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Wednesday, January 25, 2012

His Favorite Things

At nine and a half months old, these are a few of your favorite things.......

Walker fun
 Making music on your music table

Silent Reading
 Cooper's Kong
Your activity cube
Big brother, Cooper (& of course, your paci)

And of course, jumping!

It will be fun to check in periodically and see how these things have changed....

Saturday, January 14, 2012

9 whole months!

(19lbs 7oz, 28 inches tall)

9 months....39 weeks....275 days...you are growing so big, so fast!

Let's take a quick look back down memory lane to mommy at 39 weeks pregnant...

And boy oh boy do I miss remember those days. Feeling huge and uncomfortable with swollen feet, anxiously yet patiently awaiting your arrival. Little did we know you would be here just a few short days later.....

On to more important things, you had a very busy and active month! On December 8th, just 2 days after your 8 month birthday, you crawled - for real! Not an army crawl or a bear crawl, but a REAL crawl. This made mommy so happy, as she was worried your little setback in November would delay you developmentally. But you proved me wrong, strong little guy! You were sitting on the floor when mommy picked you up from daycare, and you instantly turned yourself over, plopped right up onto your hands and knees and crawled to me! I couldn't believe it!!! Miss Dawn was certain you had done it before as you were doing it all day. Lucky her got to see you move for the first time. I took you home and we were so excited to show daddy. And he was so proud - I swear his smile went from ear to ear. Here is a quick look back at those first moves. You have been perfecting the crawl all month and have really picked up speed. Mommy can hardly keep up with you!

Now that you're mobile, you are very curious. Something catches your attention and you need to check it out. You love finding your way to the cable box, the fireplace, your cd player and anything you can pull yourself up on. Yes, that's right, you are pulling yourself up onto everything, including the stairs. You even try pulling your little leg up onto the step. It's officially time to baby proof the house!

You continue to be a fabulous sleeper, both at nighttime and nap time.  You must get that from your daddy! You definitely let us know when you're tired and most of the time, you go down like a champ. And the times you aren't so tired, we watch your little self standing up, babbling away, walking along the rails of the crib. Oh, how I love my video monitor. I can spy on you without you even knowing it. And I thouroughly enjoy coming in to get you after a nap and seeing you like this:

Eating is another one of your favorite activities. You love everything and are a great eater. As soon as you see your food, you get so excited and your little legs move a mile a minute. Sometimes, we just can't feed you fast enough. New foods this month were baked mostacholli, mashed potatoes, asparagus and brussels sprouts. I think your all-time favorite is pancakes though. Last weekend, you had 2 1/2 for breakfast and another 2 1/2 for lunch! You've really gotten the hang of feeding yourself and I can't wait to try more finger foods this coming month.

This month we also celebrated your first Christmas, which was super special. We have so many wonderful Christmas traditions and look forward to creating our own traditions with you, for our family! And as fun as this Christmas was, I can't wait for next Christmas because you'll have a much better understanding of what's going on.

Santa came!
Likes:
pancakes
crawling
watching Spongebob
still loving your jumperoo (and getting quite good at it, too!)
banana mum mum's, a.k.a. "surfboards"
nose aspirator (random)
squirty toys in the bathtub

Dislikes:
having your diaper changed


And the 9 month photo shoot - which was nearly impossible to take:





Thursday, January 5, 2012

Easton's 1st Christmas Extravaganza

The Christmas season is a favorite in our house. The tree goes up Thanksgiving weekend, the halls are decked, and I even convinced your Bryan to put light up outside. Here's to hoping they are down before June!

Our Christmas celebration started with the Young Family Christmas Party the weekend before Christmas. Aunt Sue, Emily, Cousin Ellen and Kyle made the trip in from Illinios. Unfortunatley, Aunt Diane had a last minute accident that prohibited her from coming in - we missed her to say the least.

Our first Christmas as a family of 3!
Being silly with Great Aunt Sue
The beginning of presents!
New clothes for a growing boy...
And blocks!

Next up, Christmas Eve at Nana and Papa Jim's. We started the day over at Aunt Katie and Uncle Jim's to spend some quality time with  cousins Landon and Madelyn.

Maddie helping opening Easton's presents
So surprised Uncle Jim bought something Michigan! He must really love you. :)
Can't wait for the Summer to use your new buggy!
As good as a group shot of the kids goes...
Christmas Eve
So excited for more presents!
The farm activity cube was a huge hit! Thanks Nana and Papa Jim.

We woke up Christmas morning and opened presents at our house. Easton was so excited to see all the new toys Santa brought. He didn't know where to start.

Santa came!!!
He must have been a good boy this year!
Checking out his stocking
His new push and ride toys
Afterwards, we headed over to Grandma and Papa's for traditional Christmas morning and breakfast with the Koester/Lollis/Howe clan.

Zain's first Christmas
Marshmallow Shooter Fun!
Me and the Cashman
Our 8th Christmas
 Papa and his baby boys
Mom and her baby girls
Me and my silly baby boy
Our first of many Christmas mornings
 The Koester/Carr girls
And our monsters haha
The 'kids'

Last, but certainly not least, was Christmas with the "Carr" side the day after Christmas. Crazy me offered to host 35 at our house this year and I'm glad I did. We kept it simple with a chili bar, and everyone had a great time. :)

The 4 big boys - this picture is only going to get more difficult to take!
Zain, Easton, Carson and Wyatt
(just over 7 months & almost 9 months)

Well, that's Christmas in a nutshell. All the hard work decorating, planning and shopping and it's over like that. And although Easton will never remember it, I will enjoy the memories forever. Bring on 2012!