11 months old

You have turned into this little toddler overnight.  When I drew out the number 11 on the chalkboard for your picture I started crying, and I will have to accept that I will be "that mom" meaning the one who cries and celebrates over every milestone.  You have started standing and taking steps, they are so cute and cautious.  You love to cruise around the house and you are literally all over the place and into everything that is NOT a toy.

You have become super opinionated and point, reach, lean, grab for everything.  I have officially dropped you on your head once now...you were sitting in my lap and I was trying to wrestle socks on to your feet and you just leaned over and jumped and out of my arms you went.  Luckily we were sitting and you landed on the rug.  I couldn't even move for several minutes it scared me so badly.  You daddy said that I should have seen it from across the room, he said it was in slow motion!  Yikes!  He also likes to remind me when y'all are wrestling and he's holding you upside down that I am the one who dropped him…i don't really like the upside down stuff you dada does!

Typical Day:
6:30-7:00AM bottle

snack/morning nap

12:00 - lunch time

afternoon nap and bottle

6:00PM dinner

7:30-8:00 bottle and bed time

Your schedule shifts daily depending on the time you wake up.  If you are entertained sometimes you will stay awake longer in the morning and take a really long nap middle of the day and a shorter one in the late afternoon.

Favorites

Foods: you are loving chicken strips, seasoned baked/steamed vegetables, raviolis, spinach/potato bakes, crackers, mum-mums, baby yogurt, puffs, teething cookies and cereal.  i still give you some pureed baby food and you can suck down a pouch of baby food in just a minute, it's funny.  you had purple hull peas at Su-su's and LOVED them.  we are still trying to do mostly organic foods especially produce and meats, but that goes out the window when you consume a plate full of rice/beans at our favorite mexican restaurant or want a little taste of my ginger-ale.

Toys/loves:
Christmas tree lights, ornaments, cords, outlets, cars, push toys, balls…you especially love cars right now and push all the cars Riley passed down to you all over our house.  it's really cute.  you won't sit still for books right now, so sometimes i just sit and read them even though you crawl around while i am doing it.  i am so hopeful to have a book lover on my hands.

Language:
You point and whine/squeal to get what you want and that's hard for me…i am all the time trying to get you to make a nicer sound to request rather than that whiney/fussy business.  i do some signs with you for things and you pretty much push my hands away.  i don't care if you sign or point, just trying to help you have a better way to tell us what you want.  you lean into your daddy and i when new people talk to you, and you are still shy with most new people.  you cry when we leave you at nursery at church but always end up playing by the time we come back for you.  you are saying "mama, dada, bye-bye, ba-ba, fffff, la-la" and I think bye-bye is your first meaningful word.  Susu said after we left you sat waving and saying bye-bye.  You use dada and mama interchangeable for both of us…so I am excited for you to say it and mean it! :)  you have imitated "ba" for ball and "baba" for your bottle a lot lately, so that is fun.

Ear stats:
you managed to get double ear infections two weeks in a row with your tubes.  we did ear drops and antibiotics and went back to the ENT and he cleaned them out a bit.  cleaning the tubes in your ears involved us strapping you a papoose board with a nurse and me holding you.  you recovered really quickly, but you were NOT happy.  i feel like you are going to be getting more teeth soon, you are very drooly and chewing on everything.  we have been out of daycare the end of november and early december with susu here keeping you, so we are feeling well, and i wish it would last!

Weight:
You are still at 20 lbs, and 25th percentile for weight/height.  You have dropped down some in both since you were smaller, so we will see how this levels out later on…I don't care as long as you are healthy sweet boy!

I am so excited to watch you learn and grow and sad that it's going so fast.  We love you so much little buddy.  

10 months old!

Our days:
6:30-7:00 wake up time and bottle, we still sit in our chair and I drink coffee and talk to you while you have your bottle, it's the best time ever!  So nice to just sit and relax in the morning and not be running around.

7:30-7:45 breakfast, you LOVE bananas, waffles, cereal and fruit/oatmeal

8:00 head towards school, our drop off time is usually around 8:15, you are excited to get down and play in the floor or cuddle with one of your teachers, i love that you are loving it.

on days that we are home you like to take a good morning nap and afternoon nap now!  you have started refusing your bottles during the day time, so I am thinking time to make the morning and night bottles bigger.

11:30-ish bottle

12:30-ish lunch  you love crackers, chicken strips, sweet potatoes, pears, etc.

4:00-ish bottle

6:00 dinner, we tried some butternut squash ravioli's this week, and you liked them!  you will also eat a few bites of avocado, but you are not in love!

7:00 bath time and bed time with bottle between 7:30 and 8:00

you use to fall asleep every night with your bottle and rocking, but lately you like to drink your bottle, twist around and stand up in my lap and play with your pacifier.  you like to share it with me while grabbing for the curtains and smiling.  so funny, we love watching your personality come out more everyday!

"We don't yike Santa!"

