Eight Months Old

Our little big man. Just look at him. He's huge! And cuter than ever!

Looking thoughtful...



This picture was poorly composed, but I had to post it because it shows all of Cru's teeth. All SIX of them! See the big one on the top? That tooth and I, we don't get along so well. I'll let you use your imagination to figure out why...
Oh yeah, this next one is just keeping it real. So so glad that I could capture the infamous snot bubble.
Proof that even Captain Chill gets sick of having his picture taken:
And this last picture was taken by my niece. So cute. And yes, he is already a flirt.
Some facts:

• Cru sprouted 2 new teeth this month.
• He is FAR to content to want to learn to crawl, though he has finally tried to get to his hands and knees.
  
• He is perfecting the pincer grasp.
• He LOVES squash.
• He LOVES his stuffed dog.
• He has shown signs of stranger danger, and gets shy.
  
• He LOVES cats, but dogs tend to scare him a bit.
• He is experimenting with the "bum scoot" form of transportation.
• He gives high fives, with gusto!
• He reaches out to be picked up.
• He will often clap in imitation.
• He thinks Baby Mum Mum's are THE STUFF!
  

Some favorites:

• I love his cheeks, and how his dimple is emerging more and more all the time
• I love how he snuggles just about as long as you will let him.
• I love his fake cry...and how it turns off as soon as you pick him up.
• I love his baby blues.
• I love how he laughs when Katy pretends to sneeze.
• I love his sleep habits.
  
• I love it when he yells and scares himself.
• I love how he gets excited at the sight of food.
• I love how he imitates facial expressions, like when I raise my eyebrows and he returns it.
• I love his birthmark.
• I love to watch him splash in the bath.
• I love to watch him play with toys. Spinning, pushing, banging, dumping.
  
• I love his wet kisses.

Keep up the cuteness, Cruzer!

A Whole Week of Halloween Scares

OK, so this post is another photo heavy one. It's totally for my benefit more than anyone else's. So if you have seen enough pictures of pumpkin carving/kids in costume/pre-sugar-high festivities, I won't feel bad if you just move on.

The week started with a spooky dinner of "spider dogs" . I know they look totally gross, but the kids thought they were "the stuff!" Essentially you just poke spaghetti noodles into hot dogs and boil them. We dipped our spider dogs in "blood" (ketchup). Gross, but good.
Tirsa painted Hannah's fingernails to go with her Sally costume. I think they were the coolest! (click on the photo to see them close up!)
Monday we invaded Jake and Beka's house and turned the kids loose with cupcakes and frosting. Black frosting. Looks cool. On the cupcake. Everywhere else, not so much. I didn't take many pictures that day...but here is one of Cru. Ready to party!
Tuesday we turned three pumpkins over to the kids for carving. Seth was SO EXCITED to use a knife. He was bummed to realize that there was still a lot of supervision.

Kate got totally into the pumpkin guts.
Hannah kept one arm in her shirt so that only one would get all gross.
Seth with his spiderman pumpkin. I ran a practice round on the drawing a lightning scar on him, if you can't tell.
A couple of years ago, our friends Jared and Amy had used a smoke bomb in their pumpkins. So I saved a couple from the 4th of July. They were lots of fun. Stinky, but fun!

Katy wanted a happy pumpkin. Hannah got Zero, from Nightmare Before Christmas, and Seth rocked the Spiderman pumpkin.
Wednesday was our neighborhood Trunk-or-Treat. You have already seen pictures from that day, but here are a few of the outtakes.

Weird, but adorable. I should make him a shirt that says that.

Yes, it's true...he did keep the patch on. I promise. The kid is ultra-mellow.
And the opposite of mellow...Miss Katy. Who had begged and begged to be a cow. And wanted to take the hood off the whole time. Stinker.
The whole crew.
Two of Seth's best neighborhood buddies were Optimus Prime. So cute. (try to ignore the fact that you can see the back of Seth's tie, revealing that his Gryffindor tie is actually a regular tie with masking tape stripes colored gold.)
People honestly could not tell it was Hannah under there. She looked a little freaky, but LOVED it!
He fell asleep trick-or-treating. Patch and all!Hannah shared her sucker with Cru. I just love the sneaky look in his eyes!
Let the acquisition of candy begin.
this pirate is armed!
not only does she look cool, but she made the entire costume herself. So she *is* cool!
not sure what to think...
cutest dragon EVER!
The three boy cousins. AKA: ImpossibletogettolookatyouatthesametimeAnd now I get to live with three kids who have either had far too much sugar, or they are convinced that they are being deprived of sugar.

Hope you had a good Halloween!

Wordless Wednesday

What Big Brothers are Good For...

I.about.died.laughing.

Dear Ernie,

I sincerely apologize. I am so sorry that you had the misfortune to be captured by my children. I realize that the conditions in the baby wipe container were not ideal. I'm sorry that you were forced to do tricks, and that you were assigned such an unfortunate name. Truly, it must have been a harrowing 8 hours. Seriously, I freed you as soon as I could. But hey, at least you can tell your buddies that you got to drive this SWEET scooter!Sincerely,

Hannah and Seth's Mom

Farming...

It has become a family tradition to head out to a local farm each fall and let the kids get a little redneck.

