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 :-)