Teeth!

John Clarke is officially the owner of 2 itty bitty baby teeth. We first saw them a couple weeks ago, and they are totally out now. He had a couple rough days, but it really wasn't all the bad. John Clarke is quite the trooper. And, boy, are those babies sharp!

He's learning a bunch of new sounds - 'dadada' has been in his repertoire for a while now, and we've recently mastered 'bababa'. And there's the occasional 'ma' and 'wa' sounds. No, my baby can't talk, but it sure is fun listening him make other noises than the grunts and growls we've been hearing for months. And, he can sound like an indian! Pat my hand over his mouth, and he just starts a-singin!

John Clarke hasn't quite broken the 20 lb mark, but he's very, very close. I think he's decided that since he's packed on the pounds so well so far, he's going to take a break and slow things down for a while.

Peas, please

Well, the eating is going moderately better. John Clarke likes peas, of all things. Still a fan of bananas, and he had apples for the first time tonight. Avocados were a total bust. But, the faces were great.

Since John Clarke is now sitting up really well, he's now having "real" baths. We have an inflatable duckie tub and it's great. For his first bath I gave him some of the rubber duckies his grandmother gave him at his baby shower, and when I had to take it away to do some of the actual bathing, he got quite upset. He hasn't quite gotten the splashing down, but I'm sure it won't be long before I'm as wet as he is after a bath.

Back on Track, hopefully

So, obviously I've done really well keeping up with this. In my defense, we moved, so there was all the unpacking and trying to get the house together. Then, we had John Clarke's baptism (which was beautiful), and everyone was coming over here so we *really* had to get the house together. Then Thanksgiving, then Christmas, and now I finally feel like I have a minute to breathe. John Clarke is doing great. He had his 6 month checkup on Monday. He weighed 18 lbs, 13 oz (granted, it was on a full stomach, so I think he's really about 18 1/2 lbs) and is in the 75th percentile for weight. I guess nothing puts on weight like breast milk.

We've also started to try eating. He had cereal on Christmas Eve Eve, and it was an amazing success. We were thrilled. It was so easy! He liked it so much. Then, the next time he tried it, he hated it. Then, he hated it again. So we tried sweet potatoes. Failure. Pears, also a failure. We've had moderate success with bananas, and we started on some peas last night, and they've gone over pretty well. Go figure. I guess he's going to like his veggies like Mommy and Daddy.

Moving Day

Today we're moving from our wonderful condo in the City Federal Building. I'm sad to leave our downtown abode - we'll never have a view like this again - but thrilled about our new house. It's right where we wanted to live (in John's old neighborhood, in fact), it's in wonderful shape, and it's meets all of our most important requirements - big kitchen, big basement, fireplace, good yard. The movers are almost done loading up, and then we get to hit the road. John Clarke left this morning to spend the day with my mom, so he's already out of his first home. It's kind of sad, but mostly exciting.

And it begins

We are starting to be surrounded less by stuff and more by boxes. Actually, it seems like there are tons of boxes, but still tons of stuff. It's a good thing the new house has tons of storage. I'm excited because I'll finally get to use all the wedding gifts that have been living at my parents' house for the last three years, and I'll finally be reacquainted with all the books, cds, dvds and apparently loads of stuff that I can't remember that's been packed since I moved from Richmond. If it's really as much stuff as it seems, I'm hoping that I can get rid of a lot since I've lived fine without it for more than 4 years.

John Clarke is cooing away in his swing while I'm writing. He's talking more and more now, and I'm finally getting more than one or two smiles a day.

Off to see what he's chatting about...

Shots

We went to the doctor on Friday for John Clarke's 2 month checkup. John's excited that his son has moved up to the 75th percentile for height and weight - he's now 12 lb 2 oz, 23 1/2 inches long. Baby also had to get 2 shots, and boy did he hate them. John took the video. It mostly makes Daddy laugh and Mommy Cry.

The kid also had his first cereal yesterday. I know it's early, but he gets so hungry all the time, we thought we'd try something that will sit on his stomach a little longer than breast milk. He had a grand total of 1 tbsp of rice cereal mixed in with 4 oz of milk, and the verdict was quite disappointing. He was hungry again in less than 2 hours.

Oh, and we're buying a house. I would have mentioned that first, but I know John Clarke's eating habits are far more important. The contract is signed, but we don't have a closing date yet - maybe by the end of the month. I'm so excited to have a yard and a porch and enough room to put all our stuff and a big kitchen and a place to park that doesn't require going through 5 doors (not including the elevator) to get from my car to the kitchen to unload groceries. But, I will miss my beautiful view here. It's been really lovely living downtown for the last three years.

John's out of town all this week, so it's just me and the little guy.

2 months

John Clarke is 2 months old today, so we figured it's about time we got around to starting this journal we've been talking about doing. We've had a big week! Saturday was John Clarke's first big college football weekend.

Luckily, both of his teams won. Then on Sunday, Uncle Carl and Aunt Michie invited us to the lake. John Clarke had his very first boat ride!

Monday night was very exciting, as least for Mom and Dad, since he slept for 8 hours. Last night he made it 6 1/2, which is still very exciting.

I'm off to see the eye doctor while Daddy stays home with JC. The boys sure do love hanging out together!