8 Months Old - Trouble With a Capital J.

John is growing so fast we can hardly believe it.  In the three weeks since our last post John has gone from almost crawling to fully mobile (as of 4.27.12).  He is trouble.  In our last post we mentioned having to remove the crib bumper because Mr. Curious was trying to look out; we have since lowered the crib mattress TWICE because he now knows how to pull himself up into the standing position and is one meltdown away from hurling himself out of the crib.  We don't know much about parenting, but we suspect that we are in for it.  We've added lunch to John's daily routine and he's trying his best to feed himself!  The park around the corner put the swings up this week and we've taken a trip there nearly every day since - John is a fool for swinging.  We had a blast in Boston a few weeks ago; John loved all the attention he was getting from his cousins!  We even got to witness how brave Cate has become - she and Cooper have finally become pals.

Some photos and videos from the weeks... 

(copyright Murillo Baby Blog... without permission!)

The end of a super fun hike with friend Isabel (and her parents Elizabeth and Kevin O'Connell)

Crawling!

Feeding himself!

7.5 Months - Yehaw Holidays!

It's been nearly a month since our last post, and we have been busy! In the past month John...

• Celebrated his first St. Patrick's Day
• Hopped to his first (creepy) Easter Bunny photo session - wearing an outfit that his Big cousin Billy, Uncle John, Uncle Will, and Dad all wore - to celebrate Easter with the Geiselmann Clan
• Flew to Austin, TX to kick it with Granny, Great Uncle Tom, and Great Aunt Mary Lea, while Mama + Dad went to Lindsay and Jason's wedding
• Tried some new foods - he loves chicken + carrot puree and hates mashed potatoes...because he's crazy
• Continues to be really curious - so much so that we had to remove the bumper on his crib because he kept pulling it down to peek out
• Made some serious moves toward crawling (uh oh); rocking back and forth on his hands and knees, standing on tip toes and finger tips with his bum in the air, and doing something close to a stationary army crawl
• ...and (dare we say it?!) began sleeping through most of the night (waking only once = way better)! 

One thing is for certain: John is on the move.

Some photos from the month...

Just loungin'

Cool new jumpy thing at Mema + PopPop's House

 Sleeping through Austin:

The Capitol Building during a Rodeo!

The shops on South Congress with Granny, Gr Aunt Mary Lea and Gr Uncle Tom

Allen's Boot Shop

Lucy's Fried Chicken

Yum!

He cried - who wouldn't?!

The final product ended up being very cute though

The Palamaras

John's 1st Easter Basket

Snuggling with Bobo

Weeks 27-29 - Birthday Bonanzas

It's been a busy few weeks!  Starting with the basics, it turns out that John does NOT like avocados or bananas and he wasn't afraid to tell us (sour faces, nasty noises, and even tears!).  What he does love, though, is the game of Peek-a-boo and when we bop our heads from side to side - for some reason he thinks this is hilarious.  Perhaps he thinks our heads are going to fall off our shoulders... he may be right considering how tired we are.  As you might have guessed, John is still not sleeping well.  Boo!  Thankfully, he is so happy during the day that we typically forget about the sleepless nights. John is also starting to get the hang of drinking water from his sippy-cup. Well, maybe not drinking, per-se, but he definitely gets water out of the cup and spits it at us. Close enough?
 
Week 27 started with Dad's Birthday.  We had a fun time decorating the apartment while Dad was at work, and we were ready and waiting with our party hats on when he returned home.  That night we enjoyed a delicious meal and even tried our hand at Granny's Pineapple Upside-Down Cake (ours was close, but hers is better), all the while goofing around.  Matt left for Chicago the next day and returned with a terrible stomach bug.  We quarantined him to the sofa for three days and, luckily, the rest of us were able to avoid it.  Week 28 was business as usual, but included a special first visit with cousins Anthony and Benjamin.  We had a very comical photo shoot with the boys and laughed at the domino effect of tears that ensued!  During Week 29 we headed off to Wellesley to spend time with Granny and the Murillos.  We had a great time celebrating Cate's 2nd Birthday!  John got a real kick out of being bopped on the head with balloons, but he didn't love when everyone cheered as Cate opened her gifts.  He is officially in "stranger anxiety" mode and starts crying when weirdos like Pete Murillo and Kevin O'Connell approach.  We wrapped up Week 29 with a lovely visit with Mema, Pop-Pop, and The Smiths.  So fun!
 

Some photos from the weeks...