6 months

Now that my baby boy will be 7 months tomorrow, I decided to post his 6 month pics I took a few weeks ago. Man, these months go by so quickly!

He looks like such a big boy in this one!

As you can tell, he likes to stick his tongue out when he smiles, well, as far as he can stick it out anyway (he's tongue tied!)

A Saturday Full of Christmas Tree Fun

Getting bundled up to go find our Christmas tree!

Doesn't Rob look like he's having fun?!

I think he likes the ornaments!

Helping daddy decorate the Christmas tree

Playing with the garland

Our Finished Product!

Do we really understand what poverty is?

This is driving me crazy and I just need a place to blow some steam. Blogging seemed like a good place.
I don't know if this has to do with living in a third world country for 10 months or what, but I am SO TIRED of hearing about how bad the economy is. I mean, SO TIRED!!! Do Americans REALLY know what it is like to be poor? I don't think there is one person in America who TRULY understands what it means to be poor. Here we are moping around complaining about how our retirement might be in a little bit of trouble or how you can't spend thousands of dollars on Christmas (only hundreds this year). We live in our 3 bedroom, 1500 sq. feet houses with air conditioning and heating. Our pantries are full of food we never eat and will probably just be thrown away once it expires. I mean really people. Wake up and open your eyes beyond your 401Ks. Do you know what poverty really is??? It's the little girl in Africa whose parents have died of AIDS, she is now homeless, taking care of her 3 younger siblings and can't even find clean water. It's the two little kids that came to our front door in the Philippines with dirty torn shirts (no pants) asking for a clean shirt to wear. It's the family of 15 in Thailand, living in a one room shack made out of things here and there they found in the trash. AMERICA, YOU ARE RICH BEYOND BELIEF! Stop complaining about how you can only afford 2 cars instead of 3. How you aren't going to become a millionaire when you retire, and start thinking about people around the world who have FAR LESS than you could ever imagine having. So next time you think about how bad the economy is, start thinking about the little girl in Africa, or the two little kids in the Philippines, or the family in Thailand. Shut your mouth, open your eyes, and be grateful.

My First Thanksgiving

We had a great time Thanksgiving weekend in Dallas with my mom and my brother's family. We left on Wednesday after Rob got off work and drove the 8 hours. Clay did a great job in the car (he's doing much better in the car these days, doesn't scream the entire time like he use to), which made the drive a lot more pleasant. On Thursday we did the typical Thanksgiving day, girls cooked, boys watched football and the kids, ate yummy food and yummy pie, topped off with a rented movie. Friday we did a little "black Friday" shopping but came back with nothing... no big deal, it's just stuff anyway ;) and went to a park that had a drive through Christmas lights display. At the end was a place with a couple rides (including a carousel) and hot chocolate. Clay took his first carousel ride, wish I had pics, but forgot m camera and so did my sis-in-law! Saturday we went to an arboretum (very cool) and just walked around taking pics and enjoying the beautiful fall colors (something we don't have down here). In the evening, we went on a double date with my brother and his wife!!! woohoo! Only about the third date we have had since Clay was born (the joys of having a baby that will not take a bottle). The only requirement was putting Clay to bed before going. We left on Sunday afternoon, once again, Clay did great in the car. We had a great time visiting with family!!! Clay supervises the thanksgiving dinner table being set!
This is what the boys did while the girls were in the kitchen.

Clay's thanksgiving dinner: bananas for the first time!

Friday morning breakfast with Mimie!

walking around the arboretum

Caiah waves hello to the fish

I LOVE the colors of fall!

Mimie with the 3 grandsons at the arboretum.

Grass

While we were in Dallas for Thanksgiving, we went to an arboreum for a few hours. While we were there, Rob decided it was time for Clay to have his first grass experience (although the grass was much softer there than the hard long grass we have here!) Clay seemed to like it!Hey! What is this stuff?!

Happy Birthday Clay!

Today, my baby boy is offically 6 months! Happy Birthday Clay! We love you so much!

Solids

Last Saturday, Clay hit a new milestone in his young life. We started solid food! It's a little sad to see my little baby grow so fast. Eating solid food from a spoon! He took to it immediately! Even with the first spoonful, he opened his mouth and swallowed it like he had been eating from a spoon his whole life. Of course, he made the whole, "what in the world is this" face, but quickly opened his mouth for more. We find him kicking and squealing during meal times because he loves it so much. And we just can't seem to shovel it in quickly enough! Also, we often find him whining when we are eating in front of him. Well, we went from only one meal a day to 3 meals a day very quickly. His first food (like most babies these days) was rice cereal. Since then he has eaten peas, bananas, green beans, and as of today, oatmeal. He is doing great and really loving it. My plan has always been to make his baby food, but since we started solids a few days before going to Dallas for Thanksgiving, I decided to just start with baby food and make it when we got home. Today, I made green beans. Funny thing, he didn't really love the baby food green beans, but the fresh ones I made for him, he loved. I guess this little guy just loves nice fresh veggies (which I don't mind). I'm looking forward to making sweet potatoes and peas tomorrow! These are some pics from his very first taste of rice cereal!Humm... I think I'm full mommy!

Cousins in Town

This past weekend my brother's family came for a short visit. It was fun to hang-out with them. Their two little guys are growing so fast. Orin and Caiah were a lot more interested in Clay this trip than they have been in the past. I have a feeling it has something to do with their baby sister that their family is adopting from Korea who is only 6 weeks older than Clay. We kept telling them that Sora (their sister) is about the same size as Clay (yes, she is really small). We can't wait to meet our little Sora, who we love already. Hopefully they will be going to get her in February. These were the only pics I got of the cousins lovin' on Clay:

Clay is very into grabbing things, especially faces. Orin and Caiah loved it. too cute.

Caiah kisses
Orin kisses

New Trick

We just figured out today that Clay has a new trick! He can sit up, well, proped up on his hands!! Woohoo. He's getting so big.

Little Rock

A couple weeks ago, I drove with my mom (and of course, Clay) to Little Rock to see my brother, sister-in-law and nephews. We had a fun time running around LR with the family. We were even able to make it to the LR zoo (Clay's first time to the zoo) on a very cold day. In NOLA it had been very warm until recently, so it was quite different having to dress a baby for cold weather, always wondering if he is too cold or maybe too warm. Clay had quite the time adjusting to a new place and new routine, but did ok considering. We had a fun time and I am glad Clay got to hang out with his cousins (he'll remember I'm sure ;)
Sam being goofy by the bears

Zach by the zebras (what a cutie)

trying to stay warm at the zoo

enjoying some baby einstein with his cousin

after school snack time

Clay's Favorite Spot

This, by far, is Clay's favorite spot in our house. He LOVES his changing table. Not sure what it is, but the kiddo loves it. If he is crying, you can bring him there and he will usually (unless it's a major meltdown) stop and even smile at you. Since, he loves it so much, we often stay there for awhile and just play, blowing on his belly, giving eskimo kisses (my absolute favorite). This is probably one of the reasons he loves his changing table so much, because it often becomes playtime! This is a FAR CRY from the first few weeks of his life where he absolutely HATED getting his diaper changed. He would scream and pee everywhere, evertime, without fail. Oh I am glad that phase is over and now we have a little boy who loves it! They grow up so fast. (Oh and he no longer pees everywhere when we change his diaper, well... not everytime anyway :)