These Are a Few of His Favorite Things

Houston smiles & giggles while playing on the bed with Mommy. 

One of Houston’s new favorite things is to play on the bed. “Mommy usually starts out by reading to me,” says Houston, “and then she pulls out the toys, encourages me to roll over, helps me stand up, plays tummy time, tickles me, and makes lots of funny faces and noises that I always find quite amusing.”

Houston takes a snooze with brother Stanley.

After that, Houston is pretty worn out. Stanley, who usually comes near for the fun, will snuggle up to Houston for a well-deserved cat nap. The two sprawl out and bask in the comfort of Mommy and Daddy’s bed. And here we thought it would be Stan who would give us the most trouble with our addition to the family. Stanley and Houston couldn’t be better pals!

Houston taking a breather while eating his toes!

And last but not least, Houston absolutely loves to put things into his mouth, especially his toes! (Can you believe we were all that limber at one time?) Click here to see more pics of all the fun!

Tis’ the Season

Houston donning his political onesie!

The political  season, that is. Yes, Houston is our little politico, thanks to the awesome onesie given to him by Ashley Bahen.
Well, our boy still has the sniffles a bit, but his cold is much better. I just keep the cool-mist humidifier going in his nursery pretty much non-stop and make sure his nostrils are kept as unclogged as possible, so he’s surviving the fall/winter weather fine thus far. He’s been eating solids twice a day since my last blog about it (turns out my pediatrician said I was doing it right!) and we’ve also added in both fruit and juice once a day. In fact, he successfully ate his first pureed turkey yesterday; he had tried it a few days before, but totally hated it (the cats liked it, though). All the November photos are now available in gallery.
Other big news is that Stephen and I were recruited to play Mary and Joseph in our church’s Christmas play. No, Houston will not be playing baby Jesus ’cause the guy who’s in charge of the production doesn’t want to deal with the possible stress that that would entail. Going to play practice on Monday nights throws Houston off of his sleep schedule for the next day, but he has been a trooper. Plus, it will have been worth the hassle when mommy and daddy win their Oscars!
And the last bit of news if that we’re finally replacing our impossible-to-keep-clean cream carpet with Pergo laminate flooring. That project will start later this week with us ripping up the nasty carpet, reinforcing our subflooring and laying down the underlayment. Gramsey and Papa are visiting to assist with this task; Papa will help with the labor and Gramsey will tend to Houston so that I can help Papa. And then our pals Greg and Meredith are coming over on Saturday to help us install the flooring. I’m sooooo excited; this has been a dream of mine for about a year now and it’s finally happening. Now when Houston pukes on the floor or the cats track in their muddy paw prints, the clean-up will be a breeze!

Houston at two days old with Grumps and Daddy!

There are now more old photos of Houston’s first weeks at home available in gallery.

Houston with Daddy and Papa in late July 2007.

And here are the rest of the Houston photos from July 2007.

Awesome Autumn

Mommy & Houston enjoying the beautiful fall foliage!

Houston has been enjoying his first fall. (Click here for recent pics.) The weather had been unseasonably warm (70s), so we had been still been spending quite a bit of time outdoors during the daylight hours, taking walks, exploring the back part of our property, watering some of our very thirsty plants (yes, the drought rages on), rocking on the front porch, etc. It finally turned cold today, but we still went for a walk. I bought this cool fleece cover that goes over Houston’s baby carrier, car seat and stroller. It’s kind of like a sack with a large opening in the back, so that you can easily fit it over whatever mode of transportation you happen to have him in, and then it has an adjustable belt around the top, so that it doesn’t slip off. There’s plenty of room inside of it, so he can still kick and move about, but it wraps up under him, keeping him nice and toasty warm without slipping off. I tell ya, there’s a lot of crap out there for kids, but this was an excellent purchase — worth every penny! Plus, now I don’t have to go out and buy Houston a coat or a bunch of other winter clothes that he’ll wear for all of a month or two before growing out of them. Speaking of which, that wild boy is pretty much wearing 6-9 month clothes; anything smaller just won’t cut it anymore (note to Gramsey and Granny, if y’all are planning on getting him any clothes for Christmas).
I decided to cut Houston back down to one solid feeding a day ’cause his poops were just not coming out as easily as they had been. I guess I overloaded his teeny digestive system. Poor thing has his first case of diaper rash ’cause he almost always has a little turd in his diaper, even soon after a change. I’m anal (pardon the pun) about checking and changing, but sometimes I just cannot keep up, and then those little bastards sit in there, making his bum all red and sore. I seems like he just can’t get it all out when he needs to. I feel so horrible, but hopfeully tweaking things will fix the problem. He did, however, love his one and only dose of fruit: prunes! I may still squeeze those in on occasion till he gets his poop back under control. I suppose this won’t be the last mistake I make … being a mom is tough, ain’t it?!
On a totally random note, I was in the Taco Bell drive-through line tonight and as I pulled up to the window to pay for my grub, the cashier says, “The man in front of you paid for your food and said to to wish you a Merry Christmas!” I was taken aback by the stranger’s kindness. I think the Taco Bell chick was touched, as well. It made my night and also made me the bullet-proof happy chick during my errands. I hope my smiles and joy made somebody else feel good. Just goes to show that the Christmas spirit is still alive and well!