(July 4, 2012)

With all the traveling, family escapades, and so forth I completely forgot to post on July 7th. At least we had Swing on a Star as an interlude so you didn't feel like I had forgotten to let you know about the baby boy!

So, Michael is Ten Months Old!

We're guessing he's over 20 pounds, and I would imagine close to 30 inches long. We had to finally give in and get him a new carseat that was bigger than his infant carrier; since he kept kicking the seat so much we imagined he was too long (or close to it) for his old seat. He's getting heavier to tote around, and my back has definitely started to notice. Trying to find ways to remind myself to switch sides and use the sling less and less.

(July 6, 2012)

We celebrated Michael's new check point by taking him on his first beach trip. It was most convenient to be visiting Clark's family and only have to drive around two hours, rather than drive anywhere from five to eight from our current location. Needless to say, Michael had more than enough fun. He loved the fact that the waves would go away and come back. He also loved the sand (note it flying around in the picture above). I was afraid taking him to the beach would be difficult, but we went more than prepared and it went as smoothly as could be imagined (post to come about it).


Visiting family also gave Michael opportunities to try new things. He is positively in love with strawberries still. Nothing compares. He is also in love with cheese and gold fish... which I suppose makes perfect sense. I think, too, that Michael's Great-Papa may have slipped him some ice cream... it would explain why he was up until 11pm that night.

We have hit a glorious point in Michael's development where he takes long naps. Yesterday he slept for 2.5 hours in one setting and then was up until around 8:45pm. I probably should be pressing for him to go to bed earlier, but then he also slept until 8:30am this morning... so I'm not complaining at the moment.

(This lasted for just under two hours.)

Michael is more than comfortable at this point pulling himself up to sit up, pulling up on furniture, cruising furniture, and so forth. Yesterday he even pulled himself up on his bouncer (no picture, sorry) and commenced to play with it outside of the seat. He seemed to enjoy that more since there was more freedom to it. He also made it up a few stairs yesterday... even if they were concrete and made me incredibly nervous, he handled it with ease. I can't believe how big he's getting! Next on the list is definitely walking.

His two new favorite games are playing with light switches and doors. He'll push the door closed and look at us to say, "Closed!" Then he'll crawl forward, struggle a bit, and open the door and look at us to say, "Open!"

With the light switch it's the same thing. "On," or "Off!" He absolutely loves it.


If you couldn't tell, he tolerated me more than long enough for us to have an excellent Fourth of July photo-shoot. He was excited about the few fireworks Clark shot off at his parents' house until there was one that had multiple ones in a row... that officially brought on tears and we therefore retreated inside and successfully went to sleep immediately after that.

Note: Late night company + strawberries + (I'm guessing) ice cream = grumpy baby until fireworks go off and he's truly had enough to pass out for the night.