Wednesday, August 26, 2015

Tuesday, August 18, 2015

Sullivan at 9 Months

Here we are, already at 9 months. Three-quarters of the way through Sullivan's first year of life. I say it every time I post an update, but oh my, where do the days go? And yet, some days are just so, so long. And yet, the years are way too short. Nine months is a great age. I kind of want to pack Sully up in a shoebox and keep him this way forever.

He is so perfect, this little man. With his red hair and chubby cheeks, he can turn on the charm in an instant. His smiles are as endless as his tubby thunder thighs and he has a way about him that can turn your day around the instant you get ahold of him. He almost makes me want more babies...almost. But, let's be honest, there's only one Sully in this world and there's no chance in heck I'll get another one just as mild as he is. So we are done. DONE. Did you hear that, Nana? Done.

But back to Sullivan. He's kind of the best baby ever. I know what you're going to say, and yes, I AM biased, but it only takes 5 minutes of hanging with the dude to see he's pretty spectacular. He is always smiling. He can entertain himself. His favorite thing to do these days is to wave "bye, bye." He has the most beautiful hair and those eyes...those eyes. Someone commented that he should be a Gap baby. I can't honestly argue with that one. He'd kill it with his on demand smiles and perfect attitude.

The only thing he doesn't get an A+ on is sleeping through the night. He's holding strong at 4-5 hour stretches and I'm pretty used to it at this point, but I sure wouldn't complain if I happened to get a few 7 hour nights in here or there. It will come, eventually. The lack of solid sleep hasn't taken anything from his personality though so I'm hardly complaining.

At 9 months Sullivan:

- weighs ___ and is ___ long. (I will fill in the blanks after his 9 month check up) Wears 12-18 month clothing. 
- is crawling everywhere, pulling up to a stand and gracefully sitting back down, climbing one stair at a time and loves to explore. I often find him by himself in some random corner of the house, playing with something inappropriate (he loves cables, cords and plugs)
- eats like a horse. Typically eats twice as much as his big sister at every meal. Enjoys everything we've ever given him (which is a lot) and especially enjoyed the pierogis we gave him last week. Other favorites include pancakes, waffles, eggs, avocado, meatballs, pasta, peas, blueberries and corn.
- loves to wave hello and goodbye. Says bye bye and dada.
- has 1/4 of his two lower front teeth visible and buds on his upper two.
- falls asleep as soon as he's in the car seat. every time.
- loves his little wooden zebra clapper. I mean loves it.
- loves Summit.
- tolerates a lot from his big sister. She crawls on him, knocks him over, drags him across the floor and takes all of his toys away from him in a way that most older siblings do and he generally smiles through all of it. Payback is coming though.
- started drinking water out of a sippy cup.
- speaking of water, he loves it! Bath tubs, lakes, pools, he's a little water bug and loves to splash and play.
- like his sister, loves to put everything in his mouth. he pooped out a small elastic band the other day.
- has a two and a half year old sister. he's definitely the "easy" child.
- nicknames include Sully, Sully burger, Sully boy, Sully baby, baby Sully, little bug and baby smelly

It's not always rainbows though, sometimes these two gang up on us. It's a good thing they are cute.

 Looking for a flashback? Here's Cece at 9 months.

Family Photos - June 2015

We had these photos done in June. They were a mother's day gift for my mom and included my brother's family. Even though Cece was a hot ticket this day, it was nice to capture all of us in a photo, something that doesn't happen too often these days. Props to Melissa of Melissa Wagner Photography for capturing these. It was not easy!

Tuesday, August 11, 2015

Summer Vacation 2015

We got back from this trip more than a month ago so I suppose it's about time I blog about it. Is it just me or is summer flying by! How is it mid-August already? Yeesh.

In early July we packed up the kids, the cousins and Nana and Gramps and headed up to the Lake George area of the Adirondacks for a week of fun in the sun rain. Despite it being July, it was rainy and cold for 75% of the week. Super fun when you're camping. But we made the best of it and no matter what the weather does, a week away with family is still an adventure.



Like last year we rented a small cabin on a lake in southern Maine. This year we also brought our pop-up camper and along with my brother's family, set up camp in the woods behind the house. Both kids did great sleeping in the camper. Cece spent most nights sleeping on one side with James and Sully of course snuggled up to me so that he could nurse on demand. Lucky kid.

We spent most days just hanging around the lake, doing a little boating, a little fishing and a lot of hanging around in the cabin to escape the cold and rain (yes, that fire is to keep us warm!).

We visited Lake George, visited trains and played mini golf for (Cece's) first time. We hit up all the local ice cream shops and spent a few days doing various day hikes. Cece really loved hiking and did really well walking on her own up and down tricky terrain.

Summit had fun too.

The weather could have been nicer but the company we kept was the best. Can't wait to start planning for next year's vacation!