9 Months

Mclain turned 9 months old on Thanksgiving. I feel like he has learned so many new "tricks" and hit so many milestones in the past month. 

He now has four teeth, and he was such a BEAR when those top two came in at the same time. Wouldn't sleep, wouldn't drink his bottle, was such a little grouch; so glad that is over. 

He got sick for the first time. I guessed we did luck out to make it 9 months before he caught anything, but it was still so sad, and holy crap so much snot!

Now that he crawls around all over and walks around the furniture, I swear we need to get this kid a helmet or wrap him in bubble wrap, something. He always has bruises on his head!

This kid is crazy (like his dad)! He is into everything, especially loves to destroy all our christmas decorations.

We took him shooting with us for the first time. (Yeah, we're those kind of people.)

He loved pumpkin pie at Thanksgiving. I don't know why I didn't get a picture of that. He was not so sure about Santa Claus at our ward Christmas party, however. 

This kid loves to eat: puffies, French fries, non edible items, everything! I caught him eating a piece of bacon out of the bottom of the dishwasher one day!

He is getting so big; can't believe he'll be a year old in just a few months. 

Middle Schoolers Say the Stupidest Things

I recently read an article calling out middle school students as the "armpit of the American society". After spending the majority of the last four years with this age group, I'd generally have to agree with that statement. 

In the last four years of teaching, I've had the most awkward/ridiculous/utterly stupid things spoken to me, and I keep thinking, "I need to write this crap down; one day I'll be old and need a good laugh." So it dawned on me a few days ago why not share the laughs; this is as good a place as any to document my students stupidity.

So I present to you, "Middle Schoolers Say the Stupidest Things," Volume 1.

This first "stupid response" happened last year after asking one simple question. I received several ridiculous responses.

Me: The book we'll be reading is set in 1963. What sort of things do you know about the 1960's?

Student 1: "Is that the year you were born?"

Student 2: "Wasn't this during the Civil War?"

Student 3: "This is when that one war was going on...like the Revolutionary War or something"

One morning sitting at my desk before school started.

Student: (pointing to a picture of Mclain) Oh, he is so cute. Is he ONE of your grand kids?

Me: (thinking) You're an idiot!

One of my personal favorites.

Me: can someone give me an example of a symbol and explain what that symbol means?

Student:Supercalafraglisticexpalodocious 

Me: I literally don't even no what to say to  you right now.

This last little delight happened just the other day, in the middle of class, after reminding my students I need baby pictures from them for the yearbook.

Student: What if I don't have any baby pictures? My dad says he thinks I was adopted because he missed me being born. He was taking a poop when I came out.

Me: (blinking)

8 Months Old

I swore to myself after I had a kid I wouldn't be "that mom". You know, that mom that cheerily posts all the completely insignificant things her tiny human offspring does on a monthly basis. As if their taking a crap clear up their back that then gets smeared into your new carpet (yeah, that may have happened this week), discovering they have fingers, or learning  to spit food back out at you is equivalent to them winning the  Nobel Peace prize or something. But with one glance at that tiny little man we created, I became "that mom". 

I'm now that mom that cheers her little dude on as he "crawls" a foot across the floor looking like a injured caterpillar to retrieve a plastic measuring spoon that  he finds to be the most interesting object he has ever slobbered on.

I'm now that mom that gets more excited to discover he got his first "toothy" (and yeah, toothy  is somehow part of my vocabulary now) than . . . well, than if I discovered something actually exciting. 

I'm now that mom that spent, well literally his entire life, combing Pinterest for the perfect Halloween costume even though I'm fully aware trick-or-treating is completely pointless when he can't really eat candy. 

I'm now that mom that has turned life into a musical by singing nearly everything to him. (My personal favorite is the song I made up for him when he is ornery. Sung to the tune of " The Little Drummer Boy": "You are so grumpy grump bum bum bum bum. Dad is where you get your grumpiness from. Grump bum, bum, bum, bum. Grump bum, bum, bum, bum! Grump bum, bum, bum!"

And, yep, I'm that mom that updates her blog once a month with the insignificant crap my child learned how to do and shamelessly plug how adorable he is! 

So, Mclain's 8 months, and he crawls, if that's what you want to call it (and that is what I do  because it makes me fill better about the "maybe" slow development of my kids motor skills), he has a toothy! and is getting another, he dances (and when I say dances I mean nods his head like a white person) every time he hears music, he enjoys staring at his hand while doing the "come here" motion, and he got to pick out his first Halloween pumpkin (of course all the pictures I tried to get of him with it are just of him licking the stem.)  And I am shamelessly proud of him and his freaking adorableness! 

(Now precedes all the monthly pictures to prove how cute he is.)

7 Months Old

Well, Mclain is 7 months, and honestly not a lot has changed with him in the last month. He sits up really well now, still has no interest in attempting to crawl (I'm pretty ok with  him not being able to destroy everything for now), and he loves to eat. If you're eating something, he thinks he needs to have it too! He is finally growing pretty good and has the funniest/craziest personality. Couldn't love him more than we do!

          My two super handsome men!

        Seriously this kid is adorable! 

6 Months Photo Shoot

Before we officially headed home from our Spokane trip, we made a stop at Camera Shy to get Mclain's 6 months photos. 

Camera Shy did a great job. I highly recommend them! Here are a few of my favorites.

Trip to Spokane

The perk of James working for his parents' hardware store is that sometimes he needs to go to a hardware show with his parents, and sometimes I (now "we") get to go with him. Are these shows super exciting? No! Are these shows remotely interesting. No, not particularly. Then why, you ask, do I consider them to be a perk of the job? Well, because they're usually free. This resent one in Spokane was a particularly free one: flight, hotel, and most of our meals included, not to mention all the free crap the vendors give you at the show. 

This was obviously Mclain's first time on a plane, and I was a little worried he was going to be a little monster, but he did great!  Yeah, we had a few monstery moments, but they were pretty short lived. 

Getting on our first flight. Yeah, it's 6:30 in the morning!

They had a bunch if these photo things around the convention center. Don't ask me why, but we took advantage of them. 

One of the vendors had this super cute little rocking chair in his booth. Mclain wasn't so sure about it.

Taking a walk along the river. 

Of course James spots a deer down along the river in the middle of town.

For some unknown reason, Spokane has a giant red wagon in the park, so James took Mclain down the slide.

Mclain got so much attention at the convention. It was like no one had seen a baby before. (I'm sure they haven't seen one as cute as this little guy is though!)

Plane ride home! 

Had to take a picture of his plane ticket!

Finally back in a hotel in Utah! 

Had a blast, made lots of new experiences, but so glad to be home! 

6 Months

Mclain turned 6 month on August 28th. I'm a bit behind, but we've been trying to get into a routine since I went back to work, which has been a little hard. 

Mclain at 6 months:

Is 14 pounds 7 ounces, 10th%, finally he is starting to gain some weight (still wears newborn shorts though)

Is 27 inches, 50th%

Has a pretty loopy head due to getting vacuumed out; hopefully it fixes itself

Rolls all over the place

Hates peas and rice cereal, but loves sweet potatoes, green beans, applesauce, pears, and oatmeal cereal

Sits up with the not so gracefulness of a drunkard 

Shows no interest in getting up on all fours, but would much rather pull your hair, rip your face off, lick everything, or blow spit bubbles (very skilled at blowing spit bubbles)

Enjoys yelling "mum" at me (must be channeling that royal British baby)

Still sleeps in his bassinet at the foot of our bed upstairs; one day I might move him to his actual bedroom where he actually fits in his crib, but I just can't let him go yet

Is an exact replica if his dad just with my nose and pasty complexion (poor kid)