Michael: One Year Old!

Dear Michael,

Yesterday, you turned one year old!  At times, it doesn't seem like it's been a year since you were born. And at other times, when I think about all the growing you've done, it seems like it must be longer than a year!  Your Daddy and I are so proud of you and all that you've done and learned in the past year!  Every day and every stage is my favorite.  I love waking up each day and wondering what new things you will learn! 

Yesterday, I took the day off of work to be with you.  We had a very relaxing day.  Daddy woke you up so that you could come with me to take him to work.  After breakfast and a nap, you spent the rest of the morning crawling around, drinking from your straw cup, taking self portraits on Mommy's phone, laying around with your "Mommy blanket," and playing with Akuna.  You ate some pears and shredded cheese for lunch while I finished up some decorations for your party.  After lunch, you took a VERY long nap!  When you woke up, we went to Target to buy some last-minute things for your party.  In Target, you ate a sticker. I took a picture to commemorate this monumental event.  You were quite proud of yourself.  After we finished shopping at Target, we went to pick up Daddy from work.  When we came home, you had your afternoon bottle and a short nap.  Your Uncle B, Uncle K, Aunt B, Cousin G, Grandpa Randy, Grandma Chips, Grandma Dana, Grampa Bill, "Aunt Julie," Mr.Greg, and Friend Chuck.  You enjoyed playing with your friends and family and eating some cake!

I will update later on with some pictures of your party, and a blog post about our family vacation (where you had two pre-birthday parties!)

I love you forever, my little one year old boy!  You are such a wonderful addition to our lives!
Love, Mommy

Michael: 11 Months Old

Dear Michael,

Yesterday, you turned eleven months old!  Oh my goodness!  Only one month to go until your first birthday!   You are a sweet, smiley boy with a wonderful personality.  Each day, you find something new to do and I am so amazed by how much you've changed since the day you were born.  You are very much a toddler; I can hardly call you a baby anymore!  I know you'll be walking on your own before we know it!  You have a magnificent demeanor and you can always find something to laugh at.  You are proud of yourself and the new things you learn to do.  You are always seeking ways to do something new and exciting.  It is such a joy to watch you learn each day. 

Here are some of your stats:

Sizes:  Still in size 4 diapers.  Wearing 18-month onesies and 12-month pants or shorts. 

Drink:  You take four bottles a day: breakfast, lunch, afternoon snack, and bedtime (shortly after dinner).  You take sippy cups of water and/or unsweetened fruit juice made for toddlers.

Eat:  You eat baby oatmeal for breakfast, fruit for lunch, meat/veggie and a baby yogurt for dinner.  For snack, you can have baby cookies or cut up fruit or Nutri-grain bar, or pieces of biscuit or banana bread.  Even if you've eaten and had a bottle within the last 5 minutes, you still think you should be able to eat anything that your Daddy and I have on our plates.  You will crawl up to us, pull yourself to stand, and stand up beside us with your mouth wide open like a baby bird!  You're too cute for us to ignore, which means that you've been able to try some "grown up" food this past month to include:  a tiny bite of chocolate ice cream, vanilla ice cream, grain of rice, cheese sauce from mac and cheese, tiny bite of egg drop soup broth, juice from a clementine wedge, etc. 

Sick:  This month we've traveled back to our doctor to check out a cyst on your eye-lid.  You are almost done with a 10-day dose of oral antibiotic (orange flavored, which you love), and an eye ointment (of which you're not quite a fan).  The positive side of going to the doctor's office is that you got to be weighed.  You currently weigh exactly 22 pounds. 

