Man has Wubba been busy this week.

Man I knew babies are busy but the Wubba has brought a new meaning to the word busy this week. We started on Sunday by graduating from the carrier carseat to the rear facing big carseat. Now he gets a better view of the crazy kids in the back, seat and is much more entertained on car rides.

With the privilege of the big boy seat comes the added fun of learning to sit in the seat of the shopping cart at the store. On Wednesday we headed out to do some shopping just The Wub and me so he got to experience the fun that is riding in the seat part of the shopping cart for the first time. He looked a little shocked at first. Wasn't sure exactly what to do with himself in the car, he kept turning around and then stuck in the buckle. Shortly in to our shopping foray he fell in to his usual way of shopping and crashed out. He had a hard time finding a comfy spot but finally settled on the head on the wadded up coat as pillow position and was out like a light. He missed out on all of his admirers oohing and gushing over his cuteness sleeping in the cart. After that store we picked up Landon and Brenna and headed out to Costco where he got to try out the sharing the front of big car with your sister. Thankfully she was excited to show him the ropes of riding in cart, however she was not interested in him sharing the delicacies none as Costco samples. After a struggle with some dry roasted edame samples we were happily able to finish our Costco adventure.

This week he also reached the big milestone of acheiving his very first chomper. I have tried unsuccessfully to capture the little white pearl in his mouth on film (well at least digital), he is just not a fan of showing off his pearly white. If growing his first tooth was not enough for him he also learned how to climb up the bottom two steps of the stairs much to my unhappiness at having to add yet another gate to the fortress we call the living room.

With the new carseat came a new challenge where to put the Wubba when we got out to dinner. He discovered he liked sitting in the high chair at the restaurant as he as able to reach the salt shaker, his sister's plate, my plate, cups, napkins and the best snag he managed was an empty rib bone which he found to be a quite exciting find and kept busy gnawing at that for a while.

Along with mastering the ascent of the stair case he also mastered the push toy and now happily walks behind the toy until he crashes in to something. He has not mastered the fine art of turning his toy but he does love cruising that toy down the hall. He does not stand solo but if we get him up on his feet and can get our hands out of his death grip he will giggle and slowly lower himself to the ground. I think he is playing with us and he is much more capable than he lets on.

For Valentine's day we got the older kids a big heart shaped lollipop and I could not bear the thought of not having something similar for him so I found a little heart shaped lolli for him and on Valentine's he experienced the joy of his first lolli. He looked stunned at first but quickly figured it out and had a blast with it until I got to paranoid that he would choke and pulled a switch a roo on him and gave him some Gerber Yogurt Melts to distract him from the missing lolli.

To round out his week of new experiences he got to experience the humilation of having to wear his sister's hand me downs. I loved this little happy face outfit we got Brenna but we got it at the end of her being able to wear the size so she didn't wear it long. Wubba was in need of something to wear and it was handy so I couldn't resist sticking him in the happy outfit. I hope he's not scarred for life from the pink.

I leave you with some pictures of his memorable week of first. (Still no tooth shot though I will keep trying)

[caption id="" align="alignnone" width="320" caption="Wubba checking out Wubba in the mirror"][/caption]

[caption id="" align="aligncenter" width="320" caption="Going Up"][/caption]

[caption id="" align="alignright" width="214" caption="I can do this no problem"][/caption]

[caption id="" align="aligncenter" width="214" caption="and he is off "][/caption]

[caption id="" align="alignleft" width="214" caption="still going"][/caption]

[caption id="" align="alignright" width="214" caption="until he crashed in to a toy"][/caption]

[caption id="" align="aligncenter" width="800" caption="Having a good laugh"][/caption]

[caption id="" align="alignnone" width="800" caption="What is this thing you have put in my mouth"][/caption]

[caption id="" align="alignnone" width="533" caption="Pink humilation"][/caption]

For an early Christmas gift the Wubba gaves us some chaos

A few days before Christmas at the ripe old age of 6 months 2 weeks the Wubba discovered crawling. I was not prepared for my 6 month old to be crawling. I was not ready to be living in the land of baby gates, I thought I had a few more months. However Wubba had different ideas and he took off. Then as an add on to the first gift with in a week he also learned to pull up on things. So now we have mobile house wrecker and I am scurrying to figure out what he's going to be in next. So far he has discovered the joys of the dog food and water, emptying the two cabinets under the TV and heaven forbid something sit on the top of the TV stand because he will not tolerate that at all and on the floor it must go. He makes sure I am not bored all day.

