Dear Willow, (11 Months)

Dear Willow,

This post is already a week late. We went to Saskatoon this past weekend to celebrate Father's Day and your Great Grandfathers Birthday. You were tossed around all weekend and loved every single minute of it.

We have been loving the warmer weather and the moment you wake from your naps we go outside to explore. We don't have grass here at the new house yet so we go into town and play at the beach or visit the horses.

At eleven months...

- You are still wearing size 3 diapers

- You wear mostly 12 month clothing but still some 6-12months and 12-18months

- Your shoe size is 3-4

- You are down to nursing twice a day. Once in the morning and once in the evening.

- You eat EVERYTHING. And by everything I mean EVERYTHING. You just love food. You get so mad when I don't feed you fast enough. Cheerios are hands down your favorite food

- You are very emotional. You get very upset when things don't go your way. Breakdowns are quite common when you are tired or hungry.

- Your little red uni-brow hasn't faded at all. It still goes bright red when you are tired or angry.

- You are a very funny baby. You smile all of the time and squeal with excitement. Your funny faces are out of this world!

- You wave and point at everything/everybody. Your waves and points are a little backwards which makes it that much more cuter.

- You love to clap your hands

- You are into everything. I can't imagine what it will be like when you are walking

- You are getting better at this whole sleeping thing. Except if we stay at someone elses home. You are up all night long, you just don't want to miss out on any action!

- You nap twice a day. A short one in the morning and a long one in the afternoon

- You have two teeth on the top and two on the bottom. They are so cute! You like the feel of them and grind them often which makes us a little nutty.

- You pull yourself up on everything. Last month you were a little wobbly but this month you are an old pro.

- You pooped in the tub twice in one week!! Thanks for not doing it when mama was bathing you. You did it for Grandma Sue and Dada. 

- Your toys don't excite you as much anymore. You would rather play with the dog dishes, tupperware, dirt, bugs, or the pets.

- You just started dancing.

Everytime we think our love for you couldn't be stronger it grows & grows & grows. You make everybody you meets heart so full. You are very loved.

Typical crazy Willow face

We love you to the moon & back Willow Rae xoxoxo

Dear Willow, (10 Months)

Dear Willow,

We feel this past month you have changed so much! Your mama started back at work a couple of times a week so you have been spending much more one on one time with dada. This past month the weather has been bonkers, one day we have snow, and the next we are outside with bare skin. Spring is finally here to stay now though (we hope).

At ten months...

- you are wearing 6-12 month & 12 month clothes

- You have been in size 3 diapers forever!

- You slept in until 9 a couple of times this month which was a total shocker and we were very appreciative!! 

- You are very strong

- You started crawling a couple of weeks ago

- You mimic everyone's facial expressions and sounds

-You put everything in your mouth. You are always trying to get to Lily's food before her

- Your favourite words are mama and dada, we LOVE that

- You have soooo many expressions, you are hilarious

- You don't sit still, we can't just plop you on the ground anymore. You are very fast too

- You have two bottom teeth and a couple top ones are trying to poke through

-  You felt grass for your first time

- You are very feisty. You know what you want, that is for sure

- You will eat anything, food is your most favourite thing

- You went to your first house concert last week

 We love you to the moon & back Willow Rae xoxoxoxo

Dear Willow, (9 Months)

Dear Willow,

Nine months? You are growing up way to fast! We spent a lot of time at home this month. We are totally getting shack whacky here in Manitoba. The weather is getting seriously depressing. We are going to have so much fun when this snow clears and we can hang at the beach everyday!

At nine months...

- You have two bottom teeth

- You are still wearing the same size of clothes as last month. 6-12 month and some 12 months.

- Size 9 month onesies

- Size 3 diapers

- You make the most ridiculous faces now. I think we promote them by laughing at you so you do them all of the time. You are such a ham

- You LOVE food. You like absolutely everything we give you. Peas, pears, and cheerios seem to be your favourite though. You grunt when we don't feed you fast enough

-  When are you going to be a good sleeper at night?! We had a rough week this past week. I think it may be from another tooth trying to pop through. You SCREAM at night and we can't do much to calm you.

