Benjamin Charles - Eight Months!

Not too shabby to get the first monthly update out at 8 months old :)
I'm working on the rest of them and making my notes into actual posts from previous months that aren't already written out, but thought I'd start with the most recent month first!
Poor second kid... 😉

I couldn't get him to lay still for even two seconds this month!

Weight:
Unfortunately we went to the doctor a few times this month, so Benjamin got weighed a few times!On August 3, he was 23lb 13 oz

On August 14 and 19, he was 23lb 14 oz

He's holding strong at the 98th percentile!

Height:
No official height this month, but he can reach more and more things up high when he stands up, so I can assure you he's not getting any shorter!

Clothes:
Benjamin is wearing 12 and 18 month clothes these days. I broke out the 18th month stuff because he didn't have any pants or shorts that I felt like he was comfortable in and his onesie PJs were a little tight in the feet! Even in the 18 month clothes, though, I feel like the bottoms are all too tight around his waist and I hate thinking about him feeling constricted or uncomfortable, so I usually don't even have him wear pants most days! He does have some 18 month shorts that are hand-me-downs from Samuel that Samuel wore once he was walking consistently, so they are pretty long, but at least they aren't cutting off his circulation, so it works, I guess... I guess that's how it goes when you're the second child - you just get what you get :)

Sleep:
If you would have asked me how his month of sleep was before I looked at how it actually went, I would have said it wasn't great, but, looking back, it could have been MUCH worse. (I think it's partly because I'm writing this a few weeks into his 9th month and there are some not so great nights coming!)
On average, he slept 10 hours and 12 minutes a night this month. His longest stretch at night was 12 hours and 40 minutes (I honestly don't remember that! And you'd think that'd be something I would remember...) and his shortest was just 6 hours.
Naps at daycare are still about in the 30 minute range twice a day... about once a week he'll sneak in a 60-90 minute nap, but he's just like his brother was in not wanting to sleep in long stretches at daycare. His teachers say he's just too excited to sleep - and I absolutely believe that - Benjamin sure does love life and get excited about a lot of things!

Likes:
Benjamin prettty much likes everything! He loves to grab anything and everything in sight and put it in his mouth (especially cords)! He loves to pull himself up on anything he can. He army crawls toward any object he wants to get his hands on - mostly dog toys, the water bowl and outlets...

If he wants something, he will find a way to get it!

He loves it when anyone even looks at him - it's like the greatest thing in the world.
He loves baths and dancing around and eating and pretty much he loves life.

He also loves ANYTHING his brother does. He will just sit and watch him forever and smile about it all!

Dislikes:

Benjamin dislikes being put down and walked away from. Like how dare anyone do that to him!!
He also dislikes being laid down on the changing table to get his diaper changed. I don't know if that's something he only does with me because he thinks I'm putting him down or what, but he is SOO offended every time!
Benjamin also dislikes when the food that is on his tray is gone and doesn't like when he has to get out of the bath... poor kid!
There isn't much that Benjamin dislikes, but when he does, he'll let you know!! 

Firsts/Milestones/Development:
Benjamin was in his first parade this month. He got to ride in the back of Grandpa Kock's truck with me while he pulled the train to advertise for Westside's sesquicentennial celebration. He had no clue what was going on, but he was there so that's something :)

Benjamin started pulling himself up this month. He did it for the first time at daycare and then just gradually started doing it more and more over the following weeks. He has a lot of arm strength, so he pulls as hard as he can until he can get is legs under him. He still stands on his toes a lot (kind of like a ballet dancers sometimes) but he'll figure out the whole standing thing!

He's also continued to master the army crawling and shows signs that he wants to start crawling on his hands and knees. He still prefers the army crawl, though, so that gets him where he wants to go for now!

He has started being able to go from crawling and then backing into sitting up (he's great at sitting now!) and can evidently crawl into the sensory table at daycare haha (see picture below) No stopping him now!

Benjamin got upgraded from an individual little highchair at school to the "big baby" table! Such a big kid!!

He has continued to love foods and has eaten over 50 different foods. I stopped keeping my running list of foods at this point, but we had a pretty extensive list by this point. We have yet to find something he doesn't like! He tried peanut butter this month and loved that, too! (no surprise)

 He started mumbling "mama" this month. Before this, it was all "dadas" so I'm feeling pretty special now. The first ones came after he woke up one morning and was just laying in his crib mumbling "mama" over and over!

