10.5 months

just some more details about what little z has been up to... he crawled over to me the other day so that i could read to him.  it was so cute!  it wasn't so cute that i had to nurse him for about 30 min last night at 1am.  he also made noise several other times, and so much again at 4am that i got up to give him a bottle, except by the time i looked in his room, he was back asleep.  and then up again at 5:50am.  grrr.  mama doesn't feel so good today.  anyway, he has some favorite books.  he shows his excitement by pumping his legs back & forth.  loves "where is baby's belly button,"  "baby faces,"  "great day for up,"  and "pat the bunny."  he bit off the little piece of fabric where you play peekaboo with paul, which is his favorite part.  i think we'll have to get a new book.  we have to read those books over, and over, and over again.  cute, but also drives you crazy.  he has a few sounds he makes, but no words yet - daadaadaadaabaabaabrrrrbrrrrmaga.  when he first began making lots of sounds, he liked "mogda" and said it frequently, but it hasn't surfaced lately.  sometimes he just voices vowels for a long breath, then saying them again while breathing in (that's pretty funny).  he's still eating a lot... some sort of meat + chopped veggies + pasta or rice + cheddar for main meals, yogurt, fruit, oatmeal for other times.  he loves his snack trap, filled with those rice puff things that probably have way too much sugar, or cheerios (organic type).  he cries when you take it away from him.  his poop is really really smelly now.  i'm guessing it's the meat & cheese that makes it really potent.  his iron levels are fine now, so we don't need to suppplement with iron drops anymore, and the high lead levels were just a false positive.  his bald spot is getting more & more filled in.  he crawls normally on carpet, but when he hits the wood floors, he sticks one leg out (all i can guess is that way it doesn't hurt so much - wood floors are hard!) & crawls on one knee & one foot.  he's getting braver every day, pulling himself up on everything, palming the walls, crawling between furniture or walls.  he's really wearing his mommy & daddy out!  he's still taking 2 naps a day.  when i'm lucky, they're both 2 hours long -then the day really goes by quickly (especially after a sleepless night).  other days, they're only 45 min long- those days really drag on...

some good times in august

So, August has been a very busy month for us.

We're trying to sell our house, so that we can move into a new, larger one.   This has been a serious drain of all our free time  (as if we had any free time to begin with - taking care of a 10 month old).

Our house is officially on the market  - we've made an offer on another house, but it's contingent upon our selling this one.  So, we've spent a few solid weekends packing and cleaning, to hopefully get this one ready to sell quickly.    We have some people who have verbally said they're interested, but so far no official offers or anything.   More people are looking at it each weekend, so we're keeping our fingers crossed.

We packed away many of our belongings, but we did keep the camera available to capture some of Z's finer moments.   Z has begun crawling short distances in the last week or two, and he is also able to walk along the wall without anyone holding up   (he uses his hands on the wall for balance).    He's definitely becoming mobile enough that we have to keep an eye on him.

Also, since we've listed the house for sale, our two dear kittens/"fur monsters" have been staying with our friend R for foster care    - because no one wants to buy a house that's coated in a layer of cat fur.    J misses the cats immensely, but, we have to admit, it's a lot easier keeping the house clean for showings when they're not around.

Anyway, here are a few selected shots from Z's 10th month:

At the Swan Island Dahlias yesterday with Grandma & Grandpa Canby   (Z likes tearing apart big flowers as much as he likes tearing apart the small ones):

Also yesterday, we went to a going away party for our friend B - there were some girls there who instantly took a liking to Z - he was a big hit with the ladies!

Here's another one for the "I'm too sexy for my pants" collection:

As part of getting the house ready to sell, we had to finish off a checklist of items that needed to be fixed.  One of the things on the list was a branch from our big oak tree that was contacting the power lines to the house.    J got to spend a muggy morning ascending into our tree with his climbing gear in order to remove the branch  (it had been a long time since J had been out climbing - he was desperate).

And here's Z trying out daddy's camel-bak that he uses for mountain biking.   Clearly, Z is telling us that he's ready to go biking - so daddy just ordered him a bike helmet - so by next week, we home to have some photos of him on the back of daddy's bike!

10 months

z turned 10 months old yesterday - happy birthday little guy!  and our house went on the market late last night.  lots going on right now...