What? Christmas is coming? That soon?

I know, I know, I just realized how long it's been since I last posted. And just how close Christmas is! The real truth of the matter is that I've been putting all my blogging energy into our food blog, www.thefoodieforkful.com. We're doing an-idea-a-day for foodie Christmas gifts. But back to Mr. Leo.
So the relieving news (for my back) is that his growth is slowing down a bit. When we were at his 6 month check-up, he was up to 21.5 pounds, slowing down from the 97th percentile in height/weight to the 90th percentile or so. Which is fantastic. Now maybe he can wear the same clothes for more than two months!

He's starting to get pretty good at sitting up on his own - manages to stay there for anywhere from 3 to 30 seconds before slowly tipping over like the leaning tower of Pisa. And when you put him on his tummy, he manages to scoot around quite a bit. Not crawling yet, but it's clearly not far off. His little butt gets up in the air a bit, but he can't get his tummy up just yet. Still giggling quite a bit when he is tickled (as long as he is in the right mood) which is frankly just adorable.
Leo will be the centerpiece of our Christmas card this year (no surprise there!). We did a photoshoot to get just the right picture, and the one we chose is really great. Here, for your viewing pleasure, are some of the runner-up shots.
Looking forward to doing the Tour De Grandparents for the holidays, starting in about a week - but it's gonna be a long time traveling around. But Leo's been begging to go visit his grandparents, so I guess we gotta go!

6 Months Old Already!

Yeah, six months old, as of yesterday. Which is just wild. He goes in for his six month check-up next week, so we'll share his updated stats then. I think he will now weigh in at 500 pounds.
Leo just getting over his first cold. Yep, that was fun. Byron had it for almost a week before Leo showed any symptoms, and when he developed a seriously stuffy nose it didn't seem to bother him at all. Except for when we tried to clean it out.... that part, he didn't care for. Any attempt to either wipe his nose, or suction the goo out with the aspirator were met with wild wailing and sobbing. With actual tears, which up till now has been really rare with him. Nothing like making your child really cry to make you feel like a fantastic parent. At least the stuffy nose seemed to be the only symptom, and didn't really alter his sleep pattern much (besides making it louder).
Other than being sick, not to much excitement here - Leo and I have been enjoying almost daily walks, enjoying all the fall colors. Leo continues to get stronger and more dexterous, getting pretty good at holding items with his hands. And he soooo wants to be able to crawl, when you put him on his tummy he tries to push with his legs and pushes up with his arms a bit - just doesn't seem to grasp yet that he need to do all of this at once to move. I suppose we should enjoy this non-mobile stage as much as we can for now, once he starts to crawl I'll be spending my days chasing after him.

First pool, first ocean, first Halloween!

For Byron's fall break, we headed down to his folk's vacation place in Naples Florida, for a little relaxing beach vacation. Byron's parents came down too, to enjoy a nice chunk of Leo time. Leo was outfitted with a whole bunch of great vacation gear - two swimsuits, a couple of cute hats, and an awesome pool float. He ended up loving the pool, and the pool float, partially because the water was so warm, I think. The ocean, he was a bit more skeptical about that. The waves seemed to make him a little nervous, and the water was pretty cold.













The plane rides were a mixed bag - he did pretty darn well on the way down (a direct flight) and on the first of the two flights home....but then as we started to land on the second flight, he melted down. Not too bad, all things considered.

Then this past Friday, one of Byron's classmates had a little Halloween party, and we dressed Leo up as a lion (we just couldn't resist) and we dressed as his lion tamers. I picked up a basic lion costume at a second hand kid's stuff store, then embellished it with some furry fabric, and I think it turned out pretty well. It was mostly fun just to see him looking cute, he of course had no idea of what was happening. Next year I imagine he'll be a bit more entertained by the whole thing.

Baby Byron and Baby Elise

After a conversation with friends about whom Leo looked most like, I decided it would be fun to post some baby pictures of Byron and I and see what everyone thinks. I thought he looked more like Byron until I found this picture of myself, at about a year old (and look how blond my hair is!). Kinda reassuring to see that I had no eyebrows to speak of either when I was a baby. No idea how old Byron is in his picture.

Leo is now 5 months old, and currently enjoying the make-loud-screechy-noise-for-no-reason phase. It's pretty cute, though occasionally very very loud. Sometimes it feels like we're living with a terodactyle. Or a howler monkey. But a cute cuddly one.

First bite!

my spoon, originally uploaded by Click Click Chick.

We gave Leo his first few bites of rice cereal this weekend, and he seemed to like it! Though as this photo shows, he also very much liked the spoon. There are a few more photos on my Flickr page: http://www.flickr.com/photos/clickclickchic/

4 Months Old

Our big big boy is now just over 4 months old! We went into the pediatrician last Friday for his check-up, and confirmed that he is indeed gigantic. He is now 19 pounds 2 ounces, 27 inches tall. Yep. Which is apparently the 97th percentile for weight and height, and oh yeah head size too. So it's official, he's enormous, already in the 9 month size clothing range! And about to outgrow his carseat too, that maxes out at 22 pounds. Time to start browsing reviews for the next bigger size.

Leo has become super duper smiley as of late, and has started to laugh too. He LOVES to be bounced up high into the air, and that almost always makes him laugh. He's still drooling like a fiend, and has enjoyed chewing on his frozen teething ring lately. Actually besides chewing it, he also seems to like just licking it.

In crafty news, I'm working on some cute decor for Leo's room: a big felt giraffe and tree to go on the wall. The giraffe is mostly done, and a bunch of the leaves are cut, just need to get the tree cut out of felt and the whole thing tacked up on the wall. I'll post pictures as soon as it's done.

The pediatrician said we could start feeding Leo rice cereal anytime between now and 6 months - given how intently he watches me when I eat and tries to steal my fork, we think he may be ready to give it a try soon. I'm sure it will make for amusing photos!

Roll Over Leo

Roll Over Leo, originally uploaded by Click Click Chick.

I just happened to catch this footage of Leo rolling over this morning - maybe the third time he's rolled himself over on a flat surface. He's getting big in a rush!