8 Months Old

Moses is now 8 months old! He seems to be learning new things every day. His eighth tooth finally came in this past week (he's been working on that one for about a month!). Slowly, but surely, he is figuring out the whole "waving" business. I tried to weigh him on our scale. It looks like he's around 19 lbs, so he's a solid boy. This weekend, we were able to finally meet Olivia Susan Hepp (8 weeks old). She's so adorable, Jen & Bryan! Jen is one of my cousins on my mom's side. She & Bryan work for Campus Crusade for Christ in Kansas City, so this is the first time Olivia has travelled to Illinois.

Moses loves to "play" with the baby in the mirror at my parents' house. Yes, he is laughing at the "other baby" & licking the "other baby" in the pictures below. It is just hilarious! Sorry, mom, I think those mirrors may have a few handprints on them now :-)

We are excited to celebrate Moses's first Christmas later this week. More posts to come!

Brilliant Boy!

Of course, Aaron & I think Moses is a genius! We've been trying to teach him the most basic sign language--"more." We have been doing it since we started feeding him solid foods about 6 weeks ago. We are convinced that he understands what he's doing. . . but you could probably say it is a little bit debatable. I noticed it on Sunday while I was feeding him, but only said something to Aaron, just in case I was being overeager. Yesterday, though, I picked Moses up at my mom's and when I walked in, she said, "I think he knows what 'more' means. . . watch!" Here is our proof:

Thanksgiving

Moses with his Great-aunt Marilyn and his favorite toy of the day. . .a plastic cup!

Moses celebrated his first Thanksgivings with the Meiss family on Thursday and the Dohner family on Sunday. I am a delinquent mother, and did not get any photos! Fortunately, Aunt Amy, Aunt Dawn and Great-aunt Marilyn sent me some. I don't know what I was thinking (I guess I really wasn't thinking at all!!). We had delicious food & fellowship. Moses isn't quite ready for the feast we partook in, but he enjoyed all of the attention he received. Thanks, Aunt Marilyn & Uncle Garry for hosting a fabulous Thanksgiving dinner!

The Fillingham sisters LOVED looking after their cousin Moses. They are definitely ready for a new sibling coming in February :-)

7 Months

Yesterday, Moses turned seven months old. He has been doing some new tricks that keep us entertained and on our toes! This past week, Moses has been "crawling" around. By crawling, I mean doing some sort of army crawl using his hands & arms and dragging his legs behind him.

He is getting so to be so good, that he can even move backwards. Here, he moved under the ottoman, but his head was too big to get underneath it. He was so mad!

We've noticed that Moses has been trying to pull himself up to a standing position. Friday afternoon, when he was suppose to be taking his nap, I hear this disturbing sound. I decide that I should go check on him and this is what I found:

The loud noise I heard was his final grunt while getting to this position.

He thinks he is such big stuff. He is also working on his EIGHTH tooth, so there's been a crabby baby around the house. We're hoping that it breaks through soon.

We enjoyed a visit from Grandma Dohner this weekend. Moses loves getting spoiled! Grandma Dohner helped us kick off the basketball season Friday night at the green/white scrimmage. Saturday, we had fun shopping in Peoria.

Shopping Trip

Moses spent last weekend helping me celebrate my birthday. My mom treated Karmelle and me to a shopping weekend in Chicago. Moses had a LOT of firsts this weekend. His first train ride, first hotel stay, first time seeing Wrigley Field (to his dad's delight!), first bus & el ride. . . the list goes on & on! I bought a new stroller and tried it out. It is an umbrella stroller with a few more features. I thought that Moses would like to lay back and sleep while we shopped. Little did I know he was going to be Mr. Social! He would stare at people until they noticed him, then he'd give them a huge grin and want to interact & talk with them. It was amusing. One man told us that Moses's smile made his day :-) We had a lot of fun without spending too much money!

At the train station in Normal.

On the train to Chi-town!

Shopping on Michigan Ave.

Moses is sooo excited about the Cubs. . . he's sleeping :-)

Happy after two days of shopping & delicious sushi.

Uncle Zach's Birthday Bash

Saturday, the entire Meiss family travelled to Chicago to celebrate Zach's birthday. He chose to take us to Chicago Brauhaus for lunch, an authentic German restaurant. Moses was not allowed to try any of the sausages or sauerkraut (or head cheese for that matter), but enjoyed the experience. Next, we went to Lincoln Park Zoo. The weather was so gorgeous, we weren't the only one with that idea. We thought Moses would like the animals if he was up close to them. And he did laugh and smile a bit, but we found out that he was enjoying his reflection in the window and not really even able to see the animals! :-)

Halloween '09

Moses had his first Halloween disrupted by the varsity volleyball team playing in the Regional Championship that evening. He was able to hit a Halloween party on the 30th, though, with the Meiss, Zeller, and Blunier families. In the photo below we have peas in a pod (Livey), creepy tourist (Nathaniel), a chicken (Eliza), Superman (Jack), a nerd (Aaron), a bear (Moses), a princess fairy (Elle), a cheeky monkey (Jude), and a mom (Emily). Unfortunately, our cowboy (Micah) was too busy riding his horse to be in the picture.

