A week of firsts!!

5 months, 1 week old!

Sooooo, it's been a little over a week since my last post and man, what a busy week it's been!! Brock has a whole list of 'firsts'!

First trip out of state AND on an airplane. He was his usual perfect little self on the airplane. Slept like a total champ most of the way there and all the way home. However, someone replaced our usually chill, sweet, never has a problem sleeping infant with a waking every 2 hours newborn!! I think he was just out of sorts so he didn't sleep well in the crib the hotel provided OR even in bed with us. The air was soooo dry up there so the poor little guy was so stuffed up! The rest of the trip was great!! Brock stayed with my friend Kristin's mom Sophie and had so much fun with her! Nick and I got a chance to have a nice, 'adult' dinner at this goregous steakhouse overlooking all of Denver. It was wonderful!

Another first, his first 'word'. I'm not totally counting it as a word yet, because it's not on purpose! LOL! But when he is upset or wants something he'll start sort of whining and saying 'da da da da da'. So yes, he kind of says 'da da', but again, it's not on purpose so I'm not counting it yet! HAHAHAHA!!

This past weekend, he had his first cereal!! He LOVED it! I wasn't sure how he would react, but I anticipated a funny face so I made sure Nick had the video camera ready. And he didn't disappoint. The first few bites were met with some hilarious faces, but after that, he wanted more and more and more! Within just a few bites, he learned to open his mouth for me to put the spoon in for another bite. I don't know if all babies do that, but I like to think he's just super smart (and realllly loves food!).
Here is a picture of him with the cereal all over his mouth:

It's kind of fun feeding him with a spoon and watching him open his mouth for another bite! I'm excited for him to start trying new foods and to see what he likes and doesn't! I'm praying he's not picky like me!!!!

He tagged along with me this weekend to go wedding dress shopping with Erin. He was checking out all the ladies, but was a total angel the whole time! We had Drew/Erin's engagement party on Saturday night and afterwards, Nick went out with some friends so Brockie snuggled with mommy in bed until he came home.

Sunday we went to the Pumpkin Patch with Kristin, Tracy and their families. I was a total space cadet and totally forgot our camera!! Luckily, they both had cameras and got some cute pictures of the babies! Brock and Madison modeled their Halloween costumes. Brock slept most of the time we were there and we got in the car to head home and didn't realize how long it had been since he had eaten! Poor baby cried the whole way home!! We were giving Brett a ride home and he was joking that he couldn't believe it because he'd never heard him cry before!

Since I missed last weeks post on his 5 month b-day, here are his 5 month facts:
- rolling over from back to tummy in his crib
- eating cereal
- sleeping about 10-11 hours a night
- still taking the 6 -7 oz bottles, 5-6 times a day
- NO TEETH YET, but I know they are coming soon
- OBSESSED with dogs, he thinks Oscar and especially Taz are so hilarious
- loves to be tossed up in the air
- sitting up more on his own
- grabbing things with both hands (and then usually taking them straight to his mouth)
- uses his right arm like a hammer...if he has a toy, he chops it up and down

Sittin' and spittin'

4 months, 3 weeks old

I didn't think it were possible for Brock to get more fun, but every day he does. His newest hobby is spitting. Not like nasty, loogie spitting. Cute, putting his little baby lips together and blowing so it makes a noise and ok a little spit comes out spitting. It's kinda gross, but it's so cute I can't tell him to stop! He was doing it the last 2 weeks like crazy, but over this past weekend he seemed to slow down. I think it's boring him now...

He's started sitting up on his own! Not for long, but he can usually balance himself for a few seconds. If he falls forward he can usually catch himself, but if he starts falling backwards there is no hope, he's a goner. He even sat in a big boy high chair at a restaurant this weekend for the first time!

 He is starting to get more and more hair, but we still can't really tell what color it will be. Sometimes it looks blondish, sometimes it looks redish and sometimes it looks light brownish. I think it'll be more Nick's color which is a a very light brown. He definitely seems to have his mama's eyes. He's got big blue eyes and long dark eyelashes.

We've decided he CAN roll over, he just doesn't want to. LOL! If you put him on the couch or the bed, he'll roll over like it's no one's business. But on the flat surface of the floor, he'll just look around then get bored and lay his head down. He just wants to MOVE. His feet now touch the floor in his jumpy little chair and he LOVES it. He goes crazy in that thing. He jumps up and down, side to side, every which way.