Then in my mommy wisdom I thought he might enjoy the fun of finger foods like Gerber puffs and cheerios so I introduced him to those special rites of passage in to toddlerhood. Didn't consider that him learning to self feed Cheerios and puffs would also enable the baby vaccuum feature that causes Mom's to look puzzled and say "What do you have in your mouth" then do the great finger swipe to discover the soggy hidden treasure with in, a piece of tape, a chunk of dog food, Brenna's hair band, the corner of a piece of paper, the god forbidden barbie shoes and legos, or the occasional Box Tops of Edcuation that I have been counting for the kids school. Makes me wonder what he managed to get down before we noticed.

Now it is February and he is consistently everywhere. He watches the other kids and us go through the gate and as soon as it is open he makes a bee line for the border in hopes he will make it through while the gate is open. He has learned to pull up the speaker near the gate with a swinging walk through and swing it open then crawl through. If we don't lock the gate to the kitchen he will shake it loose then push it open and head for the dog food. He has also learned to crawl over to you and pull up and smile all cute and gummy so you will pick him up. He will stand at the gate to the kitchen and scream and cry and say Ma Ma Ma Ma Ma in his pitiful little self making me feel guilty for doing dishes or making lunch.

The older kids love to play with him through the gate and he thinks it is great fun too. They sit on one side of the gate and talk to him or hand him stuff. They have a great time. He also loves to stand at this gate and shake it like a mad man.

[caption id="" align="aligncenter" width="336" caption="Wubba the gate monster"][/caption]

Our little Wubba is growing up and entering the terrorizing toddler years. I feel kind like I got cheated out of some baby time but we are having a blast watching him grow and learn.

The death of a hard drive

As a late Christmas gift to me my hard drive decide to end it's life. I was using the computer and just downloaded some updates and shut down the computer to finish the install and got a grey screen. Hubby took to the Apple store and they were able to recover a few files and transfer them to my new fancy laptop hubby picked out for me. So I have been working on trying to revive my photos and other info from the external hard drive but it has been giving me grief too. So I will stop waiting to blog until I can catch up and just move on from here. I would like to end this post with a public service announcement. If you love things you store on your hard drive make sure to back them up to disk or external drive somewhere so that you don't have to suffer that sick feeling of losing everything if your hard drive goes.

100 Things

I saw this on INFertile Myrtle. Feel free to borrow it. If you play along, leave me a comment so I can see your list.
Bold whatever you have done.

1. Started your own blog.
2. Slept under the stars.
3. Played in a band.
4. Visited Hawaii.
5. Watched a meteor shower.
6. Given more than you can afford to charity.
7. Been to Disneyland.
8. Climbed a mountain.
9. Held a praying mantis.
10. Sang a solo

11. Bungee jumped.
12. Visited Paris.
13. Watched a lightning storm at sea.

14. Taught yourself an art from scratch.
15. Adopted a child.
16. Had food poisoning.
17. Walked to the top of the Statue of Liberty.
18. Grown your own vegetables.
19. Seen the Mona Lisa in France.
20. Slept on an overnight train.
21. Had a pillow fight.
22. Hitch hiked.
23. Taken a sick day when you're not sick.
24. Built a snow fort.
25. Held a lamb.

