Happy 10 (and 11) Months, Warrior!

I honestly don't understand how so many mommy bloggers blog every day... seriously.  I try and it just doesn't happen.  Plus honestly I'd run out of things to talk about (I refuse to discuss D's poop with you all.  You're welcome.)

So since I've really screwed up and am two updates behind now I'm going to consolidate it all into one post.

Happy 10 Months, Warrior:

Oh little warrior you started walking just a week or so before 10 months though crawling was still your preferred mode of transportation.  Other than that there really wasn't much else new going on or I can't think of it at the moment.  See this is why mommy needs time to post so she doesn't have lame posts like this, son.  ^w~

Busy, busy, busy!

Happy 11 Months, Warrior:

You ended up with your first cold.  We were all quite miserable and you had a fever for 3 days then as soon as it was time to schedule an appointment POOF you were over it.  Then mommy got it and understood why you were so grouchy.  It was vicious.  (In fact mommy was asleep by 10pm which is pretty much unheard of as she values her internet time after you've gone to sleep, haha.)

Top Left & Bottom: Sickly face.  Bottom was during the abundance of mommy snuggles.
Top Right: Stopping playing with Mario to watch the opening credits to Stargate SG1

You got your first tooth FINALLY!  The Easter bunny brought it for you along with some camo eggs, some new outfits and toys.  No pictures though because you barely let us look at it let alone get a picture of it.  Grandma and Grandpa Mills were lucky enough to be here for it though and also brought you an outfit, a ball, and a bucket with a shovel.  The shovel quickly became your new favorite thing ever and you carried it around for weeks!

Omnomnomnom... Green Lantern doesn't need his foot right?

I've ditched the walker when we go in the kitchen since you're walking more than crawling now.  That and it was the perfect height for holding on to the second drawer in the kitchen and allowing you to wiggle it out of the cabinet and scaring the hell out of both of us when you'd leave and it would fall to the floor.  You love being able to get into the tupperware cabinet and pans cabinets though and your new favorite thing is a lid for a saucepan.

Someone's mohawk is outta control these days!

We had to get rid of the ottoman that was blocking you from behind my chair.  You could nearly crawl over it so it had to go but hey you have a toy box in the living room now, haha.  You love hanging out on the couch with one of us so you can look outside now too.  It's pretty good at combating a grouchy mood too as is opening the front door so you can see out.  You get all excited when you see the kids riding their scooters up and down the street too.

Hey! Come hang out with me!!

We hit up the park down the street and you liked it though you weren't near as thrilled with the slide as I thought you'd be.  You were cool with just walking around checking things out and watching the other two kids that were there run around who were also pretty curious about you too.

Grabbing decorations, chowing down on string cheese, chillin at
 Bert & Ernie's, & being ornery at Great-Grandparents' house.

Despite that you have quite the temper as of late you still make us laugh.  You love music and will stop everything to dance to any you hear and we think you were even trying to sing with it a couple times which is even more adorable.  BTW famous rockstar is fine with us as long as you make sure we're taken care of. ;)  We love you Darius!

Top Left: Whaaa?
Top Right:  Mario Kart with a dump truck!
Bottom Left: You weren't watching that were ya dad?
Bottom Right:  Huh?

Oh and for those wondering, Chubby boy is up to 24 pounds now!  He likes his food, lol.

Happy 9 Months, Warrior!

My darling warrior,

Using a diaper box and the walker to get around the living room and trying to get that doorknob.

"I know they use that to open it but just how to reach it."

This last nine months have gone by so quickly and you are growing up so fast!  You started to stand by yourself and you look a bit like you’re ready to take a step but then you ease yourself down on your butt to the floor (which your dad and I would hurt probably ourselves if we tried doing, btw) and then crawl to whatever you want.  You also have a new habit of leaning against the couch and watching everyone do whatever. 

I swear he was more thrilled than he looks in the pic.

You growl.  A LOT.  It’s hilarious and we get into growling matches a lot and we all end up laughing so hard.  We built a fort in the living room a few days ago and you think it’s amazing.  You’ll go in and out over and over and whenever you see the kitty disappear into it you have to go after her but she always hears you coming and leaves as soon as you get inside.

