Friends, friends and MORE friends

Since returning to Vegas, we have had the opportunity to enjoy friends that we missed while we were gone (really, let's face it, it's been since Weston was born because those early months are sort of a fog) as well as make new friends and catch up with friends who happened to be in town.
It's not only been great for Andrew and I, but also wonderful for Weston to finally be able to socialize.  We had to be so careful with him in the beginning that socialization was not high on his list of to-dos due to germs, etc.  But, now we are welcoming the germs to build up his immune system.  So bring on all the little hands and little germs (we can hold off on any big germs until we get that immune system built up).
Enjoy the photos of friends, friends and more friends:

One of the best things about Vegas is the fact that in the AF "All roads lead through Nellis" so we get to see lots of friends from our past.  Here's Weston with Mr. Bluto hanging out by the pool.  I was listening closely so that Mr. Bluto didn't try and persuade Weston to the wrong side of SEC football (unfortunately Mr. Bluto is an Alabama fan).  

Weston is paying attention to some pilot talk here I am sure as he chills in Mr. Shot's arms.  Weston was trying to get Mr. Shot's approval since his daughter is quite the looker--Weston is always thinking about the future.

Weston hanging out with Khristy at CPK and being entertained by Max.

Sweet cuddles from our new friend Stella!

More sweet hugs from Max #2 (for this posts purposes).  :)

Stella "reading" to Weston--she did such a great job and he was enthralled with her!

Just another great Sunday afternoon in the pool. Weston's hanging with Mr. Rico while being entertained by the big kids!

Stella and Max are so great with Weston!

Weston's big 1 year old pal, Matthew, giving him a lift.  

Weston's all day, every day friend KJ--she has been so enamored with him since he started sitting; it's great.  Of course, she is just catching up to the fact that he has been watching her for MONTHS!

We take friendly visits whenever you want to drop on by--assuming I am paying attention with my camera, you too, can be on the blog!  :)

6/7 Month Old Photo Shoot

Okay, so I know I missed the six month old post, but in my defense, we didn't see the doctor until he was just shy of 7 months by a day.  Things got a little crazy in the Peds clinic apparently so we just waited.  I was nice enough though to request Weston's 6 month vaccines on time--nothing but love for my son to get poked on time!  He took the poking like a champ--cried at the initial poke but when I picked him up, he was already smiling at the tech who brought the torture.
The last 2 months watching Weston grow and change has been a blast.  We are truly lucky to have a happy, happy little baby (he, of course, gets that all from his mom's side).  He's already a flirt (like his father) when we are out in public although I am starting to see where he's getting to be a little more weary of "strangers" as he doesn't seem to grin right way like he did between 5 and 6.5 months.  Who knows, it could be the Vegas heat, because it is just plain hot here right now.
Here are the facts about our little man:
Weight (taken on 9 August 2012): 16 lbs, 1 oz. (11% on the regular growth chart*--double digits, baby!)
Height (taken on 9 August 2012): 25.98 inches (15% on the regular growth chart*)
Head Circumference (taken on 9 August 2012): 17.13 in (27% on the regular growth chart*)
Has really improved his fine motor skills of grabbing objects and following where they land so he can try and grab them again.
Has finally figured out how to roll from back to stomach but will only do it in his crib--we have watched him do it.  This is also good news because he has figured out how to correct himself when he rolls from stomach to back and wants to go back to sleep on his stomach.
Began "solid" food when we returned home and was not cooperative until about a week ago where we felt like more was actually staying in than was coming out.  Mom and Dad had many moments of being lucky enough to be in the "Spray Zone."
Has eaten and seems to enjoy the following: Oat Cereal, Pureed Banana, Pureed Apples, Pureed Peas, and Avocado.
Seems to enjoy "feeding" himself with the mesh pouches and just painting the food all over his face--fun to clean up for sure!
Is sitting on his own without any assistance (expect maybe the occasional knock down by KJ) as of 2 August 2012.
Babbles, squeals and grunts throughout the day--Dad is still having trouble figuring out what's happy and what's not.
Has really enjoyed that KJ brings him her toys so that he can chew on something else (KJ seems to realize that Weston is actually a miniature version of us now that he's sitting).
He is of course putting EVERYTHING in his mouth and loving every adventure.
Has attempted to hold his own bottle but really just likes to play with it.
Has finally found his feet and doesn't like to let them go--squeals with delight when KJ licks his feet; like a pedicure, I guess.  :)

Here's the part most of you really want to see--PICTURES:

He was really into kicking his legs A LOT around 6 months so no picture has him lying still.

Oh and his tongue was very cool to him!

Happy baby!

This is actually his 6 month photo and the only way I can tell the difference between this one and the two below is he has more hair now at 7 months!  (Oops, didn't realize he had the same diaper on for the two shoots!)

More hair AND more strength sitting up away from the back of the chair.  

It was hard to keep the bear there because he kept shoving him off and then almost trying to dive off the chair after it--great, he's a daredevil like his dad!  

Wondering why mom is above him!

Hooray for 7 months!

 *I have not listed his stats on the Preemie chart because they don't seem to be accurate.  So for this post, we will miss them.

Back to the desert we trekked.

