Ezra's One!

 Yes, it's true! I know I say this every update, but I just can't believe he's been here an entire year! Actually, I am a month late so now he's just days away from 13 months.
 He has changed so much since his 9 month update! Just like both of his big sisters, he started walking at 10 months. It didn't take him long to master it and now he's on the run...all the time :) He's also mastered climbing on everything! This is my first experience with a climber and I'm still trying to get used to it. No matter where he is, he wants to be at the highest point in the room. It's nerve wracking to say the least!
 His communication is also starting to take off. He's always been a chatty baby, but now some actual words are starting to form. He can say Mom, Da (not dad, da), snack, bite and no. He can sign "more", but he's not much into using it. I found it really beneficial with both of the girls, but he's just not into it. He actually gets a little frustrated when I try to get him to.
 His personality is really starting to shine. He's such a funny kid and loves to make people laugh! He's also very, very busy! He doesn't do anything longer than a minute or two. He's always looking for what he's going to do next. Much different than his sisters for sure! He's very curious and it takes him no time at all to figure things out, including whatever you've used to block him from climbing the stairs or to keep him contained in a certain area. He's also a  social boy and quickly warms up to just about anyone which is VERY different than his sisters! He's nosey and he's always interested in what everyone is doing.
 Physically he is still a big boy! At his one year check up he was 24 pounds which was 93% and 32 inches which was off the charts. Since he started walking his weight gain has slowed a little and his chunky thighs have slimmed up a little :( I'm sure going to miss all those rolls when they're gone! Even though his weight gain has slowed, his appetite has not! He hasn't gone through the normal 12 month slow down and it doesn't look like he plans on it. He is an excellent eater which is a welcome relief after 2 picky little girls!
 As of tomorrow it will be one whole week since he last nursed. He had been down to one nursing session a day and then he just stopped. It's very bittersweet for me. I love breastfeeding so I was sad to see it end. But, after spending the first 9 months of his life nursing every 2 hours at night I got to a point of wanting it to be over. It makes me sad that I felt that way, but the exhaustion just took a toll on me. After he finally started sleeping through the night and was only nursing in the morning and evening I fell back in love with it. I'm really glad I stuck it out and ended in a good place. Nursing my babies is something I'll always treasure and I'm so glad I was able to do it. Out of the last 9 years I've spent 5 of them being pregnant or breastfeeding babies, I'm happy to have my whole body back completely to myself! Definitely a bittersweet feeling.
 This past year has been such a joy and blessing! He's such a beautiful soul and he has been the perfect addition to our family! I could not love that little guy more <3

Climbing. I <3 those leg rolls!

Playing at the park.

This boy LOVES balls!

His first watermelon. He loved it!

All dressed up.

Raising a Pokes fan!

A Very Hungry Caterpillar first birthday party!

He was a big fan of the cake, obviously.

Before he destroyed it.

The day he turned 1!

Ezra's 9 Month Update

Our little guys is 9 months old and has been out almost longer than he was in! What a joyful and quick 9 months it's been! This is a lengthy update since I'm terrible at keeping up :) Also the photos at the end contain some breastfeeding photos, so if that sorta thing offends you don't look. 

 He has gotten so big and learned so many new things since his last update. At his 9 month check up he weighed 23 pounds and was 30 inches long. That puts him at >97% for his age. He started crawling the day he turned 7 months old and hasn't slowed down since. He can now pull up on things and walk around them. He has a push toy that he loves to push around and walk behind. He can stand on his own, but hasn't been brave enough to take any steps. Which is fine with me! He has learned to clap and play patty cake. He can wave and does so to anyone he sees, especially when he catches a glimpse of himself in the mirror:) His language is developing nicely. He has been saying mama and dada for a while now, but he now seems to be connecting those words to us. He also started saying "uh oh" and says it anytime he falls or drops something...which is all the time :) 

  He is still nursing great and eating everything in sight. He eats whatever we eat and we've yet to find anything he won't eat! 

 He's also cut a couple more teeth. Although he did get them in an unusual order. He has his bottom front two, but instead of getting his top front two next, he got the two on each side of where the top front ones should be. So he kinda looks like a kindergartner who's lost his two front teeth.  It's pretty funny :) 

 The most exciting thing to happen recently is his sleep. He FINALLY started sleeping through the night!!! Hallelujah!! With the exception of a couple of 2 week streaks of sleeping 5-6 hours at a time, he has woke up every 2-3 hours his entire life. Which means I was only sleeping for 1 1/2 hours at a time. If you've ever been through that for long periods of time you know how it feels. There wasn't an aspect of my life the sleep deprivation didn't affect. You can only live like that for so long before you feel like you're losing it. I hit that point about 2 weeks ago. I did lots of research trying to find a sleep training method that would work for us. I finally found one and tried it out. It worked! Not only did it work, it worked fast! By the second night he caught on and has been sleeping TWELVE hours straight since then!! It has been a huge blessings and I definitely feel like a new woman. The method we used did involve some crying, but it was very minimal which was important to me. I never felt like I was abandoning him. Since then he has also started napping like a champ! He take one 2 hour nap and one 1 1/2  hour nap. It's nothing short of amazing! If you're struggling with sleep with your little one or are expecting a little one and you'd like information on the method I used, let me know and I'll send you a link. It's a very detailed video series that is easy to follow. 

  I'm clinging to his babyhood with everything I have , but it's certainly slipping from grip all too quickly. As hard as it is, I find so much joy in watching my children grow. I always think there's no way I will enjoy their next stage/age more than the one they're in, but they always prove me wrong! 

 After I had my first baby 8 years ago (what?!?!) I couldn't imagine what it would be like having a complete family. I LOVE babies and I love having them around. I thought I would always want to the leave the option for more children open, just in case baby fever were to strike once more. But, since our sweet boy was born my feelings have started to shift. I've been diligently praying for feelings of contentment and completeness when it comes to the size of our family. Those feelings have started to show along with some bittersweet ones. As sad as I am to close this most amazing chapter of our life, I'm so excited to live the ones to come. I'm excited to watch our children grow and watch their beautiful lives unfold. There will always be babies around for me to hold to calm my baby fever (yay for nieces and nephews!). And one day my babies will have babies of their own, which I'm told is one of life's greatest joys :) I'm excited to see what awaits for our complete family of five <3 

         Stealing a sip of Mom's water. 

He always has that little nose scrunched:)

    Sometimes you need a spoon to eat. 

  Playing outside with his sisters. One of          his favorite places to be!

He's always on the go and can't be tied down too long. So sometimes he insists on sitting on his knees to eat :) 

Nursing smiles. One of my favorite things in the world <3

His truck from Santa for his 1st Christmas. 

         His first Rhems experience. 

Ezra's 6 Month Update

 It's already been half a year since our little guy came into our lives! I can't believe how quickly it has flown by. You would think that having done this twice before it wouldn't surprise me how quickly time passes, but it does! 

  Ezra is doing great and still growing like crazy. He had his 6 month check up this morning and he weighs 20 pounds 10 ounces and he's 29 inches long. He is >97% in both of those! He's is physically and developmentally right on track. 

 This past month we did start solid foods and as you would guess by his robust size, he does LOVE to eat. So far there isn't anything he hasn't liked. Right now his favorites are bananas and sweet potatoes.  We are doing baby led weaning and we are both loving it. I'm amazed at how quickly he has learned to feed himself and I love how much less work it is for me not having to purée or fix a separate meal for him. He just eats what we eat. Within reason, obviously. 

 He is now sitting up like a champ! He can turn himself in circles and can go quite the distance by scooting around on his round bottom :) He is definitely interested in crawling and I suspect it won't be long until he's on the move. 

 He has become quite the little talker. He makes lots of different sounds and if he's awake you can pretty much bet that he's talking :)

His sleep is somewhat improving. He had developed a sleep association with nursing. Even though he always puts himself to sleep, for some reason at night he thinks he needs to nurse to get back to sleep. I spent a whole weekend camped out in his room gently sleep training him. I wanted to keep the crying to a minimum and I found that method worked best for us.  It has helped and he now will sometimes go 4-5 hours without waking. 

 He has developed such a beautiful personality. He is such a happy baby and he loves to laugh. Especially at his big sisters! He is just the sweetest boy and brings me so much joy! Here are some pictures from the past month. 

        Watching daddy change his oil :)

As Olaf on Halloween with Elsa and Anna

   His first ride in the wagon. He loved it!