Milestones:

• You clapped your hands!  Now, when I hold up one finger and say "One!" you clap your hands.  Whenever you randomly stop what you're doing to clap, we say "yay!" which makes you clap more.  When you get excited about something, you'll pause to clap your hands. This is the sweetest thing to watch!  Your daddy will say in a sing-song voice "Michael likes to clap his hands: clap clap clap clap" and you'll clap along to his song. 
• You pet Akuna!  You LOVE to sit down beside Akuna and give him a belly rub.  I remind you to be gentle by saying "Gentle gentle; nice nice,"  which makes you laugh and clap your hands.  You think you are such a big boy when you can pet Akuna and Akuna just soaks it up!  We love watching you interact with your sweet puppy.

 

 

I love being your Mommy!   You are such an adorable, precious boy and your Daddy and I are very blessed.

Love you forever, 

Love, Mommy

A New Addition

Aaron and I have always enjoyed the age gap between us and our siblings.  Being born in years close together, we have both really formed good bonds with our brothers.  Aaron and his brother, Andrew, are 18 months apart.  My older brother, Keith, and I are 17 months apart.  And my younger brother, Bryan, and I are 26 months apart.  Aaron and I knew we wanted to have children close together in order for them to be able to create a bond like we had with our brothers. 

Well, ta-da!  We are expecting our 2nd baby!  We found out a few days before Mother's Day that Little Baby P. 2 was on the way!  We are so thrilled and are so excited to begin another pregnancy journey!  Michael will be about 16 and a half months when Little Baby P. 2 arrives, so their age gap will be perfect and I hope they will form a strong bond as they grow up together!

I've heard it said that the first child usually gets his or her baby book filled out completely, and that the 2nd child might get a few pages filled in, and the 3rd child etc. might only get their name in the book!  :)  I am going to try my absolute hardest to fill out every baby book for each of my little kiddles.  I am also going to try my absolute hardest to provide weekly updates during this pregnancy.  Due to the time contraints of caring for a wiggly, mobile, and at times very loud little boy, I will most likely update the blog on Friday nights or Saturday mornings.

This week, we reached the 14-Week mark and are starting our 2nd trimester!!! Yay!  I look forward to the 2nd trimester because it brings the hope of more energized days and less nausea.  During the pregnancy with Michael, I didn't notice a significant change in fatigue levels during any of the trimesters.  I have been sooooo tired during this pregnancy that I'm really hoping this trimester brings some energized days.  Although, I will understand if I continue to be tired throughout this pregnancy since Michael takes up most of my free-time and work takes up the rest! 

I made the promise to myself at the beginning of this pregnancy that I was going to savor it and enjoy it.  So often during the pregnancy with Michael, I wished away the days.  I was constantly so ready to have my baby in my arms!!! When August 2012 rolled around and it was finally my turn to have my baby, I couldn't believe that it had actually arrived!  This time, I'm trying to really enjoy the time I have with Michael while he's still an "only child on the outside of the womb."  :)  I'm also trying to savor the pregnancy and enjoy all the milestones that come with it.  It's fun to read about Baby 2's development and remember how I felt at that time during my first pregnancy.  And now that I know what baby kicks feel like, there have been a couple days when I've even thought that I've felt this baby kick!  It's fun to think about what life will be life when this baby arrives.  I know that January will be here before I know it, so I'm trying to soak up all of the memories to be made in the meantime.  Also, BIG HUGE BLESSING, Michael has been sleeping through the night for about a month!  So, I've been able to get some really great nights of sleep and I'm focused on enjoying those nights before the new baby comes and brings me back into the middle of the night feedings and diaper changes.

Please keep us in your prayers as we continue on this journey! 

Much love, Reba

10 Months Old!

Dear Michael,

Today, you are 10 months old!  I can't believe that we will be celebrating your very first birthday in just 2 short months! I have lots of ideas swimming around in my head for how to make your first birthday a fantastically fun one! 

You get cuter every single day and your Daddy and I absolutely LOVE being your parents!  

Here are your "stats":

Sizes: 

• Clothes: Size 18-month onesies because your torso is so long!  Your waist is still small and you could probably wear 9-month and 12-month pants, but it's Alabama and summertime, and it's HOT.  So most of the time you spend your days in a onesie--and sometimes with some shorts on. 
• Diapers: Size 4.  Costco brand during the day, and Huggies Overnights at nighttime (LOVE these!)

