7 Months, 1 Week Old

Southern is making real progress in his Jeep. He can "walk" all over the kitchen now. I usually put him in it when I'm unloading or loading the dishwasher, and he'll drive on up and grab onto the racks inside. He also likes to admire himself in the mirror! haha

Another lifesaver for me is his Exersaucer. Southern enjoys playing with all of the different toys on it. He also loves that it has springs so he can jump in it. I love the fact that's it's a safe, secure, unmoving place for me to sit him in while we're upstairs. I usually put him in it when I'm getting ready in the mornings. It has farm animals on it, and his favorite toy is the clear cylinder of chickens (what he's playing with in the photo). Their eggs are in it, so when he spins it, you can hear them rattling around.

Southern has been practicing standing for a few weeks now. He started by pushing up on everything he could get his hands on...Then he would work himself into a kneeling position. He could stay like that for awhile. He would try to get to his feet but just couldn't figure out a good way to transition.And now he is standing!!! What a little man. He learned how to pull up on Daddy's toolbox. He would just stand there, slightly hunched over, for minutes on end. He can't always get back down from his standing position though, and will cry until I come rescue him.He absolutely loves the view from his new position and can't get enough of pulling up now. He has done it in his crib, with a laundry basket, with his toy box, and with the TV stand. Pretty soon he'll be walking around. Crazy!

Southern's First Halloween

Southern got to celebrate his first Halloween this year. It was a bittersweet holiday since we lost Dustin's maternal grandfather last year on that day. I'm sure he's watching over us though and can see his great grandson. We miss you, Paw-Paw! http://lchahnwyatt.blogspot.com/2008_10_01_archive.html

Southern was dressed as a little western sheriff. My mom, Josh, Lane, and Cody came over to help us celebrate the day. We had a lot of fun. We started the day off by doing a little sight seeing. We stopped by the Historic Faust Street Bridge since the Faust guys had been wanting to see it. It was a gorgeous day. The girls and Southern stayed on the bridge, but of course the guys had to go exploring by the river. Dustin said he caught a crawfish and helped a fisherman by getting a huge fish off of his hook.

We then headed downtown for the festivities. We parked the cars and got out in front of The First Protestant Church. It's such a pretty church, and we learned that it was established in 1845. The actual building itself was built in 1875. New Braunfels has so many hstoric gems, and we keep discovering new ones even after living here for 3 years. Next door was the Walter Faust House. He was one of the founders of New Braunfels (That is also the name of Josh's grandfather - no relaion though). It is now owned by the church and is used for education. We walked by it to get to the Faust Hotel. That was our next stop. It's a very old building, built in 1929, and it was pretty neat inside. Due to the recent change of ownership, the brewery was not open, but soon they will resume making local beer.

Following the visit to the hotel, we stopped by the oldest operating bakery in Texas, Naeglein's. It was built in 1868. We continued our walk around downtown, but all that walking soon made us hungry. We headed to Clear Springs Cafe. Yum!

We then came back to our house where Southern got in a nap while we played horseshoes and sport toss (similar to washers but with little bean-filled sacks). We stayed outside because trick-or-treaters starting arriving. Southern enjoyed seeing all of the kids. We had princesses, super heros (my mom told one she liked his muscles, and he replyed "they're not really me"), animals, vampires, and even a box of fries. After all the kids left, we went inside to watch The Birds.

It was a great day. I can't wait for next year. By then Southern will be old enough to trick-or-treat!

Almost 7 Months Old

Now that our son is almost 7 months old, I decided it would be a good time for a little update.

Southern is really mobile now. He can scoot around very quickly - especially if he spots his sippy cup, a remote, a phone, or the kitty. He has also started to push himself up. Depending on what he's using to push himself up on, he can sometimes get into a standing position that way. Who knows, he might just skip the whole crawling phase.

He loves his water from his sippy cup - or from any cup for that matter. If you leave your cup within his reach, he'll go for it. We were visiting the Wyatt grandparents one evening. DeDe had her usual glass of wine next to her chair, and while she was holding Southern, our son almost got his first taste of alcohol! He picked up the wineglass, opened his mouth, and was about to gulp some down. Good thing being a mother has taught me to have extra fast reflexes!

Southern is a very good eater. He is still getting his milk, though I'm trying to slowly steer him more toward solids. (Any suggestions on how best to do this? Sometimes even after his solids meal, when he won't eat anymore, he'll cry until he gets breastfed.) He's up to three meals a day now. We'll usually do one 2nd stage serving of fruit for brunch, one of veggies for an early supper, and a bowl of oatmeal banana baby cereal before bed. He still doesn't like rice cereal, and he usually puts up a fight with green beans, carrots, and peaches. But he LOVES pears and peas still, along with most fruits and sweet potatoes.

He is sleeping better now. He will usually sleep for about 5-6 hours now that both of his bottom teeth are in. Thank goodness! Hopefully we'll have a nice little break before any other teeth decide to show up.

Southern's New Jeep

Southern got a Jeep walker from his grandmother this week. He absolutely loves it! It's so cute. It has side view mirrors, and he can't get enough of spinning those around. The steering wheel turns and has three buttons on it - a button for music, a horn, and one button that sounds like he's starting the ignition. He has gotten really good at going in reverse. We just need to practice going forward now!

Below is a video clip of him in the Jeep -

All I Want For Christmas...

It looks like Southern is getting an early Christmas present. His two front teeth are coming in! I felt one tooth starting to emerge last Friday when we were at the bank opening up his first savings account. It was his left front tooth. And now today as I was laying him down for his nap, he had a big yawn, and I could see a little bit of his right front tooth coming out as well.

He has been a little extra fussy this week because of it. I have tried teething tablets, and those usually work well for a little while. I have also tried giving him Motrin right before bed but that doesn't seem to help him sleep any longer. He will sleep for about 2-3 hours, then will go back down for about 3-4 hours, and then he'll usually wake up every hour after that. So we still aren't getting much rest. Hopefully after these two teeth are in, we'll have a little break!

Our little jumping bean

My mom had bought Southern one of those Johnny Jump-Up's that goes in the doorway for babies to bouce around in about a month and a half ago. We thought Southern would love it for sure since he enjoys jumping up and down so much in my arms. We put him in it, and he would just sit there. So we'd go ahead and bounce him to get him going. Well, he loved us bouncing him and would just laugh and laugh, but he would never jump on his own.

Over the past month, I started putting him in the jumper for a few minutes every day while I did the laundry or the dishes, and he would stand there watching me. I figured he would eventually get the hang of it. And sure enough, this past Saturday, he started jumping! My mom was over, and she put him in it and was encouranging him to jump. And there he went! Just bouncing around on his own! So I decided to catch a little video clip of him in action this week. He's having so much fun!

6 Months Old

Can you believe it? Where has the time gone? Southern is now a toddler... crazy!

We had Southern's 6-month check-up today. He weighed 20 pounds and was 27 1/2 inches long. That put him in the 90th percentile for weight and 87th percentile for height. The doctor gave us some tips on how to get Southern on a sleeping schedule. He also gave us some children's Moltrin since he said that Southern's lower gums are enflamed. He thinks that the pain Southern is feeling from teething may be why he's not sleeping well. We'll try that tonight to see how it goes.

Southern got his 6-month shots as well as the first round of flu shots for his age group. We will have to go back for the second round after at least 30 days. He did well with the shots. He had a good 30 minute nap when we got home and is now scooting around on the floor again.