Porter Update and Christmas :)

I can't believe I've been a mom to this amazing little boy for a year plus already. It's crazy how the time just flies by. Porter is changing so much every day and sometimes I wish time would just stop so I could enjoy some moments just a bit longer. We celebrated his 1st birthday on Nov. 22 by having a few friends over and having cake. We've started eating way healthier so this cake was sugar free, dairy free, and gluten free (Paleo). It actually tasted really good and no one said it tasted weird (maybe they were just being nice?) We got him a couple gifts, which the other kids enjoyed opening more than he did, but he loves the toys! and I might have cried a little thinking about how fast this year has gone by.

Stats:
Porter is still itty bitty weighing in at 19 lbs 6oz.. haha
I don't know how tall he is.... short though
and yes his head is still huge! (I love it)
5 Teeth
size 3 diapers.
can still wear 6 month onesies 6-12mo. pants. 9 month tops. to say the lease he is small...

Porter is finally walking as of a couple weeks ago. He's getting better, and It's so fun to watch him go. It's crazy how happy and proud we were when he took his first steps.
He says lots of words. Some are... Mama, mommy, Dada, daddy, Hi, Bye, Puppy (his favorite right now), Ball, car, Yuck, Yummy, soft (he says this when he pets Molly or touches our faces), what's that? (kinda like "wassa" and he points), and he always says "daba--daba--daba" (who knows what it means... Porter language). It's so fun to hear his sweet little voice as he tries to copy everything we say. He still LOVES to give kisses whenever we ask. He is seriously just the sweetest boy ever!! He's great at sharing and he loves hugs. He enjoys Sesame Street, but never really sits and watches until Elmo's World comes on. He's super into playing with any kind of kitchen utensil. As of late he loves playing with laundry baskets.
I love being this boys momma, everyday is an adventure and I wouldn't change it for the world.
 I'm not going back to work, and I'm so excited I get to keep spending every day with my Mr. Porter. We love him lots!!

Christmas was so much fun!! We headed down south Dec. 16 to my mom and dad's house. Doug headed to Whitefish to snowboard a couple days later which worked out perfectly 'cause he got me Christmas gifts down there and I got his here. This is the first Christmas where neither of us actually knew what we were getting. Who knew surprises were so fun. Christmas Eve we always go to the nativity, I love this tradition so much. It really helps us remember the true meaning of Christmas. We also opened pyjamas that night.

Christmas morning we planned to open gifts at 8:00. I got doug new basketball shoes and a remote control car (he's wanted one since he was 10), and he got me a food processor :) so happy. Porter got too many gifts, of course, but it was so fun to watch him open gifts. He enjoyed ripping the paper.

 On Boxing Day we had Doug's family party. I love getting together with his family. We booked a church in Lethbridge to fit our big family. The day was filled with great food and games. I also snuck in a little Boxing Day shopping :)

The 28th is always my family's Christmas party, this year we were sad to hear that the Boehme Adult Party was the same night so we missed out on that, but we love hanging out with my family as well. There is always a ton of food and lots of people. We played Werewolf most of the night. It gets pretty intense.

The rest of the week everyone was pretty sick with flu and pink eye so New Years we just hung out at my parents house. We counted down from 10 for the New Year and kissed and went to bed. Haha I was surprised I even made it to midnight!!

The next evening we drove to Calgary cause on the 2nd we were flying to Mexico!! I was so sad to be leaving my boy, but so excited to get to the warm sun! We knew he was in good hands, and thank goodness cause he got sick the week we left :( poor boy!! And poor gramma and grampa! We are so grateful for them! It was so nice in Mexico 27+ degrees all week, but by day 4 I was crazy missing my baby!! I never thought it would be so hard to leave him! Other than missing him I enjoyed a week of no diapers and just spending time with Doug. It was a great holiday, but I'm so glad to be home!!

Simple Decorations

Can't Believe he's ONE!!

Paleo Birthday Cake.

He was happy...

Then he hated life!

We got one decent picture.. kinda

Then all hell broke loose!

One of his birthday gifts

MERRY CHRISTMAS!

 

Doug loved his race car!

Day 1 in Mexico

Last Day in Mexico

Cool little lizard

Towel animals on our bed

Lover's Beach

Beautiful beach!!

