Small Christmas Robber

We have three Christmas outfits for Daniel that we bought at consignment sales. Two are red and one is blue. We put the blue one on him for the first time Sunday. It has a little bear on the front, and it says 'Baby's First Christmas.' It has a hat with a Christmas tree embroidered on it. Daniel looks like a small Christmas robber in this outfit. He learned how to take the hat off, so that was lots of fun. We put it back on him about 100 times.

Tadaaaaaaa!

Daniel has one more trick up his sleeve for this evening. Tell me what you think.

Daniel's saturday video

Daniel's newest trick -- avacados!!!

Little Sickie

Today Daniel is having his first cold. He is congested, and he's been sneezing little snot bubbles all day. We have been snuggling, nursing, and using lots of tissues. We hope he feels better soon.

half-birthday

Well, today was Daniel's 6 month (1/2 year for those of you that are bad at math) birthday and he didn't receive a single card or call. Nobody remembered him. In honor of those people, I've included a few pictures to show how he feels.

Morosely,

Joseph, Daniel, and Betsy

Winter Hat

We needed a hat with ear flaps to stay warm during our walks in the cold weather. Here are mother and Daniel getting ready for a walk.

Saturday weekly video

I'm going to try and upload a short video of Daniel doing his thing every Saturday (not on holidays, obviously). Today we have Daniel in the Jumper -- I took the video this morning.

Joseph

Penguin Photo Shoot

It's getting colder here in North Carolina. So when we went for our walk today, we dressed Daniel in his warm penguin suit. This is the first time he has worn it. We walked around Lyon's Farm, which is a new subdivision near us. It was windy and sunny. I had Daniel so wrapped up that he feel asleep in the carrier. Now we're back home, and he's looking cute in his penguin outfit. Notice he is wearing the doggie shoes from Angie.

Hope everyone is having a great day!

Saturday afternoon video with a big surprise

I just videotaped this (11/15/08 at 12:35 p.m.) Daniel is five and a half months old. He's having a great time and wants to show you his new trick. Hope you like it!

First Boo Boo

This afternoon, while rough-housing with G.G., Daniel got his first big bump. G.G. was giving him a ride around the living room floor wrapped up in her sweater. After she stopped, he immediately rolled out to start crawling. He conked his face on the floor and bumped his nose. It bled a little. Just enough to make us all upset, but Daniel got over it soon. All he wants to do these days is crawl. It is almost impossible to change his diaper. I have to hold his legs at the knees, otherwise he can flip over on his stomach to crawl. This is especially precarious with a poopy diaper. Also, he doesn't want to be dressed into or out of his clothes. The last couple of nights he has screamed like crazy when I put on his pajamas. I hope this will pass; it's not fun at all. We will spend this weekend baby-proofing the family room. We have to move the stool we are using as an end table because he can pull it over. Also, we have to do something with our television and computer cords. This baby is on the move!

Daniel laughing!!!

We love this video -- I threw a ball in the air for several minutes and Daniel laughed like it was the funniest thing in the world. Let me know if you can view the video!

Joseph

Tooth #2

Well, we can't believe it, but this morning as we were doing "tooth check" we found a tiny bump beside his tooth #1. Daniel officially has two teeth! At first, we thought the second tooth would come right after the first, but then nothing happened. Today is almost exactly one month from the time the first tooth came. He is growing and growing. Right now he is trying so desperately to crawl. He's got everything figured out as far as his legs go, but he can't get his arms to work toward crawling. He puts his face into the carpet and goes to town with his legs. His sweet face got a little carpet burned yesterday from trying so hard. We wonder how long it will be before he figures out how to put his legs and arms together and really move.

Photos

Photos

Five Months Old October 25, 2008

Today is Daniel's five-month birthday. We cannot believe he has been with us for five whole months. What a blessing! We spent the day relaxing and loving on him. Here are some pictures of him. The pictures in the bath towel are from today. Then there are two other pictures- one of him getting ready to crawl and one of his precious face. Hope you enjoy!

Kure Beach October 2008

We went to the beach last week for two days. We have never lived so close to the beach, so we went just because we could. It was windy and cool, but we had fun with our hats on. We visited the aquarium at Fort Fisher and the fort itself. We walked on the beach and on the pier. We ate fried flounder and banana pudding ice cream. And we took pictures of Daniel. It was a great trip!

Pumpkin Patch October 18, 2008

Today we went to the Pumpkin Patch at the church across from our library. Daniel didn't like it a WHOLE lot, but the mother and grannies had a BLAST. He was in a very serious mood. We dressed him in his three Halloween outfits (the light-up shirt, the jack-o-lantern onesie, and the pea pod costume) and took tons of pictures. Of course, Press Monkey, our beloved monkey friend from Aunt Kerry, went with us. D.G., our other beloved monkey friend from Aunt Nancy, stayed home because Daniel keeps eating his hair. We are currently in negotiations about whether we should shave D.G.'s head so that Daniel can play with him. Anyway, we hope you enjoy these pictures. He is just getting cuter every day.

House

Here is our house on Scott King Road. I'm just putting one picture tonight, but I have some pictures of the inside to add in next time.
Things are moving along well, and we are enjoying our company. Aunt Judy and Uncle David left this morning. Now Daniel is reading books with his G.G. Soon he will have a bath. We took a walk this afternoon, and listened to some Wille Nelson. Joseph and Daddy have been working on outside lighting all day long. Tomorrow is a La Leche meeting, and we might go to the movies.

Crib

He had about one inch of room left lengthwise in his bassinette, so we had to go ahead and buy the crib. Thankfully, we put it together in one afternoon without much trouble. Joseph is wonderful with instructions. If I had to put it together on my own, Daniel would be sleeping in a box or a drawer. Our friends at Woodmont gave us the bedding set and the Miller lab gave us funds for the crib. Somehow I didn't make it to NC with a matching crib sheet (that's why there is a blue fitted sheet). I will get a matching one soon.

So far he's had two nights in the crib. He's woken up both nights, but I think that is just part of the game and not related to a new bed. But who knows.

Roll Over!

Well, Daniel has learned to roll all the way over. Joseph bought his crib on Thursday. When we went to get it out of the car, we left him on his back in hte middle of his blanket for MAYBE one and a half minutes. When we came back, he had rolled to the middle of the floor. He wouldn't do it while we were watching, so we hid behind a chair to witness his rolling. He is getting stronger every day. He can push his bottom all the way up in the air where the only things touching the floor are his forehead and his toes. Also, he can assume the "superman" pose, with his arms and legs in the air and only his tummy on the floor. As soon as he puts it together, he'll be crawling! Now he can scoot in any direction, but it isn't quite purposeful yet. Can't wait to see what happens today!

Daniel and Aunt Jenny

Aunt Jenny is our one pre-existing Durham friend. It has been so comforting to know that she is near us. Jenny and I (Betsy) have been friends since high school. She is a great lady and has been to visit us frequently. We love having her over to visit with us, eat dinner, hang out, shop, whatever. She is great with Daniel, and he loves to sit with her. Here is a picture from the other night.

TOOTH!!!!!

The biggest breaking news around here is Daniel's new tooth. We felt it for the first time on his four month birthday, September 25th. We think it came out the day before when we were taking out the trash. He had a really big crying jag that we couldn't figure out. We are guessing it was the tooth coming through. It is on the bottom in the front, a bit to his right. Now we think there may be another tooth coming soon because Daniel will grab our finger and put it directly on his tooth and rub. Then he moves our finger to the back left side of his mouth and rubs. So, we think it might be another tooth. Anyway, we are happy for him. I am surprised because I thought teeth wouldn't come until seven months or so. Oh well. I hope he doesn't bite me while we are nursing. But my friend said that it will only happen once and my reaction will cause him not to do it again. I am hoping that is true!!
Another thing that is happening now is pinching. Daniel grabs me (my arm, my neck, my eyebrow, my everything) and squeezes as tightly as he can. It really hurts. The funniest part is that he doesn't do it to Joseph at all; just me. Strange, huh. It looks like I have a little kitten because I have scratches all up my arms.
As I type he is reaching for the keyboard, so I'm going to let him type a bit.

Daniel's first typing=
c m mnj frg g jn

I am pretty sure that means "all is well, and I am about to scratch my mother to death. See you later."

That's all for now. More later.

More Daniel

Here are some pictures we've taken the last few days. After a few sneaky cool days, the weather has warmed up again. But I tried on some of his overalls in case we needed them. Almost all the clothes we had were summer clothes. So, we went to consignment sales this past weekend and bought some warm clothes in preparation for fall. Also, my best treasure was finding a Baby Bjorn baby carrier (usually about 100 dollars) for 9 dollars! It's great to wear him when I'm walking. We'll try to get a picture of him in the carrier up soon.

Sad Daniel

I finally captured the saddest lip you've ever seen on camera.
Daniel was a little hungry and couldn't hold in his disappointment with us. As for the Watsons, we finally got a new couch and loveseat yesterday. The outside of our house is looking great. We're still unpacking -- I don't think we will ever finish. Betsy will write soon!

Picture Orientation

Well, I can't figure out how to make the picture rotation correct. The pictures are horizontally oriented in my picture file. But, when I upload them they are incorrect. If anyone knows how to fix this, please let me know!
betsy

Pictures

Pictures

a few more pictures

More pictures

Here are some random shots that I think are worthy of posting. Hope you like them. Please note Daniel's curly hair after the bath.