7 MONTHS

Phin hit the 7 months mark last week.  According to our measurements he weighs approximately 21 pounds and is 29 inches long.  We are pretty confident with the weight measurement...the height is a different story. He was very interested in the measuring tape and kept squirming to try to get in his hands.

He is still wearing size 3 diapers and is in 9 and 12 month clothes.  He is quite the chatter box and will typically babble away...most often when he should be quiet.  He continues to mumble and moan before he falls asleep...when he is quiet we know that he is finally asleep.  The last month and sleep have been a struggle.  When he was sick we spoiled him with lots of hugs and snuggles at night...in an attempt to get any sleep ourselves.  Once he recovered we wanted him to be back in his bed...he had different ideas.  We let him cry it out a few nights...which may have been harder on his momma than on him...but he is finally back to his own bed.  He isn't quite back to sleeping though the night...but we are getting closer.  We have thought that he has been teething since October...still no teeth.  His nickname this past month might as well be TOOTHLESS.

Phin has become quite the observer this month.  He loves to people watch as much as his parents do.  He has also become more aware of his own body.  If his socks are off he is often found with his feet up in the air so he can examine his toes.  He is starting to bend his hands at the wrist...which we think may be a precursor to waving.  He also loves to turn his head from side to side like he is saying no.  We have been working on him nodding up and down for yes but it seems to be quite a bit harder for him than no.

On Christmas Day Phin finally mastered sitting.  He can now sit for an extended period of time and loves to sit up and play with his toys.

He also sat up in the cart for the first time. He was very curious about all of the food I was stacking up next to him.

He is starting to adjust to some new tastes.  I have to say we have been consistently inconsistent when it comes to solid food.  It just seems so much harder to get his bib out, warm up the food, feed him, clean him up, clean the food up, clean the chair up, etc.  But we are hoping to do better in the new year.  He has had rice cereal, acorn squash, carrots, yams, potatoes, mango, pear, applesauce and oranges.

I know it doesn't look like he loves the mango but I think he really liked it but oranges seem to be his favorite so far.

Phin is starting to take much shorter naps.  He typically takes one cat nap in the morning, a cat nap in the early afternoon and a long nap in the afternoon.  We have made the rule of no naps after 7:00 pm so that he will sleep better at night.

Phin has started to really play and love his toys this past month.  He would be content to have a toy or two in his hands (or mouth) at all times.

He has also become very curious about regular household objects.  In the picture below he is trying to get to my flowers.  He loves to rip up magazines or crumble crunchy bags.

The sink is still our favorite place to bathe him.  He learned a new trick recently and started drinking out of the faucet on his own.  We also taught him how to splash...in hindsight this may have been a big mistake.

His favorite Christmas present was a ball that his cousins Isabelle and Ben gave him.  He could seriously play with it for hours...if the darn thing would just stop rolling away from him.

When we got Phin a pack of stripped onesies I realized that I had a matching shirt. 

Phin's hair is really starting to come in.  I spiked it up in the picture below so you could see just how much is there.  

We knew 2013 would be the year we would welcome our little guy into our family...we are excited to think that in 2014 we will watch as he learns to crawl, walk and talk.

Zoo Lights

We visited Zoo Lights at the Hogle Zoo the Thursday after Christmas.  Mary, Max, Benny and Andrew also visited with us.  We got there about a half hour before they opened...which meant we had to wait out in the cold...but also meant that we got some good parking spots...and based on the line to get in when we left, it was much better to get there early.

The zoo looked very different from the last time I had visited.  I remember most of the enclosures didn't look as natural as they do now.  A lot of animals were asleep for the night...but the Tiger put on quite a show. The tiger's enclosure had a little bridge that went over our heads.  In the dark it was hard to see the netting that kept him enclosed.  As we walked up to his exhibit he was pacing and making loud noises.  He walked up on the bridge and I was afraid for a moment he was going to jump down onto us.

Phin probably liked the small animal exhibit the best.  I think it was a little bit easier for him to see the animals in there.  Here we are next to the snake...which totally makes me think of the second Harry Potter movie.

 We also checked out the turtles.

But I think Phin was most fascinated with the bats...look at his eyes.

We had him all bundled up again...he really couldn't put his arms down and ended up falling asleep just like this.

