Crawfish!!!

So Case had his first crawfish boil tonight and it wore him out ;-) we were at Rhashonda and K's house helping them pack up the kitchen for their upcoming move and they treated us to some AMAZING crawfish!!!!

We had an awesome time with fabulous friends!  We had all the babies on our backs in the ergos while we packed and they were all starting to get fussy and so we gave them each a stalk of celery.... Miraculously, this worked they all got happy and content! And we were able to keep on truckin ;-) then Case totally passed out celery in mouth!!!!

It was hilarious we couldn't believe our eyes!!! This is literally only the second time since his birth that he has fallen asleep without nursing and serious effort on our part! And how we talked about -but never took a pic of the three little and big amigos I have no idea?! Shame on us! All the same- great fun - great food! Also it was Sara & E's first time having boiled crawfish- fun to be part of that!! And God bless them if they ever hope to find them that tasty in a restaurant!  It was a culinary event from S & E's fantastic buffalo blue cheese chicken dip as our appetizer to the crawdads to the chocolate cake with fresh whipped cream and berries! No wonder I feel like I've gained 5 lbs! Now to get some sleep! Love to all!

First Word!

Drumroll please............................ We officially have Case's first word to report!!! "DADA"!  So, it was hilarious how this happened........ last night while the three of us were at the dinner table, Case was chattering away at us as he so often does in his little syllables all strung together and one of his favorites is "DA" so we get long strings of DADADADA type sounds all the time but with no real "intention" or "direction"... So, I say to BB, "when do we eventually make the call and say his first word has been said and if it is "dada"?  b/c he uses those sounds so often but doesn't seem to mean them distinctly yet..." to which BB replies, "not yet that's for sure," agreeing that he doesn't use it precisely or with any intention.  Then one second later as Case has been listening to our chat over all this, BB says to Case, "Can you say DADA?" and Case looks right at him and clear as day, repeats "DADA" back to him!!!! We both cracked up immediately and said simultaneously, "well i guess that settles that!" and so there you have it Case has spoken and the word is "DADA!"  As for a follow up with "MAMA" i may be in for quite a wait since none of his little sounds include an "M" just yet ;) - SO, that is the news from this weekend - SO EXCITED!

Practicing on those trunks

Not sure why the sound sometimes doesn't work on this one but you get a cute smile and little sample of Case practicing getting up and down, balancing, figuring out that you have to move those little pancake feet ;) hee hee - enjoy!

UP and BOOM.... quick and cute!

Pulling Up Like a Champ!

He has been getting better and better at pulling up and figuring out how to move those cute tree trunks and also how to plop down on that cute cushie cloth diapered bottom!

Who is that Cutie Pie in the Mirror?

Back to the park with Mommy & Daddy!

We went back to the park for more fun with Case! Here's a few pictures of our adventure!

Tunnel vision!

 Another Swingin' good time!

Big Boy!

Stink Face!!

So, we were trying to get Case to look up and smile for some pics for us and we weren't having very much luck- just then a sweet little girl named Katie came over and graciously offered to help us get him to look up for the pictures ;) - She was adorable and apparently Cason thought so too - suddenly he perked up- ha!  "So, you come to this park alot?... it's one of my favorites... no big deal..." Case charmingly says.

 "whatttttt? you're FUNNY! that happened last time you were here?..."

 "This is only my second time coming here - but I will probably be around a lot this spring, hanging out, playing, you know...."

 "so, it was really nice meeting you! Hopefully I will catch you around the jungle gym again soon!  You know I will probably be crawling and pulling up next time - it's gonna be awesome... so, if ya wanna hang out again...." 

He was so funny - just flirting, flirting, flirting all the while this little girl going on and on about what an adorable baby we have and how this is her favorite park - it was SO cute.... he is totally going to be a lady-killer! lol!!!

 Cool shadow play on our way out!

 

Love to ALL!

First time fun in the park!

We recently took Cason to the park for the first time! He had a good ole time people watching and playing with his best little friends!!  He was in the sandbox (another first) and he was with Cayden who is a little older and wiser in the way of sandbox- pile building ;) So, Case paid close attention to Cayden's every move and then asked him, "Dude, can you show me how to make a pile like that?"

To which Cayden replied, "You want to know how to build a cool pile like this one?" Cason said, "yeah that is one good looking pile..."

Cayden then reassured him that he could show him just how to do it! "Watch closely I have a well honed technique," he said.

