Week 30: Curious George

What can I say? I think I'm in love. This has been a long week, a long sicko Mommy week. I am feeling better-ish, thanks for wondering. (You were wondering, right?) Anyway, now Daddy is sick, even though I tried my darnest to breath my germy ickness anywhere but my boyz direction. But, back to being in love.  While I was vegging on the couch because I had no energy to do anything but veg, sleep, and veg, Bugger   was *such* a good boy! Totally spent an entire week entertaining himself, and making my days brighter with his ornery loveliness. So yes, I'm head over heels, make silly faces and talk in growly voices, do anything for a laugh, wrapped around his little finger in love.

One day, before the Daddy-got-sick mark, they were playing in his room and Tyler hollered for me to come, specifically to come with the camera. So I came running and, well, see for yourself.

Mommy, your going to have to lower the crib again soon!

Adding some texture to the wood

I *LOVE* this face

I was feeling so cooped up one day that I had to get outside, so I rescued the stroller from the dark depths of my trunk and we ventured boldly into the great outdoors. I think Bugger is a fan. He is so his father's son!

Mommy insisted on putting these weird things on my feet.

Hey look! I can still do "this little piggy"!

His first time riding in the stroller sitting up. I think he liked it.

Weeeeeeeeeeeeeee!

Really, Mom?

Do you like the sunshine too Mr. Engelbert?

Uh, little help here Mom?

Hey, this is weird carpet Mom.

I think I need a taste.

I decided to try giving Rayler a bath in the sink. He fell in love the second he realized that he could make a glorious, bubbly mess all over and no one minded at all. There's no mess like a clean mess! And charming it up with baby cuteness totally doesn't hurt either.

He just *had* to taste the bubbles. I wasn't quick enough to catch his wry expression a moment later.

This is FUN Mom!

What's this thing Mom?

Does it go up like this? I know that splashy stuff comes out...

His new favorite occupation. Standing in my lap, hanging over the back of the couch looking out the window. Honestly, I am lost as to the appeal this has for him, he looks out the back window. At the neighbors thoroughly exciting porch. And a few measly clumps of dead grass. But he loves it. So sit and stare at the neighbors porch we shall, sometimes for 15 minutes on end.

♪I'm dreaming of an Indian summer...♪

Every so often a boy must, simply must get himself in a pickle. Bugger has his fair share, and more of pickled situations.

Head, stuck, help, please.

Gravity? I defy it.

The Bottomless Pit is in search of hidden snacks.

And we are having to do a bit more baby-proofing around the house. Not because we have breakables, but because we have a Curious George.

Open...barley.

...wheat?

...millet?

...Come'on!

Almost...got...it...

Sesame! That was it.

Hey Mom? What does M A S H spell? And why are there funny little star thingys in-between the letters?

One thing that I really wish I could have caught on video, baby got rhythm!  I can't remember what we were watching but I was holding his hands so he could stand and when that music started playing, he started boogieing! He was stomping his feet and "jumping", and I was cracking up. If only there were two of me, one to hold his hands and one to hold the camera.

Yesterday (Sunday) Tyler was just so sick and I was just so tired, so Rayler when a'callin' on my Mommy for the afternoon. He apparently had a lovely time and came home with oodles of leaping and boundless energy, which he unleashed on me. There was not a square inch of the front room floor surface that he did not investigate thoroughly, and all within 30 minutes time. And then...he crashed. Excitement suits him.

One more thought before I launch you into the plethora of photographs taken this week, I am constantly discovering (and loving) new things about my little man. The latest was discovered this afternoon. Rayler kept rubbing at his head and whimpering so I absent-mindedly began to scratch his head for him. His reaction was a tiny mirror-image of how his Daddy reacts when I scratch his head. Head back, eyes half closed, and a blissful smile lingering on his completely relaxed face. Again, I think I'm in love.

Trouble? Me? Why no Mom. I'm just...chillin'.

Frog. En attitude. A photograph by Rayler Hailey.

Patiently waiting...

Blueberry face!

I couldn't resist trying to get a shot of the pouty lip

Mommy...*huff huff* wiped....*huff huff* my....face! *huff huff*

Trying out some gymnastics

He was so tired that he fell asleep mid bite

I am so in love with the smile I get when he first sees me in the morning!

He takes after me. Moves all over and a lot while sleeping.

Must...taste...camera...cord....

Enough paparazzi please.

Just lookin'

So tired that he had to prop himself up to sit.

And that's about it folks. As soon as I hit "publish" I know I'll think of something else that I forgot to add. That always happens. But, it is now tomorrow and this was supposed to be posted yesterday. So auf wiedersehen, until we meet again.

