5 months

5 months?! All of a sudden our newborn peanut is a 5 month old! People aren't kidding when they tell you that time with a baby goes fast. However, I feel beyond blessed to share my time with the sweetest little man in the world. Dax has had some big milestones and changes over this past month...

Every day it is getting more and more fun to play with Dax. He loves interacting with people and enjoys playing games with us. His favorites are pat-a-cake and this little piggy. He is also starting to enjoy peek-a-boo, though I don't think he completely understands object permanence quite yet.

At 4 months he was starting to show interest in toys, but now he reaches out for anything that is near him. He prefers things that he can easily hold onto and EVERYTHING finds it's way into his mouth. While last month the pediatrician said he was not teething, I think he has to be now... he will chew on anything and drools even more than he did before. We shall see.

His revelation that toys are fun has also made tummy time increasingly more bearable. He will hold his big head up like a champ, observing all of the toys in front of him. He has also started reaching toward them and is becoming playful while he is on his tummy. He even pushes up on his arms occasionally so it is clear that he is getting stronger every day. Although he gets tired of it somewhat quickly, we are thrilled to be over the hump of it being torture for him.

Dax is a roller now! Several weeks ago he rolled from his tummy onto his back one time. A week or so later he did it one more time. Slow learner I guess ;) This week, though, he started to do it consistently and even showed Daddy his new trick after work! Check him out:

He still prefers to be upright; being carried around to see the world or working out his strong legs by standing with minimal support. He is still not quite big enough for his jumper, but we put a pillow and then our wii balance board underneath to prop him up so he could use it. He was content at first, but has now learned to bounce more and seems to love it.

Another new place that Dax has discovered he likes is his high chair. We started by putting him in it to play while we ate dinner. Then this week we started to give him rice cereal! It was a big change for the little guy, but he transitioned really well. He ate it easily from the beginning, though he did need to figure out what to do with his tongue. His second day trying it brought on some really funny faces, but he continued to eat well. Hopefully he will do just as well with every new food we introduce.

His high chair is so fun!

First time trying cereal

Less sure the second time :)

So, our big boy is getting more social, pushes up on his arms, rolls over, eats solids, continues to work his vocal cords and finds new sounds to try all the time. While it seems impossible, we think he also continues to get cuter each day.

Texas!

Our dear friends Eric and Dava got married last weekend! We had known about the wedding for awhile and, while we were thrilled to celebrate with them, I was pretty nervous to fly with Dax. It didn't help that we had four flights for the trip and that Dax and I would be flying without Jake for one of them. Silly me for being anxious, though. Our curious, social little dude LOVED all the new places and experiences and did so well on all of the flights. Minimal fussing as we took off and landed and a lot of eating and sleeping made for an impressed and thankful Mommy and Daddy. Beyond the successful traveling, we had a great time with good friends!

Ready to leave

Dax's first plane ride

Our first flight brought us in to Dallas/Fort Worth. Jake flew on to Amarillo for the wedding (as Best Man he had a few extra responsibilities), while Dax and I stayed with my good friend Andrea and her family. It was awesome to see them! Her son Nolan (4) and stepson Dylan (10) could not get enough of Dax. They were so sweet to him - playing with him, snuggling him, asking about him, and commenting on his little arms, little legs, little feet, little cheeks, and little "earsies". Nolan was also on drool patrol and promptly said, "Drooler!" every time he noticed it coming. Dax loved them, too, and I think he was happy to be spending time with people closer to his size.

Dax, Nolan, and Dylan

Snuggling with Andrea

We spent one afternoon at the pool. I was excited for Dax's first swimming experience and decked him out in all his gear. Poor little guy HATED it! Every time his toes would touch the water he would immediately start to cry. I tried many times to dip him and he almost calmed down at one point, but it was very clear that it was not going to happen. I think the water was too cold for him (though I thought it felt amazing in the Texas heat!) and hope to try again soon to help my little man enjoy swimming.

Ready for the pool (but not quite ready to sit up!)

Kind of calm because he wasn't touching the water

It took all his energy to hate the pool so much!

After only two days with the Koons family, we flew on to join Daddy in Amarillo. All of the wedding festivities were fun and it was great to see friends that we don't see nearly often enough. Dax had another of many firsts on the trip as he had not yet been to a wedding. While I had to stand in the back for most of the ceremony to keep him quiet, he did pretty well. We were thankful to be able to share in Eric and Dava's special day.

Dax makes friends everywhere he goes... this was Graham, the pastor's grandson and he was just a few weeks older than Dax.

Eau Claire boys - Brian, Jake, Eric, Dave, and Andrew

Playing at the reception...

Done :)

Best Man speech

We were also blessed to spend time with some other good friends. Brian and Dave had driven down from MN and Andrew and Sarah had driven up from San Antonio for the wedding. It was so great to see each of them and we enjoyed all of the time we had chatting, playing cards, and laughing together. Sarah is an incredible photographer (http://www.thelifeinart.com/) and we were lucky to get her to take some great shots of Dax and our family. Thank you Sarah!

Overall we had an awesome trip. It was great to experience traveling with a baby and we are so blessed to have such a go-with-the-flow little guy!

Friends

I love my friends! I am so blessed to be surrounded with amazing people and truly cherish all of those wonderful people in my life: childhood friends, high school friends, college friends, teacher friends, family friends. I am very lucky and, even though I don't see any of these friends as much as I would like to, I know that I can always count on them and hope that they also know how much I care about them and value their friendships.

