18 months... It is just a little hard to believe that my little baby is actually 18 months old. He is growing so much. He talks like crazy. Climbs like a pro. And has already been moved up to a twin bed. How in the world has this happened!?!?
At the doctor today he did great. Got 2 shots and was a champ. He is growing and staying right along his growth curve that he has always been on. He is healthy and growing well.
Aside from the doctor appt. he is doing great. He is nearly always happy. He wakes up everyday at 6am most days and very cutely calls momma while knocking on the door. He likes to play ball and play with his cars and little people. He loves dogs and loves feeding them. He exudes happiness in all he does. I have rarely seen a child so happy so much of the time. Yes I'm bragging. I have been spoiled with this guy. He is a momma's boy most of the time, unless his dad gets him out of bed. He loves his siblings and wants to always be with them. He eats just about anything. He naps nearly 3 hours a day. I am so glad that Timothy is a part of our family and couldn't imagine it without him.
Happy 18 months Timothy! Keep growing, learning and making us all smile. Love you little man!
I caught this picture yesterday while he was watching the snow.
It really captured who Timothy is.
My sweet little guy Timothy turned 15 months yesterday. It is hard to believe how quickly he is growing up. Today we took him in for his 15 month check up. He is weighing in at 22 pounds even and 31.75 inches long. His weight landed him right at the 39th percentile, which is pretty dead on for what he has been all along. His height dropped him at the 69th percentile which was a drop down from the 85th he has been at in the past. Clearly he has some growing to do to catch himself up. But I am sure he will hit that growth spurt pretty quickly.
He has changed so much over the past 15 months, even just in the past 3 months. He has started walking, though he still seems to prefer dropping down and crawling super fast. He is a climber. This is a first for us. None of our others have ever really cared to climb. They were happy right at their level. But Timothy things climbing takes him to a whole new world, which lets be honest, it does! He climbs onto the couch, chairs, tables, the piano, beds, bunk bed ladder, really if it is above him he is going to figure out how to get onto it. It makes for an adventure and never leaving him alone...ever...at all...
He has started trying to talk a lot. He says the typical mom and dad, but also likes to throw out random other words, like: more, dog, jaicie, bye bye, and many others, but most of the others don't sound anything like the word he is trying to say...but you can tell that it is a different item. Jaicie is a cute one though, it sounds nothing like Jaicie, but when he sees her come into the room he yells for her and makes the same group of sounds every time. It is kind of a precious little thing. He loves his big sisters and big brother. They are 3 of his 5 favorite people! :)
He has taken to screaming lately. If he doesn't get his way he screams at the top of his lungs. It is one of the worst sounds my ears could hear. Its awful. I hate it but I haven't figured out how to combat it yet. Hopefully I will figure that out soon.
But Timothy really is quite a light in our home. And I am so glad to have him as part of our family. Really how could you not love that cute little face! :)
And because everyone needs a good reason to laugh in life...here is one of my favorite sounds out of Timothy's mouth.
And just for good measure, here is a video of one of Timothy's recent fits he threw because Justin walked past him and didn't pick him up.
Yesterday was a fun day. It was nothing spectacular, but it was wonderful. Celebrating Timothy's first birthday was an all day affair, literally, the kids only slept when I put him in a car seat... I woke up to a very happy baby boy. Unfortunately, Justin woke up much earlier, and was off to work...on call... all weekend! :( It was a sad thing that dad didn't get to spend the whole day with all of us,but he did get a little break and got to come home.
We started off making breakfast and birthday cakes...a LOT of birthday cakes. I made a smash cake for him and then a bunch of large cupcakes...and then with the leftover cake batter I made a small 9 inch really thin "cookie cake." (obviously not a cookie, but thin like a cookie cake!) For breakfast we had chocolate/Butterscotch pancakes, a scrambled egg for Timothy and Milk.
After the cakes were all baked, cooled and out of their pans, we made a run to the store for some wrapping paper. Timothy fell asleep in the car of course! We also made a stop at Carter's to buy some of their PJ's that were 50% off.
