8 Months Old

Leo's eight month mark was on Sunday. His toothless grin brightens our day!

His tricks now consist of nodding his head yes or no.We wonder if he truly understands what we are saying because he seems to nod appropriately in response, too funny. He is pulling himself up to a standing position and he is so proud of himself. He can't do it on his own quite yet but he'll get there soon enough. He really wants to crawl but hasn't gotten the concept just yet. However, he did get his knees up underneath himself for a bit the other day and spent some time rocking back and forth on them. It is so fun to watch him learn!

Gloria and Leo are like two peas in a pod. They feed off of each other. Each thinks the other is hysterical! I love hearing them in the back seat of the car while we are out for a drive. They make noises at each other, giggling at one another. We are so blessed to have both of them in our lives!

If you haven't checked it out lately, I've got some photos in Leo's Month-by-Month album.

Rolly Polly

When they tell you that the second child picks things up much faster, they aren't kidding! Leo is speeding along, learning all sorts of new things. He is rolling all over the place, scooting himself all around the room, waving hello and goodbye (when he chooses to), and he has recently begun to pull himself up. From what I've been told, he has also gotten himself up onto his knees! I haven't seen it yet but I've watched him try several times. We can't believe our baby boy is growing so fast! Leo is such a joy!

Here is a photo of him today. I picked him up from my parent's house after work. Leo spent some time with them while Tom took Gloria on her first fishing trip with her new Princess Fishing pole (from Christmas). More to come on that story. :) Leo had a great time playing with Gramma and Papa and was so tuckered out that he fell asleep on the way home. I had to take a picture of him sleeping so peacefully with his hands folded. Our sweet boy! :)

Happy Little Man

Today was Leo's first day at Day Care. I've been a little sad about his starting day care. I had the wonderful opportunity to work from home two days a week during my first 3 months back at work. I'm so very fortunate to work for a company who was supportive of this kind of arrangement. It worked out really great for our family. My two days working from home have come to an end though. I will be working at home one day a week for the next three months which is great. We decided to put Leo in a day care two days a week to get him used to other kids and that type of atmosphere. Between my parents, Tom, the day care and me, Leo is getting a lot of variety for care during the week. :) Good thing he is so easy going!

He did a half day today to start. From what I understand, he did really well! He ate well, slept well and played well. That's our boy! :) We are really excited about this day care. I know it will be a very nurturing environment for our little man. The woman there is so wonderful and we are confident that she will take amazing care of our Leo.

I think Gloria was a proud big sister today when she helped daddy drop Leo off at school. I wondered what she would think about this new routine.

As far as Leo and his growth and development, he is doing really well. He is sitting up very well on his own now, he doesn't really need the boppy pillow but we keep it around just it case. :) He is officially scooting around in circles while he is playing on the floor. He is starting to express his frustration when he can't reach a toy or he gets upset when something has been taken away (usually by Gloria). He is eating more foods, doesn't like Peas!! Leo spends a lot of time blowing raspberries. He went from making lots of sounds and screeches to blowing lots and lots of raspberries! Cute but very messy when it comes time to eat. ;)

Here is our little man today before he was off to "school." :)

Party Time!!

Leo is six months old! So hard to believe, the time has just flown by. He is doing super well! He is so good natured, a very happy little man. He truly is! This boy is just so sweet! He is developing very quickly. He has found his vocal chords and has been babbling away. He is saying "da da" and "ga ga" and making all sorts of fun screeching sounds! He is sitting up on his own (with an occasional toppling over) and he is starting to scoot ever so slightly while on the floor. He is so good with his hand eye coordination, loves playing with all sorts of objects, materials and, of course, he explores everything with his mouth! He loves to be tickled, just like his sister and he thinks Bridgette is so much fun to watch.

Leo had his six month appointment on Wednesday. He was a super star! He got one shot this time around, more to come with the next appointment. He didn't even flinch! What a trooper. He charmed the nurses and the doctor and was so cooperative. He weighed in at 16 lb 6 oz (you would never know he was a 10 lb baby!) and he measured at 27 1/2 inches tall. He is a healthy boy and we are thrilled! The only thing he has a bit of is eczema but hopefully we'll get rid of that very soon.

We were so excited about Leo turning six months that we decided to throw a half birthday party for him! :) Ever since the day Leo was born, Gloria has been asking when we were going to have a birthday party for him. She was so confused why we didn't do anything when he was born. So...I thought a party was in order. We were planning to start him on solids on his six month mark so it was perfect to celebrate that as well. He has been exclusively fed breast milk up to this point so starting solids was a big deal.

We were all excited to celebrate! I didn't go nuts though with props and such, just used some spare things around the house but Gloria and I did make cupcakes together. :) Gloria was so excited about this party ever since I had mentioned it to her. I said she could wear a party dress, which made her day! I made mini crustless quiches and smoothies for dinner...always love breakfast for dinner! We even sang happy birthday to Leo (at Gloria's request). We had SO much fun together! It was the perfect family night!



To see some photos from Leo's 1/2 birthday party, visit our February 2012 album. I've also posted some pics in Leo's 6 Month album of him.

