Silly mommy...you forgot to post the 11 month update!

With Alexander's first birthday only four days away, I never did the 11 month update. Things have been pretty crazy with our family these last two months, but it looks like everything is moving in the right direction. On October 28th, Alexander took his first steps. Andrew was not there to see it, but Alexander proudly showed off to Daddy when he got home. In only a short few weeks Alexander is now trying to run with the older boys at daycare, and has a lot of bruises to show for it. I love seeing how proud he is of himself when he walks on his own. Alexander is becoming a lot better with feeding himself, and a champ with sippy cups! We have made the transition over to whole milk with no issues and Alexander seems to love his milk, which makes Mommy happy. Andrew and I gearing up to celebrate Alexander's first birthday with our families. There will be plenty of pictures to come over the next week. 


We hope every one has a wonderful Thanksgiving!

Avery Chase turns two!

Our niece Avery turned two today, so we naturally celebrated with an Elmo themed party. The birthday girl seemed to have a great party, but quickly loss focus on opening her presents. She loved the gift her Uncle Chad gave her, and decided that I needed to open it up for her to play with. Alexander was happy it was opened up too, because he quickly started to play with the toys as well. We sang Happy Birthday to her, and then we had to cut into the cute Elmo cake that my sister's friend made for Avery. The cake looked and tasted great! I now know how to make a Elmo birthday cake if we ever need another one! Here are the pictures from today:

Apple Picking

Andrew and I had decided that we wanted to go apple picking this year as a family, in hopes this would become a new tradition for our family. We decided to go to Styer's Orchard since they had the Stayman apples we were after for pie baking. Alexander decided that eating the apple was more fun than picking it, and Andrew did a great job on getting a whole bucket full of apples for us. We then took Xander over to see the painted pumpkins. We were not there too long today, but we did have a great time. Here are some pictures of our trip:

What a strong baby I have!

Alexander decided to show us just how strong he is today. He decided to push his two year old cousin in her toy car. She loved being pushed around and he was so proud of himself! Sorry for the clip being sideways.

10 months

10 months old already, where does the time go Alexander? Alexander is close to walking on his own, he continues to crawl faster everyday and can now stand without holding on to anything. He looks more like a little boy than a baby each day. I can't believe we will be celebrating your birthday in two short months! You loved eating Mommy's birthday cake, and made a mess doing so. I can't wait to see what you will look like at your birthday! You are learning to do more each day and it is great to see the changes happen.

• You are starting to love having Mommy and Daddy read your books to you. You like to skip the pages so you can look at the pictures.
• You are becoming a pro with a sippy cup.
• You love to push your walking toy around the whole apartment and are so proud of yourself. 

• You have become tired of the pureed baby foods and only want to eat foods you can feed yourself, but you are still letting Mommy spoon feed every once in a while. 

Just some pictures!

 Mac and Cheese is so yummy...but very messy!

 Just playing with my toys

Crashing my tractor into the wall!

9 Months

For a change of pace, the 9-month status post is going to be written by the father of the munchkin.

I can't hardly believe that it's been 9 months already! Xander started off as a small, sleepy, slimy little newborn and grew. And grew. And is still growing. 9 months later he's grown about 9 inches and 16 pounds. That would put him at 24 pounds, 10 ounces and 30 inches tall! He's gone from quiet and docile to bright-eyed and rambunctious.

It's amazing to watch how fast he is developing too. Only a few months ago we were watching him on a daily basis to see when he would roll over from his back to his stomach. Now it seems like he's learning a new trick, or perfecting an old trick every day. Tonight he climbed on top of a bottle of laundry detergent so he could get on top of a large box of diapers. Yesterday he pulled our large, heavy stock pot off a shelf with only one hand. The day before that he played happily on the floor of the shower, ignoring the water raining onto his head and dripping across his face. A week ago the water in the face would have freaked him out, but now he's dealing with it like a champ.

Any day now we're waiting for him to say his first word or take his first step. Don't be surprised if the 10-month blog post contains joyous news about both those two things! I know I wouldn't be surprised in the least if they both happened tomorrow.

