Easton is 9 months big!

Our little guy has quickly transformed from a quiet infant into an active almost toddler. Easton has earned the new nickname "crawling mess" because he injures himself multiple times daily! The twins didn't experience the amount of falls and I'm talking hard falls like little E. The boy tries so hard to keep up with his brother and sister that he forgets his limitations and doesn't learn from his falls! Needless to say both Daddy and I are constantly chasing after him doing our best to keep him safe. Clayton and Chloe even run around the house closing doors and making sure Easton doesn't climb the stairs. The supposed amazing retract-a-gate I ordered to keep Easton in the family room since we can't block off the stairs was an epic failure, so while we wait for the new gate to come, we are all on high alert! Here's some highlights from our Easton James' eighth month:

• Easton can clap and he's so proud of himself when he does. So stinkin' cute. 
• Easton is growing like a weed: 19.11 pounds; 28 1/4 inches; and his small little head circumference has grown from the first to the fourth percentile. He can thank his daddy for his little head!
• He is a total and complete mommy's boy. Easton doesn't take his eyes off of me, ever. His newest trick is to crawl to Mommy and climb up my legs. How can I not oblige to his request when he stares up at me with his beautiful blue eyes and precious smile?
• While he was spoiled with lots of new age appropriate toys, E much prefers Clayton's toys. Clayton, of course being the territorial two and a half year old that he is, is not a happy camper about that. Sharing is definitely the ever present theme in our house! 
• Easton loves watching Clayton and Chloe play and often erupts in fits of sweet laughter as he watches them. 
• He loves Chloe and Chloe loves him. She willingly shares her toys with him, smothers him in kisses, and tries to be his "mommy."
• Easton is quickly growing out of his 9 and 6-12 month clothes and is wearing size 4 diapers. 
• He eats 3-4 ice cubes of food for each meal and still nurses like champ. We have introduced one bottle a day of Earth's Best formula. As long as he's not overly tired, Easton seems to really enjoy it. My stash of frozen milk has gone down and while I do still produce enough milk, I just don't have the time or energy to add pumping back into the daily routine. I fretted over the decision, but ultimately I think it was the right one for us. 
• Easton naps for about 3.5 hours each day. He goes down for a morning nap by 10 and then again between 1 and 2. Nighty night time is 7 and he gets up between 7 and 8. Easton still gets up once a night around 3 (my fault--take full responsibility!), but luckily he goes right back to sleep after a few minutes of nursing, so I really can't complain. Besides his mid night hiccup, the boy does sleep wonderfully in his bed. 
• Along with his collection of growling sounds, which are simply adorable, Easton has ironically started saying "eeee." Still no mama or dada, but we work on it daily! 
• Easton loves puffs, still doesn't have a tooth (poor kid's gums are miserable), and prefers to drink water out of Clayton and Chloe's straw cups and not his own cup. 
• Oh and he loves riding in the wagon!

Here's some pictures of our sweet little man...

Easton's first real ride at Disneyland

All bundled up for my wagon ride

Such a happy boy at the park

Easton boy loves bath time

 Jump! Jump! Jump!

Yes, he can climb the stairs...loves to give his mommy heart attacks!

Love this boy

Santa came...

but E loves Clayton's new fire truck more than his own new toys!

Bouncing on our new trampoline

He's so proud of his new trick...clapping!

We are THANKFUL!

One of my favorite parts about Halloween is that the day marks the beginning of the holiday season. I was fortunate enough to have the entire Thanksgiving week off, so our week was full of fun! We went to visit Ryan at his fire station. Clayton was in fire truck Heaven! We spent a lot of quality time together as a family going on trail walks, playing in our backyard, and just being together. We went to see Santa Claus the day before Thanksgiving, which was a brilliant idea because there was no line! South Coast Plaza is our favorite place to go to meet Santa because they have the Christmas carousel too. Clayton walked right up, gave his list to Santa and sat on his lap. Chloe, well, she agreed to sit on the floor in front of him as long as Mommy was no more than 2 feet away and Easton sat happily on Santa's lap. Thanksgiving was a quiet day for us, but special nonetheless. We had a nice visit with Papa Louie, Grammie, Gigi, and Uncle Travis and then headed over to Papa Jim and Nonnie's for a delicious dinner. So much to be thankful for this year...3 beautiful, healthy, happy children, children who at one point we never imagined were possible for us to have, a new, huge home that memories are being made in every day, two stable jobs that provide us the flexibility to work, but be home with our children too, good health, and loving families. We are very blessed.

