Banananoses Reunite!

 A quick post as we have had visitors from throughout the states this week. . . (they weren't exactly here just for us but we got to relish in their company).  Minos little lady friend -

Abigail's family came in to meet her and Nana and Granddude happened to be in town for a dental conference so we got to have a get together of people who used to get together once a month or at least for the holidays but haven't all been in the same room at the same time in at least five years.  (I just had a baby so five years could actually be one or it could be as much as seven - my brain is mush.)  That reminds me of using excuses, when I was pregnant with Mino my first response to just about everything was "I'm pregnant!."  It would come in handy in such situations as sweating in a normal temperature room, releasing excessive air build up from a region between nipples and knees, getting out of taking the dog out at night, snoring, not showering, wearing sweatpants to just about any occasion be it formal or non. . . this list goes on and on.   A week after he was born I was crabby about something and I whipped out "I'm pregnant!" combined with an angry face to scare the accuser off, who quickly reminded me with a gentle point of the finger at the baby in my hands that I was not actually pregnant any more so I needed to quickly come up with a new excuse which is "I just had a baby!" with a bit of a snarl which does get me out of some sticky situations.  Anyway, back to Mino's life as that is what people are here for.
I have not put up a sequence of ugly faces for a while so I thought that I would update with the heat that Mino is now throwing us when he gets upset.

 His favorite place is still his changing table.  I don't know who was smiling down on me the day that he was sucked out but I love that he likes getting his diaper changed and getting dressed.  The other night he took playing with his toes to a new level and decided he was going to clean his toes with his mouth.  I couldn't capture it right with the camera, but in real life all the lint from his toes was around his mouth and on his tongue.  It was adorably gross!

Diane was here visiting since Rae and Mark came to visit Abigail and she and mom were enjoying the side view of reverse baldness that my little chap has.  Or little dude as Granddude calls him.  Abuela thought that perhaps a hair cut was in order and Martin and I were pretty against it at that point, but here a few weeks later, a few inches longer on top and we are getting close to consenting to it.  I secretly am hoping the rest of it will catch up though.

 So Nana, Rae and Diane have been friends as long as I can remember.  We would have Christmas together every year and have family Olympics and game nights and all of that stuff that is great and wholesome growing up.  After Mark and Rae,s youngest went to college they moved to Hawaii so that tradition has come to a sputtering halt, but both Kate and I live here which means now that we have Mino and Abigail the grandmas are frequently descending on the Twin Cities and opportunities to rejuvenate these great traditions are opening up with the newest generation.  So I didn't have my usual dumb luck with these next photos, everyone was looking in different directions and peoples eyes were closed.
The Betenes and Therriens with their new leading lady!

 Here are Nana and Rae enjoying each others grandbabies. .

 And the three matriarchs. 

 And the Grandpas.  Notice how Mino is already putting the moves on wee Abigail - he sure didn't learn that from his dad!

 So there are pictures of Kate and I with our little spawn but I am still not enjoying photos and Kate is less than two weeks out of child birth so I am taking executive decision and not putting either of us on here.  The best part is that Mari was able to come through too!  I honestly can not remember the last time that I saw her but I am pretty sure it was before she moved to the west coast, and that has been a while.
Mark wanted to see just how stimulating a baby gym could be, Mino was jealous.

 Finally he is big enough to use this pacifier.  Kerry have it to Mino right after he was born but the sucking part was too big and gagged him.  I have been waiting and waiting and finally the coolest pacifier ever is in regular rotation.

So Martin went to California last weekend and Mino, Portos Wallace and I had a few nights without our "Alpha" as Martin likes to call himself or "Martin" as I like to call him.  Portos was a good protector of little Mino. This was a morning before work and I couldn't get him to go out, he was just laying by Minos feet.

 

 But alas Martin came back and Mino stole his phone.

1/200th of a century old

Mino is 6 months old already, the memory of the pain of his birth is long gone but the emotions are still fresh.  When I look at him I remember the first time I saw him up in the little incubator (the whole fresh baby on your belly after he is first out wasn't too good for me) and realized he was mine.  Martin and I frequently have the conversation (and we know we are uber biased) that we have no idea how we made such a cute baby - neither of us foresaw something so cute, we figured he would be more awkward looking than he is.
Martin is in California at a conference so I went to Clintonville to pawn of some of the baby caring on my parents - oh and go to Lisa's bridal shower and visit Auntie Sarah - so the teddy bear is missing from this month as is the usual positioning.   Anyway, without further ado. .

