Before I forget!!

Updated to add a couple more pictures and 2 videos to the end!

So, it turns out, the ONLY baby milestones I can now recall are those I reread on the blog. What signs did John know around 1? How long did it take him to get used to milk? When did he get molars? All. Gone. From. Brain. Except I happened to scroll backwards a bit and got a nice reminder. SO, before baby #2 wipes away my remaining brain cells, I better get a little more documentation out here!!

First of all, projects. My goal is to put my sewing machine away before baby arrives. That means finishing a SLEW of projects first. And that means if we have a girl, trucking it out again afterwards with new fabrics for headbands.  Unlikely. But, I've got burp cloths, teethers, key rings, paci clips (maybe) all in the works.  And lots of people to gift them all to!  And other things I want to make like marble mazes, tons of stuff. Maternity leave cannot come soon enough (May 4th).  Sewing machine lives in the dining area, though, so it will be nice to clear that area when we have the craziness of newborn going on in our house. In fact, that will probably be the baby station since the floor is no longer safe but full of books, strewn toys, jumping toddlers, etc.

Second of all, HUGE BABY. They told me baby was 5 lbs 14 oz a week ago. I can only hope and pray the ultrasound estimation is wrong. John was born at 6-11 and with 4 more weeks to go that puts this baby over 8lbs likely. OUCHIE.  Other than that, everything looks superb. No heart problems, no growth issues, proper amounts of fluids everywhere. Praise God!

John. 18 month sleep regression. *Moan.* Adorable except for the fits of not sleeping.  Frequently signs for "more" when we are tickle playing, playing hide and seek - anything that sends him into fits of laughter - more, more more.  He still prefers to sign over speak but does say quite a few things.  Loves to color lately, although got pretty upset when his last "whole" crayon (the yellow one) finally broke - had a LONG conversation with me at dinner discussing trying to put it back together. Despite all the other crayons (jumbo sized) being already in 2-3 pieces.  We have new crayons in reserve for when (big) baby comes, along with a new coloring book. Hopefully he'll like Veggie Tales!  Right now his favorite is Sesame Street and he loves to look for Oscar's coloring pages.  Oscar = "O-tee"...don't ask why.   Still into his books, although slightly less -- probably means I need to rotate them or hide some toys.  I've been too tired to parent extremely closely lately, so maybe I just haven't noticed.  We've finally got all 4 molars and canines at least partially showing, so hopefully we have a teething break for a LITTLE WHILE.  I busted out some chalk for the backyard and he's been enjoying that immensely (Can we say Target clearance + Cartwheel deal for 61c chalk?! woo hoo!)

Zach. Working on an independent film most of the next month. Including my due date. And most dates around my due date.  Yikes.  I think 5/10/15 is an easy date to remember for a birthday, which he conveniently has off. That sounds good, right? Now to alert the baby of my superior plans.

Household: Would be suffering, if not for all Zach does. I seriously lucked out.  This week I finally got back on the meal planning bandwagon, although I forgot to defrost and marinate our chicken 2 nights in a row so tonight was (uber delicious) breakfast burritos. I could eat those every day. John didn't have any complaints either, which was nice.  Once I'm on maternity leave, I'll be able to cook and freeze some stuff for post-baby.  What easy meals are other people eating these days? My favorite go-to lazy chicken is to throw chicken in the crockpot and cover it with salsa, cook on high 4 hours. Makes perfect shredded chicken for tacos, enchiladas, etc.

Exercise: We joined the local YMCA. They have free childcare. :)  And a pool! It is SO nice to get back into the water, even though its an indoor pool.  I am stoked to be getting back into some shape before having this baby. And excited to take John to open swim this weekend, hopefully!!  And when I'm on leave, I can take him to a couple toddler classes they have for baby signs and music.


Wow...I have really not uploaded pictures to Picasa lately. Oopsies. Here are a couple. John preferred his soccer ball to any egg hunting on Easter. Here is celebrating his "touchdown."

And this was...I dunno...around 34 weeks? Seemed bigger than the 35ish one I could find of me with John.  Somehow I can't find most of my last pregnancy pictures for a good comparison.

