IKE hits Ohio

Hurricane Ike made his way up from Texas... and hit Ohio on Sunday! We were without power for 2 days and this is what our front lawn looked like the next day:

(don't worry that is not our car) 

We discovered a few things living without power... one is that baby frank is terrified of the dark... and no flash light or crib toy can fix this issue... It is also very hard to keep formula (because we don't use powder) when you don't have a fridge to keep it cold... luckily my school was cancelled Monday and Tuesday because all of Dayton appears to be without power... but this left us with little to do around the house... This morning baby frank and I got to eat at the University of Dayton dining hall with his babysitter Emily, because they were giving students "emergency meals". When we returned home for nap time, the power was returned to our house! We were very excited because we were about one hour away from fleeing to Columbus to stay with my parents who have electricity. We had to find things to keep busy without any electricity... here are pictures of baby Frank reading my Dev. Bio textbook... he may be a scientist yet!

"this book looks interesting..."

flipping through the pages

eating a book is the best way to gain knowledge!

New Car Seat

Daddy buckling him in

he looks so little in his new seat

Thankfully Grandma and Grandpa Hartge decided to get baby Frank a new convertable car seat since he is too big for his old carrier car seat. The new car seat is big and comfy... it looks like baby frank is chilling in a plush lazy boy! It was a serious pain to install... Evenflo instructions are not as clear as the Chicco ones... but we figured it out! I do miss the convince of his carrier seat... but he likes to be able to ride in shopping carts and sit in high chairs at restaurants... but if he is a sleeping you have to wake him up when taking him in the house... But at least now he is safe and we won't need another car seat!

Mr. Independent!

Grandma Hayes really wants baby frank to hold his own bottle, and he is actually getting pretty good at it... but I don't really see the need to hurry this up. I agree with my friend Meghan... it is nice to curl up with your baby and give him a bottle... so we will let grandma have her fun... but we are not taking this one seriously.

Growing up too fast!

Baby frank has passed the recommended weight/height for his car seat... so I thought I would post these last pictures of baby frank in his carrier car seat from Friday night on the way to dinner... i cannot believe he is 7 months old already!

hanging out

he makes this funny face every time i put a hat on him

trying to remove his hat

what a sweet boy

so big!

Snakes, Snails and Puppy Dog Tails

Today baby frank visited grandma Hayes at her school and got to see all her animals in her classroom. She now teaches biology instead of intro to physics so she can have fun animals for the students. She has a bathtub which is an aquarium with fish and a turtle! Baby frank was fascinated by the turtle, though he is not old enough to actually play with it he wanted to really bad! He also got to play with the snakes, lizards, and hold a cockroach! What a brave little guy he is!

Talking to Jack the turtle

really excited to see the fish and turtle

who lets their baby play with a cockroach??

I kept having to sign "gentle" i swore he was going to squash the bug

what a boy!

Another Crazy Hat

Baby Frank is rather well known for his stylish hats I force him to wear.. and now that winter is upon us he is about to be even more tortured then during the warm summer months! This dinosaur hat is the cutest thing and I could not wait to put him in it, even if it is still warm outside... get ready for many more cute hats to come!

Playing in his crazy hat

like a baby stegosaurus

so incredibly funny! love this hat

And He is OFF

The day we have been afraid of has finally arrived... baby frank is crawling! I tried to upload some video but it is not working so I will try again later... He was not moving very well on the carpet, but once I set him on the wood floor he just took off... time to cage him up and baby proof the house!

off he goes

watch out he is on the move

he is a man on a mission

crawling allows him to get into trouble

big trouble!