All in a day!

Bryce started crawling on Saturday evening! David took Bryce over to Brent and Kristin's house while I stayed home and prepped for my wedding show. David let me know to head over and join them for dinner, shortly after, he called and told me to hurry and that Bryce was crawling. What a little stinker!! I couldn't believe he waited until I wasn't there. I'm thrilled David got to see though, at least it was one of us! At first he only crawled while crying and fussing still showing his frustration that he had to try so hard to make all those limbs work together. Sunday, the next day, he was able to crawl happily without crying. It is kind of funny, Bryce was in our living room on the floor and I was in the kitchen. I started to call him to see if he'd crawl to me. He crawled straight to the corner of the couch. Then, I realized he still has to figure out the whole concept of going around things. It is amazing how much there is to learn still after making such a leap!

Now today, he is going crazy moving all over the place. He is cralwling and pushing his toys from spot to spot. But now he is even pulling himself up to stand, back down to plopping on his butt to sit, back to a crawl, back to pushing his walking toy while walking. WOW. All in one day he has gotten so brave and there is just no stopping him. I've heard all the comments warning me about how busy he'll be and now the real work begins but I am just so proud of him for finally putting it all together. He has been working on it so hard. Go baby!

His favorite locations to venture so far? Lilly's dog bed full of her toys and Lilly's water and food bowl. Of course.

Our Goldfish

We were invited to join a month long baby swim class. What fun, we loved it! I thought Bryce would really love it because of how he is in his baths and I was right. Once I got comfortable with him being in the water, we were brave together. He would go under the water, float on his back, go after toys... all while I held him of course. He did let others hold him while in the water too. Splashing, kicking and observing... he always got tuckered out and it did seem to help him sleep better most nights we had swimming. Relief!!
On a side note, I thought the day would NEVER come when he'd start sleeping better. Finally- relief. Since I've been home, Bryce's new norm is to wake up at about 4am. He still has a rougher night about once a week but thank goodness he isn't waking 3-6 times a night like he was just a month ago. Here are some pictures from swimming!

9 Months = Personality

What a little personality that is developing before our eyes. Some things we've noticed about Bryce:

He gets bashful when he says hi to someone he recognizes, he quickly flashes a smile and then looks away to hide his face. He looks back at that familiar face again of course.

He is a pro at giving high fives!

He is an observer. He sits back a bit and really watches crowds and what is going on. He warms up pretty quickly but in taking him to baby group, I've noticed he is quite the observer. Traits from Dad. I am like this too though.

The tongue is sticking out all the time, at least when he isn't addicted to the paci. I've been trying to limit the paci to only when he is tired, cranky in the car or when he is done eating but still thinks he needs more. He always thinks he needs more.

He gives kisses!!!!! Oh my, they are truly the best... well at least to those who he melts their heart and who don't mind a juicy, wet kiss. Big, open, gummy kisses. He just doesn't give out kisses on command though. This kid kisses on his own terms and when he feels like it. He isn't scared to push your face away multiple times when you think he needs to give you a kiss.

Along with all the good developments of his personality his not so pretty side is also developing. Bryce will get as stiff as a board when I try putting him in his car seat if he doesn't want to. He is always fine after he is buckled in and I am sure he is happy to go on an adventure but there is just something about being strapped in that makes him so mad at times. He also screams his head off- still- if you don't give him food fast enough or enough food. Because Bryce is so demanding vocally with his food, I love that he can feed himself finger foods now. For breakfast each morning, I make him toast with light homemade strawberry jam. While he is happily feeding himself it gives me just enough time to make his oatmeal without him yelling at me. This is the time where we've tried to teach him, "no." In reality, he is teaching me to be quicker and be one step ahead of him.

I've been able to balance Bryce and working from home for over a month now and I'm really happy with how it works. I don't have much freetime, but I expected that. I hate that I didn't edit these photos I've posted to adjust the lighting and the color balance but that is really because of lack of time. I am tackling some pretty huge projects right now so I am happy to just get this update completed! I am doing a dance all day long between baby and work and it all rotates around his nap schedule. I get the most work done when he naps. I am still so thankful to be with Bryce all day and feel so blessed. Things are working out for us and I am so thankful. I do leave him once or twice a week for a half day when I have meetings or just need time to crank out projects. Bryce has a few ladies that are happy to hang out with him while I need to attend meetings or work, they are wonderful and he is spoiled.

And of course, here are lots of pictures and captions:

There is a neighborhood park we go to and he loves to swing! He has a great time... and so do we. We hop on the swing beside him :)
Belly button update: We were told his belly button hernia would hopefully go away by age 1 or else there would have to be surgery. I think our poor little guy will have to have the surgery. It isn't correcting itself much these days.
Big blue eyes!
Showing off the pearly whites with a wave. He waved for about 2 weeks and now he doesn't really care to anymore. It is all about a high five instead.
When I put Bryce down for a nap, I always put him down with his socks on, I cover him with his knitted blanket. (Knitted is great because it has holes just to be safe if it gets over his head and for some reason he can't pull it off. I am so paranoid.) I also always lay him in the middle, on his back and with his head facing the other way. Here is a picture of how he ends up falling asleep. As you can see, both socks are off, no blanket, on his tummy and completely turned around. Why do I even tuck him in? :)

We send pictures to dad at work to make him smile, this was one of them. It is also a rare picture that we have one together since I am usually behind the camera these days.

Here is Bryce showing his mad skills at downing a sippy cup. He mastered this over the last month. What a champ!
This picture makes me laugh. He loves paper as much as his mama. I let him go after my pile of papers just because I could tell he wanted to so badly. I can still read a crinkled piece of paper just fine and since it makes him so excited, I couldn't resist! This is part of the balance I do daily working with my sidekick.

