It's all fun and games until we hit double digit months and I realize how close my babies are to not being babies anymore! We have sure enjoyed soaking up all the memories this past month, and what a month it was for Brady and Ashley. I always think that nothing can top the month before, and each month I'm proven wrong. I'm so looking forward to celebrating Christmas this month through their eyes. But before I get too much ahead of myself, let's look back at our fun filled month!
This really has nothing to do with the babies, but the very next day I was able to kill my first buck ever during shotgun season! Eric and I hunted together on some of his parent's/grandma's ground. I sat in a stand and he was in his saddle in the tree just caddycorner to me. We had been out all afternoon and hadn't seen anything. It was starting to get cold, so I had put on my big bulky gloves and had stood up to face behind me to change positions. It was getting close to evening when I hear Eric start whispering, "buck, buck, buck". Not knowing how close this buck was to us, I decided I'd pull off my gloves to get a better handle on the gun, and started turning slowly around. That's when I realized that this thing was literally 15 yards in front of my stand. If only I hadn't felt the need to pull of my gloves I would have had the perfect shot on him! I had to get my gun up and ready, and by the time I had a shot the deer was probably 50 or 60 yards away. I took the shot and he dropped to the ground. It was an amazing feeling! But then, it somehow managed to stumble back up on his legs and start staggering up the hill. Eric told me to take another shot on him if I got one, but I couldn't for the life of me find the thing through the trees and brush it was climbing up. Eric said that he saw it and could get a shot, so I gave the gun to him. When the buck got to the top of the hill, Eric shot it and he ran. I wasn't feeling very confident at that point. To make matters worse, it was starting to rain. We got down from the tree right as the light was fading away and started looking for blood. I'm not sure how, but we found absolutely no blood. None. Nada. I had pretty much decided that we would never find him. By then it was dark and wet and we decided to call it for the night and look the next day. So out we set the following afternoon to look for him. Again, I had little confidence we'd find him. Eric decided to come in from a different direction to try to push him towards me if he decided to bed down overnight and hadn't died. So I'm walking into the woods close to where he was when he made it up to the top of the hill. I decide I better keep my eyes open just in case I see him. I look to my right, and then I look to my left. And as I'm looking left I see a quite large patch of white out of my peripherals. My heart starts pumping a little harder and I start walking a little faster. And there he is- my first buck down! I excitedly call Eric and he can't believe that we found him so quickly. He probably only ran another 15 or 20 yards from where Eric took the second shot on him. As we field dressed him, we saw that I made a double lung shot on him, so he wouldn't have gone much farther anyways. I still don't know how we found no blood, but at least we found him!
That next week was Thanksgiving, and what a wonderful Thanksgiving we had. We kept it super low key this year and just celebrated with Eric's immediate family and mine. And honestly, it was so perfect. There was no stress, there was no hustle and bustle. I felt like we were truly able to appreciate being together as a family and being thankful for the wonderful year that 2020 has been for us. We made pan seared steaks for our Thanksgiving supper and I think that that needs to be a new tradition we follow every year- yummy! Luckily my mom pulled through and made an actual Thanksgiving meal, so our two turkeys did get to enjoy some turkey that day.
That weekend Brayden decided it was time to start crawling! And it shouldn't be a surprise to anyone that his first crawl was on his hands and knees and not army crawl style. He is SO much happier now that he isn't getting left in the dust when Ashley crawls out of the room. And this dude is fast. He puts that head down and goes full force forward, sometimes right into the stove or fridge ha!
On December 3rd my Grandpa Wolf passed away. It hurts my heart to know that Brady and Ashley will never know him. But as my cousin in law Lea told me, at least he got to know them. How true that is! I know he was SO happy to meet them, to hold them, to love on them. They always put the biggest smile on his face when they were with him. It also warms my heart that now Grandpa is getting to know Ian and Madison. I'm a little jealous of him on that front. Rest easy Grandpa, you will be very missed.
Yesterday we started another new tradition that I can't wait to keep up- Pancakes and PJ's! Brady and Ashley sported their Christmas jammies and we made our way to Nichole and Connor's house for some cousin fun. I can tell that this Christmas is going to be my favorite one yet.
