May 29, 2011

Today was a fun day with the kiddo, although I have to admit I was a little nervous about our plans. After weeks of waking up at 6a and taking his first nap around 8a, today he decided to sleep in until 7:30a and not take his nap until 11:30a. This was totally cool - except we were planning to leave for the baseball game at 12:30p and that pretty much blew those plans out of the water. We still ended up getting to the game right after starting time, so it was all good. We met the Cannon family there and they were sweating profusely when we made our way to the seats. It was HOT. The thing about that ballpark (Dr. Pepper) is that there is NO shade over the seats - so it was pretty warm. I slathered the kiddo in sunscreen before we left and he wore his new hat (as evidenced by the pictures) and both tactics were a success. His face was pretty pink while we were there, but I could tell his face wasn't getting in sun, so it was just from his temperature. Once we got home and he was really cooled down, I confirmed that he didn't burn at all, so I'm glad about that. There were a lot of kids (with equally pink faces) there since it was a family and friends day and I was surprised to see a TON of babies much younger than Gage - several that looked to be brand new. I was so nervous about taking a 10 month old, I don't know if I would have ever been brave enough to venture out there with a newborn. My hat is off to those ladies.

Despite the temperature, Gage did really well out there. He was in awe at first, looking around at all of the people and the new place. He pretty much just hung out in my lap, chewing on my water bottle and watching the game. We had 2 incidents where he got startled and started crying. Frisco scored a great run and I yelled and got excited (as well as everyone else around me) and it scared him and caused the new "quivering lip" cry, which totally breaks my heart. I stood up with him and he immediately calmed down - barely got a real tear out. So I sat back down and less then 2 minutes later, they scored another run and while I stayed quieter, the crowd went a little crazy and this time he got REALLY upset. I walked him up into the shade and it took just a minute, but he calmed back down. He was pretty clingy after that though, he wanted me to hold him and he wanted to be facing me - no more facing out in my lap. It was fine though, we had a lot of fun. After that the cheering and claps didn't bother him much, but he would look for me a lot, even when he was in J's lap. We were all having to keep our eyes open for foul balls - there is not any netting over the seats behind home plate and there were several pop flys that came thisclose to our seats. That was a little nervewracking, but it defintely kept us on our toes.

In those pictures above (from the game), he's eating Mum Mums, which are a complete lifesaver. He can be anywhere and if I hand over some Mum Mums to chew on, he's totally cool. The third picture is from the house after the game. As part of our tickets, we all got hats, so that is Monkey's first real baseball cap. He's wearing it backwards so that you can see his face in the picture - and because he can't get the hat off as easy when it's on backwards.

We've had a great weekend so far. Yesterday at Gymboree, Gage made a new friend that is a big bruiser like him. That little boy crawled up to Gage, grabbed his face and gave him a big kiss. It was so freaking cute. Gage was little nervous as the kid was getting in his face, but he gave him a big smile after the big smooch. I thought it was good for Gage to have a kid come running up on him instead of the other way around. He did go around to each of the kids in the circle and pull their hair at one point in the class. He especially like the girls with bows in their hair. We are moving up to the next level class next week since he's 10 months old now. According to his teacher, there are a couple of walkers in that class, so I'm ready for Gage to see what some bigger kids are doing. I think he'll enjoy it. We all had a grocery store trip yesterday and then he spent some time with GiGi while J and I went out last night. After today's baseball game, he'll be taking it easy tomorrow. I have some plans midday, but he and I will play in the morning before I leave and then we may take a walk when I get home.

May 26, 2011

This picture is actually from Tuesday, J texted it to me in the afternoon when little man wouldn't nap. He is obsessed with the toybox - if I open it, he'll tear off to get in there. He gets pretty pissed if I close it before he can reach it.

There was a pretty tired Monkey waiting for me when I got home today. I got home a little late too, so we pretty much just started his bedtime routine as soon as I as I walked in. He went right to sleep after dinner and a bath with no fuss. He's been sleeping better lately and I think it's because we've started feeding him more at his solid meals - and we moved out of the purees into chunkier, more substantial meals. He goes to bed with a pretty full belly. Now he's doing maybe one little wake up - but getting through the rest of the night pretty well.

