Louis is 14 months old today!

Well, the biggest news this month is that Louis sleeps through the night! Every single night! I am so happy. Louis is now completely weaned. Around the middle of the month he went about 2 days without wanting to nurse so even though I was sad I decided it might be a good time to wean him. It was definitely harder on mommy than Louis!

Louis is now beginning to "cruise" around furniture and can now push his dump truck and walk behind it. I am confident he will be walking by next month! One day Louis started pointing at things and now he points ALL THE TIME! He points at things in his books, he points at the skylight, at kitty, at daddy, at our friends dog and really just about anything. He can point out banana, sun, moon, kitties and puppies in his books. The best thing is, for the past 2 weeks when I go to put him in bed he always points to his bed and then reaches for it! He is just so sweet!

Louis is starting to say words here and there, he usually won't repeat a word when you ask him to say it but he has said ball, book, banana, mama, dada, light and I am not joking - skylight. He is obsessed with the skylight and any light and points to them all of the time. Louis has this game that he LOVES - he drops his pacifier down my shirt and then lifts up the bottom of my shirt looking for it - he does this over and over and it gets funnier and funnier to him!

Louis is very much a momma's boy right now and loves to crawl over to me, pull up on my leg, wants me to hold him and fusses if I leave the room. He is so sweet and fun right now!

Pictures from the month!

Christmas in St. Louis

Mike, Louis and I headed to St. Louis for the holiday's. We landed at 2am on Christmas eve since our flight was delayed. In the morning we met Katie, Emily and Gerry at the coffee shop to catch up. We left Louis sleeping at home with Mike, but that didn't fly so finally at 10am my mom and Kate went home to wake him up and bring him! After coffee, Mike, Louis and I met Karen Franta at Ilvincio for lunch. Karen is about 8 months pregnant and is super cute! We went to 4:30pm mass and then my mom made her traditional steak soup and corn chowder. The Cunningham's and grandma came over. Louis was so tired he laid down on the kitchen floor and didn't get back up!

Christmas morning we waited for Louis to get up to open presents. He slept 14 1/2 hours without waking so we didn't begin gift opening until almost 10am. Louis doesn't quite get opening presents but if you give him a corner of paper he will tear it off and then smile. At 3pm we headed to Illinois to my Aunt Doris and Uncle Bill's house. They were expecting the entire family (about 37 people) but My Uncle Leo, Aunt Diane, Bryan and Sarah didn't come until the next day because their power was out.

The day after Christmas we visited Katie and Jim and there baby, Taylor. Pat, Jenny, and little Pat were there too. That evening we went to my grandma's for dinner and the big family gift exchange - this time everyone was there - even Bryan's girlfriend Annie. After the gift exchange the cousins went to Steve and Erin's home and played rock band and hung out! It was really fun to catch up with all of my cousin's!

On the 27th my dad rented a minivan and we drove to Columbus. I told him he was crazy for renting that, because now we would all be forced to ride with a baby who now hates his car seat - but Louis did great! Things have changed in Columbus because my Grandpa and Aunt are both in Assisted Living's but it felt like old times when all of my mom's sisters and their families and my grandpa all came over for dinner and gift exchange!

The next day we drove to Kansas City and met my Aunt Marcia, Uncle Brian, Taylor, JD and Amber for our traditional night on the town. We always shop around the Plaza, eat dinner, get Cheesecake from the Cheesecake Factory and spend the night in the Sheraton Hotel. It was so much fun and Louis slept great!

The next day was our last full day. We drove home and then my cousin Laura and her family came over to take family portraits. My cousin has a photography company and she is awesome. Her name is Laura Boeker and her website is five-petals.com in case you need portraits taken! That night, even Jared came over for dinner and we played Cranium and hung out!

It was a Very busy trip to St. Louis and it felt too quick which means we will just have to come back sometime! As you can tell, Mike didn't get many pictures on this trip so hopefully Kate or my Mom can pass them along :)

Deception Pass Dash

Mike participated in his first Kayak race on Saturday December 12th. The race took place on the sound about 2 hours north of Tacoma at Deception Pass which is on the sound. Mike and his buddy drove up early to get parking, while Katie, Ed, Louis and I followed. We made it just in time to see the start of the race! Last year it was really windy during the race with 5 foot swells and everyone kept falling out of their kayaks and needed to be rescued, but this time all was calm -which made me happy, but Mike was a little disappointed - he was looking for adventure.

Since the race began in the state park, after we watched the start, we were able to walk about 3/4 of a mile up a trail and stand over a beautiful bridge and watch Mike pass under us! He looked great and placed 17 out of 79 in his class! The race was 6 miles long. It was cold out and even though I had Louis bundled up as best I could his hands were still a little cold after being outside for 1 1/2 hours. (He didn't complain though - he slept the whole time in the back pack, like always - I thought he might be fearful since his clumsy mom was carrying him and not his mule of a father). After the race Katy, Ed, Louis and I grabbed lunch before heading back home!

Chris and Grandma H. in Town

Well, we are behind on the blogs again, so here I am trying to catch up! The first weekend in December Mike's brother Chris flew in from Denver to ski with Mike at Whistler. My mom came in to town the same weekend to keep me company while the boys were gone. My mom and Chris both came in on Thursday afternoon and we ate chili and hung out with Louis. The guys drove to Whistler on Friday morning and had a great time skiing on Saturday, except that it was very cold - in the single digits! My mom and I stayed close since we had the jeep all weekend - we did a little Christmas shopping, let Louis take naps and cooked dinners!

Pictures