Nathan: Month Eleven

Nathan,

My sweet little one, you are almost a year old! You are growing and learning so quickly and are such a joy to have around. I can’t believe how much you have changed in the past 11 months, it went by so quickly. Yet it is hard to remember life without you here; you complete our little family!

You are babbling up a storm this month. You are still saying “mama,” and you also started saying “dada” on October 9^th. You aren’t saying it specifically to daddy, but it is definitely fun to hear you talk more! You have little conversations with us and yourself that only make sense to you and it is pretty darn cute. You are becoming rather mischievous as well. You LOVE to explore and are constantly opening doors and lids to see what is inside. It’s been an adjustment for us because unlike doodle bug, you think being told no is funny and you smile at us while you try to do whatever we told you not to do. In typical boy fashion, you like yucky things like opening the toilet bowl lid and sticking your hand inside, swinging around the toilet bowl brush, and putting dog food in your mouth. Your latest obsession is chasing me while I vacuum, playing with extension cords/light sockets and unraveling the toilet paper. As you can tell, you have been keeping mommy fairly busy! Even Katie is getting in on the mothering and has been yelling at you “No Bubba! No Sir” while she shakes her finger at you. We are working on teaching her that you already have lots of “redirectors” and don’t need another.

You are so close to walking, too! You took your first step on October the 9th. I was walking with you and holding your hands. When I let go, you took a step before standing still on your own and then sitting down. Since then, you take lots of 2/3 steps, but haven’t quite taken off on your own. You would prefer to hold on to something with one hand while you walk rather than crawl, though. But you are getting close! You took four steps for Aunt Tara on the 25^th!! I know that you will be running around and “going fast,” as Katie would say, any day.  You have also taken to climbing onto things, so we really have to be on our toes with you!

This month has been a pretty busy one, and with the weather being a little bit nicer (read as 80-90s instead of 100+), we have been trying to stay outdoors more. You love to be outside and love to look around at everything. You are very observant…and becoming quite a flirt! You are constantly complimented on how handsome you are and you love to smile at anyone that gives you attention. To be fair, you are pretty darn cute with your two bottom teeth showing in your happy smile. We went to the Kiddie Park for our friend, Evelyn’s, 6^th birthday this past month.  You and Katie took some adorable pumpkin pictures, we went to the mock pumpkin patch at Northwest UMC for pictures, and Trick or Treating at SeaWorld with some of our friends.

You have had a couple of doctor’s appointments this past month too, because at your 9 month check-up, you weren’t quite where they hoped you would be for height and weight. Dr. H wanted to see you again when you were 10 months old, and while you had gained some, you weren’t quite where they were hoping you would be. You weighed 16 lbs and 13 oz on October 4^th, which is only the 2%. Since you were 4 months old, your weight has been dropping from the 20-30% and we aren’t really sure why. Dr. H ran a bunch of labs, and we tried to feed you as much as we could for a week to see how you would do. When we rechecked your  weight on the 10^th, you were upto 17 lbs 3oz, which was the 2% still, but at least you were gaining. I checked your weight on the 25^th and you were 18.2 lbs which is the 5%. Basically, you eat A LOT! For breakfast, you will eat a banana, a slice of toast, some baby food and a few puffs. Then you want to nurse, too! You eat like that all day long, except when someone else besides me is with you and then you refuse all milk. Little stinker! You are getting older though, and you nurse plenty when I am around, so Dr. H didn’t think that was a very big deal. You eat whatever we are eating, with a few exceptions. I don’t give you eggs, honey, peanut butter, or any of the “high allergen” foods that are not recommended. You do really like strawberries, too!

Places we have visited/things we have done this month:
Kiddie Park, September 30^th
SeaWorld, October 8^th
3^rd haircut with Janet, October 20^th
Northwest UMC Pumpkin Patch, October 20^th
Pump It Up, October 25^th
St. Anthony de Padua Church
Mamaw and Papaw's House
Grandma Gauna’s House
Aunt NoNee's House
Aunt Tara’s House
Aunt Melissa’s House
Swim Classes for Katie
Mommy's work
Restaurants
Shopping

Your Clothing/Eating and Sleeping Habits:
Clothing: 6-12 months, size 3.5-4 shoes

Diapers: size 3 disposables and "small" or “medium” cloth diapers
Sleeping: Bedtime is around 9:30pm. You usually wake up once around 3ish or 5ish and are up for the day around 7-8am. However, some days you will sleep right through, although that is the exception. You are trying to drop one of your naps. On the days you take all three naps, you take very short morning/evening naps (11am/6-7pm) and a longer nap around 2-4 with Katie.

Eating: You have been nursing 6-7 times a day and typically take one 4oz bottle when I am gone (regardless of the time frame), sometimes two. You eat and eat and eat solids though. Normally you will eat 3-4 4 oz jars of baby food and lots of table food/snacks in between meals.  

We love you so much, Nathan, and we are looking forward to celebrating your very first birthday next month. You are our pride and joy, and we are so proud of how well you are doing!

Love,
Mommy


Trying to Play with the Big Kids at Pump it Up, October 25th



Playing at Aunt Melissa's house, October 15th



Going to SeaWorld, October 8th



My cutie having lunch with me, October 27th



Nathan and Daddy at Mass on the Grass, October 14th

Mamaw and Nathan, October 6th

Playing at Swim Class

My pumpkin, October 20th

Katie and Nathan having lunch with Me, October 7th



Hanging out with Aunt Nonee, October 1st



Nathan and Braeden at SeaWorld, October 8th

Weight Re-check, October 4th

Merry Christmas 2010

Christmas this year was probably the most special one that I have had to date. I was off for a few days before and after Christmas and it really felt good to just get away from work and spend some time with the ones I love.