The last big hurdle that we need to cross as a family is the nighttime routine. Nine months later, and adorable little Xander is still not sleeping through the night. Nine months. Thats about 270 days without getting a solid eight hours. It's trying, and as a family it's something that's been a burden. However, there is light visible now at the end of the tunnel. Where putting him down to sleep has been a huge fight in months past, in recent weeks he's been much more subdued and willing. He's been getting better at soothing himself, and putting himself back to sleep when he startles awake. He's been eating much less during his midnight feedings than he used to. I sincerely think that we're coming to a point when we're all going to be getting a complete night's sleep on a regular basis. Cross my fingers and my toes.

Fatherhood has been a pretty fantastic experience so far, and I wouldn't trade it for anything in the world. Nine months with the little guy has given me some great memories that I will cherish forever:

• Riding with Xander down the lazy river in Sesame Place
• Taking him to the beach to experience sand and waves for the first time
• Watching him sit on the floor, laughing hard and loud about things I may never understand
• Sleeping on the couch with him—a hot sweaty lump—asleep on my chest.
• Sneaking him little bits of food. Everything from bits of chicken and cornbread, to cookies, brownies, and a little bit of root beer. It's amazing to thing that he's tasting every new thing for the first time in his entire life.

This past nine months has been absolutely amazing, even though it hasn't always been easy. I'm definitely looking forward to the next nine, which promise to be even better. 

Hanging out with Daddy at Sesame Place!

Playing at Sesame!

Hi Mommy!

Showing off my new trick...I can climb onto the end table.

Look Mommy and Daddy I found a new way to use the exersaucer!

Acting silly with Mommy

Our first vacation as a family of three!!

We had our first vacation as a family of three from July 2nd through the 10th. We headed to Delaware for a day and then onto Corolla North Carolina, in the Outer Banks. It was a great first vacation for us, and we can't wait for another one next year!

On Friday July 2nd we headed down to Mommom Whitworth's farm for the day, and stood the night. The trip down was full of traffic and made it an unhappy time for Alexander. He was all smiles once he was out of the car and in Mommom's house. We were able to see a lot of our family while there. We were also there when Tracey announced that she was pregnant! Alexander had a great time at Mommom's and would just smile and giggle at her when ever she looked at him.

We woke up our normal time on Saturday so we could pack the car back up and head south to the Outer Banks. This trip should have taken us 3 and a half hours to 4 hours, but it ended up taking us 8 hours of driving and a 1 hour lunch break. Alexander hated this car ride, and to be fair so did I! Traffic onto the island was miserable since it was a holiday weekend and start of a new vacation week. We finally made it to our house at 7 at night. After feeding Alexander, a quick trip to the grocery store and dinner with the family we headed to bed early.

Sunday July 4th we took Alexander down to the beach. He put his toes in the sand and let the water hit his legs. He studied the ocean for a long time, and then decided that it was better to go nap on Nana. Alexander then went into a big pool for the first time as well, he didn't like it too much. Alexander didn't make it up for the fireworks on his first 4th of July, but at least the fireworks didn't wake him up either!

The rest of the week was relaxation, swimming in the pool, heading to the beach, and night walks on the beach. Alexander loved the pool the second day, and couldn't get enough of it for the rest of the week. By our last day on the beach Alexander loved the water and the sand. He probably ate too much sand for Mommy's liking, but he had fun rolling in it.

Jaclyn, Sean, Avery, Andrew and I were lucky enough to go on a guided tour to see the wild Spanish Mustangs of Corolla. We saw about 8 or 10 wild mustangs and even some deer. The off roading on the beach was an interesting experience.
Avery loved it and got excited when she saw the mustangs for the first time! It was too bad that Alexander was too small for this trip, but we will have to just go back down to Corolla another year so we can take him to see the horses.

Here are pictures from our trip:

Alexander's first time in the ocean!

Studying the water and the sand.

Napping on Nana instead of playing in the sand.

Playing in the pool with Daddy.

Mommy's turn to have me!


I like my baby pool much better!


Playing in the sand

Pictures with Mommy and Daddy at Sunset on the beach



Two pictures of Andrew and I from our trip to see the mustangs.