We Heart NASA

 

Over the weekend Tyler and I took W to see the space shuttle Endeavour in it's new home here in California. I mean, I took Tyler to see the space shuttle :) And maybe I really wanted to see it too... Anyhow, we loved checking it out. To me NASA is so historic and iconic and American and I love every bit of it. While wandering around under the shuttle Tyler and I both found ourselves lamenting the fact that we did not choose 'astronaut' when it came time to check off a career. What was I thinking? Oh yeah, that I wanted to be a mom and my son would be an astronaut. We're planning on it :)

 Daddy & our future astronaut

 Mama & W

Tyler & I thought the tiles covering the shuttle were pretty cool & they each have their own identification number of sorts.

 Yay!! W putting his hands up because he's having so much fun :)

The museum has a plan to put the shuttle on display upright along with the launch boosters in the future, so I guess we'll have to come back when that happens.

"To infinity, and beyond!"

Sunday Afternoon

Cookies & milk? No thank you, I'll have my blanket & milk :)

8 mos

21.5 lbs & 29 inches

 Winston was very contemplative this morning and wouldn't give me many smiles... until I put the camera down. But I'm just looking at his crossed feet anyways :)

Winston is 8 mos old today, which sounds soooo very old for a babe. Somehow I feel like once you're 8 mos old you might as well round up to a year. And while I love my little man growing up and learning new tricks, there is something sad about your baby turning one- he won't be such a baby anymore :( I know I still have four months to go, but I hope they go slowly.

We've accomplished quite a bit in the last month: Dubs is crawling everywhere! He follows me from room to room and is happy exploring every little nook and cranny he can find. He's started eating meats & dairy (yogurt is a fav) & finger foods. We've packed up the play mat, the swing, crib bumpers and more. He got his first haircut. He can pull himself into a standing position on his own, and did so in his crib for the first time this morning. He still goes to sleep on his own and sleeps through the night. Basically, he is growing up so fast and loving every minute of it.

There is so much we absolutely love about him right now, so I just decided to list it all. The list is very long, but I want to remember everything about his cute little personality.

• When he eats yogurt he savors every bite, swirling it around in his mouth with his tongue.
• He loves turning the pages as we read books and knows what books are. When I ask him if wants to read a book he looks at them and crawls over to them. He would read all day if I'd let him.
• He makes noise constantly as he crawls around exploring (i.e. smacking his lips, growling, blowing raspberries, etc.)
• The first time he had finger foods he picked up a piece in his fist and then was confused because he couldn't see it anymore and started looking all around him to find it, while keeping his fist clenched around it. Now, however, he is a pro.
• When you offer him something he really, really likes he doesn't take it right away. He first shakes with excitement and smiles really big for a minute and then grabs it.
• I love his little noises! He recently learned to click his tongue and does it all the time. He also thinks it's really funny when mama does it.
• He is always so proud of himself when he learns something new and gets the biggest grin on his face :)
• He randomly will stop what he's doing and throw both his arms up over his head with a huge smile when he's having fun. He does this a lot when he's in the stroller or sitting on our laps.
• He is sooooo good in the car. Perfectly content to play, chat, or sleep no matter how long we're in there.
• He has quite the repertoire of raspberries- slow & quiet, loud & slobbery, short bursts, steady w/ humming, etc.
• He freaks out (in an excited way) when he sees the home phone. He loves it when I call people and put them on speaker phone and usually stares at the phone doing his 'I want' sound repeatedly until we put the phone away.
• He still loves the color red.
• His 'I want' sound- sort of sounds like a high-pitched grunt over and over again.
• When he's happy he spins his feet around in circles constantly. When he's super excited he does the same thing with his hands so all four propellers are spinning at once!
• Now that he knows how to stand up on his own, he loves it a million times more than before. He would much rather stand up and then sit down over and over again than play with toys right now.
• He loves bathtime and finds it very relaxing. I know, because he inevitably pees about 60 seconds in every time :)
• He understands no. When he's going for something he's not supposed to and we say no he'll stop and look at us for a minute, and then move onto something else.
• He is very interested in the vacuum and chases it around when I vacuum.
• He is very ticklish, especially at night. You are guaranteed a silly smile if you tickle the back of his neck.
• He is a very busy little boy. Always moving!
• He loves to bounce, bounce, bounce!
• We have his birth announcement photo as our screen saver and he always gets excited when he sees it. Good thing that's the one I just printed to frame in his room :)
• He loves to play in front of the mirror. He also has a small cloth book with a mirror on the front and when he looks at it he presses his face as close as he can and stares at himself.
• Going to the market takes us nearly twice as long as it used to because we get stopped sooooo many times by people wanting to stare at W. His eyes literally suck people in. And of course those cheeks are the most kissable, squeezable cheeks ever! Just the other day a homeless man asked me if W could stay with him to keep him happy, and a couple of hours later a woman asked me if he was for sale. Weird, but flattering :)
• He is still obsessed with his swaddle. He sometimes drags it with him when he's crawling around and will go searching for it just so he can shove a corner in his mouth and suck on it for a minute. When I pick him up after a nap he always gives me a little shnuggle and then looks back in his crib and waits for me to give him his swaddle. He literally cannot sleep without it.
• When he's just sitting (while reading books or riding in the stroller) he crosses his feet. Nothing is cuter than crossed, chubby baby feet :) 
• He gets super excited when he sees Tyler and always reaches for him.
• When he's excited he often puts his tongue between his teeth and inhales rapidly- kind of sounds like hissing.
• The way he moves his chubby, little fingers is just so cute! He is very precise with his pointer and thumb when picking up foods and when picking at buttons & tags. He also does things subconsciously- like softly tapping his pointer on dad's knee while watching people at church or flicking the back of dad's neck all during our hike last Saturday. And when I nurse him he always has one hand twirling my hair or grazing my lips & cheeks.
• He loves little kids. He gets really excited when he sees them and often reaches for them.
• He still loves singing songs, especially 'Open, Shut Them' and 'Patty Cake'.
• He loves when daddy throws the blanket over his head to play peek-a-boo and will sometimes pull the blanket up over his face himself.

