10 MONTHS

Our little guy is now 10 months old.  I am having a hard time wrapping my mind around the idea that in two short months he will be year old.  We have started to think about ideas for a birthday party and will keep you all posted.

Phin now weighs about 24 pounds and is a little over 30 inches tall.  He is wearing size 12-18 month clothing and size 4 diapers.  He got his first tooth at the beginning of March and is working pretty hard on getting a few more.  He has perfected the army crawl this month and gets wherever he wants to go with great effort. 

His nickname this month was PUPPY DOG because he follows me around just like a puppy dog, he licks me, he likes to go on walks, he begs for food and he can typically be found right under my feet.

He is starting to push up on his knees but doesn't crawl that way.

Phin tends to back himself up frequently and sometimes ends up right under furniture.

He loves to stand up and throws quite the fit when he falls over or when I set him down to get things down around the house.

When he first started standing he hadn't quite figured out how to move his feet and ended up in quite a few straddles.  He is starting to pull himself up...he did it once at Nona's house and freaked out when he was up because he didn't know how he managed it and didn't know how he would manage getting back down.

He loves his Daddy and continues to look at him with a great admiration.  On nice days we go outside and wait for Seth to get home and Phin flaps his arms and smiles when Seth finally arrives.

We have several boxes of toys but Phin would prefer to play with household objects...like drawer pulls...

door stops, kitchen magnets, fly swatters...

the vacuum...

cardboard boxes...

and electrical cords.

Sometimes we talk him into playing with real toys.

He has started to master solid foods...although almost every feeding starts with a face like this.  Mangoes continue to be his favorite food with pears and applesauce coming in close behind.

He had his first sucker this month after we walked to the bank and he was a big fan. (He also got his first official pair of Converse sneakers...I found them at the DI for a couple of bucks and couldn't resist.)

He also tried a rice puff at Aunt Beth's and was a big fan.

He may have had an allergic reaction to peanuts and then to pecans this month.  Can you see the red hives around his lips in the picture below?  It is a sad thing to think that he may not have any PB&J's in his future.

He continues to love bath time.

Count Boogie Dracula made his first appearance this past month.

Phin also had his first haircut this month.  

I had given Seth a haircut just before and convinced him to keep a mustache just for the night. I love these two handsome guys.

Phin also enjoyed quite a bit of cousin time this month.  He and James can often be found playing on the carpet together on Sunday afternoons.

Kate came down from Idaho for a visit so our three summer babies spent some time together.

We took Phin over to the park for his first ride on the swings...he wasn't sure about swings initially...

but he eventually warmed up.

We took Phin to a Gymnastic meet at the University of Utah and he loved the cheering, music, lights and people watching.

Phin has been a pretty good sleeper this month.  He usually sleeps on his tummy but sometimes I find him on his back with his arms stretched out like he is saying "I surrender."

We sure love this little guy and can't imagine life without him.  We often wish that time would slow down a little bit so we could really savor each stage that Phin is in but at the same time we can't wait to see what the next month brings.

TRADITION

Seth's birthday was at the end of February.  His siblings surprised him by taking him out for lunch.  We went out on a date later that evening.  We had dinner at Five Guys and then went to Viewmont High School to see their rendition of Fiddler on the Roof...Tevye was AMAZING!  We enjoyed everything about the night...except that the auditorium was freezing.

I wanted to make a special St. Patrick's Day feast.  I was hoping to run to the store early in the morning so we could have Lucky Charms for breakfast...but I didn't roll out of bed early enough for that one.  So when Seth got home from work we enjoyed corned beef and cabbage, lime jello, biscuits, glazed carrots, roasted potatoes and lime jarritos.  For dessert we had mint cookies and cream ice cream.  

Here is a picture of our family all dressed in green on St. Patrick's Day.

Speaking of traditions...we have been house shopping in the hopes of finding a place where we can continue traditions and make new traditions.  We started looking at homes at the beginning of the month.  The first home we saw had great curb appeal...it was a red brick bungalow on a corner lot that was built in 1921.  The outside was gorgeous...but the floor plan was not something we could look past.  There was no place for a dining/kitchen table and Seth had to duck his head to walk in the basement.

We mentioned to our current landlord that we were looking and they happened to have a place that they were selling.  We looked at it our first Saturday of shopping and really liked it...but since it was just the second house we had looked at we weren't quite ready to commit  We asked them let us know if they got any offers as we continued to shop...well just two days later they called and let us they had an offer.  We decided to go and look at it again and after a night of thinking it over... we decided to take the plunge.  We put in a verbal offer early the next morning and a written offer later that night.  When we put in our verbal offer our landlords countered so we included those conditions in the written offer.  They made us feel pretty confident that we would get the place.  I started to picture our lives in the new home...Phin playing in the backyard, cooking in the kitchen, growing a garden, family gatherings, etc.

I was literally shattered the next day when we heard that the people that had the original offer had countered once our offer was on the table and that our landlords had accepted that offer.  They were happy with the offer and didn't want us to get in a bidding war.  I literally walked around like a zombie for the next few days. ..a cookie eating zombie.  This process is going to be tough for me...in order to make an offer I will have to be in love with a place...then if we don't get it I will be mourning the life we could have had there.