- You crawl backwards and roll around to get around

- You have such a big personality. You're feisty, hilarious, goofy, aggressive, and happy

-  You take little steps with your walker and are very proud when you do so

- You always are slamming your heels into the ground. You have done this for quite sometime. I always think you are going to really hurt yourself but it doesn't even phase you

- You are a busy body, you always want to be on the move

- You love books

- When you are tired or mad your "unibrow" turns bright red. You also pull at your ear when your tired or hungry.

- You love Lily so much. You always stare at her and squeal

You love touch and feel books the best!

Typical crazy Willow face

Those legs!

We love to the moon & back Willow Rae xoxox

Dear Willow (8 Months)

Dear Willow,

You actually turned eight months last week but I have been such a slacker on the blog scene :s. The older you get the more your personality starts to shine. You are so hilarious and very feisty! This past month we have had visitors out every weekend so you have been snuggled & spoiled by many.

At eight months...

- We can't plop you on the ground and trust that you will be in the exact same spot if we leave the room for a second. You are a rolling machine!

- You haven't learned how to crawl just yet but you get up on all fours and do the rocking motion (we call it the happy humper)

- You went to Grandpa & Grandma's house once a week this month.

- You spent one whole week at Glamma & Pop Pop's house with me

- Your favourite words are mamamama, daddadadaa, and bababababa.

- You like to sleep with ducky.

- Your favourite foods are peas, cheerios & pears.

- You are such a great eater
  
- We just learned today that you are allergic to eggs. We thought we would let you try a couple pieces of egg and you really enjoyed it. But then we noticed right away that you immediately started breaking out in hives. We quickly wiped your face and hands down and gave you lots of water. And to the hospital we went. The plows hadn't made it out on the roads yet so we had to travel relatively slow. What a scare! The doctor told us to go and get some benadryl and to keep an eye on you for the next 24 hours. Before bed you broke out in a couple of more hives. Hopefully you will feel better tomorrow! The doctor made an allergy test appointment for us.

- You are getting better at feeding yourself.

- You are an expert jolly jumper. You love a big audience to show this off.

- You are starting to make strange with people

- You wear size 3 diapers.

- For clothes you are in 6-9,6-12, 9 & 12 months

- You popped your first tooth! It's on the bottom right.

-You are not a very good sleeper. You wake at around 10pm, 2:30am, 5am and up for the day at 7am.

- You are very ticklish

- You have the best personality! You are so funny and love to laugh

- When you are tired or hungry, watch out!

- You weigh approx 22lbs

- You don't miss a thing, you turn your head at any sound and you are very curious.

- You are still breastfed except for your feeding before bed.

- You love to clap your hands, give kisses, wave hi, and give high fives 

These pictures are from the last month :)

This is when you were first mastering the art of picking up things. You are now an old pro and LOVE your Cheerios

Morning playtimes in your nest

Trying so hard

Great-Grandpa and Willow xo

Hanging with your friends Grace & Carter

This frightens me

We love you to the moon and back Willow Rae xoxoxoxoxoox

Dear Willow (7 Months)

Dear Willow,

You went on you your first trip outside of Canada this past month, all the way to Mexico!! Like I expected you were perfect on the plane. You mostly slept and hopped around from my lap to daddy's and then peeked over at Glama & Pop Pop every once in awhile. I can't wait to take you on more trips as you get older so you will actually be able to remember some of them. Good thing I take a billion and ten pictures of you so you can look back at all the fun you had ;)

At seven months...

- You can finally sit up on your own! Such a big girl.

- You recently found a new love for your jolly jumper. You used to just sway back and forth, but now you give it your all.

- You are in size 3 diapers.

- You wear 6-9, 6-12 & 9 month clothing.

- You have the sweetest personality. You are very easygoing and happy all of the time. Except when you are sleepy and hungry. You act like me when your tired and your dad when your hungry... uh oh.

- You love to give kisses. Big sloppy open mouthed ones.

- You can now wave bye bye and wave hi.

- You like to try and turn the pages in your books and point at everything.

- Peas are your favourite food.

- You roll around on the floor like crazy. No crawling motions yet, but I am not ready for that anyways!

- Since the sleep program Chelsea & Josh sent to us (originally from Kerri) you have been sleeping from 7pm-7am wake up for food and then you sleep until 9am!!! Sooooo amazing!!! It was hard at first but we powered through the first couple of days of the program and wow so happy with the outcome.

- Your bald spot is pretty much gone. I see many clips and ponies being thrown in your hair in the near future.

- You still love bath time!

- You nap twice a day. About 45 min in the morning and 2 hours in the afternoon.

- We pull you around in your sleigh pretty much everyday. If you aren't staring up at daddy or me smiling you are fast asleep.

- You love your furry siblings and think they are so funny.


These pictures are from today & yesterday :)

We love you to the moon and back Willow Rae xoxoxo

Dear Willow (6 Months)

Dear Willow,

 You turned six months on Saturday! Whyyyy are you growing up so fast? Can you please slow down? I am loving this age so much. You have accomplished so many little milestones that make mama and daddy beam with pride. We went to our first play group in our new town and there was one little friend that was your age. Maybe you and Austin will become great friends one day :). We are taking you on your second plane ride to Mexico next week. We are super excited to dip you in the warm ocean and play around in the pool.

- You weigh 17lbs 3ozs

- You are 27 inches long

- We started you on solids a couple of weeks ago. So far you have had peas, bananas, sweet potato & turkey, avocado, blueberries & rice cereal. Your faves are definitely bananas & peas.

- Your poops are officially stinky :(

- You think Lily & Daddy are hilarious.

- When mama starts laughing you do too. We laugh a lot!!

- You are so smiley. Whenever you give a big grin you stick your tongue at the roof of your mouth.

- You love your exersaucer

- Everything goes into your mouth

- For clothes you are wearing everything from 3-6 month, 6 month, 6-9 month, 6-12 month, and 9 months. It totally depends on the make. We have many options that is for sure. For sleepers you are in 6-9/12 month or 9 month.

- We had a hard time sleeping this past month. You would wake up every couple of hours and want to stay up for an hour at a time. We tried the crying it out method which lasted two nights. I couldn't handle hearing you so sad. The past few nights you have been sleeping SO GOOD. I have came to the conclusion that you need more food before bed.

- You wake up at 7am to nurse and then you go back to bed until 9. You play and then have cereal at 10:00, 10:30 is nap time for 30 min to an hour, and then you play play play. You nurse at 1:00pm and then we give you some solids. We play play play and then you go down for a nap from 3pm-5pm. You eat dinner (breastmilk and solids) at 5:30pm and then play play play. 7:00pm we start getting ready for bed. We cuddle, then you have a bath, you nurse and then we read a story. You are down at 8pm. You wake at 12:00am and then I fill your belly with formula. We have found that fills you for longer. You wake at 5:00 am to nurse. I am liking this schedule we are on :)

- You are a rolling machine

- You can sit up by yourself for short periods of time. A toy in front of you usually helps you to stay up longer

- You are starting to talk more and more

- You definitely know your name

-  You find your hands fascinating

- You grunt when we don't feed you fast enough. It's so cute feeding you with a spoon, you remind me of a little bird

- Bath time is still your fave. We brought you to the pool a couple of weeks ago but the water was too cold for you to enjoy yourself

- Your gums are sooo white. Those teeth are going to be popping through any time!


We love you to the moon and back Willow Rae xoxoxo

Hello?

Dear Willow (5 Months)

Dear Willow,

I am so sorry I didn't get a chance to write you a four month post. In these past couple of months you have seen and accomplished so much! We moved half way across Canada from where you and your daddy were born to where your mama was born. It took awhile for you to adjust to the move, it was pretty chaotic but we are now fully settled into our new home. Well, maybe settled isn't a good word as we drive to your grandparents house every weekend. As the holidays approach we are very busy visiting with all of our families and friends. Speaking of friends you have met a lot of new ones! You are very likeable and people just want to be in your presence, can't blame them really.

We are having so much fun watching you grow. It's pretty amazing watching someone so pure and innocent explore everything for the first time. Daddy still has 3 1/2 months of parental leave so he gets to enjoy every single second with you! We are pretty lucky.

This month we get to celebrate your first Christmas!!! EEEE!!! Christmas seems to be even more special when there are little ones around to spoil. Come on Aunties and Uncles, we want some cousins to share your toys with ;)

At 5 months....

 - You have the biggest, most beautiful smile in the world. You always put your tongue at the roof of your mouth and smile with your whole face. It's totally contagious.

- Your laugh is hilarious. It might alarm some as it sounds like you are choking.

- You are extremely ticklish just like your daddy. You are most ticklish under your arms and underneath your chins.

- You love being on your back. You flail those arms and legs like nobody's business.

- You definitely have a daily routine. You wake at 9:30, daddy changes your bum and brings you into the living room to play with your toys on either your exersaucer or princess bed. Nap at 11:30 for a half hour to an hour and than play play play. You go for another nap at 3:30 and sleep for 3 hours. Than play play play. Your evening routine varies. You usually don't go down until 10:30pm, sometimes you want to just cuddle on the couch until midnight. And then bedtime! You wake twice for food, usually at 3:30am and 7am.

-For parents who said they weren't going to spoil you, you are sure spoiled. You run the show around these parts. You make up your own routine and we just work around it.

-You eat every fours hours, and are still exclusively breastfed. We tried to give you a banana rice snack but you don't like them much. Mama went out for a holiday party and daddy bought you back up formula but you would not drink it.

- You have 2 favorite toys, your donkey and some funny looking teething toy that Nate and B got you.

- You drool A LOT!!

- The next best thing to being in mama or daddies arms to fall asleep is definitely your swing.

- You are a huge fan of blankies and bring them right up to your face when you are about to fall asleep.

- We use the "stork bite" on your forehead to determine how tired you are. If you are really tired or upset it goes bright red. It kind of looks like you have unibrow.

- You wear 6 month shirts and onesies. 6-9 month pants.

-You wear size 3 diapers.

- At 4 1/2 months you weighed 15lbs 4ozs and were 29inches long.

- Bath time is definitely your fave. You LOVE being naked and splashing about.

- You are a very happy baby, you cry if you are hungry or over tired.

- you love looking at yourself in the mirror.

- You now roll over.

- You recently started playing shy.

- You are a back crawler. We have to be very careful now because you get around pretty quick on your back.

-You are kind of getting the hang of your jolly jumper.

- You tried baby yoga a couple of times which we really enjoyed and have had a couple of play dates

- You just found your feet and will not let them go. You find hands to be pretty interesting too.

- Lily and Maple make you laugh. Their barks are pretty funny. You like the feel of Timbits fur.

- You won't go to sleep without your soother unless you are in your mama's arms.

- You still can only handle three books in a row and than you are over it. They have to have lots of bright pictures!

- Glama & Pop Pop find the best way to get you to stop fussing is the tv. Bad habits already lol

- You are the best little traveler.

Willows little friends. Youngest to oldest

Ahhh life is good

We love you to the moon and back little Willow xoxoxo

Dear Willow (3 Months)

Dear Willow, You have had a very busy month! You went on your very first road trip and celebrated your very first Thanksgiving! You were an absolute dream on the road trip, you were such a trooper and hardly fussed at all. The final day I could tell you were over your car seat but you toughed it out. For Thanksgiving you didn't get to actually enjoy the food first hand but mommy made sure she stuffed her face so you could get a taste of some of it in your milk.

