6 months

 Six months.  Six months!!  Who is okaying this madness?  Good thing this is such a fun age, or I'd probably be bawled up in a corning looking at newborn pictures.

Stats:
Weight: 19 lbs
Height: 28 1/2 inches

Clark is one happy camper these days and smiles at pretty much anything that moves: grocery store clerks, palm fronds, dogs barking.  He's not picky.  He's also especially giggly right now and it's killing me.  I have entirely too many videos of him laughing #sorrynotsorry.

Kiddo became a expert traveler this month going on two trips and six plane rides total.  And he was a dream.  Seriously, kuddos to this kid.  His first flight to Provo he gave us a diaper blow out and fell asleep minutes before the plane landed, but he was happy!  Not complaining.  We turned around the next week and flew cross country to Florida and Clark was a trooper all over again.  The real amazing thing was on our flight home where we waited 5 extra hours at the airport, missed our connecting flight, had to spend the night in Dallas, and grabbed an early morning 7AM flight having to be up at 5AM and off to the airport...and Clark didn't cry once!  Not once!  He was a miraculous traveling super baby.  Bless him.  Bless him 50 times.

This little guy is starting to become much more verbal these days with lots of ba's and aa's, and recently working on his ma's.  It's adorable.

The cutest thing lately is that our little man is starting to reach for him momma.  It melts me!  He's only done it a handful of times, but I just adore it (hopefully I still adore it when he's 2 and wanting to be help all the time).

Big baby milestone this month: solids!  So far we've just given the babe rice cereal and his reviews are definitely mixed.  He's interested, but confused and really the best tactic to getting him to eat a bite is to make him laugh and dump a spoonful in his open mouth.  He looks surprised every time, but he seems to be swallowing more than is dribbling down his chin so...progress?  I'm getting pretty jazzed to start giving him fruits and veges next. 

Little guy definitely is starting to have preferences these days and one of them is colors.  Specifically red.  He seems to dig all things rosy, most especially a cup I like to drink out of.  When it's on the table he does a full two armed lunge toward it until I move it closer.  We get the message little dude.

Mostly we just love this little chub and are so happy he's ours for good.  Keep growing little guy (but not too fast please!).

Easters

I have always loved Easter.  It probably started with the fact that it's close to my birthday, but after that it just became such a sweet simple holiday filled with family, good food, and the message our Savior.  What more could you want?  Except for dying eggs...not such a big fan of that.

Clark was introduced to the egg hunt at our ward's Easter activity.  He wasn't really into it...just wait till you can eat the candy next year kiddo.  It gets wayyyy more fun after that.

As it so happened, Easter this year, fell over General Conference weekend.  So we got to spend a few days with family down in Orange County.

While the boys were away at Priesthood Session, we packed up the babe and toted him to Balboa Island for some good times. 

One of my most favorite things is watching other people love on my little dude, and his Grammy and Aunt Brooke are pros.

Since General Conference means we stay home, we didn't get decked out in our Easter best on Easter Sunday, but that didn't stop Clark from looking oh so dapper!  

Until he figures out how to take hats off his head, this kid will be wearing a whole bunch of them.

 It was a perfect Easter weekend filled with all the fixin's and plenty of baby giggles.  So thankful for family and the message of this Easter season.

Clark meets water

Lets be honest, I have been dying to get Clark in the pool for months now, but it just hasn't been right. 

I didn't have a swimsuit for him. 
The pool was too cold. 
David wasn't around. 

But finally, finally, the stars aligned and we got this kiddo in some swim trunks and dunked him in Grammy and Poppy's lukewarm hot tub. 

And it did not disappoint.

Gosh, being a parent is so much fun.  I love watching these firsts with this little guy.

 Clark in sunglasses.  There are few things cuter than Clark in sunglasses.

But that sassy look on the right comes close.

 "Whooooa dad, I'm not so sure about this..." - Clark

Just kidding.

Get ready kiddo, we're going to be int he pool a whooooole lot this summer.

cousin friends

Once upon an Easter last we had a Tobler family Skype session where two couples announced they were expecting little bebes come November.  It was the best news, pretty much ever, and now that we have two little cousin buddies born 9 days apart and destined to be the best of friends.

