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.

Halloween 2011

Lewis was the cutest zebra for Halloween this year.  The evening started out at JT Moore where he got dressed up and then we went to his great grandparents house to trick or treat.  After that we went to Oomie and GranMans house to get more treats and eat dinner.  Once we left there we finally went home where Grandma and Grandpa were waiting with pizza.  Lewis was pretty tired of being in a zebra costume and since he didn't feel well we skipped trick or treating around our neighborhood.

We took the costume off shortly after this picture.  We were on his one last nerve.

Lewis' trick or treating goodies.

We're reading the "That's Not My Monster" book he got from his great grandparents for Halloween.  He really liked it.  Afterwards he wanted to chew on it.  That's his seal of approval.

Lots to Write About

A lot has been going on in the Vossler family since I last blogged.  I've got pictures to share with most of it and just some random pictures that I think are cute.  Lewis did turn nine months old two days ago.  He goes to the doctor tomorrow for his check-up so I'll post official measurements later.  The doctor's appt is coming at a good time because we think he's sick.  He's been real coughing a lot today, not his normal fake cough for attention.  Hopefully it just a bug and he'll get over it quickly.  He has two teeth, both on the bottom.  He's had two for a while now so I'm sure more will pop through any day now.  He sleeps pretty well at night.  He gets 11 hours at night and then naps for about one and a half to two hours a day.

Here's Lewis playing with his cousin Shelby.  Yes, I know his gut is hanging out.

Here's our fire pit that Adam built.  It was our first time using it.

Here's Lewis at the pumpkin patch the first time we went.  It was just the two of us and it was the first weekend it got real cold.  

Lewis has gotten really good at using his sippy cup.  He grabs it and tilts it back like a pro!

Note: don't let your nine month old child chew on a pickle.  He'll like it at the time, but projectile vomit later.

Here we are at the pumpkin patch again.  Daddy wanted to join us.  (These pumpkin patch pictures are post-pickle and pre-puke)

Lewis decorated his little pumpkin

Lewis and Daddy sitting on the front stoop with our ugly but awesome green pumpkin that we got at the pumpkin patch during round two.

Lewis' face here made me laugh so I zoomed in so you could see it better.  That's a typical Dan smile if I've ever seen one.

Eight Months Old

Lewis turned 8 months old on Friday.  He only weighs 21 pounds 10 ounces.  That's less than I was expecting, I guess his weight gain is slowing down.  Or he just moves so much he burns it all off!  The only new thing to report is he can climb stairs.  My mom was watching him on Wednesday and he managed to climb halfway up the stairs to the kitchen.  Otherwise, he still likes the same things, does the same things, and eats the same things.  Still only one tooth.

Today I was laying on the couch watching him play and crawl around and he got to my book.  I took a picture because he looked so academic.  He's going to be a reader just like his mom and dad!

Updates and Pictures

Not a whole lot has been going on at the Vossler house lately (which I think is a good thing).  Lewis did get his first tooth on Thursday, September 15.  He still only has the one and we've just started giving him baby snacks, they are like cheeto puffs, but for babies.  It's really funny to hear him "crunch" it with his one tooth.  Here's the best picture I could get of it. He doesn't really like it when I stick my fingers near his mouth.  The tooth is on the bottom gum.  I know you can't really see it, but I promise it's there!

One day last week Dan had just fed Lewis lunch and then went upstairs to study and left Lewis in the high chair to play with his high chair toys.  It got kinda quiet so Dan went downstairs to check on him and this is what he found:

Lewis was asleep!  He, of course, had thrown most of his toys on the ground, it's his new favorite game.

Here are some other pictures of the cutest, sweetest, most mobile kid in the world.

The first one is Lewis after he gets out of the bathtub.  He loves to look at himself in the mirror after bath time.  Don't know why.  We call him a baby blue burrito when he's wrapped up in his towels (they all happen to be blue).  The second is him sitting on the floor of his room before bedtime so I could take pictures of him.  I love that you can see how blue his eyes still are in this picture.

He's almost 8 months old so I'll do a weight update in a couple days.  He has definitely gotten better at crawling.  He can go anywhere he wants now, which is rough on us.  We have to constantly, and I mean constantly watch him or he'll be at the bookcase pulling books off, or he'll be at the entertainment center pushing buttons on the stereo or cable box, or he'll be climbing up on the fireplace hearth (which he's done only twice but it's scary because it's brick).  I don't know when he'll start walking but he LOVES to stand up everywhere.  He'll pull up on anything that is remotely stationary.  He's learned how to clap and very occasionally he'll wave bye-bye.  We're still working on improving the last one.  Another thing he loves is being upside down, anytime, anywhere.  He just laughs and laughs when you do it.  It's definitely a mood lifter.

More in a couple of days!

Lewis is Awesome!!

Lewis is a crazy crawler.  His favorite things to crawl for are cell phones and tv remotes.  He's also a big fan of computer keyboards.  Pretty much anything electronic has his attention.  He's not completely sturdy while he's crawling but I know it will happen any minute.  We definitely have to baby-proof the house this weekend (really I have to because Dan will be working).  The video below is of him crawling Tuesday night.  He only crawled for the first time ever this past Saturday so he's pretty decent at it.

