What I Love About You...............

1. I love your sweet baby scent. My favorite time is to

snuggle and smell you after you've had a bath.

 

 

2. I love your strawberry blond (red) hair. Everybody

always comments on how beautiful it is, and I agree!

 

 

3. I love your chubby cheeks, tiny little hands,

and chunky legs.

 

 

4. I love your sweet slobbery kisses.

 

 

5. I love your gorgeous smile! It definitely lights

up my world!

 

Feb 14, 2013 Morgan's first Valentines Day

 

Morgan's first Valentines Day was perfect. We let her open

her gifts and cards when we got home from school. She

got some books, sunglasses, the movie Pocahontas,

and a sock monkey. Then we went out to eat at

Ruby Tuesdays. I got some gorgeous flowers from

 my two valentines which made my day perfect.

 

I am loving the holidays even more since we have Morgan.

I love to do the crafty, baking, fun stuff of the holidays

and now I have an excuse. Love my little family!

 

 

Read to Me

I have always read to Morgan, but she is just now really starting to get into it.

 Sometimes she will just sit in the floor flipping through her books.

 

 

She loves to pull them off the shelf and has for the most part, stopped

putting them in her mouth. She will sit and listen to you read but you

better read quickly or she will turn the page on you.

 

 

She especially loves to look at her books that have babies in them.

 She will smile and give them kisses. So sweet! Sometimes she will sit

in our laps and look through one of her books for several minutes.

Sweet, sweet moments!

 

 

Daddy and Morgan March 1, 2013

10 months old

 

My Girl

I love this little girl so much!

 

 

She loves to look out the window especially when Abby goes outside.

She will stand there looking out the window until Abby comes in.

 

 

I can't wait until this spring when it gets warmer so we can go

 outside more. She always loved to be outside last summer but

 she was so little that we really couldn't do much.

 

 

This summer should be a lot of fun, hopefully with a lot of picnics at
the part, swimming, and summer walks. I can't wait!

 

10 Months

Makes me wanna cry knowing we only have 2 months left before our baby girl is one year old! Where on earth did the time go! There are so many moments when I want to make time stand still and stay there forever!

At 10 months Morgan:

weighs 20 pounds. I don't know measurements because we did not go to the doctor this month.

wears mostly 9 month clothing and starting to wear some 12 month. Wears size three diapers and size 3 shoes.

can stand by herself very well. She can also bend or crouch down with out falling and get herself back up.

is walking!! She is getting better and better every day but still prefers to crawl.

usually takes 2 naps, one hour each. Sometimes she will take 3 naps depending on how early she got up in the morning. And sometimes she will sleep for 2 hours at a time. Her sleeping was crazy this month again. She was waking up anywhere between 12:00 and 2:00am  and then again from 4:00 to 6:00am. Recently she has started to sleep until 4:00 or 5:00. I am hoping she will get back into this routine. She always, no matter what time she gets up, goes back to sleep in the morning for at least another 2 hours.

will play in her crib and go to sleep by herself for naps most of the time. Sometimes she will cry for 5 or 10 minutes but usually she will just play until she falls asleep.

takes a bottle in the middle of the night and sometimes two. We are quickly approaching time to take the bottle away and I am dreading our nights.

knows how to drink from a straw and is very proud of herself when she does it. Most of the time she swallows the water but sometimes she lets it run out of her mouth.

has become a little picky when it comes to food.

LOVES to "rock"! We put her in the recliner and rock her back and forth. She loves it!! She thinks she is so big. She also loves to play on the couches. She will stand up, walk back and forth and just waller.

is now standing in her high chair AND will get on the tray if you let her! We have to really keep a good eye on her now because she will be standing in no time. She also slouches all the way down to where her booty is hanging off the chair. Little stinker! Trying to break these habits.

says momma, dada, hi, bye, and nanananana. She also waves hi and bye and waves to everyone who passes her by. She has known how to wave for a couple of months now but just in the past couple of weeks has started to wave to people to walk past her.

loves to kiss everything!! She will kiss you, the floor, the dog, her toys, the babies in her books, everything! She also learned how to blow kisses the past week.

can stack blocks 2 high, put the rings on the stacking toy, and has started to put the shapes into the shape sorter, or try to anyway. She knows they go in there but she's not sure how to get them in there. But I think it's pretty neat that she knows they go in there.

has started do a little more dancing then just doing her head side to side. Now she will bounce up and down and pump or wave her arms in the air.

