Life in the Rut: Spring Sprang Sprung!

Do you know how hard it is to take a picture of a baby when he's surrounded by things he thinks he's supposed to eat? This was taken on Wednesday afternoon at a little bluebonnet patch in Friendswood, where he kept picking up handfuls of grass and trying to stuff them in his mouth! I had to have one hand on the camera and the other at the ready to brush the grass out of his fingers!

First things first, a Snurfler update:

-As of yesterday (the 12th), Snurfler is 7 months old. During his last visit to the doctor on March 12, he weighed in at 24 pounds, 5 ounces and measured 29 1/2 inches, ranking him once again above the 95th percentile for his age. Most of his clothes are sized 12-18 months, but thankfully he still fits into most of his 9-month footed sleepers.

-He no longer needs couch cushions or Bumbo chairs to sit upright! Since the end of February, he has been sitting on his own and with some insanely straight posture. We moved him out of his baby bathtub just a few days after he turned 6 months old. That thing was WAY too small for our big guy!

-He is on the move! While he can get into crawling position, he hasn't quite figured out that the arms and knees work together. But he can scoot backwards and does an excellent 360 turn. I make sure he gets lots of tummy time every day. Lots of people said he would probably crawl late or not at all because he's such a big baby, but I think all the enforced tummy time (in spite of a good bit of whining on his part) has helped him stay on track. He has outgrown his Jumparoo but still enjoys his exersaucer.

-He's down to three "meals" a day! He gets a bottle for breakfast, lunch, and dinner, as well as rice cereal mixed with fruit (with breakfast and dinner) and a vegetable around 5 PM. The veggies he's tried thus far are peas, butternut squash and corn (a favorite), carrots, sweet potatoes, and green beans (not a big fan of these, although he seems to enjoy them more when cold.) He's still an excellent eater.

-No teeth so far, but he has become quite the drool machine. And of course he's in the "everything goes into the mouth" stage. Which is why we're not buying any more new toys until he's interested in doing something more than eating them!

-He loves to be outside and go on walks in his Jeep stroller. He won't utter so much as a peep the whole time while we're out, even when the sun's in his eyes. He also loves it when I push him in a swing, he just giggles and squeals and has a grand ol' time!

-He's still happy, happy, happy, and healthy as a horse! He had the "sniffles" for about a week last month, but it didn't seem to bother him a bit (unless you count the times when we came after him with the nasal aspirator, that's definitely not a favorite) He gets the biggest kick out of us when we have the hiccups and loves to play "Peekaboo." And the kid can REACH!! He's very focused and determined when he sees something he wants, especially if that "something" is any kind of remote control. He's also fascinated by the Propel bottles I always have with me.

As for me and Sweet D, we've been pretty busy, too! We've been tearing up our Netflix queue, trying to catch up on all those Oscar winners (since we don't go to theaters, anymore) This week, for example, we watched Gone Baby Gone and No Country for Old Men. Eek! Both were excellent but rather disturbing. On Friday night the Snurfler spent the night with his Granny in the 'dena while D went to the Astros game and I played in my first game of Bunco. I had a blast and won $15 for having the most buncos! Saturday saw D busy with yardwork and me busy with laundry before we picked up Snurf around 1 and had a yummy lunch with Granny and Aunt Lori. Today was church followed by more yardwork. The weather has been beautiful for the past two weekends, we're not exactly looking forward to the oppressive heat that will soon be arriving.

Other than that we've been keeping busy with reading, card games and dinners with friends, book clubs, birthday parties, etc. etc. I hosted a playdate for my mom's group on March 19th and enjoyed a great turnout-- more than 20 moms and kiddos crowded into our upstairs playroom! We spent the weekend after Easter in Eagle Lake with Mimi, she got the biggest kick out of the Snurfler and all his crazy facial expressions. He even took a sweet little nap in her lap.

Last but not least, The Snurfler was Christened on Easter weekend! Aunt 'Nee and Uncle Kerry (one of his "sets" of Godparents) came down from Ft. Worth for the big day. We had quite a turnout at the little pink Episcopalian Church in Eagle Lake! In true form, Snurfler didn't make a peep during either the service or his Christening, he even tried to play with the water after he was anointed by Father Steve. After church we all went out to the Duncan house for the annual Easter festivities. Snurfler took a huge nap while we were all eating lunch and then watched everyone chase after one another with confetti eggs. It was a fun and beautiful day!