Doug learned to surf

Bitter-Sweet

As of last week Porter is officially weaned. (Don't judge me because he's under 1). He'll be 1 in two weeks and I wanted to have him weaned by then. I started off slowly. At 8 months he was nursing 4 times a day. Morning, nap, nap, and night.
At 9 months I took away his morning feed. I've read lots of book/articles saying that usually you don't take away morning or night feeds first cause those are the ones baby's love the most, but the morning feed was easiest to lose for Porter, cause he'd just wake up and eat breakfast. 
At 10 months I took away his morning nap feed, which was somewhat hard for him, but after a day he realized he didn't need it :) I seriously thought weaning would be much harder than it was. At 11 months I took away his afternoon nap feed and eventually he was just done with his night feeding as well.. Easy peasy!
Now don't get me wrong, I'm actually quite sad that he is weaned. It was kind of that time I had, just him and me, snuggling. When Porter was born I knew I was going to nurse, but I didn't realize how time consuming it was. After about a month I really started to enjoy the time I got to spend just holding my boy (even in the middle of the night). It's crazy the connection we had. Now when bedtime comes around he just lays his head on my lap, or Doug's shoulder and we know it's bedtime. Easy babies are the BEST!!(don't mind my bragging!) Also my body finally feels back to normal! No more hot flashes, or cold flashes. No more over filled/leaky milk makers (just deflated ones). So it's kind of nice, but kind of sad at the same time... Bitter-Sweet.

On an even happier note, we're going to CABO in January! Baby Free!! My mom is going to take Porter for the week so Doug and I can enjoy a nice holiday! Thank goodness for grammas and grampas!! They're the best! We're looking forward to it!! That is when I'll be extra happy that Porter is weaned. Now to work my butt off and hopefully get in decent shape. (if only sugar wasn't so evil!!)

Did Someone Push Fast Forward?

How is it possible that in less than a month my sweet little baby will be ONE!? Someone had to have pushed fast forward.

At 11 Months Mr. Porter:

Is 18lbs 3oz and 27.5" long. Such a little shrimp. I love my little boy! We won't have official measurements til his shots at the end of November, but my measurements will have to do :)

Wears size 3-6 month tops and bottoms and 9 month jammies. I'm pretty sure he's still 4th percentile. Except for his huge head!

wearing the same outfit now as he did 7 months ago...

Has blonde hair and the most unique color of eyes. They're almost a blue/green/brown/gray if that's possible. It depends on the light.

Porter loves to cruise along the furniture and push his walking toy and my side table around (he's not a very good driver). He has no interest in standing alone or walking. Which I'm fine with. haha

This boy loves to talk talk talk! If his soother is not in his mouth he is just babbling away!! He can say : dada, mama, ba (ball--he really knows cause he says it when he's holding a ball), he calls our puppy molly pu (and he LOVES her!!). He can wave bye, and do the sign for all done. His all time favorite thing to say is daba daba. He'll repeat it over and over again. So funny.
He understands basic commands. When mom says 'no' he stops what he's doing :) and when I say 'up' he lifts his arms up. I ask for lots of kisses and he has no problem with delivering (open mouth of course). Such a smart boy (must take after his mom;)).

He's a great sleeper. Has 2 naps a day and sleeps 13 hrs at night :) Lucky mom! I tried to switch him to one nap, but he just wasn't ready. He crawls up to me and just lays his head on my lap and I know he's ready for nap/bed.

This boy loves to eat as well. He eats 3 meals a day with snacks in between and nurses only before bed at night. No more nursing before naps and he's been great with it. (only once has he been really mad that I won't nurse him before a nap). He loves cheerios and bananas and cheese the most, but he won't spit out anything I feed him.

I'm hoping to have Porter weened by the time he's one. He's doing really good so far :)

Porter's new favorite thing is to open and close doors. He'll open a door, crawl in, close the door almost all the way. Then he'll open it crawl out and close. Repeat! haha 

We celebrated our 3rd anniversary on the 16th and my sweet husband forgot :( haha. He's so busy with school and studying that it slipped his mind. I didn't remind him right in the morning. I bought him his favorite treat (Big Turks.. Barf!) and a card and put it in his lunch. Right when lunch time came I got a long text from him apologizing for forgetting. That weekend he made up for it by buying me my favorite treat, and beautiful roses and taking me out for dinner :) Thanks to some great friends we have up here we got to enjoy that evening without Porter.

 

I'm so grateful for a husband that works so hard for our family! What a blessing he is in our lives :) Love ya Dougie!

 

This boy is always so happy!

Gramma fed him cookie salad... he loved it!!

his 3-6 month pants are too big... poor boy!

HE LOVES HIS DAD!!

playing with dad

loves sesame street

first real haircut!

We love you Mr. Porter! You make our lives so enjoyable. Your personality is really starting to shine through. Can't believe you're almost 1.  xoxo

Double Digits!!

 September 22 marked 10 months since our sweet boy came into our lives! DOUBLE DIGITS! This also means that his 1 year birthday is only 2 months away. I wanna crawl up in a ball & cry. Neeext subject, please.