Sleeping: You go to bed between 7 and 7:30pm, and you sleep til around 5:30am when Daddy or I give you a 4-oz bottle.  Then you go back to sleep until anywhere from 6:30 to 8:00am.  You usually take a short morning nap (less than an hour) and a longer afternoon nap.  Most of the time, you'll also take an evening nap that can last from 30 minutes to an hour and a half. 

Milestones and Funny Things:

• standing on your own for a few seconds at a time
• Your comprehensive skills blow me away!  If you start to crawl into the kitchen and we say "Michael, stay in the living room," you will turn around and crawl back into the living room! 
• If we ask you "What does Akuna say?" you will pant like a puppy. :)
• You can switch your toys from hand to hand and bang them together. 
• You like to participate in yelling matches to make sure you can be the loudest!
• You will belt out "ahhhh" in church when we sing loud songs-- you like to join in!
• You can reach the switch to turn your ceiling fan on and off and your Daddy and I will hear you flick the switch up and down if you're refusing to take a nap

Favorite Toys:

• x-box controller (without the batteries in it)
• TV remote control (without the batteries in it)
• little plastic toy car
• Baby Einstein's Activity Balls
• Baby Einstein's piano
• Winnie the Pooh laptop
• walkers

Your favorite sleep item and comfort item is what we call your "Mommy-blankie"-- a cloth diaper that you hold up to your face with one hand while you suck your thumb with your other hand.  Even if you are actively playing in the living room, when you catch a glimpse of your "Mommy-blankie" you will pause what you are doing, pick up the blanket, and suck your thumb!

Here are some photos:

You are pleased with yourself for kicking off a shoe:

 

 

Your latest attitude expression:

Sitting up so big and tall and holding your favorite "Baby Einstein's Activity Ball":

 

 

Visiting Grampa Bill and Grandma Dana and Uncle Bryan at the campground on Memorial Day:

Playing with water on your high-chair tray at Grandma Chips' house:

You are such a joy!!! And we love you so much!!!!

Love, Mommy

9 Months Old!

Dear Michael,

 

Today you are 9 months old!   You are growing up right in front of our eyes!  You are still the happiest baby I know and I couldn’t be more proud to be your Mommy!  Your Daddy and I laugh every day at the silly things you do and we rejoice when you achieve new milestones. 

 

Here are some of the high-lights from this month:

 

 

Sizes: 

 

·       Clothes: You comfortably wear size 12 month and 18 month clothes.  I can still snap a 9-month onesie, but we’re cutting it pretty close.    For PJs now, we’ve moved beyond the typical “jammie” footie sets and now I pretty much dress you in a t-shirt and loose pants.  It’s warm enough down here now that it’s ok if your arms are bare at nighttime.  You wear a Halo brand sleep sack to bed (size X-large for growing room!) and this is a 100% cotton sleeve-less wearable blanket that keeps you just warm enough. 

·       Diapers:  During the day, you wear Kirkland Signature size 4 diapers, and at nighttime you wear size 4 Huggies Overnights—this is a fabulous diaper and it does a phenomenal job!

 

Milestones:

·       Furniture cruising

·       Rapid crawler (you are so very fast!)

·       Super-fast speed racer in the walker!

·       You can easily pull yourself to stand

·       Your bottom two teeth are officially in & gleaming and are very noticeable to others!

·       You can say “Buh-buh” and wave “bye-bye”

 

Eating:

 

·       You eat three meals a day:  Oatmeal for breakfast, a fruit for lunch, and a meat/veggie combo for dinner.  Your snacks include Puffs broken into teeny-tiny pieces (we’ve had a couple choking incidents and your poor Mommy’s heart can’t take it.  So, we break the star-shaped Puffs into 5 or 6 pieces so that choking is a non-issue.  I still think you might end up being the only kid in kindergarten who brings a lunch consisting of baby food!)  We also give you ice cubes and fruit chunks in your mesh teether. 

