10 months!

It's hard to believe our little is already 10 months old. His birthday will be here before I know it! It's been a pretty exciting and exhausting month for the both of us. He is on the move and interested in everything that he shouldn't be in to. He has definitely mastered the army crawl, still not really interested in regular crawling. He will get up on all fours pretty easily, rock back and forth, take one or two crawls, then fall flat on his tummy. We've started the process of baby proofing, but still have quite a bit to do. He is very interested in outlets and poking his fingers at them, so that was the first thing we did.

* He pulled up for the first time about 2 weeks ago; now he likes to pull up on his play table and in his chair we got him for Christmas. He has got his eye on the couch, but hasn't quite mastered it or figured it out just yet.

* He really wants to be more mobile than he is, so unfortunately that results in a lot of tears; when he gets frustrated, he throws some pretty mean tantrums and turns on the fireworks

* He has four teeth, currently working on number 5 this week; the bottom middle two and then the top left middle tooth and the one to the left of that. Let's hope the other middle tooth comes in soon so he doesn't look lopsided!

* He still takes 4 bottles and 3 meals; loves puffs and meats, we need to start table food but just haven't really made it happen just yet; started some whole milk but mainly in foods (need to begin the transition this month)

* He likes to drink water out of a real cup, not really into sippy cups; loves to play with them and hold them, but not drink out of them

* Loves to point at things and use his index fingers, it's pretty amusing to watch him learn  eye-hand coordination

* He is more of a cuddler than he has ever been before; even though it only lasts for a short time, it is pretty sweet when he just lays his head on your chest or just sit in our lap and relaxes for all of 2 minutes

* He loves flipping books; he props them up with his feet and will just flip them over and over. He always seems to find his truck book over all other books and could look at it for minutes (which is a long time in baby world!)

* When he is standing up and has something to hold onto, he is a pro; we have tried to prompt him to take steps and he will take one or two very unreluctantly; he has no interest in it right now and will just start throwing a fit, so we have decided to stop being such over achievers and let him decide when he is ready. Here is how our last attempt went down:

I'm not so sure about this

Wes showing him what to do.....

Okay, now you do it....

You want me to do what?!?!

 No way Jose......

Fine, you win. Back to just chillin up against the couch.

* He LOVES when all 3 of us go in our bedroom and play on the bed; he gets soooo excited, especially when one of us hides behind the foot board and plays peek-a-boo with him; he seriously lights up and starts flailing around like a maniac

* He babbles quite a bit; other than the one time he said MaMa, Wes thinks yesterday when I opened the truck door to get in, he looked at me and said Hi, but that is it. We are working on it! Trying Baby Einstein DVDs, but he doesn't have much of an attention span for them

* When we took him to the doctor the other day, he was 22 lbs 1 oz (still in the 50-75th %)

He really is much happier than he has ever been (except when he is not getting what he wants, the boy has some pipes!) and we are loving every minute with him. Here are my best attempts at a 10 month pic!

 See a theme here?

Poor baby

Well, today marks Ryan's first real illness. I woke up this morning, ready to start the day. Ryan was sleeping a little later than normal; so I was able drink my coffee, make his bottles, clean the kitchen, and begin getting dressed, all the while thinking, wow, this is going to be a good day! I didn't have to work today and we were starting his first real class at Gymboree. I was wrong...

I got him out of his crib at 8:15 and he was really hot and clammy. Hmmmm, that is not normal for him. I immediately fed him his bottle and he fussed during the last ounce, so I took it out and gave him his pacifier. He was juuuuuust starting to sit up and BAM! Projectile milk, everywhere, and it didn't stop there. Not having dealt with something like this before, it is weird how you just stop in your tracks, thinking "what do I do?". So, I sat him down stripped off his clothes and used a blanket to wipe him down. I called Wes and he was going to call and make a doctor's appt for me. I took his temp and it was 101, so I knew we were headed to the doctor. I took him to our bedroom, set him on the floor so I could throw on some clothes, and BAM! Again! Vomit everywhere. He looked so sad just sitting there in his diaper and kept crying Maaa Maaa Maaa. This time I find an old towel to wipe him down. I got both of us dressed and loaded him up in the car.

His body was so limp and he was white as a ghost! As soon as I strapped him in the car, you guessed it, more vomiting. Just when I thought there surely couldn't be anymore left in him! Now he was sitting in a pool of old milk and soaking wet. I about freaked this time. Knowing he just may do it again, I found one of his blankets in the car and cleaned up what I could and headed straight to the doc and just planned to change him there. He was so sad and pitiful. It is very hard to see a baby in so much pain.

