Music and Lights and "Who Me?"

AJ loves to stand at his music/learning table and jam to the music (although I wasn't able to get good video of him jammin').

We bundled AJ all up on Friday and went to see the lights at the zoo. He stayed awake the whole time even though we were there from 8:00-11:00. His favorite part was watching the fish.

AJ's new thing is to pull all of the DVD's off of the bottom shelf. I love his look here as if he's saying, "Who me? I didn't do it!"

St. Nick's Day/Snow/Ornaments

Here are some fun pictures and vidoes from the past couple of weeks!

We all opened presents from Brian's parents for St. Nick's Day on Dec. 6th (Catholic Tradition). AJ was actually able to rip some of the paper!

Nuge LOVES the snow!

AJ's thoughts about the snow, "Hmmm, this is new."

"Mom, I'm not sure what it is, but it's cold out here!"

"Oh, that's better... a way to get it in my mouth. Thanks Dad!"

I think AJ would enjoy the snow more if he could actually move in the snowsuit!

AJ decided to help us unwrap the ornaments to put on the tree. The bubble wrap was his favorite!

Nuge is LOVING the fact that AJ eats real food! Nuge gets all the cheerios, bananas and cheese that falls to the floor.

AJ in the Hospital

Well, AJ gave us quite a little scare Thursday night when he started wheezing and breathing really hard and fast. We called the Dr. and were immediately sent to Children's urgent care where they gave him a chest x-ray and decided that he had bronchiolitis. They then admitted us to Children's Hospital where we spent the night a most of Friday. They basically just kept an eye on him and suctioned out his nose several times. He never required oxygen which was the main concern. He actually had fun playing in the jail-bed and flirting with all the nurses. The worst was when he was tired and couldn't get to sleep. He usually just lays done, but now he's requiring a lot of cuddle and rocking time. He's better now, but still has a lot of crude and still a little wheezing when he plays for a while. They told us he could be like this for a couple of weeks. I took some cute pictures of him in his banana nightgown and in the jail-bed, but they are on my phone and I don't think we have a usb port to hook the phone to the computer. Oh well!

Happy 1st Thanksgiving

We spent AJ's first Thanksgiving in Cleveland with the McLaughlin Fam. It was AJ's longest car ride to date and he was perfect both ways. It even snowed on the way up and AJ was absolutely mesmerzied by it. I kept telling him, "snow." We had a wonderful day eating, relaxing and playing games. We are truly blessed and have so much to be thankful for! Thanks Aunt Beth for having us, and we can't wait to see everyone at Christmas.

A new family tradition... FRIED TURKEY! Thanks Uncle Mark! It was delicious!

AJ playing with Grandpa Joe. He loved Aunt Beth's tupperware cups.

AJ is very good at playing peek-a-boo now. Here he is pulling off his burp cloth.

More pumpkin pie... AJ's favorite! YUM!

Cousin Laura introduced AJ to Maverick (the cat).

I never seize to be amazed at how the most ordinary objects can amaze a baby... AJ was fascinated by the light switch.

8 Months

And I thought last month was busy...

AJ isn't quite crawling, but he sure gets around. He also LOVES to stand. He even pulls the stiff leg move when you try to sit him down. His favorite place to stand is at the coffee table so he can pound his hands on it (sorry, I don't have a picture of this yet). Just recently, he has started to take a few steps while holding someone's hands. He can get up on his knees when trying to pull himself up, but I don't think he has really mastered the concept of "holding on" yet. He's so funny to watch. It's almost as if he thinks he should be able to stand and walk without holding on as he flings himself towards something. AJ's other favorite activity right now is to pull all of his toys out of his toy basket. One day he tried to stand up by holding onto the basket, and they both fell over. AJ has also started to eat small bits of real food: cheese, bread, mashed potatoes, and even a fortune cookie. He has become almost impossible to change and dress as he rolls and twists all over the place. He makes me laugh every day!

Here's AJ with Grandma Bonnie and Great-Aunt Beth at Uncle Eric's for the big BUCKEYE game against Michigan. The Bucks won of course, and AJ had a blast cheering for them!


