June 12, 2011

It's been a busy weekend around here. Three of these pics are from this evening and one is from yesterday afternoon. Yesterday there was house cleaning, grocery shopping, playing and then J and I went out to dinner for our anniversary. GiGi came over and hung out with the monkey - even put him to bed. Then today the kiddo and I had a birthday party to attend and we had a lot of fun hanging out over there.

Monkey and I worked together to get the house picked up and the laundry done yesterday. Then the three of us headed out to the grocery store and we had fun there. Gage loves to people watch when we are at the store. He'll get someone in his sights and follow them around with his eyes, wherever they go, until he can't see them anymore. Yesterday afternoon/evening got a little sketchy - that little dude can get pretty ticked off when he doesn't get what he wants. I fed and bathed him so that when GiGi got here he was dressed for bed. She said he played for an hour or so after we left, but was in bed by 8p. He slept pretty good last night - there was a quick 11:15p wake-up, but after that, he slept until 8a.

When he got up this morning he was in a really good mood. He and I had some breakfast and then we played in the living room while we watched Yo Gabba Gabba and Olivia. He took a good morning nap and as soon as he got up we headed to the party. He had a lot of fun at the party, playing with the toys and staring at the ceiling fan. He loves ceiling fans - they totally hypnotize him. He crawled around and talked to a few people - he also tried to "pet" a few people. He was really cool and laid back, but after a couple of hours he was pretty tired. He didn't fall asleep until the last 15 minutes of our drive, and then once we got home, he popped right back up and was ready to play. I tried (unsuccessfully) to get him to nap for the next hour and finally gave up around the time J got home. He and J got to play for a little while and we all hung out in the living room before it was time for G to eat. It's so funny because he was his usual wild man self here at the house - tearing through his toys, laughing and being silly - but he's more mellow when there is a crowd he doesn't know. There were comments about how laid back he was and I was like, "uh, you really gotta see how he acts at home." Ha ha. But he had some ice cream and cake today and he REALLY liked that.

We had a fun time. His sleeping is changing again, but it seems like he's continuing to sleep (mostly) through the night. There's always one little minor wake-up, but I'm getting a pretty solid 6-7 hours most of the time. He's cut out his afternoon nap this week, but he's still going to bed later, which is unusual. I actually like having him up a little later, but the fact that he usually doesn't get a late nap means that he's pretty tempramental in that last hour. He's still loving bathtime and I'm going to stop by one of the rec centers over here to get him in swim lessons this week. I have some swim trunks for him, I just need to get him something to float in and then we can invade some of our friends' pools. He's also been talking a LOT the last few days - still only babble, but it's pretty constant and it's starting to sound more and more like real words. We finally got him into a convertible car seat this weekend and he liked the big boy ride on the way to the party today. He was looking out the window and having a lot of fun - mostly chattering the entire time.

Next weekend we are having lunch with some of my aunts, cousins and their kiddos and then Gage and I have to come up with something awesome for Fathers' Day. I have an idea - but since J reads this (hi babe!) - I can't disclose. Hope everyone has a great week.

June 9, 2011

Listen - don't let that big smile fool you, that is a TIRED kiddo. He was so tired that before I snapped this picture, he was laying his head on his high chair tray between bites of dinner. If you look closely you'll see the red-rimmed swollen eyes of a little dude that skipped his afternoon nap and terrorized his dad today. Cute? Yes. Capable of mental terrorism? Oh yes. I was met at the door by J and he simply said, "There's a monster in there. " So funny. He did give J some kisses and have some fun with him before bed though, so it's all good.

I got dinner in the kid's belly, gave him a quick bath and then started trying to put him to bed. It took a while and there was one false start, but he's officially snoring and has been for about 30 minutes. Poor Monkey - he's like his Mama when he gets tired - CRANKY.

June 8, 2011 - Playing with Daddy

Here are some fun photos from tonight when we were all playing and laughing together before Monkey's bedtime. They are blurry because J was being silly and cracking little man up.

June 7, 2011

I would like to point out a couple of things about this picture. #1 - you can finally see some of little man's top teeth, #2 - he has the cutest gap in his 2 front teeth, #3 - Marvin the Martian PJS! Marvin was my favorite growing up and these pjs are so freakin' cute on the Monkey.

Another good day. Monkey hung out with Grangingy for a couple of hours this afternoon while J went to the dentist. Word on the street (and the street includes J and Grangingy) is that little man stood up without support a couple of times today. I've seen him think about it a few times, but he hadn't tried it yet. Another step toward us totally pulling our hair out. Ha ha. I also hear that he had some of Grangingy's lemonade.

