Our Awesome Baby

Sir Cuteness at 6 months

Let's face it...I hardly ever update the blog...and it's all Facebook's fault. Chances are if you're reading my blog, you've been following our lives on Facebook. (Unless you're one of my wonderful blog stalkers. Hehe)  So if you want to see pictures of the past three months of Allen's life, you can check them out there :) I'll post a few though.

Super Cool Dude 5 months old

At his first concert (Peter Breinholt)

He's a really good jumper! He loves that thing.

Church goin' baby at 5 months

So Allen is six months old now! Make that almost seven months old. Time is flying and he's growing up so fast. He is sooo handsome, smart, and well...he's pretty much awesome.

Earlier this month, I took him to his 6 month check up. He was like 6 months and 10 days at the time. Here are his stats:
16 lbs 11 oz
28 inches

His 6 month picture...we just took it in our backyard on our new patio furniture

The doctor mentioned that he seemed a little pale. Well, that's really just the way he is. Fair and handsome (That's what his name means). She thought it was worth checking his Iron levels so he got a little toe prick. Turns out he's anemic, though he's still quite the white boy. That's just how he is :) He also got his shots and only cried a little for a minute.

He hit a few milestones recently :)

At 5 1/2 months we took him to Shriner's for his follow up appointment and we got the go ahead to wear the brace only at night, or 12-14 hours a day. It's been sooo nice to have the brace off! (Before he had to wear it 23 hours a day.) I've absolutely loved being able to kiss his soft, squishy feet! He loves the freedom so much. The day he went to part time wear he rolled over all by himself for the first time! I suppose it's easy to do once you're not attached to a snowboard. Now, at 6 months he rolls over like crazy, making him mobile via rolling. He's also working on learning to crawl right now. I'm not ready for a mobile baby! Oh and he can sit up all by himself without falling over. I guess at his age that's to be expected but I still think his sitting up skills are pretty impressive. Haha.

Sitting up, checking himself out in his mirror

Workin' on those scootin' skills

More milestones...
At 6 months he said his first words!
First word: Dada 
Second word: Mama

I'm pretty sure "Dada "was his first word because it's easier to say. Yeah. that must be it. Anyway, he has the cutest little voice ever.  He just started saying it out of the blue and he hasn't stopped. He'll usually sit and whisper Dada when he hears or sees Larry. A few days later he started saying Mama. He usually only says Mama when he's sad or wants me. He cries"mama mommm."  It totally melts me!

He's also eating baby food...er should I say, supposed to eat baby food. We can only get him to eat pizza and oreos. But "apparently" that's not the best diet for a baby, especially a baby that doesn't have teeth. :D Speaking of teeth, the little guy is teething now. He should be getting his first teeth any day now. I'm sure they'll be adorable but I'm a little sad he won't be my gummy bear anymore.

Oh so back to the baby food deal. He's not a fan at all. My sisters in law gave us tons of free baby food and he won't eat it. He looks completely repulsed by it. I've spoon fed plenty of babies and they all get over it pretty quickly. But not Allen. He just thinks it's gross. I've tried it and I don't blame him. We can get him to eat a little if and only if we let him feed himself, which makes for quite the messy baby.  The doctor said his dislike of baby food and desire to feed himself means he's smart and independent. Yup, sounds like my Allen. We've also introduced the sippy cup. I need to get him more of a trainer cup though but I haven't gone to the store yet.

Taking the spoon away from mommy

Now he's happy!

Got mess?

My sweet little boy today.

Allen is showing a lot of interest in animals, which makes his mama proud. He loves our dog Kodi and giggles when he gets kisses from him. They're really cute together and seem to thoroughly enjoy each others company.

He also loves music. He smiles and wiggles to dance. He especially loves when Larry plays the guitar for him.