The lights were spectacular.  Most of them were animated which was fun.  My favorite was the poinsettia arch pictured behind us here.

We had a great time and may have to make this an annual tradition.

Phin's First Christmas

Santa came to our house a few weeks early this year...Phin got his Jumparoo...

...and our family got a new TV.  We had to move our old TV out of Phin's room and it didn't fit into our armoire so we figured it was time for an upgrade.  

Christmas Eve was spent with my side of the family.  We went to the traditional neighborhood sing-a-long and then had pizza at my parents' house.  We had a great time teaching our nieces and nephews how to play pool.  Then the grandchildren opened a gift from my parents...new pajamas.  We had them all put them on and snapped their picture.  

Christmas morning was spent at our apartment.  Phin slept in so we didn't get going until almost 9...it was heavenly.  Here is a picture of Phin with all of our loot.

Phin needed a little help opening his presents.

It is a tradition in Seth's family for each family member to get a new Christmas ornament...I was indecisive so Phin ended up with a few.  The first was this Hallmark baby rattle.

The second which is my favorite was ordered from Shutterfly with all of Phin's birth information and some of our favorite newborn photos.

I had grand visions of Phin fitting in his Christmas stocking...our Christmas stockings are pretty big...but he didn't quite fit...so here is Phin with his Merman tail.

Seth got the new Pioneer Woman cookbook for me.  Then he made me breakfast from the cookbook.  Eggs in Hash Brown nests...or birds nests as I like to call them.  They were delicious.  

While he made those I made Skewers of Glory for our family get together later that afternoon....think shrimp and pineapple wrapped in bacon on a skewer and covered with teriyaki sauce....yum.  Once we pulled them out of the oven, we headed over to Beth and Philip's for an appetizer party.

Phin got some great hugs from his Aunt Emily.  She even let him take a super long nap on him.  We had a great time eating, playing games and hanging out.

A couple of days later I finally had time to dress Phin up and get a few photos.  I was trying to make him look like the Elf on the Shelf.  I had plans to pose him all around the house like the photos I have seen from friends on facebook...but I ran out of energy.  So here is a photo of our little Elf in front of the tree.

...and my one shot of being creative...a snowball (aka marshmallow).

We hope you all had a Merry Christmas.  We have loved getting Christmas cards from so many of you!

Phin's first snowshoe

After shotgun shooting and brunch we headed out to snowshoe on the freshly fallen snow.  This was Phin's first snowshoe adventure and he was a trooper.  

I love his expression in the picture below.

Phin was awake for most of our hike and jibber jabbered for a good portion.  The video of him chatting away is below...forgive me I shot it in portrait mode and couldn't figure out how to rotate it upright.

He finally fell asleep near the end of the trip when we reached the second dam up Logan canyon.

Meet the Cousins

Phin is blessed to have two cousins on each side of the family born within months of him.  Here is a picture from last May of the three pregnant moms...this photo was taken just about a week before Phin arrived...I look huge.  

While we were in Cache Valley we got to meet Emmaline who was born in October.  We decided it would be a good time to get a picture of the three babies together.  We put Phin in the middle and pinned his arms down under his cousins heads.  Emmaline is pictured on the left and Eliza is on the right.  

We also got a picture of the three with their cousin still in utero and due in June.  Tawnya and Jami are going to be awesome parents.

Hopefully by the time their little one arrives, Phin will have learned not to palm his cousins' heads.

Shootin' the breeze

While we were up in Cache Valley we were able to go shotgun shooting at Jamie and Jotham's house.  

Their horses were still the in the pasture even when we attempted to scare them back to the barn.

So the first annual horse roundup commenced.  It was fun to see everyone time to round the horses up.

Phin and I spent quite a bit of time by the fire trying to stay warm.  We had some awfully cute company.

Seth stayed busy shooting and flinging the clay pigeons.

Our newest niece Emmaline stayed warm in her daddy Bret's jacket.

Seth even flung a few squash...we thought they might explode when they were hit...they either didn't explode...or they weren't hit...it is up for debate.

Eliza and Beth also joined the action.

I was able to catch this picture of Seth with all of his sisters...these ladies are quite tough.

After shooting we came inside to warm up with a lovely brunch.  While we were waiting for the prayer Phin got his first ride on a horse.