·       You are able to drink water and diluted juice from a sippy cup.  You find it easiest to get water and juice out of the travel sippy cups (without all the fancy valves). 

 

Favorite Foods: Banana and mixed berry  or apple/pear/banana combo.

 

Least Favorite Food:  Baby food chicken by itself.  We pair this with a veggie in order to get you to eat it without making a terrible face!  

 

Favorite Toys (that you’re supposed to have): 

·       Steering wheel/dashboard toy:  You LOVE LOVE LOVE to press the horn.  This toy says “Beep! Beep! Out of the way!” when the horn is pressed.  I’m not sure I’m too fond of it.  I believe it’s teaching road rage at an early age.

·       Green car at Grandma Chip’s house:  Once again, you’re a horn honker!  You will lean with one arm out of the car, and honk the horn with your other hand.  Somebody’s been watching Daddy drive.

·       Winnie the Pooh laptop at Grandma Dana’s house: This toy has remained a favorite for months!  You especially like to pull the butterfly button to hear the whooshing sound.

·       Walk-behind Musical Station from Grandpa Mike:  Although you can’t walk behind this yet, you stand in front of it and mash all of the musical buttons.  You treat us to beautiful music every day.

 

Favorite Toys (that you’re not supposed to have):

·       Remote controls

·       Cell Phones

 

Favorite Toys (that you think you’re not supposed to have):

·       Wireless Computer Keyboard

·       Random plastic plates, and measuring cups, and dishtowels

·       Shallow cardboard box that we placed in the living room.  You crawl in and out of it and put your toys in it! 

 

Favorite Things that are not Toys:

·       Your pup-pup Akuna.  You love to feel his soft fur!

·       Grandma Chips’ dog, Delilah.  You practice saying her name “Wi-wuh!” over and over and over.  I remind you that “Delilah lives at Grandma Chips’ house.” 

·       Burp cloths.  You choose to snuggle with these soft little blankets during your naptimes and at bedtime.  We call them the “Mommy blankies” because we use them during feedings, so they smell like Mommy.

You recently started throwing back your head when you laugh and it's SO funny!  It totally cracks me up! 

You get a little over-zealous sometimes when you practice waving "bye-bye" and you rapidly swoosh your arm while your eyes get really big!  I say "fastfastfastfastfast!" when you do this and you laugh.

You are quite the charmer!  You will give "googly-eyes" at cashiers, and my co-workers, and to family members!  You give a little coy smile when I see you giving "googly-eyes" and it's so cute!


I love you so very much!  You are such a sweet baby and it's an absolute joy to be your Mommy!  Your Daddy and I just LOVE being your parents! 

I love you forever, Little One.  Love, your Mommy


*Pictures to come!  (My phone has reached it's full capacity on picture storage, so I have to rearrange some pictures and move some pictures to the computer so that I can take more pictures and put them on here!)  

 

8 and a Half Months Old

*Sorry this post is a bit late.  We've been slightly distracted around our home for the last couple weeks.  (More to come on that later).  Michael turned 8 months old on April 28, 2013.  This post was actually written on that day, but it took me this long to upload it.  :)

Dear Little Michael,

Today you are 8 months old!  I absolutely can’t believe it!  J

 

You are so so SO fun to be with!  You are developing the sweetest, funniest personality and your Daddy and I love every single minute with you!

