Thursday, July 28, 2011

Damien Is A Ham

Little D is such a sweetheart and quite a smiley little dude. He loves to laugh, giggle, smile. He is so much fun. Lately he's been really exercising his evil laugh, this evil sounding cackle that is hilarious. He is so amused with himself when he does it. He's been going to day care every now and then when one of his regular caretakers can't and they always comment on how happy and sweet he is. Yes, he does cry, and he does fuss. But, Momma tends to only break out the camera when he is in a good mood (it just feels wrong to take his picture when he is crying). Here are some of the latest great D shots.


Well rested after a nice 11 hour sleep, and happy to be reunited with his toys again.


This is yummy.

I love playing in my room.

Mommy, you are soooo silly.


I don't know what this silly thing is, but I will smile if it makes you happy.


Wanna play ball?


I love cups!

Aren't I the cutest thing?

Tuesday, July 26, 2011

Damien Celebrates Cousin Mariano's 1st Birthday

Cousin Mariano had so much fun at Damien's 4th of July party, he wanted to come back to celebrate his first birthday. Damien was happy to host. He loves guests and parties - a true Craig. It was a nice small little gathering. The weather wasn't as hot as it could have been but still nice. Damien had a good time playing with cousin Mariano. But, he was his usual brutish self, taking Mariano's toys whenever he could. Luckily, Mariano is a sweet and easy going guy who didn't mind sharing - even his new birthday toys! Damien is lucky to have such a great cousin. Here's to many more birthdays together.


Did someone say party? I got my party clothes on.


The birthday boy and his momma.


Damien delights at taking toys.


The birthday boy gets his birthday ice cream sandwich.


Which he LOVED!


Damien watched with glee & loved playing with the balloon.


Mathias with his nephew.


Damien manages to hoard all the accessories for Mariano's new workbench.


The boys love, love, love to play with balls. Boys will be boys I guess.

Sunday, July 17, 2011

Damien Gets Slightly More Mobile

Well, 9 months and no crawling. D still really does not like to be on his stomach, unless he is sleeping! But, he's getting slightly more mobile. He can scoot around in circles to get toys, and he can lunge forward and reach pretty far. Occasionally, he'll end up on his hands and knees and then his stomach - but at this point it is more a surprise accident than calculated attempt to get on his stomach. He'll usually give it a second or two to reach what he is trying to pursue before starting to cry and beg for someone to rescue him. You can tell he'd like to be more mobile. He's just not sure how to get those hands and feet moving. He also likes to stand a lot, and can stand holding on to something unassisted for a little bit. Although he will torpedo himself backward, stiff as a board nonetheless. When he is in his jumperoo now he likes to run and kick a ball (soccer player maybe?), so he does a lot more than just jumping up and down. He actually tries to go somewhere, only to get whipped backwards! It seems like crawling or walking is far off, but it will probably be here before we know it.


Playing soccer with Papa.


Our little Tarzan.


A new way to enjoy the jumperoo.


Intrigued by the lamp.


He managed to slink his way forward a few inches!!!

Thursday, July 14, 2011

Damien Does Daddy Day Care

As you dear readers know (thank you Michael Suave for always giving sweet comments) Damien gets to kick it with his Papa on Thursdays and Fridays. Daddy Day Care! The boys usually have a grand ole time. The rules are relaxed, PJ's all day, no problem, no sweater, no problem. Papa is proving to Momma that she may be a TAD, and only a small minuscule tad, over protective. Here are some fun shots from a day when D also got to hang with our favorite and frequent (besides Grandmas of course) house guest Brian Wenzl.


Damien loves to ride on Papa's shoulders. "Howdy Ya'll"


Wow, mind if I touch it? What is this?


Conducting his kitchen opera.


Grocery shopping with Papa, a man's job.


All loaded up, this is going to be one hell of a party, if only I could attend.


Give me toys or give me death.


Who me? No, I didn't do anything with the toys, I swear. I dunno where they went, toy fairy?

Wednesday, July 13, 2011

Damien is 9 Months Old!

Damien is 9 months old. And cute as can be. He kept up in his height class at 97% coming in at 48 1/2 inches, but he dropped in his weight class from 97% to 90% with a weight of 23.9. A big boy!!

