How is this littler booger a year and a half old?!?

Weight: He is 27 lbs.

Health:  This kid and teething. He now has 16 teeth. He had a rough time health wise the last month. He had an ear infection and a bout with RSV. We are doing much better now. He also endured quite possibly the worst diaper rash. It broke the skin in several places. It was so sad to have to change him because he was so uncomfortable. He still acts like he is teething right now with chewing on everything in sight (including his own hands), so I don’t know if those last four molars are coming in. I thought they come in much later!

Diet: He has the same appetite. He loves meats and carbs. We still struggle with getting him to eat vegetables. It is a little frustrating because he used to do so well, and he would eat more veggies than anything else. Thank goodness for squeeze packets. He loves veggies that way! He smacks his lips and starts salivating when we get them out. He will always eat oatmeal, rolls, chicken nuggets, and bananas. We have been really working on his utensil training. Some days he does a really good job; others a bath is a necessity. Many times, he will pick up his food with his hand and then try to stick it on his fork.

Clothes:  He is mostly in 18 month clothes. On tops we can also use 18-24, we just have to roll the sleeves up. 18-24 month pants are way too big. He is in still size 5 diaper and 5 shoe.

Sleeping:  We are officially down to one nap, and he takes it right at lunch time. He sleeps at night from 8-about 5:45am. (We have tried keeping him up later at night, but he still won’t sleep past 6.) He sleeps through the night pretty regularly still. Thank the Lord for that. Those nights while he was sick were absolutely brutal.

Likes: He loves the dog bed in the kitchen. Jumping on anything is a big hit. He LOVES blocks and stacking things. He loves pointing at things. Also proud parent moment, he started making fart noises with his hand/arm, so that is a fun past time for him. He likes to take my phone and turn it on and off and pretend he is talking on it. He loves to crawl in our laps. (I have loved how snuggly he has gotten over these past two months!) He absolutely loves to be outside. We have had a few nice days where we can go roam our yard and play on our slide. He loves to chase the dogs and throw them their balls. He thinks it is so fun to climb our hills and just be outside in general. I can’t wait for more consistently warm weather! He also loves this blue chair.

Dislikes: He does not like it when I am too slow with getting his milk cups ready. He did not like the Nebulizer and doing the breathing treatments. He does not like veggies. He also is not a fan of prayer time at dinner. He can see the food on the table and doesn’t understand why we have to hold hands and not be eating so we usually have to pray very loudly over his screams and clap for Jesus.

Milestones: He hugs us intentionally. It is the most delightful thing. He can follow most instructions like put “this” away, go to “this” room, hand me “this.” He is actually a really good listener. We have had some temper tantrums, but for the most part if you tell him a couple times and help redirect his attention he will listen to you. His new words are ball, Bill, bana (banana), key key (kitty), mmm (milk), yep, and cah (car). He does his own babbling a lot so we have started trying to make up what he is saying which has turned into some pretty hilarious sayings. He blows kisses and gives you open mouth kisses. We have had a solid week without a pacy anywhere! No car, no bedtime…NO PACY! He still cries for a few minutes in the car, but we sing the ABCs (which he will mouth it trying to mimick me) and talk about what is outside to distract him. I have been super amazed!

Quirks: He does this hunched over squat walk around the house. He just hunkers down and scuttles along. He does this scrunchy face smile where he crinkles his nose and shows you all his teeth. If you start laughing he will make himself laugh. He has had some issues with hitting. He has been hitting a lot of people. I tell him every morning that today is not the day to be a bully. Some days that message is received and other days it is not. But what is funny is when you try to correct him, he knows that he wasn’t supposed to do that so he will pull you in for a hug as you reprimand him for hitting and give you the best hug and a kiss. He is basically a sour patch kid commercial when it comes to hitting.

Nicknames:  Stink, Booger, Gdubs, Gman, Sweet cheeks, Little man, Georgie, Georgieman, and my most used right now is Boogs (short for another nickname booger).

We parents are:  tired. This has been rough couple of weeks. Tom’s quote, “We’re like college sophomores. We are still trying to figure things out, but we kind of know what we are doing. He is getting fed, and he has a roof over his head.” Our parenting in a nutshell some days. We have had a lot of family time this month too which has been nice. Also I am trying to comprehend how in the world he is 18 months old…That elephant used to be twice his size!

The dogs are: driving us a little bonkers. I think they can feel spring coming, and so they want to basically live outside right now, which means that they bark at us A LOT to let them out. Crosby will come in from outside and within five minutes bark at us to let him back out. They are still sweet dogs though. George just loves them. However, the hitting is not just happening with people.  We are really trying to curb that in general, but with him hitting the dogs specifically. He does give them hugs and kisses their backs every night before bed.

 Every day I love this kid more and more. I still can’t believe that he is ours most days. I still wonder how in the heck we became parents. But God graced us with this wonderful delight of a human being. He has such a bright personality that I am really enjoying watching come out more and more. He is going to be a ham for sure!

