14 Months Old

It's been a while since I've last posted and I have lots of pictures to share.  Lewis is still getting into everything.  He's the most curious little boy that has ever existed.  He still only has six teeth, not quite sure why more haven't popped up since he was nine months old but there's nothing I can do about it.  He still sleeps through the night, yay!!  He goes to bed around 8:30 and wakes up anywhere from 7:00 to 8:00.  Naps are a whole different story though. Sometimes he naps twice a day, sometimes he naps once a day, sometimes he doesn't really nap at all.  I really want him to be on a nap schedule, I just haven't made it happen.  Yesterday morning, before Lewis was up, Dan and I heard a thud in his bedroom and ran in there, Lewis was laying on his back on the floor.  The thud was him falling out of his crib.  He cried for a while, it really scared him.  We can't lower the crib anymore or it will be on the ground and we wouldn't be able to reach over the rails and get him in there.  He's not ready for the toddler bed yet.  He'd just walk all over his room and never go to sleep or fall asleep in the closet.  Hopefully it scared him enough so that he won't do it again.  We aren't quite sure how he managed to do it in the first place, but then we realized it's Lewis, he finds ways.

Oh,  Lewis had his second sick child visit last week.  He started coughing and sounded just awful.  We though there was gunk in his lungs.  Nope.  Just the croup.  After calling my mom to tell her Lewis was sick, she informed me that I had croup all the time when I was little.  I was a "chronic crouper."  I guess I'll have that to look forward to with Lewis.  He never acted sick, he just sounded terrible.  He's pretty much over it now.

I have several friends that have just had a baby or are getting ready to.  Dan and I really enjoy seeing the little babies but it in no way has made us want to have another one right now.  Lewis is a lot for us to handle and if we had two, we'd go crazy.  Or at least I would first, Dan would end up being a single dad of two and then he'd go crazy!!

Now for some Lewis pics

Here's Lewis in his chair.  He went through a pointing phase where he just pointed at something and grunted like he wanted it.  He wanted the camera.

Lewis really likes to terrorize Ruby.  He has started sitting and laying on her.  He thinks it's funny, she does not.  We are trying to teach him to be gentle with her, most of the time he does well but sometimes he's a little rough.  She's only gotten mad at him once.  Most of the time she just starts licking his face so he'll leave her alone.

Here's Lewis hunting Easter eggs in Sparta.  He doesn't get that the eggs are supposed to go in the basket.  He picks them up, pops them open, then throws them back on the ground.

He liked to have one egg in each hand.  When he saw another egg on the ground, he'd decide which egg to throw and then pick up the new one.  He walked around like this for a while.

Lewis loves, loves, loves to be outside.  He has lots of toys to play with in the yard and he likes to run towards the street to make me or Dan run after him.  Hopefully he'll forget about that soon, it makes me nervous.  Here he is with his lawn mower. 

Lastly, Lewis made his way into the dryer.  I was folding clothes and when I pulled the last shirt out he decided it looked fun in there and tried to climb in.  He wasn't really able to get in it by himself so I helped him.  I really wanted a picture of him sitting in the dryer.

Happy Birthday!

Lewis is one year old and I can't believe it!  He's been a happy, healthy boy 99% of the time so we couldn't have asked for a better first year.  At his one year check up he weighed 24 lbs 8 oz and is 31 inches tall.  His weight gain is slowing down, he's not eating as much solid food as he did baby food (don't worry, his head size is still in the 90th percentile, which means, of course, he's a baby genius).  He's still as mobile as ever and never stops unless we make him take a nap.  He's down to about one nap a day and we pray it's a good one because if it's not he get super cranky in the evening.  He still only has six teeth but he's able to eat whatever we give him.  He loves milk and the transition to it couldn't have been easier.

Lewis had a birthday party and family from all over came to celebrate!  He got lots of presents and ate a little bit of cake.  I made funfetti cupcakes and he wasn't quite sure about them.  He had already eaten dinner and he normally doesn't eat after dinner so he played with it more than ate it.  You can see in the first picture he's pointing at me.  He's a big pointer right now.  He'd rather point than talk.

Here's he's had a little taste of the icing but isn't interested in eating the cake.

The only reason the cupcake is dismembered is because I did it trying to get him to eat it.  He'd rather have a drink.

Momma and birthday boy.

