Anderson is 6 Months Old!

Anderson is now a happy and very active 6-month old!  He is not really mobile, but he does a lot of scooting and amazes us at how far he can go without actually getting his belly off the ground! Anderson is sitting up, eating Level 2 foods, and on the verge of being mobile.  He is smiling and laughing a lot and keeping us very busy and entertained.  Here are some pictures from the month.

These are pictures of Anderson hanging out and enjoying his exersaucer.  He is now tall enough for his feet to touch the bottom.  This gives him some serious jump ability, and he loves it!  He can spend a while, well about 10 minutes, entertained by his exersaucer.

Here is a picture of Anderson in his hot pants.  Mike is not a fan of these pants at all, but I absolutely love them. I think he just looks adorable in them! 

Ike Survivors

Anderson survived Hurricane Ike!  Ike hit Houston early in the morning on September 13, 2008.  Anderson and Mike managed to sleep through the storm, but woke it time to see one our trees in the backyard come down on our garage.  We lost power for about 36 hours and had minimal damage.  We were lucky!  Anderson did great during the storm and during our power outage.  Uncle Bubs and Abby hung out with us through the storm and helped keep Anderson entertained. Hopefully, we will not have another hurricane anytime soon. 

Anderson is 5 Months Old!

Anderson turned 5-months old on the 16th and is continuing to grow and develop.  We are having a ball! This month he started to eat more solids.  We have tried sweet potatoes, carrots, bananas, apples, pears, peas and green beans.  He has not turned any of them away!  I don't think we have to worry about eating problems with this kid.  Developmentally, Anderson is rolling over and rolling all over the place.  He is starting to sit up on his own.  

Here are some of the highlights of the month:

New Bathtime Fun! Anderson has advanced from the infant bathtub to the inflatable duck bathtub.  He just loves to kick around in the duck and loves to hear him quack!  We get lots of splashing and giggling out of our bathtime.

Trip to Dallas: We took a road trip to Dallas to visit Nana and Grandy.  We got to see their new house--which is wonderful--hang out and catch up.  This was Anderson's first road trip.  On the way up he slept almost the entire way.  The way back was not so smooth.  We took lots of stop breaks.  Here is a picture of Anderson on one of our stops.  No worries, he's not really driving--just sitting in the front seat at our stopping point.

Eating! Anderson has been eating up a storm.  He is really enjoying everything we put in front of him.  He obviously did not inherit my pickiness and distaste for vegetables.  Anderson usually is able to get most of the food in his mouth, but every now and then he ends up with more on him than in him!

Fun at the Table: Now that Anderson is sitting up, he is able to sit in his seat at the table and actually have dinner with us...sort of.  He has also started to grab anything in the span of his arms.  Recently at dinner Anderson got a hold of Mike's drink.  He was not so interested in what was inside the can, but sure did like the can.  Anderson is definitely a Fitzgerald!

Exersaucing! We got Anderson an exersaucer a couple of months ago, but he hasn't really been able to use it until the last month.  He is now long enough to have both of his feet touch the bottom.  Needless to say, he just loves this thing and can spend a solid 10 minutes entertaining himself with it, which for a 5 month old is a long time.  

Hungry Man

  


  
Anderson is officially a solid food eating man!  We got the go ahead from Dr. Killinger to start Anderson on solid foods.  So today, Anderson got his first serving of rice cereal...yum, yum!  The first attempt, Anderson was not having it.  Five minutes later, he couldn't get enough of it.

Anderson is 4 Months Old

      

Anderson has hit the four month mark!

We just had our 4-month doctor's appointment and here are his stats:

• Weight-17 pounds, 6 ounces==>90%
  
• Height-26,75 inches==>95%
  

There is definitely not a "failure to thrive" situation for Anderson.  He is growing and developing and just doing great.  We continue to be amazed by the new and exciting things he is learning and doing.  

Here are the highlights of the month:

• Great Aunt Peggy Babysat! For my birthday, GAP volunteered to babysit Anderson--seriously that is the best gift in the world.  She watched Anderson while Mike and I grabbed a great dinner at Perry's.  Here she is with Anderson eating his dinner before he goes down for the night. 

• Anderson is Beary Cute-We got the cutest bear outfit for Anderson from the babyGap.  In choosing the size of the outfit, we did not properly consider his size and the weather in Houston.  Needless to say, we had a three month bear outfit, and it was about 95 degrees in Houston.  So we just put him in the outfit for the photo opportunity and promptly put the outfit in the give away pile.

• Anderson went swimming! We finally took Anderson for his first swim.  We went over to Peggy & Joe's and took a dip.  We had a crab float for Anderson so he was fully shaded.  To our surprise, he seemed to really like the water.  No screaming or crying at all!  Here are some pics and a video of the big event.

