9 Months.

  I love this age.  We see more of your personality every day.  It’s like every day you are on a mission to show me you are your own person with your own quirks and loves and needs.  I am loving getting to know you.

 

  I think I see, emerging out of you, a heart that is tender and so willing to make someone else’s day.  At just the right moments you look at me and smile your big, open mouth smile, as if to say – Mama, I know we drive you crazy sometimes, but I am so worth it!  You love to snuggle, and even though you are a very busy girl, you always have time to give me a little baby love.  You get so excited when your Daddy or I pick you up, and as soon as you get in our arms you squeeze us as tight as your little arms will let you.  The best kind of hug, I’m very sure.

 

 

  You are crawling all over the place, and very quickly.  Sometimes you try to chase your sisters around, and they play along.  It’s one of the cutest things I’ve ever seen.  Hands down.  You pull up on anything that seems even vaguely sturdy enough, and you’ve started cruising around a bit too.

  You’ve learned to climb the stairs.  Without my permission, I might add.  I didn’t know you had conquered this little trick, so I put you downstairs with some toys while I was helping your sisters brush their teeth upstairs.  I walked around the corner to come check on you, and there you were at the top of the stairs. 

It’s not nice to give your Mommy heart palpitations like that.

 

 

  You’re still sleeping with us.  Still.  I know for the last two months I’ve said we were going to transition you to your crib – but, well, maybe this month.  You don’t make it easy.  Last night we took you to bed with us, and for thirty minutes you laughed at absolutely anything we did.  It was absolutely the best part of my day.  So who wants to put you in a crib with fun like that??

  You’ve decided ‘to heck’ with that baby food stuff.  You’re slowly munching on more solid foods – but mostly your still nursing.  You got your first tooth this month, which turned into your first four teeth.  Two on top, and (barely) two on bottom.

 

 

  You’re still teeny tiny.  Like your mama through and through.  I love your itty   bitty-ness.  You’ve got drama down pat.  Essentially if Sylvia comes near you, and I’m not holding you, you start throwing a fit.  I have to say, that is some intelligent drama.  You’re only trying to survive, I know.

  You are very intensely focused on discovering every little thing you can, and you study things like you are going to be given a test on the inner workings of every toy we own.  You are soaking things up, learning, and exploring every moment.

 

 

  You are an absolute joy.  You have a huge grin on your face almost constantly.  We are so blessed by your presence.  I love you more and more and more.  I am so happy to call you my little baby (even though soon you won’t be so little.) – what a blessing you are.

 

  Love you, Love you, Love you,

                                   Mama

 

Active and Loud.

 

That’s how I make them.  Active.  Loud.

Most of my friends who are fully seasoned in active kids, meet Sylvia and say,

    Holy. Cow.

And she’s as loud as she is active.

And I love it.

 

It seems her sister may be following in her small footsteps.  She’s under three months and already regularly rolling from belly to back in both directions, and as of today, she’s working on rolling from back to belly.  She’s in a hurry.

Sylvie took her first steps at 9 months.  I think it’s possible that Naomi may have her mind set to do the same.

 

 

 

 

Anyone who knows Sylvie, knows that she is loud. 

Well, Naomi has found her voice, and I think that she may rival her sister.  Luckily, she makes happy sounds about 98% of the time.

 

 

 

Should we be worried?

 

 

(P.S. How is there not a better version of this on You Tube?  Hillarious.)

11 Months.

Sylvie, this month has been a joy.  It's been just you and me for most of the month (during the day that is), and we've gotten to hang out and play together so much!  I have enjoyed every minute.  You are growing and learning so quickly, I'm sure I'll miss some of the new things you're doing here, but I'll do my best.