Chatting with the horse, yelling at the cat and snuggling with Mommy's teddy bear.

You love the dog and cat and are still after them and Takara has let you get pretty close sometimes.  Well until you yell at her again.  I think she’s starting to warm up to you, though, as she sticks around a lot longer than she used to.

"FOOD. Omnomnomnomnomnom"

You are also a big fan of your food and have stolen a waffle from me and are all about feeding yourself now except when it comes to foods that need spoons and that's mostly because I would need a taller ladder than we own to scrap the food off the vaulted ceilings.  ;)

Making an obstacle course out of the living room!

Stats:

23 pounds & 29” tall  

Happy 7 Months, Warrior!

(This post has been sitting in a word doc for nearly 3 weeks now. >.< Mommy fail.  Again.  As usual.)

My dearest warrior,

Bahahaha!! Do it again, Dad! Again!
(Cody shakes his head & Darius thinks it's an absolute riot)

This last month has been amazing.  You’ve been trying all sorts of new foods but your favorites have been sweet taters, avocados and bananas.  You made a funny face after the first bite but then couldn’t get enough.  It’s so much fun.

Here in the jungle there's lots to explore. Just look at this lady bug!

You took not only to your sippy cup but cups in general and when I went to give you a drink of my water one night you flat out ripped my glass (a mason jar) right out of my hands, reminding me what a strong little boy you are. (What’s in a name, eh?)

I'll help Mom!  You wanted these un-folded right?

You had your first Christmas and it was so much fun.  You really love your cousins and your Uncle Kelby, too and had so much fun with them, when you weren’t being grumpy from refusing to take naps.  Oh how you hated the idea of missing anything.

I like this girl! She's a lot less boring than you old people.

You made out like a bandit for Christmas.  You even got a laptop and a smartphone! ^.~  Oh how times have changed.  You also got a cool ball, dump truck, cars and lots of clothes since you’re still growing out of stuff as fast as you can and we’re working on 12 month and 18 month clothes now. O.o

My question is how many apps can I get for free?  I'm on a budget here.

I love watching you discover things, still and while you’ve been on strike from sleeping in your own bed (we’re working on it, though) life has gotten better with the addition of the cups and stuff (you still hate drinking from a bottle).  You seem to still be fighting teeth which are teasing us all and making you grumpy, which in turn, makes us all grumpy.

He was totally still snoozing when I snapped this one.

You got to pet Grandma Cindy’s cat but tended to scare her away most of the time, haha.  You and Sakura are pretty good buds and occasionally she’ll come to you but most of the time she still takes off when she sees you coming.  Speaking of which, you crawl now… started just after I posted your last monthly blog but you only do it when you’re after something you really want; dad, mom, puppy, cat, or toy.  The rest of the time you continue to scoot and army crawl.   

Do you see this cup grandma brought me?? It has freaking penguins on it! Penguins!!!

While it’s been trying to not have our bed to ourselves, and your grumpiness from teeth is trying you’re one of the best snuggle buddies ever.  You already know that grin gets you what you want (well some of the time) and you continue to charm everyone you meet.  You bring your dad and I so much joy, Darius, and we love you very much.

Happy 6 Months, Warrior!

This is more interesting from this side!

My dear little warrior,

Today you are six months old (er you were when I started writing this on Sunday…) and I can’t believe where the time went.  Just after 5 months were started sitting you up on the floor and in just this last month you now sit for so long and now you rarely even faceplant as you’ve figured out how to catch yourself and just gracefully move to your tummy.

You have gone on strike when it comes to sleep, however, and we’re missing those days when you were sleeping through the night without a problem.  Actually it would be accurate to say mommy is flat out frazzled as you refuse to sleep in your own bed and have spent several nights in our bed now.  Hopefully it passes as quickly as it snuck up on us, though. (This has gotten a better since Sunday but he's still waking up 3 or so times a night)

I create feelings in others that they themselves don't understand.

