Wade is 12 Months Old

 I can hardly believe that Wade turned one last month.  This year just been a blur watching McCord and Wade grow up.  And speaking of a blur, Wade is all over the place.  He's an incredibly efficient and fast crawler, and he is quite the explorer!  One of his favorite things to do is crawl around and explore a new space.  He loves it when you stand him up on his feet and give him something to hold onto.  He's trying to figure out how to take a step while holding onto you, and every now and then when he's successful, he's so proud of himself.  He also LOVES his brother.  Wherever McCord is, Wade is closing in, trying to get into whatever Big Brother is doing.  Watching, observing, and loving everything that McCord does and is.

Bo and I've enjoyed talking about the differences of McCord and Wade at this age, and one thing's for sure: Where McCord was shy, conscientious, and quiet, Wade is all loud, rough, tough, and fast.  All the things that you think of when you think of boys.  He's all boy, but he's one of the most affectionate babies I can imagine.  He is such a lover and a flirt.

My favorite activity with Wade is laying on the bed together after we've bathed the boys and gotten them in their pjs.  Bo takes McCord to his room to tuck him in, while Wade and I have a sweet mama-son moment.  He loves to crawl all over me, and then he gets really close, puts his face right up to mine, and grabs my cheeks so he can kiss me.  Of course he doesn't quite know what he's doing, and drool goes everywhere, and sometimes I can't breath for all of the baby in my face, but I look forward to these sloppy gestures of affection from my youngest son every night.  

First trip to the zoo - June 2013 - we fed the giraffes

McCord showing Wade how to feed them

This gentile giant loved Wade

We had an early cupcake party for McCord at preschool since Mc has a summer birthday.  Here's a picture I took of Bo and Wade having a little moment while all of the older kids were doing storytime.  I love looking at these sweet guys and I also love that Bo is sitting in a tiny preschool chair. 

My mother in law took this picture, and this is one of the differences between our two boys.  Mc would never fall asleep on me, but I love that Wade will still take a nap on my shoulder.

Hiking at Kings Mountain - this was a really great weekend, and I love that this photo looks like a scene from a storybook, because that is sort of how the whole weekend felt.

Happy Birthday Wade!

Wade is 11 Months Old

Oh dear!  How did this happen?  Wade is 11 months, but in just 7 days he'll be a year old!!!

 

 



Wade and his maple and Mc hanging out in the background without pants.  We're normal, right?

As ususal, I'm late, late, late to make his monthly post. Here are a few snapshots of Wade at 11 months old and a few that I wanted to include from 10 months.



This year Wade attended his first Come-See-Me festival. We are so incredibly thankful for our city and all of the volunteers who plan, organize, and implement Rock Hill's annual festival. It is really an incredible experience, and we are truly blessed to live in a town that does so much for its residents and visitors.

One of our favorite festival activities is the picnic lunch at Glencairen Gardens with musical performances.  The boys and I packed a lunch and made this a daily activity.  This is also where Wade got a taste of his fist goldfish cracker. You can see the remnants of it here.  Little guy loves a goldfish!

Bo picked up lunch and joined us on Thursday.

We had a little shin-dig at our house for the final night of Come-See-Me.  I put the boys to work.

Bo helped coordinate and participate in a bed race for a local non-profit (all part of Come-See-Me).  Participants literally built beds on wheels and raced them down the street.  It sounds strange, but it was oddly entertaining.  His team didn't place, but their 60s-themed volkswagon van turned bed on wheels looked groovy being pushed down Main Street by a bunch of hippies. 

Here we are at our next stop on the same day, "Everything Trucks," an event where the city brings in all sorts of trucks that children can climb in and honk the horns.  This is the second time we've attended this event, and it is so much fun for kids and adults both.  Here we are sitting in the very truck that picks up our garbage every Tuesday. When I asked him if our house was on his route, he said, "Oh yeah, I know exactly where y'all live..."  I felt pretty convicted that we produce way too much trash for a family of four.  Needless to say, we thanked him profusely for picking up after us!



Beware: you are about to see pink overload in the next few images, but Bo and the boys were all wearing pink on the same day and they were all just so cute!  I had to take pictures.

These two are quite a pair!

At the Winthrop baseball game, celebrating Bo's birthday. Wade attended his first game at just a couple of days old, and now here he is again at almost a year. 

Trying out sweat bands as knee pads

This little guy has been busy-busy this month.  Here are some of the highlights:

• Crawling like a maniac and pulling up -- the crawling started at10 months, and the pulling up is a newly developed skill. Favorite things to crawl toward: dogfood and shoes and he loves to put both in his mouth.  Ever vigilant, we are with this crawling babe.
• The other day, Bo was getting him dressed in his pjs after bathtime, and Wade kept rolling over on his belly and crawling likity-split to the other side of the bed. Bo said getting Wade dressed is "kind of like putting pants on a slug!" and it's so true.  I've never known a baby who's such a challenge to dress or change a diaper.  His wrestling moves are out of this world!   This little guy is a wiggly, pudgy, chunky slug! 
• At 10 months Wade started saying Mama and Dada and McCord loves to hear Wade talk.  Earlier this evening, Wade was standing at one of his toys pushing buttons and watching it light up and make noise.  He was squealing and speaking jibberish - so proud of himself.  Mc walked over to him and said, "Are you talking Wade?" Sometimes I'll ask Mc what he thinks Wade's saying and Mc's answer is always the same, "...hummmm...he says he wants to go to the park!"
• He was doing a great job eating his veggies, but a couple of weeks ago, I let gave him a goldfish, and it's been all over since then.  This little guy refuses to eat anything other than something cracker-related.  Goldfish, Ritz crackers, and Club mini crackers are his 3 food groups. 

