AND as all of those thoughts run through my head I'm sitting next to a very pudgy little guy who is sitting in his high chair and feeding himself his lunch. He can tell me all kinds of things with a few words and a few signs but mostly pointing. He can get around on his own for the most part and he has favorite toys and foods. It's just amazing, absolutely amazing, to think about this journey we've had. A year ago, I couldn't have imagined how all this would turn out (heck, four years ago if you'd asked me how my life was going to go I can pretty much guarantee none of this would have been it, but I wouldn't trade it...) but how lovely it is to sit in my house and watch my children play together. How bittersweet that there ought to be one more little voice adding to the chaos, but beautiful still. I just find it so hard to believe that a year ago this hadn't even yet begun!
It's been a while! Things have been busy around here. Not the going to the zoo, entertaining guests kind of busy, but the kind of busy where you just get bogged down in the daily happenings of kitchen cleaning, baby feeding, art project doing parts of life. We've had a pretty big (for us) educational issue come up, which I'll fill you in about, but mostly we've just been hunkering down and doing what needs to get done. Don't think that doesn't mean I don't have photos to share! Of course I do, in fact, I have so many I'll have to share them in two separate posts. :o)
One of those daily things we do around here is play. Now miss L has been the queen of her castle for some time and even though she's had to share the limelight with a little brother he wasn't really in her business. After that for a time he was happy with having her hand him some toy that she wasn't much interested in when he wanted to play with her things. Those days have all but passed now, though. Sweet baby W is growing up and getting opinions about things like toys. He has things he wants and a temper to match his desires. He's no longer satisfied with the cast off toys. This has made for some interesting squabbles between the two of them, but it has also made him a better playmate. I'm often so surprised at how wonderfully they play together. Their personalities are so very different but they are becoming the best of friends. I don't know that they will always be like this but I hope so. It's amazing to watch!
Of course, we still have the biggest playmate around. Everyone's favorite time of day is when Daddy gets home to play.
I think sweet baby W is trying to figure out how to juggle, too.
The part that everyone loves best about Daddy? He's not afraid to roughhouse. Miss L LOVES to play rough and obviously dads are the perfect guys for the job.
Tickle Fight!
...and of course, wrestling.
Luckily Daddy has the upper hand.
I know it's only a short matter of time before he gets in on the roughhousing action.
He does love tickles.
Wes is teething once again, and has the occasional hard night. I had my camera handy and just thought I'd document it because, as all parents know, those nights are awful while they last, but gone quickly and replaced by big kids. :o)
As sweet baby W gets bigger and more mobile we start remembering the things that we had to watch out for the first time around. One of sweet baby W's favorite things to get into is the art cabinet. The lock had been broken on it for quite some time and since it was all miss L's stuff, we never worried about fixing it. Until now...
He's sort of obsessed with it.
Believe it or not, there are plenty of drawers and cabinets that are open and I don't mind if sweet baby W gets into, but I'm nervous about the giant mess from the art supplies.
The lock got fixed that weekend. :o)
Another favorite place to get into which is luckily, more out of bounds for him, is the pantry. He can hear it open from the living room and will come crawling as fast as he can to get whatever he can off the bottom shelf. This day it was the oatmeal.
Luckily, James helped me out with a little distraction.
After having enjoyed one at a friend's house we decided to get a trampoline for miss L. It has proven to be a GREAT way to burn off that extra energy and to help her calm down, which is exactly what we were hoping for! I'm just always so surprised at how high she can jump on it and I'm nervous about her going over the handle bars. So far though, no injuries!
Miss L took this photo that same day. I love this one!
Miss L also got some window crayons for Christmas. They have been a HUGE hit. I think it's just so much fun coloring on something that you're normally not allowed to and being able to draw "on" the things outside is fun too.
Apparently the lock wasn't on yet when we took these photos...
Miss L began taking swimming lessons this month. We woke up to take her and found that it had snowed overnight. I just thought that was funny.
Miss L was EXTREMELY excited to be taking swimming lessons since she LOVES the water. She was also even more excited to be wearing her Ariel swimwear. I love this photo. It is so very miss L. I love her looking to the side and being there and excited, but nervous all at the same time.
We waited while she swam.
She had a wonderful time.
This is just a random shot. This is miss L's Christmas dress that she calls her ballerina dress and she wants to wear it all the time. I just thought this was really cute.
...and of course, earlier this month it was time for our monthly elephant photos. I can't believe we only have one more to go!
At eleven months sweet baby W went to bed at 6:30 each night and woke up only once for a night feeding. He is eating all table foods during the days now, no more purees for him and is nursing three or four times per day. He is learning signs quickly now and can sign eat, more, all done, more, water, milk and music. He can wave hello and goodbye and is just as cheerful as can be. He can say mama, dada, milk (nuh-nuh), yes and no. It's just amazing to watch him grow and turn into a little boy. He is pulling up and cruising now though he's slow and seems unmotivated to walk, but that's fine with me! He loves playing with his sister and seems to enjoy just sitting and watching and observing so much of the time. He has four teeth!
Now... on to the photos!
It's getting harder to capture these!
Wanna know what sweet baby W thinks about all this?
:o)
We made it around to Chuck E Cheese's at some point during the past few weeks. Miss L and her buddies had a blast! I think her favorite part was using the "money."
Miss L has continued to enjoy taking photos. Here are some that she's taken recently during make your own taco night at our house. I just think it's fascinating to see what she finds interesting enough to take photos of.
I've got tons more photos to share (are you surprised) so look for them soon in part II!
