Carrots

Just a cute pic; couldn't resist!

Here he is, reaching for more:

And yes, I realize that in the last two posts Mitchell has been wearing the attire of three different schools.  John has deemed it OK for him to pull for both an SEC East and West team.  The Texas outfit was a hand-me-down that my parents bought when Reid was a baby.

Roll Horns/ Hook'em Tide

Mitchell had a hard time deciding who to pull for last week.  He just decided not to choose sides*.

*-Clearly y'all know I'm kidding; he was obviously dreaming of a Crimson Tide victory that night as he slept soundly in his crib.

Public or Private?

Since I'm bascially putting details of our life out there for all to see, I'm contemplating making my blog private.  If you read this, will you send me an e-mail at bkmaedelATgmailDOTcom?  That way I'll know who to invite if I go that route.  I will probably wait about a week or so; respond to be by January 15 if you want to be given permission to keep reading.

What's New with Mitchell? Almost 5 Month Update

So, Mitchell will be 5 months old in a couple of days and I feel like so much is changing about him lately.  Here's a rundown of what he's doing these days:

• He loves to coo and make lots of new noises.  After he's done nursing and is very content, he makes this sweet little noise that literally sounds like a baby bird and I swear it makes my heart melt.  He also squeals all the time (literally, he did it in his crib this morning at 3:30 when he was under the impression that it was play time), and makes many more noises that I can tell are fun for him.  It's amazing to see how he is obviously testing out sounds in response to us talking to him. 
• He has his two bottom middle teeth - one came in on Christmas Eve day and the other popped through a few days later, on the 28th.  I had hoped we'd have a reprieve from teething for a little while, but almost immediately he started drooling again, putting any and everything in his mouth, and has been super fussy lately so I guess we've got some more on the way.  I've not been able to feel them yet, so I'm not sure where they are, but pretty soon he's going to have a mouthful.  He "used" them on me for the first time the other day; we're working on that issue!
• He has been rolling over for about a month now, but he really can get going when he wants to.  He can do this thing that John calls the log roll where he'll roll all the way from front to back and keep going for a few revolutions, so we do have to watch where we put him when he's playing on the floor.  We have to make sure he's got plenty of room to move. 
• If we sit him up, he can stay there unassisted for about 5 seconds.  Then he'll either lean forward and grab his toes or do the tripod sit with his hands on the floor, or he'll flop over to one side or the other.  It makes me cringe when he does it, but he always looks up at me with a huge smile on his face so I guess he's having fun!
• He has eaten rice cereal, oatmeal, and has tried a few foods, all with mixed results - sweet peas, sweet potatoes and pears.  We're going to keep working on the food; he seems to really be happy with just milk, but he's going to need those extra calories soon....
• ....because, watch out, he's up on all fours now, trying to figure out how to crawl.  We are sort of in disbelief at this, but he can get up on his hands and knees and rocks back and forth, and has just started pushing his feet into the ground when he's up there.  He has figured out how to scoot himself around by pushing up on his toes and inchworming around.  I think he will get the army crawl figured out really soon and I woudn't be surprised if he's crawling in a few weeks.  Defintely by the end of January, I'd say.  Obviously, we are going to work on baby-proofing this weekend, much sooner than we'd expected!

Here's some new pictures, and as a reminder, you can always go here to see all of them:

Other fave new pasttime - exersaucer!

Christmas Round 2

It occurs to me that I'd better get this down before I forget everything.  We returned home from Birmingham on Christmas night, and one of the first things we did was give M a haircut.  His hair had gotten to the point of hanging all in his eyes, over his ears, and was quickly approaching mulletesque lengths in the back (this is what bothered John the most).  Here are some before, during, and afters:

Back shot (plus you can catch a glimpse of his cute back dimples)

At its shaggiest, on Christmas Day, with my dad

Mitchell tolerated the haircut reasonably well, but he is such a squirmy baby and I was super nervous about cutting it, especially the front.  In the end I did the sides and back that night and then did the bangs the next morning, when he was a bit more rested and in a better mood.

We put him in his seat and gave him some things to play with to distract him.  He still ended up with hair all over himself because he wouldn't sit still!

Here is an after; the bangs were not even close to being even; I just basically ended up whacking some off in three or four quick cuts.  He looked so different to me at first, and I think it made him look older.  I guess I've gotten used to it but the other day at day care one of the moms whose child didn't come the week between Christmas and New Years saw him and exclaimed that I'd cut his hair.  I guess everyone else had noticed how shaggy he was looking too!

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The day after Christmas we repacked and headed north to Knoxville to celebrate with John's parents.  Mitchell was great the whole time, slept well in the pack and play and just delighted his Gramma and Grampa in general.  They loved getting to see all his new tricks (more on that next post) and he got lots of love from both of them.  As in Birmingham, Mitchell received lots of wonderful things from John's side of the family.  My task this weekend is to pick out the most suitable toys and books for now and then pack some of the others that will be better for when he's older away!

Here are some shots from our time in Knoxville:

Kris had a pillow with Rudolph on it, and its nose lit up, and Mitchell loved watching it.  And Kris loved watching Mitchell!

Tooth #2 was on its way in, so Mitchell had his hands (or someone elses') in his mouth most of the time.

Fat and happy (just like the rest of us), at the end of a great Christmas weekend!