When we got home, we played and had lunch. We tried some ravioli...note for the future, timothy doesn't like mini ravioli's... we will skip it next time. Also, I frosted and decorated all of the cakes and had fun doing it. Afterwards we were lucky to be able to go down and catch Justin between surgeries and had a nice little visit with him.
Then we were overjoyed to get a phone call an hour or so later to say he was on hi way home and hopefully had a little bit of a break. He made it home while +Kelly Bentley and her son Casen were here dropping up a little present for Timothy and so we had them join us for some cake. It was a blast!
Cake wore us all out, but we did eventually have to had some dinner... I threw together some pork chops and sauerkaraut and a spinach salad and we had a nice little dinner.
At bedtime I was all too ready to put Timothy down. I love my boy, but not having a nap free day was tough for this mommy! We discovered however, that Timothy loves his big brother...and only wants to sleep in his bed if his brother is there to sleep too. Good to know for bed time, day time will mean a cut back to one nap...as it has to wait until he is SUPER duper tired! His schedule is changing quickly and I am not ready for that. It is kind of crazy to think that I have a one year old. And kind wild to think of all the changes that will come for him in the next year. Excited and dreading them all at the same time! I am happy to say though, that despite the early standing up and cruising, he is NOT walking yet...close to it, but not there yet. But there are a lot of things he IS doing. He says: Dada, momma, dog, nana (banana), and today he even threw out DONE when he was mad at me. He has said a few other things, but they all get jumbled together in the same sound and even though he is obviously speaking of something else, the sound is much the same. He does love his dog though and thankfully, Pugsley loves him and is very sweet.
Timothy Paul is a sweet sweet boy and I wouldn't have him any other way. Thanks to everyone who has made the past year wonderful for Timothy. We love you all! I really am excited to see what the next year has in store for us. Just Can't Wait!
And here is the First Year book that I just finished for Timothy. I have to add his dr visit stats tomorrow, but other than that and re-reading the captions, I think it is already to go. What do you think? And before you praise me on how impressive it is that I have it finished already (I am sure that was first on your mind :) ) I just got the other kids books done about a year and a half ago. Jaicie is 10... I did Timothy's month by month (okay so 7 months, then another 4 months than the rest of it today) It was easier to do it all at once then trying to catch up later! :) Enjoy!
School started today... I am still not sure how ready I am for it. I have very mixed emotions. I am ready for summer to be over, but I am not ready to give up the extra helping hands of my kids. Grabbing me diapers, getting TImothy out of bed, emptying the dishwasher, (okay that one will still be left to them). It has been a crazy summer. Lots of frustrations and also lots of good times. But through it all, the kids were almost always super helpful! It is going to be a whole new world of me doing it all on my own again... :\
It will be good. All in all, the kids are overjoyed to be at school. And i did shed a tear or two. Here's the break down!
Jaicie started 5th Grade today with Mrs. Strong. She is excited about all the boys in her class. Matthew, Pierce and Mitchell she knows are in her class. We will see who else she is happy about after school today. She picked her LOL t-shirt to wear today, because it 'really speaks her personality.' and if you know Jaicie at all, she is absolutely right. The jeans were a bit of a mis-purchase. We picked up skinny jeans unintentionally. She hates skinny jeans (and I don't like them much either) but she looks really cute. Gosh her shoes are dirty, and you probably hadn't noticed that yet and now you did! Oh well. We didn't buy new shoes this year...I am the mom who makes my kids wear the shoes they got in May last year to the new school year, even if they are filthy. Jaicie is really excited about this year though. She really wants to be on the Dolphin Safety squad. We will see if that happens or not. Upcoming this year: Jaicie is getting published in a book of poetry, she 'graduates' 5th grade after this year and she grows up too much...but that happens every day. Hope you have a great day Jaicie. I love you!
Felicity started 3rd grade today with Mrs. Riser. She is ecstatic, but really worried that she will forget her teacher or which classroom to go to. Jaicie promised to walk her to class and make sure she got there okay. Felicity is excited about learning more multiplication and learning handwriting better. She picked her 'Smile' t-shirt, because it makes her happy and it is what she wants to make every body do. She is really excited to begin a new year and can't wait for all the new things. This is going to be a good year for Felicity. She is ready! UPcoming this year: Felicity will hopefully master hadnwriting, memorize all her multiplication tables and learn to enjoy reading. It will be a great year for her and I can't wait to see all the changes she will make this year! I love you Felcity and I hope your day is as awesome as you wanted it to be!
