1/3 of a year old already! (Edit, can't to math....make that 1/4 of a year, lol)

Weight: 14lbs 8oz (using my parents home scale which I am not sure works all that well...)

Height: 26.25inches

Clothing: I have almost packed up all of his 0-3 month and 3 month clothes and we are on to 3-6 month and 6 month sizes as well as a few 6-9 months.  The only 3 month clothes he is able to fit in are the ones that are not onsies and are two piece outfits.

Last time in this 3 month outfit

Diapers: He is still wearing cloth 24/7.  I am pretty much down to just using our bumgenius diapers because, just like with Alethea, I don’t really like the others and this time around I am not wasting my time with the ones I don’t like, lol.  He is still on the lowest rise on the one size diapers, but I have a feeling we will be going up a rise soon.

He loves to be in just his diaper :-)

Eating: He is still doing great with nursing.  He is much more efficient than Alethea ever was so most sessions only last about 10 minutes total (except at bedtime).  He is eating anywhere from 5-7 times a day depending on if he sleeps through the night and if he takes a long nap.  A typical day would be nursing around 5am (going back to sleep), 8am, 11:30am, 3pm, 5:30pm, 8pm give or take 30min to an hour.

One of the rare times he passed out post nursing

Friendships: He is still such a happy kiddo and pretty much never greets anyone with anything but a smile.  Family is the extent of his friendships for now and, given our circumstances of late, that is really his only exposure to people anyway.  Alethea is a favorite person for him for sure.   He is fixated on her often when she is around.

Sitting with Big Sis

Big Sis helps out a lot

UK vs. UL ;-)

One of the side effects of having a sister, lol

Mobility: He has awesome head control now and often wrenches his neck in order to see sometime he hears.  This results in some pretty fun positions, lol.  He is going great with tummy time and has his head and chest off the floor for a good 5-10 minutes straight at times.  He rolled from tummy to back for the first time on 9-16-13, but he hasn’t quite figured out how to do it again on purpose.  He is also starting to move himself around during floor time and when he is sleeping he often moves forward as she is adjusting himself.

focused on tummy time

planking with Mommy :-)

Sleeping: He has managed to stretch out his awake time a little this month.  At the start of the month he was awake for 1hr 15min and then was ready to sleep, but by the end he really didn’t start getting fussy until 1hr 30-45min.  Sometimes we even stretched him to 2hours and he seemed to go to sleep better that way.  He still only takes one long nap a day and the rest tend to be 30-45minutes at most.  Some days he drives us crazy and just takes a bunch of cat naps.  He is still a happy kiddo for the most part, but we are putting him to sleep most of the day which is less than fun.  He has begun sleeping through the night completely about 1-2 times a week now, but for the most part he wakes once to nurse at night.  A typical schedule is going to bed 8/8:30pm, wake between 4 and 6am, back to sleep til 7:45/8:15am, nap 9:30/10am til 10/10:30am, nap 12/12:30pm til 3/3:30pm, nap 5/5:30pm til 5:30/6pm.  I am pleased with this schedule most of the time, but definitely look forward to sleeping all the way through the night again. J

Sleepyhead

Sleeping in the Ergo on a walk at the lake

Playtime: His favorite playtime activity is looking at and “chatting” with people.  His face lights up when anyone talks to him and it is so fun to see.  He also has started in his jumperoo this month and loves it!  He jumps throughout dinner most days which is really nice for having a sit down dinner.  He also loves to play on his playmat.  He has even started to intentionally bat at some of the toys on occasion.  Alethea is his favorite playmate and thankfully she loves to entertain him.

First time in the jumperoo

I think he loves it!

Chilling out on the floor 

Communication:  He is full of coos and fun noises.  It is almost conversational at points.  So much fun!

Teeth: No teeth yet, which is good for nursing and the fact that he loves to chew/suck on his hand.

Random: He still loves outside time and will stare at trees for quite some time.  He has started to giggle this month too, no belly laughs, but I am sure they will be here before we know it.  He does not like the time post bath til bedtime which involves getting diaper and pjs on.  Thankfully that only involves about 15 minutes of unhappiness most days and we are getting more and more days that he is calm during that time.  He loves to suck/chew on his hands.  At bedtime, he often sucks on them for comfort (especially the middle and ring finger) which is nice because he puts himself to sleep/back to sleep pretty well. He went to visit our new house for the first time, though I doubt he will remember it. J  

First time visiting the house

One last dose of cuteness!

August Update

August was a bit of a whirlwind.  The first part was filled with waiting, the middle with planning/anticipation of the end, and the end with moving/goodbyes.  August was the last month we spent in SC and the beginning of a new chapter of our lives in KY.

