Tooth!

Del Walls has his first tooth!

It appeared a few days ago, making its presence known with a little stab during a naptime nursing. Yipes!

So, the day it showed up, I took pictures:

No thanks.

I said noooooo.

OK, man, ok. Be stingy with your tooth…

Today I tried again:

You wanna show them my tooth…?

…

WHAT PART OF NO DON’T YOU UNDERSTAND?

Tough luck, peeps.

The natural follow up to peas for dinner

happiness is a tub full of warm water

Easy peasy

nomnompeas!

Oh instagram

I give you, my family!

Many thanks to my great friend and fellow photographer, Kristi Meacham for her beautiful photos – a little six-month birthday present to her favorite baby in the whole wide world from his bestest auntie. Won’t it be fun to look at these with him when he’s bigger?

 

 

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Del at 6 months

This might be my favorite stage yet, in spite of the new set of challenges of changing sleep patterns and teething that strike about now. Del is getting so playful, opinionated and “interactive”. His interests and personality are beginning to emerge and every day reveals some new little thing he learns or discovers. Also, I did a set of 6 month photos that I am very proud of.

A few new facts about you, Del:

• You’re sitting up! It’s just the most adorable thing ever, and happened almost overnight. After just a week or so of helping you balance, you had the whole thing down. The coolest part is watching you fold all the way to the floor, then lift yourself back up.
• You weigh 17 lbs 8 oz. – staying right in that 50th percentile range.
• You are getting too chubby for your Bumbo chair, but it’s still in use. I think we’re going to need a full on high chair soon though!
• You are Mr. Social, always interested in people you meet, and you hate to go to sleep when people are over. You like to be in on the action.
• You are still nursing – which I think puts us in the minority of moms and babies who nurse past 6 months. I love nursing and you’ve gotten very good and comfortable with it. It’s very easy and natural, and I look forward to several more months of this.
• You’re eating solids now and you seem to love this new adventure. So far you’ve had sweet potatoes, bananas, avocado, pears and carrots. You loved everything but carrot – the carrots made you grimace and spit.
• We have to much more deliberate with your sleeping these days to make sure you get enough sleep. You’re a light sleeper during the day – I blame the construction across the street, but it might just be your little Rabbit temperament. And we’re working on getting you to accept an earlier bedtime. It has not been easy.
• You love swimming!  Thanks to Dad’s bathtime practices, you are so relaxed and happy in the water that you lay on your back and kick like mad. With Dad’s help, you are even  beginning to float on your own, to the amazement of your parents and the other parents at the pool.
• You still love Somebunny for naps and bedtime. And now that you’re rolling around and sitting up, even more toys are fun to you. You especially like the mirror on your playmat, and a set of fabric blocks that Don & Linda brought to you.
• You’re a little jabberer but no words yet. I am pretty sure you know some words though – when I say or sign milk, you nestle down to nurse. We are going to begin working on some more signs now.

My little Red Bean, here you are at 6 months:

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How my day began

I forgot to take photos of our visit to the yarn shop, or the mini golf we played together this afternoon, or the pizza making… but here is how my day began:

Nothing better than waking up on a Saturday morning… then going back to sleep.

Boy toys and baby fashion

In just the last couple of weeks Del has started enjoying toys, awkwardly maneuvering his little hands to reach for, grasp, and move whatever toy is in sight. Getting it to his mouth is mission-accomplished, and favored toys are those with good grip-ability and deliciousness.

The red and white ball was a gift from an admirer at the yarn shop where we hang out on Tuesdays. She left it in a bag with Del’s name on it! I am pretty sure it’s handmade. It scores high in the visual delight and grip-ability categories.

 

Del at 4 months

My baby is changing so fast! I just managed to shoot his 4 month pictures and wow! (Ok, I also got a new lens for my camera today so am not only gushing over my baby but also over the lens.) But this is the mommy blog, not the photography blog, right? Here’s our little guy – look at the differences since last month!

A few new facts about you, Del:

• You are STRONG! You like to stand on your chubby little legs with someone helping you balance.
• You weigh 15 lbs 3 oz.
• You really like your Bumbo chair, and sit in it on the kitchen counter while I clean or cook.
• You’re interested in almost everything, and look intently at trees, television, pictures of yourself, and your mom and dad.
• You are still nursing like a champion, and love to snuggle in bed to nurse and nap.
• You’ve been much more restless at night lately, waking often to eat. But still just cat naps during the day most of the time. Which can make it hard to get housework or photowork done sometimes.
• You hang out with dad when I go to photo shoots, and you kind of give him a hard time sometimes. But you take your bottle well, and you like when he takes you on walks.
• You like lots of toys now! Your special ones are a soft white bunny from Auntie Kristi (named Somebunny), a cloth rattle with bright pictures on each end, and the playmat on loan from your friend Violet.
• You’ve started making a whole new sound: screeching. You love to do it, it’s loud, and sometimes you scare yourself. Other times you make yourself laugh.
• And you laugh A LOT! Things that make you laugh: if someone screeches back to you, being bounced on the bed, being bounced while you stand up with help, and sometimes just mom making silly words and faces to you.
• You can hold and chew on your toes, and you love doing it. It’s so adorable.
• You still don’t really care for long photo shoots.

So, Red Bean, you, at 4 months:

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Del’s Three-Month Photo Session

Yesterday, March 8 was Del’s 3-month birthday. I am amazed by how much he has changed from that skinny, squirming newborn, so amazingly fragile and tiny. Though still a little guy, he’s now chubby and chattering, curious and demanding and engaging.

Some stats about you, little man:

• You can hold your head up well, and you look around almost constantly.
• You weigh 13.7 lbs
• You hate tummy time but will tolerate it for 10 minutes or so, as long as I stay nearby.
• You love to look at books with black and white pictures, and we read the same two almost every day.
• You like when your dad reads to you, and you like to sit with him and watch tv.
• You are having a growth spurt right now, which means you’re eating like crazy, especially in the evenings.
• You really love going for walks – stroller or sling. We use both and you’re always content.
• You’re sleeping almost entirely through the night – you have been for almost a month now. You go to bed around midnight and wake around 6 for a meal, then sleep again till around 7:30 or 8 am. Sometimes you’ll even nap one more time after that. But then, nothing but cat naps during the rest of the day, unless I sleep with you or carry you in the sling.
• You like the mobile over your bed. You smile and jabber at it.
• You like to have music or radio on during the day.
• You’ve just adopted your first toy – a striped burp rag that you grab and shake and put in your mouth. So far no other toys interest you much.
• Though you don’t cry much, you’ve gotten pretty loud and put those lungs to good use when you need them.
• You smile a lot, and are just beginning to laugh. It’s hard to get you to laugh, but you often laugh in your sleep right as you fall asleep. It’s insanely adorable.
• You don’t really care for long photo shoots.

And here you are, Red Bean. Our little munchkin. This is what you look like at three months old:

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