Stepping out

Today I watched Andy take 4 steps. Of course my camera was nowhere nearby. I later bragged to my neighbor, who informed me that he'd seen Andy take a few steps over a week ago when mommy was sipping on wine and not paying as close attention as she should. Whoops... But in my defense, he's only 9 months old and I thought we had some time before he was really walking.

So I don't have video of him walking on his own, but I so have him scooting along with the cute walker we bought. Enjoy!

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Coco visits!

Coco came for a short visit to celebrate my birthday. We spent most of the time hanging out with the boys, and as usual I didn't take many photos. Hopefully I'll get some of hers up here soon.

Among the photographic highlights are...

Farmers market fun with Ben.







And Andy walking with his walker toy...

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Recently Andy has been sticking his tongue out a lot. I'm fairly certain it's because he's teething, but it pretty cute regardless:

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Fall fun

Once again I've fallen behind with the blog...

It's been a great fall! Lots of nice weather and fun for the kids. Ben is thriving in his preschool and and continues to change everyday.

They play hard and sleep hard.







Halloween brought a tiger and spiderman to our house.,,







There was actually another spiderman across the street. They played together...




Andy's diet now includes a few true solids. Graham crackers are his favorite...




And Ben continues to practice his biking skills... He even puts on his own helmet!




Self portrait with the boys. And Ben's beloved spider ring.




Happy fall!!

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Runny nose smile

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Pumpkins!

Today we went to a local pumpkin patch. Ben had fun, though he was more interested in the new toy airplane his dad had just given him than the pumpkins. But Andy loved the wagon ride and we all enjoyed the gorgeous sunny day!












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Hangin' at the park

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Play time with Andy

Andy continues to be way ahead of the curve in his development. He crawls, cruises, and talks with confidence and proficiency. He's quite a charmer, and remains the happiest baby I've ever encountered (do I sound biased??).

Here he is in action:

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Andy the conductor and banging around

Yesterday I took the boys to Starbucks after picking up Ben at school. Andy had fun playing with a straw and I wondered if he might make a good conductor someday...

In other news, Andy continues to crawl and try to stand. Consequently, he has been getting banged up from frequent falls.

Here's a shot of sone fresh marks on his forehead from today's adventures, and a close up of his knee... Both knees are red from the crawling!






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Cruisin'

Here he goes!

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Here comes trouble

He's crawling! For real. He's six months old and is crawling like Ben did at 9 months.

Yesterday when I picked Andy up at daycare, four different staff people (including the director) told me that not only had he been crawling around like crazy but that he also pulled himself up to standing on anything and everything he could. One of his teachers said he even let go and stood by himself for a few seconds.

I'm not writing this as a proud mommy bragging about her super charged baby... In fact I'm a bit ambivalent. I love seeing Andy develop and watch him become so happy with himself as he gets around. But I also feel like this is all going too fast!

I started this post yesterday. Here's a video from today. See the baby gate? Yeah. It's a necessity!

Here comes Mr. Cute!


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Bonus shots!

Last week Andy stayed home from daycare, as we thought he had hand, foot, and mouth disease... On Wednesday, my friend Ginny watched him at her house. Ginny's taking photography lessons and is armed with a pretty awesome camera. She practiced done of the techniques she'd recently learned in a class on Andy.




She says this shot is her favorite as it's how she sees Andy's curiosity and happy personality.





I like this action shot... Our days are numbered before he's running around with Ben!




But this is my favorite. My baby. :)

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Rock Climbing

Today we took Ben to a local rock climbing gym. He was hesitant at first but then, not surprisingly, he loved it!

Not to be outdone by his brother, Andy gave it a try, too!








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Brothers at play

Today I picked up a new small play rug at Ikea for Andy's room. The boys both seem to like it, and I've enjoyed watching them play together.

Ben says he wants a new rug for his room, so I might have to make another trip to Ikea soon. I have to admit, I love that place! I also bought a "shape sorter" toy for Andy, which is a bit too advanced for him. But Ben likes it!

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Lego fun!

It's a hot day... Nearly 100. Too hot to play outside, so we're inside playing with Legos!

And check out Andy... Maybe he'll skip crawling!?!

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Six months old!

Yesterday marked 6 months since Andy's birth! It feels like he's been with us forever (in a good way!).

Here's what he's been up to:
Sitting up
Almost crawling
SMILING
Hugging and giving "kisses"
Sucking his thumb, left thumb exclusively
Eating! (bananas, oatmeal, peas, brown rice, avocado, sweet potato, carrots, apples, peaches, plums...)
Making friends at daycare
LOVING his big brother
Sitting outside (in the grass is preferable to on a blanket)
Swinging
Babbling
Sucking his toes
Watching animals intently
Sleeping well (in bed 12 hours/night with 1-2 wake ups)
Still teething, but no teeth

Here's a video of him playing. I often set him down with a basket of toys, and he'll play happily for quite awhile. He really is a very happy guy!!

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First day of school

Today was Ben's first day of "real" school. He will spend three years at Redbud Montessori, and we're all psyched! Yesterday was a brief orientation day, and all of the kids received shirts:



Ben lives the construction trucks! There us a building project going on next to the school, so each morning we watch diggers, rollers, dump trucks, and "excabators" at work!



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Almost crawling!

Andy is getting very close to crawling...


He's also very good at pulling himself up on pretty much anything in sight!

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At the park

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