Another Growth Spurt!

 (froggie pictures are from beg of January)

This past week, Tanner has gone through a major growth spurt. And why shouldn't he? After all, he turned SEVEN months yesterday! His appetite has increased- eating 5-6 ounces at each feeding instead of his usual 4 ounces. He's also been eating wheat or oatmeal cereal at lunch with his babysitter and then a veggie like avocado, green beans & carrots, or peas in the evening with me. I make the baby food fresh for him and he loves it. We also let him try a lot of what we eat from our own plates (thanks to the ideas that Chelsea has shared with us!). He has tried mashed potatoes, stuffing, cereal, string cheese, baby cracker things, and the yogurt melts. (I personally love the yogurt melts!) Now he opens his mouth really good when we feed him and he is getting more and more coordinated at putting things in his mouth on his own. It's really fun to watch him try putting smaller pieces of food in his mouth cuz it gets lots inside those chubby fingers!

 (these pictures are the 2nd week of January... we don't take down xmas stuff until Valentine's Day) 

Speaking of chubby, he's gaining lots of it! The rolls in his wrist and arms are more prominent and his hands look so thick now! His baby boobs are also bigger. And he is getting stronger every day. Last Saturday Tanner finally figured out how to roll from his back to his tummy. By Monday, he was rolling all over the family room floor.

Now that he can get around, he is finding anything and everything to grab and explore. It's so funny how even while we're holding him and walking around the kitchen or the bathroom, he somehow manages to grab random things that I didn't even realize were there! As adults, we get so used to the mundane objects around the house, that we stop paying attention to them all together. But Tanner notices everything. In our bedroom, it's the decorative handle on the hope chest. In the bathroom, it's the shower curtain and the holder to the toilet paper roll. In the grocery store, it's the stray bag of chips leaning slightly off the shelf. He grabs it all.

 (look at that belly! This was taken this week)

Tanner is even stretching outside his comfort zone during bath time. The rubber duckies and deep end of the baby tub are too boring for him now. He leans over the side of the baby tub and rubs his hands along the edge of the real tub. He's also getting better with his bath toys. Just a few baths ago, he had to slowly follow rubber duckie with his eyes and fingers. Then he would carefully scoop up ducky, and it was a game of probability if it actually stayed in his hand. Now, he has become a pro with attacking his rubber duckies. He lunges his hands forward and clamps his fingers over the ducks, and then slams them up into his mouth. Yum!!

(Also taken this week. Notice the rolls on his wrist?)

Tanner also said "bah" for the first time on Thursday. We've been waiting for months to hear a consonant other than "g". It's so funny how he sounds more intelligent now that he can say "b". He has finally gotten bored of making strained screeches, and is now laughing and squealing more. He loves buzzing his tongue, making spit go all over the place when he is excited. Tanner also puts his whole fist, sometimes both fists, in his mouth while cooing. He must love to feel his own vibrations while he talks.

 We are enjoying our Tan Man so much! One of my favorite times is our mornings together. I nurse him in bed and then we cuddle and talk before getting ready for the day. It's the best!

 What a stinkin' cutie patootie!!!

Mile Square Park

I didn't have to work on Martin Luther King day, so I spent the day with my friend Marci and her son Rockford. We went to Mile Square Park. It's a beautiful park with bike routes, golf courses, baseball fields, a rec center, playgrounds and ponds. It's huge-exactly a square mile of land. To give you an idea of how big that is, think of the size of Disneyland. Now multiply that size by 4.  Yep, just google it if you don't believe me.

 This is Tanner's second time in park swing. He loves it!!

Our Newest Toy

 Thank you Gramz and Grampz for the bike trailer. WE LOVE IT!

Yes, this is what our neighborhood looks like in January!

 So far, we've ridden to the park, starbucks and Target as a family. Next stop: the beach! It's only 2.5 miles from our house, about a 20 minute bike ride.

Animal Look-&-sound-a-likes

We often compare Tanner to various animals depending on what he looks or sounds like- even since he was in the womb. So here is a list of the ones that I can recall in one sitting.