I hope that Dax also has the opportunity to grow up with close friends that will be there for him. He seems to already have a great start...

As I have mentioned before, shortly after Dax was born we joined a Mom and Baby class. Most of the mamas went back to work, which made it harder to get together, but I truly think that we will stay connected and that the babes can maintain the special bond of "first friends". Last week Dax and I went for a walk with Krista & Alex and Rosalie & Anora and it was so fun to see them again!

Of course, Dax also has friends at Mommy's school. We hope to spend lots of time together over summer break both for the babies' social benefit and for the mamas' mental health! We had our first play date the first week of break and it was wonderful. It was low-key with great conversation and more cuteness than should be allowed in one room...

Dax, Bellamy, and David. I can't decide if Dax is taking pointers from David or if he is wondering why another boy is making the moves on one of his ladies :)

All the babes: Evie, David, Bellamy, Dax, Kara, and Averi

Jake and I also have several friends who have had babies recently and it is fun to share in the experience together. We are thrilled that Dax might grow up being good friends with some of our good friends' kids!

Anora and Dax (I guess Dax does need those pointers from David as moments after this picture he tried to eat her sweet little hand!)

Claire, Dax, and Asher

Dax and I are looking forward to sharing our summer with all of these special friends!

Happy Father's Day!

Jake was a guest author yesterday for Father's Day, but I can't let this special day slip through the cracks without posting about Dax's amazing daddy, too...

Obviously Father's Day has a different meaning this year as parents. It was fun to go shopping for Jake with this new role in mind. Dax got him some board books that they can read together and I made a date jar (inspired by pinterest of course!) that will help us to guarantee some time together as a couple rather than just being parents. Nothing could possibly have done enough to show how much we appreciate him, though.

I have always known that Jake would be a great dad, but I could not be more proud to be navigating parenthood with him. Not only was he willing to work from home part time when I went back to teaching, but he was also an incredible caregiver to Dax during that time. It was so fun to come home and hear about their days together and I don't think it could have been a better experience for either of them. I am so grateful that God entrusted me to be Dax's mom, but I am equally blessed to have Jake as his dad. He is a nurturing, playful, attentive, thoughtful, funny, outstanding daddy. Dax and I are very lucky.

Father's Day

For Father’s Day, Jake asked if he could write a guest post:

Before Dax was born, I told Kristin that she was the lead parent, and I would support anyway I could. The maternal instinct is to nurture, and Kristin exemplified it. My instinct was to float around aimlessly looking for something to do. I tried to get up in the middle of the night as much as Kristin, but quickly learned that I was the third wheel (a very tired wheel). I went back to work after two weeks at home and could appreciate how great the two hours of evening playtime before bed were.

When Kristin went back to work, she snuggled Dax and told him not to have any milestones while she was at work. Despite all my efforts, he didn’t say “dada” or rollover during my six weeks of Mondays, Wednesdays, and Fridays working from home. I can say that Dax had a lot of fun in our home office playing and singing. I tried my best to keep up on work, especially during naps! 

Watching Daddy work

Over time, Dax and I built a real connection and I now understand why maternity/paternity leave is so valuable. On the other hand, I also learned that I prefer working at work, and could never be Mr. Mom. Dax is starting to look like a little boy who recognizes us and not just a little bundle of goo. I am back at work full time again, but now have a more comfortable impression of fatherhood. I can imagine life if we hadn’t had Dax, but it seems like a waste of time now. 

Happy Father’s Day to all the dads out there!

After

So, this is the second themed post in a row. Maybe it's because I have been back at work so there's a little more time between posts and I have more things to include or maybe my mind is preparing me to be back in kindergarten theme-land in the fall. Either way, here goes...

Last week I posted about Dax being four months old. After visiting the doctor, we can officially say all is well with our little man. He is (was last Friday) 14 pounds, 2 1/2 ounces (slightly under 50th percentile) and 25 inches long (50th percentile). Shots were still no fun, but much better than last time.

Getting big, but still so sweet!

After 6 weeks as a working mom, I am now a stay-at-home mom until the end of August. Yippee! Yesterday was my last day with the first graders and that's always a bittersweet part of the school year. EVERYONE is ready for summer by the last day of school, but it is still sad to be leaving the students. Then today was a work day for teachers to finalize everything and prepare our classrooms for summer. I must be getting more efficient in motherhood because, for the first time ever, I am actually done and will not be going back in to finish next week!!! It was also a special day because Dax joined me at school for the afternoon! As I have mentioned, Westwood had A LOT of babies this school year and most of them were there today. We took the opportunity to get an after picture...

October 2011

January 2012

June 2012: Kelsey and Evie (4 weeks), Sara and David (3 months), Kristen and Bellamy (3 1/2 months), Me and Dax (4 months), Kathy and Cara (6 months), and Keri and Averi (7 months)

Plus one with the newest WW Mama-to-be, Jennifer!

And, one more "after" for good measure... When we had Dax's newborn photos taken (Thanks again, Eric!!), we tried one with a basketball, thinking it might be a cute prop with the tiny little guy. Dax did not like it. While it's very different, he recently got a basketball from Grandma and Grandpa and likes it much better. It gives us a little hope that our baby boy will follow in Daddy's athletic footsteps as he grows up!