Just 1 more month

I can't believe you, my sweet girl, are going to be 1 next month.  11 months old.  What in the world???

I can't believe we only have 1 more month until you are a year old!  Sorry-but no big, elaborate 1st birthday party for you! Although your dad is trying to convince me otherwise (oh-and he says it must be pink, princess-y and girlie)......He's soo funny at times ;)

You are wearing 12-18mth clothes for the most part.  You are a lot easier to dress these days, as you lift your arms  in assistance.  You have moved up a size in diapers, now in a 4. Still only have 4 teeth up top and the 2 bottom ones.  Still nursing 3 times a day.  We have had days where you have skipped the boobster 1 of those 3 meals.  You have successfully transferred from car to crib 3 times!!!!! You wake between the transfer but fall asleep once in your crib....you have no idea how happy this makes me!!!!!!

You took your first official steps on July 29, and have taken a few since.  You are walking all over the place as long as you are holding on to something.  You also prefer to "walk" these days, holding both of either your Dada's hands or mine.  You can stand alone for a few a short period of time too-even clapping for yourself while doing it!

You have "attacked" your brother twice.  I mean, full body attacks.  You were like a bull charging red.  It was hysterical! We didn't stop you though!!! Whenever brother is around, you immediately cover your head with both hands.  I guess you've come to learn that he's about unleash on you.  But you love him more than ever these days!

You are signing "more" pretty consistently.  You occasionally give us a thank you.  You also sign "food."  I point to my eye saying I Love You and you immediately point to your eye or mine.  You no longer want your sippy
cup-you only want Brothers.  You have figured out that yours always has agua in it and his always has something tasty.

Speaking of agua-that was, what I consider to be, your first word.  You have said bye, hi, mama, dada, but I don't really count those.  However, whenever you are thirsty you say, "Aba," which i interpret as agua.  You also say this whenever you see me get a sippy cup out of the cabinet.  Neh-neh is another word you caught onto rather quickly....imagine that ;)

You try and imitate all sounds that we make to you.  You are observing  a lot more too.  Its amazing how much you've grown in terms of communication/comprehension in just the last month.

You have this new "game" you enjoy.  You throw your bb (little blanket) out of your crib, then lean over crying for it.  You WILL NOT stop crying until you have it.  Repeat.  NOT fun.  You have days where you play in your crib forever before we have to come rescue you and other days were you are standing/crying before you even open your eyes.

Your little personality has taken off this month and we are all loving the development of it.  You are your own child, thats for sure!  You are as stubborn as they come, cute as a button, hungry as a pig, and as perfect as a Blessing.

We love the new dimension you add to our family.  Regardless of my words, truly we do :)!!!

We love you to the moon and back, our sweet, sweet, sweet girl!!!!

Plop Her Down and Watch Her Go

Yes. That is precisely how it happened.

July 29, 2014 we were visiting in Montevallo.  It was late.  No afternoon nap.  You were behaving rather well.  You were socializing with Deli, Anna (Psycho), Victoria and Kristie.

Anna (she was one of my students in Middle School), who might I had doesn't even like kids, was holding you.  You started to get squirmy.  I was standing just a few feet away, as were the other girls.  Anna apparently forgot the minor detail that you can't walk alone yet, much less stand on your own.  A slight indication of where the nickname Psycho came from, perhaps!!!

MINOR DETAILS.

She stands you on the floor and lets you go.  Doesn't even think twice about it.  Just plops you right down on your own 2 feet.

PLOP AND RELEASE.

You immediately take off.  I mean, you didn't hesitate.  You just went.  You went fast too.  Like you were an old pro at walking.  You didn't stumble.  You didn't cry.  You didn't fall to the ground.

YOU JUST WENT.

You took roughly 5 steps before we all realized you were "alone."  I quickly swooped you up and reminded Anna that you can't walk yet.

Then it hit all of us.  You JUST walked.  I mean, really walked.  You likely would've kept on going, had I not freaked out that you were alone, standing there, taking steps-ALL BY YOURSELF. 

It was such a fun moment for all of us.  We got a good laugh out of how your first steps came to be.  I don't find it ironic that they happened in Smitherman's either.  We all know, if you are related to Samster, you will one day be employed by him.  Its in our blood.

