She was almost equally enamored with the gorillas. Not that I’m drawing a correlation or anything. Because I’m not.

And finally, here’s a  way too long for anyone but grandparents video of the Bear:

He assures me that it is an important part of boyhood.

We’ll just have to see about that.

Arthur seems pretty pleased, at least.

I just can’t believe it.

And he is regularly showing me that his front half is ready to crawl. Scary, no?

Sigh.

Don’t even get me started on that proud baby smile..

Here he is, in all of his wobbly glory:

{And a quick note about Arthur’s health: Cutting dairy from my diet has yielded incredible results. His countenance is greatly improved, as is his sleep. It is absolutely wonderful to have my happy-go-lucky guy back. It will still be a few more weeks before the milk protein has completely cleared my system, so I’m sure there will be little bouts of indigestion here and there.. but overall, I’m so glad we found a solution. And apparently most of my poor eating habits involved dairy (read: butter, chocolate, cream, cheese, etc.) so I’ve already lost 3 lbs!}

…of Penelope’s first trip to the Splash Park. She was so much more adventurous than I had expected.

This is part-two to my birthday celebration. Last night Case and I left both kids for the first time (since Arthur’s arrival) and ate more than is probably appropriate at Havana Rumba. Have I talked about Havana Rumba before? It’s a really, really good Cuban place. Like really, really good. We don’t go often– it’s a perfect place to celebrate one’s birthday. Nice and loud, slightly garish decorations, authentic cuisine, and always on a wait. An empty restaurant makes me nervous, you know?

Anyway.

We ate our food while it was still hot, finished each sentence we started, and didn’t multitask. Not even once. We chewed slowly, discussed trivialities, and pondered weighty topics, uninterrupted. This, let me assure you, is not the norm. My kids, yes, are desperately cute… but they are also so needy. So, so needy. As is to be expected, I’m sure. I love them. But I also love savoring a meal with my guy without them. Special thanks to Lucy and Ricky.

Oh but then there is this..

Do you see the forlorn sense of misery? The slightly red circles around the eyes? That’s probably due to my sweet, previously-sleeping-through-the-night baby boy being up every 45 minutes last night. It is sort of a culminating event, forcing me to admit that my little guy has an issue with milk protein. I’ll spare you the icky details, but things have been getting pretty out of hand over here. My once easygoing boy has transformed into an inconsolable mess. He’s sleeping on my shoulder right now. As you can imagine, I’m typing v e r y, v e r y  s l o w l y.

Elimination diet time. For at least six weeks.  I start my milk/casein/whey/lactose/etc -free lifestyle tomorrow morning.  With almond milk in my coffee, if you must know.

My little fella’ is four months old today!

He continues to be one of the happiest babies I have ever encountered. His needs are almost always predictable, he sleeps great, and he loves to cuddle. What more could a mama want for?! He has a doctor’s appointment (and shots, boo!) next week, so I’ll update with stats then. By all accounts he is growing well, discovering the world around him, and just a wonderful little guy to be around.

We’re starting to notice his desire to move.. which isn’t something we observed in Penelope till she was about a year old. Arthur wants to be where she is, so he wiggles as best he can, to keep her in sight. I have a feeling she will have a shadow in no time. Good thing she likes an audience.

Attempted to capture a few Bear giggles on video:

And here are the photo-shoot rejects, for the grandparents…

And finally, I love baby feet.

Arthur is three-months-old (and weighs in at 14lbs, 4oz.)

He is such a fun little boy to be around. He’s sweet, social, happy, and easygoing. He started pushing all the way up on his two hands, so I have a feeling he’ll be an early mover.

I love his expression in this picture.. so casual, he looks like a teenager saying “ok, mom, we done here?”