the blanchard's

It was two days of hell but we survived...and we now have our first tooth! I still can't get a picture of it but here's a little glimpse into the fun we were having in the mean time.

And we have how many more teeth?! So. Damn. Grumpy.

A few days before he turned seven months he started out with a cold that brought us to the doctor and an ear infection diagnosis. His cold seemed to be getting worse as the week went on and when he woke up with a fever, it was time to take our first sick trip to the doctor. Ten days of antibiotics, two weeks of sleepless nights, and many snuggles later we finally got better. It's so heartbreaking to see your kiddo sick.

Solids

Our adventure with solids has been quite entertaining. I have been trying off and on for two months to get this monster to eat solids while my breast milk freezer stock has been suffering. This kid can eat! The little turd just blows through the breast milk when I'm away and my supply level has been getting dangerously low. So I made sweet potato and avocado purees, put them in the cute little jars and prepared the freezer portions. I was so excited.

Guess who didn't care about the effort and love Mom had put into making him food?

I tried everything. Letting him play with the spoon, making it fun and exciting, tricking him and full blown holding him down and shoving the spoon in his mouth. We tried applesauce, pears, bananas and sweet potatoes again...nothing. The second he saw that spoon coming at him he would clamp his mouth shut and start swatting me away. It didn't matter if the spoon was empty, he wasn't having anything to do with it.

I finally found success with the food pouches. The fact that he could hold them and "do it himself" seemed to be the key.

Since we finally found the key to the solids, I decided to order a few reusable pouches to make my own food. Those damn things are $1.50 a piece! Well guess who decided he's ready to eat from a spoon on the exact day they arrive in the mail?? What a shit.

The few weeks he was only eating from pouches I was still the spoon nazi. I was NOT going to have a kindergartener that went to school with pureed food in a pouch because he refused to eat from a spoon. I tried to sneek a few bites from the spoon every time we sat down to eat, then one day he decided it was time. Looks like we may have our hands full with a 'do-it-myself' little boy.

Now he'll eat anything I put in front of him! Carrots seem to be his favorite...I can't get them into his mouth fast enough.

This is how we feel about squash.

Some other exciting news in the world of Easton...he started crawling! And he couldn't have timed it more perfectly. Dad was home AND caught it on video.

Each day just brings something new...like this face...

Not sure where this one came from. He does it all day, happy or mad. Such a weirdo.

He now takes baths like a big boy :(

Helps me pump...

Helps with laundry...

Rides in the stroller like a gangster...

Rides in the shopping cart...

Is already trying to kiss girls...

And teaches dad how to play guitar.

And a few more of my favorites of the past month...

goodnight!

My New Year's resolution to be a better blogger flew out the window faster than January and February did. Is it really already March? What happened?!?! And not to mention my sweet boy is now six months old :(
I want him to stay a baby forever, even if it means a lack of sleep. Soon I'll be running after him saying "Easton, no." 18,000 times a day. We have a lot to catch up on, so here we go!

Easton's 1st Christmas!

We started the season with picking out our tree...

...and topped it with the cutest ornament.

E attended his first ugly sweater party.

And we couldn't resist embarrassing poor Coop.

He couldn't keep his hands off Kenna's sweet sweater...

...but she forgave him.

Nine tries later, we finally got a decent picture with the monsters (kind of).

We made a visit to see Santa.

E got his first pair of Christmas Eve pj's...

...and apparently didn't like them.

I convinced him that his new pj's aren't that bad, so we had a little photo shoot before our bedtime story.

(Did you notice the pajama change? Well he, of course, had to blow out his cute WHITE new pair before going to bed. So while he slept mom washed the new ones and had them ready for the morning. I know, I'm a little crazy.)

On Christmas morning we ate breakfast while the little monster took his morning snooze, and opened gifts after he woke up. This was a little difficult because the kid in me wants to tear into my stocking/gifts first thing in the morning, but I composed myself :)

Dad helped open his first stocking.

We should have just gotten him a roll of wrapping paper for Christmas.

We had a great Christmas morning and finished the day with an early dinner at Auntie and Uncle Carson's house and made it back home in time for bath and bed :)

Happy New Year!

January

The second weekend in January we jetted up to Oldtown, Idaho to great-great grandma's house. My dad wasn't able to make it to Boise when Easton was born due to work so this was an opportunity to get the family together and E could finally meet grandpa. It was a short weekend unfortunately but we got to spend some time together and get a few pictures along the way.

Five generations!

Not a fan of his first sink bath.

Great-Great Grandma

It wouldn't have been a proper trip to the ranch without hopping on the trailer and

helping feed the cows.

The 25th of January brought a very special anniversary for Jake and I, it marked 10 years together! I feel way too young to have a 10 year relationship but I'm thankful he's put up with me for an entire decade. We decided to take advantage of Jake's miles, left our babe to play with Kenna for the weekend and headed to Vegas. It was really hard leaving E for the first time but it was so nice to get away and spend some quality time with my hubby. I did however feel like I was forgetting something all weekend. Not having feeding and nap times to worry about or dirty diapers to change made me feel a little lost.

We discovered that we're terrible at partying in Vegas and decided that laying pool side, hot tubing, and watching tv in bed is much more fun :). We walked the strip, gawked at the crazies, saw an awesome Cirque Du Soleil show and got buzzed too early in the day, resulting in us wanting to go to bed by 10. Jake snuck a pic with Joe Montana, I pumped and dumped, and the trip ended with being delayed for over an hour on the tarmac while a drunk women was escorted from the plane after punching her husband in the face.

Oh Vegas...

The very next weekend we got back on a plane and went to Seattle to look for a wedding dress for one of my closest friends of over 20 years! It was so great to see everyone and meet the other bridesmaids; plus Easton got to meet his aunties. The wedding is in Hawaii this fall and I can't wait!

He's becoming a traveling pro...

The bride to be! Auntie Kayla

Auntie Emily

For now we're done traveling and we'll just be hibernating at home until camping season officially begins. As far as fun facts about Easton, he's six months old now, rolling over like a mad man and is about to start crawling any day. We've started solids and discovered he hates rice cereal and avocados but seems to tolerate applesauce but he's still not so sure. He still loves bath time, being thrown in the air and is becoming obsessed with Cooper (poor Coop won't catch a break when he's on the move). When I say "hi" to him he replies with "huh?", and it looks like we're heading into the teething phase because he's been a drooly grump butt these past few days. We survived our first camping trip and he got his first ride on the four wheeler with Dad. Easton, Dad and Coop all survived their first three day weekend without Mom while I went away with my girlfriends on a little vacay to Arizona. I really missed them all but I have to say, being served a few adult beverages pool side while Dad changed all the dirty diapers at home was pretty sweet :).

So for now I'll leave you with a few of my favorites and hopefully I won't wait so damn long for the next post.