It's something in the milk.

Ya know how you don't notice something growing or changing if you see it everyday? One day you just look at that thing and go 'whoah, when did that get so different?'. Well, I swear, and my dear wife will back me up on this, that Baron has grown noticeably the last three days. Everyday for the last few I've looked at him and thought that he looks bigger than he did the day before. It's crazy. He's growing out of clothes, but he prefers to be in just his diaper anyway so I guess that's a win-win. He pukes a lot less now, too. Which is really, totally friggin cool. Puke is gross.

Gross.

Want some more?

Oh! You should hear him laugh!! It's unlike anything Ican explain. It's so perfect. And he knows when to use it, too. He doesn't just throw it around, he waits for just the right moment. He uses it sparingly, despite our best efforts. He'll smile for nuthin'. He'll giggle if you give him reason. But a good ol' laugh, he'll gettcha when you're unprepared.

I love taking pictures of him in sunlight. His eyes are so blue, even pictures can't do them justice but sometimes he'll catch a beam in the corner of his eye and it bounces out and fills the room with joy. (That was so good! I get gooshy points!!)

And then, a picture from almost a year ago, when his future was so uncertain, when every three days we thought we were going to lose him, when no doctors could ease our minds with optimism because he wasn't expected to make it. Seems so long ago now, but it's still real hard to think about. I remember his time in the NICU and I try to focus on the incredible work that so many people put into his survival, on a daily basis, for four months. I focus on the first cry he made when the surgeon pulled him out and how, at that moment, I knew that our son wasn't ever going to stop. And he hasn't. Today, I'm very, very thankful for our son and all of the love and support that so many people have given us over the last year. Very, very thankful.

The Cuteness

This is our little streaker striking his sexy pose for his upcoming swimsuitless calender. We are so going to blackmail him with photos like this when he's a teen. I can't wait!!!

Doesn't he look really sad? I just wish I knew what to do to make him smile once in a while.

I'm sure that he was woken up by my snoring shortly after this picure was taken. But I do make a good pillow, if I do say so myself. Like a big, furry marshmallow. (ewww)

This is what the horror of a feeding frenzy looks like. Once in the alpha predator's death lock, the helpless prey is rendered to mush and smeared from here to eternity. Oh, the humanity.

More! More! More!

Here's a good one of Papa holding Baron and Baron obviously not liking it very much. He loves to be tossed into the air, but what baby doesn't? He loves to fly around the room, sound effects at full volume, just skimming the tips of the house plants with his smiling maw open wide in hopes of catching something should daddy's focus wane while piloting the Baron Bomber.

Terror in the skies!! .

Too cute?

Well, let's try a few pictures now... This first one is The Little Barbarian Bear in the box that we use as a barricade between the living room and the kitchen. He has learned to crawl through. In his mouth is the Nerf dart that he loves so much. It remains one of his most favorite toys. It soaks up all his spit and drool. So nice. And I bet the flavor he experiences is unfathomable.
I love the lighting in this picture. Not to mention him, his expression, that tongue, everything about him. He is so damn amazing. Gah, that tongue!

And here he is in completely different natural light. The light helps bring out the mischief in his eyes. I think this picture is cute, but cute in a dark way. Evil baby picture!!

The Worst Ever!!

. Oh! My! God! It had exploded out the side and went down his legs and was all over his feet and everything and ACK!! I clipped him to the back fence and hosed him down before taking the steel wool to him. Geh. Yuck.

I'm a stay at home zombie...

He's finally asleep. We stayed up late at Doug and Amanda's last night (well, eight thirty is late for us) and Baron would not fall asleep there, no matter what. But he still woke up with a big ol' smile on his face just after four a.m.. I heard him making his 'it's time for everybody to wake up now' cooing and yelps and I rolled my dead weight mass over and saw his beautiful blue eyes peeking over the edge of his crib, piercing through the soft light in our room, right into my barely open, red and tired eyes. His mouth was just below the edge but I could still tell he was grinnin from nibble-able ear to nibble-able ear. (Say that five times fast!)
OOOH!! speaking of tongue twister's, one came to me a couple of days ago while my mind was wallowing in sleep deprivation; The lost astronaut lost his last lasso. Try it! Well, what'd ya think?
Baron likes to try and tackle the staircase once a day now. He can climb up about eight steps without any help. He's a freak. And a couple of days ago, with mommy sitting at the top of the stairs as bait and me right behind him providing support and damage control, he made it all the way to the top. I think that's about twenty, maybe twenty one stairs. He is so friggin buff. I saw him lift an old pickup truck off a man in a corn field once.
So, you were probably wondering about his poop and I just happen to have the scoop (?) on that. It's really, really gross, and it smells really, really bad and there's always really, really a bunch of the stuff.
Oh, he's awake and cryin'. Prolly fulla poop. Here we go again..........

sleeping like a baby

Last week I was getting worried that he wasn't getting enough sleep. He wasn't taking enough naps, he wasn't sleeping well at night and I was becoming concerned even though I have read in a few different books that most babies go through that faze, and it seems to be one of the bigger questions and concerns out there. As a universal rule, parents like to get sleep. I can admit to being president of THAT club. I gotta say that I'm still doing a lot better than I thought I would be, trudging forward with the little sleep I do get.
So, this week he did a fantastic 180 and now he's sleeping more at night and taking three one hour naps during the day. SWEET!!! Now I can do laundry, eat something, check out this blog and pick up a little in preperation for Calvin and his fam who're coming down this weekend for an early Thanksgiving. It's going to be fun, Baron is much more mobile now and I think he'll be much more interested is his cousins than he has been.
We're going to try to get the invitations for his upcoming birthday going tonight. I'm excited, more than I ever have been before for a birthday!!! It's going to be a BLAST!!!

The maiden voyage.

Wow, a blog all about our little Barbarian Baron Bear. Can one blog handle the awesomeness of Baron's daily exploits and adventures? We'll just have to wait and see.....
He got his first H1N1 swine flu injection yesterday and handled it just fine. That's right, he's even starting to shrug off needle pokes. He's a tank, I'm telling ya, a friggin tank. Now that he's all up on his shots we are a little more open to the idea of letting him play on public play equipment. We were soooooo scared of the possibility of him getting the flu that we were sizing up plastic bubbles for him online. An infant sized hamster ball that we could cram him in and roll down hills and things of that sort. Only the best!!!
His one year birthday is just over a month away. We reserved the banquet room at Stark Street Pizza for the occasion. really isn't much in the way of party places for infants around here, they're all geared towards older kids. Unless you're willing to pay a couple of hundred bucks. Granted, a pizza party at the Portland Children's Museum would be rad, but it ain't cheap. Maybe when he gets older, we can save up a few tax returns or cash in his college fund or something.
He's pulling him self up to a stand everywhere he goes.
He still hasn't given up on catching the cat.
The cat is still aware of this.
He loves to put his mouth on anything metal.
He couldn't care less about the television (thank God!). Unless Elmo's on.
He loves Elmo.
He doesn't like to be made comfortable, he wants to go, go, go.
The only thing he really hates is falling asleep.
He loves to have his picture taken.
He doesn't care for avocados.
That's cause he hasn't tried guacamole yet!