9 months old and counting...

Today is Preston's nine month birthday it's amazing how fast his little life has flown by, but at the same time it has seemed like forever. He's grown so fast and become such a little man, I love him so much! Here are some things he's been doing lately.

Timeline of accomplishments since birth:

6 weeks: smiled for the first time

3 months: got his first two teeth and rolled over in the same week
4 months: got really good at rolling over both ways and started smiling more often, got a third bottom tooth

5 months: started sitting up and getting up on knees, got his two top teeth

5 1/2 months: got from rolling over knees to a sitting position

6 months: started crawling, got three more teeth

7 months: started cruising around furniture

8 months: started pushing his walker, finally got his fourth bottom tooth

New accomplishments in the last month:
clapping!

banging two toys together to make a sound

standing without support every once in a while without even meaning to
pushing his walker all over the house
crying whenever he sees my nursing wrap because he knows what's coming

throwing his food when he doesn't want it anymore (I'm not sure this is a good thing)

eating cheese, yogurt, and meat and loving it

getting into everything including toilet paper, trash cans, cupboards and even turning on the dishwasher

he'll throw a ball back and forth with me

What he’s doing right at this very moment:
Squealing and playing contently on the floor with his bobble head toy that opens and closes and clapping when he gets it open. The rest of the house is sealed off so he can't get into anything.

What he’s wearing:
9-12 months bottoms
12-18 months tops
12-24 months socks
size 4 shoes
size 4 diapers

How he’s sleeping:
About 9 to 11 hours at night from 6:30 or 7:00 p.m.- 3:30 or 5:00 a.m. I feed him once then he goes back to sleep until 6:30 or 7:00 a.m. which is a huge improvement from a few weeks ago!
Naps at around 9:00 a.m. and 1:00 p.m. for 30 minutes to 1 1/2 hours.

His Favorites:
getting into the blinds and thinking it's a game when I come after him

crawling up the stairs

climbing on everything

turning the pages of books

opening DVD's

pushing open the VCR

chewing on the TV remotes
chewing on his toothbrush

antibiotics (he thinks it's a treat)

playing with socks and hangers

pulling out grass

eating everything in sight

Popcorn Popping on the Apricot Tree (he opens and closes his hands when I sing it)

opening cupboards and making a huge mess

chewing on my floss container

bananas and blueberries

hanging out in the pool

bathtime

playing and watching other kids

hair!

His Not-So-Favorites:
getting his bib on before a meal

getting cleaned off after a meal

having toilet paper (and other items) taken away after he's worked so hard to get them

getting his diaper changed

getting dressed

getting his teeth brushed

being held too much

Things I’m looking forward to:
Seeing him continue to grow and his personality to keep taking shape. It's so exciting to see all the new things he does every day. I'm excited for when he'll be able to have a conversation with me and have fun playing on playgrounds or playing games. At the same time I want to continue to enjoy and remember each stage he's in and I hope he won't be in too big of a hurry to grow up fast. I know that as he gets older I will miss the days when he loved me unconditionally as I do him.

Spring or Winter?

Last weekend Gabe, Preston and I enjoyed the warmth and sunshine by doing some shopping, eating a picnic lunch and going for a stroll along a nature trail. It was absolutely wonderful to be able to be out with Preston and not worry about him being too cold. Of course I had to worry about him getting too much sun, but it was totally worth it. Among our shopping endeavours we finally found ourselves a flower. We got a pot for it previously and are hoping to at least try to slightly decorate our bare deck. When Preston was born Gabe's parents told me to pick out a potted plant for them to give me as a gift. I really wanted a cala lily and it was too late in the season so we decided to wait to get anything until this year. I'm so excited we finally did! When we got home we planted it and this is how it turned out. I think it still needs something more in there but I'm not sure what. Any suggestions? Unfortunately the excitement of last weekend has been lost because I'm afraid my flower won't last much longer in its current state. I'm not exactly sure what happened to spring, but it decided to leave for a while yesterday while a couple of inches of snow dumped on the ground.

I guess I was a little too optimistic in bringing out my one festive spring decoration, I feel like I should dig through my garage and find my NOEL letters, they seem more appropriate. At least the sun came out a little bit today, right? The good news is that we get to go to sunny Arizona next week. Hooray! Gabe is leaving for Phoenix on business tomorrow and is going to be gone for a whopping week and a half including our anniversary. When I found out his stay was going to be extended past a week I finally gave in and let him buy me a ticket. Preston and I will be spending five days there so hopefully it will be a fun, relaxing time. I've actually never been to Arizona before but we both have family there and it's where my mom served her mission so I'm sure I'll feel right at home. Luckily we're prepared with every kind of sun gear possible for Preston thanks to today's less enjoyable and slightly more wet shopping trip.

