nine month old gunner

I just can't stop staring at these photos. I'm so happy we found such an amazing photographer - she has captured such beautiful photos our our little guy and I'm so thankful that we will have these photos forever of him. We've had three month, six month & now have nine month done - next up - TWELVE month photos & cake smash photos! I can't even imagine how he'll look 3 months from now, but I'm sure he'll somehow manage to be even more adorable than he already is.

 

 

 

We had Gunner's Godparents Lola & Oscar meet us during his photo session to take some photos with him before they moved to San Diego. Now we have some really great pictures of the three of them and it helped complete the gift I made them before they left! We already can't wait to see them again in November for Gunner's BIRTHDAY! So crazy. We are so lucky to have such great people and Godpanents for Gunner, we couldn't have picked a better couple <3

{tomorrow} I have a NINE month old!

I'm writing this a day early to avoid being weeks late (again). I know we have a busy weekend with family coming in from out of town - so better get this up & posted now before I'm on the verge of his 10 month blog. Oh geez, let's not even think of that quite yet.

 

My little Gunner bear.

As you can see - capturing these photos are becoming quite the challenge. You act like sitting on a calendar and letting me photograph you is NOT the funnest thing ever?! ;)

 

How you are growing SO FAST! I can't believe that this month I will begin planning your first birthday. That just blows my mind.

But I am not focusing on that sad mushy-gushy mommy hormones right now - because I really am having SO MUCH FUN with you being the age you are. Everyday you are learning something new and evolving into your own little self. I absolutely love it. Every month I say is my favorite - but I definitely can see why people told me these months were the funnest - because they really are!

 

 

This month (amongst pretty much taking control of your monthly photos) -it's clear you are your own person. You have your own little personality and you know what you want.

 

new things this month:

- You said your first words!!! Started with DADA then a week later you were saying MAMA, MOMMM, BA-BA, and when youre really hyper and on a total talking rant - I swear you yell "wooowwwwww" and "daddddddd" and giggle in between words - oh my gosh I can't even explain how adorable it is to hear you talk. And boy do you love to talk! You talk NONSTOP - car rides, bath time, play time, EVERYTHING you do - you do it with lots of animation and lots of talking! Car rides are so much more fun because you just talk to you toys the whole time we're on the road and love shouting out DADA at everything we drive by.

- speaking of cars - you LOVE mom's new car. This is the first car where you have your own window that can roll up and down - (dads big truck has no back window and mom's old corolla had manual windows.. so lame) - but this one I can roll down myself and you just LOVE looking outside and shouting at the cars and semi-trucks we drive by. So much fun!

- you are on a mission to walk! you stand up against walls now and pull yourself up against everything you can and are getting braver and braver with letting go or only holding on with one hand. and now you also walk along everything - walls, couches, the doors - and you keep trying to stand up on your own but you're not quite there yet. But you're definitely working hard at it and I'm sure soon we'll have a walking baby!

- your new favorite thing to do is get chased around the house. If you're crawling around you'll sit and look at us and yell so we know it's time to play - and myself or your dad will start crawling after you and you just CRACK up and scream the whole time you crawl away as fast as you can. Not going to lie, you are getting to be faster than me! I get worn out after like 2 laps around the house, but you just go go go and anytime you feel like we stopped - you stop crawling, turn and sit there and stare until we start again - and then start cracking up when you see us chasing you again. It's the funniest thing ever! I don't think either of us can get enough because it's just so much fun to hear and watch you laugh out loud and get so excited.

- You have been bumped up to "Graduate" snacks! Very exciting stuff. Now there are lots of yummy snacks in your diet and they make road trips and eating out a lot smoother for everyone. You love your rice rusks (banana mum mums), the very berry yogurt melts and all the pinwheel snacks the best - mostly the apple ones and the waffle ones.

- you have lots of hair now! and very BLONDE! It's a dirty blonde, but very light still. And it's really thin but you are getting to have a lot of it. And it's WAVY! It has light curls at some parts and now you have little curls that go over your ears- SO CUTE! I hope you keep the wavy hair because it's a cute little surfer look on you! It's fun when we're driving with the windows down I look back and just see all this hair blowing around - and then you get the cutest and CRAZIEST bed head now! I love it. can't take enough pictures of it.

