Swings!

So we tried swings with Sutton a while back and he was having none of it. He got the same look on his face as he did when he met Santa. Like he knows he's SUPPOSED to be happy and he's trying really hard for Mama and Dada's sake, but he's just not feeling it. Since the weather has been GORGEOUS, the evenings have been longer and I've mastered the easiest, quickest meals imaginable for supper, Sutton and I have been taking walks around the neighborhood and down to the park, just exploring and checking out the scenery.
Last night we headed over the park/play area on the block behind our house. I thought I'd try Sutton in the swings since I saw my friend Linsay and her son Owen enjoying them so much on her blog. (Shoutout to Linsay, the most amazing, put-together, fashionable SAHM I know.) I plunked Sutton down in the swing (one of those baby/toddler swings that he can't fall out of) gave him a little push and....

HE LOVED IT!!!!

Oh thank Goodness. I was really worried that I was going to have one of those big, brawny boys who are afraid of something ridiculous. Like a swing. Seriously, he was laughing and kicking and squealing and flapping his hands all crazy-like. It was so cute. We were both just cracking up! Apparently we were just being REALLY goofy because all of a sudden a little 6-7 year old boy on the swings next to us says, "You and your baby both laugh the same. Really loud." Um. Thanks? Of course, I didn't want to leave the conversation on THAT awkward note, so I just threw out, " I know, we're having so much fun!" And that child (bless him) says, "Your baby is really cute. But he's wearing a diaper." To which I respond, " Yeah, he's still a bit small to go potty on his own. He doesn't quite walk yet, but he can crawl REALLY fast!" Yes, I felt the need to justify (to a 6 year old) that my 10 month old doesn't use the toilet. Here is the rest of our conversation:

Boy: "How does he crawl so fast?"

Me: "Well, you know how you can run really fast because you run and play all the time and the more you run, the faster you run? (Like that makes ANY sense at all) Sutton crawls a whole lot so he's really fast!"

Boy: (jumps off his swing) "Yeah, I can run really fast like THIS!" and proceeds to stand in place, but pump his arms like he's running one million miles an hour, all the while making what I'm sure is the same face he would make were he to actually run one million miles an hour. Something of a the-wind-is-blowing-my-face-skin-back grimace.

It gave me a nice glimpse into my future as a mom of a crazy little boy.

Sutton Update

Oh my goodness. I am completely ashamed of myself for going so long between posts. I can only attempt to justify this lapse in blogging by saying that I would much rather be living life than blogging about it! Here are some random updates about Sutton:

• He eats pretty much anything now. We started solid table foods at New Years and he LOVES it! He'll eat whatever we're eating for supper and usually has oatmeal and fruit or yogurt for breakfast. Still loves crackers and one of his new favorite snacks is Cheerios.



Cheerios!

• He crawls like no body's business. The kid is FAST. He would much rather crawl than walk right now, since it's easier and faster for him to just crawl to Mama and Dada than practice walking to them.
• He's starting to associate words with the items they correspond to. 'Dada' is Rusty. If I'm ever the one to pick him up from Phyllis' at the end of the day (it's usually Rusty,) he doesn't say Dada until Rusty gets home from work. He also says 'Dog' (well, really is 'Duh!') but it means 'dog' and, just recently, 'Gizzy' which is what Phillis calls her teacup Yorkie, Gizmo. Sutton gets so excited when you say Gizzy and he starts looking around on the floor for the little puppy. Oddly, he says 'Zaza' too, which has absolutely no meaning other than it's the name of his calf out at our family farm, who only is named Zaza because it's a word that Sutton says. Zaza can sometimes be used instead of cow, too.



This is Zaza.

• He's cruising! He pulls up on anything, and I mean ANYTHING. He tried to pull up on a pair of pants I was hanging up (or trying to hang up) in our laundry room this weekend. He can pull himself over the edge of the bathtub, which isn't great, because he just falls in head first and then starts to cry because he bonked his head. If he pulls up on something, he doesn't stay in one position long. He holds on with one hand and walks as far as he can then crawls to the next piece of furniture, pulls up and resumes cruising. Of course, this is all done without letting go of his favorite toy...
• A dirty sock! He loves dirty socks. Ewwww! So gross, I know. They're his own dirty socks, so it's not like he's handling anyone else's dirty feet germs. He likes to hold onto one and crawl around, or sometimes he puts it in his mouth and crawls around like a puppy. Crazy kid.

It's pretty much like this, since he usually gets his dirty sock right off his own foot.

• He waves and gives high fives. Oh my goodness, just thinking about him waving his hand up and down and the way he laughs when he gives high fives just warms my heart! It's so stinkin' cute. He flaps his whole arm and hand up and down for a wave and high fives are basically the same action, but slapping your hand and laughing hysterically. He's said 'Buh!' a few times while waving bye-bye, so we're thinking that may be 'Bye!' but he hasn't done it enough for us to really think that he's associating it with bye-bye.

