunday my niece, Claire, had her 10th birthday party.  Wow.  She is double digits now!  She wanted to go out to dinner with the family to a Japanese hibachi place.  If you've ever had hibachi then you know they put on a little show, including a giant fireball, while making your meal.  Sam was shocked, scared, and refused to blink as the wall of fire in front of him delighted everyone else.  I wish I had gotten a picture of that face.  It was priceless.  But he is Sam, so he cried quietly for a minute and then was fine.  He actually liked watching the guy cook, spin eggs, and flip his spatula about.  

"And that's why onions are just like volcanoes or choo-choos."

And that was our weekend.  Now fall is officially here and we have so many plans coming up!  Pumpkin patch, train ride, arts festival, Octoberfest, etc.  Best time of the year is upon us!

Saturday Selfies: Take 2

Hats.  The assignment is hats.  I have a giant head.  Luckily, so does the husband.  So I grabbed a few of his hats and got to it.  Including the top hat he wore for both our wedding and Matt's wedding.  But the fedora photos turned out better.

"Is that the Stevie Nicks look?" asked the smart ass husband.

Morgan went through a phase where he wanted a fedora really bad.  Every store we went to he searched for one that looked good and would fit his gigantic skull.  Eventually, we found this one at Target.  There was much rejoicing.  That was 5 years ago.  He has never worn it.  

Saturday Selfies victory against hats!  Visit sweet Audrey and see who else is taking part in this weeks photo challenge.

Holy Diver

That looks scary.  It looked even scarier when he was just a tiny and screaming month old getting an EKG.  Sam had a little health concern when he was born.  Sometimes they would hear a heart murmur, sometimes they wouldn't.  We went to get it checked out shortly after he was born and they found a tiny hole in his heart.  They assured us that he would be fine and the hole would likely close up in a couple months.  The only thing this tiny hole meant, if it didn't close, was that Sam wouldn't be allowed to do any deep sea diving.  You know, 'cause that's so common a thing to want to do.

Well, today was his follow up EKG and heart ultrasound.  The hole is closed!  He still has what they call an "innocent heart murmur", but it shouldn't have any effect on what he can and can't do in his life.  

I still won't let him go deep sea diving.  'Cause I'm a mom and I worry and he will always be my squishy.

Squeeeee Headsplode!

Batman needed a paci.

Every day should be a superhero outfit kind of a day.

And Now For Something Completely Different

Saturday night the husband and I went to a beard competition.  Yes, a beard competition.  Meaning lots of people standing around in a bar watching the beards of others be judged for the purpose of community respect and a wee trophy.  (Plus all the money made that night went to charity.)  

Above is our friend Mike, who entered the full beard category.  Yes, category.  This is taken so seriously that there are categories to compete in.  The most amazing of which was the women's fake beard.  Fake.  Fake beard.  Awesome.

Jess, demonstrating the Awesome.

Some lady I don't know, showing the Awesome.

Another lady I don't know, living the Awesome.

It was a fun night full of fun people and fun beard jokes.  Plus my first actual drink at a bar in I think over 2 years.  So much fun that I counted this as a date night. 

Baby at sitter - check

Husband & wife alone in car - check

Dinner - check

Fun - check

Ice cream before picking up baby - check

Yup, it was a date night!

Saturday Selfies

My craftiest and bestest of friends, Audrey, has created a photo challenge.  Blog challenges are something I have never taken part in before.  I just never felt crafty, creative, talented, or interesting enough to think that others would care what I did for said challenge.  But this time I decided to throw my hat in the ring because it was something simple, yet incredibly challenging to me personally.

A self portrait.

I have never been a fan of being in front of the camera.  I have always hated photos of myself, regardless of my hotness level at the time.  I have tons of vacation photos of Morgan having a great time, very few of me.  Tons of baby snuggles with Daddy, relatively few of me.  You get the idea.  Cameras pointed at me make me nervous.

I have a sneaking suspicion that this photo challenge may actually involve several weeks of different photo types, styles, and whatnots.  This weeks assignment is just a simple introduction photo.  And since it doesn't have to be a photo that involves all of yourself, I have chosen to break myself in gently and focus on what I feel is my best feature.  My eyes.  I have always loved my eyes.  Which, now that I look at them in such detail, I have to admit might be hazel.  (but I will deny it to my mother till my dying breath!)

I see you!  

(and no, I'm not wearing any make up)

(OMG, I am so self conscious)

And there it is!  I have joined in!  I'm trying something newish!  Visit Audrey and see what all the fuss is about.  She's like awesome and stuff and has big boobs.  Plus you'll find a list of others doing the Saturday Selfies challenge.

