Tuesday, March 26, 2013

proud mama moment!

For weeks now, Gunner has been trying to hold his OWN bottle. He's alawys been very independent and likes to do things on his own - but this was on another level. The last few weeks, his feedings have taken a bit longer to get through because we have to do the whole song&dance of trying to feed him, him hitting and slapping our hands away so he can do it himself, then the bottle falling, then us trying to feed him again or hold it for him (even with as little as our pinky touching it) and him hitting our hands again - and so on & so forth. It's been a bit frustrating to feed him, but SO CUTE because you can't blame him for being frustrated, and it's so sweet seeing him work so hard at something. Well, last night - all his trying and trying paid off - and he hit my hand away as soon as I gave him the bottle and a few minutes later - BOOM! He was holding his very own bottle & FEEDING HIMSELF!! It would fall out here and there but I'd just pick it up, put it in his mouth and position his hands - and he would take care of the rest. It was such a huge deal for me! I called Rick in to watch and we were so happy to see our little baby boy teach himself something on his own!
 
By the pictures, you can see that he was pretty stoked about this too ;)
 

Monday, March 18, 2013

St. Patricks Day! {Weekend}

Another "Baby's First" is in the books!
 
I have always loved hoildays because my mom always did such a great job of making every holiday the biggest & most fun holiday of the year... Ever since I was younger I would think to myself how much fun it would be when I had children of my own to make holidays fun with and I always promised myself I'd make each holiday SUPER fun. & Even though Gunner is still so small (yes 4.5 months is still small to me!) I wanted to try my best to make it fun for him! So, I did the best I could for St. Patty's Day!
 
Rick & I got our tax refund this past week and I spend most the week paying off credit cards and debt, and putting the rest in savings & towards bills... So this weekend I thought it would be fun to have a little mommy&gunner shopping day! We went ALL OUT! My mom went with us and we had the best time shopping!!
 
First we went to Carters (my biggest weakness I swear) and I got - literally - B A G S of clothes for him! He doesn't have a lot of clothes for 6 months, so I stocked up on those and got lots of cute summer clothes (baby's first summer!) I won't lie, I spent over $150 on just summer clothes for him. HOWEVER, that is AFTER 2 coupons & additional 20% day! I was so proud of myself leaving there saving over $100! Then we went to Old Navy and I got even MORE clothes for him! I love Old Navy for boys because they actually have really "cool" kids for little boys. Girls clothes are freakin adorable EVERYWHERE, but boys are harder to shop for. & Carters and Old Navy are always winners in my book. Between the two - I darn near filled up my trunk with bags of summer clothes for him. & now his closet is FULL of adorable clothes for when he grows into 6-month sizes (hopefully not too soon). & he undoubtedly will be the coolest 6-month old on the block! I made sure ;)
 
I also did a little splurging on myself and got new makeup and that was better than Christmas! I've been scraping the containers for weeks now hoping to just get a few drops on my skin - so it's beyond fun to have a whole new set of makeup!
 
The rest of our tax money went into savings (what was left after bills and paying off my debt completely) & this week I plan to go open up Gunner's first bank account to put some money in there & start his own savings account :)
 
The rest of our St. Patty's Day weekend was spent with friends & family! Gunner and I went to lunch with some beautiful ladies and he had a blast! I dont get to see all my girlfriends too often because of our schedules and being so busy always - so it's always a big treat when we can get together. & gunner just LOVES beautiful ladies so he had a really fun time too at BJ's with us.
 
Sunday I tried to make it really fun for Gunner, but there's really not a whole lot I could do with him to be "festive" this time. I thought of green formula, but then instantly thought that wouldn't really work out & probably is very unsafe for him... so then I though a green bubble bath? But then instantly realized that wouldn't be too sanitary... All day long I did what I could to incorporate the holiday, but it was tricky. We both wore our green while we went to lunch & errands with Auntie Karin & Gunner wore his ADORABLE fedora! LOL, really, that was the highlight of our day. Then Rick & I started designing Gunner's Easter basket (Rick is insisting on making him a custom basket so we've started figuring out the plans for that)
 
All in all, I'd say it was a really fun weekend! Maybe not as festive as I would have wanted, but it makes me even more excited for next year because now I have BIG plans for his 2nd St. Patricks Day! Can't wait!!
 
 
Little too much shopping & he passed out!
Having fun with all his friends in his crib!

Baby's first "White Tee" (LOL) I was cracking up at how cute these were, I had to buy them! He loves being naked because he's always hot, so after his bath - he was loving the no-sleeves!

Monday, March 11, 2013

Today I have a four month old!

Okay, so I've actually had a four month old for about a week now BUT let's be honest, I can never be on time with these blogs anymore! (lol) Luckily, I am well-aware of my habitual "late blogs" - so I keep track of Gunner's progress all month in my phone so I never miss a thing AND keep the updates divided into his month so I don't get confused as to which blogs equal which big updates of his ;)
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So anywho, now that I got that confession & explanation out of the way - onto your blog Gunner Bear.
 
February was a BIG month for you! I swear each month gets more and more fun, but February you were FULL of life and laughing and I just loved every second of it! Each day you grow more into your own person and it's the neatest thing to watch. Your dad and I were just talking about how we get so excited for each day with you because we know you'll have a whole new face or expression in store for us. You are just growing so fast, and it's the most special thing in the world to watch! Here is the (rather lengthy) list of your updates for February!
 
