Andrew's ONE YEAR Update!

Dear Andrew,

YOU ARE ONE!  We made it!  I really can’t believe it… time has just flown by.  You are becoming your own little person more and more each day.  For your birthday we had a small gathering of family and few of mom’s friends from work.  It was a WILD ONE theme with chick-fil-a as lunch and of course you had your own smash cake!  The rest of us had cupcakes that were delicious.  You didn’t seem to like eating the cake, but once dad put your hands in the cake you quite liked smashing it and throwing it on the floor.

This past month we went to the beach with Uncle Ryan, Aunt Stacy and cousin Asher!  We rented a house on the beach and stayed there for 3 nights.  We had so much fun.  You loved the beach!  The sand didn’t phase you one bit and you also liked splashing in the water.  You HATED wearing a hat so you had really, really crazy [and somewhat nasty] hair because of all the sunscreen we had to use on your head.  We had to watch out for the seashells with you because you very much loved putting them all in your mouth.  And there were A LOT of seashells.  You even cut your tongue on one.  But, you didn’t let seashells, sand or salty water rain on your parade.  You did great.  A real trooper and super easy at the beach.  We’ll be returning since we all had so much fun!

You also ended up with a double ear infection in September…  Which explains a lot of your behavior in early September; I wish I would have taken you to the doctor sooner.  You were super grumpy and it was because your ears were hurting!  Something also started messing with your tummy and gave you a really, really bad diaper rash.  We’d been lucky on the diaper rash front this first year, but you almost made up for it two weeks ago.  You were in so much pain and even woke up while sleeping because your bottom was burning.  We’re all better now, though!

You are enjoying being in the toddler classroom at school—not napping super great at school--- but really like being able to play outside and do fun stuff in the class.  You can clap your hands and sign more, which is sometimes a clap, and also sign all done, which can turn into just waving your arms above your head.  You are a good eater--- eat everything we put in front of you as long as we cut it small enough to your liking.  The only thing you don’t like is drinking whole milk.  Going to have to figure that out bubba.

So, let’s see my sweet baby boy.  At ONE YEAR, you:

•         Weigh 21.3 lbs (47^th percentile) and are 31.5 inches tall (96^th percentile).  Your head is still small, at 17.52 inches (10^th percentile).
•  Wear 12-18 month clothes and size 4 shoes although you’re really close to growing out of the size 4 shoe.
• I’ve heard you say mama, dada, gaga and recently I really thought I could hear some form of all done come out of your mouth.
• Enjoy knocking over towers we build you and doing whatever big brother is doing.  You’re never far behind from big brother.
• You love playing chase with Parker and giggle time in his room before bed.  You also love bath time with brother and climbing the stairs with him.  You just cackle and laugh with brother whenever you’re doing those things.
• You like playing outside and pushing different scooters around while brother also does the same.
• You really like the cozy coupe and you can get yourself inside and close the door all by yourself.  Getting out is a little bit harder for ya.
• Still drink 4 bottles of 6oz of formula--- but the day is coming soon with no bottles!  Will probably be a rough few days from that standpoint.  Hehe!
• Nap 1-2 hours at school, but still need 2 naps a day when you’re at home for about an hour in the morning at 2-2.25 hours in the afternoon.
• Sucking your thumb and rubbing your ear is still something that you do to soothe yourself.
• Sleep from 8-8 on the weekends and we wake you up around 6:45 AM in the morning.
• Busted your lips several times over the past month because you run around with things in your hands or your mouth and then you trip over something and fall with those items.
• Have 8 teeth with FOUR MORE on the way.  Your gums are all swollen and I can tell your are very irritated by them.

You are so much fun at this age and starting to show when you’re upset when things don’t go your way.  You’ll be giving your brother a run for his money very soon!  Mom and dad love you baby boy.  Always and forever.

Parker's 12-Month Update!

Dear Parker,

I really can't believe it.  I look back and I don't know where the time went.  You are officially a "toddler," I guess.  You'll always be my baby, though.  This year has been the craziest, most exhausting, fearful, beautiful, fun, exciting, scary and joyful year yet.  You have taught me many things about myself and mom and dad have loved watching you grow.  You were this little 8lb thing when you were born and now you are 24ish lbs!!  How is that possible.  You literally tripled your birth weight.