(The sunglasses are Cars- that's why it's captioned with a Lightning McQueen quote)

We had to take you to Urgent care Friday as we were afraid you had an ear infection.  Of course we got there and you were in a fantastic mood.  You charmed the nurse, flirting and grinning any time she needed to do anything.  You were not a fan of the doctor, though, and started screaming as soon as he started talking to you.  Way to give the guy a complex, honey.  Then we found out no ear infection just pesky teeth that refuse to make an appearance.

 This trying to get moving stuff is more complicated than it looks.

You’re still trying so hard to get moving and you’ve nearly got it down.  Just need to get both ends up at the same time but for now you’ve settled with trying to give yourself rugburn on your forehead and inching along the floor.  This is something you get determined to do every time you see Takara, whom you still enjoy yelling at.  You reach for her a lot and she has come to check you out once but normally doesn’t get very close, lol.

D: *lunge* Takara: Holy crap!  You guys wanna keep control of that thing??

You love the bedtime rituals until it is actually time to sleep.  You love your bath and give us a bath in the process.  You also love your bedtime stories.  It’s fun to watch you find so much entertainment in everything.  Even when I’m not trying to be funny and you crack up laughing and make me laugh too.  You’re our little angel and even with the crabby times I can’t imagine our lives without you, Darius.  We love you so much. 

Stats:

Weight: 20.6 lbs (93^rd percentile)

Height: 27.5” (80^th percentile)

We get to start fruits and veggies now as well as start drinking from a sippy cup!  So excited to get to watch you try more food.  However, the new, stinkier diapers, I am not so excited for. :P

I sense that I can cause some serious trouble with this thing soon... 

(Oh and uh… 6 month breastfeeding goal: Check!)

Before:

I'm not doing anything...

After:

It fell over on its own I'm tellin' ya!

Also:  Comments are welcome and any addressed to Darius will be added to the copies of these posts in his scrapbook. ^w^  So yeah... comments are good. *looks at everyone reading by email subscription or got the link from facebook but never comment*

Happy 5 Months, Warrior!

Once again, I'm late with a month post but you all should be used to this by now, right?

Right.

Hey, cut me a break, we went home for Halloween right after his 5 months and then NaNoWriMo (National Novel Writing Month) started November first so what little time I have on my computer that I'm actually allowed to use both hands and isn't when I'm editing has become dedicated to writing a novel.  I did this last year when pregnant and won for the first time.  For those who have no idea what NaNoWriMo entails, it's simple.  You have 30 days to write a 50,000 word novel.  This year?  I've upped my personal goal to 80,000 words meaning I gotta write at least 2,667 words a day.  Yes this is supposed to be for fun.  Yes, I love it.  Creative writing assignments in school always prompted a "how short does it have to be?" question from me so this is a blast for me.  Remind me that when I'm to that point where I want to stab all my characters and throw my computer out the window, okay?  ;)  (For those who have never done NaNoWriMo it has stages and this music video accurately describes it)

Now, onto what you people are actually here for:

Dearest Darius.

You are now 5 months old and I can hardly believe it.

I don't realize how much you've grown until I go back and look at older pics and it blows my mind.  You're a big boy and the only reason you seem to grow out of anything is because you're too big around for everything, haha!  Though we did have to change your bed around and take the Close & Cozy insert out of the Pack and Play and put in the bassinet part because you got too tall for it!

Mom, no one is going to believe you're a photographer with all these blurry cell phone pics you post here.

You've started to grow hair now and are filling in that poor little bald spot where you rubbed all your hair off.  I need to trim the hair in the front again already though before it ends up in your eyes, though.  

Hey man.  How's it going?

You love your oatmeal for dinner but still insist on chasing it down with some more milk, not that I'm complaining, just saying there's a reason the scale at your Grandma Mills' tells us you're a whopping 21 pounds now.

Sleepy Yoda.  Aka: Darius' first Halloween.

You are in love with your walker still and starting to scoot backwards a little bit here and there.  You also love the puppy and have taken to the kitty and when you hear the jingle of her collar you immediately want to know where she is and have taken to yelling at her and reaching for her.  It's quite entertaining.

First snow!  I'm not so much a fan of this snowsuit though, guys.

You have two volumes.  Quiet and OMG CAN YOU GUYS HEAR ME?  HEY GUYS LOOK AT ME HEY. HEY. HEEEEEEEEEEEEY.  

