Thank you, Noni for a wonderful visit!

My mother came out for the 4th of July. It was a lot of fun to have her here. It was also fun for her to see Westin again and get his hugs. He has changed so much since her last visit! The most significant probably is that he didn't cry nearly as much :). Okay, so he is teething, but at least there is room for happy baby in between the discomfort. She got to see some firsts along with us...Westin has started to babble in hard consonants. In fact, Dalen swears that he said 'Dada' on the 4th of July. Mom and I heard it; I am not going to tell you that he was wrong. However, Westin needs some help with context. He was cooing at his toucan in his exersaucer at the time. (Sorry, Sweets...just sayin'). Sweet potatoes have been deemed edible with the addition of apricots..who knew? Now all I have to do is add the sweet potato/apricot combo to just about anything (okay, maybe not peas) and it gets scarfed down. Of course, West has also learned how to feed Copper--who now relishes in having this little person in our midst. Suddenly, West serves a purpose and all is right with Copper's world again. Copper got lots of love from Noni too (mainly after West went to bed). It was great to have Mom here. She even helped me pull the house from chaos when we only had a 2 hour notice for a showing. Thanks, Mom!

Now I know some of you (Aunt Shannon) are seriously bummed that I have not blogged lately. How are you supposed to keep up with this......or this....(Um, yeah, that is totally my son riding CopperDog. Can you say Parents of the Year?)

if I don't just blog already?? As a disclaimer, trying to sell a house, close on another house, finish (ha ha ha) things up at work, and hold down the fort while Dalen is crazy busy with trips (Yay!) kind of wipes a girl out. I know, no excuses! I will do my best, despite all of the stress and craziness, to at the very least post pictures like this: (Even though I am sure that there was a much easier way to get home from the Farmer's Market, but at least now you know the B.O.B is amazing for so many reasons.)

7 Month Old Baby Boy!

Today West turns 7 months. Pardon the squinty eyes, but he has had green gloopy eyes for the past couple of days. They are clearing up-mainly because I made a doctor's appointment. Fear of ear infections-fakes us out every time!

Dalen and I feel like he is doing new things every week! This age is truly fun. Bath time is play time, and no longer just the prelude to bed time (although it always helps with the going to bed process--and it is still a process). He is getting really daring in his lunges forward. He can grab things and pass them from hand to hand (his hands are still some of the coolest things that he has ever seen). He hugs before being put down for night-night. He loves squash, and pretty much exclusively eats that...we are trying to broaden his epicurean horizons (ie. Dalen's magical avocados + bananas). He also has started to figure out that Copper loves cleaning up after he throws something on the floor. West also loves it when Copper licks his hands as he is eating squash. I tried to get a picture, but my hands were also covered in squash...and only managed to get this West loves his CopperDog. Stay tuned...more exciting things to come!

Daddy's are Awesome!

Dalen's first Father's Day was really fun. We went to brunch at the Moose, a restaurant that is about 30 minutes south of Hamilton and well worth the drive. We all had Bloody Mary's.....just kidding, really, one of us had a Mimosa :). Westin was sporting his Ralph Lauren to show Dada how much he thought of the day. The outfit was a very nice gift from some of Dalen's clients (they live in Chicago, and have access to the Magical Magnificent Mile). Thankfully, it fits him before he can run into mud and ruin it in a second. And it is not a Montana Father's Day without taking a picture in front of some stuffed animals..and not Westin's friends that sing little songs to him. It is quite the action scene with the mountain lion and the wolf fighting over the slain deer. Ah, the circle of life...Westin is really lucky to have Dalen as a Dad. Dalen is kind and creative and very patient. He makes up fun songs and mixes bananas and avocados to make them yummy and nutritious. Westin gave Dalen a travel mug with his picture on it, and "signed" a card. It was pretty neat to celebrate Dalen as a dad. He rocks!Of course magnificent Father's Day turned into napless Sunday, followed by sleepless Sunday night. Here is a picture of how it should have gone........pretty cute, when he is sleeping right? Man, we could have used a little more cute last night! Sweet dreams, everybody!

Monkey's First Big Boy Bath

In a bold move this evening, we tried a bath in the real tub. Bold in the sense that West and I were unsupervised--Dalen was still out on the river. West had a blast! He played with his duckie and cool bath toy (Thank you Grandma Moore :)).He loves to splash the water, and didn't topple over once. He doesn't really like water poured over his head. But the end result is clean! Let the bath time games begin.

