Chillin'

Our little man is never happier than when he is relaxing with his favorite doggie. Here are the two buddies this morning after Daddy left for work. As you can see, Christopher has a pretty good grip on Kasey's fur. We'll have to work on that so there are no "arguments" between these two in the future. But it looks like Kasey doesn't really mind... Little CJ has developed a bit of a cough this morning and is stuffy, possibly as a result of his many outings with other kiddos this week. I think we'll bag any further get-togethers until he feels better. We had a visit from Miss Becky, our Parents as Teachers (PAT) lady this morning. PAT is a free program provided by school districts that sends a person to your home every six weeks or so and talks to you about what you can expect development-wise from your baby. You can also ask any questions you may have too. This is her second visit to our house and it's always very interesting because there's always something for me to learn from her. Of course, Kasey thought Becky was here to observe her so we had to set our puppy straight. Becky said Christopher had very good gross motor and memory skills and she gave us some great ideas of things we can do between now and her next visit... Miss Ruth is coming to babysit this afternoon while Mommy goes out to run some baby-free errands so Christopher is looking forward to play time with his favorite babysitter!

Brrrrrr...

Mommy, why do you dress me in these crazy things? When will I get a say in what I wear? Seriously...

A Moment of Silence

Dearly beloved, we gather here to say good-bye... to my coffee maker. It lasted a good 3 1/2 years (boy they don't make things like they used to) but this morning it would brew no longer. This nearly brought tears to my eyes as this is the only way I am able to get Dunkin' Donuts coffee in Kansas without driving all the way to Lawrence. Since I am trying to avoid the fatty espresso drinks from Starbucks, you'd better believe I will be trekking to Target today to get the next generation of java makers. What happened to my machine you ask? The only thing I can think of is that Brian asked to have a cup yesterday morning to see if he could start drinking it daily. It was all downhill from there.

Mister Activity

Wait, let me catch my breath for just a minute... Ah! Okay, thank you! This little boy of ours does not stop moving. I can't wait (or can I) to see what's going to happen once he starts getting around on his own. The picture to the left shows Christopher in a new contraption that we picked up last week to foster his growing need for jumping and/or squat thrusts. It's a bouncer that you attach to a door frame so he can jump and bounce and stand as much as he wants. Those of you who held Chris over the holidays will remember that he is a big boy and loves to stand on his own two feet while doing crazy squats. This bouncer is great because it gives Mommy's arms a rest! We will keep everyone updated on our latest adventures with this contraption... This morning, we all bundled up and went out for an early morning run on the trail. I say early but it was actually late by Christopher's standards--7:30 in the AM. He'd already been up for two hours (gasp!) along with the rest of us so we decided it would be good to get something accomplished, namely a four mile run. The sun was barely up when we hit the trail and although I couldn't feel my thighs and there was ice in my hair, we enjoyed ourselves tremendously. Don't worry, Chris was toasty warm and even took a nap as we ran... We topped off our morning with a trip to the local Gymboree to see what that program is all about. We previewed a class for 0 to 6 month-olds but since Chris is kind of on the border of that age level and the next, the instructor suggested we try the second level class for 6 to 10 month-olds. CJ enjoyed the class nonetheless and got to play on some equipment that he'd never seen before. He sat inside a tunnel, did tummy time on an inner tube, watched hundreds of bubbles fall from the sky (very cool!) and played peek-a-boo with a puppet. This last activity he loved and laughed out loud to everyone's delight and enjoyment. It was a very fun morning and now our little one is resting up in his crib for the next round of excitement.

Le Fat Froggie

Bonjour! I am zee Fat Frog. As you can see, I am zee cutest leetle frog this side of zee Mississippi. Je sais that I have played many roles in my life. Par example, I have been zee subject of many a math problem. I have had ice cream bars and boats named after me. But I have grown tired of all zees things. I now reside chez Woglom and my sole purpose is to entertain Monsieur Christopher, especially when he is taking a bath in zee tub. I am very stealth in my abilities as I huddle down under zee water where I cannot be seen. Then, like a crocodile, I leep out and squirt the leetle Monsieur right in his tummy with water. He seems to find this very entertaining and I relish this time with him. Zee only thing I don't like is when he tries to eat me. Oh well, c'est la vie.

Mmmmmmm...

So we finally set up Christopher's new high chair and today we gave him his first taste of the good stuff--well, as good as it gets for a five month old. Chris got to eat rice cereal from a bowl with a spoon. For the past several weeks, he has just been eying everything we've been eating. When I have my breakfast he just stares with this look on his face that says, "And when are you going to share that with me?" He also reaches for my glass if I'm drinking water when I'm holding him. So we decided it was finally time to start solids. Here are some pictures of the whole experience...


In the beginning, more of the cereal ended up on his chin than in his mouth but pretty soon he got the idea of what he was supposed to do. I think he liked it because he kept reaching for the spoon and trying to get it to his mouth faster, but I also think there were times when the texture of the food was a little funky to him. We just started with a little today but as we go I'm hoping to eliminate the bottle for one of his feedings per day. We'll see how it goes. According to Daddy, the next step is going to be cookies, but I'm pretty sure we should wait at least another week or so for that!

Happy New Year!

Happy 2009 to everyone in our reading audience! Our little boy partied hard last night at the Titus residence. Actually, he slept pretty well considering we put him down at our house, transported him in the car seat to Matt and Jaime's, set him up in a brand new room that he's never been in, and had a party going on downstairs. Christopher's parents had a blast hanging out with our good friends playing Guitar Hero and Mario Kart. Jaime got this adorable sea horse that you see in the picture above for Chris and he really enjoys it! The front of the sea horse lights up and it plays soothing lullabies. Christopher actually fell asleep in 5 minutes for his nap this morning as we cuddled and held his new friend. Then I put the sea horse in his crib with him and he put his hand on its head and cuddled with it as he slept. He then went on to take a two hour nap. Thank you Jaime for this great addition! This morning, we went for our first full family run on the trail with Chris in the jogger and Kasey leading the way. We did four miles and boy did that feel great with the wind blowing against our faces! I think Christopher keeps putting on weight to make me a stronger runner when I push him up the hills in that stroller. This weekend we will be attempting solid foods with our boy to see how that goes. Stay tuned for updates on that adventure! Here are my two favorite guys getting ready for our run...