Bean's First Meal

Lane conducting the FWSO

Bean's first symphony concert!

At the end of June we went to the Fort Worth Symphony's Concert in the Garden Series. They played popular movie music, like the themes from Star Wars and Indiana Jones, along with a really neat laser show and fireworks in the second half. It was at the Ft. Worth Botanic Gardens. We had a great time. I packed a picnic dinner and a blanket and we were on our way! Here are some pictures. I will post a short movie too!

Yes, I cut my hair even shorter!! I know Lane looks a little overdressed but I was worried about mosquitoes. It turned out that we didn't see any the whole night!

Here's The Daddy carrying all of the gear.

Making our way into the gardens.

Daddy and Baby


He was enthralled with everything around him, the trees, music, people, birds.

All dressed up at the symphony.

"Daddy told me to get dressed up so I wore my monkey suit. Later on Daddy told me that a monkey suit is actually a tuxedo. Who knew?" -quoted from Bean

LOVE LOVE LOVE this picture!!! This will be on my desk at work.

I have started running again and I joined the Luke's Locker half marathon training program, which concludes with the Dallas White Rock Half Marathon in December. This is my attempt at losing my baby weight. So I had to get a running stroller to take the Bean with me. He enjoys his early morning rides and Daddy enjoys getting uninterrupted sleep before work in the morning.

We've also been busy working on our landscaping. Here is our planter filled with flowers. I hate to report that it doesn't look this great anymore. Flowers don't do so well in our horrible Texas heat. Hopefully they'll come back though with some extra watering. Jason put in new stone edgers in the backyard as well. Grandpa Roger came over a few weeks ago and helped out a lot with cleaning up our existing bushes, pruning trees and mowing. It looks so much better! I will take pictures when the project is complete, we still need to mulch.

Daddy and Baby taking a break.

I got a new baby carrier last week which I absolutely LOVE! It's called an Ergo and it's like a baby backpack, with big thick padded straps and waist band. It makes carrying Lane a lot more comfortable. You can wear it forward facing or on your back (once Lane gets a little bigger). Unfortunately we've outgrown our Moby wrap, it starts to hurt my back and shoulders so we had to upgrade. Here is daddy modeling it. He was actually able to "wear" Lane to sleep with a few walks around the block while I was at the store.

Yes, Lane is actually in there. Jason put the sleeping hood up for him to block out the light and hold up his head.

Lane is now 19 pounds. Yes, he is a CHUNK, but we are of the opinion that fat babies are extra cute. He is five months old and in 9 month clothes. He's been very active lately, lots of new noises and raspberries. He gets on his tummy and "swims" because he wants to crawl. He reaches for everything and anything and puts it in his mouth. He is teething now too, which has not been fun for anyone but hopefully we'll see a tooth soon!

Our little bean hamming it up...

I love the belly laughs toward the end.

He's a HUGE Bean

We knew he was big but we were really surprised when they weighed him at the doctor's yesterday and he weighs 16 pounds 15 ounces!!! Wow.

Yesterday was a little stressful, Lane cried for an hour and I couldn't figure out what was wrong with him, he wouldn't even eat. So Daddy called the doctor and I took him in. Dr. Robert thinks he is just having teething pain. He was fine when we got there. While we were there they pointed out that he has quite a large hydrocele. Hopefully it will drain and close up before his first birthday but it shouldn't be causing him any pain at this point.

Lane had a big developmental milestone this week (besides weighing in like a sumo wrestler). He rolled over on Monday, June 9th! I actually missed it. I was getting dressed and turned away for a moment, I looked back and he was on his tummy. He was so proud of himself, all smiles!


Here are some new pictures of him in his new activity center/bouncer.

Silly face!

Saying "hi" to Jackson

Look! My toes touch the ground.

Months Three and Four:

Hello bloggers! It's been a while since I've posted, it seems that going back to work was more time consuming than I thought it would be! But I survived and now I'm back home with the Bean full time. We were lucky enough to have my mom "Moose" come live with us for the last six weeks of the school year and I think she loved every minute with our little Bean. We had a few very special visitors, Uncle Travis from Kansas and Uncle Will from Hawaii. We also had a play date with Austin Swientek and his momma Kelli. Look below for a cute picture of them together.

The Bean is quite a little ham at four months old. He gave us his first true belly laugh on Memorial Day while playing peekaboo with Daddy. He also loves to laugh while mommy and daddy sing to him, we must sound pretty funny. He is working on rolling over but still hasn't quite made it yet. He's been eating like crazy and is working on 16 pounds!! I can proudly say, "I did that!!" He is still exclusively nursing and my poor mom had quite the time getting him to take a bottle. After three long weeks of not eating while I was at work he decided he would take the NUK bottle for her (we invested a small fortune in different types of bottles for him to try, the avent, the adiri, playtex, etc, etc, you name it we've got it!). And by "taking" I mean he chewed on the nipple and maybe took one ounce (normally he eats around four ounces). I am happy to report though that even after all of that we have decided to keep him. :)

He is quite muscular but also has the cutest fat knees. We love on every inch of him!! He is now officially in six month clothes too. I think he skipped the 3-6 month clothes. We recently purchased a jumper/activity center for him because he loves to stand and he is enjoying it a lot.

We're working on a schedule. He like a mid-morning nap after his bath time and play time. He also takes a couple of naps in the afternoon. I still wear him in my Moby wrap sling during the day. He is learning how to put dishes away and do laundry. He really enjoys a walk in his stroller and he looks adorable with his hat on. He is looking at the pictures in his board books now but has a short attention span. He likes Dr. Seuss' "The Foot Book" a lot.