He's had a rough go with a few more ear infections this month, poor guy doesn't really even show any symptoms of having them like you'd thing... usually no fever or anything to go along with them. Sometimes he'll pull at his ears or maybe wake up in the night, but it's never a big to-do. He is just too busy being happy, I guess!

Samuel loves his little brother just as much as Benjamin adores his big brother! So far we haven't had many issues with Samuel getting upset about Benjamin taking his toys. He handles it pretty well and is gentle when he wants to take something away (after a few reminders usually).
Samuel does need reminding frequently to not touch his face or smother him (sometimes his hugs are a little much) but his touches are usually out of affection! :)
When Benjamin is upset in his car seat, Samuel is great at talking to him and telling him it will be okay and that he doesn't need to cry. Benjamin usually responds by stopping his crying and looking at Samuel and smiling, so it's so nice to have him there to take Benjamin's mind off of whatever he's upset about!
Samuel is such a great helper at home - getting burp cloths for us when we need them, picking up Benjamin's toys that he drops on the floor from his high chair and making sure Benjamin doesn't get the dog toys he so disparately wants!
Benjamin is also a great motivation at supper time for Samuel to eat his vegetables :) Benjamin will gladly eat his, so we tell Samuel that Benjamin is going to get stronger than him because he is eating his veggies, and that usually gives Samuel enough motivation to eat his! Heehee. Parenting is fun!

Benjamin is just a little ray of sunshine in our lives. We love him so much! He is so sweet and I don't know how we got so lucky to get this happy boy in our lives! We are blessed with two of the best little boys!! 

Samuel Davey: Nineteen Months

I was going to do an 18 month post, but now Samuel is 19 months, so that's what I'm doing!! There were quite a few things to write about that have happened in the last 7 months since my last update. Samuel has changed so much in that time!! Hopefully I captured the big changes below! (I got pretty rambly, so sorry... I'm sure I'll enjoy reading this a few years from now!)

OFFICIAL SITTING IN THE CHAIR PICTURE TO COME!!
I forgot to take one today!

Weight:

At his 18 month check up, he was 31 pounds and 2 ounces
Before getting his tubes this morning, they said he was a little over 32 pounds (99th percentile)

Height:

Samuel was 33.25 inches at his 18 month check up (79th percentile)
His head circumference was 50.2 centimeters (98th percentile)

Clothes:

He's been in 2T clothes pretty much for the last 7 months. He'll probably move up a size in pants before his shirts, but we've got a little more time before we have to buy him a whole new wardrobe again!

Sleep:

He still sleeps like a rockstar!
Samuel goes to sleep at night between 7 and 7:30 and, on a school day, we usually wake him up between 6:45 and 7. On the weekends he usually sleeps until sometime between 7 and 8. These past few weekends he has woke up earlier (between 6 and 7) but we kind of think it has to do with teeth and fingers crossed that he goes back to "sleeping in".
For his bedtime routine, Trent and I usually go up and put his PJs on and then he plays for a bit if there's time, but usually he just gets his milk that we set on the shelf in his room, says goodnight to the parent that isn't putting him to bed, gets a book and climbs up in the chair on our lap to read a few books and then maybe sings a few songs and says a prayer before getting put in his crib. Depending on how tired (and compliant) he is, he'll either lay down to be covered up and say "good-bye" to us as we leave the room or stand in his crib with the saddest face I've ever seen and cry at us until we're gone and he decides to lay down and sleep. I love when I put him in bed and right before I lay him down he'll hug and kiss me and smile at me with his sweet little smile and it's just the best!


At just over 14 months we started having Samuel nap in his crib at home on the weekends on the same schedule that he naps at daycare and he actually did pretty well with that. Before that we always held him in the chair in the living room for his naps. He usually naps between 1.5 and 2.5 hours on Saturdays and Sundays at home. He might cry a little when we leave him in is crib at nap time, but once he realizes that we aren't coming back and it's really nap time, then he just lays on down and falls asleep. 


In the One's room at daycare, they sleep on cots, which was kind of crazy to think about him doing when he first moved to that room at little after he turned one, but he did well with that from the start!! They usually rub his back until he falls asleep and then he'll usually sleep for a few hours (depends on the day and how loud his friends are when they wake up).

