Swimming!

Today was Garrett's first time in a real, big pool! He's only played on his splashpad and little two ring pool. He was sad for the first 5 minutes or so, and pouted with his little lips probably because the water was a little chilly, but the more we walked around I think he started to enjoy it! It was a  nice and quick visit to a friend's pool. I think he will be a little fish before we know it!

High 5!

Dustin and I have taught Garrett the first move in becoming a cool little dude. Next up: pound it.

Independent Little G

taken May 2

He did this for a while and then decided he didn't feel like using the spoon anymore but rather his fingers. Darn. It'll come back though!

Funny sleeper

These were actually taken in May, when he could still fit into his super cute crab pjs! Dustin found Little G like this. very typical. As soon as we lay him down, still, his legs go straight up in the air like this. We can never keep his blanket over him. He's completely zonked. 

11 months old

My little baby is becoming not so little!! This year has been the fastest of my life, and definitely the most enjoyable.

 He has started sticking his tongue out like this when he's being funny or thinks something is funny.

 I just can't get enough of this face. I'm so lucky to be his mom!

Garrett now weighs 24 pounds, and seems to be leveling off in his weight gain. Thank goodness! Still no crawling or walking, but we are getting closer every day with our special exercises that help him learn weight shifting.

About Garrett at 11 months

You love your bathtime with daddy every night and your morning breakfast and walk with him too!

You don't care for cheese sticks and continue to turn them down with every offer!

You are very good at feeding yourself now. Next step is conquering the spoon and bowl!

You now like peanut butter and jelly sandwiches for lunch and eat mostly everything we do, but Mommy still feeds you some babyfood veggies and fruit and some dinners.

You say 'da da' all the time, but not in association with daddy yet though! You also make the 'mmmmmm' sound, and lots of yelling talking!

You move around like crazy in your crib and we are always having to save you from contorted positions and legs caught in the crib slots (despite having the bumper there).

You love bedtime and always go down without a fuss and sleep through the night until about 5:30 am, but we don't get you up until 6am. Bedtime is now 6:30ish, but we are moving it closer to 7.

You love your blankies!!

You love reading books in the rocker upstairs.

You kick your legs and get really excited when you get your bottles of milk before nap and bedtime

You are now facing forward in your carseat and you love it!

I am currently planning a fun birthday bash for Garrett and I, but mostly for Garrett :) I am so thankful for Garrett, he is the best blessing I have ever received! We hope that a sibling will come along soon!

Camping at Galveston State Park

We went camping with Garrett for the first time at Galveston State Park. We set him in the tent while we set up the rest of our stuff. he was pretty content sitting with Kermit aka his BFF.

He's super tired here. It's past his usual bedtime, but he was a good sport.

 Dustin is giving a superb thumbs up. But not for the mosquitos. Those were a hideous thumbs down!!! We all got eaten alive despite the use of tons of bug spray. Poor Garrett got it the worst.

 our tent was very roomy, but I ended up returning it when we got home because it wasn't very sturdy as we found out at 2am with strong winds from the water.

 Still chillin......

 We had an extremely tough night with Garrett not falling asleep until around midnight, and when he did it was right in between Dustin and I. It was actually pretty adorable, but he just couldn't get comfy in his pack n play. Plus it was a bit sticky and humid!

 The morning made the tough night all history when he woke up right next to us with a big smile!

 How can you resist that smile?! Oh I just love that little boy.

We went to Galveston beach right after eating breakfast and packing up our tent and supplies. We changed Garrett into his swim wear when we got to the beach.

Dustin took Garrett and walked out into the waves and put Garrett's feet into the water and I stood a little behind them closer to the shoreline with Sophie. She started to get carried away in the waves since she's so short and small, so we went back to our blanket and sat and watched the boys until they were done. Then we just laid down and sat Garrett between us with some toys and rested a little in the warm 8am sun.  Garrett had a little snack bottle then we packed up our blanket and decided to drive down the road next to the shoreline and see where it took us. We ended up where the cruise ships port and saw some great family beaches along the way.  After that we headed home, got stuck in a traffic jam for 30 minutes because of some huge spill on the highway, and after getting into the one lane open from a 4 lane highway, we had a pleasant drive home. We washed and waxed both cars when we got home, took showers, then took a nap! It was a really great weekend together as a little family of 3! First of many I'm sure.

Happy day and Hot dogs!

Just playin around and being happy!! Look closely at his hair and you;ll see it is actually a cowlick from his nap! His hair is getting long on top and so he has super crazy hair after every naptime.

I decided to let Garrett finally try a turkey hot dog....

 and he couldn't eat it fast enough!! He loves loves hot dogs!!

Oh I can just watch you eat all day Garrett. You are so darn cute!

10 months old!

Oh goodness does time need to slow down!! I can't have my little baby turning one!! That means I will have to turn 29! I guess I could just skip my birthday this year and have Garrett have all the fun! He is growing longer and getting heavier every day. He better plateau here soon...or start walking!

 Our first day of photos he was a little sad after just a few, so we took them the next day too.

 and decided to show off his spiked hair so his true length could show!

 Such a happy boy today. I was teasing him with his caterpillar.

 His spikes never last very long because of the length and wispiness of his hair, and humidity!

 Love me some baby toes

I know he just wants to get up and go so bad!! We are working on special exercises to get his body a little stronger in his core, and to help him feel more comfortable rolling over. I think he's forgotten a little and grown a bit uneasy with moving around too much, so we are practicing reaching across to opposite sides, crossing one arm over the other to reach for toys or snacks. This is helping with his core strength and ease of movement with his large body. We are also practicing rolling over more, and he is catching on again quickly to that thank goodness. He has started doing it on his own in his crib, but that just makes him mad, but he is learning to deal with it after crying a few minutes on his own. We are helping him stand on his own next to the couch, which he will do for about a minute now, but he doesn't like it very much. He does not pull himself up to anything yet, but that's okay! He will get there soon. We know he has the capabilities, but I think he has found comfort in his stable positions and he doesn't like to stray from them. I think he will one day see what he can do and will go for it. Until then, lots of tummy time and practicing our moving exercises!

We are so blessed to have a healthy baby with a perfect and healthy body. I am so grateful for such a blessing. It will be so fun to add more children and have them all be buddies someday.

We love you to the moon and back Garrett!