Restful Weekend

We had a nice weekend, although it was a little chilly and Barrett and I were stuck indoors with a cold. Luckily, Matt felt 100%, so he played doctor all weekend.

Barrett has started pulling up on the furniture and just about anything else that won't tip over. Not only that, but he is crawling everywhere. I find it adorable how he is hot on my heels when I leave a room. Cute...but kind of scary too.

His favorite place to be is the kitchen floor. He loves sliding across it. Plus, he has found the secret cabinet full of Tupperware!!! So far, he hasn't discovered the place where I keep all my pots and pans, but I'm sure he will in no time.

Pulling the drawers in and out seem to be very entertaining to Barrett (until he smashes his fingers in them)

He is so smart he even tries to weigh himself - 22.5lbs is what it said.

His new movie - Monsters Inc.

After naptime, he was well rested and ready to play! (notice that he pulled up on his bed all by himself and was squealing for me to come in there!)

Wild Man

Let me make this clear...Barrett does have a Jump-aroo, but he favors his exersaucer more. As you'll notice, he has pretty much grown out of it, but occasionally he spends time in it because I like to think of it as a small cage (ha ha).
Barrett will tolerate it as long as he is close to the t.v. and doesn't have to stay inside of it for too long (about 15 minute threshold).
We thought it was funny how wild he gets in it now. He was "bringing down the house"!

The REAL Deal

Now we're REALLY on the move. No more army crawling! No more cat naps in the afternoon. He's into something 99% of the time. But I wouldn't have it any other way!
Enjoy the clips.

Army Crawl

It seems like overnight that Barrett has picked up speed. Granted, he has figured out that if he army crawls, he can get around faster. Here is a short clip of how fast he made it across our living room floor. I had walked out of the room for a brief moment, only to find him chasing right after me.
I can't turn my back on him at all. He's into everything! I found him chewing on the cable cords that connect to the wall, then I had him in our office where he proceeded to pull at all the computer cords. He even chases after my tennis shoes strings! ha ha

Poor Guy

I couldn't believe my eyes this afternoon. I usually feed Barrett between 5:30 and 6:30. As I was doing so, he seemed a little grouchy, but I just assumed it was the baby food (the particular flavor of what I was feeding him). I was on the phone with my parents, then my sister (shuttling spoonfuls of food into Barrett's mouth at the same time) and in the midst of it all, my poor little guy fell asleep!

Trust me, I never thought Barrett would do that. I figured I would have to leave him unattended, have my back turned away, or something...but this child literally opened his mouth, took a bite, swallowed, closed his eyes, and then started a light snore! Crazy!!!!!

He didn't even wake up when I took his bib off. He just lowered his head and tried to keep sleeping.

I thought I was sleep deprived! Obviously he is too.

8 months

Believe it or not, Barrett is turning 8 months old. Here are some of his latest things:

• *His upper, right tooth finally broke through the skin. He now has 3 teeth.
• *He loves laughing with me and at me. I've got a super happy child.
• *He can crawl, but finds "army crawling" to be much faster (so that is what we choose to do when we need to get somewhere quick).
• *He eats baby food (usually 1 and 1/2 jars) twice a day, but we're about to start feeding him 3 times a day.
• *Loves his bath time. He's a little fish. I'm thinking about putting him in a baby swimming class soon.
• *We've upgraded to a convertible car seat and Barrett loves it. He can see out the window and sets up much higher. Instead of moaning and grunting in the seat, he smiles and chatters while we're driving.
• *He babbles much more and even squeals to get your attention. For some reason he is hooked on saying "da-da", but I to him, everything is da-da (or at least that's what I tell myself)
• *Adores Blue's Clues. He watches it in the mornings while Matt and I are getting ready for work. Even Matt and I have the songs memorized and we tend to sing them throughout the day (I never thought that would happen!)
• *Although we have don't have an accurate weigh-in, I know Barrett is over 20lbs and at least 33 inches tall. Although he is 8 months old, he wears a size 18 month in clothing! I pulled out an old onesize from when he was born, and literally cried at the sight of how small he use to be.

Lip SMACK'A

This is hilarious. Barrett discovered his very own lip smacking ability. If my camera's battery would have died...I would have had some longer footage. He kept doing it for a while after the camera was turned off. I think this gets the point across though. We definitely have a new game to play!
Get ready ladies...

My Little Fish

Barrett LOVES his bath time!!! I just know that he is going to be the next Phelps!!! Seriously, he loves kicking and splashing. I tried once to just put him in the tub with me, but that was a total mistake. He was slipping and sliding and trying to crawl all over the place. Water in the face and on the head is not an issue for him. I hope it stays that way. If so, we're looking for an early swimmer!!! Should I get Matt to build us a pool?

The pictures don't do much justice. By the end of bath time, there is more water on the outside of the tub, then in it!

These light up ducks are the best!!! If he could get out of that "ring", he would.

2009 Resolutions

I figured if I posted my resolutions...I might be more willing to stick to them.
I have to admit that I didn't come up with these resolutions alone. Actually our preacher at church shared with us his personal resolutions and encouraged us to try them. There are only 3...so that makes it easier for me.
Once he spoke of them, I found myself relating to each one of them in a deep, emotional way. I thought they were wonderful.
I invite YOU as well to join with me in my 2009 New Year's resolutions:

#1 Live life as though you have nothing to lose.
*Quit being afraid to show your faith, power, and love of God. So many times we try to hide the fact that we're strong Christians by not speaking out about the power of God. We tend to think it might change other's perception of us.
#2 Live life as though you have nothing to prove.
*We all seek acceptance and approval from our society, and we tend to spend so much time and effort trying to prove ourselves to other people. God loves us no matter what, and we don't have to earn his acceptance. We already have it!
#3 Let no one be left behind
*Think less of yourself and spend time praying for others. Take the initiative to reach out to others and lead them to Christ. Be someones "light".

Brother Chris went on to encourage us to set our cell phones, watches, or alarms to 3:16 (reference to the scripture, John 3:16) every day. When the alarm goes off, he asked that we take 60 seconds of our day to pray for someone else. John 3:16 - God so loved the world that he gave his one and only son, so that each of us will never perish and have enteral life.

My little helper

Barrett was a great little helper this week as I packed up all the Christmas decorations. He helped me put away the Christmas ornaments (trying to grab each one as I took them off the tree), take down the tree (pulling on each branch as I was trying to take it apart) and even tried to help me vacuum (but got a little scared of its noise).

Overall, we were successful.

You know...I couldn't wait for this particular Christmas to come. It was our first one with Barrett...my perfect little family. I can't help but be sadden because it came and went so quickly. I wish these moments could last forever.

"Peek-a-boo Mama"

"Hold on...I just want to play in here a little while longer"

"Hey...you tell me when you plan on firing up that vacuum and I'll get out here!"

"Ahhh...we're all done. Now can we go get our Sonic drink?"

Out of no where....

I don't know if it's Barrett's way of saying, "Hey...it's the new year and I'm going to be more vocal", or if someone happened to slip him some caffeine...but, Barrett has started this new "squealing/grunting" thing. It's hilarious. He literally competes with Matt and I (or himself) to see how much louder he can get each time.
Bless his little heart, he did it so much today, he started coughing. His throat will probably be sore tomorrow!!!
Excuse my voice (laughing and snorting) in the background. I couldn't help it.

He and his friend Camdyn are bound to have tons of fun once they go back to Ms. Sherry's on Monday!!!! Poor Ms. Sherry...............she's going to have her hands full!!!!