Pictures

I went ahead and took Wade for his 1 year old pictures today. They turned out pretty good, of course no big smiles but that is typical for our sweet boy. Here is the link to the pictures!

http://www.picturepeople.com/sso/publishconfirm.sso?data=VPJGnVb4mJt%2fGWGc9G1OUnmMM5JTHG4RzQALmcplqINZesisT6Q2lNUTK6VcsAId

Schedule

I know things are going to be so crazy with Wade's birthday this week and I thought I would love to look back and see what his schedule was like when he was 1. My mom thinks I am crazy but we have had Wade on a schedule since he was 3-4 months old and I love it. He knows what our days are going to be like and I know what to expect as well. Wade is doing so much these days and does something new every day. Today he has mastered holding up one finger when we ask him how old he is going to be. (He does not do this everytime we ask but occasionally he will.) It is too cute. He is making a cow sound, lion sound and trying to do the pirate sound. I was in Greenville last Thursday to meet with some girlfriends for lunch and there was a Pirate flag hanging at the restaurant and he made the Pirate sound. I was amazed. He is very familiar with "pirate" things because we all have pirate shirts, cups etc. I will do a post closer to his birthday with everything else he is doing but I knew I may forget these things. Here is his schedule these days. He has probably been on this schedule since about 4 months or so when I dropped his night time feeding. The only thing that has changed is that he used to get up between 5-530am to breastfeed but has not done this but a couple of times since we stopped nursing.

7-8am: Wake up (just depends on the day what time he gets up- some rare days he will sleep until 830am)

8:15-8:30am: Breakfast (his favorite foods these days are oatmeal, yogurt, banana's and cheerios)

8:30am: Play Time- he loves to play with his balls (he has 10-13 balls and he loves them all-No this was not a typo he really has that many balls in a big tub in out living room. Josh feels the need to get him a ball almost everytime we go somewhere! ) He will throw the balls and chase them all around the house- I am constantly chasing him and his balls all around.

9-10am: Goes down for his am nap- the time changes depending on what time he wakes up, if he gets up at 7am he usually goes down by 9am.

10-11am: Wakes up from nap- this time just depends on when he goes down. He sleeps for one hour in the morning. After he wakes up I change his diaper and get him ready for the day- this now involes wrestling moves by me to keep him still and on the changing table. Sometimes we only get the diaper on and the he plays while I chase him to get the rest of his outfit on.

11:30-12: Lunch time- Most days we eat at home but occasionally we head out to run errands and have lunch out. (Favorite lunch foods: ham, turkey, pepporoni, cheese, apple or applesause, bread)

12-2pm: Play time again!!! Usually we are out doing things. I usually try to go for a run, walk Charlie or we play outside if it is nice. We love being outside and are getting to do that more and more.

2pm: Naptime- Sometimes he goes down at 1:30 if he is really tired. This nap is anywhere from 1-2 hours.

3-3:30pm: Wakes up from nap and we have a snack- Yogurt is his snack of choice if he does not have it for breakfast. Otherwise I try to do some type of fruit. He also loves granola bars and puffs.

4pm: Count down to Daddy coming home. Usually I let him watch some TV while I try to do a few things but he is not very still these days so I can't leave the room for very long. I like to read his books with him if he will sit long enough. He has a few favorite books that he loves- Wild Animals book, Elmo color's book, Baby's Day board book, Little Blue Train book, and any of his animal touch and feel books.

5:30-6pm: Josh gets home and our wild man goes crazy... he is such a daddy's boy and get so excited and hyper when Josh gets home. It is so cute.

6pm: Dinner time- we try to eat at home or at my parents during the week. We may eat out once a week but usually not anymore than that. Wade pretty much eats what we eat these days. I am having a hard time with veggies so I still have some frozen veggies left that I made so I am still giving that to him. He loves pasta with sauce, pizza and chessy rice. I can usually sneak some peas or broccoli in the rice most days. We are just starting to give him a spoon to practice with but I don't usually put anything on the spoon unless its a banana that sticks to the spoon.

6:30pm: Play Time or Bath time: We try not to get him so excited because we are getting close to bedtime but Josh doesn't get to play with him during the day so they usually play on the floor and chase the balls together. We do bath's every other night because of his ezcema. His skin is so much better now that we have switched over to all Aveeno product's. Hopefully this summer he will not have any problems with it.

7:30-8pm: Josh read's one or two books with Wade and we brush his teeth and get ready for bed. He is usually perfect at going to sleep at night. Sometimes he will stand up and talk in the crib for a few minutes but then goes right to sleep. He still wakes up normally one to two times at night. Most of the time he only whines or cries for 10-15 minutes and then goes back to sleep. He stay's in his bed but sometimes I have to pick him up calm him down and lay him back down.