I've been having talks with myself about how to cope with the fact that my baby is about to no longer be a baby. I'm having a hard time believing how fast time has gone, but I am grateful for every second I've had with my handsome man.

His little Chomper!

Here are Porter's 10 month stats:

Weight: 18lbs (still 4th %)

Height: not sure. I need a measuring tape.

Clothing: 6-9 months & 9 months. 3-6 month pants still.

Diapers: Size 3

 Sleeping:  12+ hours a night!!  (And, takes 2 naps a day)
 Teeth: 1st one last week!

 Tricks: 

Porter has learned to stand at the piano while I play. He can reach the keys, and play, if
he's on his tip toes. He's so proud!

Food: 

Loves his baby food. Hasn't met a food he doesn't like. Still nursing about 3-4 times a day. Has 3 "solid" meals a day. And snacks. Loves cheese, grapes, yogurt, and his baby rice snacks.

Porter would spend the entire day outside if you would let him (I wish it wasn't getting so cold!). He is still cruising furniture and is letting go of things, but doesn't keep balance very well. No attempted steps yet and he is completely uninterested in trying to walk if you hold his arms up to balance him. He does seem to be a climber and tries to shimmy up anything he can get his feet on.

He LOVES his soos (soother) more than anything. If it falls out he puts it back in. (so glad he can do that himself now!)

Porter has finally learned to laugh! Like, REALLY laugh! It's my favorite sound ever!

Porter has also started playing shy. To everyone that says 'hi' to him.

Sunday Best

We are not excited for the Edmonton winter to come, but we still love living here. We love our ward. Porter and I go to the YMCA every morning. I drop him off at child minding for an hour so i can workout. It's been wonderful having all these amenities so close to me.

A couple of weeks ago we took a quick trip down to Waterton with 2 couples. It was so fun to get away and just relax, eat good food, and play games all night. We climbed Bear's Hump as well which I haven't done in at least 5 years! It felt great and Porter was so good (as per usual). 

Top of Bears Hump (love that view)

Doug is doing great in school and we are so proud of how hard he is working!

Drumming on the toilet.

Getting into Mischief!!

Love you Sweet Boy!!

Been Out as Long as You Were In!!

9 MONTHS?!! REALLY?

You guys...seriously, where does the time go? The number of months it took to grow a baby in my belly has already passed in the number of months he's been growing outside as a tiny little person. 


Porter got his 4 month shots today :(. That sad cry he has for pain is heartbreaking! But he did awesome (better than mom). 


He weighed in at 17 lbs 1oz. (4th percentile) 
He's just shy of 27" (5th percentile)
And then there's the head.... 46.5" (is that what it's measured in? she forgot the measurement) but thats 86th percentile!!
At least his weight is proportionate with his height right? 

Even though Porter is so little he is super healthy and happy all the time! He eats 3 solid meals a day and some snacks. I nurse him in the morning and before naps and bedtime and he eats til he's full so i'm not starving him I promise!!

He's crawling everywhere and pulling himself up to everything. He opens drawers and cupboard doors and pulls everything out. 
He loves to stand at the toilet and bang the lid. I'm trying to teach him to dance by shaking his hips, but he just likes to bounce.
 I've been doing sign language as well. He hasn't really caught on quite yet. We're starting with just some basics... More, All Done, Milk, and Water. He loves his sippy cup and any cup so we thought Water would be a good one to introduce. 
 Porter still has no teeth (which really is a blessing for my milk makers). 
His hair is getting long and is a dirty blonde color. His eyes are almost a grey color. So beautiful!! 
Porter still sleeps through the night :) and has 2 naps.
I don't wanna brag, but really I have the perfect baby!! 

My little boy is just getting so big and I love spending my days with him. We're putting him in swim lessons starting september and getting a pass to the YMCA to help us keep our cold winter edmonton days busy while dad is in school. He loves the water so i'm glad we have a YMCA close to our house :) 
We're enjoying our last final summer days with Doug until school starts. We're gonna spend some time in Waterton and with family and try to get lots of fun things done in a week as we won't be able to once school starts. We're so excited for Doug and his choice to stay in school and can't wait til he's done :)  (we've got a long ways to go). But i'm so grateful for him and for all he does for our family :) 

And now for pictures :) Really, they're the best update!!

Watching the Dogs

How happy is he!!? I absolutely love this boy!!

Smiles for mom!

Playing with a balloon.

My little monkey getting his spoon.

Getting so smart.

Loves his mama!

...and dad of course :)

Standing at everything!

HAPPY 9 MONTHS PORTER!!

We Love You Baby Boy! You're the best thing that has ever happened to us! And we couldn't be more blessed! BEST BABY EVER!!