Wednesday, March 26, 2014

ELEVEN MONTHS!

Little Porter was 11 months old yesterday! I know it's so redundant, but I completely can't believe how fast this year has gone by. My weekly emails about Paxton call him my preschooler instead of my toddler now and in exactly one month, I won't have a baby in the house. On the other hand, 11 months is fun. Porter is starting to show his real personality and walking and talking are on the horizon. 
Porter finally figured out pulling up this month. He has been pulling up to his knees for awhile but after pulling him up about 60 times in a row one day and making up a game where he repeatedly dropped stuff and said uh-oh, he decided to go for it. In true second child fashion, there are no pictures or videos of it happening...I didn't even see it. I was upstairs with Paxton and Jared yelled up that Porter pulled up on the stairs. He wasn't entirely sure it was a new thing. So he's doing that now which gives him a whole new playing field for knocking drinks over and stealing everyone's food...like today at our play group when he pulled up on a chair and stole Paxton's cupcake. 
Porter is not a performer. He doesn't do tricks or say words on command. He can say mama and dada and pah-pah (Paxton) and outside and up. Up is the only word he uses correctly because he would be happy being held pretty much constantly with the exception of a few lunges for remotes and phones. He says outside for Paxton. Paxton thinks it's so cool and has no idea that to Porter it is a completely meaningless word. It is really different and neat to have a kid with normal language skills. Paxton was always behind in these areas so I'm always pleasantly surprised when Porter repeats a new word. 
Porter has started pointing this month and likes to point at pictures in books like Paxton. He mimics a lot of things that Pax does. 
Porter is still a little cuddler and needs to be on his mama's lap when he's sleepy. When we put him in his crib, he pulls his blankie up to his face and it's the cutest thing ever. If I'm sitting on the floor with him, he likes to crawl onto my lap or crawl over my legs. 
He's getting a little temper. If he isn't getting what he wants (which is almost always food), he let's out an ear-piercing scream (that Paxton taught him). He repeats this until we give him what he wants. For the most part though, he's pretty easy-going. He is perfect in the car, on shopping trips, and at restaurants. There have maybe been three times total that he has caused any trouble at all when we have been in public. 
He is nursing three times a day and eating three meals a day. He takes two naps-usually 10-1 and 3-5. He has gotten pretty chubby lately and is completely in 12 and 12-18 month clothes. His hair is getting super long, his bangs are always in his eyes and he defintely has a little mullet in the back. 
He learned the "so big" trick this month which is one of our favorites. Paxton is trying to teach him high fives and bump it. He is a little vacuum and eats as much as Paxton and sometimes more. Every week at our play group he goes for someone's food. He has snuck a cookie, a cupcake, strawberries and a veggie stick. He eats a grown-up sized serving of spaghetti every time he gets a chance. He loves pasta, fruit (except strawberries), bananas and any jarred food. 
We are trying to soak up every last day of this sweet little boy's babyhood. 

And just for fun, here is a comparison picture of both boys at 11 months. They might have the same nose...

Sunday, March 23, 2014

PAXTON IS THREE!

Since Paxton couldn't have a birthday party this year, we wanted to give him a weekend full of his favorite things. 

We started on Friday morning. He crept downstairs while I was feeding Porter and opened his pile of presents that I had wrapped the night before. We came downstairs to a neatly stacked pile of board books and a movie and a brand new outfit still completely wrapped except the corner where he has peeked in. 
He has been talking about going back to Monkey Joe's since the last time we went, so that was the first place we went. We invited his friend Ben to come too. They had a blast following each other around and jumping and sliding. 
That night Paxton wanted hot dogs so we had our first cookout at our new house. 
The next morning was Paxton's actual birthday. He woke up to a floor covered in balloons. 
We came downstairs and he had his favorite breakfast (donuts and chocolate milk) and opened his presents from Mommy and Daddy. 
And his presents from GG. 
After some playing and Curious George, we got ready to leave. 
We took Paxton to Three Bears Acres to play. 
There was sand...
And a slingshot area....
And painting...
And toboggan sliding....
And jumping. 
We played until everyone was worn out and then headed home for naps. 
After naps, we let Paxton choose dinner. He picked Cici's. 
After dinner, it was time for the part Paxton was most excited about...CUPCAKES! He requested blue cupcakes and candles so that's what we did. 
He made us light the candles and sing happy birthday to him five times, but you only turn three once so we did. 

