Eight Months

We've entered the stage of "into everything." I thought we were already there awhile ago, when he first started moving around. But now, he is faster and stronger, and the scope of things to explore has widened. He is getting so smart too- he learns so quickly. He will test tap the baseboard heaters before playing around them to make sure they are not hot first. If something seems surprisingly hot, like clothes fresh out of the dryer, he will gingerly touch it or try to avoid it altogether. Creedence also has figured out that his Dad desperately needs him to enjoy books, so that at some point down the road, when maybe the father son thing is getting tricky, they will at least have one thing in common to talk about (besides how much they love me). So as of this week or so, he will sit still long enough to read a book or two. He likes to turn the pages himself, and there are certain pages in books he prefers and will try to find each time.

He really enjoys crawling over/under things.

Our favorite game to play with him now...

Walking!

... or, at least, trying very hard to!

Shoes, not Trailers

There comes a point in every little one's life, where they must face the realities of weather, societal expectations, and physical development. At this point, shoes are no longer optional. Creedence has recently confronted this milestone, as he is taking steps, whether it be between me and Steve or out under the trees crunching leaves. Combined with the cold cold cold that is our tile floors and the world outside, socks just aren't cutting it most days. Plus, they fall off as if they are magnetically opposed to the poles/soles of his feet.

Our journey into footwear began before he was born. The layette was generously stocked with a pair of cowboy boots, black classic Converse, baby Timberlands, itty bitty newborn faux loafers for Sundays, fuzzy blue booties and a ton of adorable sock shoes. He grew out of the loafers first, and I eagerly awaited the days when we would look oh-so-dang-cute in the rest of his shoe collection. But somehow, as his feet grew, they never seemed to reach the size of the shoes. Occasionally, I would try a pair on him to see if today would be the day to yee-haw in those cowboy boots. I struggled, he struggled, and the shoes remained unworn. I chalked it up to maybe it was too early for that size, or that his little calves were just too chubby for the booties and boots to wrap around. However as his feet grew bigger, and surely he was finally the right size, I simply could not get the shoes on him. I would have to completely unlace the Converses to get his foot inside, and the one time my patience won out over his determination to squirm, I managed to lace them up- only to have them fall off somehow WHILE HE WAS NAPPING. He wasn't even moving, and they, like his socks, refused to stay put.

By the time Creedence reached seven months, I had not been able to get him in any shoe since the newborn loafers. I decided to abandon my pre-bought shoe collection, and look for a soft, pliable, stretchy shoe without laces, only velcro. A pair was found, bought, and taken home for the test. I had high hopes. Creedence was remarkably still, perhaps sensing the significance this moment could bring. I put on his socks and attempted the right shoe. I fought to get the toes inside, then the arch, and struggled mightily to get the heel to follow the rest of the foot down into the shoe. I pulled up the little shoe so hard that the little heel tab ripped off. Those shoes went back in thier box, and Creedence played happily with the box, in his falling-off socks, the rest of the morning.

Creedence has surprised us before with his uniquely-Creedo attributes. In my first good long look at Creedence after he was born, I immediately noticed his large hands. They are like paws.

It's no secret that he has a big mouth or big tongue, or even a big head in general. But his feet are something else. They are rectangle, with only the slightest angle from the big toe to the pinkie toe. They are attached to his legs without the visible benefit of an ankle. Instead, he has a line where his ankle should be as if it had been circumferenced with a bit of string. From thigh to foot, his legs are pretty uniformly thick. Not many rolls, just pleasantly soft and chubby and thick. Cream puffs of feet and legs.

So when I finally brought Creedence to a baby footwear professional, she assured me that she had just the shoe. She brought a snazzy pair of tennis shoes, size four, extra wide. While no pieces of the shoe or child were harmed as the two merged, the velcro strap could barely fit across to its destination on the other side of the shoe. I let Creedence romp a bit in the shoes, and after a minute the velcro burst against the strain of holding in Creedence's foot. It popped off, and the shoe had no choice but fall off as well, vanquished like all its predecessors. The store employee looked at me and decreed Creedence as a size four double wide, which they do not carry in stock. In fact, no stores around us carry a size that comprehends the width and girth of my son's feet.

I turned to the internet and found a shoe with a generous cut. When they arrived in the mail, I put Creedo in the thinnest socks he has before giving these shoes a shot. They went on without a struggle- amazing!- and thanks to their fascinating squeak, Creedence seemed to enjoy wearing them. He just sat on the sofa staring at his shoes, until I tapped the bottoms and showed him how they squeak. He loved it and laughed his head off with each tap!

So now we know that Creedence has large, wide, fat feet. All this for pair of shoes that will last a few more weeks...

Cowboy Creedence (finally, Halloween coverage)

Here is the Halloween wrap-up. Enjoy, y'all!

Pumpkin Carving

I love all the seasonal flavors of this time of year- the pumpkin pie shakes, the pumpkin pie cream cheese (trust me), the pumpkin pie. I'm glad to see that Creedence is on board.

No, not looking inside- he's eating it.


Classic Cars Trunk or Treat in St. George

Will sit here looking adorable for food

Cowboy Creedence, in costume, at a trunk or treat in St. George with Haynie fam

The cowboy lost his charm pretty quickly, poor guy


Ward Halloween Party:

Feeding ol' Stick Horse

Another pumpkin! Yum!

Alright Stick Horse, I know... I'll wait till after dinner.

At Mom-n-Tots Halloween Playgroup:

The lone ranger... does not play with the girls at playgroup.

The good, the bad, and the baby

And last but not least, my annual Steve the Zombie Killa creation:

October picture fest

October has gone the way of Creedence's attitude towards taking naps (which is to say, its over). We have stayed busy, every weekend is packed with fun stuff for Creedence and I, and a little fun stuff for Steve, as he remains pretty loaded with school work. I've been busy with Creedence and with some freelance gigs as a copywriter. Its a new thing for me, and so far so good. It works out really well for me to remain the stay-at-home-but-not-really-because-we-like-to-go-out-and-play-Mom.

