7 months...

yep!! he's 7 months!!! little man has gotten so big!!

height: 27 3/4 inches (78th percentile)
weight: 15.8 pounds (6th percentile)

still super tall and skinny.  our new doctor seemed concerned for a minute till i explained he's been this way the whole time and actually has improved as his weight last time was 4th percentile. haha

he is learning new things all the time!

- everything is still going straight to the mouth.
- we have teeth!!! the 2 bottom ones popped up together this month!  they are so cute but sharp and hurt if he clamps down hard enough!!

- since he has teeth we have also started brushing them every night before bed.  he loves it and lets us do it all we want.  he's a good boy :)

- he is getting better all the time at sitting up by himself especially if we put the boppy around him.

- he still can't quite roll from front to back to he gets mad when he gets stuck but we are working on it.

- he loves to play in the excersaucer and spins around like crazy playing with all the little toys.

- he is totally sleeping through the night!!! a whole 12 hours!!! 

- he also started taking really long naps in the day so we are down to 2 naps!!! i have to admit i like the schedule change!!

- he is such a good baby we can still easily take him anywhere with us. we are thinking of going to DC in november since he's at such a good age to still travel easily... otherwise it may be a lough tougher! 

- he laughs like crazy!!! sometimes at the funniest things... like sneezing.... or anytime you swing things... like golf clubs and fly swatters.... haha 

- he did so good playing at the beach...he would just sit and look at his book forever... isn't it cute?!

-we switched him into the bigger convertible car seat as it was getting to hard to get him in and out of the infant seat.  he has since discovered himself in the mirror on his seat that i use to see him in the back seat while driving.  he now loves to sit and just talk to the other baby in the mirror (himself)

we are so thrilled with this little guy... he's happy and content to just go where we go and happy while doing it!  plus his hair is just too cute!!! and crazy!  it keeps getting longer and sticking straight up... it is always the first thing everyone comments on.... or says "oh your kid is the one with the spikey hair" haha its awesome.  

- we did have to move up to the next size because he's just so long!!! but the new size is so baggy on him... poor kid is never going to fit in his clothes...  but he's happy and healthy so who cares if his clothes dont fit right???

our first 96 weekend...

this weekend was labor day and we get liberty on all federal/national holidays.  the marines do something even cooler than just giving you monday off... they have what we call a "96" weekend.. instead of having marines rush off friday night and rush home monday afternoon they extend the holiday.  so they have half day on friday and then don't have to check in till 3 pm on tuesday.  pretty good eh??

we decided for this first 96 we wanted to just stay in town and enjoy some of the surrounding area.  friday when chris got home from his half day of work... (or non work since they just had safety training for being careful over the weekend.. haha) we packed up and headed out to the beach on base.  this time we were met by my friend kristen and her family of 3 boys!  chris enjoyed boogie boarding and digging in the sand and burying the boys.  i kept daniel occupied and we even went swiming in the water a couple times!! the water really is so warm!!!! 

on saturday we headed out to another beach and once we realized it was going to be way too busy and crowded we headed back over to the beach on base... the weather was perfect all day.  we swam a ton and slept and read books and had an awesome relaxing fun day at the beach!! daniel is also getting so big and so much better at sitting by himself... how cute is this??!!

he was very cute sitting there reading his book and flipping through the pages...

that night we went home and he slept for a good while... but was struggling since we had switched out car seats to the bigger one and we didn't have it at quite the right angle so his poor little head was drooped forward really bad... woops! sorry bud!

sunday we enjoyed going to church and then having a really lazy sunday afternoon.  monday morning we packed up a few things and headed out to emerald isle which is an hour away from us...its this awesome skinny strip of land right out on the ocean. we took this cool tall bridge to get over there

 we first went to the neat pine knoll shores aquarium... they had all sorts of fish and animals including a few penguins.  our favorite was the river otters.  they would jump in and out of the water so fast it was crazy!! daniel did really well the whole time just looking at everything.

after the aquarium we found a hotel to stay at... a nice hampton inn right by the beach.  we had a nice ocean view room.  we put daniel down for a nap (2 hours!!) and then we headed out to go miniature golfing and to dinner.  golfing was fun.. as it always is for us... we took this cute little train up to the top of the course and worked our way down...

