Happy Belated Chinese New Year!

Happy Chinese New Year everyone!

This post is a week behind because I've been under the weather this week with fevers. Mom and Dad have been too sleep deprived (either staying up with me at night or working in the MICU) to post this New Year's Greeting on time... but finally a day of respite! I am feeling better and everyone has the day off!!

Here I am on New Year's Eve, snacking on an appetizer of gerber puffs.
You can see my grin is still toothless, but Mom and Dad are thinking there may be some teeth soon.

Here I am with silly Daddy.

I'm sporting my excellent pirate dog sweater from Deepmala which finally fits me.

Here I am with Nana and a traditional New Year's gift. Thanks Nana!

Check out my hair... my "back to sleep spot" is almost gone!

Me and Mom.
I thought I'd open up this caption for comments from the audience...

Almost New Years and I'm tired.

Happy New Year everyone!!

Big Boy Bathtime

Mom and Dad finally decided that I have gotten too big to take my baths down by the kitchen sink. Now I get to bathe upstairs in a real bathroom! Here I am with Daddy preparing to take my first bath in the big boy tub.

Mom and Dad's bed is the bathtime staging area. At first I wasn't really sure what to think.

I even tried to get away...

But it's really hard to navigate a downy comforter when you can only army crawl.

I almost toppled over.

Then I started to have fun and realized that bath time upstairs was going to be awesome!

Finally, here I am with Mommy in my tub-within-a-tub. It was great!

You can see I love to play with my toys.
Bathtime is great!

Apple Jack!

Guess who discovered whole apples?? Me!!! Here I am sharing with Daddy. He takes a bite, and then I gum the hole. This apple was straight from the back steps where it is COLD and I loved it!! Mommy and Daddy are wondering if I might finally be getting a tooth.Daddy was pretty amazed because I sat in his lap for about 30 minutes "eating" this apple. I don't sit for that long to do ANYTHING! Actually, I had two apples, because when he finished the first one, I cried. So they got me another. Just staring at the core, wishing for more. Mmmm... apples!

I'm Nine Months Old!

This is an historic day. In addition to the obvious...
I'm nine months old. I saw my first snow. And I napped through my first presidential inauguration. Here I am outside, sitting on Daddy's head watching all of the birds at our feeder. Here's our front yard filled with snow! Mommy and Daddy says this is the first real snow since they have lived in Durham -- that's almost 3 years!!

Here's me and Mommy. I wasn't sure what to think of the snow, but she seems pretty happy.

Maybe because all of her clinic patients cancelled?

Here I am back on Daddy's shoulders watching the birds. Yesterday was the first time I discovered birds and I think they are fascinating! Thanks to Daddy for filling the bird feeder with fresh seed.

The fam.

Daddy thought this might be a good time to practice walking, but I disagreed.

I got to touch the snow and it was cold! Brrrr!

Luckily, they brought me back inside where it was warm and I had my first ever french toast (recipe modified, of course).

Since I'm such a big boy (17 lbs, 14.5oz), Mommy is packing up all of my little baby clothes. Here I am after we were trying on hats to see what still fits. Just call me Mick.

Mommy's Sweet Morning Greeting

Here I am, waiting for Mommy to come get me up for the day. Lately I've taken to looking out the slats of my crib so I can catch the very first glimpse of her as she walks through the door. She always smiles so big when she sees me... I guess I must be pretty charming.
Mommy likes to keep me warm at night by putting me in a sleep sack. Now that I've been weaned from the swaddle for almost 2 months, I'm starting to like my added mobility.I'm actually pretty good at getting around even though the sleep sack doesn't have leg holes. You can see that Mommy and Daddy don't trust me to stay in my crib... hence the "Raise Me" sign on the crib rail. This is to remind all the adults that I WILL try to get out if I'm not contained.

Sometimes I fall over into the side of my crib. Luckily I have this new super padded bumper which protects my head.

Hooray!! Free from the sleep sack, clean diaper in place and ready to play!

Eating is fun...or is it??

Sometimes I wonder if eating solid food is really worth it... especially when Mommy gives me weird combinations, like homemade sweet potato fries and baby yogurt with berries and cereal... Yyyyyuck!!

I'm just stunned. It's all too weird for me.

The yogurt alone is not bad, but it is VERY liquidy and most goes down my bib and down my shirt.

Ah, my sweet potato flavor saver.

Doing pretty well with that sippy cup.

Eggs are another favorite of mine. I try to see how much I can get in my hair.

After a nice meal I like to horse around with Daddy on the floor. Sometimes I lose a lit bit of my lunch... like this time on Daddy's shirt. Oops, sorry Daddy!!

After all of the horseplay, I get tired and need a nap. Here I am with Mommy, just waking up.

We've done lots of other fun stuff lately... Here I am with Daddy doing a little redneck fashion show.

Daddy was offended with the term "redneck" because he really likes the camoflaged gear... I must admit, I think it's pretty cool too. Especially when worn sideways.


This week bathtime has changed from quiet and relaxing to me trying to climb out of the tub! Daddy is trying to coax me down, but I'm too curious.

Come on Daddy, let's play! (thanks Mommy for not posting me totally naked!)

Last week we got to hang out with my Auntie Angie all week long. She is going to have a baby boy, like me!! I'm hoping they name him Kirk... or at least that's what Daddy says.

Mommy threw a surprise shower for Angie. Here are all the guests (Lauren, my friend Daniel's mom; Mommy; Auntie Danielle, who flew in for less than 24 hrs; and Auntie Elizabeth) with Angie and baby Kirk in the middle.
Here's me with Auntie Elizabeth, who flew in all the way from Boston.

Me and Don Apicelli, aka Kirk's Dad.

And finally, thanks to Grandma Jackie who found a lone photo of me and Grandpa Chris on New Year's Eve. I love you Grandpa!!