10 months

Well,  I am a bit late on writing this...since you are a week away from being 11 months, but better late than never.  And, let's be honest...you are technically still in the 10 month age group! :) 

Well, 10 months has been a very busy for you.  You celebrated your first Easter.  Your sweet friend, James, was baptized (on Easter Sunday). You went on your first road trip (2 weeks) to see family in NC and GA.  You went to Baltimore to ride on Thomas the Tank Engine. And I think that is about it.

You continue to grow each day.  While in GA, you met your Aunt Jenny for the first time.  She is a pediatric physical therapist.  Mommy had been trying and trying to get you to get up on all fours to crawl instead of doing the army crawl...all.the.time.  She suggested putting some pillows down and having you crawl over them.  The first few times we put them down, you army crawled...Daddy just laughed because he thought you were winning this battle, but Mommy stayed persistent.  And now?  You have begun to crawl more and more...up off the floor...no belly dragging on the ground!!!  So, YEAH, for you!!  Once we are a little more consistent, we will begin to work on walking.  Another thing you have learned? To climb the stairs...not sure how I really feel about this! :)  You are so proud of yourself when you do it...and you should be...you are by far the youngest of the four Hootie Hoos to tackle the stairs.  You also are eating more table food.  Chicken nuggets and grilled cheese are your favorites by far.  You did like the spaghetti that I made you the other night, too.  You make me smile as you try new foods and get used to the texture in your mouth.  You did AMAZING on our trip...you slept through the night while in your pack n' play.  This has helped Mommy and Daddy to feel a little more rested and normal! Your personality has really started to come out...you are quite the silly boy.  You make TONS of facial expressions that make us laugh.  You are figuring out new sounds to make...we call it you beat boxing.  And like Kyrie...your laugh is contagious. 

Richard Tobias, we are so thankful for you.  We are so glad that God chose you to be a part of our family.  We love getting to know who God created you to be.  Happy 10 months!!

10 months

9 months

Happy 9 month Birthday

Well, another month has come and gone...and I can't believe we are 3 months away from your first birthday!!  Can you please stop growing!?! 

You are getting so big and learning so much.  This month you have started really army crawling...you get around pretty fast!!  We are working on you getting up on your hands and knees to crawl.  You get up and rock back and forth, but haven't gone forward yet.  You have also learned how to sit up...going from your belly to sitting up.  You have gotten so much better at sitting up...not more getting excited and falling over! You are eating food from the table...nothing too fancy yet.  Mostly pancakes, muffins, waffles, bread, mashed potatoes, canned veggies and fruits, grilled cheese, pasta  and some chicken nuggets.  I guess that is a lot more than I realized!!

Your personality continues to blossom...you are quite the ham.  You make lots of silly faces...we laugh and then you laugh...you know you are being funny.  You are "talking" more with your siblings...it is the sweetest thing.  You also can scream really LOUD!!  We are continuing to work on sleeping at night.  We work really hard to getting up once a night and you do it for a few days and then something disrupts the schedule and you go back to getting up twice a night.  We know you will eventually get it, but we are trying to move you to your bedroom with Josiah.  He is so excited to have you in there with him. 

Well, I guess that is it for now.  We are so thankful for you and love this adventure of parenting you.  We love you, Richard Tobias!

Enjoy some pictures from our photo-shoot taken at our home in Herndon, VA.

He loves sucking his thumb

There is his BIG smile

Those eyes get me every time

Such a sweet boy

And he was done with pictures!

Happy 8 Months to You

 Here I am writing your 8 month journal entry...why am I having a hard time believing that you are already 8 months?!?! 

Well, you are getting to be such a BIG boy.  You can now sit up on your own...you still will fall over here and there out of sheer excitement!  You have learned how to pick up your finger foods and eat the on your own.  You are rolling EVERYWHERE....from the living room to the kitchen to the playroom.  You are doing much better with sleeping at night...you were doing super well before sickness descended upon our house, but you are getting back into the swing of things. You are starting to get up on all fours...crawling should be around the corner.  You continue to be such a happy baby...you laugh A LOT!!  You are really captivated by your reading videos.  You are SO strong.  You like to jump.  And you LOVE being in water...shower or bath...it doesn't matter. 

We are so thankful for you Richard Tobias, and we are glad that God chose us to be your parents. 

Here are a couple of pictures of our big 8 month old!

I could kiss those cheeks all day long!

