life lately.

As Franz get more and more mobile (he can scoot across the room in about 5 seconds flat), it's getting harder to find the time to blog, especially since when he naps, I just want to sit on the couch and be lazy or even nap (still not sleeping through the night over here).

So here's what's been going on over here in the last month and a half or so!

^^^We were cleaning out a corner in the house and Zac found a slinky. He showed Franz and Franz was freak.ing.out. He loved it!

^^^Same with this watermelon. He was tripping balls.

^^^Ever since he's been scooting around, his shirt gets pulled down, and his little baby cleavage peaks through.

^^^Being a weirdo and playing with the baby in the mirror.

^^^Always trying to get mama's camera.

^^^Pulling towels out of the drawer, and looking oh so innocent about it.

^^^He fell off our bed a few weeks ago and skinned his nose. He only cried for about a minute, and was totally fine afterwards. It's healed up now, but it was a sad little nose for about a week.

This boy is growing faster than I can keep up with. It's crazy to compare his abilities, looks, and personalities now with what they were a couple of months ago!

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franz's first trip to bear lake.

Bear Lake this year was awesome with a baby in tow. I've learned that you've got to be flexible while traveling with a baby, and to be ready to throw all your plans out the window at any given second, which we did a few times when we drove around the lake, trying to get him to take a nap (he didn't), forgoing taking pictures on the beach as a family, because it was just too much work (although we did a couple of me and Franz on my phone), and skipping out on a local play because of an early bedtime.

But most parts were down right fun, like hanging out on the beach (where Franz napped on me for an hour or so) and showing him the water and sand and boats, leaving him with grandma Jill while Zac and I took a wave runner out on the lake, pushing Franz in the porch swing for a while (where he almost fell asleep), and playing Phase 10 with everyone late at night while the kids slept. I am really liking going places with this little boy. He makes things more hectic, but much more enjoyable.

Bear Lake was good this year, and I think Franz enjoyed it, as well. 

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nine months.

^^^This is what his face looks like when he rolls his tongue.

These last nine months have flown by. It's hard to believe that we're coming up on one whole year with Franz in just a few months. How do I have a 9-month-old?! Franz's personality has always been big and present, but this month it just exploded. Lately, he's been talking back to us with tongue clicks, raspberries, and rolling his tongue (a new trick he learned a few days ago!).

I feel like this is the month when all of our hard work of trying to teach him the names of things has paid off. He's starting to recognize things we see and talk about every day. For example, we read him books about farm animals (cows, chickens, horses, and ducks, etc.) and make the noises they make. We went to the farm a couple of days ago and showed him the cows and mooed at him, and you could see things start to click in his little head, like he was thinking, "Oh! I know what that is!" He also loves to watch the slide show of our recent family pictures (I'll be sure to post those soon!) on our screen saver, and gets extremely excited when he sees his mama and papa and even the little baby he loves to play with in the mirror. It really just melts my mama heart.

At 9 months, Franz...

• still only has his 2 bottom teeth, but his 2 top ones should be coming in any day now. They're so close!
• is an army-crawling fool. He's so efficient and so fast! 
• has started getting up on his hands and knees, and rocks back and forth. He's THIS close to crawling. 
• still doesn't sleep through the night. In fact, lately, he's been waking up 6 or 7 times in an 11 hour period, so that's fun. I'm convinced it's a mix between teething and his [very minor] ear infection.
• still wears mostly 12-18 month clothes, but is starting to fit into some 24 month clothes. What the crap?
• still wears size 4 diapers.
• is 24 pounds & 10 ounces and 31 inches tall. I see 1-year-olds his size walking and running around. It's weird.
• is a huge flirt, and smiles at almost anyone, especially if they aren't paying attention to him.
• loves solids, and is starting to eat more and more (like homemade pizza crust!).
• is fascinated by cars, birds, door stops, buttons, cords, our bathroom scale, and anything shiny.
• growls when he's mad. And sometimes just for fun.
• loves to put things over his face, and then gets really excited and breathes heavily. This morning, it was one of Zac's dirty socks.
• loves to jump and jump and jump.
• can pull himself up to standing while holding onto my hands, and grabs my hands all the time because he loves to stand.
• fell off our bed and skinned his nose (hence the red nose in these pictures).
• sleeps in our bed 80% of the time, and sleeps in our room the other 20%.
• is getting better at taking naps (but maybe it's because I rock him to sleep... just waiting for the right moment to start sleep training him...).
• prefers regular cups for drinking, and sippy cups for playing with/chewing on.
• favors his mama over his papa, and always reaches for me when Zac is holding him (and I am eating it up!).
• is very clingy. He needs to be held every minute of every day, it seems like.
• is really cuddly and touchy feely in bed at night (and just in general). He loves snuggling up close to me or Zac, usually so our noses are touching, with a hand on our face or arm. This is why I'm okay with co-sleeping. :)
• smiles the biggest smiles and gets really excited when Zac comes home from work. I think it's the best part of Zac's day. 
• is starting to put himself to sleep at bedtime. He used to do this, but then stopped all of a sudden, and is now slowly starting it back up again. If only he'd do it in the middle of the night. :)
• gets at least one compliment everywhere we go about how cute he is or how awesome his hair is. I am not exaggerating. It makes a mama proud!
• gives the tightest hugs to his mama almost every time I pick him up, especially when I pick him up from his nap.
• will sometimes give you kisses when you ask for them. Open-mouthed goodness!
• can say "naynaynay" (his favorite), "nanana", "bababa", "mamama", and "dadada".

