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!

Nap, will you?

The napping struggle is still on. Turns out the ear infection didn't help train him to fall asleep for naps. It was just feeling poopy. He does fine with 1 nap and at night, so my guess is that the second nap is going the way of the dodo. However, most babies give up the morning nap, right? Not the afternoon nap! Oi! So Dan is struggling with figuring this out. Weissbluth, Ferber, anyone - help!

Other than that we are looking forward to his first birthday. Cake! It may be because we are dieting and would like cake ourselves, but I think it will be fun to see him try to figure out why frosting is so good yet too rich. Maybe a fruit cake would be better. I'd appreciate ideas if you have them.

Happy Valentine's Day everyone! Remember the best way to celebrate is to show affection every day BUT V-tine's!! (Shh. Don't tell Hallmark or DaySpring!)

Ciao for now!

ear infection & 3rd chapter

Monday Christian was droopy and scalding hot. Dan took him in to the doctor and found him to have an ear infection. He's been on amoxicillan all week, as well as infant motrin. Overall he's been a real trooper, but it's been difficult to keep him happy the whole day. To make it worse Dan and I were both sick. But on the plus side, I was able to stay home with Christian 1 1/2 days. I actually felt like a mom! We hung out and watched PBS Kids. Christian was very cuddly and clingy - kind of sweet. He's definitely on the mend though not 100%. Now his skin is a little blotchy, which we are watching.

On the plus plus side, Dan finished his 3rd chapter! So we are rejoicing that we've reached this milestone:)

Another one to look for - this Sunday Christian will be 11 months. We are already looking forward to presenting him with his first birthday cake in a month. I'm looking forward to him drinking cow's milk, which will encourage further weaning (pumping at work is a little old by now).

OH I almost forgot. Christian's 'talking' is getting exciting. He now stands at the gate in the doorway and says 'dad, dada?' almost like he's saying 'hello? are you there?' It's SO cute.

dogsitting and other adventures

we are in the 'burbs dogsitting for my parents. it's a nice respite - well in a way. christian doesn't sleep nearl as well and he wakes up earlier than usual (4:50am today). and we are tied to the house in order to feed the dog every 12 hours - he's diabetic. but there is more than 2000 square feet, cable, and laundry services:)

christian has made some strides in the last week - literally cruising along the furniture, squatting to pick up something then standing up again. he now waves - well he bends his fingers down in a goodbye type of wave. he does it when he's laying down, waking up, when he's in the high chair waiting for his sippy cup... it's very cute. i

what isn't so cute is his inability to fall asleep on his own for his naps. well, it probably isn't an inability but a willful determination not to sleep. we go through the nap routine, place him in the crib - he immediately stomps his feet, says 'no, no, no, no, no,' gets up screams, etc. we've tried various sleep philosophies. they all stink! we are hoping that our wills are stronger, but it's hard to listen to crying for so many hours a day.

to end - i just can't believe he's almost 1! we are looking forward to his continual development, especially talking. but trying to enjoy where's he's at as well (though seriously, fall asleep and stay that way for at least an hour!)

pray for us! and for some sleep...

Christian's leeps and bounds

Christian is growing up! :) I mean it seems like everyday he is learning something new. Last Friday he clapped and hid behind his blanket to peek a boo at me. In one day! And other the weekend he signed 'all done' when he was done eating. He's pulling up and almost cruising. I love to watch him discover the room he plays in and the toys I set up around it. He hits his little cars and chases after them. He's pretty content to play by himself - well that is if you are still in the same room. Otherwise it's freak out time. He's definitely going through some separation anxiety issues, to his father's frustration. I like that he needs me - I just wish I was there more for him!! Such is life right now. Another milestone - he's exerting his will! He's testing boundaries. He smiles when we say no! Already! Only 10 months. Egad!

Happy New Year!

Joy to you as this new year begins!