Video: Eating Cuties - 9.75 months

Literally, he bit off more than he could chew...

Finally, snow!

The National Weather Service issued a winter weather advisory for all of the snow we're receiving. It started last night and won't let up until sometime later today.

I'm excited though - we've been waiting to go cross-country skiing for ages now. And we'll finally be able to try out the Chariot carrier and ski kit! Can't wait for Boyd to go for his first ski.

Ready for Christmas!

Santa always visits my workplace in early December, so I bundled up the baby and talked my mom into coming with us for a photo op last Saturday. I thought for sure Boyd would freak out about meeting the big man in red, but he LOVED SANTA! We could scarcely believe it, but here is the proof...

His face in the pic below kills me. Part coy, part "how YOU doin'?"

I don't know what it is about photos, but after the first few snaps Boyd gets all smiley and happy for the camera.

I found his coat and booties on Zulily. Usually shipping from that site takes forever, but the package arrived a couple weeks ago - just in time for Santa.

Adorable, right? I just love this kid so much and was very proud of him for doing as well as he did. Next year I'm SURE he'll have the big meltdown, so I'm thankful for these amazing photos now.

Happy weekend everyone!

Video: Going for a stroll - 9.5 months

We are cruising!

Boyd loves walking around. His steps are becoming stronger and not so halting. He'll plop down after he gets tired, but then put out his arms to be pulled up for another round.

Video: Laser light - 9.5 months

Geez, all this kid wants to do is enjoy his Puffs and peruse the new Eddie Bauer catalog in peace, but his parents insist on teasing him with the laser light...

Boyd - 9.5 months

Boyd's 9-month appointment was pushed back another week (to December 10th) because of his nap schedule. The original appointment was set for 2 pm next Tuesday and that is smack dab in the middle of his 2nd nap. I'm pretty protective of his naps so we'll all just have to wait to hear about his latest growth stats!

• We're pretty sure Boyd will skip crawling in favor of walking. He does this funny backwards scoot, but has no inclination to go forwards.He loves to walk with assistance - like, someone holding his arms and supporting him that way while he takes steps. Very close to cruising (holding on to something and walking.) My mom has found him standing in the crib and gnawing on the rail, so obviously he is strong enough to pull his body up. D just adjusted the crib mattress to a lower setting to prevent the little guy from falling out.
• He thinks our cat is the best thing ever. I ask "where's kitty?" and he looks toward the cat with a huge smile on his little face. We have to practice being gentle with pets because all he wants to do is grab huge clumps of animal hair and rub his face on the cat and dog.Understandably, the pets do not appreciate this outpouring of love.
• All of his toys are a huge bore to him now. Former favorite rattle toy? So over it. Funny stuffed animal? Yawn. We've resorted to giving him safe household items to play with, like measuring cups, empty water bottles, and plastic bowls. I really like the Melissa & Doug line of toys - natural, non-toxic toys, usually made of wood. Will have to invest in some of those.
• Wants to grab all of his Puffs snacks at once and stuff them in his mouth. He's like Drift at mealtime - can't get enough!
• Naps are still frustrating at times but definitely improving. 2 weeks ago he went through this 4-5 day phase of refusing naps. I thought, is he ready for 1 nap already? Nope, his brain was just working on overtime, trying to process new skills. So he is still on 2 naps a day at this point.
• Just purchased a new Recaro convertible car seat - it will hold Boyd rear-facing until about 35 pounds and then we'll switch it to face forward. I was waffling between the Recaro and a few Britax seats, but there were just more safety features on the Recaro that you pay more for with the Britax brand. Recaro makes race cars in Europe, as well as car seats, and European standards for child seat safety are higher than here in the US. Also, the reviews on the seat were great!
• I also invested in a lighter-weight folding (umbrella) stroller for strolls around the mall or department store and whatnot since he has outgrown the Snap & Go. 
• More and more of his personality is emerging. We've found that he really craves activity and new experiences/toys/etc. He is definitely not one of those babies that is happy to sit in one place for hours at a time (not that there's anything wrong with that!) Loves moving, jumping, walking!
• Is beginning to exhibit signs of stranger danger. If someone he doesn't see regularly tries to hold him, more often than not he'll get upset.
  

