Happy St. Patrick's Day!

How to entertain a baby in one easy step!

Step 1: Intend to bring the no-longer-used baby tub down to store in the basement, but get lazy and leave it outside the basement door, where the baby who loves climbing on/into things can find it.

Ta-da!  Instant entertainment!

wheeeee!  I'm going nowhere but I'm having SUCH a good time!

Long overdue Baby Update!

Dominic has been doing all kinds of amazing things!!  I'll go month by month.

7 months continued (March)

Welllll, he did NOT start walking at 8 mos -- however he was still quite mobile!  After he mastered pulling up to a stand, he seemed to hit a plateau for a while, and spent some time perfecting his skilz.

aw, yeah, I'm all dat!

Must. Stand.

His new-found mobility meant that he could now Get Into Stuff.  The good news: he can now entertain himself.  The bad news: he can... get into stuff.

hmmm what have we here?

look, Ma, it MOVES!

power tooooools.....

His favorite thing was using big people legs to stand up.

he LURVES my maxi skirt especially -- so many hand holds!

Stairs are also PERFECT for learning how to stand.  They are exactly at the right baby height.

these are awesome!!

 Finally, when you're the youngest of six and you can't run or hit back yet:

life is rough when you have older siblings

 

but I'm so cute they just can't resist!

 8 months (April)

We attempted to introduce Dominic to solids at around 7 months-ish.  For a long while the relationship was shaky -- he much preferred "real" food (i.e., Mom).  However, every once in a while the planets would align and we would find something he didn't turn his little baby nose up at.

sweet potatoes are acceptable

Really well-ground oatmeal with apple sauce or with pureed bananas seemed okay, too.  In tiny doses.  At the right time of day (which varied).  And as long as he was a little hungry, but not too much.  And he had to be sitting in Mommy's lap and holding his own spoon.  #mrpickypants

We were lucky if we could get a teaspoon into him -- meanwhile he wanted to nurse about every 45 minutes.  That was rough.  (Finally at 9 months he learned that eating was all right, and was able to handle more textures so I didn't have to super-puree everything.)

He also popped out six teeth!  The first two came one by one, and then the next FOUR came altogether!  After that we were finally all sleeping better, hallelujah.  Those naughty incisors did not make their appearance painlessly, for him OR for us.

but look how cute my widdle teethies are!

Speaking of Getting Into Stuff:

how thoughtful of them to put in a wall-mounted entertainment device just for me!

9 months (May)

Nicky TOOK HIS FIRST STEPS!  He was so amused by the whole process and giggled hysterically each time -- even though it was more like barely-controlled falling.  His siblings are the best cheerleaders, and loved providing ample opportunities for him to land on his face practice taking steps.

Babies born into large families really have it made.  For one thing, they never have an opportunity to get bored cuz their siblings are always thinking of fun things to do for them:

baby-sized personal ball pit!

Apparently I spent the rest of May gardening because I have tons of pictures of the yards, but only that one for Dominic.

10 months (June)

After a few weeks practicing his controlled falling, Dominic officially started walking!!!1!.  Soon after that he figured out how to go from a squat to a stand without using furniture or conveniently-located big people legs. 

And soon after THAT, he figured that he could actually go UP those magical stairs. Our baby gates were in a sorry state, so this is what we rigged up at first:

so ghetto.  but hey, it works!

as you can see this baby gate doubled as a lemonade stand

Our slightly more permanent solution until we get some new ones (after I scrubbed the dirt and spider webs off -- remind me WHY we were storing the gates outside again??):

not much better -- still held in place with bungee cords

July (11 months!  I KNOW!)

Another entry in the Getting Into Stuff category:

ooh! it's the happy box!

how do I get them out?

success!  om nom nom

Dominic hasn't said any real words yet, but he is experimenting with new sound effects.  His latest are saying "oo" with adorably puckered lips, and a shrieking cackle that he uses when chasing his siblings. 

Even though I'm sad at the thought that someday he will no longer be a baby, we all rejoice with him whenever he masters a new skill!  Every age has been the best age, so far. :)  And he is so, so loved.

Wayyyyyy overdue Baby Update

I have been failing -- FAILING -- utterly in turning this blog into an all-baby-all-the-time love fest.  I'm too busy feeding, changing, holding, feeding, holding -- did I mention holding? -- and of course gazing at, the baby to do any actual blogging about him.  So here you go, a Baby Update Photodump!  Beginning with...

2 months old (October)

40 days

No, I can't believe it's been that long either.

Dominic passed the 40-day mark last week, so technically he isn't considered a newborn anymore -- and I officially have to get off my duff and start pulling my own weight around here (in addition to Dominic's too, of course, since he practically lives in the Moby).  And what better way to get back to work than spending hours taking baby pictures?

good idea, Mom!