Damien has no interest in crawling, still hates to be on his stomach, although now apparently sleeps on his stomach regularly. He's still sleeping like a champ, about 11 hours, and most nights, goes down with smiles on his face. He's still super smiley and likes to laugh his evil sounding laugh, it's pretty hilarious. He still occasionally growls, and every now and then makes little raspberry sounds. He also says daaadaadaadaaa a lot.

He has figured out how to pivot while sitting down, so he can pivot 360 degrees. He can also stand while holding on to something pretty well. He loves to play ball. If you bounce a ball into his lap, he'll throw it back to you (after trying to suck on it for good measure). He has 6 teeth, four on top, two on the bottom and they are all pretty big at this point. He eats all sorts of food now, and usually loves to feed himself finger food, although he does prefer the mashed food on occasion. He loves raspberries, strawberries, avocado, yogurt, the baby puffs, baby rice crackers. and Momma's chicken, sweet potato, onion combo. That about sums him up!



At the Doctor's office, look Ma no hands (from Daddy)


Loving the Doctor toy.


Yep, still taking baths on the kitchen counter


I just love to try and get things on the counter I am not supposed to get, that is my favorite bath time activity.


Celebratory pre-bed, 9mo milestone grab.

Sunday, July 10, 2011

Damien Gets a Special Vist From Grandma Linda

Mommy hurt her back pretty good, so she's been unable to lift heavy little D for a few weeks. Papa was exhausted (no more sleeping in) and behind on work, so Grandma to the rescue. She was kind enough to spend her birthday weekend with us and take care of Damien. It was super nice for all, Damien got to play with his Grandma and had a blast, Mommy and Papa got to catch up on sleep and work. And Grandma got to be with her precious grandson on her birthday. Thanks a bunch Grandma Linda.


Playing with his new musical instrument set from Grandma.

Grandma asked Papa to set up Damien's sandbox, that our lovely neighbors gave us, as her birthday present knowing the D loves sand. He was in heaven.

Yesssssss, sand.


D won't drink out of a sippy cup, only cups, so Grandma gave him the smallest "cup" she could find, yes, that is a shot glass. He loved it!


Putting on a show for Grandma's Thai takeout birthday dinner.

Sunday, July 3, 2011

Damien Hosts a 4th of July Party

Damien decided he didn't want to travel over 4th of July weekend, thankfully he loves his crib. So he hosted some of his friends for a 4th of July BBQ instead. In attendance was his pals Andrew(3 ish) and Isabella (1 ish) and momma Leah; his pal Kellen (10 months ish) and parents Hoju and Laura; neighbors and friends Adeline (7 ish) and Juna (3 ish) and parents Chris and Sara; girlfriend Maya (9 months ish) and momma Odessa, and cousins Mariano (11 months ish) and Alma (7 ish) and aunt Isabel and uncle Jordan. It was quite a crew. There were swimming pools, ball pools, bubbles, water fights, bocce ball, and yummy ribs.


A view of the party crew.


The toy circle.


Damien and Mariano meet (again) and share (mostly) toys.


Mariano enjoying the ball pit, he's got quite an arm already.


Damien was soooo excited by everyone and everything, he drooled like a fool, completely soaking his whole top.


Pretty girl Maya enjoying the ball pit.


Damien and Maya, sitting in a tree ...


After an extremely messy dinner, the cousins enjoy an outdoor cousin bath in the swimming pool.


If only every bath could be this fun!


Uncle Jordy and his love bugs, such a cute family.

Saturday, July 2, 2011

Damien Does the Berkeley Country Fair

So, we didn't make it to the Oregon Country Fair this year. We decided to lay low for this year's Fourth of July weekend and enjoy our lovely house and back yard. Mathias put a lot of work into gardening and making the yard nice, and he threw up our shade structure and a Fair tapestry and dubbed the weekend the "Berkeley Country Fair." It was a blast. Lots of outdoor living, and a little nudity (on D's part). We let him play sans diaper on a few occasions. He loved it. It was well worth the little pee pee messes we had to wipe up. We had so much fun, the spirit has lived on and we try to do "Berkeley Country Fair" whenever the weather is nice.



I am king of the fair.


View of main stage from the deck.


Life is a ball.

"I want you to come join us!"

Big Guy and Little Guy (wearing a shirt that says Big Guy)


Free Bird


Self censorship


Our pink Ewok




The drum circle


Alfreso dining. Somebody loves avocado.