I was soo very proud of you.  You didn't freak out.  You didn't cry.  You were just PLOPPED DOWN AND WE WATCHED YOU GO!!!!!

Sadly, I don't have any video of it (we were definitely NOT expecting it) nor did I even think to take a picture to capture the "day."  Dada wasn't there either :(.

Although a different day, this was the same outfit were wearing.  First steps taken in those shoes!!!!

Photo from ACTUAL day!!!                                       

Big Girl Panties

Well, maybe not quite yet, but we are definitely working on it!!!!

We were playing in the den on the afternoon of July 18th, and I saw you make the kah-kah face.  Instead of just letting you sit there until you went, I scooped you up and put you on the potty.  

This was our first attempt/introduction to the potty.

I sat you down on the potty, not sure what to expect. To my surprise, you sat there.  You laughed with me, opened cabinets, and kicked your feet.  Just as happy as could be!!!!

Roughly, 3 minutes pass.  Not once did you try to get up.  

All of a sudden, I see "the face!"  You did your business, then reached out for my hands, as to say you were finished!!!!!

It was such a proud proud moment!!!!!

And I'm happy to report, it wasn't a fluke!!!! You have gone several times on the potty since.  I also have tried randomly just putting you on and you will either sit for a minute and go or immediately reach for my hands (again, telling me you don't have to go)!!!!!

Are you seriously taking pictures????

Fine, then....I'll make faces!!!

Enjoying her time!!!!

"The Face"

I am soo excited!!!! Look Mama, I did it!!!

You did it.  You did it.  Mamas soo proud of you!!!!!

10 months...a tad late

Luna,

I can't believe we are less than 2 months away from your 1st birthday.  It is complete and total craziness to me.

You now have a total of 6 teeth.  4 on top, 2 on bottom.  The boobster is totally done with you now that you have teeth.  You bring me to tears almost every time you nurse.  You don't do anything intentional, I just think its the way you suck.  Knowing its not intentional is the only reason I've continued.  Food wise, you eat EVERYTHING.  You love bread, cheese, chicken and all veggies and fruits thus far.  You are an easy baby to figure out what to feed but you still insist on feeding yourself.  Therefore, I have to limit your yogurts, rice, oatmeal, grits, etc. because you make a bigger mess than you do eat (again, not intentionally).

You started crawling and pulling up the same day, July 1st, and you haven't looked back.  You will walk with us if we are holding your hands.  You are definitely more into finding trouble than your brother ever was.  Therefore, all eyes are on you 24/7.  You love the fireplace-and I know its just an accident waiting to happen.

Playing games at the bowling alley!

You are laughing a lot more these days.  You are ticklish.  Peek-a-Boo is still your favorite game to play and your brother is still your favorite person in the entire world.   You enjoy t.v., but not for long.  Place you on the floor with your bucket of toys in it, and you'll happily play for quite some time.

Your protector! Your everything!

Bath time is a challenge.  We try almost every time to just put you in the tub, but you can't seem to sit still safely enough.  You are always trying to crawl all over the place and constantly stand up.  Its just not a safe situation.  Therefore, you are still bathing in your ring.  You enjoy it though, so I guess I'll let it continue until you understand that you can't stand up in the tub.

Thankfully, the one thing you do fully understand is "NO."  You almost always listen the first time and immediately stop when I say no.  You can also tell when I'm serious in my talk or when you can "test" me.  I like that though.  It shows me your growing in your independence.

You take a good morning nap, which is about to change once brother starts school (you are normally napping around 9:00, when we'll have to take him) but I'm okay with that because I'm looking forward to taking you to your very own story time experience.  We will start that in September once you turn 1!  You already attend with Phoenix, but I'm excited to have this one on one time for you.  You also take a good afternoon nap.  I can usually get you to sleep whenever brother takes his nap too.  This is fabulous for me!  You have started throwing all your toys out of your bed, including your BB.  This doesn't make you happy :).  You are also sleeping great at night, usually going to bed anywhere between 6:00-7:30 and sleeping until 5:30.

Make up on...ready to start the day :)

You love Dada and always prefer him over me, unless you want the boobster!  You love hanging out with him and the boys down in the garage.  And you totally have him wrapped around your finger already!  He is always telling me how cute you look.  I love that he enjoys seeing me have fun with you (clothes wise) and that he notices.