Morgan's first Valentines Day

 

Playing with sissy

 

standing all by myself

 

Looking out the window

 

10 months old

 

 

 

Baby's First Christmas

Morgans first Christmas didn't go as planned. I was upset about it but tried to make the best of it. I am bad about building something up in my head and when it doesn't go that way I tend to freak out and/or get upset. Cory's team was in a tournament starting the day after Christmas in Springfield. The weather man was calling for us to get 4-6 inches, then 6-8, and then 8-10 Christmas day. As the inches kept climbing they were afraid that if we didn't get to Springfield before it started snowing, we wouldn't get there. Since the tournament is so huge and teams come from all over  they do not cancel it for anything. If you don't show up, you forfeit. So the decision was made for the ball team to spend the night in Springfield Christmas night. Which messed our whole plans up. The original plan was to miss Christmas eve at Tara's house, wake up Christmas morning at our house, then head to Corning to have Christmas with Cory's mom, and then go to Grandpa Prater's house for Christmas night. We would then head home early the next day. Nope, that's not what happened. Since the boys were spending the night in Springfield Christmas night, we headed to Corning Christmas Eve. Which meant we missed Christmas morning at our house. We missed Morgans first experience of waking up at our house. I didn't really know how important it was to me until this happened. I knew I had to change my way of thinking or her first Christmas was going to be terrible because of me. I surely didn't want that to happen. So, I put my smile on, and went on.

First, we headed to Tara's house for that side of the families Christmas. It was a little crazy because it seems every year we keep adding people to the mix; babies, fiances, spouses, etc. It seems as thought Tara's house is getting smaller and smaller. Morgan was very content to stay in my arms which was fine with me because there were so many people and I was afraid she was going to get stepped on. For the most part she just sat on my lap and looked at people. Every once in a while someone would come along wanting to hold her. She would go to them but usually ended up crying and wanting to come back to me. I knew the problem was because it was so chaotic and loud. She is not use to that many people or that amount of noise. She did pretty good considering how much she was passed around.

Christmas morning we woke up at Cory's moms house. We thought Morgan might sleep in since she went to bed late but that was not the case. She was up at 7:00. Once everybody was up we let Morgan dig in. She loved the toys she got and eating the paper even more.

When we finished up Christmas in Corning we headed home to have our own Christmas. Morgan really had no idea what was going on and really didn't "help" open her presents. She just wanted to eat the paper that she did tear off. Some of the presents she got from us were pajamas, books, bath toys, the movie Cinderella, a talking stuffed animal and much more. She looked so cute in her Christmas pj's. It was definitely different having a baby around this year in a wonderful amazing way. It's no longer about us but about the most precious gift we have ever received. I remember last year, sitting on the couch looking at the Christmas tree, thinking about how it would be with a baby around. I had no idea it would be this special. Christmas was always fun and exciting but it means so much more now.

Morgan's first Christmas

 

 

Momma and Morgan Christmas afternoon

 

The Russell's Christmas 2012

 

 

 

Christmas with Cousins

I am very thankful that just about every year at Christmas I get to see my brother and his family. Whether he comes to our house or we go to theirs. This year was really fun since it was Kathryn and Morgan's first. Cory and I made a big meal, we ate, and opened presents. It was nice to have more kiddos around to enjoy the fun. 