chris played with daniel strapped to the front of him... pretty funny to watch.

the next day we headed to the beach... this time just here on emerald isle.  it was a little cloudy and the waves were scary big!!!! chris still played a i them a little but had to be careful or they would just beat him up!!  the look of these beaches is so east coast... pretty flat with grass along the edges... beautiful scenery.

daniel of course enjoyed reading his own book while dad and i read... so cute! and yes his hair is crazy out of control long and spikey.  looked really neat all greased up with sunscreen.

we then packed up and went home.  daniel slept the whole way home and chris went and checked in at 3.  it was an awesome fun, relaxing 96! nice to have a little vacation as we missed doing anything as a family while chris was gone and then we moved.... 

first time to the beach...

we finally were able to make it to the beach!!! we took off one saturday and headed to the beach on base... they have a section for officers... its a really nice beach and only takes us about 40 min to get to it.  and wow is it pretty!!! that day we went was completely overcast and the water (which is way warmer than pacific ocean!) was still a little too cold for me so we didn't get in too much.  but daniel got to touch the water a bit. then we mostly sat around read books and played with the baby who laid in his little blow up pool/ bed covered in a blanket...

he even kept his shades on really well since the overcast clouds were too bright for him to look at while laying down.. we thought it was cool how well we could see our reflections in his sunglasses so we had to get a pic of that...

we were then joined by our friend shelley whose husband is a resident with chris.  her husband was out of town so she came down and met us with her little baby davis.  we just sat and chatted and enjoyed the scenery.  it was an awesome day!

the rain in spain...

it has rained here almost everyday since we moved here... and i mean rained.  it pours and sprinkles and pours again... with crazy thunder and lightening.  the worst it when it happens in the middle of the night... thunder scares me half to death and then the lightening is like a strobe light outside my window... no fun!  which is fun are all the little creatures that seek shelter on our front porch. this little frog joined us the other day....

once the rain stops you can hear the frogs singing away out in the backyard... there are hundreds of them... so crazy!

open wide!!!

little man loves to eat!!! the second you put the bib on him he is fussy and whining if you don't feed him soon!!! he's also really great at opening wide... and i mean wide....

i currently make a huge bowl of oatmeal and add one jar of food either fruit or vegetable to it... he eats that twice a day... he's hungry and loves to eat! haha its a work out just shoveling it in his mouth fast enough.

dental battalion 100 birthday ball...

military life so far isn't so bad... we have parties and other activities that come around often.  sometimes chris goes to work in in regular civilian clothes, sometimes in his pt clothes (physical training), and sometimes in his marpat.... as seen here... 

he's very scary.  haha  but in august we got all dressed up and fancy for the dental battalion 100 birthday celebration ball.  i frantically bought a dress when we first got here knowing we had this coming up.  i got lucky and found this one for $45 bucks! not bad eh?? chris put on his summer dress whites... along with his mini medals they wear for fancy occasions... aren't they cute. haha we dropped little man off at the cdc (child development center) where they were providing free child care. it was our first time leaving him with a stranger or anyone other then my mom.  it was scary and exciting but we all walked away with no tears.  daniel was un phased.  

we arrived to the ball in time for cocktail hour and i got a diet coke :)  then we headed into one of the ball rooms for a presentation... it included a brief history of dental battalion and the coolest part they shared the story of the bombing that took place in beirut 30 years ago which killed 270 us marines.  when the bomb went off, immediately 2 dentists ran over from the building next door and immediately  began triage on everyone they saw.  it was pretty amazing what these two dentists did in taking charge of the situation.  they had both dentists here at our ball and honored them with some awards and other things. they were touched and honored... they hadn't seen each other in a long time and never really talk about what happened. the bombing was a huge blow to the city of jacksonville as this is a huge marine base and most of the marines killed were from here.  way sad.  