Hanging with the boys! Don't worry-Dada was driving-oh, and
there was NO actual consumption of alcohol (beer is UNopen).

Yee-Haw, Partner!!!

The day FINALLY arrived.  We have been talking about this day for an easy 6 months.  I booked everything far in advance.  My-the anticipation.

The party started at 3:30.  The ponies were to arrive at 4:00.  Kids showed up.  People talked. Kids ran wild.  Next thing I knew, it was 4:15.  No ponies.  Starting to stress, I finally received a call from the company.  They were running late.  Boy was I relieved.  Phoenix never, not once, mentioned anything else about his party other than the horses that were coming.  He couldn't wait!!!! He wanted to ride a pony more than anything else.

We kicked off the pony part by painting a pony.  I'm talking real paint with a real life horse.  It was too cute because all the kids did their handprint on the pony.  From there it turned into a masterpiece of paint smattered all over, colors combining into a black mess.  But the kids were having a blast and thats all that mattered.  It was the cutest thing ever!!!!!

From there we went to pony rides.  The rides were to last an hour, but since the company was running late they stayed longer.  All the kids wanted to ride the blue pony.  Poor red (brown) guy :(.  They took turns riding them all over the backyard.  A kid would take a turn and then immediately go right back in line for another.  My heart was filled watching them having such fun in celebration of my "baby."

From there, we had dinner.  We served BBQ, hot dogs, baked beans, mac&cheese and potato salad, all courtesy of M&M BBQ.  Dinner was beyond fabulous.  

The kids were all anxious for the waterside at this point (we opted to wait until pony rides were over), so thats just what we did.  We blew the slide up and let the kids go to town!

After a bit, we did cake and ice cream.

We finally remembered the piñata.  Because all kids need more candy right before bed, right (well, as long as they aren't spending the night with me!!!)???!!!!  Again, the kids had a blast taking turns hitting the mustache.  Well, all except Phoenix.  He totally lost it when one of the kids broke it open.  Total meltdown.  So we gave him a golf club and let him go to town :).  It worked ;)!!!

What a fun-filled day we had celebrating Phoenix! Thank you to all of our friends and family who helped make this day possible by being there for us, helping us, and just laughing with us.  Memories are made to last a lifetime and the ones from this day will definitely do just that!

3 years of F.U.N.

Phoenix,

I honestly don't even know where to begin with this.  Words cannot describe how incredibly proud of you your father and I are.  You are quickly growing into a well-mannered, own-minded, God-loving young boy.  Gosh, that makes me sad (the growing part, not the rest!).  You, my #1 baby-growing up :(.  However, I do want you to know that you have told me repeatedly that no matter how big you get, you'll always be my baby.  I will never let you forget or back out of that, don't you worry!!!!

You truly amaze us with your ability to listen, comprehend and remember.  You don't forget much.  Rather its how to get somewhere, a toy you brought along with us on an outing, or if someone has a boo-boo.  You listen.  I mean truly listen when people talk.  You take everything in.  Very observant.  Wise beyond your years.

Your vocabulary is amazing.  I don't know how else to put it.  You are constantly speaking with words well past that of a three year old.  Craziest part-you use them ALL in the correct context.  Sometimes, you'll say a bad word.  Your dad and I look at each other like, "how do we correct that? at least it was used correctly."  You LOVE reading and are constantly asking me to read to you.  That plays a big part in your vocabulary.

You love and teach your sister continuously.  While you have times when you aren't very nice to her, you ALWAYS take care of her when it comes down to it.  Rather its calming her down, hugging and kissing her, giving her toys or just talking to her, you are always trying to help her.  You reinforce her good behavior and discipline her bad.  You taught her how to clap.  Seriously-it was you!  She would only clap on command for you, no one else :).  You work on her signs with her too.  The bond you two have is simply MAGICAL.

You are totally into: dinosaurs, jake and the neverland pirates, pirates in general, music, cowboys and frozen and gunsmoke.  You also love tools, machines, playing outside, going to the park, eating at Tata's house, helping me cook and clean, as well as rescuing Sissy.  You are also into super heros and monsters.

You do not like: being told no, going to bed at night.....To be honest, that might be about it.  You are a very easy child.  Oh wait-theres one more....the thing you hate more than anything in this world-Dada going to work.

