January Days...

AJ just turned 10 months old on Feb 2nd! In the past month, he's really come a long way and has been exploring the house and all of his new abilities. He has become really good at crawling all around the house, and he's getting FAST! Look out! I don't have to discourage him from too many places anymore as we've been childproofing more and more lately. The last 2 places that I have to watch him closely are the stairs and the fireplace. Luckily, those areas are not so exciting to AJ yet, so I don't have to constantly say "no" to him.




One of AJ's Christmas presents was a pop-up hut and tunnel, and he likes to crawl in and out of it. I like that it folds up into a flat bag about one foot square! (Thanks, Mom and Dad!) We roll balls into it and AJ chases them inside, or he goes in to find some of his favorite stuffed animal friends. I crawled in to show him how to do it the first time and I almost got stuck! The tunnels are not made for "mommy's hips", hahaha!

This month, AJ also learned how to pull up to a stand. He can do it just about anywhere now, the couch, the kitchen cabinets, my pants...but this is a picture of the first time we came in to his room in the morning and found him standing in his crib. It's one of those moments where you realize he is really not a little baby anymore. Those moments are proud, wistful, and exciting, all at the same time. Another thing he's learning to do (on purpose as opposed to just randomly) is fold his hands.
Every night when we say prayers, we say, "fold your hands..." but never force him to, we just fold ours and figured someday he'd want to do it too. He still chooses to abstain during the bedtime routine, but is more interested in folding them after clapping a few times. If we ever get around to recording it, we'll post how we go: Clap, Clap, Fold! It's precious!

We celebrated Andy's birthday this month as well. AJ helped his daddy open his presents and he and his cousin Kyra liked playing with the wrapping paper.
I love when we get the cousins together, and this time Karly was being pretty affectionate with AJ and wanted to cuddle with him.
AJ wasn't so sure about that, but they were so cute together, we had to snap this funny shot! Kyra liked seeing him too, and while I was doing diaper duty, she came in and said, "Hi, AJ!" which is a big deal since that's something she's never said before! So cute! AJ also showed us how he can ride his rocking Whinny the Pooh he got from his Grandma Cheri.
He was a natural and enjoys rocking and also biting Whinny's nose (just like he tries to bite mine!)

All the months' activity apparently wore him out and he slept all the way home in his PJ's. We almost never see him sleeping because he takes all of his naps in his crib, as well as sleeping there at night. He's usually tired when we lay him down, and he's UP when we come to get him, so to see him sleeping so peacefully (before we woke him up by taking him out of the carseat and removing his coat) is a treat. :)

AJ's Started to Crawl, and Get Teeth!

Last week, AJ was very busy. He crawled a couple of "steps" last Tues, just 3 times, but now it is becoming his favorite mode of transportation.
Yesterday he crawled all the way from my bathroom to the kitchen to come find me! (for those of you not familiar with our place's layout, that's about 25ft) He thinks it's so funny when he comes around a corner and spots someone, so Peekaboo has a whole new dimension now! Since he's started to crawl, there is a lot less whining and yelling for me, since now he can just come find me (and the cabinets!) Andy has also moved into a whole new level of childproofing...

On Thursday AJ and I hosted our biggest-ever playdate with most of our Chicago stay-at-home-mom friends. In total there were 10 moms and 12 kids, including AJ and I! We all had a lot of fun and thanks to all the moms for contributing, we also had a great lunch. Here are 2 cute shots of AJ with his friend Jack playing at one of his favorite places, and one that shows a little bit of the chaos.















Yesterday was a big day in another way too...AJ's first tooth poked its way through! Say goodbye to that cute little toothless grin. I'll miss it, but I think it's fun and exciting to see how fast he is changing. Here's the best shot I've been able to capture of it so far...
The second tooth is on its way too, right next to the first. They are his bottom middle teeth...what it the technical name for those, Brandon? ;)

Lots of New Tricks!

AJ has been busy racking up new tricks this month. He is nothing if not exciting and he is definitely keeping Andy and I on our toes! On New Year's Eve day, AJ had his friend JP over for a visit. (JP is our friends' Ryan and Melissa's son) There is a bit of an age difference (JP is closer to 3 mo.) which at this stage makes a HUGE difference in their levels of movement and play, but it is still so fun to get them together. It's funny to think that this 6 month age difference won't even be noticeable as they get older and head to school! Grandma Cheri came in and got to meet JP and before he headed home to sleep through the turn of the new year. She babysat AJ while Mommy and Daddy got to go out to a nice dinner and then to a NYE party...just like before we had kids (well, almost)!

On New Year's Day, we headed over to our friend's place to watch the Illini play in the Rose Bowl. Although they didn't win, AJ was very excited and had on almost every piece of Illinois gear that he owns. He was even reading his Go Illini book in preparation for the big game. He's excited to have a bunch of things with the Chief on them, since the image has now been banned on future clothing and gear (Boo!) and proudly sported his hat that is quickly being outgrown. At his 9 mo. appointment, AJ's head measured > 95th percentile, so outgrowing hats is not an unknown phenomenon in our house!

So, one of AJ's new tricks is to pull up to a stand at every piece of furniture possible. Here he is standing at one of the approved places, his toychest.
Other places he like to pull up are, the couch (OK), the trunk where we keep blankets (OK), the entertainment console (discouraged!), the kitchen cabinets (only OK if latch has been installed!), the island stools (NOT allowed!), and the list goes on...Basically, I have to keep after him and I am trying to become a good distractor so that when he cries that I have moved the stools away from him (again), he can find something else to be equally as interesting. This is a challenge and a skill!