I know this was long, but a lot happened this month! He is so busy trying to figure out how to use his little body and even after all this, there is so much more I can write but I just can't think of it!

Mr. 8 month old!

What fun! Bryce is still growing like a weed! When David and I see other babies who are his age and who are "normal" size we feel like they look so little and skinny. I like having a big boy! I do feel like I never had a tiny baby mostly because it went so fast since he started out so big :)

Bryce waves, he prefers to only wave at Daddy though. I think he has only waved once at me but he will wildly wave to David. I am not too jealous though because now when I ask Bryce for a kiss, I have a wide open mouth, tongue hanging out, smiling baby coming right for my face and leaves me with a slobbery kiss that I love. He hasn't given a kiss to anyone but me! Mama's boy!

Grandma plays Patty Cake with Bryce whenever she hangs out with him, so we've got to give her the credit for our little clapper. He is getting pretty good. The other day, I was feeding him lunch and he was too excited about clapping but yelling at me at the same time to keep the shovel of food going into his mouth. He clapped faster than I could move the spoon and splattered food all over.

One thing Bryce enjoys doing now is setting next to his overflowing toy box and pull out each toy on his own. He is starting to pull himself up on it and gets to his knees even to look in and discover what toy he can dig out next. His little arms are too short to reach the bottom and he starts to get mad when he has his eyes set on something he can't reach. At that point, I tip over the toy box and all is good.

Search for it...

Get it!

Up on his knees!

Cute lil' butt!

He isn't crawling yet. He cares more to stand and wobble around. He gets upset most of the time when we put him up on all fours.

and for more pictures, of course!

Look at him just kick back and lounge in the sink :)

He is a pro at using his sippy cup and sitting in a highchair when we are out to eat. We have to keep clearance free in arms reach of him, he will grab anything and then try and eat it of course!

He figured out that he could eat his toes.

I'm home now with him while I work from home part time. I am so thankful, I love it and love spending even more time with him.

The late pictures...

He fell asleep grocery shopping!

At the doctor getting ready for shots :(
He is such a tough guy on shots now.

One reason it is nice to have an SUV,
there is room to change Bryce.

We took this picture right after we realized his
first tooth popped through!

7 months

Wow, things got crazy and I got behind here. Now that the holidays and moving are behind us, things might get easier but I doubt it. Because we're jumping head first into the next chapter of me working from home, I am going to be tasked with spinning lots of plates and to keep them spinning all in the good company of my little man. I will have the help of friends and family to help watch him when I need a good chunk of time to work or attend meetings. I'll rewind a bit so I can make sure to capture the many fun things of month 7! Here are somethings to note:

Bryce now has 2 teeth, his bottom front 2. He has a wide smile that he does from time to time to show them off but he doesn't do it too often.

He shows preference now by reaching to you to pick him up to hold him if someone else is holding him, to get him out of the highchair or to get him off of the floor.

He worked on waving and he now waves. Super cute, it is a bit wild and sporadic still but I am amazed that such a little brain grasps the concept of waving, cause and effect. Very cool. Next we are working on clapping.

He bangs his toys together and understands that it will make noise, he uses both hands to switch toys to and from.

All he cares to do is practice standing with your assistance. Put him on all fours and he gets mad and frustrated, we think he will skip right over crawling and take off running one day. I've already started the baby proofing in preparation.

No new news here but the kid still loves to eat. He is a professional. He chomps down solids now like a champ. He gets puffs in his fingers and has enough coordination to get it in his mouth. He worked on that quite a bit this month. He used to get the food to his mouth and release the grip so it would fall in his lap, he was able to figure out to pop it into his mouth... happier baby then!

Bryce still doesn't sleep well...still waiting for our night to celebrate sleeping all night...

Pictures to come later :)

Christmas 2010

Bryce's first Christmas!
Christmas Eve we had his Great Grandma and Grandpa Baker over for dinner. He was very excited about his train he got and loved all the bells and whistles it had. We also went to Church service. In the past we've gone with my mom to the night candle light service. Now with Bryce, we went to the early family service. He had a late nap unfortunately so he wasn't in prime shape to make it through the service well. He ended up doing great! I did have to leave once with him for a few minutes, he got a bit squirmy. He was able to calm back down and we finished the service. I loved introducing Bryce to so many people who had a very positive and permanent impact on my life. I can only wish Bryce will have families to look up to as I have.
We headed home and I told David I had a present for him to open on Christmas Eve. He was reluctant. When he opened it, there was pajamas for each of us. Now, every Christmas Eve we will open pj's to wear to bed that night for the next morning. Yeah for tradition! David didn't dig the idea but he went along with it. Now I've caught him wearing them after Christmas, guess they are comfy after all!



Christmas morning we got up and opened our presents as our little family. It was more about watching Bryce trying to figure out what we were up to and watching his delight as he experienced his first Christmas morning. How fun!




We then packed up to head my mom's house. Once we got there, Bryce was ready for more action after a long drive and a nap the whole way. He was very spoiled by Grandma and Grandpa. What a lucky kiddo. I love it how much he is loved. My mom had lots of fun shopping for him, it showed.

We stayed the night at my mom's house. It was the first time we've slept with Bryce somewhere other than our home since he has been in his room. It was disasterous! He barely slept. We had his pack and play with us even. After I heard my mom up that morning, downstairs I went to bring down Bryce and back up headed to fall asleep. We slept until 10:30, wow! Amazing!! When I woke up Bryce was napping too.

We enjoyed our Christmas with Bryce. We talked about it plenty. Christmas is more fun with a baby and even more fun when they grow up and show all their excitement for Santa. I look forward to future Christmas days with our moose!