- You have a MOUTH FULL OF TEETH my love. Everyone comments on it all the time! It's funny because it makes you look a lot older than you are because you have close to 9 teeth and such a tiny mouth. You look like a big boy with them! But it's nice because you get to have more advanced foods & snacks because you do have so many teeth ;)

 

 

-you little personality so far:

- you are full of energy and love to play! toys are your favorite thing ever and whether they are yours or grizzlys - every toy in the house must be played with at least once before moving onto the others. Everyday you have a new favorite - but you always stay loyal to your main ones: plastic eggs from easter, your pink toothbrush (you lost the others and hold this one near &dear to you), grizzly's stuffed piggy, your toy hammer with all the beads in it (you love to bang it on the table and dad's head) and recently - the box to the race car grandpa got you - not the car itself, but the box. Oh and your remote controller to the tv (dad got an extra w/o batteries so you'd leave ours alone) and mom's cell phone when you can get sneak it - yesterday I found it in your toybox hiding.. touche

 

- you are a tad stubborn. (that's definitely from me) you fight sleep as long as you can even if it means laying down with your eyes closed and just waving your toothbrush around until you can't hold your arms up anymore. It's so adorable, I just giggle to myself as I watch you sleep-play until you pass out or I find your toothbrush still in your hand in the morning.

 

- you are very loving. you love to give hugs now and learning to give kisses. you love when dad or I sit with you while you play with your toys - just so you can keep one hand on our leg to know that we're nearby. and you love to be rocked to sleep or slow dance to my singing - you are a total cuddle bug like you mama and I wouldn't want it any other way

 

- You are a bit bossy my love. (total dad gene) if not bossy, then you are just more vocal - you make it very known when you like or dislike something. I.e spitting food out if it's gross, crying if you see something and can't reach it or have it.. little things like that. I still think everything you do is adorable - so I think it's really cute, but dad says we need to start teaching you that you can't always get your way so you don't become spoiled.. that's dad for ya though (I'm the nice one btw) haha.. totally kidding

 

- I see a bit of a competitive side of you these days. When you play tug o'war with grizzly or play with her toys - you get real frustrated if you can't get the toy back or if she doesn't let the toy go - You're a very determined little guy and you will chase her around the house and make it your mission to chase her until you get that toy back though. Definitely got the competitve spirit from your dad.

 

 

 

Other than those things - you continue to develop & amaze your dad and I everyday! It's so much fun to see you develop these traits and get a little peak at what kind of boy you will be. You are just so much fun and your just a little gift that keeps on giving, because every day we get a new face or a new trick you learned - and every day is really a gift in itself, beacuse it's shared with you.

 

 

 

 



august in view

I cannot believe it is August already!!

This makes me so excited though because I am beyond ready for Fall!

I'm not a fan of Summer (ok, so I absolutely hate summer) - but I live for Fall & Winter! The beautiful seasons, the cool weather, the holidays - every single part of it I absolutely LOVE!

 

Last Fall we were preparing ourselves for the arrival of Gunner. Life was mildy busy but I was making myself & Rick busy with doing something on a daily basis to prepare for the life-changing moment our son would be born. I wanted everything to be absolutely perfect.

 

Speed up 12 months -

Now we have a NINE month old Gunner!

He's TONS of fun and more amazing than I ever could have dreamed of. He keeps us pretty busy (to say the least) with chasing him around the house and playing with him all day and night. Between working full-time, cooking dinner for myself & rick and still making sure to be involved in our nighttime traditions (bathtime, playtime, dinnertime, oatmeal before bed and rocking him or dancing with him in his room till bedtime) - life is beyond busy.

But to add to it - we have little miss McKenzie on the horizon!

 

In a little over 2 months (13 weeks till our edd) she will be here!

However, this time around - that is not stressing me out this time around. Call me crazy, but round 2 at pregnancy is so much smoother. Granite, the exhaustion is at it's highest just because I'm so busy with Gunner - but the pregnancy & planning in itself, is so easy breezy to me! We've been through it all now (literally months ago we were doing it) and are aware of what is needed and what can wait. It's just simple things now that I know have to be done, but nothing is overwhelming to me this time.

 

I am so excited for her to get here and I am just doing my best to soak up every second with gunner because he is growing faster than a weed these days. Other than focusing on him and making our days together special - my biggest concern is just making sure to stay healthy and keep our baby healthy while she is still growing & developing.

 

 

It's all so exciting this time around - not so scary or stressful or overwhelming at all. I'm sure once she gets here life will be a little bit crazy for awhile, but I know that we will eventually find our groove and it'll all work itself out - that's what happened with Gunner!

 

I just can't wait to see where we're at 12 months from now & what updates i'll have on life come next August! 

We now have an EIGHT month old!

I have had this blog saved as a "draft" for weeks because I haven't had a chance to post the pictures to go along. Total failure on my part because now gunner will be NINE months in a few short days! Luckily I did write this & take the pictures weeks ago.. but it's been a little hectic and I haven't had a chance to click that little orange "submit" button until now. (totally going to work on this I promise)

Anywho - Here is your EIGHT month blog little one<3

My little boy Gunner. You are growing into QUITE the little man these days.