One of his favorites, salmon. That may be pureed green beans too.

Big, wide bibs are the way to go with kiddos.

My mother-in-law made this sweet blanket - we love it!

Boyd with one of my baby pictures.

This sweet face makes my heart melt.

I find Puffs everywhere - on the floor, stuck between couch cushions, in the car, etc.

Thanksgiving weekend

D and I are used to having a small Thanksgiving, just the two of us, so this year it was a real treat to be able to spend it with my family. I seriously cannot remember the last time I celebrated this holiday with my mom - maybe 10 years ago? It was bittersweet though, since we were missing my dad.

But we all had a wonderful day of food, family and togetherness. My sister and Gabe cooked a delicious turkey on the grill outside - it was SO GOOD! They also took care of the mashed potatoes, stuffing, cranberry sauce, and a pumpkin cream pie. I did the asparagus, sweet potatoes (recipe from the Pioneer Woman here) and purchased a Costco pumpkin pie. We also brought ingredients for mimosas for our brunch before the big event. Risha made biscuit, bacon & egg cups, yum!

All tuckered out from a the day's festivities.

Woke up from his nap just in time for dinner. Can still see the sheet lines on his face.

He was a little mad after his nap but cheered up during dinner. His mouth full of teeth is visible here.

Friday we took it easy and then my mom came over to babysit Boyd that evening while D and I went out to dinner at Jens' Restaurant. We used a gift certificate that we won at the Carpenter's Christmas party last year. It's a bit of a fancy place - the kind where the waiter places the napkin on your lap - and the prices reflect that. But the food was superb, all farm-raised meat and local produce. We both had elk chops, gnocchi and asparagus.

On Saturday, D and I took the munchkin on a short day trip to Seward. Boyd isn't a fan of long car rides so about halfway through the ride down I hopped in the backseat to hang out with him. I was getting super carsick from turning around in my seat to check on him during the first part of the trip. As it turned out, I was pretty nauseous by the time we rolled into Seward. 

 On the Seward Highway, near 20-Mile River/Portage.

We couldn't have asked for better weather! Clear blue skies and no snow. The roads were clear and not icy at all. The temperature hovered around 7-10 degrees in most places.

Happy to be out of the car seat.

My dad's best friend lives in Seward with his wife, so we spent a couple hours visiting Jeannie. Jim was in South Dakota hunting pheasants and deer (D was pretty jealous hearing that news.) It was great to see her and her daughter-in-law, and adorable grandkids.

Beautiful views, even from the gas station!

We left Seward around 4:30 p.m., I think, and figured we'd be home by 7. Just in time for baby Boyd's bedtime. Unfortunately there was a pretty bad accident on the highway at 2:15 and by the time we passed Whittier (45 miles from home), traffic was at a standstill. It got to be a little challenging keeping Boyd entertained in a small space for so long, but we did it! It helped that he had just taken a late nap. Also challenging: this was an area without any trees, ditches, covered spaces - so I had to get a little creative when nature called. It's tough to be a girl sometimes.

Anyway, the Troopers finally opened the highway shortly before 8 p.m., although we didn't start moving until 8:20 or so, due to the miles of cars backed up. Boyd did NOT want to go back in his infant car seat (our new one is on it's way via UPS) so he pretty much screamed the whole way home for 45 minutes. Fun!

We made it home safely and once Boyd was out of the seat he calmed down considerably. This kid just needs to be free and unencumbered. We went about our regular nighttime routine and he was asleep by 9:45 p.m. Very late bedtime for him but we are back on track with his schedule now.

Hope you all had a great holiday weekend as well!

