Blue Headwrap

Per Kristy's request I found a blue head wrap and tried to repeat the red headwrap miracle. This is what we got, not quite Mother Theresa but we'll take it. On Sunday we went to the New Orleans Museum of Art in City Park. It was a lot of fun. Chance really liked it. I took him out of the stroller and carried him around. He did not cry at all and was generally quiet. He loves looking at the pretty colors and the lights shine right on the paintings which makes them sparkle and shine which makes Chance want to look at them. There was an exhibit called Windows of Heaven which were biblical paintings on Glass and metal. Chance loved it! It was so pretty he loved looking at all the paintings.

Baby in a Box

One baby. Pre-loved but in excellent condition. Requires aprox 20 oz formula and 3 jars baby food per day, any brand will do. Uses 6 diapers per day ONLY PAMPERS. Must have own room to sleep but is not bothered by loud noise. Should be able to provide plenty of support and continued love. Comes with own box, toys not included.

Help, Baby Stuck

In the morning I warm up a bottle then get Chance up and dressed and bring him in the bed with me while I feed him his morning bottle. Then after he is done he rolls over, practices crawling and plays for a while letting me rest a little bit longer. The other morning we did this and for some reason I can not even remember now I had to get up and leave the room for a minute. When I returned I found this. Chance is good at going backward and rolling over and over so it seems he rolled over till he hit the wall then backed up till he went over the edge and lodged himself between the bed and the chest of drawers. He then preceeded to unplug the clock (see second picture) and play with the then exposed outlet. He did not cry or make any noise to say this had happened as he was just as happy to be playing while stuck there as to be playing anywhere else. It was so cute and funny and I am very glad he did not hurt himself. P.S. we have learned yet another thing to baby proof.

High Chair Fun

I have been trying to teach Chance how to use his sippy cup. For the last few days we have been eating lunch together, I pull him up to the table, give him his sippy cup and a piece of bread while I eat a turkey sandwich. When I pick up my glass he will pick up his sippy cup and try to drink out of it. He doesn't quite understand yet that he needs to suck on it and not just chew on the spout but since we have been eating lunch together he has gotten a lot better. He also loves his piece of bread. I tear it into little pieces and give him one at a time. The first time I gave him bread I gave him the whole piece at once which he quickly stuffed into his mouth with both hands till he nearly choked himself, so now we do little pieces at a time. Still a bit of the bread winds up on the floor, much to Rosco's excitement. Chance is really doing well using his fingers to pick up food now too. Before he would use his whole hand but now he uses his fingers more. I have also caught him a few times just moving his thumb and index finger in a pinching motion and watching his fingers. He is concentrating and practicing his new skills.

Pulling up

I have mentioned a couple times now that Chance has started pulling himself up on things

and I finally got a picture of it. In the evenings after the sun has gone behind the buildings we go and sit out on the balcony. Chance loves it outside and being up on the third floor we usually have a nice breeze. Today I took the blanket and laid it out so Chance could sit on his own. He loved it! He sat next to the railing

and watched the cars go by and the mule drawn carriages, which really get his attention. Then whenever a person would walk by he would try to talk to them by squeeling or yelling or babbling. They would almost always look up and smile and wave. A couple people could not figure out where the sound was coming from which was amusing for me. The one challenge of sitting out on the balcony is trying to get Chance not to eat the railing. I have started just wiping it off and then not stressing about it. I think what he is doing in the picture where he is pullin ghimself up is trying to get a "better" piece of the railing in his mouth. I also finally worked in a picture of the famous neighbors house, see last picture, the grey one. He liked sitting out on the balcony by himself so much today that if it does not rain tomorrow I think we will do it again.

Hats 3

Again no real story behind this hat. These two pictures are what you would call darling. They make him look so little and babyish and cute. Ok I know I am his Mom and all but I really do think he takes good pictures. Sometimes I think he poses for pictures. I pose for pictures I simply can not help myself and my Mom says I did it even when I was a little girl so maybe Chance will do it too. I certainly take enough pictures of him that he will learn what a camera is and what to do in front of one. In this second picture he just looks so little.

Hats 2

I can not remember at all where I got this hat or for what
reason other than the fact that it is an awesome hat. In every single one of these pictures Chance looks like the most beautiful baby known to man and I look like I am trying to back away from the camera which I am because I am holding it but I shouldn't look like it so much. Somehow on him the fact that his shirt in no way matches the hat makes it even better. In the last picture you can see a red mark on the side of his face from him sleeping weird. He moves all over in his sleep and evidently when he took his nap he slept on his blanket on bunched up or Joe Joe the Monkey and it left a red mark on his face. The mark faded away soon after I took these pictures though.