Peek a Boo

Every night this week Morgan has been at the Freemason lodge learning all those super secret (yawn) super fabulous things he has to learn.  Every night.  Which means I feel like I've been running a baby care marathon all week.  And I think next week he's doing the same thing.  Peek a Boo Daddy, who comes home to eat and then is gone again till just about bedtime.  

Really, I only think I'm this worn down because Sam hasn't been sleeping well at all.  I think he's been having bad dreams.  Not so bad that I have to cuddle him in the middle of the night.  Just bad enough that he gives one good wail or loud whimper while his eyes are still closed and then he's out again.  Sometimes he needs a paci shoved into his mouth, but not often.  But it happens every hour and a half.  Almost like clock work.  Peek a Boo, no sleep for you.

At least yesterday I got to visit a friend for half a day.  Spend some quality time with her cute, pregnant butt.  See her townhouse which has JUST been finished and is now ready for her to move in.  Drop off some unused baby loot that I hope will come in handy in a couple months when her little boy (we think) arrives.  And have a conversation or 5 that does not start with "Baa baa boo goo DAAA!"

And today I plan on playing with this little twerp as much as possible so he'll go to sleep easily at the end of the day.  Tonight Morgan is going to a Springsteen concert when he gets off work.  Which means he won't be home at all till 1 or 2am.  Another long day of solo parenting.  Peek a Boo, indeed.  Wear your adorable little ass out.

A Week of Changes

Sometimes it feels like time kicks into overdrive and baby learns a ton of new things in a snap.  This past week was one of those weeks.

Everything can be beaten, and so everything shall be beaten.  Beaten without mercy by one Mr. Baby.

We were curious how he would react to being flipped upside down.  Turns out he LOVES it.  That's one rough and tumble little monster.

Seeing how Sam outgrew the weight limit for the bassinet of the Pack n Play at least a month ago, we did the right thing and lowered it to the floor.  He looks so far away.  He looks like a big boy.  And now that he's surrounded by all that mesh I can't hide from him anymore.

It took him all of 20 minutes to master using a sippy cup.  When it comes to food/drink, baby don't F around.

Today we had a busy day of library in the morning and Torticollis PT in the afternoon.  PT lady was extremely pleased with the progress we have made on his head tilt and core strength.  In fact he's showing a few 8 month skills developing that really shocked her.  I'm proud of Pud that he has made such great progress.  The PT again stated that she doubts we will need her help past a few more visits.  That's great, but I know I'll miss her pointing out the little things I take for granted and her telling me what that movement will lead to and so on.  It's fascinating to me.  I want to know more.

Greasy Greasy Goo Goo, please don't grow too fast.  Otherwise Mommy will have to force Daddy to knock her up again.

Vacation!

Okay, I guess I should have left off that exclamation point cause it was the husband's vacation, not mine.  But nonetheless he was off work for a week and therefore around a bit more.  Which is nice.

Vacation started with taking daddy with us to Babies with Books at the library.  He enjoyed it and now understands what I'm talking about when I tell him how much fun Sam has there.  Bonus points cause Morgan had the Goodbye Song stuck in his head for a couple days!  Now he knows my pain.

Then he left for 3 days to go to the beach with his friends.  Now, I know what you're thinking.  "He did what?  And left you and the baby at home?  Do you get to have NO fun?"  Well, sort of.  But this is the traditional beach trip the boys have been taking since they graduated high school together.  I'm not one to stand in the way of tradition.  Besides, the trade off (of sorts) was that I got to sleep in just about every day that he was home on his vacation.  Sleep is my vacation.

We're also kicking around the idea of maybe going somewhere together come November or December.  Being an ex-retail slave, the idea of taking a vacation during that black out time excites me to no end!  So much so that last night I had a depressing dream about getting called back to work at the mall.  Working retail sucks during the holidays.

"Don't know what you talkin bout, Momma.  I ready for da beach!"

Anywho - moving on.  While Morgan was gone Sam and I held down the fort and spent a day visiting Gg-ma.  Which is always a good time.  Plus she took us/me out to lunch.  Score.

He likes visiting Gg-ma too.  Her couch is extra squishy and the clock makes noise.

Saturday was spent doing domestic things and getting Morgan unpacked from his trip.  Shopping (killer Kohl's sale), cleaning, and a lot of sleeping for me.  Sunday was a lazy day.  Meaning no one got out of their pajamas.

Yesterday we went to a friends house for a BBQ.  So. Much. Fun.  Tons of kids running around doing kid things, lots of food, dogs, chickens, and adult conversation.  Just what I needed.  

And thus ended the husband vacation.  Not a lot happened.  But that's okay.  I have this one to keep me entertained.  Not to mention the outfit envy.  Seriously, I want this exact outfit in my size.  It looks so comfy and colorful fun.  He's fun.

Shape sorting toy.

You're doing it wrong.