Christmas #1

Clay's first Christmas is in the books. Lots of stories to tell, so bear with the long post...

Christmas officially started the weekend before the 25th when we did Christmas with Brian's dad. Clay enjoyed hanging out with his Pop Pop and the new car that he got to play in. We all had a great time playing at the house and managed to cover the floor in legos without Clay ending up with any of them up his nose or in his mouth (maybe in a few years he can help with the building process - if his uncles will let him).

After a couple days back at work for Brian, we left Indianapolis about 1pm on Tuesday to head to Belvidere. Usually, that would mean that we would get in town about 4 hours later. However, mother nature and a ton of traffic had a different idea. Following a 9 1/2 hour drive, we got into Belvidere about 9:30pm their time exhausted and ready for a drink. Clay actually did amazing in the car, but it was still something we never hope to repeat. [No pictures from the drive, it wouldn't have been pretty]

We split our time in Belvidere between Holly's parent's house and Brian's mom's house, so Clay got plenty of chances to run back and forth between the houses. Took him a couple of days to realize we weren't putting him back in his carseat for 9 hours but he got the hang of it.

We went to Holly's parent's new church with them on Christmas Eve and Clay did really well socializing with all of the people there. He's gotten very good at reaching out to go to people, and although he still prefers both of us, he'll go to pretty much anyone.

Clay's Christmas morning started off at Brian's mom's house, where he managed to face plant on a toy and start to get a shiner within the first 20 minutes. We made sure to take a bunch of pictures of him as quick as we could before it would swell up, but thankfully that never happened. Here's one of the pictures we took that morning, complete with his new Santa hat.

You may notice the position that Clay's in above. On Christmas Eve he finally figured out how to move his legs and arms in unison and started crawling!!! He's already constantly on the move (especially when chasing Brian's cell phone) and moves along pretty quickly. Here's a video of his success after a couple days of practice.

Clay easily had the most gifts of anyone at Brian's mom's house which made it tough for us all to fit on the couch and be photographed but we managed to get a good shot of him enjoying Christmas.

One of his other favorite parts of being there was interacting with the dogs. They were really good with him and he showed a lot of interest in them.

After Christmas morning with Brian's family, we went over to spend the rest of the day with Holly's family. We did gifts soon after we got there and then had a good afternoon/evening of eating and playing cards and just relaxing around the house. Clay enjoyed crawling after his new steel drum toy and playing with a light-up ring stacker (as with most toys, new and way improved variations on something we had when we were younger). By the end of the day, he was pretty worn out with gifts.

Clay spent quite a bit of time in Grandpa's chair and we managed to get a picture of Jerry smiling in the process (almost as rare as a shot of Bigfoot, but not quite).

The drive home on Sunday was MUCH better than the drive to Illinois and Clay (not surprisingly after the week he had) slept almost the entire time and didn't even make us stop. We got back in time to unload the car, get some dinnner, and have Clay open his gifts from us. Most of his gift went to his 529 plan (yes, we're dorks) but he managed to get some good stuff, including an Illinois football jersey.

We hope you had a wonderful Christmas with your families and have a wonderful new year!

Holiday Laughter

You may remember that Clay dressed up as a frog for Halloween this year. We were debating between the frog and another costume, but from the looks of this video we recently took of Clay, I think we made the right choice...

6 Months Old!!

Hello All! Exciting week with lots of stuff going on with our little boy. On Tuesday the 2nd Clay turned 6 months old! Its hard to believe that much time has gone by already and that a person could change so much in 6 months - some of his earlier pictures don't even look like him anymore.

This week also brought a change in jobs for mommy, or more like a decrease in jobs. I was teaching swim lessons at the work out center near our house and that did not work out as planned. The lesson part of it was great but Clay had been going to the child care that is provided there and that was not working out so great - set him down on his own and didn't play with him, tried to tell me that there "must be" something wrong with this stomach because he spits up (keep in mind he is a 6 month old baby), and made me feel like he was a total burden to them everytime I picked him up. Not worth it when Clay's needs aren't being met and I feel like crap all the time about it. It was a good try but for now I am just going to stay at home and enjoy the time we have together.

New things in Clay's world as a 6 month old:

1) Clay is able to move around on his own almost crawling- even if it is at a snail's pace for now (i know, enjoy it while it lasts)

2) Clay can now go from sitting up to hands and knees and vise versa - not a smooth transition yet but soon

3) 3 new teeth coming in ! both eye teeth on the top and finally the other bottom front tooth. We will soon have a vampire baby - hopefully one that doesn't bite

4) Solid foods and stinky diapers- we started rice cereal last sunday and it is going great, mixed with a little baby applesauce he really likes it but oddly enough does not like the applesauce on its own. We were warned about the severity of the stinky diapers once solid food was started and it was no joke - pee yew!

