Elmo, Clapping, Crawling and Dada

We got to go with Jenny and Tate to see Elmo Live! Blake loved every minute of it and was mesmerized by the lights. But then he was more mesmerized by Tate. All he wanted to do was hug him.

He also started clapping! He had been able to clap his hands together for awhile, but he was only able to do it once. Now anytime someone says, "YAY!!" he gives them a round of applause.

I hadn't really understood how to download video from our camera until now, so now we are having a video marathon!

Blake has started army crawling. It started on Valentine's night, but we didn't want video of that because he was chasing the paper bag from our romantic Valentine's take-out.



He also likes to mock my attempts to get him to say "Mama". I think he is on the edge of saying Jack, too. Anything but Mama.

Happy Valentine's Day!

Blake's favorite Valentine, Jack!Mommy and Daddy gave him a monkey towel. Happy Valentine's Day!

Snowed in and 7 months

Thanks to the 'Snowmageddon', a record 12.4 inches of snowfall fell yesterday so we are snowed in today. It is gorgeous. I am determined to get a picture of Blake in it but I am going to wait until the sun is out. This picture was taken standing on our front porch. Blake has been really busy since he turned 7 months! Right before he was 7 months he cut two teeth on the top. Now he has 4 teeth! Right after he turned 7 months he woke up and started babbling. It was completely out of the blue. Before he would just squeal and coo. Then all of a sudden he started saying syllables! Ba, Da Ga, and what sounds like hi. It is cute because when he gets going on the da it sounds like he is saying dada.

The next day after the babbling, he started army crawling. He saw his favorite toy and started pulling himself towards it. He hasn't mastered it, but he knows how to use his arms to pull himself forward across the floor. He somehow always ends up under the coffee table and will giggle and play.

He also started waving! It takes him a minute to figure out how to only use one arm, but he can do it!

Everything is happening so fast!

Six Months and SICK

We had our six month appointment awhile back. Blake's stats:
Head: 19 inches
Height : 28 1/4 inches
Weight: 21.7 pounds

We were mostly concerned because we were on round two of an antibiotic for an ear infection. We were excited to find out at the appointment that the second round had taken care of it. We started him on fruits and are working on a sippy cup.

We went to the 6 month appointment on a Tuesday. On Friday Blake started to get a little cough. It got progressively worse until Sunday when he got a 102.9 fever. We took him to the doctor and found out that he had RSV which brought on bronchiolitis and a double ear infection! We had to do breathing treatments with him 3 times a day to help the RSV/Bronchiolitis and had a "baby z-pack" for the double ear infection. He really hated the breathing treatments at first but became such a little trooper as he got used to them. The antibiotics were really rough on him. They upset his stomach so much that he would throw up when he took them. It was a horrible week that then ended with him cutting another tooth! He couldn't catch a break! We were so blessed to have family around to help us get through it. He was really well taken care of. He stayed with Mia and Big Guy one day and then his Granny and Grandpa Bingham came and stayed with him the other 3 days while we had to work. He was cuddled back to health and is now doing much better. He went back to school after being out for over a week and was all smiles for his teachers. I think he missed them! However, I do think he loved having all the attention from his Granny and parents. So we don't exactly have any six month pictures of him. We wanted to wait until he was well. It will really be almost-seven-month pictures. Hopefully there will be more posts now that we are getting back healthy and happy!

Happy Half Birthday!

6 months ago, we anxiously awaited the arrival of our baby boy. We were first shocked by the size of our bundle of joy... then by his easy going and content personality.

After his first month he was already sleeping through the night and smiling.

He was laughing at 2 months. He also started the ECDC.

Right before he turned 3 months I was trying to take these pictures of him in his new Aggie outfit but he kept turning over on his side. I remember being so frustrated with him as I would put him back over on his back. He would just laugh and try to do it again. The next day when I picked him up from daycare his sweet teachers were talking about how amazing it was that he was rolling over from his back to his belly! I realized then that all the poor baby was trying to was to show his Mommy how he could roll over and I kept pushing him back onto his back! (You can even see his legs in motion in the pic) He started rolling over from front to back by the end of the month. 4 months was a big month for him. We started cereal. It was ugly at first, but we got it. He hasn't stopped eating since!

He was also baptized! Then the day after his baptism he got his first tooth and the following week he got his second!

He was sitting up without assistance when he 5 and 1/2 months old! He also had his first Christmas and loved opening presents... or eating the wrapping paper at least.
He was completely spoiled! (This is from everyone, not just Santa!) And now at 6 months he has started shaking his head up and down. I like to call it dancing. It is not a simple yes nod. It is a full body, up and down nod. He does this often, but especially in his high chair. This is mid-dance as he was celebrating his half birthday with his first fruit, bananas!

I can't believe half a year has already passed. He is growing so fast! Happy half-birthday, Blake!

Happy New Year!

Your Song

Todd and I were laughing hysterically as we went through some pictures of Blake from this month. He has some of the best facial expressions! He brings us so much joy. I couldn't get part of Elton John's "Your Song" out of my head.
"How wonderful life is while you're in the world..." Trying to use mind control to get the bottle to his high chair.

He loves Jack and gets so excited anytime Jack is near him. I can't say the feeling is mutual for Jack, but he is so sweet enough to duck his head down far enough for Blake to pet the top of his head instead of grabbing his ears and nose. No, that's not a shock collar around Jack's neck... it's ummm... something that says "good boy" everytime we push it.Listen lady, we've gotta talk about this pureed food junk. Where's the steak?

You're serious about this?? (he can raise one eyebrow!)

Daddy's way of feeding Blake. I have to admit, it was probably better than him keeping Blake's clothes on. I found carrots in the most random places after this meal.
These are just from the first glance of silly photos. There are plenty more! I need to save some of them for later posts. Stay tuned for his FIRST CHRISTMAS!