To keep him busy while I try to cook or prepare his meals, I have started to allow him access to some of our kitchen cabinets. AJ loves to pull out the steamer basket and the colander set. He also enjoys lots of our utensils...spoons, whisks, spatulas, etc. It seems like I am always washing something I didn't even use! hahaha!


One more thing that AJ is loving lately is his new suction-bottom plate. I usually fill it with finger foods and let him go at it while I put together the rest of his meal. He is usually so into his finger foods that i have to let him finish before he will allow me to start spoon-feeding him! I think he really enjoys the independence he's gained by becoming a proficient self-feeder. He eats all kinds of things from his plate...pictured are tofu, cheddar cheese, and Veggie Booty (a puff coated with dried vegetable powders), but he also enjoys Cheerios, rice cakes, crackers, freeze-dried fruits, fruit or cooked veggie chunks, etc. Sometimes I give him little chunks of whatever I'm having for lunch, like grilled cheese. He loves to eat what Mommy's eating!

Happy New Year: the Holidays in Review

Careful, this is a long one!

This Christmas holiday was nothing if not BUSY! We started out the Saturday before Christmas by heading up to Rockford with the car full of our packed bags, wrapped presents, favorite blanket and stuffed animal (bear), and of course, AJ in the carseat! We got to see Grandpa John and Renee's house for the first time and AJ approved. we had a very nice meal together there after AJ opened presents and we exchanged gifts. AJ loved his new phone and it kept him busy while we enjoyed our lunch. It was so nice to have some time to visit and enjoy ourselves. (AJ's aunt Melissa was supposed to be there with us too, but it was not meant to be as her flight out of New York was cancelled the day prior, and she didn't know when she'd be able to get out as of Sat...more on that later.)

After we wished each other Merry Christmas and Happy New Year, our little family departed and picked up Great Grandma Marcella on our way to Grandma Cheri's house. "Over the river and through the woods..." We got to hang out and relax for a while and then had supper together. AJ behaved himself very well and got to play at our feet for the second meal of the day, and didn't seem to mind at all! watch us try to get away with that at our house! Grandma Cheri gave AJ these cute froggy PJs, complete with a little stuffed frog that came in the front pocket and a little stuffed, removeable "tail"! He was very cute and cuddly in it!
Great Grandma Marcella was feeling just a bit under the weather, so she did not want to get too close to AJ, but she did get a kick out of watching him play and interact with the wooden xylophone he received from her. Now at home, he loves to play it while I play the guitar. I tell him he's in the band!


Sunday morning at Cheri's, we pretended it was Christmas Day, so we opened AJ's stocking by the tree. He loved the Christmas lights and wanted to touch them all! We tried to get him interested in his presents, which wasn't too hard...but he sure is a sucker for anything that twinkles! (At this point, Melissa still didn't know when she would be arriving at O'Hare...)

So, Andy loaded the car back up and the 3 of us headed back to Chicago. We planned the drive there and back to coincide with AJ's naptime so that he could sleep in the car. That worked pretty well this year. At least things were going smoothly for us! After we got home, Melissa's plane finally landed, and she took the Blue Line train to our house. Our plan was to rent a car here in the city since the airport's rental companies were sold out, but we soon found out that there were no cars in the whole metro area!! How that is possible boggles my mind, but what could we do? To make matters worse, yes, you guessed it, they lost her luggage!!! after arriving at the train stop, I picked Mel up and we went to the grocery store together, where I did some shopping and she got to at least buy a toothbrush and stuff! The next day (Christmas Eve) we dropped Melissa off at O'Hare, where she took at bus to Rockford where Cheri picked her up! Poor Melissa...she decided it was like Planes, Trains and Automobiles! The upside was that she got to spend a lot of uninterrupted time with her little nephew, and at least on Christmas Day, they found her luggage and she flew back home without incident!

On Monday in Chicago, we packed the car again and headed to Roselle this time. We met my family at the Christmas Eve church service, and afterward went to Kim's house for Christmas Eve supper and present-opening. AJ was pretty good, other than dropping toys that rolled 2 pews away at the church service, and crying a lot before finally falling asleep in the Pack-N-Play in Kim's room...what can we expect with all that was going on, I guess? He did eventually fall asleep...just in time for us to pick him up and drive to my mom's house to put him back to bed! That maneuver went more smoothly than I had suspected, and we decided AJ is pretty portable!

On Christmas morning, we opened stockings and had breakfast at my mom and dad's before getting ready for everyone to come over. My dad made waffles and my mom asked for some fruit on the side...just like when I used to live there! hahaha! AJ had the whole floor to himself before his cousins Karly and Kyra came over, so he rolled all over and sat up to his heart's content. When the rest of the family arrived, we all visited and ate turkey for Christmas dinner. My mom brined hers this time and that method seems to have caught on in our family! it was delicious!
We tried to take some family pictures, but things were deteriorating...it was getting harder to get both AJ and Karly to smile at the same time and Kyra was napping so she is missing from the pictures all together. It is even more challenging to get everyone to look at the same camera at once. Maybe next year we only have one camera taking these shots and then share the images??!! This is the best shot I have of Omi and Pa with AJ and Karly. ;)

Overall, our first holiday as a family went very smoothly and was very special. It was busy, but it was fun too. Maybe next Christmas we will just have everyone over to our house?! hahaha!