8 months: Desmond

I need to hurry and get this post out before Desmond turns 9 months...or a year. I swear I was just posting his 7 month update a few days ago.


In the last month Desmond has mastered crawling, he gets so fast, especially when he has his eye on something. He starts grunting or saying "yeah yeah yeah", which is one of his newest "words". He also has started saying something that resembles "hi".

He loves to wave his arms up and down when he gets excited or is testing the sound of an object banging into another. Everything and I mean EVERYTHING he snatches goes immediately into his mouth. He has two bottom teeth that came in simultaneously. His top left is about to poke through as well. In fact it gave us quite the scare this evening when it started to gush blood. We've never had anything like that happen but the nurse on the phone acted as if it was a normal occurrence. (any other parents out there have this happen?)

Just over a week ago he pulled himself up to standing in his crib for the first time and every since he has been obsessed with pulling himself up and has already started cruising, making his way across the front of the couch. This kiddo is so ready to chase his brother down!

Now that he's so mobile he doesn't want much to do with being held, playing in his jumper, or being carried in the Ergo for very long. He gets antsy to move on his own. He even likes being put down in the grass to crawl (Kai refused to let grass touch his skin, especially when he was learning to walk).

Desmond is super friendly, quick to return a smile from just about anyone. He has taken to occasionally feigning shyness by smirking and burying his head in my neck or shoulder when approached by someone. He is super ticklish and loved to be bounced or danced with.

He has become quite the chatter box and will babble to himself endlessly. When Kai is around he's all ears. He loves to watch and listen to his brother. Malakai is better as soothing him when he gets grumpy in the car than either myself or Ben. Kai will quickly say "it's okay Desmond, it's okay, it's okay, it's okay" and Des will smile or relax and usually remain calm.

He has loved trying new foods but still prefers to nurse. So far he's eaten oatmeal, banana, avocado, mango, and butternut squash. We've been slow on introducing new foods because of how busy our schedule has been lately, but he doesn't seem to mind. Next on the menu will be yogurt.

Des is obviously a big boy for his age. Apparently Ben + I have average sized newborns that grow at an incredible rate. Kai has slowed down and is normal for his age, so we're assuming his baby brother will do the same. We're just glad they're healthy and happy.

I love watching you learn, grow, and laugh little Des.

We still exist...

...but you might miss us if you blink.

Catch a few quick snippets of what we've been up to over at the photo blog for now, I'll be back soon with some updates and lots more pictures.

Thankful on a Thursday

This week I'm thankful for...

1061. All the hard work that went into our backyard makeover {now we just wait for the grass to grow!}

1062. The kiddos staying healthy despite both Ben + I being sick.

1063. Regaining my voice after almost a week of struggling to talk.

1064. The love and support of an amazing man.

1065. Our successful trip to Portland. So many things could have derailed the whole thing, but everything went smoothly.

1066. A fantastic boss and co- workers. I love my job!

1067. My busy boys. Des is such a speedy crawler now, he has taken to following Kai everywhere. Kai LOVES it.

1068. Getting some fun crafty supplies in the mail.

1069. Morning coffee ala French press.

1070. God's word with me wherever I go. 

{YouVersion Bible app}

Now on to a VERY busy weekend!

what we've been up to...

Memorial Day weekend was quite the whirlwind of events for us.

Friday night we drove up to Portland for our first long car ride with both Malakai + Desmond. It could not have gone any better. Kai drew on his aqua doodle pad nearly the whole way up. I was pleasantly surprised that we never had to pull out the ipod for last resort video games! Desmond napped a big chunk of the ride and then woke up happy and watched Malakai for a while. He was pretty fussy the last 20 minutes, but nothing unbearable.

{I-5 NB}

After we settled in at Lindsey + Adam's place she and I left the boys to hang out (aka Ben got to do bedtime for both kiddos and he ROCKED it!). We went to downtown Portland for Carina's 30th birthday party at The Barrel Room. It was a lot of fun and I was so excited to be out with friends, I can't remember the last time I did something like that!

{Linds + Elvis, China Town, Carina + her fiancee Reid}

{Carina on the piano, me + Lindsey, Carina + I, Carina + her cake}

Unfortunately almost as soon as we got there my voice started to get scratchy and with the increased volume once the band started playing I was straining to talk loud enough to have a conversation with anyone. Linds and I were the last to go and got back around 12:30am. I found Ben in the guest bed passed out with Kai sprawled across the bed next to him. He moved Kai to his cot and we passed out until Des woke up at 5:30am, when my amazing husband woke up with him and let Malakai and I sleep in til nearly 7am. That's when I woke up with a very hoarse voice.