Well, we have been back in Vegas for a little over a week and have experienced all that summers in Vegas have to offer--actually, we might have even had some weather treats.  The first 5 days we were back, it was never under 105 at the hottest part of the day and apparently we even had some of the hottest days at around 113.  Needless to say, we stayed inside during those times.  As you will see in photos below, though, KJ seeemed to enjoy the heat.  We have also had some nice "cool" weather hovering around the mid-90s and if there are clouds, it's quite enjoyable.
Oops, I digress a little.  First off, our trek to reach home.  We checked out of our rental on July 2nd and spent the 3rd and the 4th in Niceville with the Senechals (they have been wonderful at opening up their home to our entire brood and for that we are eternally thankful).  We were extra lucky to be able to catch the Smiths as they were down visiting family at Santa Rosa Beach so we stopped by for a few hours of fun with them on the way to Niceville.  Our 4th was a bit a rainy during the day and then a bit uneventful as we were getting on the road the next morning.  Weston won't remember that he saw his first fireworks on the tv so we aren't too heartbroken over it and hopefully it won't cause him a complex later in life.
We drove from Niceville to Shreveport, LA, on the 5th and made great time.  We were feeling so naively good about our travels that we decided to push a little further than planned on the next day and went from Shreveport to Albuquerque, NM--that makes for close to 13 hours of traveling.  Thankfully, our friends, the Kirks, let us hang in their house for about an hour in Wichita Falls, TX, and we all got to stretch and even run around the yard with KJ.  That was a long day, but made arriving home on the 6th at 3 in the afternoon so worth it.  It was nice to only have a 9 hour day on Saturday to make it home during daylight.  Weston did awesome on the trip and, as you will see in photos, was entertained plenty. KJ did just as great and made sure to let us know that the captain's chair behind the driver was hers.  No, seriously, she and I had some battles when I had to climb back there to feed Weston or entertain him.
We can't express how wonderful it was to spend time in Florida but it has been glorious to be back in our home.  Andrew has already gotten back to a busy work schedule but that's okay because Weston and I doing pretty good with this stay-at-home-mom gig.  I was finally able to join the gym and put him in the gym's childcare (we weren't really allowed to do that before we left due to his preemie status and other kids) and he has done wonderfully.  Each time I pick him up, the ladies are saying how happy he was and he is all smiles when I see him.
Enjoy the photos of our travels as well as some happy faces back home in our house.

Kristy and I have been friends since the 1st day of 7th grade when she was the new kid and I learned her WHOLE life story in just one lap of the PE field.  Love her dearly and am so happy that we have little ones at the same time and that we got to spend time together.  

Sweet Emme and her gorgeous smile!

A little baby switching but more love with the Smith family!

Weston celebrating a little Independence Day with his red face and white and blue outfit!  

Chilling and watching the fireworks on tv! Happy 4th of July with volume control!

On the road again.....

If you saw our posts about KJ's weird traveling positions to FL you won't be surprised by this position!

Weston playing a game that he has recently shaken (thank goodness) where he fills his mouth with milk and then sprays it all over the place--fun times.  After a few weeks, Andrew and I finally gained the skill to not laugh at this, but it's still pretty tough to not at least smile.  

Mmm, can I fit a book and a teething ring in my mouth?  I will try!

Road trips ARE awesome--especially when you are in Northern Arizona about to reach Nevada!  

A lovely pact was made where they slept and stayed awake at the same times--buddies already!

Just a little montage of KJ's weird sleeping positions.

Happy to be in a new toy!  

Yes! We have a pool in our backyard now--Weston's still figuring out this water thing but so fun to be able to introduce this to him whenever we want.

This is what I woke up to on Sunday morning--I think KJ was happy to be home too.

Oh and she likes the pool too.

Happy to be back with ALL of our books for dad to read to Weston.

Just a little moment of giggling while we were grilling out one day last week.

PS--Did you know that as we were traveling we were fostering an almost 6 month old baby?  Yep, he's now 6 months old.  That post is coming soon too!

Papaw and Grammy come for a visit!

Papaw and Grammy came for a visit and JUST in time as we found out we are going to be back in Vegas by next weekend.  We will start our travels on Thursday and be back home by Saturday and are looking forward to landing in our own beds!  More to come on our travels as we go.
We had a great long weekend visit from Papaw and Grammy--lots of snuggle time, play time, some pool time, time for some local fare and even some photo time--most of all though, it was fun time!  Thanks so much for coming to visit us, Papaw and Grammy.  Even more, thanks for helping us pack up some of the trailer for our adventures home. 
Here are some photos from this past weekend:

One of Weston's new tricks is that he can sit in the tripod position for a few moments--here he is showing it off!

Sweet snuggles with Papaw.

Andrew, Weston and Papaw in the pool--Weston was pretty good even though he was tired!

He enjoyed being "driven" around the pool by Papaw--later he told me that Papaw can come to Vegas anytime and play in his pool with him!

A really cool trick that Papaw discovered Weston can do with his toes! 

After pool time, we took Papaw and Grammy back to the Raw Bar where we had just been the weekend before, but it didn't fail and was good again.

A sampling of our food--steamed crab legs and baked oysters.  Yummy!

Weston wanted to try some crab but the crab got a little crazy so I had to save him.

Family photo op at the Raw Bar.

War Eagle!  Okay, the owners are FL fans but when I see orange and blue, I see Auburn colors as will Weston as he grows older!

Family photo time on the beach.  This one cracks me up because of KJ's tongue.

It's kind of hard to get a baby, a dog and two adults to look straight at the camera.

Weston was practicing his sitting.

But his real love is for standing--anytime we try and get him to sit, it's a battle because he just wants to push up to stand.  Someone has the triple T's (Turner Thunder Thighs), I do believe.

My two guys.

Weston and Mom.

Happy Weston!  (PS--I can't help but see that the kid is pooping sunshine--seriously, that might be an indication as to why he is so happy all the time!)

Photo with Papaw and Grammy.

Three generations of Haynes blood.

Grammy giving snuggles.

Papaw snuggles are pretty darn good!