Saturday, December 22, 2012

What's for dinner?

So it's begun... Pierce is starting solids.  At our 4 month check up the pediatrician asked if we wanted to start him on solids early and at that point he had no interest in what we were eating so I said not yet.  I didn't want to start Pierce on solids until he showed signs that he was ready.  In my mind those signs were things like the ability to sit up, teeth, tracking Clay and I as we ate, grabbing for our food, ect.  At Thanksgiving we gave him a couple of tastes of potato but nothing substantial.  However, in the last couple of weeks Pierce has developed a keen interest in the goings on at the dinner table.  So we've started giving him a few bites.

I've decided on avocado as the first food.  I didn't like the idea of rice cereal and having a process grain be the first food.  I'm also interested in baby led weaning which feels much more natural to me than spoon feeding a baby.  So for the last couple of weeks we've had Pierce sit at the table with us and play with a spoon to get use to meal times.  It's been an interesting transition but I think it's working okay.  So far we are just getting Pierce used to the feel of a solid food in his mouth and what to do with it once the food is in his mouth.  While he's not quite sure what to do he clearly wants more!





Pierce has also developed an interest in Baxter and Maggie.  He really really really wants to feel their fur.  At first they were willing to get close but when they discovered that Pierce is an ear grabber they now keep their appropriate distance.  But if we're all on the floor the dogs will come and get in on the action.  And I'm really pleased with them because so far if Pierce starts to bother them they just get up and walk away.  They really are great family dogs.

Pierce wants to go for a pony ride!

Me and all my babies!

What does Baxter feel like?

It's fun to pet Maggie!

Our next trick will be to work on being gentle with the puppies!

Sunday, December 02, 2012

Thanksgiving Extravaganza

My folks came down to visit this Thanksgiving and honestly I don't remember the last Thanksgiving I had spent with my parents.  In college I started going to Dallas for Thanksgiving since it was expensive to fly home and it didn't make a lot of sense to fly home for Turkey Day and turn around 2 weeks later to come home for Christmas.  So many years ago I started spending Thanksgiving in Dallas with my aunt's family.  It's turned into a tradition for Clay and I so when my folks said they were coming for Thanksgiving I figured why change tradition!  And off we went to Dallas.

But before we could head south, mom and dad spent a few days with us.  Or perhaps more appropriately they spent a few days with Pierce.  Clay and I had to work a couple of days so Gramby and Geezer had fun babysitting and bonding with their favorite grandson!**

Geezer playing with Pierce

Hanging out with Gramby

We had an "incident" with the jumpa jumpa so Pierce had to play in the Johnny Jump Up for a while.  Not as good :(

Geezer thought ribs were an appropriate first food for Pierce


Mom suggested we try to work with Pierce on sitting up.  We had him in the boppy but misjudged the distance between Pierce and the coffee table.  This picture was taken moments before the great head bonking incident.  Pierce just kind of toppled over and hit his noggin on the table.  While he probably only "fell" about 2 inches you would have thought the incident was much worse given the amount of screaming and carrying on.  As for me... I just laughed.  I felt bad, but the dramatic melt down was really over the top!


Of course no visit from dad is complete without a project.  For Christmas this year Clay and I gave ourselves the finishing touches to our media room.  Dad and Clay spent a couple of days installing the projector and the big screen then getting the sound wired up!  It's quite the entertaining space!



While the boys worked on the media room mom helped decorate the nursery with some Star Wars decals she had found.

A baby practicing being cute!

Then we were off to Dallas.  Four adults, three dogs, and a baby!  It was like National Lampoons Christmas Vacation!

Auntie auntie Ellen and Pierce

We played our all important football game!
My defensive move on Mel!

We ate a big meal

And everyone slept good on the ride home





It was a great Thanksgiving!  Lots of fun, family, friends and food.  
Pierce has been growing by leaps and bounds.  It's fun to watch his development.  So I'll end with some obligatory cute baby pics and if you're lucky a video or two!

Trying out the highchair.  Perhaps solids are in this boy's near future.


Pushing up.  Perhaps crawling is coming soon as well.

Or just nap time.  I think we have a thumb sucker on our hands!

This boy LOVES his jumpa jumpa!






**  Since he's their only grandson I can say these things!