Snuggles with Daddy

Last Sunday at Grace....bittersweet

God continued to show His awesomeness and reveal Himself throughout the month of August.  All along we knew God wanted us to go to Louisville and we never had any indication that we should go elsewhere.  However we were getting down to Ben’s last month in the military and still had no job.  After lots of prayer, we made the choice to go ahead to Louisville on faith despite Ben not having a job.  We made that choice on Monday August 12^th, so we booked the moving van and began making arrangements.  Then on Thursday August 15^th Louisville Gas and Electric (LG&E) called to offer Ben a job as a mechanical engineer working with boilers and he accepted! 

God is good and I am even more convinced that His timing is perfect.  Our ideal was to have a job early and leave 2 weeks or so after Declan was born, but thankfully God knew we needed something different and needed to learn to trust Him better.  He knew that having 2.5 months with Declan in SC without all the moving and simply adjusting to being a family of 4 was needed.  He knew we needed more time to say goodbye to great friends.  He knew we needed to worship again with our Grace family.  He knew that transitioning out of the Navy would be an involved process.  He knew all this and so much more that we didn’t until after experiencing it.  We are so thankful for a God who knows us better than we know ourselves!

One last fun trip to the mall

Relaxing on the couch one of the last times for a few months

Enjoying one of his few SC storms. ;-)

After lots of bittersweet goodbyes we packed up and moved to Louisville August 29^th, exactly 2 weeks after Ben accepted his job.  We moved into our temporary places living at my parent’s lake house in Rough River and grandparents’ house in Louisville.  Limbo will be our life until our dream home is completed in November.  Most weeks, I will live in Louisville Monday through Wednesday and then in Rough River Thursday through Sunday.  It might seem silly to float, but the kiddos need a chance to be in a minimum stimuli environment and with 6 adults and 2 kids all at my grandparents’ house that just isn’t possible.  It’s a 1.5hr drive with the kiddos twice a week, but we see it as worth it considering the sanity and the money we will save in the meantime.  Plus Ben joins us Friday night through Sunday afternoon so we are actually able to have some family time just the four of us.  It will be an adventure, but we will definitely be glad to be under one roof come November!

Fun part of packing :-)

First and last trip to Hymans Seafood

It was thrilling, lol

Picnic with Mamaw while they packed up the house

Watching PBS on the computer while they box up everything we own

Last family pic in SC

Alethea's first campfire at the lake

Our view at the lake. :-)

In other news beyond the move (even though it feels like that is all we did this month was prepare to move) Ben and I have been having fun focusing on fitness.  Since Ben was transitioning out of the Navy, his responsibilities were very limited which made for more time at home.  As a result we were able to do a lot of workout swapping and he even came up with some strength training exercises for me to do.  It has been fun to enjoy that similar hobby together.  Ben has been taking it to an even greater level than me and he has really started seeing some great results in his strength as well as how toned his figure is.  He has really revolutionized his muscle to body fat ratio!

Both kiddos have been troopers through all of the preparations.  They have pretty much just gone with the flow.  I will talk more about Declan in his monthly update, but as far as Alethea is concerned, she was just excited that moving meant Mamaw and Papaw came to town.  We have seen some normal 2yr old behavior, but nothing too crazy to deal with and I bet some of it will even slow down once our lives get a bit more back to normal.

She loves her magnadoodle

Ice cream date with Mommy

Moving can be exhausting

In the last part of the month we really focused on spending as much time as we could with good friends before we left and that meant as many play dates as I could fit in for Alethea too.  We had a ton of fun especially getting to go over and spend time with our good friends the Smiths.  Molly and Alethea are best buddies and it has been very sad to have to see them be separated by such distance.  Not to mention the fact that we will miss the whole family!  We are so thankful that God blessed us with the opportunity to get to know such good friends.  In fact we are going to miss all of our wonderful friends that we made in our four years in Charleston.

Alethea has blossomed into quite the song-bird.  Her favorite song to sing lately is the ABCs and she loves to sing it over and over at the top of her lungs.  I have been impressed with how well she does remembering all the letters.  She is speaking in full sentences, sometimes with content that seems way advanced for her, lol.  She is most definitely a sponge and is taking in everything around her.  I am amazed at the memory she has for concepts and the generalizations she makes about concepts.  We are thoroughly enjoying her vigor to learn, even if it means we wish we had ear plugs in the car. ;-)

Her motor skills, especially fine motor are still at an impressive level.  She seems to be so agile and able to conquer playground equipment beyond her years.  She has also gotten very good at puzzles.  She still often has to try pieces in a few places before finding the right location, but I have been impressed nonetheless. 

There is probably more to note about Alethea, but at this point I think it has emptied out of my brain in all the busy-ness, lol!  Guess I will have to catch up next month!

Declan is already 2 months old!

Weight: 13lbs 9oz

Height: 24.75 inches (definitely not the 23.5 the doctor measured, lol!)

