J is not a big fan of making a big deal out of his birthday, in fact he has said that his perfect birthday would be one where he didn't even realize it had been his birthday until the day had already passed. I am willing to not make a huge deal out of it but I just can't let my love's birthday pass without any acknowledgement so G and I decided to take him lunch at work. We were hoping to eat on the beach but it was a little chilly (for San Diego) so we decided to stay in J's office. He has a view out over the water so it was still nice. :) We also picked up sushi and a cupcake for dinner but I didn't go too crazy. Happy Birthday to the best husband and dad that G and I could hope for!
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| Visiting Daddy for his birthday! |
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| Daddy wants him to learn these principles early :) |
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| G borrowed J's cover :) |
Our next adventure involved a quick weekend trip to Wyoming to celebrate my Grandma's 80th birthday. We flew out of the Orange County airport on a Friday evening and when we were in the security line J said "I think that is Dustin Kensrue a few people ahead of us." Dustin Kensrue is the lead singer of the band Thrice, which is one of J's favorite bands. He did a solo album that had the song "Pistol" on it which we think of as our song and we used it for our first dance at our wedding. After we got through security I needed food so we went over to the McDonalds and we saw the same man. J took the stroller near him but he still wasn't sure if it actually was him. After I ordered, he decided to just lean over and ask the man if he was Dustin Kensrue. It turned out to be him so we talked to him for a few minutes and he took a picture with G. He was extremely nice and complimented our little man which made me like him even more! J has followed his music for years so he was a bit star struck at having met one of his idols!
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| G with Dustin Kensrue! |
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| Amusing himself while we waited for our flight |
We flew in to Salt Lake where my dad picked us up and we spent the night at my parents house. The next day we drove up to Wyoming (about an hour and 15 minutes away) for the party. I was born in Evanston and I lived there until I was 11 so it is always fun to go back. Unfortunately it was a very snowy day so my Uncle G and his family plus my cousin C were unable to make it over from Eastern Wyoming because the roads were closed. My dad and his other three siblings were there with their families as well as my Great-Uncle J and my grandma's niece M. We all met up at a restaurant called Bon Rico which I had never been to before. The dinner was absolutely delicious but the company was even better! It was fun to have G meet a lot of my family that he hadn't met yet and I think it meant a lot to my Grandma that we all came to celebrate her! I know that I am biased but I think my extended family is a lot of fun. :)
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| Cheers to Grammie! |
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| Grams with her gorgeous cake! |
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| Our little family :) |
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| Love my siblings! |
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| Grandma with most of her grandkids |
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| G bonding with my Aunt L |
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| Uncle D's turn! |
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| G loved it when my mom read him Brown Bear! |
We finished out the month by celebrating G's first Valentine's Day (we aren't all that into V-Day but with an adorable baby to dress up I liked it more this year). G got a new little pirate ship themed pool for our back yard and some Batman socks (my inner nerd couldn't resist them) and J brought me a bottle of wine, cheese itz, and a sweet card. He gets me. :) We were able to test out the pool a few days later and G absolutely loved it! He loves baths but I wasn't sure how he would do in cold water. He ended up playing without getting upset at all for almost an hour. He was pretty adorable and now I can't wait to get him in a real pool!
At 8 months G:
- is 19 lbs! He seems to just keep growing and growing. Even though he looks like quite a chunk he is still only in the 25th percentile for weight.
-is 28 1/2 inches long. This puts him in the 85th percentile for height.
-wears some 3-6 and some 6-9 month clothes. He is long enough for 6-9 but still a little too thin.
-sleeps 12-13 hours most nights though usually he wakes up between 6-8 wanting a bottle and then he goes back to sleep until about 9.
-pushes up onto his hands and knees and will move a knee, a hand, and then another knee but then he looks around and as soon as he sees me he flattens himself back out. I'm in no rush to have him crawling so I hope he keeps this up for a while :)
-likes to get on his hands and feet and push his hands off the ground to try to stand up. He isn't quite there yet but he has been getting pretty close.
-occasionally pushes himself up to a sitting position from the floor. He has done it a handful of times but not consistently.
-loves it when momma sings or dances with him. He loves anything with exaggerated movement and facial expressions so I tend to look pretty silly while entertaining him!
-is good at playing by himself as long as he has a variety of toys around him. He likes his lamaze toys, his crunchy blocks, his stacking rings (which he can stack but normally he just likes to throw them), and books.
-LOVES jumping in his jumperoo. He will jump for a solid 30-45 minutes most days.
-eats a good variety of fruits and vegetables that are pureed. This month I am planning on giving him small chunks of steamed vegetables to start working on more solid options. He does like puffs and mum-mums though he prefers to have someone else feed him the puffs instead of using his own hands.
-has pretty good control of his fine motor skills. He is very good at using his thumb and index finger to make precise movements. He is good at picking things up and he likes his little football that has holes in it for him to grab.
-tries to roll off of everything which has made diaper changes particularly fun.
-smiles and laughs all the time. He is a really good happy baby. He normally only gets fussy when he is either hungry or tired. We are so blessed by this little guy every day!
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| Ready to crawl right off the ottoman! |
