11 Months!!

Wow! Only one more month to go until August is 1 year old! This has been the fastest year ever! I was just thinking back on a year ago. I was HUGE!!!! And thinking that I would have him "any day"! Now, almost a year has gone by.....and the baby weight is still there :) This has been a wonderful month. It is amazing how much August has learned this month. I think that the biggest change that we can see is that he actually understands what we are telling him. We can ask him a question and he responds in his own wordless way. He loves to point at things. He will point to the clocks and says something that sounds like clock. We can ask him where the light is and he can point to them. His first official word is HOT! He will point at the fireplace, coffee cups, candles and oven and say HOT! He's not walking yet, but I bet if there was a contest out there for the fastest crawler he would win hands down! People comment all the time on how fast he is! He is getting really good at walking around furniture. He will walk if you are holding his hands. And....sigh.....he is into EVERYTHING! Bathroom doors have to stay shut, the pantry door has to stay shut and Darren put cabinet locks on this month! Another biggie this month is that August got his first haircut! I really wanted to wait until he was a year old but....Darren won that one :) I guess he really did need one, but I sure do miss those curls! What an amazing month that we have had here! Until next time....August loves to watch the washing machine and dryer. I find this comical because when I was a little kid you shut the door and just had to imagine what was going on inside! Now they come with windows!
A fast bath before Sunday meeting. August is going through a stage that he loves to feed himself but makes a huge mess and then likes to run his hands through his hair. He gets lots of baths! He's not complaining though
Found these glasses in Aunt Kylene's playbox. August thought they were just pretty cool!
We went to the ranch while we were in Texas. August had a good time hanging out in the swing and watching all the little boys run and play.
Cousins...Trace, Trevin, Caden, Colby, and August. Little Creed was there but not in this picture.
We forgot to bring hamburger flippers, so the guys all grabbed some type of utensil so try to flip burgers...none of them worked very well. Notice the ax blade?????
Paw-paw took the boys for a ride in the wagon. Trace, Trevin and August.
August loved riding on this school bus at mamaw's. He figured out how to go backwards pretty fast!
August loves playing the piano and was amazed at the organ.
Showing off how he can use a fork now....kindof. :) If you put the food on it, he will put it in his mouth. He actually likes to use a fork better than his fingers!
This is why I can't keep anything clean. I had just cleaned the oven and he comes over and licks it!!!!! Stainless steel and 11 month old boys don't go together very well.
Bye-Bye curls. I didn't get a before picture, so the deal is we have to let it grow out again so that I can get a picture! Ha Ha!
That's quite a bit of hair....sniff, sniff.....my boy is growing up!
August loves to sit in your lap and watch you play the piano. Every once in a while he will chime in but mostly likes to just watch. Here he is watching Brad Holman play!

10 Months!!

Once again, another month has gone by. Before we know it we are going to be celebrating August's 1st birthday! Am I ready for my baby to be one??? WOW! I have to admit that this month was a pretty stressful one. We started out the month with August having a 104.6 temperature. When I took him to the doctor he had a pretty bad ear infection so he was started on antibiotics. The ear infection really wiped him out for about 3 weeks. Of course, we started some pretty bad habits during this time....lots of holding and snuggling. He needed it of course...but now that he is better....he thinks that he still needs it :) One of the hardest things for us to deal with was him waking up several times a night screaming. I know, we are super spoiled around here. August has slept through the night since 7 weeks old. For him to be waking up in the night....that is normal for some people so I shouldn't complain. It is just hard when he wakes up several times and you have to get up at 4:30 in the morning to go to work for a 12 hour shift! Makes for some very long and exhausting days! Just this past week I think that August is finally feeling better. He is sleeping through the night and isn't so needy and is his happy go lucky self again. Its good to have him back. At times I wondered who snuck in our house and stole my baby and replaced it with a terror! :):):) August is now into EVERYTHING!!!!! Nothing is out of his incredible reach! That is one bad thing about have a tall kid...he can reach even the stuff that you think you are putting up high! He loves to play with anything but his toys and when you tell him NO, he turns and looks at you and laughs and keeps doing it! YIKES! I think that some serious discipline is in order here! August also has decided that he doesn't want anything to do with baby food anymore. He was going through about 4-5 jars of baby food a day and so I went to Babies R Us and bought 34 jars and the next day he decided that he was done! No more! So, he is now eating anything off our plate and if he can feed it to himself...the better! I am trying to teach him how to use a fork :) It's slow going right now...but he loves to do it. I got tired of hearing him scream when he was wanting some more so I taught him how to sign for more. He caught on pretty quick and it sure makes for a quieter meal! His favorite thing right now is puppies! He loves looking at puppies in books and he has several jammies that have puppies on them and he likes to point at them and make puppy dog sounds. Every day is a new adventure around here! August and Ava at their first halloween!
Mommy and August. The carrier worked perfect for going door to door. It was a nice night, a little on the cool side, but no snow!!! We went to about 15 houses and brought home lots of candy for mom and dad :) August liked to hold on to the basket and shake it up and down to hear the candy in it!
August the monkey!
August and Ava in their matching jammies
I believe that I have a picture of me doing this same thing at about this age. I can't do dishes without August being RIGHT there. I usually have to wait until he is napping to do dishes. I turned away for just a second and he had climbed up into the dishwasher.