We love you so much George!

Weight: He is just over 25 lbs.

Health:  This kid and teething. Seriously, they are just barreling in. He has 12 so far, 6 on top and another 6 on the bottom. He also has four cutting right now. FOUR. The last couple weeks he has been alright mood wise, but his nose is basically a leaky faucet. He has also had a really bad cough the last week working through this round of teeth.

Diet: Not much has changed the last two months. He eats what we eat for the most part. There aren’t many vegetables that he will eat, so he gets at least one squeeze pouch a day as a snack to make sure he is at least getting some veggies each day. He has started eating meat more regularly which is good. Carbs are still his favorite. He still will change his mind on how and what he will eat at any given moment. He will always eat oatmeal, rolls, and bananas. He actually will eat a banana like an adult by holding the peel now!

Clothes:  This little dude grew this last month! He is basically in 18 month clothes. They are a little baggy, but he is way too big for 12 months, and there aren’t a lot of 12-18 months clothes out there. He also sized up in diapers and shoes, both size 5.

Sleeping:  Things have been so different this last month! He is sleeping through the night again-Thank the Lord! And when he does wake up, he usually can talk himself back to sleep. Yes talk himself back-we may have a sleep talker. Last month, I thought he was having night terrors because he would wake up with a bloodcurdling scream and couldn’t go back to sleep. I felt like we were back in the newborn stage. Thankfully that only lasted a couple weeks. We have been phasing out the second nap. It has been an adjustment though because he wants to now take a 2-3 hour nap right over lunch time. We’ll work it out, but I have noticed such a huge difference in his bedtime sleeping. He now sleeps from 8pm-7am. On the weekends he has even slept until 8 (one time 9am)! Sleeping in has never been sweeter.

Likes: He loves the Tupperware cabinet and taking all of the Tupperware out. He is really into putting lids on things now, so the Tupperware has been fun for him. He loves heights and climbing. Now that he has figured it out, he wants to climb everything. This stage is absolutely terrifying because he is not afraid of anything. I am just waiting for the day where he can climb out of his crib. I am having a panic attack thinking about that. He loves to read, play with legos, dog toys, getting into boxes/baskets, and throwing things. He is also really into pointing to things. He loves to make anything a scarf, but particularly loves putting our belts around his neck like a necklace. He still really loves brooms or anything in stick fashion. He got a little swifter for Christmas, and I am fairly positive he would sleep with it if we let him. He loves Christmas lights and trying to plug them in on his own. He also loves putting things in the fireplace. the other day I found it stuffed with Tupperware.

Dislikes: He does not like to be told no. He doesn’t want to take pictures at all. He doesn’t like when I take him off the couch where he has so proudly climbed and now wants to face dive off of. He hates PDA, so we don’t get kisses or holding hands at all. Hugs are very few as well unless he is super tired.

Milestones: He is “talking” a lot, but not many new real words. He did add night night and uh oh to his repertoire. Mostly, he just repeats the main syllable, like right now he is really into Bs. George now will go brush his teeth when I ask. I don’t know how this happened because a few weeks ago he acted like it was torture. He did have his first dentist appointment. He enjoyed his first Christmas tree. We are working on using silverware. Some days it goes well, and others it is a hot mess. He claps and waves bye bye more regularly now with the right timing too. He gets the concept of drawing and holding a pencil. We got some chunky crayons for Christmas so we are going to do a lot more with this development now.

Quirks: He has this evil chuckle when you tell him no, which basically means he is going to do it anyway. He sits in the middle of the kitchen when I get his bottle ready or get a squeeze pouch out. He will even sit when I tell him too, like he is a dog. He crawls into our laps and actually will sit really nicely. This is really the only cuddling he will do.  When I sing him to sleep he grabs my neck and presses his forehead against my chin and giggles while I attempt to sing like that.

We parents are:  We have really enjoyed the last two months with day and midnight shifts for Tom. It has been busy with the holidays, but we have gotten a little more family time. Tom has also been working like crazy to fix up the living space in our basement.

The dogs are: now 5! George and the dogs get along so well. George is now petting them a lot more gently, which is a huge step up from the smacking and intense grabbing that was happening. The dogs enjoy that he is an endless supply of goodies between the spilled milk and food thrown everywhere.

This little man just warms my heart. He is growing so much and so fast!

I wanted to still keep up with George’s growth and milestones even though he is now past a year, but I am only going to do it every other month on here. He is still changing so much, and there is a lot I want to remember.

Weight: He is probably around 25 lbs.

Health:  This month his health has been all over the place. These last two teeth have been the worst yet. He is at 7.5 teeth. This last one you can see under there but it hasn’t broke through yet. He has 4 on top, and 3 on bottom with another coming through down there. He has had a really bad cough and a few fevers trying to get through this round of teething. And his mood has been at every end of the spectrum trying to break them through. Rough.