Leo's 1st Halloween

Leo's 1st Halloween was a real treat! I took Leo to visit Aunt Tiffy and Uncle Martin's and they had an Elmo music book for him...both music and Elmo are 2 of his favorite things. Next, I took Leo to see Grandma and Grandad and they had a treat for him as well. They gave him a toy snail that sings the alphabet song. What a lucky boy! I know Leo can't eat candy yet, but I never expected that he would receive such cool Halloween gifts. What a great family he has!

Leo was in bed by 6:45 p.m., but next year we'll make sure that he collects loads of candy!

7 Months Old

I can't believe Leo is already 7 months old. As you can see, at 7 months old, Leo has crazy hair, huge smiles and a friend named Elmo. Leo loves observing people as they do things. I am able to put him in the Bjorn and he will watch me do housework for hours. He is so observant and inquisitive.

Leo also loves watching older children play. I take him to the gym a few times a week where Grandma takes care of him and he always loves watching the older children.

Leo is also gaining independence. He is getting better at playing solo for a while, which gives me the opportunity to eat, go to the bathroom and even check my email from time to time. These simple pleasures are greatly appreciated.

Leo continues to be a fairly good eater. I pureed a ton of foods last night and he loved the pear, apple and prunes with cinnamon...heck, I even liked it. Yummy!

Roar!

This may be the cutest blog post ever! As you can see, Leo had a roaring good time at the pumpkin patch with his friends from our playgroup. He even had a little lion friend, Kaylin. We didn't stay too long because our little lion cub has a big appetite and needed to eat, but we had a great time. It was the perfect day for this Fall excursion.

Sitting!

Leo is officially sitting! Sometimes these milestones are difficult to pinpoint, but yesterday was the first day that Leo sat for an extended period of time (more than a minute), without toppling over. As you can see by the second photo, he still crashes, but that can be fun too.

Fall is Here

This weekend we were quite lazy, but did manage to enjoy the changing season. It was nearly impossible to get any photos of Leo with the leaves because he was taking fist fulls and trying to consume them.

Changing both Leo's diapers and clothing has become a battle of epic proportions. Dare I say he is now starting to throw temper tantrums. He screams and rolls over in defiance. He also cries often when I feed him his solid food. I feed him using 2 spoons. He uses one and I use the other. Unfortunately there are times he insists on holding both spoons and when I pry one from his hand to feed him, he bursts into tears. Do I really need to use three spoons? This seems excessive. He was quite grumpy today too...let's hope this is a symptom of teething. Regardless of the hassle, I think we will keep him. Even on his worst of days, we still manage to get so many smiles.

Still Best Friends with Cookie and Carrots too!

Leo still smiles with delight every time he sees his Cookie Monster, so it makes photo taking easy. I couldn't resist snapping Leo in his cute and cool guy guitar shirt. Leo's hair also sticks up which makes him look even "cooler." Joe and I try to matte it down, but this is a futile effort.

Yesterday we bought Leo a high chair off of Craig's List. Leo used it this morning a had a ton of fun...plus, it made feeding him a whole lot less messy ( I know this is hard to believe after seeing this photo). Leo continues to enjoy solid food, so today we bumped him up to 2 meals a day. Now pack on those pounds little guy!

Ouch!

My poor sweet baby! Today Leo received 3 vaccination shots at his 6 month visit to the doctor. Daddy was able to accompany, so I was spared the pain of seeing Leo when the shots occurred. Leo has been mopey all day and is just not himself. He has wanted to nurse constantly and is more clingy than usual. It has been a day when we have actually been able to cuddle Leo...usually he is much too active to relax for a cuddle. As you can see though, he did manage to smile for me while I snapped these pics.

The visit went well and Leo now weighs 15 lbs., 1 oz. and is 26 inches long! He jumped to the 10% for weight (he had been closer to 5% before), and is slightly below average for length and average for head circumference. He has also been given the thumbs up to eat more than once a day and begin using a sippy cup! These are all such big steps and in a way, I am sad to see my little boy grow up so fast!

Dimples!

Gosh darn these 2 are cute! Lucky me!!! This weekend, we switched out the summer clothes for the fall clothes and Leo has started wearing some adorable new outfits. He seems to have grown a lot recently, most likely do to his introduction to solid foods. Also, I have been giving him one bottle of formula at bedtime, and he usually consumes between 8-10 oz. before he finally settles to sleep.

This weekend, Joe's co-worker, Nandu, dropped off a toy for Leo. Nandu has declared Leo her "boyfriend" and as you can see, Leo loves his new toy. Thanks Nandu!

Leo is moving like crazy! He is so close to crawling, but for the time being, he is scooting around using his head as a point of leverage after propping himself up in a downward dog position with his legs....be careful little man!

Friends

Today Leo and I visited our friends Lauren and Tegan and we had a great time. It had been forever since we saw them, so it was a real treat. Leo was on his best behavior and was fascinated by Tegan. I learned something today too...no matter how adorable the children, it is almost impossible to get 1 shot with 2 smiling children.

Leo is now almost sitting unassisted. He can balance for about 5-10 seconds and then he topples over. Also, he really wants to crawl, but hasn't quite figured it out yet. He gets really frustrated and as a mom, I wish I could help. This is just one of many challenges that he will simply have to figure out on his own. Good luck little man!

Also, check out Leo's cool hair. It always sticks up, no matter what efforts we take to ensure it doesn't. I love it this way though!

Chicken

My son loves his stuffed animal chicken. It really is quite adorable. Leo had admired this chicken in the Hallmark store for a while, so when he turned 6 months old, Joe and I decided that we would buy it for him. Unfortunately, on the walk home from our neighborhood Hallmark store, it fell out of the stroller and Leo was chickenless. This broke Joe's heart, so a replacement chicken was purchased the next day and good thing it was. Leo has formed quite a strong attachment to the chicken and smiles with great delight every time he sees him. Leo has really bonded to his favorite toy and will often carry the chicken around with him. I always looked forward to the day that Leo would find a comfort item, I just never imagined that it would be a stuffed chicken.

New Haircut

Finally...a post that is not about Leo. Today, I got a new haircut, which is really just my old standby haircut. I love it though and am so happy to have my old style back. As a mom, it is so difficult to find time to do anything for myself, so it feels really good when I do.