He's Ready For Summer Picnics

This is hilarious! I always try to give him bite sized pieces of watermelon, but he never eats them. I tried giving him a hunk and here's what happened:

The sounds make me cringe. You can imagine the stains I am battling on his onesie.

Happy Friday!

I can't believe I keep forgetting to post about his new teeth. The bottom two came in about 2 weeks ago. It was rough, but we're through it. I now think the top ones are getting close. He has been cranky pants for the past 2 days.

Clap Your Hands

He finally picked up clapping! He doesn't really mimic you, but if you ask him to clap, he'll start right up.

Enjoy our Randomness

I haven't put up pictures in a while so here is just a bunch of random shots from the past few weeks.

Here he is again acting like the starved animal at the petting zoo.

This picture doesn't show it too well, but his belly was huge after I fed him. He's fat and happy here. He's also riding in his big boy carseat now.

We are bringing these pacifiers to a friend and I wanted to see if he knew what to do with them. He put it in his mouth and sucked on it for a bit, but then it fell out.


Spike's back! We had a pool playdate. I decided to spike his hair after he got out of the water.

He loves the pool, too. This float is the best! It kept him out of the water, but he could still play while touching the water. I didn't have to worry about keeping him afloat either.

Rowan is loving her popsicle. We tried to give him a taste, but he wanted nothing to do with it.

One of our favorite shirts.

Vacuuming Nanny's carpet with Gigi.

He LOVES bathtime. He would climb over the tub if he could. This was an impromptu bath because he got food in his hair.

He moves around more so we need to keep him contained. Unfortunately, it keeps Morgan out as well. Poor puppy gets left out.

Strawberry Fields Forever...

We have a new family tradition! Yesterday we went to Oxford, Georgia to pick some strawberries. It was so much fun to look at the field and also search for the perfect ones. Art had a fantastic time tasting all of the berries.

The farm was like driving over to someone's backyard and picking the fruits from their bushes.  It was not commercial at all!

Art's first taste of a fresh strawberry.  His first teeth came in quite handy. 

He was my berry picking partner and kept trying to grab them out of the bucket.

Nanny and Aunt Kathleen were begging to see him so he visited for a while.

Mom and Aunt Ilene picking some fruit.

Don't they look beautiful?

We picked 8 in all.  4 baskets were divided between my mom and me.  I have to get cooking so pass strawberry recipes my way!

Uncle Wayne put him in the back of the truck.

The kids LOVED the strawberries.  You can see Art is grabbing for one right now.

All strawberries lost the battle here. Art was covered in the juice though.  Luckily, I have learned to always be prepared.

Can't wait to go again! 

Peek-A-Boo

He now plays peek-a-boo by himself. It is soo cute!

Story Time with Dad

As part of our bedtime routine, we read Art a story. Brian is reading Art the Where's Spot? Easter edition where Spot is looking for eggs. He laughs at the word "No" and Brian does the each animal in a different voice. I had to stop what I was doing to document.

He loves his dad!

Thus, the Love Affair with Mac and Cheese Begins

From time to time, Brian and I fix dinner from the blue box. It is one of our favorites and makes a quick meal. Art usually goes to bed before we eat, so we saved him some leftovers. The infatuation begins!

Cloth Diapering 101

Yep, you read it. Our family is moving exclusively to cloth diapers. I have been doing research over the past few weeks and decided that I wanted to convert. I always thought that cloth diapers meant folding those white cloths and pinning them with really large safety pins. Wow, I was wrong. Those still exist (and are called flat or prefolds), but there are also all-in-ones, pocket diapers, and all-in-twos. After several evenings of research, I invested in several of an all-in-two diaper brand called Flip. The inner absorbent layer tucks under flaps on the cover. Instead of washing the entire diaper, I only have to wash the cloth layer and wipe the cover when it gets dirty. I love how many colors you can purchase.  They are such a cute option.

Here's Art sporting the new diaper.  

The white piece is the absorbent layer.  It is really thick which makes these diapers a little more bulky than their disposable cousins. The other two are covers in different colors.  We have 3 in all so far. The blue one is showing the inside and the green one is the outside.  When we change him, we just have a new cover with insert ready to go.  The process is very similar to disposables except solids go into the toilet and the insert goes into a separate laundry basket that will eventually make its way to the wash.  

   

Art says, "Good Choice." Ok, he can't talk yet, but that is what he may say due to all of the benefits.  Sure, it *can be* gross, but really, investing in cloth is the way to go.  We won't have to continuously purchase disposables and we're also helping out the planet.  I've found over the past two days that it is pretty easy so I have been happy with the change. Brian was reluctant to change, but he understands the benefits. After all, there is no turning back now.  I'll keep you guys updated on how it goes!

Life is Beautiful

Once again, I don't know how we fill our days, but we get through them.  He's my little cutie pie and keeps me on my toes.  I keep wondering if number 2 will have a similar personality (Don't get your hopes up yet-no one is on the way).   We have our 9 month doctor's appoinment coming up next week so we'll see how he's progressed.

We were browsing in the Best Buy and the TVs caught his eye. I had to get a picture.

Isn't he sweet?

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This is our friend, Misty, who is not really a baby person, but she held Art! Misty is Morgan's favorite person.  (She's our dogsitter so Morgan can avoid the kennel.) 

Art loves walking around everywhere now.

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I can't remember what we were doing here, but this is what usually happens all day.  We play on the floor.

This is one of my favorite pictures.  It is so sweet.  Art looks like he is helping with the tub.

Art likes walking along the chairs at my parents' house.

He looks good in blue!

We fed him some shredded cheese.  He had a hard time picking it up and at one point, put his mouth on the table like a vacuum.  We tried to get a photo, but weren't quick enough.

Here's Art perfecting his pincer grip.

My Little Narcissist

I always sing him "Man in the Mirror" when changing his diaper because it is always what comes to mind. I thought this was fitting. He loves playing with the Cheval mirror.