12 MONTHS

On May 2nd you took our first steps. It wasn't anything special, just letting go of a cabinet and reaching for my reach int he kitchen. Its more than a month later, and you still prefer to crawl, often with your bum in the air. You only take steps when prompted to walk to momma or daddy.

You LOVE food. You eat everything. You love avocados and quinoa like your momma, and you can't get enough of ice cream and grilled cheese sandwiches like your daddy.

For a whole month you had one little snaggle tooth. Just a few days before you turned one the little tooth next to it came in.

Your favorite toy is a spoon and a cup. It serves two purposes, you pretend to eat and you play music. Who knew i had wasted so much money buying toys?

You like to do everything your brother does. If he gets in the stroller, you have to be in the stroller, if he splashes in the tub, you add to the splash and create a tsunami, and if he grabs a camelbak water bottle, you have to have to same one.

You HATE cold water, only warm pools for you.

You are totally off the bottle, and you only use you binky for bed, or on the rare occasion that Gage finds it and gives it to you.

You have become quite the tantrum thrower. If you don't get what you want, or we in any way try to distract you, you throw your whole body on the ground and scream. Very single minded, and stubborn.

Now that Gage has learned to open the fridge, you have moved from pots and pans in the cupboards to pulling everything off of every shelf in the fridge and bringing it to me with pride.

You have discovered how great going up a slide is.

You say hi to everyone, but you are selective with your waves.

You refuse to keep shoes on, and no matter how tight I tie them, no matter how many knots I put in them, you find a way to pull them off.

You have become an independent, mobile, opinionated little person, that is resembling a baby less and less, and transitioning to a toddler more and more. I expect this to be a great year!

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!

11 MONTHS

I can't even begin to accurately describe how busy you are. To put it best, anyone that spends even a fees hours with you, finds themselves needing a nap following.

You have taken two to three steps on a few occasions while reaching for mama. Most of the time we can walk you around only holding one hand. But you refuse to walk on your own. I think you enjoy letting go of the couch or the table though, I often find you leaning against a wall holding onto nothing.

You love, love, love your aunties and your grandmas, but your uncle David is probably your favorite.

You are totally on table foods. You still like be gables the best. Nana fed you a piece of her asparagus and you had a hey day with it. You still need to eat when anyone else is eating.

You are obsessed with our vents and whenever we get a chance to turn our backs you find a way to remove all of them. We find all sorts of treasures in them, including remote controllers, cameras, dippy cups and even diapers that didn't make it to the garbage.

You started to get your first tooth at the end of this month. Momma was so happy to see it come in since you were whining and gnawing on your fingers for so long.

You have learned to get off of couches by turning around and sliding off feet first. I once caught you trying for three minutes to go down the first step of our stairs but you chickened out every time.

If I am ever missing a slat of our blinds it's a sure bet that you have removed it and most likely shoved it one of three places, the toilet, the vent, or on the occasion I leave my balcony door open, you throw it over the edge. Fortunately Gage is skilled in the art of retrieving items you have chucked.

You love your stroller as long as you are strapped in, but you whine, cry and try to climb out if you are not.

I catch you imitating Gage constantly. If he runs his cars on the track, you want to run your car on the track. If gage yells in the restaurant you yell in the restaurant. Best of all you love to sing, however, we could work on your rhythm, you never seems to match the "wheels on the bus" or "old mcdonald's farm"

I have never slept so deeply or felt so exhausted day in and day out until now. You provide me more joy than ever knew possible. I love you so deeply.

10 MONTHS

Every night you seem to grow bigger, more mature. I started to pull out summer clothes, and seeing you fit in 18 month pants that I felt like Gage just grew out of absolutely breaks my heart. I'm not ready for you to grow up.

You spit on command, and you laugh about it, you are very skilled.

You like to take objects to your ear and yell "ya" and when I say objects, I mean absolutely anything you can pick up with one hand, it doesn't even even need to resemble a phone, including forks, bottles, and even the occasional hot wheel 

You are still scared to climbed the stairs it normally requires standing a step ahead of you and egging you on while you scream.

We started transitioning you to table foods. You now eat oatmeal for breakfast, some baby meals and puréed fruit and veggies for lunch and you are pretty good at nibbling on anything we are eating for dinner. You are pretty particular when it comes to the baby meals, the pasta texture doesn't seem to bother you, but you will only eat the spaghetti and beef sauce flavor, you literally hit the spoon when it comes near your face if we even dare any other flavor. You still prefer vegetables over fruit. You only take bottles for bedtime.

You sleep from 8pm-8am and take two naps a day. This month has been hard, you prefer to be laid in bed and every day fight harder and harder when I rock you sleep. I'm not ready to give up you falling asleep in my arms.

You started letting go of couches and tables for just a moment at a time and started standing on your own, however, once you realize you are standing, you immediately sit down.

You have become a dream baby to shop with, I wish you could teach Gage a thing or two about sitting still in the cart.

Bathrooms are off limits. You threw three rolls of toilet paper in the toilets in an hour, all in different bathrooms, and we have been forced to keep the bathroom doors shut ever since.

Busy is an understatement. The mess you can create in 30 seconds is beyond me. We have already started singing the clean up song. You are not catching on like I had hoped.

I love being your momma, and I'm so happy on the rare occasion you need me to give you kisses because you smacked your head against yet another inanimate object. You bring so much joy to this family.

9 MONTHS

You met with Dr. Schmidt again. For the first time since birth you were less than the 80th-90th percentile. You are 20lbs 4oz and 28.5 inches long, the 50th percentile. Makes sense why you haven't outgrown your clothes for a couple months.

You prefer vegetables over fruit. It makes me smile. We also have you eating lots of table foods. Nearly everything we eat, you munch away at too. However, you have not yet grasp the concept that you are only supposed to eat the food on your plate. I catch you stealing from your brother, sometimes it makes him cry.

You are busy. Very busy. And fast. In the time it takes to run to my bathroom to grab a hair tie, you will have pulled every single pot and pan out of my cupboard. Lots of moms ask me why I don't just put lock on my cupboards  First, I hate child locks. Second, I like to think I can just teach you not to get into too much trouble, after all I don't leave anything that could harm you in cupboards you can reach. Last, I think it pretty cute when I find you sitting in my pans.

You only whine for mom. Everyone else is pretty convinced you are as happy as it gets. When you dont get what you want you yell.

You are still sleeping 7:30pm-8am. Its pretty awesome. You wont let dad rock you to sleep anymore, you prefer when he just rests your head on your pillow. I like to think you know all the rocking is momma's favorite time of day and you save it for me.

You don't just crawl, you sprint. And you pull yourself up on everything, and walk along anything, including other children.

You love playing in the toilet.

You and Gage have become best friends. You like it when he takes your hands and drags you from room to room or when he lays on top of you and says "wrestle." I catch you two holding hands int he car. You are great at giving Gage a sympathy laugh when he tries to tickle you.

You jump when you get excited. Every morning I find you standing in your crib yelling and the moment I open the door you throw your body into the side of the crib ad reach. When Your aunties took you out for frozen yogurt you jumped in between every single bite eager for the next.

Your hair is getting blonder and blonder, and your eyes bluer and bluer.

You got your first diaper rash this month. Probably because you have become a real pooping machine. You have pooped in the middle of the night all week long. And every other hour during the day. I am hoping you grow out of this.

As long as Gage is not around to sit on you, you are a total momma's boy. I love it.

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.