Luke's 3rd Month

Firsts: laugh, kindermusk class, Christmas, New Years, “snow” aka ice storm, daddy was gone for a week for class

Mommy and Daddy’s Favorites: We love your sweet little laugh and when you talk to us. Mommy’s absolute favorite though is every morning when you wake up you are pretty content. The second I come to get you and we make eye contact you give me the BIGGEST smiles!! You will do this to Aubrey too and it is the sweetest because she gets so excited!

Milestones: smling, laughing, and cooing. You track people well and are starting to grasp objects and bring them to your mouth.

Measurements: You don’t have a check up this month so we don’t know your length, but someone gave us a baby scale!! You weighed 15.3 lbs!! Aubrey wasn’t even 15lbs yet at 6 months! You are filling out size 2 diapers. I’m concerned we will have to return MORE diapers hahaa…we finally swapped out all of the size 1’s we had left. And clothes you’re in 3-6 months, but can wear a few size 3 months.

Memorable moment: You laughed!! Oh my goodness this is one of the best sounds in the world. You are so happy first thing in the morning and I went to get you out and touched your face…you did this huge belly laugh! Daddy couldn’t believe it was you! Since then you’ve giggled several times, but not as big as that first time.

Challenges: two challenges this month…1: you’re still spitting up quite a bit. Some days we both get pretty soaked. I can’t tell if I need to up your Zantac or not because some days you do great. We use quite a bit of Mylicon drops and you still seem to have some tummy trouble. 2: You are still doing that thing where you cry so hard that you almost pass out. Lets be honest…it scares the crap out of us. Even Aubrey has started recognizing when you’re doing it and tells you to breathe. I told the doctor and she seems to think its not a big deal and that you’ll grow out of it. Apparently it is common. It honestly happens at least once a day and started right around your 2 month appointment. I am thankful you don’t really cry that much and that we can avoid it if we can keep you from getting worked up, but its times like right before bed when you’re really tired or when we put you in your car seat that it tends to happen. I hope this is something you grow out of quickly!

How we spend the day: You wake up for the day about 7:30. You can stay awake about an hour and a half or 2 hours before you get fussy and I can tell you need some sleep. You’re pretty good at just going with the flow and tagging along with whatever we are doing.

Feedings/Eating: You eat on demand. I try to do the eat, play, sleep, pattern, but honestly its mostly on demand and sometimes its easier to get you to go to sleep if I nurse you first.

Sleeping: During the day you mostly take short catnaps. Occasionally I can catch it right and will swaddle you and you’ll take a longer nap. I normally start getting you to go to sleep every hour and a half to two hours. At night you are doing amazing!! You pretty consistently sleep through the night. Sometimes you wake up at 6/6:30 and will go back to sleep for another hour or so. But considering you’re only 3 months old, you’re doing great!

Personality: You are a very chill and happy baby for the most part. Unless you are tired or hungry or your tummy hurts, you’re pretty happy and pleasant to be around. You love being around people and smile and “talk” all the time.

Likes: You love looking at people and always smile at them when they talk to you. You love your sisters and mommy and daddy. If we’ve been holding you for a while you like to lay on the ground and stretch out and kick around.

Dislikes: Being in your car seat if you’re awake and the car isn’t moving. You also get really fussy when you’re tired or if your tummy hurts.

Mobility: You are a champ at holding your head up now. When we hold you up right you like to look around. You don’t like tummy time and you spit up a ton so we don’t do it often. When we do its normally propped up on me somehow and you’re pretty good at holding your head up for a few seconds…then you get mad and cry.

Favorite toy: We got out the play mat with the piano you can kick and you seem to really like it. You started smiling really big the first time we put you under it. You kick your feet and have recently started smacking the things hanging down.

Upcoming Events: Charlotte’s birthday party

New Explorations: He has been getting better at grasping objects and bringing things to your mouth. You love slurping on your little hands.

Sounds, words, and communication: He has been squealing, squawking and “yelling” so much lately. He has got a loud little voice sometimes! He loves to “talk” to us and makes the sweetest little sounds.

Teeth: none…but he’s definitely been drooling a lot more lately

Luke's 2nd Month

Firsts: Smile!, prescription (you were prescribed Zantac to help with what they think is reflux), Thanksgiving, celebrating Charlotte’s birthday, trip to the varsity, first time staying without mommy, first time coming to MOPs, and first time seeing Santa.

