Teddy is five months old!

We can't believe another month has already passed and Teddy is FIVE months old! Our little man is growing so quickly! When we visited Travis and Jacquelyn, we had to laugh when Travis said to Teddy, "Now I know who you remind me of.... Linus! My cabbage patch kid!" I think he's on to something. Compare the next three pictures, and decide for yourself:

A closer look

Now that he is five months old, Teddy is doing all kinds of new things. Like sitting in a new chair at the table: dressing like an older man: practicing his golf swing: eating solid food (he LOVES giraffe): and even rolling over!

Before: after: Best of all, Teddy can sit up by himself. Though he is still a little wobbly, he can sit unassisted.
This really allows him to play with his toys.

And yes, you might be a redneck if your baby plays in just his diaper!

One more thing that keeps Teddy busy these days- working on his six pack:
You don't get these rolls with out a lot of hard work and commitment!

Summer Time!

We're excited at our house for several reasons. We are hoping to enroll Teddy in Baby Sumo Wrestling classes now that he has the perfect uniform:

Really though we are excited because we have been using cloth diapers now for a couple of days and it is going well (knock on wood). Shae is happy we are doing something less harmful for the environment, and I am very excited that they make diaper covers in so many cute patterns and colors! One more accessory for Teddy!!! Warm weather also brings the farmer's market and we took Teddy to his first one on Sat. I was most excited though because our pool opened last weekend. Of course, going to the pool with a baby adds a few steps during preparation time. First you need a swim diaper:

a bathing suit and swim shirt to block the sun:

and of course, some shades: Although he was very quiet and focused, Teddy seemed to enjoy the pool. To our surprise, he stayed in the water for almost an an hour. He enjoyed kicking his legs and splashing his hands in the water. Shae stole Teddy's hat!

Teddy also enjoyed relaxing by the pool:
But a day at the pool is very tiring:

Here's one more random picture that I had to share with everyone. Have a good week!

Picture time

I took Teddy for professional pictures on Wednesday. Our little man is growing SO quickly!! It's funny because at the store, looking at the pictures, I kept thinking how much Teddy looks like Shae. But Shae's first comment to me about this first picture was "I see so much of you in him." Anyway, regardless of who he looks like, we are really grateful to have this little guy!!!!

LOVE those rolls!!

And those cheeks!

"Get me away from these giant bears!!!"

Our Growing Boy!

Teddy had his 4 month well visit this week. (We were about 2 weeks late because of our traveling). His appointment went really well and the doctor said he is "a very engaging baby," and that he is "growing just as he should be." Some of his stats:

Height: 25.5 inches- 70th percentile

Weight: 17 lbs 3 ounces- 80th percentile

Cheeks: 99th percentile

This morning we were surprised to find Teddy lying on his tummy in his crib! He rolled over for the first time. In other exciting news, Playgirl has been calling, but we are encouraging Teddy to only do tasteful poses!

Shae put together Teddy's highchair last week. Even though he is growing so quickly, he still looks pretty small when we put him in his new chair!

As soon as we got back from our trip to Iowa, Shae had to go out of town for a week. We REALLY missed him!!! We were so excited to have him home, I tried to make cookies. The first batch was a mess... so I piled it together and wrote his name on top (the bottom plate below) It wasn't pretty but they were all eaten within a day, so I guess they weren't too bad! (Of course anyone who knows us knows that Shae is not exactly a picky eater! I wouldn't know it if they were horrible. We really are perfect for eachother!)Lastly, here's a video of our happy little boy:

Mother's Day 2010

This year we had a great Mother's Day. Not only am I very thankful for all of the wonderful mothers in my life, but I am so grateful to be Teddy's mom! Shae and Teddy hung out so I could have a nice long run in the morning, and then we headed to my parents' house for a lovely brunch. Then that night Shae, Teddy, and I picked up some food and had a picnic down by the river.

Here we are in front of my parents' house:

Teddy was happy to see his Aunt Miriam:

And of course-MORE COUSINS! Teddy was so lucky, he saw all 7 of his cousins in 8 days!

Grandma Judy proudly wore her new mother's day shirt. Miriam made it for her, and it has all five of her grandchildren on it:
Posing these cousins was not any easier than last weekend!!!

More cousin chaos! (Don't you like the plastic cover on the couch???)

My Teddy has been growing quickly! Look at how big he looks as cousin Caroline holds him on Mothers Day. He sure looks a lot bigger than he did 4 short months ago when she held him:

We hope that all of the mothers in our lives had a wonderful day!

Teddy's First Trip to Iowa!