5) Clay's first snow - we haven't been out to touch it yet but we'll make it soon

6) 6 month pictures at Target - a much bigger success and more pleasant experience than we had at JCPenny, thank goodness!

That's all for now, here are some pictures to hold you over for a bit! Have a great week!

Snoozin'


Clay and his second cousins? maybe? Holly's Cousin's daughters


I'm 6 Months Old!

Happy Late Thanksgiving!

We're back in Indianapolis after our annual Thanksgiving trek to Mount Vernon, Illinois to see Holly's mom's side of the family. Numbers were a little down this year, so we only had about 35 people there. Clay did great being social with everyone and didn't have a single meltdown. Being in a new place with so many new people did wear him out though...

We got back into Indy on Saturday and have started our usual Christmas decorating to finish the weekend (pictures of that to come). We woke up this morning to about 1" of snow on the ground, which we did not realize we were going to get. It was a great way to get us in the Christmas mood and Clay got to see his first snowfall.

Perhaps the biggest news of the weekend is that Clay got clearance last week to start on some solid foods so we're starting with some rice cereal. He got his first serving last night at dinner time and, although most of it ended up on his hands/bib/high chair/chin/etc, he seemed to like it. Here's some pictures from the adventure...

More Pictures

Here's a couple more pictures from the last couple of days around the house. With it getting so cold outside Clay's been spending a lot more time inside working on his howling (we think it is mostly tooth related and not some rare werewolf genetic strain) and crawling.









Not a whole lot else to report here. We're really looking forward to our upcoming weekend of doing absolutely nothing! Pictures of the laziness to follow...

Post Long Past Due

Again I have become the blog slacker. Sorry to all of you who have been waiting patiently - or not so patiently - for an update on our little man.

There are so many days now when Clay no longer looks like a baby. Yes yes, I know he is only 5 months old but he is changing so quickly into a little boy instead of a baby, especially when he wears hoodie sweatshirts. For those of you who haven't seen him in awhile you will be amazed the next time you do see him. Here's a picture we took this morning:



Clay's first Halloween was great. We headed over to our friends house (the Beiers) to hang out with them and 2 other couples since we barely get any trick or treaters here. We hung out, ate lots of food and dressed up the babies for all of 5 minutes since their costumes are really warm and we were inside. It was well worth it though - the pictures are adorable. Clay was a frog, Maverick (Beiers' baby) was a tootsie roll, and the neighbor's son Lyle was a dragon.


One day this past week, before it got too cold, I decided that I should dress Clay up again and head outside to play in the leaves. Of course, he immediately put his face down in the grass and tried to eat anything that would go in his mouth. Apparently leaves don't taste too bad as I had to fish them out of his mouth several times.





Clay was sucking in my finger the other night and I felt something sharp on his lower gum! We are pretty sure that his first tooth is finally coming in after weeks of drooling and chewing. He won't let us get a good look at it though. Every time I try he sticks his tongue out and covers his gums. Silly boy - hopefully it doesn't cause him much pain.

I also just got a part time job (I use the word part time loosely as it is really a few hours a week) to get me out of the house for a little while and get Clay around some other kids. I will be teaching swim lessons 2 days a week for 2 hours each of those days. The nice part is, its only a 2 minute drive to work, and Clay gets to go to the day care at the workout center for only $1 while I am teaching. I hoping that it all works out and Clay does a good job with the other kids. It will also give me a chance to meet a lot of other stay at home parents that bring their young kids to the lessons in the mornings. Wish us luck and I'll let you know how it goes.

Clay's First Football Game

Sorry for the delay in posting. Fall has turned out to be a busy time of year for us, but it also gives us lots of opportunities for great pictures/experiences with Clay. Here's some pictures from Clay's first college football game at the Illinois-Indiana game in Champaign. Grammy and Papa Boyle came down and met us and we all had a great time (and managed to stay warm as well). Clay managed to make it through the first half with minimal complaining and probably could've made it longer but we decided not to mess with a good thing. To no one's surprise, everyone in our section loved him.

Here's Clay and Holly in front of the Alma Mater at the entrance to the Quad:


Here's the three of us in the middle of the Quad:


Here's Clay playing at the tailgate:


Here's Clay, Holly, and Brad enjoying the butt whooping that Illinois was putting on the Hoosiers. I was nice and chose not to use the picture that showed the score in the background. You're welcome Mom :)

Clay's First Camping Trip

This past weekend was our annual camping trip to Devil's Lake. It is a great weekend with family, friends and lots of outdoor activities. The Swinter family has been going to Devil's Lake columbus day weekend each year since Heather and Holly were very little. Each year it seems our group grows a little more with new friends and family members, some from close by others from far away (Boston and Colorado). This year our camping group changed once again with the addition of two babies, Clay being the youngest of the group at 4 months and Bryce at about 8 months. Clay did a great job hiking and sleeping in the baby bjorn and being passed around to everyone. He even slept well in the pack and play this time. Can't wait until next year!

