Playtime

With his 3 month birthday behind him, Talmage is starting to really enjoy playing! We love seeing his face light up as we show him toys, sing him songs, or read him stories.

We are always amazed by how far he cranes his head around to see whatever has caught his interest! (In this case, it was the camera.)

Playing with the toys in his crib

I guess this was more me playing...and I think I enjoyed it more than he did! :)

Showing off his dimples

He loves practicing standing alone.

Sam's younger brother said it well when he said Talmage reminded him of Sam because Sam always looks so "shocked" in his baby pictures!

Spit-Up

As has been indicated in previous posts, Talmage spits up a lot. On Sunday I was doing my hair and Sam came into the bathroom proclaiming, "Talmage did a really good job." He then proceeded to explain that in one shot, Talmage had spit up on his shirt, tie, belt, pants, and shoes! He changed his shirt and tie and cleaned up the rest. Then, just as we were about to leave, I noticed that there was more spit up he had not seen before on the back of his legs and on down to his ankles! I don't know how Talmage even grows at all...at least he now knows how to wipe himself off. If he spits up and we hand him the spit cloth, he will bring it to his face! :)

Little All-Star

I found this miniature "letterman" jacket in Talmage's things. It even has a T on the sleeve! I think he looks every bit the distinguished athlete...

His competitive side comes out (or maybe he was just about to yawn...)

"Sorry fellas, better luck next time!"

Early Bird

Talmage absolutely loves the mornings. He certainly didn't inherit this love from me, but his smiling face makes waking up at the crack of dawn a bit more enjoyable! Here are a few shots of his typical morning mood.

Some Tidbits

Well, Talmage is doing so well. His little personality is shining brighter with every passing day! I wanted to share a few tidbits about him that we delight in!

-Talmage LOVES intently studying things. Daddy takes him around the house regularly and describes the pictures on the wall and other things they see. Talmage always listens with wide-eyed amazement, totally captivated. His favorites are the pictures of Jesus.

Looking at pictures with Daddy

Gazing at the toys on his swing

Amazed by the lights on the Christmas tree

-The spit-up is still going strong, but he is so tolerant of it! Twice now he has spit up and instead of it coming out of his mouth, it has spurted out of his nose! Both times he has just gasped for air, struggling to catch his breath, and then taken a few deep breaths to stabilize himself. He has also learned how to hold his binky in his mouth while spitting up, so it will just spurt out the sides, landing everywhere except on his spit cloth. :)

The little man, just hangin' out

-He has gotten into gnawing on his hands. He is quite ferocious about it, and we often catch him chewing/licking/sucking on his hands with noisy smacks. Even at night, when his hands are covered to keep them warm, he will chew right on the fabric! We're working on training him to not do this, but it is still rather humorous to see!

Caught!

He looks guilty, doesn't he?

-He is working on his hand-eye coordination. He got a rattle for Christmas, and we are trying to get him to like it, but he's not so sure about it. It usually ends up in his mouth. This morning he was wearing some pajamas with bear faces on the feet, and they caught his attention. He leaned forward further and further with wide eyes and an open mouth until he was nearly horizontal. Then he worked until he was able to grab one of them with his hands, at which point his face broke into a delighted grin.

Playing with his rattle

-He gets stronger with every passing day. The other day he was sitting in our giant LoveSac, which is basically like a foam-filled beanbag chair. He was sitting at about a 45 degree angle, and suddenly he sat himself up straight before he lost his balance and toppled over to the side! I was also alarmed a couple of weeks ago when he was laying on my lap on his back and he suddenly rolled off! I caught him in mid-air, thankfully, but it definitely put me on guard! If the surface he is laying on is somewhat uneven, he can usually roll pretty well, and he is getting closer and closer to being able to roll over while laying on a flat surface. Oddly, he is better at rolling from his back to his stomach than from his stomach to his back!

So strong-standing by the couch!

He loves looking at the tummy time mat Grammy made for him. Thanks, Grammy!

-He is such a happy boy. He's not necessarily content to just be by himself for long, but as soon as we give him attention, smile at him, or talk to him, he rewards us with enormous, toothless grin after grin.

Smiling in his high chair-thanks for the idea, Aunt Jocilyn!

Blankie head

-He still keeps us entertained with his humorous expressions. We love that he has such a look of amazement at the simplest things. He is such a sponge, constantly soaking in all of the sights around him. He is an incredibly intense little baby, always trying with his entire being to accomplish whatever task he puts his mind to.

Playing with Daddy

King of the couch

All clean!

Such a sweet boy!

Family Fun

We have had the best couple of weeks together as a family. Sam finished his finals and his lab work a week before Christmas, so he had a full two weeks off! This is the first time, aside from when we were moving here, we have had a break from school when neither of us were working. It has been wonderful! We have done several fun things together.

Houston has a Museum District, and there are a ton of museums you can go see. Most charge money, but they almost all offer free times, which is great! We went to the Holocaust Museum, which was extremely sobering, but overall an uplifting experience. There are quite a few Holocaust survivors in the Houston area, and one of them started the museum. Right now there is an exhibit of Muslims who helped Jews escape, in addition to the standard museum exhibit, and that was very interesting to see.

It is even a somber experience to walk in the doors, as the museum is built to look like a crematorium.

We also went to see the Museum of Natural Science. There were exhibits about many of the different branches of science, from biology to physics to oil excavation!

I had to get a shot of Sam in front of the DNA, considering his field of study!

Taking a picture of the image from the heat-sensor camera they had

We also went to the Blue Bell Factory in Brenham, Texas. It was so amazing to see the process they use to make ice cream! Blue Bell ice cream is amazing...and although you can only get it at the grocery store in certain parts of the country, we found out that Outback Steakhouse restaurants anywhere serve it! As we walked in to begin the tour, Sam noticed a man wearing a BYU T-Shirt with his wife and 5 kids! We just had to talk to them. It turns out he and his wife are both BYU graduates and they are living in a suburb of Houston. It was so fun to see other members of the LDS Church at the ice cream factory! It gave us an instant comraderie.

We also had a super fun first anniversary. Sam worked so hard planning it. First he made us a fantastic breakfast. Then he gave me a gift, and it was frisbees to play frisbee golf! If you don't know, there are parks that have raised basket-type things into which you throw the frisbees. We got done with the first round, and he pulled out a book he had made that had a collection of his writings, our e-mails to each other, and our journal entries documenting our journey so far. There were 18 different section in the book-one for each round of the frisbee golf. It was surprisingly cold, so we donned hats and scarves. Don't worry, this isn't Sam's common winter attire. :) Recognize the Roots hat from the Olympics?

Then we went out to eat at Gringo's (a wonderful Mexican restaurant!). After that, we dropped Talmage off at a babysitter's house (my first time leaving him with someone other than Sam...I was anxious, but we managed to survive!), and we went up to the Houston temple to do sealings. It was such a great way to remember our own sealing, and such a wonderful end to a fantastic day.

We have been enjoying this break from school so much! I wish it could last longer, but I am so grateful for this time we have been able to spend together.

Brr!

Well, the title of this post is somewhat deceiving. It isn't really all that cold here. Some days it is still in the 70s. Sam and I aren't used to such warm weather at Christmastime, and it definitely makes us miss Utah a little bit, even though the cold can be tough sometimes. Anyway, with all of the thoughts about winter in Utah I was having the other day, I decided to put on Talmage's hat and mittens and take some pictures. Wishful thinking, I guess! :)

We're pretty smitten with our little guy!