Clayton and Chloe are loving Christmas and everything Santa. They love singing "Santa Claus is Coming to Town" (know most of the words), "Rudolph," "Frosty the Snowman" (that one is hard!), and LOVE the Justin Bieber Christmas CD, especially "The Little Drummer Boy" song, which remains on repeat. I wondered when the "wanting" would begin, and my how it has begun! What does Clayton want? He wants a tool bench and a blue bike. Everything is blue because as you know, pink is for Chloe, not boys like Clayton as he often reminds us. Clayton also wants a Dream Light and a fire truck. What does Chloe want? A new baby, a new baby stroller, and anything and everything related to babies. I'm so happy to see her naturally gravitating toward girlie toys because she is typically a follower of anything and everything Clayton wants and has. We also had a special ELF breakfast to welcome our elves Buddy and Sparkles into our family, which truly marked the beginning of Christmas for us! 

Activities are instrumental to these busy babes. We finished our sports camp this month. Clayton was definitely the all star in the camp. At 2 1/2, he knows how to dribble a basketball, so the "coach" was teaching him how to dribble with his left hand! Chloe preferred to "watch" Clayton, but got involved once we encouraged her. It's time for dance for our little princess! They've been begging to go to My Gym again, so we are starting back up in December. They will both be so very happy! 

We are so excited to share the next few weeks with our children with a train ride to visit Santa, lots of crafting days, cookie making, bringing toys to CHOC, a Christmas party, Christmas lights, fun with friends, and lots of smiles! 

Our sweet little Easton, is still sweet, but is now our sweet little Troublemaker...individual E post to follow!

Here's some pictures that capture our busy month...

Clayton had a stent put in his eye to open up a clogged tear tuct...he was a champ!

Mommy's little helper

 Helping Daddy take out ugly plants! 

 Thanksgiving craft time with Mommy

The girl takes her baby on a walk...

and the boy, his scooter!

Quality time with the original two at Disneyland!

Buddy and Sparkles have arrived...our special North Pole breakfast to welcome them back

Their smiles say it all

Santa Claus is coming to town! 

Bath time times 3!

Happy Thanksgiving

Uh oh...someone ended up in the laundry basket

Christmas craft time with Daddy

New house = new, beautiful, huge Christmas tree!

Have a beautiful Christmas Season! 

Easton "Troublemaker" James is 8 Months Big!

Oh my is all this Mommy can say about her very active baby boy. Easton started attempting to pull up on pieces of furniture right after he turned 6 months old, which seemed kind of premature since he wasn't crawling yet. Well, Thanksgiving day, little E made his crawling debut and he is unstoppable now! The boy is everywhere and is so very proud of himself when he crawls to you in another room. Additionally, he is pulling up on everything, but only with his arms and chest, which often leads to pretty major falls. Falls, which led to a call to 911 due to a minor concussion he received when he pulled up on a ride on toy in the play room, fell backwards, toy landed on top of him and he landed on top of a bridge piece to the train table track. I was afraid he cut his head open, but didn't realize the real pain was internal, so the next morning when he did a normal fall on the carpet, but cried, I was a little puzzled. Within seconds, he was struggling to open his eyes and then went lethargic. I thought he wasn't breathing, put him on the ground to I guess do CPR, and he started screaming. We opted not to transport Easton and instead take him to see his pediatrician. Sure enough he had a bruise on the back of his head. Poor little guy. Fast forward 2 days later and Easton got a fat, bloody lip when he discovered crawling up the hallway step, but couldn't quite figure out the down part and went face first onto the tile. Poor guy! And while Mommy and Daddy appear to be absentee parents, I was right there with both backwards falls, but couldn't catch him and Daddy was 1 foot away from him with the bloody lip face plant!  Little Easton wants so badly to be a part of his brother and sissy's fun. Major babyproofing is in the works at our house!
Other E news:

• He has started singing a chorus of sounds--such precious noises.
• Easton still sleeps inconsistently, but for the most part sleeps until 5, eats and goes back to sleep until 7:30. Some nights he still wakes up around 2:30. Unfortunately, he is not at all a self-soother, so Mommy has to oblige every time he wakes up. 
• He loves our backyard swing and park swings.
• Easton eats three solid meals a day--some of his new favorites are plums, apples, honeydew melon, and puffs along with all his staple veggies of carrots, zucchini, green beans, broccoli and yams. 
• He weighs 20 pounds--a pound heavier than Clayton was. 
• Easton loves to grab your face and kiss or chew on it! 
• He is a HAPPY boy! 

Here's some pictures of our newest troublemaker!

Bath time is so much fun now that I can sit and play!

My mommy says I have a big butt...I say I get it from her!

I can crawl!! 

Life is so much fun now that I can keep up with my brother and sister!

Lovin' my first time in a shopping cart...Mommy typically carries me in that silly baby carrier.

Yay for wagon rides--my first time!

Love my daddy and love that I get to visit him at the fire station. 

Looks like Mommy has an addition to her laundry!