He already wears us out because we have to constantly watch him and now that he's crawling it's only going to get worse.  Tonight he pulled himself up and was standing on the floor while holding on to the couch.  He then proceeded to "walk" down the couch to get to where I was sitting.  It was only a couple of steps but he was able to do it.  Maybe next month we'll have video of him walking!!  (I hope not though, I need more time of him being a sweet little baby)

Bath Time and Battle Wounds

Lewis is growing up to be quite the mover and shaker.  He never sits still, not even for a minute.  Since he learned to move around he's fallen off the bed and he's hit his head while Dan was changing him.  He fell off the bed on Sunday and cried until Dan picked him up and we loved on him. The changing table incident happened today.  Dan had Lewis on the changing table because he pooped and Lewis was being his wiggle worm self and wouldn't stay still.  Dan had Lewis' feet up in the air with one hand and was trying to  clean him up and put on a new diaper with the other. Dan had him almost upside down to keep him relatively still but of course Lewis loves to be upside down so he was laughing the whole time.  Dan put him down a little and Lewis scootched off the table, rolled over and hit his head on the corner of the bookshelf next to the changing table.  All while Dan was still holding his feet trying to finish changing him. Lewis screamed but was fine once Dan got him and consoled him.  Dan said it almost broke the skin and that it swelled up and was red.  By the time I got home from school it just looked like a scratch.  I took a picture of his "wound" since it was his first one.

When I got home Dan and I talked about how the was going to be the first of many incidents and that we were in for it.  He literally doesn't stop moving unless he's asleep.  He tries to crawl out of his tub, he pulls himself up on the couch, on his swing, and on his crib, he bangs on toys and throws them across the room, he's just never still.  We decided they might as well go ahead and start our file at Williamson Medical because we'll be frequent visitors.

On a different note, here is one of the first times Lewis pulled himself up into the standing position.  It was sometime last week when Dan went in his room to get him from his nap.  Lewis was just chillin there waiting for his dad.  It's fuzzy because it was taken on Dan's cell phone.

The picture below is pretty cute, it's the cousins playing in the bathtub together. We were at the lake this weekend and they needed to clean before bedtime.

Lewis' bath didn't last long because he kept trying to stand up in the tub and I wouldn't let him.  He didn't care much for me at that point.

Lewis is seven and a half months old and I can hardly believe it.  He eats anything you put in front of him and loves fruits the most.  We haven't tried meats again but we'll try again soon.  He's still toothless so he might be able to walk before he can chew food!!  He's starting to move his feet when he's standing and holding on to the couch which is scary because walking could be just around the corner.

Oh . . . I can't believe I almost forgot . . . Lewis crawled this weekend!!  Dan and I of course weren't around to see it, but it was caught on camera.  It was right after we got the the lake house.  Dan and I left Lewis and the Vossler's condo while we went to ours and got unpacked.  While we were gone friends of Ed and Lorraine put a video camera on the ground to film the kids (Lewis and Shelby) and Lewis crawled right to it.  It's all on camera.  Not the best angle because you just see his face getting closer to the video camera but still, it happened.  So, I'm pretty perturbed I didn't witness the first crawl but there's nothing I can do about it.  He crawled really well again today and we ran and got the Flip to record it but he didn't crawl well after we started filming.  We'll try to film it again tomorrow.

7 Months Old

Lewis is seven months old today and he still doesn't have any teeth.  I weighed him yesterday and he was 21 pounds.  I haven't tried to measure his length, he doesn't ever sit still long enough for that.  He's sleeping through the night but lately he's been waking up one or two times, crying for about 5 minutes, and then going back to sleep.  I don't know if he's teething or what.  I've been thinking he's been teething for months.  He eats really well, he would eat every hour if we'd let him.  He's not too fond of green veggies but he'll eat them if they are mixed with an orange veggie.  A few days ago we tried to feed him baby turkey and he didn't enjoy it.  More about that later.  

Here are some pictures from today.

We just love when he sleeps with his booty in the air.  Dan took this picture today during Lewis' extremely rare 3 hour nap.  I was at school all day today because of Open House so Dan and Lewis a boy's day out!

Here's Lewis in his high chair.  He likes sitting here because he knows food is coming.

Here are just some cute pictures from the other day. The one with the wash cloth is funny because he's sucking the water out of it and drinking it.  He's learned he can drink the water out of it then dunk it back in the tub and drink it again.  He tries to get the wash cloth every time he gets in the tub.

Here's Lewis eating turkey.  He made this face every time the spoon went in his mouth.  He then proceeded to throw it up.  Needless to say, he hasn't eaten turkey again.  We'll try it again in a few weeks.  

Lewis at the Lake

Dan, Lewis, and I went to the lake last weekend with Grandma and Grandpa Vossler, Aunt Teresa and Uncle Kevin, and Uncle Adam.  It was Lewis' first time on the lake and he had a great time.  He looks so much older when he wears a shirt and shorts as opposed to a onesie.  His shirt speaks the truth, too.  Every where we go people complement us on how cute and happy he his.  That makes us happy (especially Dan since Lewis looks just like him) and we now know that he really is cute and it's not just our parent goggles.