Moments after this he tried to take his eye out on this toy. Luckily, he missed.

You found your feet and any time it's time for a diaper change you think it's the perfect time to examine them which makes diaper changes... interesting.  You're also making good use of your monkey toes and using them to hold on to things you're playing with and I swear you can pinch harder with them than I can.  You also laugh so much more now and it is honestly the most beautiful sound I have ever heard in my entire life.

Holy crap mom! Have you seen these things??

We love you Bugga Boo!

(Sorry for the less than stellar post, warrior, Mom is a bit exhausted writing-wise)

D, Meet Your Grandpa Bill

Today, October 2nd, would have been my Dad's 87th birthday and my mom recently wrote a post for D of a short introduction to his Grandpa and so I figured today would be a good day to share it.

Howdy my dear Grandson, Darius.

I’m your Grandma and I just wanted you to meet your Grandpa, William E McCombs. Here he is at about six months old, sucking on a bottle. Although you can’t see it very well, you do look like your grandpa.

This picture shows your grandpa with your great-grandparents, William E. and Mary McCombs. They lived in Moundsville, West Virginia. This was during the Great Depression, and your great-grandpa worked at a lot of jobs to support the family. Your great-grandma helped your great-great-grandparents in their hotel and restaurant.

Here your Grandpa Bill is with a cousin and your Great-great-grandpa Baker.

This picture is of your Grandpa Bill while he was in the army. He did a lot of things while in the army. During World War II he was in the Philippines. After the war he was stationed in Germany, which is where this picture was taken. He was also a paratrooper with the 11^th and 101^st Airborne divisions.

As you can see in these photos, he has all of his arms and legs. The only reason I mention this is because he was also a drill instructor in the army, and he was training troops one day when a mortar, an explosive device, blew up prematurely and he lost his left arm. He was able to re-learn how to do things, and in his years after the army was able to work a variety of jobs from working as a parts man in car dealerships, to ranching to lock-smithing.

Your Grandpa Bill was very fond of trains and liked to do model railroading. He had a layout of a model train when your mom was little and the Barnum & Bailey circus train in your room was his. When you get older, I look forward to telling you more stories about your Grandpa Bill, and how he spent his childhood and adult years. He was a very colorful character and I wish you could have known him.

#MomFail this is the only pic I have of the train in D's room

Love,

Grandma Cindy

Happy 4 Months, Warrior!

First to my readers- This is late. Sorry.  Also, sorry for the lack of posts.  I feel like my posts are boring.  Not that D is boring (that couldn't be farther from the truth, haha) but that my posts about him are.  Plus I'm still trying to catch up on all the photoshoots I did for my portfolio and someone likes to keep me guessing as to what will keep him happy so I can get some editing done. :P

And now...

This dog makes a great pillow and a great leaning post!

My dearest Darius,

You never cease to amaze me.  This last month has been amazing and it's been so fun to watch you discover things but I think the biggest change this month has been how grabby you've gotten!!  When you're in my lap while I'm editing I can't keep up with you, haha!  Poor Winry (my cell phone charm) has had several close calls lately.  Oh and you've ripped my glasses off my face several times.  Guess it's time to quit talking about it and finally get some contacts again, haha.

Rollin'

We took to your first Nan Desu Kan early in the month (it's an anime convention for those of you watching from home ^w~) and you did so well.  There was lots of crazy things to look at for sure and I think you liked getting to spend lots of time with people other than Mommy like your Dad and Godmama.  I know I'm boring, son, and I'm sorry.  You did so well while waiting in the crazy line so we could get autographs from Vic, one of our favorite voice actors.  Who, on his way back to the room to start the autographs, stopped to say hi and give you a kiss on the top of the head.  And mommy may have blushed a little.  

Mom, these people are crazy!

You also sat up from a reclining position while we were at NDK, too, and I missed it.  I also missed you rolling over for the first time and though you haven't done it since I suspect you're going to wait for me to leave the room every time you have something new to do.  So much for being a stay-at-home mommy so I can see all your firsts in all their glory, huh?

That Grover guy is one funny lookin' dude.