- You had your 4-month checkup last week so we were able to weigh you! You weigh a whopping 14 pounds now! You are actually still considered "underweight" by a tad, but the doctor said you actually are growing just right.. her word was actually "beautifully"
 
 - You are 25 inches long! I actually knew you were going to surprise us with that one because everyone notices how long you are. You may just outgrow your dad and I afterall!
 
- You eat over 4 ounces at a time now, but not quite ready for the big boy bottles yet. Definitely probably going to break them out next month though :)
 
- You were starting to outgrow your jet-spa bathtub (that's what happens when you grow so tall so fast!) so we had to take out the part that has the shower head, so now you got lots of room for your long legs!
 
- You learned to splash! And BOY oh BOY, do you love bathtime even MORE now! Mommy has much more of a cleanup now afterwards, but it's okay - because there's nothing cuter than seeing you splash your legs around and laugh (literally) out loud the whole time. It's worth the clean up indeed.
 
- You can roll over and over and over again! And now in our bed too! So we have to be careful leaving you for ANY amount of time alone anywhere really because you just roll around so fast!
 
- You're getting back to being really cuddly with mama, and I can't even explain how much I love that! You have been really independent the last couple months, and you still are - but now you want to cuddle at night and in the mornings when you can't get comfortable or can't sleep. I LOVE IT! I missed holding you & rocking you to sleep so much.
 
- You talk & laugh ALL DAY LONG NOW! I love it! You are quite the chatterbox like your mama, and you like to laugh all day long like your daddy. You're just so fun to watch. You seriously crack everyone up all day long because you just sit there laughing at everything and talk like crazy. It's getting hard to watch serious movies while you're awake because you want to chime in on everything and it's hard to hear the movie! But that's okay - you're way more fun to watch any day ;)
 
- You have a thousand different faces now. You learned emotions and have a face to go with each one! You're so personable and have so much character now, it's easy to always know how you feel and what you are thinking - just based off the face and tone of voice you use. Everyone comments on how much personality you have & it's so much fun to watch you talk with all your expression & emotion. You definitely entertain us all day long.
 
- You have developed different laughs now. You have at least five different laughs now and they are all so stinkin cute! You're cutest one though is your newest one, which is your OUTBURST laugh where you laugh with your whole belly and your whole body just gets into it. You throw your hands and kick your feet and laugh so loud you sound like an old man, it's the C U T E S T. I've gotten lots of videos of it already because we can't help but laugh everytime you do it.
 
- It's official. Dad is your favorite person in the world. As much as I wish I could say it was me, I can't blame ya either. Your dad is pretty funny. No matter what you're doing or where you are - you will break your neck to find your dad everytime you hear his voice enter a room. Even if you're sleeping, you instantly wake up and look to find him. And every time you lay your eyes on him, you just laugh with that loud outburst full-body laugh of yours. It's the sweetest thing. I've never seen a baby love someone more<3
 
- You finally hold your rattles & toys! You actually now (since discoving you can pick things up) have to have something in your hands at all times. I'm so happy you finally are getting use out of some of your toys - rattles mostly. And now when you go to sleep you just grab the covers and pull them up to your face and instantly fall asleep. I keep a little burp cloth in your crib and swing so you can hold it when you're tired because it helps you sleep to hold it in your hands.
 
- Also since discoving your fingers, you love pulling mommy's hair. I have to keep my hair up most the time now when I'm holding you because you like to pull on my hair. But even when it's up you'll reach up and pull it out of the ponytail just so you can hold onto it (ouch) - Dad says it's a sign of affection though so now I actually think it's cute (lol)
 
- You're more tickelish than ever before. Pretty much anywhere makes you laugh and cringe up. You're most tickelish spots though (to name a few) are: under your chin, your belly, your feet, your inner thighs (changing your diaper is always entertaining) and your upper lip (seriously)
 
- You take naps in your crib now! We can all thank dad for this one. He's been getting you more comfortable with your crib (since you don't sleep in there yet) and now you almost instantly can fall asleep in there by yourself. Such a big boy! I promised dad that we are going to start trying you sleeping overnight in the crib now that you are comfortable in it. Just gotta take it slow (yes mommy still wants to co-sleep with you even though everyone tells me to do otherwise now) - but yes, probably by your next blog we will have updated this to you sleeping in your crib. But only after I go buy the best monitor there is so I can "attempt" to sleep away from you.
 
- You REALLY want to crawl. I'm thinking that by your five month blog you maybe already will have gotten your first crawls down. You can scoot around the ground, roll all over the place & now you know how to arch your body up - just can't make that big final push. But you're getting stronger each day and I'm certain any day now you're going to make that first move. Now you even cry and huff & puff because you get so frustrated you can't move - and I know how stubborn you are, so that really makes me sure you'll get it down soon. (hopefully not too soon though)
 
- && lastly, this isn't an "update" as much of a "discovery" - you are incredibly terrified of red lipstick. Yes, I can't even make that up. I would never have guessed this until it came time for mommy to smother you in red-lipstick-kisses for your valentines day pictures & BOY was that an adventure! I've never seen you instantly just panic and cry with the biggest tears! It was terrible. Then as soon as I took it off you just laughed and went on about your playing. Needless to say, we may have to think of something else for next years valentines day pictures!
 
Well Gunner, those are your biggest milestones & updates for this month. I just know at the rate you are going that March is going to be a B I G month for you! I'm thinking we may even see some big milestones met. I already got your St. Patricks Day outfit & we also have your first Norooz (Persian New Years) at the end of the month to look forward to!
 
As always, we love you little man. & if I could, I'd write an update for everyday with you - because everyday really is special on it's own.

 
 
 
Caught you busting some moves during your photoshoot :P