Boston's First Christmas

Santa Claus is one smart guy... he came and visited Boston in Las Vegas this year! Boston went to sleep on Christmas Eve in his new reindeer jammies, had a blow out, and had to be changed, so we didn't get any pics of him in his Christmas jammies =(. Oh, well. When Boston awoke on Christmas morning, it appeared that Santa left him several presents!

Boston really enjoyed helping Mommy unwrap his gifts! I would get a corner started, and he would grab the paper and rip. Then he would try to eat it!

Boston got two Mickey Mouse Clubhouse movies from Santa this year! I'm sure his attention span will only last a few minutes on them now, but in the future he will probably be even more happy to have them. He did watch for about 10 mintues or so on Christmas morning while I packed. Such a cutie pie!

I love it! And I want to eat it!

Here's Boston and Daddy, anxiously awaiting more gift opening!

Cool wrapping paper, Dad. But I think I like your thumb better! Boston has been going to town on fingers lately. His own fingers, Mark's fingers, my fingers, whatever he can get. If you hold his hand, watch out. It's going in his mouth!

OK, I guess I'll try the teether, even though I was perfectly happy with your thumb!

This picture cracks me up! Mark is like, "Oh! What could it be?!"

Don't really care about my rattle, Dad. I've got your finger again!

Here it looks like Boston is pretty in to opening this present. Check out the determined look on his face.

Cool! Links! I love them, Dad!

But I think I would be happy with just the wrapping paper, as well.

OK, bud, just one more present to go!

Oh, I'm so happy mom!

I can eat this, too!

Looks like Santa brought Boston a pretty good haul this year! Teethers, and rattles, and movies! Yeah!

So what happens after an exhausting morning of opening Santa's presents? Sacked out! And just so everyone is aware, I monitored this nap while I packed up the entire time to make sure Boston wasn't being smothered... I am kinda freaky about stuff like that!

We just love this little boy so much and enjoy every second we have with him!

Boston and James

So the other day, we were looking at old pics on our computer, when we stumbled upon this:

At first, we thought, how did one of Boston's pictures get in with these old ones? And since when does Boston use a pacifier? Then we realized that this is NOT Boston, this is James! This picture was taken almost exactly one year ago when we were visiting my sister Nikki in California. I was just barely pregnant with Boston, and little Jamesy was about 4 months old, Boston's age now. I seriously cannot believe how much this looks like Boston! I think the only difference is that Boston has fatter cheeks!

So this picture is definitely not the best comparison, but looking through all my pictures, I realized that we really don't have any profile shots of Boston. So if you aren't convinced looking at these pictures, I guess you will just have to take my word for it!

One of the best things about it - James is still a little doll, and it looks like Boston is headed for the same path!

Be Jolly!

We had Boston in his B'JOLLY pj's the other day, but he wasn't being so jolly...Eventually, he decided he was OK...

But then we decided to see how he liked his highchair for the first time. He was, once again, not so jolly!
He did finally warm up to it, though. Too bad we can't say the same for the food we tried to feed him. I really wish this kid would find something he liked to eat!

Doesn't he look so dang cute? I must say I do like his little dangling feet, too!

Baby, It's Cold Outside!

Indy weather has been getting colder and colder. We have had to pull out the "big guns" when it comes to keeping Boston warm. I had him all ready in his winter get-up and thought he was so stinkin' cute, I just had to take a picture:Don't worry, I also had him bundled in blankets once I got him into his carseat! I love the look on his face - get me out of all this crap, mom!

Yummy Yummy, Oatmeal! (And talking out of my...)

Just before I had Boston, I had a conversation with Cami about "talking out of your butt." She told me how before she had kids, she had several opinions about things she would and wouldn't do when she did have kids. Then she had kids and learned that several of her opinions were just her, "talking out of her butt." I thought about that at the time, and I figured I had realistic opinions and expectations, so I didn't think I was talking out of mine.

Here are several ideas I had (pre-Boston):

1. I will never be one of those parents who cart their baby to the store at night, and the poor baby has to sleep in his carseat while they grocery shop. So selfish... Little did I know, this is probably the most efficient way to shop; Boston is quiet and doesn't need to be entertained. He's still sleeping, so he's not being deprived of that. So the shopping gets done quicker, and Boston never has to get PO'd that he's being pushed all over a store and not being held or played with.

2. I just won't go anywhere in the winter, except to drop the baby off on my way to school and pick him up on the way back home. Right... I think even Boston gets sick of being in the house all day. Just put a nice plush hat on him, some gloves, loads of blankets, and the carseat cover over the top, and he never even knows it's cold outside (although it is a pain to remove all that crap once inside so he doesn't roast).

