Solid!

So, not only is G a solid boy weighing in at 20 lbs. 12.5 ozs. at his 6 month appointment, but he also started solid foods.

Luckily for you, Johnny was busy last night so I filmed the second attempt at eating. Also luckily for you, I trimmed down the original seven minute version.

Happy Half Birthday

So, I've always been big on half birthdays. Now more than ever since my little boy is 6 months today! So in honor of his 1/2 life, here are 5 things he did in his first five months that were both cute and endearing, in order of what I loved the most.


5) Spit. I have no idea where he learned to do this, probably from someone in the ward, and I know I won't find it so cute in a few months, but right now, it's just precious. And funny.

4) Hold my hand while he nurses. He really loves to grab things while he eats, but I just love holding his little hand and having him grab one of my fingers. It makes me feel like a good mom.

3) Courtesy laugh at Daddy. He doesn't usually do this for me very often, but if Daddy's making a big effort to be funny and not quite making it to the lol phase, G will give a half-chuckle that just sounds like a courtesy laugh. It's so cute that he's willing to acknowledge and encourage silly behavior.

2) Hugging me when he's tired. Normally, tiredness and hunger are the only things that create orneriness in G. And we're working hard to take care of them before they get to the ornery stage, but if he's been fussing and I pick him up, he'll normally give me a big hug if he's tired. It just melts my heart and I forgive him for being fussy. It might just be the sweetest thing ever, only it's not cause that is . . .

1) Bathroom Peek-a-boo. When I need to wash my hands and I put G down on the rug in the bathroom he can't see my face because the countertop is in the way, but I peek over the counter and smile at him and he starts laughing, so then I do it again and again and every time he laughs and gets excited. And that's what I love about G the most, he is a genuinely happy person. It takes quite a bit to make him mad, and almost nothing to get him to laugh. He reminds me every day to just enjoy life.

Happy half birthday, little guy. You have made my life better, and I love you!

Sum of his parts

So, I have been studying G for almost 6 months now, and I'm pretty sure I can answer the who-does-he-look-like question. Of course, not everyone will agree with me, but that's what the comments are for.

G is a pretty good conglomeration of all four blood lines. He has Gentry ears:

The other one is even more so, but I don't have a picture.

He has the Leithead nose:
It's a very dominant nose, all the grandkids have it. But it's a good looking nose, so that's okay.

He has the Child's eyebrows, which is fine since he's a boy.
His aunts complain about theirs, but at least he won't have to worry about a unibrow.

He has a Peckham head, which the bishop in my ward comments about every week. He says it's a nice round head and very prominent because what little hair G has is blond.

He has his dad's hairline. I have drawn it in with red since with the light and the blondness it's hard to see.
This has added validation to everyone who didn't believe that my husband was born with his hairline and is not going bald.

He has my moble, round, pointy chin:

And as you can see, he obviously doesn't have my eyebrows.

He also won the genetic lottery by getting my eye shape, but his dad's eye color. Man, I get lost in those eyes sometimes. He's going to break some hearts good later in life.

However, his other chin is all his own, as is his ability to raise only one eyebrow, his love of crowds of people, and his dimple. Well, okay both his parents have dimples, but his is on his own side.

Well, regardless of where his individual parts came from, he sure did turn out cute. And I still don't think he looks like any one person more than any other. Feel free to argue.

Oktoberfest

Yesterday was the beginning of Oktoberfest and the only day with free admission, so of course we went to celebrate our Germanity. It has been rainy and chilly for the past week, so we all got our sweaters out for the occasion.

G's my sweet little giraffe.

We had to sample the traditional cuisine. Johnny is enjoying two sausages, sauerkraut, potatoes and a roll.

I am enjoying a bratwurst burger on a pretzel bun. I'm pretty sure the Lays are imported as well.G wanted to help Daddy eat, and enjoy some himself. Not yet, little guy, but we'll hit solid foods soon.