Weeks 28 & 29

Trying to escape!

Well, I don't have a lot of good photos for these weeks. To start off with, I sat down last week to blog and somehow managed to delete every single photo and video I had taken that entire week before I got them onto the computer. I was *so* upset! I had some great stuff, all gone. His first time playing in the snow, gone. Drinking from his big boy non-spill-proof sippy, gone. And lots of fun videos. Anyway, I'll stop complaining before I get upset again. It was just a single weeks worth, I could have lost a lot more.

One um, interesting thing that my son has done in the last two weeks was to hide under the coffee table and suck on the nasal aspirator, business end. Total gross factor. He is also obsessed with trying to eat/lick my toes. I have a super cute video of him attempting it, much to my chagrin, but it's on my phone and of course, my phone is refusing to sync to my laptop today so I can't post that one. Sorry, I assure you, it's hilarious.

Mr. had a small incident when I went shopping one night. I got home and Tyler said, "Well, Rayler's going to have a little bloody scar." When I checked him I found a tiny blood drop the size of a pin head. He had fallen over backward on his firetruck and hit it just right. Ouchie. The original picture I took was deleted, but I got another so here it is.

You can't even really see it. I had to look really hard just to find it.

Rayler has officially become a boy. Boy N: a noise with dirt on it. The first part anyway. He likes to bang his big keys on the floor over and over, clanking them together. He also drives his firetruck all over but hasn't figured out the buttons yet, but he knows it makes noise. And he really likes the guitar that Aunt Nette gave him. Another new thing is clicking his tongue. I'll try to get a video of that this week, I've got one on my phone but like I said, phone no cooperado. (I know that's not a word. It just seemed to work at the moment)

Rayler is sleeping through the night again! I am so excited! Of course, he usually wakes me because he randomly cries out in the middle of the night and I go check on him but he's usually asleep by the time I get there. Every three nights or so he might wake up enough to have a few ounces, but over all I think we're getting back to normal!

One night I was gone and Tyler called me while holding Rayler on his lap. He heard my voice and of course tried to get the phone so Tyler put it on speaker and Rayler actually "talked" to me! It was kinda cute!

Rayler can say "Momma" now. He won't do in on demand though, he just looks at you with a "yeah right" expression.

Mr. is really showing his personality now. And he is a big ball of silly. He stayed at my Moms house on Friday so that Tyler and I could have a Valentine's date night. When we came back to pick him up he had his silly in full swing. Mom has a couch that has two rocking recliners with a console between them and the console has two cup holders. He insisted on climbing onto the console and sticking his face directly into the cup holder. Goofy! Or I guess maybe that was just curiosity. Mom said that he had done that on previous occasions. I tried to get a picture but he was moving too much. Also, just yesterday he started "pretending". He was rolling around the front room (because he *can* crawl, he just finds rolling faster I guess) and fake laughing. And he kept doing it all day today on the ride too KC and at the hospital. He'd be "talking" to his toys and then he'd break out in this silly fake laughter. Too funny! He kept Tyler and I in stitches all day.

Two more firsts from this week, sitting up on his own from laying down and eating puffy baby snacks. Fun stuff! Oh, AND he's beginning to imitate. Tyler was wrestling with him on the floor tonight and they were "tickling" each other. Tyler kept saying "getchy getchy goo!" and Rayler started saying "gee gee goo!" How fun!

Now here are some pictures that I did get from this week.

Peace out, dude!

He pulled himself up!

Wrestling with Mr. Engelbert

My sweet Valentines gift from both my boys!

Getting curious. Very interested in the under side of his bumbo and the fact that it can roll!

Of course the toy he wants is at the bottom

Trying to get out of his swing

Playing in his "fort"

He's started taking all the toys out of his toy box and then collapsing the box.

Peek-a-boo

Playing with George on the way to KC

Just found a parking spot in the parking garage, level Yellow Submarine

Where are we Mom?

Maybe someday soon, after test results and such I will go into the whole KC bit. For now I'll just say that things are looking up. And I hate waiting for test results. It's not good for the nerves. 

And this next week I will make sure that my camera is charged and ready to capture all sorts or cuteness and I won't accidentally delete everything. I'd promise that, but knowing how accident prone I am I just say that I will try *very* hard to newsy, picturey blog next week.

Week 27, Growing Like A Weed

Up! And hold, 1...2...3...keep those abs tight!

