Tired Baby

Chance and I flew into Fort Myers last Friday. We had two legs of the trip one into Charlotte, North Carolina and then on into Fort Myers. The first flight was pretty early in the morning so I had to wake Chance up early then we had a taxi ride to the airport and then of course the wait at the airport. After we got on the plane Chance went right to sleep in my arms and didn't wake up until we touched down in Charlotte. The next flight though he did not want to sleep he was ready to play. He didn't cry at all he just talked to everyone and bounced up and down and tried to reach around the seat in front of us to get to the red shirt that the lady who was sitting in front of us was wearing (he loves red). Near the end of the flight I changed his diaper and when we got back to our seat he instantly fell asleep. He slept through the landing and through me getting up and getting our bag and the walk through the plane and down the walkway and all the way till we met Mom who was waiting on the other side of security. Then he still slept until I tried to put him down in his stroller just moments after these pictures where taken. Then he woke up a little scared but after I asured him he was ok he became happy and started looking around at everything like he always does. These pictures are so cute though, they make him look so little.

family update

This is a quick family update because once again we are out and about. First I am in Honolulu, Hawaii with Scott. Chance and I flew to Fort Myers last Friday where we hung out with Mom and Kristy. It seemed like Chance was getting a cold on Saturday his nose was running and he generally looked a little under the weather but underneath it all he was smiling and playing and he was still eating well and sleeping well so it isn't too bad. We all drove to Miami to drop me off at the airport so I could fly out to Hawaii on Sunday. Chance was very good he still seemed like he had the cold but was in good spirits. This is the first time he has had a cold or really been sick at all and it bothers me to leave him but I know he is in good hands. Scott is working this week at KHON in honolulu and so I have hopped a ride over too. It works out really well since mostly I just have to pay for my plane ticket. Scott has to work during the day but then he has his nights off and we can also have lunch together so it isn't too bad. I will be flying back to Fort Myers on Friday, I won't actually get there till Saturday but that's the time change for you. Then Scott is working at WINK in Fort Myers next week so we will stay in Fort Myers and we can all hang out together. Then the next week Mom, Kristy, Chance and I are going to Philidelphia to the King Tut exhibit which is what we got Mom for her birthday since she has wanted to see it for a long time and then sometime after that Chance and I are going back to New Orleans. Scott is going to Milwaukee after Fort Myers and won't be back to New Orleans until around the 26th of Sept. That is the update, I will do more updates with pictures soon. For now I am going to go find something fun to do in Hawaii for the day, that shouldn't be too hard.

Thanks Uncle Stuart and Aunt Linda

Yesterday we received an unexpected package in the mail. It was from Scott's Uncle Stuart and Aunt Linda. Inside the box was a lovely card and two presents for Chance. One was a very cute little collectable teddy bear figuring and the other was a toy for Chance. It is an apple that unfolds with six different activities inside, one of which lights up and plays a song when you push it's nose. It didn't take Chance long to figure out how to push the little button nose, he loves it. Now if I hand it to him he opens it up and pushes the button to make it sing. He had a

good time helping me open the presents too. He liked playing with the bows. Thank you for sending Chance a great gift.

8 Months Old

Chance is 8 months old today. He has changed a lot in the last month. One of his biggest accomplishments is crawling! He can crawl on his hands and knees but still mostly crawls on his arms and knees dragging his tummy which then gets very dirty. He is eating all different types of baby food, stage 2. He also eats small bits of table food usually some of whatever we are having he also really likes dried fruit pieces but he does not like the fruit puffs that the baby food companies make. He loves feeding himself and making a mess with the food. He will grab the spoon if I let him and put it in his mouth and all over the rest of his face too. He is sitting up in the big tub and loves playing with his tub toys and making splashes. Now that he is crawling he also tries to crawl in the tub and I am dying to get him into a pool to see what he does.

He goes to bed at 8pm and doesn't get up till 7am he usually does not wake up at all but if he does I just go in without turning on the light and turn him back over onto his back and give him his pacifier then he goes right back to sleep. He also takes two naps per day each between and hour and two hours long. He is such a good sleeper. I have been trying to get in naps during the day because I stay up too late at night doing things like writing in my journal.