Aaron & I had our own Halloween Party to attend that evening. Yes, the Wonder Woman costume surfaced after years of being "misplaced." Not quite the same evening as the last time it was worn (the rest of the Justice League was MIA plus no shady Chicago police!), but still a very fun night :-)

6 Months Old

Moses turned 6 months last week. Hard to believe that it has already been six months! At his doctor's appt., he was 16 lbs (25th percentile) and 27 inches (70th percentile). It is so amazing how much he is growing and learning each day. He thinks he's big stuff sitting up by himself, eating cereal, and trying to stand up on his own. Teething is a continuous process! Moses is now working on his 6th tooth! Last week, Aaron & I noticed him grinding his teeth. It sounds horrible, but maybe it relieves some pain?

Here are a couple pictures of Moses with his friend Jack Blunier. Looks like they are having fun together. Lizzie watches Moses on Thursday mornings while mom attends a bible study (a baby-sitter for the baby-sitter? No wait. . . my mom doesn't need a baby-sitter. . .)

Mmmm! Cereal is Delish!

Tonight, Moses had his first taste of the delicious rice cereal! We decided to at least try solids before Moses has his 6th month well baby check-up on Wednesday. It went as well as it could. His first bite he pushed most of it out with his tongue. By the end, he may have swallowed a teaspoon or so! He'll get the hang of it sooner or later :-)

Even though Moses doesn't like us looking in his mouth, we are pretty sure his fourth tooth has broken through. Now he has the two front bottom teeth & two fangs, just in time to be a vampire for Halloween (or a scary bear).

He was more interested in chewing on the spoon and reaching for the bowl than he was in the actual food.
In the post-meal picture, you can see most of the cereal is on his bib!

Sitting Tall & Inch Worm

Here are a few pictures of Moses sitting up by himself, for the most part. He's still drooling quite a bit. His third tooth has come through. . . his poor gums!

Here are a couple videos of Moses. One is of his latest way to move. He doesn't use his hands/arms, just his knees, feet, and head :-) The second one is of Moses playing peek-a-boo with his dad.

5 Months Old!

Moses turned five months yesterday. He'll sit up by himself for about 5-10 seconds before he topples over. The boppy is helpful to him.

Love those big blue eyes. I can't wait for him to grow some hair!!!

Two Teeth!

Here's Moses showing off his two teeth. We'd like to think that's why he's been so cranky recently! We think he's already working on his next one. Poor kid isn't getting any type of break.

He loves to sit in the exersaucer and play while he's at my mom's. After playing for about 10 minutes, he usually gets tired of holding himself up and it's almost like he's a little overstimulated. Look at it. . . I can't imagine why :-)

Fun with the Dohner Family

Moses had the opportunity to spend time with the Dohner family last weekend. He was extremely spoiled by his aunts & grandparents. I'm so thankful for loving families :-)

He thinks he's such big stuff holding his head up and rolling back & forth.

As you can see, he is drooling a TON and sucking on his bottom lip. His second tooth just came in this past week!

Four Months Old

Today, Moses had his four month doctor appointment. He’s just getting over a double ear infection; he’s working on his next tooth, and he got four shots today! He handled it all so well (or maybe it was the Tylenol). He let out one cry, his faced turned bright red, and then he was just fine. Well, a little out of it, but pretty good under the circumstancesJ He weighed 14lbs. 12 oz and the nurse measured him at 25 inches. Both of those are in the 50^th percentile. Mom thinks the nurse didn’t measure him properly and when we measured him, he was 26 inches long (this is the same nurse that measured him shorter at his 2 week appt than what he was at birth and the one who was off 6 inches on his head circumference at his 2 month appt., so I guess we have reason to believe she’s not very accurate!).

Micah is helping with Moses any chance he can get. He told mom that he wanted to feed Moses "all by himself." I do believe he's ready for a new sibling :-)

Rollin', Rollin', Rollin'

Last Saturday Moses met his new friend Reegan Thompson. He also met her parents, Jared and Julie. I think Moses and Reegan are about 2 weeks apart (Moses being older). They had a good time "playing" together!

Last week, Moses started rolling! He was rolling both ways (from his back to his stomach and from his stomach to his back), but some time in the past week he's forgotten how to roll from his stomach to his back. As soon as Moses is laid on his back he will immediately roll to his stomach, then proceed to get frustrated and start crying. We'll have to work on that in the coming weeks :-)