5 Months!

This week Tanner turned 5 months old. It still amazes me how fast the time has gone by and how quickly he has grown. People always are shocked when I tell them he's only 5 months...most people guess 7-8 months. He is just so tall, strong, and chubby!

Tanner trying desperately to roll over from his back to his tummy. He can easily roll over the from his belly, but this direction is a little bit tricky. As you can see, his body is practically in a U-shape. He get's to about this point and gets so frustrated that he'll start to cry for help. He knows how to rollover, but he doesn't scoot around much. He's figured out that if he pulls on the blanket, he can get the toys with in grabbing distance so he doesn't have to move. So smart!

Tanner grabs and reaches for anything in site - including my hair, cell phone, or cup of water. The other day, Tanner grabbed my nose and managed to get one finger on the inside. When he pulled away a second later - his sharp little finger nail scratched the inside and he gave me a bloody nose! Even when my hair is in a pony tail, he manages to grab the little baby hairs at the back and pull hard on them. It hurts!

Tanner is a very strong little boy - and is close to sitting up on his own. When he's saying still, I can get him to sit up for 10 seconds or so. Most of the time he's constantly moving so he doesn't last more than a few seconds. If I have him propped next to the boppy pillow with minimal support, he can last over a minute so any day now I think he'll be sitting up. But not matter where I set him - in his car seat, stroller, laying down on floor, sitting on couch, laying in bathtub - he keeps on trying to lean forward and sit up on his own.

Tanner also found his feet. When he wakes up early in the morning - usually around 6:30 - I'll have him come in play in my bed for a few minutes while I gradually wake-up (I'm still not a morning person). When I sit him up on my belly, he'll go straigt for his toes and grab them.

Tanner is quite the chibber-chabber too. He makes all sorts of baby sounds - and sometimes I've convinced he must be trying to tell me something. At the same time, he's also found his vocal chords. And while he's usually a very mild mannered little boy...but he'll let you know when he's not happy and start to grunt or scream.

And every other kid who sees Tanner's toys, no matter how old they are, want to play with them or in some cases, try them out - as demonstrated by Avery in Tanner's Exersaucer. And other 2 and 3 years have tried it out - she's not the first. I'm just shocked at how much kids of all ages still love simple baby toys. It's like they never outgrow them!

But the best part of all, in that Tanner can now full on laugh and giggle when you play with him. Anthony was the first to get him to laugh when he would attack him with the towel after his bath...but he also does it when you nibble on his neck where he's ticklish or throw him up in the air. I keep thinking he's too young or fragile to be playing so rough, but when you hear him laugh, it's contageous and you keep wanting him to do it again and again. We tried to get Tanner to laugh here, and we weren't very successful. I'll have to try again sometime! It's soooooooo cute!!

No more monkeys sleeping in my bed!

While Anthony was out of town camping with the YM, I thought I would try something new and have Tanner sleep with me. I wanted to have someone to cuddle with. But after having him toss and turn all night - constantly stirring in his sleep, whacking me in the face with his hands, and kicking me as soon as he woke up...I decided it was not worth it. We didn't even make it the entire night - at 4:00 in the morning he was back in how own crib. I decided it was best for both of us and never again!

Elf in Training!

For those that know me, I love to shop. And I'm obsessed with finding the best deals! So I wasn't going to let the fact that Anthony was going camping stop me from the biggest day of shopping - black Friday.

The only problem was - I needed a shopping buddy. Usually I go with my fam, but my sister had to work and my mom had to watch Avery. So I decided this year I'd have to settle for Tanner being my shopping buddy - and he was the best ever - and this is why!

1. I didn't need an alarm clock. He woke me up when he was ready to start the day and we were off. And I even got to sleep in until 7:00.


2. People are SO nice when they see you have a baby. When I was checking out at Target, the cashier was insisting that someone help me to my car. I guess I did have a cart full of stuff, but I told her I was totally fine.


3. He doesn't ask for things or put things into the cart. And he won't tell what other people what you are getting for them.

One person commented that I must be really brave, but really, Tanner loves walking around in his baby bjorn. I knew exactly what I wanted - so I was in and out of the stores in no time. He even got a normal long nap in the morning - and when he woke up again - we headed to one more store just in time to catch the 1pm sale closing. I guess the only downer was that he couldn't hold my spot in line while I ran to get the one last thing I forgot. Oh well!

But after hearing about the Wal-Mart sales associate who was killed by the mobs, I guess I should consider myself lucky. But that's why I never shop at Wal-Mart! Sorry folks, but Target is SO much better!

Gobble Gobble!

This Thanksgiving was Tanner's first - and so he could join in the celebration - I let him take his first official bite of food. Rice cereal may not sound very exciting, but not knowing in differently, he thought it was good. He didn't know what to do at first, but once he realized it was food, he was all about it and was literally attacking the spoon. I was surprised that he even knew how to swallow, but he figured it out after the first few tries. And I had left the baby spoon at home - so he had to manage with a regular spoon - even more impressive.

