Kisses

One of the things I have been waiting for most happened yesterday! Your daddy has apparently been working on you learning to give kisses. Well, yesterday daddy told you, "give mommy a kiss", and you did! It was the sweetest little thing. You pursed your lips and blew until you reach my cheek, then you made a little 'p' sound! I feel like my description does nothing for how stinking cute it is! You are truly very sweet! This has made my entire Christmas, best gift ever! So what should you get me you ask? The second best gift ever, you learning how to walk. Momma is ready!! I hope!

P.S. you have had your first haircut and a birthday party that I haven't posted about, but Christmas is overwhelming at the moment I promise to post pics and fun facts very soon!

Love,
Mommy/gives you lots and lots of kisses!!

Moments I live for

There are certain times of day that my heart lives for. One being when your daddy gets home from work! Another one of my favorite times is right before I put you in your crib for nap time. I hand you your blankie and you lay your head on my chest. This moment melts my heart everyday! We both take a big deep breath, soaking each other in, breathe out, completely relaxed and totally in love! My heart soars! In that moment life has no cares or worries, absolute perfection! These are the moments I live for!

Love,
Mommy/hoping for a moment like this today!

Funny Face

Your Daddy and I were looking at pictures of you today. There were times we would laugh loud at your funny faces! You have the most expressive face I have ever seen! When you smile you light up rooms and melt peoples hearts! We were looking at one particular picture, you were around three months old and you had this little round face. Your daddy just started cracking up, he called me over and said you looked like the little Penguin, Arnold, from Surfs up! You totally did, we sat there and just laughed at your silly little expression! You are a goofy kid! I love your silly faces, they make me smile and wonder just what you're thinking.

I love you silly face!

Love,
Mommy/ gave you that funny face of yours!

Happy First Birthday My Jakey Love!!

This year has been a true joy. Not every moment a happy one, I have shed my fair share of tears. But caring for you and loving you has given new purpose to my life. I now know what I was born to do! 

Motherhood has taught me more about love than I will ever be able to put into words. You are a piece of me. I carried you for 9 months, feeling each kick and flip, each time your toes would play my ribs like a harp. I  have thought about you my whole life. I have prayed for you my whole life. 

You have taught me so much about God's love. I know the way I feel about you is just a glimpse of the way the Lord loves us. My love for you is so deep, so intense that it calls me to live life differently. To love deeper and truer than before. To live the life I was call to.

You are beautiful! You have your daddy's half smile and my eyes. Your stubbornness and desire to push the line you get from both of us (sorry buddy!). You have the brightest smile and the warmest heart!

 I fall more in love with you everyday, even the days you refuse to nap or listen to me at all. You are truly the biggest blessing. 

 This birthday of yours has brought bittersweet feelings. I am so excited, you are one! We made it through infancy with grace! But you are no longer my baby, you are turning into a little boy more and more everyday. It is such a joy to see you grow, I have loved this time we have shared!

So here's to you my sweet Jake-a-doo!! Happy First Birthday! You are truly a miracle and the best gift I have ever been given! My heart just bursts with pride and joy! You are FANTASTIC!!!  I freakin' love you!!! 

Love, 

Mommy/ currently crying and loving you!!