My first Mother's Day with two little boys

Wade is 10 months old

...in fact, he'll be 11 months this week (!) so I'm squeezing this post in just in the nick of time.

What a wonderful month 10 months has been! It is so hard for me to believe that Wade will be 1 year old in just a little over a month.  I am having a really hard time with that.  I love the baby phase so much I'm having a hard time letting go.  Every day I get sentimental about this little one who is growing up way too fast.

Wade's monthly picture standing next to his maple.  We tried to convince Mc to take the picture with us, and this was the best we got!  This was Easter morning - Wade's first Easter, and he had a low grade fever, so he stayed home with Daddy while Mc and I went to church.  

On our way to his first official Easter egg hunt - a rainy day moved our hunt indoors at church. 

Poor little guy - this is where we realized he wasn't feeling very good.  He clung to Bo while McCord participated in the egg hunt. 

Wade's favorite foods are sweet potatoes, squash, and carrots.  Mc loves to feed Wade and always tells me, "save me that last bite!" 

Mc spent a couple of days with his grandparents over his spring break, and Wade was an only child for a couple of days.  Here he is pretty pleased with himself getting strolled around in the single stroller and loving a slower pace and lots of extra attention.

Wade is 9 months old

At the maple, 9 mos.  Wade's fist snow!

Bo snapped this photo with my phone without me knowing, and I'm so glad he captured this moment of Wade, freshly bathed and ready for bed.  He is especially cuddly at this moment in the evening, and I soak it up nightly.  

Hanging out at the playground is lots of fun these days!

Wade does this thing with his hands when he's especially smitten with something.  And sometimes I can't help myself, I just have to nibble on those chubby fingers!

A few highlights from the past month: 

- At 9 months old, you've been out as long as you were in

- Wade is growing a new tooth on the bottom (four on top and almost 3 on bottom!)

- Sweet potatoes top the list of favorite foods with carrots a close second

- He's working on crawling, but to be fair, he's a much better scootcher

- I'm pretty sure his favorite color right now is orange, because I see him repeatedly reaching for orange toys over other colorful items

- This month, Wade began sleeping through the night!  Hooray, time to celebrate!  It's been a long time since I slept 8 consecutive hours at night - especially since I didn't sleep while I was pregnant with Wade. And here we are, 18 months later, loving every restful second. 

-The past few nights, Wade has bathed without a baby tub - he just sits in the big tub with his brother now.  He seems to really like having free access to all of the bath toys.

- McCord has started a little game he loves to play at nap time called, "Hey Wade!"  I put Wade in Mc's bed before tucking Mc in for a nap, and McCord gets in Wade's face and says "Hey Wade! Hey Wadey!" And Wade just loves it - arms and legs flailing everywhere.  Then he starts reaching for McCord and McCord starts laughing. It's a special moment between brothers.  My heart doubles in size every time I witness their little game. 

- Wade's been enjoying his Kindermusik class and loves music.  He especially likes it when we sing the blessing "God our Father" or play his Kindermusik CD in the car. 

- Sometimes I think Wade was supposed to have wings instead of arms.  He gets so excited about things, that his arms just start flapping as if he's a bird.  At bath time, I love to hold his naked, rolly self up in the air and "fly" him into the bathtub.  He gets so excited about his bath, and those arms and legs are pushing the air furiously as he is trying to get to the tub as fast as he can.  He looks like a little cherub sending love and slobbery kisses to all in his path.  

  

Wade is 8 Months Old

Wade will be 9 months old in a week and a half, so here I am trying to squeeze his 8 month post in before it's too late!

One thing about Wade: Wade hugs back.

I've never known a baby to be so cuddly.  Wade is such a lover - grabbing your face and hair to pull himself closer to you.  He loves to press his face into your neck - and he doesn't discriminate - he shares his love with whomever is holding him. Wade has been scootching backwards all throughout our house.  I put him down to practice crawling a couple of times a day, and before long, he's backed himself up against a wall somewhere.  I'll find him as happy as a clam, hanging out underneath a chair, under the dining table, or under the ottoman.

I think I will remember 8 months as the Month of the Mouth.  I'm not sure if it's because he has 4 teeth coming in on top at the same time (so he's more aware of his mouth now), but just recently Wade's been very curious about other people's mouths.  If I am nursing him or rocking him to sleep, he has to put his fingers in my mouth.  It's sort of like a prerequisite.  He'll just hang onto my teeth until he falls asleep - I am fully aware of how weird this sounds, but it's become so normal around here.

Winthrop played PC a few weeks ago, and we squeezed Wade into this onesie all in the name of school spirit!

Children's Museum

Wade and Bo standing in front of Wade's Maple, 8 mos. 

This is just for my memory - an audio of Wade's voice.  I had just finished nursing him and here he is having a big conversation with me.  Love this sweet little voice!