This has also been a fun month where you've been to birthday parties, hung out at a pool, had your first birthday party for yourself and spent tons of time in the back yard playing with your many water toys.  I'm slowly turning you into a water bug, I think.  You love, love, love your water table.  You also really seem to enjoy your splash pad that I got you and just splashing in any puddles of water.  We're still working on you enjoying being submerged into water via a pool.  You are improving, though!

You are officially in the "young toddler" classroom at daycare.  You are doing okay at adjusting.  The biggest adjustment is that you now sleep on a cot and only take one nap a day.  The change in your nap schedule has really thrown you off.  You seem much more tired all the time now.  Your little body still needs two naps, so it's taking you awhile to adjust.  We just went through a HORRIBLE transition where you screamed and cried when mom dropped you off in your new classroom.  This broke her heart and made her have awful days at work.  Mom does not like to leave daycare with tears in her eyes. 

We had your birthday party in the back yard and your friend Vir from daycare and mom's friend from work brought her baby from work, Chibueze, to play with you!  You had so much fun and were such a trooper!  All of your great-grandparents on your mom's side were there and all of your grandparents were there with the exception of Grandma Kathleen.  We had it airplane themed and I think it turned out great!  You even went for the cake like a champ.  As soon as I brought your cake to you, you started kicking your legs and grunting like you knew what to do with it!  I have no idea how, but you knew that it was going to taste good!  The party was wonderful!

At twelve months you:

• Where size 3 diapers, but will be transitioning into size 4 when we run out of diapers at home.  Mom has stretched the limits with these size 3!
• Still get a morning and evening bottle and we are transitioning you to whole milk.  You won't drink milk out of a sippy cup (regardless of formula or whole milk).  So, I can already tell that's going to be major process.
• Sleep from 7:30 to 6:40 when we wake you up, but on the weekends you sleep about 8-8:30.
• Are still a very good table food eater, with spaghetti being your favorite.  You will eat adult size portions of spaghetti and its what we had for your birthday dinner!  It just so happens that spaghetti is mom's favorite, too!  :-)  You also like potatoes, steak, pizza, anything ending in "berry" and yogurt.  You go crazy at the sight of yogurt.  You also want to feed yourself... there are very few foods you eat that I feed you.  You spit it out if it comes from me... but will eat it like there's no tomorrow if you pick it up yourself.
• Weigh about 24 lbs and are about 30 inches tall.
• Wear 9-12 months shirts and 6-9 month shorts.  Most shorts are too big in the waist and too long for you. 
• Will drink water out of a sippy cup.
• At daycare you take one, 2-hour nap and snooze on the way home from daycare, but at home you still take 2 naps with the morning being a little over an hour and the afternoon being about 2 hours.
• Had a babysitter for the first time that was not family!  Ms. Nairy from your daycare kept you one evening so that mom & dad could attend a wedding shower for your Aunt Kirstie and Uncle Travis.  You did great!! You love Ms. Nairy.
• Still like to cuddle with soft objects and play with leaves and rocks.  You have really taken to eating leaves and we usually have to dig them out of your mouth.  But, you bite us really hard when we stick our fingers in your mouth and we're afraid we're going to lose a finger!
• Like to just walk around on the driveway and up and down the steps on the deck.  You won't go up the steps yourself and just reach up to one of us to help you.  It's so sweet that you need us to do something.  You get more independent each day, so it's always nice when you reach out to us instead of pushing us away.
• Have SEVEN teeth and I can see the 8th one on the way!
• Love playing chase with anyone.  You love to stay behind the ottoman and sneak around the sides to be surprised!
• Got to spend quality time with your Mimi & Papa Randy who came to help dad out while mom was in San Francisco.
• Got to see your DD Nana and T-Pa THREE different times this month!  You love it when they come down b/c they take you to fun places and you always get to go out to eat.  You do lots of shopping, trips to the zoo, pool time, etc when you are with them!  They wear you out, fast!

This has been a great month baby boy.  We are so in love with you sweet boy.  You have brought a light to our life that we didn't even know was missing.  This has been the best year ever and I can't wait to watch you grow into a little boy.  We will love you always and forever.

Month 0

Month 1

Month 2

Month 3

Month 4

Month 5

Month 6

Month 7

Month 8

Month 9

Month 10

Month 11

Month 12