Ok, well, I think thats all I can bore people with for now.  Thanks for reading the whole thing! Ha!

Addition: John reading the "Doggies" book, and dancing, and a couple more pics.

Updates

I thought I better get some stories and pictures up here for the great Grandmas.

The Superbowl for John was a milestone event. The television was on for 3 hours, and Mommy and Daddy did lots of cheering and yelling.  Almost on a daily basis, John will still point at the TV saying, "go go go tosdow!" and cheer.  He will also do that whenever he sees any sports player in a picture (like a football player we have in another picture frame elsewhere in the house.) His sporty uncles are very proud.

We broke down and got the kid his first real haircut. I had trimmed his bangs a couple times but was at a loss as to what to do about the curls we hoped to keep.  Luckily, we had a really nice experience and his hair is still curly and a lot better shaped than before. And she was fast.  He really didn't even notice she was cutting his hair!  After the haircut we found out the place we went to (kids place) that the arcade games were all free.  If we had known that...we would totally have played them during his haircut...haha...yes, us parents are very grown up!

Is feeding a child always a battle? No matter what stage they are in? Sheesh.  We had a few rough months with dinner time...mostly John barely eating then being starving very early the next morning.  Sometimes he eats a ton, sometimes almost nothing...like toddlers do.  I've found he does best if a few favorites are all out on this segmented plate (oh, what we do to get them to eat!) He does love using a fork or spoon though and is pretty good with both. We will definitely repeat Baby Led Weaning as a feeding method with kid #2.

Our family really loves our sunglasses.

Being silly.  

John is super into books.  And his push-cow toy.  And his play kitchen. And playing outside. But definitely significantly books.  He has several Sandra Boynton books (fellow moms recognize that author immediately) and these books are all particularly linked. On the back cover of each one in the series is a picture of ALL the books in the series...we have like maybe 5 of 8 or so. John will intently study the back cover of one book, looking at all the pictures, then point out which book he has that he wants read next.  I'm hoping to find the rest of the collection...instead of forking over $ for new...I know, cheap mom.  Plus there are several different collection/series, but luckily John is mostly only interested in one so that is the only one I am trying to "complete." LOL.

Pregnancy #2 (oh you didn't know? You didn't read the back of our Christmas card? Don't worry, apparently no one did) is coming along, nearly at the end now.  There have been a lot of challenges with this pregnancy and I am more than happy about being done with it, come May. I won't go into detail because no one wants to WebMD this stuff.  John thinks my big belly is funny but generally won't pay attention to it.  We are trying to teach him to say "Baby" but he will only sign it.   He is quite verbal but not great with annunciation - and doesn't' like repeating "B" words since he can't say that sound.  But he seems to be developing normally (just not verbally advanced!) so we aren't' too worried.  He prefers to call for Daddy almost all the time, which is just fine with me at 6am when we hear from his crib, "All Done. Daddy. Dad-deeee!!!"  Hey Babe...he wants YOU! Ha ha.

I'm planning a St. Patrick's Day supper with one of Zach's local cousins, corned beef, etc and Black and Tan brownies.  Yum!

Other stats I might be interested in remembering later, at 18 months John was 31 inches and 22.5 lbs. Sleeps 7-6++ usually plus a 2ish hour nap. Favorite foods are cereals for breakfast (usually also a waffle because they are fun to make), peas, salmon, potatoes, cheese, yogurt but especially smoothies (hello Sweet Tooth.)

Ok...so we are still alive...thats all I have for now. :)

Better late than never (?)

Well, I can probably say I've lost all readership except people who might still have this on their automatic feed.  I have had many, many moments of thoughts and funny stories I've wanted to share here, but when I sit down to write them, I can't remember a thing. Zach also worked long hours AND had the computer with him...usually I blog (as I am now) on the laptop while he isn't home because otherwise we are watching TV or I'm beating him at Triominoes. (Ok...he wins often also.)  

I also have not been in a good enough mood to write happy things.  There.  Things are good for us, very blessed, but overall the last several months have been a challenge.  John is so fun though, he truly makes my day. And Zach is a wonderful mate who takes great care of me and doesn't mind when he has to make dinner almost every night. I am truly blessed.