He is loving toys now. They usually go straight to his mouth, but if it's a rattle or something that makes noise, he'll just whip it up and down. He's got this little 'arm chop' he likes to do, with or without a toy. We've been saying it for weeks now, but there has GOT to be a tooth coming in! He's drooling and a little more fussy than normal and moves his tongue over his bottom gums constantly. He won't let me peek though. He thinks it's hilarious when I try to look at his teeth, but he keeps his tongue like glued to his bottom gums so I can't see!

If there is a mirror in sight and he can see himself, he's all about it. He laughs and smiles at himself in the mirror. He is also a little daredevil. He loves to be thrown up in the air, or when I swing him back and forth like I'm going to throw him. He thinks it's so funny!!

Last week we went to dinner with my mom and Brock and Nick waited in the car while I went to get my mom from her house. She got in the backseat with Brock and was saying hi to him. I don't know if she startled him or what happened, but he started hysterically crying. It was a cry none of us had ever seen or heard from him before. He had tears in his eyes (for only the 3rd time since he's been born) and was just beside himself! I felt so bad for him and for my mom. She felt terrible about making him cry! At the same time, I was dying laughing because it was so random that he started crying that hard. Luckily, he calmed down and was all smiley and happy to see her inside the restaurant.

He's still just the best baby. He's so easy to take wherever we go. In fact, he's so great (and I'm such a wuss), that he's coming with us to Denver this weekend! I had a complete meltdown about leaving him so we decided just to bring him along! My friend Kristin's mom lives out there and is going to watch him on Monday night so we can go out to dinner for our anniversary. Otherwise, it'll be our little fam on our first family vacation!!!

He's almost outgrown his carseat! His feet hang over the ends of it. He's also getting so heavy that it's hard to carry him in it anymore. He's just a solid little man!!

We are starting him on solids next week when we get back from Denver! I'm all excited about it! I keep forgetting all these exciting things he's going to be doing! He's so much fun and I love him just like he is right now it's hard to imagine him hitting all these milestones that are fast approaching, but it's exciting at the same time!

4 month pics and more!

4 months, 2 weeks old

We had Brock's 4 month pictures taken on Friday after work. As always, our photographer, Rebecca was amazing!! She picked the perfect place that had some great fall colors on the trees and the weather could not have been more perfect!! Brock was a little tired from daycare, but he was a total champ. He wasn't as smiley as normal, but he definitely gave us lots of sweet faces!! We had so much fun. We brought Oscar and got some great pictures of all of us as a family. I also wanted to get a few 'fun' shots of Brock in his spider costume so I brought his costume and some pumpkins along to capture our love for Halloween. Here are some sneak peeks of a few of the pictures:

This picture was sort of an 'accident'. We were walking from one spot to the next and Rebecca caught this adorable shot of Brock looking over Daddy's shoulder at us walking behind them. I LOVE the expression on his face!

This was his 'dressy' outfit. The orange looked so cute on him and was perfect for fall!

This was near the end of the shoot, but I swear he was giving us the 'spider face'

As you can tell, he's clearly 'over it' by this point. He's not crying, more just tolerating what is happening!

I love love love this picture! He's such a happy baby and this really captured his smile/laugh!

As we were getting ready to leave for the pictures on Friday, Nick got Brock changed before we left. I was finishing getting myself ready and as Nick was walking towards me with Brock, Brock got really excited when he saw me, turned his body and leaned with his arms forward towards me! It made me tear up since it was the first time he's really 'reached' for me! It was sooooooo sweet! Totally melted my heart!

Saturday we headed to Lawrence for the KU Homecoming game. Brock got to meet a bunch of my college friends and was the total hit of the tailgate. As always, he was wonderful and let everyone hold him and play with him. Sunday was a snuggle day. I was struggling with a terrible headache and sinus pressure so I was mostly useless. But it was the perfect day to snuggle on the couch with the little man!

He has started eating every 4 hours now instead of every 3. Still going to bed like a total champ. Tired or not, he'll lay right down and usually within 5-10 minutes, he's totally passed out. He barely makes a peep after we lay him down.

We are going to Denver for vacation in 2 weeks and as excited as I am to have that time with Nick, I'm terrified and so sad to be leaving Brock. Even though it's only for a couple of days, I'm going to miss him like crazy and worry the entire time. I think the fact that he is SUCH a good baby is making it harder to leave him. If he was fussy or not sleeping through the night, there might be that motivation of getting at least a good nights sleep while we're gone. But that's not an issue for us. He's seriously the best baby ever and I hate the thought of missing a second with him!!

We have most of our Halloween decorations up and a lot of them light up and he's loving it! He'll just stare at them forever!! I'm excited to see what he thinks at Christmas!!