Daddy and birthday boy

Lewis taking his birthday bath.  I tried to get a picture of him doing his grunt thing.  This was the best I was able to get.  

Below are just random, non-birthday pictures.  Bad hair day is first.

Followed by perched.  Dan and I were watching TV and looked over and Lewis was sitting on the ottoman.  We weren't quite sure how he got there so we took him off and he proceeded to climb right back up.  He was very proud of his accomplishment.

Ravioli and First Hair Cut

We've been trying to get Lewis to eat more "big people" food so I went and bought Gerber toddler food.  He really liked picking up the ravioli the first two times he ate them but now he'll only eat them if I put them in his mouth.  He did the same thing with green beans.  We were trying to to get him weaned off baby food by a year old but I don't think that's going to happen.  Here he is eating ravioli before he decided he'd rather someone else put them in his mouth.  Also one of him drinking from his sippy cup.  He's too cute when he drinks from it.

Today Lewis got his first hair cut.  His hair was getting really long around his ears and around his neck.  It's still really thin but Dan and I wanted him to look sharp for his first birthday party!!

Here is a before shot, he doesn't look too happy but he was in a good mood.  

Here is an action shot:

Here is the after.  Both had a hair cut.

Baptism, Christmas, and more!

It's been a while since I've posted so a lot has happened. Lewis is pretty much his same, super busy, always on the move self but now he has six teeth!  He likes to eat anything you put in front of him, except pickles, we haven't ventured back there yet.  He still walks around all over the place and doesn't want to sit still unless it's to read a book.  He loves books but he can only have the board books now because if it has paper pages he'll tear them out with his teeth.  He likes music and will push buttons on his toys to make them play a song and then he'll dance.  He still likes to climb the stairs and he's only fallen down the whole flight once so I consider that a win.  It really didn't bother him that much, surprisingly enough.  

 On December 18th Lewis was Baptized at the same church we got married in and the same church I was Baptized in.  A whole lot of family came to support him.  It was nice having everyone there on such a big day.  Here we are as a family but it seems like each of us is looking at a different camera!

Here are the Godparents with the happy, little boy.

After the Baptism we went to Columbia to celebrate our first of many Christmases.  Since Dan and I aren't good at taking pictures we don't have a lot to share.  Here's Lewis playing with paper and a napkin after opening some presents.

He likes to chew on the wise man that came with his soft nativity set.

On December 23 we had the Vossler side of the family over to our house to celebrate Christmas.  We had a decorated house, delicious tenderloin (thanks Dan and Jason), and so many presents you could hardly walk around the living room.  We didn't start opening presents until late in the evening so Lewis was getting pretty wiped out.  Here is our only picture from that night.  Dan was helping Lewis open his presents.  Dan didn't get to open any of his own because his mom accidentally addressed all his gifts to his brother, Adam.  Lewis got a musical table with lots of buttons for him to push.  He likes to push them all at once so you only get to hear one note from each song.

On Christmas Eve we went to Lewis' Great Grandmomma and Great Grandman's house.  Christmas Day started off by opening presents at our house.  Lewis got a bike!!  He loves to be pushed around the house on it.  I'll have to get a picture of it, he just grins from ear to ear.  After presents we went to my aunt and uncles house for a yummy breakfast.  You can never have too much tea punch and sticky buns in my opinion!  We opened a few more presents.  I got an infinity scarf knitted by my Aunt Barb and we got an awesome cheese board and cheese knife made by my Grandaddy.  After breakfast we went to Oomie and Grandman's house for even more food and presents.  Granny and Papaw came from Columbia to see Lewis on his first Christmas.  My mom, dad, and sister got to open the gifts I'd been working on since August: wooden salt and pepper shakers.  Lewis and I had been going over to Great Grandman's house a couple days a month and making them.  Dan and I got a BOB jogging stroller which was a complete surprise.  It's a pretty awesome stroller that is made for jogging.  It's a much smoother ride than our other stroller and it handles much better, too.  Lewis like riding in it, too!!  After all the present opening we went home and played with all our new stuff.  After dinner Grandma and Grandpa Vossler came over to see Lewis and watch him play with his new toys.  He got so much he won't even need birthday presents!!  Since Dan and I are such good parents we have no pictures of him on Christmas Day.  Maybe we'll find some from other people.