First time sleeping on a cot at daycare

Words: 

Samuel has really become a little talker and it's so fun to really be able to start communicating with him! His talking started with just "Dada" for a long time. And everyone was "Dada"! (He finally started calling me "Mommy" in mid-February - just before he was 18 months)
It has just built off of that... after "Dada" I think "car" was next and that word gets used about 100 times a day now right along with "shoe".
Some of his other most frequently used words include (in no particular order):

Dog ("Da"), 
cheese ("Chee"), 
more ("mu mu"),
snow ("no"),  
Nana, 
Papa ("Bapa"), 
Grandma ("Gaga" or "Ga ma"), 
cracker ("ga ka"), 
Mommy, 
Dada, 
book ("buka"), 
car ("cah"), 
snack ("naa"), 
baby,
water ("waher"), 
bye bye, 
nose ("noo"), 
monkey, 
uh oh, 
TV ("tee eee"), 
coat, 
hat ("ah"), 
outside ("ou sigh"), 
mine, 
Samuel (I've heard that one just once, but it was very clearly him saying "Samuel"), 

ball ("bah") - this is just a generic ball and then any specific kind of ball (basketball, football, soccer ball, etc) is "bai bah"

He's started to string a few words together now as well. He will put "my" in front of words like "my car" and "my book" and I heard him say "Bye, Nana" last weekend as well. At daycare they have told me that he's said things that sound like "look what I got" and things like that, but he hasn't said anything like that where I've really noticed it at home. 

Teeth:
Samuel is just working on getting his sixth tooth. He got his first one at a little over 14 months and has been getting about one(ish) a month since then.

These are the days that we noticed them breaking through.
1st - His top left lateral incisor on November 1 (14 months and 10 days)
2nd - His bottom right front on November 25 (15 months and 3 days)
3rd and 4th - His top left front and top right lateral incisor on January 8 (16 months and 17 days)
5th - His front right top on February 19 (17 months and 28 days)
6th - His bottom front left tooth on March 16 (18 months and 22 days)

Look at that tooth!!

He handles getting new teeth pretty well so far. I think he might get a little extra drooly and slightly crabby and he gets a noticeable diaper rash with some of them. One of the times he got such a bad diaper rash that he hated getting his diaper changed and would just scream and cry each time, but thankfully it was only that one time that was that bad.
With this last tooth, he has been really chewing on his fingers and pulling at his mouth, but still seems to be his same ol' self.

Likes:
His puppies! He smiles and says "Hi" to them when he sees them, especially when we get home after school/work, he happily tells them "hi" and pats them on the head or side. Mattie doesn't really let him do that to her, but Millie does. Mattie usually just runs away when Samuel comes around. She did let him hug and pet her last week, but that was really the first time that has happened!

Samuel loves routine. Most mornings, we do the same thing when getting ready for school. We wake him up (Trent does most of the time), change his clothes, come downstairs and Trent puts on his socks, shoes, coat and hat, he gets water and a snack, and then I bring him out to the car and we leave. He usually can handle it if we do it a little different than that, but you can tell it throws him off a little. Like when the weather is nice and we don't need a coat, he will still insist on having it on or at least bringing it along. Trent also tried to put a new pair of shoes on him the other day and he cried and tried to take the new shoes off until Trent just put his regular pair back on! And it didn't take him long this morning on the way to get his tubes to be upset that he didn't have his usual snack in the car!

When I pick him up from daycare, he will always immediately put away whatever it is that he's playing with right when he sees me and then run towards me, but right before he gets to me, he will turn around to go to get his coat from his cubby. I'll go with him and grab his coat and hat and then he walks with intention toward the door while waving and saying "byyyye" to his teachers. We'll then go get his snack from the snack counter, stop to put his coat on by the front door (and he'll put his snack on the little table by the door while we do that) and then we'll leave and he has to walk on his own and not hold my hand! I will then put him in his seat when we get to the car and he has to get his water and then I have to take his snack cup and put his new take-home snack in his cup. (If I don't do that, I may as well have just told him that he's not going to get any snacks the rest of his life!!) Then he gives me a kiss and a smile and I go get in my seat and we head for home! Any break in that routine (like if they have apples or bananas for snack and it's something that he can't eat in the car!) is quite an issue!

