Afraid of the dark?

Louis seems to be fascinated with ceiling lights which has lead to the discovery of shadows and possibly Louis' first experience with fear. He seems afraid of shadows and maybe even the dark. I could just be reading into his interest into these things but I don't think so.......he's struggled to sleep the night through two nights this week and I hope it's not related to any fear. More to come....

Louis' new wagon

Yesterday evening Louis' cousins came to visit and brought him this Radio Flyer wagon. He loves it! We push him around the house in it with all of his stuffed animals tucked in around him for the ride. He even stands and kinda pushes it around - You have to watch him real close when he's doing this because before you know it he'll face plant.

Chewing on the coffee table. Who me?

Now that he can pull himself up, he loves to chew on our wood coffee table. Yuck!

Louis' teeth

Living Room Invasion

Louis has more toys than I ever remember having as a kid. They have taken over our living room. I think it may be time to invest in a toy chest for his bedroom.

Smooches and more!

Louis took Valentine's Day cupcakes to school on Friday for his teachers and the most adorable Valentine cards from the movie Cars to school for the kids in his class - they're all girls!!

He was covered in smooches and ready to get the heck out of there when we picked him up after work. Too much of a good thing I guess.

Will U B Mine?

Happy Valentine's Day!

Hit in the face by a rocking chair, oh my!

While playing at school yesterday, a rocking chair knocked Louis in the face and gave him a small cut on the outer corner of his eye. Luckily his eye isn't bruised or swollen; it looks like a small red scratch. His dad keeps reminding me that Louis is actively crawling, pulling himself up on things and exploring his new world and is bound to get hurt. Boys will be boys, I guess. Problem is - I'm a girl and not a rough and tumble one so I find it difficult to shrug off these little bumps and bruises.

I can't help wanting to protect my baby! Would it be bad to cover him in bubble wrap and then send him out into the world? That way when he falls and runs into things we'll know by the crack/pop of the bubble wrap!

It's the weekend

Bruiser

Louis got his first little bruise. Bummer, right? Now that he's crawling, he's into everything and just motors around everywhere. As the evening's dwindle on and he get's more tired, his agility lessens and he gets a little wobbly. Monday evening right before bedtime he was crawling towards me (probably to tell me he was tired and wanted held and rocked to sleep) as I stood at the sink washing bottles well he toppled over and bumped his forehead on the hard tile floor giving himself a little bruise.

Ready for table foods?

Louis has a healthy appetite. He eats anywhere from one to three jars of Gerber second foods for dinner. I've tried introducing the third foods which are slightly chunkier and are larger portions however he doesn't seem to like the texture. I'm a little puzzled as he eats lumpy oatmeal and is beginning to eat those melt in your mouth sweet potato puffs. I read somewhere recently that some kids perfer that the consistency of all the food be the same so where all lumpy oatmeal is okay smooth pureed third foods with a surprise lump every now and again turns kids off.

I think I just may try making him a sweet potato myself or a banana both of which I can easily smash up with a fork and see if he goes for it. Either way I'm sure he'll eventually come around.

Rub a dub-dub

Louis is soaking in the tub! Louis loves bath time. He'll play until the water gets cold. Even though he sits up on his own, I'm still using the infants tub because it makes it so much easier to lean him back to wash and rinse his hair without soap getting in his eyes.

It's great that he likes to play in the water because it gives us time to relax. We can sit on the bathroom floor while we watch him and look at a magazine, I paint my nails, or just take a moment to catch our breath while he entertains himself in the tub! This little crawler keeps us busy when he's not occupied in the bath, johnny jumper or exersaucer.

I remember the first time we bathed him at home and how hard he cried. Looking back on it, I probably didn't have the water warm enough because I was so nervous that we'd hurt him.

our lil peter pan

Love + Trust = Family

just a photo

My classroom

Here are three things from Louis' classroom - the Friendly Firefighters room - at school. The first is a painting he made with his hands which is hanging on his classroom wall. The second is his cubbie where we keep his clean clothes and blankets. The last picture is the birthday wall. All of the kids have a balloon with their name and birth date on it. Louis' is the yellow one in the upper left hand corner.

Go Friendly Firefighters!

Turning 1

Even though it's still January, I'm already thinking of cute themes for Louis' first birthday in April. His birthday is on Friday this year and I'm thinking a pizza/beer party for the adults and I want to get a cute little cake for him to smash....He loves Dora and Diego but those themes are so over done. But, on the other hand, there's lots of cute stuff out there to decorate with.

Maybe a Farmyard animal theme. That could be cute! A little barn cake or something. Anyway, I'm having fun planning already.

Reminiscing

This is a pic of me leaving the hospital with Louis for the first time. He was such a small bundle. I'm sitting in the wheelchair waiting for Matt and my dad to bring the car around and pick us up. It was a beautiful, bright, cool April Saturday. Louis cried the entire way down the elevator and in the lobby as we waited. As she waited with the nurse and I, my mom managed to capture this brief moment of tranquility. I'll forever be grateful for this photo.

Snuggle Buddy

Louis loves to snuggle. We had a long holiday weekend and I got to spend lots of time cuddling and rocking him as I put him to sleep. It's the most amazing feeling to hold that heavy, sleeping body and watch him breathe in and out so content and safe in dream land. He's also started doing this really funny thing of instead of cooing to let you know he's up, he kicks the walls of the crib so you hear this loud pounding throughout the house. I guess it's better than crying :)

Snow Day

Last week Louis' day care closed early one day so he got to come to work and play with mama! It was a fun afternoon. He crawled around and got to knock stuff off moms desk. He visited and played with the other girls in the office. It was nice having the little guy there.