One Year Ago

December 8th 2009 was an exciting day. Just one day earlier we decided you were getting too big and you needed to be forced out. You were quite comfy and were not motivated in the slightest to make your grand entrance. I really didn't want to have a c-section so we decided to induce and mommy would hold off on the drugs as long as possible. See your mommy tries to do things the way nature intended as much as possible. I really wanted you to come on your own but in no way did I want to be recovering from major surgery and caring for an infant. Don't worry, if it was necessary I would have done it in a second! So The morning of the 8th we had to be at the hospital by 8am. Grandma, Nana, Uncle Alex, Daddy and a very pregnant Mommy packed into cars on the coldest day of the year. The ground was covered in frost and for a few hours California looked like a winter wonderland! It was such a weird feeling driving to the hospital knowing soon we would meet you. Soon I would endure great pain and then be bestowed the greatest gift on earth, Life! As we drove the butterflies in my stomach grew bigger and bigger! I was so excited! When we arrived my mid-wife, Maria, greeted us. She was fantastic that day. They broke my water, had me walk up and down the hallway. My labor wasn't progressing like they would have liked so they started me on Pitocin, a labor inducing drug. Let me tell you, that stuff is crazy!! I started having contractions every 10 min, then every 5. Eventually my contractions were right on top of each other with no recovery time in between. We all thought, great I must be pretty far along. I was only 100% effaced and 2cm dilated! I had to make it all the way to 10cm. Which can take any amount of time. I walked the hallway more, in my cute gown your daddy had bought me. Papa, Grandpa and all the uncles in the waiting room would come out to talk to me as I walked past. They had such a hard time seeing me in pain. But I kept walking, knowing soon you would be in my arms! I would have to pause my walking and brace my self when a contraction came. I hadn't progressed a lot so I went and sat in the jacuzzi. It was nice, the heat really helped! Your poor daddy just wanted to take the pain away, he felt so bad for me. I was doing ok at this point just focusing to get through it. After the bath I went and laid down in the bed to try and rest a little. They had me on my left side and your heart rate slowed so they put me on my back slightly sitting with oxygen. Oh man, the oxygen, just the thought of it turns my stomach. The mask had this gross plastic smell and the oxygen smelled like metal. It made me pretty nauseous. I had already thrown up once earlier in the day and I did not want to do it again! Your heart rate returned to normal and then you dropped. Oh man, the contractions came on stronger than ever and my back started to ache. Ok, I started to breathe, to get through it and the pain increased along with the contractions. I was only to 4cm! That is the most frustration thing to hear after you have been in labor for 14 hours. I felt like all of the enduring I was doing wasn't helping. I was trying to prove I was strong enough do this on my own with no drugs. Even though most women on Pitocin induced labor take drugs. See there I go again justifying my actions. Well, here is what happened. At around 10:30pm I was barely able to endure the contractions. With each one tears streamed down my face and I moaned with pain. The poor men in the waiting room were very concerned! I called for Maria, told her my back felt like it was split open and with each contraction it was getting torn more and more apart. We decided on an epidural. This was my last resort. The medicine man came in, I hunched over with your daddy watching in horror as a needle was stuck in my spinal cord while I was going through a contraction! The medicine man was great, fast and accurate! What more could a girl in labor ask for. I laid back in the bed and a warmth rushed  over my legs. I could still move but my legs felt very heavy. In that moment I understood why women got epidurals. Bliss! I was in labor, I could feel every contraction but I was no longer screaming. Until, you dropped again. This time the pain was all in my back. I couldn't walk or change position much due to the epi so I just writhed in bed, holding daddy's hand. We called the medicine man, told him this freaking thing wasn't working! It was, just not in the right spot, we found out later why! I was checked again and I was dilated fully and was fully effaced. The time had come to push!! In two hours I had gone from no more that 5cm to done and ready to push! We were hoping you would be born before midnight! With Dec. 8th as my goal I began to push. And push. This went on for two hours. Dec. 8th had come and gone. I was in so much pain and completely exhausted. The medicine man came in, dosed me up real good, Maria turned up the Pitocin and I fell asleep. It was the best sleep I had gotten in a month! You may ask your self, how I could sleep?? Well, at this point contractions were entirely normal and I was in transition, this ridiculous point in labor right before delivery where women have been know to try to check themselves out of the hospital or in movies you see women yelling at their husbands. It's a lull in contractions. God designed it perfectly, it gives women a break to brace themselves for whats about to come. I slept for about an hour. Then, in walked Maria, told me it was time, and I pushed. This time for about 45 min. You arrived, face up (that is what was giving me all the back labor! you stinker!) with quite a pointy and bruised head at 3:43am Dec. 9th 2009!! Grandma, Nana and Daddy were in the room when you were born and the men were waiting in the hallway, listening for your first cries. Which took a while, you didn't want to cry. You were perfectly pink and healthy in every other way.  Thinking of the first seconds I laid eyes on you still brings tears to my eyes! We did it, you were here and perfect! They took you from me and began to bathe you. Then you cried, screamed and screamed some more. They swaddled you and placed you in my arms. Then daddy held you and everyone came in to meet you. They all gazed at your perfection and everyone cried at some point I think! You were and are absolutely beautiful! It's such a miracle, I knew that, but to witness it, to experience it, really makes you realize how miraculous life really is! Everyone left so we could sleep. We were wheeled to our recovery room and we all slept. You on my left, me in the hospital bad and you daddy on the pull out chair bed! I woke up to breakfast at 7ish. I ate scrambled eggs and bacon while admiring you and your daddy sleeping. I was between my two boys, my family. Those first few hours in the hospital were so sweet. You slept a lot. I learned how to feed you (that is a whole other story). Daddy took care of us. You exploded poop all over your bed! Mommy discovered her love of Lemon cookies (the hospital had the best lemon cookies). They are sweet, precious moments that I will cherish in my heart forever.