You are constantly exploring and getting into everything.  It is so much fun to watch you learning as you tear apart the house (I almost don't even notice.).  Between pulling all the books off the shelves, spreading the coasters around the house, unraveling the toilet paper, pulling out all of the tupperware, unloading the diaper bag, and doing an impeccable job at equally distributing your toys in every room of the house - you stay a pretty busy girl.  You're just so darn happy while you're dismantling everything that it's hard for me to even care!
You just started really getting into your baby doll.  You bring her to me, and I pat her, rock her, and kiss her, and then you take her back and do the same.  You mimic the inflections in my voice when I'm pretending to rock the baby, and it is ridiculously cute.  You love to read and look at books, and you get very excited when you know that we are going to sit down to read together.

You are really, really walking now.  In the last couple of weeks you decided that you think it's a pretty good idea, and you walk without any prompting a lot.  You can also get to standing from sitting on the floor without any support. 
You've started mimicking a lot.  While you're eating you have me pretend to eat off of your fork, and you smack your lips along with me.  You blow raspberries, you try to get my tummy, you give kisses and cuddles, you wave hello and goodbye, and you can turn almost anything into a phone - holding it up to your ear as if you're talking to someone.   If I ask you, "Sylivia, how much do I love you?" then you throw your hands up into the air - So Much!
You laugh at everything.  Apparently the world is hilarious.  And anytime you hear us laughing....you mimic our laugh.  So you're laughing a good portion of the time.
You have eight teeth now - they seem to come in hoards.  You eat strictly solid foods now, and you aren't terribly picky.  You love it when I make you smoothies.  You still nurse around four times a day - which I am completely ok with! - no signs of weaning any time soon.
Vacation completely threw off your sleep schedule, but you slept (almost) completely through the night in your own bed twice in the last week! 
As opposed to just a few months ago, you call almost everything MaMa now.  You are making lots of sounds though - and sometimes it's clear you're trying to tell us something (we're still trying to figure out what it is though.).  Your looks are a pretty good mix of your dad and I at this point, but when you smile anyone would guess that you are your daddy's girl.  I think it's the mischief behind the smile that makes the two of you so similar.
You love playing with other kids - and with your first birthday right around the corner, you're interacting with you're friends a lot more too.  Along with all the cute stuff, you've also started throwing fits.  When you don't get what you want, or I have to take something away, you plop down on the ground, fuss and cry, and put your face down on the floor.  (Really, this is pretty cute too.)

I know I'm leaving out a million things.  I don't want to forget, and I know you'll change too fast - but I'm also looking forward to every stage to come.
I love you so much.  Too much to even explain.  Someday you'll have a little baby, and I'm not sure you'll quite understand my love for you until then.  But it is so deep.

Love you, love you, love you,
                                          Mama

Six Months.

Oh goodness.  How are you six months old?  I know they say it goes fast, but really?  Six months?  You're just getting so big.  You are more fun every day and you are learning so fast!  You are such a happy baby all the time and are constantly letting out big squeals of delight.
It's warm enough for us to go on walks now, and you squeal and laugh the whole time.  Spring is clearly your favorite season (although you haven't tried out summer yet, you'll like that too.).
You're sitting up on your own and playing with toys.  You grab at anything in reach and it all goes straight into your mouth.  You get up onto your hands and your knees and rock back and forth - it won't be long until you're crawling, and I think I'll be in trouble then!  You are one active child - always, always moving, looking for what you can get into next.
I don't want to sound conceted or anything...but you sure love your mommy.  You prefer me now to other people and you even reach for me when you want me.  It melts my heart.  You babble like crazy.  You're as loud as you are active, but I think you got that from both sides!  You talk and talk (no mamama yet.  just dadada and gagaga).   Speaking of dada, you are looking more like him all the time.  When you smile you look just like him.  And you laugh at all your own jokes too.
Soon you'll be crawling.  Right now you roll all over the place and you've figured out how to move backwards.  It just blows my mind, Sylvie.  I can't believe the way you grow.  But you bring me more joy every day, and I cannot wait to watch you grow up.
You are just so full of joy.  If there is one way to discribe you it is happy.  joyful.  exuberant.  The only time you aren't happy is when you are hungry.  You bring me more joy than anything else in this world, and I am so happy to be your mama.  I thank God for you every day.  I pray for the woman you will become, for the struggles you will face, for the man that will someday be your husband, and for you to know Jesus.  I love you so much it hurts, Sylvie - but God loves you more.  And I pray you grow to know His love.  Mine will not always be perfect, but His never fails.  I love you sweet babe.  You're growing a little quickly for my liking, but I will take you any way I can, and I will love you always.

