2 Months!!

First off, thanks to all the moms for the great advice and words of encouragement regarding Holden's shots. We survived, him much better than me and that's with Grammy being the one actually holding him while they shot him up. I, being the wimp that I am, hid behind her waiting for the scream. To my relief he cried but not nearly as hard as I anticipated. And he recovered very quickly. The rest of the appt went great. He's a whopping 12lbs 4oz (65 %-tile) and 23 inches long (56 %-tile). His next appt will be his 4 month check up at the end of January.

In other big news...Holden spent his first night in his crib in his own room. He's been sleeping in the pack-n-play in our room since he was born. With the Dr.'s encouragement we decided his 2 month birthday was as good a time as ever to make the big move. And he did great. He slept from 9:45pm - 3am, up 15 min. for a quick feed, then slept again until 7am. He did another quick feed at 7 and went back to sleep. He finally woke up for the day around 10:45am. We went grocery shopping, came home and he napped in his crib from 2:30-5:30. Can't ask for much more than that!

We're looking forward to a fun Thanksgiving. Holden will see Aunt Christina, Uncle David and cousins Molly & Lindsey. He will also meet lots of other family including Great Grandma C. We'll post pictures after the holiday.

The amazing spinning baby. This is how I found him this morning after his first night in his crib.

Fun in the tub

Enjoying his first fire

Smiles for Grammy

Our funny little man

Baby It's Cold Outside!

With winter making an appearance this week, we've stayed bundled up at home with the exception of a shopping trip with Daddy, a quick stop at Babies R Us, and a visit to Grammy's. Holden is a true champ on our outtings. He loves his carseat and spends most of the time sleeping or quietly taking in the sights. This week he graduated from the hammock to actually sitting in his bathtub...another activity he loves. We've been doing a bath every night around 9pm followed by feeding then bed. He's been sleeping for 4 hour stretches, sometimes longer - much to my delight. I finally don't feel like I've been hit by a truck. He's also been passing out smiles, something we hope he does lots of for the family visits this week.

With all these great milestones comes another...his 2 month check up and the dreaded shots on Monday. I'm not kidding when I say I'm losing what little sleep I get over this. Despite the fact that I had what my Dr. described as a "really rough birth experience" and lived to tell about it, the thought of even being in the same room with needles still freaks me out. Combine that with the fact that those needles are going into my sweet little baby makes me want to pass out. Do you think they would call Social Services on me if I popped a few percocets left over from the c-section beforehand??

A few pictures...

Still trying for a good smile shotTummy Time

A Family Affair

Holden had a whirlwind of activity over the past few days with fun visits from both sides of the family. We kicked things off Friday afternoon with a visit from Uncle Christopher from SC.Saturday brought the much anticipated visit from Grandma M and Aunt Karen. Grammy and Ernie joined us for dinner.Here's Grandma seeing Holden for the first time...they barely got the car doors open before I started snapping picturesAunt Karen never even had a chance to stretch her legs after driving for 8 hours before facing the "mommy cam"First cuddles with HoldenSunday Uncle David, Aunt Susan and cousins Annika, Olivia and Colin joined in the fun. Here's Annika, aka future babysitter with HoldenThe big kids love Holden's swing as much as he does.Here's the tail end of a one of Holden's sweet first smiles. Still working on getting a good shot.
Riding horsey on Grammy's legPosing with his monogrammed blanket from Brad & Laura


After Grandma and Karen left on Tuesday we went to Mt. Vernon - George Washington's home. Never too early to start learning about American history (really, the trip was work related for Rob and we just tagged along). Based on this picture of me, you wouldn't believe that Holden slept from 10:45pm - 4:00am (his longest stretch yet)...I look like I'm about to fall over which is not far from the truth. But well worth it!

Story Time...and other happenings

Holden enjoying Story Time with Dad. He's already reading on a 7th week level :)

We have some video of Holden smiling but dumb mom can't get it to post correctly...will keep trying.

Growing by the day

Discovering the bears on the swing

ZZZZ

Our tree at near peak color The backyard trees trying to catch up with the front

Back to where it all started...Fair Oaks Hospital. We went on a 3.5 mile walk the other day and passed by the hospital so we stopped in for a yummy berry smoothie from the cafe. Rob got me one after having Holden and I've been craving one ever since. Who knew our favorite new hangout would be the hospital cafeteria - they even have Starbucks. We stopped by again yesterday on our walk to vote.

Monkey Business

Holden partied it up on his first Halloween. First we went to our neighborhood party and checked out all the big kids costumes. He was the cutest (and only) monkey there. Then we came home to pass out candy. Afterwards Riley (aka Tigger) came over for a visit.


At the neighborhood party

Cute little monkey

Tail shot

I Want My Mummy

Boo!Pumpkin Feet


Tigger and Monkey Man