Happy Eight Month Birthday Cavin!

Cavin's 8th month was pretty much like his 7 month except on overdrive. He doesn't have many more motor skills to add to his list; however we did catch him standing on his own for about 5 seconds just before his 8 month birthday. Other than that he has just become stronger and stronger on his legs, he cruises around a lot more, crawls a lot faster, and sits up on his knees a lot.

Taking after his dad, Cavin has become quite the talker and has increased his vocabulary this past month. He's consistently saying "dadadadada" and "mamamamama" (the "mamamama" only comes when he's upset or tired...typical), "ooooohhhh" (while making the so-called "O lips" that his Aunt Amy S loves so much), "yayaya", "babababa", and "thathatha" (only in a whisper...if you can figure that one out let me know). As you can tell he's well on his way to becoming a literary genius.

Between 7 and 8 months, Mike and I experienced a bit of a challenge in the solid foods category. We tried everything! Serving the foods warm, serving them cold, before his bottle, after his bottle, after his nap, in his high chair, in our lap, mixing the foods, separating the foods, fruits, veggies, rice, oatmeal...you name it we tried it. Cavin would take a couple bites, clamp his lips shut, and eventually cry in protest. After about 6 weeks of this we figured it out. It wasn't that he didn't like pears, or squash, or sweet potato. Or that it was too warm, too cold, not the right time of day, or not the right color spoon. Nope. None of that. It was that he didn't like mommy's cooking. That's right. All this time I was making his baby food and thinking I'm such a great mommy making his food from scratch. When all he wanted was jarred foods. That's just great. In my defense I think I wasn't pureeing the food enough because at this point he will take some of my foods - the more liquid-y ones such as pears and squash. I will also blame teething because...well...that gets blamed for everything and by Cavin's 8 month b-day he had two bottom teeth and was working on his two top ones (which he now can mark off his list as well).

This month's Elmo picture proved to be like last month's. He can sit on Elmo for as long as he wants. Unfortunately, since he's a 'man on the move' he chooses to sit for.....about 5 seconds...just enough to get one picture. I think this has become some sort of game to him. Look at those devilish eyes!



Then he was off and on to better things like:

Perfecting his swing using his Astros bat that Auntie Adrienne and Uncle David gave him...



Pretending he is Sandy...

Turning around to play with Elmo himself...

And grabbing mommy's camera.

As you can tell we've got our hands full with a very playful baby boy! Cavin has proved to be so much fun. Gone are the days when we place him on the play mat and hope he engages with the toys...now he rips the toys off and turns the mat upside down. Mike and I truly have a lot of fun engaging him in various activities and watching our little guy figure out the world around him.

Now on to his stats!

This month Cavin had a doctor's appointments so they are more official. However, what is strange is they are less than my unofficial measurements from last month. And since I don't make mistakes :) I will blame it on the nurse that took his measurements very quickly. That being said, here's what is being recorded in his medical records:

Weight: 19 pounds, 2 ounces (25-50th percentile)
Height: 28.75 inches (90th percentile)
Head: 46cm (80th percentile)

I was originally concerned with his slight drop in weight and height percentiles. The doctor said she is not at all worried due to how much he moves around and how he started crawling earlier than the average age...therefore burning more calories. Who knew that Cavin was already on some sort of exercise regime. Since then, Cavin has increased his solids intake so I'm interested to see his weigh-in come his 10 month check-up!

Happy birthday little guy!

"Whaat? Whooo? Hooow?"

These are the questions I could see running through my little tot's head when he first met Santa Clause. I should caviat this post with the fact that Cavin was tired, hungry, and had just sat through an hour long Catholic mass in an uncomfortable 'I'm wearing this outfit b/c it appeases my mom and is festive' outfit.

When I sat him down on Santa's lap he immediately became infatuated with the beard. Seriously, he would not stop staring. I was beginning to think Santa would take offense and become uncomfortable. And with Cavin's obsession in pulling my hair and sticking it in my mouth I had serious concern that Santa's gross beard would find it in my child's clean mouth. Alas, no...just...a lot of....staring.

