The Tooth

I mentioned before that Michael had his first tooth. Here's photographic proof:

Unfortunately, this picture is out of date as he just cut his second tooth earlier this week. He is a very cranky boy right now, and not in a very picture taking mood. Instead, here are some recent pictures of our boy being adorable.

In his new hat:

In his new highchair (a Christmas present from Grandma and Grandpa Veronin):

First time sitting in a cart:

Just being a cutie butt boy:

Michael just turned 8 months old and has already passed 19 lbs. He loves to eat bread and fries but isn't such a fan of pureed veggies. Not even sweet potatoes. He can rock himself on his knees and commando crawls. He's starting his "stranger danger" phase and doesn't like to be held by anyone but mom and dad. He can almost push himself into a sitting position and loves to pull blankets off his head to play peek-a-boo. Our little boy is growing up and learning something new every day.

A Very Merry Christmas

Michael's first Christmas was spent in Colorado. He was wonderful for the flight out, even though we spent far too long in the airport. Our flight was delayed, although Delta didn't think that the information was important enough to be shared with its passengers. We finally got sick of waiting and talked to an employee who apologized and was kind enough to get us on another flight which left only 2 hours after our flight was suppose to. It was better than the 4 and a half hours we would have had to wait for our original plane.

Michael loved the Denver changing tables. They had mirrors! He even got to dance with his reflection:

We finally arrived in Colorado Springs where Ki and Tess were so happy to see us.

They really were excited to see us. They really, really love Michael -or "baby Michael", as they call him. I was "baby Michael mommy" and Jeff was "Jeff daddy". They are adorable children.

We celebrated our 3 year anniversary and both Mary and Katie's birthdays while in CO.

Michael enjoyed borrowing Tess's highchair and his Grandma Veronin got him an adorable santa hat to celebrate Christmas in.

Tess still used her highchair a lot and can apparently even sleep in it. It's amazing to me, and so stinking cute:

We took Michael on a walk with his uncle Ki to the park. Michael loves being outside, but he did miss the use of his fingers while wearing his mittens.

They both had a lot of fun swinging on the baby swings:

Every year for Christmas Eve, our family reenacts the nativity scene. This year, we had the babies do it. I shouldn't have been surprised at how hard it was to get them all to hold still long enough to take a picture, but we were able to get some really cute ones:

Christmas morning is always a blur, and I didn't take any pictures, but Michael was not interested in ripping opening gifts. He liked the discarded wrapping paper and ribbons and whatever Jeff and I were holding, but he did get the perfect gift from his Great Grandma Durney: a stuffed kitty. He giggles at it and loves to pull its tail and ears and it can't run away or scratch him.

He also got an adorable knit hat from his Aunt Jessi which unfortunately took a few tries to get right (she knit it while we were there). We continually underestimated the size of our fat boy's head, but it finally came out perfect.

It was a wonderful visit. We got to spend a lot of great time with sisters in the car to and from our Grandma's, Dad played Eternal Darkness to show us the HP Lovecraft-iness of it, we got to eat Mom's amazing homemade meals, and of course we played cards. Oh, and we all got sick. It was great.

It really was a lot of fun. I love going home.

On the flight back home, we got over halfway through the flight before Michael decided he wanted to be one of those babies. He was happily sitting on my tray table when, without warning, he freaked out. I don't know why, but he just suddenly started screaming. He wouldn't calm down. We walked up and down the airplane aisle (bumping people's elbows and constantly apologizing). Then, while I was desperately bouncing him on my lap, he started playing with his toes and cooing. It was the weirdest thing. One second screaming, the other second playing with his toes and as happy as can be. Needless to say, we were very grateful when we finally got off the plane. I think we might take a break from travelling for a bit.

Here's Michael loving the plane window, sitting next to his new kitty:

Merry Christmas everyone!

Late Thanksgiving

This year Jeff, Michael and I stayed in Utah for Thanksgiving. Since a good portion of my extended family came to Utah to have Thanksgiving with my Aunt Karen, the Veronins braved the drive (beating the "blizzard") as well and stayed with us for Thanksgiving week. It was a little cramped in our three bedroom town home, but it was very much worth it. Ki, Tess, and Michael all loved playing with each other again and I always love seeing my family.

Unfortunately, I only took pictures with my phone, so they are almost all terribly fuzzy.

Thankfully, I got a decent one with Ki loving Michael:

Thanksgiving day, we went to the Day's where we measured Michael against some of his cousins, making us feel a bit better (he is still our little boy).

A little before the meal, one of Jeff's nephews, Braxton, came running upstairs. He had completely covered his hair in butter. He held his greasy hands out to his dad in a plea for him to clean them. Not the hair, just his hands. It was hilarious. Ah, the things we get to look forward to with small children.

After an amazingly fantastic meal, we played Bang! and chatted while some children (not Michael) slept. It was a long but very enjoyable day.

As per a kind of family tradition, my family went to the movies the day after Thanksgiving. Jeff, my grandpa, and I stayed with the small children since Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows isn't exactly kid friendly. It was fun to watch them play together. Especially since Ki hasn't had too much experience playing with other kids his age.

It was a great holiday and I was sorry to see my family leave. Thankfully, it wasn't too long before we got to see them again...