7 months

Time is flying faster than I can blog! Ezra is now 7 months (and 10 days, but who is counting??).  It seems like overnight--but really over the last week and a half--his crawling has taken off. He has sped up and is all.over.the.place. Last Friday he realized he could pull himself up (he's been standing when we help him) and did so in his crib when I left him almost asleep. I was seriously out of his room for 2 minutes (or however long it takes to wipe Aubri's bottom) and when I walked in and I nearly had a heart attack.  We hadn't lowered his mattress and the rail only came up slightly above his waist. Jose was home an hour later at lunch time and lowered that baby fast!

That same afternoon he discovered that he was a hot stuff. He starting pulling himself up on everything! In fact, crawling is for wimps. He crawls only as far as he needs to find the nearest place to stand up. It was funny because for a couple of days he didn't know what to do when he wanted to sit, but he has learned to bend his knees to kneel down.

My mommy brain probably forgot, but I don't remember having to watch Aubri this closely. Right now we have to be an arms length away from Ezra. He face plants all the time as he thinks he can walk and literally lets go and tries to reach for something else close by. We even saw him let go and stand unassisted for a few seconds yesterday. He puts everything in his mouth so I had to throw away a lot of Aubri's little toys (shhh, she has no idea.)

In the friendly race between siblings, Ezra has caught up to his sisters motor skills. Who knows, we may be on track to have another 8 1/2 month walker! His chatterbox sister set the bar pretty high saying a few words by the time she was 7 months, but this boy sure laughs so much more!

Ezra still does amazing trying new foods, but some days he only cares to eat a little. He tolerates being in his high chair well, and we've even had a few enjoyable restaurant trips.  Since he seems to like everything, it is hard to know what his favorite foods are.

Today his first tooth popped out! Bottom left has a tiny bit of white poking through! No sign of discomfort or fever either. Awesome!

Ok Ezra, I'm excited to see the boy you are becoming, but can you please not grow up so fast?? My "little baby" doesn't seem like a baby anymore!

Season Snapshots

I got an iPhone a few months back. I swore I would never get a smart phone, but I caved. I also promised I would still take pictures with my "real" camera we spent a fortune on, but sadly I pull out my phone more often. And no matter what everyone has told me, in my opinion the pictures aren't that great. But I got a lot of them.

So without further ado, here are some of our fall happenings captured on my phone....

Playing outside on the swings!

 No matter how hard I tried, Aubri would not agree to any Halloween costume but Cinderella. I thought  if she was going to be a princess, Belle would be more fitting with the brown hair.

 This is my second fall on Pinterest. It has changed my life. I've made so many yummy recipes already including this "apple salsa" (creative way of saying apply pie filling so you don't feel that bad eating it) and cinnamon sugar chips.

 Aubri has already been asking to make crafts. Here it is proudly displayed at Jose's work. I drew the tree trunk, but  the rest is Aubri. I am so impressed how fast kids grow up in a year! Last year we had leaves all over the place, but this year she can line them up and even drew purple and orange pumpkins on the ground.

 We've had about 3 days of chilly fall weather, and I busted out the Uggs for Ezra.

 I took Aubri on a "nature walk" as we learned about Fall. She was suppossed to collect leaves, but instead picked a bunch of flowers and found a ball. We walked about half a mile in 45 minutes if that tells you anything about the pace she set. She discovered dirt clods and the entire walk way of our neighborhood has little dirt piles! We also made a stop to say hi to her friend Ella, and to watch a butterfly that she thought was playing with her. It was seriously one the neatest things ever, and I almost wondered if she was right! This big monarch butterfly would let her get really close then fly away, circle her head then land near her again. Over and over.

 Hoodies

 All things football. Doesn't get much better than Oreos.

 Monday Night Football/ Family Nights. It's been fun coming up with meals!

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 More art that Aubri has done. I don't know what other kids her age  do, but I'm so proud she is trying to color inside the lines with (almost) the correct colors.

 Little Mister is loving his new food! A lot of fall favorites like butternut squash.

 Family photos. Can't wait to share them all when we get our images back!

 A few little decorating projects.

 You can't really see, but the banner says Give Thanks. My  mantle has changed a little since this.

Arroyo Grande Harvest Festival was fun! Clearly Ezra enjoyed the festivities too.

 And finally my sunburn. Ouch! I didn't burn once in the summer, but this gorgeous sunny, fall weather  got me. I'm still peeling!

Pumpkin Season

Seasonally, there isn't much I like better than Fall and pumpkins (except Christmas and peppermint!).  We may not have lots of trees changing colors in our area, but fall is apparent! For one, our weather actually gets hotter in October. A lot of people seem to forget that and act surprised that it is in the 80's (one day almost 100!) in the fall. Not me. I have come to expect sweating more at the pumpkin patch than any summer day at the beach.

Also, it is clear it is fall with pumpkins everywhere. We've already hit up several pumpkin patches and have quite the collection of mini pumpkins in all shades of orange, yellow and white.  Aubri has no interest in getting big pumpkins but instead requests the little ones wherever we go.  At 50 cents a piece, I have no problem saying ok. She has fun lining them up and moving them around. I've told Jose it is like a game everyday to see where she has placed them (today there are at least 4 little ones on the porch).

I'm so behind on blogging. These pictures were actually from the last weekend of September on our first trip to Avila Barn pumpkin patch.  Here you go--a ton of pictures of my little punkins with pumpkins.

My 6 months old little guy

I meant to publish this weeks ago....

Ezra is 6 (and a half) months old. I can't believe he has already been in our family for half a year. It is cliche, but true, that it has flown by yet hard to remember life without him!

At his 6 month check up (9 days late) he weighed 17lbs 7 oz (44th percentile) and was 26.8 inches (55%).

He is getting to such a fun age! He is rolling around the house, and starting to slowly (and wobbly) crawl. He sits up perfect, and even can even go from sitting to crawling position smoothly.

He started solid food and aside from the first two attempts (darn yucky brown rice cereal), eats like  champ! He loves everything I've given him. Either he is just a great eater, or I'm a great cook! Bananas, sweet potatoes (his favorite), applesauce, mango,oatmeal, peas and butternut squash! My baby bullet is getting put to great use. I love that I have a kid who likes to eat! He has eaten more in 3 weeks than Aubri did in 3 months (maybe even longer).

He continues to be E-Z, easy going, easy to laugh, easy to feed.... The only thing that he has a hard time with is when he has a runny nose. I can't blame him! He has already had a couple of colds, and the first night is miserable (for him and me). He freaks out when he can't breathe easily and every time he sniffles it scares him. His happy disposition disappears some.

He is always cooing and babbling, and is so easy to make laugh! He has the cutest little chuckle. And he is sooo ticklish! He loves when Jose plays rough with him, and laughs when he gets "pushed around." Thankfully he is a good sport to Aubri's attacks. She has been trying to carry him, and I'm constantly turning around to her pulling him into her lap on the ground or tipping him over ("so he can try to crawl.")

For almost 2 months he plays peek a boo. If you say it he will cover his face with whatever is nearest and pull it down quickly. So cute! He also waves "Hi".

When he is tired he starts humming or "singing" like I like to call it, and wants to nuzzle in. He grips my arms, face or hair so tight and I refer to him as my little Koala. Usually the nuzzling is paired with slobbery kisses and face eating.

We love our boy! His personality  is already evident and it is so sweet.