Books!! He will really let anyone that will, read him books! We read them at home and he has his teachers at daycare read them to him and he will also sit by himself at daycare and at home and flip through books. It's so cute how much he loves them. He can kind of get testy with you if you're not reading it at the right speed or pick the wrong book to read and stuff, though!! Sometimes at night he will sit in his chair and point to books on this shelf and then we have to figure out which one he's actually pointing at. Sometimes it's easy to guess which one since he's pretty predictable and has his favorites, but sometimes I can point at 10 different books and he can tell me "no" to each one. I'll finally just pick one and, if it's not the right one, he won't even let me open it to try to read it. He'll grab it, shut it, say "nooo" and start pointing again to get the right one... We're working on that one! :)

Shoes! There are many days when I come to pick him up from daycare and one of the first things that he says to me is "shoes!" while he squats down and points to them. He is excited any time we say that we're going to put his shoes on, he will play with anyone's shoes that are available to him and try to put them on, and he'll point them out if he sees them laying around. If Trent and I ever need to finish getting ready at the same time while Samuel is awake, we can also just let him lose in our room and he will spend his time bringing shoes out of our closet and trying to put them on and walk around with them on! It'll be interesting to see if this is just a temporary thing or a sign that he's going to be obsessed with shoes as he gets older, too! Time will tell!

Dislikes:
Samuel really is a pretty good and happy kid. He definitely has some toddler in him now, though! He doesn't like to not get his way or get what he wants when he wants it! This is really evident when it comes to food. If he wants more cheese, for instance, and he can't have more cheese, then he wants NOTHING and will sometimes just proceed to swipe everything off his plate and onto the floor! Or he'll want something that's on your plate even if he has the same exact thing on his plate already. We have learned that usually if you just ignore him, he gets over it and carries on with eating what he has, but he can be stubborn! We know that he's just a 19 month old but we're doing what we can to help teach him some manners and coping skills and really teaching him to listen to what Mommy and Daddy say, cuz what we say goes! :)

Samuel also doesn't really like strangers, which means that he doesn't like the doctor because they are strange people and he doesn't like them messing with him. He gets pretty shy around most strangers and will cling onto Trent or I, so when we have to do something at the doctor, like lay him down on the scale to be weighed or let the nurse listen to his heart, he will get upset and cry for most of the rest of the appointment. It's like we betrayed him or something! We just try to comfort him and talk him through it, but usually he just keeps telling the nurses and doctors "bye bye" in hopes that they will leave!

Firsts/Milestones/Development:

Now to think about some of the big things that have happened over the last 7 months!

First of all, and probably the biggest, he started walking!! He took his first steps at his birthday party on August 14 and then it just got better from there. By the end of August he was pretty steady and consistent and could even carry things around while walking. He started off by always walking with his hands in the air to keep his balance and it was the cutest! It didn't last very long, but it really helped him learn! This video shows how good he was at walking by the beginning of September!

I stopped pumping at work on the 2nd of September and sent the last bag of frozen milk to daycare for Samuel on the 26th of September. I continued to breastfeed him when he woke up and before bed until the beginning of December, when he was about 15 and a half months and then just breastfed him before bed until mid-January, just shy of 17 months. I got the stomach flu on the 19th of January, so I didn't feed him that night or the next night and then we just went with it. Now he just has some cow's milk before bed, and I only really remember him asking me to feed him one time after we officially stopped and he was pretty easily distracted. I loved our time breastfeeding, but it really is hard work and quite the commitment. It was a bittersweet feeling to be done!

Samuel transitioned to the One's toddler room at daycare on October 17. He moved into Calexico. He has a lot of fun and they do so much good stuff each day there and I know he loves it and has learned so much! He still has some trouble at drop off some days, where he'll hug my legs and not want me to go or scream and cry as I leave, but most days he will just stand there and stare at me as I go - kind of like he can't believe I'm going! But as soon as I am out of site, he is perfectly fine and starts playing with his friends!

After he transitioned, there was some changes to the teachers that were in his room and the room next door each day, but now things have been pretty consistent for the past few months and we really love his teachers. His teachers in his room are Ms. Carolyn and Ms. Randi, and we love them both. In the room next door, Sunset, the teachers are Ms. Grace, Ms. Brittany, and Ms. Mary, and they are great too! I see then pretty much every day at drop off and pick up when the two room are combined before they split up for the day, so they are pretty special in Samuel's life too!

Below are pictures of Samuel and his BFF Cora with their graduation board at daycare from when the moved up from the infant room to the toddler room. Cora's mom got a new job in November that wasn't at UP, so Cora had to start going to a different daycare. Samuel and I both miss seeing them :(

Samuel was the cutest puppy I've ever seen for Halloween! You can read more about that event in this post!

Samuel has started to now give hugs and kisses (when he's in the mood, of course) when you ask him to. When I ask him for a kiss he'll either do the full open mouth kiss and really get me all slobbery or just pucker up his lips and make the "mmmmwah" sound like people do when they give kisses. I absolutely love it!!!

