Thursday, February 27, 2014

I Am The Proud Owner Of A Toddler



I don’t really own my child, don’t worry… I know that. More importantly though is that he is a walking child. My walking child. Last night BabyA took his first independent steps. It was only a matter of days away with the growing amount of confidence he had in standing. He had gotten to where he could go up and down from sitting to standing without help, and while standing he could clap and dance. So last night, he was standing next to me and I handed him a book (Little Mouse, The Big Hungry Bear, and the Red Ripe Strawberry )while he was holding the book he took three wobbly baby-godzilla steps toward me. I immediately grabbed him and ran into the kitchen to get hubs so he could see, and we took him back to his room and made him walk to each of us over and over for the next ten minutes. He was taking steps! He was walking! I still need to get a video of this amazingness but haven’t yet. 

In other new BabyA news… we have been wearing fewer bibs. The drooling is finally under control (mostly) and he no longer needs a bib 24/7. It only took a year and 12 teeth. BabyA knows some tricks now… or I guess he has learned some skills because he isn’t a puppy. He can sign for ‘more’ and ‘all done.’ He can clap, and wave, and blow kisses, and dance on command if he likes you. He knows what his binky is if I ask him to find it. He looks for daddy if I ask where he is. He puts a ball into the hole in the toy when he is playing. He knows the quickest way to get mama’s attention during Independent Playtime is to unplug the camera or his night light (he is not allowed to touch those and knows it). He makes the ‘uh uh” sound when he does things he knows are off limits and tries to speed do them before he gets caught. He can make it look like a tornado went through his room in about 5 minutes.  He can open the front door by himself, which was terrifying the first time.

He went to the circus on Valentines Weekend with Hubs and I as our treat and sat for the two hour show happily. He clapped along with the audience and stood on one of our laps to see the whole time. It was pretty adorable and the people around us thought so too. He also tried cotton candy while we were there and was enthusiastic about the sugar in his mouth but not quite about the sticky hands.

We attended a friends son’s first bday and he got his face painted (hated) and played in a bounce house (hated) and tried all sorts of foods (loved) and rode a train around a track (loved.) 

In Holly news: I have BabyFever. Everyone in my church is pregnant. It's everywhere and it is contagious.  Though I will not be doing anything about it for a while. I have a timeline I am sticking to.

 I have never hated somewhere as much as I hated Hollywood. I would have though that my name being in there would give it some grace... but no. Traffic is the worst. I get so frustrated in traffic and want to just plow through all the cars on the road or buy a helicopter.  The only neat thing about our day in Hollywood was seeing where the Oscars will be and watching them set up the red carpet and all that jazz. BabyA wasn't a fan of the car ride so I will be chalking him up to a 'kill me before making me go again' too.

BabyA has been having a couple weeks of digestive issues (read poop problems) and I think it is from Milk. So we are cutting that out. But he loves yogurt so I will see if just cutting out drinking milk will help. Poor lamb.

I am filling up my weeks with social things- which is uncharacteristic of me. I am getting in on the church-group-love and scheduling play dates, walks, and storytimes with other moms from church and LOVE having a full week and things for BabyA to do. And me having adult time. And exercise. In a related not my job is getting harder and harder to do with a baby. The clock is ticking on that.

Baby is napping and my house has been hit by a Babynado. (See above picture and multiply that by every room)


Thursday, February 13, 2014

Happy 2nd Birthday Max



My second baby is crying to himself in his room right now, protesting nap time with all the umph his two foot frame can muster…I pray that my first baby is in there with him, watching over and comforting him always. Tuesday was Max’s second birthday. The day that marked 760 days away from earth and away from my arms. My 27 week old first born went to heaven before I met him… and that isn’t right. I remind myself that if I hadn’t lost Max, I would never have met BabyA. But that is comparing apples to oranges… if I had Max I would have never known BabyA and therefore wouldn’t miss him.  The comparison only works in hindsight and let’s face it… there is nothing you can actually change with ‘if only’, and ‘but.’ 

For Max’s second birthday we got a big cupcake and shared it as a family. I had been emotional all day remembering my first little man, and really struggled to keep it together in public while we quietly celebrated. BabyA ended up with more of the cupcake than he probably should have, but it was a special occasion and we don’t make a practice of eating cupcakes for dinner. I felt really alone that day… It feels like Hubby isn’t affected anymore. I know that isn’t fair or true… but I still feel it. He didn’t even remember it was Max’s birthday. I feel that I will be carrying the burden of remembering for the rest of my life. 

I am sitting here drinking coffee, listening to the two songs that got me through that 2 month hell after Max died, crying. Will there ever be a day that I can think of the boy I lost and smile as I remember instead of cry? 

I have had too much death surround me the last two years. I pray 2014 leaves my family intact.

Monday, February 10, 2014

ONE YEAR!



Weight: 20.2 lbs
Length: 29.65 inches

Number of Teeth: 12 teeth for 12 months!! four molars. The molars all came within the last two weeks! 
Words He Says: Yeah! Mama. Dada. Uh uh.

Likes:
Asparagus. Playing with his friends at small group and ladies group. Being in the church nursery. The roast part of pot-roast. His new latches and locks sensory board. Books. Pulling books down. His baby gate. Opening and closing the door in the baby gate. Vegging out with his binky. Being carried over being in the stroller. Anything Mama and Dada are eating. Birthday cake. Actual milk. And his owl straw cup. Waving. Walking along furtiture. Climbing on things. Fuzzy things, he will put his face on and  lay down on anything fuzzy or soft.

Dislikes: Drinking milk from a real sippy cup. Sitting still when we go to storytime. Having to crawl to get to me (when I won’t come pick him up). When I am holding other babies. Being stuck in the carseat longer than 20 minutes. Being abandoned at nap time.

Eye Color: Dark grey blue

Hair Color: Blonde

New Skills: Standing! Waving like a real person. Being dedicated in church (not a skill, but still…) chewing. Feeding himself finger foods. Drinking from his very one Camelback cup. Repeating some sounds back at us.

My Favorite Thing: When he wakes up, for the first two minutes or so he will cuddle and lay against me. This is SO rare. And when I say ‘mama’ to get him to repeat it he says back ‘dada.’ Everytime.

Things I Call Him: LittleBear, Babybear, Squats, honey, sweetheart, Bearheart