Allen took his first plane ride earlier this month when we went to Kansas. He was so good, like he usually is, and slept the whole time (something he doesn't do a lot of). It was also his first time going there.  (Though I just had a flash back to the miserable looong drive there when I was 8 months pregnant.) It was great to visit our family there. Allen's cousins ADORE him. They all kept asking to hold "Baby Allen" and continuously told him how adorable he is. Smart kids, that's all I can say. We also saw our new niece, Sarah, get blessed. She's the newest baby on the Balsmeier side, and very cute I might add.

Let's see, what else is going on with Baby A? Oh yeah, he has a really hard time sleeping with his brace. We're often up every hour with him. Poor baby. Needless to say, he has to have something about him that makes him a little bit of a challenge. Because, let's face it, he's pretty much perfect :)

I can't describe how much we love him. He is the funniest, sweetest, most precious little boy. He loves to interact with us and play with us. He also loves to snuggle. What can I say? Our baby is AWESOME.

"Don't Blame Me, I Was Born AWESOME"

Picture Post...Growing Up So Fast!

Allen is now four months old! I can't believe it. At his last check up he weighed 14 lbs 4 oz and was 26 inches tall. He is such a blessing to us. He has the best sense of humor and is always making us laugh. He loves to giggle, give kisses, and squeal when we play with him. He's just so full of personality! He seems to learn something new every day...I'm pretty sure he's a genius ;) Haha. He's been doing great with his Ponseti brace and even scoots around with it. Okay so this may sound a little cheesy but it's the truth...;) Not a day goes by that we don't thank Heavenly Father for sending us such a precious little boy!

K, so these pics start at the present and go down to when he was 2 1/2 months old...

Smile!

He loves to go swimming!

Larry with Allen on Father's Day

I'm so glad he loves kitties!

We moved him to his crib...but he seems to wake up a lot. Makes me very sleepy...

He loves playing with his daddy

He's looking SO grown up

Yay for summer!

After bathtime

Me and my boy

Just chillin' on the couch

Looking like a giant next to cousin Tristan (Who was born 10 weeks after Allen by the way. He's Kaylynn's little boy)

Did I mention he's growing up too fast?

I call him Sir Cuteness...

So sweet

Yeah I know...a rocking chair is probably not the best place for tummy time ;)

Looking very dapper (Larry dressed him while I was at work.) Very cute!

Yup. Still cute.

Allen and his cousins (on my side of the family) From left to right: Makai with Allen, Jonas with Caysa, Vaughn, and baby Tristan. (This picture and the rest of these were taken by my sister Emily when Allen was 11 weeks old)

Handsome boy.

He's so yummy!

He was looking over at me :)

This picture captures his silly personality

Perfection. Enough said.

I can't even count the number of times I've heard "He looks JUST like his dad"...I  guess I better get used to it!

I love his expression.

Got handsome?

Very angelic

He's quite photogenic :)

Pretty sure I'll never be able to say no to this face.

Allen's Blessing...Yeah I know that was a couple months ago.

So I realized I never wrote about Allen's Blessing. It was on May 8, 2011 which happened to be Mother's Day. It meant a lot to me to have Larry bless him and officially give him the name Larry "Allen" Balsmeier III. I'm sure his grandpa (Larry Allen I) was one of the angels standing close by. Allen was given a really nice blessing. Among other great blessings, he was blessed to someday serve a mission and marry in the temple. I'm so proud of Allen already. He is such an amazing little boy and I'm just so grateful to be his mom!  Here are some photos of that day. He was cute little stud in his blessing outfit. Instead of going with the traditional white, I found him a vested suit. Sooo handsome!

Okay, so this was actually taken another day. He was sooo tired after his photo shoot with Emily.

Cast signing isn't the typical activity on blessing day...but it was a good opportunity since our family was there. He got the casts off the next day. They were his sixth and final casts! (Loretta took the pics from here down)

My little man

How cute is he?!

One of my notes to him. "I love you little foot."

Daddy writing on Allen's casts. Poor baby was wondering why we took his pants away and wrote all over his legs!

All in all, it was a great day and a very special first Mother's Day! I couldn't be happier to be my sweet little boy's mommy.