test garvin wordpress

My sister discovered that areas on Art's clothes that have screenprinting don't get soaked by Art's constant spitting-up and drooling so she made Art a spittle-repellant onsie by stencilling a bib on it. She's very crafty. She also made me this shirt when I was pregnant and didn't have anything left that fit me.

  

  

When my sister and I went to IKEA yesterday to get Art a high chair I brought Art, a sling, a burp cloth and a diaper. That was it. IKEA has a diaper dispenser in the family restroom and when I put Art in a disposable it never leaks so I figured I was set. Except I forgot that he was due for a poop. Let's just say we came into IKEA with a baby wearing a long-sleeve shirt, overalls and socks and left with a baby in a long-sleeve shirt.

A real baby! Sitting in the kitchen in his (new) high chair, stuffing something in his mouth. Just what we all expect from a baby!

This little piano makes a really nice tone, except for the orange key, which is slightly out of tune. Anyway, I'm not going to say that Art "played" the little piano, but, in his curiosity, he did purposefully swat at it making notes sound for a few solid minutes. Then he got crabby and needed a diaper change.

Well, before we went to North Carolina for the Garvin Family Reunion Art started doing daily "sit ups". It looks like a Pilates move called The Hundreds . When he does it I put my fingers in his hands and he pulls himself up to sitting. He's even learned how to set his feet so the move pulls him completely to standing! (Video to come when Ben gets back in town. I don't know how to put it online without him.) Anyway, this is a really fun development. The other fun thing is that he stomps his left foot while he's standing, which he started doing a couple days ago. Stomp. Stomp. Stomp. He hasn't done the right one yet, but I'm waiting for it. Here's a couple pics of him standing up. I wish I had a series of the whole process, but I can't take the pictures and pull him up at the same time. Darn!

Art made a new friend while we were delayed in Cincinnati - Keaton. Keaton is almost five months old. It was a good thing they met, too, because our bags didn't make it to North Carolina and when Keaton's mom saw us befuddled by the baggage claim she gave us a bag of diapers, a change of clothes, and a couple baby blankets.

This is a real mountain of fresh, clean laundry waiting to be folded. I shudder to think what it will look like when we ever have another kid!!!

We've been out of the blogosphere while at the Garvin Family Reunion. We had a great time. There were 25 Garvins, Garvin-in-Laws, and Step-Garvins staying in a twelve bedroom North Carolina beach house. Art handled himself quite well amongst the crowd. Sometimes he got overwhelmed and cranky and a lot of the time he was kind of quiet and just taking it all in, but eventually he got back to his normal, smiley self. It was nice for Ben and me because there were so many willing Art-watchers. We took naps, played cards, and even flew a kite on the ocean beach with our Art-free time. I'll post more later, but here's a couple pics of Art with his Garvin relatives. There's Art enjoying the sun with his cousin Mindy, left, her daughter Caitlin, and Art's Aunt Ashley on the right. Then a sly shot of Uncle Josh and Art taking a nap together. Finally, there's Art hanging out with his cousin Mira, who lent him her swing for the weekend.

We would love to know who has stopped by the blog and posted so if you post anonymously please sign off with your name. Thanks!

I've noticed Art looking at his feet lately. He has discovered his feet! Pretty exciting. I've tried bringing his foot up to his hands but he's not interested yet. I just want to see him eat his toes.

Check out my sister's blog for a cute picture of Art with her and her dog, Poncho. She also made a mozaic pun for Art. It's really cool.

This didn't last long, but Art did fall asleep with one arm out of his swaddle. I'm not sure how or when he woke up but I passed his room about 20 minutes later and found him with both arms out, wide awake and pulling at his fingers. But he did fall asleep slightly unswaddled, which is something he hasn't been able to do, so that's cool.

We haven't had any decent snow all winter, and now, in March, we finally have it! I took this picture from a window on the second floor, next to our bedroom. If you look closely you can see part of our neighbor's house on the right, a truck parked on the street and the faint shadow of a house across the street. No stroller walk today!

In this picture you can see that Art has inheritid the Parker Arms - freakishly long arms that make shirt shopping a lifelong challenge as the arms are beyond the proportional imagination of any clothing designer. He's wearing a three month onsie here which fits his body really well, but the ARMS!!! If only for the ARMS!!!

This was a hand-me-down snowsuit. Ben and I were going to walk with Art in the stroller so we tried this on him but he wasn't too happy about being in it so we gave up and popped him in the ubiquitous brown sling. He's getting pretty heavy to be walking around too long like that, though. A couple days later it was warmer and we went in the stroller successfully in a jacket and warm pants.

This is the only outfit Ben purchased for Art. He actually bought it before Art was born. I think he looks slightly French with the little hat. Tonight we had a very exciting moment! Art was making syllables and sounds and I was talking back to him. He said, "Ghhhhhhuh" and I said, "Ghhhhhhuh" and then he said "Ghhhhhhhuh" again! He didn't do it with other sounds, but when I said Ghhhhhhuh he repeated it back to me and he did it several times! Ben and I were really excited.

I found this little origami movie when I was trying to find folding instructions online. It's kind of cute and might make you smile...

I'm just so excited about this grasping development! Especially the pulling-things-to-his-mouth part. In this picture he is grasping and eating the only toy bought for him by his parents, a weird bird thing with crinkly wings. You can watch him in action here . He's kicking a lot because he was tired. I put him down to bed soon after and he was asleep in 10 minutes. (The video may take a while to load. I hope it works...)

Art calmly sat in his chair today while I fixed our squeaky stair. Perhaps he knew the payoff would be less noise outside his door while he sleeps. Thanks Art!