Christmas Eve

Here's CJ waiting for dad to get ready to leave for Grandma's house for Christmas Eve dinner. He can't wait to open this big present tomorrow!


CJ is fascinated by the ball ornaments.



At Grandma's house, CJ got ahold of this Christmas present early!


He loves to climb...


And the ornaments again...


Don't let the pajamas fool you. CJ is going to be a party animal. He was up at Grandma's the whole night before crashing when we got home at 11:30. More pictures from the evening on Shutterfly.

CJ Meets Santa

Merry Christmas! CJ met Santa today.

He got a nice scrape on his forehead when he decided to slam his head against his crib at daycare yesterday just in time for this photo! Mom tried to cover it up with make-up but it didn't quite work...


Browsing Pottery Barn Kids while waiting for Santa to arrive at the MarketFair mall.


And a couple other miscellaneous holiday photos:

First Steps

Finally captured on video - CJ taking some of his first steps on his own!

First Thanksgiving!

CJ's first Thanksgiving (and why he may never be invited back to California)...

Our trip to California started on Wednesday morning. CJ got sick in the car on the way to the airport and then got sick several more times on the plane. He was still happy and fine otherwise, so we wondered if it was just due to the travel. However, by 7pm Thanksgiving day, mom was sick, then his aunt Kara, then Dad, then CJ's step-grandfather...and within the next 24-48 hours mom's 3 cousins, other sister, and grandmother were also sick! 10 of the 14 people got sick in total. This was a violent and extremely contagious stomach bug that CJ brought for Thanksgiving :(

Actually, we had Thanks-Christmas this year. We celebrated both Thanksgiving and Christmas since we won't be out for Christmas in December. Here are some pictures of CJ opening his presents, all the while seeming totally fine and happy.

Here's CJ with the Thanks-Christmas Santa.

At his great grandmother Tutu's house, CJ loved chasing Dahlia around.

And learning to play the ukulele.

Back at grandma's house, CJ had lots of fun with his aunts and great cousins.

The only picture we got with his new baby Uggs on!

More pictures from the weekend are posted here.

9-Month Milestones & Pictures

CJ had his 9-month well baby visit with the pediatrician on November 23rd, the day before our trip to California for Thanksgiving.

CJ weighed 18 lbs, 9 oz - still in the 10-25% range for weight. He's now 29.5" long (75-90%) and his head circumference is in the 90-95 percentile. The doctor said he was healthy and happy! CJ had one shot, the Polio vaccine, during this visit, and had to have his finger pricked for lead and iron testing.

CJ's big accomplishments this month were walking with his push to stand learning walker toy and standing while letting go of the furniture for a few seconds at a time. He also learned how to play peak-a-boo and loves this! He likes hiding behind his blanket, waiting for us to say "where's CJ" and then throwing the blanket from his face.

CJ's Walking (with a little help)

CJ just started walking using his toy push walker thing. He's done this before when mom puts him in position, but yesterday was the first day he crawled over to this toy himself, pulled himself up, and he was off. He did a couple loops around the house. Mom had to straighten him out when he hit a wall or got distracted by a cheerio on the floor...

Happy Halloween!

CJ was a monkey for his first Halloween. We went trick or treating at grandma and grandpa's houses and at our next door neighbor's.

Pretty view down the street of our house on Halloween day:


All dressed up and ready to go!








Two monkeys!