      Love you, love you, love you,
                                               Mama

Birthdays.

Today Sylvia turns 5 months, and Brian turns 26! We celebrated by going out and watching the MU vs. kU game - which didn't end up being much of a celebration. The jayhawks have to make up somehow for having such a lame mascot, so who can really blame them?
Anyway...I feel so incredibly blessed to have these two in my life. I am so looking forward to watching Sylvia grow, and also looking forward to growing old with Brian.


Sylvia, you started doing so many new things this month!

• Now you roll over in both directions consistently. Tummy time is a thing of the past, because now you're so good at rolling to your back! Of course, then you get to your back and you're not happy there either, so you roll back over to your belly - but you'll be sitting up before we know it!
• This month you started giggling so much! It's so much fun to make you laugh - and your dad appreciates having someone around who thinks he's funny. (joking! ...but not really.) You love to be thrown up into the air, and you're starting to like to be tickled!
• You light up any time you see me or your daddy. I love it. I know you won't always be so happy to see me, so I'm really soaking it up. Your smile melts my heart.
• At your four month appointment you weighed just over 14 pounds, and you were 25 inches long! You are growing so fast!
• You grab for anything you can now and put it in your mouth. Sometimes when I'm holding you you grab my face and pull it to your mouth and hold it there. There is nothing better than your baby kisses!

At the ripe old age of 26 Brian hasn't hit many new milestones. Except he promised me that he would start cleaning up after himself without fail. That sounds like a wonderful 26th birthday milestone, yeah? (Ha! I can wish!)

Happy Birthday to my two loves. I am overjoyed that God has blessed me with you two, and I pray that I can also be a blessing in your lives. Love you!

X-man on the Move

Here's the promised video of the X-man in motion. He's walking more on his own now (we don't have to hold a carrot out in front of him anymore), but he still crawls a lot because speed is more his thing. He is so proud of himself.
He also now likes to put things in the baby's mouth. This is a fabulous new trick. Just today I'm pretty sure she's tasted the puzzle piece, a mega block, his finger, and he might have even shared one of his boogers with her. ...At least he's sharing...sharing is a good thing, yeah?
X-man has also discovered his operatic voice. He sings while doing everything - pulling all the books off the book shelf, emptying the trashcan, eating lunch. This is how I know he's awake in the morning now. I hear him singing himself a beautiful song - and it really is one of the best sounds in the world.
His court date was reset for February 18th, and we're fairly certain he will probably move shortly thereafter. Of course we've been told he'll be moving soon for 4 months now, so we're not placing any bets.

Anyway, without further ado - X-man, mobile style.

Someone help me...

because we're in trouble now. The X-man is WALKING!!! I cannot tell you how excited we are - it feels kind of like the milestone we've been working toward for almost 5 months now - and he did it! That Hallelujah Chorus I spoke of yesterday? That was nothing compared to the squeals of glee and pride as X walked across the room last night.
This new development lends itself to reflection on the last five months of growing and changing that this incredible little boy has gone through. To think that in September he wasn't even able to roll over. To think that in August his little life had no hope. No hope that is, except for in our incredible God who scooped him up out of his dirty pac-n-play and gave his life a second wind, a second chance, an opportunity to experience love. What an incredible God he is!

So now I'm working out my strategy. Do I just duct-tape everything in my house in it's rightful home? Do I sit on X all day and hope I don't smother him? (I joke.) Or do I just throw in the towel now and give him free reign. Yup. Sounds like a plan.
Since we're running out of age appropriate milestones, I've decided that next I will teach him how to do laundry. That should keep us busy for a while.

But seriously. Let's send up some praise for this little guy. He has come SO far, and only by the grace of God.


AMEN!



P.S. I will try to get a video up soon.