So I better document some memories or this kiddo of ours will never have a scrapbook because there is nothing recorded. (I did have a special baby tracker for 12 months...long over...I'm sure "there's an app for that" and maybe I should consider getting that!!!)

Halloween 2014. We kept John out past bedtime and trick or treated with friends. It was so fun! His original costume was a dragon, but he kept tripping on it, so he had his Batman shirt on underneath.  Later it got cold and he wore his Lion jacket. So yeah, 3 costumes in 1 night. He loved walking up to the houses and grabbing candies from the bowls. Since he does baby signs (soooo many more than my last post!) he would say "thank you" which looks like blowing a kiss.  He had many adoring fans blowing kisses back and one woman who let him in her house to see her (gated) dogs.  John and his pal rode in the wagon to keep up with the big kids.  Mostly they just traded candy from their bags back and forth. 

John has 2 of these push toys and very much enjoys pushing them around the house.  He also really likes building with his Mega Blocks (just recently he can use most of the pieces and not just the singles) and still likes playing with his play kitchen and anything that will make noise.  We got some wooden ABC blocks he likes to dump on his head.  I'd say his favorite thing to do though is reading. I love this. :)

I love this picture of the two of us. He's riding on my back in my favorite carrier, Beco Gemini. I had wanted one for our next kiddo then found one 1/3 price at a consignment sale. Score! I had put up my hood for warmth but he thought I was playing peek a boo and kept pulling it down and laughing at me.  Crazy kid.

Here's some reading...

And we finally had a weekend with good weather so this guy got to explore his backyard again. He spent a huge amount of last summer playing outside and still loves it, but doesn't get out there as much since he goes to daycare during the day.  And if we play outside in the evening, it is usually in the front where he demands that the garage door go up and down, up and down, up and down, much to his never ending delight.

John is an accomplished runner and weighs in at 21.2 pounds.  He wears 12 month size still, except when I run out of clothes (or lose his jacket) then he rocks a baggy 18 month look.  He loves cheese and milk.  He loves to get a chance to watch TV but his shows and opportunities are limited...mostly to when there is only one parent available and that parent needs to cook. :)  Or if he is super grumpy.  Because these Parents are Tired.  Tired!!!

So if you scrolled down this far, I'm just going to say it...you'll get far more updates on Instagram.  Even more than facebook.  Look for me at cmdaven and request an add!

13 for 13?

You guys, this is bad. I barely remember my blogger password.  Ok, not officially continuing the monthly kid updates but lets see if I can squeeze out 13 facts for this 13 month old. Someday I may blog about something non-kid related. Believe me, the thoughts are floating around in my head, I just haven't reigned them in yet.

1. Thinks getting a baby carrot from the fridge is the greatest treat ever. Related: Seeing the fridge opened, period, is the greatest thing ever.
2. Claps excitedly when you ask if he wants to sing Patty Cake.
3. Is (mostly) a pro at signing "please" but at the expense of all his other signs, which now he doesn't use. Why do people use this again?
4. Likes the box his birthday slide came in more than the actual slide.
5. Has been fighting 2 naps a day this week and I hope this is just a phase, he was sleeping wonderfully before this!
6. Eats like a fiend. Tons of food. I think he gets out of the high chair out of boredom, not due to being full, because he will continue to snack on whatever he can find when he gets down.
7. Loves to scare people by popping out of the shoe closet.
8. Still is obsessed with nursing and doesn't really like cows milk despite multiple attempts per day.
9.  Really likes Elmo songs, because we basically copy all of Anna's best kid entertainment tricks.  He thinks that after he wakes up from his second nap, he gets to take all day nursing, then pull my phone OUT OF MY POCKET! and get to watch 1-3 Elmo songs. He is usually right. Because he is so cute when he says "please."
10. Helped me put the silverware away today. And by "helping" I mean, helped me go a lot faster because he kept trying to load silverware into the basket.
11. Likes to play under the kitchen table in his "fort." Dinner making for the win!
12. No longer likes to look and smile at me when I have the camera out. Usually ignores me. Cue drastically fewer adorable photos. Sad.
13. Just cut his 6th tooth. He likes to take his time with these such things.

