Pipsqueek

My handsome little pipsqueek is 8 months old today. He finally started crawling earlier this week and always wants to be on the move. The kid is so curious and is trying so hard to be independent. He feeds himself, wants to hold the books and turn the pages when we read, and last night even played ball with his dad (obviously he can't throw too far yet, but still, he made a good effort). Every day it seems he has a new word/sound up his sleeve and he giggles like crazy these days. I love being this little boy's mom!

Home Sweet Home

Before I get back to Knoxville and spend every waking second of the next few weeks unpacking (because there is a LOT to unpack), I thought I'd post a picture of our new house. I can't even begin to describe how excited I am to live in a real house with an actual garage, plenty of storage space, and a yard of our very own (which also means someone will have to mow the lawn . . . guess who that will probably end up being?).

If anyone has any lifelong dreams of visiting Dollywood or Davy Crockett country, now is your chance. We've got lots of room for visitors!

What We've Been up to and Any Advice?

James and I have spent the last month "at home" in Utah. While James and I miss Brian terribly, spending this much time with my family has been a little piece of heaven. The last time I was at home for longer than a week or two was when I was in high school. Both James and I have been spoiled rotten while we've been here. James has family members lining up to play with him, hold him, feed him, rock him to sleep, etc. I'm pretty sure when we get back to Knoxville next week and it's back to just hanging out with me all day long, he's going to be bored out of his mind and wonder where all of the fun people went. Sorry, James!

One thing I've realized by being at home with an infant is that anyone with kids who lives near family has got it made. Seriously, having so much help at your fingertips almost seems like cheating! Somehow, Brian and I make it work on our own, but I know I'm going to have some major adjusting to do after we leave here.

One more thing on my mind this evening is that next week I have to fly completely on my own on a four hour plane ride back East. Does anyone have any ideas on how to keep a seven-month-old entertained on a plane for that long? Ideally, somehow I will manage to get him to sleep for at least half of that. But realistically, that is more than likely not going to happen. I would be so grateful for any advice anyone out there has.

Lastly, I leave you with these pictures from the past couple weeks:

James is learning how to wave "bye-bye." I swear I did nothing to teach him this. He just started doing it on his own. Smart boy.

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This boy is precious. That is my only comment for this photo:
Amy got married last week. Weird. Here is the beautiful bride with her two adorable nephews. Apparently Rob and Lorena undress Michael every time they feed him, which explains why he is naked here. Smart on their end, but with as much as James likes to eat, that would be too much work for me!

All the Candrian kids together again. This photo was taken the night before Amy's wedding and the night that Rob and Lorena arrived from Sweden. I don't think Rob was pretending to sleep.

We thought it would be fun to give James and Michael a bath together. Apparently neither James nor Michael agreed with us. Michael is very territorial about his bath space and didn't like James invading it.

How I got such a chill kid, I will never know. My dad set up a swing in our backyard for the two boys and they both love it. James could probably hang out in it all day just as content as can be.
This kid still has no teeth but is constantly chewing on his lower lip so I keep thinking any day now a tooth will poke through. But I have been thinking that for about 2-3 months now and still nothing . . .