Little Shrimp Class

Back in October (right when we moved back to NC), I started researching different places that offer swim lessons for babies/kids.  I knew I wanted him in swim lessons before he turned 1, but wasn't really sure if it would be a "fun" experience or not.  My mom had each of us in swim lessons when we were really young...all under the ages of 1, I think.  I'm going to attribute our love for anything pool, lake or beach to those early swim lessons.

I talked to my friend, Whitney, to see if she and Austin wanted to join us for lessons.  Of course she was already researching and we decided on a class together!  The first week, I was a little nervous about the whole experience.  Being the neurotic new mother that I am, I wanted it to go perfect...getting there on time, no messy diapers in the pool, no fear of the pool, minimal crying, lots of smiles and of course meeting lots of new friends.  Thankfully the good Lord gifted us with such a great experience.  

We showed up a few minutes late thanks to the wrong time being posted on the website, but we jumped right in and joined the rest of the class.  Anderson's face was a little stunned when we got into the pool because it wasn't as warm as his bath.  But he did great the entire class!  No tears, a few smiles and he was very relaxed the entire time.  Whitney and I had fun with the boys in the pool while our husbands were on the pool deck snapping pictures.

We've now been to 3 lessons and each week gets better.  I might be having more fun than Anderson but that's no surprise.  This past Saturday was "under water exploration"...aka we get to dunk our kids!!  I have been so excited about this lesson because I wanted to see his reaction and get him used to going under.  Thankfully Whit was just as excited as me and I think we were the first ones to dunk our kids when the time came.  Austin and Anderson did AWESOME!!  I think I pulled Anderson underwater at least 6 times during/after class and there wasn't a single tear shed.  Either he was in shock (potentially) or the dumping water all over his head during bath time paid off!  At the end of class, Miss Beth and Mr. Dean came by to see our little fish.  Anderson showed them how he could go under and float on his back.

Regardless how the rest of the swim lessons go, I think this has been a fun "winter" activity for us.  I have even noticed that he kicks and splashes more during our bath time.  Apparently he is getting something out of the swim lessons!  
I know he will be in the pool a ton this summer with us, Miss Beth or Ellen and I really want him to be comfortable in the water.  You never know, he might just be floating around the pool all by himself this summer. HAHA!

Here are a few pictures from the first lesson- please disregard me in all the pictures.

Happy after the swim lesson!

Christmas #2

Well, looks like I forgot to write about Christmas #2.  I better do it now while it's on my mind or I will forget again and never do it.

We headed to Clemmons December 26th to start the Gibbs Family traditions.  My parents hosted all the West girls, husbands and kids for drinks and appetizers that afternoon.  It was so fun to get all the babies together, meet baby Charlotte for the 1st time and catch up with my sweet friends.  Gus wasn't feeling well so Meg didn't make it over to the house.  It took longer than normal to get some decent pictures of us and the kids, but it was well worth it.
That evening, Em's family arrived and we began my birthday celebration.  We all hung out at the house, ate pizza, drank and ended the night with birthday cake.

Making the same face as Aunt Tara

 Maggie was so sweet with the babies

 Anderson is about to eat Charlotte

 Abbey with her babes

 West Girls minus our Megs and Gus

 Caught Miss A stealing a piece of candy off the cake

The next morning we woke up and had "Christmas morning".  We had a delicious breakfast, opened presents and took lots of pictures.  I have to say, Christmas is so much more fun because of the kids.  I love seeing how excited they get when they open presents.  Anderson loved all the paper and toys but then was done and ready for nap time.

Anderson is so excited about more presents

 Poppy and his grandbabies

We spent the rest of the day playing with toys, hanging out and then helping with dinner.  John and Mike fried a turkey during the afternoon and it was a big hit with the family.  Let's be honest, Lora and John really cooked most of the dinner items and they were OH SO DELICIOUS!  

 Abby feeding A for the 1st time

 indoor jungle gym...Abby is yet again rubbing Anderson's bald head

 Anderson loves Uncle Greg

 After dinner, we attempted to play Mexican Train Dominos but it was a disaster.  Not naming any names (BETHANN), but it was taking forever and apparently we had all consumed too many adult beverages.  Game night ended early and we all went to bed.

 favorite picture from Christmas...please notice Bones' face

We headed back to Huntersville the next morning to unpack more boxes.  Em was nice enough to come and help unpack and work her organization magic.  We also got to have some girl time at Ikea and shop without the kiddos.

I was sad to see Christmas end because I love hanging out with my family.  But thankfully we took a million pictures and mad a lot more memories.