Meanwhile, 50,000 people (okay, maybe there were really just 5 adults but daddy and mommy count as 49,997) were screaming Cavin's name, jumping up and down, waving toys, acting like complete fools to get just one precious photo of Cavin, Santa, and Mrs. Clause looking at the camera. But nope. We have one excellent photo of Santa looking at Cavin and Cavin....looking at the beard. All 50,000 adults tried for what felt like 5 minutes until Cavin got completely overwhelmed and burst into tears!

And with a "maybe you should take him" from Santa, mommy swooped him up in hopes that despite Cavin's "naughty" behavior he will still be considered on Santa's "nice" list.

Sweet Relief

A night time ritual: a tantalizing menu of rice cereal mixed with fruits and / or veggies followed by a chilled dessert - a teething ring.




Showing off his festive "My first tooth" onesie...

Happy Seven Month Birthday Cavin!

He is getting up there! I apologize for the late birthday post this month...things have been pretty hectic in the Spruiell household between my NY trip, our Houston trip, and Thanksgiving. Okay, enough with the excuses....onto the birthday boy!

When it came to the monthly Elmo shot, this month proved a LITTLE easier. Since he's very comfortable sitting up these days, he would stay on Elmo for a little more time. The tough part was getting him to pose and smile at the same time. He'd sit there for a few seconds with this look like 'can I go now??? can I?? please! I want to go!!!!'

Cavin: "Okay, it's time to go. That's okay right?"

Cavin: "Screw this. I'm out."

Cavin: "Get out of my way mom!!!"

This month Cavin perfected his crawling technique. This little guy is pretty fast. He kicks it into high gear when he sees one of his furry friends. Once one of the dogs see he is headed their way, they meet him half way with lots of licks...it is such a cute relationship he has with those two. As for Toby, it took Toby 8 months to warm up to each of these dogs so I'm hoping to have some good news right around Cavin's 9 month Elmo picture.

In other news, at around 6.5 months Cavin started pulling himself up to stand! And about a week and a half after that he was already cruising around...in other words, taking steps while holding onto something. He still doesn't cruise that fast or go that far....for long! He even takes one hand off and uses it to pull down toys.

As you can probably imagine, the second Cavin wakes up, the productivity levels in our household decrease by 50%. Meaning, one parent is constantly following after Cavin picking up after him or ensuring he doesn't injure himself too bad. Mike has been baby proofing as much as possible but we feel like we barely keep up.



We also started solid foods this month. We began with rice cereal which went over pretty well. Then we figured we'd begin his fruit / veggie experience with avocado since, other than Jerry, he's the only native Californian in our family. Well, apparently the CO and TX in his blood was stronger than CA b/c he didn't take to the avocados very well. We'll try those again soon. He warmed up to sweet potatoes, likes bananas, and loves pears! Cavin has never been a big eater so we are finding that solid feeding time is a bit of a challenge to keep him interested but he's getting better as the days go on.


He also has TWO bottom teeth! Okay, so one showed up before his 7 month bday and one showed up after...but I'm included the second tooth in this post anyways. We endured quite a few sleepless nights for those bad boys. Mr. Molar, you can wait for now. And as with all big occasions he dressed appropriately and sported a "My First Tooth" onesie to daycare the day is first tooth popped in. I'll post the pic of that later.


So as you can see it has been a BIG month!


Now on to the stats! Since Cavin didn't have a doctor's appointment this month, the stats are VERY approximate.


Weight: 19 pounds, 6 ounces
Height: 29.5 inches
Head: enormous - he's grown out of all but two of his hats


Happy Birthday honey-bunny!

One hot blond

Since Cavin arrived, we feel like the dogs haven't received the attention that they once did. And as the weather got colder I realized that Sandy hadn't nearly gotten in as many swimming opportunities as she was able to in her younger years. So I insisted we head out to Berkeley a few weekends ago so our 'hot blond' could do one of the things she does best: run after flying objects amidst crashing waves and seaweed.

Notice the Frisbee up in the air way out in front of her. Note to everyone: we arrived at the beach with one Frisbee and left with the same one. This girl is TALENTED when it comes to finding that thing in the ocean. Although she nearly gave momma a panic attack, it is always fascinating to watch!

