So, as I reflect on the last year of Teddy's life I really wish I had taken more pictures and had journaled more, on here or in his baby books. I feel like I blinked and whole months just flew by.
Teddy seems to have figured out all sorts of things in the last few days. He's getting much braver about taking steps on his own, can climb up the stairs and back down. I really think he's starting to figure out the word "no." He says "up!" whenever he sees stairs and when he wants to be picked up. He loves finding our noses, and knows how big he is (How big is Teddy? Soooo big!! With arms up high). He can sign "more" perfectly, "milk" and "all done." I'm working on Mommy and Daddy again because he's not consistently saying them and also trying to differentiate between water, milk in a sippy and 'mommy milk.'
You can really see him figure things out these days. I just can't believe how big he is! I feel like I can barely remember him as a baby. The first few months we weren't able to do much. Doug worked long hard hours and I frequently didn't have access to the car even. Teddy slept awful and when he was awake I typically had to be quiet because of Doug. He slept the first 4 months in my arms. So, that didn't give me much chance to do anything. By the time I was able to sleep train him, I just wanted to recouperate some! We had just moved to the condo which was such a wreck I refused to even cook in it for months. Then Doug left Applebee's and money became so tight. And now we're with his dad again. I wish things had been less hectic and more calm. I wish we had more time and means as a family for real memories.
But I remember the little things. The way his eyes look as he looks up at me while nursing. How he likes to be tickled and hugged. How he loves to grab onto my hands- just like he did when we first met. So maybe I didn't write down the first time he laughed or rolled. But I have a million small little memories which make me his mother.
But definitely with our future kids I will take more pictures and journal more. I'll let the laundry pile up and instead of relaxing, reading about how to fix some kind of problem, napping or cooking I'll be blogging about my kids. I can always ask for some help with those things or pay someone to help me, but I can't have someone make memories and record them for me!
Something specific about today: We had a birthday dinner at our church for our eldest pastor. He's 77 years old!! It's been a hard year for him as he had heart surgery and quite a few complications but he's really been on the mend lately. He's a tough man and has been through a lot! I always get such a kick out of him because he's such a paradox. He'll sit in the car and honk the horn waiting on his wife. You can say he's a bit impatient. But then, as a pastor he can be the most patient man I've ever seen. He can seem no nonsense on one hand, but on the other can be gentle and say a kind word just when someone needs it the most.
And so while we were celebrating this, it was during Teddy's nap time. He's transitioning to one nap and the dinner fell right during nap time. So I tried to get him to sleep in the morning, which didn't work very well. Then we ended up being late and before we left he had just totally had it. The dinners are tough because there's nothing really for him to do yet. He can't walk on his own, and it will be even longer before I can let him down and play really. But he's not content to just be held. He wants to crawl and play. And he won't just tune everything out like other kids and go to sleep when he needs to. But despite all that he took a few steps on his own today! And while I was up with the choir and singing he was clapping to the music.
And last night we were at my work's Christmas party. We were supposed to just drop in and say hi and then leave for church but they had offered ahead of time to serve us dinner. Well, I was under the impression that it would all be ready but it wasn't. And it was a really nice 4 course meal. So we kept having to wait for the next course. By the time it was done we were going to be over an hour late for service and Teddy was tired!! But he was so good while we were there. It was definitely not the place you'd normally bring a child to but he barely made a peep. It was content with the food we gave him and just looked at all the lights and people. I guess given the two choices, I'm glad he behaved better last night instead of this afternoon.
It's just things like this make me feel like a mommy failure because I don't know what to do with him/what I'm doing wrong when every other kid is happy and occupied. I can't even try to make him happy because he gets SO LOUD when he's happy. I think he just has more intense emotions than most other babies. Not really a surprise, his momma sure does!
Sunday, December 11, 2011
Sunday, December 4, 2011
Once again, quite behind! Teddy is one!!
I can't even believe it!! Keeping this short and sweet. I'll post pics and do his monthly survey and nothing else to add really but that we've declared bankruptcy, moved out of our condo and are currently living with my father-in-law again. Pray for us, I've always been such a planner but now am having to take things just one day as a time. Things have changed so drastically in the last year, well the last 2 actually. But who knows, maybe tomorrow Doug will get a perfect job and things will turn around positively just as drastically.
