7 months old

Mitchell, as of this past Monday was officially 7 months old. He has become quite the little boy. He is very active and into a lot of things. He is crawling, and his speed is increasing each and every day. He also has been caught climbing a few steps. He pulls himself up and darts towards things that catch his eye. He has been caught saying mama, but I don't think he yet knows to use it for me. He still gets up every few hours during the night to eat. We have attempted to feed Mitchell food for quite some time now, but with a few exceptions he doesn't seem to want to eat more than a few bites. He does however seem very interested in what we are eating. I have wondered for awhile if he just doesn't like the texture of baby food. He loves cheerios and doesn't seem to have a problem popping them into his mouth. Ok he isn't quite getting them popped in himself yet. So tonight I gave him a small piece of the bread I was eating. He couldn't open his mouth wide enough and he kept opening it for pieces of bread, Scott tried to throw in some pureed carrots and Mitchell wanted nothing to do with them. He loves sucking on whole carrots though so it couldn't be the flavor. I then gave him whole grains of rice and he chewed and swollowed them. Tomorrow we are going to try to give him small chunks of carrot to see what he will do. Maybe he will eat more if we feed him chunks and maybe, just maybe he will sleep for longer stretches of time.
On to Nate. He had his first field trip yesterday. Scott accompanied Nate and his preschool class to Appleberry Farm. Nate seemed to really enjoy this trip. He seems to be really enjoying his preschool. On Monday I had a chance to talk to Nate's teacher some more. She said she is really impressed with his thoughtfulness. One example she gave: Nate was playing with a basket and some food at the "market". A kid came up and wanted to take his basket. He said, "there are more baskets over there" the kid didn't look like he was going to go over to get a basket, so Nate went over and got a basket for him to play with. By the time he got back and tried to give the basket to the kid, the kid had moved on to play something else. We are so proud of him.

The above photo is one for Nate to be very proud of. A week ago we went on a camping trip to Devil's Lake with people from church. Nate went on a hike and climbed to the top of the trail all by himself. You can see how far up he is.

Look closely and you will see the Walking Stick. It was found on someone's tent.

This past weekend we hosted our annual Beer Bust. Mitchell enjoyed spending time with his friends Kalea (pictured below) and Cate. and Nate playing with Rory and enjoyed a weekend visit and sleepover with his friend Leah (pictured below) from Minnesota. Nate and Leah really enjoyed playing in the water. It was the last warm day. Now it is chilly.

Today when I got home from work, there were 2 fawn across the road in the neighbors yard. I ran in to get Nate. When we got back outside they were crossing the road into our yard. They proceeded to the backyard and ate some plants from our garden as they sauntered through. It was a wonderful site.

spiders

The preschool teacher asked me this week if we read a lot of fact books to Nate because he seems to want to throw out facts quite often in class. I hadn't thought that we did anymore than any other book. Since she has made this comment I have had more of an ear for how many times Nate does throw out facts. I am not sure where he gets his facts, but I do know that sometimes they are just things that make sense. Here is an example. The other morning Nate was talking about spiders. He mentioned that spiders like basements. I said, yeah I think they do like dark places like basements. He then said: "mom you know there are more spiders in the world then there are houses." I asked him where he learned that and he said he knows because there are spiders is everyone's basement. While we were out on the swings with the neighbors Nate said, "do you not that some daddy long legs bite?" I said, I didn't know that and asked him where he learned it. "After some thought he said from dad. Later I asked dad if he knew this and he said he did not. The neighbor at the time confirmed that she had actually heard this fact before.

Growth Spurts

Both boys are amazing us every day. I will start with Nate. Just this morning he said "Connor" starts with C "C-ONNOR" He has been doing this more lately. He will also say things like "bathroom starts with bath" etc. He is loving preschool. Not sure if this new line of thinking is coming from preschool since he just started, but ya never know. This is what his teacher had to say about him "Nate is doing great! He is easy going and goes with the flow. He loves sensory activitites and "science---exploratory" activities. He is very bright and has a lot to say. We talked about color mixing primary colors today into secondary colors. We read a book about color mixing. Ask him about the rabbit...he was white at the beginning and brown in the end. " We are so proud of him.
On to Mitchell. He is now crawling a lot. He also is into sitting up on his own. Now that he can do it he gets excited about doing it. He also gets excited about walking, with help of course. He also is very tickled with himself when he pulls himself up.
This past weekend we drove to Ohio to attend my parents annual party. My aunts boyfriend provides the music. It was an enjoyable time. Some high schoolers babysat for the boys. I think Mitchell didn't do to bad. It feels like his mood, since he can get around more, has brightened a bit more. He seems happier with others, unless of course he is tired and hungry. We also spent a lot of time on Saturday picking grapes, sorting them and making juice. I, Angie, had the joy of picking grapes in a downpour. We made over 40 quart. Now, I should be going to bed, but stayed up late to puree tomatoes to get them ready to cook tomorrow so I can can some more pizza sauce. We have really gotten into canning this year. So far we have made 21 pints of salsa, 11 quarts of green beans, 40 quart grape juice, 10 pints of pizza sauce and probably at least another 20 tomorrow. It feels so satisfying to put up ones own food.