Coming clean

Lately I've been thinking quite a lot about thankfulness. It's November and many people on Facebook are posting daily about things they are thankful for, big or small. My heart is full of gratitude for many things...first and foremost, my little family unit: D and Boyd. They are such a blessing to me. We have a small, cozy home and jobs and resources. And we are so lucky to have a wonderful extended family on both sides.

I am also thankful for good health (and insurance coverage!) While I was pregnant with Boyd, one of my many tests came back with evidence of severe dysplasia on my cervix, which is a precursor to cervical cancer. We chose not to share this news with anyone because the last thing I wanted was to cause people to worry. I was scheduled to have a colposcopy and minor biopsy on my birthday, but then we found out about my dad and flew down to Tennessee to be with him before he passed. My doctor wasn't happy about rescheduling since my condition wasn't improving, but once I got home I had the procedure done. The results weren't great - the abnormal cells were CIN 3. Left untreated, they would progress to the next stage: cancer. However, pregnant ladies can't have treatment because any trauma to the cervix can cause premature labor. So we crossed our fingers that a natural birth would slough off the majority of precancerous cells. I was nervous that something would happen to cause a c-section, but we were lucky.

A couple weeks after Boyd was born my doctor did another colposcopy, which came back with CIN 3 levels again, and that meant I had to undergo a more invasive treatment. We scheduled a cone biopsy for 6 weeks postpartum. It was fairly painful, especially since I was still recovering from childbirth, but the results came back with good news. The biopsy removed most of the dysplasia and there was just a small area which looked troubling, but nowhere near as bad as before. So now I go in every 3-6 months for a checkup to make sure the areas of concern are not getting any worse. I asked my doc how I could have a normal pap in March, before I was pregnant, and then have a fairly advanced case of dysplasia just a few months later in July. She said that pregnancy causes all of the body's cells to multiply quickly, in order to allow for the fetus to grow.

So that's the story. And my advice? Go get an annual exam, no excuses!

Ho Hey

The song and accompanying video (below) has become one of my new favorites. I'm not sure why, but it reminds me of my dad. I've actually just gotten to the point where I don't tear up anymore while listening to it.

Boyd - 9 months

Nine months!

• Boyd's 9 month appointment is scheduled for December 4th. They'll do the normal rundown on him: height, weight, head circumference, milestones, etc. No immunizations this time, thank goodness! It's pretty tough to see the little guy get pricked and be so upset. 
• He's eating larger quantities of sold foods, as well as picking up Puffs and gnawing on them. New foods: baby yogurt and salmon - both of which he loves. 
• I may have my mom try giving him his milk via cup instead of bottle. He drank a little water yesterday out of my cup and did pretty well.
• He sometimes makes a clicking noise with his mouth - wonder if it's a product of the new teeth?
• This kid is WAY ahead of schedule when it comes to teeth. He has both sets of central incisors (top & bottom front teeth) and recently all of  the lateral incisors (4 teeth) have come through.That's 8 teeth in 9 months. He has been experimenting with his teeth, namely, biting me at the end of nursing sessions when he's bored.
• He's been pushing our hands away from his body when we're holding him, like, "Get your hands off of me, I'm a big boy!"
• Still saying dada over and over when he's talking and happy.
• Our big boy doesn't stay in one size for very long. Right now we're comfortably in the 12 month size for most clothes.
• Lots of playing with his own fingers, and grasping his hands together and holding them together.
• No separation anxiety yet, but very happy to see anyone when they arrive!
• No problem bearing weight on his feet and legs, standing quite a bit and taking a few steps at a time when someone is holding his hands.
• Absolutely hates laying down to have his diaper changed. This behavior just started a few weeks ago. We have to distract him with toys, singing, etc. He's fine once we get him back on his feet.
• No more pacifier!We weaned him off of that during sleep training.
• Sleep - this is a big topic. Even with this latest round of teething, his nighttime sleep hasn't been too horrible. Had one very rough night when D was gone but I got through it. Naps are slowly improving too.

