Declan - 8 Months Old

Declan,

You are 8 months old now!  We had so much fun leading up to this point.  This month of your life started with St. Patrick's Day.  We headed downtown for the parade this year.  It was a gorgeous day and you enjoyed the fresh air and all the crazy stuff going on around us.  We met Gram and Poppy down there as well as your Aunt Elizabeth.  We even gave you a couple hours of a helmet break so you could wear your cute little hat.

You did quite well with all the stimulation, but we did have to take a little break for some food.  I love how your hand is reaching up out of the nursing cover here:

We hung out as long as we could, but eventually both you and your brother were exhausted.  You fell asleep in the car on the way home:

It was a great day!

We continued to take advantage of the gorgeous weather we have been having by going to the park a lot.  You love to watch your brother run around the park and you think it is so funny when he shouts your name from the tunnel.  You love to play with the rocks (sand) in the pits.  You pick it up with your little fingers and let it fall back to the ground.  Sometimes you even try to eat it, but brother reminds you that "That's not food, Declan!"  You ride down the slide on mommy's lap sometimes and Alex likes to sit next to you on the slide until mommy can get up there with you:

You and your brother have been getting along quite well lately.  Alex just loves being your big brother.  He likes to read books to you too.



You love hanging out with Alex and you always want to play with him.  Sometimes, however, he does not want you messing with his stuff, namely his trains.  

But in general you guys get along quite well.  Shortly after he freaked out on you for getting his trains, he was calling for you to come play with him:

You and Alex have also started taking baths together too.  It's so much fun to see you guys play together in the bath tub.  You don't last as long as your brother in the tub, but it won't be long till you are just splashing right along with him.  It's fun to see you guys growing up together:

It has also become possible for me to take you both to the grocery store together.  You can now ride up front while brother rides in the basket:

It was about time to start getting ready for Easter this month, so the Easter Bunny came to Alex's school.  You were both pretty indifferent to this bunny, but I did get a cute picture of you guys:

Your Auntie Jackie came to visit you this month too.  You two had not yet met so this was and even more special visit.  Since Easter was upon us, she brought you an Easter Basket.  You love the little chick toy she gave you as well as the monster truck!  We did so many fun things with Jackie in town.  We spent some time at the Zoo.  You loved looking at the Hippos and the fish as well as all the other animals.   

We also went to Adriana's.  She let you play with her straw while the two of you just laughed and laughed.  You loved hanging out with your Auntie Jackie!

That Sunday was Palm Sunday, so we did the DeSmet Easter Egg Hunt.  It was a rainy day that day, so the hunt was moved indoors.  You and your brother searched for eggs in the library.  You weren't quite sure what was going on, but seemed to enjoy grabbing the eggs and sucking on them anyway.

You and Alex also sat on the Easter Bunny's lap after the DeSmet Easter Egg Hunt.  Alex thought this bunny was pretty funny.  You just wanted to chew on his hand:

There is a reason you wanted to chew on the Easter Bunny's hand.  You got your first tooth exactly on your 8 month birthday.  Your bottom right tooth poked through on 4/15/14.  You took it like a champ and were not too terribly fussy through the whole thing. 

You are such a wonderfully happy baby, Declan!    And you are so easy to make laugh:

I love you so much!  Here are your 8 month pictures:

Love,

Mom

Declan - 7 Months Old

Declan,

You are 7 months old now and my oh my how you are growing!  We went to a doctor's appointment on February 21st and here are your stats:

Weight: 15 lbs 15oz (20th percentile)

Length: 26" (30th Percentile)

Head Circumference: 16.5" (6th percentile)

You are really crawling now.  You started this month still doing the army crawl.  Then you started pusthing yourself up to a push-up position and tried to spider crawl everywhere.  Finally you began doing a normal on all fours crawl.

We celebrated mommy's 33rd birthday this month too.  It was a wonderful day for mommy especially since I had you and your brother there to help me blow out the candles.

