the summer, i.e. whiplash

On June 25th AJ and I flew (yes in an airplane just the two of us, and without incident) to Rochester NY to spend a month in Geneva with Grammer and Grandper. The flight went great, I think AJ is a born traveler like his mom. We had a month of (very) cool weather and lots of rain too. But pretty views over looking Seneca Lake and lots of fun being ooh'ed and ahh'ed over by the Geneva Contingent (Cartys, O'Connors, and Marrions made good, in particular, on the oohing and ahhing records previously set by the Arkins who thereby got "their due". Or maybe we just do have a super adorable child, its really hard to tell). As always fun and hospitality abound in the land between the lakes.

Some random firsts:

• visit to a real lake
• rolling on a hill of grass
• gumming a piece of rye bread
• an over-night without mom and dad
• swimming (at Laurie and Tom's)
• singing "songs" at church
• eating green beans, raspberries and yogurt
• getting a taste of chicken (at Moosewood -- mom slaps forehead)
• rolling around in a walker like a madman

Brennen drove with Oliver Spencer up to meet us in mid-July and we were joined by Auntie Andria too. B and I had a great time visiting with friends at a wedding and spent our first night alone since AJ was born. OMG I slept.

Is it bad that when you look back at an entire summer of "highlights"
that ONE full night of sleep is pretty much at the top of the list?

On the way home from Geneva we made a stop in Albany to visit the Puccio's and Jensen's and a stop in Raleigh to visit Cathi -- and out of no where AJ pulls himself up on a rocking chair in Cathi's room to better inspect a beautiful quilt (good taste this kid has, I tell ya)

Hmmm... August? Where did I put August? It must be somewhere?

Oh, yeah August... um can you say crawling? I don't mean the weird crab walk squiggle thing we've been seeing for a few months now -- I mean bona fide knees and arms in unison crawling. In the past few weeks with some practice AJ's now at sprint crawling pace and standing-furniture-surfing and oh wow baby-proofing, yeah that's a real thing huh?

And to round out the summer we had our first camping trip with the whole Patterson (Gale/Edwards/Arkins) family in Jacksonville. It was great, we all had fun and camping with a baby proved quite do-able, albeit restrictive.

So there it is, a much over due and unwittingly over simplified version of three months of child development. Ooops...

182 days

Dear Ambrose-

My little Bean, you've now put up with your rookie parents for six whole months. I'm quite sure that the time moves much more slowly for you, long periods of hours between feedings, playtime and naps. But for your Dad and I this six months feels like a race to keep you content and safe. And you've done a great job keeping us busy, as well as putting up with all of our amateur mistakes along the way.

You are a sweet, funny, curious and adorable baby; easily distracted to a glowing smile with the simplest jiggle or bounce in the right direction. You "don't want to miss a thing" as your Grammer says, inquisitive often at the expense of a good nap. One of your favorite things to do is to sit on Mom's lap while she's at the computer and to help type, just as you are right this very minute. Your favorite foods are sweet potatoes and bananas much like your Dad. And your favorite "toy" is probably Oliver, as when he's in the room your eyes rarely break from his every move; he's a great big brother letting you tug and pull on him in exchange for some eager kisses.

You are now almost sitting up on your own when on the floor playing, and have very little interest in trying to crawl but LOVE to stand up wiggle around with some assistance and have been trying to pike your butt in the air to get to that position yourself lately. Your main form of self-locomotion is a kind of crab walk and rolling which seems to be working well for you! You are a tall little guy, and all of the seats and clothes built for little people your age are quickly shrinking around you.

Our love for you expands beyond anything we can put to words with each passing day and the joy you bring us grows exponentially as well.

XOXO,

Mom

cover model

Time to vote for the most adorable baby ever: http://www.parents.com/photos/photo-contests-1/cover-kid/865400020/ Parent's Magazine Cover contest here we come!

first mother's day

Our first mother's day together was spent:

• with friends (Aaron and Michelle), eating waffles (with B & Me)  
  and sweet potato (Ambrose) 
• wiping tiny runny noses, 
  
• feeling the first little itty-bitty bottom left front tooth poke
   through sore gums, 
• and... well... just relaxing all together. 

A perfect day!

the little green machine

After a little bump this afternoon (*see note below) and the okay from Doc Stone yesterday to go ahead with solids we decided to just dive in this evening. AJ's first solid food meal: avocado with mom's milk.

*post-it notes are not baby approved toys, if anyone ever asks you what your first meal was AJ, it was avocado, but for the record it was technically a hot pink post-it note.