Loving the Gerber Puffs. These are great for practicing his fine motor control. On average, about half of the Puffs make it into his mouth

Little bookworm.

Read to me, mom!

Cold-weather walk.

 Winter is here! Our walks consist of lots of clothing for everyone and snuggly warm layers. 

Taken a couple weeks ago, we have more snow on the ground now.

Little trail that connects two streets a little ways from our house.

Video: First words - 8.75 months

We're so happy to see the end of election season - no more radio and tv ads, political fliers, door hangers, and Facebook posts blowing up my news feed. Yay!

However, in a hotly contested race here on the home front, it seems that D has emerged as the clear frontrunner and winner. Yes, despite my best efforts, Boyd has chosen "dada" and "dad" as his first words! Pretty exciting stuff for us. He has been babbling for a long time now but in the last couple days he has been speaking pretty clearly and saying "dada" over and over. What can I say, the kid loves his daddy!

Postscript: I think it's pretty comical that Boyd says "dada" when in a happy mood, and "mom" when upset or mad. He sort of babbles "mamamamama" in a sad little way.

Happy Halloween!

It's true, holidays are just more fun with kids! Boyd wore two costumes during the Halloween season -a dragon outfit that my mom purchased from Costco and a monster costume from my sister. What is it about kiddos in costumes? SO cute!

D brought home two pumpkins for us to carve - how great is he? Halloween sort of snuck up on me this year. I didn't buy candy until this past Monday, which is good because last year I had candy ready in September and pretty much snacked on it all month. Not exactly what a pregnant lady needs to be doing!

I forgot to snap photos of our jack-o-lanterns - will try to remember to do that this week before the moose show up and eat the pumpkins. The moose around here eat quite well in November.

Checking out mama's pumpkin.

His pose here just cracks me up every time I see it! So casual, with the arm draped over arm of his highchair. Such a goof.

Every thing in the mouth - even battery-powered lights.

My mom and I took Boyd to Trick-or-Treat street downtown last Saturday. It's a neat idea - the city closes down part of 4th Avenue and local businesses hand out candy to kids. The Fire and Police Departments were also on hand with their fire trucks and police cars.

Little dragon getting dressed in the backseat of the car. I really need a roomier vehicle - the backseat is tight on space!

RAWR, monster!

Not quite sure what to make of the zoo animals at the annual ZOO BOO event we attended.

Fall bonfire

Last week D made a little bonfire to burn the last of the tree branches downed as a result of the big windstorm. It was a good opportunity to practice dressing Boyd in his warm layers. He was toasty warm in his layers.

The fire dying down - just embers.

Such a happy kid.

I can't remember what we were looking at - a plane maybe?

After Sammy passed away, D put this fish-shaped marker on her grave site in our backyard. Very sweet.

Sleep issues - hallelujah!

Teething really screwed up the tenuous sleep schedule we had in place. Before, it seemed like every other night would be a really horrible, rough time - but in between those we'd get a night with a 6-7 hour stretch. A few weeks ago Boyd started to wake every couple hours - just like a newborn! - and cry for a long time. Poor kiddo, his teeth hurt but we were tired! Well, more like zombie exhausted. And it killed me to see these big bags under Boyd's eyes - he wasn't getting the sleep he needed.

After yet another night last week where I was up 5-6 times between 7 and 11 p.m., and then D and I took turns sleeping in the nursery glider chair with Boyd all night, I hit the end of my rope. I was barely functioning at work on 5-6 hours of sleep a night, my husband was relegated to sleeping in a chair with Boyd on his chest, my back was killing me from my own chair-sleeping escapades, and I had no free time in the evenings since it was taking 4 hours to put my baby to sleep. It was ridiculous and needed to stop.

Cue The Sleepeasy Solution:

I read this blog post by Joanna Goddard (one of my favorite blogger/writers) and something clicked. I ordered the book off of Amazon that day and waited 5 days for it to come. For months and months I knew we had sleep problems but trying the "cry-it-out" method was a strategy I was dreading. This book put some of my fears to rest but knowing that my friends had tried variations of this method helped us push forward.

