baptism

holden's baptism is approaching so i picked up his precious little outfit yesterday and tried it on today to see if it fit.  well, it did and he looks so stinkin' handsome.  and i kind of think he knows it, too.

happy naps!

holden is always so charmingly happy when he first wakes up from his naps.  i remember when he was a newborn and would always wake up screaming and crying for food...immediately if not sooner.  so, it's such a joy to hear him cooing and chatting to himself and see those huge smiles every time i traipse into his room.  here are some shots post-snooze.

pretty color combination...pale peach and aqua.

not much to report from here but took a few photos this morning of holden just being holden.  so, here they are.

the swwiiiinnng

about as soon as we moved into our new home, i took holden down to the nearby park that i, myself, grew up frequenting.  i decided it was time to teach holden about a swing.  swinging was one of my great childhood loves and i'd be in my backyard for hours upon hours swinging with the melodious sounds of whitney houston, roseanne cash, and, regrettably, juice newton wafting through my walkman headphones.  it was my little escape from my completely untroubled and uncomplicated childhood.  now, i'd like to escape back to my childhood on those bad days.  but, nevertheless, i plopped the little man in that swing and he was all smiles from the get go.  here is a photographical play by play and later i will upload a little video from a few weeks ago.

   

holden's solution to anything and everything...

...just put it on your mouth.

back and better for it

we just got back from our six day trip to bachelor gulch, colorado where we skied bachelor along with the connecting mountains: arrowhead and beaver creek.  we also spent one day at vail when the high for the day was 9 and the low was -11.  you can imagine what that does to any exposed part of your face...windburn x 100.

we stayed just up the mountain from the ritz but this gives you a good idea of how beautiful the mountain is.  here is a winter and summer shot.

the skiing was amazing, as expected, and i can surely say a good time was had by all.  i can't believe how much i missed my little boy but he was in great hands courtesy of papa and gigi.

as for holden, we were lucky enough to not have missed any big milestone.  however, i have always thought holden would skip crawling and just go straight to walking as he's shown absolutely no interest in anything other than crying when he's on his stomach.  but, about two weeks ago i decided it was time to get the baby out of his little sleeper within the crib and see how he faired on a flat mattress.  as you can imagine, he had to...hmmm..."warm up" to the idea.  he didn't go down without a little bit of a fight and he did, eventually, wave his white flag.

so, just the other day, while i was spying on him in his crib, he started putting his knees up under himself and hasn't looked back.  while he isn't crawling yet nor is he even up on all fours, he's definitely improving.  what was once a loud cry saying "flip me back over!" is now nothing but little grunts as he moves himself around in circles inside his crib.  he just chats to himself, makes his little monkey noises, and squirms around.  it's nice to know that he has accepted that life can, in fact, go on even when one is lying on their belly.  before, he made it very clear that his life was ending any time he accidentally flipped himself over.

so, not loads of progress but progress nonetheless.

he has also tasted and loved the following new foods recently: edamame, broccoli with parmesan, turkey, strawberries, and peaches.  his other favorites for the record include: apples, pears (both with a little cinnamon), blueberries, cherries, carrots, butternut squash (especially with a little nutmeg), sweet potatoes, and zucchini.

that babycook machine is off the charts amazing.  plus, i would never have been able to pick out what a butternut squash was prior to hunting it down for holden.  so, it's not all work and no play.  just one of the many, many new things you learn every single day as a first time mother.

i'll post a few photos of the handsome guy soon.

merry christmas to all

(an iphone photo of an actual photo isn't the best quality but you get the idea.)

stieg larsson

so, i mentioned in a much earlier post that i had started reading the first novel in stieg larsson's trilogy.  well, i'm closing in on the final novel and, if anyone is looking for a great read, look no further.

yes, each one is nearly 600 pages, but don't let that discourage you.  the writing is perfection all in all and i promise you won't be able to put it down.  as soon as you get about 100 pages into the first novel, i guarantee you'll be in line at the bookstore buying the next two novels.

alberto burri

love, love, love alberto burri's cretto bianco series.  have for quite a while.  off the charts.  just thought i'd share it with you in case you hadn't seen his work before.

one week...

