Since Spring Break

We celebrated Allen's 6 month birthday last Friday! It was an extra special day because it was also my niece's, Alyssa, 8th birthday. We went to Chuck E Cheese and all had a great time! The last month has been super busy in the Baez world. I'm having to look at my calendar to remember what all we did. I have a note on March 23rd that Allen slept through the night... I can't even remember that because he has been sleeping like a newborn the past few weeks. We're going to work on that. Christian and I (especially Christian) have been taking Allen to bed with us sometime in the middle of the night. Christian thinks its a great solution, but I'm way too anxious to actually sleep when he is with us. I love to cuddle with him and would be happy to snuggle every morning, but we all have to sleep sometime before that. :) I have had lots of drill team events including spring show, share night, officer tryouts, middle school visits, and jv showoffs. They're always bittersweet because I love my drill teams but I hate leaving Allen, but, on the plus side, Christian has stepped in and learned how to put Allen to bed, feed him, and what to do with him in between. He is a good daddy! We hosted a shower/party for our nephew who is due May 12th; I'm excited that Allen will have a cousin his age. Two Baez boys can have lots of fun together! Allen celebrated his first Easter with a basket full of toys, books, socks, and sunglasses. We went to church, and he loved the music! He had always been asleep before so this was the first time he really experienced it. He got so excited he was jumping up and down and screeching; Christian had to take him in the hall for a bit. After Easter, I officially started the big change - this will be my last year as a drill team director/teacher and my first as a grad student in speech/language pathology. More on this later, but it was a very hard decision but one I think will be best for my family in the future. I told everyone at GHS and registered for summer classes and practicum at UTD. Allen had his first trip to the grocery store, resturant, drill team party, Alyssa and Kayla's softball games at the park, and has started eating food. He is a champion eater! From the first spoonful, he knew what to do. He had rice cereal for a week, oatmeal for a week, and this past week he got real food! First green peas, then acorn squash, and now butternut squash. He loves them all! I can't wait to feed him something I actually like! Pears and sweet potatoes are both coming up; we'll see if he likes them as much as I do. Last Tuesday, 20th, we had Allen's 6 month appointment with Dr. Rosen. We went with one of Allen's best friends, Cason, whose Mommy, Devon, takes care of Allen and their other friend, Braylon, during the days. Both boys are healthy and doing great! We are so thankful for God's blessing of a healthy baby! He is weighing in at 18lbs 14oz. (78%) and 28inches (94%). Enjoy some pictures of our super-cute baby:

Do you think I'm ready to start eating food?!?

5 months old & spring break

Today Allen is 5 months old! We had a great day! Since I'm on spring break, I got to spend the entire day with him, and it was wonderful. He is such a happy, sweet, lovable baby! I don't know how we're so lucky to have such an angel. This morning we had a super fun playdate with Parker (Kelly's son), Annabelle, Airyonna, and Suzy (Jocelyn's girls). Yesterday we had our first set of pictures taken and spent the afternoon at the Arboretum with the Inman family. Sunday was the first day that we went shopping with Allen. He got some new clothes and a cute hat. Since he was being so good, Christian and I decided to have lunch at Firewheel. We got some sandwiches and ate outside. The weather was beautiful. Allen fell asleep in my arms, and it might have been the best moment ever. We are loving every minute of spring break together; I'm very jealous of stay-at-home moms who get to do this all the time. Tomorrow we're meeting up with Ms. Devon and Cason for storytime at the Wylie library. According to our scale, Allen is weighing in at 18.5 lbs; I'm going to try and measure his length too. A few other things about Allen at 5 months:

- yesterday he started making a motorboat noise and did it all day today

- he really likes sitting up and tries to do it all the time (even in the bath)

- in new situations he becomes very contemplative

- his favorite toy is his glowworm

- he pratically posed while getting his pictures taken

- he's starting to be happy to see his friends (Cason and Braylon) in the mornings

- we have a game that cracks him up: he lays on my legs facing me and "kicks" my head back, when I bring it forward and smile at him, he laughs

- he loves to jump in his jumper

- he fake coughs when he doesn't like something

- during the middle of feeding, he stops, turns and looks at me, smiles, then goes back to eating

-he is wearing 9 month clothes

- he just starting sleeping in his crib in his room and is doing very well (mommy and daddy are sleeping in the guest room to be a bit closer) :)

- he loves other babies and kids

Enjoy some pictures of today's 5 month mark and other spring break fun:

Cute Things

Before I forget, I want to share a few cute things Allen is doing right now.

