11 Months

It's official, Tate is walking. He started taking some steps 2-3 weeks ago and then last week he really started moving. Over Thanksgiving weekend he seemed to switch off between crawling and walking and now he is walking every chance he gets. His teachers told me today that he was their busiest baby! He is so excited about his new skill, he has no interest in eating, going to bed or doing anything other than running around and testing out his new skill.

He has also become very LOUD over the last couple weeks. He has always been such a mellow baby and now he loves to use his voice, laugh, wave bye-bye and play chase.

When we do get him to sit still to eat he is really enjoying whatever the family is eating. In fact, he often surprises me with the foods he enjoyes - a couple weeks ago he was devouring the homemade PF Chang's style chicken lettuce wraps I made.

The first year can be long at times, but it really is amazing that he's almost one.

Tate's Baptism

We finally got around to getting Tate baptized on November 20th. It was a great day, and his godparents Larry and Kaye (next door neighbors) were able to join us.

Halloween

Neighborhood picture

With our neighbors Jim/Ed

Tallulah Gorge

We've gotten back into hiking now that Tate is a bit older and recently enjoyed a day trip to Tallulah Gorge in northern GA. It was gorgeous and a nice drive out of the city. Apparently they have some sliding rocks that you can hike down to and slide on in the summer. When the boys get older we'll have to give that a try.

Dec's Birthday

We did a simple party for Declan this year and invited several of his buddies from school to join us at the local airport playground for pizza. Unfortunately it was the coldest morning we've had in months, but the kids didn't seem to mind. My mom and Don's dad were both in town which was nice as well. Can't believe he is 4 years old. He has really grown up in the last couple months. He went through the "why" phase over the summer and is now just very into asking lots of specific questions. He loves playing soccer at school with Coach Jorge, bringing books to school and playing barefoot in the backyard. He says something hilarious every day and I really need to get better at writing down those quotes!

The Beach

In late October we took a nice long weekend trip to Blue Mountain Beach down in Florida. We had a great time with beautiful weather. The water was a bit cold, but the boys enjoyed playing on the beach, we all enjoyed the sun and had some great food and relaxing days.

Pumpkins!

Fall is Here!

We got the house ready for Halloween this weekend and I bought Declan's costume. He was so excited and wore it all afternoon, including on our afternoon walk.

Hanging Out

Helping Mom clean - he was very excited to help so I took him up on his offer.

Visit

Don's mom came to visit in late September and we had a great weekend. We went to the Gwinnett County Fair and also hiking up in the GA mountains. It was a busy weekend but we had a lot of fun.

Tate - 9 Months

Eating raspberries for the first time - Messy!

With his buddy Jack at the neighborhood pool

Tate is doing well and growing up quickly. He started crawling around 8 months and has pulled up a couple of times. He enjoys clapping his hands and is still our smiley guy. We've been keeping him up until 7:30 or 8pm lately and that means he sleeps until close to 7am which is a good thing for mom and dad. He loves real food and babbles all the time. He weighs 22.5 lbs and is 29.5 inches long.

Key West

I surprised Don for his bday and our anniversary with a trip to Key West while my parents watched the boys. We had a ball and it was so great to just hang out. We mostly ate, walked around, drank and laid in the sun, which was perfect. That town is definitely filled with some characters, but it was a blast. I think we'll definitely return.

8 Months

Hard to believe Tate turned 8 months this week. He's not quite as mobile as Declan was at this age, we call him our relaxed baby. He just started sitting a few weeks ago and is just barely crawling. It's quite humorous, it's army style on his tummy and he pretty much just drags his legs behind him. He is getting on all fours, but then rocks forward and back like crazy as if that alone will propel him forward.

He's loving people food, he simply devours it and gets upset if he doesn't get to try what the family is having. He's still a good sleeper, although lately he's been waking up at 5 or 6am occassionally, but hopefully that's just a phase. He's a sweet and mellow guy which makes life a lot of fun.