We are excited to celebrate Valentine's Day coming up. Gloria has a fun week ahead of her at school and we'll do some fun things at home as well. Gloria and I spent this weekend making special Valentine's Day gifts for our loved ones and Gloria can't wait to give them away! :)

Have a fantastic week and much love to you all!

Toe Touching

Leo reached a pretty big milestone on Friday. He started grabbing his toes! Tom took a picture with his camera phone of him doing it for the very first time. Leo is getting so strong! He is pushing more and more with his legs. I think he'll be rolling over before we know it! I can't believe he is already at this point of development.

We've had a great weekend together this weekend. Gloria, Leo and I went to a craft fair on Saturday and ran into our friends Dawn, Matt and Bre. It was fun to see them there! Later on, Tom and I took the kids to Yankee Candle for some shopping and to see Santa. Unfortunately we didn't get to see him (long story) but hopefully we can get back soon to try again. We did get to enjoy some pizza at Hillside Pizza afterward though. Yum!!

Today we started the day off with decorating the house for Christmas. Gloria was so into it this year! She did a great job! Afterward, we headed to Bre's house for a play date. When we ran into Matt and Dawn yesterday, they had offered to take Gloria for a few hours so I could have some time for myself (and Leo). I was so touched by their offer! I'm so incredibly thankful for good friends! Thank you again Matt and Dawn for today. It really meant so much to me and to Gloria as well. She had a fun time! :)

I was able to get almost all of our Christmas shopping done today! Phew! It was a shopping marathon weekend. A few more things and we're done! Lots of Christmas activities coming up this week too. We are looking forward to getting our Christmas tree and Gloria has her dance recital this weekend, which we are super excited about! I can't wait to see those kiddos, they are going to be adorable!

Take Note

I was outside yesterday with Gloria raking leaves, well...trying to rake leaves. We ended up having a leaf fight with lots of giggles, tickles and running around. Gloria says to me after we got inside the house, "Mommy, that was so much fun!" I get teary-eyed just thinking about it. I want to bottle this all up and hold onto it forever! How am I ever going to be able to remember all these wonderful moments? This is what I think to myself. It is nuts how often these thoughts enter my mind. No wonder I'm a freak with a camera! I somehow think I can capture every amazing moment on film. I can't though. Mostly because my most favorite moments happen when there isn't a camera around. :)

I think the same thing with Leo as I listen to him squeal and make all his baby noises. I watch him and his focus on things as he learns. Right now he is working his leg muscles, using his legs to push his butt up into the air. Already a strong boy! Where did the first 3 months go? They went by in the blink of an eye. I think the best thing I can do is to truly be in the moment and present in it, enjoying every beautiful minute!

I keep a journal for both kids. I try to write in it as often as I can. I write about silly, nonsense things. I write about milestones or things said to make us laugh or cry. I write as though Leo and Gloria are reading the journal entries many years from now. I write 'to' them instead of about them. Letters to my kids I suppose. Sound cheesy perhaps but I hope they'll be important to my kids some day. Hopefully I can keep up on them. It is the only way I know how to even slightly capture the wonderful world of being their parents!

Leo was 3-months-old November 8th. He has changed so much! What a beautiful, amazing little man he is!

Dance in the Rain

"Laugh your heart out, dance in the rain, cherish the moment, ignore the pain, live, laugh, love, forgive and forget, life's too short to be living with regrets."

Not sure who said the above quote but I liked it so I thought I'd share.

We have two pretty amazing kids! Their joy makes us smile every day. Here are two videos of our happy kiddos. Please excuse the orientation of the one I took of Leo. Not sure how I managed that one, oh well. :) If you have any trouble viewing the videos here, visit our Video Album to check them out.

Leo is truly one happy guy! This is just a short clip of how smiley and joyful this kid is. He spends most of his day giving us these wonderful smiles and giggles and chattering away! He really gets going towards the end of this clip.



As you know, Gloria loves to dance! We went to The Festival of the Hills earlier this month (in the rain) and enjoyed the fun things it had to offer. This is a video of Gloria and her cousins, Olivia and Ella, cutting it loose while listening to the band. They had a blast dancing and getting soaked in the rain! :)

One Month

Hard to believe Leo is a month old already as of last Monday. I know when Gloria was a baby the time seemed to go so quickly but it seems to move much faster these days. I already miss the newborn stage! I'm definitely in no hurry for this lil' squirt to grow up!

I'm going to attempt to take a picture of Leo at each month. You can find these pictures in Leo's Monthly Album. Here is month number one.

At his doctor's appointment, Leo weighed in at 10 pounds 15 ounces and measured 23 inches long! He is 78% for weight and 90% for height...big boy! He is still doing so well. The one little hiccup is that he has thrush. :( Poor guy! It is a very mild case, thank God! We've been doing some things to get rid of it and so far it seems to be clearing up.

Overall Leo is doing super! He has recently been sleeping about 8 or 9 hours a night...so awesome!! We hope this will continue. We all function much better on a full night's sleep. :)