Mommy and Daddy’s Favorites: We both love your sweet little smile!

Milestones: smiling, making noises other than crying, tracking people. A milestone for mommy is that Charlotte turned 2 so I no longer have 2 UNDER 2!

Measurements: 13 pounds at your check up and 23 ¾ inches long. You are in 0-3 and 3 months clothing and wear mostly size 2 diapers…although we are trying to squish you in to a few more size 1’s that we have!

Like Mommy/Daddy/Aubrey/Charlotte: You look a lot like Charlotte and Daddy, but I think you’ll have brown eyes like mommy and Aubrey.

Memorable moment: The most memorable moment this month is probably not directly related to you, but you had a first because of it. Aubrey fell and ended up getting stitches in her chin. Mommy put you and Charlotte to bed and made sure you had belly full of milk and left you with our friends, the Hamiltons, so that I could go to the hospital with Aubrey.

Challenges: We still deal with the obvious diaper leaks and spit ups and things that require a thousand outfit changes a day. But the biggest challenge this month is probably that you are the third child. The first month we had a lot of help and people bringing us dinners and coming over. This month we’ve had to figure out how to things like go grocery shopping, not only with a newborn, but with a newborn and 2 other kids 4 and under. Especially recently with Christmas shopping! But honestly you’ve been the easy one this month!

How we spend the day: We normally run errands or go places in the morning. You are content to just be along for the ride and normally nap the whole time we are gone. We come back and get your sisters down for a nap around 1 or 2 so that means you’re no longer tired and ready for mommy snuggles. You normally start getting tired around 8 or 9 and start getting fussy. I swaddle you and feed you and you’re normally down for several hours.

Feedings/Eating: During the day you typically feed on demand. At night you really only wake up to eat once and occasionally twice. You are a pretty efficient nurser and eat quickly…which causes some tummy pain unfortunately.

Sleeping: At night you are doing great! When we first put you down you sleep anywhere from 5-7 hours straight! When you wake up you eat and go right back to sleep. You are still swaddled and in the rock n play. During the day you normally have one longer stretch where you sleep, but then take several short catnaps throughout the day. Your daytime sleep is pretty unpredictable.

Personality: You seem pretty laid back. Most of the time you are content to just hang out and look around unless you’re tired, hungry, wet, or your tummy hurts. You have started to smile at whoever first gets you up in the morning like you’re just so happy to see us…it just melts my mommy heart :) Occasionally though if you get really mad, you get a certain cry and will get so worked up! Your tongue curls and your face gets red and you almost kind of zone out and stop breathing…a little scary! But the doctor said its fine…you may just have a little feistiness in you after all!

Likes: Mommy and daddy, but especially your sisters! Eating, riding in the car, getting your diaper changed (so weird! But you get so calm), looking at lights,

Dislikes: when your tummy hurts, really loud noises…it makes your lip poke out and it’s the saddest thing (but your sisters are pretty loud so it takes a lot to scare you haha), taking Zantac

Mobility: You are getting really good at being held upright. Your little neck is so strong and you’re getting very good at holding your head up. You’re also getting good a bringing your hands to your mouth to slurp on.

Favorite toy: Well you’ve finally started shunning the paci almost all of the time now…so I guess your hands are your new favorite toy?

Upcoming Events: your first Christmas!

New Explorations: You seem to be seeing better and watch people a little more. You’ve also started bringing your hands or blanket up to your mouth to slurp on.

Sounds, words, and communication: You’ve started making some sweet baby cooing sounds! They are my favorite!!

Luke's 1st Month

Firsts: Meeting his sisters, Halloween, ride in the car, coming home to his house, outing with Mommy to Target, date night with mommy and daddy

News Headlines: Donald Trump was elected president on November 8, 2016.

Mommy and Daddy’s Favorites: When you’re sleeping and make sweet little sounds and sucking, holding and snuggling you

Milestones: you’re getting better at holding your head up, you like watching people and tracking things

Measurements Weight and length clothes and diapers: mostly 0-3 months clothes but still some newborn, you used up most of the newborn diapers so we decided to move to the size 1’s

Like Mommy/Daddy/Aubrey/Charlotte: everyone says you look more like Charlotte as a baby. You also sleep better like she did. However you seem to have a little more issue with spitting up like Aubrey did.

