Back in Germany, and Béla sitting unassisted

The first week back in Germany was a bit strange, as Jeremi was home sick (his second week off sick, after a nasty lung infection), so we were all at home, and Béla had terrible jetlag. He slept in the first full day back (Monday) until 2:00 pm. Needless to say, it took a while to get back into our rhythm, he and I. There was also no point in me trying too hard to get over my jetlag, when I knew that I'd be up super late with him anyhow, and Jer was so sick that I didn't want to make him stay up late. It was a strange, and not altogether pleasant, start to our year.

One thing I did during this time was to go through his clothes, sorting out the 3-month outfits that didn't fit him anymore, and rediscovering all the cute 6-month outfits that he hadn't had a chance to wear yet. Like this adorable orange fleece pumpkin suit. Yup, if you buy a baby born at the end of April a 6-month size pumpkin suit, your grandson will be dressed like a Jack-O-Lantern in January, in a country that doesn't really do Halloween. Whatever, he's still cute.

Another cute 6-month outfit is these Osh Kosh train conductor overalls. I'm glad we tried them on him when he was 4.5 months, because they're rather slim, and while they still fit, they really fit. And while it's not obvious, he's wearing the super cute bum-flap long underwear from Melanie and Ruthanne underneath. (If you can't tell, he's asleep on a pillow on the couch in this picture, after passing out while nursing.)
We wanted a picture of him in this outfit while awake as well, but I don't think Jer waited until he was really awake, as this is totally his dopey just-woke-up-from-a-nap face.Also, about a week after we arrived back in Germany, Béla totally figured out the whole sitting up unassisted thing. He'd been on the verge for weeks, but it suddenly clicked, and he was suddenly totally happy to sit and play with things, without periodically falling over, bonking his head, and starting to cry. (There's still a pillow behind him in this picture for safety, because he still tipped over if he got distracted at this point, about a week shy of five months.)
Look at him, playing like a pro! Of course this happy time of unassisted play didn't last long - within a week or so he developed the pathological need to chuck himself forward onto his hands and knees whenever he was in a sitting position for more than 10 seconds, despite the fact that he couldn't crawl, and barely had the strength to cushion his landing. And so began another period of bonking his head and wailing, while waiting for the next milestone (which he has completely reached in the meantime, but I'm getting ahead of myself in my boasting now).