Wow...still severely lacking in the picture uploading department. Here are a couple...

1/12/365

Wow guys, I have a one year old! And wow, no blogging in a month! And confession, I only finally took the 11 month pictures last week (hopefully 12 month will be soon!)

But to be fair, we have been SO crazy busy. Since June 1 we have had 3 road trips to NorCal (one including Lake Tahoe), 2 plane trips to Colorado and Rhode Island, one family camp trip, 3 trips to the doctor, and one face painting (July 4th). Ok so the last one wasn't that hard to do. :)  Oh also one weekend away for Zach and one night away on a different weekend for me.

Anyhow, John has done great with all the travels and we are most definitely looking forward to not going anywhere for at least a couple weekends and no overnights for a while. John sleeps horribly in the Pack and Play so nights away are long.

So what has our one year old been up to?  Well, he met his youngest cousin in Rhode Island along with many other Aunts, Uncles, and cousins. We had a great trip. Adorable photo overload waiting in the wings. I mean, go look at the video on instagram or facebook instead. Done! He got an ice cream cone there as a treat (miniature) and was a total champ on all the flights.  He took his first steps in beautiful Lake Tahoe, even after a long day of playing at the beach, paddle boarding (ok, he just sat there), and swimming.  He got a chocolate cake a couple days later with Birthday Celebration #1.  I managed to make a cake (mix) but didn't get around to making whipped cream frosting so I used some from a can. Bad idea. That stuff stuck to him like glue! And he didn't eat any of the cake and only licked a tiny bit of frosting, despite how crazy messy he got. I gave him raspberries afterwards and he FAR preferred those.  The next day he got Birthday Celebration #2 with a cupcake which wasn't nearly as messy, but still not that interested. (Yay! No major sweet tooth!). Today is Birthday Celebration #3 and I hope to be the last one! Details on that after it happens.  He also went to church family camp where we stayed in a cabin, not a tent, since we don't have a large enough tent. He enjoyed the sand pile, swimming pool, pushing around all the bikes, playing in his wagon, and was a total trooper despite having a fever half the time.

In terms of activities, he has been talking more, especially since the ear infection cleared up. He also cheers for himself when he does something we normally cheer for. Like breaking apart his velcro food. (you "cut" the carrot in half.) So I made him another velcro toy, glued velcro strips to a toy cookie sheet and the other half of the velcro on various excess toys. Its a hit. It cost all of maybe $.99 for the glue on sale many moons ago. Why did I buy him a birthday present exactly??? He is pretty good about climbing down from things "backwards" (emphasis on me screaming it loudly to get the point across when I'm not in arms reach).  He can destroy the kitchen in a flash.  He had my phone on instagram the other day and I swear he was using his thumb to try and swipe up. (Not cool, lol.) But he does see me using it that way when we look at selfies and when I'm getting the ipad ready for one of his games.  Crazy learner!  He is still enjoying reading books, some weeks a lot more than others.

Ok...onto the pictures. Oh no, guys. Major fail. I haven't uploaded what I thought I uploaded! Ok, here is one for now. More soon. And maybe a post commemorating my first year as a mom. Because that is also a pretty major milestone, and totally different than this milestone.

11 months and such

Hiya! Wow, a lot has happened in the last month!  Since I can't seem to remember enough to get it onto my baby calendar (for future scrapbooking - ha!) I better post a bunch of it here.

Milestones:
Gets up on knees and claps, and is very  happy about it.
Prefers to try and walk before crawling instead. (Big change from last month. He can't actually walk, but instead of dropping to an immediate crawl, he will try to take a step first, or see how far he can cruise before he has to crawl.)
Pushes around cars and trains. I think this actually started in June but it is more consistent now, and he can crawl (quickly) pushing the car.
Can stand up without pulling himself up, and stay standing a several seconds.
Talking a lot more, still Ga Ga and Da Da mostly. Made some other sounds, TSSS, KKKK, but after 2 days decided not to share those ones anymore.
Still loves laughing.
Reads his books to himself now. (LOVE IT! SO CUTE! PLAYS BY HIMSELF!)
Still hates baby jails or being left alone.
Sleeps through the night! Woo Hoo! 7-7ish in general.
Moved up to a big boy carseat (still rear facing) in hopes driving with him would not be so miserable. (Not entirely successful, but partially so.)
Spent his 11 month birthday very sick, cuddling on me for literally hours (that has never happened except when he was an itty, bitty baby!)
4th tooth.
19ish pounds I think, if our home scale is accurate. Wearing 9m clothes but since our 9m onesies are a weird brand and fit more like 6m (oops) I am breaking out the 12m too.