Funniest Moment: The first time you peed on your face…you didn’t think it was very funny.

Memorable moment: Getting to see your sweet face, hear your cry, and holding you for the first time. Also when you got to meet your sisters for the first time.

Challenges: Spitting up! You barf up your milk after almost every meal…and most of the time it’s a pretty significant amount. Diaper changes have also been a bit of a challenge. First of all, your sisters never sprayed themselves in the face! You seem to need new clothes after a lot of changes. Also we had to deal with the whole stitches from the circumcision that never happened…so that added an extra element.

How we spend the day: You sleep a lot and when you’re not sleeping you’re eating. You’ve started having a little more awake time, but for the most part you are pretty go with the flow!

Feedings/Eating: You are eating on demand. I try the whole eat, play sleep thing, but honestly for now its just on demand. Although you are pretty good at not having to always be nursed to sleep. You are a really good eater already a very efficient nurser. It doesn’t take you long at all.

Sleeping: You sleep a lot! You have several times during the day where you sleep really long stretches and then a few cat naps here and there. At night you are doing really well for now! You go to bed about 9/9:30 and wake up 1 and 4. Or sometimes if it’s a really good night you’ll wake up at 2 or 3 and then sleep until 6:30! You are also really good about sleeping when we lay you down and have done really well with that since we were in the hospital. You’ve also let me put you down drowsy and will fall asleep on your own. The only real issues we’ve had are when you spit up and it wakes you up. It comes out of your nose and then you sound really congested and you don’t sleep well. Or then you’ll get the hiccups.

Personality: You seem pretty laid back for now. You were definitely more calm in the womb than either of your sisters…so maybe you’ll be a more easy going kid! We will see.

Likes: eating, your paci, being held and snuggling naps, you tolerate your sisters hugging and kissing you all day really well! Laying on your back and stretching after a diaper change, looking at lights

Dislikes: spitting up out of your nose, hiccups, when your paci falls out, when you get cold after a bath, being awake in the swing (you’ll sleep in it most of the time)

Mobility: practicing lifting your head, lots of adorable stretches

Favorite toy: you really seem to like your paci and it seems to soothe you. Fingers crossed you keep this up! Aubrey is really good about giving it to you…she pushes it in there pretty hard haha! But she can almost always get you to take it.

Upcoming Events: Your first thanksgiving is coming up in a week! Also you’ll have two doctors appointments this month. We go for your one-year appointment where you’ll get your second hep B shot. Then the week after thanksgiving we have to go see a pediatric urologist. They think you may have a mild hypospadias, which is why they weren’t able to circumcise you at the hospital. We are hoping that isn’t what it is and you wont have to have a surgery at 6 months to fix it.

New Explorations: You’re working on finding your hands. You like to slurp on them when you do.

Sounds, words, and communication: Cute little guinea pig noises while you sleep, grunting, and crying. You rarely cried at all the first few weeks. Now you really only cry when you are tired or when your spitting up seems to hurt.

Teeth: just cute little gums:)

Charlotte's 14th Month

Firsts: Move, fever, trying whole milk, first time living with GG and Big D, finger prick and MMR/Chicken pox vaccine, steps! Going to sleep without mommy.

Mommy and Daddy’s Favorites: watching you begin to walk, dance, and play with Aubrey.

Milestones: You are now officially walking. Although you sometimes still prefer to crawl, you are getting better and fast every day, so I know crawling will soon be something of the past.

Measurements: You are a little over 19lbs and I’ll have to check your length from your checkup. You are in mostly 6-12 months clothes, but can probably start to move up in certain things and brands. You wear a size 3 diaper during the day and size 4 at night.

Funniest Moment: Watching you gain your independence. You love Aubrey and love to play with her…but you do NOT like when she tries to play with something that you want or when she sits in mommy’s lap if you want to. One day you took over where Aubrey was coloring and she came to tell mommy something. When she came back to her picture you yelled at her in your little baby voice. You kept yelling any time she came close and then you’d crack up when she walked away. You also love to dance to music. Its hilarious to watch to stop what you’re doing and stand up and sway your hips and bounce up and down as soon as you hear music you like.