after the presentation we headed over into the other room where we had dinner and toasts and cake.  we sat at a table with 2 of the other residents, the dransfield family, and the reed family.  we know ebony from dental school in las vegas and her husband is always a hoot.  and the dransfield family has been really fun to get to know and we get to see them at church all the time too.  we also saw my new friend kristen and her husband and had some good laughs... including the picture with the older dentist below... he's apparently always the life of the party.. haha

the navy has all these traditions and ceremonial things they do the whole night... they have a prayer said by the chaplan and toasts are said to everything... navy, army, airforce, marines, etc... and "their wives and sweethearts... may they never meet"  haha... and then the cake cutting ceremony... they even had people on cake duty... that had to ceremoniously walk the cake to the front.  then the oldest dentist and the youngest dentist cut the cake together... the old dentist tells the younger one how to cut it... haha our friend sam was the young dentist so we had a good laugh watching the whole thing. and yes... they cut the cake with a sword.  

the whole night was interesting and fun and we had a good time... picked up little man who was sleeping when we got there and slept the whole way home...

first impressions of our new home...

the flight over was not too bad... we left at midnight and i was able to get the baby to sleep before takeoff and he slept through most of the flight... i kinda slept. it was really cold and so i only half slept.  changing planes was hard because i had the baby, a backpack, and a diaper bag.  the next plane ride was interesting as it was the smallest plane... 2 seats on each side and barely an isle.  when i went to sit in my seat some lady was sitting in it because she and her 8 year old son had been split up so the flight attendant told her to go there... but the didn't tell me and it was towards the back of the plane and her seat (which was now mine) was on the front row... so now i have all my stuff and nowhere to go with everyone trying to get on behind me.  i handed daniel to some nice looking lady while i shuffled my way up to the front of the plane with all our stuff and then once people were all on the plane i went and got my baby.  luckily it was a very short flight... less than an hour.  once we landed in jacksonville we had to wait 3 hours for chris' plane to come in.  so i parked all our bags and stroller and everything in the corner of baggage claim... a tiny tiny room.. haha but whatever. the worst part was we had planned on renting a car when we got word our car wouldn't be there till monday... and of course there were no available cars.  i felt like crying from being so tired and just wanting something to go more smoothly... after a while out of nowhere chris comes strutting around the corner... sadly the baby was asleep or that would have been much more fun. but it was a welcome relief for him to show up!

we headed out and got a cab... pat the cab lady quickly became our new and first friend in NC.  she took us to our hotel and was so nice giving us all sorts of info about jacksonville.  she also picked us up the next day so we could go get the keys to our house and go see it for the first time! here is our cute little home... 

the whole neighborhood is really cute and nice.  and we have met a couple neighbors and they are all really nice and kind.  welcome to the south!  everyone waves and says hello... and i have never had so many conversations with strangers while shopping.. mostly because they see daniel's hair and want to have a conversation about it... i really don't mind... he is super cute!

did i mention it rains here a lot??? like almost everyday? sometimes it is so heavy it looks like a car wash on our windows.  these pics can't even do it justice...

daniel is also very fun! he smiles and babbles all the time... here are some of my favorite shots lately

he also loves his feet!!! 

he makes lots of funny faces when he's talking to us...

he has also done some big boy things like... go on a swing for the first time... he kinda liked it

also first shot in front of home and laughing with dad

and first time in shopping cart

speaking of his hair... in case you are wondering where he got it from... here is a pic of me as a baby... along with daniel.... please not the similarity in hair style...

after we arrived here we ended up having to wait a week for our shipment of goods to arrive as the driver had messed up and gotten the arrival date wrong... so the company paid for us to stay in a hotel and food and rental car...since i wasn't unpacking a house i had nothing to do.... so we went shopping. all for things we were planning to buy in the near future... we just ended up taking care of it all with in 3 days.  we bought a dryer (already had a washing machine), a bed (we really wanted to upgrade to king size), a lawn mower (cause this grass grows like crazy!), and a car!!!! (we sold chris' in vegas and needed a second car).  the car was the most exciting and scary purchase and we decided in the end to go for a minivan and have it be our family car as long as it will last. 

here are some super cute videos of him as well... nothing special but for those grandma's that dont get to see him in action in person... i know they will enjoy!

here he is laughing with daddy...

here he is just chatting and then kicking his crazy little feet... he never sits still. especially since i put these little shoes on him and he hasn't stopped kicking his feet since. haha sorry the first one is sideways... i keep forgetting to keep my phone on its side...

all in all we are adjusting well and have made some friends.  military life is interesting and different but we are having a good time.  more on that later :)