Sawyer laughing...

(PS, this is an HD video, so once you press play, you can click on the HD logo on the lower right corner to get an even better look at his cuteness)

I know, I know, what an original title, but I'm limited in my computer time since Sawyer is extremely mobile now. He's crawling like a champ and wants to walk soooo badly and sometimes thinks he can. He will let go of whatever he's climbed up/scaled up (doors, tables, walls, people) and try to take a step, and promptly falls. Is it bad parenting to wrap your baby in bubble wrap? He is especially intrigued by electrical sockets, wires, and the sharp corners of tables.
This video was taken 2 months ago on our cruise. Sawyer loves to watch it and will smile and laugh the whole time it's playing.
He is officially 8 months today, and we are having so much fun with him. He loves the water and would swim or stay in the bath all day if we let him. He can clap and say some form of "yay" while he is doing it. He can wave hi and bye. He said "dadadadada" for Father's Day, but he hasn't said it since then. He has 6 teeth-poor kid! The four on top all came in within days of each other. He loves to chew/bite everything-furniture, food, people-literally, whatever he can get his teeth on. He still loves to eat and opens his mouth very, very wide so as not to miss a drop. My favorite is when he gets so excited that he's eating, that he starts to clap. Let me tell you, this kid has amazing timing and manages to clap his hands together just as the spoon full of food is in between them. Is it bad parenting to wrap your baby in paper towels too?
We are gearing up for a Cashman family trip to Florida in the next week or so. We can't wait!

Cruises, concerts, and crib tricks

I've been planning on posting since we got back from our cruise, but I just have been too busy and/or lazy and/or forgetful. We had a fabulous time cruising with the Pynes (Greg's parents, grandfather, and sister, Adrienne). It was so nice to visit, relax, and not have to do anything but have fun. We cruised on the Carnival Valor and stopped in Grand Cayman, Belize, Roatan, and Key West (We were supposed to go to Cozumel, but with the swine flu saga, we got re-routed to Key West.). Oh well, we still had a great time. Grandma Sue graciously watched Sawyer for us while we went scuba diving in Grand Cayman and Roatan, and on our cave hike/zipline excursion in Belize.


Adrienne and Terry before the dive in Grand Cayman.

Here we are on the boat after our first dive in Grand Cayman.



Some dinner pics ( I think Sawyer is grabbing Terry's hair.).


Sawyer and I in Key West. I had to wear that brace for about 5 weeks. I was diagnosed by my favorite doctor with de Quervain's stenosing tenosynovitis. It feels fine now, and I haven't had to wear the brace for the last week or so.


We don't have a picture, but I was chosen/forced to volunteer for a game show on the cruise and I won! I now have in my possession, a "24kt plastic piece of ship on a stick". Aren't you proud of me, Heather? :)



It looks like this, but ours is from the Valor-I stole/borrowed this from the web.

This was the crib Sawyer slept in on the cruise. I would wake up to find him clenching the bars in his sleep, like he was in jail or something. Unfortunately, those pics didn't turn out-probably because they were taken at 3am in the dark.


Fast forward to this crib pic.



He is so proud of this accomplishment! He now feels the need to stand up and do a lap around the crib before he goes to sleep. He can scoot from the far back corner, almost all the way around to the other side before falling. He is crawling around pretty well now too. He does a cross between a downward dog yoga move and an army crawl to get to his toys. His favorite toys right now are empty water bottles, paper, and remote controls. We have video of his crawling, we just need to figure out how to post it.
At his 6 month checkup, he weighed 18 pounds, 9 ounces, and was 29 7/8in tall. He is off the charts for his height and in the 80 percentile for his weight. He is growing way too fast! His 2 top teeth are working their way out-I can see one that's broken through already. We've been practicing clapping, blowing kisses, and waving hi. He also loves to pick up and snack on his fruit-flavored Gerber puffs.

Amy and I had the fabulous opportunity to go see New Kids on the Block in concert! I was supposed to go with her in October, but I was still in the hospital with Sawyer. It was such a fun show! They sang a good mix of their old and new songs. How crazy is it that I still know the words to songs I haven't sung in years! We had seats on the 25th row, which were really good seats. They turned into phenomenal seats when they came out in the audience and performed on the bar right behind us. We both got to shake hands/touch/grope (appropriately of course) 4 out of 5 of the boys!

This is Amy's hand resting on Donnie's leg.

I just had my camera phone, but I made friends with the girl next to me who had a camera and she sent me about 40 pics- if you tell me your favorite, I can email you a good close up pic :)



We had so much fun!

One last pic to end this random blog entry. I find him in the craziest positions. He has a big ol' crib, but likes to squish himself into the smallest spot.


As soon as we download our video software, I will post some live action shots of Sawyer.