Tess Walking

So Tess has been walking for almost a month now, but we have yet to put up a video. So here's one of her taking a few steps with a little encouragement from her Big Bro and Daddy.






A few funny things that Tucker has been doing lately: He's been asking "What's that noisy?" when he hears something he doesn't recognize. He's been making comparisons to things, for example, if something is yellow he says "Is that like mustard?" or when he's eating he'll take a few bites out of a sandwich and then say "Is this like a dog," "chair," "dinosaur"...or whatever he thinks it looks like. Which is an improvement over what he used to always ask, "Is this like a pig?" He would ask that about everything for a long time, but we haven't heard him say that for a while, and we have no idea where it came from.

Tucker's 2 1/2

Our little boy is growing up so fast. Like all little kids, he's a sponge soaking up everything he can. And since he likes to sit and read so much, he knows his letters, his numbers (1-10 anyway), and he can even tell us what letter some words start with.

Some days, he likes to commentate on everything he's doing. Some of our favorite things he says include: "This one way better" which is confusing when he's not comparing it to anything else, like a lone towel. Like most toddlers, he uses the word "no" a lot, but when he needs to say "yes" he says "please" instead. I've only heard him say "yes" a handful of times, and only when forced. One thing that he's started doing that we don't like so much is calling us "Mom" and "Dad", rather than "Mommy" and "Daddy"; we're still not sure how this came about.

He's getting pretty good at making excuses for why he's out of bed after he's been put down for the night. Some of my favorites are: "I need to pee-pee", right after he just went; "I need a drink", when his full cup is already in bed with him; and "I need my monkey head" or "red camera" or whatever else the toy of the day is.

Tess's Nine Month Check Up

Baby Tess is 9 months old already. Here are her stats from the doctor: she weighs 17lbs 12 oz (25-50th percentile) and is 27-1/2" long (50th percentile). When the nurse measured her head, she was in the 90th percentile, which was a little strange since she has always been average there too. The doctor remeasured though and the nurse was a little off. Thank goodness, not that there's anything wrong with having a big-brained child, it's just not good to be 50th percentile your whole short life and then jump up to the 90th percentile :) While examining Tess, the doctor discovered that she had an ear infection. Poor girl was in such good spirits though and hadn't been fussy or pulling on her ear or anything, so we decided not to give her antibiotics and let it run its course. She didn't have any shots this appointment except a flu shot and she had her finger pricked for a CBC. They called me later to tell me she is anemic so we're giving her a multivitamin with iron.

Here's what our 9 month old has been up to lately:
Growing teeth-she has 6 in and 2 more on their way
Feeding/Sleeping schedule-she wakes up around 7:30, nurses, then eats some solids for breakfast, goes down for a nap around 9:30, wakes up and nurses, eats solids for lunch, afternoon nap around 1:30, wakes up and nurses, eats solids for dinner around 5:30 or 6:00, nurses before bedtime around 8:00pm.

She is definitely a happy baby. She wakes up from naps and will play happily in her crib. She loves playing peek-a-boo with me while she's in her crib. I crawl around on the floor and go to the other side of her crib and she thinks it is the funniest thing ever. She'll stand up in her crib trying to find me and then when I pop up and say "Peek-a-Boo!" she laughs so hard she falls down.

Grand Lake 2011

We had our annual Grand Lake trip and Tucker and Tess had a blast. Tess spent little time on the boat due to the fact that she REALLY disliked having to wear a life jacket. Tucker liked hanging out on the boat and got to go tubing. Jason and I got to spend lots of time wake-boarding and surfing.

Tucker, Jason, Tess, me, Jeff, Staci, Max, Meggie, Grandad, Holly, Erica, Tim, Will, Ruth, GG, Tessa and JJ

Grandpa Miller, Tess, me, Grandma Miller, Max, Grandad, Tucker and Staci

Miller girls with hubbies and kiddos


The boys-Max, Will and Tucker

Tess showing off some teeth


Boys and ice cream


Tess with her Aunt Tessa


Grandad and Meggie with kiddos


Maybe someday we'll get a picture with everyone looking at the camera :)


GG and Tess. Tess was pretty smitten with GG


The boys throwing rocks with Max's Papa Shipman

Bathing beauty

The boys playing on the pool table

What a comfy place to rest