5. Reaching out to pet the animals the "touch and feel" books.

4. Smacking his lips to make funny noises.

3. Sitting up gorilla style

2. Pulling his upper body and head forward like he's trying to get up when we put him in his carseat, swing, or bouncer.

1. He hugged me!!! I realize that he might have just been trying to eat my shoulder, but it still felt like a hug. :)

Four Months Old

Allen was four months old on Tuesday. I keep hoping that time will slow down, but it certainly has not! We had his check-up on Tuesday, and the doctor says that he looks great. He is 16lbs 14ozs and 26 1/4 inches long. That means he's more than doubled his birth weight and grown 6 inches! That's a lot of growing in four short months. Can you image doing that? We talked about sleeping habits, but I am still not ready to move him out of our room and start sleep training. I'm away from him all day; I don't want to be away from him all night too! This may sound a bit crazy, but I kinda like getting up with him in the night. Well, I like it when it is one time and when we can get up, snuggle, nurse, and go right back to bed. I am trying to eliminate the 4am feeding and just have one. The doc says that Allen doesn't wake up from hunger but from habit. He may be hungry when he wakes up but that's not the culprit. He also told us that the next few months will be super fun because of all the things he will be learning and doing. He is already so fun with all of his smiling and laughing; I can't image it getting better. :) Of course, we took a ton of pictures. Ms. Devon even helped take some during the day and got a super cute one of Allen and Cason playing together. Brooke and Kenneth watched Allen on Thursday night while I went to a meeting, and Brooke caught Allen and Kylie (her 5 month old daughter) holding hands under the play mat. She was able to capture it and is going to send me the picture. I'll add it asap. Enjoy Christian Allen at 4 months old!

Exciting Day

Today is a very exciting day! For all of DFW, we are having snow like we've never had before. Beautiful, soft, white snow that fell all day. About 8 inches of it have coated everything. The kids at school were having a great time. Snowball fights, lifesize snowmen, and snow angels were seen everywhere. I wish that Allen was old enough to enjoy it! Our own exciting news is that Allen has teeth!! I thought I felt them through the gums this morning, and then this afternoon they had already broken through! The bottom two have made their appearance. It seems crazy that he can already have teeth, and it makes me a little sad. I don't want him to grow too fast! Because of the weather I get to spend all day with him tomorrow - yay! Maybe that will help me asorb his baby moments before they come and go too quickly. Here are some fun pics to document the snow and teeth. Smiles to all!

1st outing

Last Sunday, January 24th, was Allen's first public appearance. Until then he had only been to family's houses and to Ms. Devon's. We went to church. Allen was all dressed up in an outfit Uncle Uli gave him for Christmas. He looked adorable and like a little man! We got everything ready and headed out. Allen did great in the service until... he had a huge blow out poop! Ok, we could handle it, except - we forgot the diaper bag! Christian packed it, and I checked it before we left (even added a few more diapers). It was on the table just where we had left it. Our church, The Heights, is about 20 minutes from home, so we left immediately. I heard enough of the sermon to know that Pastor Gary was encouraging us to share the good news of Jesus Christ with others. I'll tell you this, after having a son, the fact that God allowed his to be sacrificed for us, has an entiredly new significance. I can't imagine doing that even if it would save the world for the rest of eternity. This is major! God loves us more than I love Allen and that is amazing. If you haven't already, think about this. It is crazy good news. Here's Allen in his Sunday best and just at home being cute: