Six Months

My baby turned six months last weekend!

I am truly grateful for him and how he is helping me become a better person. He has brought so much happiness into our family. I'm totally loving this stage he's in right now!

A few tidbits...

His fav position is sitting up.

Tooth #2 is coming in.

He loves the jogging stroller--he just sits back and puts his feet up on the tray!

He loves pulling my hair and earrings.

He's becoming more and more vocal!

He has a very patient and calm personality and rarely gets fussy (usually just when he's tired).

When he gets excited (and he's sitting) he rocks forward & backward and flails his arms. :)

He still gets called a "flirt" all the time in public. Montana thing?

"Mini Ben" remains his other classification.

Favorite toys: my water bottle & cell phone.

Oh, and he likes to eat his toes.

He is so intrigued by grass

and cars going by!

His 6-month appt. isn't until next week. Stats to come!

And of course, a bunch of recent pictures. They all probably look the same to you, but I couldn't delete any. :)

This was our little family hike up to the "M."

The rest of the pictures are of him on the "Russian Sleigh Bed," as Ben has called it.

(Fitting, because it's pretty musical...it creaks very loudly and the decorations on the gold posts are loose so they actually jingle...haha.)

Abram loves the gold posts!

Those below are what I like to call, "chunk-a-lunks."

(That's for you, Mom.)

His hair is starting to grow over his ears...

Mr. Blue Eyes

This was a half-smile half-chewing-his-new-tooth pose.

Sweet little profile.

"How many pictures are ya gonna take?"

Back to business.

Oh yeah, and I still need to post his first bites pictures...

Three Years

Three years ago today, Ben and I swung in the hammock in his backyard before our wedding reception.

Three moves,

three states,

three years of school,

and one sweet baby boy later...

equals a lot more love. :)

July Fourth

This year we were lucky enough to have visitors over 4th of July weekend!

Ben's family made the all-day drive to visit us and we were able to do a lot of fun things together.

On Friday night, we walked around downtown and enjoyed art galleries and live music.

Saturday, everyone (except Karen & Abram) hiked up to the "M" for the U of M. It was pretty steep, but short. The weather was perfect!

(above) Alan, Ali, Zach, me

Zach and Ben explored up a little higher.

I don't think Zach likes to be in the limelight. :)

We arrived home just as Karen and Abram were finishing their walk.

After lunch, we found a place where you can "rent" bikes for free! We had fun riding up and down the Clark Fork river.

We took turns staying with Abram in the shade.

Abram loved seeing new faces and having so many people to hold him!

After riding bikes, we all got yummy ice cream at the Big Dipper...which we have yet to get a picture of.

On Sunday we took a lovely walk around our neighborhood to look at all the houses,

went to church,

had yam & black bean burritos for dinner,

played some games,

and had cookies for dessert.

On Monday, we drove up North to a really small town called Seeley Lake, MT. The lake was really pretty with a lot of boaters.

We heard there was a good 4th of July parade and people were staking out their spots hours in advance, so we were pretty excited for it!

Unfortunately, the majority of the parade was people waving on their 4-wheelers or pick-up trucks. Too bad we didn't know anyone. :)

It made for a good memory though. Luckily we had a good spot in some shade!

And Zach snatched us some free water bottles.

Alan & Zach stopped at a ghost town on the way home while the rest of us went swimming at their hotel.

That night, Karen so generously stayed with Abram while the rest of us left to watch fireworks.

Ben had an awesome idea to hike a little ways up the mountain in order to see the whole valley's fireworks. It was fun to watch...until we started getting eaten alive by the mosquitoes!

We're so grateful we could spend the weekend with family. It was so nice to have familiar faces here.

Thank you, Wade's, for making the trip up to spend time with us!

Kristin's no-good, horrible, rotten day

Isn't that the title of some Sesame Street book? Or is it Arthur?

Anyway, sometimes it just feels better to talk about your bad day to someone...and cyberspace happens to be my someone right now!

So I was extremely tired this morning (I haven't slept well here for a few reasons...) so I took a nap during Abram's morning nap. I felt more rested after, but severely unproductive. And unshowered.