Tanner enjoying his meal!

And after, a very satisfied Tanner!

P.S. Look at those little red rosy cheeks! When they first started doing this, I thought for sure he must be sick, but he was totally fine.

The rest of us enjoyed a traditional Thanksgiving dinner at my parents home in the afternoon. My favorite - as always - is the stuffing - followed closely behind my homemade dinner rolls. So yummy! It was a smaller crowd this year - just Brendan, Chels, and Avery - were there to celebrate along w/my parents. But for Christmas, we're looking forward to everyone coming to visit - all the siblings and even the grandparents. What a party!

Even though I totally stuffed myself, at 5:00 we headed over to Anthony's parents home for an authentic Mexican thanksgiving - Tamales. We had ordered them from a local Guatamalen restaurant here in town. I still prefer the mexican version, but they were good. I was just glad his parents were kind enough to switch up the cuisine so we didn't have two Turkey dinners in a row.

And like any important day, I had the cutest outfit lined up for Tanner to wear. But on the way over, he made an explosion. My dad had held him for over 30 minutes and didn't even realize it, but as soon as I picked him up, I could just tell my the smell. He made the biggest mess I have ever seen - it was running down his pants and even on his socks. So we did an emergency bath in my parents kitchen sink.

We had to make due with a pink towel - which almost make him look like a girl.
He was lauging as we were drying him off - just having a good ole time while the rest of us were gawking at his surprise he left for us.

Getting in the mood for Thanksgiving

I thought I should take a moment to share all the wonderful things I am grateful for. Really, my list good go on forever as I have SO much to be thankful for. Not that I have the perfect life, but thinking about it, there's not many things I would change. And hey, what else could a person ask for???

1. Book club - it's seriously the favorite night of the month. I LOVE it! I look forward to it weeks in advance and it just makes my day. I love to read, but usually need motivation and a deadline. I don't know what I love the most about it. It's not just the books and the discussions, but mingling with friends, eating yummy food, and just relaxing w/the girls.


2. My bank account - With the economy gone south, I am grateful that I'm been somewhat prudent and managed to save a chunck of change to help pay for Anthony's dental school tuition. As one of partners I work with said - It's just like buying a new car each year. Except both her and her husband are partners in the firm and so they're totally loaded - so it's not the same. While there's always room for improvement in my spending habits, I'm grateful to have a college education, a job that challenges my mind, and earn a good living so there's still some that's left over.


3. Grandparents - Tanner (and myself included) are very fortunate to have such loving grandmas. While it's not a perfect situation (I still wish I didn't have to work), in my mind, I couldn't picture a better scenerio, and LOVE the fact they are willing to help with Tanner while I have to work. They take such good care of him - taking him for walks, reading him books, and just holdings/cuddling him. It just makes it easier as I leave for work, I know he's in the arms of people who love him.


4. My hubbie - I think the best decision I ever made was to marry Anthony. Not that he is perfect, but that he complements me perfectly. Before we got married, people always commented that the first few years of marriage was the roughest, but so far, we haven't experienced that point.


5. Tanner - Remembering back to last Thanksgiving, we were announcing to our families that we were pregnant. For my fam, I mentioned it while we were going around the table each sharing individual items were were thankful for. And for Anthony's family, he happened to sneak it in during the prayer on the Thankgiving meal. Looking back over all the events that have transpired over the past year - I'm grateful for how wonderful everything turned out. Although there's always things I wish I could change, I got my wish - and that was a beautiful, healthy little baby.

And in the end, I think Tanner makes me a better person. I always want him to have the best, and as a result, I want to be better for him. One of my friends was reading my blog and commented that I'm much less emotionally guarded now. And I didn't realize it until after she said it, but it's true. Having a baby has brought out the emotional side of me that I didn't know existed - but in a good way. It's like you learn to love more than you knew you ever could.

I hope one day I can instill in him the values that are precious to me, but always want him to be the spirited, vivacious little baby boy that I love so dearly.

Jumperoo

We had just put together Tanner's Jumperoo (it's one of these new Fisher-price standalone bouncer chair things) and Tanner absolutely loves it. I had gotten it as a baby shower gift, but wasn't sure when would be a good age for him to play with it. I just thought we would try it out. And I'm SO glad we didn't wait any longer cause he totally loves playing with it. Even though his feet can barely touch the ground, but he still can get himself jumping at full speed. He looks like a little twinkletoes cause they just keep moving until he touches the ground and bounces himself up and down. I need to take a video and will post it for y'all to see.

Mr. Mom

Anthony got to play "Mr. Mom" this week. While Anthony has helped take care of Tanner before, it was more like for a few hours here and there while I went to run errands...but never for an entire day. I had to work this week - and Anthony had the entire week off - so it only made sense for him to watch Tanner.

At first Anthony was worried he wouldn't know what to do with Tanner for an entire day and that he'd get bored being at home. So when I came home, I wasn't sure what I would see. But to everyone's amazement, I walked in and Tanner was lauging and giggling when Anthony was making these silly faces and sounds. He said they had a good time together and he really enjoyed it...but not enough that he wants to quit dental school and be a stay-at-home dad. Thanksgoodness!