Goodbye winter and snow...

Hello sun!

Preston's Pony

I mentioned in an earlier post that Preston loves to tug at my hair. I'm sad to say that he doesn't just love it, he's literally obsessed with it. I've heard that babies usually get attached to a special blanket, stuffed animal, or even their pacifier, but I never thought they would get attached to something attached to me!

When I was in Utah Preston was getting his fourth bottom tooth in and wasn't sleeping very well. It probably didn't help that I was sleeping in the same room as him, but he would just scream and scream until I picked him up, held him over my shoulder, and let him rub my hair in between his thumb and first finger. He also has a habit of putting it in his mouth and slobbering all over it. He refused lay down to go back to sleep without my hair close to him so he ended up sleeping in bed with me most of the time we were there. The night we got home from Utah our flight came in late so he was already asleep when we got in, and once again he wouldn't sleep without my hair close by. I had let him get hooked!

So out of desperation I decided to try an experiment. I pulled out my old BYU Barbie and put it in his crib with him when I layed down and amazingly it worked. He grabbed onto her hair right away and started tugging, rubbing, and sucking (gross, I know). That now he slept for ten hours straight without getting up to eat! This was heaven for me after two weeks of feeding during the night every three hours or so.

After that I made up my mind that Preston would from now on sleep with a Barbie, but I didn't want him destroying my nice collectors item and I'm not so sure how I feel about having my 8 month old sleeping with scantily clad women. So I ventured into target looking for something a little less girly, and maybe softer to sleep with and this was all I could find... a pony with a purple saddle. That doesn't look girly at all, right?Preston loves his pony and since I got it hasn't had any trouble sleeping at all, except when he drops it out of his crib before he falls asleep of course. Then things like this happen.I went into his room to check on him after he had fallen asleep for his morning nap and he was laying there bare legs and all,

with his pants rumpled in the corner.

I was wondering why he was being kind of fussy before he fell asleep. Now I know. Pajamas pants definately weren't a good enough subsitute for his favorite pony. As you can see I made sure to replace it in his crib so he wouldn't wake up in a frenzy. I don't know what I'm going to do with this kid.

Unfortunately the pony hasn't completely replaced my hair as a comfort considering the fact that he still reaches for it every time he nurses (which is quite a funny sight), or any time I hold him for that matter. But at least it's contributing in some way.

Happy House Anniversary

Last night Gabe pointed out to me that today is the anniversary of when we moved into our house. We have now officially been here for 1 year! It's crazy to think that we've lived here for that long, we have now lived in our house longer than we lived in our apartment previously. It's even crazier to think that we've been in Washington for almost 2 years. We're grateful to be here in this beautiful place where we've made so many great friends!

Super Hair

I have been in Utah the past couple of weeks and while I was there I took the opportunity to get my hair cut once again. The girl that cuts my mom's hair does it all from home and charges significantly less than anywhere I've ever seen and she does a great job! She only charged me $30 to get my hair cut and highlighted, it was very exciting. Unfortunately she always cuts my bangs a little bit too short so I have to wait a month or two before I start to like them. Until then they are usually securely hidden behind a bobby pin.

I still don't know how Gabe feels about my new hair because he always loved my long hair. In fact I think that might be one of the reasons (of many of course) he married me.The poor guy has been nothing but supportive since I told him I wanted to donate my hair to locks of love last January. I had been thinking about doing it for a long time because my hair had been the same my entire life (my mom has always loved my long hair too)and I was ready for a change. I had Gabe come with me to the hair salon which I think was very painful for him but he took it like a man. They took off close to 12 inches. Here it is in all its glory... and this was the end product.
By last Thanksgiving my hair had gotten significantly longer and I was ready for a change once again so I dared to go even shorter. The main reason I did this was because Preston loved to pull my hair and I was getting headaches all the time. So, this is what I came out with. Unfortunately the haircutting girl didn't understand quite what I wanted, but it was cute enough for the time being. However I decided to try one more time to get a haircut I would absolutely love which brings us back to my last trip in Utah approximately a week and a half ago. I went in with high hopes and a detailed picture of what I wanted and THIS is what I got...

I look like a superstar!... or maybe even a super model, I haven't decided which

I didn't even have to do anything to make my hair look as wonderful as this. All I did was shower last night and lay on my pillow with very wet hair. It takes talent to wake up and look like this in the morning. I don't know about you, but I think Dolly Parton would be proud. Hopefully Gabe will learn to love it soon enough. :)