We are International!!

I love that I can see what kind of audience we get and how many times someone from that country has visited our blog. Here are the countires we have been seen in. Cool or Weird? I'm not sure yet.

Australia
Brazil
Canada
Ecuador
France
Germany
Honduras
Latvia
Netherlands
Norway
Panama
Russia
South Africa
Ukraine
United Kingdom
United States

Thanks for visiting!!

9 months old

Otto turned 9 months old on May 30,2012. A lot has happened since his last update (6 months). It's amazing to watch him hit new milestones and to watch his face as he realizes he learned something new.

He is a champ at eating solid foods now - mostly puréed fruits & veggies from a jar. He has SIX teeth now so we've started giving him puffs/small table foods. At first we would break them up because they were so big and he would gag. Now we are able to give him the whole piece and he will gnaw on it.



The bigger the mess, the less he liked what he was eating



Jef and I celebrated our 8 year wedding anniversary on May 22. We had our friend watch Otto during the day so we could hit a movie. We ended up seeing 'What To Expect When You're Expecting'. Funny since we left our baby to go watch a movie about a bunch of other people having babies. Later that night we went to dinner and took Otto along. Here he is enjoying the rice at Tito's Mexican Restaurant. He also enjoyed the huslte & bustle of the wait staff.



Cheese!

9 Months Old

                                              

On May 31, he started showing signs of Hand, Footh & Mouth Disease (I hate calling it a disease because its actually a virus). It started with a fever & breaking out in red bumps & blisters. We kept him home over the Memorial Day Weekend. On Saturday his fever went away and he started eating solid foods again, but up until then he was pathetic. Poor guy!  



Snuggling with his favorite toy!!

 

Daddy tried to sleep with his polar bear.
He wasn't going to let that happen.



Sleeping with his butt in the air

     

Wearing them Castle colors!!



Growth Chart & Milestones....  

Otto's Growth Record
Age	Weight	Height
Born	8 lbs 12 oz	20 1/2 inches
5 days	7 lbs 15 oz	20 1/2 inches
10 days	8 lbs 14.6 oz	20 1/2 inches
5 1/7 weeks	10 lbs 9 oz	21 3/4 inches
2 months	14 lbs 2 oz	23 1/4 inches
4 months	17 lbs 2.6 oz	25 1/4 inches
6 months	19 1/2 lbs	27 inches
7 3/4 months	21 lbs 4 oz	28 1/4 inches
9 months	21 lbs 6 oz	29 1/4 inches

*Sits up all by himself

*Pushes himself to sitting position

*Army Crawls

*Rocks back & forth on hands & knees - Once he starts to really crawl he gives up and goes back to army style

*Monkey Crawls (?) - has only done this at school so far - Hands & feet only

*Pulls himself up onto ANYTHING he can & walks around it

*Likes to walk around while holding Mommy & Daddy's hands

*Takes baths in the big tub now

*Likes to chase Stewie around the living room

*Says "Dada" and "Mama" to whichever parent has him at the time

*Claps his hands and says "Aaaaaaaaaaa"



Desktop Plaque

  Desktop Plaque

Modern shower invitations and holiday cards by Shutterfly.

View the entire collection of cards.

Otto's Story In The Newspaper

The article sort of explains how this came to be, but maybe I could elaborate. After reading my last blog post about Otto being a blessing, my Dad thought it sounded like a story one of the writers at the Evansville Courier & Press would be interested in. The story was printed in today's paper (4-10-12), but it has not made it online. I wonder if they run some of those a day behind or not at all. Just in case they don't put it online or if you don't have access to the paper, here is the story...

  

What a blessing

Today Jef went to get the oil changed and decided to take Otto with him. It was like any other time we take him out on public. We hear whispers & yells of "oh my goodness, look at that hair!". Today was no different.... sort of. Jef went to pay and the older woman working at the counter started the conversation like so many do. "Oh, look at the red hair. I bet you get that all of the time". She told Otto how cute he was and then asked if Jef minded if she held him. She told Jef she was having a bad day and holding a cute baby would lift her spirits. He said sure and passed him over to her. Once the woman was holding Otto she informed Jef as to why she was having a bad day. Today is the 4th anniversary of her teenage grandson's death.

Most new parents would probably have second thoughts about letting a stranger hold their child. I don't know if Jef did and I'm not sure how I would react. How often do we just cut ourselves off from the people around us (strangers)? How often do we ignore how other people are doing because we are so focused on our own silly problems. I'm so glad our son was able to be a blessing to someone outside of his family and friends today. What a great lesson to learn by just getting an oil change.

Half way to 1 year

This week we celebrate Otto's 6 month birthday. Since there is no February 30th, does that mean he gets to skip month 6 and move straight to 7? Or just stay at 5 months until March 30th? :) These are just some of the silly questions we have been asking ourselves lately.
(This would also mean I never celebrated a 6 month birthday either)


Otto had his next check up & round of shots Wednesday morning. Our "little" boy is up to 19.5lbs and 27 inches long!!!!!

Shots seem to be getting harder & harder for me to watch as he gets holder. He is much more aware of what is going on around him and took a lot longer to comfort this time around. He was fussy at school all day and right before bed. We ended up giving him some Tylenol to help with the pain in his legs.

Everything at the check up looked great. He is developing at normal rate & we have a new set off goals to work on for his 9 month visit. The next tough thing to get through are tubes for his ears. He has consistently had ear infections since he started daycare in December. He has rotated through 3 or 4 antibiotics to clear them up, but they just aren't cutting it.

Otto's milestones & tricks:

*Rolling from back to belly, belly to back, back to belly. He rolls himself right off of his blanket when he is playing. 

*He has started sleeping on his belly because he rolls over in his crib. We put him down in one spot and he ALWAYS wakes up in a different spot.

*He does push ups & tries to pull his legs underneath him. It won't be long until he figures out how to crawl to his favorite toys... or the dog! 

*Giving high-5 - then he takes your hand and stuffs it in his mouth.

*Teething: He bites down on knuckles and growls. Yes! Growls!

*Sitting in his high chair to eat cereal!!

*Says "Ba, ba", "Da, da", "Doooooo" and spits raspberries.

*He smiles ALL of the time, but we still have to work really hard to get a good laugh out of him.

And on that note I will leave you with a video of the latest giggle we got out of him.

Otto laughing at Daddy & Stinky socks: YouTube Video



Video Testing

Hey Everyone! It's been way too long since we've posted anything. Sorry about that. I'm working on getting some video's posted for you all to see. These are "unlisted" videos on YouTube. We are doing this for a little extra privacy, but still available to those who don't have YouTube accounts.

Some of these videos were taken back in November & December. As always, please forgive Jef & I for sounding like idiots.

Erika 

A video for Grandma & Grandpa

A conversation with Otto & Stewie

Serious conversation. He was sick this day.