FOUR MONTHS & COUNTING

Such a cute smile!  

Here's the boy in his new seat--he loves it.  So much for Bumbo--this one's much better!

It's been a great month and Lathan's getting bigger and cuter by the day.  He's learned all kinds of new things including grabbing both feet at one time (for those of you who are yoga buffs...that's the "happy baby" pose--now we know why!), laughing at being held way up in the air (we all love that) and he's finally embraced the bottle and, most recently, the pacifier.  He sleeps great (we've actually had an 11 hour night if you can believe that!--most are around 8 hour stretches) and he takes lots of micro-naps during the day (not like a 2 hour mommy nap, those days are long gone!)

Here's me and the munchkin out for a ride in the BabyBjorn.  Love that thing.

We took a great walk today at the museum park after we stopped in to see Daddy and the gang at the restaurant.  They've been seeing much more of me lately but they hadn't seen Lathan in a while.  I've been working at least 2 days a week in the office and more like 3 days lately with all the continuing budget stuff and the upcoming opening events.  It's been good to be back but, of course, it never seems like there are enough hours in the day.

Crunch sun and lamby.  I think this might be a day chillin' with Daddy.

We just celebrated our 11th Anniversary!  Wow!  I got Andy a bunch of cute photos of Lathan framed (see below) and he got me a Ukulele!!  I've always wanted one and now I can't wait to learn to play!  I've already taught myself "Twinkle Twinkle Little Star" so I'm on my way!  You guys need to check this guy out though...amazing.

These two pics were taken as part of Andy's anniversary present (our 11th on May 16th).  It was a series of photos of Lathan laying on many (not nearly all) of the letters & postcards that Andy sent to me while I lived in New York.  

So sweet.

Apparently Lathan really loves movie stars :)

Andy's been working out in the yard when he can.  He mostly just has to maintain what we've got and I'm sure he's dying to get the freakin' tomatoes in the ground!!  This year may be either a light veggie garden or possibly none at all.  You don't realize how much time it takes to do all that work until most of it goes towards growing a different specimen :)

Here's our beautiful clematis that I have to give Andy full credit for.  It's the best it's ever looked...still blooming like a fiend too.

We had a great 4 month checkup on the 22nd and everything seems to be going well.  We had tons of questions but they were all answered to our satisfaction.  We love our new doc--Dr. Lopez.  He's awesome with Lathan and spent a lot of time with us.  

Daddy and a budding NCSU fan!  Go pack!

Finally got our video camera hooked up to the computer (after having to upgrade and buy a new computer...ugh).  I'm going to try to upload a video but it's likely that it won't be edited at all.  Bear with me as I figure all that out.  Unfortunately I can't figure out how to get some of the first few videos off of there though and those are the ones I really want to see!  They're the videos of the first few days (even the first few hours!) of new baby Lathan.  It seems like a long time ago now--freaky how quickly time flies by now!

Last week went with Uncle B to see game 4 of the hockey semi-finals.  Too bad the Canes couldn't pull it out.  We had a great time catching up though.  AND--saw a cool iPod APP on the jumbotron...a COWBELL FOR YOUR IPHONE! Hilarious.  I must have that.

Lathan totally digs his Uncle "B" (Benton).  

He can't wait until he's big enough to get invited to a Hurricanes game too! :p

CAPTIONS ONLY! So Many Pictures!!

Lathan today outside with Zebe--Andy babysat and had him bundled up for some AM gardening!

Such a cute face and what awesome knits!  Lovely blankie from Fran and a killer toque from Marcie Schwartz!

Bundled up again...can't believe how cold it was yesterday afternoon!  

One more pensive shot.  It's as if he's staring right through you!

Let the drool flow.  That's been his mantra for the last couple of weeks.  Zebe and Lamby take the brunt of it (although Mommy's shoulder needs a frequent wringing out as well)!  Chew, chew, chew!

Coco got lucky during our Mother's day supper and was able to hold Lathan for some family viewing!  Most of the day he was a Mommy only kid (apropos considering it's Mother's day!)

Not a great shot of me but Lathan has a hysterical mug in this one.  It looks like I was testing out a baby toupee on him with my locks!

All the dads at our baby class cookout on Saturday.  These are 5 our of 8 from our childbirth class that we took pre-baby!  This was the first time Andy and I had seen the other parents and their babies.  It was awesome to see the resemblances and of course it was great to share stories!  