Those are the big updates! Of course, there are so many little things that change every day with him. He's just growing up right before our eyes. In less than two months, he'll be a year old! I guess we need to start thinking about themes for his first birthday party!

Tis the Season!

"Chestnuts roasting on an open fire, Jack Frost nipping at yo...GRANDMA GOT RUN OVER BY A REINDEER!" These are the jumbled Christmas songs that have been floating around our house lately. I love singing The Christmas Song to Sutton because it's so soothing and pretty; Rusty loves to jump in with Grandma Got Run Over by a Reindeer because it's fun to sing and makes Sutton laugh.
The holiday season is here! Cold weather, Christmas lights, trees and decorations, pictures with Santa and plans to visit family far and wide.
Sutton is 7 months old now and I couldn't think of a better age to experience a first Christmas. He's sitting up, scootching around (not quite crawling,) laughing and smiling at so many things and responding to us in so many new exciting ways. He makes the funnies faces when responding to certain words. He makes his guppy face when we say Paw Paw (which is what we call my stepdad, Jeff) and this completely cheesy grin when we're playing with him and being silly. Oh, and our baby doesn't giggle sweetly. He guffaws. His laugh goes something like this, "Huuuuuuuhhhhhhhhh, ah huuuuh, huuuuuuuhhhhhhhh, uhhhhh!" It's so funny! He's also becoming more accustomed to his Gerber Puffs snacks that we've been feeding him for about a month or so, now. He still makes some pretty funny faces while eating them, but he'll no longer just spit them out. I think his new tooth is helping the chewing process. We've known that one of his top teeth is close to coming in, but last night, I actually heard him grinding his top tooth and lower teeth together. So apparently, it's broken through the gum. We are now a three-toothed baby boy! I'm thinking about moving him onto Stage 3 food now, and seeing how he does with a few soft pieces to chew on.
Since it's Christmas -time, we of course had to take Sutton to have his picture made with Santa. We went last Saturday and it was a great experience! I can totally understand all the fun of taking children to do children stuff in a setting where there is absolutely nothing to do for adults other than watch their kiddos have fun. Sutton was a bit fussy (it was about his nap time) when we first got to the mall so I was a bit worried about him just being a toot when his turn came. We didn't have long to wait as we got there early (of course) and were third in line. However, once Santa showed up I think Sutton could feel all the excitement because he just went totally goofy and started cheesing and laughing like crazy. He was flirting with a mom behind us and I kept telling him that she was married and her husband was going to get mad. The couple had their little boy with them to take pictures and the dad was like, "Don't worry, kid, I'm not the jealous type!" Cute cute cute. So Sutton's turn came and we plopped him down on Santa's lap and went to stand by the camera. Sutton just kinda sat there. He wasn't smiling, but he wasn't freaking out (I didn't think he would throw a fit, he's still pretty good about going to total strangers at this point.) So I started making faces and saying, "I'm going to get you!" which always makes him laugh. And he smiled! Not a full-fledged Sutton smile, but a smile nonetheless. We'll take it where we can get it!

Sutton's first  picture with Santa Claus!

That whole afternoon was a whirlwind of tinsel, trees and lights. We picked out our tree (I'm pretty sure Rusty would have bought the 12 foot Noble Fir if I wasn't with him. He joking pointed at it and we laughed, but  I'm pretty sure I saw a little longing in his eyes. We ended up with the 6-7 footer.) bought some ornaments and lights and headed home to decorate the house. We had only about an  hour to put up lights outside and get the tree in the stand before we had to start getting ready for Rusty's office Christmas party, so we brought Sutton's pack n play outside and went to work. Rusty and I took turns working on the lights, but he did most of the work and we got them all up and looking just lovely!

Goofing around with some reindeer antlers we bought him.

Since Rusty's company Christmas party is a pretty serious affair, we opted to get a babysitter for Sutton rather than bring him, although he would have been perfectly welcome at the party. Mommy and Daddy needed a night out, too! Our sitter was actually the granddaughter of Sutton's everyday sitter, Phyllis. AND her name is Kali! I'm sure Sutton was so confused, hearing someone else called by my name PLUS she looked so much like my sister, Brooke. He did great with Kali and Rusty and I had a great time!
We have lots of plans for the holidays: We're flying to DFW Christmas Eve to be with Rusty's family and I have off a whole week between Christmas and New Years, so we have lots of time to spend with our sweet boy!
Till my next blog! And I PROMISE it won't be a whole month from now!