26. Gone skinny dipping
27. Run a marathon.
28. Ridden in a gondola in Venice.
29. Seen a total eclipse.
30. Watched a sunrise or sunset.
31. Hit a home run.
32. Been on a cruise.
33. Seen Niagra Falls in person.
34. Visited the birthplace of your ancestors.
35. Seen an Amish community.
36. Taught yourself a new language.
37. Had enough money to truly be satisfied.
38. Seen the leaning tower of Pisa in person.
39. Gone rock climbing.
40. Seen Michelangelo's David.

41. Sung Karaoke
42. Seen Old Faithful geyser erupt.
43. Bought a stranger a meal at a restaurant.
44. Visited Africa.
45. Walked on a beach by moonlight.
46. Been transported in an ambulance
47. Had your portrait painted.
48. Gone deep sea fishing.
49. Seen the Sistine Chapel in person.
50. Been to the top of the Eiffel Tower in Paris.
51. Gone scuba diving or snorkeling.
52. Kissed in the rain.
53. Played in the mud.
54. Gone to a drive-in theater.
55. Been in a movie.
56. Visited the Great Wall of China.

57. Started a business
58. Taken a martial arts class.
59. Visited Russia.
60. Served in a soup kitchen.
61. Sold Girl Scout cookies.
62. Gone whale watching.
63. Gotten flowers for no reason.
64. Donated blood, platelets, or plasma
65. Gone sky diving.
66. Visited a Nazi concentration camp.
67. Bounced a check.
68. Flown in a helicopter.
69. Saved a favorite childhood toy.
70. Visited the Lincoln Memorial.
71. Eaten caviar.
72. Pieced a quilt.
73. Stood in Times Square.
74. Toured the Everglades.
75. Been fired from a job.
76. Seen the changing of the guards in London.
77. Broken a bone.
78. Been on a speeding motorcycle.
79. Seen the Grand Canyon in person.
80. Published a book.
81. Been to the Vatican.
82. Bought a brand new car.
83. Walked in Jerusalem.
84. Had your picture in the paper.
85. Read the entire Bible.
86. Visited the White House.
87. Killed and prepared an animal for eating. (Um.. ewww.)
88. Had Chicken pox.
89. Saved someone's life.
90. Sat on a jury.
91. Met someone famous.
92. Joined a book club.
93. Lost a loved one.
94. Had a baby.
95. Seen the Alamo in person.
96. Swam in the Great Salt Lake.
97. Been involved in a lawsuit.
98. Owned a cell phone.
99. Been stung by a bee.
100. Read an entire book in one day.

Look What Wubba Can Do

Bryan was laying on the floor playing with his toys and getting up on his hands and knees or hands and feet and rocking. I ran to the laundry room to stick in some clothes and came back to discover Bryan sitting in the middle of the floor. I called Landon in to ask him if he sat him there and he got all excited and said Bryan is sitting all by himself. So he didn't sit him up. We have tried to get him to sit and he usually just tumbles over to one side or the other after a couple of seconds. This time however he sat there long enough for me to run and grab the camera and take a few pictures. He is not a big fan of the camera flash so he doesn't look to happy in the pictures but he was thrilled that we were all so excited for him.

[caption id="attachment_97" align="aligncenter" width="500" caption="The Wubba can sit at 6 mos"][/caption]

Look who is 6 months old

[caption id="attachment_102" align="aligncenter" width="500" caption="Look who is 6 months old"][/caption]

The Big Road Trip of Fall Break

On Saturday of fall break (back at the end of October) we decided we would take the kids to Cincinnati to see the Newport Aquarium and to visit Ikea. Mom volunteered to keep Wubba as he wasn't really interested in going to see fish and we need a judge's permission to take him out of state. On Saturday morning we load everyone up head up to Mom's to drop of the Wubman and Lexi says she doesn't want to go with us she wants to stay with Oma. Jason, Mom and I all tried to convince her that it would be more fun to go with us but she was insistent that she didn't want to go so Oma said she could stay. The remaining 5 Frenchs headed out for Cincinnati. First stop the Newport Aquarium, they were having a special Halloween promotion where kids got in for $5 if they wore costume so we got clothes out of the dress up box for them and took our Firefighter, Pirate and chicken to the aquarium.

