Fourteen Months

Nathan, you are fourteen months old!

The biggest news this month is that you started walking!! You began standing independently on a visit to Atlanta and since then you slowly started taking steps here and there. The big walking moment was on July 4, Daddy's birthday, and Mommy and Daddy were both there to witness it! I am so proud at how quickly you've taken to it and you are already mastering your balance and toddling all over. You can't be forced to do it, though, and will quickly fold over and sit if I try to make you stand up when you don't want to.

You love being outside and we've spent more time in the pool trying to keep cool on these hot summer days. We visit the park, whether with friends or on our own, and you love riding bikes. When we're home you pick any of your several ride-on toys and zoom around the house pushing them. We also play a lot of catch with Jax, your best bud. I love seeing the two of you play together!

You're still a great eater but you've become a bit more picky and selective at mealtime. We have to negotiate to get you to eat all your dinner at this point and you have a tendency to throw things off your tray if you don't want it. A bad habit we're trying to stop! You steal all your friends snacks when we get together (such a piggy!) and love "tsh" (goldfish). You've started showing interest in using a spoon and fork and are pretty proud when you can feed yourself! You drink three sippies of Lactaid a day and a bottle at night, but we're going to stop that pretty soon. You transitioned to milk pretty easily and I'll eventually try to wean you to straight whole milk but I'm still a little worried that your tummy can't handle it.

You say "ball" constantly and love throwing them!

You show your strong will every time we have to change your diaper or clothes, twisting and rolling on the changing pad (and often throwing quite the fit). You give your mama a run for her money with your determination and tantrums - a sign of the terrible twos already?! You can be such a sweetie, though, dishing out kisses and high fives and being a great snuggler. Good thing you can be so cute, too, because those tantrums are killer!

You were taking two solid naps a day until recently but lately you've been fighting me hard on the afternoon one. In the past week, you've only taken it twice despite acting exhausted and seeming to need it. We'll see if this is the start of dropping a nap, but if it is we'll have to work on reversing it so we keep the afternoon one!

You've started being a good helped when it comes to cleaning up your toys and you spend lots of time putting things into containers and taking them out. You point at everything and direct what you want or where you want to go. I can't wait for you to be able to say more so we can communicate with each other better! I think a lot of our mutual frustration stems from not being able to understand you.

You're still such a busy, busy boy and so daring. I spend a lot of my days making sure you don't get into trouble or hurt yourself! I love it, though, and I'm so happy I can spend all my time with you. Being your mama is the best job ever!

xxooxo

No rocking chair photo this month - you simply won't stay still!

Fourteen Month Stats:

Weight - 25 pounds

Clothes - mostly 24m but some 18 still fit

Diapers - size 4

Celebrating Ryan and America

With the Fourth being on a Wednesday this year, it was tough to do anything too extravagant but we still wanted a celebration so we hosted a pool party with our friends at home. A few of our baby friends were able to make it and a bunch of Ryan's pals were there to help celebrate his birthday.

We pulled out the water park from N's birthday, gathered all of our pool floats, and cooked up a patriotic spread of pulled pork, red, white and blue sangria and all sorts of goodies.

The boys enjoyed being boys, setting off fireworks at dusk over the pool deck. Nathan was enamored by the sounds and colors. We ended up staying home and hanging out on the patio chatting rather than trying to find a bigger fireworks display in the area but we managed to steal glimpses of some pretty big ones in the neighborhood.

It was a fun-filled day with good friends and I'm so glad we ended up making something of it rather than letting the day slip by (which Ryan would have been happy to do). No big birthday cake or singing for the birthday boy but I think he enjoyed his day regardless.

Vero Beach

It had been a year since we went to Vero to visit Ryan's aunt and uncle so we planned a weekend visit and brought our friends, Mike and Ashley, along. While the boys went off shore to fish for dinner, the girls and Nathan hit the beach club for some fun in the sun. It was the bubs first real beach experience (he was too tiny to really get into it the first time) and he loved it!

Give that boy a bucket and some shells and he'll be busy for hours. He spent the afternoon dropping shells in and taking them back out, over and over. He didn't mind the sand at all (though it gave me the heeby-geebies to pick him up and get covered) but he was very unsure of the ocean and didn't like the waves eroding the sand under his feet. Other than that, we all had a great day and so much fun!

The guys brought home delicious sea bass and we ate poolside on the back patio while we looked for dolphins. The boys played golf on Sunday and we hung out at the house, swimming and getting ready to head back home. Such an amazing weekend and a great time had by all!

When we returned home we took a walk over to Baldwin Park to watch their fireworks show. Laurie joined us and we made it to the clearing just in time to see some big explosions. Nathan was in awe and took the whole thing in with wide eyes. He was such a good sport for being up so late and didn't mind the noise at all. A great end to the weekend!