The car tried to overheat during errands.

Blow-out. On his clothes, my clothes, the changing pad.

Spit-up. All over him, me, and the carpet.

A barking rampage from the neighbor's dog during Abram's next nap (our apartments are connected so the dog was inches away)...waking him up and throwing off his whole schedule (yes, I'm type "A" when it comes to napping and feeding schedules...)

Tired of a dark, stuffy apartment. We actually got a window A/C unit, but it blocks out a lot of natural light. And the other windows in the room don't open...haha.

An attempt at a jog to feel better--but I left the jogging stroller out in the pouring rain and it was soaked.

Nursing Abram...let's just say new tooth + biting = blisters = pain.

Bad diaper rash on baby boy that I can't get rid of (though he doesn't seem to mind).

Baking sounded like a great idea....but my new recipe flopped.

And I broke two glasses.

Husband at work late.

No social life.

Poor me.

Okay, I feel better.

I know these are all very eternally miniscule mishaps.

I'm grateful for a baby with a really calm, content personality and a patient, caring husband.

Here's to better days ahead.

Montana Happenings

I have a little catching up to do.

We've been having fun exploring Montana (which really does seem to have a bigger sky...how is that??).

A couple weeks ago we went to a "deck party" for Ben's work at an Osprey's game (minor league baseball).

Free food. Free seats. Free fun.

Unfortunately, we failed to get a picture.

I think we were the youngest couple there...especially with a baby (story of our lives), but everyone adored Abram, of course.

We've also been downtown to the farmer's market...really fun! It's a lot smaller than the one in Minneapolis, of course, but still fun.

Side note: Montana does not have state tax. Awesome. My grocery bill is always a little less than I anticipate!

Last weekend we took a quick trip and drove 2 hours north up to Bigfork, MT, a little town that sits on Flathead Lake, which is one of the prettiest lakes I've ever seen (...and yes...failed to get a good picture of the lake...I blame the cold, windy weather).

Bigfork encompasses everything you could want in smalltown Montana.

We walked around downtown and visited fun shops and beautiful art galleries. There was a lot of Native American art, which was so interesting!

We also happened to hit the galleries on their once-a-month reception night when they provide delicious appetizers for all the passerby. We scored some yummy chocolate, cookies, crackers & dip, lemonade, fresh fruit...even salmon and shrimp!

We might as well have stuck Abram on the gallery wall and asked for money the way he attracted people's attention...

"Oh, he is such a flirt!"

"Well, he's the youngest visitor this gallery has ever had!"

"What a charmer!"

The flirt thing really bugged me though.

"Um, no, this is just my sweet, innocent 5-month-old, thank you...."

Don't worry, I was nice.

We had some really good sandwiches at a cute cafe called Montana BearFood.

And we found an awesome deal at the Timbers Lodge Motel.

Somehow they still let us in without meeting the two apparent requirements to lodge there:

1. Be over 60 years old

2. Own a Harley

However, it ended up being a nice motel. Ben was the only one brave enough to swim in the outdoor pool, though it was probably only in the 40's.

This was at one of the fun little shops we walked through...in the hat section. :)

Ben had Abram in our carrier most of the time and we kept him wrapped up all cozy.

This is Bigfork Bay, leading out to Flathead Lake.

(see the big sky?)

This was a few days later, back in Missoula. Every Thursday night at a nearby park, there's live music and food vendors from all over.

That night they also had a kayaking competition on the Clark Fork River. The kayakers do tricks--all kinds of spins, turns, and even flips under the water! It was fun to watch.

Even Abram liked it.

Next up: Our 4th of July weekend...

Got Drool?

The other day I was doing dishes for a few minutes while Abram furiously blew bubbles...and I turned to find his spit froth all over his little mouth!

Of course, I stopped dishes to take a few shots.

Love him.

Yummy.

Oh, and if you're thinking his hair looks red...you might be right. Most of the time it looks light brown or blonde, but in certain lighting it has a reddish tint!