But Anthony still hadn't showered by the time I came home... He said he figured there was no point if he's not going out anywhere - which is funny cause I've said the same thing before, but that was when Tanner was first born when I was still overwhelmed and sleep devrived. Anthony, on the other hand, didn't have a very good excuse cause Tanner pretty much slept over 4 hours - which is like a world record for him!

The best part about having Anthony at home - I can sleep in. All this week Tanner has been wide awake at 6:00 in the morning. So after I try everything to get him back to sleep, Anthony will take him and entertain him while I catch another hour or two of sleep. It's been so so nice. And as another added perk, he even had time leftover to do laundry and dishes. I could get use to this!

Twilight

I knew that if I didn't go see it with Chelsea on opening day, she would go without me. So after work and a wedding reception and before we left for College Station, I squeezed in a movie!

I won't spoil the movie for you, but the best part was when Edward called Bella a Spidermonkey! But overall, the book is still so much better. You can't capture half of the story line in the movie. And while the actor grew on me, Edward just wasn't the same as I'd pictured in my head. He's just not cute or perfect enough to be Edward. But I did like Bella in the movie.

I was suprised at how well spread it is. Everyone knows about it and is talking about it. When I was talking about all the girls at work about it on Friday, all of them knew about it, had read all the books, and even one of them had already gone to see it on Thursday night at 12:01 - she's totally die hard. I guess I'm just use to not having anything in common with my co-workers :)

I wasn't exposed until this summer. I was on bedrest before I had Tanner so my sister-in-law- Cheryl let me borrow the books so I would have something to do. But she did warn me that I would be hooked as she's read them over and over. So if you haven't already - go read the books!

Road Trip!

We took Tanner on his first road trip! Ok, so the trip was less than 3 hours away, but we've never taken Tanner any further than Denton and wasn't sure how he'd handle the road. We went to College Station to visit Anthony's sister Kristie, her husband Devin, and baby Madison.

We left early Saturday morning. Tanner woke us up at 6:30 and shortly after we were on the road. I was thinking he would sleep the entire time, but he had other ideas. He did sleep the first hour, but was in the back seat next to him to play with him. For a moment, he was getting anxious so we tried to pull over so I could feed him, but it was a little difficult being in the car where he had too many distractions - so he was no interested in eating. And he ended up falling asleep for the last 30 minutes of the ride. While Tanner slept ok in the car, he thought he had enough to last him the entire day cuz after that he didn't want anything to do with taking a nap. It's a little more difficult when he doesn't have his crib, but still.

We went on a quick tour on Downtown Byran to see the Christmas lights (although not nearly as impressive as SLC), ate ice cream at DQ (well - I should say all of us except for Anthony - his was dropped on the ground accidentally - but he attempted to resurect it), played Farkle in which Kristie creamed everyone, and decorated Christmas sugar cookies. Tanner seems like such a little baby compared to Madison - who is pretty much walking, eating solid foods, sleeping through the night, doing her little baby talk. Madison is about to turn 1 and it's just amazing how many things kids learn to do in their first year of life - and yet so many things to look forward the next year too. Tanner enjoyed watching Madison play with everything - lucky for me, he's still pretty immobile. When they got close to each other, a few times they would try to hug and kiss (or should I say slobber) on the other.

Our visit was short and sweet as we had to turn around the next day to come home. But we had fun and so it was worth every moment. Even though they're just a few hours away, we don't see them nearly enough. And Kristie is such a good mom - creative, fun, organized - you name it. And Devin is a great dad too. I guess now that I have Tanner, I just pay more attention to how parents interact with their kids and always looking for good ideas. As you can tell...I'm still learning.

But we had to leave Sunday night so I could get to work the next day. We left Sunday evening at 7:00 - and after 5 minutes - Tanner was asleep the entire way. Yeah! Overall, the best part about the weekend was just being able to relax and spend some good quality time together as a family. Tanner and Anthony - my two favorite men and I just can't get enough of them.

Looking back, I wish I would have gone to see the musical "Jekyll and Hyde" that Devin was a part of. When Kristie first asked, I didn't really want to have to leave Tanner with someone he didn't know. Bedtime can be pretty tricky - especially when he's not at his own house. And I had such a busy week that I wanted to spend as much time with him as possible. After seeing Devin getting ready for the show, doing his make-up, and seeing clips of the musical made me wish I could have gone to see it. If Devin is ever in another production again, we're totally there.

Thanks Kristie and Devin for the fun weekend!

One little finger...

Two littele fingers...

Three little fingers...

Four little fingers...

So far this is the number Tanner has managed to fit in his mouth all at one time. He still loves to play with them. Sucking his fingers isn't quite the right term - it's more like gnawing or chewing on them. Some days I've convinced that he most be teething, but that's prob at least a few months away...according to Anthony.