As for mom and dad, we're keeping busy. Jason is enjoying his job a lot and recently got to go to New York City to the main office for a few days. I am enjoying my summer time and teaching a couple of days a week. I decided to go back to work in the fall so I am trying to savor every moment with our little Bean. We still have not decided on what type of new car to get but I'm sure we'll get there eventually!

So now for some pictures... The most recent are first, so he will get progressively smaller.

Go to www.lifeofcake.shutterfly.com to see ALL of our recent pictures.

My Favorite

Bean in a Bumbo

Bean with Uncle Will

Stroller Deathgrip


Bean with his Moose






Naked Bean




Bean with Uncle Travis

Big Smiles!

Lane and buddy Austin (he's 8 weeks older than Lane)

Another pound, a swing and a few more pictures...

Bean and Jackson saying hello

Smiley Boy!

As of Thursday Bean is now 11 lbs. 5 oz.! That means he's had a 9 oz. gain in one week. 6 oz. in one week is "acceptable" so we are doing great! We will have our two month appointment on Thursday, which is Daddy's birthday. Lane will have to get a shot, have his weight and length checked and everything else looked over. No big plans for Daddy's birthday, just dinner out at Lava grill, his favorite asian cuisine restaurant. We tooks some very cute pictures today, some rare shots of Bean with Mommy!

We did have major progress yesterday: Bean fell asleep in his swing! Getting him in the swing was tricky, he hasn't really liked it in the past. I swaddled him first and stuck him in while "shhh-ing" (reminds him of the feel and sound of the womb) and he was happy as a clam. After a 20 minutes or so I put him upstairs in his co-sleeper and he napped for several hours.

Heavy, Two month old Bean...

Bean is two months old today, can you believe it?!! He's been a busy bean, here's the skinny:

• He now recognizes his daddy and gets real excited when Jason gets home from work. Lots of smiles and laughing as daddy talks to him. It's the cutest thing you've ever seen.
• He's laughing and smiling all of the time during his alert periods of the day. (See pics below)
• If I put him on his tummy for tummy time he can now flip himself back over onto his back. He's not really a fan of tummy time.
• He's "talking", lots of baby babble and cooing.
• His eyes follow the dogs and cat as they walk around him and he tries to look for them if he hears them bark or meow.
• He REALLY enjoys listening to classical music and will lay on his back and listen to Vivaldi for 30 min or more while he gets in his "workout". In fact, he has a preference for faster movements of the pieces and will smile and laugh during them! Amazing! His "workout" is flailing his arms and legs in the air.
• He is a good companion for me while running errands, he curls up in his Moby sling and sleeps for most of the time.
• He is now sleeping some nights for a 4 hour stretch, usually from 12 - 4 am, then he goes back to his every 2 hour feedings. We are getting much more sleep around here! Daddy is A LOT less crabby. LOL!
• He weighs 10 lbs 8 oz!!!

Getting sleepy in my sling...

Gus sleeping next to "his" baby
chubby monkeyWant to see more? Go to:

http://lifeofcake.shutterfly.com/action/?a=8EasXLho2ZsRS&notag=1

So, we have decided to get a different car, the civic has 98,000 miles and only two doors. Having only two doors is more challenging than I thought it would be. Crawling in and out of the backseat with him proves to be difficult. So, I've put a poll up for y'all to vote on our next vehicle of choice. You can probably guess that I'm the one who wants a 08 Honda CR-V, EX-L and daddy of course wants the used BMW 3 series. Keep in mind this will by my mommy mobile for several more years. Or if you have a suggestion please leave me a comment.

The CR-V

The 2006 BMW 3 series

Lots of important visitors....

Hello to all...



We've had lots of important visitors over the past couple of weeks and baby Lane has lots of new tricks too. Great Grandma and Great Grandpa Giles (mommy's grandparents) stopped in for a visit on their way from Tucson back home to Peoria, Illinois. We loved seeing them!

Happy Sleeping boy with Great Grandma

This is Great Grandma's secret baby hold. She can stop a fussing baby and put him to sleep in seconds. No joke!!

We were also SO excited to see Grandma Roxanne and Grandpa Brown, who came from Richmond, Virginia. They are MOVING here!! So now all of Lane's grandparents on his daddy's side will be here in Texas. Grandpa Brown has just started a new job and Grandma Roxanne is looking for the perfect house.

Adoring Grandmother

Proud Grandfather

So Lane has been very busy growing in his fifth week. He smiled at mommy and daddy on Saturday for the first time and it wasn't just gas! We got about 3 big grins out of him as we stood in front of the mirror talking and making faces at him. Here is a picture of that big, toothless grin!

Cutest baby in the world!!

Here are some other fun pics. He loves to play on his changing table.

Don't I look cute in my cloth diaper and yellow plastic pants?

Cloth Diapering has been going great! He has never has diaper rash with the cloth, where as when I put him in disposables I have noticed it on occasion. It's hard to remember to wash them in time but we're getting into the habit.

Future boxer???

Look at these great pictures from tummy time. It's amazing to me to see how high he can lift his head now!

Despite trying to recover from a cold we are doing well around here. Lane hasn't been weighed in a few weeks but the last time we went to the doctor he was 7 lbs 14 oz so I'm guessing he's around 9 lbs now, if he's been gaining like he should. Daddy has noticed how his arms get tired after holding him for a while, so either daddy needs to go to the gym or Baby has been putting on the ounces!!