He will also blow kisses to people, usually when we're saying good-bye to someone or good night, and he'll wave really cute at people. His wave can be a cute little "hi" or "buh bye" wave that he does just by bending his fingers down or a whole open palm wave to say "good bye". I love it when we're just walking down the sidewalk in or out of daycare or walking down an aisle in the store and he just randomly waves and says "Hi" to people. For usually being quite shy, he isn't scared to say hi and make a stranger smile. Most people who he says hi to tell us that he's the cutest little boy, and I have to agree with them, of course!

Samuel has learned some animal sounds. Some of them we have taught him and some he has clearly learned from daycare. He knows what a monkey, puppy, bear and tiger say pretty consistently when asked. He can also repeat some animal sounds when you remind them what they are, like a rooster says "cock-a-doodle-doo" and he will try to repeat that. Usually if you ask him an animal that he doesn't know, he'll just say "grrr" for them all. :) It's a good guess!

Samuel also likes to sing, and I LOVE it when he does. He doesn't say any words, but I'm pretty sure that he knows what he's singing about! When we listen to music in the car or around the house, it usually gets him going and he'll start "singing" or humming to his own tune. You can also tell when he recognizes the song I'm singing. I know they sing "Wheels on the Bus" at daycare, so he is happy when I start singing that and will usually say "baby. baby." right away so I'll start singing the verse that says "The baby's on the bus say..." and then he smiles really big. 

He will also come up to me and grab my hands and say "row row row" so I will start singing "Row Row Row Your Boat." He just amazes me all the time! 

He has learned quite a few body parts and can point to them when you ask him where they are. He will also usually try to point those body parts out on the people around them when you ask about them - especially nose. Some of the ones he knows are: Nose, head, eye, mouth, tongue, ears, belly, leg, toes, arm

He can follow simple directions like putting something in the trash when we ask him to (and some stuff when we don't ask... we're pretty sure that he has probably thrown some things away that we don't know about...), he can put his toys away, he can go to the bathroom to wash his hands, he can wash his face and hands with a napkin or wash cloth after supper, he can blow out of his nose (sometimes) when we ask him to blow his nose, and other things, of course!

Samuel had tubes put in this morning - one day past his 19 month birthday. He didn't love the experience and kept telling everyone "bye bye" hoping that they would leave the room or that we would leave the building. So, needless to say, he was pretty stoked when we actually said we could get his clothes and shoes back on and go "bye bye". We were at the hospital from a little before 6 until 9 in the morning and he was really only away from us for about a half hour. It was a pretty emotional morning/day for him, but hopefully it's a noticeable difference for him and it will keep that darn fluid out of his ears so he can hear perfectly and really step up his talking game (cuz I think he does pretty darn good with the ears he's had!!).

I think I captured quite a few of the big events/developmental things from the last seven months. Every day really is just amazing with Samuel. It keeps getting better and better! He is so sweet and smart and we are so proud to be his parents. God sure blessed us with the perfect little boy!!!

Samuel Davey - Twelve Months!!

OUR LITTLE BABY IS ONE!!! AHHHH!!!

Weight:

I'm not sure on his weight quite yet - he has his 1 year appointment on the 1st of September, so we'll know officially then! Our estimate by weighing him at home a few weeks ago was somewhere between 26 and 27 pounds
I'll update it after his appointment tomorrow!
UPDATE: He was 26 lb 8 oz at his 12 month check up

Height:

No height measurements this month either - we measured him with a tape measure a few weeks ago and estimated him to be about 31 inches, so we'll see how close we are :)

UPDATE: He was 30.5 inches at his 12 month check up.

Clothes:

We have broken into the 2T clothes! He's got a pair of 2T jeans and a few pairs of shorts... It's crazy that he owns shorts and jeans that have real zippers and buttons on them!! He's still in 18 month shirts, but we'll see how long that lasts! We've got 24 month and 2T shirts just waiting for the day those 18 month ones get to tight!!

Sleep:

Samuel had another great month of sleep. It's amazing what happens when he isn't sick for months at a time!! We really got lucky in the sleep department with Samuel.
This month he averaged 10 hours and 55 minutes of sleep each night. His longest night of sleep was 12 hours 6 minutes and his shortest was 5 hours 10 minutes at one time (I don't remember what happened that night... I think he just missed me and wanted to snuggle for a while!)
He only had three nights this month where he slept for less than 10 hours in one stretch. And one of those nights was when we went to Nana and Papa's right after work, so he took a 2 hour nap on the way there but then was up and played for a while before going to bed and then I had to wake him up in the morning so we could get to where we were going that day, so that one wasn't even his fault!!
He's still doing the one half hour nap at daycare during the week... He's getting by with that, though, so we just have to go with it!