So I've been writing this blog for almost half a year now and there's always a lot of shmoopy words about how amazing my little dude is and all the new things he's doing. I won't deny that he's a pretty easy kid with a happy and sweet personality - we are really lucky and we know it. Now, putting that all out there, I would like to say that over the last week or so (maybe 2 weeks) that little dude has tested our patience quite a bit. To be honest, I think we are all testing each other's patience. He's gotten to where once he's run through his toys, he gets so frustrated and will just whine and cry and until we figure out something else he can do. He wants to go more places and do more - and he usually wants to do the off limit things. He's taken to throwing himself backwards and crying - which I was not expecting at 10 months, btw - and this is not the "real" crying that breaks my heart. This is the totally fake, totally pissed off, fit throwing crying that I am not ready for. Now he comes out of it pretty quickly - we can usually find something to settle him back down, but man - it can get a little frustrating. I'm ready for him to learn some words so that he can at least tell me what it is that he needs. To be honest, the mornings are really ok, it's the late afternoons and early evenings - when he's getting tired and bored - that are tough. Sometimes it's a little bit hilarious...I am not ashamed to admit that I have giggled a little bit at my baby when he gets frustrated and gives me the mad face. Poor kiddo. It's tough to have big ambitions and limited mobility. So there it is. My 10 month old baby has an attitude. I have a lot of mommy friends and I don't remember them telling me about attitude at 10 months. Maybe they told me and I blocked it out - but I thought for sure I had another year before the attitude showed up.

It's all good. I'm tough, I can handle attitude. I remind myself that the fighter attitude he has now will end up being the asset I love about him when he's older, kicking ass and taking names in his life. The constant exploring, moving forward, wanting to know more - it will serve him well down the road. Remind me to write that down somewhere so I can re-read it when I'm about to pull my hair out. That sweet, sweet Monkey - I have a feeling we are in for a wild ride.

May 24, 2011

This one will be short - with the storms coming, I'm going to get off of the computer soon. J said today was another whiny day - hard to please the kiddo. He took a little afternoon nap though, so he was in a good mood when I got home. He hung out in my lap for a little while I ate dinner and then we went through his nightly routine. We played in his room for a while, throwing his toys around and singing silly songs. He's been asleep for about an hour, so I'm hoping that I don't have to go in and wake him up to get in the closet. Everyone be safe tonight!

May 23, 2011

I posted a little video of my wild man going to town in the exersaucer while watching his favorite show, Brainy Baby. I didn't blog yesterday because although Monkey was being really sweet and cuddly, it was a tough day around here. He just wanted to sit with me for most of the afternoon, we laughed and sang and hung out on the couch.

J said that today was a good day. G woke up early, but he took a really great afternoon nap, so when I got home he was in a good mood. He helped me make my dinner and I fed him his while that was cooking. I put him in the exersaucer while I ate and he had fun, as you can see. Sidenote: Jennifer, if you are reading this, I assure you that if he destroys that thing before I can return it, I will pay you the value or replace it. :) He had a lot of fun in the bathtub and then we hung out in his room for a while before bed.

He's been a little different the last couple of days. He's been really clingy with me, wanting me to hold him or just to be in my lap all the time. He's also been startling at loud noises, which is really new. Yesterday J yawned really loudly and it startled G and even made him cry a little - quivering lip and all. That's pretty unusual and J said something similar happened again today. Nothing new or that he hasn't heard before, just starting to develop some sensitivity to his environment, I guess. This new closeness to me has also brought on a little bit of whining - if I try to put him down to play with his toys, he will plop down on his butt and whiiiiine. Now this isn't all the time, but if he's tired, hungry or if he hasn't been with me for a while, it's definitely worse. I know it's not supposed to be funny, but when he drops his butt on the floor and gives me the pitiful face, I can't help but giggle just a little. He's just a little dramatic. There have been some fun moments though. Yesterday after his nap he just wanted to sit in my lap, so we hung out on the couch and we were making silly sounds at each other, me imitating him, mostly. He would laugh so hard when I would make the sounds back to him, he was cracking up and it was making me laugh so hard that I could barely make the sounds at one point. He's a funny kid.