He can now go from a crawling position to a sitting position all by himself. This leads to really getting into things. Now he can crawl to whatever he wants then sit up and take it apart. He is very good though and understands "No" about 90% of the time. He has been sittin gup unsuported for a while now. He also is pulling up. He pulls up to fully standing on me or on the couch and has pulled up about half way on tables and shelves. He bounces up and down with a big smile on his face when he does make it to standing. He also loves being tossed up in the air.

He has started not liking the changing table, he is almost too long for it now but he cries almost every time I put him on it. If I change his diaper somewhere else he is fine. I don't know what that is yet. His cry has developed a screamy quality but I have been told this is a phase of cry. He talks all the time to himself and his toys and to other people. We have gone to four playdates now and everytime he has gotten along really well with the other kids. He talks to them to. He says 'ma-ma' and 'da-da' and 'ba-ba' but he doesn't seem to understand what he is saying however when he gets upset he says ma-ma-ma-ma over and over which makes me feel like he knows what he is say but I don't think he really does. He also responds to his name, he used to just turn his head when you called his name but now he starts crawling toward you too.

He still has no stranger anxiety he doesn't care who talks to him or holds him or anything like that but he has started developing seperation anxiety from me. It isn't a stretch since we are together 24/7 but when I leave the room he starts to cry or whimper till I come back and now he is starting to try to follow me. Maybe it won't be so bad when he learns he can follow me out of the room. He is getting better with that though. The other day he was playing on the floor in the living room and I went to the bathroom but I left the door open in just a minute I saw his little head peeking around the door frame, just his forehead and his eyes so he could see what I was doing.

He is doing all of the eight month milestones and the nine month and the ten month but I didn't copy those here. As for that testing gravity one I will take their word for it that is what he is doing but I think that is just a fancy way to explain away having to pick the spoon up off the floor fifteen times per meal.

By the end of month eight a baby typically:
- Chews on objects
- Reaches for utensils when being fed
- Turns head away when finished eating
- May sleep between 11 and 13 hours a night; takes 2 to 3 naps (may vary)
- Rolls all the way around
- Sits unsupported
- Gets on arms and knees in crawling position
- Has specific cries for various needs
- Babbles enthusiastically
- Tests gravity by dropping objects over edge of high chair
- Responds to own name
- Has different reactions for different family members
- Shows some anxiety when removed from parent

Standing up

I broke my digital camera today. It still works just the little cover that keeps the batteries in has come off and is now being held on with packing tape. I need a new digital camera. It broke to take these pictures of Chance standing up while holding onto the couch. He will hold himself up only for things he is not supposed to have such as papers off of Scott's desk (see what he's eating in first picture). I put him down on the ground because it seemed safer than standing on the couch but then he just went plop down on his butt. He didn't seem to mind though because after he went down he had a smile on his face. And just started crawling right toward me. This last picture, the one with the crazy hair, is of him starting to crawl toward me but then the rest of them were too blurry to turn out. Speaking of his hair it is starting to get long, I'll have to cut it soon.

We're Back

We are back from our road trip to my family reunion in Kentucky. We took a ton of pictures and I will be uplaoding them as I can. These pictures are from a meetup playdate we had on Tuesday the 7th, the day before we left. In case you can't tell Chance had a really good time. I had never been to the Children's museum but it was a great place and a lot of fun for him and for me. They have an area that is just for toddlers and then inside that they have an area that is just for babies with toys and padding and mirrors. This area is sectioned off by about a two foot high rise in the floor that the Moms can sit on and let the little ones just crawl around and play inside. Chance loved the mirror and played very nice with the other babies. They had lots of fun new toys for the babies to play with and Chance loved investigating all the new play things. We really liked the Children's Museum and I am thinking of getting a year membership because if we go back just three times it will pay for itself and since the meetup group goes there almost every week I don't think it will take long to be well worth the money spent.

The drive home

On the drive home from the reunion we stopped at a couple places. One was Abraham Lincoln's birthplace in Kentucky. They have enclosed the cabin where he was born in a marble monument to preserve it. It sounds weird but it was kind of cool getting to see a cabin that was as old as this one. To get to the cabin we had to walk on this boardwalk through the woods. It was very nice to be under these trees on this hot day. Chance kept looking at the wheels on his stroller as we walked.

