Happy 1st Birthday!!!

Our little guy is ONE!!! 

At one year old William:

• 27 lbs (93%tile)
• 31 inches (81%tile)
• HC 19 in (99%tile)
• mostly only says "mama"
• starting to drink whole milk from a cup
• loves to try different foods, but is still eating a mix of pureed and table foods
• has eight teeth 
• starting to RUN and climb things
• waves bye-bye and plays peek a boo
• gives lots of kisses and hugs
• loves to play outside
• sleeps 11-12 hours at night and takes 2 naps 
• loves his blue blankie and pacifier 

We love you so much!  You bring so much joy to our lives and are grateful we are your parents.  Love, Mommy and Daddy

St. Augustine Vacation

After a long summer of hardly seeing Daddy we FINALLY got to go on a vacation.  This year we went to St. Augustine, Florida.  We spent a week in a condo steps from the ocean.  It was considered the off season, so we basically had the beach to ourselves.  HEAVEN!  Most days we just spent lounging on the beach.  Both Maddie and William had a blast playing in the sand and water.  We enjoyed going into town and exploring the city.  We visited Castillo de San Marcos-the oldest fort in the United States dating back to the 1600’s.  We had a great seafood dinner one night at a shrimp shack and then we strolled downtown going into the shops and eating ice cream.  We made some precious memories…

We have a walker!!!

William has been taking a step here and there for a couple of weeks now, but today he walked across the room at Mimi’s house.  We have a walker at 9 months old!

William is NINE months old!

William’s nine month stats:
Weight: 26 lbs (98%tile)
Height: 29.5 in. (86%tile)
Head Circumference: 18.9 in (98%tile)
This kid is growing fast!
At nine months old William is:

• crawling
• pulling to a stand
• taking a few unassisted steps (took his first steps on 7/22/13 and loves to push his walker toy
• climbs stairs (time for a gate!)
• has bottom two teeth and top two are coming in
• starting to eat more table food, but still prefer pureed foods
• sleeps through the night most every night
• drinks four bottles/day and drinks water and juice from a sippy cup

William is a great baby and has a good, easy-going disposition, but is ALL BOY!  He gets into everything!

Catching up!

So much to catch up on.  We have stayed really busy lately.  I am officially a minivan mama and loving it!  Having a van has been truly life changing for us as a family!!

Maddie just finished her first year of preschool a couple weeks ago.  I just can’t believe that her first year is already over.  Remember when I posted about her first day???  She has changed so much!  She will be going a few days over in June and July for their summer program and then school will start again the end of August!
                         First day vs. Last Day

Maddie also just finished up soccer!  It was once a week for an hour.  They mostly did exercise drills and ran around.  Watching three and four year olds trying to play was pretty funny. She participated for the most part with some coaxing and bribing from us.  Although she picked her nose and carried the ball around more than anything else She didn’t really enjoy it too much, but we stuck with it.  Probably won’t do it again, unless she shows interest in it in the future.

She also just finished up her first week of swim lessons (the minivan really has come in handy lately).  She seems to like it, but she has a long way to go before she is swimming on her own!  We have gone to the pool quite a few times already this summer and she is doing great wearing her puddlejumpers and swimming in the water.  She loves when there are other kids her age to play with, because they will just go all over the pool together!  I was brave a couple of days ago when I took both kids by myself.  William is such a good baby, that it was pretty easy.  He just floated in the raft or sat on the blanket and played. 
{Maddie listening to her teachers at her first swim lesson}

and a few others….

William is six months old!

Half way to one-yikes!  Took the little guy to the doctor this morning and here are his stats:

20.91 lbs (94%tile)

27.5 inches (84%tile)

18.21 in. head circumference (97%tile)

At six months William is learning new things every day!  He can sit up on his own (he started doing this at five months old), he loves to play with toys and manipulate them in his hands, he is rolling over both ways, loves to stand up and jump, and loves to eat! 

I am feeding him three meals a day and he gets four bottles.  There isn’t anything he won’t eat!  He is mostly sleeping through the night with the occasional wake up.  He is a great baby-we are very lucky!!

Hello Spring!

It is officially spring time around here.  So excited for warmer weather.  It seems like we have had some yuck weather lately, so sunshine and high 70’s are perfect for us!  I have pretty much packed away all the fall/winter clothes for both kids.  William and Maddie are now sporting some adorable dresses, polos, and shorts.  Big Boy William is wearing mostly 12 month clothes and he is not quite six months old yet! Our tall girl is wearing 4-5 this season. 

The neighborhood pool is being prepped for its opening next month.  I will be putting Maddie in swimming lessons in June at the YMCA.  When I take both kids to the pool by myself I need her to be a little more independent.  We bought a water table for the back deck and Maddie is loving it.  She has already been naked twice in the backyard.  I asked Gabe what was too old to be running around naked outside?  I am thinking we are almost at that age where it is.  Oh well…

William’s first tooth just popped through this morning (4/9/13).  I think Maddie had her first tooth come in at eight months!  He started sitting up a couple weeks ago on his own and he is still trying to master it.  He was sleeping through the night, but then he learned a new skill of rolling from his back to his tummy and he thinks it is fun to practice at night!   It seems like the second time around all the milestones are getting hit much quicker.  William has also been eating solids since he was just over four months old.  I just added a second solid feeding at breakfast time last week.  For breakfast he eats oatmeal and a fruit (bananas, apples, peaches, pears) and for dinner he eats rice and a vegetable (sweet potatoes, squash, green beans).  He is doing great and loves to eat.

First cereal feeding 2/22/13

First sweet potatoes 3/5/13

These two will be best of buds one day…I love watching their relationship develop everyday.  William loves laughing at Maddie.  She can make him laugh like nobody else! 

Time is flying and the kids are growing up.  It is before 8:00 and they are both in bed and asleep, so now it is ME TIME!