First words...

Rory said what I am considering his first words this morning. I know that first words are often debatable, but it seemed pretty clear to me that he knew exactly what he was saying and about what he was talking. I got him from his crib in the morning, which is the cutest thing in the world these days because he stands up in there and pokes his little hands through the slats and sticks his nose through with a huge, goofy smile on his face when you walk into the room. As I picked him up, he looked right over at his bookshelf, pointed to the books and said "ookgh". He makes his "k" sound very harshly, almost like he's clearing his throat but it was really pretty clear that he knew those were his books and I think he missed them. He was excited to see them. We had been away for the last 3 days and it was late when we came upstairs to bed, so he hadn't seen them yet. I said, "Yes...those are your books. Did you miss them?", and of course, he just smiled and waved at me.

Then, we walked into our bedroom and Cooper, who Rory also had not seen in several days, was laying on his bed sleeping. Rory looked right at him, pointed and said "gog". He clearly was saying that he missed his dog and was excited to see Coops. He has sort of been saying dog a bit the past week or so, but we're never quite sure he is actually talking about the dog when he says it, but this time was very clear.

So, soon our very advanced boy will be making speeches from the top of the toybox and you'll all be able to hear him talk. For now, you'll just have to take our word for it. :)

All I want for this week is my 2 front teeth...

Rory got his 2 front teeth yesterday. After several days of the occasional cranky monster coming out, those 2 front top teeth finally popped through. He had a really hard time with these ones. They kept barely breaking the surface and then his gums would swell and they would disappear again. So sad. Now we have our happy guy back full time. His new trick is imitating our friend Jack's "funny face". We spent the weekend camping with them last week and I think he picked it up then. Its super cute.
He doesn't hold his mouth open long enough to catch a photo of the new teeth, but at least his new smile is goofy and amusing.

Poor Cooper...

Coops doesn't know what to do now that Rory is fast enough crawling around to catch him. He tends to just move away when Rory comes too close, but this time he was too tired out from his exciting weekend with Diane to even bother. I think he was hoping Rory would just get bored and leave him alone. Poor Cooper...

Bye bye pump...

I stopped pumping last week. Until this point, I had been pumping 2-3 times a day to make enough breastmilk for Rory to have during his days at daycare and then I would nurse him in the mornings, before bed and on weekends. For the past several months I haven't actually been able to get enough milk out during the day to keep up with what he was drinking at school, so I have had to also pump before I went to bed every night, even on weekends. So, although I thought I would be so excited to put the pump away, I have to say I'm a little sad about the whole thing. He will now get organic formula while at daycare and I'll still nurse him in the mornings, at night and on weekends. I think the sad part for me is just thinking about the fact that our nursing relationship may soon be coming to an end. I always knew that I wanted to breastfeed because its better for the baby, but I had no idea how soothing it would be for me. Its one of my favorite parts of the day when he snuggles into bed with me in the morning and nurses or when I have him in my lap at bedtime and he looks up into my eyes with a look that clearly expresses how content he is to be in my arms and getting some milk. It is the closest physical connection you'll ever have with your child and I am going to miss it when its gone. Its also a nice fallback to know that no matter how upset he is, that's the one thing that can almost always calm him down. I realize that just because I'm not pumping, doesn't mean that he can't nurse for many more months, but I still get sad thinking about the end. At least I know how much he loves his solid food, so we can trust that he's always going to get the nutrition he needs.

Despite the sadness around making less milk, I am SO happy to not have to try to find an extra hour of time at work to go pump and to not be lugging that bag around with me and to not have to stay up later than I want to at night just to pump and then put the milk in bags and freeze it, and then wash out all the parts and set them out to dry, and then get up in the morning and have to put all the parts back into the bag and remember to bring it with me to work, and to not feel guilty on nights when I just don't have it in me to pump. WHEW!!!! I am glad that's done with. :)

So, after a weekend away camping last weekend, we have another big weekend planned. We're heading to NYC to see a WNBA game and visit with Gramma and Jim, and Mike, Lisa and Jack. Rory is very excited to show Jack his new skills...and we are very excited to see everyone and to finally see a WNBA game. We've been talking about doing this for 3 years now. In preparation of our trip, we got on our NYC outfits for a family photo.

Camping Weekend at Rain Mt.

So, we took Rory on his first camping trip this weekend. He loved it!! He got to sleep in a tent with his moms and hang out by the campfire and play in the best kiddie pool on top of a mountain and have fun with his friends Ryan and Jack. Its so much fun to see how our annual camping trip has evolved to include and now revolve around the kids. Here's some of the highlight photos.

The boys of course fell asleep just before we remembered to take a group photo.
Rory hung out on my back while we set up the tent the first night and then while we played games throughout the weekend. He loves to be involved.

Sunset view of the tee-pee Heather's Dad set up for the kids.
His first time in a kiddie pool. I'm not so sure he enjoyed it as much as Ryan and Jack did. He didn't last very long. He had a very funny response of getting really upset every time Ryan went down the slide in it.
Hanging out by the campfire.
He LOVED riding in the wagon.Still loving it.
Very focused on his pinecone toy.
Despite how the photo may look, Jack is actually sharing his shovel with Rory, not making him cry with it. :)
Roaring Rory...just like the monsters in his hands.

9 Months Old...WHAT?!!

So, our little man turned 9 months old today. I still can't believe it. They always say that time goes by so fast with kids getting older, but who knew it would be this quick. I still have yet to post any photos of our Memorial Day weekend. We went to the Maine Wildlife Park with some friends who have a son a few months older than Rory and the boys had a great time. We posed as a bear and saw all the raptors and big cats and moose and bears. I think Rory is more of a people watcher than an animal watcher, but he did have fun.

And, we managed to get out on Monday for a little hike up Pleasant Mountain. Perfect weather but a bit buggy at the top. We still stayed and had a picnic, and now I feel like a horrible mom because he's got a black fly bite on his neck. So sad to see, although he seems to not even notice it. My bites are driving me nuts so I guess maybe babies don't have the same mental reaction to bug bites as we do as adults. Or maybe he just isn't coordinated enough to scratch at it so he gave up thinking about it. Either way I feel horrible that he got bit, but what are we going to do?! We have his first camping trip coming up June 11th, so we'll get some better bug repellant for that. I can't wait until he sees the tent and the campfire. He's going to love it.

Checking out the animals with Mama B.

Trying to jump out of my arms. I think he wanted the camera.

Roarrrrrr!!! We tried to tell him it would be more intimidating if he took his tiny hands out of the frame, but he wanted to hold on.

A mini hike in Falmouth on Sunday. He loves riding in the Ergo. I love that he holds on to the straps. Super cute.

Family portrait.

Sharing his apple with Cooper at the top of Pleasant Mountain. Cooper LOVES that Rory likes to "share" with him. He's finally seeing the benefits of having this loud little thing around that steals all of his attention from us.

At the top airing out the sweaty man. He sweats like a Pigeon in that backpack carrier.

Tired guy!!!