Welcome, Separation Anxiety.

This past week welcomed in a new house guests called separation anxiety. One day was normal, the next not as normal. It currently only rearing its head at sleep times, but its making Phoenix scared to be put down. He cries and clings and claws at it to hold him and the cry is one that makes you feel horrible because i can tell that he truly is feeling fear in the situation. Each night has been a little easier, though. And the struggle is getting shorter and shorter. But the second night it happened led to me layong down in our bed with Phoenix and waking at 12 to put him in his bed. This is different for 2 reasons- 1. He has never WANTED to lay in our bed besides his infant days. He actually seems to love the space of his crib and the times i tried to let him sleep with us ( for pure selfish, snuggle reasons) he protested and 2. he, until recently, had not learned to "snuggle" or "love" as some call it. So to have him WANT to lay in bed with me and snuggle simultaneously, was odd! But i ate it up! I love getting snuggles! 

Sadly, I knew this couldnt continue- we would only create a bigger problem that would be way harder to break down the road. So back to his bed he went and its gotten easier each night. Poor guy :( This was us that night:

We did some outdoor exploring the other day,too. As a boy, or just as a 10 month old, Phoenix loves seeing, touching, examining and of course eating his findings :) He gets such an inquisitive look with those eyebrows that he inherited from his father! 

 And nothing better than a cool refreshing beverage after such hard play! 

He's pretty well mastered the sippy, huh 

So much laughter from this little boy ALL THE TIME! And especially when hes upside down!

His very own cleaning supplies!

Brand new activity cube for the most active boy i know!

Planning for the 1st birthday is still going on as well.. Phoenix is helping me pick out the Peter Rabbit Organic Snacks for his cousins who will be visiting...

Family time at the park today! The park is so fun with our little guy being mobile now! He loves to run and enjoy all the playground toys!

Happy 4th of July!

Yes, its been a month since i posted- time just gets away! Im too busy spending time with the awesome people in my life that blogging takes a back seat sometimes! The latest and greatest of updates:

-im still birthday planning and definitely narrowing down what we will be getting Phoenix! I think we've determined what we are for sure getting him but its been a process deciding! Also finalizing all the birthday details and making lists of what we still need to make and/ or buy.

- Our big guy turned 10 months! 31 inches and 25lb and as active, curious and beautiful as ever!

- Mom and i took Phoenix to his first "big" pool in June which he LOVED! he played in the kiddie pool and had so much fun watching the other kids- hes definitely a people watcher :)

Then we had a snack...

The water fun resulted in this...

-We took Phoenix to his first carnival. They set up in our town, within walking distance to our house! He just loved the rides and seemed to especially love the carousel- after we got off of it he kept pointing to it so we rode it again! He even walked around the carnival with us which was surreal to have my 10 month old walking by my side....sigh

1st Ride! 

- Phoenix has also started handing us items and "sharing".. its the sweetest thing! while rocking for nap the other day he insisted on sharing his paci with me

-We celebrated 4th of july yesterday- its been stormy so fireworks weren't in the cards this year but luckily once the rain subsided at about 9pm, Phoenix DID sleep through the neighborhood people shooting off theirs- yay! 

Happy 4th of july! 

Birthday suit...

At only 3 months out, I am finalizing ideas for Phoenix's 1st birthday! I cant believe its almost here?! can it be true? I already have his theme in place and have begun buying all the super fun party stuff that goes along with such a fun day! My mom and I love to throw a good bash, so this should be no different. The hardest part will be crowd control since Phoenix doesnt love huge crowds as of yet. That may change in the next 3 months who knows! With babies, things change overnight and without warning, so you should never get comfortable and never expect predictability ( just my two cents on what ive learned in the last 9 months haha) Speaking of birthday suits, Phoenix loves being in his- he wants to run free when all the clothes come off, and he decided to show the whole neighborhood the other day while waving at daddy (who was mowing) and beating on the storm door :)

Phoenix has started to mumble "m" and "b" sounds so maybe soon ill go from nana to mama! He is a clapping machine and has started mimicking "Hi" in the exact tone that i have always said it to him- its a very breathy "huuiiiiii". its adorable. no doubt. He has also pushed his bedtime from 7pm to now 8pm- and overnight as i mentioned earlier. He use to be pretty fussy after his afternoon nap until bedtime, but has recently been taking great daytime naps and having great evenings, happily lasting until bedtime. i guess big boy is growing up. 

His streaking episode post bath- having that sweet face smile up at me while he mimicked my door beating, was heart melting:

 Hanging with grandmommy:

Breaking in the wagon at grandmommys:

 Big boy in 24 month jammies:

A little am mickey:

He found the couch crack hahah:

9 months today!

It took 9 months to grow your perfect little body from start to finish, 40 weeks to the day. And now youve been out of my body for 9 whole months! In those 9 months youve learned words such as dada and nana (mama), welcomed 6 teeth, learned to roll over, sit up, pull up, crawl, walk ( practically run!), clap, you laugh, scream, compete to talk over those around you, you understand "no" and "nap nap" both of which make you cry, you can say "milk" in sign language, turn your toys on and off, play daddys drums and throw a really impressive fit with a full on contortionists arched back haha! You love smiling and looking in mirrors with us, you are nonstop during the day but love to be snuggled and rocked at bedtimes. You are the sweetest thing in this world!
 Its just amazing to see what you learn every minute of each day! And i cant believe that in 3 more months my infant will be a toddler, turning 1 year old. But lets NOT talk about that!

Happy 9 months sweet boy! I did some hard work growing every cell of you, and youve done a million times more work in your 9 months outside of me than i could ever do! youve got skills :)
 And i love you! 

 This sweet personality! .....