Christmas Boat Parade- Newport Harbor

Time with Tan Man

Here are some things we've been doing with Tanner the past 2 weeks.

 Tanner loves to rough house with Daddy!

 Tanner is getting really strong! He can sit up on the ground for 15-20 minutes without complaint and without falling over. His grip is stronger, so he can hold onto our fingers and pull himself up from laying position (before we had to hold onto his hands). He rolls over lots from tummy to back. He also eats his toes and curls his body up while turning to the side, getting ready to roll from back to tummy. 

He also squirms and twists his body in all directions on the floor. He's also starting to arch his back while in the high chair and car seat, as if trying to get out.

 I love this pose the best!

 We went to our neighbor's first birthday party. They had the party at the clubhouse in our town-home community.

 We made cookies as a family and then decorated them!! Just like our Easter creations, Jeremy and I got really creative.

 Below is supposed to be the stable with Mary (red snowman) Joseph (green snowman) and baby Jesus (red manger, blue dots are Jesus' eyes).

 Jeremy's rendition of Stonehenge. (made with snowmen, of course!)

 This was supposed to be a Christmas tree, but ended up more like an angle.

 This cookie is a sculpture of Whoville from the Grinch Stole Christmas. The brown circle is the Grinch's cave, with Grinch to the right of it. The sprinkles are the buildings in the town down below the mountain.

 We felt proud of all our cookie creations. Tanner watched Jeremy mix the cookie batter, but he missed out on the cookie decorations due to napping.

Tanner loves to cuddle with us. One night around bedtime, he just wanted to sit with Jeremy. He sat in this position for almost 30 minutes like a little puppy cuddled under his arm.

Cousins and Decorations

My Summers cousins came to visit during Thanksgiving break! I got to see my Aunt Lorna for the first time in 5 years. And Tanner got to meet her too! He loved sleeping in her arms while she sang to him.

It was so great to be with my cousins!!

Below is Tanner when all his newborn hair was finally gone, and the new peach fuzz coming through. Taken the last week of November.

When I went back to work, it seemed like Tanner started to really show a special liking for his Daddy. I first noticed it when Tanner was WAY more excited to see Jeremy get home from work than to see me get home from work. Then Tanner seemed to like watching Jeremy more than me, and then listening and laughing more at Jeremy than at me. Now, all that Jeremy has to do is walk in the room, and Tanner will beam, laugh and squeal.

On the Monday after Thanksgiving, for family home evening we started putting up Christmas decorations.

 Tanner loved the little angel ornaments made out of yarn.

 Jeremy lit the fire to help with the mood. He thought it was cheezy that I was taking so many pictures.

 Tanner also loved the decorative beads.

He's got skills

Everyday, Tanner is doing something new. The past 2-3 weeks seem to have been an explosion of new skills. Here's a few of his recent developments. 

• Sits up for long periods of time without any assistance. We even try to push him over and he stays up!
• Grabs feet and pulls them up to his chest. It started with just grabbing the toes of his right foot, then the whole foot, then both feet. Pretty soon they'll be in his mouth!
• Spots an object and reaches toward it slowly with pure intent, then grabs it and tries to bring to his mouth. Depending on how big it is, he can hold it long enough to on it. He can do this in our lap and sitting up on the ground
• Grabs our plates at the dinner table. 
• Reaches to type on the keyboard.
• Squeals, gurgles, and coughs for fun
• Watches his Daddy everytime that Daddy talks or makes a new sound (like coughing, grunting, hooting at the ball-game, etc)
• Looks around the house in the evening, almost like he wonders where his Daddy is
• Grabs the pages of books and tries to hold and turn the pages. He also strokes the pages on touch/feel books and any book, for that matter. When we make animal sounds while reading to him, he'll turn around and look up at our face/mouth. Last night, he make silly sounds while I read to him.
• Splashes tons in the bath. This is amazing to me because in just the last 3 times that he's taken a bath, he has gone from no splashing to practically kicking all the water out of the baby tub. He looks very seriously at the water and then lets lose with his hands or legs. Last night, he also tried grabbing the bubbles that formed in the water from all his splashing.
• Controls his pacifier. Yesterday, his pacifier fell out of his mouth onto the collar of his shirt. He reached up, grabbed the paci, and pushed it back into his mouth! This was probably just a fluke. Usually, he pulls it out, and then sucks on the hard plastic. He can also yawn and burp in such a way that the paci stays in his mouth.
• Smiles when I sing to him
• Giggles and beams when we rough house with him. He loves to be thrown in the air, bounced on one knee, dropped into piles of blankets, tickeled by Jeremy's foot, hung upside down, and dangeled by his limbs. What's really funny about all this is that both me and Jeremy fling him around, but we both try to boss the other person around. If I'm dangling or tossing Tanner, Jeremy says "be careful with his neck, watch out! You're being too rough!" And then when Jeremy throws him around, I turn into the protective one. It's weird how we switch roles back and forth.
• Arches his back to try and get out of his Bumbo seat. Not yet! I want him to stay in that thing for at least 4 m ore months.
• Did I mention that he grabs EVERYTHING?! Last week, at church he seized 3 water cups from the water tray that they pass during sacrament. We were not expecting that at all. Even a day earlier, he wouldn't have done that. It's amazing how quick these babies learn!

Our Little Thanksgiving

 Tanner's first Thanksgiving was a fun, relaxing day with just the three of us. 

Tanner loved these Thanksgiving dolls as much as I do!

Our feast!  I love Tanner's little face in this picture- "can we eat now?" Notice Tanner's high chair? He's been sitting in it since he was little to watch us work in the kitchen, but we had to start using the tray this week because he is getting good at arching his back while sitting in it. The tray helps keep him in and lets us put toys in front of him.

 We had Hormel peppered turkey, boiled yams with cinnamon, mashed potatoes, fresh green bean casserolle (I used Paula Dean's recipe-YUM), broccoli, and autumn butternut squash casserolle with Hormel cinnamon apples. 

 Tanner got really cranky while we ate, so I put him on my lap. He kept reaching for the food, so I let him taste a tiny bit of gravy.

 He was so happy!

 After our feast, we went to the beach!

 The tide was perfect for photos- a thin layer of water made the perfect reflections!

 Tanner touched the ocean for the first time! The water was warm, just like last November. I'm not sure if it's because of the tide coming from the south or because it's just colder outside.

 And we saw the most incredible sunset! Nothing like a gorgeous view to help you be thankful!

 This was one of the most beautiful sunsets I've ever seen. I was so happy to enjoy it with my amazing husband and beautiful son. 

We definitely took pause while at the beach to reflect on the amazing ways that Heavenly Father has blessed us this year. I've been reading a wonderful book about women in the church, and it has made me particularly grateful for grocery stores, take-out restaurants, my breast pump, our baby swing, our health, and stores like Target where we can get pretty much anything we want without having to make it.  We are so blessed!!!