This baby is a dream. He is so much fun, and keeps me so busy, now that he's a pro at that army crawling. It's so much fun to talk to him and watch him pay attention to what I'm saying. I love to see him take in the world around him. Things that I think are boring and mundane are incredible to him. We watched tractors dig up dirt across the street for a good 5 minutes today, and he was in awe. He can watch cars pass by one by one and still think it's the best thing ever when the next one comes. I love seeing him learn about how this world works. I'm learning that each new stage brings a whole slew of fun things with it, and even though the last one was pretty good, the current one is always, somehow, even better. Being a mama is pretty good, especially to this little boy.

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a day at the farm.

^^^Look at that horse's crazy eye!

At the end of June, we took Franz up to Wheeler Farm to see all the animals! In my mind, I imagined that Franz would be excited as all get out about all the animals moving around, with all the different sounds they make. When we got there, Franz didn't give a hoot about anything. In fact, I took him right up to where the horses were hanging out, and he didn't even flinch. Now that's he's almost 9 months old (what?!), I feel like he would find them more amazing than he did those few weeks ago.

The day was really hot, but it was so much fun seeing the turkey, goats (my favorite, because babies!), pigs, sheep, and horses while eating some apple-flavored salt water taffy that we got from the little shop at the farm. I think another trip in the cool fall weather is in our future. :)

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eight months.

My baby is eight months old! And he is soooo much fun! There's never a calm moment at our house, unless he's sleeping. His little personality is just bursting at the seams, and he's quite a funny little dude. Lately he's been scrunching up his nose and making his mouth into a tight "O" shape, and it's the cutest thing. He also just recently found out how to army crawl, and now between rolling and army crawling, he's officially going everywhere and getting into everything. He's keeping me busy.

At eight months, Franz...

• still has only his two bottom teeth.
• started army crawling.
• still doesn't sleep through the night. He wakes up at least 3 times a night.
• says "nanana," "bababa," "dadada," and "mamama." 
• can click his tongue and smack his lips.
• loves solid foods (purees), mostly for the spoon, and just started eating puffs a few days ago.
• still wears size 4 diapers and size 12-18 month clothes.
• weighs about 24 1/2 pounds, and has really slowed down with his weight gain.
• loves baths but hates being dried off afterwards.
• got his first owie--a scratch on his big toe--on the day he turned 8 months old.
• laughs like a fool when you tickle his thighs, ribs, lower belly, and back.
• loves to stick his fingers in your mouth, and loves when you pretend to bite them.
• will lunge toward someone with his arms out if they ask to hold him.
• is so happy and so smily.
• is more clingy than usual, and would be held all day long if I'd let him.
• sleeps on his belly.
• loves everything shiny: sequins on my clothes, jewelry, zippers, etc.
• loves buttons, including belly buttons!
• also loves glasses, and pulls mine and Zac's off all the time.
• gives the best, open-mouthed kisses.
• loves the outdoors, even though it's blazing hot. We get the mail together every day.
• gets mad when you're eating and he's not.
• loves to drink water out of his sippy cup and out of mama's glass.
• really only cries when he's being put down to sleep, and when you put him down when he's being clingy.
• prefers to play with all of his toys at once, scattered all across the living room floor, than just one or two toys.
• loves to bang things together to see what sound they make: his binky on the bars of his crib, one of my bracelets on the tv speaker, a wooden block on another wooden block, etc.
• gets so excited when he sees Zac's face when he comes home from work. We're talking flailing arms, a big grin, and pushing mama away so papa can hold him.
• still has that sticky up hair, although it's barely starting to lie down.
• loves books, and is starting to realize that you can read them instead of eat them (but still loves to eat them).

Each stage that Franz goes through is my new favorite, so of course, 8 months is my favorite so far. He's so much fun to play with and I don't have to worry about breaking him; we can be a little rough with him and he actually thinks it's hilarious! He knows his mama and his papa, and gives us sweet kisses and holds onto us while stroking us with his finger. It melts my heart every single time. I love this beautiful boy of mine.

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franz's first 4th of july.

Our Fourth of July this year was a really good one. Zac worked the whole morning and into the afternoon, and at the very last minute, I decided to take Franz to the parade! He loved it, and his favorite part was the giant balloon that floated past.

When Zac got home, we headed up to my parents' house for a BBQ with chicken and veggie kebabs, salad, and homemade salsa. We didn't stay long, though, and headed back down to put Franz to bed on time. 

Once he was asleep, Zac and I took the baby moniter out of our front steps and made some s'mores over a little fire in a clay pot and listened to the fireworks going off all around us. I was bummed that Franz didn't get to see them, but that babe was so tired. Next year, for sure!

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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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