MMmmmm Sweet Potatoes

So Mitchell is 6 months and 18.9lbs. He decided (after almost a month of trying) to eat food. He hasn't yet taken a liking to baby cereal, but sweet potatoes seemed to have hit the spot. He also ate about 140z of breastmilk under someone else's watch today. Usually in the 8 hour period that he is with someone else, he maybe eats 6oz. while I usually produce closer to the 14oz. He still needs to work on sleeping more during the day, but we will take what we can get. To update you, Mitchell is almost crawling and he's managed to pull himself up on lower things that he can reach. He has learned to move one knee forward and one hand before he goes to his tummy, then he will get up again and repeat the process. He propels himself forward in this manner. I don't believe it will be long before he moves forward without the tummy breaks between each "step" forward. Mitchell also likes to make noises with this tongue and mouth. He is talking a lot, by saying dadada, babababa, etc. Mitchell knows what he wants and will let you know if he wants something he can't get. He also is realizing when things are taken away and gets upset when that happens as well. He is still sleeping with us, but as of the past few nights, he is at least starting out in the crib. Usually though he wakes up to eat by the time I go to bed, so I don't really get to enjoy the benefits yet.
On another note, Nate started preschool this past week. This week is his first official full week. He is only going 2 mornings per week (Monday and Tuesday). It is quite different getting the kids around. I would always drop them off at an approximate time, but now I have to get Nate to preschool at exactly 8:50. Let's just say that, Mitchell is going to have to learn to be a bit flexible on Monday and Tuesdays. Nate seems excited about preschool. Today he told his grandma Reeser that his favorite part of preschool is the snack. When I asked him if he met any new friends he said "I am too busy playing, mom". Scott has mentioned a few times lately that it seems like Nate has made another leap in thought. He seems "more intelligent" as Scott puts it. He is suddenly using bigger words and seems to put deeper thought into his questions.
It is September and summer definitely feels like a long time ago. Today it was cold and rainy. We enjoyed one of the last warm days at our friends lake in Minnesota just over a week ago. We went to Minneapolis over Labor Day weekend to visit them. Nate was sad to leave his bestie, Leah, in Minnesota. They seemed to have a wonderful time playing their made up game of baby cheetah. Here is a nice political sign to end this blog...

Prayer

I thought I would blog a prayer that Nate says most nights. It varies a little but these are some of the things he says. He always starts out by saying.
"Dear God. Thank you for Mitchell. That's my baby brother" he goes on with some composition of the following.
Thank you for Grandma and Grandpa and Grandma and Grandpa
Thanks for Connor and Quinn
Thanks for playing superman with my dad we have so much fun
Thanks for playing superman with my mom, which we haven't done yet
Thanks for the rain and thunder
Thanks for my soft bed
Thanks for my mom and day
(then he usually adds something about his day and has to end with "thanks for everything")

similarities

So on a whim I decided to read through some old blogs of Nate when he was about Mitchell's age. It is amazing the similarities. When I was reading some of Nate's blogs, I felt I could have been reading about Mitchell. Within a few weeks they seem pretty comparable. When Nate was Mitchell's current age he was almost able to sit up on his own (Mitchell is able) Nate was doing push ups on his hands and toes. Mitchell has been caught doing the same. Nate had two bottom teeth at 5.5 months. Mitchell's seem to be coming but I have said that for a long time now. We will see. Binky play is the same etc. I think up to this point some of the developments are right on and some are within a week or so of each other. Nate was crawling at about 7 months maybe a bit before. We will see how Mitchell compares. Yes, yes I shouldn't be comparing, but at this point it is just interesting. I know in the end they all develop in their own time which is what makes them individuals. Lately we have been giving Mitchell cereal about every evening for supper. He hasn't taken to it too well. It was nice to read in the blog that Nate did the same and then one day I decided to try the cereal in the morning. Nate gobbled it up. Maybe I will try that with Mitchell and see if it makes a difference. Maybe he just isn't as hungry in the evening or maybe he just likes the comfort of breastfeeding in the evening. We have jumped the gun a bit on food. Mitchell has had the opportunity to suck on a cucumber slice and on a carrot. He was not able to break off any peices from either and seemed to really enjoy them. He seems frustrated when we are eating. He seems to want to eat our food which is why I tried to feed him cereal at the same time we were eating last night. (no go) On Sunday at church potluck someone suggested giving Mitchell a slice of cucumber to suck on. It worked. Mitchell enjoyed it for many minutes. Long enough for me to finish my food at least.
Yesterday I was feeling sad. Forover a year, I have been able to enjoy Tuesdays with just my two boys. We have made the best of each Tuesday,. ( playdates with Miriam, Leah or Rory, going to the pool, going shopping, enjoying the new splash park, and story time at the library. We even went to the Milwaukee Children's Museum one Tuesday. I only have 2 more weeks of this. Starting in September I will be watching not just my two boys but Micah and Reuben as well. This will prevent me from taking them anywhere that is further than walking distance. I have to say it has been truelly enjoyable to have this special time with Nate and then with Nate and Mitchell. Friday afternoons will now by my time with just my two boys. An afternoon is just not the same as an entire day. I will take what I can get though. At least I can work full time and be home with my boys a day and a half a week. Not many people can do that.

Olympics

So yesterday as I was watching the Olympics, I remembered the last time I watched the summer Olympics. I remembered thinking. Man, when I watch this the next time Nate will be 4! He was just a few months old at the time. At the time, 4 years seemed like so far off. Now we are needing to complete paperwork for preschool and think about scheduling things around preschool etc. I just can't believe Nate is already such a big boy.