Jessica Kelso

You’ve been with us exactly 6 months now. We’ve watched you sit up by yourself for the first time, master the art of crawling, and just recently take your first step. We’ve all dealt with many sleepless nights due to colds and other illnesses, countless loads of cloth diapers,  poopy diapers exploding in the middle of restaurants, scrapes and bruises and bite marks have happened more than one could hope. Your open mouth kisses are the best and you’ll share them with anyone willing to let you.

We didn’t know what to expect bringing you into our quiet home. We didn’t really know the kind of love we’d feel after just a short 6 months of watching you grow and form into the little person you are now. Some days I wake up wishing you were born to us and we didn’t have to fight so hard to keep you, but I’m trying to remember this is going to make all of us stronger in the end. God has your whole life planned out already and I truly believe He’s holding you in the palm of His hand. You aren’t mine to protect, you are His. That gives me an amazing peace and I hope one day it gives you the same. We have absolutely no idea where you might be in 6 more months or 1 year from now, but we are enjoying every single day spent with you. I love you more than I ever imagined  I could. You have made us a family and brought so much happiness to our lives.

You absolutely adore your “dada” and he adores you. He gives you a bath, sings you silly songs, reads to you, gives you your last bottle, brushes your cute little teeth, and says prayers with you every single night before bed. . . and I know how much you love that time with him. When I say “Dada’s home”, your eyes just light up and you start looking everywhere for him. It breaks my heart to think about you not always having him or even a male figure in your life, but I pray you always remember your Daddy up there who’s loving you so much more than we ever could. Just know right now while you are here with us, we are fighting so hard to make you ours forever.

We love you so much, little monster.

- Mama

This kid has gotten to be SO much fun! He is 11 months old today! That is absolutely crazy to me. Looking back through pictures when we first got him at 5 months old, he looks like a totally different kid. He is still crawling all over the place and has gotten super fast. He stands on his own all the time and just looks around and then plops down on his butt. He’s taken 1 or 2 steps on his own, but I think he just hasn’t gotten up enough guts yet to really go for it. I definitely think in the next month he will just take off. I don’t want to rush anything but after toting around 24lbs of goodness all of the time, I am ready to have a walking baby!

Just a couple of days ago, he started shaking his head no. It’s the first thing I’ve noticed that he’s really mimicked from us and I can’t help but laugh every time. Which of course means he is doing it all of the time now! He babbles constantly but hasn’t formed any words yet except mama. He is all smiles and laughs at home but when we’re out and people try go get him to smile, it’s almost impossible. He loves people and loves being out but he seems to have such a serious demeanor a lot of the time. I think he’s just taking it all in. Just recently, he’s also started screaming at the top of his lungs! Not when he’s upset though, just when he’s playing or doing whatever. I’m assuming he’s just discovering what all he can do with his voice. He hasn’t really done it much out in public so I’m more than okay with it. . . but it is LOUD! He has 4 teeth on the top and is working on his 3rd and 4th on the bottom right now. His smile with all of those teeth is the best. I miss his 2 little bottom teeth he had forever, but he’s still just as cute. He’s really starting to get taller and lose more of the baby fat. Don’t get me wrong, he’s still got plenty of that sweet baby chub but it’s starting to dwindle fast.

He’s gotten to where he pretty much will eat whatever we eat. Which in return has forced us to really try to eat better! On occasion we’ll be having chicken nachos for dinner or I’ll be eating a bag of chips and he’ll look at me and whine for me to give him some but I’m just not ready for that. I figure we have control of what he eats for a big chunk of his life and I want him to only eat the healthiest stuff. We’ve been watching Jamie Oliver’s Food Revolution and it’s really made me think about the health of our kids. I want my kids to have the same fresh stuff we’re eating, not just stick a preservative filled lunchable in front of them and call it a meal. The poor kid hasn’t even had any juice yet, only water. I don’t think there’s anything wrong with juice every once in a while. . . I just figure he doesn’t know any better right now so we might as well stick with water! He loves drinking out of his sippy cup though. It took him a little while to catch on, but he now knows how to throw it back and drink all by himself. Little accomplishments like that make me realize how smart he really is and how I need to give him more opportunities to learn on his own. I think sometimes I still think of him as a sweet little 5 month old who can’t even sit up yet.

