Movin' up in the world

I’m sorry – I’m going to admit it – babies really aren’t THAT much fun when they are really really little. Don’t get me wrong – they are cute and nice to hold and you love them because they are yours. But, really? All that they do at that age (and, we’re talking like birth to 6 weeks) is sleep, eat (and, eat and eat and eat and eat), pee, poop and cry. Now that Alex is 6 months old? I love it. He is at such a great age:

1. He is sitting up all on his own. I LOVE the fact that I no longer have to find a place to put him when I need to put him down. I think that he probably spent at least 18 hours a day in that damn bouncy seat before he could sit up. But, where else was he going to go? I mean, I can only do so much while holding him. So, now – I can just plop him on the floor, surround him with toys, and leave him there perfectly content while I get stuff done around the house.

And, then, when he gets lazy, he just falls backwards...

2. He laughs and smiles constantly. He is just too funny. And, what is really cool is that Avery can make him smile and laugh the easiest out of all of us. Here they are with Dad on the couch watching tv last night – as you can see, Avery was kind enough to share one of her babies with him.
3. He has become a pro-jumper! We brought up the jumparoo this weekend (and, retired the baby swing, which I’m still hanging onto even though Josh’s comment was, “Do you know anyone who needs one because we will never use this again.” I am still holding out hope that, some day, we will win the lottery and be able to put an addition on the house and buy a new SUV so that we can afford another baby, but sssshhhhh….he doesn’t need to know that right now) and he loved it! They have one at daycare and he has gotten really good at it, so we thought that we would put him in ours. I’m psyched because this is yet another thing to occupy him for a while. Here he is with Avery who apparently thought that she could just bounce him like a basketball while he is in this thing. Don't worry - she didn't do it too hard.
4. He eats normal food- so far, he has tried carrots (which he liked!), peas (which he REALLY didn’t) and green beans (which he thought were ok). It’s fun introducing him to new foods and watching his face – he is VERY dramatic – shivering, puckering, locking his lips shut. It’s pretty comical.

5. He has really started babbling and squealing a ton. He talked to one of his toys for a good 30 mins yesterday. It was too funny.

Avery is also moving up in the world. This weekend, we attempted to not wear a diaper during nap time for the first time and she woke up dry!!!! It’s funny because she has been potty trained for so long (and, was potty trained at a really young age), but she VERY rarely wakes up with a dry diaper after nap time and after bed time. But, I figured, it’s time to at least give it a shot. They say that it is more of a mental thing in terms of staying dry while sleeping and that they will do it when they are ready. However, knowing Avery? She knows damn well that she has that diaper on, so she pees in it because she knows she can. We’ll see if this theory holds true.

Not only are the two kids moving up in the world, but so is mama. This last weekend, we went to a bday party where they had about 5-7 of those huge blow up castles for the kids to jump in. Back in the day, I would have been scared to let her jump in there for fear that some big mean scary 5 year old would smoosh her. But, I was very good! I let her run around and bounce around and do her thing and, go figure, no injuries.

She had a great time and I got over my fear and realized that she is big enough to do these things now.

That’s about it on our end. We’re still constantly trying to figure out what we can do with them in the winter on the weekend. So far, we’ve attempted gymnastics but they didn’t have enough kids for a Saturday AM class, so it was cancelled (does NO ONE work during the week anymore? Who are these moms who can take their kids to gymnastics any other day of the week besides Saturdays? Moms who I’m jealous of, that’s who). Then, we attempted Kindermuzik, but THEY didn’t have enough kids for a Saturday AM class, so that was cancelled (seriously?????). And, then, we attempted to take her to a children’s museum in Dartmouth, but apparently that no longer exists and has been replaced with a YMCA. Clearly, we’re not having much luck with this. This last weekend, Josh ended up at Barnes and Noble with Avery while I stayed back with Alex while he slept. Which, wasn’t the worst option, but will get to be an expensive one shortly. Ok, I have a consolidation to tie out, so I should be going (did I mention that I’m jealous of those moms who are currently at gymnastics while I’m tying out a consolidation??).