Food you like: You always request buk-buk (you told me you call it chicken now since you're 3!), green beans and macaroni for just about every meal.  However, you love steak, shrimp and crab legs.  You could also eat Chinese buk-buk and egg rolls for just about every meal also.

You will be starting MDO 2 days a week in just over a month.  You are in no way "ready" according to you.  However, I know it'll be tons of fun and I am looking forward to seeing you grow leaps and bounds from this fabulous experience.  I am also looking at putting you in a gymnastics class.  I think it'll be great for your coordination and I know you'll enjoy flipping all over the place :).

It amazes me how proud one can make a person in such a few short years.  You definitely like to test us these days, but we love you even more for that.  We love you just the way you are and wouldn't change a single thing about you! Not even the 4:00am wake ups, ready to start the day :).

Thank you for teaching us, loving us, and guiding us along in this journey of life.  We love going thru it with you.  You are our inspiration, our laughter, our tears.  But most importantly, you are one of our strongest connections with God.  You make us proud, kid.  Continue living life just the way you are.

Happy, happy birthday my sweet, sweet, sweet ray! May God Bless you with many, many more years of health and happiness!

Stats

We headed to the doctor July 1st for Luna's 9 month check up and Phoenix's 3 year.  I prayed for an easy outing, but got anything but :)

Luna,

You are a little over 21 pounds, putting you in the 90% for weight.  You are 2'4", in the 66% for height.

I spoke to the doctor about your lack of crawling, pulling up, etc.  I told her I wasn't overly concerned but was worried.  I also informed her that my lack of practice with you likely played a big part in that.  I am in no hurry for you to be on the move.  Low and behold-we return from the doctor and you start crawling EVERYWHERE.  I also put you down for bed that night and checked the monitor only to find you standing.  Needless to say, your crib got lowered at 8:30 that night :)!

You only had to get your finger pricked and you didn't cry at all.  However, you hated when the nurse tried putting the band-aid on.

You checked out beautifully and  cooperated even better.  Good job my sweet girl!

Phoenix,

You are 33 pounds, closer to the 75% (which was very surprising to me) and 3'1", closer to the 50%.

I spoke to the doctor about several concerns for you.  Mainly your stuttering.  It doesn't bother Dada or I but it obviously bothers you.  Often times you raise your voice out of frustration, hang your head low when trying to speak or totally change directions in what you are wanting to say.  Others have mentioned it to me as well, so I know it bothers some more than others too.  The doctor confirmed my belief that it is totally normal at this age and you will grow out of it.  Your brain simply processes way faster than your mouth.  I guess its because you always have soo much to say and your vocabulary keeps on growing.  I also spoke to her about sleep.  She says Dada needs to STOP falling asleep with you.  Ha-I've been telling him that for over a year ;).  He claims its his only time of the day with you and I can't take that away from him.  Its hard for me to argue with that.

You didn't have to get any shots either but you did have to have the follow-up blood work done to check your white blood count.  Lord, you would've thought they were taking you away from me and we were never going to see each other again.  You screamed and cried, kicked and wailed like I've never seen before.  It was quite embarrassing but also a little funny (not at the time).  Thankfully, we both survived.  Like your sister, you hated the band-aid.  I made you keep it on though because last time you took it off too early and got blood everywhere.  Wasn't going to happen again.  Thankfully, your blood work came back much better this time-sort of makes the whole debacle totally worth it!

I also got your blue card for MDO.  Its starting to become real that you will be gone 4 hours a day, twice a week in just over a month.  I mentioned it to your Dad the other day and he immediately got tears in his eyes.  He didn't want to discuss it and quickly changed the subject. He's not ready for this.  You aren't either.  You keep telling me "no school."  However, I truly think you'll love it once you get use to the idea.  It'll be hard since you've NEVER been away from me but it'll definitely be good for the both of us.  I am sad but am also looking forward to you growing up in a world outside of your comfort zone.  I promise baby, it'll be great!!!

I took you to the gas station for an icee and a treat afterwards.  You even got to go inside with me and pick out anything you wanted.  You originally picked cheez-its.  Silly boy :).

Thank God, everything looks great with you as well.

Both my babies are happy, growing and healthy.  Dada and I truly are Blessed and we thank God everyday for that.