seven months.

Franz turned seven months old last Friday the 13th! Seven months with this little dude. It's going by way too fast, and I can't believe how big he is. The sounds this boy comes up with are ridiculous. Yesterday he was growling. Sometimes, when I put him down for a nap, he cries and blows raspberries at the same time. I don't even know. He's hilarious, and has me cracking up every day.

At seven months, Franz...

• can sit up by himself.
• laughs at everything, and smiles even more.
• just wants to be held. All. day. long. (Not complaining!)
• is still a horrible sleeper, but is getting better at falling asleep by himself.
• has to be swaddled to sleep.
• has finally learned to roll from his tummy to his back. He did it a few times before, but now he does it consistently. He'll roll onto his tummy to grab a toy, and then roll onto his back to play with it, and repeat.
• loves every food we've given him. So far he's eaten brown rice cereal, oatmeal cereal, apples, carrots, sweet potatoes, peaches, green beans, mangoes, and plums. I think he's allergic to the mangoes and plums though.
• has the most fuzzy, sticky-uppy hair that always gets him compliments.
• is the biggest flirt. He'll stare at people until they look back at him, and then give them the biggest smiles.
• loves baths, and loves splashing.
• knows when he's about to be breastfed, and does excited/anxious moans leading up to it. He would breastfeed all day long if I'd let him.
• takes 3 or 4 naps a day, usually about 40-50 minutes long, and if we're lucky, one will be 1 1/2 hours long.
• holds out his arms and leans toward you if you're going to pick him up.
• has learned to click his tongue and smack his lips, because Zac and I do it to him all the time. He associates clicking his tongue with Zac, since Zac does that to him, and has associated smacking his lips with me, since I do that to him.
• has slowed down growing for now, and has been wearing the same clothes for a few months now. Anything from 9-18 months, and size 4 diapers.
• is somewhere between 22 and 23 pounds (that's a complete guess; he hasn't been weighed since 6 months).
• sits in a convertible car seat now when we drive in the car, since the infant car seat was getting too small for him. 
• loves things that he cannot have, like car keys, jewelry, and our food.
• swam for the very first time in St. George and absolutely loved it (too bad I hate swimming).
• says da, ma, pa, and ba, among other things.
• loves to be sung to. It either makes him beam ear to ear, or makes him crack up. His favorite song is "One Tin Soldier" by Coven.
• still sleeps in our bedroom at night, only because it's easier to attend to him when I'm half asleep and totally out of it. 
• naps in his crib, and won't nap anywhere else. Boo.
• has never been babysat. I've literally spent all my time with him since he's been born. Too much anxiety for this mama to leave her baby right now. Maybe when he's a toddler. ;)
• loves to jump when you stand him up, and loves the jumperoo (still).
• has never watched TV or played with my phone, despite the comments telling me to "never say never" and "you'll change your mind when you're exhausted and out of ideas to entertain him with."
• loves being outside, and loves the grass.
• loves running water, and tries to pick it up, and gets confused when he can't.
• looks just like Zac did when he was a baby. As much as I'd love to claim it, all that cuteness comes from his papa, except for his feet and that tongue that sticks out all the time. Those are aaaall me. :)
• went to his first concert. Van Lady Love at the Rooftop Concert Series a couple of weeks ago. Although he was wearing earmuffs the whole time, he rather enjoyed it.
• got both of his bottom teeth! As if he couldn't be any more adorable... ;)

I know I say it all the time, but I freaking love this baby. I cannot even explain it, but I'm sure all the mothers know the love I'm talking about. I have so much love for this little human that sometimes I think I might explode. He makes me so excited, so frustrated, so tired, and so happy. I cannot believe he's mine, and that I've had him for this long. He makes my life better and more meaningful, and fills it with so much joy. I love watching him grow up and get smarter and more clever and creative as the days go by. He's such a sweetheart!

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achoo!

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toys, toys, toys.

To help Franz learn how to sit up on his own, I've been putting toys in front of him while he sits on the living room floor. He's getting so good at holding himself up, and his perfect posture kills me. I love sitting back and watching him play with all his toys, in his own little world, chewing and turning and grabbing and kicking. 

The other day, we were rolling his ball back and forth. I'd roll it to him, he'd pick it up, and eventually let it go, and it would end up somewhere a few feet away. At one point, I rolled it and it stopped between his feet, and he started playing with it with his feet. It was the funniest thing, and it had me cracking up. I've yet to get a video of it, so pictures will have to do.

I knew there was a reason why I called him Monkey.

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little bottom teeth.