Challenges: We’ve had so many challenges over the past 2 months. The biggest one wasn’t anything to do with you…we moved!! It is a wonderful change, but it was difficult packing everything and getting it where we needed to go with you and Aubrey around. A 3 and 1 year old does make moving interesting! We also lived with GG and Big D for about 3-4 weeks. This was challenging just because it was a transition, but it actually went very smoothly and we enjoyed it so much. The most challenging thing having to do with you was that you had I guess some kind of virus. You had a 100-102 fever for about 6 days. It just took forever to get it out of your little system. It was so sad and pitiful seeing you like that. It finally went away and you were back to your regular wild self! You also don’t love your new class in the church nursery and have been crying when mommy drops you off. Hopefully you’ll warm up soon! Also your iron was low at your 1 year checkup…so we will see what that ends up meaning in the next few months.

How we spend the day: Our days now are very different. They are normally spend out and about in the morning which has been wonderful. We have tried to find a variety of library story times to attend, meet up with GG for lunch, or just running errands. After lunch you and Aubrey take a nap and then daddy comes home for dinner. He gets home a little later now so you are normally helping me with dinner.

Feedings/Eating: You are starting to cut back on nursing although it is still somewhat on demand. You’ve actually learned how to communicate now very clearly that you’d like to nurse. You start grabbing at my shirt and say mum mum, mum mum…so that’s interesting! You do this with other food that you want as well and point and say mum mum. We’d cut back a lot until you got sick, then you kind of picked it back up again. You weren’t eating well then so we just did anything to get fluids and nutrients in you. You have been a little more picky these days and aren’t quite as good of an eater as you were. You still love to eat…you just are more picky about what you actually eat.

Sleeping: Because we’ve been out in the morning you’ll either take a small nap in the car, or skip your morning nap all together. This means that your afternoon nap is much longer now and on average about 2 hours. You go to bed about 8 but you’ve had to be a little flexible lately. You’ve had a few weeks where you were waking up 2 times at night and would be up about 6:30 for the day. Thankfully recently you been waking mostly once (sometimes twice) but will sleep until about 8-8:30.

Likes: mommy, daddy (You LOVE when he first comes home from work), Aubrey, fruit (blueberries are your favorite, but you love most fruit), cookies…, climbing, playing

Dislikes: when mommy leaves or walks into another room, someone telling you no, when anyone is with mommy that isn’t you…like Aubrey or Daddy, when someone takes something you want or are playing with or thought about playing with. Haha

Mobility: You are walking, crawling, and climbing on everything you can. You love to stand up and dance.

Favorite toy: You love your baby Stella! You have starting pointing to her before you go to bed or take a nap. I love that you have found something to love and I’m hoping it sticks! You also love to ride on the little push car. You can push it and walk or ride on it. You’re getting better and going backwards and forwards, but you love when Aubrey pushes you fast.

Upcoming Events: meeting mommy’s friend Emily

New Explorations: Walking! You look so cute and are now exploring so many things as you learn to walk. You look like a little Frankenstein because you hold your hands out straight. You are a huge climber also. You love to turn the water on and off in mommy and daddy’s tub and play in water. You also love taking a bath with Aubrey now. I think you will love the pool this summer!

Sounds, words, and communication: You are talking so much now! There are some words I know you say for sure, and there are other words I think you might be saying but I’m not 100% yet. You definitely say uh oh, hi, bye bye (and wave), dada (you’ve even said daddy recently), mama, mum mum (sounds similar to mama so I’m thinking you use them interchangeable haha). I think you’ve started to say GG (we both thought we heard you say bye bye GG), you bark when you see puppies, you point to things you want, you scream and yell when you don’t want something, you cry when we tell you no, you shake your head yes and no, and so many other things.

Teeth: You cut three teeth at once! Which the doctor said may have contributed to your lingering fever. You’re now working on the final one on the bottom which makes 8 total. That’s a lot of new teeth in a short amount of time!

Exciting Happenings: I feel like we need a whole category to talk about all of the new exciting things that went on the past few months. Since your first birthday we have officially moved into our new house. You love it…especially the stairs. We changed churches which you seem ok with until mommy leaves your side. We celebrated you second Christmas, although it was your first real Christmas where you spent it with actual extended family and didn’t sleep through all of itJ You also have a new pediatrician. We miss Dr. Makamula so much but we have had a great experience with our new doctors so far.

Charlotte is ONE!

