Friday, November 20, 2009

8 month old Forrest


Okay, so this is a bit late. Little Forrest G. is actually more like 8 months and a week at this point, which doesn't seem to be too late, but in baby time it can be like night and day. For instance, he just took his first little real "crawl" in the past few days, where that was not so at the 8th month mark. He was only slithering.....
Details I know, but that's what it's all about!

8 month old Forrest is a bundle full of smiles, cries, and eat, eat, eat! He is the lug of baby love at this point tipping the scales at 19.5 pounds....YES that was 19.5....as in my little baby is almost 20 lbs.
I truly can't believe it.
He eats EVERYTHING mashed. If you can dream it up, he can gobble it down, and he does with a vengeance. He is also trying his first pureed chicken, and actually had some mashed crab the other night. We're talking gourmet baby food here. And he adored the crab. I don't think I've seen him happier...

A typical day for him starts at about 6:30-7:00am, sometimes earlier, (yep, no sleeping in in this household anymore!) He is still breastfeeding 3-4 times a day, with maybe a formula bottle thrown in there once in a while. He'll drink his milk, play for a bit, (mornings are by far his best times,) and then chow down a big bowl of baby cereal mixed with pears, bananas, and perhaps some avocado on the side. Then more play time ensues. He loves pulling himself up and standing and is quite good at it at this point.
He also is starting to copy cat and will clap his hands mimicking you as well as wave. His baby babble can be quite hilarious as well, with plenty of mama's and dada's thrown in there. His furniture surfing is starting as well.
We try to get him on his belly to practice his crawling, but unless it's his own idea, he protests, and heavily. This continues all day, with, (if we're lucky,) a nap or two, (usually short lived,) in between. Diaper changes are also not his favorite. He used to like his changing table, and now screams like it's the torture table. No diaper rash, he just plain doesn't like it, and with all the food he's chowing there are plenty of dirty diapers. He LOVES to be outside. If you stay inside all day, (which sometimes is necessary with our winter weather,)you have one cranky baby.
Outside he'll last for hours in the carrier, sitting on the dirt or grass playing, or trying to pull himself up on our fence. He does definitely crave attention and loves people.

It is now increasingly difficult to get anything done during the day other than baby care. I guess that comes with him sleeping through the night in long stretches. Yep, he is a great sleeper! We are blessed I know. He regularly goes to bed between 7-8 and will sleep till 6am-7am with maybe one wake up in there once in a while.
Amazing. I never would have believed it at 4mos when he was still up every 2 hours.
Makes for an eventful day for this lug, but still amazing.
And, NO teeth yet.

Keep waiting for the little buggers to poke out, but for now we're just enjoying our toothless grin.
Life is incredibly busy for us. I feel I am working too much, and missing out too much as well. It's not all floats down the river as told in my last post. But we are all healthy, happy, and enjoying each other to bits. And looking forward to time off for Thanksgiving and Christmas. Thank goodness for holidays!
And Forrest's first!
Let the household baby proofing begin ;-)

Sunday, November 15, 2009

"Would you like some bait....errr....caviar with your wine ma'am?"

A day in the life.
Floating down a beautiful river.
Running white water thanks to the handsome and talented guide, (otherwise known as "hubby")

Landing steelehead from the first pool on, (ok, maybe just at the first pool, but who's really counting?)

Sipping wine.
Eating fancy cheese and raspberry mustard on fancy crackers, (we left the bait for the salmon...and that cracker for the matter).

Taking in sites of bald eagles, 4 bears, (yes, FOUR!)
and spawning salmon and steelehead.
Enjoying the sites of little hobbit houses and buried treasures, (perhaps?)

And, to top it all off, having an 8 month old in the boat for his first REAL run down the river,
(the others had been just trial, mini, runs).

So, maybe it wasn't as serene as it could have been.

But FUN.

Yessssssssss.

Sunday, November 8, 2009

It's a hard knock life....

Hoping to capture his first moments of crawling we instead got this.....
can't help but laugh, the sound effects are nice too. Poor guy.... ;-)

Catching up, video style...