Collin started Kindergarten today with Mrs. Stanley. He was overjoyed at the idea of going to his sisters school and that is was now his school too. He loves the idea of school. This morning though, he told me that "I'm scared for new new friends today. Kaleb won't be there and I want him there." Kaleb is his friend from church and school last year. He was in his class and they had a great year and became great friends. He was really scared to go to school today and now have him there. Kaleb went to Frontier this year (the new elementary school). We got to school though and found out his friend Gabbie from last year is in his class, and he is really excited about that. I think he was ready for school once we got there. He Found his name on his cubby. He Put his lunch box away, and he grabbed a book and sat down to read. He is so super excited about school and I was so excited to take him there. Its going to be a new world with him gone at school all day long, but I know how excited he is for the new changes. Upcoming this year: Collin should get a little better grasp on reading, he will be gone all day M-F from 8:30 to 4:00, and he's growing up to fast! Collin you are a joy to have around and I miss you already! I love you little guy!
Timothy had a lot of fun taking the kids to school today. We walked them there, took Collin to his class and then we went and enjoyed the Boo-hoo Yahoo breakfast in the library. We had some donuts and juice and shed a couple tears. All Timothy of course, why would I shed tears.. :) Then on the way home he crashed!All the excitement of the day wore him out. He is excited for the time for just the two of us and I am sure he will celebrate and/or miss them later today when he wakes up. Upcoming for Timothy: Timothy turns 1 THIS Saturday. I can hardly believe it that a year ago I was still pregnant and in pain... now he is almost here.. Its hard to believe. Also, we will be doing a smash cake photo shoot, and having a family party and he will start walking, talking and who knows what else. He is all boy and an adventure to have around. Its gonna be a great year for him.
Really it is going to be a great year for all of us. I think I am ready for this. Now, I should make better use of my time with Timothy sleeping and do some of the sink full of dishes I have...or maybe just put my feet up and relax! :) I am not sure which debate will win out. Hope you all have a great day and I hope your first days went well. I know ours did...hopefully our second days will go just as great! :)
See that cute boy over there...He turned 8 months yesterday. He is growing up SO fast. I am not ready to let go of my baby boy yet! Here is a little about my 8month old little man!
He army crawls all over the place. He almost looks like an inch worm they way he moves. Maybe the inch worm crawl would be a better name. He gets himself up on his knees at times, but usually his shoulders are on the floor at those points. He hasn't quite mustered up the power to get on his hands and knees, but that doesn't stop him in any way. He is getting everything on the floor and I am constantly jumping around trying to pull something I missed off the floor. He instantly crawls over to the dogs toys (GROSS!) and tries to bite them. (Now to teach pugsley not to leave his toys out) If you set him down on the floor in front of you on his back within about 20 seconds he has rolled over and crawled completely across the floor to get something.
He loves playing with his sisters and brothers. And thinks the noises they make to make him laugh are the greatest things in the world. His laughs are one of my favorite sounds (okay one of my FOUR favorite sounds, each of the kids laughs are some of my favorites) but there is something about a baby's laugh that just makes me smile!
He currently has 2 teeth, but is trying hard to push a couple more teeth out. His bottom teeth are in and his top teeth are coming.
He can sit up fine, but he'd prefer to kiss his toes. He will sit completely straight up if there is something to get his attention, but if not, he kisses, or sucks on his toes. It is pretty cute!
He LOVES his bath. He things sitting up and playing with the water is awesome.As this picture is evidence of- he stares at the water. Then he will lean in and stick his head in the water (WHAT??? I won't even do that - I hate water on my face) Then he sits back and laughs, and then does it all over again! When he is laying down in the water he just laughs and giggles. He loves water. The other day he rolled over and started kicking his legs in the water and splashing and having a blast. I think he will love the summer and swimming...once he gets past the cold water!
