i have slowed down, A LOT! baby girl is wearing me down from the inside out and tag... well did you know he can run now? he turned 15 months on November 23. i am getting my money's worth from a nice heating pad, and trying my best not to do things i don't have to do. but it's hard because we have a small house and need to make room for my sweet little lady and things need to be organized! AND we all know "a clean home is a happy home!"
tag began climbing recently. yes, don't let the short legs fool you. this dude can unlock the gate at the stairs and get to the top landing before i can get out of a chair. he can also tippy toe walk, which is to say, he can do everything as quietly as a mouse. sometimes he tries to tippy toe to something he's not supposed to touch while i'm watching him, as if it makes him invisible. oh and i don't just mean he can climb stairs, that's really nothing (except that he can't climb down, though he recently has discovered scooting down on his bottom). his big feat to beat is actually emptying his toy box, pushing it to the changing table, turning it upside down, climbing on top of that, pulling the second drawer of the changing table out, throwing everything in it on the floor, then getting into the second drawer of the changing table, then tossing everything from on top of the changing table onto the floor. once he was done, he just screamed words i didn't understand but probably meant something like "mama help me get down, i'm all done here!" i left him in his room with the gates up for 5-10 minutes and all that happened. now, just so you don't think i'm crazy for leaving him in his room, know that i have left him in his room before and he's sat quietly reading books or tinkering with his toys. anyway, the changing table is out of his room now, and we've tried to tag-toddler proof it to the best of our ability. what's amazing is that he still hasn't climbed out of his crib--thank heavens!!
Exhibit A-- happens in about 15 seconds
tag is a solid eater and drinker, and at his 15 month appointment was in the 75% for height and weight. he's hitting his milestones on time, and we are super proud of him. i know this because recently we had lunch with friends and brentley and i couldn't seem to stop talking about tag and his new tricks. he can show you where his nose is and he knows the cat's name now (luna) but he says "nah." he does a barking sound when he sees dogs and he is capable of obeying simple commands that we give him like "no touching" or "sit down" (he likes to stand in his high chair and any other chair he can climb into). we are working on holding hands when he walks, which he HATES. he is still taking two naps most days and one is usually around 2 hours. he crashes hard by 7:30pm and is an early riser. On a good day he wakes up around 6:30, and other days he's chirping in the monitor at 5:30am. i stand by my 6 am rule though, we don't get up until 6.
tag is still having nightmares a few times a week, so that's loads of fun. i was fooled into thinking that "sleeping through the night" actually meant, "sleeping through the night." apparently it means a baby that sleeps 6 hours straight without eating. but it doesn't really mean "sleeping through the night from bed time to morning time" as I think the saying implies. so for all you realists out there... NO, at 15 months we are still not 100% completely sleeping through the night in the real way!!!!! AND, yes, i do question my sanity when i think about the fact that i'm adding a baby to this mix in roughly 3 months. BUT, i know that God is sovereign and that in my weakness His strength is made perfect.
"But he said to me, “My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness.” Therefore I will boast all the more gladly of my weaknesses, so that the power of Christ may rest upon me." (2 Cor 12:9)
"Have you not known? Have you not heard? The LORD is the everlasting God, the Creator of the ends of the earth. He does not faint or grow weary; his understanding is unsearchable. He gives power to the faint, and to him who has no might he increases strength. Even youths shall faint and be weary, and young men shall fall exhausted; but they who wait for the LORD shall renew their strength; they shall mount up with wings like eagles; they shall run and not be weary; they shall walk and not faint." (Isaiah 40:28-31 ESV)
did i mention that tag and durham are getting along like siblings lately? tag harasses durham and she comes over to me to tattle on him. in this photo, tag poked and prodded and pulled D to get out of her chair so he could climb into it. then he propped open his book to "read"... and below you'll see where durham came to let me know she wasn't thrilled about it.
these are pictures of tag at his 15 month check up. he loves to re-arrange furniture, in addition to climbing in chairs. he's smart too. he knows that if he arranges a chair beside a table with a computer on it he could possibly touch the keyboard or screen-- assuming mom isn't looking. tag did pretty well with the shots. the flu shot hurt him, but he only cried for a few seconds.
the holiday week was nice, but also kind of nuts. naps were rough, and sometimes non-existent. we (I) ate too much. there was much to much to do and people to see and not enough time to do it all in. i still have no idea why or how people have time to go black friday shopping--are the deals really that good?? don't people need that day to catch up in life? i cleaned my bathroom and sorted 2 of 4 attic spaces making more room for my sweet lady. i took an insanely long nap, and still passed out around 8pm. i never even left the house, i don't think?
anyway, i have a feeling we will be paring down our holiday ventures in the next few years while we still have babies. it was a rough weekend of recovery for us all from just a few days of craziness. though, in all honesty, i'd still probably trade crazy babies for having to make my own Thanksgiving dinner for a while longer...