Hats 1

We dropped Scott off at the airport today, he is flying out to Newark for a week. After getting back home I was bored so we went looking for something to do. I have a lot of hats. I really like hats. If I try one on in the store I must buy one so it was only a matter of time really before I tried them on Chance. I have many hats and took lots of pictures so I am spreading these pictures out over a few posts. This first hat is a grey winter type stocking cap that I got while we were volunteering in the shelter after Hurricane Katrina. I have worn in a few days each winter after that and it is modeled here by our very own, Chance. To be worn on a baby's head simply roll up the ends, it will then fit snuggly.

As I was putting the hat on him he found my belt under the covers, that I had left there actidentally. In case you have not tried it before, let me tell you a leather belt is quite a nice thing to chew on. I know that Chance would agree with me on this fact. I threw this last picture in here because you can really see his boyish determination in it. I see turn of the century big city boy getting in trouble, do you see it?

Helping

Chance loves the broom any time I get it out of the closet and start sweeping he comes over and tries to take it away from me. If I give it to him he will then push it around the room until he gets stuck. It is so cute to see him mimicking me. He really looks like he is trying to help. Eventually he will do what he really wanted to do in the first place, Eat It!

Mother Theresa Baby

He is an angel. I was wearing this scarf in my hair when trying to keep him occupied the other day so I wrapped it around him and then around his head. This first picture makes him look like a sweet innocent little cute thing. I can't even think of words to describe how sweet these photos are. He usually lets me play with him like this and is always willing to have his picture taken. With the scarf wrapped around his head his hair looks a little red again but it is pretty much all blonde now. Except he has dark eye lashes that make his eyes look even bigger. he is chubby all over now. Even his little feet are chubby which is of course super cute. Very Very little that he does isn't cute. In the last picture is his thoughtful face.

7 months old

Chance is 7 months old today! He is doing to very well. He does all of these seven month milestones and more. He still doesn't have any teeth and he still isn't really crawling but he gets on his hands and knees and rocks back and forth. He has pulled himself up on the couch and the table a few times but doesn't make it all the way to his feet. He sits up unassisted for a long time. He makes the wet razzing noises all the time. He seems to make them when he doesn't like something. It's the time between happy and really pissed off. Its great because he will be doing something and playing and then he will start making the razzy noises and you know it's time for a change.

He used to take baths in the kitchen sink but now that he can sit up on his own I have moved him into the big boy tub. He loves it. He plays with his toys and splashes. He will also turn toward the wall and talk and then listen to the echo sound that it makes in the bathroom. I soap him then rinse him and let him play he has been playing for about another ten minutes in the bathtub with his toys. He really loves the water and doesn't mind getting his face wet at all.

So much has happened in the last seven months and Chance has changed so much.

By the end of month seven a baby typically:
Can self-feed some finger foods
Makes wet razzing sounds
Turns in the direction of a voice
Plays peekaboo
Imitates many sounds
Distinguishes emotions by tone of voice

Chance and Rosco

I've said before that Chance and Rosco get along good together but it is getting more fun to see them together. Anytime Rosco is around Chance talks to him and will smile when Rosco snorts or makes other funny noises. Chance has started reaching out to Rosco and petting him and grabbing his wrinkles and Rosco has started licking Chance all over. Of course babies are just so tasty. In the first picture Chance is posing for the camera and Rosco is not paying attention and in the second one Chance is saying "What are you doing back there? Look at the camera!" I couldn't get a good picture of them both looking and being still. It is cool to see them interact, I hope Chance has a love for animals when he grows up.

Babyproofing

How are you suposed to babyproof this? He just pulls the chairs over so he can chew on them.

Girly Outfit

I bought Chance a couple outfits when I got him the high chair and this is one of them. The ones I got don't have sleeves because it is so horribly hot here right now that I really wanted to get him something to wear that was a little cooler for him. I didn't really think it looked girly when I bought it but Scott mentioned something and then after I looked at these pictures I think it might be true. Never the less he is the cutest little baby in the world and I don't care if he looks a little girly in this particular outfit. I should also mention that he doesn't care either, or at least he didn't say anything about it at the time. It's amazing how babies can sleep in the strangest positions.

Geocaching Event

Last week we went to our monthly Geocaching get toether here in New Orleans and one of the people had a camera. This is the first time Chance has been able to sit in a high chair at one of the events and he loved it. He said hi to everyone and then I knocked the powdered suger off of a beignet pulled it into little pieces and let him have fun, which he did.

