December Wedding & Birthday along with Christmas & New Years!

December has also been a big month and many pictures to post, it was hard to choose! Abby and Peter were married on December 13th, then we had Abby's 23rd birthday on the 22nd, then we celebrated Christmas and by the time New Years came we were too sick to do anything. Below are some pictures of our December events and the boy's write-ups. Cristian just waking from his nap and seeing the Christmas tree for the first time.

 

Cristian & Momma before the wedding Just Married Libby & I at the wedding Cristian so handsome in his suit Grandad & Grammy J with their grandsons and Caden too cute in his tux. Happy Birthday Abby - after dinner Cristian's First Christmas Cristian & Momma Caden checking out his 3rd Christmas ornament So hilarious! Caden enjoying some pudding We had Cristian’s 9 month check last week. They did the routine needle prick to test his hemoglobin which his pediatrician said looked great. He didn’t even cry,just watched the nurse very carefully. He did have to get his Hep B shot though since he didn’t get it at birth. He gained a pound since his last check, weighed in at 18 & 3.2 oz. We were glad to see a gain in weight since he had been sick, first with a high fever, then a secondary infection with a earache and sore throat, at which time he refused all solids for a couple of days. He would only nurse (after all the progress we had made weaning). Now it seems we’re back to square one. He’ll drink from a sippy cup really good if Rocky’s feeding him but there are times when he only wants to nurse. He’s eating baby oatmeal twice a day and loves bananas especially eating them just like us so we really have to watch how much he bites off which usually isn’t much. His 4 top front teeth have broke thru (the lateral incisors broke thru first & the center ones closely followed - so he has 6 teeth now). He also likes guacamole (our homemade stuff). He doesn't care for his past favorite sweet potatoes anymore. He loves anything that we eat. He eats the Organic Gerber 3 baby foods pretty well especially the savory beef, potatoes & carrots which was a fav of Caden’s too. He also loves the cinnamon oatmeal & bananas with peaches. He’s just our little chatter box, while we’re in the car he’s either buzzing his lips together, smacking his lips or chattering up a storm. He walks assisted pretty well and can pull himself up to a standing position. We’re guessing he’ll probably skip crawling and walk instead. He gets ready to crawl and then stops, he’s had a few instances where he’s getting into position and falls face forward, where after that he gets angry and is like “forget this!” He loves watching Caden play and you can tell he yearns so badly to be able to do things big brother does. He waves now and will wave goodnight. He gives great hugs and when he’s just getting tired he’ll just lay his face against mine or snuggles his head under my chin or lays his head on my shoulder. Best of all he says mama now! He said it for me Wednesday twice then after that he’s been saying it all the time. He says it to get my attention so I think he knows what he’s saying pretty well. Caden loves being a big boy and taking care of his little brother. There are many times when Caden and Cristian will be talking and then they’ll both just start laughing so hard. I just wonder what they’re communicating and what's so funny. Caden still loves his cars and dogs. He likes someone to play with for an amount of time & talks our heads off then he’s ready for alone time to concentrate quietly and line up his toys. He gets very excited about being able to help out in any way he can. He also imitates us all the time, like wiping his mouth after he eats or after we brush his teeth. When he was sick he wanted to dry his own nose with a kleenex. And he loves throw things away in the trash can, he’s so proud of himself and wipes his hands after the job is done. He is a great little helper! If he’s always so eager to help out it will be awesome! He brings us anything we ask him to or if he doesn't know quite sure what it is he thinks really hard to figure it out. If we ask him to take Cristian a certain toy he'll go pick it up and take it to him and gets a big smile when he does it. When somebody drops something or he drops something, he says “uh oh” and goes to pick it up really quick then takes it to whoever dropped it. He is just CUTE! When Cristian grows impatient and I’m trying to do chores, Caden will get a toy and give it to him or he gets on the ground with him and talks to him, he entertains him very well. However, Caden's cars & trucks or anything with wheels are off limits for Cristian! :) Today I had Cristian strapped in the booster seat on a chair sitting straight behind me while I did dishes. Caden kept him entertained of course, he's never far from his little brother. Anyways, Cristian probably thoroughly enjoyed having someone pick up the toys he'd throw on the ground right away. Then Caden scooted Cristian on the wood floor between the island and fridge until the rug wouldn’t let him go any further, it was kind of a surprise to check behind me and Cristian wasn't there. Lately, Caden’s been trying to share his crackers with brother too which Cristian tries so hard to take but can’t quite have those yet! Caden still loves to help carry things in from the garage or bring in packages that have been delivered – he puts his mighty face on and throws out grunting noises in order to lift the heavy load! He says “go bye bye” a million times a day even if we just got home. He loves to be on the go. Lately he’s been standing on his head (with his feet also on the ground) and he laughs and laughs. Aunt Ab & Uncle Peter taught him to buzz his lips on their back/stomach so now that they’re not here anymore he’ll lift Cristian’s shirt and buzz on his tummy, then turns him over and buzzes on his back. He does it pretty fast so Cristian has this facial expression like what in the world is going on. Then Caden lays on the floor and lifts his shirt and waits for you to buzz on his tummy and then he turns on his tummy so you can buzz his back too! For the first time on Monday, January 5th he told me “NO.” He didn’t say it in a bossy way like I imagined, he just said it in a no thank you way. I couldn’t help but laugh inside. I just wonder how soon this word will be used all the time. We’ve been doing more timeouts this past week and they’ve worked quite nicely. He didn’t throw any little fits today and didn’t insist on having a pudding for every meal! Wonder who let him do that in the first place!:) So I gave him one for his afternoon snack and boy did I get a big giggle. He also went to the fridge and told me chee (cheese) instead of just pointing at the fridge then getting what he wanted out of it. So this is also working well in getting him to ask and talk to me more when he wants something.