Ten Months Old!

Here we are again!  No doctor's visit this month, so I'm not sure of your height and weight.  You're over 20 pounds now, I'm sure.  It's been a big month because you learned how to....

WALK!

You took your first step on Thanksgiving Day and within a few weeks, you have pretty much mastered it!  This week, you even figured out how to stand up without holding on to anything.  You impressed Daddy this evening when you walked over to your football, squatted down to pick it up, and then stood back up and kept walking.  Next thing we know, you'll be running!  It does look kind of strange to see you toddling around because you just don't look big enough yet, but we sure do love seeing you learn how to do new things.

Your favorite game is still peek a boo, and you are beginning to understand how to hide.  We play in the doorway of the front rooms, and you'll scoot back so I can't see you and then sloooooowly peek around until we say, "BOO!"  It startles you pretty good, but you laugh!  Sometimes we make it even more fun by chasing after you. :-)  You also really enjoy your rattles all of a sudden.  I think it's because you're always flapping your arms around, and you've realized that your rattles make a fun noise!

You still amaze us by how much you move.  Like all the time.  If you're sitting and your body is still, your hands are still slapping your legs.  We like to joke about how you could win the world championship in wallowing.  If your blanket is in the floor, you will flop down on it and roll all around.  When we're holding you, you are constantly flopping around, but you're kind of sweet about it like when you lay your head down for a second and a half to snuggle.  You're doing better this week about not beating me up so much when I'm rocking you to sleep.  Hopefully it's not a temporary thing!

When you are sleepy, you like for me to rub your face and chin.  A few days ago, I was trying to get you to fall asleep, and when I thought you had dozed off, I stopped rubbing your face.  Your eyes popped open, but as soon as I put my hand back on your face, your eyes closed.  I did it a few more times with the same results each time.  Pretty sweet. :-)

Daddy and I decided this month to go ahead and give you a haircut.  We were going to wait until after your birthday, but you were getting pretty shaggy.  Unfortunately, you went through a period this month when you didn't like loud things like the vacuum cleaner and mixer, so you really were not too excited about the hair clippers.  Lots of head turning back and forth and a close call when Daddy threw away the hair I set aside for your baby book, but by the time we were finished, you were quite the dapper looking fella!

You still seem to be having trouble with your pesky little (BIG) gag reflex. :-)  We've had quite a few more times lately when your baby food has made you throw up.  Not so much fun.  I bought you a can of puffs today, but since your peas made you throw up, I think we'll just leave the puffs sealed for now. :-)  You go back for your next checkup in February, so hopefully you'll be doing better by then.  If not, we'll just ask the doctor what we should do from there!

You haven't said any more words lately, but you do babble a lot.  You can say the "s" sound now.  I guess having teeth helps with that. :-)  Sometimes you can be really quiet, but other times, you growl and jabber up a storm.  You sure are fun!

We also got you a new carseat a few weeks ago.  After several trips that required washing the carseat because you got sick, we've decided that maybe you are dealing with some motion sickness.  On our way to Muskogee last weekend, we turned you around to face the front, and you did just fine.  We tried to turn you backwards again to see if we could at least make it to your birthday, but on our way to Bella Vista yesterday, you got sick again, so you are now front facing!  You seem to like being able to see Mommy and Daddy and what's going on, and you definitely seem to feel better!

We love you, Stinky Boo! :-)

Wordless Wednesday: Diaper Reading

No Santa?!?!

After reading this blog post today, I started thinking about how Christmas is going to look for our family now that we have added a kiddo.  Oddly enough, Steve said he was thinking about this very thing last week.  We both grew up believing in Santa.  Neither of us was scarred or traumatized when we found out he wasn't real.  Neither of us believe our parents were terrible for, gasp, LYING to us!  Nor did we grow into materialistic, stingy people with "gimme" attitudes.  I don't think anyway!  If you do Santa with your kids, great!  I don't think it's bad, but Christmas for our family is going to look a little different.  Not better, just different.

The statement that stuck out the most to me in the blog post was this:

"For a five-year-old, how can Jesus compete with Santa? Our children don't have spiritual perspective; when faced with the choice of allegience, they have a baby in a manger, or they can get a jolly, twinkling, flying character who will bring them presents. This is going to be an easy choice for them."

This really had not occurred to me before.  Our children aren't born with an understanding of the profound spiritual significance of that little baby in the manger, and given a choice, who wouldn't pick the flying guy who drops goodies down your chimney?!  Now, I am not naive enough to believe that just because our kids won't believe in Santa, we won't have melt downs in Walmart when we don't get them the new toy they want.  Or that they won't still focus on waking up that morning to finally rip into the presents that have been sitting under the tree for the last few weeks (yes, we've already realized that we won't have to stay up all Christmas Eve night putting together and wrapping toys!  Score!).

I honestly don't have a huge problem with Santa.  What I do have a problem with is what our culture has done with Santa and Christmas.  People trampling and hurting others so that they can get a video game for $5 less.  What a way to celebrate the birthday of our Savior.  Incorporating Santa into your family's Christmas can be done very positively and without all the yuckiness (and honestly, I DO think it's fun!), but we have decided it will just be easier to start from day one by making Christmas about Jesus.  Yes, we'll still do gifts, but we'll be following the "something I want, something I need, something to wear, something to read" philosophy. :-)  Moderation.  Gifts are wonderful, and I really like the idea of adding the "something to give" so that your children grow up experiencing the joy from being on the other, sometimes anonymous, end of presents, but we are just choosing to step away and slow down.  To celebrate the advent of our Savior, born and placed in a humble manger filled with hay.

So, if you see me dragging my screaming kid through the aisles at Walmart a few Decembers from now, have grace.  Or I'll send my kid to tell your kid the truth about Santa. :-)

Trey's New Ride

I didn't even notice until I took this picture that we kept the same color scheme.  Steve picked out both. :-)

After much angst (ok, maybe just quite a bit of internet searching and investigating), we finally decided on a new carseat for Trey.  The weight limit on his infant seat is 35 pounds, which seemed really helpful when we picked it out, but we have since realized that:

1. there's no way I can pack him around in that thing much longer without injuring myself
2.  he will be way too tall for the seat far before he reaches the weight limit.

After looking at our options, we finally decided on the Safety 1st Air Protect.  We really like the static air bags that cushion the sides of Trey's head in the event of a side-impact crash.  The odds of us being in a car accident are slim, but they will help prevent head trauma, which is definitely a good thing!  The seat was a little more expensive than some of the others we looked at, but we decided that this was one thing that was worth spending a little more money.  Plus, the air cushions will kind of act like pillows when he falls asleep. :-)

I'm waiting for him to wake up from his nap so that I can stick him in it and get everything adjusted correctly, but when we tried it out in the living room last night, he loved it!  I buckled him in, and he cut his eyes over at the air cushions and reached up to hit and poke them.  Even after I unfastened him and reached to pick him up, he didn't want me to pick him up.  He sat there chewing on his toothbrush for several more minutes before he finally climbed on out.  Obviously we haven't used it in the car yet, but the seat is incredibly cushy and comfy looking on top of making Steve and me feel better about Trey's safety in the car.  It seems impossible that it's already time to switch him over to the convertible carseat, but we're excited to try out his new ride!