Family Picture

I wanted a nice family picture for our Christmas cards this year but it just wasn't working out when Travis was home. So one day before he took off we spent his last half hour at home taking pictures of ourselves sitting against the side of our house with the camera on a stool in the empty lot next to us and used the self timer. Considering the circumstances I thought they turned out pretty well! Travis really didn't want to do it but after I drug him out there and he saw the cute pictures of him and Bergen he decided it was a good ideas and was really glad we did it. This was the Christmas card I designed and some of my favorite pictures from that day.

A White Christmas in Texas

We had a white Christmas this year! Christmas Eve it started snowing and this picture is just before it got dark. Christmas morning the ground was completely covered.

I thought I would take Bergen out to see the snow and take a few pictures.

He was interested enough in touching it...

I thought maybe he would like sitting in it...but I was wrong.

Really wrong! He tipped over and this is the last one we got. I brushed him off, took him inside and wrapped him up to warm those freezing hands. He cried for, what is for him, an unusually long time (10-15 minutes) before settling back down again. Maybe next time we get snow he'll like being "in" it better.

Dear Santa

Santa made an appearance at our ward Christmas Party which was the first week in December. Bergen had a happy ol' time telling Santa what he wanted for Christmas.

For two or so weeks after Bergen got his 2 bottom teeth, he spent a lot of time feeling them with his tongue. Which resulted in faces like this.

Grandma Linton got Bergen a Santa suit this year. He was a cute little santa!

Videos

Bergen is changing, moving, and learning fasting than I can keep up on the postings. Here are a few things from the beginning of December.

Before we started using the booster seat to eat Bergen would sit here and flail his arms and legs over and over.

Don't believe me, here he is doing again on another day. He still does this laying on his back and while in our arms. Which by the way makes for quite a work out!

Up until about the middle of December Bergen would get around by mostly rolling. Then he discovered he could spin himself in a circle. He was having an especially good time spinning this particular night while I was getting ready to give him a bath. I thought it was funny that after he was in the bathtub he continued to spin circles.

Here he is combining his ability to roll and spin. Right around Christmas he also figured out a version of an army crawl. Rolling, spinning, and army crawling...he's every where now and usually faster than I'm expecting him to be! I almost forgot to mention, this cry is his "I'm exhausted, really to go to sleep" cry.

Haircut #2

Why oh why did we do it? That's what I keep asking myself as I look at Bergen who doesn't look quite the same to me anymore. Then I remind myself that we did it because the poor kid was always rubbing his eyes because his hair was in them. I think I will like it better in about 2 weeks. Let me just say, cutting hair on such a wiggle worm it no easy task!

Before:

After:

Working around his thin spots in the back also created a bit of a challenge.

Oh my little boy is growing SO fast!

Playing, Moving, Eating

With Travis gone so much, Bergen and I get to spend a lot of time together just us. He is becoming quite the little mover and is constantly ending up in places I think are kind of funny.

He likes to roll over to the entertainment center and play with the swinging doors.

At the end of the day I put the toys in the living room into this basket. In the morning and thru out the rest of the day, Bergen has fun pulling them out. You may notice he does have a couple of non traditional toys. The cardboard box for instance, apparently it tastes good. And a diaper (clean of course). These days, in order to keep him occupied and laying still long enough to change his diaper, I give him his own to play with.

He's discovered the rug and blinds on the back door.

Bergen was on one side of the room when I went into the bathroom. When I came out he was on the other side of the room...under his crib. He kept laughing and turning to look at me like he was quite proud of himself!

This is one of those crazy morning hairdos I've mentioned. He's talking to daddy on the phone, or was that eating the phone?

Bergen will finally sit still enough to use this highchair. I've tried it a couple of times before and he would lean really far to one side or try and slide himself down. I think he thinks it's cool now, sitting up at the table like mom and dad. He also seems to be more interested in the food we're eating than the pureed food I'm spooning into his mouth. Cheerios! I love those things. They keep him so quiet! (In fact, so quiet he had his first movie theater experience this week.)

The week of Thanksgiving tooth #1 came through, and the week after tooth #2 showed up. Teeth are not an easy thing to take a picture of! This is the best we got.

This is a little jacket I wore when I was a baby. I think he's pretty cute in it. I wonder if he looks like me?

Six Months Old

Half a year! I can hardly believe it. Spending a few minutes cuddling with him, seeing him learn something new, or hearing him laugh makes even the longest days seem like the best days. We love this little boy more than we ever thought possible!

Bergen now weighs 15lbs. 13oz. and is 27 1/2 inches long.

Some of his favorite things to play with are my hair brush, a toothbrush (one just for him to use while we brush our teeth), a washcloth, little cardboard boxes, some blocks, the pieces to a stacking pyramid, teething rings, and the phones.

We are still having beautiful weather and have gone to the park a couple of times lately. Bergen likes the swing. Actually, I think he just really likes being outside! He can be fussy fussy and I can't figure out what he needs, but if I put him in the stroller he's as relaxed as can be and doesn't make a peep. It's a good thing we've got some good areas to walk around!

I put Bergen in the crib to sleep one way, but guaranteed that's not the way he wakes up anymore. These little toes sticking out were too cute to pass up!

Bergen's a pretty good roller now and goes after things. One morning while I was getting ready, I found he had gotten himself into a bit of a tricky situation...

...under our bed that is. Since then, this has happened several times.

Speaking of going after things...I had laid out a blanket and put some toys on it for Bergen to play with. I then went into the kitchen to work on dinner. It wasn't long before he had the blanket wadded up, the toys covering much of the floor, and what was he doing?

You guessed it, eating my decorations! I think our Christmas tree is going to be in trouble this year ;)

Zoo

Bergen and I got to go to the zoo last week. We went with a bunch of friends and it was a lot of fun! Bergen enjoyed watching the monkeys run around and he was very interested in the fish tanks. Other than that I think he just liked being out and watching the other kids...except Audrey may have been his favorite thing of the day. Check out the video below!

Halloween