Christmas in Great Meadows

After spending Christmas morning in Bloomsburg, we took a ride to New Jersey to be with the Beyer family for the afternoon and evening. We had a delicious meal and tons of excellent desserts! Christmas is also Michael's birthday (Daniel's brother), so there was a party at Michael and Courtney's place to celebrate. We didn't make it over there since we had a sleeping Trafton to stay with, but we settled in and watched Elf instead. I love that movie!

The Beyer Family

Melissa and Jonathan, Al (Pappy), me and Daniel and Trafton, Michael and Courtney

Trafton has been really interested in mirrors lately. This one is nice and small and he can carry it around with him.

Awesome Alpaca hat and mittens from Uncle Jonathan and Aunt Melissa

Aunt Courtney

(Trafton's shirt says Santa's helper, again, courtesy of Autumn's hand-me-downs!)

A very cool NY Jets sleeper from Aunt Courtney and Uncle Michael

Sunday morning wearing his 'first' Jets t-shirt - too bad they lost!

Starting the naked process to keep from fussing :)

Trafton got a crib at Pappy's house for Christmas - here he had fallen asleep with his usual thumb-sucking ritual, but the thumb never fell all the way out once he was asleep.

Christmas in Bloomsburg

We had a wonderful first Christmas as a family of three! We decided to spend a nice Christmas Eve and Christmas morning at our home in Bloomsburg and then travel on Christmas afternoon. It was very peaceful. It was also very fun to open presents with Trafton!

Our first live Christmas tree

Our stockings
(the little ones are for Charley Hogan and Animal)

The Beyer family on Christmas morning :)

Trafton with his stocking made by Aunt Lo

(again, Trafton was very into eating the wrapping paper on his presents)

The backside of another stocking for Trafton that was made by one of Daniel's coworkers. It was crocheted with his name and Rudolph on the front and his birthdate on the back.

Our little drummer boy!

Everytime Trafton (or Daddy) hits the drum the next letter of the alphabet comes up.

Charley Hogan loves hiding in wrapping paper and attacking ribbon.

Animal played some, but she was sort of tired out from playing with her toy mice that were in her stocking. She had been sneaking them out every night after we went to bed since I put them in there last week.

Time to play!

Not another kiss, Mom!

Our little naked guy watching his new Baby Neptune video with Daddy before we hit the road to New Jersey.

Six Month Check-up

On Monday Trafton had his six month appointment. He measured in at 26 1/4 inches and 18 pounds, 6 ounces. While he was being measured by the nurse, he was flailing and trying very hard to scoot off the table, causing her to comment about what a wild baby he was and how "Mommy has her hands full with you." Then the doctor came in to examine him. While she was checking him out he was trying to rip the paper underneath him on the exam table, scoot backwards, and grab her ID badge, causing her to say, "Wow - aren't you a little wild man!?" I mean really, Trafton was going absolutely nuts and having the greatest time squealing and giggling. Then he got his shots and that was the end of that happy mood! I still can't figure out how he woke up from his nap after the appointment sucking on the band-aid that was on his leg from the shots - he had pants on.

The JETS Win!

This past Sunday was a wonderful day for football in our house! The Ravens beat the Saints (my dad and brother were not hopeful for this - but it happened!), and the Jets beat the Steelers. The Eagles even won with an exciting comeback - although neither one of us are fans - we have many friends who are. The last two minutes of the Jets/Steelers game was so intense that I could barely watch. Trafton started to get fussy, so, of course I started to take his clothes off (since that almost always works!), which explains the half naked look. I couldn't miss an exciting ending to put him to bed, even though it was past his bedtime. We had also just had an intense high chair eating battle where Trafton smeared yogurt all over his head, so that explains the slight mohawk. Daniel got so excited that he tossed Trafton in the air and Trafton loved it!

High Chair

We have recently begun trying Trafton in his high chair instead of the Bumbo seat for mealtimes. There has been little success, unfortunately. Here are two good pictures of him, but generally he just fights it the whole time. He fights getting strapped in and then fights the tray when I go to put it on by kicking it with his feet. This usually leads to an uncontrollable fuss about three bites into the meal. Maybe when he gets a little bigger and can sit up on his own he'll like it better. I hope :)

Charley Hogan is in the background - feeling much better as he takes up his usual post on the trash can.

Trafton can't quite sit up yet, so he just sorta flops around in here.

Christmas with the O'Hare Family

Last Saturday, we made the trip to Elkridge to see my family and celebrate with them. It was great to see everyone and have Trafton celebrate his first Christmas with his Grandmom and Grandpop.