We went to a train show with your brother and your cousin Alyssa.  You all loved looking at all the train displays.  By afternoon you were all pretty tired, but you had a great day.

We also went to America's Incredible Pizza.  You were absolutely thrilled to help dad play golf:

And of course dad had to use the props for his entertainment:

Finally we had a very big day when we fed you your first foods.  We started with Rice Cereal.  You were not thrilled with it, but it wasn't the worst thing either:

A couple days later, we tried your first vegetable, sweet potatoes, with pretty much the same results:


We'll move onto fruits soon enough, and I'm sure you will like those much better!

You are so much fun right now, Declan!  You are crawling around and sitting up now.  You love to play with all your toys, especially your rattles.  You also love to play with your brother's trains, much to his dismay.  You love to laugh at Alex and you love to hang out in his crib with him in the mornings.  You are still chewing on everything you can get your hands on, but still no teeth in that little mouth of yours (which is fine by me since I am still breastfeeding you).  You are such a sweet special little boy, Declan.  I love you so much!  Here are your 7 month pictures:

I love you!

Love,

Mom

Declan - 6 Months Old

My Sweet Declan,

You are 6 months old now and we have had so much fun!  As I mentioned in the last post, you got your helmet this month.  The whole thing has not seemed to even faze you at at all.  But to dad and I, it is really annoying!  You are so chill about it though, that dad and I could really learn a lesson.  You and your brother just love chilling out watching Alex's train movies.  You are doing a cute little army crawl now so you vary between crawling to get one of your toys and taking peeks at the TV.

Your favorite toy right now is your light up rattle that changes colors as you shake it.  Gram got it for you.  You play with your other toys, but as soon as that rattle is present you scoot right over to it.

You also like the camera and phone.  Whenever I have either of them you try to grab them from me.  You do this with people who wear glasses as well.  You are very curious and always want to investigate everything!

You love to interact with Alex.  Alex loves to try to make you laugh and you just eat up the attention from him.  I wish I had a better video of this, but for now here's this at least:


Your brother is really into fire engines right now, so my friend Chuck, who is a firefighter, let us stop by to see his fire engine.  You were pretty nonchalant about the whole thing, but we got some pictures of you and your brother.

You have really been enjoying your jumparoo lately.  You spin around and play with all the little toys and bounce like crazy.  Sometimes you have so much fun in that thing that you just can't keep your eyes open anymore.

We celebrated your first Super Bowl Sunday this month.  Last year, we went to Boris's house for a Super Bowl party and that was the day that I started telling everyone you were on the way.  This year we celebrated at Gram and Poppy's house.  You just loved hanging out with Poppy and scooting around on the floor during the game.

We also FINALLY took you for your first visit to Cunettos this month.  Frankie Cunetto was happy to finally meet you.  I'm sure you, like your brother, will love their food when you start eating it.  You had plenty of it while you were inside me, so I'm sure you have already developed a taste for it!  For now though, you just really enjoyed playing with the menus.

We also took you to the Magic House.  This was the first time you played in the baby section of "A Little Bit of Magic."  You loved moving around in the balls and also looking at yourself in the mirrors.  You and your brother also had fun crawling through the tunnels.

The day before you turned 6 months old, we celebrated your first Valentines Day.  You and Alex sent out special Valentines to your grandparents and aunts and uncles.  They all loved the adorable pictures of you guys.  Later that night we went to the Frisco Train Store.  Although you still can't do much there, you are slowly getting more and more interested in it.   You like to look at the electric train that runs above our heads and you like to watch your brother play.  It won't be too much longer till you are running around and playing with your brother.

You are such an amazing baby, Declan!  You are scooting around like a mad man and turning to the side to prop yourself up (not quite in a seated position, but almost).  You are still drooling and chewing on things like crazy, but still no teeth so far.  You have a very sweet nature about you, but you are very curious and always into everything!  You are a wonderful baby Declan.  Here are your 6 month pictures:

I love you so much sweet boy!

Love,

Mom