Clay has now perfected rolling over and does it every chance he gets. He attempts to do this on the changing table which makes getting a diaper on him straight a pretty tough job. Clay's toes have also found their way to his mouth this weekend and are his favorite new chew toy.

Here's some pictures from the trip:

Clay's 3 Month Pictures

Finally arrived. We went ahead and bought the rights to the pictures so let us know if you want an electronic copy of any of them. We only ask that a small royalty fee be paid to Clay's 529 plan. These aren't all of the pictures, but some of them were too bad to post. Trust us.

Click Here for Clay's Pictures

4 Months Old

Clay's 4 month birthday was on Thursday. He celebrated by seeing how many fingers he could put in his mouth and widening his smile even more (didn't think it was possible).





His 4 month doctor's appointment was on Friday and, despite the four shots he received, it was a good visit. He is now up to 14 pounds 3 oz and 24.5" long (up about 4 pounds and 3" in the last 2 months). That's about 50th percentile for both, but considering Brian was almost the identical size at the same age, we think there will be plenty of upside on the height chart.

We also (finally) received Clay's 3 month formal pictures in digital format and will put those on here shortly - in fact, you'll probably see that post first. Despite some issues with our photographer, we couldn't be happier with the way some of them turned out.

And finally, considering we are now less than a month away from the election, Clay just wanted to let everyone know who he's backing (if only he could vote).

Baby Genius?

Or maybe just over excited parents. Have you ever thought that your child must be a whizkid of some sort? We think it all the time. We seem to think that he is ahead of the game in just about every category. Clay has been extra chatty the last couple of days - talking up a storm even in the car when he usually falls asleep. He's just figured out that his lips and tongue can make different noises other than "A-Goo".

Poor daddy still hasn't seen Clay roll over. We haven't had a repeat of the impressive skills so maybe it was just a fluke and he was positioned just right on the couch to help him roll over. Hopefully he will do it again someday while daddy is watching.

Clay and mommy had their first weekend without daddy (really only a day and a half) as he was fortunate enough to have Ryder Cup tickets for the final round - AWESOME! I was so happy that he was able to go even though we missed him. Here's a picture of us watching for daddy...

The Swinter clan came down to keep us company for the weekend. I love watching Grandpa Swinter with Clay - he always lets the girls have him whenever they want but takes him ever chance he gets if someone needs to go do something. He's such a big softy (but shhhhh... don't tell anybody).

Clay's Highchair came in! Yeah! He looks like such a big boy sitting in it and likes being up at the table with us while we eat. Oh the messes that will be made in that chair - its going to be so much fun when we starts eating solid foods.

Brian was very glad that the USA won the Ryder Cup because we also had Cubs tickets for the same weekend and it ended up being the game that they clinched the division. Clay is getting into the playoff spirit as well. Thank you Laura and Mike for this adorable Cubs sleeper - its super cute.

On a Roll

Today was an exciting day as Clay rolled over from his tummy to his back for the first time. We am so glad that it was front to back first as we could imagine lots of crying in the middle of the night if it had gone the other way and he could not get back to his back yet. Poor Brian hasn't gotten to see him roll yet though. Hopefully he will see it sometime soon though. It really makes me feel so blessed to be a stay at home mom and be able to witness all the new and exciting things first hand.

We are also pretty sure that the early stages of teething have begun (exciting and horrifying all at the same time for a breastfeeding mom). Clay has been extra drooling lately, fussy without reason, chewing on everything, and having a hard time sleeping - supposedly all symptoms of teething. I really hope that it does not hurt him too much.

Brian is heading out of town for the weekend and away from Clay for the first time - We will miss our daddy while he is gone.

Here's a bunch of pictures of our little bundle of fun...

Working on those big muscles


Clay and his monkey friend (he has a lot of animal friends)


Clay riding the Giraffe from his room


Truck Butt

ABC's Video

As promised, video of Clay grunting along with the ABCs. Believe it or not, this was one of his less vocal versions...

Fashion Show and the ABC's

We are starting the growing up pictures now that Clay is 3 months. Brian thought that maybe he wanted to take Clay to a more formal portrait studio until some research was done. It is amazing how expensive some studios are. $125 just for a sitting! that doesn't even include any pictures- just 1/2 hour of the photographer's time. $49 for a 5x7! We need to get into the photography business. We settled on JCPenny for the pictures and we'll just hope for some good pictures- how hard is it to make a baby look cute though? We thought it would be a good idea to try on some possible outfits to make sure they fit and would look good in the pics. Of course Clay spit up on each of the outfits he tried on so its a good thing we did things in advance with time to do laundry.