             This face cracks me up!!

      His first trip to the fire house to see         

                       Uncle Eric. 

Ezra's 4 & 5 Month Update

 Our sweet boy is already 5 months old! I never got around to getting a 4 month update done, so I'm going to combine the last 2 months together. And what a big couple of months he has had!

 He had his 4 month well baby check-up last month. He is still growing and was right on track developmentally. He weighed 18 pounds and was 27 1/4 inches. He has more than doubled his birth weight and grown over 5 inches!

 Last month was a rough one as far as his sleep goes. He went through the dreaded 4 month sleep regression simultaneously with a particularly bad wonder week and he was teething. He went from sleeping 5-6 hours at a time back to waking every 1.5-2 hours. He also learned to roll over so instead of going to sleep when I laid him down he just rolled all over his crib and it usually ended in me picking him up and swaying him until he was almost asleep. It's been a long month and we're still working on getting that worked out, but it is slowly getting better, Thankfully, his naps haven't been affected too badly.

 We finally got around to starting his nursery. It's looking great and if we ever finish I'll post pictures. At the current rate he'll be 2 when that happens :) He takes all of his naps in his room and has adapted to it really well. I put him down in his room for the night, but since he's been waking so often I usually end up putting back in our room just to make it a little easier on myself.

 He has hit a ton of milestones the past 2 months! He can rollover from both his tummy and his back, He now uses it as a means to get around and rolls all over the place! He cut 2 teeth! I was really surprised by this. Kennedy didn't get her first tooth until 13 months and Karoline was 6 months so it was definitely unexpected that he had 2 pop up before he was 5 months! His biggest milestone so far is that he learned to sit up this past week! He got really good at it, really fast! I say it's because his fluffy bottom and chunky thighs give him a nice sturdy base :) I am never in a hurry for my babies to grow, but sitting up is one of my favorite milestones! It makes things like grocery shopping, dining out and playtime a lot easier.

 He also has shown a LOT of interest in food. I was set on waiting until 6 months before introducing solids, but he has made it known that he does not want to wait that long! Mealtime was resulting in a lot of screaming, banging on the table and swiping food from my plate or hands. We've decided to go with baby led weaning so I've taken these hints as he's ready to explore with solids. I still intend on breast milk being his main source of nutrition, but I'm excited to see him play with eating solids.

 He is growing so fast and he brings us so much joy! Such a blessing to us! We are so excited to see what he does next!

Throwback Thursday: 9/11 Memorial

 Today marks 13 years ago since the biggest American tragedy that has happened in my lifetime. September 11, 2001 will always be burned in my memory. I will never forget where I was and what I was doing when I heard the news. I remember the images and emotions of that day like it was yesterday. Just as much as I remember the feelings and emotions of that day, I remember the following days and the feeling of pride that took over our great country. How we pulled together as a nation and leaned on one another for support. I'm still so proud of how, even 13 years later, we have not forgotten. We have made sure that the ones who lost their lives that day are remembered and honored.  This date never passes by unnoticed and the heavy feeling that comes with it never goes away.
 Back in February I was very lucky to be able to see one of the ways we have honored those who lost their lives. While on a short trip to NYC we visited the 9/11 Memorial. The victims of that horrible day are beautifully remembered and everyone,especially the families of those lost who didn't have remains to place in a grave to visit, have a peaceful memorial to visit.  It was an experience I will never forget and I'm so thankful that I had the opportunity. It was in the midst of a snow storm so the pictures aren't the best, but I'm happy to share the ones I have. If you ever have the chance to see it, do not pass it up. I also highly suggest visiting St. Paul's Chapel right across the street. It was a gathering place for all of the search and rescue teams to rest and get something to eat. There are still letters, pictures and other mementos from that time.

Names of New York Firefighters lost.

Flight 175

Those lost at the Pentagon.

Flight 93
(Because of the snow, not all sides of the pools were accessible so I wasn't able to get a photo of  flight 11 and flight 77.)

Things left at ground zero.

Patches from emergency crews from across the country who helped in the following weeks.  

These are strings of origami peace cranes that were sent by school children and other groups from Japan.

May we never stop remembering the victims of that day and strive to keep their memories alive so that generations after us know their stories and the sacrifices made.