He was in a great mood when I got home and I knew that he would be up until at least 8p thanks to his recently changed schedule of going to bed later and waking up a little later, so we went for a long walk around the neighborhood. He was super quiet on the ride (as usual), chewing on the shoulder strap and looking around. When we got back I was nervous get got a little too warm, but he was fine. He had his dinner, his bath and then we spent some time playing on his floor. He was being so sweet tonight - I got 3 or 4 unsolicited kisses and a lot of smiles. He also enjoyed pulling every toy he owns out of the toybox - his new favorite game. I put him to bed about 7:45 and J and I ate while he babbled in bed. I ended up going in there around 8:30 to see if he would finish his bottle, which he did, and he was knocked out snoring about 1 minute later.

June 6, 2011

I didn't blog yesterday - and I'll tell you why in a moment - but here are a couple of pics from our afternoon of fun. Sunday afternoons are turning into clingy ones with that little dude up there. He just wants to be in my lap and staring at me, sweet baby. He'll be playing with his toys for a minute and then he'll walk himself (holding on to the table or couch) back over to me and pull himself into my lap. He'll just stare at me and give me big smiles and then after a minute he'll head back to his toys again. He always comes back though. Something about late Sunday afternoons - I don't know if he knows I'm going back to work the next day or what - but he turns into a little spider monkey. Most of the time it's so sweet and endearing, I take advantage and we have a sweet little afternoon of snuggly Mom-and-Gage time, but last night the clinginess turned into a fight at bedtime. He usually does not fight me when it's time to go to sleep, but last night was tough and I was pretty drained by the time he finally went to sleep. He had a restless night too, so I was pretty tired this morning.

Luckily he woke up in a great mood and J said that he had a really great day today. When I got home he was in a great mood and we had fun talking and playing in his room. I was sitting on the floor looking at my phone while he played and he walked over, stood up holding on to my shoulders and gave me a big open-mouthed kiss. *SWOON* I love that kiddo.

This weekend we have a birthday party that I'm looking forward to, some friends we haven't seen much of lately. I think Gage will have fun and he'll have fun hanging out with some kiddos in a relaxed setting.

June 4, 2011

This is a picture of the kiddo enjoying a little grilled cheese sandwich for dinner last night. I have another cute picture of him in his Marvin the Martian pjs, but it's on J's phone.

Today was a long day. Gage had a pretty good night of sleep - just a little 15 minute party around midnight, but after that he slept until 7:30a - which is actually sleeping in for him. He was only up for a little while before he was ready for a nap and then we headed off to Gymboree. Today he went to a new class, one level up from his other class. It was interesting to see him interacting with the older kids, majority of whom are already walking. To be honest, he was a little overwhelmed. He's used to being the most active and rowdy kid in the class, but these kids were VERY active and ready to party. He sat back more and just took it in. He actually stuck really close to me, coming back for hugs a lot - and that's unusual, usually I can't keep him near me in there.

There was another nap after Gymboree - poor kid was worn out - and then the three of us headed up to Floyd's Barbershop so J and I could get haircuts. Our favorite hairdresser is currently working there, so we got back to back appointments and we took turns hanging out with the Monkey. My haircut took a while since I got it cut shorter and super cute (pics later), so J had to put on a little dance to keep the kiddo occupied. When we got home, it was bathtime and then straight to bed. He was great through everything - people at the barbershop were enjoying him and kept asking me if he was always so laid back. Tomorrow we have a trip to the grocery store planned and then a whole lot of nothing. Will be fun.

June 2, 2011

One of the few tricks I have left to get this kiddo's attention when he's playing or when he's getting sleepy and that is: sing "You are My Sunshine". He was playing with his table and I couldn't get him to give me a long enough look to snap a picture. I started to sing and he immediately looks at me and starts to smile. SO cute. He's also starting to give me kisses more often (open mouthed, slobbery kisses) and I have to say that it totally makes my day. We were doing our cuddle/sing thing before I put him in bed and he pushed back from my shoulder and gave me a big smooch on the face. *swoon*

He's been a little tricky this week. He's switched up his sleeping schedule again - back to one long nap and sleeping in a little. He's also sleeping so much better at night, which has been awesome. He's been drooling a LOT and I'm pretty sure I've seen the ghost of a new tooth in there somewhere. We'll see how it comes along over the next few days. It's harder to tell now since they aren't coming in right in the front. Other than that, things are same old, same old here at our house. We had a really busy May and I'm hoping that June will be a little more laid back. We're going to a new class at Gymboree this weekend and I'm excited to see what Gage thinks about kids walking around him.