He also loves food. Up until now we had been doing 2 feedings of solids a day and the others feedings were formula. As of today, that has to change! Today we are starting a Breakfast, Lunch, Snack, Dinner and bedtime bottle schedule. Bottles just aren't enough food for him...ever! And he doesn't want just a bottle. He would much rather sit in his high chair and eat puffs and mum mums by himself then let me feed him a bottle. But he eats SO WELL. He will eat anything. And doesn't care what it is. He loves fruit and oatmeal together and veggies and rice cereal. But he no longer has to have them mixed together.
He thinks being outside in the wind is the best thing ever. He laughs when the wind blows in his face, as long as it isn't cold wind. (which is mostly what we have had lately). He loves being outside in general. I should take more advantage of the fact and get outside with him more often!
He is a champion sleeper! He sleeps from 8 to about 6:30 or 7 every day. But doesn't get fussy when he wakes up in the morning, so hangs out in his bed til about 7:15. Then between 8:30 and 9 he usually goes down for a nap til about 10:30 or 11. Then he naps again about 1 for an hour or two. Then after the kids are all home, he usually sleeps for about an hour around 4:00. He sleeps like Jaicie slept as a baby, but doesn't sleep as long over night.
We have taken away his pacifier! We are those horrible parents that can't stand waking up in the middle of the night because baby wants a paci...not for food, not for blankies, just to suck on a pacifier. Despite the fact that he could get it into his mouth on his own, he woke up crying and cried for a while because the paci usually fell out of his bed with all his sleeping movements. I couldn't do it anymore so we have taken it away and he is a pro at sleeping without it now. He still wants it sometimes, but he is getting better at it!
I think I have covered all his accomplishments right now. Which is good, since I have virtually written a whole book here. And just cuz its so cute. here is a fun video of my baby boy!
Timothy has this thing that he does... He will be sitting on your lap and then lean himself forward and look at you out of the top of his eyes. This picture KIND OF captures the moment. It is really cute when the image isn't blurry...okay, lets be honest, its cute anyway! :)
I have long thought that babies have a special connection to those on the other side. There have been countless times with all of my babies that we catch them staring off into space, giggling at an empty corner and smiling big at a blank wall. I am pretty sure I can pick times with all of them, but recently I watched a moment with Timothy that was particularly connected.
Above our Living room couch, we have this decorative opening. Timothy stares at it ALL THE TIME! The other day, I was holding him on my lap and he started leaning forward like he does frequently. This time though he was leaning toward the wall. Then he tilted his chin down and looked, out of the top of his eyes the hole in the wall. He started smiling and giggling and having a great time. It was really cute... and unexpected. He wasn't looking at his siblings on the floor in front of the couch, he was looking at the wall with a whole in it and a picture. He just stared out of the top of his eyes and giggled and smiled. He was so happy.
Then I got tears in my eyes. I turned my head and looked up at the hole in the wall. I almost expected to see someone sitting there making him laugh...but I didn't. It was just empty to me. But to Timothy, I am certain it was not empty. I don't know if his Grandma Pierce came to visit him or maybe his Grand-daddy Clayton, or his Aunt Shirley Anne. I don't know who it was, but someone came to play with Timothy and Timothy played back. There is something about watching your child interact with angels that makes you think about how close those angels really are...
I LOVE HIM!
Timothy inspecting my 'sparkly' (Name that movie - "It's a sparkly")
This little guy is 6 months already! It is so unbelievable to me that he has grown so much so fast! It seems like just yesterday I held him for the first time. Time flies too fast!
Timothy is doing so well. He has grown quite a bit lately. Here are some of his stats from his 6 month check up:
Weight 17.7 pounds (49%) {15 lbs/33%}
Length 27 1/2 inches (85%) {26 in/ 73%}
Head Circumference 45.2 (92%) {43.3 in/86%}
So as you can see, he is steadily growing. That head of his just keeps on getting bigger! More room for Brains! :)
Now for some of the changes in little mans life.
Over the past 2 months he has started eating more foods. After a month of trying, he finally has the idea of keeping food in his mouth down. He eats usually (if all the stars align properly) 2 times a day from a spoon. He has gotten into a good schedule. He eats a bottle about 8am. At about 11:30 he eats some fruit and some oatmeal. At about 2:30 he has another bottle then about 5:30 he eats some veggies and rice cereal. As with most children, he likes the fruit much better, but he still does well with the veggies. He seems to love bananas best, but pears seem to be coming in a close second.