Playing with his blocks

 

7 months

Wow!  7 months, already?!?!  Tobias, you aren't supposed to be growing this fast!!  You have learned so much in the last month...you are rolling all over the place.  You play a cute game with your brother...you roll towards him, then he rolls towards you and then you laugh.  You are now able to sit up for a little bit with a boppy behind you.  You don't sit up quite as long when nothing is behind you...you get so excited that you throw yourself backwards!!   You now have 4 teeth...2  on the bottom and 2 on the top.  We have given you Baby Mum-Mums...and you sure do like them!  The first time you had them, you grabbed the second piece I was giving you out of my hand and put it straight in your mouth and devoured it!!  You have been in your jumperoo some and LOVE to jump up and down!! 

Tobias, we are so thankful for you...so thankful that God has blessed us with you.  Happy 7 months, Richard Tobias!  We love you so much.

6 months

Happy Half-year Birthday, Richard Tobias!!

Well, six months have come and gone...I still can't believe it!!  This past month has gone by really fast.  We have celebrated Thanksgiving and then it has been getting ready for CHRISTmas.  I can't believe you will be celebrating your first CHRISTmas! 

You continue to be such a happy baby...so smiley!  You have gotten to be very vocal...very loud...just like Kyrie!   You like to laugh...A LOT...when you are getting undressed for you bath.  Speaking of bath...you love your bath time.  You have outgrown your bath seat, so you are now laying in the bath tub on a towel.  Oh, you LOVE to splash away...and you laugh while you do it! You are also rolling from your stomach to your back.  While sitting in our lap, you pull yourself up into a sitting position.  We have been working on sitting up by putting you in your chair.  You are also jumping up and down while we hold you in a standing position.  After Christmas, we will be getting your jumperoo out.  You are sleeping much better at night.  A couple of weeks ago, we let you cry yourself back to sleep after sleeping about 4 hours.  You went back to sleep and slept until 3am.  Since then, you usually get up one time.  This has done wonders for Mommy and Daddy!!  You have also gotten your first hair cut...oh, how I regretted it after I snipped the first hairs!!  You look so grown up now.   I guess you have to grow up, but it still makes me sad to see you growing up so fast!!

Well, we are still very thankful to have you in our lives.  We love you very much, Richard Tobias, and we look forward to seeing how God is going to use you.

Here are some belated six-month pictures that were taken at home...better late than never! 

Such a happy boy

Those eyes...

You are doing some major army crawling

5 months

Well, another month has come and gone!!! Can you please stop growing!?!  You are moving, moving, moving...all.the.time!  You have mastered rolling from back to stomach and even have rolled stomach to back a couple of times.  Your legs are constantly moving.  Since last month, you have started eating rice cereal and now oatmeal.  You LOVE to eat!!  We also have started you on formula for one feeding...just before bed time.  We have done this to try to get you to sleep longer. It has helped some...5 hours is the most we get!  You just like to eat and let's be honest...you didn't get to be your size by sleeping through the night!! :)  You continue to be such a happy baby! You smile A LOT...and laugh, too.  Sophie really makes you smile.  I love it when you laugh when I get you undressed for bath...I don't know why it makes you laugh, but it does...and I.LOVE.IT!! We are so thankful you, Richard Tobias!!!  Mommy and Daddy love you very much and are honored to have been chosen to be your parents!

Happy 5 months, Tobias!

4 months

Well, another month has come and gone!!  I swear this time around time is really flying by!! 

You are growing into such a big boy.  We can't believe how long you are.  We were supposed to have a doctor appointment yesterday, but for some reason they scheduled you for today.  So that means, we will have to make another appointment.  It will be pretty interesting to see how long you really are.  You are wearing 6 to 9 months mostly because of your height.  It will also be interesting to see how much you weigh.  So far, you have only been eating milk from Mommy.  You were really liking your bottle...you could eat so much faster...and not wanting to nurse from Mommy, so we stopped giving you a bottle and now you are nursing better again.  We will be giving you some rice cereal soon...probably going to wait until Daddy's day off, so he can be here for your first time eating. :) 

On your actually 4 month birthday, you started rolling like crazy from your back to your stomach!!!  I guess you really wanted to celebrate.  You continue to sit up really well with some help...your neck is nice and strong.   You got your first cold...made Mommy really sad. :(  One night, Mommy only got 2 hours of sleep because every time you laid in your crib, you would cough and gag.  So Mommy sat up in bad and held you will you slept upright in my arms.  Even though I was really tired, Mommy would do it all again. 

We love you so much, Richard Tobias, and we are having so much fun learning about who God has created you to be. 

4 months