My most favorite things he has started doing is when Charlie jumps or barks at the TV (he does this when a dog or animal is on TV) I usually say "Charlie get down" and take my hand and slap my leg to get his attention. Well now when I start saying "get down" if I look over at Wade he has his little arm up in the air and brings it down to his thigh like he is saying "get down." I could just eat him up. I have to now watch what I say and do because he is copying so much. Today I cleared my throat and two seconds later I hear him in the back seat making a noise that sounded like he was clearing his throat. Josh and I bust out laughing and looked back at him and he was just sitting in his carseat smiling. We have already turned him around in Josh's car because the carseat Josh got was not as secure rear facing so we figured it would be safer that way.

Spring Pictures

Here are a couple of new pictures! I love everything about Spring except allergies. I think I may have passed them to Wade because he had been coughing and even wheezing some yesterday. We went to the doctors and he did hear some wheezing but not enough to treat him. I am keeping my fingers crossed that he does not get Josh's asthma. I am hoping I can keep him well for his Birthday next week. It is hard to believe next Saturday we will be having a party!!

Here is Wade pushing his car at my parents house. He pushes it all around the yard and is so happy!

I just love him is this little outfit... I think it makes him look like such a big boy

I can't wait for Easter this year. Wade's birthday is on Easter Sunday so that is another reason why I am so excited. Last year he was just 8 days old at Easter. Here is his sweet little outfit he is going to wear. I just hope it is warm enough so he doesn't have to wear a jacket with it.

Here is a preview of Wade's Bday/Easter gifts. We did not do a "theme" for his Bday, I just got cute blue plates that have a number 1 on them and matching napkins. My friend opened a bakery and she is going to make matching cupcakes and make Wade a little cake that matches the plates! Since we didn't do a theme I am not sure how the Pirate theme happened for his gifts. I got him a small and large backpack and some cute pirate shoes. His wagon is going to be his big birthday gift and we also got him a set of Melissa and Doug stacking blocks that are really neat, and a Easter Bunny board book. Can't wait to post all of our Birthday and Easter pictures!

Here is Wade having a blast with some Easter eggs... he thought they were small balls and was trying to throw them.

Here is Wade last year on Easter... I hardly even remember him being this little. He was 8 days old. Bless his heart he had more hair at 8 days old than he does now.

That bunny in his blue basket is what stays in his crib, his name is "bunny" and Wade loves him so much.

Weekend Fun

Last weekend we headed home to Winston to see Josh's family. We had a great time. I had to work Sunday afternoon so we didn't get to stay as long as we wanted but it was still great to be back. We had not been back since Christmas. Wade of course started getting a cold Saturday, it never fails when we are traveling, so he did not sleep great. He did ok but he never does well in the pack-n-play. Saturday we got up and we all headed to the hospital to have lunch with Kendal. We are so proud of her for hanging in there and keeping those babies healthy. She was admitted to the hospital around 29 weeks and on Monday she will be 34 weeks. I can't imaging how hard it has been being away from home, Matthew and Peyton but the babies have gotten so much bigger and stronger!!! We all ate in the cafeteria and we had so much fun. She can have wheelchair rides so she can get out of her hospital room. After lunch Josh and his dad took Wade home for his nap and his mom and I went shopping. Winston has two of the best consignment shops ever. I try to go every time we go there. We all went out to eat Mexican for dinner and then Josh, Matthew, Peyton and I headed back to the hospital to spend some more time with Kendal and take her some fresh fruit! I know that hospital food must get old. Peyton is so cute when we pull up to the hospital she will say "Momma's house." Bless her heart she thinks her mom lives there now. We got up Sunday and went to see Josh's grandma and then headed to see my Grandparents. We are so blessed that all of our families are only 30 min. away from each other. We spent some time with them and some of my cousins and then headed to see Ashley and Zach's new house. It is only about 5-10 minutes from my grandparents house. It is so cute and I think they are going to love it. They are closing on Friday. We had such a great time seeing our family and we will get to go back in two weeks for Wade's Birthday. I can't believe my baby will be one is less than two weeks. I can't wait to show everyone his little birthday outfit and Easter outfit. They are precious!!!!

