It was a Happy Easter weekend! Ours started off with a visit from Grandpa Wayne, and ended with a wonderful lunch at Aunt JoJo and Uncle Bryan's, with some egg dying in between.
Reading a bedtime story with Grandpa Wayne
so many colors!
he's starting to understand smiling for the camera (or the goofy parent behind the camera!)
Arjen's 1st Easter egg
Mom, Arjen, Dad :)
trying to eat the easter bunny!
riding the easter goat
chillin' with cousin Trev
Enjoying some sun with Grams and Gramps
thank you for the cute Easter outfit GGma!
We also took our first "official" family photo a couple of weekends ago. I'll be sure to post the top pics once they're available to me. In the mean time though, I couldn't help but see just how hard it is to take fancy photos. With a kid this cute, it's not too tough! (if I do say so myself) :)
Okay, so I'm a bad mommy-blogger...sorta left off the part about HAPPY 6 MONTHS ARJEN!!! from the last blog. Oops. So it goes. At least we did say it to him, and he even got serenaded by Gma Eileen with the 1/2 birthday song (it goes a little something like "hap birth t y, hap birth t y, hap birth to ar, hap birth t y!").
Along with turning 6 months old came the 6 month check up this past week, weighing in at 15 lb 7 oz (25%) and measuring 27" (75%)!
So at 6 months, supposedly it's time to start introducing solid foods. We haven't officially started yet, but we sure have a kid who likes to eat anything! Observe...
I like to eat piano music!
I like to eat cows!
Hmmm...maybe I could get into this real food thing!
Well, I'm back to work. Lucky for us, we have amazing family supporting us. Grandma Cherie has graciously agreed to stay with us for a month to help watch Arjen and help me get settled back into the working mom routine. I don't know what I'd be doing without her here right now! (Thank you, Thank you, Thank you Cherie!)
Aside from deciding to wake up during the night again, Arjen has adjusted so well to having Mom gone, that he basically didn't adjust...he continues to be the same ol' super happy, lovey, awesome little guy he's always been!
Last night, Grandma Eileen and Aunt Casey came over to join us for dinner. While Gma Ei was getting some grandbaby time, Arjen all of a sudden decided to start giving her big, sloppy, wet kisses! The rest of us nearly peed our pants watching this all go down. Perhaps, next on my list is teaching him how to pucker up rather than open wide!
Some photos from last weekend
Enjoying some warm spring weather in the yard
"how did you catch me in a photo on my belly?!"
cruising the farmer's market in style
looks like a full tractor!
the walk home from the market (there's still a little munch in there, but his head is slightly lower cause he konked out!)
Gma Cherie, Dad, and a sleeping Arjen in front of the Osterbaum
Five years ago (wow, 5! really?!), Andrew and I were travelling through Germany. It was the week before Easter, and we kept noticing beautiful colored eggs hanging from trees in the front yards. The next year, we decided to bring this German tradition home, and every year since, we've been hanging eggs in the tree. We haven't noticed the trend catching on in our neighborhood yet, but we sure have fun with it every year, especially this year, as we get to share our "very own" family tradition with our son. Frohe Ostern! (Happy Easter!)
For those not in the area, we've been hit with days and weeks of rain, seemingly never-ending! No better excuse however to stay indoors and play on the floor! Arjen still seems intent on bypassing the tummy-time play, but he did stay posed just long enough for me to snap this shot (sorry for the quality...phone picture)
surf's up dude! (it's a surfboard shaped mat)
He's more than happy however to work on sitting!
This kid most definitely has some stories to tell as well...he's recently figured out he can make new sounds by chewing/sucking in his bottom lip, utilizing some of those handy spit bubbles...
Gone are the days of this kiddo crying when he gets shots. He is a rockstar! He didn't make a peep, and hardly noticed the first one, then he barely cried after the second. He was back to smiling and laughing within minutes. Man! am I a lucky, lucky mom!
Length for age
Weight for Age
Shock of all shocks...he's getting taller by the month...last month was only 25th percentile and now he's 53rd! Still hanging around 20-25th for weight. Not bad for a premie, eh?
Proof that he does eat:
He hasn't quite mastered the self-feeding yet, but he's definitely trying! We're practing bottle-feeding to make sure he'll still eat when Mom goes back to work in a couple weeks. :( Leaves me hands free to update the blog though! :)
