A teenager already?

We have come to another milestone that I wasn't looking forward to... our first teenager! George turned 13 on Friday and what a strange feeling. I have heard from the moment he was born how fast time would fly and you think you are prepared but really it is as if I blinked and here we are.

Being that George sleeps longer than everyone else I was able to watch my sweet freckle-faced boy sleep one morning last week and flash back in my mind to the pictures I have of him over the years.

I can't really describe this feeling I have. It isn't sadness really, although it brings tears to my eyes. I guess it is more of the realization that all of my children will continue to grow and pretty soon they'll be gone. George is quite helpful in reminding me of this as he mentioned in another 10 years it would be possible that I could be a Grandma. Okay, let's just stop at 13 shall we? :)

George is definitely a first-born. He is a more of a leader and likes to be in charge. He is very responsible and helpful with his siblings and in the past month I have come to a new stage where he has been willing to stay home with everyone for an hour while I go to the grocery store. That is simply amazing and I still can't believe we are here.

George is very good at coming up with ideas of how to play and really enjoys dressing up with his brothers. Here he helped Tank get camouflaged.

Friday night we celebrated with family and for the rest of the weekend his grandparents took him to Wisconsin Dells for special treat as they decided this is what they'll do for their grandchildren upon turning 13. I am a bit jealous and would like to go back to being 13 for a brief moment so I can go too. :)- I know he enjoyed his time away.

Next on the agenda -- the much anticipated (by George) growth spurt. I know it is just around the corner. He mentioned after church last week that he was having a hard time singing high and couldn't reach some of the notes. Here we go.... Looking forward to what this next year will bring not only in physical growth but as I watch George daily spend time in God's Word and see him becoming a young man who is seeking after God. So very, very thankful!

China Adoption

I know there are a couple of you yet who have followed my blog for years. You may remember not long after Seppy was born I posted about my cousin and his wife and their little boy, Owen, they lost to anencephaly. You can read more about that HERE. It was such a hard time and I have watched over the years as they continued to trust God for the perfect plans that He had for their lives, which included a new little blessing -- a sweet little girl, Lydia, who is already 2 1/2 years old. But all throughout those years and even earlier God was impressing upon their hearts the desire to adopt. Heather blogged about the beginning of their adoption journey HERE.

But, I am especially excited for them now as they have been pre-approved to adopt a special needs little girl from China! Nora Jane turned 1 two weeks ago and is in an orphanage in the Gansu province. Jason and Heather are hoping to travel to China this fall and bring home their little girl to her forever family. Please pray along with me for this family! And, if you feel so inclined to help fund their adoption I have added a button on my sidebar that links to Adoption Bug with fundraiser t-shirts to help with the many expenses involved.

I can't wait to meet you little Miss Nora!

And to follow the Lilyquist's Adoption Journey - Heather writes at Fullness Of Grace.

10 Month Update

So much for a baby update posted on time!

At 10 months old Zippy is weighing in at 21 pounds and I have no idea how tall . (Of course all of our tape measures have sprouted legs!) Which makes me wonder does it change from inches long to inches tall when baby stands? Because he doesn't lay still anymore! Gone are the days of smiling month pictures because it is all I can do to click the shutter once before he tries to leave.

Our little guy is on the move and there is no stopping him! I remember a time when I did "blanket time" with a few of my first babies and I wonder why I haven't done that yet. I don't want him roaming the house though so he is gated in the living room. That is the room with the least mess, although I can't count the number of times in a day one of the children calls to me "Mom! _____ has something in his mouth!" Babies must have eyes like hawks. I continue to have the rest of the kids get down on hands and knees and crawl to clean up the floor but to no avail as their vision seems to be terrible! Ha!

I have been so discouraged with Zippy's lack of naps and my not accomplishing anything during the day and started to look for ideas online. I have often followed Babywise methods and did find a website written by a Mom who uses those ideas and realized a few things I have been doing to contribute to Zippy's poor napping. So we'll see if changing up the routine helps.

Zippy enjoys being read to and especially when you make funny voices or noises. His favorite book is Barnyard Dance by Sandra Boynton. Maybe because his Mama has the most fun reading that one! I like all of her books for that matter.

Zippy also is very observant and will study and study people or objects. Here he is watching the action on the Riverfront.

 

But alas, the observation has ended and now comes exploration and climbing! Do you see the hill below? He crawled from the bottom to the top. Stopping now and then to pick grass.

Sweet, sweet baby -- we love you!

My Two Cake Decorators

This is a month behind but I wanted to post pictures of the birthday cake George and Pete made for me this year. Usually my Mom or sister will decorate one but since the boys have had a few cake decorating lessons as a project for 4H I thought they could handle it.

At their last lesson they learned how to make flowers which is something I have never done! The flowers turned out so nicely, that although tempted to eat them, they decided to freeze them to save to put on my birthday cake. I thought they might as well make the cake for me too. To make it a bit easier for them I caved and bought a cake mix. I helped with the raspberry whipped cream frosting but they put it all together. 

It turned out even better than I imagined!

I love to see how far the boys have come in decorating cakes. It wasn't too long ago they "assisted" my Mom in putting fruit on a cake only a mother could love. (I think I need to dig out that picture!)

 

9 Month Update

My blog seems to be coming more of a baby journal but at least I am documenting his milestones! At 9 months my "baby" is getting much more independent. This past month has been full of accomplishments and I am ready for him to slow down any time now! I would like to enjoy babyhood as long as possible!

My 9 month photo shoot did not work out. I forgot that I only got a few shots in before my little man started to scream or crawl away.

He wanted nothing to do with laying on a blanket. And then I forgot to try again. So this is Mr. Smiles. :) But I don't really think he looks any different here than at 8 months.

