10 months

My sweet little baby is growing up! Way too fast. Everyone said it would happen, but I didn’t want to believe them! While he still loves to be held, especially in the mornings and as soon as I get home from work, he is also gaining more and more independence every day. When he is ready to get down, he squirms and wiggles until his feet hit the floor, and then he is off to explore his pile of toys, or the wheel on the pack N play, or the pedals on the piano, of any of his other things he is interested in. At 10 months he just amazes us. He is literally learning something new everyday. Yesterday, he mimicked me blowing him kisses through the door, and this morning he waved and blew me a kiss when I left. This week he also stood up in the middle of the living room, without assistance and just stood there. When he realized what he had done I think he was stunned, and he plopped back down to the floor. He is still cruising the furniture and makes quick work of clearing off any shelf or side table that he has access too. We had to install cabinet locks recently also cause he is becoming quite the little explorer. Opening and almost closing doors have become quite fascinating as well. He still has an obsession with Barney but we have branched out to include Curious George, Mickey Mouse, and Pajanimals, but Barney is still his number one fave in the morning while drinking his bottle. When he hears that intro music he just laughs, says “Bar Bar” or something to that affect, and claps his little hands, or taps them on the bottle. Sweetest thing ever. I’m convinced that watching him drink from his bottle might be one of my favorite sights. I know his bottle drinking days will be nearing an end since we have started introducing the sippy cup, but there is just something about his little lips on the bottle. He loves it so much and I love to hear his little grunts and watch him fall asleep drinking, playing with his hair and him rubbing my face. I hope and pray I remember these special times always. He has been busy playing with a few of his fave toys he received for Christmas – a remote control, a cell phone with Grover, a little dump truck that carries blocks, and a dinosaur that bounces little plastic balls inside and they bounce out. Gets him laughing every time. He loves any kind of box or bag that he can put toys in and then remove them, over and over.

After battling a stuffy nose and cough for a couple of weeks I took him to the Doc at the beginning of January. Just a bad cold, but he also had an ear infection, so another round of antibiotics was prescribed. He seems fine now, back to his normal playful self, and THANKFULLY has a clear and dry nose! He and I both were getting tired of having to suction it out all the time!

Good thing about having to take him to the doc was getting him weighed. He is still hovering around 19lbs, not much gain from last month, but he really feels more solid to me.

19lbs

Size 4 diapers

Drinks 6/8 oz every few hours – definitely drinking less now that he is eating more solids

Eats a small amt at breakfast, then lunch and dinner

Snacks – puffs, arrowroot crackers, mum mum

My sweet not so little baby boy – You are so very much loved! You make Mommy melt with your sneaky little grins and when you rub my face and hair. I love your curiousness and desire to know everything about your surroundings. I love your ability to make someone feel so special when you laugh and play with them. I love your obsession for your big sissy and how you follow her around as fast as your knees will allow you to do so. I LOVE how you are sleeping so well and when I lay you in your crib you just nuzzle down without a peep. I LOVE that I watch you on the monitor playing with your bunny in the crib, rubbing his floppy ears. Not crying, just playing in the early morning light, and trusting that someone will come pick you up. I love that when I open your door in the morning you start bouncing and jumping, so happy to see me. I love that when you wrap your little arms around my neck you start humming “mmm mmm”. I love you buddy boy and I am so thankful you are mine.