And other random tidbits from this month:
- We measured and weighed them both this weekend. According to our scales and measuring tape at home, Brayden weighs 23.6 pounds and is 30.5 inches long. Ashley is 19.8 pounds and is 29 inches long.
- We stayed with 2.75-3 hour wake windows this month. Our schedule has also stayed pretty much the same. Wake up at 6, bottle, breakfast around 7:30, nap 8:45-10, bottle, lunch around 11:30, nap 12:45-4, bottle, dinner around 5, bottle, bed between 6:30 and 7 (though it's getting closer to 7 anymore).
- We are also still on 4 bottles a day. Brady get 8 ounces per bottle and Ashley's are still at 7 ounces. This month we did cut their last bottle of the day way down after they both were consistently leaving 4-5 ounces (sometimes more!) in their last bottle. They both get 4 ounce bottles for that last bottle of the night.
- We stayed in size four diapers this month, and are going through 10-12 diapers a day.
- This past month we bumped up to 12 month clothes.
- Favorite toys this month include our bowls and balls, the rainbow stacking bowls, square blocks, and our bath cups. We are putting everything in our mouths, and also like to hit the bowls together or on the coffee table. I'm excited to get some actual instruments in their hands and see how they react to those.
- Teeth wise, Ashley still just has her bottom two teeth that she had last month. Brayden is getting tooth number 3, which is coming in on the top right side. We've both been extra snotty and drooly this month, so maybe that means more teeth are on the way soon!
- This month we have both really been loving bath time! We started doing bath time together in the sink and it was the best decision ever. They love to kick and splash and chew on their bath toys. I know sooner rather than later I'm going to have to start giving them baths in the actual bathtub, but for now we are enjoying the simplicity of getting a good ol' bath in the kitchen sink.
- Brady had a big month this month! He can pull up to his knees on the coffee table, go from crawling to sitting, and crawl on hands and knees. He has become a belly sleeper this month, but unlike Ashley he lays flat on his belly.
- Ashley also gained some new skills this month, including going from crawling to sitting, pulling up on everything, crawling on her hands and knees (but she still army crawls more), and learning how to gracefully get down from standing. Sleep wise she is still sleeping on her tummy with her knees up under her. She wakes up with red knees every morning and after each nap. And I hesitate to say that she has her first word already, but I really think she might. She will wave her hand real big and say "hi" when she does it. It's the only time she will say "hi", and she only says it when she is waving at someone or if someone says "hi" to her. I'm definitely keeping an eye on it to see if it really is a true word for her.
- And speaking of speaking, these guys love to talk. Ashley prefers "hi", "mamamama", and "buhbuhbuh". Brayden says a lot of "buhbuhbuh" and "dadada".
- Favorites for Ashley this month are standing up by anything, stealing whatever toy brady has, climbing up on mom's legs while I do the dishes, standing at the baby gate and watching the puppies, bath time, getting into things she should be in- like the dishwasher, any cord, or the bathroom. She has also developed an interesting fascination with other people's mouths, especially your teeth. She loves to put her finger in my mouth and point to my teeth.
- Dislikes for Ashley include getting the snot sucked out of her nose and not knowing how to get down from standing. For a while she would just cry when she wanted to get down from standing. Then she started falling down, but landing on her bottom, while still crying like she hurt herself. Luckily here at the end of the month she's figuring out how to kneel down to her knees.
- Favorites for Brady this month are watching the puppies, crawling to come find you, cuddles, looking/being outside, and wrestling on the ground with Eric.
- Dislikes for Brady also include getting the snot sucked out of his nose (I mentioned they were both snotty messes this month, right?), and having to get out of the bath. At the beginning of the month I would say that he also disliked not being able to go anywhere because he couldn't crawl, but now that he's moving all over that's not an issue any more.
- I would have to say that at this point in their lives, I'm the clear cut favorite. I can't leave the room without one (or usually both) following me to find out where I went. I'm usually the one that they want to cuddle when they are sad, or mad, or hungry, or anything. By the end of the evening, I usually have both babies on my lap in some form or another. It can get a little overwhelming at times being the person that both babies gravitate towards all the time, but I'm trying to soak it up. I know that there's a short window where I will continue being the favorite until they realize that dad is way more fun than I am.
No comments:
Post a Comment