Sitting up like a big boy- notice the nice line of spit up on this outfit already


Green is a great color for Clay. This outfit just happens to be one of Daddy's from when he was a baby.


Clay has been super cute "singing" along with the ABC's - or more like grunting along with every couple of letters. After several attempts it was finally caught on film. (Brian will have to put it on here though because I am not sure how to edit the video to make it shorter)

The Blogging Slackers Strike Again

It has been mentioned that we have not been doing a very good job keeping up with the blogging lately. Clay's adoring fans have missed getting new info with the long stretch with no post and especially no pictures so let's try to catch up on the happenings.

We were pretty low key for a couple of weeks and have no ventured too far from home. Clay and mommy are settling into much more of a daytime routine which seems to be working for both of them. Clay is also getting much more playful which is so much fun as he grabs onto things and attempts to "sing" along with the ABC's and other little songs. He has moved on to form a great friendship with a new toy that has a black and white puppy on it so that he is not exclusive to the pig anymore. This toy also rattles and it has been a blast watching him figure out that he can cause the sounds by shaking it.

We had another successful trip to the lake and slept a little better with a piece of dense foam as the mattress that didn't sink in quite as much as the mattress we have for the pack n play. Still being out of our crib throws our sleep cycle way out of whack and Clay was up several times each night. We think that Clay was playing tricks on daddy one night as he would fuss enough to get daddy out of bed then stop fussing and be asleep as soon as he was sitting on the edge of the bed ready to pick him up. Once daddy would lay down the fussing would begin again. It began to get comical after it happened so many times in a row... poor daddy. It was still a great time though.

Clay's new friend Maverick was born this past week on Tuesday! They are 3 months and a half hour apart. We went to visit Kurt and Sawyer and their new little boy on Thursday and all 3 are doing great. We can't wait to go for walks and play and have another mommy/ son duo to run around with during the week.

This past weekend was sure to be an exciting one as mommy and daddy were going to have their first nice dinner out together since their anniversary (June 12th), and this time mommy was much more comfortable with the thought of being away for a couple of hours. We were also going to the Illinois football game as a family on Saturday to see the Illini play Eastern. Friday morning at 4 am mommy was out of bed with a headache and was freezing cold for the rest of the night unable to warm up (not a common thing for the woman known as a space heater). Woke up in the morning feeling pretty crappy still and had a fever of 101. She thought she was ok for Brian to go to work but soon found out that wasn't going to go well. With no energy to play with Clay and just wanting to sleep it off Holly finally gave up and called Brian around 11am and he was able to come home for the rest of the day to take care of mommy and Clay. Holly slept all day, had to cancel dinner plans for Friday night and after a good nights rest still had a fever the next morning meaning no Illinois game either. Luckily she was feeling well enough to take care of Clay and sent Brian and Brad off to Illinois to enjoy the game (Daddy even came home with presents!) Finally by the end of Saturday the fever was gone and we are back to normal.

Grandma Swinter is now here for a couple of days to visit so I am sure we will have more adventures to tell of later.

Stay tuned for pictures and videos......

Its a Bird, Its a Plane, Its.....

CAPTAIN ADOROABLE!

Found this shirt while out shopping and just could not pass it up. As hard as we tried, Clay would not keep his hands on his hips in superhero position so we settled for a smile.

This past week Clay came down with his first "illness". He had a goopey eye for a couple of days and of course since it was the first time anything was wrong there was a call to the doctor's office. Since our pediatrician was out for the day a note was left for another Dr. and she prescribed some eye drops. As mommy was ready the directions to the eye drops, not only was Clay supposed to keep his eye closed for 2 minutes (yeah right unless he's asleep) the packaging also said product safety for children under 1 yr. had not been established. Um... yeah- clay's only 2 1/2 months. Needless to say - Clay did not get the eye drops and there was a call to the Dr. office the next day when our pediatrician was sure to be there. She said not to give him any medicine and just wipe his eye several times a day with a wet cotton ball (his eye is doing much better now) and that she nevers wants us to give him a prescription unless we come in to see her. I really like our pediatrician but really wish that her collegues would take the time to see how old the patient is before prescribing a medicine to them.

Clay discovered this week that he really likes his farm animals that you can squeeze and they make noise. He has not figured out how to squeeze them yet so mommy and daddy get to do it all the time for him. His favorite is the pig... here's a picture of them together.

Everything else is going great here and we're having fun watching our little angel grow everyday- it really is amazing how fast they grow - we've already grown out of tons of clothes!

We hope that you are all doing well!

Lucas Oil Stadium

Indianapolis just got a new football stadium, which had free tours last Saturday. Clay got all dressed up in his Colts outfit and was a trooper as we battled the crowds. Here's a few pictures from his first stadium experience. He'll have many more opportunities to get used to it this fall at Illinois football games.