Another place we stopped was the Jack Daniels distillery in Lynchburg, Tennessee. It was actually very interesting. We got to go through all the stages of making the Whiskey. Some rooms smelled horrible but we learned how it is made and the story of mister Jack Daniel. It actually makes me want to buy a bottle and taste it just to think of the real proccess that it takes to make that bottle. Lynchburg is in a dry county so I will have to buy myself a bottle here sometime.

Asleep under the tree

Chance was very good at the reunion and enjoyed all of the attention. Our family gets a pavilion and sets up food and drink all along one side. We all visit and eat and visit some more for most of the day. We had to get up a little early to go down to the spot where everyone was to meet for the reunion so Chance didn't get a long morning nap. When he started getting tired my Mom carried him until he fell asleep on her shoulder, that was so cute. Then we layed him down on this sleeping bag. Scott had a long drive the day before to get to us and so the two of them layed out on the blankets under a tree and took a little nap. It is a very nice spot where the reunion takes place. It is at Natural Bridge State park in Kentucky. The tree that they were napping under is very close to the pavilion where everyone gathers. Its great getting to see everyone, even if it is only once per year. Most everyone lives in Kentucky or Ohio except us who drive up nearly every year. We get a cabin at teh park which is in the woods and a great little place to hang out for a couple days. It's nice to have a Kitchen and all the extra room in the cabin plus all the nature and quiet that is all around. Fort eh last two years we have worked in a little Geocaching on our Reunion trip and this year was no different. We only went out after two but that is just enough to break up the day and learn a little more about the area. This year we found a drive-in theater that isn't very far from the park at all and it still shows movies. I for one am excited to go see a movie there next year. There aren't very many Drive-ins left but they are really fun places to go. The reunion is on a Saturday and every Sat. night they have a hoedown in another part of the park. A bunch of the family goes every year. After we go back to our rooms and rest for a few hours. We went down this year and Chance got to do his first Waltz and Hokie Pokie. He was an excellent dancer. He loves music and he laughed and watched the people and had lots of fun.

World of Coke

On the way up to the reunion we toured the World of Coca-Cola in downtown Atlanta. It was a wierd sort of Disney World for Coke but still it was cool to see all the different things they had. There were art galleries and memoribilia. They had a room that showed old Coca-Cola comercials and a place where you could see them bottling coke in old fashioned glass bottles. There was also a 4-D theater but Chance did not like that so we sat that one out. He was tired and it didn't just sprinkle a little water on you like most of them, the seats actually moved and everything so that was a little too much for him. The last wart of the tour was the tasting room where we could taste Coke products from all over the world. That was definately my favorite part. Chance even tasted a few from his own glass. He made the funniest faces. The first picture was taken outside the building and the last one was taken in front of a huge coke bottle in the tasting room. At the end they gave us each one of the bottles we had seen them bottling earlier for free, so now Chance has his very own collectors bottle of Coca-Cola.

Alseep in the Carseat

On the way home from picking up a few groceries getting ready for our trip on Wednesday Chance fell asleep in the car. He was so tired because we went a little late and it cut into his second nap. He didn't wake up at all when I took the car seat from the back seat and put it in the front seat. I took him out of the seat and carried him half way up the stairs before he woke up at all and then he went right back to sleep after I put him in his crib. You can see his feet hanging over the end of the car seat in the first picture which means it is time for him to move up to a convertible seat. I think we will get him one when we come back from the reunion. He really likes his blankets to sleep with. His sample blanket in the crib at home and his Ollie bear blanket when we are on the road. I soon as I handed it to him in the car he went right to sleep and you can see he is still holding onto it. I had to pry his fingers open so we could leave it in the car for next time.

Crawling

That's right it's official Chance can crawl forward. He did it two days ago and then he did it again yesterday. It isn't a full fledged hands and knees crawl it's more of an army style crawl on his knees and arms but he is definitely moving forward. I've seen him do it a number of times now but when Chance's Godfather, Dan came over yesterday he wouldn't do it. Before he left all Chance would do it rock back and forth but after he walked out the door he crawled forward toward his toys. Maybe he has performance anxiety. Because we have tile and hardwood floors throughout our apartment I put Baby Legs on Chance for him to crawl around the floor. They don't match his outfits but he is only at home and it doesn't really matter anyway. I will try to get a video of him crawling to post when he gets a little better.

Professional Pictures - the rest of us.

During our last full day in Portland we all got together and took pictures at the same studio where we had taken Chance earlier that week. These are the pictures.