Christmas Tree 2010

 For Christmas Eve, Paul invited a few people over to our house. His best friend, dad, my parents, brother and grandparents came over to spend some time with Katie, Paul and myself. Everyone, sans Jason, returned Christmas morning to open presents with us and eat Christmas Lunch. Paul woke Kaitlyn up very early so that he could show her all the presents that Santa had left. She wasn't quite sure what to think at first, but she started catching on after awhile (with a few naps spread throughout). Before lunch, Paul's mom and step dad stopped by briefly to exchange gifts before continuing on to Paul's grandparents house.


Visiting in the Kitchen



Best Friends

"Gam Gam" and Katie

Milk and Cookies for Santa



Katie opening her stocking

Learn and Play Puppy from Uncle Jason

Daddy and Katie opening gifts Christmas Morning

Santa present for Kaitlyn



Daddy sharing his XBOX games with Katie



Best present of all

Four Generations

Our Family



Grandma and Grandpa with Katie



Katie and Uncle Jon



Grandma and Grandpa Murray with Katie

Grandma and Grandpa Gauna with Katie

Katie got a lot of presents!!



Reading Katie her Christmas Card

 

Intermission for Katie



New doll from Grandma and Grandpa

Jon got a new mybook from mom and papa



Kinect for Paul!



Kindle for Grandpa

Cooler for Dad

Kindle for Grandma, as well!

Duvet cover for mom and papa

iPad from mom and papa

Katie with Grandpa Paul

Grandma and Mom helped me make a delicious dinner of ham, turkey, mashed potatoes and gravy, stuffing, green been casserole, corn, rolls, cranberry sauce, deviled eggs, "the green stuff" (a Murray Family tradition), and lots of yummy desserts. Katie loved all the new food! She even ate a whole tamale!

This is yummy, Grandma!!

Kaitlyn: Month Eleven

Kaitlyn Marie,

Kaitlyn witht Pigtails

I cannot believe that today marks your eleventh month, and neither can anyone else. As your first birthday approaches, I have received a lot of comments about how quickly time has passed. It seems to most that I was just pregnant with you and anticipating your arrival. At the same time, our life before you were here seems SO far away, it is hard to remember what it was like without you. You are such a blessing to our family, and we are so thankful to God to have you as our daughter.

Going to SeaWorld with Mom, Grandma and Gam Gam

You are becoming such a little toddler. You walk almost everywhere, and when you can't walk fast enough, you fall down trying to run and crawl at top speed. You seem to be off the charts with your motor skills while holding back on your speech (who would have thought that of my child….hahaha). You are so curious about the world around you and love to learn about everything.

"Look what I can do!"

You are quite the studious little girl; you have such a serious face while you taking in everything around you. You love to laugh and play, especially hide and seek with daddy! You could play for 30 minutes at least walking to the bedroom to find daddy and then running away squealing when he comes after you. You have even started to dance. About a week ago, we took you to Mass and you were bouncing on the pew to the music. Grandma and Grandpa said this past weekend you have started to do more than just bounce and you are even able to keep up with the rhythm. I hope that you love and enjoy music as much as we do as you get older.

Being Silly with Aunt Tara

You had your First Halloween and First Thanksgiving this month. For Thanksgiving, we spent the morning with your dad's side of the family and had lunch. You were finally able to meet the rest of your great uncles and cousins, and had a good time playing with Cynthia, Sophia, Zoe and Derek. We took a quick break mid-afternoon to put up the Christmas Tree and Decorations and then we had dinner with Grandma, Grandpa and Uncle Jon. You had a plate of home-made sweet potatoes, Turkey/Cranberry/Apple baby food, lots of puffs, a strawberry Popsicle, and an incredibly small taste of pumpkin pie. I think that is the most that you have ever eaten in one sitting!!

Kaitlyn and Mommy for Thanksgiving 2010

More Eleven Month News:

Sleeping: Your sleep has begun to vary depending on who is around.  You love to wake up in the middle of the night for extra snuggles from your daddy. I keep warning him that will back-fire on him later, but he loves getting the extra time with you, and who can blame him. Otherwise, you have been sleeping about 9-10 hours straight and then falling asleep for an hour or two after having a morning bottle. You take about two naps for an hour or so throughout the day.
Clothing: 6-12 month or 9-12 month, size three and a half shoes (although, they are getting snug), medium diapers.
Mealtime: 16oz of milk in four and 2-3 jars of 4.5oz baby food, although you have seemed to be more resistant to the baby food and reach more for "regular" food this month. You still love your puffs, yogurt melts and fiddlesticks!

Daddy loves to be silly!

Developments:
-Waves "hi" and "bye" (when you want to…)
-Says "ma-ma" (Nov 19) and "da-da" (Nov 15) but not specific
-Learned how to give "High Five"
-Plays Peek-a-Boo
-Puts one object on top of other or into a container
-Stoops from standing position while not holding on
-Imitates wants with gestures
-Pushes toys while walking (your activity table is a favorite)

Dog Pile on Daddy

We love you very much Katie Bug and we are so proud to call your ours. Happy Eleven Month Birthday!

Love Always,
Mommy