15 months!

I can hardly believe that another month has flown by! It has been such a joy watching every moment. Greg seems to impress me with something new each day! We are so in love with him and LOVED sharing this Advent and Christmas season with him! Here are some highlights of what we are doing at 15 months!

*Greg wears 18 months clothes (he has a really long torso and the shirts fit perfectly...he has no bottom to hold up the pants, but he needs the 18 months for the length!)

*He wears a size 6 shoe and is still in size 4 diapers.

*He 10 teeth and appears to be getting more!

*He has become a very picky eater and does not eat nearly as well as he used to. This is so frustrating...for both of us! Some days he eats like a grown man, and others he eats hardly anything!

*He also started waking up in the middle of the night again! :-( I think this is mainly due to his nose being stuffy from the heat...this occurred last winter, too! In the last week, he has gotten much better! PRAISE GOD!

*Greg LOVES to be outside....even if it is 20 degrees and the wind is blowing...he just loves it!

*Greg still naps twice a day for a total of about 3 hours.

*Greg is SUPER active! When he is awake he is nonstop....a joyful ball of energy! He really keeps us on our toes.

(Ball Pit fun with Miss Zoe!)

*Greg listens to redirection and "no" very well. He is very well behaved. When we are at Mass, the girls in the nursery just love him and always compliment us on his behavior and attitude!

*He is so curious about everything and is very observant if something is new or changes in our house. (should be interesting when the little Maria is around!)

*His favorite time of day is still bath time. When we ask if he is ready for a bath...he immediately drops what he is doing and heads for the tub.

*He is still very attached to his blankie.

*He loves soft stuffed animals and will pick them up and pat them and love them. It is so cute!

(This was Greg letting us know that he was done taking Christmas pictures by the tree)

*Greg's receptive language simply amazes me at times! We are still working on the talking. He knows all the sounds, and "talks" nonstop all day! His vocabulary has not changed a whole lot this month...still the basic words (mom, dada, ball, b sound for boopie, blankie, belly)

*Greg hums to himself a lot when he plays and when he lays down to sleep! He gets this from my mom!

*Greg loves to play guitar with his dad

*He LOVES the vacuum. If anyone is vacuuming he wants you to hold him or let him push the vacuum to help! He also likes to Swiffer the floors!

(Vacuuming with Papa)

*He will take tissues and "blow" his nose.

*When asked he will point to his nose, belly, toes, and hair.

*He likes to brush his own hair and teeth.

*Greg is a climber! He will climb up on anything to get to what he wants! Uh-oh...

(HMMM...climbing on this is fun!)

*Greg still does not watch TV...just a little bit of Little Einsteins and Mickey Mouse Clubhouse in the morning. He would much rather be moving around...which is fine with us! :-)

*He loves to read! He often looks at books by himself and will bring Greg and I books to read to him! I hope this passion lasts forever! :-) His favorite books are the Usborne touch and feel books...I'm pretty sure we own all of them! However, he thinks every books has some sort of touch and feel things on it, so when we read one that does not, he is constantly feeling the pages for some sort of texture!

*He travels well in the car...as long as he has his blankie and boopie with him!

(Grammy and Boo)

(Papa and Pumpkin! TWINS???)

Greg is such a sweetie! He loves to give us hugs and kisses as he passes by us on the move. It is so sweet for him to pause for seconds to love on us! He is one curious little man and we have loved watching him explore and grow this month! We cannot wait to see how he does with the role of big brother. I am sure he will continue to amaze us in all that he does next month! Although he often tests his boundaries, our consistency in parenting, as exhausting as it may be at times, has truly paid off. We are just so in love with our active little man! :-)

This month will be my last monthly update on Greg. I will blog about his updates regularly though...that is my plan. Looking forward to starting Maria's monthly updates soon, though!

Santa Baby!

MERRY CHRISTMAS!!

