TURNING ONE

It seems like just yesterday that your dad was handing you to me for the first time. I remember the moment i laid eyes on you thinking you looked identical to Gage. Dark hair, cheeks for days, cute button nose, pointy chin, arms rolls. You looked like one of my babies. You WERE one of my babies! I recognized your strong kicks in my arms. I have a feeling you weren’t so sure you were ready to come out of your hot tub. I held you close and kissed you to remind you I was still right there.

A lot like the day you were born, on the day you turned one, I found myself holding you even closer, and kissing you more. I wasn't ready for you to grow up. But regardless, the party must go on. We celebrated in the park, under our favorite tree. Your grandma and grandpa came, along with your aunties, uncle jake, and your cousins. We ate bratwurst with chimichurri sauce, you had a bun and seemed pretty happy. You refused to leave your daddy's side, but he loved it. 

After finishing your frosting on your cupcake, we headed home. It was on our way home that I noticed some dried red blood in your ear. My heart dropped. We ran you to Urgent Care immediately. A few hours later, it turns out those fevers you had had the last few days were not from teething after all. Your 104.7 fever could only be explained by two ear infections and a burst eardrum. I felt awful. You hadn't shown any signs of pain, nor indicators that your ears were uncomfortable. You are one tough baby. Here's to being One! lets hope it only gets better from here!

8 MONTHS

We've been doing a lot of hibernating this month. Its cold most days, and mom's car only works half the time. But don't get me wrong, this has in no way slowed you down. You are mobile. You are climbing, crawling, opening drawers, playing in toilets, getting into my crafts, and escaping everything. You can now get out of the bumbo, the bath tub, and you seem to think if you try hard enough you can escape your crib, fortunately you can't. It's been wild.

You love the water. You have gotten to that age, like every baby does, where anything mom is drinking is worth dunking your hand in. We aim the shower head at you face, and you just laugh. You think splash wars with your brother in the tub are awesome. Mom doesn't.

You hate, I mean screaming tantrum hate, being on your back. We have always known this about you, you prefer tummy time, but these days you are strong and fight back. It takes two to change your diaper, one to pin down your arms to keep you from rolling away, and one to quickly tackle the diaper while you twist your body back and forth screaming.

Your favorite toy by far is a Mater toothbrush. It's funny, Gage went through this phase too. You boys love to watch me get ready and toothbrushes are so appealing. I always keep one in my diaper bag for emergencies. You seem happiest while you are down in your room. You can really get around and climb on everything in there without help. It's great for mom, because I get lots of reading in while you and Gage independently play. The only problems that occur are when Gage knocks you over. You hate that, so you scream. Gage goes to time out, so he screams. There are days that go by that mom wishes she had ear plugs because there is a lot of screaming.

You are eating me out of house and home! Our routine in the morning normally involves me preparing breakfast for you and Gage. I then feed you while taking moments to encourage Gage to eat. Those "moments" are too long. You cry between bites because I can't feed you fast enough. Once you two finish eating i take my time preparing myself breakfast. problem is, when anyone else is eating food, you think you should too. it doesn't matter where i hide, you come crawling over, stand up holding my leg, and cry until i give you a bite. You LOVE greek yogurt. But you have also been known to steal anything you can get your hands on. I even caught you putting away chicken nuggets when Gage decided he didn't want them. You don't have teeth yet, so you just gummed through three nuggets and were so happy. To save some extra money I started making you baby food for m scratch.

You are an awesome sleeper. After struggling for the past few months to get you to sleep through the night, we decided to stop swaddling you, cold turkey. I thought for sure this would be a process. That first night you slept 13 hours. Turns out you sleep really well on your belly. Should have caught on to that earlier. Swaddling made it hard to flip over and get comfy. After we bathe, read stories, and say prayers, we rock you for a minute and put you in your crib. Most nits you and gage talk for a minute or two and then it's silent until about 8am when I hear both of playing in your beds waiting o mom to come get you. I feel pretty spoiled.

Your infatuation my phone is getting out of hand. Maybe it's the fact that its forbidden territory for kids, and that makes it more appealing? I have never seen you crawl faster than when I leave my phone in a place you can see it, you come charging just to put it in your mouth to get a taste. Or is it that you LOVE to FaceTime dad? You think his face is pretty funny even if he isn't saying anything.

You have developed stranger danger. You don't really prefer one parent over the other, you just need one of us to bury your face into when anyone gets too close. You still hate loud noises and cry when I vacuum.