"I am ready to learn!" said Case as he proceeded to focus on this educational experience!

Later, after the sand pile lesson we went for another first for Case - SWINGING!! He loved it and it was precious to watch him enjoy it and get to watch all the other kids playing from a new and exciting perspective!

Love to all!!

Now thats a good looking load of laundry!

Well Case has discovered the thrills and excitement of a laundry basket ;) - He took a little ride and then had fun trying out standing up on those buttercream thighs ;) 

Reading and Brilliant already!

This was seriously one of the cutest things that has happened so far ;)  - BB and I left him in his room on the floor after a diaper change for just a minute and when we returned this is what we found!!!

My book nerdy heart was SOARING!!! So was BB's - obviously we are both huge readers and this was just TOO much!! I mean holding it like a little pro - the right side up and everything! 

Just too cute!! Had to share!! YAY reading!! ;)
 

Better late than never, right?

Well, as most of you know Case is already past the nine months old mark and i am JUST now finding the time to get this started....... I know shame on me, BUT in my defense we have been busy ;) So, I am going to try and go back and fill in the first nine months worth of story and excitement but for now lets just get right to the most recent news and exciting updates in the land of kisses by the case ;) 

We had our big check-up appointment at the pediatrician yesterday and everything was AWESOME all around - though Case was NOT a fan of the toe-prick blood test to see if he was at all anemic (standard test for the 9 month visit) and good news he wasn't even close!!! Which was surprising and very pleasing news since the doc said that most of her breastfed babies that are still not eating a ton of food end up a little anemic by this point but he was super in the clear!! YAY healthy "milks"!! He also received his pneumococcal vaccine which he was also NOT a fan of - but we nursed during and after the injection and that helped to calm him quicker!  Then we moved onto the other happy stats which are as follows: 
weight - 18 lbs. 6 oz 
height - 27.5" tall 
head circum - 45 cm - she said his brain is growing big and strong and that was an impressive stat! (again - yay milks!) 

We discussed all of his developmental milestones thus far and she was VERY pleased with all of his progress! She even did a few little "tests" to see his reactions to things and he scored an A+ !! Speaking of milestones - here is the update on that front: He is sitting up like a total champ and has been for quite a while now, he rolls in both directions like a PRO - i'm talking - fixes his eyes on something across the living room and will then proceed to roll 12 feet at the drop of a hat to get to it LOL! he is TRYING so hard to get the crawling thing totally down and getting pretty frustrated with our slippery floors - poor lil guy - but he has got scooting and army crawling licked! He also clapped perfectly for us 3 nights ago while in his highchair at the dinner table - it was PRECIOUS! He does a perfect pincher grasp and in general has being "adorable and flirty" down to an ART! ha! He talks up an absolute storm in his beautiful little language and it is total music to our ears! 

On the food front - he is still not a HUGE fan but we are making strides and the doc was TOTALLY happy with our progress! He does all purees still - NOT a fan of "bits" ... though the dramatic faces and exaggerated gagging is hilarious evil fun to see LOL! So far he has tried sweet potatoes, squash, avocado, carrots, pears, apples, quinoa, bananas, peaches, and mangoes! We started all sitting together at the dinner table about two weeks ago and giving him dinner which usually consists of quinoa plus a veggie pureed together. Then this week I started also feeding him a fruit puree for breakfast! I am having lots of fun making all of his food!! 

Let's see - well the question everyone asks all the time "how is he sleeping?" .... lol.... always a different answer but basically we have made TONS of progress from where we started and I am very pleased with that - as was the doc! I told her that I never really know what I am going to get from one night to the next - sometimes he goes for b/w 7 & 9 hours at one time which is rare but AMAZING and more often we will have lots of nights where we get at least one stint that lasts for between 3.5-5 hours which is also great! then we sometimes have nights where we are up every two hours or where he wakes in the middle of the night and won't go back to sleep for several hours.... Her response was and I quote "He is a baby NOT a puppy!" and went on to reassure me that those are completely normal and expected trends, which is what my instincts told me so it was GREAT to hear from her :) 

OH and other excitement includes the fact that his sweet little face has two new additions to the heart breaking smile - his first two teeth!!!! The bottom teeth are fully exposed and making their way up to finished height and he is just about to start breaking skin on the two top ones as well!!! 

Okay well that's the highlights I think!! From here on out I am going to focus on short and sweet and hopefully FREQUENT updates and pics to keep everyone up to date on Mr. Case! 

Love to all! xoxo