He kept saying he was having so much fun all day. I think he had a pretty amazing birthday. 

Thursday, March 20, 2014

Mornings

Mornings mean a chubby baby up way too early, nursing while Mommy tries to get a few more minutes of sleep. 
Mornings are a sleepy toddler, asking to get under the covers with his mommy and the stuffed animal of the day. Then as he wakes up, asking for lotion on his knees, mentholatum on his nose and the snow globe music turned on. 
Mornings are requests for happy meal (oatmeal) and a bath and to go to the park and Target before my feet have even hit the floor. 
Mornings mean brother cuddles and "I'm glad to see you!" and "baby Porter wants some yellow bananas". 
Mornings mean throwing on some clothes, spreading a blanket on the living room carpet and serving my boys a breakfast picnic while Curious George or Daniel Tiger plays. 
Mornings mean cuddly little boys who are still a little sleepy, wet diapers, cups of milk, staying in jammies as long as we can, stuffed animals sitting on the Elmo potty, questions about where Daddy is and if he's bringing home donuts or pizza, and iced coffee. 
Mornings are transitioning from being a night owl to a real morning person because I get to wake up to these two sweet-smelling, bed-headed baby boys. 

Thursday, March 13, 2014

March is Flying!

This month is flying by. It doesn't help that Jared is on his second work trip this month (third if you count a day trip to Virginia) and I've been single-momming it for way too many nights. 
The Elmo potty is out in full-force this month as we work to get Pax potty-trained before his third birthday. 
Porter likes to try to rip the lid off while Paxton is sitting on it. 

He has gotten so naughty lately. Jared thinks he's hilarious and I think it's funny too, but we defintely have our hands full with our littlest. He is obsessed with Scarlett's water bowl and will crawl straight to it at lightning speed no matter how many times I redirect him. He will watch Paxton carefully lining up his cars and wait until he's almost finished and then crawl over and fling cars everywhere. Paxton always laughs the first few times (he's such a sweet big brother) but he starts getting frustrated and tells Porter "no Porter, leave it alone" which is adorable. 
I took Paxton to a class my Mom's Group was hosting at Little Gym. He had a blast swinging from the bars and running around the mats. I think he would love a class like that. 
We finally made it back to Rise! This restaurant was part of the reason we decided to move here. We tried it when we came out last April and couldn't wait to come back. It's always way too busy on weekends so since Jared had a later flight this time, we decided to go back. 

We had two really happy little boys. 
Little Porter is growing up so fast all of a sudden. He waves and says "hi" all the time. He also has started saying "outside" which delights Paxton. They say it back and forth to each other all day long. Sometimes Pax will tell him "say outside" and Porter does and then Pax says "that's right! Outside!" 
He has also started saying "dada" and "mama", although he only says "mama" when he's eating, so I think it's supposed to mean "mmmm" but I have waited so long to hear it (since Pax called me dada forever and then Mimi when he was two and finally mommy in December) so I get excited every time anyway. 

I really can't get enough of watching them together right now. Paxton is so proud of Porter when he does anything new. If Porter is crying he will tell me "Porter needs a snack" or "Porter is so neepy" (sleepy). Porter loves Paxton too. He follows him everywhere and gives him the biggest smiles when he sees him. I love when they annoy each other and Paxton yells at Porter and Porter squeals right back. We are going to have our hands full with them. 

Sunday, March 2, 2014

February Wrap-up

We packed a lot of fun into a short month. 

We had a fun Saturday of donuts and playing at the Observation park at the airport. 
Paxton did not care as much about watching airplanes as we hoped he would, but both boys seriously enjoyed the donuts. 

We took the boys to Duke Park to take some nine month photos of Porter. 
We saw our house covered in snow again...
And got cabin fever and went to a new park even though there was still snow on the ground. 
Jared went on a work trip, so the boys and I kept busy by trying out another new park with our new friends. 
We went back to the Observation park before picking Jared up from his flight and even got to see Jared's plane land. 
The boys spent lots of free time hiding in this cabinet...
Jared took off work one Friday and we took the boys to Playnation. 
Paxton thought the slides were a little too fast for him, but he liked trying to climb the rock wall. 
We spent a beautiful Sunday playing at the beach at Falls Lake. 
And tried out the car carts at our grocery store. 
We had a really fun month. I think it helped us to feel more at home here to find some activities to try with the boys.