Wade playing with Nana's balloon

Nana and her babies( Just think two more boys will be here soon)

Wade trying on his water shoes for the lake (thanks nana)

Wade & Logan- Logan is my cousin's little boy

Mema & Wade

Oh I can't believe I forgot to mention what Wade is doing these days.... for the first time since he was born he has stopped getting up at 5am to eat!!!! I don't know if it was the whole milk that did it or the table food but he does not have breakfast until 8-830am. Now most nights he still wakes up at least once and cries but it is getting so much better. Last night he slept from 8-8:15am and only cried for about 15 minutes. We are so proud of him. His other new thing is... he loves to make the Lion and Cow sound. He is doing so well and almost has the cat sound too. Yesterday in Chick-fil-a he was "mooing" and I looked over at the door and he was looking at the cow picture and making the moo sound. He is also walking so well with his push toys, he will walk all over the house. I could just eat him up. I think he is going to be smarter than I am!!

Bittersweet

I always knew I wanted to breastfeed even before I got pregnant. Working with new moms and babies really prepared me for nursing. I knew that teaching breastfeeding and helping mom's nurse was one thing but actually doing it yourself was another. Luckily Wade came out ready to eat. He was wonderful at nursing and it was the easiest part of becoming a mom for me. I always said before I got pregnant I would want to breastfeed for 6 months. After having Wade and realizing how easy it was I quickly changed my mind. After that I decided not to set an "age" when I would stop but I knew I would not go past one. I am all about breastfeeding but I am not into nursing a toddler, I think it is great when people do nurse for a year or more but once they are walking it just changes for me. So.... I worked really hard on getting my supply up and I tried to even pump once a day as well for the first few months to get a freezer full. Well it worked and we were so blessed that Wade never had a formula bottle until he was 11 months old. It used to drive my mom crazy when we lived with them because they had no room in their freezer. Around 10 months I started mixing half breast milk with half formula so he would get used to it. At 10 months I went to nursing him only twice a day and at 11 months I went to once a day. When the stomach bug hit our house Wade did not want to eat and I did not have the energy to pump in the morning so I decided it may be a good time to go ahead and stop nursing. I got a little sad just because I felt like my baby is growing up and I never had that "last time" of feeding him. I fed him Monday morning but did not know that would be our last feeding because we all started getting sick Monday after that. To be honest.... I do not really miss it. I knew the time was coming soon because I just felt ready to stop. Wade has not even acted like he has cared one bit. I really believe that it helped so much slowly dropping one feeding at a time. Now if we can just find a formula that works for him. I took him to the doctor today because he is not drinking the soy based formula at all and has lost weight so he gave us another type that is lactose free and now wants us to go ahead and try that and start introducing whole milk!!!! So this weekend we are going to give it to him for the first time and hopefully he will like it better than I do. (I hate milk) I am so thankful to have had that special bond with him for so long. It was also nice that we only had to buy two cans of formula since he was born. Breastfeeding is so good for babies but it is also a great way to save a little money!

If only I had known!

 So if I would have known that our family would have gotten the horrible stomach bug I probably would have skipped this fun trip to the museum!!! I am guessing this is where Wade picked it up at? However Wade had a blast and it was so much fun watching him play. We went to Marbles on Friday with our friends Melissa and Debbie and their kids. Saturday we had a relaxing day, Wade and I had a little cold but nothing too bad. We all went out to eat Saturday night to Sweet Tomatoes and Wade ate more than Josh and I did!!! He just kept eating. I started noticing something was different on Sunday. We went to church and when Josh picked him up they said he did not drink his bottle and he slept the whole time. Excuse me what child are you talking about because mine has never refused his bottle ever and he never sleeps while being held especially while a stranger is holding him. Well I had lunch plans with some girlfriends so Josh took Wade home and he was not his normal self. He did not eat all day and was fussy. Sunday night was not great but I figured it must be from the formula.... oh Saturday I switched him to soy based formula because he had been having lots of gas issues with the regular similac. So Monday it all started. I woke up feeling bad and Wade had had bad diapers all night. I started getting sick that morning and called Josh and asked him nicely to get home as soon as he could. Well of course he was out of town so he could not get back until 1pm. I thought I may die in the mean time but thank goodness Wade was able to play on the floor by himself and I just laid on the couch and watched and ran back and forth to the bathroom. Josh finally made it home and I did nothing the rest of the day. Wade continued not wanting to eat and had bad diapers all day/night. He did not start throwing up until early Tuesday morning around the same time Josh started feeling uneasy. Josh was so sweet; he told me he prayed Wade would stop throwing up and that he would start instead... well God was listening because after that Wade did not throw up anymore until the next night and poor Josh started. Josh stayed in bed all day Tuesday. Wade has also been sleeping so much, not wonderful at night but two 2-3 hour naps during the day. So long story short, none of us has eaten much in the last three days. I was able to eat yesterday. Thank goodness Wade likes water so much because I was able to get him to drink some here and there and Josh was able to keep Gatorade down. Today is the first days since Monday that Wade has wanted a bottle of formula. I tried Pedialyte but he would have nothing to do with it. So I am hoping this nasty stomach bug is out the door. I have done at least 12 loads of laundry and cleaned and lisoled everything I can think of. Spring please hurry up and get here!