Cavin enjoyed the sights too! After all, this was his first sight of the ocean, sand, beach, and Sandy's swimming!

Naturally, Jerry wanted no part of the water. In fact, in true Jerry form he was so excited to jump in the car and go somewhere; however, once we were there, he waited at the back and constantly gave us clues that he was ready to go. The only time he came close to the water was to be on the recipients end of a hug from Mike.

Another one of Cavin and I bundled up. Don't be fooled by Sandy's swimming, it was COLD that day.

Two very happy furry creatures...

Happy Sixth Month Birthday Cavin!

Cavin was a bit...moody...at his 6 month Elmo photo shoot. So we didn't necessarily get a "mommy approved" picture of him and Elmo. It did make for an interesting photo situation though! The second we put him down on the Elmo chair he started wiggling around. He ended up stomach down on Elmo at one point. In general, this child wants to go everywhere but where he is at the moment and he wants to go there fast!



At one point we just sat him on the ground so he could get his pent-up energy out. That's when his attention shifted to his toes. Ayayayay!

Then he turned around and gave Elmo a 'i mean business' stare - down.

Finally, after all this (and a few more Cavin antics), the only way we could attempt to get a decent picture was if Mike sat Cavin on Elmo ON his lap. But then Cavin started crying.

Sigh. We will try again next month.

As you can see from these pictures, Cavin is a mover and a shaker! The most exciting part is that by his 6 month birthday, the boy was crawling 5-6 steps! He'd crawl, collapse, get up on all fours again, and crawl a few more steps. He's traveling fast! Meanwhile, Mike is frantically child-proofing the house.

In addition to learning to crawl, Cavin is sitting completely unsupported, becoming more verbal, and, unfortunately, got his first cold. When he was sick he learned the art of sympathy. He learned how to 'play' his parents and his doctor VERY well. Now, anytime he wants attention he coughs or cries...and then smiles and laughs the minute we give him the attention he feels he deserves. Pretty sure Toby doesn't rule the house anymore....

Cavin definitely has quite the personality. He's learning more and more each day how to communicate when he wants something. He's also learning how to figure some things out himself. He's great at entertaining himself and can even soothe himself back to sleep when he wants. He's so sweet, charming, loves to play with his toys, and really loves his other furry siblings. It has been an indescribable feeling watching our little boy grow up and learn more and more about the world around him. He amazes me every day.

Now on to the stats:

Height - 28.5 inches (95th percentile)

Weight - 17lbs, 3 ounces (50th percentile)

Happy 1/2 year birthday big boy!

Chick Magnet

Happy Halloween everyone!

Many of you may remember the infamous year when Mike dressed up as a 'chick magnet'. This was in his "swingin' single" days before his life was blessed by myself as his better half. He wore all white and made these little chicks (with yellow puff balls and eye balls) and pinned them all over himself. It was classic and by far the best Halloween costume I've seen to date!

Well, as they say, 'like father like son'...Cavin has come up with his OWN version of 'chick magnet' for his very first Halloween.

To celebrate his first Halloween we took Cavin to the local pumpkin patch that is owned by one of Mike's friend's family in Clayton. The place is amazing! It is full of fun activities including mazes, hay, trains, and of course pumpkins. Cavin was a little too obsessed with the hay.

Before we went though, he got a nice long nap with Grandma.

When we arrived at the pumpkin patch there was so much to see!

No matter where we were Cavin found hay and would try to eat it. He'd grab a big chunk of it in his hands and go straight for his mouth:

Stage One: "Hmmm...what's this....this looks like fun!"

Stage 2: "Mmmmm....yummy!!!!"

Stage 3: "Daddy, WHY are you cramping my style?"

We finally got a good picture of Cavin with the hay; however, Mike had to sit in the picture with him to regulate the hay intake. If you look rather closely, Cavin has hay all over him!

Cavin also got to pretend to be a mean Halloween cat (aka Toby)

And a zombie / mummy (aka his mommy for the last 6 months)!

And finally, as my dad would say, he got to act like Linus and wait for the Great Pumpkin!

All in all, a successful first Halloween!