7 Months Old

Jimi is now a lean, mean (well actually pretty sweet), crawling 7 month machine!



Our little crawler man





He just wanted to roll over and I kept calling his name... he was not amused.



Jimi went from just barely being able to crawl to getting anywhere he wanted very fast. It was amazing to watch the transition in just a matter of hours. He still does a combo of army crawling on his belly and crawling up on all four. So far he is most interested in crawling towards Penny or any of her toys. We're very fortunate (and surprised) that she is being very patient with him.

We've also started giving Jimi a few finger foods (Gerber yogurt melts and puffs are delicious) to let him get practice feeding himself. He loves it! He also loves drinking out of cup. He hasn't quite gotten the hang of using a sippy cup though, he just chews on the mouth piece. 

Feeding himself a rice rusk



His little personality has been coming out more and more. He is quite the little ham and loves to laugh. Jimi has been "talking" since he was just a few weeks old, but now he's really making different sounds and "words". He most commonly makes different 'b' sounds when he's happy and 'ma' sounds when he's upset. I think his first word may be 'Hi' because he frequently tries to imitate that. Speaking of which, we're working on teaching him to wave hi and bye. He's done it a few times but doesn't really seem to understand why he's doing it.





Wordless Wednesday!

(With the exception of a few captions)

Seaside, OR

Mmmm VooDoo Donuts

Jimi's turn to drive

Brushing his gums

He was very excited to tear into his Easter basket



Almost crawling

I posted this on my facebook but I know that some of you who read this don't have a facebook account (i.e. you dad), so here it is again.

My guess is that Jimi will have crawling down within the next few days. A trip to Babies r Us is probably in order this weekend to get baby gates and other baby proofing necessities.

Roadtrip!

All of the school districts that James is working for were on spring break last week so we decided to take a short family road trip to the Oregon coast. I was a little weary of how it would go with Jimi and the dog in the back seat but other than the occasional licks from Penny, the two pretty much ignored each other. We took Hwy 101 down to enjoy a more scenic route and it was beautiful.

We got to Oregon Monday afternoon and it was POURING rain. There wasn't much we could do outside so we drove around Astoria a bit and saw what little we could from the car. We stayed in Seaside, OR Monday night. Thankfully, it wasn't raining on Tuesday morning (it was still pretty cold though) so we were able to walk around downtown Seaside and look at the beach. We took Hwy 101 down to Tillamook (which was the by far the prettiest part of the drive) that afternoon to have lunch and take a tour of the factory.

After Tillamook we drove East to the Portland area to have dinner with my best friend (and Jimi's Godmother) Melissa. We stayed in Beaverton, OR Tuesday night. On Wednesday we drove into Portland so we could make a special trip to VooDoo Donuts. We had to wait outside in the freezing cold (it had just stopped snowing) to get these donuts but they were delicious and totally worth it. We made a stop at Widmer brewery to see if we could get a tour, but unfortunately they only offer them on Fridays and Saturdays.

It was a great trip with some beautiful scenery. I only wished I had packed warm clothes for myself.

In other news, Jimi has started to sleep on his tummy at night. He's been able to roll over for more than two months now but because we swaddle him at night he wasn't able to get the momentum to do it without the use of his arms while he slept. However, he is finally strong enough that he doesn't need his arms to roll over. We've stopped swaddling him now and he pretty much instantly rolls over in his sleep. I am NOT of fan of this. I know he's pretty much out of the SIDS window and that if he's strong enough to roll over he's strong enough to sleep that way, but I still find myself checking on his breathing several times during the night.

(Sorry there are no pictures from our trip, but Blogger has refused to upload them for the last 5 days. I'll try to post them again another time)

6 months old!

Can you believe that this handsome boy...

(His 6 month photo shoot was a difficult one because he was grumpy and just wanted to rolled over the whole time)

...is half a year old already?

At Jimi's 6 month check up we learned that he is now weighing 17lb 1oz (43.8 percentile) and is measuring 26.5 inches (55.4 percentile). The doctor said that Jimi looked great and was advanced for his age. We've been hearing from many people all along that they thought he would walk early but it was a little scarier hearing it from his doctor. After being a nanny for several families I know what comes with a walking busy baby. However, whether he walks early or late it'll be still exciting.

Jimi is now turning himself in circles while laying on the floor to get at different objects. He has also recently begun backwards crawling. I think it's pretty cute to watch him go backwards, however, you can tell he gets quickly frustrated as the toy he wants gets further and further away. Jimi loves eating! As soon as he sees the container of baby food he gets very excited. He definitely prefers veggies to fruit at this point. He has also figured out what a camera is (or at least that we react to him when he smiles for one) and gets a big gummy grin on whenever he sees one

Jimi's sleep habits have not improved any. Some nights it feels as though he's turned back into a newborn. We have briefly tried one method of getting him to sleep through the night (without letting him just cry it out) and it did not make any improvements. The doctor gave us some suggestions, so hopefully those will work.

We recently returned from a quick trip to Georgia for James' cousin's wedding. Jimi did not do quite as well on the planes rides as he did with our first trip (he got bored a lot easier) but he still did great! In fact on each plane ride there was another screaming child that woke him up. It was great to see family members, we wish our trip could have been longer.

Playing in the suitcases

Jimi's first time in a swimming pool

Four generations of James Orr (clockwise): James W. Orr, James D. Orr, James M. Orr, James T. Orr

Jimi liked watching the other planes out the window

New Cousin

Introducing my newest nephew:

John Richard Barrett

Born on March 9th, 2011

After a long labor, Stephanie (my sister) had to have a c-section. Lucky for her my OB was the doctor on call. We're still debating which of our doctors is better looking.

John is cousin number 8 for Jimi. It's great that he'll have a family member so close in age to grow up with. I'm sure the two of them will be causing trouble together in a year or so.

 Holding John for the first time

James instantly bonded with John by taking a nap with him.

 Cousins- 23 weeks apart

Jimi wanted to touch John 

5 Months!

Jimi is 5 months old!

Well, sort of... there is no February 30th so he's in limbo between 4 and 6 months.



He was more interested in Penny who was standing outside the doorway



Last week we took what was supposed to be a day trip over to Ellensburg so that James could audition for CWU's conducting master's program and to visit friends. As soon as we crossed the Snoqualmie Pass, they closed it due to multiple accidents. Of course, I had only packed supplies for Jimi to last the day so we had to take a quick trip to Fred Meyer for more diapers, formula, and some pj's. Our friends Dan and Zita were nice enough to put us up for the night. We eventually made our way back over the mountains by taking Stevens Pass, which took twice as long but we made it back safely. It was nice to be able to spend a little more time with friends and James got to go listen to CWU's big band the next day while Jimi and I walked around the campus.

A few days after returning from Ellensburg, Jimi developed his first cold. He's still working through it. A 5 month old with a hoarse voice is the most pitiful thing ever. We got a humidifier to put in his "nook" and it seems to be helping so far. Hopefully he feels better soon.

In other Jimi news: He is getting better and better at sitting on his own. He is NOT a fan of carrots. He has decided that he needs to eat every 3 hours during the night again. Instead of working on pulling himself to standing, he thinks the way to go is pushing off the floor while sitting up. This usually just leaves him on his back unless I'm there to assist. He will pick up a toy he's dropped on the floor if you hold him over it. He thinks anything that is in your hands belongs in his mouth. He enjoys being read to but mostly he enjoys eating books. AND... He is the cutest baby ever.

Climbing up his high chair (James dressed him)



Working on some new tunes