Ten Months

Wyeth, you turned ten months last Saturday and here it is Friday. Right before you turned 10 months you took a few steps! It was amazing to see!

You continue to grow and explore and just tackle the world! I see you as someone who isn't cautious about anything! You just dive right in and keep smiling.

You continue to explore finger food but prefer Momma and Dadda to shovel the food in. Puffs and bits of rice and pasta are ok but wow, mango, applesauce, prunes and yogurt is where its at!

You are sleeping a bit better. After your grandparents visit in mid-September, we moved you back to the TV room instead of sharing your room with your big sister. We tried for 6 weeks to make it work. But it wasn't working. You sleep much better in your own space. Which is good! Here-here for better sleep but wow...we haven't seen a minute of TV in a month. We may decide that we need to rearrange our house so that you actually sleep in a crib (as opposed to your pack and play) and so that Daddy and I can unwind in our TV room at the end of a long day.

You have been all about exploring the world these past couple of weeks. Closets NEED to be opened. So do drawers! And cabinets!

We have tried harder to 'teach' you things. I read in my journal that Seren was identifying body parts at 10 months and we hadn't even started yet! So we are working on "belly" and "nose". You LOVE to stand naked in the tub and smack your belly over and over again. You are built like a little football player with big thighs and a nice round head. The only other trick you play is when we say "arms up" you raise your arms! And most recently, in the last week, you finally have begun to clap.

Mommy is trying to teach you sign language! I could have sworn you signed for 'more' but Daddy and Seren think you were just pointing out your Cheerios.

You still nurse about once a day but that is it. Take it or leave it. This morning was the first morning you didn't even really want to do that. This broke mom's heart into a pile of tiny bits but I know that our relationship will just grow and change.

About once a day you burst into giggle fits. These send me into hysterics as well. Your whole body laughs and your giggles are 100% contagious. I laughed so hard on Wednesday night that my throat hurt the next day!

Today Daddy sent me a picture of you all dressed up in your Michigan gear which arrived from Grandma and Grandad just last night. Since it is Phone Photo Friday, I'll include it here.

Happy 10 months, Wyeth. We love you!

Last year

I have spent much of this fall so far remembering our lives this time last year. The visits to pumpkin patches I missed. The weeks in bed. Last year on this date, I wrote a post about my second over night visit at the hospital for pre-term labor. And how hard it was. I wouldn't wish that stress on anyone. I was so convinced he'd be early and be in the NICU just like Seren.

Read that post here.

Most of my pregnancy, I worried about pre-term birth which is why when he finally did arrive, just two days before he was supposed to, I was just giddy. And there are some pictures that I just didn't have of Seren's birth. It was those pictures of mom and dad holding a newborn that I didn't get to take that haunted me the entire first year of her life. I proccessed and cried and processed again but still felt like I disappointed my daughter in bringing her to the world too early.

Here is a picture of Sam and I leaving our little Seren behind in the NICU. We are smiling but driving away from the hospital without our little one was very, very challenging.

Which is why I was SO freaking excited to have this picture of Sam, Wyeth and I. It is normal- just like everyone elses' picture. But to me, it means the world.

Here is to the gift of life- the promise of hope that a new life brings and the ways in which God blesses all of us many times over.

Being in Touch

We are very blessed to have four grandparents who help us, encourage us and cheer all of us on. We could not do it without them!

And technology helps. For the longest time, Seren had a outstanding date with her grandma and grandad in Flint, MI. Via a camera call on Skype. We all cherished these times and they got to 'see' their grand daughter grow. We celebrate many holidays this way.

Valentine's day



Halloween


Christmas




And it is lovely. Now that Sam is home with both kids, the calls have started again. And even more high tech for our little 'pre-literate' Seren is her email account! Sam opened an email account and she has been busy emailing her grand parents and her long distance Aunt and Uncle. Sam writes down verbatim what she says. And everyone has played along and written her back. She really likes to do this every night after dinner. I love it and it is a really neat way for us to keep in touch with our family who we love so dearly!




Seren (and soon Wyeth) on skype, email...what's next? Twitter?

Last Day of September

We upgraded our computer and I am only now downloading a month's worth of pictures. Since I didn't post pictures of Seren's first day of school, and since we technically are still in September, I am going to take the liberty of posting some pictures of our VERY excited preschooler.

Seren, my hope for you is that you always look at school with this much happy anticipation. We love you!

First Steps!

Wyeth is a few days short of his 10 month birthday but managed to take three steps last night!! Yahoo!

I got all teary! He has been standing for a few seconds then five seconds and now maybe 15 seconds before he flops down. But last night, all of us were cheering him on and he did it! He was SO happy with himself and Sam and I were cheering like crazy! It was tentative, of course, and I don't expect him to feel stable for many more weeks/months but the fact that he took those first one step and then later two steps!? Amazing...

LOVE watching my children grow. And it was cool that both Sam and I were there for it! Right infront of our play tent in his little blue sweatpants. And before I had a moment to just breathe in that milestone, Seren or Wyeth needed something and the magic was over.

But still...that one is going in the babybook!

Here is a picture from last week that I like:

I wanna play! Phone Photo Friday

My blogging friends are playing photo Friday where they post pics from their camera phones. Getting my pictures off my phone onto another phone and on the web has taken a tremendous effort. My office mate can attest to this! Every week I would come by and say, "HELP!"

Anyway...without further ado I present some of the pictures that have been stuck in my phone for over three years. All featuring my Seren.

The first picture is a picture I took of Seren when my mother in law and I were moving from Madison to our new life in PA. We stayed at a hotel and Seren looked so small admist the pile of pillows!



Here is Seren with her shades on in L-town.



She loved this tub for the longest time. It had a large beak that 'quacked'.

Half Baked Lessons

Seren started preschool last week and has been FILLED with stories about Rachel, Snydney and Ritchie. And new songs! And stories of apples and experiments with apples. It is so fun to hear about her life outside of our home. She has come up with some of the class rules. When asked which rule she thinks the class should have, she replied, "No lying on the floor- someone might step on you." Good stuff.

Anyway, she is already learning a lot. I love it!

But apparently she wasn't listening too carefully to the lessons about the Jewish new year celebration of Rosh Hashanah.

Tonight, sitting in front of her world map placemat she turned to us and asked Sam, "Dad, where is Rosh Hashanah!?"