I feel like I have stepped onto a speeding train ... just yesterday I felt the ridges of bottom teeth in Little Man's mouth and this morning they had actually pushed through! Fast foward a couple of hours and Little Man just started crawling all of the sudden, like 
he had been doing it for months. A few hours later I put him down for a nap and when I went in to check on him about 20 minutes later, I found him standing! Aaaccckkkkk! Slow down this crazy train 'cuz I can't keep up!
When Travis and I first got married we shared a very small queen bed. For our five year anniversary we upgraded to a king-sized bed (finally). Every morning I wake up and I have one inch between me and the edge because Travis is hogging the whole bed...and apparently it is contagious because despite all of the luxurious space in my wonderful bed, Little Man and Daisy feel it necessary to share the same three feet as me. Although I love a good Saturday morning snuggle, sometimes a girl needs her space. :)
Little Man has had such a fun week with lots of playtime with his pals JJ and JP. It began on Sunday night when our small group gathered to begin preparations for our portion of the church's Vacation Bible School (the boys took a little cat nap together) and ende
d with our good friend Jackie offering to watch Little Man one day while mommy had to work. JJ is much more mobile than Little Man and apparently much friendlier (Little Man wasn't too thrilled with the open-mouthed kiss). Jackie said that he just sat there wide-eyed staring at the boys most of the afternoon (we don't get out much) and had a lot of fun watching the boys in all their glory.
I am amazed at how quickly Little Man changes as he passes through each growing phase. Lately he has been taking several very long naps throughout the day...signs that he is growing once again. Each phase brings a new treasured moment or memory and I am so afraid that I will forget them in favor of the next stage's treasure. For now, my favorite stolen moment with him is when he is falling asleep in my arms and reaches up and runs his fingers through my hair. Perfection.
Little Man has been learning how to put himself to sleep (thankfully) and normally will play quietly in his crib or babble to himself until he falls asleep. We removed his bumber pads because he likes to sleep right up against them and with the heat there is no circulation in the crib. This morning I put him down for a nap, like I normally do, and let him play quietly while I got some housework done. I peeked in to check on him and found him like this. Isn't that face priceless? 
Although we've been reading to Little Man for several months, he has only started to realize it in the past few weeks. I read this book to him once and when it was finished he began crying so I read it again four more times and then just propped him up in front of it and he sat quietly looking at the pictures for several minutes before turning the pages and then ultimately laying down and gnawing on the book. He gives a whole new meaning to the phrase "devouring a book"!
Little Man is growing so fast and has an opinion about everything. Tonight, during his bath, he decided he is done with laying down during bath time. Every time we tried to lay him back he would grab the sides and pull himself forward.
This past weekend we had our annual multi-family garage sale. A summer garage sale in Texas probably wasn't the smartest idea on our part but we were able to make a little bit of money to put towards some of the NICU bills. Little Man did beautifully until right after lunch when he let us know, "This sale is over!" and I am the nurturing mother who grabbed the camera to capture the moment. Until next year....
For weeks Travis and I have been concerned with Little Man's progress, or lack there of, and then this week it is like someone turned on a light switch in his head and he realized, "Hey, these 5 sticks on the end of my hands can actually be used to do stuff!" Suddenly he is picking things up between his finger and thumb, his eye/hand coordination is right on track and he doesn't want any help holding his bottle or sippie cup. What happened? Overnight he became a little boy who no longer wanted mommy's help. All of this time I've been anxious for him to catch up and as soon as he started showing signs that he was on track I realized that he is growing up and I'm not so sure I want him to! For now, I'm going to try and enjoy each and every phase he is in, whether or not it is on track developmentally. 
This past weekend Little Man and I went to San Jose, California to attend the wedding of a very good friend of ours, Bethany (Hall) Fitelson. Travelling solo with an infant is much more difficult than I had anticipated but I was very glad that we made the trek. Congrats Bethany and Danny!