Likes:
 Samuel loves playing! He will just play and play and play if we let him! He loves playing at daycare with his friends and all the toys they have there and then he loves playing with his toys at home, too. At night, Trent will take him to get his PJs on and then they will play in his room until it's time to go to sleep. Samuel plays with his alphabet train and his books and just crawls around until we make him stop. And he's not always happy that we make him stop!

One of Samuel's newest favorites is his Cozy Coupe Car that he got from Nana and Papa for his birthday. He is pretty much addicted to that thing!! As soon as he sees it, he has to play with it!! He will open the door and crawl in and then crawl back out and then do that over and over. We've even locked the door to the car to try to keep him from playing in it because it was time to eat or something like that and he will just crawl through the window to get into it. It's moments like that, where he doesn't listen, that I really fail as a parent because it's just so cute and so I just laugh instead of being stern with him! :) He loves to be pushed in his car and he loves it when whoever is pushing him chases Millie or some other person! It's pretty much the cutest!
Samuel trying out his car at his birthday party.

 

Samuel continues to be a pretty happy little guy who's full of smiles and laughter (until he's not, that is!). Samuel continues to like food, playing in Millie's kennel, waving, playing with the baby gate that separates the family room and dining room, laughing, standing, clapping, putting his hand in the dogs' water bowl, his daycare friends and teachers, crawling as fast as he can towards the stairs (either the top or the bottom, doesn't matter!) and many other things!!

Dislikes:
Samuel doesn't like when he doesn't get his way! :) Meaning he doesn't like to be left alone or walked away from when he isn't in the mood, doesn't like to not be able to play with what he wants when he wants, and doesn't like to be held when he wants to crawl or walk somewhere on his own! (Mostly when you're trying to make him go somewhere he shouldn't be!)
He still doesn't like grass very much and is scared when balloons come at him.
Pretty typical "baby" things for the most part!

Firsts/Milestones/Development:

Samuel got his first haircut the day after his 11 month birthday. We went to Pigtails and Crewcuts and he sat in a little police car while she cut his hair. He did pretty good. He smiled at first when we put him in there and then just kind of stared blankly for a while before kind of getting fussy and acting like he wanted out. She gave him an animal cracker to gnaw on then, and everything as better and he sat very nicely while she finished his hair cut. I did love his long hair that he had going on cuz I thought he looked super cute, but it was getting into his eyes and over his ears and he had a bit of a mullet and long comb over thing going on so it was needed! I was very pleasantly surprised at how much I absolutely loved his haircut when he got done, though. He looks sooo grown up *tear* and handsome!! I was shocked at how much I loved it! He's all ready to be a 1 year old now with his new haircut! :)

Before and after!

Jocelyn started off Samuel's birthday month by giving him his first birthday gift early. This way he was able to focus on just the one present and wasn't too overwhelmed with a bunch of other presents to open at the same time. She gave him this great name puzzle. I had one (and I think Trent had something similar) when I was little, so it is pretty fun that Samuel has one too! 

We celebrated Samuel's birthday on the 14th of August! I'll write a whole post about it, but we had a lot of fun celebrating! We had about 35 people here for his party. Samuel got tons of attention and was spoiled with wonderful gifts. It was such a special day!

  At the beginning of Samuel's 12th month he started being able to stand on his own for a few seconds without hanging onto anything and then, by the end of the month, he has started walking!! He took his first official steps at his birthday party for everyone!! It was pretty special!! By the end of the month, he has taken 7-10 steps in a row before losing his balance and falling down. It's so fun to see him get better with walking every day now!
His first steps:

At the beginning of this month, Grandpa Jons passed away. I'm so happy that Grandpa got to meet Samuel and see him grow up during his first year of his life. I love that I have the memories of Samuel making Grandpa smile and having Grandpa "ohh" and "ahh" at him! I know Grandpa loved Samuel!

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See how much Samuel has grown:

One Month
Two Months
Three Months
Four Months
Five Months
Six Months
Seven Months
Eight Months
Nine Months

Ten Months
Eleven Months

The best I could get with him laying next to the bear this month!! :)