 Here's Lewis and Grandma before the day got started.

Lewis in his life jacket.  I was worried he wouldn't like wearing it and would cry the whole time but he was a trooper.

Grandpa and Lewis swimming around.

Lewis all tuckered out after a fun day of swimming and playing.  He's excited for when we go back in September!

We have a gymnast

Yesterday Dan and I were sitting in the living room eating dinner and watching TV while Lewis was rolling around all over the floor playing with stuff.  All of a sudden he does this. . . 

A backbend.  The only body parts on the floor are his feet and this head.  He did it several times because he had rolled under his swing and he wanted to reach up and feel it.  In this picture his hand is up scratching the fabric.  He really likes to touch and feel everything.

Oh, and Lewis doesn't care much for peas.  He didn't want to swallow them, he just lets them run out of his mouth.  He'll only eat them if you mix them with another vegetable like squash or sweet potatoes but even then he's still not happy about eating them.

Last weekend before I go back to school

This weekend was a busy was for me and Lewis.  On Saturday we went to Walmart to get lots of tax free goodies.  After that we went home to get ready to go to Murfreesboro for a family reunion.  Lewis was sitting on our bed with Ruby while I figured out what to wear and I look over and Ruby is licking his hand.  Now, that's nothing new, Ruby loves to lick him but then Lewis grabbed Ruby's tongue!  I silently freaked because I didn't want Ruby to go crazy on him.  She ended up just sitting there until he let go (which was only a few seconds later).

In Murfreesboro Lewis got to see lots of family he hadn't met yet.  He was a really good boy the whole time (except for the screaming in the car on the way there).  Here's Lewis with Mimi and Will.

Today we went to Grandma and Grandpa Vossler's house to play and swim with cousin Shelby. Lewis got to see his his Aunt Teresa and Uncle Kevin, too.   Lewis loves to swim and loves to play on the floor with his toys (which is what he does most of the time).  Here are the cousins playing before they go swimming.

We left Grandma and Grandpa's house to go home and get dinner ready so we could eat when Dan got home from work.  After we ate Dan was sitting on the floor reading People magazine while Lewis was rolling around and grabbing toys.  Lewis kept trying to take the magazine away from Dan so finally he just gave it to him.  Here is what Lewis did with it:

Lewis pulled every page of that magazine apart.  Interestingly enough he never tried to put any of the pages in his mouth.

He was so proud of himself!

Unwelcome Visitor

So, Lewis and I were playing on the floor yesterday and I look over to a spot in the room that I look at occasionally to make sure dead bugs haven't collected there and guess what I see . . . a lizard!

I immediately scoop up Lewis and he and I and Ruby run upstairs so the lizard wouldn't get us.  I put Lewis in his bed so I can attempt to get rid of the thing.  Dan's in the shower and wondering why I'm screaming like a little girl.  The lizard was only 4 or 5 inches long but it was freaking me out that is was in the house.  I try to get him in a tupperware container and failed numerous times.  That thing was fast!!  He would run around the container and eventually made his way under the couch.  I was beginning to think I'd never find him again and would never be able to sit anywhere without the fear of a lizard crawling on me.  Dan finally gets out of the shower and comes and gets the lizard in the container after a few tries and he puts it in the front yard.  Dan wasn't fond of the reptile either and I'm sure if there was video of us trying to get it out of the house it would be a YouTube hit.

We thought we were in the clear once that was taken care of so we got Lewis and put him in the car so we could go eat dinner with Amanda Gaines.  We open the garage door so I could put something in the mailbox before leaving and the darn lizard runs into the garage and under my car.  Dan pulls the car out and I get the push broom and sweep the sucker out onto the driveway and yell at Dan to close the garage door.  I'm sure he was just trying to cool off but I don't appreciate him invading my space!!!  Hopefully he got the hint.

Six Months Old

Lewis is 6 months old today and I just can't believe it!!  It seems like yesterday I was having to wake up every three hours to feed him.  We went to the doctor this morning and he's doing great!!  Dr. Schofield said he was a happy, healthy baby and Dan and I feel so lucky to have him.

He weighs 19 pounds 12 ounces (the scale said 19.8 pounds so I converted .8 to ounces but now that I think about it the decimal on the scale might have been in ounces so let's just say he's shy of 20 pounds).  His weight puts him in the 83rd percentile.  He's 27 3/4 inches tall which is the 89th percentile and his head still measures in the 90th percentile.  He's just growing like a weed!!

It's a fuzzy picture but here he his sitting up all by himself at the Dr.'s office this morning.  He even sat up all by himself when I put him on the scale.  I had just told the nurse he couldn't do it by himself so he quickly made a lier out of me.

Here is a typical Lewis face, he's biting his lower lip.  He hasn't started crawling yet but he's practicing by pushing up on his hands.  He still has those baby blues (and I hope they stay that way).  Notice the blue blanket he's laying on (it was my dad's but that's not why I wanted you to look at it).

Here's another typical Lewis pose.  He likes to grab a corner of the blanket and then roll himself in it like a burrito.  Not sure why, probably just because he can.