18 month photos and other related milestone news

Yesterday while I served at a church event, Lo Lo had some fun one-on-one Daddy time. Among other activities, Jerry took Lo Lo to get 18 month photos during their time together. Mixing plaids, stripes, and every hue of blue. We'll take it. Lo loves wearing sunglasses, though he currently doesn't own a pair of his own. This beach scene is the free 8x10 collage we ordered which we can pick up in a couple weeks. We didn't actually purchase any photos...probably they are starting to roll their eyes every time we go to this Sears place since we get a lot of Lo's milestones covered through just using the coupons and not really buying much. Oh well.

This was another cute photo from yesterday that nonetheless BUGS me because we seem to be unable to catch his upper teeth. Seriously, we have ZERO photos of his upper front teeth, and I have only seen glimpses of them a handful of times in real life, like when he laughs hard and/or I am tipping him upside-down or am standing below him on the playground, etc.

On this particular smile, Lo was saying the word "keys!" because Jerry offered his keychain to try to get Lo to look at the camera. This kid LOVES keys, and has gotten pretty good at opening our mailbox lock and starting the ignition in the car. He pronounces keys "dees." Another funny word he just started saying is "cool." He pronounces it "dooOOL!" With lots of inflection. It cracks me up. These are the things he has called "cool" in the past couple days: potato salad, green salad, his new mini table/chairs set, and a lot more stuff I don't recall at the moment.

I forgot to mention this during his 18 month post, but Lo Lo only had 10 teeth total when he hit 18 months old; 6 on top (4 front plus 2 canines) and 4 front bottom teeth. Over the past couple weeks Lo Lo has gotten in several molars, so that is exciting. He had just one night of restless sleep that seemed to be disrupted by teething, but it has been otherwise a non-eventful process getting these molars. I'm interested to see if he eats more solids now that he has molars in his mouth.

Oh Hi, Ohio

This past week we moved to Ohio. Thirteen hours of driving, punctuated by plenty of stops to nurse and change diapers. The apartment is still full of mountains of boxes, but yesterday an angel from our new congregation came over to help me unpack and it feels like an end is in sight.

Little Tam is getting more fun every day. As we are pretty behind on posting photos, I'll just toss out a quick "Top 10" from some of our favorite moments over the past weeks. Here they are!








#10: We try to soak up any little bits of sunshine that sneak through the winter gray.
#9: This is what Little did while Mommy & Daddy were packing and cleaning the old apartment (hired movers did most of the packing of course).
#8:Bored on our drive to the new place, Little slept all day in the car. Then, both nights by the time we arrived at our hotel room for the evening he was conveniently starting to feel awake and ready to play/eat all night long. We arrived at our destination feeling pretty exhausted.
#7: As he grows, his body is less prone to be curled in the fetal position all the time. He has started stretching his arms, legs, and fingers a lot, and sometimes sleeps in this position with his arms over his head. I could sit there and watch him sleep all day.

#6: He is starting to get too long for his 0-3 month clothes; any footed onesies no longer allow him to straighten his legs all the way.

#5: "So glad when Daddy comes home." After Jerry's last day of work in Massachusetts, Little greeted Daddy at the door with a full five minutes of grinning and cooing. This baby is getting so chubby and fat. We think it's hilarious.

#4: Little gets daily Chinese storytime. He seems to like it.

#3: His first day of church, I wore him in a Moby wrap to discourage any would-be-touchers. I asked Jerry during the sacrament service, "Can the baby breathe?" In answer, he snapped a quick pic with his phone. Maybe not so reverent, but it reassured me.

#2: This hat looks so elfish. It comprises almost the entirety of my attempts to be festive this season when I put him in this attire. Seriously, between birthing this baby and moving out of state, I have all but given up on the idea of Christmas. I even forgot a couple family members' birthdays this month! Sorry everybody.

#1: Ear grabbing is supposed to be an indicator of ear infection, but he didn't seem to be in pain with this pose. He just fell asleep like this, clutching his little ear.

Ever wonder what happens if email goes unchecked for, say, a mere week? I have 101 new messages. Too overwhelmed to begin weeding through them, I diverted my attention to the neglected family blog. Aren't you all glad.