Perfect Timing...

Sometimes you just need some time away with friends...add the beach to that, and it is the perfect combination!  In June I was able to spend a weekend with my friends at the beach and it was absolutely wonderful...would not trade that time for anything!  Love these girls so much.

11 months...

Eating: Eating all table food...and loving it!  His favorites are sweet potatoes, blueberries and black beans.  He is taking 3 bottles a day, 8 ounces each.  Thankfully he has decided that he likes his formula again!  
Sleeping: 11-12 hours at night with two naps a day, two hours each.
Diaper: Size 3
Clothes: 12 months, a few 18 months

Watson loves playing with our master bedroom windows.  This may not seem like a big deal...and we didn't think it was either...until he broke our alarm system by messing with the window break sensors... Needless to say, they were VERY sensitive and went off every time Watson would play with the window.  We have it fixed, thankfully, but we definitely try to keep him away from the windows now :)

This little boy is definitely on the move, cruising all over the place when holding on to furniture.  He is also a VERY fast crawler - it is so funny when he gets his mind on getting somewhere quickly and takes off!

Opening and closing doors is still a favorite around our house - Watson does not like doors to be left open so he is always going around closing them...and ultimately closing himself in to closets, bathrooms, bedrooms, laundry room, etc. :)

Speaking of being closed in a bathroom...he found a new toy in there one day...the toilet paper.  He now LOVES hitting the toilet paper roll until ALL of the paper is off the roll and on the ground...

Pretty much anything he can get his hands on, he is in to.  It definitely keeps me on my toes and busy, but I would not trade it for anything!  He is ALL boy and I love it!  :)

We had some fun with shaving cream one day when it was raining outside...he loved it!

We made our first trip to the McWayne Center - can't wait to go back soon!

This month we went to the lake for Memorial Day weekend - it was a wonderful few days with my family...Watson is a waterbug for sure!

 This picture makes me laugh for so many reasons...

We also traveled to Orange Beach for Student Life Camp.  It was a work trip for Graham, but Watson and I were able to have fun and enjoy camp in between nap times :)  The team loved on Watson so much - he had a great time meeting new friends! 

Mothers Day...

I am a little late on updating this blog but I wanted to make sure I posted a picture from Mothers Day!  I had a wonderful first year celebrating being Watson's mommy.  We spent Mothers Day weekend in Oklahoma so we were able to celebrate Graham's mom and stepmom as well...we were happy to spend the day with them!

For as long as I can remember I have wanted nothing more than to be a mom.  Though told by doctors that I would have a difficult time getting pregnant due to some health issues, the Lord was beyond gracious in blessing us with the precious gift of pregnancy and our beautiful baby boy.  The past 10 months with him have been the best 10 months of my life.  It is amazing to me how much I learn every single day just from being a mom and spending time with Watson.  I think more than anything, being a mom has given me an even deeper glance and understanding of the love that Christ has for His children.  To think that the love that I feel for Watson does not even begin to compare to the love that Christ has for me, truly blows my mind.  Oh how I pray that I parent Watson with Godly wisdom and that more than anything else he will see in his mommy a love for the Lord above all else!

10 Months...

Words cannot express the JOY that Watson brings to our family.  He is such a sweet, funny, cuddly, ACTIVE, curious little boy that keeps me and Graham on our toes every single day :)  I feel like this month has been a turning point in his personality where we are really beginning to see him bloom in so many different areas.  I cannot wait to see what the future holds for this sweet boy. 

Weight: 22lbs
Size diaper: 3
Eating: Watson officially hates his formula.  Hate is a strong word, but it accurately describes the way he feels about his bottles these days.  He is supposed to be getting a minimum of 24oz a day....but it is a struggle to get him to take more than 12-15oz a day...on a good day.  Not really sure what to do about this - we've tried just about everything I can think of!  We typically do 4 bottles a day to try and get as much in him as possible, but sometimes we have to squeeze an extra bottle in before nap times.  He LOVES food though - that's for sure.  He is done with baby food...I still try to give it to him occasionally, but he definitely prefers table food.  He does do well with the Sprout baby food pouches, though.  He has also figured out how to use his sippy cups so he loves drinking water out of those. 
Sleeping: Two naps a day (1-2 hours each) and 12-13 hours at night.  He loves his sleep :)

This month Watson has been going through some pretty strong separation anxiety.  He does not like to be left alone...especially without his mommy.  He has started crying when left in the nursery at church, but his teachers say he is fine after a few minutes so that is good. 

Towards the end of this month Watson started crawling more consistently on all fours.  He does still prefer the army crawl, though, especially when trying to get somewhere quickly.

His favorite thing to do...alllll day...is play with doors, drawers, and cabinet doors...anything that he can open and close is his favorite.  We can place him in front of our dvd cabinet and he will play for forever...kind of nice when trying to get some things done around the house!

The only toys he consistently plays with are stacking cups, his walker, and books.  He still enjoys his exersaucer as well...but only for short periods of time :) 

We had our first trip to the pool. The water was still pretty cold so he couldn't get in but he enjoyed sitting on the first step and splashing in the water and playing with some toys.  I think he will like it much more when he can actually get in.  

Watson is VERY attentive to everything going on around him at all times.  He is very curious and wants to figure everything out.  I love this about him and hope this continues into his school years as well! 

Bath time is always fun - he loves splashing and playing with the faucet.  He has figured out how to stand next to the tub and turn the water on and off which always makes him laugh :)

He is definitely a squealer - a LOUD squealer!!

