Week 40: 9 Months Old! What a trip.

So he has been out as long as he was in, huh? That's awesome!

What has he been up to this month? He eats by himself (when he feels like it), he wakes with his walker (when he feels like it), he dances by shoulder shrugs and knee bounces (when he feels like it), he screamed constantly this month (he is almost done now!), and he scales the furniture (always). He has attached to a daily routine that really works for him and this momma feels great about it! His naps are consistently 1 hour - 1.5 hours and he eats anything we give to him (minus like 3 things). He is teething at the moment and has been his worst bout of it. Still not comparable to the majority of the stories I read and hear from other moms BUT he has goobers and congestion which hasn't changed his cheerful demeanor at all.

Lovin' bath time, finally!

Nightly, storytime via record player.

Starting to love this thing.

This teething really knocks him out when he sleeps.

People, like most other moms, I love my kid so much. He is just the best.

Last weekend, we traveled down to St. Louis for another baseball game. Rollie went to chillax at the Klinge grandparent's home. He loved his time there and really came back rejuvenated, just like mom and dad. It has been a GREAT week back after vacation.

While in St. Louis, we traveled to the Arch, the stadium, great bfast, good bbq, Anheuser-Busch brewery tour, and a fun stroll down Blueberry Hill. We even savored some delicious rootbeer (Fitz's) from their brewery. We even went to Eureka, MO to go to Six Flags. Man, did I feel old. I got a killer head ache and my skeletal was just a mess that night. So fun, just so fun.

This elevator car was so fun for me.

View from the top.

This is Stephen Voght. He is the catcher
for Oakland. he LITERALLY held a 1 min
convo with me. I was super pumped about it.

This place has bomb blueberry donuts.
And cinnamon fritters for that matter.

A GREAT wine bar in Eureka. We had beer, ha!

We were ALL tired by the end of the
weekend. HA!

Week 39: Just a Chill Weekend

This weekend was long for me due to a work schedule change so I had 4 days of uninterrupted Rollie time. During his naps, I was able to catch up with three friends that I hadn't talked to in quite awhile. Here is Abe the Babe (Toddler) in AZ:

Just the cutest.

 When he was awake, we went for walks mostly as momma cannot handle a bored baby (he screams for no apparent reason and needs to be held 24/7). 

We have been braver with feeding Rollie. As of a couple weeks ago, he has been eating food not coming from a jar. It took me a little while to be brave enough to feel he won't choke as long as the pieces are small. Here is his taco night:

We didn't really do much this weekend. There was a blues festival going on in town so we stopped by that, we went for a bike ride,  played A LOT at home, and even went to church. This family has been on a church hiatus (not on purpose) for like 2 months. It is sad to say but to be honest, sometimes family time in the summer is not being at church. All in all, GREAT weekend.

On Monday,  dad was able to stay a half day home with Rollie and they really pushed the limits. Including walking on the counter tops as seen below. Scoundrels, dirty scoundrels when they have no grown-up supervision. Rollie LOVED it so much.

Week 38: Dells Adventures & Grandmas Time

It had been since Easter that my grandma had seen Caleb. Yup, you read that right, my grandma asked us to come visit so she could see Caleb. Not Rollie. Not her bloodline granddaughter, Laura. Her married-in grandson, Caleb. How precious. She and he have a special bond as they need to stick up for each other with all the teasing my mom and I do when together.

So, we were off. Off to the bliss of the Wisconsin River and time with the anchors of my family line, mom and grandma.

We started off the weekend with a date night as my mom wanted uninterrupted time with Rollie. We went out to a new restaurant in town, B-Lux, owned by a girl who was a couple years older than I in high school. It is for sure a luxury burger joint full of families on vacation and delish food. We started off with Jalapeno Poppers and ended with gourmet burgers. Mine had cheese curds on it and Caleb's had, well, all things delicious. After dinner, we went shopping SIN Rollie. It was divine to not have to grab clothes from him as we passed racks or shush him as he was happy screaming through the aisles. After shopping, we went miniature golfing. Caleb won by one stroke, dag nabbit. We ended the night with ice cream and a short walk downtown. We thought about going to the bar to be apart of the young life but then remembered I would hate seeing people from high school completely under the influence and acting like hooligans so I declined.

The next morning we headed out to a place Caleb has been eager to try since we were dating, Mr. Pancake. It is a riverboat themed restaurant with Dells famous breakfasts. There is always a long line for tables and always a pancake to please. It was very good but Rollie wasn't super fond of his first pancake.

We returned home to await the arrival of the grandma/great-grandma and it was very anti-climatic. Unaware to us, she has been a little "out of it" recently and wasn't much for conversation or adventures. It was a quite sad to see. NOTE: she is doing just fine now. Just needed some time to get over her funk. Rollie LOVED great grandma. He would listen intently whenever she spoke with such a interested look on his face, he would respond back to her if she was speaking to him, and he loved to sit on her lap. It was so fun to see such a scene.

After she left, Caleb and I went out again for some late night appetizers at Applebee's just like old times. They really cut down the options you can get for cheap but alas, it was like old times. Caleb and I would hang out later at night due to my reslife schedule and our studying timelines so late night apps happened quite often. We were cheapos too so that assists in the Applebee's choice each time.

All in all it was a great weekend!

Week 37: Good Ol' Fair n' Woods

We sure fit in around here with our festivities for the week. We went to the county fair and saw piggies, horsies, and sheeps. I forget what it is like in the eyes of a child sometimes. This lil one loved seeing these beings he had never before.

Pumped for the sheep.

Lil unsure of that big ol' horse.

All in all we had a good time and Rollie was overstimulated, just was the fair is for.

 We couldn't leave without a funnel cake and grass lounge.

The next day, we headed over to the cabin and had a good 24 hours of fun there. We lounged a bunch, played cribbage, and Rollie even caught a lil fishy.

A lil guy for our lil guy.

Week 36: Trip to see family and take photos

We were off this past weekend to the corn and family of IA. I was worried for my son and the long journey but he did GREAT! I just cannot put my mind around how flexible my son has been so far in his life to just tag along in this chaos of a life Caleb and I choose to live. It is a 5.5 hour drive to this location and we just made it work.

First Stop: Great Grandma Gertrude's in Dubuque.

People, this grandma loved her time with this fourth generation german. She had a stroke a few years ago so she hasn't been herself completely since and we weren't sure how she would do with a happy-screaming baby in her small apartment but she loved him there and played with him the whole time. What a memory for us to remind Rollie of when he gets older.

Second and final step was family time in the country. We gave Kathy and Paul a family portrait session for Christmas last year so we all got together last weekend to take the photos. It was quite fun.

 Unfortunately for Rollie, he had a spill. Please see the photo sequence:

It really was no ones fault as Rollie was reaching for me (10ft away) and just fell forward. He had a nice lil scrape on his nose post fall as the nose was the first thing to hit the ground.

Poor Kid

 It was great seeing all family folk.

Wednesday we had a child care change-up and Rollie came to work with me for most the day. It won't happen again as this momma had to hold the babes while researching projects for her crew BUT I am glad to have this memory in my pocket for future reference. Maybe not never but not anytime soon, let's put it that way.

Rollie at work watching the cars
from the countertop.