August has figured out that he can play the piano by himself! It is great entertainment for him!
August is wearing the super cute outfit that Dan and Juliann gave him! Thanks! He is adorable in it!

Walking along the furniture.
I think that this picture is hilarious! I think he was trying to show off all his teeth! And his personality!
GREAT containment!
Eating his first pumpkin chocolate chip muffin. He really enjoyed it! And I had a big mess to clean up afterwards.
This is actually for August's first birthday but we decided to get it out early to see if he was already to big for it. He LOVED it! He was so intrigued by it I couldn't get him to even look at me for a picture. We put it up and will give it to him again on his birthday!

9 Months and ON THE MOVE!

I'm embarrassed about how long it has taken me to post this. I have been working on it for about a week, its been a crazy month for us here. Go, Go, Go....just like August! August turned 9 months old on the 14th. Where did 8 months go??? It definitely went fast! We spent this past month camping, going to Bird City Convention, to Texas to see Mamaw and Paw Paw, and to Greeley to see Grandma Joy. We were gone just about every weekend. August really does great travelling. In fact, he actually does better when we are going somewhere then when we are just sticking around the house. When I took him to his 9 month appointment he weighed in at 19 pounds which is in the 26%tile, and he is 30.8 in. long which is in the 98%tile. Even though he is not gaining a lot of weight the doctor is not worried because he is healthy and his growth curve is going up. He is just loooooooong and skinny. We totally skipped the 9 month clothes. We went straight to 12-18 month. They are HUGE in the waist but at least he is not preparing for a flood :) Our other HUGE accomplishment this month is CRAWLING!!!! YIKES! I thought that I was busy before. At the first of the month he was rocking on his hands and knees and then one day figured out that he could "army crawl" and boy was he fast. He did this for several weeks and then he finally started to crawl for real! Last week he learned how to pull up to his feet. He had been pulling up to his knees for some time but finally figured out how to get to his feet. The funny thing is that he would stand in one position forever because he didn't know how to get back down! After about 4 days of this he decided to try to move along furniture and now he tries to go from one piece of furniture to the other if they are close. He is moving along FAST! August now has 6 teeth. Four on the top and two on bottom. That means that he is LOVING real food that he can chew. He love cheerios and chicken! Oh yeah...and mammaw's homemade butter pecan ice cream! He is almost starting to prefer table food over baby food...which is fine with me :) This past week has been a little bit hard for August. He was so fussy at the beginning of the week which is odd for him and he was really clingy. Darren and I just thought that he was teething. Then two nights ago he woke up about 6 times during the night and just wouldn't sleep and was burning hot so we took his temp and it was 103. We took him to the doctor the next day and he has an ear infection. Yuck! His temp got up to 104 last night but this morning he is feeling much better. Hopefully those antibiotics will kick in quick! It is so hard to see your little one sick and hurting. It just breaks your heart. I thought that being a nurse would toughen me up a bit but when it comes to your own child its a whole different ballgame. We are having an amazing time here watching August grow and learn. And of course we are LOVING his big hugs and sloppy kisses!

This is at Hayden's birthday party when he finally learned how to army crawl. He thought it was the coolest thing ever!
August and great grandma Rene
Cousins!
Loving his laptop!
Funny face

August loves to play the piano. He loves to sit in Daddys lap and just listen and then bang a few notes here and there. We have to be careful about the times that we let him play because it is VERY difficult to get him away from the piano. He has thrown his biggest temper tantrums when we have taken him away from the piano. I hope that he doesn't outgrow his love for music!
Showing off his new winter hat!
STANDING to play
Now if I could only figure out how to get down!
August loved to watch the kitties at mammaw and paw paw's!
Mom, look at all these great toys that mammaw lets me play with...sweet potatoes, egg crate cartons, dish drainer...what else can I have????
August LOVED to give hugs and then wrestle with Pooh Bear
Eating mammaw's homemade butter pecan ice cream....can't believe that Daddy shared!
Boxes are great fun....




Eating pancakes...much to daddy's dismay!
Eating a twizzler.....no this is NOT a healthy snack and no we don't let him do this often :)