This weekend is our baseball game outing and I'm hoping that it goes well. He's been so up and down the last few days. I think he'll have fun being outside with all the people though, and it's early enough in the afternoon that I think he'll be good as far as energy levels. Worst case scenario is that we have to leave a little early - it's all good. We're going to have fun!

Brainy Baby

May 21, 2011

That is one tired Monkey you are looking at. He slept pretty well last night. When I got home yesterday he had not had an afternoon nap, so he was actually in bed by 6:45p, which is early based on recent days. He woke up around 10a for another bottle (he missed one since he was asleep so early) and then slept until 6:15a. That was kind of awesome, I'll admit. He woke up in a great mood and we had a fun little laid back morning. He was in bed for a nap by 8a (not a morning person) and slept until 10a.

We were going to go to Gymboree this afternoon but there were some things working against us: the dog needed to be picked up at the groomers at the same time we needed to leave, Monkey was up for 2 hours at that point and really not very energetic, neither of us were really in the mood for Gymboree today. We ended up just heading over to Las Colinas to drop off my maternity clothes with a friend that is currently pregnant. The ride was nice and we had fun singing and talking in the car. When we got home, there was no afternoon in sight again. He just was not having it, so the last couple of hours before bed were a little touchy. This picture was taking about 15 minutes before dinner and we were just watching a little Brainy Baby and chillin'.

Tomorrow we are heading to the grocery store and then I'm meeting my cousin for a movie in the afternoon.

May 19, 2011

This was another day that I had ample opportunity to get some great pics of the kiddo and didn't get one until right before bathtime. I had a half day today, so when I got home the three of us headed up the street and had tacos for lunch. We got a little side order of sweet potatos for the Monkey and he really liked those. After that we went and ordered some new glasses for me and he was pretty patient with us. When we got back to the house he and I both took a nap. He slept for about 2 hours, and I got about half that in.

We went to meet some friends for dinner (a good friend of mine is in town from DC) at Jason's Deli and we had a good time talking and laughing with everyone. He had his dinner while we were there and even had some of the crust off of my sandwich. He had fun playing and hanging out - we were there for a couple of hours. When we got home it was bathtime and then he and I played in his room for about an hour before bedtime. He's a wild man.

May 18, 2011

See that sleepy face? He took two naps today, but he's sleeping like crap at night and it's obvious he's just not feeling 100%. Between the bad sleeping and the return of his neck rash, I have a feeling we may see some new teeth soon. Gage and I had a talk about him sleeping tonight and I'm hoping he listened and will do away with the little party he's been throwing from 10:30-12:30 the last couple of nights. He really needs some good sleep - and I wouldn't mind it, either. The timing isn't too bad, since I get a consecutive stretch, but it's not good for the baby - we've definitely seen the difference.

He just wanted to be hugged and held tonight, he was SO tired. We sang some quiet songs and read a book after his bath. He still really likes the First 100 Words book. He loves for me to point to the pictures and say the words - he gets so serious about it. He still picks the book up though, he hasn't quite figured out the whole "2-D vs. "3-D" thing.

I have a half day tomorrow, so we are going to spend some time with a friend of mine that is in town. She hasn't met Gage yet, so I'm excited for them to meet each other. We have plans to meet her and a larger group for dinner as well and I'm hoping that maybe he'll take a later nap tomorrow so he'll be up for the early dinner. If not, we'll just roll with it - he should be able to do an hour as long as I have him in the bathtub by 7p.

May 17, 2011

Told you. Always with the tongue out these days. The kiddo skipped his afternoon nap (again) so when I got home he was pretty sleepy. We still played for a while and I got some nice snuggles and kisses.

Last night was tough, there was about an hour that little man cried (shrieked? screeched?) off and on and it was hard to calm him down. I wish I knew what I could do to help him - maybe it's just a phase - but he gets SO upset. Once he went to sleep, he slept for 5-6 hours, woke up for a bottle and then slept another 3.5 hours. Poor Monkey.

I found some fun stuff at WalMart today for his birthday party. I'm picking up some little things here and there to make it easier. Nothing crazy - I just wanted to get a water sprinkler toy for the kids to play in since I know it will be hot and they had a great sale going on. I think I may try a version of that banana cake this weekend to see which recipe I like better. I can't believe it's coming up so fast.