I will never forget the day I met you and first held you in my arms. You are truly a gift from God and I promise to do my best to teach you and help you live the life you have been called to. Jakob you are a great boy. Already so talkative and thoughtful (what one year old loves to share? You do!!). Happy day before you were born! I love you Jake-a-do!!

Love,
Mommy/so very proud to call you my son!

A Year Ago Today

As your first birthday approaches I thought you would be interested to know where I was a year ago today. Dec. 7th, 2009 I was huge pregnant, not sleeping great, my hips would fall asleep while laying on them and I would shoot awake if I found myself laying on my left side or back (you are supposed to lay on you right side when pregnant for blood flow reasons!). You were rubbing your toes up and down my ribs and your head was way down, but not far enough for me to go into labor. I was so excited to meet you. Your room was ready, all your clothes were washed and your bed was ready for your first night at home. Thinking about your birth brings back so many emotions! All of those feelings of wonder, fear and excitement. I wondered what you would look like, what you would be like, I was honestly afraid of what labor would be like, afraid if I would be a good mommy,  I was just so excited for this journey. Your daddy and I had done our labor prep and it was all just a waiting game. I was hoping you would come sooner rather than later. I didn't want your birthday to compete with Christmas and I never want you to have a Christmas/Birthday party or gift. I will work hard for that to happen.

A year ago today we were eagerly awaiting, you!! Nana and uncle Alex had taken up residence in Grandma and Grandpa's driveway and we were all having a constant party, just waiting for you!!

You were worth the wait!

Oh, Jake you are the most precious gift. I am so thankful for you. I am in complete denial that a whole year has past. Between sleep deprivation and the total life change, this year has gone by in a flash.

You were worth it. Every sleepless night (there weren't very many, just 3 months), every selfless act,  stretch marks and every worry, WORTH IT!! You are the best boy! You have blessed my life and given my complete joy. My heart explodes every time I think of you!!

Love,
Mommy/heart currently exploding with love!!

Loud noises

I just have to write about this thing you do. Every time someone sneezes loudly or coughs, you stop what you are doing fall on to all fours, put your head down and crawl quickly towards who ever made the sound! I have no idea why you do this. You are startled but it's almost like you are concerned. It's so funny. Nana coughs sometimes just to see you do it. I wish I could know what goes through your head when you do funny little things like this. One day you will read this and wonder yourself. Hopefully you won't still be doing this at the age of 18!!

Love,
Mommy/ coughing just for the heck of it!!

Oh...

So, you are kind of impatient. Especially when you are being fed or hungry. Your daddy and I are not a fan of whining and are trying to put an end to your 'I'm wasting away stick that food in my mouth' sounds. We have been requiring you to say, more please, before each bite instead of loudly proclaiming your mouth is empty. Here's the funny part. The first night we started teaching you we were eating and you started to whine, daddy said "Jakob" in a stern voice and you said "oh" in this low funny voice with overly dramatic o shaped lips! You don't actually say, more please, just the 'o' of more. After every bite you finished you would start to fuss and daddy would say "Jakob" sternly and you would reply with "oh". It was really funny at the time. I'm sure you had to be there but, you are just so darn cute! I love that you are trying to communicate. I love that you try to repeat everything we say. I realize through you how much a gift language is, how much a gift communication is! Thank you for helping me see the world with fresh eyes.