Happy first birthday sweet girl! What a joy you are:) We celebrated at GG and Big D's house with cupcakes that Aubrey helped make. We didn't have a big celebration because of the move. We love you SO very much!

Firsts: Birthday! Move, being baby sat by Madeline, visiting GG and Big D’s church

Mommy and Daddy’s Favorites: All of your new little words you are saying. Mommy also love watching you when you get a baby or stuffed animal and you make the sweetest sounds and hug it.

Milestones: Standing for several seconds without support. You are starting to become more of a toddler than a baby. You pretend to do things like brush your hair if you see a brush, put shoes on your feet, put bows in your hair (even though you pull them out if I put them in!), and rub your hands together if you see someone washing their hands or putting on lotion.

Measurements Weight and length clothes and diapers: We have to find a new pediatrician so your 1 year checkup is going to be a little delayed. For now I know you are in 6-12 month clothes and in a size 3 diaper, size 4 at night.

Funniest Moment: Watching you dance to music. You love it! You hear any kind of music and you start bouncing. You get one leg going and you get low. If someone is holding you, you start kicking and the you move your arm back and forth.

Memorable moment: Packing up and saying bye to our house and town. We are so excited to be in a new town and have loved our new church. We can’t wait to move into our new house! But it was still a little sad saying good-bye to the house we brought you and Aubrey home to.

Challenges: Packing up a house with a baby and a toddler! It was quite a task!

How we spend the day: This has been pretty crazy this past month. We moved out of our house and haven’t moved in to our new one. We are staying with GG and Big D so our schedule has been a little hectic. We’ve made several trips back and forth to the Dallas area as well as having several errand to run throughout the day…all these things have made our days busy, but fun.

Feedings/Eating: You are eating with us at every meal and several snacks. You are a pretty good eater still although you don’t eat just everything I put in front of you anymore. You still will eat a lot of fruits and veggies. You nurse still before bed and before naps at home. This is also how I get you back to sleep at night. You will probably be night time trained when we move into our own houseL It makes me sad, but you need to sleep through the night now.

Sleeping: You haven’t been sleeping great which is understandable but still hard. You have been waking at least once if not twice a night. Sometimes its hard to get you to go back to sleep. You’ve been waking up pretty consistently about 6:30 for the day and won’t go back to sleep. You are still taking two naps a day unless your schedule is messed up.

Personality: You are becoming such a big girl and have changed so much even in the last month. You want to keep up with Aubrey all the time. You love playing with all of her stuff and love when she plays with you and chases you around. You love to laugh and squeal. You love other people and wave and smile at everyone who passes by. You are generally a very happy baby, but if someone makes you mad you’ll let them know quickly. You are fearless and love to climb in and up anything you can before we catch you…and when we do you crawl away as fast as you can!

Likes: animals, especially puppies, Christmas trees and lights, blueberries and strawberries, climbing up stairs,

Dislikes: When mommy leaves you in the nursery, baby gates that keep you from climbing the stairs, long dresses that hinder your crawling,

Mobility: You crawl everywhere you want to go and you crawl fast. You are such a climber and scare everyone because you climb on tall things and you again, do it very fast. You are starting to stand unassisted for longer and cruise the furniture very easily, but you still haven’t taken your first step yet. You pushed yourself up from squatting to standing by yourself once.

Favorite toy: Anything Aubrey plays with…still! You are starting to like Little People things and you love to just pull stuff out of things like cabinets, suitcases, boxes…

Upcoming Events: Moving into our new house. Your 2^nd Christmas.

New Explorations: You are have a great time at GG and Big D’s house because they have 2 flights of stairs and they have all of their Christmas decorations out. You are always looking to make your great escape up the stairs if someone forgets to put the gate back up. You love looking at all of the lights and want to play with all of the ornaments on the tree. You have also started wanting to hold a pencil or crayon and try to color.

Sounds, words, and communication: You are talking and communicating so much these days. You say hi/bye while you wave. You put a phone up to your ear and say “o” (hello). You say mama…but sadly its mamamama and only when you want milk or you see some kind of food you want. You imitate a lot of sounds…you love to squeal when you hear Aubrey squeal and you just made a woof woof sound when you heard a puppy bark. You point and say uhh uhhh when you want something haha. If you see something pretty that you like you say “ooooo” in a really cute high pitched voice.