Bean's first camping trip....

well almost. Dalen and I seriously debated it. The weather is perfect (no rain) and there are not too many bugs out yet; however, we all did not get alot of sleep last night due to issues of the tooth-full kind AND it was going to get a little chilly. But that didn't stop us from taking a drive south to Spring Gulch campground on the East Fork of the Bitterroot and enjoying a lovely late afternoon/early evening in the great outdoors. We cooked up some hamburgers over a campfire and everything.Westin got to play.CopperDog got to play.Dadda got to play.Mama got to relax.Copper got some happy news this week. Poor CopperBear has been suffering from some bum discomfort, that we originally thought was caused by worms or something equally simple. We were sadly mistaken. 4 weeks later and two courses of antibiotics, the bum problem was still around. We had to get a biopsy. The biopsy came back and it isn't cancer or autoimmune...just inflammation. Dr. Joe (excellent veterinarian) said that it might be a recurring problem, but nothing that steroids can't handle. Yay!

In other news, Westin is surviving his first bout of diaper rash. Yes, we took him to the doctor (hey, keep that snickering down), because in our minds it was a raging, festering bum rash that could not possibly be normal diaper rash. Turns out (shockingly) it was not that bad. We did get some 'Happy Hinnie' cream from the pharmacist and some yeast powder-stuff. West is making a miraculous recovery (and so are his parents).

Mama, I can do it myself.....

And thank you very much. Westin is starting to show a very independent streak (Incidentally, I have NO idea where he gets this trait from). Saturday morning, he really was not interested in me feeding him his bottle..clearly, he has it under control.It was a gorgeous day on Saturday! One of those June days which makes you just fall in love with Montana all over again!! So how did we spend our morning? At the Farmer's Market of course!We are trying to give Westin a sippy cup, mainly because of his 'do-it-himself' skills. He is not into what is inside the sippy cup as much as he loves to chew on the top, side, bottom...you get the idea. He makes a face everytime he gets some watered-down apple juice, or even just plain water in his mouth. If it isn't liquid gold or formula, he could care less. Also, the ricey poof experiment continues. CopperBear ends up with about 90% of all poofs put on Westin's tray. Westin likes the crunch, when he finally gets it in his mouth and, CopperDog likes the clean up. Happy, happy.
Oh for those keeping up with new teeth, after a very sleepless night last night, tooth #6 has broken the gum line. Which brings us to 4 upper teeth and 2 bottom teeth, and 1 Mama who is not feeling so guilty about weening her precious little baby.

A special thanks to Dalen who took on extra responsibility this weekend so that I could work on my grant. Shouldn't the entire month of June be all about awesome Dads?!!

Where ya been?

Well, we have been right here. It has been busy. I am trying to work on a grant that really needed to be drafted last week. There is a new format and blah, blah, blah, blah. Also trying to finish up a paper. I have no idea why I always think that this paper will be easier....because I have yet to have an easy paper. Of course, I will never again use the metaphor that writing and publishing a paper is the same as childbirth......for multiple happy reasons. :)
Westin got a super cute sunhat from Noni. I bet she also didn't know how yummy her cards were...homemade and super fresh! Thank you, Noni! Grandpa and Grandma Moore came back through after their wonderful Alaskan cruise (Sadly, I did not document this visit and completely spaced nabbing pictures from Grandma Moore's camera, because of the aforementioned grant..where in the heck are my priorities???). They looked mighty refreshed and brought back many cute things for Westin..they will be appearing here soon. Grandpa Moore wore CopperDog out with some excellent walks..somehow, Copper walks best when Grandpa Moore is wheeling him around the block. Dalen and I are trying not to be jealous. Also, Dalen and I got a rare date night..which was really lovely. Grandma and Grandpa Moore took such loving care of poor little Westin-date night fell on vaccine night (see below). Grandpops sent a new book-Walter, the farting dog. It has been an instant hit!

Westin went to the doctor this week for the 6 month check-up and vaccines. We are fans of vaccines-they will keep Westin healthy and contribute to the general health of the population. (Hey, California with your rising incidences of whooping cough-which was nearly eradicated with the use of vaccines-I am most definitely wagging my finger and shaking my head at YOU!)
Westin weighed in at 17 lbs and 8 oz and he is 26 inches long. Grandma Moore got to go along and meet our wonderful doctor. This was very special to me, and I was very glad that she could go with Dalen. Peek-a-boo is always a wonderful distraction from prickly needles! Dr. Courchesne thinks that Westin is ahead of the game motor skills-wise and could be walking by 9 months. Yeah, okay if you just had a double take, so did I when Dalen reported the news. I guess sitting up is just the gateway activity to so many other things, and while my darling baby boy is really very talented, I will not be disappointed if he waits a little longer than 9 months to walk. Oh-did I mention that he has two more teeth coming in???...Yes, for those of you counting, that would bring the grand total of teeth to 5; 2 on the bottom and 3 on top. I suspect he has another tooth ready in the wings..he seems to be getting his teeth in two's. Needless to say, we are in the process of weening. I have moments when it is really sad....until he bites me and then I have the epiphany that formula really is not the devil and just because I am working towards not breastfeeding anymore, my child will (somehow) still feel loved and thrive.We started ricey poofs tonight! West decided that they were great for launching (an aspect CopperDog also appreciates), but also pretty fun to crunch and even eat...kind of like squash, but crunchier.