On to tablefoods!

Well, we have started trying some random table foods with Carmine. And he seems to be so much more into it than he has been with baby food. He has had brocolli, ham, potatoes, pear, peach, watermelon, canteloupe. Probably more things I can't think of. We are still trying to keep it pretty simple and there are certain things that are off limits to him. And he will still be getting some baby food-the ones he really likes-avacado, sweet potatoes, pear and peaches. He will also be finishing off the others I already had frozen. I am loving this whole new relaxed approach. I found this article and it helped me relax a little because it just makes sense. And so far it has been true. Plus, now I am much more relaxed about the fact that he isn't actually "eating" much with this method. It is more about learning right now. He is getting all the nutrients he needs from me, which is how it should be right now. How much one can change between children!! I am definitely not more relaxed about which foods he is eating, but in other areas I am. At this point Rece had not even had ANY table food! Here he is enjoying his brocolli!

8 Months!

We got his 8 month pictures taken! They aren't my favorite, but the kid doesn't take bad pictures!

Carmine at 8 months......

Rece at 8 months......

Here are a few more.

First Tooth!

Carmine got his first tooth on 9/9! There is a little glare but I think you can see it!

Labor Day

This was Rece at our local parade. I of course forgot my camera until the day of the parade. So nothing too exciting. Just the boys watching the parade.

More Pics

Rece

Carmine...There is about a 2 month age difference, but here is an example where I really don't think they look alike.

This is his newest thing he loves to do. He even gets brave and lets go with one hand, but after a while he fell backwards and hit his head on the wall...bad mommy, next time pull it out into the middle of the room!

Our little photographer, Rece got ahold of the camera and we had about 7 pictures like this :)

First Ohio State Game!! GO BUCKS!!!!!!
This is what daddy lives for!

Rece and daddy playing tennis together on XBox

Carmine's favorite playpen ;)

Random Cute pics

Enjoying a peach

First hot tub experience, don't worry I checked the water temp. and it was appropriate.

helping daddy pull "weeds"

Rece reading to Carmine...he loves reading to anyone.

Mr. cool dude

Messy Boy

Carmine has signed his first sign, milk! He is also starting to wave and clap! He has waved a couple times, the first time at himself in a mirror and the second time to Rece in the morning. The clapping is not quite together yet, but you can tell he is trying. He is getting better with solids. But he still has to be quite hungry to actually eat much of it. But right now his favorites seem to be avacado, pear and peaches. We have tried peas and will be trying potatoes today! He just still really enjoys the boob! ;) Rece cracks me up everyday! He is so funny and knows it. Today I caught him making two stuffed animals kiss! And he was on the ground crawling around going under Carmine's crib like the dogs do, so I think he is really starting to use his imagination and make believe play a little. A long way to go still but this is the first sign of it I guess! He also reads all day, out loud to whoever will listen or just to himself in his room, like he is doing right now.

7 Months

Rece at 7 months
Carmine at 7 months...
Ok, they have identical smiles, but their face shapes are unmistakably different!
I couldn't decide on my favorite picture this time so I am posting a few.

Catch Up!

It takes forever to upload pictures onto here with dial up so I just never have enough time during the day anymore. So here is the last week...

Some eating....
Carmine sampling a banana! He wasn't so sure about it just like the babyfood. We have tried avacado, banana, rice cereal, mango and apple and he really just doesn't care about any of them. Oh well, I am still nursing 5-6 times in a 24 hour period, so he is getting plenty of food.
And Rece after some yummy corn, just about the only veggie I can get him to eat.
And some playtime...
Beth, Averie and Baylor came down and spent a couple of days with us. We have kind of gone from taking Averie and Rece's picture to taking Baylor and Carmine's. They are a little more cooperative!
A new milestone...

He started doing this on the 10th! He can't fall on his butt gracefully yet, but he stood there long enough for me to take about 7 pictures and then some.

And the state fair...

We rode on 2 rides. This one can spin if you spin the wheel in the center. We ended up riding with 2 boys about 8. So of course they wanted to spin. We let them for a little bit, but I think Rece started feeling it, so we had to put it to a stop. He liked them and wanted more afterwards but we moved on to more eating.
Rece and I shared an elephant ear and of course he loved it.
Then we went into the petting zoo. He really liked feeding the baby goats carrots. Carmine just kinda hung out in the stroller the whole time and was a good sport.

A couple Firsts

Carmine's first solid food! A few months ago I decided I was going to make my own baby food. So I started a little while ago and we have quite a freezer stash. It is actually really easy and not time comsuming at all and so much cheaper and tastier and healthier! We gave him avacado on Sunday. He did so great. He opened his mouth at first sight of the spoon. He made some funny faces though. But he kept opening up. I don't think he ate too much because he kept spitting it back out, but he has done a little better since then. He kept grabbing the spoon and he would actually get it in his mouth. And he also enjoyed playing with a cup. He can't quite figure out how to get the water out but he was close. And yesterday he got bananas. Right now he only gets a little at lunch time. I am taking it nice and slow, I am in no hurry to have him on 3 meals a day or start him weaning from breastfeeding. Once he starts getting more in him then I will probably add a breakfast.

His first non-baby tub bath! I decided to switch his bath tub to the big boy bath tub since he is sitting up pretty well. Plus we had such a hard time getting Rece to lay in the bath tub that I said from the beginning that Carmine was going to lay. He loved it but of course he loves any type of bath.

The Reception!

The best part of course! Rece was a little freaked out by the dj's loud noises at first but in no time he was jammin'! We left at about 11:30 and Rece was wide eyed the whole time until he hit the carseat.

Daddy and Carmine both looked like they had been drinking (only one of them had!)

If you ever need to pick up girls take my son, because he had every single young pretty girl at the wedding/reception pick him up at least once through the night. EVERY SINGLE ONE!

This is the best picture I have of the two of us in a long time. This was in the car as we were getting ready to leave.

I have video of Rece dancing that I will try to get up here. Overall we had a great time and we also got some pictures taken of the 4 of us by the photographer. And the next day Keith and Hope headed to Italy while we watch their dog!! for 14 days!!!

The Limo Ride

My mom drove our car over to the reception with the kids so that we could ride over in the limo. I would have been ok driving over, but I know Hope wanted the whole wedding party to ride. We got some cute pictures.
me and Anupa

The Limo Ride

My mom drove our car over to the reception with the kids so that we could ride over in the limo. I would have been ok driving over, but I know Hope wanted the whole wedding party to ride. We got some cute pictures.

The Ceremony!

Rece did awesome!! He got to follow daddy, so we had the person waiting with him just tell him to go get daddy. He ran up the aisle carrying the pillow. Then he was so good while the ceremony was going on. We had smarties as bribe candy for him. He only had like 3 of them and he didn't even eat them, he was just playing with them. Which was actually better except he did have to crawl after a couple of them. He sat on the step at the alter, he crawled acrosss it and played a little but he didn't even attempt to leave the alter or go play on it where the pastors were. Tony only had to pick him up once and that was only because Hope and Keith were going to light the unity candle and he didn't want them to trip on him. Then afterwards he ran back down the aisle. He was pretty good for pictures afterwards but we will have to see how they turned out. And of course Carmine looked super cute in his tux!
my little piano man!the groom and his godson