Teeth: You finally have 4 teeth. The top ones are still working on coming through though. It looks like the ones next to the tops ones may be trying to break through now as well.

Charlotte's 11th Month

Firsts: staying with Ashley and her girls, fever, Halloween, trick-or-treating, visiting Fortified Hills,

News Headlines: ISIS is basically crazy. There was a terrorist attack in Paris.

Mommy and Daddy’s Favorites: You’ve started dancing to music! You love music and it calms you down if you’re sad. If you’re sitting you start bouncing and twisting your arms, and if you’re standing you hold on and bounce and wiggle one leg. It’s hilarious!

Milestones: saying a few words, standing for a few seconds unassisted, cruising along furniture, climbing on everything, clapping, waving

Measurements Weight and length clothes and diapers: At the doctor on your 11 month birthday you weighed 18lb 6.5oz. You’re wearing 6-12/12 month clothes and size 3 diaper during the day, 4 at night.

Like Aubrey: You are both so different, but you both love music so much!

Funniest Moment: screaming and being scared of cow at chickfila and dog at GG’s house. You love animals when they are far away, but as soon as they get close to you, you scream and then your lip pokes out and your cry. You also did this with a pig at the pumpkin patch….you get so excited when you see them!

Memorable moment: crawling to mommy and saying mamamama and yelling dada really loudly at the football game. You also heard his voice on the phone and said “dada!”

Challenges: mobility…you’re climbing on everything, even the table. You fell off of Aubrey’s PBK chair and flipped over the side…you have no fear…except baby animals;)  You had 2 days of constipation and we had to use miralax L And you had your first fever because of a virus. The time change…

How we spend the day: These days have been so crazy lately. We found out we are moving and Daddy has a new job in Dallas, GA!! We are so excited but have been doing a lot of traveling back and forth. You’ve had to be a little more flexible lately and deal with a lot more car time. Also the time change has messed up our schedule.

Feedings/Eating: You eat mostly what we eat, when we eat. Mommy still nurses you before bed, if you wake up at night, and before your naps. You’ve been sick a lot so its been harder to get any closer to weaning you, but that’s okay…it will all work out! You are pretty good eater most of the time except the past few days when you weren’t feeling well.

Sleeping: You didn’t sleep well while you were sick and have had a really hard time with the time change. Everyday honestly seems different. After the time change you’ve been getting up about 6 something so you’re pretty tired. You’ve actually taken pretty decent naps recently. For the most part if you’re awake you can put yourself to sleep…if I nurse you beforehand its not to sleep, just as part of our routine. You almost always head to bed about 7:30/45.

Personality: You are so much fun! You are starting to come alive and really let us know what you want to the best of your ability. You are mostly in a happy mood unless you’re tired or hungry…or if you’re not getting your way. You love to play and explore and happy to do that as long as mommy is pretty close by.

Likes: blueberries (I think these are currently your favorite food), Aubrey, climbing in Aubrey’s chairs, looking at animals, climbing in the dishwasher, rolling around on the carpet, music

Dislikes: when you don’t get your way, when someone takes something you want or take you away from something you want to climb on, when you want down and we have to hold you, animals that touch you or bark or get too close, when mommy has to leave or puts you down and you want to be held.

Mobility: Cruising around furniture and climbing everything. You are a champ at climbing up entire flights of stairs. You’ve started dancing to music. You shake your head and bounce and swing your arms.

Favorite toy: any paper you can eat but aren’t supposed to, any flight of stairs or chair you can climb on but aren’t supposed to.

Upcoming Events: Thanksgiving and MOVING! We will be moving the day after thanksgiving to live with GG and Big D for about a month, then we will move into our new house. Also…your first birthday!! How is that even possible??

New Explorations: CLIMBING ON EVERYTHING!!

Sounds, words, and communication: saying mama, dada, bye bye, uh (uh oh), waving, signing all done with prompting, pointing to things you want

Teeth: One top tooth has broken through finally! And the other is possibly on its way.

Charlotte's 10th Month

Firsts: It was a big month of firsts! You met Papa (Daddy’s dad) for the first time. We went to the pumpkin patch and you got your first pumpkin. You’ve also sadly gotten your first ear infection and gotten your first antibiotic (Amoxicillin). You’ve also started waving and we think said your first word while you wave “di-di” (bye bye). You stayed with GG and Big D while mommy and daddy were gone for several hours.

