Remember when...

Remember when I was a few days old and could barely fit in my baby bjorn carrier?

Look at me now in my new fancy backpack carrier!

I really love my long evening walk with Daddy! (He is looking up at a C-5 airplane)
This new backpack can carry a baby up to 40 pounds and is much easier on Daddy's body than the front loading carrier. It also doubles as a backpack/diaper bag should we walk or hike somewhere other than our neighborhood.

Maryland Pictures

There are a ton of pictures from my first vacation (and a video to come), but here are some highlights. I will upload all of September pictures this Saturday.

Gram made me a winter cap and overalls
Forming a baby triangle

Ben chilling in the exerscaucer

Nikki & me showing off our ability to do push ups

Me looking especially dapper in my overalls.

Forming a baby line

Riding the biggest dog I have ever seen.

Joe &Ben, Deb & Nikki, Ali Dan & me, plus 3 of the dogs.

Gator game

We watched the gator game in a bar in Washington DC after Joe's rugby
match. We also got to meet a friend of ours, and fellow gator, Toni
that day. Fun times all around.

Nikki & Dexter

Me & Nikki hanging out...

Ben & Dexter

Me and Ben chillin at Gram's house

Photo test

Photo and text posted from my iPhone. Test successful.
Isn't Heather's new house and kid play room awesome!

sdrawkcaB

I like to go backwards.

I also like to play "crawl under the coffee table as fast as I can" when Mommy or Daddy go into the kitchen for something! I am good at it.

Sweet Potato a messy success

Spoon or my fingers, doesn't matter to me - just give me more yummy sweet potato! Eating for the first time was a little messy, but I enjoyed it. I have only sucked milk before this so learning to swallow is tricky! What I came up with is sucking on my thumb in between spoonfuls so I could suck/swallow down my food.

For anyone who wants a cool website for making your own food : wholesomebabyfood.com is great and full of information.

PhD Defense

Today at 1330 Dan has his PhD defense. Photo and more information tonight assuming everything goes well! Dan should have a week or so of paperwork and running around after his committee approves his thesis and then its Dr. Dan or Dr. Captain Dan to you!

I hope his presentation and defense goes really well, I would tell you what it is about....but I dont really know :) I will go on a limb and say its about computers and how the Air Force uses them.

Update: The defense went very well. Dan has one data point that he has repeat simulations on and then submit that to his committee. He should have that done and then some random paperwork done over the next 2 weeks and then it will be official. The title of his thesis is: "Large-Scale Distributed Coalition Formation" I have asked him repeatedly what that means and he wont tell me, but if you want to read his 150+ page thesis you can try to figure it out. And sorry no photo of Dan all dressed up in his service dress uniform because he conveniently forgot to ask one of his friends to take a picture of him and I was at work.

"Crawling" Video

Dexter doesn't crawl forward, but he is trying. The net effect however is him going backwards. He scooted himself under the coffee table very nicely this morning in fact.

Dex has taken over the freezer

Half the freezer is now frozen breast milk or frozen pureed vegetables! I am not a cook at all but I wanted to try my hand at making my own pureed baby food. I have to say it was super easy. I baked 3 sweet potatoes yesterday (one went to Dan), scooped out the middle tossed it in the blender with several ounces of breast milk to thin it out and that was it! Avocado was even easier, no need to cook just mush it up. I have these little 2oz Tupperware containers to store them in. When he is ready to eat I just warm one up and go. Apparently they are good for 2 months in the freezer. It took about 10minutes to make both and now he has food for a while. I am starting him on sweet potato as his first food, skipping cereal for now. After sweet potato we will tackle avocado and then banana. You can tell I am a first time mom since feeding him excites me, its going to be a super mess...

My backyard playground

Everyday when I go on walks I see kids playing on the playground in my backyard. Finally I got to play on it a little myself.

This is a house, just my size.
Here is some sandbox digging thing. (note Bosley in the back)
Bosley looked lonely so mommy had me give him a hug.I am not big enough yet to use the slides or monkeybars or swings, but someday!