Chance likes to type

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We got back into New Orleans on Sunday and boy do I have a lot of pictures and little updates. I am going to start with Chance's 6 month check up and then back date entries with pictures of our trip as I can. Chance went for his well baby check up on Monday. He was still tired from our plane flight on Sunday so he was a little more cranky than usual but still very good. When the Dr. came into the room Chance imediately started talking. She said that he has learned that from us because when a new person enters a room you usually say something to them "Hi" or "How are you?" so that he is talking when someone enters a room means he is watching and learning from us. The Dr. checked his eyes and ears and heart and all came up good. He kept trying to grab her stethescope so she played with him and watched him transfer it between his hands. He also tried to eat the paper on the examining table then turned over and got up on his hands and knees but he didn't go anywhere. I also sat him up so she could see how well he sits up now. She said that he was smart and very alert and aware for his age. She also said that with him this active now we are really going to have to babyproof and watch him to keep him safe. He weighs 20 pounds 11 ounces and he is 28 inches long. He is in the 90th percentile for height and between the 75th and 90th percentile for weight. He also got three shots. He cried when the nurse pricked him but then was ok after I picked him up. His next appointment is October 18th. He doesn't get any shots then he just goes back for a well-baby check up. He slept quite a bit today which is what he usually does after his shots. The nurse said his legs (where they gave him the shots) might hurt a little more after this set of shots and they do seem to be bothering him a little but other than that and a lot of sleep he is doing just fine. The doctor also said a couple other things. His tooth that was there for a couple weeks and then gone again may have been a tooth or sometimes when the teeth are trying to pop through babies will get little cysts on their gums that are white and can look like a tooth if you have never seen one coming through before. But not to worry about it and we don't even think about his teeth until he is 14 months old, if they aren't coming in by then we will look into it. I told her that Chance is starting to pull up on things and he isn't really crawling yet, she said that some babies skip crawling altogether and that he may become so intent on pulling up that he loses interest ing crawling and skips it. We'll just have to see.

On another note, today we went to this little shop that resells baby items, they mostly have clothes but we were in the market for a high chair and I thought I would check there first. I got this wonderful high chair for $34.99. It is like new and fits Chance perfectly. It fit in the Mini and so I got it. I also got a couple outfits because they were having a 50% off sale and who can pass up a thing like that. Now I just need to take in some of Chance's clothes that don't fit anymore to sell to them and we will be even. In this last picture Rosco was licking Chance's toes.

Grandpa's House

Scott's Dad lives in Port Orchard Washington. It is about three hours from Portland. He lives on one acres of land which is really nice at the end of a street. He has lots of trees and little animals. They used to keep bunnies and now he has a little bird. There are squirrels and birds running around. We don't get to see Scott's Dad much because he doesn't travel anymore and we just don't get up here as often as we would like and when we do get together it always seems to short a visit. We had a good time catching up though and Chance had fun seeing the sights. He pulled himself up with the coffee table and played with the stuffed animals Grandpa gave him. He also got to meet Grandpa's bird. A pretty yellow parakeet (I think). Before we left we took a bunch of pictures these are just a couple, I will post the rest of the pictures in 'All Our Photos' soon.

Rocking Chair Fun

At Scott's Dad's house we talked and hung out for a while. Grandpa gave Chance a bunch of little stuffed animals to play with which he loved. He has started hoarding toys it was funny to watch him pull all the stuffed into a little pile right in front of him. When in his high chair or walker he will put his toys in the seat with him. There is a nice plush rocking chair in the living room where we were all talking so I sat Chance in it and rocked in just a little to see what he would do. Well, he loved it. He thought it was a lot of fun. He would lean back then forward and make the chair rock back and forth. Most of these pictures are blurry because he is moving so much but you can still see that happy look on his face. In the last one you can see him figuring it out. When you see that smile on his face or see his little brain working figuring something out like those are wonderful moments.

Rest Area

While driving to Scott's Dad's house in Washington we

had to stop at a rest area because Scott had a conference call for work. The was originally suposed to last 30 minutes and ended up lasting two hours so we spent a bit of time at this rest area. It was very nice though with lots of grass and trees and a trail. Chance and I took a tour around the place in his stroller then we settled on a grassy area and had a seat. We played and I fed Chance his lunch. Chance helped me gather some dirt for my collection and in the process he found a rock that he jsut had to eat. I washed it off and let him have it, we also brought it home as a souvenier. These pictures are a little dark because we were in the shade and I didn't preplan them. He still has his bib on from lunch. He had fun pulling up the grass and trying to eat it and getting hand fulls of dirt and trying to eat it and finding sticks and trying to eat them. His hands were so dirty by the time we left.