The Spaulding Way: 2012

Tuesday, November 27, 2012

7 Months

Christopher looks so old to me now. He is so big and when I look at pictures from months ago he hardly looks the same. It's so weird. His personality is really showing and he has a mind of his own. He knows what he wants and is determined to get it. At the same time he is still pretty chill and easy going. He is proud of himself now that he can sit up all by himself. He loves to sit and play all day. On the day he turned 7 months old his first tooth came in. He was a little cranky but not too bad. The next day I could feel the second bottom one coming in and about a week later the top one started to come in. His hair is over his eyes now and I am at a loss of what to do still. I just try to keep it brushed to the side but it rarely stays. He can get up on his hands and knees as well as his hands and toes and rocks back and forth. Between this and rolling he gets around pretty well. This month he learned to blow raspberries and o boy, that has made eating a whole new experience. Messy, messy. He loves his blankies. He loves to "roar" (that is how I would describe it). He also does the funniest things with his tongue.

Here he is at 7 months......
(I had more pictures but blogger isn't letting me up upload anymore pictures. I don't know why. I am so frustrated!)

Loves to sit and play

His silly tongue

Red, chapped cheeks from the cold weather

Trying to sit up. :) He rarely holds still anymore.

As cute as ever!

Sunday, November 11, 2012

Halloween

October flew by way too fast and we almost didn't make it to the pumpkin patch for CJ's first visit. The last Saturday before Halloween we made a quick trip. As you can see from these two pictures CJ didn't really enjoy the experience. This was his first look at a pumpkin and he wasn't too fond of it. (I should probably note that he was asleep in the car and was woken up when we got there. But to be fair he usually only takes short naps so I thought he would still be happy. apparently not.)

I still got some really cute pictures even though he wasn't his usual happy self.

We went trunk-or-treating the Saturday before Halloween. We had fun dressing up and everyone LOVED CJ's football costume.

"Look at all this candy!"

(Don't worry he didn't eat any of it.)

Here we are. Coach, Football Player and Football.

This was actual Halloween night. We dressed CJ up nice and warm in his pumpkin costume (because it was now cold after the storm had blown through two days before) and sat on our front porch and handed out candy. (Our neighborhood was hoppin') Happy Halloween!!

Frankenstorm

Two days before Halloween the east coast was hit by what got the nickname "Frankenstorm". It was really hurricane Sandy that came up the coast. The coast got hit really bad but we are a couple hours from the coast so it definitely wasn't as bad as other places closer to the coast. Everybody was pretty prepared for the worst around here though. Our ward made sure everybody was prepared and all needs were covered. (#37 reason why my ward is the best ever!) Luckily we were so prepared that the Lord protected us and things weren't very bad when the storm came. It poured for two days and the wind was amazingly strong. (A large tree a few houses down fell over along with a lot of trees and debris around town) I didn't venture outside but it sounded horrible. We had to shove the dogs outside and shut the door just to make them go outside to go potty. (poor dogs) otherwise they wouldn't have gone. We were so lucky not to have lost power and even more lucky that our streets didn't get flooded considering we have a river that runs around the outskirts of our neighborhood. I am so grateful we were prepared even though we were blessed with power and safety throughout the storm.

This is the river that goes around our neighborhood and through those trees is the pathway that my friend and I walk in the mornings.

More of the river farther down the way

*Side note: I can't take credit for these great photos. The friend that I go walking with took them and I had to steal them from her since I didn't even think to take any pictures. Thanks Alysia!

Fall in Maryland

I love where we live and especially during the fall. I feel like I didn't get enough fall this year. Somehow the time went by too fast and I didn't take enough walks in the trees and drives in the hills. I managed to take a walk right before the big storm knowing that it might be my last chance to get good pictures of the leaves before the storm wipes them out a few days later. So here is a glimpse into my beautiful town.

Baby Preston in Miami

I got to spend 10 wonderful days just outside of Miami with my sister Janessa and her family. Most importantly I got to see the newest member of their family who had been born just a few days before I arrived.

Preston Jeremy Reese is my newest nephew and he is an adorable little guy.

I hadn't seen Janessa for almost 2 years so it was great to see her again and her family. This was a first to the state of Florida for me and boy was it beautiful.

Jeremy, Kayla and Avely, CJ and I went swimming

We took a walk on a very windy beach one afternoon

CJ didn't like the wind and the loud crashing waves very much

But the wind made for some great hair!!

CJ's first time laying down in a bath tub instead of his usual little bath tub and he loved it! He was kicking and splashing like crazy!

Happy guy!

Matchy cousins! It was so crazy to see how tiny Preston looked next to CJ and how big CJ looked next to Preston. (CJ was never as small as Preston so it was so weird holding such a tiny baby, I felt like I was going to break him, especially after holding CJ all the time.)

We went to the beach a second time (a different one) and the girls played in the sand and the water and I even took a swim out in the ocean and I have to say I have never really considered myself a beach person but I could have stayed in that water all day!! It was wonderful!

It wasn't as windy this day but CJ still didn't like the loud crashing waves. It seemed to make him nervous.

Other than that he was a happy boy. All the sun and stimulus wore him out in just an hour that he took a nice nap, which is when I was able to take a swim. Thanks CJ.

Nice Surfer's hair do. His hat wouldn't stay on, it was too small, so I had to cover his head with sunscreen which was difficult since he has so much hair. So his hair got all greasy and made for a great beachy look.

This is a great picture for two reasons. First, I love the shot of CJ watching Jeremy, Avely and Kayla playing in the sand. (I think they were burying Jeremy's legs in the sand hehe) Second, I love this shot because it shows his awesome hair. Let me explain. Take a close look at the back of his head. It isn't bald but it is very very short. Now look at the rest of his head. It is really long on top ( you can see some of it has blown over the back) He has a backwards mullet. It is a party on the top and business in the back. Or you could say he has somewhat of a comb over because I try to keep some of the top hair combed a little to the back to make it seem like it is the same length all around his head. Too funny. I love it!!

More great hair shots. This was just after coming home from the beach and it was still so greasy that it styled very easily.

It was a great visit and I can't wait to go back the first week of December! Thanks to Janessa and Jeremy for flying CJ and I out there. Also a special thanks to Jeremy for going to Brazil for a week so there was a good excuse for me to go!!

Wednesday, November 7, 2012

A First for Christopher

Baby food!!!


First bite.....


"What is this!!"

"I'm not so sure about this...."

"Nope...not so sure I like it."

"Definitely don't like it"

"Ahh stop putting this stuff in my mouth guys!"

His first food was oatmeal and what we thought was sweet potatoes....later we looked again and it was actually carrots. He still does not like carrots to this day. He loves everything else so far except bananas. It took about a week of getting use to eating and what to do with it once it was in his mouth but now he has got it down and LOVES to eat. He gets so excited when we put him in his high chair and he sees the bowl!

The Spaulding Way

Family Collage