8 Months of Our Little Booger

Sometimes it is still just so surreal that I am a mom. It is the most amazing experience in the world, in my opinion. Watching him learn and grow, kissing those chubby cheeks, touching his soft skin, looking at those crystal eyes, hearing him giggle and blabber, all completely outweigh the stinky poops 4-5 times a day that are usually blowouts resulting in loads of laundry and going through lots of diapers and wipes. Yaaaa, this kid poops a lot. It's ok though, he's cute.

I can't rant and rave about Kobe Dale enough. He is just so perfect and lovable. I am getting sad at the rate he is growing, and the fact that he'll be a year old in 4 months. I love each new thing he learns to do and am so excited for when he walks and talks and entertains us even more, but at the same time I want him to stop. And this is where the baby hunger begins I guess. No, I'm not completely ready for round 2 but I'm getting close. I'm so curious how baby #2's demeanor will be and how they'll look compared to this kid. Can you imagine having two Kobes? Neither can I, but that would be awesome.

 

Anyway, so we don't have another appointment for him until January, but I kind of tried to measure and weigh him and from my measurements he is about 20lbs and 29" long. At 6 months he weighed 18lbs 4oz and was 27.25" long...does that seem right? He is just a little boy now-- he doesn't seem like a baby anymore. The other morning I was sitting with him and giving him cereal, and I was trying to practice waving, blowing kisses, and saying "Mama" and "Dada" with him, I started to feel a little overwhelmed at the responsibility of being a mom and teaching him so many things. I started to feel like I was expecting too much of him, like he should be crawling by now, or repeating more things. I know it all comes when it comes and he'll do everything when he's ready, but that's just how I felt. We just need to take it day-by-day and be surprised each time he does something! He is starting to feed himself with the bottle (I kind of forced it), and is only nursing when he first wakes up in the morning (yay for Mama!). His motor skills are improving every day-- picking things up and putting them in his mouth. He loves pulling his socks off and chewing on them. He is a little lazy when it comes to scooting and crawling; which could be a good thing so I can be lazy a little longer, not having to chase him around or baby-proof quite yet. He gets held too much I think. There are no teeth yet but he sure does have a firm bite. He is on the verge of waving "hi" and has very recently started his own version of blowing kisses; which is the cutest thing in the world. He is obsessed with sweatshirt strings. His favorite noises to make are "blah-ba" (repeated over and over and over and over) and "da-da." Lane is convinced that he is calling him, but Kobe hasn't quite made the connection. I'm not in denial. It won't bother me if he says "Da-da" first, but he doesn't know yet. Overall he is just the happiest baby still and I'm pretty sure he knows he's cute. He is such a joy to have in our home.

I absolutely love this picture of Oma reading to Kobe.

Oma bought him this Snoopy. It was cute when they were here visiting-- she was barking and holding Snoopy, and Kobe thought it was the funniest thing. He loves eating Snoopy's nose.

There he is playing with a sweatshirt string, of course.

And there. This is when he was sick. I forgot to mention last month that he got his first cold. Since then he has had two colds and the flu once. It's the saddest thing ever when your baby is sick. I love how cuddly he gets but I just feel so helpless. Doesn't help that every time he's been sick, I've been sick too with the same thing. He's a trooper though and still manages to smile and giggle even when he feels like poo.

Oma and Epop helped buy this beyond cute baby recliner for Kobe that matches the rest of our furniture. We all thought that he wouldn't appreciate it yet, but he seems to love it. Although, he's pretty entertained with anything. He survived his first fall, and it was out of his chair because his mom didn't have her brain one morning and left him unattended to fix a bottle :/ He only cried when he fell, I think mostly because it scared him-- that's what I'm telling myself anyway.

This picture is perfection. It needs to be in a contest or something.

Just chillin' by the Christmas Tree

I can't believe Christmas is already here. Where has this year gone?! Are the rest of the years with kids going to go by this fast? That's not fair. I am excited for what 2014 has in store for us though!

New Year's resolution complete/ Coopers/ Thanksgiving

At the beginning of this year I decided to set some realistic resolutions for 2013--one of them being to sew some stockings for our family of three (I was preggers at the time). Well, come November, I realized I only had a month left, so I either needed to commit or just add it to the list of all my other resolutions I scrapped the last 25 years. I had the sewing machine (bought a few years ago on Black Friday and have used it once to fix a seam on my apron), so I just needed to figure out how to sew, and get the fabric. I started "YouTubing" and found one that seemed reasonable and cute so I committed and bought fabric.

I haven't sewn since I was probably 12 years old in YW's, when I sewed a pair of pajama pants...with a lot of help, I'm sure. I drew out the pattern I wanted and went at it. It all looked cute laid out but I was hesitant to touch the machine. I figured, if all else failed I could just hang the patterns and pretend they had a place to stock stuff.

No, the number of stockings is not an announcement. I am just being prepared for when baby #2 does come around.

I finally went to the machine. I was pretty proud of the outcome! They are a little smaller than I wanted (I even drew out big patterns to avoid that problem, but obviously didn't go big enough), and each one has its own mishaps but I think they're cute! I feel so crafty and domesticated.

This is one reason I know Lane loves me. He hates and has no desire to hang lights, but he does it for me anyway. How can you not when we have those beautiful pillars to wrap?!

I think it's lovely.

Coopers

Britt and Mike decided to come up for Thanksgiving and found an awesome deal on flights so they booked them. A few hours later Britt realized they were for the week before Thanksgiving! After deciding to still come up then, their little family was hit with the flu. I felt like the universe was out to stop them from coming! We didn't know until they got to the airport whether or not they were coming. I'm glad they did!