Love,
Mommy/ loves experiencing life with you!!

too cute!!

Finally you are no longer snotty and the sickness in my eyes is calming down. What a miserable week we have all had. You with your first real cold, daddy with a cold and mommy with a cold and pink eye. Really, you ask? Yes, it was terrible!! But we are on the path to recovery, so I snapped a few photos.

Here you are looking like a toddler!! Slow your growing my little one!!

 I love this shirt. It's a great color and the "pick me" on the guitar, just cracks me up!!

 You were waving to mommy and saying "Hi!!"

 "Do these pants make my butt look big mom?"

 You love playing with this toy, best garage sale purchase I have ever made!

 You were looking at the dog and saying "ohhhh"

 You love this funny little puffer fish, this was too funny to not take a picture of. 

 I try to get a picture of you in this chair every month but this month was proving to be extra difficult. You tried to fall on your head twice. So, I resorted to putting toys in the chair to draw you to it. You were proudly declaring you found your puffer fish!! 

You are the cutest boy on the planet and I am crazy obsessed with you!!

Love, 

Mommy/consumed with love for you!!

11 Months

Happy 11 months baby boy. We haven't taken your pictures yet but I'm hoping to tomorrow. you have been quite snotty and teething. So much has happened this past month.

You aren't walking on your own yet. We can tell it will be soon but I'm really in no rush for you to be scampering about. You are very stable on you feet. You pull up on everything, my pants, the dog, your toys, TV cabinets, you name it. You also walk while holding onto things. You walk along the couch and balance and turn to the foot rest then walk around it. You will hold your hands in the air, with your mouth wide open and balance on your own. You look so impressed with your self!!

You point at things you are interested in. I think you love the power you have to make mommy try and figure out what you are pointing at. You point and say, "that", which sounds more like "tat" or "hat". Then we discuss what you were pointing at. Sometimes you just like to tell us you are interested in something by pointing and saying "oooo". I love deciphering what you are talking about and teaching you about new things!

You are the most friendly child I have even known. You wave to everyone, I mean everyone. Even if they aren't looking at you, you wave to them. I have never noticed how people ignore children before, it's slightly sad. But some people are so sweet right back to you. Like these two tough looking 20 something guys standing in line behind us a Walmart. They looked tough but you didn't care, you waved to them and smiled. They looked at you and they melted. They said "aww look how cute!" and waved right back to you!! Look at you, changing the world one beautiful smile at a time. Never forget the power of a smile! You have started to say "Hi" now too, you sound slightly southern when you say it, "Hiiiiii" all drawn out but it's so sweet!

You can say: dog (this is your favorite word and what you call most furry animals), mama, dada, ga (for grandma), all done, Hi and thank you. You repeat almost everything we say but these words you say on you own mostly.

You eat what we eat and refuse to eat baby food. You sleep 11 hours most every night (9pm to 8am)!! You take two naps during the day which aren't always a piece of cake. I think you might be starting to drop your morning nap. Oh no, then when will mommy take a shower or get anything done? we'll have to make it work!!

You don't watch much TV, occasionally you will glance at whatever we have on. But we have found that you will sit and watch entire TV shows about animals. Real animals, no cartoon stuff. You sit in awe, just watching. Oh, to have the mind of a child. I would love to have that passion for everything, as if it were my first time experiencing it!

Just yesterday you learned how to stack blocks!! I have been trying to get you to for a while but you just loved to knock them over. Yesterday, I asked you it you could stack the blocks. I showed you how and you grabbed a block and stacked it. I rejoiced! You knocked it over and stacked it again! Then you rejoiced for your self. It's the cutest thing whenever we clap and say "yea Jakob!!" you clap and cheer for your self. Too cute!

You are growing and changing everyday! It's truly amazing to watch you learn about the world. You have your own opinions about things and you express them in talking crying and fit throwing. You are a great listener but you love to push the boundaries!

Your Daddy and I grow to love you more and more each day!

Happy 11 months my boy!

