My Once Upon a Time...

 28 weeks old!

Day 323   Poor Baby was sick all day and had a fever from his shots the previous day. All he wanted to do is sleep and cuddle (I secretly enjoyed the cuddling part, even though I felt so bad for him), so Grandma Sandie sent him a video of herself singing to him. He LOVED it! It was the first time that day we saw his little smile and now, over a week later, he still loves the video. It's our "go to" for long car rides when he gets mad, every time we play this video he lights up and gives us his biggest smile. Such a special video!  Day 324   Our friend Julia who used to live with us, came to visit from Germany and we had dinner with her and some friends at the Cheesecake Factory. It was so good to see her and we hope that it won't be another 3 years until she'll be back! Day 325   Renovations continue....we're making progress. Here's your first sneak peak of the new tile! Day 326   Ashlie babysat for us and Katie and I snuck out...

 Last weekend we got together with some friends for Happy Hour and to visit Santa. A baby store offered free pictures with Santa, we haven't gotten the ones from the photographer back yet, but I took some on my own camera.   I thought it was a great Santa Claus, but I later heard that he was kind of a creeper and asked one of my friends if she wanted to sit on his lap too.   This is the "before" picture, the "after" picture was taken about 34 seconds after this, when more than half of the babies were bawling their heads off (Fox included).   All the moms with their babies.    It was a fun afternoon!

27 weeks old!

 Day 316 Oh how I love this boy! Day 317   Our ugly floors are finally being replaced (and our fireplace is being remodeled) and we are so excited! For the next three weeks we are quarantined in our Master Bedroom, but the end result will be so worth it. This is day 1 of the construction!  Day 318   Baby Genius hard at work! Day 319 Progress! The smell was awful! Day 320   Katie knows too well, how much I love Christmas. And since our house is being remodeled, my decorations have to wait a few week longer than I would've like them to. So my sweet Love surprised me with hiring a company that decked out the outside of our house. It looks so awesome and makes me so happy, every time I see it!   Day 321   Like mother, like son. Katie calls this her 3pm Lemonade time.  Day 322   6-month check up! 

    Weight: 16 lbs, 15 oz (36%) Height: 26 inches (19%) Health: He had his 6 month check up and everything was great. So grateful for our healthy boy! He got four shots and did great with them, only cried for a few seconds and he was over it. Nicknames: Big Honey, Honeys, Baby Honey, Bubba, Schatzi, Bubbles, Mr. Fox, Foxy, Stinky Butts, Pumpkin, Sweatpea Eating: We’re still exclusively breastfeeding and I’m so proud of myself that I made it this far! Hopefully we can continue for another six months! He’s still eating every 2.5-3 hours during the day and nurses once during the night. We got the clear from the doctor and will start him on solids this week! Sleeping: Nothing new here. We start his bedtime routine at 6:30pm, 6 if he has to take a bath (3 times a week).   He usually doesn’t last longer than that, he gets really grumpy, but the minute we put his jammies on and sing his night...

 26 weeks old! I can't believe our baby is halfway to 1! I need time to slow down! Stop growing little one!   Everything is going into his mouth these days...toys, his hands, other people's hands...basically whatever he can get his hands on! Today he grabbed Rene's dog (a little Chihuahua) and tried to eat her...haha!   Enjoying the last few days with grandpa. The next time those two will see each other, Fox will probably be walking! Crazy!      

 Tuesday night we celebrated Sankt Martin's Day (you can read about it here ). It's a German holiday/tradition I grew up with and I'm so happy to have some German friends who organized a lantern walk to celebrate the day, so we could teach our children about their German heritage.   Of course, Fox is way too young to appreciate or understand this, but it's important to me to start traditions early with him and for what it's worth, I think he enjoyed looking at all the pretty lights. I made this lantern for him a few days earlier and all of the little kids came up to us and commented that they loved his lantern.    We looked at the animals from the petting zoo before we started the walk.        After the lantern walk, all of the kids sat by the fire and everyone sang Sankt Martin's songs.          Our little German boy with his first lantern!