Happy Boy. Happy Memorial Day!

Hardin was so happy today.  So happy Jason asked me if I gave him catnip.  This was a very nice change from the past week of fussiness.  He's just been crabby with his cold.  I thought it was getting worse yesterday but I guess it was in it's final clear out stages, because he woke up much better today.  Yay.

Jason had a 10am tee time and H and I met him out at the club pool when he was done.  They were having a big cook out.  He was slightly less in love with the pool in the sun, but still liked it.  I can't wait until he is old enough to understand why everyone was celebrating.  

We came home and all got in our bed.  Hardin tossed back and forth between the two of us for an hour, laughing the entire time.  I am SO happy to have my boy back to normal! 

If this wasn't so cute it might just drive me crazy.  Cleaning that chair keeps me busy!

The patriotic outfit I made him...  barely fit!

Pampers & PJs.

I finally got a picture of the teeth!  The boy made me work for that one.

Thursday night Hardin woke us up screaming at 2:30.  I thought it was because of his congestion.  I changed him and rocked him to calm him down and he went right back down.  He did the same thing at 4am Saturday morning.  I wised up that time.  We had put him down in his adorable little denim Huggies diapers that Uncle B sent, and new pajama short sets.  The diapers have been demoted to daytime only, and we're back in long sleeve footed sleepers.  I think the poor thing was just cold and wet.  He was back to his normal self last night for daddy.

My night was anything but normal.  I went for my first spend the night out by myself.  Every Memorial Day weekend we go to our friend Amanda's parent's farm for the Hog Wild Pig Roast.  After much discussion, we thought it would be best for Jason to stay home with the baby.  I actually wanted to bring him at first, but Jason won with the logic that I wouldn't relax if the baby was there, and I needed to relax.  I left when he went down for his nap yesterday at 2, so I only missed from 4-7 yesterday and 7:45-9 this morning.  It felt like MUCH longer.  I had an absolute blast and am glad I went, but leaving my boy was not fun. 

I got home today just as H was waking up from his morning nap.  I planned on lots of baby love today, man-o-man did I get it.  Hardin would not let me put him down.  Not for a minute.  He fussed if I even started to bend over to put him down.  He fussed if I was holding him half the time as well.  His congestion is much worse today and clearly it is bothering him.  We have an appointment with his pediatrician Wednesday to check on his head, so we'll check on the cold also.  He's still fever free, so I'm not too worried. 

He finally got in a great little mood right before bed time.  When ever I put him down, I lay him in his bed, hand him Bunny and Doug (the lamb), give him a big kiss and say I love you sleep tight.  He always starts wrestling with his animals and occasionally belts out a few tunes at the top of his lungs.  It cracks me up.  When Jason gets him up in the morning, he instructs him to say goodbye to your friends.  That cracks me up also. 

7 Magical Months.

Hardin is sick and I'm tired, but we still got the picture!  He's had a little cough and stuffy nose.  Nothing to slow him down at all though.  I'm counting down the end-of-the-month minutes to the three day weekend!

I knew these pictures would get harder once he was able to reach for the blocks, but I didn't know why.  I feel cruel putting perfectly fun toys in front of him and not letting him touch them.  I had to call daddy in for reinforcement. 

At 7 months, he is just about the same with eating and sleeping.  He's eating a little bit more fruits and veggies.  Still sleeps like a dream, and is down to three naps.  One morning, one afternoon, and usually a little cat nap around 5.  We have found him on his belly once in the morning, but for the most part he sleeps on his side and back.

He laughs a lot and it's adorable!  He's very ticklish right above his knees, and squeals when you squeeze there.  He also laughs at himself in his bed in the morning.  Cracks me up.

The only real new thing is that he is really grabbing and hugging on us now.  He used to just let you hold him.  Now if you out your arms out he will grab on them and pull himself into your arms.  He clings hangs on when you try and put him down, and he'll flat out hug your neck if he's excited about something. 

He is very aware of what he wants and doesn't want, and is very good at letting you know.  My sister in law says it's as if he came with a manual.  If he's tired, he scratches his head.  If he's hungry, he breaks his neck looking at the kitchen and smacks his mouth.  If he wants something, he reaches and grunts.  He has also started to whine a little, and I'm trying to figure out how to curb that habit.