Love,
Mommy/crazy about my boy!!

New Shoes

I have never been one for putting shoes on you. I didn't see the point. You don't walk, so you don't need them. I put socks and occasionally slippers on you when the weather deemed it necessary. Even when you start to walk I have shoes with soft soles for proper foot development! I want you to achieve balance on your own not because of clunky hard soled shoes. Now that you have started standing I have been keeping an eye out for cute soft soled shoes. I love the leather soled ones. Tough but easy to get on, babies tend to flair their toes when their foot is shoved in a small object, as if to declare wearing shoes is torture! I don't like wearing shoes, why would you? But, I found the cutest pair of shoes at Target the other day! I think they will be perfect for your birthday and for Christmas! The laces are elastic and the soles are soft plus they are so so so cute. What could be better!?!?! You are going to look so cute in them!!

Love,

Mommy/ a fan of flip flops!

Halloween...

So this year was your first Halloween. We didn't have much money to spend on costumes so we were trying to think of something to be out of the clothes you already had. So the day of Halloween, not the best plan-aheaders, we decided to be Giants fans!! The San Francisco Giants are in the world series this year and it was something your daddy was excited about being! So off I went to try and find you giants gear. I was bummed to find that football season had kicked out all of the baseball gear. Oh, well. I found peel and stick tattoos and decided that would have to do. We had a great night helping out at the church carnival. The church sets up their classrooms like trick-or-treat doors and we handed out candy. You loved seeing all the kids and you waved to everyone! your daddy and I aren't really Halloween people but I think we will have to get into the dressing up because I think you are going to love it!! I'm all about the candy and dressing up not so much the creepy, evil, scary stuff. Oh and I hate how Halloween has turned into a day where girls see how slutty they can be. I mean really? So as you grow up we will do our best to celebrate in a fun, non-slutty manner!! All in all I think we were one cute Giants family!!!

Love,
Mommy/ A Giants fan for life!!

Diaper Rash

You have your first official diaper rash and boy is it terrible. Your little bum is so red and raw looking. I feel so helpless. I have been faithful to change your diaper more than needed but you have been waking up in the middle of the night screaming for your diaper to be changed. I wish there was more I can do than slather on the cream, give you oatmeal baths (which you really enjoyed, you got me soaked with your splashing, I think you finally felt relief.) and powder you bum. I wish I could find some magical cream or wash or something to make it all go away. I'm not sure what is causing the issue. We might have to make a doctors appointment. I just want you to feel better. You are such a trooper, only whimpering or crying at diaper changes and the rest of the day you act fine, as if nothing is bothering you. I'm wondering if the zinc cream or the cream with aloe is any better. I try to buy organic and natural whenever I can but the price on some of them is a little much to just buy all of them and see which one works. But if that's what it comes down to, I will gladly do it! Anything for you. Anything to take away the pain. Poor little boy. I rocked you to sleep, prayed over you and laid you down in your crib. You cried a little, not so happy that I put you down but, now some good rest for both of us.

Love,
Mommy/ hurting with you

Sweet sweet boy!!

The other night I was feeding you your bed time bottle. As you lay relaxed and gobbling in my arms you reached your hand out to grab mine and you gently rubbed my hand as you ate. It was the sweetest thing in the world. My heart melted! 

Then last night your Daddy and I walked through the door and were greeted by you. It was 10pm! You had woken up crying, most likely because you had received a flu shot that day. Daddy held you as I gave you some Tylenol. You love your Daddy very much but we could tell you wanted me. I took you and tried to calm you, sitting and rocking, standing and swaying, standing still, sitting still. The only thing that worked was standing swaying and singing this cute little "good night" song I know. 

"Oh, I'm a little owl and my daddy loves me, 

I'm a little owl and my mommy loves me. 

When they tuck me in to say good night, they say, whoo whoo whoo, good night. 

Good Night, Good Night. Good night little owl, Good Night. 

Good Night, Good Night. 

They say whoo whoo whoo, Good Night."

Then I change the animal to tiger, frog, monkey, dog, kitty, elephant, as long as the song needs to keep going and then finally "I'm a little Jakob"

You like that song, I love that song, so because it works for both of us I use it a lot!