Tanner has looked like:

mouse ears

mole face

monkey face

monkey butt (the patch of hair above his bumb is very ape-like)

puppie face

duckling fuzz

birdie lips, er... beak

piglet rolls

peanut shape (okay it's not an animal, but still)

rollie pollie shape

chimp face

gorilla hair, esp as a newborn

bucking bronco strength

cheerleader doing "ready? ok!"

teddy bear cuddle

butterfly flutters (in the womb)

a basketball (in the womb)

jello jiggling (in the womb)

Tanner has sounded like a:

bird screeching

monkey howling

horse braying

cat meowing

toad croaking (when he lost his voice from crying too much)

piglet snorting

dinosaur roaring

cat hissing

dog whining

dolphin clicking

whale singing

seal barking (when he had croup cough)

dog panting

Videos of Tanner

Here's a video I made with footage over the past 6 months. The first clip is Tanner when he was 6 days old. The last clip is when he was 6 months old! And the video is 6 minutes long. 

Sacramento Christmas

Tanner's First Christmas was the best one yet!!

We drove up to Sacramento and spent 8 nights and 9 days there.

We were only going to spend 5 days there, but our trip kept getting extended so that we could enjoy more time with the family. All of Jeremy's siblings were home for the holidays, including two new brother-in-laws, so it was super, super fun!

On Christmas Eve day, we watched the Raiders game. Tanner got his first sports aparrel from Uncle Zach. By the end of the week, he was given enough sports gear to represent every major sport team in Northern CA.  

Later that day, we went ice skating. It was DadZ's first time ever, so that made for some very entertaining moments around the rink. MomZ didn't skate because she broke her ankle during the week of Melissa's wedding, but she still watched from the sidelines with Tanner.  

Then, we joined the Davidson relatives for the traditional Christmas Eve dinner and games. Each year, the family reserves the relief society room at our church, and we make it our "home." Everyone contributes food to eat and then we play games together. This year we played the winter version of bingo, aka SNOW. Then we played a competitive game of broom hockey in the gym.

After games, Grandma Davidson led us in a reenactment of the Nativity.  We had enough cousins, aunts and uncles of all ages to play every part! Tanner got to be baby Jesus. Our cousin Natalie was Mary. She did a super job taking care of Tanner during the play.

 Aaron is the next youngest child from Tanner, and he's 2. He desperately wanted to be Joseph, so Grandma said "Sure!" 

 This picture makes it look like we had the whole ward there, but it was just our family!

After the Nativity, each family presented a skit/talent. This annual "show" is a highlight of the evening, and the only rules to the mini-performances is that it must relate to Christmas and every member of each family has to be involved. For the Zavoral group, we sang "Grandma Got Run Over by a Reindeer." During the song, MomZ (who is now a grandma, and currently crippled), came screaming into the room on her cripple-scooter, being chased by a Baby Reindeer who suspiciously looked like Tanner. (Zach made the reindeer "whiz" through the room).

To end the evening, Grandpa Bob dressed up like Santa for the little kids. He is Tanner's great-grandpa.

 Tanner didn't like being on Santa's lap.

 On Christmas morning, we opened presents. Katie and Tanner are just about to see what Santa brought them.

 Tanner got really good at opening presents. He would grab the wrapping paper, and then we would pull the present away from, which would tear it open. We actually gave Tanner some wrapping paper as one of his gifts because we knew that he would love that more than a fancy toy!

 After presents, we went to church. Then we joined the Zavoral extended family for brunch. YUM! I love the eggs benedict that Aunt Judy makes.

 This is great-grandma Ginny Zavoral. It's neat that Tanner has SEVEN great-grandparents that are alive! He loves every one of them!

 4 generations.

 For my long-legged husband, I made him custom pajama pants that go 3 inches past his feet. He had been wanting pj's that were long enough for him, so I sewed them at Taryn's house without him having a clue. Taryn managed to whip up a matching pair for Tanner.

 Later in the week, we had a big feast with just Jeremy's parents and siblings. Other highlights with the clan included lazer shooting, raquet ball, a big basketball tournament, watching lots of sports on TV, and going to the Kings basketball game to see Jimmer play.

 Tanner invaded MomZ's plate of stuffing and mashed potatoes. We actually started him on yams and whole-grain oatmeal during the break. He liked the oatmeal best.

The only bummer about the trip was that Tanner had croup and got an ear infection while we were in Sacramento. MomZ was super sick, too. But it was really nice to have the rest of the family help take care of Tanner. And MomZ didn't have to do any dishes or cooking the whole week (maybe she planned that?). I am so grateful for my Zavoral family and that we got to be with them during Christmas!!

Christmas Boat Parade- Newport Harbor