David versus the vacuum

We can't tell if David thinks that the vacuum is his best friend or his arch nemesis.

Teething, crawling, and nudity

In the past two weeks, David has really started to change!  First, all that teething that began a few months ago is finally starting to show through.  His back molar is quite visible through the gums, though is being stubborn and not actually breaking through.  In addition, his front bottom tooth has a sharp little white point that is exposed.  Needless to say, he's chewing on practically everything he can get his hands on!

Second, he's giving crawling the old college try!  David has a few basic techniques at this point, none of which individually count as crawling, but are all on the path towards it.  Sometimes, he'll actually do a "push-up" -- whole body off the ground, suspended at his wrists and toes -- and then push himself backwards.  Other times, he'll get his knees underneath his hips with his shoulders still firmly on the ground.  This usually results in some inching forward, though mostly his hips crash to the ground and he flounders his legs for awhile.

He's great at rolling, and actually has a 1-meter radius within which he can travel now.  It's usually a multi-step endeavor to roll to his final spot, but it's definitely a big change from a few weeks ago.  We've now begun the baby-proofing in earnest as a result.

Finally, David's embraced his inner nudist!  He has a small diaper rash on his bum, so we're letting him "air dry" about 15 minutes before his evening bath to help clear it up.  He fusses a little while getting his clothes off, but then LOVES to play on the floor while baring it all!

And just for good measure, one of my favorites from the past week:

Happy 5 month birthday, Baby Dave!

It's hard to believe that 4 days ago, Baby Dave turned 5 months old!  He's still a inquisitive little guy who likes to keep Mom and Dad on their toes.  He celebrated by jumping in his new jumperoo and by starting solid food.  His first food was banana, and he's still not sure if he likes them.  He's very interested in the process, but makes terrible faces (see below) whenever he successfully gets banana in his mouth.  We tried rice cereal this morning, and it was a hit!  David kept trying to jam the spoon in his mouth and grab the bowl.  I couldn't feed it to him fast enough!

Our adorable little guy

David's jumperoo

David's first bite (banana)

David after eating banana

David playing with the spoon

Happy New Year! (Subtitle: Someone is going to be a handful in 2012)

Happy New Year!!  We wish you a wonderful and prosperous 2012!  David celebrated by not sleeping very well and pooping twice.  (Thank you to Chris for changing him both times!)  While we're very excited to watch David learn and grow over the next year, we have a feeling he's going to keep us on our toes.  He's a very curious little fellow - and has already started to get into trouble!

David celebrating on New Years Eve

David pulling the placemat off the table at the Chinese restaurant

David trying to eat Mom's glasses

David trying to eat Dad's credit card

David trying to eat the printer cable

Merry Christmas!

This year we celebrated Christmas by traveling to Georgia to visit my family.  We had a great time, and we're so thankful that David was able to meet his aunts, uncles, and cousins.  David LOVED all of the constant attention.  I don't think he was on his own the whole weekend.  Someone was always holding him.  We're also thankful we got to share the Filaski Family Christmas traditions with David.  He really enjoyed opening presents and playing with his new toys.  (Thank you to everyone for the generous gifts!)  He also liked chewing on the wrapping paper.  However, he cried after opening one present that had clothes in it!  (It was adorable.)

David and Dad, waiting to board with our plane in the background

David sleeping on the plane

David on the plane

David and his cousins: Bradley, Brandon, and Bethany

David and Aunt Carrie

David and Uncle Donnie and Bethany

David and Aunt Brandi

David sleeping in front of the fire on Christmas Eve

David opening one of his presents

David getting goosed

David demonstrating the goose

Grammy spoiling David with Ghirardelli chocolate

"Mmmm ... chocolate.  Now how do I eat this?"

The crew going for a walk - with Bethany and Brandon holding David's hands

David and Dad

David as a penguin

David's new favorite way to get a bath

Fun with Gingerbread (2011)

As some of you may know, we have a tradition of building a large-scale gingerbread house each Christmas with the clan back in Georgia.  Here are the results of this year's build-out:

Bradley's self-constructed house:

Bethany's self-decorated house:

The large group house, built by Brandon, Donnie, and Chris with decorating by Brandi:

Now for those who aren't familiar with this tradition, there is always an obvious question of what to do with the various houses once you've finished building them.  They don't last that long due to the Georgia humidity, and with four boys around the first year (I include the adult "boys" in that count), we quickly came up with the proper answer:

BLOW IT UP!!!

We'll post additional photos soon.

It's beginning to look a lot like Christmas

We hope everyone is enjoying the holiday season! Since our last post a lot has changed.  David had his 4 month check-up (Yes!  He's 4 months already!), and he's doing great!  He weighs in at nearly 16 pounds and is 26.5 inches.  He's already fitting into 6 month clothes.  

Recently, we've been busy getting ready for Christmas!  I insisted on taking David to see Santa (see photo below.)  However, after looking at the picture, I realized that Santa looks a little "special."  Don't worry ... we didn't leave David alone.

Since our last post, David's hand-eye coordination has improved tremendously.  In the photo below, he's actually holding part of the toy stationary with one hand and rotating the shaking part with the other.  It's amazing to watch.  David's also gotten really good at rolling over from his tummy to his back... so good that he can do it in his sleep, quite literally.  He'll "go turtle" while sleeping, so we have to keep running into his room to flip him back over to his tummy.  He's working on rolling in the other direction, but he still needs a little assistance.  Hopefully one day soon he'll be able to roll in both directions.

We're also proud to announce that David can finally wear the three think geek onesies that Chris picked out.

Of course, the one that started it all:

And David's Star Trek science officer onesie:

And last but not least, a biology themed one ... if you can't read it is says "brought to you by G, C, A, and T, and the number 23"  (It's a DNA joke)

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