Little Surfer Babies: It's Beginning To Look A Lot Like Christmas

Dear Sweet Kosta,

I cannot believe it is already December and you are 9 months old! My how time flies. You are the sweetest, funniest, cutest baby in the whole world. I could not have asked for a better baby. Your personality is really starting to show now and it's the best!

You laugh all the time, which is the sweetest thing I have ever heard - you crack yourself up. Your giggles make anyone and everyone smile. You are such a blessing to our family, especially to me and your daddy.

We have finally transitioned you into your crib. You still wake up at least once in the middle of the night, but you are sleeping so much better than before.

You have figured out when it is time for bed because when I bring you upstairs at night you start to whine a little bit like "Noooo I'm not ready to go to sleep yet!". When we first started putting you in your crib, I would rock you to sleep within 5 minutes. Now that you know what is coming, you try so hard to stay up.

You normally take two naps during the day, but your schedule has been a little mixed up since our trip to Charleston for Thanksgiving (I will talk more about your first Thanksgiving in a second).

Your sleep schedule is normally like this (but lately I don't know what's up):

7:00 am - Wake up/play

9:30-10:00 am - Down for a nap

11:30 am-12:00 pm - Wake up for lunch/play

3:30 pm - Down for your second nap

5:30 pm - Wake up for dinner/play

8:30 pm - Bedtime

We are working on getting you back into this routine, but I think separation anxiety is really starting to kick in so it has been tough.

Well...back to your first Thanksgiving! Every Thanksgiving we go to the Leventis Family Reunion - we see family, eat good food, play games, and have a great time. This year, you and a few other new babies were the focus of the reunion, which was so sweet. Everyone LOVED meeting you!

Here are some pictures from the reunion:

You were worn out after our trip to Charleston, but you had so much fun; especially on Thanksgiving day when you got to crawl around the whole ballroom making everyone giggle.

Well, like I mentioned, you are 9 months old! We had your 9 month check up yesterday, which went amazing of course :) The only negatives from the appointment were the Hepatitis and flu shots.

Here are your stats as of 12/5/12:

Age: 9 Months

Height: 28.75 inches

Weight: 20 lbs 8 oz

Head Circumference: 44.5 cm

The doctor was extremely pleased with the way you are growing, which made Mommy very happy. You can now eat peanut butter and eggs as well as have a little bit of whole milk. We are supposed to start practicing drinking out of a cup three times a day. The doctor wants you to drink around 16 oz of milk a day as well as start eating more table foods.

You LOVE eating "adult" food. Anytime Mommy and Daddy are eating you crawl over asking for whatever we have. It is the sweetest thing. Of course we share our food and you love it.

You got to try Panettone for the first time, which is a sweet bread with raisins and other fruits. It is a Peruvian tradition to eat Panettone around Christmas time, which is something that your Daddy and his family do every year.

Here's a picture of you eating Panettone with Daddy for the first time:

You are getting so big and strong! Not only are you crawling everywhere, you are pulling up on all of the furniture. You can stand up by yourself, but can't walk just yet. You hold on to the coffee table and walk around it. You are fearless - sometimes you let go and stand for a second and then plop down on your behind.

I can and cannot wait for you to walk! The reason I can wait is because once you can walk it will be like you are not my little itty bitty baby anymore. The reason I cannot wait is because I am so excited for you to hit your next milestones. I love watching you grow, but I also wish I could hold on to this time a little longer.

Well, Christmas is almost here - only 19 more days until Christmas Day! Your daddy and I have gone completely overboard on gifts for your first Christmas! I know you will be more interested in the boxes and wrapping paper, but I know you will love to look back when you get older and see what you got.

By the way..you are such a trooper! I dressed you up in your little Christmas outfit and took pictures of you the other day and you did so well. You got to try your first candy cane, which was too cute because the peppermint was a little spicy. But you loved it!

Here are some pictures from our Christmas photo shoot: