My baby is 10 months old!

     How did this happen?! Ten months have passed and it's become a blur. Channing is close to walking, eating new foods every day and is so full of character. He is not a newborn, almost out of infancy and well on his way to becoming a toddler. He can now stand up on his own and today he started clapping once he's stable. I think he started doing this because Lucas and I would yell, "Yay!" and clap every time he stood on his own. Now he gets so excited himself and celebrates with us. He took two steps last week and is working on three. His food list is getting longer by the day and the only thing he has tried and didn't like is avacado. He's still the smiliest baby ever though he has been a bit fussier these past few days and drooling buckets so hopefully teeth will follow soon. I've already begun prepping for his big FIRST birthday party and admittedly, stressing out a little as it feels like it's right around the corner. But we have decided to go much smaller this time and hopefully will continue that trend for birthdays to come.

So wait no more, the adorable TEN month old Channing!



Showing off his standing skills

He loves Lucas' sippy cups. He has proven that younger siblings learn from the older ones. He has been stealing Lucas' sippy for months now. (FYI- It's pink because I ordered a set from Amazon and the picture did not have a pink cup. Oh well.)

He's becoming little boy! But still as smiley as ever!

Watching big brother outside

Sweet hands that will soon be covered in dirt and not baby soft



He is Risen!

    We had a great week celebrating Easter! Lucas is at the perfect age to go on Easter egg hunts and it was so much fun coaching him through it.






   We started the festivities on Wednesday at the YMCA. Our friends have a membership for their two year old daughter and the Y opens up the egg hunt to non-members. The toddler room where the egg hunt was happening was packed full of kids and parents and it was difficult to keep my eye on Lucas, being the busy little boy that he is! The kids played for the first 30 minutes then they had circle time where we were led in songs.

He loved this "ball" pit and spent most of his time fearlessly jumping in it!

Happy boy playing with the big kids!

Funny picture of Lucas trying to climb out of the pit

    Then we hunted for countless eggs! Lucas had a harder time actually looking for the hidden eggs so we found an area where the eggs were all over the floor, in the open. He loved this and quickly caught on and soon had his Thomas Train basket full of eggs!

Channing's first egg hunt

Showing me what he got...a gecko that he called "Co" which is his word for bug

I think he looks a lot like my brother Josh in this picture



    Easter day was full of activities and we didn't stop until 10pm. We began Sunday morning as usual, with church. It was a difficult time to attend church because the previous week had been our beloved pastor's last week. We were hoping to attend a great service that would distract us from our "new" church but it turned out to be very disappointing. The guy in charge had a musician come in that basically performed and wasn't that good. He did the hokey pokey! I know, we couldn't believe it either. But thankfully it was over in an hour and we did a quick egg hunt after church. Here are the highlights...



The only picture I got of Channing at this egg hunt, couldn't get one with his eyes open because it was so bright!

    We rushed home after the church egg hunt, ate lunch and then hit the road for my grandparent's house near Centrailia. The car ride down was very pleasant and it was a beautiful day, something that is so rare for an Easter in Washington. The boys slept most of the way and Josh and I enjoyed the quiet and a frappacino.=) Lucas had a blast with the egg hunt at my grandparent's. They have a beautiful property and he was the only kid to do the hunt so he really got spoiled.

He wasn't too sure about the bug. It took a lot of convincing to get him to put it in his basket.

Caught him mid yawn=)

One of my favorite pictures ever!

There are few pictures of me with either of my boys. Love this!

    It was a great day celebrating Jesus' resurrection! We had a yummy dinner and lots of treats. So many in fact and mix that with a long car ride, Lucas got car sick 10 minutes from home.=( It was miserable and this wasn't the first time so we will have to be careful about road trips. But overall it was a memorable Easter!





Channing is 9 months old!

Channing does have his moments but seriously, have you ever seen a happier baby?!

I love his silly faces. He likes to suck on his upper lip while sticking out his tongue. It's hilarious to watch!

Sweet baby toes! Pretty soon they won't be so kissable when he starts walking.

Love my boys' pure blue eyes. Josh and I both have hazel.

Channing had his 9month check up...17lbs 5oz and 27 inches. I weighed him at just over 18lbs at 8 months so either our scale is way off or he's lost some weight. I'm going with a little bit of both. Since 8 months he's gotten even more active so it would only make sense if he lost a little weight. He is 10% for both height and weight. I couldn't believe it! He's got rolls! Lots of rolls! His doctor said it's normal to plateau for growth at this age because babies start burning calories too fast for what they can eat. Lucas was the same, he was only 5% at this age. But he didn't have rolls like Channing. Despite the numbers, he's totally healthy. I'm being more proactive about feeding him solids. I'm still waiting several days between new foods, just to keep track of any eczema triggers. A plus is carrots don't seem to cause a reaction anymore and Josh didn't realize I was taking a break from peaches and gave Channing some a few days ago. So far, his skin remains the same...slightly dry and rough but no red awful eczema, yay! I've been giving him baby cereal puffs regularly and he's getting better about chewing them. He still forgets sometimes and then chokes on them. Thankfully they dissolve pretty quickly but it's still a scary sight for any Mama. Today I made him some homemade pear and apple puree so it was a little chunkier than the jarred baby food. My plan is to slowly add more texture and larger pieces of food so he learns to mash with his gums.
Channing is saying "Mama" and "Dada" quite often. He says "Dada" all the time and only says "Mama" when he's whining at my feet for me to pick him up. I'll take it though! He's also getting very brave and trying to stand on his own. I practice with him, propping him up where he can't grab anything and see how long he can stand. Last week he stood for about 10 seconds AND took a step! It was so exciting to see! He hasn't done that since but in no time at all he will be running around with Lucas. I'm really looking forward to those days, hoping it will bring more play time together and less of Lucas' jealousy towards Channing. I'm also sad for the day he will walk as I see my baby growing up in the blink of my eye. In no time at all, I will be chasing after TWO little boys!

Channing turns 8 months old!

My sweet boy is 8 months old! He has the best smile!

 

I just can't get over how fast my little baby is growing! The last eight months seem to be a blur of smiles, tears and joy. In his short little life he has learned to crawl, pull himself up to standing and eat fruits and veggies. This has been a slower start than expected has Channing seems to battle bouts of eczema. It flares up with certain foods, like peaches and carrots, so I've had to back track a lot in order to figure out exactly what makes it worse. For now, I'm giving him two weeks per new fruit or veggie so I can be sure I know just what sets his skin into a dry, red rash.

I love this picture! It looks like he's growling.