6 Month Photos

We took Perryn for pictures last Monday and this time we decided to go all out and do family photos. I had fun shopping for coordinating outfits. :-)

This is *my* favorite:

Here's the one of Perryn and me:

You can click on either of the photos to take you to all of the others.

Sitting Up

Here's some video of Perryn sitting up and playing with his puppy rattle.

Picture of the Day

Just a cute photo

Go Patriots

We did a little photo shoot this weekend of Perryn in the outfit that Pepere brought for him. I think this was the best photo of many attempts. :-)

Sitting Up

Perryn is in the process of learning to sit up unassisted. He's getting pretty good at it. This is a photo from the first time that he sat on his own for several minutes at one time. Usually he topples over pretty quickly.

Watching TV

One of the things that surprises me about babies is that a 6 month old can be soooo interested in the TV. It actually started much earlier than 6 months, although I don't recall exactly when. In this photo he's on the play area in the living room which happens to be under the TV. He's trying to lean back far enough to see the TV.

A Trip to the Zoo

Pepere (Gary's dad) visited this weekend and we were lucky enough to have a beautiful day on Sunday, so we decided to take Perryn to the zoo. We really got lucky because Hurricane Ike passed through the area on Saturday and it rained in the afternoon and evening. We originally expected to get rain all weekend, but it came in later than expected and cleared up earlier.

I can say that Perryn enjoyed the zoo, in that it was a nice day to be out and walk around, etc. However, I can't say for sure whether he actually noticed *any* of the animals. It was still fun and we got some nice photos of the experience. Here's a couple shots:

How many monkeys do you see?



Family Photo:



Cute place to pose:

House Photos

I finally took photos of the house now that we've moved in and gotten settled. The only things missing are the exterior and the study. The study is still full of boxes and temporary furniture. :-)

Here's a link

Picture of the Day

Hello, Foot

Perryn has recently discovered his feet. He'll often grab one or both of them and yes, even suck on his toes.

Good Morning

This is a typical "I'm so happy to see you" look that we get when we go get Perryn up in the morning. It just makes my heart melt. :-)

Labor Day

Roberta came over for Labor Day and Gary grilled up some goodies for us. This was the first time Roberta has gotten to swim in the pool. Here's a pic of her with Perryn.

Teething

Perryn has been putting everything he grabs in his month since he figured out how to do so. In this picture he's playing with a rattle by exploring it with his mouth.



I think he might be starting to teethe though because lately he starts crying when he's doing this. I suspect the hard plastic is actually hurting his sore gums. I took this toy away after this photo and gave him something softer to chew on. Of course, he didn't really appreciate my taking it away either, but he quickly forgot about it.

Picture of the Day

Just a cute picture in the bumbo seat.

5 Month Photos

Here's my favorite photo from Perryn's 5 month photo session, which was on Monday.

(This is a low resolution photo that I got from their website, so probably not printable).

Picture of the Day

Here's a picture of Perryn from the other morning. He had just woken up and this is a pretty typical morning expression. He looks really alert, huh? LOL. I think he's going to take after mommy and not be much of a morning person.

This is an outfit that Pepere gave him.

After a Swim

I thought this was a cute expression. He's sitting on my lap after a swim and yes... he's wrapped in *my* towel. We don't normally give him a pink towel. :-)

Let's go boating

We tried out Perryn's little floating boat last weekend. He seemed to enjoy it. I had to hold on to him since he can't quite sit up on his own and it's pretty wide open, but I think it was something fun for him to do in the water.

Picture of the Day

Here's Perryn going for a walk in his carrier in an awake state. :-)

Sleep walking

The thing we've come to understand about babies is that they're all about timing. Take a typical night, for example. If we nail the timing, then we're rewarded with a quiet, relaxing evening. If we blow it, then we're facing several trips back and forth to the nursery, trying to coax a none-too-cooperative infant off to sleep.

We like to start Perryn's nightly ritual at 7:30 or so. We give him a bath, or maybe just change his diaper, and dress him in a fresh pair of pajamas. Then we feed him some cereal and finish that off with a bottle. If all goes well, he's comfy and content and drifting off to sleep by the end of the bottle. We put him down at 8:30 and get the rest of the evening to relax or get other stuff done.

Our nightly ritual

Bath	+ PJs	+ Bottle	= Sleeping baby

Of course, it's not as simple as it sounds. For one thing, the successful execution of the nightly ritual requires proper setup in the afternoon. If we haven't allowed enough time between his previous bottle, then he may not be hungry for dinner. Or, if he naps too late in the afternoon, then he might not be sleepy at bedtime.

And so it was that Rachelle and I found ourselves the other night: we had just finished eating. It was still only 6:45, so we had about forty-five minutes to kill before starting our routine. We decided to take a walk around the neighborhood. The only complication is that Perryn almost always falls asleep in his stroller, and it was way too close to bedtime for him to be napping.

No problem, we thought, we'll break out the baby carrier. We'd tried it a couple of times before, but Perryn wasn't quite big enough to fit in it comfortably (faithful readers may recall a previous post on the subject). We reasoned that he'd be far less likely to fall asleep in the carrier than he otherwise would in the stroller.

Well ... guess what? It turns out that babies can sleep, like, anywhere.

Perryn really took to the carrier. He didn't fuss a bit as we walked the neighborhood. I think he enjoyed watching all the scenery for a change. But after about twenty minutes, the soothing motion of the carrier got the better of him and he was out. We carried his limp little body back home and had to wake him up so that we could change him, and feed him, and put him to bed.

Perryn falls asleep in his baby carrier

And how did we fare later that evening? Well, as I recall, he was a little less patient than usual when eating his cereal. And he was a little fussier when we put him to bed. But Rachelle and I did get one more fond memory that we get to keep along with the others. And I think it was worth it.