Anyways, as I was singing you grabbed your blankie and put your head on my chest. You never do that. You have always refused to be rocked to sleep, too many things going on for you to want to sleep. It was so special to me.  I was not only able to soothe your pain, but help you drift off to sweet sleep.

You are sweet. So very very sweet! 

Love, 

Mommy/you have me wrapped around your finger

10 Months

You turned 10 months old on the 9th so this is a little late. But, better late than never, right?

Things you do:
Clap - when you are excited, pleased with your self or when asked to.
Stand - almost on your own, you pull up on everything regardless of it's stability!
Crawl - like a mad man. You have two speeds, a regular crawl, which is still pretty fast. And then a "mode" where you put your head down and crawl super fast. It's pretty funny!!
Talk - the usual, mama, dada, hi, bye-bye, all done, dog, Ted, up, down occasionally you throw in a whole phrase and you love to babble, about who knows what but you have lots of things to say, some of which you think are very important, you get a serious look on your face and babble, it's the cutest thing.
Wave - I have been trying to get you to wave forever. You have caught on a little, you wave to get people's attention and say hello and sometimes for saying goodbye.
Play - you play with cars and trucks how they were meant to be played with. You make cute/boy noises when zooming your cars on the ground.
Laugh - you have always had quite the personality but now you laugh when YOU think things are funny.
Scream - you have discovered the full range of your voice and sometimes it's ear piercing!
Share - haha, yeah right. When we talk to you about sharing you look at us like, "um, please just give me my toy back!"
Smile - you have been doing this since week 3 but now you do it to flirt. It's amazing. You look at someone and smile this amazing smile and tilt your head a little and bat your eyes! It's so charming!

I'm sure there is something new you will do tomorrow...it's amazing how you change even after a nap, you wake up understanding more, knowing more, doing more, amazing!

We went shopping for fall clothes yesterday and bought size 24 months. Dang, they are big. Even too big for you right now, but they will fit soon. Sooner then I would like to admit! I compared you to the newborn size clothing you wore when you were first born. It made me amazed that you grew so much, changed so much! And it made me want another baby! That day will come and already I have wondered how the heck I will love another person as much as you. I don't know how but I know that my heart will grow to love another baby. But right now you are enough.

This is you in the bath last night! What a cutie you are! 

Happy 10 Months little guy!!

Love,

Mommy/in shock and awe

Stay at Home Mom...

This could get heated little one. I am very passionate about my staying at home with you. I have recently been fed up with people looking at me like I'm crazy when I say I'm a stay at home mom. They either think I'm stupid and couldn't get a job or they think I love being lazy all day! Right! As if all I do is sit on the couch or even play with you all day. I would love if a house took care of it's self, the dog walked itself, bills paid themselves and I had a self filling fridge! I know plenty of mom's work and take care of kids, thats great for you. I didn't have kids to let someone else raise them. I am plenty smart and could totally get a job! But, I choose to have you and raise you as your daddy and I see fit. As you know having two incomes would be great, even a help. But, it's not worth giving up raising you so we can have a one week vacation a year to some place cool. We do fine. You will always have food on the table and cute clothes on your body. As a stay at home mom it's my job to be a smart shopper so we can afford things, cute, fun things too! Don't get me wrong, working mom's don't have it easy and in no way do i disprove of their decisions but for us this is what we have decided. People have asked me what I will do when all my kids are in school. Well, one, you might be home schooled and two, it's not like I don't have a life. I will run errands, prepare awesome after school snacks, bake and oh yeah, run my photography business! Your mommy loves you dearly Jake but, I have things that are my own too. I love to craft, paint, take pictures, sing, play the piano (which you love too), play the guitar and sew! Working wouldn't add anything to my life. I am a mom, this is what I have wanted to do my whole life and now you have made my dream come true! Oh and another thing, you will statistically have higher test scores and are less likely to do drugs and commit a crime! So really I'm saving the world one kid at a time! Ok my rant is done. I love you!
Love,
Mommy/ Proud to stay home with you!

