8 Months!

As mentioned in the previous post, I haven't been taking many pictures lately. Most of the pictures below are from my phone.  That'll hopefully change now that we're almost settled in Colusa. At 8 months, Clay is the easiest he's been. He finally got the hang of crawling at 7.5 months and he's much more interested in playing by himself. He also started a new day care here in Colusa with Marianne Nall. There are so many kids there, and it seems like Clay likes it. He's happy when I drop him off and when I pick him up! I also wonder if his time with all the older kids contributed to him learning how to crawl.

I think Clay likes swings... here he looks bored to death. But I swear he's usually smiling.

Food continues to be awesome!

Playing at the park!

Look at me! My belly and chest were irritated by the dry weather down in Palm Springs! I got little rashes that you can see here!

I'm wearing a beanie that looks like a baseball!

The mornings are the best with Clay. If we have time, Luke and I will bring him into bed before we start our day.

I grew my first tooth this month!

 

Shopping at the local market in Colusa.

I actually did a night away in St. Helena with some friends from college. We had a blast visiting over some wine tasting. Luke was so nice to watch Clay overnight while I was gone with my girlfriends.

7 Months!!!

Look at me! I'm 7 months and I can sit all by myself!

On March 5, Clay turned 7 months. Clay's 7th month is a bit of a blur for me. I know he was baptized and that he started venturing into lots of new fruits and vegetables, like sweet potatoes, zucchini, pears and apples, and he also learned how to sit by himself.  He also made strides in his crawling abilities, since he's now at 8 months and he's cruising on all fours.  Clay's 7th month was a really busy one.... he's continued to get cuter, but I wasn't able to keep track of milestones like the previous month. He also started sleeping 11 - 12 hours a night. So, I'm starting to feel I don't have the "I didn't sleep last night" excuse for not getting things done like I used to!

My high school friend, Stacy Cahill, is the professional photographer who took this picture. We had Stacy and her family over for dinner in Davis and she did an impromptu photo shoot of Clay. Which, turned out to be perfect timing since I neglected to do his 6 month pictures. Stacy's pictures were adorable, but this one was among our favorites.

Clay starts loving eating solid foods.

This picture was taken at his 6 month appointment right before we stripped him down for his shots. It's so sad because he's so happy here and doesn't know what he has coming. But, he was really cute this time because he only cried with the initial poke of the needle.

 

I just love this picture.

Clay finally started enjoying his baby Einstein exersaucer thing. You can see him here having the time of his life.

This cake here is for Luke's half birthday. I know, these half birthday celebrations are getting out of control. Clay was scared of the singing and the candle!

 On Thursday, March 6th, we traveled to Palm Springs for our annual Steidlmayer / Sasan vacay in the desert.  Clay was good on the airplane, but he didn't want to sleep the majority of the plane ride like he did when he was 2 months.  As always, we loved it down in the desert with both of our families.  Friday night, Maile, Michael, Luke and I snuck away to watch the tennis tournament. During the days, in addition to relaxing by the pool, we found that Clay loved the water! He would scream and kick in the pool. It was hilarious.

 

Like mom like son - we both love the desert!

After the flea market, we had lunch with Grandma Beth, Grandma Erin, Maile, Joey and Alex.

I wonder what Clay said to make Maile laugh so hard!

After our desert vacation, we decided to make some major changes to our lives.  After 2.5 years of living in Davis, we decided to move to Colusa.  One day, during a busy pre-work morning, it just dawned on me that we should move.  With me working from home full time and Luke commuting 2 hours a day to Colusa, it didn't make sense to continue to live in Davis. We decided we should try the Colusa country living.  We moved to Colusa officially on Friday, March 14th. That was the Friday after the Monday we flew back from Palm Springs. That was one of the hardest weeks as a family - working, taking care of Clay, moving boxes from Davis to Colusa, renting a UHaul for furniture and then trying to clean and paint our condo for the new renters. It was crazy. But, together, we made it through!

Moving with a baby!

Here we are getting close to being all moved out.

Clay looks a bit worried here like we're going to accidentally put him in a box.

 

Official first night in Colusa! Of course we celebrated with a bottle of champagne!

The new view from our backyard. So pretty!

 

Going back a few weeks on February 9th, Clay gets Baptized in Davis!  Ali and Chris Merino are his godparents. We enjoy a nice ceremony at St. James Church in Davis, and then Round Table to accommodate our huge families. There's nothing about pizza that doesn't say congrats to you Clay on your Baptism! It was a really special day.

Teo and Clay getting to know each other

Clay and the Kessi's

Clay with his godparents, Chris and Ali.

Clay took his baptism very seriously.

Homemade baptism cake