He has discovered the art of rolling. Our floor has to stay a little bit cleaner these days (trying telling that to the 9, 7 and 4 year olds) :) Even on our nice hard wood floor, he rolls all over, turns in circles and sometimes reaches forward and pulls. He loves his new found freedom and is enjoying the new discoveries. For the first time, he seems to actually enjoy being on his stomach. He looks all around taking in everything.
He is starting to be able to sit up. He doesn't do it well, more often than not he leans forward and kisses his toes. But he is getting closer. if his hands are holding my fingers he stays up, even if I am not actually holding him that way. He isn't ready to do it on his own yet. But is getting close.
He hasn't quite cut any teeth, but they will be popping up soon. His slobbering has been at an all time high lately, and he chews on EVERYTHING...
He loves his brother and sisters. And they love him. Which is awesome. It never fails that he will start laughing loud if he sees his brother or sisters. He smiles big just looking at them.
He is moving up to the world of a non-carrier car seat! The thing is just too heavy for me to carry with him, and we had the chance to get a good deal on a new one, so we already have it. He is still not sure about it, but he will learn... right?? Also, he only has 2 1/2 inches before he reaches the height limit on the chair. Luckily I can still use it for certain things. It just wont be the norm. As soon as he can sit up on his own we will be switching him over for good.
Last night I was going through all of his pictures from the past 6 months. It is so crazy to me that he has grown so much. Here is a picture of Timothy now, with his NB onesie that he wore. That NB onsie was big on him...Now his 6 month onsies are small on him... Its CRAZY!
And who doesn't love a collage of all the monthly pictures. Look at the changes. Here is a little explanation about each of the pictures.
Newborn: This was taken at 4 days old August 28, 2012. So tiny...
1 month: Taken September 24, 2012, he wasn't sure exactly what I was doing.
2 months: Taken October 24, 2012. He had gotten his shots that morning and was sick. Unfortunately, I didn't think to take them earlier, before he was sad and fussy. But this picture will forever be a reminder to not forget that! It is so sad!
3 months: November 24, 2012, the week of Thanksgiving.
6 months with his Newborn Onsie: Taken February 24, 2013.
4 months: Happy day, December 24, 2012. Christmas Eve and he couldn't be happier. After all his 4 month check up wasn't for another week!
5 months: January 24, 2013. He was just starting to really interact with me, not just smiles, but adding in the cooing and laughing.
6 months: February 24, 2013. This picture was a bit difficult to get. You forget how active these kids get. I took about 50 pictures and most of them had his arms and legs so much it was blurry. This was one of my favorites though.
I just can't get over how stinkin' cute he is! He brings so much laughter and joy into our home. I love him!
This morning we went in for Timothy's 4 month check up. Poor little guy
had to get shots! It just breaks my heart every time. You would think
it would get easier with the fourth child, but I still shed a tear
every time I have to hold his arms down and watch his face while he gets
those shots. Right ow he is peacefully sleeping filled with Tylenol
for the pain and we are hoping he doesn't have a reaction like he did
last time.
Now for the stats... His height and head circumference have stayed pretty much on the same percentile since his two month check up. his weight however was the big change... He went from the 9th percentile up to the 33%. Big change, but then that is what eating just formula will do for a kid. He is up to 15 pounds now and 26 inches. That's up 5 pounds from his 2 month check up and nearly 3 inches longer. His doctor said that he has put some meat on, but he is still tall, so he doesn't look like he has beefed up. It is good though, cause he was pretty small.