We took him to the beach for the first time this past weekend. I was hoping for sun so I could work on a tan but the clouds decided to cover the sun all day. It was still a really nice day. Thrasher LOVED the sand and water. He thought the sand was a snack and would try to put handfuls of it in his mouth. He was crawling around everywhere and had absolutely no fear of crawling right into the shore. The water was freezing but Kevin took him in it a little bit and he didn’t seem to mind. It started to become nap time though and with sand covered hands, he started rubbing his eyes. I tried rinsing them with the only water available (the salt water) which just made things worse. The nice beach trip quickly turned into “Okay, we got to go NOW!”. We made the walk back and rinsed him off in the freezing cold shower which was miserable and got him changed and all was well for the ride home. We’re spending a whole week at the beach in June with some friends so I started to have fears about what the trip will be like. Luckily the condo where we’re staying is directly on the beach, so we’ll be able to quickly take him back to the room for naps and baths.

Speaking of naps, I’ve got to brag on him a little. The past month or two he has been a champ at sleeping! He’s been sleeping through the night for a while now, but occasionally has off nights or weeks but for the past month he has slept all night. He’s still waking up around 6am for a bottle, but Kevin gets up and gives him one and he’s usually back to sleep for another 2 hours. We’re hoping to break him of that soon though. He rarely ever even whines when I put him down for naps and falls right asleep for about 2 hours. I’m not sure when we’re supposed to go down to 1 nap but I definitely don’t think it’ll be anytime soon. The kid has been loving his sleep and I’m so thankful. It’s helped me get some much needed rest and get a lot more done around the house.

I almost forgot I have a blog. Can you tell? I can’t use the excuse that I haven’t had time to write, but I will use the excuse that I just haven’t cared to write! Since finding out I was pregnant at the end of January, I’ve been sick to my stomach ALL day, every day. I think I was just finally learning how to deal with the nausea when it decided to leave. Last week I ended up catching a stomach bug from Thrasher (he had a very mild case of it), which only lasted about a day but it was definitely one of the longest days of my life. I can’t remember the last time I was THAT sick. Kevin stayed home to take care of us and ended up catching it as well. My parents were a huge help with the baby while we recovered and I’m just so thankful that it’s all over and everyone is healthy. Tomorrow marks 15 weeks in my pregnancy, and I’m definitely starting to feel a difference. Much less nausea, more energy, and a belly that’s already wanting to stick out despite losing 5lbs! We had a doctor’s appointment this morning and got to hear the heart beat and the baby moving, which is something that just blows me away. I know I’m pregnant. I’m doing everything that a pregnant person is supposed to do, but I think it’s not until the times I see the baby on that screen or hear it’s precious heart beating inside of my stomach that I really realize what’s happening. I can’t wait to feel the baby move, so I can be reminded on a daily basis what a miracle this little life is.

We had so much fun with Thrasher on Easter! I love celebrating all of these “firsts” with him. The day before Easter we went over to a friend’s house and had an Easter egg hunt where Kevin helped T gather some eggs into his basket. He mainly just wanted to eat the plastic eggs, like everything else he comes in contact with, but it was cute none the less. He’s almost 11 months old now and has really been a lot of fun! He babbles all of the time and has recently started saying mama! I’ve tried getting it on video but it’s pretty random when it happens so I doubt I’ll have video proof for a while. I’m also really enjoying the warmer weather right now. I know I won’t be saying that in a couple more months when I’m big as a house, but for now it’s been nice. This weekend we’re thinking about taking Thrasher to the beach for the first time, and tomorrow we’re going on a play date with some friends to the water at Barnett Park in downtown. There seem to be a lot more options of things to do with a 1 year old during the summer time and I am really looking forward to it!