There is something about the six-week mark.  His little rhythms become more predictable, he smiles all the time, and all of a sudden we see more of this little person emerging.

loves loves LOVES standing up!

also LOVES being outside

Before Dominic was born, I made this little gown for him from a vintage pattern.  I love it -- WHY did we as a culture ever switch from the ease of baby gowns to onesies and sleepers with millions of snaps??  

what is it about baby yawns that are so dang cute??

and their widdle toesies!

He is also rather turning into... Da Huuuuuudge.  (He already weighs well over 12 lbs. -- I've moved him up to size 2 diapers and 6-mo clothes.)  I need to get a picture of the sight of his belly spilling over his diaper for you.

they make even spit bubbles cute!

Everyone adores him, of course.  They think everything he does is hilarious and adorable (except maybe spitting up -- that usually sends a few of them running from the room gagging).  Youngest children in large families are so lucky -- they are so loved.

milk drunk!

 I blame the blurry pictures on small children -- either they are the photographers, or the lens is covered with greasy fingerprints.

Andy gets shorn

So back in December, I bought a pair of electric clippers for about the price of one and a half kid haircuts.  It took me about a month to work up the courage to use it finally.  Andy was getting so shaggy that parts of his head were disappearing.

Before:

During:

What's happening to me??!?

(For the record, I did start with a towel around his shoulders.  It lasted about 2.5 minutes.)

After:

that is a lot of little boy hair.

A friend commented that he seems so more expressive.  I replied that it's because now you can see his eyebrows.

hey!  get outta my frame!

now they look even MORE like brothers

I trimmed Joseph and Daniel a few weeks later.  They both requested hair styles just like Andy's.  Aw.  These clippers are going to save us a small fortune!

Guess who's two!

It's Andy-pants!

What? Who?

Wait, it's me?

Oh yeah!  Happy Birthday to meeeeee!  Hahahahahaaaaaa!

Wow.  Such fancy.  Very cake decorating skilz.  Amaze.

"Andy, smile!"  *click*

ERRbody knows the icing is the best part.  The ONLY part, really.

Andy's birthday was a week ago Saturday.  We invited some friends over in the morning for a "very informal birthday-playdate-with-cake."  (That translates to: "Please don't worry about presents since I'm only calling you about this three days before the fact.")  After a frantic morning of vacuuming up most of the leaves tracked inside and making sure the downstairs bathroom didn't smell funny (I have a 4yo boy -- 'nuff said), the girls decorated with copious balloons and a wall of streamers while I prepped snacks.  (I made caramel sauce to dip apples in!  Go me!)  The kids played, the grownups talked philosophy, we forced the kids to stop playing so they could eat, we sang to Andy, we had cupcakes.  Then everyone went home and Andy took a nice long nap.  Great two-year-old birthday!

----------

Andy is a funny kid.  He began walking exactly a year ago, on his first birthday, and I think he's hardly sat down since.

except here, to ride Katie's unicorn pillow pet -- which is just right for him!

 He will sit down to eat, though, unlike Katie who had to have drive-by dinner or else she would have starved.

Whenever he's hungry, he asks for "Os", which usually means shredded wheat.

 He is turning out to be similar in temperament to Jojo, which is going to be just lots and lots of fun as they grow up together.  (Can you hear the sarcasm dripping from my fingers?)  He has a short fuse and tends to be strong-ish willed, and his most common way of expressing frustration with the universe (or his brothers) is by shrieking.  (Joseph's preferred method of expression is roaring like the Incredible Hulk.)  Once I heard a loud noise and couldn't tell if it was Andy shrieking or the tea kettle boiling.  No joke.

these two are often thrown together when I'm doing school with everyone else.  lots of cuteness

 But, he is very cute.  He loves all his siblings, and is loved and adored by all of them.

"Tetee" teaching him how to take a selfie

 And like a typical 2-year-old, Andy is a just a silly pants.  This is how we know he is definitely ours.

The Manolo he love the shoes.

He loves vehicles.  No, I mean, really LOVES vehicles, which are all "trucks", or in Andy-speak, "dutch."  (He's just starting to sound more like an English speaker -- once he figures out more consonants, he might actually be understandable!)  Once during the summer I had a planning meeting at a friends' house.  She brought out a giant box of match box cars to keep the little boys occupied.  Andy spent a happy TWO HOURS parking them all along the window sills and bookcase shelves and end tables in her living room. 

I regularly find trains and trucks and cars lined up along our coffee table.  They are always all pointing the same direction.  And HEAVEN FORBID you should put them away before he is done with them!!

Looking forward to another year of his silly-pants-ness!