No Oktoberfest would be complete without a polka band. We were serenaded while we ate. It reminded us of our Germany trip 10 years ago. Good times . . .
G showing off his sitting skills. There's a bunch of water fountains behind him that it's too dark to see, unfortunately. We could see them of course, but the camera had problems.I mentioned the rain, well here's what the festival did to my shoes. My legs were pretty muddy as well. Plus, someone spilled their beer on Johnny and G's pants. So how do you end a lovely festival day and clean up?
With a bubble bath, of course. I didn't realize that the jets would quadruplize the bubbles, or I wouldn't have put so much in. Needless to say, Johnny's ears were squeaky clean when he was done. And we only threw bubbles at each other a few times. So I'd say our Germanity was definitely improved.

New Workout

G's been upset with so many people calling him chubby recently that he's started a new workout. I happened to be able to film some of it. And the velociraptor noise referred to in the video is a really high pitched squeal that is sometimes quite long and quite close to my ear that G makes when he's happy and excited.

First Catch

Now that Johnny got G a soccer ball finally, he decided that it was high time to start the father-son bonding. So he played catch. And I filmed it.

G's first baseball game

We got some good tickets to the Texas Rangers baseball game last week and made a family outing of it. We went with some people from Johnny's office and their dates, who swooned over G's cuteness and flirting skills. That boy is going to be a heart breaker, I swear. We had lots of fun even though we left after the 7th inning (bedtime, you know). And when we left the Rangers were winning. It was $1 hotdog night, too, so we tried those. That was a mistake. I could only muster 50 cents worth. Good thing we stopped for dinner before hand.

However, despite the heat and the fact that G got scared every time we got a run and everyone started cheering, (including me cause I like watching live baseball,) I think we'd go again. Especially if a certain baseball-loving in-law was visiting (hint, hint).

Here are the pics:We were in right field, but we moved closer so we could see the jumbo-tron. Still in homerun territory, though (not that anything came our way, but still).

G, not a baseball hat, I know, but a hat none the less.A tired, overstimulated boy leaving the game.

New Tricks

G is not rolling over much these days, that was so a few weeks ago. He's on to bigger and better things, take a look:

Road trip!

We took a road trip two weeks ago to Indiana for my friends wedding reception. Doesn't she look gorgeous? I was so happy to finally meet her husband. I'm also happy that I really like him cause you know how that is, good friend marries someone you don't like then you don't see each other any more. This time living in different states will be the excuse, most likely.

We stayed with Johnny's sister in Kentucky and had so much fun with her and her two girls. Aren't they gorgeous too?
And yes, the smaller one is pretty much the same size as G.

G didn't do as well this road trip since he couldn't just sleep the whole time, but he did do well sleeping once we got to stop for the night. We just had many more tears while driving since he didn't want to be stuck in his car seat where he couldn't move around.We discovered that G has been in more states than his is months old--Utah, Arizona, New Mexico, Texas, Arkansas, Tennessee, Kentucky, and Indiana. What a traveler!

Crossing the Mississippi River

Entering Tennessee: the Volunteer State

Playing with the cousins

Do I have to stay in this car seat again?

We also got to play our new favorite game--point out the oddly named cities you pass. Here's what we found:

Arkansas likes to almost steal other names. They have Arkadelphia and Okolona. There's also a town called Friendship that is in the middle of nowhere where we stopped for gas and Johnny heard someone in the gas station asking a woman what brought her into town. Which means there are more remote places than the one-exit town of Friendship.

We also saw Bucksnort and Goodlettsville Tennessee. Good times.

I also realized that Utah is a desert, and that cutting down trees might not be the sin I thought it was.

Meeting G

When people in the grocery store, at church, or at any social function, meet G for the first time a three part conversation ensues. The exchange always goes like this:

Part 1-
Person A: Gushing exclamation about extreme cuteness of baby G.
Me: "Thank you" or some variation.

Part 2-
Person A: Oohh, how old is he?
Me: States current age, rounded to the nearest month.

Part 3-
Person A: Wow! He's really big!
Me: Yeah, sometimes a joke about eating.

I know all the constant gushing about how cute his is should make my mom feathers get all poofy with pride, but instead they only get a little ruffled since I know what's coming next. Yeah, I know he's in the 97% for height and weight. Yeah, my 16 month old niece is almost the same height and weight as him. I know he's big. But really, what do you say to that? It's a little hard to have to hear how huge your child is all the time. I guess I should just be grateful that they always start with his cuteness. That means it's his most striking feature, right? Well, here's a picture, you can figure it out for yourself.