6 mos Check Up

This morning was Sutton's 6 month check-up and it could not have gone better! Well, maybe if he didn't have to get his shots, but we know those are for his own good! Sutton is right where he should be developmentally. Our regular pedi, Dr Jones, was out, so we saw one of his associates, Dr Austin. She was great! She asked about any new things he has been doing (pulling up on all fours and 'rocking', eating stage 2 baby food, getting better at his hand-eye coordination when reaching for and picking up objects,) his sleep habits (about 12 hours at night, hardly any naps during the day,) how often and how much he eats (5 times a day, nursing, breastmilk and formula and baby food,) and whether he's sitting up on his own (almost, but not quite.) Sutton is 19 lbs even, in the 75th percentile in weight, 27 3/4 inches long, 75th percentile in height and has a 17 inch head, which is in the 50th percentile. He got his 6 mos immunizations and also the first of his two flu shots. So he's truckin' along just as he should be!
Here is our happy baby boy showing off his new skillz at the Dr's office:

1/2 a year gone already!

Happy 6 month birthday to our sweet little man! We love you so much! We prayed for you for so long and felt more blessed than we ever could have imagined when we met you. You have shown us that our love for each other could grow even stronger each day and that we would still have enough love left over to love you to the moon and back. You are our sunshine, our tootie-pie, our stink-pot, our booger-butt, our baby boy, our son. And that means more than we could ever express.

Six months old!

Weekend trip to the coast.

Rusty spent this past weekend fishing in Port O'Connor with some friends and since I hate staying by myself (even with the alarms and shotgun. Seriously, just try to break  into our house.) I decided to head down to Port Aransas to join my mom, Jeff and Leigh Ann and Lyn (good friends.)
Sutton did GREAT on the way down. He really didn't start fussing until we got into Corpus. Of course, that was about 6:30 and he hadn't anything to eat since about 3:30. We stopped and surprised my grandparents in Portland (you don't know joy until you are standing on a porch and watching the face of a great-grandmother as she opens the door to a surprise visit from her favorite great-grandson!) and had a nice visit and got something to eat. Of course, we left right about Sutton's bedtime, so he totally konked out on the trip over to Port A. I got really excited about taking his picture on his first ferry ride:

So much for an exciting picture!

So much for that. He slept right through his first ride.

Saturday Sutton and I spent some time at the pool. It was a bit chilly, so we just enjoyed the sunshine and gorgeous weather! It was his first time at (if not in) the pool, so I had to snap a couple of photos of him in his cute get-up!


One cool dude in his swimmin' duds!




Look at that blue sky! Gorgeous!

 Once everyone got back from fishing, we met them at Woody's. Sutton spent some quality time with Jeff learning who all the locals were at Woody's, who's boat was whose and who he could go fishing with and who not to go fishing with. It was adorable.

O'Rear and Sutton at Woody's

Sunday we just hung out for a few hours since Rusty was still fishing in POC and we were going to try to leave at the same time he did. Rusty sent us some pics of the big reds he caught that day and Sutton loved looking at them!

Wonderful, relaxing, beautiful weekend! We have an extended vacation coming up. Our annual San Angelo Hunting Trip is this weekend and part of next week. Five days of rest, relaxation and big deer!

Sign of the times!

It's time for signs! We're starting to work on signing with Sutton. We have NO expectations of him picking these up any time soon and are sticking with the simplest of signs:

Tap fingertips to lips several times.

Tap the 'C' shape to chin

Tap fingertips together several times

PLEASE

THANK YOU

ALL FINISHED (with food)

 We would LOVE it if everyone in his life were to learn these simple signs to help Sutton get the idea. So far, the only consistent reaction we get is the fishy-face when we ask if he's hungry or wants some ninny (to nurse.) And of course, the screams and grunts when we flash a bottle in front of his face! I really want to find a sign for nursing. I'd use 'milk' (tap fist to chest) but I don't want to confuse him in a few months when he starts drinking regular milk and I sure as hell don't want to rub my boobies as a sign asking him if he wants some milk! Kinda defeats the purpose of a discreet sign for nursing! 

 He's such a big kid and eats so much! I went grocery shopping last night and went ahead and picked up stage 2 baby food instead of the stage 1 he's been on. We tried mixed vegetables last night, so we'll wait on the poop report from Nanny (his sitter) to see how that went! So funny that we're so dependent on his poop to tell us how he's doing. Oh well, I hear it's the topic of choice for the very young and the very old.

We also tried some fruit-flavored puffed snacks last night. Those Gerber Graduate puffy-star things? I had to try one to see just how quickly they dissolved, because I was pretty nervous about him putting something so small in his mouth. Faster than TP in a tsunami. Satisfied my curiosity! He ate one, but made a pretty funny face and gagged alot. He wasn't choking as we could see the puff on the end of his tongue, so we're thinking it was either the sensation of solid food on his tongue or the tartness of the Strawberry-Apple flavor. Maybe he'll like the Tomato ones better... No matter the flavor, he spent quite a bit of time working on his hand/eye coordination, so that was a plus! He's getting really good at gripping things and both Rusty and I were pleasantly surprised at his dexterity when handling the food. At one point, he was struggling to pick up a star-puff with his right hand so he reached over with his left hand and grabbed it right away! Lefties run in both sides of our family so we may have a south-paw on our hands!