You're still drooling like crazy and poor little Saffy is all too aware of this fact.

Omnomnomnomnom!

You love your Daddy like no other.  If you're napping when he gets home you usually wake up to give him some smiles, like you were just waiting for when he would finally get home to snuggle and play with you.  He can get you giggling and smiling like I could only hope to.

Hey Dad?  I love you, man.

And I know I tell you this every month but I'm so thankful to have you in our lives.  You bring us so much joy and make us laugh all the time.  Even when we'd rather be sleeping but you're wide awake and giggling and grinning.  Oh that grin... gets us every time.  You love standing up with help and get mad when we get tired and try to get you to go back to sitting for a few minutes.  Oh and you're finally back on good terms with tummy time for the most part.  Though it's not for as long as when you were a month old or so.

Tummy time is so exhausting thanks for rolling me back ov... ZZZzzzZZZzz

For your 4 month appointment we found out that you're 17.7 pounds (I tweeted that you were over 18 so I guess now is when the Wii will start being off a bit with the weight stats.) and 25 1/2 inches tall.  We also got the ok for single grain cereal!  (Don't worry everyone, video to come)  

I've said it before and I'll say it again, this dog makes a fantastic pillow.

Oh and soon we'll have a guest post from Okaasan (my mom).  She wrote a post to tell D a little about his grandpa which I'll post here in a few days. ^w^

Happy 3 Months, Warrior!

Dearest Darius,

Welcome to the gun show. *kiss*

I can't believe you're 3 months old already.  It just doesn't seem that long ago that your dad and I held you for the first time.  You are growing so fast!!  You love being sat up now and when you lay down afterwards you try your hardest to sit back up.  You're still on bad terms with tummy time though even though for your first month you loved tummy time more than anything.  It's a little better than last month though.

You're sleeping longer at night for the most part though you still like to keep me guessing as to how much sleep I'm going to get, haha.  While you're sleeping though you sure make some funny noises, including crying out like you do when you get mad only to go right back to peacefully sleeping.  It was pretty funny the first time dad was awake for it though.  Like right now as I write this, your dad and I are laughing as your chin quivers and just a few minutes ago we watched you trying to hold your arm up in your sleep.  As soon as it would start to fall, you'd put it back up and did that several times before finally giving up.  

Yeah, I've totally got you trained.

You're so precious, little warrior, and you make us smile all the time.  You're ecstatic when your daddy gets home from work and smile ear to ear when you see him and get kisses.  Much more exciting than hanging out with mom all day.

Dad, you are so much more fun than mom. For serious.

Speaking of which, what satisfies you enough for me to get some photos edited changes so often I can hardly keep up.  Mostly because you're all about having my full attention, though occasionally I can get you to fall asleep for a few minutes in your swing and then I bust butt to try and work as fast as possible, haha.  You still love you mat with the arches and are grabbing at the ring on the ladybug all the time now and while you can't pull on it enough to turn on the music, if I lift the arches you hold on hard enough to set it off.  And you LOVE the music the ladybug and giraffe play.

Hmmm... what's this thing do?

You also love Boo Boo the bear and he does a pretty good job of cheering you up when you start to get grumpy and he's fine with being drooled on, which is great because something I forgot to mention in your 2 month letter... you are a drool MONSTER now.  Oh and a pro at spit bubbles and we're expecting scholarships any day.  ;)

What should I do with all that money when I got spit bubble pro??

I'd have to say my favorite activity right now is watching you discover things.  I watched you stare at your hands and you twiddled your chubby little fingers and watched in awe as the fingers moved and I can't wait to watch you make more of these little discoveries.  Who knew they would be so entertaining to watch?  

How you doin'?

And the way you're growing!!  Good grief you're growing out of clothes left and right and wearing more and more 6-9 month stuff!!  Well onesies anyway... so far it's looking like you got stuck with your mom's short legs, you poor thing... But your 3-6 army camo pants are starting to fit just right even though you're just about to grow out of the onesie, haha.

Umm guys? Hat is a bit big...

And every day we think there's no way we can love you any more than we already do, you go and prove us wrong, over and over again.

And we love it.

3 months!