As you can see - it is getting harder to take these photos just because you are ALWAYS on the move. I literally chased you around the house for a good 20 minutes before I could just get one of you sitting down in your cut "8 month" tie.

 

- you are extremely vocal now. all day and all night you are yelling, laughing & talking up a STORM! even when we put you down for bed I hear you talking to your toys until you fall asleep. I absolutely love it. now our house is (literally) filled with the sounds of your voice and there's nothing sweeter.

 

- you are crazy fast now! I can barely catch up with you these days because you are just all over the place crawling as fast as you can. you can even catch up to grizzly sometimes!

 

- you are trying desperately hard to stand. you can pull yourself up against the couches and your little play table and all day long you try to stand on your own but you're not quite there yet. you are very close though.

 

- you love your new independence and being able to do what you want now. you love nothing more than playing with your toys and dragging them around the house with you. you just go back and forth all day long and are standing up or crawling everywhere you can! it's so fun to watch you - it seriously still blows my mind though.

 

- you are quite the little eater these days! you are either going through a growth spurt or you have finally just taken over your mommy's genes for my LOVE of food. either way - it makes me so happy to see you eating so much all the time. I'm sure you pediatrician will be happy to see you have gained some weight at your next checkup. no more underweight babies for us ;)

 

- speaking of food: you are now onto level 3 foods! it definitely pays off having so many teeth so young because you can enjoy all the yummy new foods that level 3 has to offer you!

so far you love: all fruits, alone or mixed with other fruits, anything with oatmeal, cinnamon, or ceral mixed into it you will pretty much devour. your favorite dinners are (level 2) mac & cheese, chicken & rice, & turkey & veggies. you can't eat level 3 dinners yet just because the pieces of meat are too big.. 

you HATE: veggies alone (I'm working on that now) you'll have veggies mixed with things, but not straight veggies. you hate beef anything and any "soup". chicken noodle soup got spit out on dad a few weeks ago - so at least you're very vocal with your food choices as well. lol.

 

- you have now progressed into your big boy bottles. we've packed up most the small 4 oz dr brown bottles for your sister - and you have advanced into the 8 oz bottles because you can drink about 6-8 ounces in one sitting now, and that mixed with your baby food - you have become a great sleeper!

 

- you're on a great sleep schedule now and we could NOT be more thankful for that. you take 2 naps a day and go to bed around 10 and wake up around 8-9. you sometimes wake up for a bottle during the night, but fall right back asleep till morning. as sad as I was to not have you in our bed or not have to rock you to sleep during the night - I feel like a whole new person getting 6-7 hours of sleep straight (that's if your sister allows it).

 

- you are now into all your six month clothes! they are still a little big (you're pretty petite) but you can wear them! and you're slowly losing more and more of your 3 month clothes. but i have YET to get rid or give away a single article of clothing. I just can't let them go yet.

 

- we introduced juices to you this month! you love apple and pear the most (watered down) but nothing comes close to your formula and water.

 

- with your independence, comes the downside that now you are not a fan of your carseat for long periods of time. you get pretty fussy if you have to be in there for a long time so we are shortening our long car trips more and more just because you are not a fan of being cooped up in the carseat (i can't blame ya!)

 

- you sit in high chairs now at restaraunts! they are still HUGE for you, but i tuck in the blankets around you and bring your baby food to keep you occupied when we go out to eat. (which is also becoming less frequent right now just because you get real stir-crazy after awhile. but that's fine because as soon as we get back home you are as happy as a clam being with all your toys and crawling around the house playing.

That quality time is always really special to me too :)

 

- you have a new found love for your pack & play (thank goodness) it has become a life savor for us when we need to clean the house real fast or get ready to leave - as long as you can see us - you are fine playing in there with your toys or (most the time) you just stand up and talk to us the whole time while you're in there.

my most favorite thing is when I pull it to the bathroom and you talk to me the whole time I get ready for work or to go somewhere. it's adorable.

 

- you are still a daddys boy through & through. but you've started becoming VERY cuddly with mommy. you crawl to me JUST to sit on my lap and lay down with me, or when your sleepy or upset you crawl to me just to cuddle up next to me. I wish those moments would last forever.

 

- last but not least, you have found your thumb! you started sucking it randomly the other day and now when you're sad you just start sucking away. you don't do it too much though and it's really not a problem just because you're learning how to self sooth.  you also have a couple MORE teeth (unreal, right?) coming in, so i think it's just helping your gums feel better to chew on your little thumb.

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Well buddy. in a couple short weeks we are having your NINE month photos taken and then after that your NINE month checkup. I think that next month I'll have to start planning your birthday. As fast as time is going by, I really can't complain just because every day you are growing into your own little person and everyday you learn something new. And there's never been anything more special than watching you grow more each day. I can't wait to see what I have for updates next month.