Atlanta Visit for Father's Day

Ryan had business meetings in Atlanta, conveniently enough, right after Father's Day so we drove up for the weekend to spend time with the family. We enjoyed a lovely dinner at St. Ives on Friday night and Nathan worked his meal off crawling up the stairs over and over again while the men chatted and finished their wine. He is such a busy boy!

We got to watch Kel and Linc play tennis on Saturday morning while hanging out on the playground. The weather was heavenly compared to sticky, hot Orlando and it was nice just to be out in the sun without sweating to death.

The boys hit the golf course on Sunday for Father's Day and my dear friend Stef and her daughter, Nora, came to swim with us at my parents' pool. It was chilly but we still had fun! The Trottas joined us for dinner that night and we had a great evening celebrating the wonderful dads in our lives.

On our final day, we joined Kelly and Carter at their playdate and got to swim at the coolest neighborhood pool/water park! It had an entire area of shallow water with slides, fountains and water features in addition to a ginormous pool.

The drive home was rough and we didn't arrive until late but the trip was worth it and I'm so glad we went! I can't wait for the next visit already!

Science Center

Between rainy days and extreme heat, it's been hard to play outside this summer. With Tropical Storm Debbie bearing down on us, we went through a pretty rough couple of weeks that were driving us stir crazy. What better way to get out of the house than to explore the Orlando Science Center?

We made our first visit with our buddies, Lindsay and Parker. I wasn't sure there would be enough for the boys at such a young age but they were very entertained and seemed to have a blast checking out the interactive exhibits.

We went back again with Alicia and Ben on another rainy day. This time we found a new exhibit that let us do a mock weather forecast. Perfect given the current conditions! It was a lot of fun!

I ended up buying an annual pass so we could go back again and again. I think it was worth it already!

Happy Father's Day! (a little belated)

I am blessed to have been raised by a wonderful father who taught me so much and has been a personal adviser on so many levels. He works so hard for our family and makes me feel loved and important.

I am also blessed to be married to a man developing into an outstanding father. I've been watching Ryan grow and change since Nathan was born and I am so proud of the man he is and the role model he plays for his son. He, too, works tirelessly for our family and I can see how Nathan already looks up to him.

To all the dads out there, Happy Father's Day! You mean so much to us!

Thirteen Months

Nathan, you are thirteen months old!

You are a busy, busy boy! Always on the go, I often find you in a different place than where I left you if I happen to turn my head. You crawl so fast and climb up on everything! Such a little monkey. You love to walk holding our hands but are pretty timid to try just one and heaven forbid we force you to try it you immediately sit and throw a fit. We've caught you standing on your own a few times and I cheer each time so you know it's encouraged but for now you are pretty content crawling or cruising with a firm grip on something steady.

You light up when your Daddy comes home from work and the two of you are becoming even closer. You like to wrestle and spend silly time on the couch, rolling around and flopping on the pillows. I know you love me but you definitely need your Daddy time and often prefer him to me.

You LOVE books and we spend so much of our day reading. You pull all the books off your shelves and find the perfect one before crawling over and climbing into my lap. It's pretty adorable and I am so glad you have such a fondness for reading (and that you like to snuggle up).

You point at everything and say a few things that probably only I understand. "Mama" can mean me or more, "baba" can be your pacifier or a bottle, "dada" is basically anything fun, especially electronics, and your dad, of course. You also say "book", "fish", "up" and "keys" (sometimes). You also point and raise your voice really high when you see balloons - it's pretty cute!

You're such a little helper and are so proud when you hand me things or can partake in what I'm doing. You like to push the vacuum around from behind and your latest obsession is crawling up into the dishwasher while we're loading or unloading.

We had a rough health month, which led to many days stuck at home trying to find creative ways to play. We took a break from swim lessons because of it and I think you were happy about that! You got a bad cold with high fevers and the worst diaper rash I hope to ever see. I've never seen you in such pain and it completely broke my heart! The upside, I suppose, was that you really enjoyed the nakie play time the few times we tried to air you out.

We're still working on transitioning from a bottle to all sippy cups and we're pretty much just off of formula as of this week. We spent three weeks with you waking in the 5 or 6 o'clock hours, crying hysterically, much to the dismay of your tired parents, but suddenly you are back to 7-7:30 and your mom is very thankful. It's still a mystery why that was happening! You take two solid naps and go to bed around 8:30.

You seem like such a little boy to me now and I just want time to stop so we can remember this fun age. You keep me busy and I just love being your mama so much!

xoxo

Thirteen Month Stats:

Weight: probably 24 pounds

Diapers: size 4

Clothes: mostly 18-24 months, but you still fit in some 12m