Christmas 2012

Christmas Eve and Christmas Day were a complete whirlwind in our family probably much like everyone else. Christmas Eve ranks very high as one of my most fave days of the year. I love getting together with the family, eating good food, opening presents, watching the kids run around filled with excitement, and even the annual wrapping paper fight. We usually have Christmas Eve at my Mom’s house but this year it was held at our cousin’s new house down the street, what a beautiful house they have! Plenty of room, it was beautifully decorated and the kids loved having lots of different rooms to play in. As a bonus to Mom, she didn’t have a house to clean before or after the event! Having Buddy Boy this year has made unwrapping presents quite interesting! He thoroughly enjoying ripping the paper but quickly wanted to move on to something else. After we all had our bellies full, and the presents were opened it was time to head home and get the kids to bed. Amber said she wasn’t going to be able to go to sleep because she was too excited, well; she had no problem once her head hit the pillow! Caleb went down quickly also thanks to the Benadryl for the runny nose he has been battling. When Santa had completed his job it was time for sleep! We both woke at 7:45 and realized both kids were still asleep!! That never happens!!! We actually had to wake them both up! The next hour was a rush of excitement, seeing what Santa had brought, flying paper, and lots of noisy toys! We then loaded up and went next door for Mom’s annual breakfast – always the same, always great! Pigs in a blanket, cinnamon rolls, and this year breakfast casserole. Yummy! Then we opened more presents, we were all so blessed with lots of great presents. I failed to get many pictures the whole day, we were just so busy making sure Caleb didn’t eat anything since the floor was covered! He was busy going from bag to box and repeat. He was so funny! Amber loved all of her gifts, lots of clothes, books, and electronic stuff. From Mom’s we headed to Jeff’s parent’s house an hour and a half away. Both of the kids got in a good nap on the way, and actually so did I. Good old Jeff did the driving for us. We had lunch, opened even more presents and rested the remainder of the afternoon. Amber left for her Mom’s house and Jeff, Caleb and I headed back home that evening. The house looked like a bomb had gone off so we did some quick cleaning and got everything back in order. We had a wonderful, busy, fun, Christmas! For so many years I prayed and begged and hoped and dreamed of having a baby to share Christmas with. Oh how amazing it is for that dream to come true. Hope all of you had a wonderful Christmas with your family and friends!

 

 

9 mo

Little man is quickly growing up! November was not the greatest month in our household due to lots of sickness but we are on the upswing now.

First, the last week of October Caleb had his first ear infection; I mentioned that in the last post. Well, after being on the antibiotics for a week, he broke out in a head to toe measle looking rash! It was so pitiful! He was literally covered every little inch of him with red bumps when soon morphed into hive like blotches over the next couple of days. It was not bothersome to him at all though, thank goodness. The Doc said it was a possible reaction to the antibiotics, but most likely a viral rash of some sort. A week later he was all cleared up.

Three weeks later I was stricken by an awful stomach bug. I thought we were in the clear because the kids had stayed the night with Jeff’s parents, but they soon called us and said that buddy boy was throwing up and had diarrhea. L They brought him home and stayed the night so that I could rest. That was a Sunday. On Monday night as I was cleaning up more throw-up from Caleb, Amber gets out of bed and runs to the bathroom. Another one bites the dust. I go to our room to hand Caleb to Jeff so I could change clothes, well when he wakes up, he too runs to the bathroom. And yet another one bites the dust. The next morning, I called the in-laws to let them know that our entire house was now afflicted and guess what? Johnny, Deb, and Stephen were all sick too! I called my Mom and Aunt, they were both sick as well. I have never seen anything quite like this virus! It hits you like a ton of bricks, out of nowhere. A few days later we thought we were all ok, so we went ahead with our Thanksgiving plans. That might not have been the greatest idea we had ever had because every single person that attended dinner came down with the same virus within 2 days. In case you were counting – that is 20 people that were sick in my family within the same week!!! LYSOL!!!

After a few days of being sick Caleb was still having some issues keeping his bottle down and once again, he had a rash! Not as bad as the first time, and it looked different, being mostly on his face and dry, patchy, and seems to itch as well. Back to the doctor we went. Apparently the bacteria that digests lactose lives on the outside of your stomach so when little man was throwing up that was the first to go which rendered him temporarily lactose intolerant. A can of soy formula was prescribed and the Doc said he should be back to normal pretty soon. He also said the rash is another viral rash, no treatment, just wait it out. His body is clear now, just his little cheeks and forehead. I really think it looks like eczema though, going to take him back again if it doesn’t clear up soon.

 

Ok, so that has been our month of November! So glad that it's almost over! I didn’t even write a Thanksgiving post cause everyone was still feeling blah, but obviously you know how super overwhelmingly thankful I am!!!

Caleb is crawling everywhere and pulling up on everything! He also started saying Ma Ma over and over! And I must say he has the sweetest little voice. When I don’t talk to him right away, he gets louder and louder and draws out the first syllable. Maaaaa Ma

 

Here are his 9mo stats:

 

Weight - 18.5lbs

Length - 26 1/2 inches

Size 3 diapers

Clothes - 6mo, some 9mo as well

 

He still loves loves loves to eat and in enjoying some more table food as well! He pretty much eats anything and everything he can get his hands on. He is still the sweetest little fella we could have ever been blessed with. His smiles melt my heart and I love to see him bounce in the crib with excitement when I walk in the room in the morning. He loves us, he trusts us, and he is ours.

 

We love you buddy boy and we are so thankful you are ours!