Greg did an amazing job sitting on Santa's lap yesterday! He did not cry or fuss at all! We were the 3rd people in line at Bass Pro yesterday morning, and as we waited Greg just took all the sensory stuff in...tons of lights and LOTS of things to look at! When it came time for me to put him on Santa's lap, he was an ANGEL! He sat there, and as I walked away, he did not make a peep...he just kind of stared at Santa. The elves rang some bells to get him to look at the camera...hence, the confused look on his face! He had NO idea what was going on, but it was tons of fun. Greg took a video of the whole thing, and I grabbed a few shots with my camera. As Greg and I walked back to grab the little man, him and Santa had an intense moment of staring at each other...I just wish I could have caught that on film! Santa gave Greg some candy, and off we went! Santa=success!! :-)

One of many...

...trips to the Emergency Room, I'm sure!

So, one week ago today, (I know...I'm way late at posting) my sweet baby boy had his first visit to the ER! To be honest, he has been walking for 5 months and I am surprised we have made it this long with as active as he is, and the fact that this kiddo has NO fear! So here's how it went down...

That morning, the little man fell and bit his tongue. Greg and I ran him over to the sink and the bleeding stopped relatively quickly with the use of some wet paper towels we were stuffing in his mouth. We looked in his mouth and could see the cut. The cut was just a red line, very flat, and just on the top of his tongue...nothing down the side or through the bottom. So off he went to nap! He woke up and had lunch...no problems...wasn't fussy! We played and went through our day. As I prepared him for round 2 of napping, I looked in his mouth...no changes. The cut was still flat and did not appear deep. He woke up from his nap, played, and then came dinner!

Greg does this awesome new trick when he is done eating. He sticks out his tongue and spits out whatever is in his mouth. As dinner came to close, he stuck out his tongue to spit out his food...and that's when we saw it. His red lined, flat cut had turned into this massive gash and part of his tongue was sticking up and just kind of flapping out. GROSS! So....off we headed to the ER thinking, "wow, that's deep...we may need stitches!"

We arrived to hospital at 6:30ish...chilled in the waiting room until about 8ish, and then headed back to our room! He did GREAT in the waiting room...he just let Greg or I carry him around and we just walked with him. He even got some stickers from one of the nurses and these kept him amused for at least 30 minutes! We headed back to the room, and our nurse checked him out, and told us it may be a little bit until we saw the doctor. And by a little bit...she must of meant an hour and 45 minutes!! At this point...it's around 8:30 and BEDTIME! He let me rock him...but was so fussy, then he would let Greg rock him, get fussy, and we kept switching over and over for what seemed like FOREVER!! The doctor finally came in close to 10 and our fussy boy turned on his charm for her. He acted like a perfect angel, and was such a FLIRT! The doctor checked his tongue out, and came to the conclusion that stitches were not needed since the cut was not down the side or all the way through the bottom. She told us that we needed to just give him Motrin to help with the pain, and cold things like popsicles or ice cream to help with the swelling. (He even got a popsicle that night at the ER that the nurse brought him...she might as well have been his new best friend!) She informed us that the we just needed to keep an eye on it for infection, but it should begin to lay flat and heal itself within a week.

I am so glad he did not have to get stitches, but was irked to have spent 4 hours in the ER for what seemed like common sense. Oh well...better safe then sorry! So off we went back home for a bath (had to get all the hospital germs off) and bedtime! It has been a week, and his mouth looks great. The redness is gone, and it only swells the tiniest bit toward the end of the day. It lays flatter and grows together more and more each day! Greg was such a champ, and took his injury like a real big boy! :-)

FIRE TIME!

It has been quite chilly here in GA over the past several days...this morning I woke up to 19 degree weather with a wind chill of 4 degrees...not so common for GA weather in December! Greg and I have made a few fires in the evening this winter...but all have been after the little man is in bed! This morning, we decided we needed a fire...mainly because our heat was not working right....awesome! Here are some pictures of the little man and his first fire!!

Hmmm??? That's new!

Can I touch it?

HOLY COW!!! It's awesome!!

Helping Daddy tend the fire!

Loving on Daddy while we work!

Man time by the fire!

SOOO warm!!

He did great with staying away from the fireplace. He did try to throw in a few books and his blanket, but they were caught in time! :-)

and we shall call it....

THE BUS!!!!!!!