It took them four months to meet, so you can imagine how shutter happy we were once they finally got together, the fruits of which you can see here:

The first meeting in sum up: Miles squealing with joy and Clark wide-eyed and holding onto Mom.  He wasn't so sure about his Indiana cousin...

Watching them chatter to each other on the play mat was all sorts of heartwarming cuteness.

 

So happy to finally meet this chunky little nephew of mine!  He is such a love.

 

"Mom, do you see this guy??  He's just my size!" - Clark

 Two babies and their Grammy Tobler.  So much love going on in this picture.

 Of course when you start out with two babes in their Sunday best, you've gotta get comfy eventually.  And what's cuter than to nakey babies?

 Hand eating.  Must be related.

 Two cute boys.

 Two cute bums.

And topping off the day with a toe dip in the pool.  Not a bad gig.

It is going to be beyond fun to watch these two little chunks grow up together.  Hopefully they'll eventually live a little closer together than Indianapolis and LA ;)

5 months

Five months.  Five months!  Gosh, that's almost 6 months.  Which is almost half a year.  Which is almost a year.  Which is craziness.  Sometimes it feels like this little baby is slipping through my fingers like sand on the beach and it's so sad.  And also wonderful.  Sometimes I can't decide which.

And sometimes it makes me want to have another tiny baby...

And then I laugh.

Stats:
Height: 27 1/2 inches (95%)
Weight: 18 pounds (96%)
Head Circumference: 46 cm (>98%)

He's evening out, but still a huge little dude.  We love every chubby bit of him.

This little guy has now found his toes and his thumbs.  One or both are in his mouth at all time.

We're down to three naps a day now and four meals + a dream feed (that I'm not sure we really need or not...).  I swear we used to be eating round the clock and taking a lot  - a lot - of naps and then all of a sudden - poof!  Not anymore.  It happened so fast.

We're staying awake for 2 hours between naps now too, and it's the best.  I love having time to go shopping with an awake traveling buddy - it's much more fun.

One of my favorite things is watching this little guy figuring out his hands.  He's gotten so much better at holding and grabbing his toys.  It blows my mind how fast he learns.

Although sometimes I wish he'd learn a bit faster...Right now he's completely proficient at rolling from his back to his tummy.  I think he almost does it without realizing it and he most definitely practices while he's asleep.  So he'll roll to his tummy, get frustrated because he's not comfortable and cry for momma to come right him.  We're working really hard to figure out this tummy to back thing over here.

He wants to sit up by himself so, so badly these days, but we're just not there yet.  I swear, he's going to have the strongest little abs in the world the way he's doing crunches all day long.  He's close though.  So close...

I've also found my baby's first love: his bouncer.  Holy cow.  That kid could bounce all day long - and he might - if I'd let him.  The happy squeaks he lets out when he's in that thing are magical.  And the air he gets is kind of unbelievable. 

Daily baths are my favorite things these days as we wind down for bed.  Then we put on lotion and do a little massage and put on our PJ's before playing a little bit in the nursery as his eyelids get heavy.  It's such a sweet moment cocooned in the smell of baby lotion and warm blankets.  It's heaven.  My kind of heaven.

Things I want to remember about this little five month old:

• His slow blinks.  They are incredibly flirtatious, and thoughtful, and my favorite.
• The way he is always holding out his arms to keep his balance.
• The way his eyes dance when he realizes I'm smiling at him.
• How when you hold him up over your shoulder he'll look back and forth behind and in front of you.  Back and forth.  Back and forth.  Taking it all in.
• How he grabs his feet and pulls them up to his cheeks.
• His baby thighs.  They are chunky and delicious and I will be slightly heartbroken when they start thinning out.
• They way his heavy sleepy head feels on my shoulder.
• His rosebud lips that pucker so delightfully when he looks down.
• Current nicknames: Bubba, Mr. Magoo, Chunk-a-Chunk, and Clarkey Boy

We love you so much our little five-month-old chunker.  Never loose those delicious cheekers.