{Des + Linds}

We had breakfast with Linds + Adam before packing up to head home. We stopped to stretch Malakai's legs and have some lunch on the way down. Kai slept the whole way and Des fell asleep about halfway down after a bit of a meltdown that we had to pull over for. I drove so that Ben could catch up on sleep as well.

{Bridgeport Village}

When we got back to town, there was a whole crew at our place to greet us because it was phase 2 of our lawn replacement. Ben's parents had gifted us with a new lawn for Christmas and the weekend before they had tilled up and raked out all the old grass to prepare for trenching, laying pipe for sprinklers, filling said trenches, calibrating sprinklers, evening out the land, spreading base mix, grass seed and the like and then waiting for it to all grow. My brother, his friend, Ben, his brother and their dad all worked from 2:30 (when we got back) til around 6pm that day.

Sunday I had a rare day off of work, but I was sick so I didn't really get to enjoy it. My voice was even worse- I could barely talk. Ben and his dad got started in on the lawn again that afternoon and into the evening while the boys and I hung out around the house.

Monday rolled around and I had arranged for Ben's mom to watch the boys so I could get some things done, including rest! Ben, his dad, and his brother were back at the yard for the whole day. I ran a few errands and took my time, but when I got home to nap I couldn't sleep. I did a few things around the house before picking up the boys and having lunch with them and their grandma. Even though I didn't get the rest I was hoping for it was still a nice break.

{trenching for new sprinklers}

Once the boys were down for nap I still couldn't sleep and was now coughing. After they woke up we played in the house and checked out the new sprinkler system a bit. Ben + I were both so exhausted (he was sick too!) that we ordered in for dinner and took it easy.

Yesterday we both went into the doctor. Ben seems to have another case of bronchitis and possibly asthma? I don't know if I agree with the doctor's theory, especially since her remedy was a $40+ inhaler. Oy! My diagnosis is viral laryngitis, the advice- wait it out. My voice is coming back a bit but my throat is painful and my cough is worse. I still sound like a frog man.

Today I went to work- I don't want to fall behind and honestly it's easier to be there while being sick than to be home with my 2 energetic boys. It's better for them to have some time with Mima who is healthy enough to keep up with them.

As for our yard, it's a lovely field of dirt and grass seed for now, but over the next few weeks we should be getting some lovely new grass sprouting up!

I'm super behind on my photo blog, but I have some catch up to do at home and at work before that gets updated. It'll get done soon though...I hope!

7 months

{I wrote the following update and then let it sit as I haven't had time to add the pictures...Des turned 7 months almost two weeks ago on the 10th...May is about to disappear just as quickly as April did! Needless to say he is already doing much more since I wrote this post, changing way too fast!}

On Thursday Desmond turned 7 months...already. April sort of disappeared for us, which has me a bit worried about how May will go!

This past month Desmond has started to say "dada" all.the.time. He did (for the record) say "ma" first...but he really only says it when he's mad. Nice huh? He also says "ba" and recently started mixing them together a bit. He will even start practicing his new words in the middle of the night, cute.

He's crawling, albeit clumsily. But there is forward motion now instead of just ending up wedged under something because he's scooted backwards. His increased mobility over the last 4 weeks leaves nothing at floor level safe anymore. I've been sweeping and mopping like a crazy woman...as well as cleaning up spit-up every two seconds (see: happy spitter). He is very good at grabbing anything and everything. He has long arms and incredible aim. Jewelry and cutlery beware.


Des' sitting skills have improved as well. He was toppling over quite often because he'd want to try to go get something or he'd get really excited and straighten out, only to fall backwards. Now he's mastered rolling to the side to get on his tummy from sitting, as well as getting into a sitting position from being on his belly. All these things we take for granted until we see a little person struggle to learn them. He gets frustrated, but does fairly well.

The DAY he turned 7 months his first tooth broke through. The night before was obviously a rough one. Little tooth is on the bottom in the middle. It is sharp and I'm praying hard that he doesn't become a biter like Kai was.

He is still waking in the night to nurse, but typically only once which is manageable for the time being. Although, I'm thinking we'll try to wean him of that feeding soon since he doesn't need it and we all could use the continuous sleep. Easier said than done of course. He naps regularly and goes down easily for the most part, he is leaps and bounds easier than his brother was in the sleep department. Actually, he's still easier than Malakai is right now when it comes to going to sleep and staying asleep.

As you can see Desmond has a head full of hair and I'm not sure we'll make it to his first birthday before he needs his first haircut. Malakai had very short hair at the same age, but developed sweet curls that I became quite attached to. His first haircut was at almost 15 months old. Looking back at pictures of his little psuedo-mullet, I think it'll be easier to cut Desmond's when the time comes...as long as he doesn't go and sprout little curls anytime soon.