Monthly Survey
1. How old is baby? 12 months 3 weeks and 2 days.
2. Stats: as of 11/15
a. Weight: 24 pounds, 5 oz.
b. Height: 31.25 inches
c. Clothes size: mostly 18 months, he's actually even worn a few that are 24 months. I refuse to say 2T though.
d. Diaper size: Squeezing into mediums for cloth diapers still. I'm buying the next size up with the next pay check, probably.
e. Hair color: it's turning more strawberry blonde.
f. Eye color: they change colors a lot. Most days look like they're leaning towards brown.
g. Anything else?
3. Milestones:
a. Teething: 10!!! 4 top and 4 bottom front teeth. Bottom right molar is through and just a hint of the bottom left. Sleep has been awful the last week because of it. And yes, once again they came through in pairs. Craziness.
b. Talking: He will babble up a storm. He seems to actually "read" books to us and himself these days. I swear last night he tried to say "Amen" in church. He has said Dada, Daddy and Mama- and to the right people. But mostly he says ball, he said up for the first time 2 minutes ago, bye bye.
c. Rolling: almost off the changing table everysingletime.
d. Walking: He's great at doing it while holding on to our hand(s) but has only taken a few steps on his own. In fact, he's refused to in the last week. He will cruise around a room holding on to things though.
e. Crawling: His preferred mode of transportation, he's really fast these days!
f. Anything else? He is obsessed with opening and closing doors. He can also sign "more" now. He had been doing it for awhile, but it was just like clapping. Now he actually does it correctly. He can also be gentle with the cat now.
4. Things he likes: He still loves everything from before but I've recently given him puffs for the first time (I was holding out because they're not as cheap as cheerios) and he's in love. He loves walks in the stroller, other kids, music, Sis. Faith (a new girl at our church who is a grad student at JMU and is from Kenya).
a. Toys: As before he still loves nontoys a lot. But he just had his birthday and got tons of presents. He got two sit and ride toys and he actually loves to push around instead of ride on, haha. He got a toy cell phone from us which lights up and sings and now Doug and I actually get ours to ourselves!! He's really into books these days. He loves all of his toys but those are what he gravitates to the most. Oh, and balls.
b. Books: I mentioned last time that he had "Maisy goes to bed" memorized, well now he has quite an attachment to that book. He cries when we put it away! We have another lift the tab book about shapes that he also really likes. And Aunt Debbie got him a Mickey Mouse music one, where you press the symbol and it also has a light switch on it. He really likes that one!
d. TV Shows: We're watching TV less and I don't sit him in front of it, so he might catch a glimpse here and there but not actually watching.
e. Other activities: He loves to be tickled and gentle wrestling.
5. Things he dislikes: at the moment he doesn't like finger foods. Last week he did. Fickle.
6. Sleeping: Naps are going ok. There are days when he doesn't nap the best for mom or the babysitter but I can still usually get a 2 hour morning nap and a 1 hour afternoon nap out of him. Night time, he's mostly down to just one waking and I am still feeding him then. I keep saying I'm going to stop but it just never seems the right time, or I convince myself that he really is hungry. I need to come up with a plan though because now that I'm working and especially since I have to wake up to pump sometimes too, I'm pretty exhausted.
7. Eating: he eats pretty much everything. He likes strawberry yogurt and sweet potato puffs a lot. Oooh, and he liked his birthday cake.
8. Nicknames: Teddy, Teddy Bear, Chunky, Chunky Monkey, Chunk a Monk, Chunkers, Smiley, Wiggle worm, Silly, Son, The Boy, Honey, Sweetie, Sweetie Pie, Angel, Lovey, Stinky Butt, Fussy Pants, Fussbucket,
9. Things we’re looking forward to next month: Christmas with him! He's young enough to not ask for anything but old enough to enjoy his presents this year.
10. How I like motherhood:
a. Likes: I love how happy he is to see me when I get home from work! I love watching him grow and learn and being able to teach him things. I love how much everyone else loves him and how much he loves everyone else too. The world seems much less cold and dark and much more full of love now.
b. Dislikes: We're working on weaning. Very slowly. He cut out one of his day time feedings on his own and when not teething terribly sleeps through the night. I'm working on cutting out the last day time nursing session but I think it's too much with the teething. Then I'll cut out the morning session and lastly the bed time one. He likes his whole cow's milk and is doing just sippies now, no more bottles. But I'm in between sad about ending nursing and excited about having my body back to myself.
I can't even believe it!! Keeping this short and sweet. I'll post pics and do his monthly survey and nothing else to add really but that we've declared bankruptcy, moved out of our condo and are currently living with my father-in-law again. Pray for us, I've always been such a planner but now am having to take things just one day as a time. Things have changed so drastically in the last year, well the last 2 actually. But who knows, maybe tomorrow Doug will get a perfect job and things will turn around positively just as drastically.