At three months...
-You have definitely found your hands and like to stuff them in your mouth
- You are a drooling monster
- You weigh well over 13 lbs
- You are wearing some of your 3 month clothes still but are mostly into your 3-6 month outfits.
- You sleep most of the night now. You wake up at 4am usually every night and than it varies when you wake next. But we usually all sleep in until 9 or 10.
- You love to smile all of the time, you are such a ham
- I think you are starting to teeth because sometimes you let out a blood curdling scream and quickly put your fist in your mouth. This hurts mama's heart when you do this because I feel so helpless. The teething soother Auntie Kelly got for you seems to soothe you a bit.
- You always bring your blankies up to your face and nestle right in. You love the softness.
- You love to talk
- You are very ticklish
- You can hold yourself up almost by yourself. You are so strong. You are always working out those abs and curling yourself up
- You still aren't a hug fan of tummy time so we only practice that for a minute at a time. Mama doesn't like seeing you get frustrated.
- Your eyes are still blue
- Your hair is auburn
-You love story time. We can usually get through three books until you lose interest
- You are definitely dads mini-me

How could I ever choose just one picture?

Dear Willow (2 Months)

Dear Willow,
2 Months? Are you kidding me? I can't believe it's already been two whole months but than it feels like I have know you forever... weird. We have grown so unbelievably close these past two months you are Daddy and Mama's EVERYTHING! You haven't been feeling to good this past week and have been extra sucky and snuggly. I don't really mind the cuddly part but I feel so helpless when you are not feeling well. I hope your cold disappears quickly!! Today we went for a nice long walk along the beach and it was absolutely gorgeous out. Than we spent the rest of the day snuggling.

At two months...
-You love the sound of the ocean. You fall asleep as soon as you hear it. I guess you are like your mama and are soothed by the waves and the salty air.
- You now like your swing, you fall asleep when we put the ocean sound on.
-  You love kicking and moving your arms. You are an active little thing and love using your legs to stand on me. When you are fully standing you stand with such pride. Such a strong and proud little thing you are
- You now smile at me and I know it's not just gas! Wow, do you ever melt my heart. I will be super tired from a late night nurse and you give me a little smirk and I die. ugggh you are perfection
- You have the most inquisitive eyes. I feel like you know more than I give you credit for
- After 8 weeks of using the nipple shield, just two days ago you finally started breastfeeding without it! Yay! You and I are nursing pros!! The first month was so trying and frustrating for us both, but now we both love it :)
- You stay awake for most of the day unless we go for a walk you are out.
- You have discovered my hair and love to pull it. You have a very strong grip and when I try to get my hair out of your hand you get frustrated
- You love morning dance parties with the whole fam
- You snuggle with daddy on the couch every night before bed. You both usually fall asleep together.
- You go to bed at midnight and wake between 3&4 and are starving. When you wake again at 6 you just have a tiny little snack and than sleep until 9 or 10.
- You love hearing me sing. Willow, you aren't going to love my voice forever. I have warned you :)
- You love playing pat-a-cake and the itsybitsy spider.

We love you to the moon & back Willow Rae xoxoxoxoox

Dear Willow (One Month)

Dear Willow,

You are one whole month today! Time is flying by, I am loving every single second we spend together. Well you really could sleep more at night, I would love that a whole lot more. I have never felt more proud of anything. You are daddy and mama's whole world. Thank you for bringing us so much joy and love. You sure are teaching us a lot and we in return hope to teach you even more! Here is what we know about you thus far.

- You LOVE sleeping on mama and/or daddy's chest
- You recently found mama's hair and you love to give it a good tug
- Your head is so strong, you like looking up at us with your big blue eyes
- At 3am you don't like nursing on mama's boob, mom always has to pump for your early morning feed. Otherwise you get too frustrated.
-At 6:00am you won't go back in your bassinet without crying your sweet little face off so you sleep in between mama and daddy.
- You have had a very strong grip since day one
- You like to pee when we open your diaper up
- You are wearing 0-3/3 month clothing
- You don't like daddy kisses as much when he has prickles on his face
- The sound of the ocean at the beach puts you to sleep
- You love to study your mama and daddy's face.
- You fart all of the time
- You sound like a dolphin or a goat
- You have a signature look... the kissy face
- You sleep with your eyes open most of the time
- You recently decided you don't like sleeping at night anymore. 
- You love bath time and you look incredible cute in your little tub
 - You cross your eyes when you are trying to focus and you look pretty cute and silly

We love you to the moon and back Willow Rae xoxoxo