Big week. Where do I begin? Every day was a new adventure. I think he's trying to see how many new things he can cram into seven days. We hit the big 6 months this week. Which means we had that fun Dr. appointment and got shots. So not fun. He had his first ever bad reaction to the shots, ran 100.2 fever all night and was clingy and whiny for a couple days. I just feel so bad for him when he doesn't feel good! Which amounts to tons of "Mommy's so sorry baby" cuddle time. Can't complain about that! Anywho...

Rayler is a whopping 17.4 oz now (50%), and is 27 1/3 inches long (75%). The Dr was duly impressed when I told her that he was getting up on all fours. Yes, I'm a little proud of my booger. Still wish those darn teeth would come in though and stop this miserable peek-a-boo game! Whoop, rabbit trail there, sorry.

On Friday Rayler decided to try out the whole crawling thing. He had a chew toy in each hand and decided that he needed to visit Toodles (Sock Monkey that Jo and Jeff gave him) so he did one "crawl". Since he had toys in each hand he did a funky elbows and knees move. Silly gooby. He hasn't done that move in particular since, but he does this funny inch-worm move sometimes and he for sure can move backward.

I absolutely love making my son laugh. He has the most infectious laugh, I usually end up laughing harder than he does and he just gives me this lazy "really Mom?" look. Love it. Friday night he did not want to go to bed. (I'm talking like 9:15 pm, late for him) I was on the receiving end of a migraine and wondering who would give out first. After a while I started barking orders at him in a silly voice because I know it makes him laugh. "Go to sleep!" "Close your eyes!" "Go to sleep right now!" He just laughed and laughed. And then "Sleep all night!" He busted out the hugest belly laugh that had myself and Tyler in tears from laughing so hard. Not good for the migraine, but soul food people. Baby laughs are soul food.

Mr. is getting to that "I can do it myself" stage. Here's a few examples.

and...

Mr. got to spent a few hours at Grandma Bobbie's house this week. Aunt Beth took a few pictures for me while he was there.

Grandma Bobbie feeding Rayler peas

Having cuddle time with Auntie Lyle

One night, while we were visiting Tyler at the fire department, Rayler was sitting in the recliner with Daddy. He decided that it was as good a time as ever to grab hold of the arm of the chair and pull himself up to stand. He just wants to move!

Here's one of my favorite videos ever. You can't really hear, but Tyler is reading bed time stories to Rayler. I love seeing my boys together!

A while back, while Rayler was going through his baby babble stage, I heard him saying "Dadadadada..." he hasn't said that since. Every once in a while I pick out a "mawwwwmawwwww" when he cries. I would love to think that he's really calling to me, but I know better. However, today I was babysitting a couple little friends. I had to go into the other room to lay the baby in her crib. I heard a pitiful yet distinct "Momma?" float in after me. Needless to say, Mr. got smothered in loving as soon as I was able to get back to him. Now, to see if he says it again any time soon.

Now, here's some more fun that we had this week!

"Today's the day...I'm staying down." -Dr. Seuss

I have been watching Mommy do yoga!

Plank!

Crocodile pose!

And a chaturanga push up...

...move smoothly into downward facing dog...

...lower into plank and hold...

...don't forget to breath...

He was supposed to be moving toward the toys, he planked himself backward instead.

Dadda's not the only one in the family who drives firetrucks!

Um...do I get a Doodah award for that?

One more thing. Have JOY this week.
"These things I have spoken to you, that my joy may remain in you, that your joy may be full." John 15:11
"The joy of the Lord is my strength." Nehemiah 8:10
"But let all who take refuge in you rejoice; let them ever sing for joy, and spread your protection over them, that those who love your name may exult in you." Psalms 5:11
"Clap your hands, all peoples! Shout to God with loud songs of joy!" Psalms 47:1
"May the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace in believing, so that by the power of the Holy Spirit you may abound in hope." Romans 15:13
"Though you have not seen him, you love him. Though you do not now see him, you believe in him and rejoice with joy that is inexpressible and filled with glory, obtaining the outcome of your faith, the salvation of your souls." 1 Peter 1:8-9

“The out-and-out Christian is a joyful Christian. The half-and-half Christian is the kind of Christian that a great many of you are~~~little acquainted with the Lord. Why should we live halfway up the hill and swathed in the mists, when we might have an unclouded sky and a radiant sun over our heads if we would climb higher and walk in the light of His face?” ~ Alexander Maclaren

“What I am anxious to see in Christian believers is a beautiful paradox. I want to see in them the joy of finding God while at the same time they are blessedly pursuing Him. I want to see in them the great joy of having God yet always wanting Him.” ~ A. W. Tozer



“Joy is the serious business of Heaven.” ~ C. S. Lewis


Have joy with abandon, joy such as you might see in the face of a child.