Coloring

Growing up...

Let's see...what has happened recently? The little man continues to grow up too fast. He has taken a step but then plops down cause he's afraid to go any further. Some of his favorite things: getting into any drawer and pulling everything out of it, the dog's bowls, being outside and if you open the door (garage, back, or front door), be prepared for some tears when you have to shut it cause he will not like that. He is becoming a climber...wondering when he'll figure out how to climb out of his crib. No, we are definitely not there yet but I won't be surprised if he does it in the next 6 months. What else, oh yeah, he pooped in the bathtub the other day, he's never done that before. Gross and you're probably wishing now that I didn't share that. He has the biggest smile in the world with 2 front teeth that you can't miss-love it! He is a silly little guy that laughs and smiles so easily. He is also a biter-only to me thank you very much. I have reverted to flicking his cheek, which I have had to flick quite hard (don't worry, the red mark never lasts long) cause he smiles and will bite harder if I flick lightly. I think this child just doesn't care about getting hurt. He thinks, "Bring it on, I'll bite harder." I noticed the harder I flick, the harder he bites. Perhaps we need to have a little heart to heart...He's our little bubba boy and we love our spider eater, bath pooper, people biter so much.

We had my parents come in March and Todd's parents come in April. We loved having them and although we love it here, we wished we lived a little closer to them. We also have had some crazy weather here with storms/rain but have tried to enjoy some of the sunshine that has come our way. Our neighborhood pool opened this past weekend and we were able to go and enjoy an hour there. Although the water was a little cold, everyone seemed to have a good time (no crying baby-he loves the water, no matter the temp.) Here are some pictures from the past few weeks...

Trouble

Who you lookin' at?

He loves himself some yogurt

He loves walking with this lion but the grass wouldn't allow him to walk very easily
(look at his face closely, he is angry)

He decided this would work better

Easter

Playtime with Dad

Sunny Days

I love it when the sun shines! It just makes me so happy. We took advantage of this beautiful weather and had a little fun afternoon at the park. Derek enjoyed exploring in the grass (kind prickly but he loved it anyways. And, Fletch found a new friend.

Derek pulls himself and "cruises" along furniture (not fast but he does it). But, this only means trouble with me :) He is into everything and is so proud of himself for it too. One day, I turned my back on him for just a little bit and there he was, proudly unrolling the toilet paper roll. Gotta love it

Check out those 2 front teeth...could put a couple of quarters between 'em!

Lovin life

And we're back

Well, it has been a busy couple of months and I have forgotten all about the poor little blog. Here is some of what we have done/happened over the past couple of months:

1. Derek officially "hands/knees" crawls = gets into everything

2. Along with crawling, he is a climber (climbs over Fletch, through our tables, underneath the bed-he figured that if ducked his head low enough he could squeeze underneath the bed getting back out was the hard part, climbs on the dishwasher door when open, this kid will climb over anything-pray this is a phase and he doesn't continue this as he gets older)

3. We got sick a lot = no sleep for mama, steam room bathrooms, nebulizer treatments, antibiotics, etc, etc

4. It snowed 20 inches mid-February (the most I have ever seen in one snow fall in my entire life-it was crazy)

5. I went to the zoo, Ikea, and Costco in Cincinnati

6. Derek has his 2 bottom and 2 top teeth

7. Had fun with Grandma and Grandpa Falk for a couple of days

8. We had to move the crib to the lowest position and take out his bumper since he almost tried to climb out of it in hopes of reaching his frog humidifier

9. Our little guy has become quite the little eater. There is nothing this little man doesn't really like...including paper


That is us in a nutshell. Just our day to day life but man does our little guy make me smile. He brings me so much joy. Just a few pics to share our story...

20 inches of snow later...

He loves the frog

One of his favorite things to do, play in the dog's food/water bowls

Helping me with the dishes

Our little sick man

Again with the dog bowls (mind you there is water all over the floor at this point that Derek is just crawling through)

Fletch's new favorite spot so he can catch all the crumbs

2 sharp bottom teeth = this (now we have covers over the top railings)

He is set on getting those darn rocks (tongue out and all...just like Dad and Grandpa Falk)

Enjoying the zoo

Driving home from Spring Break...would not recommend a 9+ hour drive by yourself with a little person who doesn't like their carseat. He was a trooper

Carpet Speed Bump

Derek is now beginning to figure out how to really get around these days. He's on the verge of "officially" crawling. But, he has been army crawling/scooting for the past month. He's one fast little man. In fact, call child protective services cause he has scooted himself off the bed...twice. Yeah, that's right. You think I would have learned the first time. I can't turn my back on this guy for 1 second without him getting into all sorts of things...computers, cell phones, calculators, remotes of any kind. What can I say, he loves technology?

See the determination in his eyes? He's probably fixated on either the dog or my cell phone...

These next 3 pics, he seems to be enjoying a new delicacy...the carpet. You ask why he started doing this? My answer to everything else about this little guy....I have no idea why he does the things he does. He's slowly figuring out his world by putting everything in his mouth...

King of the House

Since Derek seems to control most aspects of our lives, we thought it would be a appropriate for him to have his own throne...

Lovin' it

Letting someone else have a turn at King

Baby It's Cold Outside

Nothing new really going on with us. I feel like January is the one month of the year that goes by slow for me. Maybe it's cause the holidays just zoom by and not much happens in January? I don't know. But, I've always felt that and this January is not much different. Needless to say, we have enjoyed getting back into our routine at home and watching our little man grow up. 6 months on the 19th. He is getting bigger by the moment. Here are some things that he enjoys: playing with Fletch (playing isn't quite the term but he does enjoy having Fletch around him-he smiles at him all the time), eating solids (oatmeal, sweet potatoes, avocados, bananas, squash, and carrots so far-not a fan of pears and rice cereal ), going on walks, biting everything he gets his hands on (including my face), being with his Dad (I think he's a Daddy's boy), army crawling (mostly using his right arm), playing peek-a-boo, and being thrown up in the air...he is such a happy, sweet baby and we are loving each precious moment.

"I don't know how I feel about this cold weather Mom"
(He seems to make every kind of facial expression that you can imagine with the use of his eyebrows and his lips)

Magazines look mighty comfortable to take a nap on...weird dog

A man after his Dad's heart...already going for the Xbox

He reverted to just sucking the banana off the tray (wasn't able to get that on camera).
He is already a problem solver

Mr. wide eyed about to make a move for it...

Slowly inching forward