 

 

Morgan, Kobi and Kathryn

Christmas 2012

 

 

9 months

At 9 months old Morgan............

weighs 21 pounds. We go to the doctor in about 2 more weeks and I will have better measurements.

has learned how to clap the past 2 days. She was doing some kind of clap about 3 months ago where she clapped the one hand to the back of the other. We think she was "rolling" it up because I always did/do patty cake with her. But now she is really putting her hands together to clap. Super cute!

is starting to really laugh! Like the giggle turned into a big belly laugh! She just started this the past week or so. Again, SUPER cute! Melts my heart and makes me wanna cry!! She is very ticklish when she wants to be. She also thinks Abby is so funny.

has really started to eat "real" food. There still aren't many things she doesn't like, except real bananas and peaches. She has had avocado, strawberries, blueberries, re fried beans, corn, rice, zucchini, yellow squash, yogurt, crackers, sweet potatoes, baked potato, and on and on. If she sees you eating, she expects you to feed her off your plate. She has just now started to spit things out and let you know she is either done or does not like what you are feeding her. She would never do this in the past, she would just cry. We have been giving her strawberries and blueberries for a couple of weeks now and has loved them. All of a sudden she has decided she doesn't like them anymore. Crazy girl! She can also feed herself with her hands. We haven't tried a spoon yet, but I think she is still too young for this.

likes to share her food with Abby. She loves to drop food in the floor and watch Abby eat it. She also drops her cup when she is finished drinking from it. We are trying to break her from this but we've still got a ways to go.

continues to "talk" all the time. She says dadadada, momomoma, gagagaga, and other crazy noises.

will wave hello and bye-bye now. In the past she would just wave hello, but we've been working on the goodbye part.

has started to crouch down on her feet instead of sitting on her knees.

loves music and will "dance" when she hears it. She loves the music to Mickey Mouse Playhouse, Barney, and Sesame Street. She's not really interested in the actual show but more the music. Which is fine with me. I'm not crazy about her watching a lot of TV anyway.

is still not crazy about people she doesn't know. She doesn't usually cry unless they pick her up, but when some random person talks to her she just looks at them like they are crazy and lays head down on my shoulder. Course it would probably help if people wouldn't get in her face and act crazy. I'm not real sure why people don't understand why a baby cries when you are in their face acting crazy and they have no idea who you are. They might not be so cautious if people would calm down.

loves shoes! Not to wear them, to eat them! It probably doesn't help that we don't put shoes on her very often. She just kicks them off and she is usually at home so I don't see the need.

has been waking up at either 2:30ish or 4:30ish in the middle of the night to take a bottle. I have noticed that the time she wakes up in the middle of the night depends on how many naps she gets. If she only gets two she will wake up at 2:30ish, but if she gets 3 she will wake up between 4:00 and 5:00. Some days she does great with taking a nap, other days, not so much. Sometimes she will play in her crib and not cry and other times she will scream her head off. The kid HATES to sleep! Absolutely hates it. poor girl!

continues to refuse to stand by herself. She can do it, but won't.

has never been to a daycare, or nursery. Yup, you read that right. She is 9 months old and has never been left in a nursery. When we go to church we keep her with us. I have always disliked parents that keep a screaming noisy baby in the service. She has never really been a problem. Usually it is her nap time and Cory will put her to sleep during the worship. There has only been a couple of times that she didn't go to sleep or didn't sleep very long. I have taken her out a couple times but it was usually towards the end of the service. I don't know why we haven't taken her to nursery, just haven't seen the need yet.

can walk along with her push toy and thinks it's hilarious to "run" over Abby. She is getting better and better at walking along the couch and switching from the couch to the coffee table.

is into everything! If you don't keep a close eye on her she will be gone in about 2 seconds or into something she shouldn't be.

hates to have her diaper changed or be held down. She wants to go go go and gets mad when you are changing her.

understands what no means but doesn't always listen. She has also said no no a couple of times but not recently.

knows how to knock of a tower of blocks.

loves to push things around; books, bumbo seat, toys, etc.

I can't believe we are going to have a one year old in 3 months! Where has the time gone!!

 

9 months old