 

This month, you’ve tried some new things and have achieved some more milestones.  Here’s a little recap:

 

Sizes:  This is actually a little tricky.  You still fit into size 3 diapers (and depending on the brand, they either fit quite well, or they resemble a skimpy swim suit bottom).  In an effort to be frugal, we are using up the last of our Kirkland Signature brand size 3 diapers  (an awesome diaper brand, by the way) and we are also making use of some leftover size 3 diapers that your Grandma Dana had in stock for you.  We will use these size 3 diapers during the daytime until we run out of them.  We went to Costco yesterday and bought Kirkland Signature size 4 diapers for you to wear during the daytime once we exhaust our size 3 supply (approximately 25 size 3 diapers remain).  At nighttime, I splurge and put a size 4 LUVs diaper on you because supposedly “Luv’s Don’t Leak.”  However, *insert throat clearing sound here* we’ve had some early morning leak throughs which have required a diaper change, PJ change, and sleep sack change.  So…. We’ll use the remaining LUVs we have for nighttime diapers until they run out (approximately 8 LUVs diapers remain), and then we’ll switch you into the Kirkland Signature size 4 diapers and we’ll give them their moment to shine.  If we find that they don’t hold up as well as the LUVs for overnight diaper-wearing, then we’ll invest in some more LUVs—maybe size 5 and we’ll keep on rolling.  J

As for clothes, you fit comfortably in size 12 months onesies.  This is due to your LONG torso!  Your waist is still small and you can still wear size 6-9 month pants (which you don’t have very many of, but we use what we have). J  You can still fit into size 9 month onesies, but it’s a little hard to snap them since their length is almost not long enough to cover your whole torso and snap around your diaper.  (PS, how’d you like all the added emphasis in that sentence, huh?) J  For PJs, you fit into 12 month and 18 month footie pajamas.   Your feet are actually getting a little too big to fit into the 12 month footie part of the pajamas.  So, I will be doing some strategic removal of the little bootie parts of PJs in order for you to get some more mileage out of the actual pajama part of the outfit. 

 

Eating:  This month, we’ve tried some Stage 2 ½ from Beechnut baby foods.  The stage 2 ½ foods have a slight texture to them.  You have enjoyed some of the new flavors like Banana and Mixed Berry (that one is actually quite fabulous).  You did not enjoy some of the more odd flavors like Corn and Green Peppers (I can’t blame ya, kid.)  J  We have tried some new “snacks” in your mesh-teether food holder.  (For all the readers who don’t know what this is, it’s a little mesh sack that is attached to a little plastic handle that Michael can hold onto and try new foods.  The mesh allows him to gnaw on the food which aids him in his teething process.  The mesh also allows me to feel comfortable giving him a snack, knowing that it’s being essentially pureed through the mesh—meaning he won’t get too big of a bite and risk choking (which is a total fear of mine). )  So far, this month, you have tried a small slice of frozen peach, a chunk of honeydew, a piece of ripe banana, and a baby-teething cookie.  You have enjoyed all of these snacks!  You gnaw on it a little bit, then you wave it around in the air, then you gnaw on it some more, and you always grin in the process! J

 

Sleeping:  You still wake up once a night.  Last week, that was upped to 2 times a night for 2 or 3 nights when you were going through some teething pains.  Your Daddy and I are attempting to get you to sleep through the night.  I will be glad when this happens!  But, I really don’t mind getting up and rocking you while you nurse in the middle of the night.  It’s extra bonding time as far as I’m concerned.  Howeverrrrr, it would be nice to get a few nights of good resting—for both you and me.  J

 

Napping:  During the weekdays, your naps can be hit or miss and this is totally ok!  During your weekdays, there’s a lot of stuff going on and you never like to go down for a nap without a fight! Some days, you convince yourself that you really can stay awake and keep playing with toys until you get your second wind! J  You usually end up taking a morning nap and a shorter afternoon nap.  Once your Daddy and I come home from work, you cuddle up against whichever one of us is holding you, then you stick your thumb in your mouth and grab your blankie with your free hand and you hum to yourself.  It’s at this time, that we will put you in your crib and after less than 5 minutes of louder humming mixed with some tired whimpers, you are asleep!  This evening nap can last anywhere from 45 minutes to an hour and a half!  On Saturdays and Sundays, you are still a nap king.  Sometimes, you take 3 or4 naps a day on the weekends!  Like Mommy and Daddy, you take the opportunity of the weekends to unwind and recharge.  J

 

Favorite toys and past-times:

·         Baby Einstein Activity Balls—you bang them together and chase after them if they roll away from you!