Every time I have driven by the place over the last month I have looked eagerly to see if the sign was still up...not so secretly hoping that the offer would fall through.  Well the sign came down this week.  I had Seth look up the MLS and we just lost the home by a couple thousand dollars...another hard blow.  I told Seth that I feel like this house is the one that got away.  When I met Seth I knew he was the right one...because I had dated so many guys that weren't the right one...this was just the second house that we saw so we didn't know just how much we loved it.  Wish us luck as we continue the search for a home where we can continue our traditions.

Thrifty Finds

I thought I would document some of my recent thrifty finds.  My mom heard about a sale at a Downeast Clearance Center.  Everything in this post cost me less than seven dollars.  First up six new bibs for our Phinner.  Most of these bibs were from Pottery Barn and were monogrammed with names.  The bibs just cost 50 cents each so I felt like they were worth the splurge.  My mom has an pretty extensive supply of ribbons, rick rack, etc and was sweet enough to help cover up the monograms.  I think they turned out quite nice.

Next up some stocking holders.  They were on sale for five for a dollar and they all had engravings on the top.  I had been eyeing stocking holders at the after Christmas sales at Target...but I just couldn't justify the price...this I could justify.  To cover up the engravings I headed to JoAnn's and found some red ribbon that matches the ribbon in the stocking holder.  I pulled out my sewing machine made a few straight stitches and ta-da. 

I also found some Pottery Barn Christmas stockings that match the stockings we have.  The stockings were on sale for five for a dollar...they were monogrammed as well so I just took an evening in front of the TV watching a movie and picked out the names.

9 MONTHS

Phin is now 9 months old...the last nine months with him have been quite a bit more enjoyable than the 9 months he was growing in my belly.  We visited in the pediatrician this week and it was one of the rare appointments where he didn't need to get any shots...as a result neither one of us left the office in tears.  

Phin now weighs 22 pounds 1 ounce and is 30 inches long.  That puts him in the 75th percentile for weight and the 94th percentile for height.  I also wanted to mention that his head is 18.3 inches in circumference which puts him in the 83rd percentile in that category...which makes getting him dressed so much fun...I have pretty much given up on pull-over sweatshirts unless they are a size or two bigger.  He is wearing mostly 12 month clothing but wears some 18 month pants.

I said we would be moving to size 4 diapers...but we have kept him in size 3...mostly because they are cheaper...but the size of his girth won't allow us to be cheap for much longer. Phin still had no teeth at the 9 month mark.  Everytime he has been fussy we have said "Oh he must be teething"...we are now starting to realize that no he is not teething...he is just being fussy.  Phin is not crawling which really doesn't bother me much...he rolls very well and can maneuver anywhere he needs to that way...although he always seems to roll into a corner of his pack and play and whimpers until I come to save him. He is staring to wave and often waves both hands...he could really give some lessons to the pageant girls.

Phin continues to be a little chatterbox.  I love when he wakes up making happy noises.  He babbles with /m/, /b/, and /d/ phonemes.  He says "hi" and says it frequently when his Dad comes home from work.  He squeals and has done a few raspberries.  Sometimes he talks while he is eating which makes it much harder to get the food to stay in his mouth.  Seth has pretty much taken over feeding Phin solids...he is very patient and lets Phin take his time.  Phin really just figured out solids in the week before he hit the 9 month mark.  He now opens his mouth when the food is coming...big improvement.  When the doctor said he should be eating 3 meals a day...I omitted the truth that we are lucky to get one solid food feeding in a day.

Phin took his first official family trip this month.  We had a king size bed in our room which allowed Phin plenty of room to roll around.  He loved watching other guests in the breakfast room.  

He also enjoyed our hiking backpack for the most part.  He tends to fight the backpack at first but as soon as he is up and moving he calms down.  He is a little funny with hats...somehow knows when he really needs a hat and will keep it on...but if you put it on when he doesn't need it...he pulls it right off.

Phin had his first driving lessons on our trip.

He also spent quite a bit of time with this view as we drove between our sites.  I occasionally sat next to him to give him a little company...and to feed him.  

Phin loved being outside on the trip...he is my little outdoor boy.  Whenever he is fussy all I have to do is step outside and then he forgets what he was fussing about.

Phin has a pretty special relationship with his Dad.  There is just a way that he looks at Seth that makes my heart skip a beat...Seth says Phin looks at me that way too...but I'm not so sure.

Phin is starting to enjoy games like peek-a-boo and patty cake.  He also loves to have books read to him...

but would really just prefer to rip the book apart.  I have started to save magazines for him to rip apart...cheap entertainment.

He took his last official bath in the sink...mostly because we ended up with more water outside of the sink. Seth also sticks his tongue out when he is concentrating...doesn't Michael Jordan do the same thing.

Phin was invited to his first friend birthday party.  My best friend Amy's daughter Zoey turned one on Valentines so we dressed Phin up to impress.

Zoey was kind enough to send us home with a balloon...Phin was entertained for hours with that one.

Phin, my mom and I also took a trip up to Pocatello to visit Sarah, Joe and Kate.  Phin enjoyed their nightly dance party.

While I went to a speech conference one day, Phin and Kate got to play.  Phin loved all of Kate's toys.

Phin apparently showed off some take-down moves...Kate didn't seem to be phased at all from them.  I think she didn't mind because she is now crawling and will be able to escape any future take down moves.

One Saturday we were quite bored and decided to load Phin up and walk around the local Mall.

He loved the fountains and the lights.

Phin has learned to share this month and doesn't mind wiping his nose all over my shoulder...so kind.