November 2011

Ready to go!  

Grammy, Ainsley, and Mama at the Festival of Trees.  

Happy boy.  Nine months old.

Ainsley's bright idea.  Durham loved it.  

Showing off her birthday cookies.

Mama has this hat thing going on.  

Owl hat.  

Ainsley was quite sick on her actual birthday.  We sang to her, but her throat hurt too much to eat the cookie.  

Putting out the manger scene.  She wanted to know where the big sister was.
She was also a bit confused about why Jesus wasn't on an "x".  

Illegal sleep-snuggling on Sundays with Daddy.  

I wanted to get a nice picture of her looking pretty for Great-Grandma's wedding.  

She's a fickle beast.  

Great-Grandma and Uncle Bob, walking down the aisle.  

The whole Bergman clan.  

The newlyweds.  

Exploring the church after the service.  

1 - Finally a good day at school for Ainsley!  She spends the night at Grammy's house.
2 - Durham gets his first two teeth at once.  The bottom middle teeth are in!
3 - Durham pulls himself up to kneeling.
5 - Durham is 9 months old.
12 - Durham pulls himself up to standing.  Mama, Ainsley, and Grammy go to the Festival of Trees.  
13 - Durham starts spinning in fast circles for fun.
14 - Durham starts playing fetch with balls.
17 - Ainsley's special birthday at school.  Daddy takes the afternoon off with her as well.
18 - We go out to dinner with Grammy and Papa to the Brewery.
20 - We go to Drew and Brady's birthday party.  Durham is quite afraid of strangers.
21 - Ainsley has a sore throat and cough.  Doctor says it's only a cold.
22 - Ainsley misses Grandparent's Day at school because she is too sick.  It is her third birthday.
23 - Durham begins to wave "hi" and "bye".
24 - We go to the Roberts Thanksgiving.
25 - Ainsley's family birthday party.
26 - Great-Grandma's wedding.
27 - Brechtelsbauer Thanksgiving
29 - Durham's first day at daycare.  He does well until the afternoon.  He cried for 20 minutes after he woke up from his nap.
30 - Durham gets another tooth!  Top right middle.

Little Climber Boy

I really and truly felt that after Ainsley, I was an experienced mother.  I was a certified baby whisperer.  I had lived through the babyhood of one child.  Could the next one be so hard?  Nah.  

Then my little Durham came.  Turns out he's as different from Ainsley as can be.  Right from the beginning.  

Lately, he's proven to be quite an adventurer.  He learned one day that he could sit up by himself from laying down.  After that, he soon discovered that he could peek at tall objects if he got on his knees.  

The first time he pulled himself up to standing was when I was in the shower.  Durham (and Ainsley, for that matter) treat my going in to the bathroom for any reason as child-abandonment worthy of a code red meltdown.  

Durham decided one morning that he was going to find that missing Mama.  He crawled in to the bathroom (the door had been opened by Ainsley, who also needed to find that missing Mama).  Now I had the wonderful job of both showering and making sure the baby didn't eat the toilet brush.  

Durham quickly determine that I was IN the shower, crawled over to the tub edge, and put all of his grunting and effort into pulling himself up to a standing position.  He then yanked on the shower curtain until he ripped it from at least one decorative ring.  

Since that moment, he has treated the whole house like a jungle gym.  Put a folding chair in the center of the room and he's amused for at least thirty minutes, weaving in and out of the legs, trying to pull himself up from each level.  

He especially likes testing out small spots to see if he can get in and out.  When Ainsley was slightly older and started pulling herself up, it took her two full weeks to learn how to get down.  She'd pull herself up to a standing position and immediately start crying for fear of how to get down.  We spent those two weeks trying to teach her how to let go and lower herself to the ground.  

Durham closes his eyes and lets go.  Crashes to the floor.  Starts over again.  

What's this?  I think I'll drum it.  

Hmm.  I can do MORE than just pull myself up.  

How will I get down?  

So proud of himself.  

Birthday Extravaganza Part 1

Ainsley celebrated her birthday at school on Thursday, November 17th.  Both Mama and Daddy came to school to help.  We were excited to see her interact with the other students!  

Turns out she's a loner.  And a fashionista.  

She got to wear the special birthday hat.  It lasted about two minutes.  

Sitting and listening during carpet time.  

She was the special helper with the calendar.  

There was shenanigans going on while they did the calendar.  I think the parent helpers were supposed to take care of that.  I couldn't.  I was too busy with the camera.  

The special helper gets to put out the "Jesus candle" after listening to the Bible story.  

Lining up to go outside for recess.  I just loved the little girl in front of her!  

Praying before the special birthday snack.  

She just ate the frosting. 

Standing on the chair as the kids sang the birthday song.  

Birthday Extravaganza Part 2

Ainsley's family party took place on Friday, November 25th.  We had to push back the party, because our little lady had gotten sick earlier in the week.

Opening presents with Daddy.

Durham was showing off his new skills.  Standing next to furniture now.  

One of her favorite gifts was a pink wig to match a character on a show she follows, LazyTown.  

Showing off the sweater knitted for her by Grandma Roberts.  

Blowing out candles on her princess cake.  

Jordynn and Kennedy helped her break the new toys in.  

Durham was the entertainment for everyone that night.  

Still crawling on his belly.  

Later that night, in her new Tinker Bell jammies, with her princesses from the cake, snuggled in her new sleeping bag.  

Durham is Nine Months Old

Durham is quickly turning into a very active little boy!  

He is wearing size 18 months - 2T clothing and size four diapers.  

He sleeps through the night when he's not bothered by his teeth.  He has also given up his evening nap.  

He eats 1/2 to a full tub of stage three foods at every meal.  He sometimes will eat soft finger foods, but mostly prefers sticking to Gerber Puffs.  He still tries a sippy cup at every meal and is starting to get better at using it.  He still gets a bottle before his morning and afternoon nap and at night before he goes to bed.  

His favorite activities are exploring the house to find open doors.  He can flip pages in the board books as we read now!  He smiles at Mama and Daddy when they come home from work.  He isn't strange with people yet, but REALLY hates loud noises.  

He wet through his diaper and into his jammies nearly every night this month.  We tried all sorts of different diaper brands, but nothing worked!  In the end we started putting him to bed in Ainsley's old size five diapers and that helped.  

He is still army-crawling throughout the house!  He treats the whole house like a jungle gym.  He especially loves to find small places to crawl in to!  

Durham is Eight Months Old

Our little man is definitely a Mama's boy!  He has begun reaching up for Mama to hold him.  He even lunges toward Mama if someone else is holding him.  

He is wearing size three diapers and size 12-24 month clothing.  

He takes 2-3 naps a day.  The only days he takes an evening nap are days when the whole family goes for a walk.  He loves sleeping in the double stroller.  He's been a bit cranky in the evenings, so if we aren't walking, he's being held and walked around the house. 

He has begun taking tub baths with his sister.  She thought this was quite fun at first, but it turns out that Durham is quite a splasher.  Continuous, arms above head, crashing down into the water splashing.  Even Mama needs to hold a towel for protection from the tsunami of water.  

He is eating stage three foods along with a few finger foods.  Still no teeth!  We've been practicing for a month with the sippy cup...but he still hates it and throws it on the floor.  He can get about an ounce out of it before he gives up in frustration.  

He has begun crawling and is very interested in exploring his home.  He is especially fond of heating registers and trash cans.  He is becoming more interested in toys that have buttons and lighted functions.

He babbles, but mostly just "dada".  

He has begun sleeping better.  He sleeps nearly always through the night from 8:30pm to 6:30am.

He has no connection to any of his blankets, stuffed animals, or pacifiers.  Yet.  :) 

October 2011

Carving pumpkins. 

Already wearing size 24 months clothing, size 4 diapers.  

It's a chore to distract him from splashing.  He can get the whole bathroom wet.  

Everyone look at the camera!  

Seriously.  Look at the camera.  

Mama loves to make her a hat for every occasion.  

Sharing the bathroom in the mornings as we get ready for work and school.  This was a pleasant morning.  Most mornings are full of tears at the prospect of having to go to school.  

Durham just goes along with her antics.  

She was modeling her new fashions.  (We were watching a fashion show on the television.)

She sits so well for getting her hair done!  

So glad they like each other (so far)!  

2 - First time Durham has juice.  He doesn't like it.
3 - First time Durham has Cheerios.  He loves them.  He's getting better at crawling, army-style.
4 - Ainsley and Mama go to the Pumpkin Patch with her school.  Ainsley cries for the whole second half of the day when Mama goes back to work.
5 - Durham is 8 months old.
6 - Ainsley cries the whole day in school again.
7 - Durham is starting to reach up to be held.
8 - We all go to Johnson's Pumpkin Farm together.  Ainsley cries and is worried that we'll make her go back to school after we pick our pumpkins.
10 - Durham gets his first cold.  Ainsley is sick as well.
12 - Durham has macaroni and cheese for the first time.
15 - Grandma and Grandpa Roberts come to babysit while Mom and Dad go to a wedding.
16 - Durham has his first chocolate chip cookie.
20 - We all go to Ainsley's school's Safari Party.
21 - Kennedy's birthday party.
23 - Durham has pancakes and pizza for the first time.
25/27 - Ainsley is still crying through preschool.  We start to wonder if we should pull her out.
28 - Mama has a day off to spend with her little ones!
29 - Ainsley and Mama go to see Puss in Boots at the movie theater.  She loves it.  No potty breaks!  Mama, Durham, and Ainsley also go to the airport to pick up Grammy.  Durham sits up from a laying position.