Backyard Fun

The weather has been beautiful so we played outside on Saturday and I snapped a few pictures.

11 Months Old

It took us a few days to get this done, but Nicholas turned 11 months on Tuesday, February 18th.  Both kids were sick much of the week so things have been a little busy at our house.

At the doctor's office on Thursday he weighed 17.6 lbs.  He keeps going back and forth between 17 and 18 pounds.

Activities:  Nicholas pulls up on everything, stands independently and takes two steps at most.  His first steps were Monday, February 10.  He loves to walk with push toys.  He loves playing ball and drinking bath water.  He kisses himself in the mirror after bath.  He plays both the upright piano and Mikaela's toy one.  Anytime he hears music, he dances.  Sometimes there doesn't need to be music.  He likes to help Daddy type on the keyboard.

Eating:  He loves to eat.  Cheese seems to be the only thing he isn't interested in.  Food always looks and tastes better when it's from someone else's plate.  He still eats some baby food, but does a lot of table food too.  Yogurt Melts are a favorite snack.  Black beans and chicken seem to be favorites.  He is mostly bottle fed now but 2/3 is mommy's milk that was frozen.  Formula is used when needed.

Sleeping:  He sleeps consistently from 7ish to 4.  Then wakes to eat and goes back to sleep until 6:30.   We have had a couple of nights where he has gone until 5 or almost 6 so I was in the process of weaning that 4am (early morning) feed when a double ear infection struck this week.  He was really miserable.  I've never seen him so sick.  Poor boy.

Language:  He approximates 'mama' and 'dada' and makes attempts at other words.  When given something, he gives a two syllable utterance that we think is "thank you".  He signs 'milk' and sometimes 'more' and waves bye-bye.

Picture outtakes (The monthly picture is getting much more challenging):

Catching Up

I posted the Princess Ball photos from this year but I thought I'd take a moment to post other things we've done around here.  Not much, actually, but here are some cute pictures.

Mom playing my new-to-me upright piano that I got earlier this year.

The video is Mom playing "Maple Leaf Rag" on my new piano.

modeling a new dress

sleepy boy

kiss the baby

 A typical Friday night at our house:

Poor Cocoa Bean losing her bed

yep, it's the floor for the dog, a bed for the kids. Poor puppy

A Date with Mommy at Firehouse Subs:

The Princess Ball

Every year, our church puts on a Princess Ball for Daddys and their daughters.  Mike took Mikaela for the first time last year.  They just went to the dance.  This year, Mike took her to dinner first, before heading to the dance.  I think this will become a highlight for Mikaela every year as she grows and learns from her daddy that she should always be treated like a princess from any boy who might try to win her heart in the future.

Seeing Cinderella there was probably the highlight of her night

10 Months Old

Nicholas is 10 months old.  Sometimes it's really hard to believe.  And yet, it's getting hard to remember our family before he joined it.

Eating:  He loves food.  Black beans seem to be his favorite, but there has been very little he's turned down.  Yogurt is the only thing I see him consistently rejecting.  Sometimes he loves baby food, other times he prefers table.  I guess it just depends on how hungry he is.  Milk varies from 8-16 ounces with the babysitter (3 bottles) with 2-3 nursing sessions with me.  He tolerates formula if it's warm enough.

Sleeping:  Nicholas has become a decent nighttime sleeper.  He goes down consistently between 7 and 7:30 and was waking at 4 to eat.  A week ago I started to wean the 4am feeding.  This morning was the first day without a "dream feed" and he lasted until 5.  He will still have occasional "cry outs" which are not enough to really wake him, but are just enough to wake us.  At least we can go back to sleep rather quickly and we are not having to even get out of bed.  He takes two naps a day.  A good day is 2 naps of 1.5 - 2 hours each.  An average day is one nap of 1.5 -2 hours in the morning and the car ride home in the afternoon.

Activities:  Nicholas loves bath time.  He likes to splash and dump water out of a small cup.  He crawls quickly now and pulls up on everything, cruising around furniture.  A few times he's been seen standing without support, but it generally lasts only a few seconds and often times we aren't sure he realizes he's doing it.   He loves to play the piano.  I recently got an upright so he'll pull up and reach up to play a few notes.  He also likes to play the toy piano and dance.  His favorite toy is his push car that helps him walk around.

Language:  Nicholas loves to "talk."  He's made approximations of mama, dada, dame (give me in Spanish), and mas (more in Spanish).  He will also sign "more".  All of these, except for an occasional "mama" are done by repeating an adult.

Other cute stuff:  He is learning to give kisses.  He recognizes the word "Beso" (Spanish for kiss) and will open his mouth a little and lean in as though to give you one.  It's pretty cute.

He loves to make all sorts of noises.  They accompany his play with cars often.  He loves to raise his hands above his hands.  Sometimes it's to show you something, sometimes it's to wave.

Outtakes:

Apology Accepted

One night earlier this week (I want to say New Year's Eve, but I'm not sure), Mikaela had a major meltdown at bedtime resulting in many, many tears, and for lack of a better description, an anxiety attack.  Mike and I were very concerned about this behavior and how to go about it without "giving in", undermining our parenting, but also reaching her and calming her down.  Eventually, we did.  It was odd, so we did a little research to see how we might combat, and ultimate prevent something like this from occurring again.  Then last night, as I was putting her to bed, we did our normal routine, reading "The Story", saying our prayers, etc.  When prayers were done, and we were saying goodnight, she said, "Mom, I'm sorry I did all that crying the other night."

I was blown away.  We had never mentioned that night to her.  I promptly told her her apology was accepted, she was forgiven, and used the opportunity to reassure her of my love and more importantly God's unconditional love for her.

I have a long way to go in my own spiritual life, but I am so thankful for my kids.  It has helped me in a way I could have never imagined.  Being their mother, loving them like I do, helps me understand, just a little, how much God loves me.  Me, the queen of meltdowns.

I hate that Mikaela had that "episode", but I'm so grateful for how it pointed me and her to Christ.  May 2014 be full of Christ-centered moments.