6 Months

Anderson,

Happy 6 Months!  I'm late again but you will just need to get used to that.
You have had such a fun month and have grown so much.  Thankfully you are a rolling champ and that doesn't wake you up at night anymore.  You now do circles in your crib, pull on the bumpers and try to pull yourself up.

 

You aren't crawling yet but I keep thinking it will be soon.  You get on all fours and rock back and forth.  When you are sitting, you lean forward and rock in hopes you will move closer to your toys.  Your new favorite thing to do is stand at your activity table or stand while holding our hands.  You reach for our hands or flap your hands/arms in the air until we grab your hands and let you stand.  You spend most of your day sitting on the floor playing with all your toys.  You're still enjoying your jumper and walks in the stroller.

You have continued to eat most of the same foods this past month, I think I forgot to introduce new foods to you.  I'm making all your baby food and tend to make things that are convenient for me (sorry).  You are eating: apples, bananas, pears, prunes, mango, raspberries, peas, carrots, sweet potatoes, squash and avocado.  I need to introduce more greens into your life soon.
This next month you are going to start getting more "real" food (thanks Ellen for all the advice!)

You are laughing and talking more and more everyday.   Of course I try and practice ma-ma everyday with you but you just laugh hysterically at me.  You mastered "sitting" right after you turned 5 months and it has been great.  When you get bored of sitting, you roll around on the ground for awhile and then want to stand.

You went on a food strike right when you turned 5 months.  It was mainly because you were "stopped up", we think, but after a week it got better.  You still aren't taking as many bottles as I would like but we are going to change things up this month and see what happens.  Let's be honest, you would just prefer real food as opposed to your bottle.  Every time you see us eating, you open your mouth and lurch towards the food.  I can't wait until your teeth come in so I can give you more table food.

There were a lot of activities this month: first Christmas tree, meeting Santa, Uncle Tim's wedding, first solo sleepover at Nanny's house, moving (hopefully this will be the house you grow up in),  Christmas x3, and lots of cousin time.  You did great with everything and it didn't seem to disrupt your schedule at all.
I took off 2.5 weeks over the holidays and we got in some great 1:1 time.  We are so thankful that you are an easy and happy baby (most of the time).

6 Month Stats:

Weight- 17.8lbs (50% percentile)

Length-28 1/2 inches (95% percentile)

Clothes- Mostly 6 months but those are getting too short.  busting out the 9month clothes

Eating-cereal/baby food for breakfast & dinner and then a few bottles a day

Naps-Your still a pretty good napper (anywhere from a 1-3 hour nap twice a day)

Night time-6:30pm-7:15am

This has been another fun month to watch you grow and develop.  
We love you sweet boy! 

The Move and Christmas #1

We finally moved!!
We weren't sure if we would ever close thanks to a certain bank having a broken process, but thankfully we were able to close on December 17th.  Right after we signed the final piece of paper, I called our contractor and they started on the floors and carpet.  We spent the rest of the day moving small things from the lake house to our new garage to store for a few days.

A few days later, we headed to my parents house to drop Anderson off so we could be baby-free while we moved into the house.  Bright and early Saturday morning, the movers met Mike at our storage unit and loaded our lives into 2 trucks.  In the meantime, I took a car load of stuff to the house and began cleaning and unpacking.  When the movers arrived, I was ready to show them where all the boxes and furniture should land.
We spent the next 48 hours unpacking and organizing as much as we could before the little man came home. 
We managed to re-decorate the tree, hang the stocking and put up the advent calendar before Christmas morning.

Anderson decided to sleep in until 8am Christmas morning and I was counting down the minutes until he woke up.  We did his stocking first, then a few presents before he was done and ready for breakfast.  He didn't care about any of his presents but it was more a photo op and memory making session for the parents.  He started to really love the paper, bows the tissue paper as the day went on.

After his morning nap, we headed to the Staton's for Christmas with Mike's family.  When we arrived, Uncle Tim and aunt Joey couldn't wait to get their hands on him.  We spent the rest of the day hanging out with family, opening way too many presents (Mike's parents spoiled A rotten), and taking lots of pictures of the cousins.  After a yummy dinner, we headed back to our house so Anderson could go to bed.  It is SO NICE to only live 30 minutes away from the in-laws so we can come and go as needed.

As we laid in bed and reflected on our first Christmas as a family of 3, we both couldn't stop saying how grateful we were to have such a happy and healthy son AND be back in Charlotte.  We really love our new house and feel like we're finally HOME!