Spring has sprung!

I absolutely love spring and the Easter holiday in particular. There's something so life affirming about the long-awaited change of the seasons. Finally, saying goodbye to winter and welcoming in warmer weather, sunny skies, and green grass.... it's especially wonderful being able to enjoy this special time of year with Philip. Since he was born in September there was very little opportunity for us to be outside enjoying the weather before it turned cold, and winter just seemed to drag on and on this year. We're loving getting outdoors with him now and watching him experience a beautiful day. What a gift to be witness to the wonder of a new life exploring the world around him!

We ventured to Fredericksburg to have Aunt Natalie take some Easter pictures today. Philip wasn't at his smiliest, but Natalie managed to get some great shots anyway. Here's one of my favorites.

Tough Stuff

No one said motherhood would be easy but sometimes it's unreasonably hard. We took Philip to the pediatrician's office to have her look at some red rash-like spots on his stomach and some dry patches in other places on his shoulders and legs. Sure enough, it's eczema. The pediatrician said she wasn't worried about it, that it's fairly common in infants, and that in a lot of cases it goes away on its own in time. I'd like to say I'm reassured by that but I'm not. I'm bummed out that my sweet little baby is all of 7 months old and has to deal with this. Granted it doesn't seem to bother him at all but in my eyes it's only right that he be perfect in every way.

On top of that bad news, it was determined that both of Philip's big toes have ingrown toenails. No sooner was that diagnosis made that we were sent off to see a podiatrist who within minutes of looking at our poor little guy's toes was performing a less than pleasant procedure on them. He snipped away the skin and toenail around the afflicted area without so much as an "I'm sorry, kiddo." Our poor little boy cried and cried and I about lost it. The most difficult thing about motherhood so far for me has been seeing my son in pain without being able to explain to him why it's happening.

The worst part of that visit though was learning that we would most likely be bringing him back every couple of months to have it done again until Philip is old enough to have a more permanent procedure done to correct the problem. I can't put into words how much this breaks my heart.

In other news, Philip weighed 17 pounds, 11 ounces on Tuesday. He's almost tripled his birth weight at only 7 months old! He's still long and lean, but he's freakishly strong--the kid is all muscle!

First Cold

A play date with Philip's first little friend Julian has resulted in Philip's first cold. A minor one, thankfully, but his first bout with sickness nonetheless. He has a runny nose, is a bit congested, and seems to be on a napping strike, but he's still in good spirits; still our happy little guy. We're sure he'll be back to 100% soon.

Hippity Hoppity Easter's On Its Way!

A trip to the mall with Grandma on Monday ended with an impromptu photo op with the Easter Bunny. I was sure Philip would scream bloody murder upon being placed on the lap of an overgrown rabbit but he surprised all of us and did... nothing at all! I'm pretty sure he was completely oblivious to the fact that he was being held by someone and was probably thinking we'd just propped him up on a chair somewhere.
Regardless, he sat on that rabbit's lap and stared, unimpressed, at us like the goons we were as we waved, clapped, called aloud in sing-song voices, frantically waved a puppet in the air, and basically made fools of ourselves for a solid ten minutes before he finally cracked a smile. All I can say is thank God the woman behind the camera caught it!

And here is the adorable result of all of our hard work:

Pardon the bare feet.... I don't know how that happened. I really don't take my kid out in public sans socks. Really.

Sunday Afternoon Shopping Trip

Passed out in the car seat after an exhausting afternoon of shopping. I love how he's sporting his super cool new shades and holding on to his keys. What a life!

6 Month Well Baby Visit

Philip had his 6 month check up and vaccinations today. He took them like a champ; much better than the last two times he had to have his shots. I was so worried that he'd be a hot mess for the rest of the day since I've heard a lot of horror stories about how the 6 month vaccinations cause baby to be irritable, run a fever, etc. I'm happy to say he's been sleeping soundly in his crib since seven o'clock this evening!

Our little guy is getting big, too. He was 16 pounds even today and 25 and a quarter inches long. He's right around the 50th percentile for height, and a little less than the 50th percentile for weight. He's meeting all of his necessary milestones and developing and growing beautifully, according to our pediatrician.

Our next visit to Dr. Hayes' office won't be for another 3 months and no more shots until the 12 month visit. I can't believe that the next time he goes to the pediatrician's office there's a good chance he'll be crawling! I have a feeling these next 6 months are going to go by a lot faster than the first 6 months. This is mostly likely due to the fact that I was awake for most of the first 6 months. Thank goodness Philip is FINALLY sleeping through the night!

New Toys

Phil's 27th birthday is right around the corner and, to celebrate, his parents bought him a new grill this weekend. One side is gas, the other side is charcoal. Supposedly, this baby can handle sixty hamburgers at one time! Not that we'll ever need to cook sixty hamburgers, but it's good to know we could if the need arose... right?

Phil and his man toy.

Grammy and Grandpa, Great Grandma Galayda, and the Depue family came to visit on Sunday and they brought with them an arsenal of toys for little P that could rival the booty found on any Christmas morning. A favorite of Daddy are the new wooden blocks. After Philip went to bed, he built an awesome castle complete with gate for Philip to enjoy in the morning.


"Wow! What a fun castle! What happens when I swing my fists at it?"

Telling Lola to his right: "You don't say a word, dog."

"Cleaning up is not as fun as tearing down!"