AJ getting computer lessons from Uncle Eric. What is it about keyboards?

As mentioned, here's AJ emptying out his toy basket. I love how he's wearing his bib like a cape in the picture below!

This is the best picture I could get of AJ up on his knees.

AJ crawls backwards better than forward at the moment, which ofter leads to him getting stuck under the exersaucer.

AJ's new trick in the bathtub is to go "swimming." He goes from sitting to his belly quite well, and loves playing around like this!

The first video shows AJ going crazy with the Buckeye balloon (sorry the video is sideways halfway through, I turned my camera and didn't realize the video would come out like that). The second one is AJ "swimming" in the tub.

7 Month Photos

AJ takes way too many cute pictures to pick from (I usually just get the Wal-Mart introductory special for about $7), so this time I had them put a collage together, now that they have gone digital, for about $10. If you click on the picture you can see it better!

Pumpkin Pie

We had Thanksgiving with Brian's extended family yesterday. Here's a picture of AJ having his first bite of pumpkin pie - with whip cream of course! He loved it!

Happy 1st Halloween

Even though we didn't take AJ door-to-door, he absolutely LOVED watching all the other kids come and get their candy. We actually spent most of the night putting labels on Brian's postcards for his campaign.

AJ's shirt says, "Daddy's little monster!"

AJ gearing up for the trick-or-treaters.

My little froggy..ribbit, ribbit!

AJ says, "High-five the froggy!"

Yes, I too dressed up. My kindergartners were allowed to wear costumes to school, so I dressed as the mouse from "If You Give a Mouse a Cookie" by Laura Numeroff. The mouse wears overalls in the story and I also had a tail. I even baked cookies for my students. They knew who I was right away!

Thank goodness Grandma Bonnie and Granpa Joe came over to help us! Here we are outside eating, passing out candy, entertaining the froggy (he was enjoying Grandma's ice water), and labeling postcards.

Okay, so these pictures were actually taken on Halloween Eve, but his Halloween PJ's are soooooo cute! Here he is after dinner hanging out in his chair.

Welcome Gabriella

One of my absolute best friends had her first baby girl this past Saturday. Brian, AJ and I were lucky enough to visit them in the hospital and meet Gabriella. I can't believe how quickly you forget how small they are when they are born. AJ looks HUGE next to her, but he was excited to meet little Gabby and can't wait to play with her. Congratulations Megan and Jeff! We love you and she is absolutely beautiful!

AJ and "The" Nuge

AJ loves his doggy, and fortunately Nuge loves AJ too! Here are a couple pics and a video to show how they bond! "Let me have that ear."
"How about letting me have your nose?"

The Bigger the Better

Size is of no matter to AJ. In fact, the bigger the item, the more intent he becomes on trying to get it in his mouth!

7 Months Old

I can't believe my baby is closer to his first birthday than to the day he was born! He has been fighting his first rotten cold this weekend, so he's been a little clingy, which I don't mind since he normally wants to be free to move around instead of being cuddled. Everything has become a drum to AJ. He has discovered his ears, sleeps on his tummy with his butt in the air, and now eats three full meals a day!

We had a 7 month home photo shoot this afternoon, but as you will notice in the pictures, AJ wasn't too into giving the camera a good smile. He was either pooping, sucking his fingers, or watching the cars go up and down the street!

This was the only smile I got!

AJ would follow each car until it was out of sight.

AJ sleeping with his mouth open because he couldn't breathe through his nose. By the way, his daddy is WAY worse than me when it comes to worrying about our sick child.

AJ continues to practice feeding himself. We have to take turns with the spoon.

The Pumpkin Patch

Last Sunday, Brian and I took AJ to the pumpkin patch with cousin Heidi, Aunt Aimee, Uncle Dave, Grandma and Grandpa Sauer, and Great Aunt and Uncle Cindy and John.

AJ LOVED the pumpkins. We got him one his own size, which he instantly tried to put in his mouth.

We only had to take this family photo six times!

Queen Heidi and AJ as the Indian.

"I wonder how tall I'll be next year?"