The first one is Scott, Chance and Myself.

This one is of the four generations on Scott's Mom's side of the family. This is Scott, his Mom, Gaynelle a.k.a. Grandma G, Scott's Mom's Dad a.k.a. Grandpa Ted and Chance. It was great to be able to get this picture of the four of them together.

This is all of us. Grandpa Ted, Scott's step-dad a.k.a. Grandpa Von, Grandma G, Scott, Myself and Chance. This picture alone was worth doing the pictures in the first place. Just all of us being toether and having a momento of this time for ourselves and for Chance to look at in the future. He can see his family and all the people who love him. Even when he was this little.

Professional Pictures - Chance

I do not claim to know all the babies in the world but what I do know is that all the babies I have ever met or seen on Television or in magazines, Chance is the cutest little baby I have ever seen. We had profession pictures taken while we were in Portland and I just received my copies the other day. These are the proofs of all the pictures we took. I want a billion copies of each pose so I can one to give to everyone and still be sure to always have one for myself to look at any time. He was very good for his pictures and each one is so precious I can barely stand it. The smile that he makes in these pictures he doesn't really do anymore. He only made that smile for a couple weeks and now he has moved on to a more open mouthed smile. I love the little chair he is sitting in, it makes him look so grown up in a toddler sort of way. When the photographer asked if we wanted any naked baby pictures I didn't know what would happen but I thought if we don't do it now it won't be cool when he's older so we did it and he loved it he sat there and smiled just like he did before. The bottom line of this whole post is he's a total cutie no matter how you slice it.

Satchmo Summerfest

Today we went to Satchmo Summerfest. This music festival takes place just a block and a half from our house, with four stages and lots of food. It started yesterday with seminars and runs today and tomorrow with music and other festivities. We were going to go out midday after Chance;'s first nap but it was so hot I decided to wait till after his second nap and I am glad we did because then it was just right. The stages are all on the grounds of the Old US Mint building and we were able to get a wonderful spot on the grass in the shade of the building. We were just a few rows back from the stage and Chance loved every moment. He watched all the people and smiled at everyone. We listened to the Rebirth Jazz Band (second picture) and Soul Rebels both of which are very good. Yesterday I mentioned that Chance recognizes Scott's ring on my cell phone. Well, today when were listening to the bands, Chance was looking around but he didn't seem to love it or hate it at that point but then they started playing When The Saints go Marching in which is Scott's ring and Chance looked up and smiled and started bouncing up and down. He definately recognised the song. That really cool, seeing him make those connections. We stayed for almost two hours all of which Chance played and talked to people or we danced and clapped along with the music. He sat on my lap or his little blanket and generally had a good time. He may have gotten a little tired at the end as you can see in this last picture either that or he was telling me what he really thought of that last song.

Last Wednesday, Chance and I went to a playgroup. Meetup.com is a website for all different types of groups to meet in your area. There are a few stay at home mom groups and general playgroups in and around New Orleans. I signed up a month or so ago but this is the first time we actually went. It was at a McDonalds that has just been completely renivated only a few miles from the house. The other Moms were really nice and most of the children were around Chance's age. Another Mom who was there took these pictures as well as others and posted them on the meetup site. Chance got along well with the other children. He was very interested in what was going on but not sure what he should do. He was having a drooling day, in this second picture he actually looks kind of sad but most of the time he was bouncing around and smiling at everyone. We are going to go to the Children's Museum with this group next Tuesday which we are looking forward to very much.

Chance's Map

Since Scott is traveling a lot of the time I wanted a way to explain where Daddy is and where other friends and family are in the world Also, since we travel a lot I thought it would be agreatway to show where we are going too. On top of that it's a great teaching tool. I know right now he doesn't really understand what it is or what I am talking about, but he soon will.Right now he likes all the different colors. I think "Daddy" is starting to sound familier to him. Scott has a special ring on my phone which Chance knows and will look at the phone and get excited when he calls. He definately recegnises Scott's voice on the phone too. The map is laminated and I want to get some of those velum window type stickers to add to the map if I can find any that go with our theme. Right now I am writing on the map with dry erase markers. I took these pictures when Scott was in Newark, he is now in Portland, Or with Gandma G and Grandpa Von then he is taking a cross country drive to a bunch of stations to do follow up visits and we might just see him at the reunion after all.