Grandpop and Grandmom

Grandpop O'Hare

Uncle Jim and Aunt Lo

(Trafton was starting a bit of a fuss!)

A beautiful stocking for Trafton that Aunt Lo cross-stitched and my mom put together.

Baby Bear's First Christmas ornament - how perfect!

MaryLee

Trafton thoroughly enjoyed messing up Uncle Melvin's perfectly slicked hair - he couldn't stop giggling!

Trafton was so excited to eat any wrapping paper that he could tear off.

Trafton started to get a little fussy opening presents, so I pulled out the last trick - when nothing else calms him down - it's time to get naked! He is a very warm baby, just like his daddy, so he doesn't seem to get cold when he's naked, just happy.

"Now that I've finally got those clothes off, I can really enjoy all these presents!"

Trafton really wanted to play with Uncle Jason's Blackberry.

Charley Hogan is Home :)

Charley Hogan is safe and sound back at home with us. He is still recovering taking medicine every 12 hours and eating very fancy prescription cat food (which he loves!) We have to keep a close eye on the problem, but he seems like he is back to his old self again. He even slept with us last night!

Charley Hogan

Early this evening, we noticed that Charley Hogan was acting very strange. He was spending several minutes at a time in his litter box without releasing anything, acting like he was going to pee on other objects in the house-but not, running around, making loud noises (Charley is our silent cat, he doesn't even meow), shaking a little, and constantly cleaning his little man parts. We called the vet and they said to bring him in immediately. It turns out his poor little bladder is blocked, so he hasn't been able to pee all day and he needs immediate surgery or the result will be death. He will be at the vet until early next week and even then, there won't be any guarantees that the surgery fixed the problem or that it won't happen again. Here's to sending positive vibes to Charley for a successful surgery and happy recovery!

Whenever I get the stroller out for my morning run with Trafton, Charley thinks it's for him.

With Animal in a choke hold - one of his favorite positions :)

It's a love/hate relationship.

Uncles Visit

Last weekend my brother, Jason, and Daniel's brother, Jonathan, and Jonathan's fiancee, Melissa, came to visit. It was a great time!

Hanging in the kitchen before the boys decided to go check out the new Capitol Theatre bar/restaurant.

Uncle Jonathan, Aunt Melissa, Uncle Jason

Jason brought Trafton an adorable new winter outfit which he is sporting in this picture. He has hesitated so far to bring Trafton Ravens gear for fear that it will be banned for Jets gear.

Trafton was very well-behaved for our visitors.

Even though Uncle Jason remains a bachelor, the more time he spends with Trafton, the better he gets at handling a baby :)

This baby is all Beyer - you can't see much of an O'Hare resemblance :)

Trafton's Half Birthday

This past Saturday, Trafton turned six months old. I am so thankful that I have been able to spend these last six months at home with him, it has been so much fun! Although I would like to stay home for the rest of his first year, I am trying to be positive about all the things returning to work in a few weeks and sending Trafton to daycare will bring. Here are some images of Trafton at five months old.

Hanging with Daddy in his favorite outfit (naked!) at Pappy's house

Relaxing

Eating on Pappy's dining room table

Thanksgiving outfit (that I forgot to put him in on Thanksgiving!)

We were about to head home from Pappy's house (about an hour and a half ride) and we had packed up the Pack-N-Play and Trafton was just wailing his tired cry. I put him down on Uncle Jonathan's former bed and he fell asleep immediately.

We stopped at this cute little Christmas shop that I think is called Forever Green.

Trafton enjoyed trying to grab any little knick-knack that he could get at in this shop.

For Daddy's birthday this year Trafton gave him the Cold War Kids EP. A little album from a little guy.

Trafton no longer can sleep in socks, because he has them off and usually stuffed in his mouth within seconds.

Heading to the Moose Exchange Market - a great local market on Saturdays on Main Street in Bloomsburg that we can walk to. They have tons of vendors with food, crafts, art, delicious bread (my main reason for going), etc.

We are trying to teach Trafton how to touch Charley Hogan and Animal with 'nice touches" instead of tail and hair pulls. Here Animal is a little more tolerant than Charley Hogan.

Trafton was playing under his baby gym so vigorously one day that it just collapsed on top of him.

Apparently he thought this was funny and continued playing from within the blanket folds.

We keep Trafton's jumper in the kitchen mostly to occupy him while meals are being made.

Trafton in his toy basket!

He loves to feed himself bananas using the baby safe feeder tool.

Trafton was particularly happy because he loves the cats and Charley Hogan decided to curl up on the couch with us.

In front of our first ever live Christmas tree!