I think I finally figured this video deal out, so enjoy Forrest, several weeks ago, in the flesh, (ok, so not quite, but close enough!)
Our corn fed baby.....

More to come I hope....

Saturday, October 31, 2009

Q. Why didn't the skeleton go to see a scary movie?

A. He didn't have the guts.
HA HA!
How did you spend your Halloween?
We spent it here on the Haunted Fat Bear Ranch.
The BEST place for a Halloween night. We even have a residential cemetery here, which we tend to NOT bother on a night like tonight or any other night for the matter as it is just a little toooo real, if you know what I mean. Best to keep the spirits on our side in this crazy life.
The day started with GRANDPA!

My dad graced us with his presence on this great Halloween day. After a walk through the redwoods...
we headed back to the ranch for some spooks festivities, spirits, ghosts, treats, and of course, beer!

Forrest was the Ranch Dragon, complete with a "ROARRRRR", wings and a tail. He loved it!

We bonded with the ranch spirits with our neighbors, a great camp fire, and some yummy Halloween cookies, candy, and other treats.

We'd love to have you up next year as Bigfoot says he's making an appearance! Along with the ghosts of Fat Bear ranch past, the skeletons of the dead, and the spirits of the spooky ones.
AHhhhhhhhhhh!

Thursday, October 29, 2009

A fish story....


Once there was a little boy, unable to even fully take his first steps, who landed himself in a drift boat with his crazy mama and dad....
He was so excited to be there he stood on the seats dancing for joy....

...and watched his daddy fishing....



He also used his mad baby skills at fish finding to scan the water looking for the BEST salmon for his family....



When suddenly he grabbed the water with his baby hands and pulled out a giant salmon nearly his weight exactly!


And yes, perhaps his mama held his overall straps so the big monster fish wouldn't pull him in....

And perhaps his dad helped him out a bit with this thing called a rod and reel.....

But this fish was indeedily snagged by this little baby boy's magic hands...


His dad was so proud!


And the little boy was so in awe he looked at the fish....hugged the fish.....

checked this thing out called a rod a reel his dad had used to "help" him...


and decided he liked his way of doing things, as he knew his baby hands were "magic..."

and fish stories should stay magic.....



Sunday, October 25, 2009

"Look Ma, no hands!"



Houston we have a problem. A 7 month old, not EVEN 7 1/2 months yet, that can stand and balance with no help. And not just for a fleeting moment, for like 60 seconds.
What?
I am amazed, and overjoyed that he seems to have covered this milestone in no time flat....buuut....
I am quite scared at how our life is already changing because of it. He is suddenly a very active baby. Not that he wasn't before, but his activity is turning out to be quite demanding. The other day I got home from work and Alex looked like he had been in the trenches of a war, except this was just a day at home with Forrest!

And don't get me wrong, he is still the most amazing baby EVER, and has that charming smile to boot, but he is putting his parents through the paces.
So, needless to say, I wouldn't be surprised if we had a walker on our hands soon. At this point I just hope he at least waits till 9 months.
But according to Forrest he wants it now. We'll see what those little baby legs can do!

Monday, October 19, 2009

Dear LA DODGERS....

This is Forrest Fulton, one of your littlest fans. He may be little, but he is a fan none the less. He loves your shirt so much he can't stop looking at it and has even been known to slobber on it at times.

He, (and his mama,) would so love for your team to kick the Phillies butts to make it in the world series this year. You're down two games to one, and if this is just a stunt to make it all the more exciting to kick Philadelphia in the rear then IT IS NOT WORKING. Loosing 8-0 last night is also taking it a little too far.

We're keeping the faith, and your littlest fan is rooting for you tonight. Please pull it out for us.
Love,
Forrest and his mama

Monday, October 12, 2009

The calm before the storm





A fall walk this afternoon before we got dumped on....There was definitely "storm" energy around. The wind was blowing, black clouds were moving in, and Forrest and I were loving it. We were excited, it seemed the trees, and even the AIR was excited. The first storm of the season seems to carry this energy. And this one is a whopper, not just your Fall pansy storm, this is a lets kick those humans in the ass storm!
We're ready....
:-)