We got the double stroller...it is HUGE! I am super thankful for my Grandma and Papa for purchasing this for us! Although the stroller is quite large when unfolded, it folds up nicely for putting in and out of the car! I am excited to put this sucker to use in just a few weeks! :-)

I am almost 36 weeks pregnant, and eager to have baby Maria make her appearance. We are busy finishing all the small touches on everything. We have the bed, dresser, and all the necessities. Greg is finishing the nursery! It looks AMAZING!! I cannot wait for him to be done with it, so I can post the pictures! It looks soooo good!

In other news...little man is just as busy as can be! I will post pictures of him later this week! Hubby Greg is super busy with work, and we just take advantage of as much family time as we can during this busy time of the year for him! More to come soon!

14 months!

Yet again...another month has FLOWN by so quickly! I can hardly believe Greg is 14 months, and I can hardly believe he will be a big brother in about one more month!! He is just growing so fast and learning and developing new skills each and every day! It is such a joy as we watch him explore and discover his world around him!! Here are some things my sweet baby is up to!

(Greg likes to crawl onto our coffee table and end tables now!)

*Greg is in size 12-18 month clothes.

*He is in size 4 diapers.

*He wears a size 5 shoe (big foot!)

*He has 10 teeth, including his back bottom 2 molars. His top ones are coming in now!

*He eats three good meals per day, and 2 snacks!

*He LOVES chicken nuggets, pizza, all fruit, cooked carrots, anything with cheese, cinnamon toast waffles, toaster strudels, sausage, and eggs...just to name a few favorites!

(hanging out in my toy box!)

*Greg LOVES to be outside! He would rather play outside, just walking around and exploring. He could care less that it has been 30 degrees out at times!

*Greg gives kisses to mommy and daddy...and Grammy...Papa sneaks one every now and then too!

*He loves to smell socks and shoes and make a stinky face!

*He likes to blow out candles. If he sees one up high he goes below it and starts blowing.

*Greg thinks that Christmas tree lights are fire too. He tries to blow out the tree ALL THE TIME!!

(bath time!)

*Greg LOVES the bath!! He would play in there all night if I let him!

*Greg loves whole milk and drinks two glasses a day! He drinks water the rest of the time! Every now and then, he gets some Gerber juice!

*Greg certainly has a sweet tooth, and will gladly take any dessert! He had his first taste of a churro last night at Frontera!

*Greg runs every where!!

*Greg went into the nursery at SJN while Greg and I were at Mass for the first time 2 weeks ago! He did GREAT! We go and get him before Communion so that he can get his blessing, too! *He likes to read on his own, and still loves reading with Mommy!

*He does not watch TV - maybe about 8 minutes in the morning when he first wakes up and is still in the snuggling mood!

(Tupperware fun!)

*Greg needs to learn to be less aggressive with other children! He is very rough when he plays with others! He pats them hard on the head with his hand or toys!

*He still loves to have his blankie with him....every where we go!

*He is very lovey with his stuffed animals and likes to hold them! His favorites are his moose, dog, beaver, and bear! (very manly animals)

*Greg uses his boopie for nap time and bed time. When he is teething, he wants it more often during the day!

*He is testing the limits with behavior. He responds to "no" and is very aware of the things he will get in trouble for doing or touching...but often times will do it, look at you, and just wait for you to respond...little stinker! :-)

(helping Daddy around the house!)

*Greg has GREAT receptive language skills! He is certainly good at letting me know his wants and needs...just not with words yet! He says mama and dada and yes...but he says yea instead. He makes the b sound for belly, baby, and blankie. We're working on it...

*Greg likes to dance to music!

*He is not a fan of getting his diaper changed...or any other activity that requires him to be still!

(little cutie!)

*Greg is non stop and is so curious about everything and how everything works!

*He likes to play with his trucks and his Little People animals! He also loves his ball pit! He likes to push his lawnmower and his ATV around the house!

*His hair is finally coming in and more evenly all the way around! :-)

*He likes to throw things...all sorts of things!

(YUMMM!!)

We have loved watching our sweet boy grow up! He is such a joy to be around! He is a GREAT baby! He eats well, sleeps through the night, and really only cries when he has a reason to be upset! He is learning new things and discovering things all the time! I cannot wait to see what next month has in store for us! :-)