You got your first haircut! Ok, I have been trimming the long strands on the top of your head for some time now, but we used real clippers to trim up around your ears since it was getting pretty straggly. You hated every second of it, until I gave you a toothbrush and turned on the water in the sink, then you could care less that I was trimming away. You look so grown up now!

This month more than any other month, I have just wanted to bottle you up. Getting older certainly comes with its difficulties, but you are the sweetest guy and you make me feel so loved. I love that you tug on my pants, and that you love to be held. I sometimes rock you to sleep and hold you in my arms for way too long before putting you in your bed just so I can stroke your chubby cheeks and kiss your soft forehead and breathe you all in. I love you baby boy.

GRADUATING FROM AN INFANT CARRIER

Somebody had to graduate from the infant car-seat carrier to a big boy rear facing car-seat!

(waking up from a nap in your new seat)

I don't feel as though you are much bigger than your brother at 7 months, but even after loosening the straps as much as we could, in order to buckle your car-seat  we had to pinch your chubby thighs. So, you have been upgraded. I think you like that you can see Gage more, but you hate that you are not as reclined. The first two days were awful. You have since learned how to fall asleep with your head dangling to the side and you seem much happier!

6 MONTHS

You weigh a whopping 18lbs 13oz. You officially weigh nearly 2 pounds heavier than every other baby we know around your age. Everyone agrees, you are solid.

This month you mastered an army crawl. The moment the Christmas tree went up you were doing laps. I would put you my room, minutes later you were attacking the bows on all of the presents, and then we would start over. I started to regret putting the presents out so early.

You sit up now, but you hate it. You are normally whining or crying because you can't figure out how to get back on your tummy. You like that you are mobile, it means you can reach whatever you want, and momma doesn't normally put you close to anything while you are sitting.

The spitting up has not slowed, and your nana is giving me no sympathy. Dr. Schmidt says that most babies grow out of this by the time they are 8 months so we have to wait before he will even consider medication. I think all of our clothes, and our over worked washing machine are pretty sad about it.

You love to be held more than anything in the world. Papa came to visit and everyone was amazed how long you would stay happy beyond your nap time as he bounced you for hours.

You are eating pureed vegetables. Sweet potatoes are your favorite. 2/3 of the way through a vegetable you start making sour faces, but if I mix in another flavor you can down close to 7 oz. You still prefer to have bottles, because bottles equal cuddles.

You have this special way of really bugging your brother. You seemed to be obsessed with anything he is touching and you maul him until you can touch it too. Cries are inevitable, but never from you, always from Gage who knows he is not allowed to push or shove you, but is struggling with learning how to share.

Your most favorite toy in the whole world a a string, or anything that resembles string, like hair.

I love your little personality. I love that you have developed a little stranger danger and that you need me. I love that you can smile with a binky in, and that you have a fake cry and a fake laugh. I love that you are healthy and strong, so so strong. It is such a joy to watch you grow, but I am ready for you to stop.

ROLY POLY

Early last week I left you in the living room looking like this...

Grabbed a drink, and came back to find you like this...

 For the remainder of the week you only chose to roll when mom wasn't looking. Fortunately, when you finally decided to show off your stuff, I was able to witness you get into this mess...

We can't seem to keep you on your back anymore. So much for play mats!

2 MONTHS

At two months we are experiencing a lot of spit up, nearly 3-4 outfit changes a day, and a countless amount of burp cloths and bibs. You are sleeping seven hours through the night, and as happy as I should be, I still wish it were more! Regardless of how much you had to eat and sleep, you have what we like to call "cranky hour." Its one hour, every evening, normally around dinner time, that you decide to be inconsolable. Once your hour is up, you end your performance with a smile. It can make cooking nearly impossible. You crying makes Gage cry, and next thing I know I and rocking Gage on my hip, bouncing you with my foot, and stirring with the only free limb I have left. You love to have your back patted, and you laugh when I try to sing to you. We think Gage is your favorite person, he can always make you smile. You are a big boy, and are wearing 6 month clothing.The thing momma loves about having a squishy, irresistibly cute baby that is two months, is the fact she can pack you up and haul you anywhere and everywhere. At two months we ventured to the zoo, various waterparks, a family fun center, St. George, and we even squeezed in a trip to Bear Lake. Again, you slept through most of it. But on the off occasion you were not sleeping, you started smiling, laughing, and talking. You have lots to say when you are awake. Most of it consists of "whoooo, whooooo." And to be truthful, I am not entirely sure whom the "whoooo" is you are talking about. Loving this age. You are my favorite cuddler.