As for what the boy is up to... He is so interactive these days. He loves to stand up. When you get him standing, he will squeal in delight for a long time. He has a pretty good set schedule. He wakes up between 7:30 and 8:30 everyday, eats every 3 hours and goes to bed between 7:30 and 8:30 every night. He is up to about 7 ounces of formula in his bottle every feeding. He hasn't given us a full laugh yet, but he you can sure tell when he is really happy. He loves his siblings. He loves to see their faces and they love to play with him. Jaicie has started to take a liking to feeding him and holding him and has become a HUGE help in taking care of him. He consistently rolls from his stomach to his back and is currently trying to get onto his stomach from his back but has only managed to get to his side. He has started to really like playing with his toys. He has an OBall that he really loves holding on to. He hasn't quite figured out how much he enjoys putting things in his mouth, but I can tell it is getting close. He will sit and 'talk' to me for a long time and just loves being face to face with anybody that will talk back. The boy loves his bath time. He likes to kick the water coming out of the faucet. He loves getting lotion put on.
All in all, we are so very blessed with this little boy. He nearly always has a smile on his face, and is always a very quiet happy baby. He is a delight to have around and his poor little cry is heard so rarely that even the crying doesn't drive me crazy, but it sure does tug at my heart strings.
Here is a slideshow of some of the more recent pictures of Timothy. He is a sweetheart and our family would not be the same without him. I am so glad that he came to us!
Today, Timothy is 3 months. It boggles my mind that I have a 3 month old baby in my house again! He is growing up so fast. Wanna see his growth...its crazy.
Like I said, he's growing fast! As of now he is doing great. Just this week he has started sleeping through the night. He wakes up about 6:30 and goes back down for a nap at about 8. He is such a happy baby and super good. I have often counted my blessing when it comes to my children. We have been very blessed with generally good happy babies and that is something I am so grateful for. He is weighing in at about 13 pounds (with clothes on). He has gotten really vocal and interactive with us and it is so much fun. He is learning that he can interact with his toys a bit more and this morning I even got him shaking a rattle. He wakes up very happy in the morning and usually he and I have some great conversation first thing in the morning. He has gotten a good schedule down and is always so happy. He has funny moments where he goes from giggling to suddenly screaming. Those are the times when we have let him sleep a little longer and he is overdue to eat. And bad dreams at night.
Last week I took Timothy to get his pictures done. We took him to Portrait Innovations, because they had a cheap picture package and it meant I didn't have to deal with much to get them done. we got like 37 pictures for 15 bucks. Can't really beat that. Here is a slideshow of the pictures we got taken..
Wow! I cannot believe how quickly the past two months has gone. It is incdible to me that i already have a 2 month old baby to go with my other three kids! The past two months have been great. Timothy is such a good baby and brings us all so much joy. He is such a welcome addition to our family. Yesterday we had his two month check up at the doctor. It went well. He has grown a lot sipnce his two week check up. Just to give you an idea...at his 2 week check up he was 6# 9 oz and 20 1/2 inches. He has grown 3.5 pounds and almost 3 inches. His head size though was e biggest change. At 2 weeks he was at the 30th percentile for head circumference. Yesterday he was at 90th percentile. Clearly he inherited his mothers large head. More room for brains right? :)
He also got the dreaded vaccines. I am a strong advocate for vaccines, but it has sure been sad seeing him so sad and sick. He managed to have the strongest reaction to them. Fever, pain, sadness, and up every 1 1/2 hours all night long. It made for a rough night, but i am sure enjoying some snuggling with him. We have managed to catch him rolling over from front to back. He has also started smiling and cooing and youd think he was carrying on a full conversation. I am fairly confident that he sees angels around him. We often find him stareing off beyond us and just smiling,nearly laughing. I feel like it is his grandma pierce and grand-daddy clayton paying him a visit. He sleeps very well at night. Most nights he only wakes up once, but the other night he didnt wake up til 6:30. It was heavenly!
I am so glad that we welcomed this little bundle to our family. I cannot wait to see what this little man has in store for himself and our family!
I finally got a birth announcement put together. But don't feel bad if you don't get one in the mail, I probably won't actually order them! I don't want to pay the shipping cost! :) So enjoy here!
Yesterday we had his two month check up at the doctor. It went well. He has grown a lot sipnce his two week check up. Just to give you an idea...at his 2 week check up he was 6# 9 oz and 20 1/2 inches. He has grown 3.5 pounds and almost 3 inches. His head size though was e biggest change. At 2 weeks he was at the 30th percentile for head circumference. Yesterday he was at 90th percentile. Clearly he inherited his mothers large head. More room for brains right? :)
