Reminiscing

I was just looking through some pictures of the kiddos and thought I'd share.  The first two are of Hayden and Tenley both at 8 months old.  I think they look more alike than I realized!  

 




These two are of both of them at Hayden's current age - 10 months.  You can see the beautiful little chunk my Tenley girl is (this was her thinning way out), and then how thin Hayden is!  I think people are crazy when they mention anything about him being chubby, and you can see why.

                           
                                    

Looking through all these old pictures of Tenley, some of them make me wish I could go back to that moment just to hold her at that age and during that activity again.  It reminds me to work at not taking any moment for granted with Hayden (or Tenley!), because they are both growing up so fast.  I needed the reminder to forget about putting them in the perfect cute outfit or the cutest shoes, sweater vest, hairdo, or bow.  Who cares how they compare to other people's kids?  And I'm not just talking about clothes here!  I'm sick of the comparison wars that moms all over the world silently struggle with.  Let's fully enjoy our babies now.  They are perfect gifts from the Lord.  Let's treasure every moment possible up in our hearts, because the moments are gone all too soon.

Halloween 2012

This Halloween, Hayden was a whoopie cushion.  It was a very appropriate costume for him!  He can be really gassy.  And Tenley loves to say "fart."  Awesome.  This costume was a hand-me-down homemade costume from Aunt Jessica Wade.  Thank you!!!  We get lots of great boy clothes from her.

Tenley was Foofa from Yo-Gabba-Gabba.  She's never seen the show.  I can't stand it.  We watch Veggietales because it is my favorite too.  Anyway, my mom, the deal hunter, found this costume for $1.  It is super cute, too!  She enjoyed dressing up, but most of all, loved getting candy.  The only thing she got to eat was a fun size package of M&Ms.  I don't think she even cared about eating it - she just loved the idea!  I'm sure I will not be so lucky next year.  Instead of going trick-or-treating, we just went to see both of my sisters.  Barb was at home, so we got to see a lot of kids dressed up around their neighborhood.  Sheri was at work, so we walked around Barnes and Noble all decked out.  

Hayden's favorite part was playing in the dirt.

Hayden 10 months

                              

10 months: 29", 19.5lbs

Hayden is sleeping about 11 hours at night, wakes to eat, and then goes right back down to sleep a couple more hours usually.  His favorite time to sleep is 7pm-7am and then stay awake.  I'm trying to move him to an 8-8 schedule (or ideally 8:30-8:30), but it seems like no matter what time he goes to sleep, he wakes up at 7am.  That's not terrible, but for now I'd rather keep him up a little later, feed him at 7, and have him take a short nap to finish out the night.  He naps twice a day, for about an hour and a half each nap.

This month, Hayden got 2 more teeth - his top front teeth.  We tried baby cereal again, which he still didn't like.  So we tried carrots a couple days before he turned 10 months, and he loved them!  He still does the tongue-thrust thing, but I can tell it's a reflex rather than a dislike.  He tried peas too, which he sort of likes.  He also tried puffs, which he usually just plays with in his mouth and spits back out.  For now we are only doing solid foods once a day, about 5 days a week, and at a different time than when he normally eats.  It's really not for nutrition at all at this point - just for developing skills and having fun.  One thing I hadn't thought about in regards to eating was Hayden's love of throwing everything.  He will throw anything he can get his hands on...including carrots, spoons, cups, and puffs.  Oh boy.  He is going to be one messy eater.  We'll slowly work on correcting this during meal times.

yummy carrots

                                   

awesome eyelashes

Hayden is not crawling yet.  Kind of like with standing, it just seems like he doesn't care to.  Eventually he decided to stand, and it may just be the same way with learning to crawl.  For now, during tummy time, he will push up and look around for awhile, but then just lay down.  I joke that it's just because his poor little head is so big.  He's a little less than 50th percentile in both height and weight, but his head is in the 90th.  I love my ole mr. big head.  For now, if a toy he wants is out of reach, he will fold himself in half, flat on the ground and reach to get it, then pull himself back up.  This kid has great flexibility and is working on those core muscles, but he is just content to sit and lay!

He loves to try to join in our conversations, but isn't saying any real words yet.  "Dadadada" and random babbling are his favorites right now.  He is starting to mimic our hand movements, like clapping and waving.  It is really cute.