...until christmas eve.  i can't believe it...and neither can holden.  if he could talk, i think he'd say something along the lines of, "what!  what's that you say?  wait, what IS christmas, who IS jesus, and why does a bearded man come down the chimney?"

you know that's got to be confusing.

little update

well, after having been stuck in chi town due to snowy weather (i know...poor, poor me), i finally got home to see my little family.  despite the fact that our flight left chicago at 6am, i was so, so ready to get home (maybe not "6am flight" ready but ready nonetheless).  the weekend trip was so much fun and a good time was certainly had by all.  the snow was so beautiful and the windy city just wouldn't be the same without some nippy temperatures and white flurries.

in other news, holden got tubes in his ears this morning.  we had to report to the surgery center at 6am (another early morning this week).  he pulled through like a champ and even posed for some photos in his newest chicago purchase: a north face vest.  i hope this means no more ear infections for this little guy.  and so, it's with this precious image that i leave you.  you'd never know he had surgery this morning, would you?

off to chi town

the highs may be in the twenties while we're there but i cannot wait.  bring on the frigid temperatures in the windy city.  it just wouldn't be right any other way.

the holidays are rapidly approaching...

...so while i certainly have lots of christmas shopping to do, i decided that it can wait until after i finish decorating the new casa for the holidays.  here's a small, small sampling.  i think it encompasses our new family lifestyle...everything with a hint of baby gear thrown in for good measure (and functionality).

six month photos

holden had his six month photos taken a couple weeks back and they turned out adorable...as expected.  here are just a few of the lovely shots.

do note the little red remnant of his first battle scar.  the other day, while i was busy cleaning our old home to show on the market, i had holden playing pleasantly on a thick, plush blanket to pad for his unpredictable back and side spills while sitting up.  i didn't think he might actually fall forward.  so, of course, he fell to the only unpadded place in front of him and scratched his little cheek on one of the blocks he was playing with.  just goes to show you that you can only prepare for what you believe the possible outcomes may be and, then, the number of possible outcomes increases by one.  that's sort of how it always seems to go in parenthood thus far.  i'm sure it won't be the only shiner he gets in his life.  (click to enlarge)

we've landed!

things are still in boxes and nothing is how it will end up being but we're settled enough for now.  there's lots to report but i'll leave you with this handsome looker in his big boy high chair.  i actually had to convert it from the infant setup to the new setup for our little eater.  also, do note the lovely little blue sweater that i actually knit myself.  while it's adorable and i'd love holden's wardrobe to consist of lots of precious little sweaters such as this, i doubt i'll have time (at least not for a while) to add any more.  so, revel in this one because it may be the only one he'll ever have.

we're moving...

and it's kept me pretty busy.  be back soon.

just sitting here...

that's right...holden is sitting up pretty darn well.  i can't say that, in a fleeting moment of distraction, he doesn't fall slowly to one side but, all in all, he's pretty much sitting up.  just don't test him on a hard, lethal surface just yet.  before we know it, he'll be driving a car and voting.  my, how time flies.

mmm...

if i were a culinary goddess, i'd try my hand at these.  how delicious do these look?

sea legs

here's a little taste of what holden is up to these days.  this was his first attempt at the johnny jump up, the much-praised contraption from mommies the world over.  i've been told i can get some serious time out of this thing so here's to hoping he comes to love it.

also, you will see, holden is a bit of a night owl and has no less energy at 10pm than right smack dab in the middle of the day.  he is screeching until he goes down for the night, which you may think would be obnoxious, but it never. gets. old...ever.  it's truly the best sound in the world and you just can't help but smile.  i wish adults made such joyous, delightful sounds as well...which reminds me, please excuse my annoying voice...i had to mask it with a great coldplay song about a swing.

i should also point out that i took this video yesterday.  as i mentioned in an earlier post, he has had a little runny nose and a mild-but-lingering cough for a few weeks.  so, i called the good doctor who asked that i bring him in just to make sure it's nothing but the typical cold.  this morning i scooted on in thinking that we'd be in and out and this was just one of the 12 colds he's supposed to get in the first year.  the nurse first took his temperature with an ear thermometer and, strangely, he started really getting worked up over it.  this is a little out-of-the-ordinary for holden since, at this age, he doesn't ever really expect to know what's going on so he's very much a go-with-the-flow kind of baby.  then, the doctor came in to look at his ears and had to clean some of the little earwax out of the depths of his ear canal.  so, after she takes a peak her words are, "that ear is awful."  my first thought was, "oh dear, how embarrassing.  the doctor is commenting on how dirty i've let my baby's ears get."  no, she was actually talking about his massive ear infection.

to sum it all up, holden had not one single symptom of an ear infection and he ends up having what even the pediatrician calls an "awful" ear infection.  this baby has quite a pain tolerance.  his other ear was also really bad and, on a chart of the progression of ear infections, she pointed to the image directly before "rupture" when describing the severity of his infection.

so, while i feel like mother of the year for letting it get to this point (to be fair, not a single fuss or ear touching to signal ear pain), i have to say i greatly admire holden's ability to "rise above" his pain and really take the johnny jump up by storm...with or without the shooting pains in the sides of his head.

and that's about all we have going on here.  i'll keep you posted on little holden's ear trials and tribulations but here is some visual candy of the little man in the mean time.