We were very excited to head to Iowa to visit Shae's side of the family. We knew babies have a lot of stuff... we've all heard the saying, "for someone so small, they sure require a lot of things." Teddy is no exception. Good thing we traded in my little Volkswagen Bug for a more family friendly car. We filled almost every inch of the car. Check out the back view!

We drove to Nashville on Thursday afternoon and were thankful to stay at Aunt Sam's. Her new apartment is really nice, and Oliver and Teddy are old friends. Here's Teddy with Aunt Sam:

Teddy's first night in his pack-n-play:

He didn't sleep great that night, but we got back in the car before the sun came up so we could take advantage of some of his sleeping time. Teddy's sleep in Iowa was fabulous though. He slept anywhere from 8-10.5 hours a night! Thank you Teddy :)

After about 10 hours of driving, we finally made it to Aunt Stephanie and Uncle Steve's house. Here's Teddy meeting his Aunt Stephanie for the first time: And here's Teddy with his cousin Amy. Little did the two of them know... they would be bonding soon during torturous "photo shoots" together.Cousin Amy was so sweet- she let Teddy borrow and play with all of her toys. Including this cool chair: Look how nicely they play together:

The Open House for Amy and Teddy was on Saturday. It was a lot of fun to see so many family and friends. We are so thankful for everyone who came and for all of the generous gifts they gave us.

Teddy with his Grandpa Steve:

Here Teddy poses with his beautiful aunts: Shelley, Samantha, and Stephanie:

We were really excited to meet our newest niece for the first time as well. Here's Uncle Shae with little Harper. Teddy has already passed her in weight even though she is about 6 weeks older. His next goal- to pass Amy. He has a good shot but the only problem is he may never be as tall!

Of course we had to pose all of the cousins together. From left to right here is Teddy, Amy, and Harper. But where is Finley???

Quick- snap a picture! There she is:

After the party Harper and Teddy got to know each other:

That night Grandma Susie was nice enough to come over and babysit, so the rest of us could go across the street (literally) to the Bucktail Lodge. It was karaoke night and "Shae and Family" were there. Need I say more? Good thing we knew everyone at the bar. Or is that a bad thing?!?

Teddy loves his Grandma Susie:

Cousins hanging out in their pj's:Amy had big smiles for Uncle Shae:

What's better than one baby dressed in cowboy monkey attire? Two babies dressed in cowboy/cowgirl monkey attire, of course! Stephanie and I had a great time dressing up the cousins and having "photo shoots." We did decide by the end of the visit that the money paid for professional pictures is definitely worth it!

That wasn't too bad. How about in the blue chair?

"Get me out of here!"

So a few days later, Amy let us tag along while she had professional pictures taken (Teddy even got to sit in on a few!). Here's Teddy on his dad's lap before we got in trouble for taking our own picture inside the building!

So we went outside the building for another shot. We have to thank Amy and Grant Shriver for Teddy's first tie!

Another exciting part of our week was visiting Grandpa Steve's new houseboat. We couldn't wait to see it. Stephanie and Steve gave Teddy a cool life vest so he could be safe. We really loved the gift, though Teddy is not so sure:

On Wednesday we went to Iowa City to visit Travis and Jacquelyn. Teddy was very excited to wear his new Hawkeye shirt:

On Thursday we celebrated an early Mother's Day with Susie. They enjoyed a beautiful morning golfing:

For our second photo shoot we dressed the children up in Cubs gear. We tried to help Teddy sit up by propping him against Amy. He proceeded to spit up all over her and his new blanket. Models can be so finicky!

"Oh no, not another blue chair!"

Of course the week flew by; it seems there is never enough time to see everyone and do everything. But it was time to pack the car up once again. Except this time we had tons of gifts to fit in too! Shae did a great job packing it all in:

Our new car fit all of our stuff and served as the home away from home for Teddy. It was not only the place where he enjoyed countless meals, but also some pretty tricky diaper changes! Overall we are really happy with the new car.

We were even able to bring back a couple of Shae's old bikes.

Teddy did amazingly well on the road trip. He spent hours and hours in his car seat. While his mommy ate sour patch kids and his daddy munched on beef jerky, Teddy chose to nibble on some giraffe hooves. They are a baby delicacy you know!

We made plenty of stops to stretch out and even enjoy some "tummy time":

And every road trip needs a pit stop at the local mall!

Aunt Sam was a gracious host again on Friday night. When we arrived she had a delicious dinner waiting for us. And a very happy Oliver!

So what does a boy do when he comes home from his first long road trip? Well, he takes a bath of course!

I wanted to include one video as well. Although it needs no introduction, I like to call this one "Cousin Chaos"