And now onto some pictures.

Um hey buddy, thats mama's baking stuff. Not cool. (Now babyproofed.)

Played with "potato flake" dough. Thought it felt icky.

Progresses to trying to put the objects through the shape sorter. This continues to be an amazing toy. We have to move his hand to which hole the piece should go, but he is very interested in getting it in correctly. 

Helping with laundry. Loves to "help" with laundry. Sometimes "helping" is defined as "ruining every folded pile."

We visited some friends and introduced baby G to blanket rides. John kept falling off.

Master the snack catcher cup in the past month. Yay! Yes, we have a pink one. Oh well.

First 4th of July - got his face painted. "Whatever you can do the fastest," I requested. Wish I had asked for a rocket on his cheek instead.  He seemed to do OK getting painted.

Sickie boy cuddles, watching Baby Genius, and later he tolerated Say Yes To The Dress! Sick indeed! Get better soon buddy, we are going to visit some family tomorrow!  (we have a house sitter so don't try to rob us.)

10 Months

Wow, we are so close to the one year mark! Crazy. I don't have my 10 month pictures done yet, things have been quite the blur.  What is new at this stage? Hm. One thing I LOVE is that John "plays cars." He will push around a car (or train...or computer mouse) like a car the way that we do when we show him how to play with it. SO CUTE.  And tonight on the way home from church he was trying to whistle. I'm definitely going to need to get a video of that.  He would make noise some of the time along with the whistle face.  

Here is what I resorted to  one morning when I REALLY needed a shower. Baby Genius (netflix) in the bathroom. Klassy.

 Office shenanigans - he plays in my office often during the day (supervised by Zach) but I do take pictures when I can. Here is is pushing that cart all through the house. (Zach has to steer it.)

 Another day he helped himself to the office supply drawer. Thanks for reminding me where my pens are, buddy!

 Most of the time he sits here and plays with this Infantino shape sorter castle and those stacking/nested cups in the background.  This castle = amazing. He plays with it so much!!!  He can't get the shapes through their right section yet so he mostly enjoys taking them all out of the castle and clapping them together. There are also 3-4 people that sit on the top of the castle he likes to gnaw on.

 On a recent trip to my Grandma's house, I took a nap and came out later to John eating dog food.  At least 6 other adults in the house and none of them watching John. Oh well. Well worth the visit to see my Grandpa, who passed away the day after this visit.  He was such, such, such a special man who loved his family and loved reading this blog, and deserves more than just a sentence here which I will try to post soon. Miss you, Grandpa!

I'm not sure what John weighs these days, but tonight he felt like a total chunk and the scale hit 20 pounds. Just last week it was 17 and some change, so I don't know if it was a fluke or big growth spurt or the fact that he pigged out on dinner the last two nights. I just moved him up to 9 month clothes because I noticed his pants were starting to flood a bit.  

John is ALMOST sleeping through the night, still getting a dream feed but we are slowly reducing the quantity of that, working towards dropping that feed as well. He usually takes 2 solid naps a day, although the last week or two he has REALLY fought actually going to sleep. Painful on the ears, I tell ya! He has 3 teeth and is probably going to cut the fourth by tomorrow. I can see it through the gum.

That's about it. We have been really super busy and I am looking forward to a break. Which will last maybe 2 weeks and then turn super busy again. Sigh.

Question: Sports theme or Uno theme for first birthday? I spent $5 on clearance stuff and got napkins, cups, plates, and a banner - all sports. But then Zach suggested an Uno card onesie for his birthday shirt...which also has some great potential (and leads into a Draw Two theme next year! hah!) Thoughts?