 

Love always, mom.

{LATE} fourth of july!

Baby's first fourth! & it was definitely a success :)

 

Gunner & I woke up real early to meet GG for breakfast (we let daddy sleep) and we caught a glimpse of the citrus heights parade on our way! We had lots of fun (as always) with grandma and you even tried a little bit of eggs and ate tons of lttle bites of her pancakes. Grandmas - they just can't say no, and I can't say no to them! lol ;)

 

We went home and got all dressed and ready for the day of festivities, woke up daddy and hit the road! We packed all THREE of your patriotic outfts (I bought two and your grandma's bought you another two) and we hit the road!

 

First stop: Buying mommy's new car!!

I have saved for the down payment for a few months and finally we found the perfect one and had planned to get it this day just because we rarely all have the same day off.

We were in & out within 30 minutes with the papers in our hand! (it had to be detailed and waxed still) and we are now the proud owners of a 2004 Honda Pilot EX-L!

I could NOT be more excited!!

Bigger car for both our babies. I am one happy happy mama!

 

 

After that we were off to our whole day of fun with everyone!

- visiing your great grandparents and showing off your cutie bathing suit they bought you

- visiting grandpa Rick and ALL the family over there. Swimming, BBQ'ing and meeting a whole new side of the family you had never met. They just adored you (as everyone does) and they passed you along and were so excited to finally meet you! And grandpa rick was overjoyed to get to spend time with you too on your first fourth!

-then we headed to grandma Leslie & grandpa Mike's house for our final stay for the day! You went swimming with auntie Riley for (yes you are quite the little swimmer) and we had a HUGE bbq! We kept thinking you'd nap since you had been up and on the run all day long - but you stayed up the whole day & night!

 

While you were swimming, I went out and bought you your very own set of fireworks to watch. I tried to find the prettiest & biggest, but also the quietest just because we were all a little nervous to see how you'd do with the fireworks.

 

After dinner your dad and grndpa Mike setup the firework station and got everything ready for our big display. You & me got cozy on the lawn chair and were ready for the show!

 

You did A M A Z I N G!

We were so scared you'd get scared but you just stared at them and "cooed" the whole time when they'd go off. you loved them!
It was so much fun watching your reaction when they would go off and your eyes got SO big! It was the cutest thing.

I caught a real sweet picture of you & your dad watching the firework show - that's probably why you were so calm, because you had him holding you the whole time ;)

 

Then... right before the big grand finale they put together - during all the commotion and fireworks throughout the neigborhood... you passed out! LOL

Yes. you slept through the biggest and loudest part of the evening!

 

After that we went home, gave you a warm bath and you pretty much were out COLD until the next day! I'd say it was successful day indeed!

 

& more than anything, it was just tons of fun spending the day with you and your dad during the week, because that alone is a rare occasion :)

 



catch up {w/photo overload}

Gunner has grown so much in the last month, it seriously blows my mind.

I am doing his monthly update blog tonight but I wanted to upload some pictures from the last few weeks. Rick & I have so much fun with him, I swear I don't even remember how life was like before this little guy filled our whole world & house with his laughter all day.

We couldn't have ever imagined a more perfect baby to call our own. 

 

 

here's our little man, growing before our very eyes.

 

 

 

 

 

 

There we have it, our little man. Our house is always loud with either his laughing or his talking or his loud noises of excitement when he finds one of his favorite toys hiding.

He's our everything <3



minor freakout

July already, oh boy.

so, please don't mind this minor freak out.. but as of TOMORROW Gunner (my little baby baby boy) will be EIGHT MONTHS OLD, oh and I will be exactly ONE week away from being 6 months pregnant.

 

Please, let that soak in a bit.

 

I don't know WHICH baby of mine is growing faster than the other - but between them both I am so overwhelmed with emotion. People keep asking what's more unreal, the fact that my little newborn is going to be ONE year old in like, minutes.. or the fact that I'll have another little baby in a few short months.

 

I honestly have no idea which one is crazier.

 

I've wrapped my brain around McKenzie coming and we are thrilled and honestly really excited for her arrival. That is not scary to me. What's unreal is how incredibly FAST this pregnancy is flying by! I swear I found out a couple days ago I was pregnant!!

 

And then Gunner man. Are you kidding me?! EIGHT months? He has his nine month photo session in a few weeks. His last one before his ONE YEAR OLD photo session.

 

Oh gosh, I'm having a minor panic attack over this.

 

Both my babies are growing too fast and time needs to (I beg you)

SLOW THE HECK DOWN!!!

 

Mama needs some time to adjust to all this!