Mommy’s favorited: Watching you and Aubrey play together is still my favorite. It has gotten even more fun the more you grow. The other day you were following her around crawling copying her.

Daddy’s Favorites: You crawled up to him and held your arms up for him to pick you up for the first time.

Milestones: You’ve been waving to people as the come and go quite frequently now. You have also started clapping. You love dancing to music. Also you have become quite the climber and can climb all the way up a flight of stairs. You have been pulling up on everything and have started cruising around all of the furniture.

Measurements: At the pediatrician you were right at 18 pounds. You are in size 3 diapers during the day and I just moved you up to a size 4 at night because you were leaking through. You are in such a mixture of sizes of clothes right now. You’re mostly in size 12 month pj’s but can still fit in a few 9 months. In clothes it is anything from 9 months to 12 months (these are mostly too big) and, depending on the store, 6-12 months.

Memorable moment: You come with us to Aubrey’s kindermusik class and you love it! You get so excited when its time for you to use and instrument and you love listening and dancing to the music!

Funny moment: Aubrey came in to kiss you goodnight. You decided it was time for your milk and for her to go so you started waving bye bye to her.

Challenges: Being sick! You weren’t sleeping very well and had, had a cold for over a week with so much congestion! We took you to the doctor and we were surprised to find you had your first ear infection. Aubrey’s never had one and you didn’t seem phased by it during the day so I didn’t think you’d have one. You don’t like the medicine very much and we have to hold you down to get you to take it:/ But thankfully you’re feeling better and have been sleeping much better now!

How we spend the day: You wake up between 6/7:30 each day and we start bedtime about 7:30. During the day we are still working around your 2 naps. We’ve had a lot going on lately so our schedule has been pretty crazy during the day. You do so well and come along with us wherever we go. You are very flexible, do well in the car, and really enjoy our little outings.

Feedings/Eating: You are still nursing before bed, when you wake up in the middle of the night, and a few times throughout the day…normally before a nap. I probably need to start cutting back on this, but you have always fed on demand so it is a little weird to cut out a feeding when they’ve been so unscheduled. You don’t always like to eat right when you wake up so breakfast is hit or miss, but you love eating lunch and dinner with us. You get so excited about mealtime. I’m pretty sure its your favorite part of the day. You eat basically everything we give you so I just give you a little abbreviated version of whatever we are eating. You love all fruits and most veggies. You’ve even swiped green beans off of my plate before I gave you your own. You have even eaten and liked tomatoes, olives, cucumbers, squash, and other random food. I’m trying to take advantage of this now and make sure you taste several different kinds of foods and textures before you get to a picky stage.

Sleeping: For the most part you are only waking up once a night. When you were sick you were up quite a bit more. Thankfully you’ve gone back to sleeping better. You are taking 2 naps a day; one is normally 30 minutes and the other is a little over an hour. You normally go about 3 hours between your wake up time and between your two naps.

Personality: Your little personality is really coming to life! You are such a happy baby most of the time. It is funny to begin seeing your little opinion develop. You’ve started “yelling” at Aubrey when she wont give you something or takes something away. You love to laugh and smile. You love babies and animals (real and toys) and you make the sweetest noises and start kicking your legs when you see them. You are still a mama’s girl for sure, but you’ve gotten better with going to some other people occasionally.

Likes: Food! Your favorites are strawberries and blueberries. You see them and get so excited. Aubrey and all of her stuff. Mommy and Daddy, Kindermusik, animals, bathtime, GG and Big D!

Dislikes: when mommy walks away or leaves you with someone else, when all of your food is gone, when Aubrey takes something away or won’t play with you.

Mobility: You are cruising all of the furniture now and can get wherever you want to go. You are such a fast little crawler now. When you’re doing something you’re not supposed to and we start to get you, you start crawling away from us really fast.

Favorite toy: You love Aubrey’s babies and you also get excited about anything furry…especially Aubrey’s Kitty and Ellie!

Upcoming Events: Your first Halloween!

New Explorations: You are climbing on everything and pulling up on everything you can. You can even crawl up stairs now.

Sounds, words, and communication: saying bye bye and waving at people. You say mama and dada I’m just not sure if you’ve related to who we are yet. You also say ba, na, etc. and several other sounds.

Teeth: still just the bottom 2!