Zippy cut two more top teeth for a total of 6 tiny white teeth. In addition to being nursed he now eats solids three times a day. He has had slightly cooked egg yolks, mashed avocados, and many fruits and veggies. I typically will grind up something in my baby food mill from our meal for him. Now on occasion if I give him plain baby food he has a look as if to say "What kind of flavorless food are you giving me?"

He also is drinking water from a sippy cup.

Here's my happy baby!

Zippy is becoming more vocal always making some kind of sounds. Of course "da da" is often heard but there is no association with Daddy quite yet. He also enjoys nodding his head back and forth very fast trying to get us to laugh. His siblings think he is saying "no" but Zippy is just starting to learn the word as he is getting into things more and more each day.

And he gets into more these days because he is officially crawling on all fours!

He decided that wasn't enough so is also standing up and has worked his way onto our coffee table and onto a chair of course with a little help from a cushion that happened to be on the floor. He also started climbing stairs while at a friends house. And here I had hoped Zippy would be more like his sister Missy who sat on a blanket without moving at this age. Wishful thinking.

Unfortunately, this little guy is still not a great napper and seems to enjoy screaming. By this age all of my other babies had been trained to take two naps that typically lasted two hours. Oh bliss! I am trying to let him cry a bit more to get himself to sleep. I don't know if it is the older I get but probably the more I truly understand how fast the years fly by but I am not too good at that anymore.

For the most part, I enjoy rocking him to sleep from time to time. But, of course the problem with that is when he wakes much too early (after 30 minutes) he doesn't soothe himself back to sleep very easily. And 30 minutes does not a happy baby make so obviously he has not slept enough. My motto used to be that nap-time didn't end until Mama says so. Well, my seventh child is certainly testing me there!

Oh, but we all take great delight in this little baby. And his siblings are so often quick to entertain even a fussy baby. Here Re-Pete is playing in the grass with Zippy.

What a month of changes which seem to make the time fly by even faster. Slow down little guy!

8 Months Old

I wonder if I'll ever get a Baby update done on the actual date! I completely missed the 8 month mark so being that he is now 9 months and a little more I will finally post it and hopefully later yet today I'll also finish up the next milestone post. If you wonder what takes me so long it is picking out the pictures that best represent him out of too many to count and cropping then saving for web use and uploading to flickr.

At 8 months Baby now weighs 20 pounds and in size he definitely is more like Pete and Re-Pete with a thinner face and not quite as stocky. Although he is not near as scrawny as they were as he does have a few rolls. Getting my monthly picture is getting to be more difficult. This is about all I could get of him on his back. I have many of him rolling over, scooting around, sitting up, chewing on cardboard or whatever he could get his little hands on....

Zippy (a nickname from Grandpa M which I am trying out) cut three more teeth. The second one on the bottom and two top teeth. The other top two are not far behind however. Now that he has more teeth one of his favorite things to do is rub them against each other making a grinding noise which is like nails on a chalkboard for me.

He has no problems whatsoever with the pincer grasp! He loves to grab at everything but especially my arm or neck, or when he is nursing, the skin on my belly. And then with those little sharp fingernails I end up looking like I've been running through the thorny weeds and get all scratched up. Either that or he pinches my skin so tightly. I am working on breaking him of that painful habit.

Zippy is eating more solid food every day and makes a face with each new taste but gobbles it up anyway. I always find the easiest way to feed a baby at this stage is with a mesh feeder as I put in a piece of fruit or cooked veggie and he sucks it until it is almost nothing. A mango was quite tasty.

Zippy's eye color is still a dark gray-blue but I keep wondering if his might turn hazel as four of his brothers before him. At this point once in awhile I see a faint ring of yellow but we'll see.

I am finding my little guy is beginning to not cooperate for posed pictures. This was the best from the photo shoot otherwise he was observing the grass and finding that something special that had to be picked

and attempted to do just that.

     

He is one of my only babies to not mind the feel of grass from the start. He'll scoot around on it with no qualms at all. What do you see baby?

He is at the stage where changes seem to occur every day. He is still not up on all fours to move but
he lunges around doing a worm-type crawl so fast and gets where he wants to be without difficulty.

I guess the theme here is that he is too busy and I need to be fast with the camera!


Onto the next month...

What's in your backyard?

While I was out and about Sunday night I got a call from home on my cell phone, although didn't realize it until an hour or so later. I called John back and asked if there was something he needed. He decided to let me find out what he had called about when I got home and was very vague except that they took pictures for me to see. That certainly peaked my curiosity!

I assumed that there was some type of mess made and wasn't sure I wanted to know what had happened. It turns out that they found something in our yard or rather, Lincoln found it and was barking non-stop at it until George went to check it out. He told John, "Daddy, I think you are going to want to look at this!"

A snapping turtle, and not just a little one, was in our yard! The closest water is 1/2 mile down the road in a spring so what it was doing here is a mystery.

John called the sherrif's department to find out if there is someone that removes large turtles and they have never had that request but gave him a number to call but being a Sunday night that was pointless. He said he got a strange feeling just looking at it but he was not going to let it stay in our yard. So he put a large plastic bin tipped to the side next to the turtle then took his long roof shovel to keep the distance between him and the turtle and began to push at it to try and get it in the bin. That turtle jumped about a foot and was also knocking or snapping at the shovel. In the end John was able to give it a big shove into the bin which in turn flipped up-right. He popped the lid on it and he had George give him a hand carrying it down the road to let it out into the woods.

And I missed all of the fun! We have had other animals appear in our yard in the past... deer, cats, skunks, and you may remember this post about a dead fox. I wonder what will be next. Although I am not sure I want to find out!