Brooks' grandparents requested a picture of all their grandkids with Santa.  Off to see Santa we went...we really talked it up with our little wild card, Lena Beth…"Santa is nice, he will ask you want for Christmas" blah, blah…  

We arrive, things are looking ok, we go in and the Santa was nice, maybe a bit too nice, but didn't really mesh well with Lena Beth or with my son who doesn't want to be tickled or touched by a giant red stranger.  If looks could have taken Santa out….Brooks would have taken him down.  He was so serious, and I struggled even handing him over to sit on his lap since he wanted NOTHING to do with him…and walking in Lena Beth yells "I don't YIKE SANTA!"

Brooks starting to cry and the blue sucker bribe is still working on Lena Beth…and Riley smiling. 

Lena Beth decides she can cry louder than Brooks…and no sucker is worth being happy on Santa's lap.

Riley…still smiling.

Lena Beth with one arm up!

And the finale, Brooks still crying, Riley still smiling, and Lena Beth with BOTH hands up!

Merry Christmas!

Our fall...

This is my favorite time of year.  When the leaves start changing around Fayetteville and I see mums and pumpkins, I get really excited.  I've treated myself to a few pumpkin lattes and busted out the boots and scarves to make it official.

We have had some great weather, and played in the backyard.  I have joked that a blanket in the yard is like an invisible fence for Brooks.  He does not like the grass, so he won't leave the blanket.  It's great.


Our little fella also entered fall with ear infections that have been recurrent since August when he started daycare.  We did 3 rounds of oral antibiotics, and two rounds of a series of 3 antibiotic shots (just to do the math for you, that 6 shots in 2 weeks).  By the time he got the last shot he was using his free leg to push the nurse away.  I hated it for him, but he was a trooper and recovered quickly.  All of those shots did not make his ears better so we headed to the ENT.  I tried my best to avoid getting tubes, but Brooks got them Friday, October 11th.  Since then he has pretty much been able to sleep through the night with out crying, I am so thankful he feels better!  I also feel like God used taking my baby to a hospital to make my heart even softer for those parents who frequent hospitals with their children.

My favorite part of the morning, when he was back in our arms and recovering!  I am so thankful to have medical care that we need for Brooks available to us.  Hard to think about those that don't.  

We had a sweet morning at the pumpkin patch, our buddy Sadler met us there.  These two had a great time checking out all the pumpkins.  

 I still have to remind myself that my lifelong best friend and I have sweet boys 2 weeks apart, such a blessing.  

 He doesn't lay still often, but when he does, it's sweet stuff.  

And I don't really think about October any more with out thinking about Ukraine. Two years ago I spent two weeks there in October, and it was one of the most special times of my life.  It was my no means an "easy" two weeks, but a lot of good stuff isn't.  

 I have this picture framed in my kitchen..I know the view of this road is looking out from the orphanage and I love having it in my kitchen. 

"I'm so glad I live in a world where there are Octobers." -L.M. Montgomery

8.5 months

Little man has done some big things over the past month, here's the run down

-You are loving your new ability to move around and explore, you started officially crawling on all fours Friday evening, September 13th, and by the next morning, you couldn't be slowed down.   You love outlets, cords, knobs, shoes, strings and basically everything that is NOT a toy.

-You will turn a toy over and inspect every part of it while you play.
-If we hold you, you will push away with your legs, and climb up us as high as we will let you.  You also love to be upside down.

-You have had the two bottom teeth and in the past week your central/lateral incisors have come through on the top left, and looks like the other two on the opposite side are not far behind.
-You have been a champ through fevers, 3 rounds of antibiotics, and multiple ear infections and all of those teeth coming in since starting daycare in August...sleeping has been hit or miss, but snuggling more is always sweet.  Even at 2:00AM....once i am coherent
-You consistently squeal, cough, and say "buh-buh" and "dah-dah" and I heard "mah-mah" for the first time in awhile this evening.
-You have a great pincer grasp and love to feed yourself puffs, yogurt melts, and tiny pieces of bread/crackers.  you would probably love all table food, i am dicing bananas/avocados for you..we may try some other stuff this week

-You make the sweetest little pointer finger to point to pictures in books, makes my speech-path momma heart happy.
-You are so sweet and love to laugh...and also have this really strong personality when you have your mind set to something.  I'm honestly a little nervous about how exactly to handle all of this strong will!
-You had school pictures, and apparently you were not amused...

-You watch people and love to just take it all in, you still like some warm up time with most people, but occasionally you will just "take to" someone new, and go right to them.  It doesn't happen super often, but it's cute when it does!

-You get really excited and make the cutest noises when you get excited.
-You want to be free on the floor or in our arms, it's very offensive to you to be put into a container of any sort (car seat, high chair, pack-n-play, exersaucer, etc.).
-If you want don't want to go into your car seat, you can put up a good enough fight that I am sweating by the time you are buckled.  you have managed on several occasions to turn yourself completely over and attempted to crawl out.

keepin' it real. and proof to show you daddy, but he's experienced your car seat fit now though

(i feel myself becoming more humble by the second, especially as my 8 month old can throw a fit big enough to remove himself from the car seat in the parking lot of daycare...i have 30 years on him and over 100+ pounds..how is that possible?!?)