1. How old is baby? 12 months 3 weeks and 2 days.
2. Stats: as of 11/15
a. Weight: 24 pounds, 5 oz.
b. Height: 31.25 inches
c. Clothes size: mostly 18 months, he's actually even worn a few that are 24 months. I refuse to say 2T though.
d. Diaper size: Squeezing into mediums for cloth diapers still. I'm buying the next size up with the next pay check, probably.
e. Hair color: it's turning more strawberry blonde.
f. Eye color: they change colors a lot. Most days look like they're leaning towards brown.
g. Anything else?
3. Milestones:
a. Teething: 10!!! 4 top and 4 bottom front teeth. Bottom right molar is through and just a hint of the bottom left. Sleep has been awful the last week because of it. And yes, once again they came through in pairs. Craziness.
b. Talking: He will babble up a storm. He seems to actually "read" books to us and himself these days. I swear last night he tried to say "Amen" in church. He has said Dada, Daddy and Mama- and to the right people. But mostly he says ball, he said up for the first time 2 minutes ago, bye bye.
c. Rolling: almost off the changing table everysingletime.
d. Walking: He's great at doing it while holding on to our hand(s) but has only taken a few steps on his own. In fact, he's refused to in the last week. He will cruise around a room holding on to things though.
e. Crawling: His preferred mode of transportation, he's really fast these days!
f. Anything else? He is obsessed with opening and closing doors. He can also sign "more" now. He had been doing it for awhile, but it was just like clapping. Now he actually does it correctly. He can also be gentle with the cat now.
4. Things he likes: He still loves everything from before but I've recently given him puffs for the first time (I was holding out because they're not as cheap as cheerios) and he's in love. He loves walks in the stroller, other kids, music, Sis. Faith (a new girl at our church who is a grad student at JMU and is from Kenya).
a. Toys: As before he still loves nontoys a lot. But he just had his birthday and got tons of presents. He got two sit and ride toys and he actually loves to push around instead of ride on, haha. He got a toy cell phone from us which lights up and sings and now Doug and I actually get ours to ourselves!! He's really into books these days. He loves all of his toys but those are what he gravitates to the most. Oh, and balls.
b. Books: I mentioned last time that he had "Maisy goes to bed" memorized, well now he has quite an attachment to that book. He cries when we put it away! We have another lift the tab book about shapes that he also really likes. And Aunt Debbie got him a Mickey Mouse music one, where you press the symbol and it also has a light switch on it. He really likes that one!
d. TV Shows: We're watching TV less and I don't sit him in front of it, so he might catch a glimpse here and there but not actually watching.
e. Other activities: He loves to be tickled and gentle wrestling.
5. Things he dislikes: at the moment he doesn't like finger foods. Last week he did. Fickle.
6. Sleeping: Naps are going ok. There are days when he doesn't nap the best for mom or the babysitter but I can still usually get a 2 hour morning nap and a 1 hour afternoon nap out of him. Night time, he's mostly down to just one waking and I am still feeding him then. I keep saying I'm going to stop but it just never seems the right time, or I convince myself that he really is hungry. I need to come up with a plan though because now that I'm working and especially since I have to wake up to pump sometimes too, I'm pretty exhausted.
7. Eating: he eats pretty much everything. He likes strawberry yogurt and sweet potato puffs a lot. Oooh, and he liked his birthday cake.
8. Nicknames: Teddy, Teddy Bear, Chunky, Chunky Monkey, Chunk a Monk, Chunkers, Smiley, Wiggle worm, Silly, Son, The Boy, Honey, Sweetie, Sweetie Pie, Angel, Lovey, Stinky Butt, Fussy Pants, Fussbucket,
9. Things we’re looking forward to next month: Christmas with him! He's young enough to not ask for anything but old enough to enjoy his presents this year.
10. How I like motherhood:
a. Likes: I love how happy he is to see me when I get home from work! I love watching him grow and learn and being able to teach him things. I love how much everyone else loves him and how much he loves everyone else too. The world seems much less cold and dark and much more full of love now.
b. Dislikes: We're working on weaning. Very slowly. He cut out one of his day time feedings on his own and when not teething terribly sleeps through the night. I'm working on cutting out the last day time nursing session but I think it's too much with the teething. Then I'll cut out the morning session and lastly the bed time one. He likes his whole cow's milk and is doing just sippies now, no more bottles. But I'm in between sad about ending nursing and excited about having my body back to myself.
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