Hecticness

Okay, I don't think that's actually a word. Sometimes I'm surprised UWM gave me my master's degree...

Christmas came and went in a flurry of activity. We had plans to take all sorts of pictures of Buster's first Christmas but both Jim and I were too involved in actually living in the moment to snap a photo. Oh well. We'll just add it to the long list of why we're terrible parents. But I can assure that Buster was ridiculously cute in his Santa hat and outfit. I think we made a wise choice. He also handled the Holiday like a rockstar despite severe sleep deprivation combined with teething pains.

This week saw a new addition to our home - a high chair! Okay, not a full highchair but more of a booster seat with a tray. We're very lucky to have friends who have kids who tell us what we really need and don't need. An expensive bulky high chair was on the list of "don't needs". The booster seat works great! It's like a highchair, only it attaches directly to one of our dining chairs and doesn't take up the entire room. And Buster loves it! It made feeding him so much easier yesterday!

We're all still trying to catch our respective breaths over here. This week has flown by so fast and we still haven't really had a chance to relax at all.

We're on the move!

Well, sort of.

This morning James was trying to reach a toy just out of his arm length. So he rolled over to it (from back to stomach no less!) Then he had so much fun he rolled back onto his back! Then he realized he could roll onto his stomach again! That's THREE rolls in a row! Then when he was on his stomach he was scooting himself forward (not quite a crawl, think inchworm).

Hooray! How cool is that!?

Buster and his girlfriend

Buster has decided that he likes the ladies. He really likes Uncle Patrick's girlfriend, Stephanie. I think Uncle Patrick has some competition!

This last picture of Buster is one of my favorites!

Food, glorious food!

All the books we've read (and being pseudo-academics we've read a lot of books) said that you'll know when your kid is ready for solids. How can this be, I would ask. It's amazing. You just know. Our first clue was when Buster would intently watch us eat. I mean intently. He was so into what we were doing. Our second clue was when he started eating 8oz every 3-4 hours. It seemed like all we were doing was feeding him! Our third clue came when Lori bought us some rice cereal. Still, we put it off. Solids are scary! That's like real eating! That's messy! We knew he was ready, but we weren't sure *we* were ready. But Buster comes from stubborn stock and eventually he won. So Friday was our first solids experience!


You can tell he's excited...look at the concentration on his face.

The first bite! I have to say, I was amazed that he knew exactly what to do. I don't know what I was expecting, but he seemed to have it down pat right out of the starting gate.

I think he's trying to decide if he likes it...

Success! Food is yummy! (Actually, it's not. In keeping with my trend of trying everything that Buster eats I can assure you that rice cereal is very reminiscent of wet cardboard.)

Oh, one other thing I wasn't prepared for? The mess! As you can tell from the above pictures the food gets everywhere. This is only compounded by Buster's insistence on a) helping to feed himself b) eat his hands c) eat his feet. I'm pretty sure we're in for nightly baths from here on out!

Saint Nick!

Okay, I know this is a little late but I present you pictures from Buster's first Saint Nick!

What's this stocking? I will use my newfound hand skillz to check it out...

Toys! Lots and lots of toys! (okay, not really - only 2 toys and some pacifiers)

Saint Nick is pretty cool!

Saint Nick also visited the Grandparents' homes this year (I think it's because Buster spends so much time over there that maybe Saint Nick gets confused ;) ). From those visits he got some diapers, a teething ring, a candy bottle, a bubble light nightlight, and a donation to his education/life fund. Thanks Saint Nick!

Baby Einstein

I remember when I pregnant and had grandiose dreams of being the perfect parent. No sugar, no junk food, no TV...

Yeah, as I type this Buster is watching a Baby Einstein video. Blessed silence...

It's not easy...

Being a baby. We came to this realization over the weekend. Our poor little guy is teething...and growing...and teething. Many of us can't remember what it feels like to have a tooth come in or to experience growing pains. I don't remember the teething, but I remember my growing pains from pregnancy and boy did they hurt! So we're trying to keep him happy and his mind off of things. Following some advice we got, once we figured out that he wasn't hungry, or tired, or bored we gave him some Tylenol figuring he must be in pain. It worked! Our cranky baby was a happy baby! He was so happy, that he didn't want to go to bed. Ah well. We didn't mind so much because he was a happy baby!

And many thanks to Allison for babysitting this past Saturday. It's so nice to have a clean house again!