 

These babies are so so adorable! Reagan cracks me up-- every time you take out the camera/phone, she automatically smiles. Already. I love it!

Britt spent her birthday here, and I racked my brain trying to think of something to do. Outside of the usual Leavenworth, just eating places or recreational activities, I was having a hard time thinking of something to do in Wenatchee.

We ended up doing Leavenworth. It was same ol', same ol' but the company made it entertaining. We also ate at Country Boys and went and saw "Catching Fire," so hopefully we made her birthday somewhat entertaining! I had fun just hanging out with them.

Goodness, I love her!

Britt had never been to Seattle so we made an overnight trip over there. Lane and I didn't really want to spend money doing all the attractions so we probably made it boring, but we hit up Pike Place (a must), ate at Ivars, found a yummy pizza place and walked around downtown. The flu hit me the next morning so I had a hard time mustering up the energy to do anything, but we went over to the Seattle Center so we could see the Space Needle and stuff. They at least got to go up and mark that off their list, but we split ways after that because I just felt miserable. I felt bad leaving like that. I wish I lived closer to my sister!

Thanksgiving

My parents actually booked tickets for the right week to come up for Thanksgiving. We are on rotation for holidays so this year Thanksgiving was with Lane's family, Christmas with mine, and then next year would be opposite. My parents decided to come up though so we had Thanksgiving dinner at our house with Lane's whole family and also our friends the Riddles. All together it was 33 people and plenty of yummy food!

I am so very thankful for my family. I am so blessed to have them and be so close to them still, and have wonderful in-laws. I am grateful to have such an amazing husband who is so loving, funny, talented, helpful, compassionate, handsome, and just truly my best friend. He is such a great daddy to Kobe, and I thank my Heavenly Father for him every day. I am so grateful for the blessed privilege of being a mother; especially to the best baby in the world. He is perfect. I love my family so much!

7 Months of Kobers

Can you believe how big this kid is?!

I think the day Kobe turned 6 months he decided he would turn into a toddler. Okay, not quite a toddler, but literally that day he started rolling around all over the place, babbling and bubbling, sitting up by himself, eating more solids (including puffs; which are some of his favorites), imitating, kissing and so much more! He's on the verge of some serious scooting too, that will soon become crawling. He loves playing with my hair. He's so sweet about it, twirling it around in his fingers...and then gives it a good yank! Yep, we have a hair-puller amongst us. He does love playing with it though. He has also found a fascination with strings on hoodies. Shaking his head is a recent activity he has developed-- he thinks it's funny if I shake mine, and then he copies me. He loves blowing bubbles, or spitting rather. Anything else, he's just the sweetest and cutest, mild child you'll ever meet!

 

Kobe had a lot of "firsts" between month 6 and 7, including his first airplane ride that he handled like a champ! He made his first appearance in Southern California. He met his Uncle Devin. He had his first trip to Disneyland, Hollywood, Laguna and Huntington Beach. He met my aunts, uncles and cousins, stayed in a hotel, went in a hot tub, watched his cousin get her ears pierced and went to her baby blessing, went to a pumpkin patch, and then came home to his first Halloween! This kid is living the life and he doesn't even know it. I love exposing him to new things and watching him take in the world around him. It's so interesting and fun to watch him learn and grow. I just love him to the tiniest pieces!

Laguna Beach

Hangin' out with Reagan

First ride at Disneyland...Snow White...scary!

Winnie the Pooh ride

Meeting Uncle Devin

Worn out kids after a day at "The Happiest Place on Earth"...even though It's a Small World was closed!

Café Rio lunch date with Britt, Reagan, Oma, Jen, Kandy, Libby and Lexi

Getting Reagan's ears pierced

Lovin' those puffs

Princess in her cart throne at Target

Playing with Oma and Epop

Eating Laguna's sand

Those cheeks!

Dorky Epop

Getting some rays with Uncle Devin

Reagan's blessing day. She is such a beautiful baby!

Uncle Lyle and Alexa

Visiting with Mimi

First trip to a pumpkin patch

Brad's balancing baby trick

In'n'out, of course.

Another day at Laguna

I am absolutely in love with these babies

That beanie.

This is Kobe's favorite toy. It's a rubber Wii remote cover.

Kobe LOVES his baths. His bedtime routine goes as follows: milk, cereal, bath, milk, bed. He knows what's next when he finishes his cereal and he gets so excited. Sitting up and playing with toys in the bath is a new thing. He also loves to splash.

He loves Ranzy.

He also loves Lana.

Seriously, he is just too cute to handle.

Laguna

Famous Dave's BBQ in Long Beach

Aunt Britt

This was a Pinterest idea. Reagan wasn't a fan.

Oma

We call this 'reverse planking'...I don't know where he learned this but he started doing it one day and it's hilarious. He does it at the most random times too. He's usually on the ground talking to himself and gets excited and stiffens his little body, legs slightly elevated, and starts breathing like he has asthma, but with a smile on his face. Sometimes he starts laughing at himself after, and then continues to do it. Weird kid.

My little pirate

On Halloween, Lane was out of town so Kobe and I went to Red Robin because Ranzy and Laurel were working. They win best costume award. They dressed up, spot-on, as two of our managers at work. It was freaking hilarious to watch them act like the managers too. If you only knew how awesome they were.

That's about it. I love every month with my little baby. Lane and I are consistently entertained by this lil' one. He brings so much joy into our home. We went on a little date the other day while Laurel watched him, and it was nice to have some alone-time and get out, but we kept talking about Kobe, and eventually wanted to just come home and kiss those cheeks (Kobe's of course--sorry, Laurel). What more can I say?!