Of course, this doctor's visit was the longest one in history. We were there for over an hour as I am trying to comfort a screaming 22lb baby in my arms, to find that his ears, nose, and throat were clear, no strep, and that it is just a virus. She prescribed him Zofran to help the nausea, some pedialyte, and tylenol. I took him home and my mom came over to help me out. I was given instructions to feed him just little bits of food, milk, and pedialyte a little at a time basically all day long if he could keep it down. So that is what we did the rest of the day. Eat a little, cuddle some, rock for a bit, and while he napped - we cleaned up the aftermath from the morning. Luckily, he has kept everything down so far. He seemed to be getting back to his old self this evening. Now he's asleep, so hopefully he will get a good night's rest and wake up feeling like a new boy tomorrow.

It is really hard to see something you love so much in so much pain and not be able to do much about it!

Randomness

I have realized that over the past few months, Ryan just starts doing things and when I think back, I can't quite remember when it started and have neglected them from my monthly updates. So, for my own sake of jotting it down, I a going to recap a few of his amusing behaviors and accomplishments.

* He loves to crawl over to our trashcan, (which is one of those Simple Human trashcans) and just bang on it and stare at himself in the reflection

* He really gets his feelings hurt when you tell him "No" he will start crying and actual tears will form

* He likes to crawl over to the receiver and turn the volume waaay up (we need to do something about this, stat!)

* He has gotten much better at standing up without our assistance, just needs toys to accompany him!

* He will finally play by himself in his playpen that we set-up in the guestroom. It's so nice when we need a few minutes to get things done. He is also better about being by himself period, as long as he has plenty of distractions

* He is a pro at holding his own bottle now; I have a feeling it will be a tough habit to break

* He tries to give "kisses"; when you ask him to give you a kiss, he comes full force at our face with his mouth wide open and usually ends up biting our nose and slobbering everywhere

* He has started growling; the sound can best be compared to the Godfather voice; when he learns one new sound, he is obsessed with it until he learns his next new trick

* I think he may have actually said MaMa on Saturday! I was at lunch with my dad and all of a sudden he said it in a pretty articulate manner, then turned to me in his high chair and touched my arm. My dad and I looked at each other in shock! We'll see if this continues!

* Some of his current nicknames (which may seem really random, but each have their own story behind them) include: Beaver, Mooch, Mr. Mooch, Moochie, Gus, Gustopher, & Boo Boo

I know there are more things, so maybe I will update this post as I think of them. I just feel like I will randomly think of something that I don't want to forget, but then forget to go and write it down somewhere!!!

New Year Resolutions: In Progress

We have started working on our New Years Resolutions, and I must say, I am proud that I have been working on all three of them. This past week I took Ryan to try some classes at the Little Gym in Memorial and Gymboree Music & Play at the Galleria. Controlling my first resolution, which was to organize my work schedule better, allowed us to do this. I have been bad at wasting time when I am not working over the past few months, but now that I am getting the hang of it, I think I can most likely get it down to 3 days a week which will give me more time for Ryan and I to go do things. It can be hard when we have free time to make ourselves get out of the house, or if we do, it is usually for me to go run errands. Between 4 bottles a day, 3 meals, 2 naps, and 1 crazy boy, if the day is not already mapped out ahead of time, it can be 4 pm in the blink of an eye and I may not have accomplished much at that point!

So Tuesday, we went out to Little Gym and I really liked it. The pros were that the teachers were really big on refining motor skills as well more "gymnastic" type movements. They were really hands on and concerned with each child. The cons were, I was by far the youngest mom by 10 years, there was not a lot of music, not a whole lot of things to play on (more like balance beams and bars), and it is kind of far away. Ryan did so well standing by himself on the bars.

He was not too sure about this whole air mattress track that they blew up. He was just lazy and laid there the whole time, bouncing up and down.

 He did a forward roll on the balance beam, obviously with assistance from the coaches.

 Class would not be complete without bubbles, he was trying to eat them!

Then, this past Friday, I went to try the Gymboree Music & Play class. He had a lot of fun there as well. The pros were that there were lots of toys to climb on and play on, lots of music activities, like 5 min from my house, and some younger moms there. They also have open gym time 5-6 times a week where you can just come and play. The cons were that I would not consider it very "directed learning" (like 15 min of it is just kind of go roam around on your own and play), and probably not as focused on specific skills (probably if I started him when he was younger the class would have been based on those types of skills).