·         Fisher Price Musical walk-behind toy—Although you cannot push it and walk behind it yet, you sit in front of it and create beautiful songs by banging on the saxophone, guitar, and piano buttons and turning the pages of the music book. J

·         Baby Einstein Piano—you still love this toy—so much so that we actually had to change out the batteries on it because you play with it so much!  You love to press the instrument buttons.  You pick one (violin, piano, or horn) and you keep pressing that same button until either your Daddy or I say “Son, pick a different button.”  J  Because all we hear is “vi-vi-vio-vi-vi-vi-vio-violin.”  J

·         Your Winnie the Pooh laptop.  You crawl straight for this toy at your Grandma Dana’s house and I say “Are you gonna do some work on your laptop?” and you smile as Pooh says “Colors and shapes and numbers too…”

·         Hanging out with your uncles!  You LOVE to be around them and they can always get you to smile in the blink of an eye!

·         You LOVE going for walks in your stroller!  You wiggle your toes to feel the breeze and you would rather remove your hat than leave it on.  This means, when you go for walks in your stroller, you have to be lathered up with sunscreen since socks and hats never stay on too long. J

 

Milestones:

·         You are a lightning fast crawler now! 

·         You can pull yourself up to stand! 

·         You attempt (sometimes) to take a couple steps.  You have learned to land on your bottom, since you’re not quite ready to walk.  This is fine with me!  I wasn’t expecting you to be so mobile so soon!  J

 

Every day and every stage is my favorite! I love seeing you grow and learn and play!  You are such a joy and your Daddy and I are so very pleased and blessed to be your parents!

 

 

*Pictures to come soon!

7 Months

March 28, 2013

Dear Michael,

You are seven months old!  I can’t even believe it!  You are sweeter than ever and it’s such a joy to be your Mommy!  When I’m at work, I count down the hours until I get to come home again and be with you and your Daddy and puppy!  Sometimes after you go to sleep at night, I’ll look at all the pictures of you on my phone and I think about going in your nursery and waking you up to play some more because you’re just too cute for words and so much fun to be around! 

I am so thrilled and so blessed to be your mommy.  You are my sweet bitty boo and I love you to pieces. 

 

This month, here are some of your “stats” (P.S., I’m borrowing some of this template from your Aunt B.)  J

Favorite toys/pastimes: 

 

• Baby Einstein Piano
• Pop-up toy
• Baby Einstein activity balls
• Winnie the Pooh "laptop
• Engaging in Louisiana Culture (ie, watching Duck Dynasty and Swamp People reruns with Mommy) :)

 

Watching Duck Dynasty

 

Sizes:  Size 3 diapers and size 9 month and 12 month clothes.  You are so long that it’s hard to find footie-pajamas that fit you.  So, you fit best in 12 month PJs, and 9 month onesies and pants. 

 

Eating:  I feed you in the morning sometime between 4:30 and 5:30.  Sometimes you wake me up (that would be the 4:30 time frame), but sometimes it’s the opposite and I wake you up (ha) ;) around 5:30 after I’m finished getting ready for work.  You wake up between 7:30 and 8:30 in the morning ready to start your day!  You get a bottle for breakfast.  For lunch, you get a jar of baby food (a fruit of some kind) and a small bottle.  In the afternoons before I get home, you get another bottle.  Then I feed you a little bit after I get home.  You eat half a jar to a whole jar of baby food (usually a veggie or a meat/veggie combo) for dinner.  On most nights after dinner, I put an ice cube in a mesh teether and give that to you to gnaw on while Daddy and I clean up dinner.  I feed you before you go to bed.  You typically wake up once a night (holla!) somewhere between 11:30-2:00, and I feed you a little bit then.