A couple of week ago, one of Franz's bottom teeth popped through, and the other followed a few days later, so now my little boy's got both his bottom teeth, and he loves to chew on things like toys and fingers (ouch) and cups and whatever else he can get his little, dimpled hands on. 

I want so badly to stop time and enjoy this 7-month-old (?!?!) baby of mine. He is so much fun. He makes me happy, and he makes me genuinely laugh my head off. I love going into his bedroom and picking him up after his nap, when he greets me with the biggest smiles. I love that he does excited/anxious grunts when he knows I'm going to breastfeed him. I love that he loves to watch the world around him, and is amazed by new things that are normal and mundane to me. 

Yesterday, we sat on the door step and watched a storm roll in. The wind was blowing the branches on the trees and leaves were skipping across the parking lot. The sky was filled with gray storm clouds, and it was raining just the littlest bit. He sat on my lap and looked around at everything as the wind blew his hair back. It seems so simple, but it was the best part of my day, sitting there with him, watching him take everything in. 

This boy is growing and changing so much, and I love it, but it also makes my heart hurt. Not because I hate seeing him grow, but because I know that in a blink of an eye, he won't be my little chubby baby anymore. I wish so bad that he would stay little for a little longer. I love this baby of mine.

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franz's first vacation: our trip to st. george.

We took a few days over the weekend after our anniversary and drove down to St. George for a little vacation with my family. The first full day we were down there, we all drove up to Sand Hollow reservoir and spent the afternoon playing on the beach. Have you ever seen a beach with red sand? It was so pretty up against the blue water! We watched my niece and nephews play in the water and let Franz dip his feet in! He was amazed, I think. 

The next day, we woke up early and headed to the Farmers' Market. Note to self: the Farmers' Market at Ancestor Square is not stroller friendly. We say in the grass and watched some old guy sing and play his guitar while we ate some bread we got from one of the booths.

After that, we walked a few blocks over to 25 Main for some real breakfast and shared a smoothie while Franz took a nap, and then crossed the street to a toy store and bought Franz the only shiny thing we could find (he's really into things that shine--watches, my wedding ring, necklaces), a Mickey Mouse toy with glittery gloves, shorts, and shoes.

For lunch, we met my family back over at 25 Main and I had a cupcake for dessert. I would make a trip down to St. George for their cupcakes alone. My favorite! I took some funny pictures of Franz and Zac, and found out that Franz is apparently a wizard.

That night, we threw a surprise birthday party for my dad. The theme? Pink and girly. Props to Emily for thinking that one up. :) We played Minute to Win It games, ate KFC, and had birthday cupcakes! 

We stayed a couple more days, and somewhere in there, we took Franz swimming for the very first time (he LOVED it), went on a long drive all over St. George and surrounding areas while Franz napped in his car seat, hung out on the bed a few times as a family making Franz crack up, got frozen yogurt, and found a really good pizza place for lunch called Riggatti's. 

We were sad to leave and go back to normal life where Zac's gone most of the time and there are no 25 Main cupcakes. It was such a fun trip! And we survived it with a baby who's not a very good sleeper! I'm already looking forward to our next vacation, whenever that will be.

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five cheers for three years.

Our anniversary this year (which took place over 2 weeks ago) was so different, but SO much fun with a baby. It's like we celebrated [and paid most attention to] our love child, who is a result of our marriage and love for each other. (Yes, I call Franz our love child. Don't worry about it.)

We spent the day up the canyon where we had a picnic of Subway sandwiches, and then took a short walk up the trail at Bridal Veil Falls--one of our favorite spots up there, and also one of the stops on our first date (where we also ate Subway sandwiches). We dipped Franz's toes in the water, which he didn't like very much because it was kind of cold. On the way back to the car, Franz started getting fussy, so we made every kind of crazy noise we could think of to get him to laugh so he wouldn't cry. It worked.

^^^Of course, I didn't get a picture of the two of us together on our anniversary, so pretend that this is one picture of the two of us together. :)

That night, we went to my very favorite pizza place, Pizzeria 712, for some wood fired goodness. Franz was being the biggest flirt to the group of people sitting next to us. He'd stare at them until they looked back at him and then give them the biggest grin until he had them laughing and commenting on how cute he was. Then he'd do it again. For how introverted that boy's parents are, he's not so much, and I love it.

It was such a good day, our third anniversary. I can't believe it's been that long already! It seems like just a few months ago that we were getting married and being newlyweds in Provo together, enjoying that first summer together (probably my favorite summer to date). Now it's three years later, and we have a baby?! That went by so fast, but I love where I'm at right now. 

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