Watson still loves playing with his cousin Abby.  No one can make him laugh quite like she can - they are precious together.  They laugh, play, wrestle...and then fight when they want to play with the same toy.  It took him a while, but he has finally discovered Hampton and is very curious about him.  He always wants to pull up on to his bouncy seat or rock and play and check in on him.  It's so sweet though because it almost always makes Hampton smile.

Watson is still incredibly active.  He pulls up on absolutely everything and plays pretty rough with anything he can get his hands on.  He falls about 10 times a day...usually 2 or 3 of those resulting in a minute or two of screaming and cuddles with mommy...then back to playing.  He is most definitely all boy!!!

9 months...

We have had a wonderful month with Watson - I cannot believe he is 9 months old!  To think that he is only 3 months away from his first birthday is unbelievable....time truly does fly by! 

Weight: 20lbs 13oz
Height: 29 1/2" - he has grown like a weed since his 6 month appointment! 
Size diaper: 3
Eating: We are transitioning from 4 to 3 bottles a day (8oz each).  We are also in the process of introducing finger foods...slowly :)  I am hypersensitive to him choking on anything so it is a slow process, but he is loving absolutely everything he has tried!  Avocado, sweet potato, mango, carrots, banana, etc.  He was a little iffy on peas at first, but he is getting the hang of them now :)  For breakfast he has a baby food fruit.  For lunch he has a veggie and a fruit...one or both of which are finger foods.  For dinner he has a baby food veggie (sometimes with a meat) and finger food veggies. 
Sleeping: 1-2 naps a day around 1-2 hours each....sometimes 2 1/2 hours or so if he only takes one nap.  12-13 hours at night...this boy loves his night time sleep!

We unfortunately spent way too much time at the doctor this month.  Well really just last week...but it seemed to have lasted forever... Watson came down with a double ear infection, stomach virus, and fever virus...All.  At.  The.  Same.  Time.  This had us at the doctor, after hours, and ER...twice.  One of those ER visits was for a 104.6 fever and the other was for W to get fluids for dehydration.  If any of you have ever had a dehydrated baby you know how scary that is - oh how I hope we never walk down that road again!  Praise God he is feeling MUCH better and back to his normal self again!! 


W is loving his toys still - especially books and plastic Easter eggs...who knew?!  He also really, really loves playing in this large box...

He has officially perfected the army crawl and is FAST!  I read that some babies never crawl with their tummy off the ground if they prefer the army crawl.  We shall see!

Lately he has started pulling up - on everything!  He gets so proud of himself when he pulls up and stares at us with this sly grin until we look over at him and acknowledge that he pulled up.  His curiosity gets the best of him all the time...but especially now that he is pulling up.  He wants everything on the ottoman, side tables, couch, chair...everything :)  Needless to say our house seems to be becoming more and more bare every day!  

This past week he started clapping and is so excited every time he does it.  Kind of like with pulling up...he keeps clapping until we say "Yay!" and clap with him...which is always followed by a big grin. 

 

Speaking of grin...we still have no teeth!  I love his little gummy grin, but I am ready for some teeth to pop through because poor baby is definitely in the process of getting them.  This is made very evident by the amount of drool and fussiness that we have experienced over the past week :)

As far as dislikes...really the only thing this boy dislikes is being alone.  We can always count on a good cry when he is put down for a nap or if we walk out of the room for even a second.  Lately at night he has fallen asleep with his bottle, but he will wake up an hour or so later and realize he is alone and start screaming....which often results in one of us going back upstairs to put him back to sleep... We are trying to let him cry it out some...but I'm just not always the best at that...

We are loving the warmer weather - Watson really enjoys being outside, so I can't wait to get him down to the lake and beach soon!  Graham and I have been spending a lot of time working on the outside of our home lately.  I'll do a post about that once it's complete - but we look forward to spending more time out there now that it is warm and pretty! 

Easter...

Watson's first Easter was not exactly the way I had envisioned...  Saturday night I got his outfit all pressed and ready to go, Graham and I had planned to get up early enough to look at W's Easter basket with him, get ready for church, and get there early as we knew the particular service we were going to would be packed.  W went to bed and I got his (and Graham's) basket all put together and set out on the table...and went to bed excited to spend the next day celebrating the resurrection of Christ and spending time with our family.



Well...in the middle of the night, Watson woke up crying, coughing, runny nose, fever...never a good combo with a little boy that has gotten croup and ear infections often lately.  We knew that we would not be making it to church in the morning but hoped to make it to mom and dad's for lunch with the family.  Poor baby grew progressively worse throughout the morning and day...landing us in the after hours that afternoon, ER that night, dr's office Monday morning, and ER Monday night.  A double ear infection, fever virus, and stomach virus got the best of our baby and he in turn became dehydrated (which is why we were in the ER Monday night).  It was the scariest thing...oh how I pray that we will NEVER be in that situation again!  Praise God that after getting his fluids, some zofran, and his antibiotic, he was doing better and after several days, he was finally back to his normal, happy, smiling self!  So...not how I planned on Easter going, but silly me for thinking I could plan something out :)

Graham was so sweet to let me go to lunch at my parents that afternoon (this was before Watson got really bad) so I was able to get some pictures with my family which I am always thankful for.  I was also able to spend some time with both of my grandfathers which is always special time for me.

My uncle Mike, Dabado, and Mom

 

About as typical as it gets...

I love my mom for many reasons,but this is one of those...

   









This is probably my favorite picture of the whole day.  How beautiful is she?!

 The day before Easter our neighborhood had an Easter party for all of the kids - Mel and her family joined us for it, and there was even a surprise visit from the Easter Bunny!