Only one little girl in the whole class...man, she has her pick!

The mommies!

The babies (in birth order).  Lathan's first on the left!

Chillin' on the back porch with Mooshu & Lathan.

Going on our daily garden walk.

Lathan's favorite activity with Daddy!  Apparently Andy got some guffaw's out of him today with this trick!  Flying baby! Usually when I do that I whistle the StarTrek theme song.  Yep, someday he'll know his parents are Trekkies and be like "what dorks!".

AWWWWW!  Check out this adorable baby bird that Andy found in the yard.  He hadn't yet learned to fly but he could talk...check out the open beak on this little one.  Andy's the critter whisperer.

I can't resist photographing a cute Lathan moment, even if it means shooting in a mirror.  He just looks so cute dangling from his Baby Bjorn.  Especially in his prison break-out suit :)

SPRING HAS SPRUNG!

Well, it's been an eventful two-ish weeks since the last post with lots of ups and a couple of downs. Lathan's growing by leaps and bounds and he just gets cuter and funnier every day.
We're all loving that it's spring so we've been out in the garden a bunch, out for walks and out to the Garden Supply Company for lots of supplies! Not only do they have great planties but they have a kitty (always a bonus) and a blue merle great dane (like Khan!).

It's beautiful out there and one of Lathan's new favorite places. Yesterday we went out with Coco and shopped for plants for her window boxes. It was a beautiful Saturday, lots of people out, and Lathan took a ride in our "Baby Bjorn". He loves Swedish design :)

Sadly, our big down was that a couple of weeks ago we lost our beloved kitty Skippy. He was getting up there (16 years old--if you figure in dog years that's 112!) but was still frisky. He frequently chased & swatted at his doggie counterpart MooShu and loved to lay in the sunshine. Anyway...we're terribly sad to see him go. He was the best cat Andy or I have every known. I'm not going to elaborate here since those that knew him have already heard the stories. Suffice it to say, he was dearly loved.


Well, to perk things back up a bit--we've been busy in the yard, Andy's been getting tomatoes ready to go in the ground (yep, we're a bit behind...a baby can slow things down a bit). Lots of other things are really popping out though. Andy loves what he calls his "old lady flowers"- or evening primrose and I'm loving our fancy Iris' They're purpliscious.

Work's been crazy with a couple of big events and budgeting (ugh!) so those are some other things that have been holding up the blogging. We're really starting to see the opening of the new building on the horizon so plans are heating up. It is less than a year away now! WOW. They're finally getting to placing the new "skin" on the building so it's looking more finished these days. Work on the "plaza", the link between the old & new buildings (or the east & west buildings as we're supposed to say!) has started as well. That's where the bulk of the opening events will take place. It really is going to be lovely when finished...especially all the new landscaping. Can't wait.

So, I'm really looking forward to my first Mother's day as a mom coming up next weekend. Sounds like we'll have a good group out to Coco & Poppy's house for some good eats! There are so many things to celebrate in May--Mother's Day, Dad's Birthday, Andy & my anniversary, Andy's mom's birthday (LouAnne), Fran's Birthday and...am I forgetting anything? Jeez. That's enough right there! I guess we won't have any graduations to deal with for a while (whew!)

It's a blast to see how Lathan's developing. He's getting really strong and can hold his head up really well these days. We do a lot of "pull up" and tummy time exercises that keep him on his toes. Speaking of toes, he really loves to stand and I'm sure he'll be running around the house in no time! He'll probably walk before he crawls, he just seems like that kind of kid. He's also really started chewing & drooling lately. It's pretty cute (and slimey). Here's one of the toys he most frequently slobbers on (Lamby). Thanks Suzie & Rene--he loves this guy.


We have a checkup with the pediatrician at the end of the month so I can't wait to hear what they say. It's always interesting to see what milestones they've met and which are coming up. I'm sure teething is fast approaching! He's sleeping great (and he's doing so right now). We usually get at least 8 hours out of him at a time at night...of course we (or should I say, I) only get about 5 of those at a time 'cause I gots ta gets my LOST and 24 in when I can! He's great though...8 hours, up for a short feeding and then 2-3 more hours. Then a couple hours up in the morning and another short nap. There's a lot to take in! It's so nice outside today we'll probably go out to the park for a walk.

Ok, I don't want to push my luck here so I'm signing out. Hopefully I can get out some more frequent updates this month!