Cancer Remission Update

Just wanted everyone to know that last week Dan had his testicular cancer remission check. All his blood work and CT-Scans came back great. Cancer is still in remission, no changes on the CT-Scan and not another check until January 2010 (doesn't 2010 seem years away?!) Thanks to everyone for their continued thoughts about Dan and our family!

Spoons

Mommy keeps telling me I will get to eat something called a sweet potato soon. Apparently Daddy loves them and its going to be my first food I get to eat. I think I need to get ready for this event by learning how to use a spoon. Also did you know my bumbo chair comes with a little tray! I have been using it to hold toys until now but later food will be there! Until this food thing happens, I will just stick with my thumb and my toys.

My new ride

I got a new stroller. Its red and its awesome. Now I can go out and about without taking up the entire trunk space with my stroller that my car seat locks into.

Activity Gym

Mommy altered my activity mat, it's now my activity cave!

It's fun to play in...

...or sleep in

Good Morning

I like to start my mornings doing stretching & rolling practice with the dogs.

Working on sitting up

Here is a couple minute video of my latest challenge - sitting up without help. I am an expert sitter when I am in my bumbo chair, but I figured I cant take my chair everywhere and might want to sit up without it. Plus there is this super cool baby that sits across from me when I practice which makes it lots of fun.

mommy

I love my mommy. That's all the news for today.

Mmmm, Chicken

Kristin, Duncan, Dexter & Jon at Chick-fil-a.

It was free chicken sandwich day if you were wearing a team shirt. The clan McCall was representing Michigan State and the clan Karrels supported Florida.

I also spent the day at IKEA. wow, what a fun but overwhelming store. Mommy & Daddy bought a ton of furniture - 2 office bookcases, a bedroom set with headboard, footboard, 2 end tables, 2 dressers and a bookcase for my room complete with colorful boxes to put some of my toys in.

Super fun day but boy am I overstimulated. I should sleep good tonight!

Mmmm, Milk

I really like to hold my own bottle. It's tricky to hold on and drink at the same time, but I sure like to try. I am constantly pushing people's hands out of the way so I can do it myself. I guess in a few more weeks they are going to let me try real food instead of only breast milk. I will let you know how that goes, until then I am enjoying mommy's milk :)

Also today is my grandparent's 40th wedding anniversary, so just wanted to say congratulations to them!

4 month update!

Weight = 15 lbs 11 oz. Length = 25 in

Skills I have mastered:
Rolling over back to front or front to back is easy for me now. Although I still prefer mainly to roll on my side and stay there. If I roll onto my belly I can pull my arm out that was trapped under my body now.
I can babble lots of different baby noises but don't think I will be saying any words for a while yet.

Stuff I am working on:
Holding onto items. I can grab things like my pacifier or toys but its hard for me to hold on to them. So I drop them and then cry because I lost my item!
Sleeping through the night - I still sleep from about 8:30-9pm until 4-5am. Not to bad I think but for some reason mommy and daddy want me to sleep a bit longer.

Likes:
Going for walks is still my favorite. I get to meet lots of other kids & dogs on my daily walks.
I like to be read to, I currently LOVE "Where the wild things are" I crack up laughing every time mom reads it. Perhaps she will record me laughing at it soon.
I like to stand up, in fact I have an exersaucer toy now that lets me stand up and play which is a lot of fun.
I like to talk on Skype, I now get to talk to both my grandparents once a week which is fun! And a couple days ago I talked with Aunt Debbie and her twin babies on Skype!

Dislikes:
I don't like it if there is no one in the room to look at. If mommy or daddy get out of my line of sight I cry.
I don't like waiting too long for food (what baby would!) and I can get fussy for a few minutes while I am fighting the urge to nap.

Its been a great month, the next month should be just as exciting including a trip to Maryland to meet my Gram and Aunt Debbie's family, seeing my Uncle Joe play rugby, watching lots of Gator Football and helping my Aunt Heather move into a new house. I am going to be busy!

First Moto

I dont think I am big enough yet for a motorcycle. That wont stop me from trying it out though!

Today I had my 4month checkup and I am 15 pounds 11 oz and 25 inches long so not much longer until I am zooming down the roads!

My first tutorial

I felt like making a "how-to" video for all my friends and cousins out there. I am really an expert in this area. Hope you enjoy!
Love,
Dex