-you reach for us to pick you up and reach for us to get you if someone else is holding you, i love it.
-you will hold tight to my clothes if you don't want to be set down or handed to someone
-you love to be "scared" when we hide and jump out, you gasp and then laugh hysterically, you did not get this from me.
-i can not wear jewelry or you grab it so tightly i feel i will break it or hurt your hand to it loosen it, you actually grab for anything we have in our hands..even toothbrushes.

-you still have to be rocked to sleep, but have fallen asleep at daycare on your own a handful of times, i love rocking you, it's a sweet time

A typical work day/day care day:

6:30-7:00 cereal/fruit and 6-7 ounce bottle, we still sit in our rocking chair and cuddle for our morning bottle and look out the window while i drink my coffee...the best part of my day!  we also try to read some books and play in the floor a little before we head out for the day
8:00-8:30 daycare drop off, depends on the day
mid-morning nap (a good day is 1.5 hours..sometimes it's 20 minutes)
11:00 6 oz bottle
12:00-ish fruit/veggie
afternoon nap (a good day is 2 hours...most of the time, it's 30 minutes here and there)
3:00 6 oz bottle
3:30 snack - puffs/yogurt melts
6:00 dinner - veggies/fruits and usually a small 4 oz bottle
after dinner we play, take our bath, etc.
7:30-8:00 - 6 oz bottle and beddie-bye

You wear size 3 diapers, definitely filling out 9-12 month clothing!  At your last doctor's appointment you were 50% for height and down to 25% for weight (19 lbs), this was after being sick for 2 solid weeks beforehand, so our next appointment, I am sure you'll beef back up!  You are still holding strong with your 90% head circumference.

hurry up

I saw a link on facebook to a blogpost a mom had written about eliminating the "hurry up" phrase.  Through parenting her little "noticer of the world" she realized she was saying "hurry up" constantly...and basically hurrying her sweet girl through life.

I was really in a rush one morning a month or so ago, I couldn't find my car key, nothing was together, and I was dressing Brooks quickly and scraped the snap of his shirt across his forehead as I pulled it off of him.  He looked right up at me, opened his mouth wide and cried, and then I started crying too.  He stopped crying quicker than I did.  He was fine, but it just made me so sad that I was rushing around like that.  I don't want to be the "hurry up" mom...or the hurry up friend, aunt, wife....etc.

It made me thing of how I have even rushed my niece.  Just a few weekends ago Had and I were leaving the movie theater and we had just enough time to go grab dinner before I needed to be home.  As we were walking out she stopped to look at the movie poster on the wall and I almost said "hurry, so we can go get dinner" and instead I made myself just stop and stand there with her.  She studied the picture and she said "look ahmi, his reflection is different than his picture" and it was, and I sure wouldn't have noticed the double meaning of the poster.  Not that it was super important, but just goes to show how much you miss when you rush!

I know I will rush again, but when I can, I am going to slow down and take it all in more.

here's the link to the blog post, i think we should all read it:

http://www.handsfreemama.com/2013/07/16/the-day-i-stopped-saying-hurry-up/

our sweet summer & a hodge podge

happy fourth of july! 

 (i love the coordinating colors i got these two in...;)

6 months old!

we have hit six months old!  in the past couple of weeks we have introduced food.  we started with sweet potatoes and then added another food every 2-3 days including: pears, peas, carrots, avocado, and apples!  i have added "making baby food" to the list of things i never knew i would do.  we had some puffy eyes and redness after oatmeal, so we are holding off on eating that again.  

Stats:

• Weighing around 18 lbs, 24" long and 50th percentiles for height/weight
• 90th percentile for head circumference- holding steady with this
• cut two teeth just a couple of weeks before your 6 month birthday
• started sitting on your own for about 10-15 seconds a little before 6 months, and recently able to hold it for a long time, especially if concentrating on a toy
• still love your feet and holding on to them both, and you are great at rolling
• you love to wiggle yourself sideways and reach for the light on the wall and for the wall itself while on the changing table.  it is ridiculous how much you reach and stretch, and i crack up every time
• you love books and kick your legs and talk to us while we read
• you cough for attention, we love it
• you grab at everything now, so i have started clearing a space around you while at a table, i learned my lesson the fourth of july when you dumped an entire drink all over us both
• still love bath time!
• lots of vowel sounds and grunting/growling sounds, we say you sound like your grandad
• you are pleasant and very happy until you are tired, and you pretty much flip like a switch
• we are becoming better nappers and sleeping on our tummy for naps is helping

this little bad boy is awesome:

 sweet potatoes were a hit!

we've visited family!

 brooks and his great-grandmother Ma

 brooks and his great uncle, doing what all guys do..checking out the bear rug!

 aunt deb!

 my sweet, sweet, sweet Hadleigh

 Brooks, Granny, Papa, Wyatt and Had!

 LOVE this picture & especially wyatt's arms up!

 grandad and june bug

talking 

 we tried for a family picture 

mamaw! 

enjoying this great summer weather in the yard!  really brooks and i were enjoying it and we talked daddy into a few minutes with us!  brooks and i are way more the "laying on a blanket in the grass" type than daddy.  we are working on him!