We saw an underwater pirate show and after the show they invited the kids up to the "stage" to pose for pictures. The boys were excited to get up there and check things out, Brenna wasn't interested at all.

We saw giant turtle and the boys gave him Turtle High Five.

We went to shark video show. It was only few minutes long but you watched it standing on a platform that moved with the show. The show was like you were in a shark cage underwater. It was interesting but the movements were freaky.

The kids got to pick a little pumpkin from a pumpkin patch outside the frog bog. The frog bog was full of all kinds of frogs. I loved seeing the neon colored dart frogs to bad they are poisonous as they sure are cute.

After the frog bog we went to go see the otters and lorikeets but the stroller wasn't allowed in the lorikeet area so Jason took Brenna around and me and the boys went in. The otters were sleeping so not much to see and boy did they smell bad so we hurried over to the lorikeet area. You could buy a little cup of nectar for $1 to feed them but I had left my purse with Jason so we couldn't buy any. While we were watching the birds we found a cup that someone left and Landon really wanted a bird to stand on him so we tried to get one to come to him. I got one on my hand then it walked on Landon but then quickly came back to my hand and went up my arm on to my shoulder. Since he was on my shoulder I kept feeding him and then two more joined him and I became the the bird lady. The boys thought it was hilarious that the birds liked me. We were all laughing until one of the birds peed on my back then it wasn't so much fun for me. I got them off of me and we went out to meet Jason and Brenna. Jason laughed at me and the boys were so excited that they drug Jason back in to the exhibit so he could see the birds. Then Brenna wanted to go in so we left the stroller and headed back. Brenna was feeding one of the birds and it either nibbled her finger or got on her and freaked her out and she hollered and made the bird fly off towards a guy and his daughter behind Brenna, it scared the guy who was squatting behind his daughter and he fell backwards and the boys were laughing again. Here is a picture of our little friend.

After the fun of Lorikeet adventure we head on to a tunnel where they would be doing underwater pumpking carving. Liam really liked this and didn't want to leave until they finished the pumpkin carving. It takes a long time to carve a pumpkin underwater but did you know that when you are done the fish that live in the area are thrilled as they like to snack on pumpkin. Who would have thought that fish would like pumpkin. When were finally able to convince Liam to move on we happened on to the end of the underwater pirate show. The diver "pirates" are great. They really make a fuss with the kids watching. Landon found one and they played patty cake through the glass.

Then they helped direct him to attack the other pirate that was with him.

The boys thought that was just great. On to our last big stop. The shark petting area. Liam was in heaven. Landon and Brenna aren't quite calm enough to entice the sharks close enough to pet but Liam was incredibly patient and gently with the sharks.

Liam enjoyed the shark area so much he insisted on staying there while the other kids went to see the penguins near by. He eventually relented and joined the others at the penguins but kept asking to go back and pet the sharks. I guess he gets that from me. When Jason and I went to Florida last year I spent a very long time at the aquarium we visited's stingray petting tank. We were there so long that the volunteer that was there when we got to the tank left and came back for another rotation at the ray tank. After the penguins and the sharks we reached the end of our aquarium experience and we headed out with three happy and tired kiddos.

From the aquarium we went to check out the world of Ikea. That is one amazing store. We let the older boys go play in the kids only supervised indoor playground while Brenna, Jason and I checked out the rest of the store. Man is that one neat store. If we would have had room in the van and more money in our account we would have brought home all kinds of great things for the house and kids. We managed to get just a few little things and this high chair for the Wubba.

[caption id="attachment_100" align="aligncenter" width="250" caption="The Wubba's new chair"][/caption]

After taking in the whole Ikea store we checked out, gathered the boys, and it was time to head for home. We had a blast and I am so glad we all got to go on at least one day get away this year.