3. I will never let my poor baby cry for longer than a few minutes without going to get him. I mean, if he's crying, something MUST be wrong... Ha! I laugh at that one now. Sometimes babies just cry. Actually, I think sometimes babies just LIKE to cry. Not that I let Boston scream and scream without attending to him. But if it takes him ten or twenty minutes to fall asleep, so be it. I know he's been fed and changed, so he's fine!

4. Why do parents let their babies get SO messy when they eat? I will never do that. It's not like it's THAT hard to scoop up what they spit out before it gets all over the place. I mean, come on! Yep, guilty of that one, too. And here's the picture to prove it!

Boston actually quite liked the oatmeal this time (I fed it to him in his swing), but of course, spits out as much as he gets in. And then takes his hands and smears the already-existing mess into an even bigger mess. But I'll never let my kids do that, right?

Bumbo Love (or hate)

Boston totally hates his bumbo chair. He is such a turd! This is not a case of "Oh, the poor baby isn't strong enough to hold his head up so he's flopping all around..." He is perfectly capable of holding his head completely steady himself - he sits on my lap unassisted all the time. Actually, he can even sit up completely if I just hold his hands. But the second you put him in his bumbo chair, he arches his back like no tomorrow to try and get out of it! We were trying to get a picture of him in this little outfit that one of Mark's patients got him, so we put him in the bumbo. And, of course, he kicks his legs out and arches his back.

"No, mom, I don't want to sit up in this chair... I want out!" In this picture, he is totally pushing (hard) against my hand. Such a strong willed little baby!

"Get me outta here!" Shortly after I took this, he started yelling at me. He totally kills me - he is very particular with what he likes and doesn't like. And apparently the bumbo is like the bottle - he CAN do it, he just won't!

4 Month Stats

We went to the pediatrician last week for his four month well check. Boston gave him a great big smile when he came in - such a cutie pie! He weighed in at 16 lb 10 0z (80th percentile), was 25 in tall (50th percentile), and his cute little head - or big head - was 17 1/2 inches in circumference (95th percentile). So it looks like he is slimming down a little from last time, but is still a little shortie with a big head! Sounds about right...

Here are some facts about Boston at age 4 months:

He often sleeps through the night entirely, going to bed around 8 pm and waking around 5 am. (And lucky for me, he goes back to bed until 8 am after eating.)

He LAUGHS all the time and is so dang cute when he does it!

He loves to watch his mommy - whenever I leave the room, he totally follows me.

He demands to be held most of the time.

When he is not being held, he likes to play with his play gym (or as Mark and I refer to it - he likes to "smoke the monsters out"... one of the songs on it sounds like the tune of that part from Alice and Wonderland - "We'll smoke the monster out!" Yeah, we have issues...) He has learned to pull the toys down into his mouth and suck on them and gets ticked if he is placed too far away to accomplish this.

He likes to watch Mickey Mouse Clubhouse; although I've been informed that I need to stop this, or else he will get ADD. Lol, Nikki, you crack me up!

He is starting to eat solid foods (rice cereal and oatmeal) but doesn't quite have the hang of it yet.

He STILL will not take a bottle to save his life (or his mommy's, lol)! Stinker!

His growing seems to be slowing a little - he is still in 3-6 months clothes for the most part; although a few select 6-12 month items fit.

He still has his mommy wrapped around his finger, and I am still having a VERY tough time leaving him to go to school.

We love this little guy so much, and he just gets cuter and cuter and more and more fun everyday. We love you so much, Boston, and we are so blessed to be your parents!

Christmas 2009

We went to get our pictures taken as a family today. We were going to just "walk in" like we did last time, since we kind of have to go off of Boston's timing, which is always unpredictable. We thought we would just go when he was in a good mood. But then we remembered it was December, and there would probably be a before-Christmas rush. So we called, and sure enough, there was only one appointment availabe. We took it. When we arrived, they told us it would be about another 45 min wait. Great, we thought. Boston is in a good mood NOW. Who knows what 45 min is going to bring. Probably hunger and crankiness. Great. So we went to Bajio for an early dinner, and when we got back about an hour later, they were finally ready for us. It was getting time for Boston to eat again, so I was very worried he would be getting hungry and cranky, but he actually did AWESOME! He took some of the cutest pictures I have ever seen. He was all smiles the entire time. Here are the "fruits" of our "labor" this afternoon. It really was quite an ordeal, but it all worked out.

This last one was cropped from a picture of the three of us. Mark and I looked like crap, and Boston adorable! Probably the best picture of him in the whole set, but of course, we looked like crap and couldn't use it!

Candid Cutie

Here are just a few shots of Boston from the past couple days. It is getting so cold outside, and we feel guilty just carting him around in socks, because it is totally not warm enough. So we went out and bought him some shoes. He looks so big in his little tiny Puma's! I love his little face here, too.

Here he is just chillin' on the couch. I love this little outfit on him. What a stud!
And, of course, can't resist that smile! We think he is just the cutest thing ever, so we are always grabbing our camera.