After a long day at a health fair last Saturday, I decided to start sleep training since I would be off of work on Monday and could have an extra day to work on it. D had already committed to being at a friend's house, so I listened to my baby cry for 57 minutes alone - it was EXCRUCIATING. I cried along with him. But it worked. After laying Boyd down to sleep, I checked on him in increasing intervals (5 minutes, 10 minutes, 15 minutes, 15 minutes, 15 minutes, etc.) but didn't touch him and each time spoke in a calm, reassuring voice before leaving the room. He finally fell asleep - and this is the kicker - slept for 10.5 hours straight! Wheeeeeee!

The next night he cried for 39 minutes and slept for 11 hours (woke up briefly but put himself back to sleep - amazing). Last night he cried for 37 minutes - it should have been less but he was very tired from short naps - and slept for 11.5 hours. We are working on naps at the same time, which are MUCH harder to fix than nighttime sleep, but it has to happen sometime.

I know this method is not for everyone - but D and I got to the point where personally, lack of sleep was affecting our health and our marriage. Two weeks ago I drove half a mile past my workplace in the morning before realizing where I was. And a few times I came close to falling asleep while driving. Desperate times call for desperate measures.

SO, finally a positive sleep update for once. We'll probably have to re-train him after teething, illnesses, trips, etc., but what we have now is an improvement for sure!

Boyd - 8 months

Little Boyd is growing up so fast - here we are at 8 months!

• Oh teething, you are the bane of our existence - well, that and lack of sleep. Boyd seems to be affected by teething a few months before the actual teeth come in, and then again right before they sprout. He has been increasingly fussy lately and there are two bulges where the top two teeth are ready to bust through the gums. This morning I could see a little sliver of white! Oh and the drool rash - ick. I thought perhaps he was allergic to some solid food we've been feeding him but I figured out the face rash around his mouth was due to excess teething drool. 
• Still no crawling, but lots of movement on hands and knees. Finally can roll over both ways. 
• Likes to sleep on his belly (when he does sleep) in what my mom has dubbed "the frog position," - hands and knees tucked under his body, little butt sticking up.
• Bath time may be his favorite part of the day. Enjoys splashing around, tolerates the cleaning portion and CRIES when we remove him from the water.
• He had a mini-meltdown this morning when I wouldn't let him play with my necklace. It's a cheap thing, probably made in China or something, so I don't want him putting it in his mouth. He freaked out and was pretty upset about the whole thing, then forgot about it a few minutes later.
• He's been doing this thing lately where he growls a little bit like a bear, and then balls his hands into fists while pushing his arms straight out. It's so funny because he's very intense. I'll try to get it on video.
• Boyd is a people magnet. Everywhere we go he attracts attention! Yesterday I had the day off and we had a mommy/baby day of errands and housework. Went to the grocery store and 4 ladies stopped to coo over him and pinch his little cheekies. Also a contributing factor to the cuteness level - dressing your baby in Carhartt overalls and a bright green froggy hat.

Ready to head off to Grandma Ann's house in the morning for daycare.

Eating is a messy business. I don't even bother to wipe his face until we're done.

My first foray into homemade baby food. This is an apple/pear concoction - turned out really well. I froze this and now we just defrost individual cubes for Boyd.

Purchased the green mat from Amazon, which we'll use at home and in restaurants to keep the food messes under wraps.

3rd snowfall!

Fascinated by the outside world.

Chubby baby hands!

In this photo you can see the face rash from drooling. Can't do much about it, other than keeping the face dry and applying lanolin or vaseline.

Grocery shopping on a weekday, in the middle of the day. SO nice to not have to battle the weekend crowds. The shopping cart cover is something I bought through Craigslist - keeps Boyd's grubby little mitts off of the dirty cart.

How I wish my dad could be here to enjoy my son. He would have LOVED being a grandpa! I miss him so much, all of the time. Love you dad.