Name Blocks

Your changing station

Train table...someday you will love this..it glows in the dark

Reading/Cuddle area

Activity Corner

Lounging/Reading area...Ted loves this area!!

Your leaves!

Crib and toy storage

Jake this is your room! I love it. It's bright, colorful and invites you to play. All things a kids room should do. It makes me sad when I see baby's rooms in boring pastels. Baby's and kids love to have fun colors and objects to look at. So, when I saw those leaves at Ikea I just knew they were better than any mobile, I had to have them. So we went with a jungle theme. It's fun and bright and you are never bored. You love looking at the leaves above your crib and pointing to the lion above your changing station. Your toy storage is the best too. You can get into your toys all by your self and then the buckets even become toys. I have pushed you around the room in them and you put them on your head and laugh. It also makes for easy clean up, something only a mom would think of. This is your space. I look forward to putting up pictures on the walls and hanging your birthday banner up! You may have to share your room someday but you will always have a special place, to call your own, I promise.

Love, Mommy/ part-time interior decorator!

Today

Your being kind of icky today. Which is totally understandable, you now have 7 teeth and you are working on more I think. You have been at a stand still teething wise for a few months but the other day I look in your mouth and see you have 3 teeth on the bottom. You look a little uneven but still just a cute as ever. Also, you won't let me eat my food any more with out sharing! It's pretty comical the way you reach and whine for my food, even if you have had enough food already! I hope this nap helps you recover a little, poor teething boy.

Love,
Mommy/I promise to share my food!

Drinking out of a straw

You drank apple juice out of a straw today! I was very impressed with how quickly you picked it up. You only choked once, straws let in a lot of liquid! What a big boy you are becoming! You wanted to do this all on your own but you kept sticking the straw down your throat. So we helped you. You were ok with the help as long as you got your juice. I might have just created a juice monster! Sorry buddy you only get juice once a day, if that. Too much sugar not enough fiber. It’s better to just eat some apples!

Love, Mommy/eat an apple a day!

Here are some pictures of your world right now. A lion, that is a punching bag, Your pop up toy, that you are figuring out how to use and a dinosaur rocking horse, that is a necessity for every boy! And of course you and your blankie. You love this blanket! Your nana made it for you and you have become massively attached to it! The funny thing is, I didn't force it on you, you chose this blankie! I wrapped you in it one morning because it was cold and you have never been parted from it since.
Love,
Mommy/Hoping we never loose that blankie!!

9 Months Old!!

I am very behind with this post, you are almost 10 months old now but 9 months was such a huge milestone to me. You have been living in the world as long as you were cooking in my tummy! I can't believe time has gone so fast.

Here are you stats:

Weight: 24lbs. 9oz. 

Length: 30 1/2"

Head Circumference: 47.4 cm

You are a big boy. You get mistaken for a one year old. People say "Hi" to you and get offended when you don't return the greeting. Then I explain that you are only 9 months old and i get the same response every time, "Oh, he's so big!". It's true, you are not small but you are well proportioned and stinking cute! You give people this sweet smile. I tell you to wave or say "Hello" but you are not interested in such common greetings. You flash the biggest flirtiest smile! At least you are friendly! And definitely not shy!

Here are a few pics. that represent your 9th month of life:

You are a crazy, crazy crawler!!!

You stand in your crib. I find you like this after every nap!

You stand everywhere you can!! It's pretty impressive, all the things you find to pull yourself up on!

You are such a silly boy!

This past month has been amazing to see you grow and learn. You have developed quite the personality! You hate to hear the word no. You push the line like crazy. We say no and you do it again just to make sure we are serious. Then you will do it again until we massively distract you! You have learned to clap and wave, both of which you do only when you want. You have definitely taught me you are your own person. You mimic sounds really well and everyday your vocabulary is growing. You are my joy and insanity and I wouldn't change it for anything! I love you my boy.

Love, 

Mommy/crying over how old you are

Beach Trip

This was your second trip to the beach...you loved it. I'm so glad I have no idea what I would have done if you didn't like the beach...

It was pretty cold...especially for September, but you played in the sand and had a great time.