It took a couple of days for Lewis to get back in his normal routine from all the Christmas hubbub. . . and then New Year's Eve happened.  Here's Lewis at Grandma and Grandpa's house wearing his Ugly Doll hat.  Lewis made it to 9:30 that night (I only made it to 11:00) which is the latest he's stayed up.

We've finally gotten back on our normal schedule since I'm back at school.  He's such a big boy now and doesn't seem like a baby any more.  He'll be a year old in three weeks and I can't believe it!  Dan and I say all the time that he's the most awesome baby and he's making it tough for any future children to live up to him.  

Breakfast with Santa

Our neighborhood hosts a breakfast with Santa every year and we finally had a reason to go this year!  Lewis got to sit with Santa twice.  The first time he was squirmy and the camera wasn't on the right setting so the pictures weren't good.  We tried again and of course, he cried.

Round One: Squirmy

Round Two: Fussy

Thanksgiving 2011

This Thanksgiving was a great one.  We got to celebrate twice, once at my Aunt Beth and Uncle Chuck's house and once at Dan's brothers house in Murfreesboro.  On Thanksgiving morning Dan and I, along with my mom, dad, and sister, ran the Boulevard Bolt.  Well, Mary Grace ran it, Dan and I ran four of the five miles, and mom and dad walked it.  Dan and I ran the first three miles, walked the fourth, and then ran the fifth to the finish line.  It was the farthest I'd ever run, ever.  Here we are in our Bolt t-shirts.

Here are some nice pictures of us.  We figured since we were kind of dressed up for Thanksgiving we better get some family photos.  The ones with us and Lewis individually turned out better than the one of us all together.  We weren't the greatest and using the camera's timer setting.

When we were in Murfreesboro the day after Thanksgiving, celebrating with the Vosslers, Lewis decided he was thirsty.

It's upside down but still pretty funny.  It must have felt good on his gums.  We should have known he'd make it to the beer on the floor, he's a walker now.  He was walking before he turned 10 months old.  He was taking three or four steps before Thanksgiving.  He was taking five or six steps by Thanksgiving, and now he can walk all through the house.  He looks really funny when he walks.  He holds his hand by his chest and he's pretty wobbly but sometimes he stomps.  We'll have to get a video of it and post it.

Ninth Month of Firsts

So, Lewis' ninth month has been full of firsts.  First illness on a holiday, first sick child visit, first weight loss, first prescription drug, first step.

He turned nine months old on October 29th.  On Halloween he got sick.  We didn't even go trick or treating around our neighborhood.  We got home from Oomie's and Great Grandmamma's and he wanted out of his super cute costume.  He was done with it.  Dan had noticed him coughing on Halloween day and it just got worse and worse.  By night time you could hear a rattle in his chest when he coughed and he couldn't lay down because he couldn't breathe.  I had to hold him all night long so he could sleep (which meant I got none)!!  

He was supposed to go to the doctor on Nov. 1 for his nine month appointment but that turned into a sick child visit.  By the time of his appointment, he hadn't eaten anything in a couple of meals.  He weighed 22 pounds 9 ounces.  I know he weighed more than that a couple days earlier because I weighed him at home and our scale said he weighed 23 pounds 8 ounces.  As it turns out, he had bronchitis.  Guess where he got it. . . from me.  I had been sick for weeks and had finally gotten better but managed to give it to him anyway.  He got his first prescription drug, a z-pack, in liquid form.  He also took children's Mucinex.  After about 7 days he was back to normal, breathing sounded good and his appetite was back.

He finally went back to the doctor for his nine month well child appointment today (really his 9.5 month appt) and he weighed 23 pounds 12 ounces and was 30 inches long.  I'm glad his weight is back up, he looked so skinny when he was sick.  Dr. Schofield said he is a very active boy and was impressed that he had been climbing up stairs for a month already.  Oh, he also has a form of eczema, but that's nothing a little hydrocortisone and Eucerin can't fix.

Lewis is been standing up without holding on to anything for a couple of weeks and his balance is getting really good.  My mom says she's seen him take a step without holding on but I hadn't seen it until this week.  Yesterday and today I saw Lewis take a step without holding on to anything.  He's not quite sure what to do after that so he just sits down and then crawls.  Dan got to see him do it tonight and we were both very excited about it. We think he'll be a walker by Christmas!

Everyone says that you'll regret it when you child starts walking but Lewis is never still now and is always crawling around and climbing stairs that I don't see how it will be much different.  I'll probably eat my words but for now I'm ready for the next milestone.