Moving to the crib-again

So a while back North moved to his own bedroom. Briefly.
With his never sleeping it proved to be too big a pain to have to stumble down the hall to grab him every hour or so all night long. So, back into our room he moved, again sleeping in the bassinet of the pack-n-play next to our bed.
We're trying again to move him back down the hall to his own room and his cozy crib. He's REALLY resistant to this idea. We have gotten him to actually sleep in his crib a total of 3 times this week now though. One of these snoozes was an afternoon nap while he and I were snowed in.

A perfectly cozy little crib--I really don't see what the problem is. You'd think we were putting him in a dark and dreary dungeon the way he screams when we place him in it though.

Biter biscuits...

Oh, biter biscuits...

A fun first finger food for babies.

Also, completely disgusting.

Really

REALLY messy.

Tyrannosaurus North

So one of the funny things about babies is how utterly disproportionate they are. Granted, their over-sized heads relative to their tiny little bodies make them incredibly adorable...still it's kind of weird though.
Just look at these photos of North's arm length relative to head size. He can literally not touch his hands together, with his arms FULLY outstretched, over the top of his relatively giant baby noggin. He gets closer to being able to do this every day but still not quite there.

First "haircut"

Today we finally trimmed off those unfortunate wispy bangs of North's. They were getting ridiculously long and starting to resemble a comb over. He looks so different now--at least to us. Alan got a haircut today too.

My 2 guys with their haircuts

Also, North has now been sick for a WEEK (runny nose, cough, fever, and 2 ear infections) and FINALLY seems to be on the mend and maybe (fingers crossed) will be well enough to return to daycare in the morning.

Also, he got his second tooth today!

First Tooth!

North is getting his first tooth! His left mandibular central incisor to be precise.
Last Friday, Jen (one of North's daycare providers) drew my attention to North's gums, and low and behold!, during the day he had started to get a tiny little tooth poking out!
It comes in the teeniest tiniest bit more each day and I have been desperate to get a picture of this little pearly white bud of milestone cuteness but, he's pretty non-cooperative regarding this pursuit. So, I'm giving up and just going ahead and posting without a good picture.
Here's the best I have--you can kind of sort of see it in the close-up.
He undermined all other attempts at getting a picture with stealthy movement of his tongue
and even feet.

7 months...

North is now 7 months old.
I can't believe how quickly my little baby is growing up.
He's eating like a champ. loves fruit, tolerates vegetables. His absolute favorite food at the moment is organic banana-oatmeal-peach mush. He HATES green beans and must be tricked into eating even a few bites of them.
Related to this eating thing, he's started having "real" poops now. very weird.
He babbles like mad and loves to move his hand in and out of his mouth while humming to make a 'woo-woo-woo' noise. He says "dada" and "nine" a lot. These do not have actual meaning. They're just what he says to everything.
He also shakes his head and thinks it's funny when other people join in on the head shaking.
He's trying desperately to crawl. Mostly he just moves from sitting to lunging forward (he's fearless when it comes to lunging--goes full force at EVERYTHING) then he gets on all 4s and moves either backwards (in the exact opposite direction from the one he is aiming for) or in circles. Ben, one of his daycare caregivers, says he made some forward progress today. I haven't seen it yet though.
His eyes seem to change each day as they gravitate toward the brown that I know they will become. right now they are such a beautiful gray.
He smiles all the time. all the way to his eyes. it's heartwarming seeing his little eyes and nose crinkle.
He squeals in laughter at least 10 times a day--particularly at Alan. He thinks his dad is HILARIOUS.
He never sleeps for longer than 2ish hours at a stretch. Ugh. I'm sure even this I will miss someday when he no longer has any desire to snuggle me in the middle of this night. right now though, a full night's sleep seems like the greatest thing I can imagine.
He's great in the car. I can't imagine a better commuting buddy.
He loves Ender and Petra. He's more and more interested in them each day. And they love him too. It's surprising how tolerant both of them (particularly the cat) have proven to be with his grabby little baby hands.
Sometimes Ender has a problem with licking him... EXCESSIVELY... and in his mouth when he smiles and laughs (yuck, I know). But, all in all, they are becoming best friends.
He loves baths. He can now take baths in the real bathtub rather than the baby one.

His hair seems to get lighter each day. It was really dark like mine when he was born. Now it's much more the color of his dad's.
He also seems to lose a little bit more of that baby hair each day--he had a full head of hair when born--now he just has bangs.

I can't believe that he's already been around for 7 months...

Arizona!

After Christmas, North took his first big (as in plane ride) trip!
We went to Arizona on the 26th of December to see Nanny and Papa.

Getting ready for take-off from the brand new Indianapolis Airport. North was pretty great on the plane--we had late flights and so he mostly just slept.

Hanging out with Nanny and Papa--he had such fun with them!
And playing with the toy apple that once belonged to my cousin Gary--I remember playing with it when I was a little kid!

He really loved that apple.
He has started to get up on all 4s and attempt to crawl. Unfortunately it's a skill he's yet to master and usually ends up going backwards rather than forwards--this leads to him ending up in strange and unintended locations--like under coffee tables several feet away from the toy he is trying to reach.

Visiting with Uncle Greg, Aunt Pam, and Taffy.

Alan really wanted to see a roadrunner--on our 3rd day there we saw a pair of them wandering around Nanny & Papa's front yard.

Visiting Parker Dam--the deepest dam in the US--pictures of North and Alan on the California side of the dam.

North's first trip to a bar. A floating bar no less.

Exploring Nanny & Papa's yard. I remember when these cacti were teeny-tiny little plants that Nanny nurtured in a flower pot. Now they are giant and dangerous landscaping!

And of course, no trip to Lake Havasu City, Arizona (where Nanny & Papa live) would be complete without stopping at the London Bridge!

We had such a wonderful time--we miss you already Nanny & Papa!

Chirstmas(es)

Poor blog--the holidays have been busy! They always seem to be and this year was definitely no exception. So no blog in a while....but tonight my goal is to catch up!
North's first Christmas--or Christmases as tends to be the case in the Milner family--were lovely. He didn't really get what was going on throughout the celebrations but was very patient with us as we carted him here and there. Really enjoyed the wrapping paper and gift bags--and even a few of the things contained therein. : )
Here are some photos from a few of the Christmas gatherings:

Christmas with Nana, Grandad, Aunt Angie, Uncle Adam, and Cousins Connor and Madi

Lovies from Madi

Lovies from Connor

Christmas with the Huff Family

Lovies from Gigi Huff

North is still too small for the kids table

North's gift from Nana and Grandad was a wagon!

Christmas with the Milners

North got a jack-in-the-box from Mimi!

Christmas morning at home! Grandma and Grandpa came over for a Harsh family Christmas and then Nana and Grandad joined us for brunch!

North's 2 favorite toys--his new activity cube and his drum!