The Funny New Things of Creedo:

He has picked up this adorable new thing where he reaches out his little chubby fist salute-style, tilts his head back, squints his eyes and just grins. So cute! I can't get over it. I eat it up.

Walking is on the horizon. He can pull himself up to standing off anything- pant legs, walls, sofas, dresser. He loves to stand and most times will straighten his legs if you try to put him down to sit.

Halloween pictures will come soon after- I promise. Here is a month's worth of share-worthy pictures- enjoy.

Visit during General Conference from Grandpa Haynies

Visit from Aunt Sadie. Doesn't she look great?

Girls are weird, mom...

Get together on campus with old roommates, Kirsten and Chelsea and baby Claire.

Sixth month photo ops! See the rest of the pics from this shoot on facebook.

Trip up to Rexburg ID for Adam and Jocelyn's beautiful sealing. Big Creedence fans, those Sevy's.

Squinting together outside the temple. Creedence loves to imitate faces.

With Uncle Matt in Rexburg- we sincerely hope that his tongue will one day be proportionate to his body.

Feeding horses with JoAnn Sevy in Rexburg. They were so awesome to let us stay with them during the wedding festivities.

Another father-son animal bonding moment, brought to you by not me.

Blips on the Radar

I've tried to get more videos of Creedence lately because he changes from New Funny Thing to New Funny Thing so quickly, and I believe his funny things should be shared. In this month alone, he has changed so rapidly. He's shifted from blowing raspberries into his current "da da da/blah blah blah" noises. He can now sit up completely unsupported for as long as he feels like it, and just today he moved himself to hands and knees from sitting for the first time. His latest cool new trick (also just discovered today!) is clapping! Just a few days ago he started looking at his hands, waving them about with careful attention, and that turned into observing his fists, then fists knocking, and- ta da!- now clapping. When I get that on video I'll post it, but until then here are some other clips. All of these are taken around dinner feeding/bathtime, hence the nearly nude look.

There is nothing in his mouth here, but he's chewing hard on something, especially when the music came on.

Better than a parrot. Easier clean-up too.

Is that not a great laugh? Now go ask someone to massage your neck. If anyone knows how to change the video so it isn't sideways on Blogger without great effort, let me know.

Knock on Wood

Creedence has a great laugh. His smiles come easy, but the laughs take some work. You can try everything sometimes to no avail, and after all the jumping around,sometimes just simple absurdity will get him rolling. The videos are really rough, sorry, but Creedence had never laughed so hard in his life. All they were doing was rapping on the window. This happened tonight during a dinner we hosted for my cousins, Ashley S. and Theo F., Uncle Matt/just Matt, and the Jimenez family. Ariana and Alex love their primo!

Oh Provo

After a super fun month of travelling in Washington, California and Texas, we have landed in Provo, UT (again) (pics here). Our apartment is bizarre, but slowly coming together. The pluses are that we have two rooms now, brand-new carpet, a yard, and a porch that we enjoy taking our meals out on. The negatives are that it's what a realtor would call simply unique.

Creedo helping me unpack by polishing the pot lids with his mouth

Creedence has grown so much in the weeks since we left dear Washington- none of the clothes that he was wearing then fit at all now! He is almost six months- gasp!- and is dangerously close to crawling already. He seems dangerously close to everything. He loves to be on his hands and knees, just rocking back and forth. He is really frothy still, but no teeth. He spends a lot of time blowing raspberrries. He has been entertaining me as I've been setting up house, trying to figure out what to put in our one kitchen drawer.

Trying to eat my face sideways

Steve has started his MFA program at BYU and is teaching a section of Writing 150, which is the freshman English/ GE requirement. He is really busy already, trying to figure out what graduate student teachers wear while looking cool but not old, smart but not erudite, well-read but not fogey. As I'm writing this he is asking me if I think that the distinctions of fiction or non-fiction are irrelevent, if events portrayed are revealed to be based on reality does it add value. I appreciate these questions, because I've been tired of discussing Creedence's diapers anyways.

Debating literary theory with Daddy

Steve is also working with the BYU's literary magazine and has aspirations for making it, uh, interesting. He hasn't grown at all and fits in pretty much the same clothes.

Traditional first day of school picture!

And for our first fun summer outing in Utah, I summoned up all of Steve's outdoor minutes (he only has a few, and guards them carefully) to take us all berry-picking in Mapleton.

Raspberry, raspberry, rasperry jam...

It sounds quaint, and it was: idyllic and lovely, the picturesque tableau of husband wife and child amidst the fruit of the earth, smiling lips berry-stained vivid, casually dining from the handpicked fare proffered by the vines surrounding.

The fruit really was delicious. We plan on going back before the season is over to get more. Berry recipes, anyone?

Aunt Kat Visit!

Steve's sister Kat journeyed to Washington to get some sun. While that part didn't work out so well, we still had a good time sauntering in Sumner, looking at the Locks, and being genial in general. She and Creedence became good pals. In fact, I think he's rather fond of her. OK, we all are really. We are glad she came and are looking forward to our upcoming California trip/ show off Creedence tour.

How many Z words do you know?

Creedence laughs at the sound of z.

Sistah Sistah!

Aunt Jasmin visited! We had so much fun- another visit to the raccoons in Pt. Defiance, beach picnics, hiking around, Seattle touring, Gas Works viewing, Redondo Beach walking, clam squirting, and lots of picture taking! We took about a thousand in the few days she was here. Here is a smattering of my favorites. These are in no particular order- enjoy Jazzy's talent at photography.