     

• Anderson has started kissing...sort of We call it a kiss, but others may not. It's more of a suction cup on the face, but it sure is cute. 

  

• Pimp My Ride! Huntwick had a killer Fourth of July which included a kid parade.  For the parade, Anderson decked out his stroller with patriotic streamers and flags.  We missed being in the heart of the parade, but this year we carried the rear and walked behind the police cars.  It was incredibly warm and the parade started at noon--not the best time of day--so we only stayed at the clubhouse for a little while, but it was fun!

  

• Anderson's Baptism-On July 14th, Anderson was baptized at John Wesley UMC.  Pam Jackson did the baptism and is was a very special day for us.  Anderson's god parents are our great friends, Stacia & Jason Fontenot.  Here we are celebrating the baptism at Clementine's after the service.

    

Happy Father's Day!

This was Mike's first Father's Day! Anderson and I made his dad a breakfast of blueberry pancakes, bacon and eggs. For Father's Day, Mike got a gift certificate to go hunting at this place in Houston--I know very little about it, but know he liked it. Mike has been such a great dad and helps out so much. He has clearly exceeded any expectations. Anderson is so lucky to have such a hands on papa.

Anderson's 3rd Month

Anderson will turn 3 months old tomorrow! We continue to be amazed at how great parenthood has been and how much we adore this little 15 pound bundle of joy. Anderson seems to surprise us with something new and exciting just about every day. Here is a summary of the highlights of his 3rd month!

• Anderson's First Dinner Date: On May 18th, we had our friends, the Koenigs, over for dinner. Lauren and Rick had a baby girl, Elise, in November. She and Anderson got to know each other and had a car seat date while everyone else chowed on burgers. Who knows, this could be the beginning of a very special relationship.

• Memorial Day: Memorial Day is always a special day for us, given the extent of the participation of the Fitzgerald family in the armed forces (almost all men have served in some capacity in their life--Mike served 4 years active in the First CalvaryDivision, and 4 years inactive in the National Guard). We did not do anything overly exciting to celebrate Memorial Day but spent the day as a family. This included a trip to the new outlet center in Fairfield. Anderson appears to be taking after his daddy and is not a huge shopping junkie...maybe the next Fitzgerald will be my shopping buddy! Here is a picture of Anderson in his patriotic outfit playing with his dad's dog tags.

• First Flight and Trip to San Jose: Anderson, Honey and I went to San Jose last week to visit Katt, Brett and Oakley. Brett was going out of town for a work trip, so the girls and babies had a long weekend together in Cali. This was Anderson's first flying experience, and this kid travels like a rock star. He did great! Before each flight, I think Honey and I each were a bit nervous. For whatever reason, Anderson did not enjoy the waiting area at the airports, but once he was on the plane he was great! He slept for the majority the flights. If he keeps this up, we will be taking him places all the time!
  
Here he is on the plane, just chillin' with his Honey.

Here are Oakley and Anderson kissing--yes, Kissing Counsins--so Texas. It's just like looking at small versions of Brett and Mike kissing.




Here is a picture of Oakley helping Anderson with his binkie...Oakley is going to be a great big brother...some day.





• Gymboree! Last week, Anderson had his first Gymboree class. This is a class for babies under 6 months old, and basically is a singing and tummy time class. Moms go with the babies to the class, and we had a great time! Anderson was a little frustrated with the amount of tummy time, but we have been practicing and are going to impress Miss Joan (the teacher) on Thursday!

Here he is ready to go tumble his little heart out!

• Giggling Anderson: Anderson has started to laugh up a storm lately, and we just can not get enough. Usually, the laugh is encouraged by Mike or me, but we'll take it anyway we can get it. It is the cutest thing in the world.

Here is his clip of the week, just a gigglin' away!







The other thing Anderson loves, which always gets a big smile and some laughs, is the game where you raise Anderson up and down. So far, he has not puked on me, but I may be pushing my luck--I do this with him all the time. He is so cute!









• Rock n' Roll Anderson: Anderson is on the verge of his first full roll...right now he gets half way and gets stuck. I think in the next month, he is going to have the full roll down.
  

Those are the highlights, but here are some other random pictures (and videos) of our little guy from the past month.

Anderson in his Chicco--who knows where we are taking him now! He is such a trooper. We have taken him everywhere, and he never seems to complain.

Anderson still loves his bath time at Spa Fitzgerald! We are up to 2 baths a day--morning and night. This is one clean baby!

Here is Anderson in his most favorite place in the world--his swing! He loves to snooze here for his daytime naps, but only sleeps in his crib for the night.