An Overdue Update!

This may be a rather *long* post, as quite a bit has happened since I posted last. I never intend to 'disappear' from the blogosphere for so long . . . I just get caught up in my daily life and run out of time during the day, then by the time night comes around I'm usually to tired to compose my thoughts into something readable. However, I really should post more often.

Now, on to the update. . . .

The first week of October was quite eventful for my little munchkin--first he learned to wave (he's still working on it, but he has the general idea!), then he learned to associate "SPLAT!" with when he smacks and splatters the food on his highchair tray. On October 3rd he stumbled and fell against a wooden toy box that we have in his play room (and consequently removed from the playroom soon thereafter!) -- that incident resulted in his very first bloody lip (poor Baby!) and a cut underneath his lip as well.  The next day (Oct. 4th) he clapped his own hands (he's been clapping MINE for quite a while, ha ha)! Then on the 6th I was blowing bubbles for him, and he came over to me and said "Buh-buh.' So I think his third word may have been 'bubble'. :-) On the 8th he made it almost all the way across his playroom walking on his own, and he tried walking down the hallway that night before his bath (and even turned a corner!). Now he can walk in circles and turn around! He still loses his balance and plops down, but he is improving every day. Oh, and we can't really put him in his walker much anymore because he can climb out and I'm afraid he's going to fall on his head (I've always gotten him out before he loses his balance, but it's only a matter of time if we keep putting him in there, so I'd rather not chance it). So, that is what Peanut Butter Cup has been up to lately!

Since he figured out the whole clapping thing, he absolutely loves to clap! Oh, and Karissa, you can tell Courtney that she doesn't need to worry too much about him having a lack of rhythm and timing--when he claps to a song he is almost always on beat. :-) He actually clapped while watching Wheel of Fortune October 7th (he saw the contestants clapping and he decided he was going to clap as well--it was too cute)!

This past weekend (along with the past few days) have been hard as we have had to make a difficult decision in regards to Quigley. I will post more about that later, as that is a post in and of itself. Please be in prayer for our family though through the rest of this week as it is going to be a difficult next few days.

The First Steps

Earlier this evening, Peanut Butter Cup took his very first steps! I wish I could say that I had videoed such a big event (or even just taken pictures!), but it all happened very suddenly and I didn't have any sort of camera near me at that moment.

That is okay though because I know he is going to keep taking those faltering steps now; gaining more and more confidence with each step. So, I have plenty of time to work on capturing this new season of his life . . . right?

I wonder how soon it will be before he is off and running now. Knowing how impatient he is to do everything on his own and how excited he gets when he sees other children running around, it probably won't be too long. Pray for me.

Ha ha! Just kidding!

Quick Update . . . .

Peanut Butter Cup is taking his morning nap currently (which have only been lasting for about 40 minutes the past couple of days, so this will have to be quick!), so I thought I'd try to write a little update while I have two hands.

We were able to move into our new house July 19th, and our household goods arrived July 30th. Since then we've been slowly working our way through all of the boxes and putting stuff away. We are trying to 'de-clutter' as we go through all of the boxes which is one reason why it is slow going. We really don't want to have to deal with so much extra 'junk' next time we move, so if we don't need it--and if it doesn't hold great significant value we aren't keeping it. So far, we've been doing pretty well about sticking with it and have cleared out a lot of stuff.

The packers back in Alabama did a TERRIBLE job with packing, so most of our furniture along with a bunch of our other stuff (including our brand new freezer :'-( I think that was one of the worst things for me) arrived damaged or destroyed. It's sad that the 'professional' movers cared so little about our stuff (like my books! The way they were packed was atrocious! Several of them were folded over to fit in a box--how does that even make logical sense when packing books to treat them that way?!) . . . and I know it's just that--'stuff'--and in the long run it doesn't really matter too much, but it's the whole principal of the matter that is the most frustrating to me. On a good note though, the moving company is supposed to pay to fix or replace what they broke, so now we are just waiting for an inspector to come verify our claims so we can start replacing the important stuff (like the freezer!).

Peanut Butter Cup is on the verge of walking! If it weren't for the fact that he hasn't been given as much of an opportunity to crawl around and practice walking while holding onto things due to the arrival of our household goods and the lack of baby-proofed-ness currently, I think he would have already taken his first steps. *Whew!* Sorry for the long run-on sentence!!

Peanut Butter Cup hasn't been sleeping very well this past week . . . he wakes up on average about 5 times a night (sometimes more often). Most nights I end up sleeping in the glider with him as he wakes up about 15 minutes after I put him down, so I've only been getting to spend about 1-2 hours in my own bed each night. I'm not entirely sure what has caused this sudden increase in night waking--and much lighter sleep. He's been in his own room alone for the past two weeks now . . . we all started off in there when we first moved in so he wouldn't have to make yet another transition when it came time for him to sleep alone in his own room, and then we moved into the room next door. So maybe after a week of being alone in his room he suddenly realized he was alone? Or it could be more teething, or the fact that he is a 'High-Needs' baby and may be going through a phase where he needs to be extra close for a while. It's hard to pinpoint what exactly has been the cause of his 'clingy-ness' at night.

I'm hoping that this is just a phase that will pass quickly so we can all get some deeper sleep at night! A couple of weeks ago though I was doing some research and came across and article that describes him to a T: 5 REASONS WHY HIGH-NEED INFANTS SLEEP DIFFERENTLY I already knew he was a 'High-Need' baby, and reading that article cemented that fact in my mind--along with explaining a lot of why he has been doing the things he does.

Well, the Munchkin has awakened, so I guess I'd better end this here for now! I hope everyone has been doing well!