Vacation in Pennsylvania 3

Our last stop on vacation was Hershey, PA where we visited Hershey Chocolate World and Hershey Park. At nearly 28", Arthur measured as a "miniature" on the ride scale. Although we're not big on junk food for babies, we knew that we couldn't make his visit official without letting him try his very first chocolate. He didn't really know what to make of it at first but once he realized it was edible, it was quickly eaten.

There were a few rides he was able to go one but we switched off for most of them. Hershey Park has a baby swap where one adult can ride while the other waits and then when the first adult gets back, the 2nd adult can ride next. It makes it so everyone can wait in line together.

We all enjoyed the trip. The park is immense...much larger than the Six Flags we have in New England and a lot cleaner. We left for home on Friday around noon but not after visiting Chocolate World one more time to ride the tour ride and buy souveniers for the ride home!

Vacation in Pennsylvania 2

Before we went to Sesame Place, we spent the day in Philadelphia. We drove from our hotel into town (about a half hour). On the way we discovered "Wawa". It's a convenience store with do-it-yourself-milkshakes that were to die for. We had these shakes two days in a row (before dinner, yay!)

In Philly we went to the "Please Touch" museum for children and then on to the more historical aspects of town. We saw Independence Hall and the Liberty Bell (which is a lot smaller than I thought it would be).

Overall it was a very fun day and we were proud of ourselves for finding parking on the street on our own!

Vacation in Pennsylvania

We took a drive down to PA last week and we had a really great time. It was 5 hours down (7 with the stops) and 7 hours back (10 with the stops and traffic). Arthur did really really well. We made sure to give him car breaks every couple of hours.

Our first stop was Sesame Place for two days. Here he is splashing away in the park during a warmer part of the day. (While it only rained a couple of short spurts during our whole week, it was kind of chilly the first day and a half at Sesame).

He looks like he's having an amazing time but he was done with the sprinkler after about two runs through it! :)

13 Months Old

Here's our little floppy sleeper. This has been his new thing with his bum in the air and his feet crossed. It's very cute.

Happy 1st Birthday Little Boy!

1 Year Photos a Little Early

We took Arthur to have his 1 year photo's done today, wrapping up our membership in the photo club with the Picture People. He still has another 12 days before the actual big day but we wanted to have the photos done before Orthodox Easter this weekend so we can bring them up to our family. Between Easter and his birthday party next weekend, we just weren't sure when else we were going to be able to do them.

We're very happy with how they came out and we got a lot of great deals with our coupons and $10.00 off card! Three sheets for $8! Woo hoo!

Since they were right next to each other, we also did a quick shoot at Sears because we had a coupon there too that expires in a couple of days. Because they did such a nice job, we decided that since Sears is more modestly priced, we'll stick with them next time. Although, now that DS is turning one, he's not going to be having those professional photos every three months anymore. We take enough at home anyway! Thank goodness for digital cameras!

A Test Slideshow

Click Here!

Happy Easter!

11 Month Old "Supermodel"

In terms of being superficial, we're about as far away from it as they come! But when a modeling agent says "We want to represent your baby!", who can say no?

We'll see where this takes us. If it becomes "icky" or "snotty" at any point, we'll likely hit the road. But in talking with other moms who have had modeling babies, we're hearing that it's actually a lot of fun and very low pressure. Hopefully, it will be!

We'll keep you posted but in the meantime, keep your eyes open. (I'm hoping for an L.L. Bean catelog shoot!)

"Mama" and Blueberries

I finally got a "mama' out of Arthur today. After listening to a couple of months of "cat" and "ball", it's nice to know that we matter too.

Of course, he was in an unhappy moment and he wanted me to pick him up. With both arms extended and a teary face it popped out, followed by another a few minutes after.

I tried to get him to say it again all day but he's having none of it. I was sad that Joanne wasn't home to see it but I'm sure it won't be too much longer before he's using it regularly.

Arthur also took a break from cramming homeade blueberry pancakes into his mouth to flash this grin!

Our Little Reader

Yay! Picture posting is working again. Here's a little picture that Joanne took today. I can't get over how much he looks like a little boy instead of a teeny weeny baby!

A Little Bonkerz

Joanne recently won a pass to Bonkerz so we decided to go for the afternoon. Bonkerz is a kids play place a little like Chuck-E-Cheese but will much less video games. They also have a toddler area for kids two and under which Arthur really enjoyed. It was a nice day and we all had a good time.

I don't know if I mentioned that Arthur learned how to crawl up the stairs the other day. We have our front room set up as his main play room. It's gated and has his toys and some furniture. One one side are the stairs leading up to the living room but he hasn't really noticed them...until now.

I had stepped into use the bathroom which is right next to his play room/front room (and I always leave the door open when it's just us in the house). He was playing and I could hear him and it was fine. When I went back out into the front room, I couldn't see him. I heard him over by the stairs and figured he managed to squeeze himself next to them by the part of the wall that I couldn't see. When I got there, he was on the 5th stair!