Chunker Monker at the doctor

Clothing: He finally outgrew is NB take home outfit and he is pushing the limits of many of his 0-3 month and 3 month clothing.  He is actually starting to wear some 3-6 month and 6 month clothing, and they fit him quite well.  I can’t believe he is already getting so big!

In his handmade shirt that thankfully still barely fits. :-)

Diapers: He is still wearing cloth 24/7.  We have only been using our bumgenius and rumparooz diapers and I am actually thinking of trying to sell the ones I never really liked with Alethea anyway, but we shall see.  He is filling anywhere from 6-8 diapers a day.  Thankfully, he typically poops only after eating. J

Eating: He is still nursing like a champ.  It has been quite the adjustment to a different type of nursling compared to Alethea because he tends to only nurse about 10minutes total (occasionally more, but not often) and Alethea used to nurse for almost an hour every time.  I am definitely not complaining about that since he is still satisfied and it makes it easier to have a toddler around since he doesn’t nurse forever.  He has leveled out into eating mostly 6 times in a 24 hour period, with the exception of one day he slept all the way through the night and only nursed 5 times.  I quickly learned that he does not do well, and actually gets quite mad, if we try to nurse anymore often.  He is not a comfort nurser and is all business when it comes to feeding time, lol.  Thankfully he is still a happy baby despite.  His feeding schedule varies based on his sleeping, but an average day starts with nursing at 8:45/9am, 11/11:15am, 3:30/4pm, 5:30/6pm, 8pm, and one waking at night typically between 4 and 6am.

Chubby belly +

Double chin = He is getting plenty. :-)

Friendships: He is an incredibly happy kiddo (as long as he gets his desired sleep) and is always smiling.  Whenever Alethea is around, he is very fascinated by her.  He tracks her with his eyes for sure.  He has also taken quite the interest in Daddy.  It has been cute to see his stares and frequent smiles with he can see Daddy in sight.  Per usual, he loves to have me around too I guess, lol. J

Best buds

love this!

Daddy snuggles

Bedtime stories

Watching Mickey Mouse Clubhouse

Mobility: His head control is getting better and better each day.  Tummy time is becoming something he seems to enjoy more and more with each day.  He is actually starting to be able to raise his chest off the floor as well as his head.  It has been fun to see him finally a bit more motivated to rise up.  The strength has been there for a while, but the motivation has now followed suit.  There are times with he gets himself tipped way over to one side, but he has not quite taken the plunge to flip.  We have also seen an increase in his enjoyment of lying on his back to “play”.  I think now that he is more aware of his surroundings he can actually enjoy it.

Lounging in the Boppy on the floor

Sleeping: He still loves his sleep and is pretty much like clock-work.  We have a really hard time keeping him awake much longer than 1hr 15mins at a time.  If we go much longer than that, he definitely makes it clear he will not stand for it, lol.  As a result, there are days when he can take as many as 5 naps.  Typically, he only takes 3-4 though depending on how long he decides to make them.  A pretty typically sleep schedule is going to sleep at night 8:30/9pm, then waking to nurse sometime between 4am and 6am and going back to sleep until 8:45/9am.  He then tends to nap from 10:15am to 10:45/11:00am, from 12:15/12:30pm to 3:30/4pm, from 5/5:15pm to 5:45/5pm, and depending on the day, he will nap one last time from 7pm to 7:30pm.  On August 15^th into 16^th, he nursed at 8pm then went to sleep and didn’t wake again until 7:15am.  This was his first time sleeping one stretch through the night since he wasn’t interested in going back to sleep.  I will be glad when he sleeping one stretch at night regularly, but I don’t think he was quite ready for this since he was pretty cranky and off with his sleeping the following day.

Precious sleeping boy

Church was exhausting

Still great at napping in the Ergo, yay!

Snuggled in bed

Watching thunderstorms is exhausting

Playtime: His playtime is still pretty basic.  We try to have some tummy/back play time on the floor for at least a brief period shortly after each feeding.  Alethea loves to get on the floor with him for this time and he is usually thrilled with the company.  He also loves to simply sit propped up on the couch and watch Alethea play or observe what is going on in the room.  His absolute favorite is when one of us talks to him.  This is when we get the best wide mouthed, gummy baby smiles and coos that we love so much!

Lounging on the couch after church

He loves to just sit on the couch and observe

Teeth: Still no teeth, thankfully, but we are starting to see a lot more spit bubbles.  Not sure if that is just an enjoyment of a new skill or a result of pre-teething.

Random: He loves being outside and the sound of running water (both baths and rain).  Both of these things have a very calming effect for him.  He has an awesome double chin. J  He got to go to church for the first time this month and he did great.  We have developed a system of Ben snuggling him in the Ergo while he naps during the first half of the service while Ben stands in the back, then I take him out to nurse him when he wakes up and we rejoin either sitting with Ben or standing in the back depending on his altimeter preference.

Posing after church

:-)