MaKaty has always been a little young to really experience it. Not anymore. She was in heaven. Dirty. Corny. Fly covered. Heaven. (and yes, I did mean corny to be a pun)

Corn Slide:
Red Neck Merry Go Round
Corn Pit:
Petting Zoo:
Kate is obsessed with cows. She was so excited that she kept squealing...so the cow kept moving. So funny.
This is what happens when I just hold my camera down by my knees and snap pictures...I kinda like it.
Anyone want a lamb, beef, and MaKaty sandwich?
Hannah has always had a thing for llamas. One llama kissed her right in the middle of the forehead when we came a couple years ago. This year Hannah noticed that "her" llama was not part of the group. So sad.
Cru was a good sport. He just hung out in the stroller.
Seth was really hard to photograph because he wouldn't hold still for two seconds...
The hay swing was new this year...at least for us. Hannah loved it!
Ah, the beloved Cow Train. Lily. Katy. Frank. Hannah. Elise. Shelly. Seth. Alex.

This is what Cru looks like when he's trying to say, "I'm getting a little cold, and I'm sort of tired of this, guys." He's not very convincing...
On to the pumpkin patch:


We ended up with four pumpkins, of various sizes. We are hoping that they will last until the week of Halloween when we carve them. So far. So good.

Here's Katy with her chosen pumpkin. It's a good picture of her bruised nose. She had cracked her head into another child on a slide at the park. Her nose had bled and both eyes went black. Three days later, this was the bruised look she sported...Our little bruiser.

His Name is Not Noodle: The Story of a Dog

The only response you will get from MaKaty if you ask her what her doggie's name is: "His name is not Noodle." Ummmmm, OK.
No, this is not a two headed dog. There are actually two doggies in this photo. Perhaps one of them is named Noodle, and the other one is Not Noodle. We may never know. All I know is that the original doggie, given to her on her first birthday by Brandon and Heather, is an absolute necessity. So much so, that being smart parents, we procured a "back-up" from the same store. (thank-you again, Heather.) But...being not-so-smart parents, we neglected to keep back-up doggie hidden. As soon as she realized that there were two, it was necessary to have two with her, AT ALL TIMES. Thankfully, that has phased out now. Both dogs kick around the house all day long, but when it comes to nap or bed time, she is a purist. Only the original will do. And if you get confused or desperate, and try to pass off back-up doggie for original doggie...well, it's not pretty. She looks the doggie right in the eyes and says, "Where is my other-one doggie?", and promptly drops back-up doggie like a bag of rocks.

Even in the middle of the night, she will wake up crying if she can't find original doggie. Back-up doggie in arms, she will cry and cry as I fumble around in the darkness, trying to find the original. As soon as he is found and placed in her arms, she is instantly back to sleep. She carries doggie around draped over one arm, and periodically hugs him to her chest and proclaims emphatically, "I lub you." (I admit it was a little blow to the ego when I mistakenly thought she had uttered the words for me...I was quickly corrected.)

As you can imagine, a fluffy white doggie occasionally loses his fluffiness and whiteness, and needs a little trip to the "doggie salon." Those are rough days for Kate. She stands in front of the washing machine crying. She gets to move doggie from one machine to the other, and is slightly less disturbed by the drying procedure. My hunch is that it's because of the warm fluffiness straight from the dryer. She has been known to tell visitors that she is sad because "Doggie in the washing machine." Trauma, I tell you. I still shudder to think of the day he got peanut butter on his paw. Doggie is no longer allowed anywhere near the peanut butter.

And apparently doggie gets cold in the mornings. Because lately she has been insisting on bringing doggie in the mornings when we head to the bus stop. And Katy needs a jacket. And doggie needs a jacket. But Katy gets the jacket that is a little too small and not nearly so cute...but DOGGIE gets the good jacket because "it is more comfy for him."

No one will ever accuse her of being a girl without priorities...Welcome to the family, NotNoodle.

Cru @ 7

Seven months. So much closer to a year old than a newborn. Times are changing. He's growing up so much, so fast. And I'm loving every minute of it. How could I not? This is Cru...95% of the time!
I'm a lucky mama.
Mr. Buckets-Of-Drool pushed through two more teeth this month. Can you tell?

You may remember the blue suitcase from his 9-day old photoshoot. (photo by my friend Amy)
I meant to use it in his 6 month and 1 year photo shoots as well...whoops. Was that last month? Here it is...a month later than planned. It shrunk just a bit.
I tried to limit my pictures...honest, I did. He's just too.darn.cute.

Things we love about Cru @ 7 months...

• this "Alfalfa" hair thing he has going on. It's all natural, baby.
• his deep belly laugh...especially when he's laughing at Katy. It's the best!
• the way he talks to his doggie that is in his crib
• his wet and enthusiastic kisses
• how he lays his head on my chest for a snuggle
• his "yelling"...it's not sad, it's just noise experimentation
• his mellow nature
• how he responds to the sound of my voice...even over the phone...and gets excited when he sees me from across the room
• those blue eyes (no eye brightening actions were used...they are just THAT blue)
• his enthusiasm for food, especially for squash and sweet potatoes
• his sleep habits
• his coping ability
• his unique rolling-pushing-squirming form of mobility (and the fact that he's NOT crawling yet)

Oh, how we love you, Cru.
Good night.