 

Happy when he's moving

 

Loves those books

Look at me! I can stand!

P.S. We ran into Jamie Lee Curtis outside the pediatrician's office yesterday and she gushed over W's eyes and cheeks. She was so nice and just kept saying what a beautiful babe he is. She also told us we have the best pediatrician. Awesome!

Weekend Snapshots

We celebrated President's Day weekend with the Cheesecake Factory, a hike, playing/watching basketball, Cafe Rio, church, Ticket to Ride, a growth spurt, Jamba Juice, a few errands, lots of giggles, a family jog to the park, the NBA All-star game, finger foods, a movie, and lots of friends. Busy and awesome at the same time :)

 Daddy & his little man

Enjoying the ride

 Some of those giggles I mentioned

 Watching the game with Daddy

 More giggles :)

 Valentine's flowers from my Lover

 Finger foods & a very messy babe

Happy Valentine's Day

 Sending lots of love to everyone today!

Thanks Granna & Pa for the card- it was way cooler than the rubber ducky mama gave me :)

Aspen 2013

Our little ski family (aka Tyler's dream)

 

  Everyone except the parentals on the mountain (Lindsay, me, W, Tyler, Jessie & Marcus)

Last week was spent in Colorado for the annual Turner Ski Trip. We drove 16+ hours there and back and W was a champ both ways. He was perfectly content to chill in his car seat and play and/or sleep for the duration of the drive. Unfortunately, the drive in was a still a little tense due to the non-stop rain and crazy, dense fog, but we made it safe and happy.

 

 

 Some gorgeous views of the Snowmass mountain

 

It snowed for a large portion of the week, but by Thursday & Friday we saw some sun. I was really nervous about skiing since I'm still a beginner and I didn't ski at all last year, but thankfully I did okay. The very first run was a little sketchy, but in my defense the snow was a little chewed up so I think that contributed. By Friday I was feeling a lot more confident and I did a few, fun runs with Jessie and Lindsay. I did fall once... while standing still in front of the lift. At least I wasn't flying downhill, so there was no serious physical injury :) I also dropped a pole while we were on the lift and we had to go chase it down, and later I ran into the metal bar in the ticket stalls when I thought I was clear to go ahead. Clearly, I'm an awesome skiier :)

  

Proof that I was actually on the mountain and wearing skis at the same time :)

 

  Even though she is prego, Jessie skied and even did some jumps and some moguls. Hardcore.

Tyler and I both skied half days a couple of  times so one of us could be with W. I think it worked out okay, but next time I would like Tyler to ski a lot more since he seriously looks forward to this trip all year long. Jessie was also a big help and watched W a few times so Tyler and I could either ski or run out to the hot tub for a bit. We even managed to squeeze in a date to Pizza Hut (romantic, I know) one nite.

 

Papa, Daddy & W hanging out in the ski locker room

 

 Giving my little Squish a hug after skiing.

  I just can't get over how cute he was in that little cozy sack!

We had a lot of time to sit and tell stories, we played Disney Trivial Pursuit & Ticket to Ride, wandered the shops in Aspen, watched a couple of Lakers game (there's no escape), ate lots of yummy food, and lounged around in cozy sweats everyday. W loved all of the attention from the fam and, of course, the big highlight of the week was him crawling, so I'd say it was a success! All in all, it was a quiet trip compared to the usual chaos of Turner ski trips, so we thoroughly enjoyed it.

 

 W all bundled up. He was confused by the mittens and would occasionally hold up his fist (no thumbs on baby mittens) and stare at it :)

 

Naturally, we have matching long underwear... why wouldn't we?!

First Haircut

Today Winston got his first haircut! Last week Tyler kept mentioning the wispy hairs hanging over W's ear; the same ones that had been bugging me the week before. He still doesn't have a lot of hair, but I know from my brothers' and from Tyler's complaints that most little boys are irritated by those wispy hairs on top of their ears, so we decided to trim them. Winston sat pretty still, sucking on his rubber ducky, while I snipped them and now he is a clean-cut gentleman again :) I tried to get a good photo, but those hairs really were quite wispy, so it doesn't look much different. To compensate I've included cute photos from the bath that followed :)

 Before & After

W's favorite thing to do in the bath is suck water out of his washcloth :)

 So fresh & so clean!

 Raspberry

 And if you make a crawling babe wait too long to get dressed...

 

 

 

...he'll find something better to do :)

Let's go!

Winston started crawling last Thursday (January 31)- a legitimate hand and knee action for several paces. He may have done it for the first time when I accidentally scared him and he suddenly took off across the room to get to me. What's wrong with a little motivation, right?! He didn't do much more crawling while we were in Aspen and traveling home, but today he is back in his own element and crawling everywhere. He is so proud of himself and we are too!

Also, in growing-up news, we had to lower his crib today because he is learning to pull himself up on the slats. Look out world, Winston is on the move!!

 

Sooo happy to be crawling! W randomly started doing this squish-face smile last week too :)

Cutest babe ever!

 

And there are those little teeth we mentioned :)