He played in tunnels and actually crawled through one to retrieve a ball! At the end, they play on the big colorful parachutes. All the kids lay in the middle, the parents hold it really tight, and walk it around in a circle. All of the parents were laughing at him because he was so lazy, he rolled on his tummy and laid his head down and just enjoyed being pulled around! I wish I had a pic of it. His crawling has improved greatly just from going to these two classes, I think.

This ball was enough motivation to get him to crawl all the way up the ramp. He has never done anything like it before!

It was pretty amusing because the class is for 10-16 month kids (most of them being at about 14 months), but he was by far bigger than all of the kids there (mainly in height). So it was funny watching all these kids running around or proficiently crawling, but the big kid being the least mobile of them all :)

After thinking about both classes, I have opted to enroll him in the Gymboree class, so if any of you moms out there have some free time or would be interested, let me know, I would love the company!! I think by holding myself accountable to be somewhere at least once a week, everything else will also fall into place (or so I hope :) ).



Nine Months and a New Year

I am a little late in posting Ryan's nine month update, but with the holidays...hey, it's better late than never! Ryan was nine months on the 26th and we went in for his check-up on the 28th. Here were his stats:

Height - 30 3/4 inches (95th percentile)
Weight - 20 lbs 14 oz (50-75th percentile)
Head - 19 3/4 inches (> 97th percentile)

Basically we have a long and lean fighting machine with lots of brains!! Haha. I can definitely tell in his clothes, because they are always too short, too loose in the tummy, and literally have to use both hands to yank it down over his head! Everything checked up just fine. He has his top four teeth that have been trying to come in for over a month now. We think one finally broke through a teeny tiny bit, but geez, they are just bulging at the gums!

Other milestones that have occurred this month include:
*finally army crawling; he gets up on all fours and just chills there for 20 seconds or so before he plops right back down. He follows us around the house and finds the tiniest specks of dirt/dust/food/etc. to pick up and try and get in his mouth!
*loving his jumperoo again - definitely nice for a 15 min break every now and then
*working on his sounds - he says da da da a lot, but not really intentionally; he whispers ta ta ta; and when he gets upset he'll try and say moohh maaah
*he screams ALL the time - not sure why, he just does and he usually does it while clinching his fists, closing his eyes, and tightening his whole body up
*when he eats, he likes to spit his food EVERYWHERE
*he LOVES puffs; we've tried different meats; he likes them at the onset, but after a few days he gets bored and it needs to have cheese on top for him to eat it!
*he seems to understand waving - when people come and go or when he gets up from a nap he waves his arm around really spasticly (pretty sure that is not a word, but you get my drift)
*he goes to bed around 7:30pm and sleeps 12 hours; his naps have improved as well - usually 1-1.5 hours around 10 am and 2 or 3 pm
*he really is getting into all of his toys - loves things that open and close (books, baby lap top, sesame street toy); likes to hold just about anything over his head and then drop it on his face. Only cries about half of the time though!
*loves the remotes more than just about anything else in the world
*he is super clingy and gets scared; he will really start crying around people he doesn't know or hasn't seen in a while

He is a handful that is for sure, but we are loving every minute of it!

 Working on his balancing act!

As far as our New Year's went, it was pretty uneventful, but still a lot of fun. We went and had Mexican food at Pappasito's with the Turner's, then came back to our house to put the little one to bed and just played games. A few minutes before midnight, we went and lit a ton of the leftover sparklers from their wedding. About 5 minutes after midnight, they went home and we went to bed! I was just impressed we were able to stay up to ring in the New Year. Having a little one makes it difficult at times because no matter what time you go to bed or what kind of night you had, they still wake up at the same time!

We are looking forward to the New Year and decided to make a few resolutions. Some of which include: me joining a few groups for Ryan to make friends at and get him more active (I have been bad at that!), strive to get my "work" to a solid 3 days a week so that I have more quality time with Ryan, and to mold myself into a good role model for my son (that can be tricky, when you have never had a little one around the house!).

It is crazy how quickly this last year flew by. Hopefully this year, things will slow down a bit. We have lots to look forward to - a bathroom remodel in the spring, Wes and I are going to take a tropical vacation in May, Wes will be starting his MBA in the fall, and my brother (along with other family and friends) will be getting married this year! Yay :)

Hope you all have a wonderful New Year!