I CAN NOT BELIEVE he is 7 months old!  

Making progress.

He still wants to hold mama's hand when he's in the grass, but he's getting better!  No more total meltdowns like we experienced on Easter.

Last night Jason watched the baby so I could go to dinner and a movie.  It was my first girls night out since returning to work, and although I missed my boy a ton, it was so nice to be out and catch up with the gals!

New Bottles.

My bro is a one photo guy... he doesn't tolerate it as well as Jason has learned to.

Brand spankin new bottles were not on the agenda for tomorrow. But, in my cleaning frenzy tonight I went too far. I have a tendency to go a little overboard when I get on a Gail Thornberry cleaning streak. Except in my bedroom and bathroom. Those are always a disaster.

I woke up with full intentions of a cleaning day my mom would be proud of. Jason had the city dart championship (they won again!), so it was the perfect plan. Cleaning was postponed a little by my brother. Beware, questions that start with "can you do me a solid?" end in a 3 hour road trip... and I wouldn't have missed it for the world, because H and I got in one extra meal with B. Since we were driving right by, H and I stopped to see Lillian & Co. Cathy's sister, Jenna, was in town and I had some stuff to drop off that was left at our house from last weekend. We finally made it back to the house around 5, and I still needed to run and clean.

My run was terrible. It was too hot to have H in the jogging stroller and he let me know that. Then came bath and playtime until bed, so I didn't get to my hardcore cleaning until 7:30. I certainly made up for lost time. Every weekend I boil all of the nipples to Hardin's bottles. I'm a woman of convenience, so early on I decided the drop in bottles were perfect for me. Never scrubbing a bottle, I'll take it! Even though formula never touches them, the bottles were looking a little dingy. I decided it would be a great idea to boil those as well. It was not a good idea. I don't know if anyone would ever remember them, but there used to be a little toy that you would drop into hot water and they would shrivel up into a figurine. I think they were actually called Shrink'ums. My bottles must be made of the same thing, because those things shrunk in seconds! They also melted together, and morphed into odd shapes. Good thing I just got my Babies R Us email and Playtex feeding is buy one get one half off this week! I'll only buy one pack of three, and get a pack of liners half price... so it was only a $14 mistake. I'll count my blessings at that!

Not sure if you know how big a normal drop in bottle is, but it is MUCH bigger than an iPhone! And stands straight.

Pool. Take Two.

Daddy had to see what all the pool fuss was about!  Our second time did not disappoint.  Hardin is a water baby for sure.  He splashed and kicked himself silly.  A lady there recommended we blow on his face to make him hold his breath and dunk him.  I thought twice about it, but decided why not, he's diving his head into the water anyway.  It worked!  He did great with his first dunk underwater.  I'm thinking I need to get him some mini goggles, if they even make those, to keep the splash water out of his eyes.  All of our eyes were very red when we left.  I took a ton of pictures today because I do not plan on taking my camera to the pool anymore, that's just an accident waiting to happen!  If you want to see more, there is a short video below, you can see his little legs going nuts. 

The rest of our day was spent playing, hemming B's new pants for a wedding tonight, washing everything machine wash safe in this house... and even a few things that are not.  Every rug, iron board cover, car seat cover, etc., is clean.  Tomorrow it's me against the floors.  And saying bye to B :(

My boys.

I have a feeling that will be the title of many of my posts. I love my boys. This was daddy's first time seeing Hardin after his trip. He got home Wednesday after H went to bed, and left Thursday for work before he woke up. Thursday we got home from work and H was napping. The second he started stirring Jason popped up to go get him. Mom laughed, she said she's never seen Jason move that fast to get the baby out of bed.

I have NO plans this weekend. I can't tell you how happy that makes me. I'm thinking tomorrow we'll take H to the Y nursery for the first time so we can work out, and then a family swim. Or I'll just lay around all day and do nothing. Either will be a-okay with me! Sunday B is leaving, so I'll be trying NOT to think about that.

Oh, and Hardin sleeps on his side now. As of Sunday. He still rolls on his back to slam his legs against the mattress, crazy kid, but then he rolls back over.