Turning 2

Christian turns 2 in 13 days...Can't believe it in some ways. Though when I look at him, he hardly looks like the baby he was, especially since last week when Dan took him to get his first haircut. His long locks had been irritating him. He'd shove them out of his face and grunt almost. We admitted that we were just letting him have wild hair for our own sakes and not thinking about how he felt. Obviously the cut was overdue. The haircut salon/barber was like a small amusement park/toy store. The chairs were shaped like cars, each one had a TV in front of them and the child was able to choose what movie s/he wanted to watch. He chose Robots - not that he knew what that was. He loved the car chair and didn't really mind the cut. Dan brought him to my work after to show it off. When he arrived he said, 'Show momma haircut!' I was thrilled to see him, and not really sad about the rite of passage. It makes him look taller and it also makes it a lot easier to put on hats, bibs, coats, etc.

I wanted to write some Christian-isms again but they always seem to fly out of my brain the moment I open up this blog...He can repeat anything you say for the most part and the meaning of things is more and more clear to him. My mom came back from visiting my brother, sister-in-law, and baby niece in Germany. She brought back an original Steiff bear for CPK. He was sitting on my bed, on a pillow with his back against the wall, hugging and cuddling with it, saying, 'Aw.' He then held it up in his hands as if to examine it and said, 'It's so cute!' repeatedly. I laughed so hard. Yes, it is cute, and so is my son:) (At least I think so!)

Perhaps next on the CPK agenda is finishing cutting his 2-year old molars (please soon!) and preparing for baby #2!

Yep - we are expecting a second child around August 12th. We'll probably find out the sex around Easter time. We'll keep you updated...

As Christian says, 'baa bye! mommadaddymomma'

Road trip, family reunion & nutrition - plus photos from bday party!

Here are some pictures from the birthday party:
This card sings the 'eensy weensy spider.' He loves it! He rocks and bops to the music.
This is one of the gifts...clothes and a shape sorter.
Mmmm...banana cake with cream cheese frosting...
Lovely cake a la Amy (not Martha Stewart that's for sure!)

***

This week my family will have a reunion of sorts - my paternal grandmother passed away on Friday night. Grandma Jean had been declining for over a year and a half and so her passing was both a welcome and a sad event. She had recently turned 90! But really the past few years were not of great quality. She had dementia, had an eye excised and other issues. It is an end of an era and passing of the torch. I have no grandparents left, I realized! Now my parents are the main trunk of the family tree. It will be something to process over the next weeks...

On Wednesday we will pick up my brother from the airport, pack up our car and make our way up to Michigan. It will be Christian's longest car ride so far. I'm kind of anxious about it - he doesn't like to be strapped in for very long. We hope to time it with his afternoon snooze. If not, his uncle can maybe entertain him for the 2.5 hours.

I am excited that he will get to see and play with his cousins and second cousins. Catching up with the cousins is always a good time. And this will be his third time with my sister's kids. We will see everyone at the wake and dinner following and then also at the funeral services and lunch. We will also be going to a waterpark for a couple of hours (not really a reverent outing but sounds fun! our hotel doesn't have a pool or anything).

So we'll see how he relates to the family at large and then also to swimming. He loved it when he was 4.5 months. We'll see if it stuck!

As for the weaning process - I packed up my pumping materials! However, I will continue to nurse in the morning and evening for awhile. It seems like we have been feeding Christian constantly. He's always got a snack or something. I noticed that he is definitely taller; my mom said he looks a little chubbier on his face. We will see what the doctor says in three weeks.

When he likes something, he bops up and down with his upper body and hums a 'yum' of sorts. SO CUTE:)

More later...

1st Birthday

We celebrated Christian's first birthday this past Saturday. Both sets of grandparents were able to come witness him eat cake and ice cream (though my parents have sneaked him ice cream and Dan's parents have sneaked him frosting). But he enjoyed being the center of attention - having the birthday song sung a couple of times. The night's winners included the balloons we gave him, blocks my mom gifted, and a card that sung the eensy weensy spider when opened. He loved the ice cream and cake. One funny highlight - the onesie he was wearing was a bit too big around the chest area so when we stripped him and put him in the tub we found a ton of cake in his diaper!

We can't believe he's one, in some ways. We visited the doctor this morning for his 12 month appointment. He's a bit underweight, so we will have to work on his table food ingestion!! Moving toward full weaning as well - whole milk, no bottles. I'm relieved that I'll be weaning myself from the breast pump, but there's also a sadness too that comes with weaning. Still, we are proud to have survived and to have him survive:) We are not experts by any means - just survivors. We have so much to learn. I guess maybe having another kid would allow us more confidence in some ways. But I cannot even think about that right now!

Well- on to toddler hood. If any of you have advice, we'd love to hear it!