 The night before he turned six months he officially was sitting up on his own, he still tips over, obviously, but the little bugger can use his abs and balance himself for 30 seconds up to a couple minutes before he kinda folds over.  He still has only rolled over twice.

 

 

 

 And we're done.

 

I guess I forget he is a boy, I took a couple with some daffodils and a branch from the crab apple tree but those didn't quite go as planned.  More funerally.  Not appropriate.  Maybe if he was a girl that would have worked better.
We stopped by to visit Poppop who is fantastic with kiddos.  It was slightly warm in there as you can see by his increasingly rosy cheeks.

 He was loving this fake cat thing that my mom got for my Nana back in the day. . . quite possibly a skinned stuffed cat.  He could pull its fur and it wouldn't run away.  Wallace doesn't like it rough.
 He knows how to get Portos to love him. . open mouthed kissing and constant snuggling.

 He is really starting to interact with the world around him.  He loves to reach out at everything around him and feel it, he likes to grab and pull and now my hair and glasses are fair game.  Here he was sending emails like Granddude.

 Auntie Sarah was pretty busy with all the wedding hooplah for her gal pal and rumored lady lover Lisa so she just got a couple quickies with the little guy between events.  He lover her though, he smiles whenever she is around.  I think it is possible he recognizes her voice from all the facetiming we do with her.  It is kinda neat to see since she is so far away.

He also likes cougars. 

 So Granddude and his father used to spend a lot of time tinkering with Ham Radios.  My dad lost interest for the last decade but recently rekindled his interest and introduced Mino to it and let him turn the dials and listen.  I guess they spoke with a gentleman in Ontario and Mino was telling him all about the Twin Cities.

Here we are today after we got back.  Mino is fantastic at car trips for about three hours.  The trip between here and Clintonville is four hours.  Needless to say he wanted OUT of his car seat like whoa.

First time away from Mom and Dad

So this post is going to be way below par as far as pictures go, they are either from my phone or daycare so some scenes are imagined and re-created with the high tech program called Windows Paint.. . .the big fancy camera did not come out to play this past few days.  Well, little Mino and Nana embarked on a four day adventure when Martin and I went to Puerto Rico for Jacques and Siobhan's wedding for a long weekend. (And Martin and I made our wills!!!)  We were without Mino overnight for the first time since February of 2011!  The first day was really really tough, but it got exponentially easier with each day that passed.  (The rum and good friends may have helped ease the transition. . )

Nana came a night early to get the run down on Mino's day to day activities- milk consumption (5oz a pop) poops, naps, bed time, yada yada yada.  We then left her at 4am for our fun!
We kayaked, we drank rum, we toured around Old San Juan,

 

 we ate, we attended a fantastic wedding that a dead cardinal tried to disrupt,

 

 

 

we slept in a bed without a dog between us - a cat crawling on us and knocking stuff over so we give it food -  or a baby resting on our chests, we relaxed on a beach.
But between all of our fun we would call Nana and check in on the daily activities of our little spawn.  He went to daycare during the day for the first two days to let Nana rest (and go to Ikea and Trader Joes and who knows where else!)  where they were so good to email pictures of him.

 

 

 

 The next day Mino and Nana spent the whole day together.  She reported that Portos finally noticed the bajillion ducks in the pond in the back yard and barked at them for several hours (which I am sure the neighbors loved) and that there were ducks wandering around in the front yard as well which neighborhood kids were enjoying and their parents thought she was trying to abduct as she slowly crept towards them with a stroller warning them about running into the road.

She also reported that Mino took his first tumble. . . unsupervised time on the couch and several rollovers later = a large headed mino on the ground.

We came back on Sunday night to a happy baby hanging out with Auntie Sarah who was a bit "under the weather" from her night out with her gal pals and a Nana who enjoyed her time with her grandson!  I couldn't wait to get him into my arms (and feed him. . .pumping full time is a pain in the arse!) and get punched by his chubby little sticky hands again.
This next weekend is another first. . the first overnight alone with only one parent!  Martin is off to California for a conference for 5 days so Mino and I will have some fun.
In closing to this rather lame post are two phone pictures . .
Minos little top tuft illuminated by the sun:

And my documentation of Mino's first wedgie!

 

UPDATE!!  NANA TOOK PICTURES!!