Sleeping:  Well, as mentioned in the paragraph just above this one, you usually wake up just once a night and I am totally okay with that! J  Your bedtime is around 7:30, but you have been so active during the daytime these last several days that you tire yourself out and you end up nodding off around 6:30 while playing with your toys!  It is so funny!  You will be playing with your toys, and then all of a sudden, you’ll lay your head down and put your thumb in your mouth.  You’ll lay quietly for a few seconds, and then you’ll pop back up and bang on your toy piano, or pop-up toy, or rattle to “jolt” yourself back to awake-ness.  But after another 3 minutes or so, you’ll slowly lay your head back down and put your thumb back in your mouth.  Your Daddy and I know to scoop you up, put your PJs on you, and place you in your bed.  If you are super tired, you won’t even protest.  If you’re not as tired, you will usually cry for less than 10 minutes.  On the other nights when you don’t ‘put yourself to bed’, we will get you dressed in your PJs, we’ll read a story, and then tuck you in and zip up your sleep-sack.  We turn on your mobile, and the Twilight Turtle, and the AngelCare (I can’t break myself away from it yet!).  Within 10 minutes, you are safely in Dreamland.  You always wake up so happy and that makes my heart burst with joy!  On the weekends, I try to get a picture of you when you first wake up. 



 

Falling asleep while playing with toys.

 

Waking up on Saturday!

 

 

Waking up on Sunday!

 

 

Naptime:  Naps during the daytime are hit or miss, kinda.  You kinda make up your own nap schedule. For the days during the week when you choose to nap for 30 minutes or less, you make up for on the weekends.  You are a nap King on Saturdays and Sundays!  Maybe it’s because your Daddy and I are in the easy breezy “It’s the weekend” mode, and you sure catch on to it quickly!  This past Saturday and Sunday, I was able to nap while you did and we each got a good hour nap in on both days!  That makes for a happy baby and a really happy mommy!



 

After our nap on Saturday!

 

 



Developmental Milestones:

--You tried your first “Puffs” cereal snack on Saturday!  I was curious as to whether or not you could “pinch” something with your thumb and forefinger so I decided to try your skills out by putting one Puff on your highchair tray.  These cereal snacks dissolve when wet, which makes them ideal for beginner eaters.  You have really been drooling lately as you continue to prepare for the arrival of your teeth—so you have been gnawing like crazy on everything, including your fingers which makes them very slobbery.  Needless to say, by the time you rolled around the Puff in your hand while trying to get  it into your mouth, it was nearly dissolved.  You weren’t quite sure what to make of the texture, but you certainly impressed me with your lightning fast ability to pinch that Puff and grasp it in your hand.  Once the Puff reached your mouth, you mashed down on it with your jaw and I was impressed again!   I had read on the Puffs package that ‘babies should pinch the snack with thumb and forefinger and mash on the snack with their bottom jaw to chew it.’  I was amazed that you could do those things!  You are growing up so fast!

--You made forward motion while in a crawling stance, ie, you crawled forward today for more than one movement!  Your grandparents have been working with you during the daytime, and Daddy and I work with you on the weekends.  Daddy discovered an interesting object for “bait” to get you to crawl—the TV remote!  Your Grandma Chips found another object for “bait” and this is the object she used today to encourage you to crawl for a long distance.  What is that object you ask?  Why, and xbox controller of course!  J  We are so proud of you and your abilities!  I, however, know this means that we will soon be on the chase as you are on the move. J

 

I love you forever and ever, little boy.  You are so sweet and I LOVE LOVE LOVE being your mommy!

I am excited to see you learn new things each day.  Although it’s hard to accept how quickly time slips by, I focus on making sure I live in the moment and appreciate each minute I have with you, and Daddy, and puppy. J  I love you always    Love, Mommy