I always protect the top of the stairs so that he doesn't fall down but we both didn't think he'd be climbing UP them any time soon. They are carpeted, but we're just not ready to have him crawling up whenever he pleases. So we're off to find a baby gate tomorrow that will fit into the awkward space that is the bottom of our stairs.

Blogger isn't letting me post pictures right now so here are some links you can click on:

Coming out of the Tunnel
I'm Stuck
I love Trains
With Jessica, Erin, and Melanie

Moving Along

Arthur is now known as "Mr. Speedy". He's everywhere and into everything! He has his own special room (the front room) to play in and he has a great time crawling around and walking along the furniture (and the cats when they are available).

He's still an eating machine although you'd never know it by the scale. Four months and STILL no weight gain (He's maintaining a "still on the charts" 17 lbs 11 ozs). Pediatrician says he's active and healthy and eating very well. He's probably just due for a growth spurt any day! At least we're getting a lot of wear out of his 6-9 month clothes that he's still swimming in!

We did have a couple of weeks of family illness. Colds, fevers, and the overall ickys. Arthur's on his first ever round of antibiotics for a mild ear infection and the past few days he's been sleeping much better. We're all doing a lot better.

On a special note...WELCOME TO THE WORLD SAWYER MICHAEL! We were all so excited to hear of your arrival! We're sure your mommy, daddy, and big brother Caleb are all very happy you're here!

We'll try to post again soon!

10 Months Old Now!

9 Months Old Today

Boston Children's Museum

Today the three of us went to the Boston Children's Museum to meet up with 6 other May 2005 babies! It was lots of fun hanging out with everyone.

The day started in a cranky way because Arthur didn't have a very good nights sleep. He has one pesky tooth (#6) that keeps going back in and coming back out and causing him a great deal of distress.

In total we met nine 9-month old babies (three we met before our group arrived) and Arthur was definitely the smallest of the group. One of the babies was the same size but still a little taller. I didn't realize he was so little because everyone is always telling us how big he is! He definitely eats and eats and eats....

Arthur was a little shy at first and needed a little cry when everyone first arrived and we put them in the big, baby play waterbed in the infant room. After about 5 minutes he was right at home with his new little friends!

He was a very sleepy boy by the end of the day and snoozed the whole ride home!

Amazing what a couple of days can do

With the right motivation (food...specifically, puffs), Arthur can now successfully "crawl" from one end of the living room to the other.

When I say "crawl", I mean "kick furiously with his legs and uses his face to pull himself along." It's very comical to watch and he's very serious about it.

He has managed to sneak in a couple of real and true crawls in the midst of all of this and I'm sure that it will be a matter of days when he's really got it.

Arthur has also discovered something called "The Wiggles". No, that isn't something you get when your diaper is past its prime. The Wiggles are actually four very quirky and very thin Australian men who sing funny songs for kids. Apparently they are a big hit for the 0-3 crowd. He likes to dance anyway so it's good encouragement.

When I figure out how to post some links to Arthur's videos, I'll try and put some on here.

Six Teeth and First Word

It's been a while since we've posted about our little chomper. The holidays and then a couple of colds being passed around and the next thing you know, it's a month later!

The past two weeks have brought some exciting new things for Arthur. For starters he has four new teeth! The last one is just teasing us coming out and going back in but it's definitely there. That brings his total to four on the top and two on the bottom. He's just started sleeping better again the past three days and Joanne says this morning "I think he's getting two more on the bottom!". We'll see.

Arthur has also decided that his very first word will be "cat". It makes sense since we have three of them. He says it with intent for sure. When the cats walk by, he moves towards them and stretches out his arms saying "Gat!" "Gat!". He doesn't say it any other times so we're thinking that it definitely counts.

It's better than the "dadadadada" he says all the time which we've just attributed to one of the first multisyllabic sounds babies can make...

As for the crawling...mmmm..not so much yet. He can definitely find a way to move himself from one place to another but it's mainly by doing a ballerina twirl sitting on his bum. He can go from sitting to hands and knees and back again.

The closest he can do to crawling is to "army crawl" but he really hates it and gets all mad and frustrated when he tries.

He can "walk" from one end of something to another if it's just a few steps and still enjoys walking while holding on to mommies hands as his favorite form of transportation.

His food variety has also increased since he's learned how to feed himself with his hands. He's added several kinds of beans, lentils and tofu to the already diverse fruit, veggie, and cereal diet he's had. He still nurses three times a day but 60% of his diet is coming from the food he's been eating.

For all this mass eating (he really does eat a lot), he hasn't gained any weight in 6 weeks but he's definitely gotten taller. We're not concerned because he's healthy, hydrated and he eats as much as he should be eating. We know that babies slow down their weight gain about this time but we certainly will be checking with the pediatrician the next time he goes.

That's all for now! Hopefully we can get another post on here again soon!

Almost Christmas

Picking out a Christmas tree

After an inch or two of snow last night, we decided to pack Arthur up in his never-worn snowsuit and venture out to get our Christmas tree. He wasn't really sure of what to make of the snow.

After getting our new tree in the house and setting some towels around to catch the drips (it was a little drizzly outside), we set about decorating the house and sealing our windows.

We'll take a picture tomorrow when we have the tree decorated. :)