Tyler, Wade and Victoria playing in the car

His favorite exhibit

Looking at the fish

He loved this one as well

11 Months!!

 Yesterday Wade was 11 months old. We had such a busy day and I did not have time to post. We went to Greenville and had the best time. We met some of my best girfriends and their kids for lunch at Panera. We ran some errands and did a little shopping then we got to spend some time with another one of our best friends Erin and her sweet boys. Wade had such a great time playing at their house and he was so ready to get out of his carseat. Today I met some other great friends at the Marbles Museum in Raleigh and the kids had a blast. Wade did not take a morning nap today so I was so worried but he did great. He loved it. I took Evelyn with us and she had fun too. Now lets just pray he did not pick up and cold/virus. He was playing with everything and even got a couple of things in his mouth before I could grab it. Here is what he is up to at 11 months.

-Weighs around 21-22lbs

-Wears size 3 diapers and 12-18 months clothes

-Loves to eat most everything and is eating a lot of table food!!!

-I am nursing him once a day in the morning

-He naps twice a day (most days) and sleeps from 745-5-530am then goes back to bed until 730ish

-He is down to 3 meals a day which include milk in a sippy cup

-He is crawling everywhere, pulling up on everything, and even standing

-He takes a few steps every now and then... the most he has taken is 4

-He loves Charlie and my dad- they are his best buds

-He loves to be outside and going for walks (trees are his favorite thing to point at)

-He points at everything and usually grunts when he wants something

-He says "yum", "dada", "mama" and "hey"- occasionally

-He "talks" all day long

-He says "yum" when he is hungry and wants to eat (especially in the mornings)

-He plays "fetch" with his balls all the time and loves to throw the toys for Charlie to fetch

-He is so good at throwing and kicking the ball (balls are his favorite toy these day- he has 6)

-He smiles all day long and has the cutest dimples

-He has started laughing when he burps (thanks to my dad)

-He loves his books and reading

-He loves to clap for himself after he walks or stands

-He loves to play peek-a-boo and patty cake

-He has Josh's outgoing personality and is going to be so mischevious

-He will be one in one month (where did the past year go? )

 My big boy- 11 months old

  

 What a face... taking a couple of steps

  

 Worn out after the museum today... I forgot my camera but Melissa got some really cute pictures I will post later!

 

Lately

We have been so busy the past week or so. Last week Wade decided to stand by himself and take two steps. He did this at my mom and dad's house and they were so excited they got to see him do it for the first time. He has done it a couple of times since then but after two steps he gets scared and falls down. He is standing longer and longer these days (especially if he has his tennis shoes on). He is walking around while holding onto the furniture and is crawling so much faster these days. He is such a big boy. He is also eating a lot of table food. Tonight he had Lasagna and mandarin oranges for dinner. I think I have bought and made our last batch of baby food!!!!! But it is so nice to grab and take when we go out to eat.

Last weekend we had so much fun. Friday night mom and dad kept Wade and Josh and I went on a date with Erin and Britt one of our couple friends. We went to a Sushi place. Well I have only had Sushi once and wasn't crazy about it but this time I tried a kind that had fried shrimp in it and I really liked it. Josh on the other hand eats most anything and even ate 3 baby octopus!!! Yuck... Erin took a picture and I will have to get a copy of it. Saturday Josh's parents were so sweet to come into town and babysit. Our church was canceled this weekend in order for small groups and members to go out into the community and serve. We had a great time. Our small ground went to the New Bern house in Raleigh which is a house for homeless people. We painted two bedrooms. Other groups painted the living room and dinning room. It is a HUGE house and is so nice for those who need it. Sunday we met some of our best friends The Nicholson's for lunch at The Cheesecake Factory and had a great time. I did have to work this weekend but we were busy so it went by so fast. Ashley and Zach came into town but we did not get to see them too much. They were busy furniture shopping for their new house!!! The close on March 19th.

Please keep my sister in law in your prayers. She is in the hospital in pre term labor and we are hoping that the boys can have a few more weeks to grow before they get here. She is either almost 30 weeks or just a few days over 30 weeks. 4 more weeks would be wonderful!!! I can't believe on Thursday I will have to post Wade's 11 month pictures... my baby will be 1 in one month. I did his invitations Sunday and they turned out too cute.

Here is my big boy standing up!