May 16, 2011

I posted this picture of me from Muddy Buddy back in 2009 on my other blog today and J updated his profile pic on FB to this funny joker face pic of the kiddo from a couple of weeks ago. When they posted close together on FB, J told me that they looked almost identical. I have to agree and decided to post them side by side...just in case you wanted real confirmation that he is mine. Now there is the whole, I-carried-him-for-9-months-and-then-birthed-him-thing, but it's nice to know that there won't be any confusion in the future.

Monkey was super tired when I got home because he skipped his afternoon nap. Even tired, he was being so funny, just cracking us up. J said there were some two syllable attempts today that sounded pretty close to Daddy. J is convinced that he doesn't want to speak until he can get it exactly right - something he thinks he inherited from me. The reason he says this is because Gage will try a few times to repeat after him, but then he'll just stop and mouth whatever word it is - no sound. Then he'll get quiet again and get a serious look like, "I'm going to practice that by myself later and when I got it, I'll get back to you." Who knows if that's really going through his little brain - but he definitely can be a little sneaky, that one.

We have more out of town guests coming in this week - some friends of mine that live in Maryland and haven't met Gage yet. I'm excited for them to meet the kiddo, I know that he'll charm the pants off of them. I'm really looking forward to our baseball game at the end of the month, I think it will be a fun family outing.

May 15, 2011

My blogging has been very sporadic lately. Work has been rough the last couple of weeks, so when I get home it's all about time with the kiddo and then straight to bed. Even this weekend, there were plenty of opportunities for pics, but I ended up not getting a picture of him until he was in his pjs tonight.

We've had a busy weekend. Gage conquered all of the ramps and inclines in Gymboree yesterday. He was awesome, climbing up and down all of them with no problem. He's a strong little dude. Then late yesterday we went over to Grangingy's house so that J could work on their computer. He's been staying up late the last couple of weeks, going to bed closer to 7:30 and even 8p some nights. It's been nice since we are able to go out later and have later dinners with the kiddo. Today we went on our normal grocery trip to Target and then we had an early family birthday dinner up in McKinney. He was awesome for all of it. He's really great when we go out and spend time with people. It helps to get his naps in, which he has been doing like a champ.

He's back to eating all of his ounces during the day now, which has been helping with the late night wakeups - but he's still getting up at least once. I try to give it some time before I go in there, but he's been waking up immediately upset and wailing. I really think that it's more about separation anxiety at this point. One wake up is better than 3-4 though, so it's definitely getting better for now.

He's gotten more vocal lately. Nothing that resembles a purposeful word yet, but he's discovered some really run squeals and squeaks that he likes to show off. I point out things and name them when he shows interest - when he's playing with Nala, I'll say "cat", etc. - and he looks at me like he gets what I'm doing, so that's fun. I'm just excited for a "Mama" or a "Daddy", but the laughing and squealing lately is pretty damn cute.

We've been having a lot of fun lately, hanging out and playing games. He really likes peek-a-boo, and he likes when we play "monster hand", which is where we walk our hand along the table in front of him and then the hand attacks and tickles him. He likes to be hung upside down, swung through the air - he's a daredevil. He likes to be tickled and he likes to roll his soccer ball around with us. He's really sweet and will come over to give me kisses and hugs when we are hanging out in the same room. He's really starting to pay more attention to J too and will go over to see him and watch him leave the room. He's gotten so big, I'm just not sure where the time has gone.

May 11, 2011

Aunt Rachael was here tonight to help us with bath time, so she took the first picture. I took the second picture while little man and I were playing in his room after dinner. What he's thinking in that picture is: "Mom, give me that toy train you are waving around!" It's getting harder and harder to get that kid's attention for a picture. G-Pa has been here for the last couple of days and Aunt Rachael got here tonight. He has had fun showing off for his guests - you should have seen the flirting and big smiles they were getting during bath time.

It has been a weird week for me though - the monkey has not been sleeping well (so I haven't either), work has been really challenging and exhausting - so when I get home, we go through the same stuff (dinner, play, bath, bed) but I'm so tired that it's just kind of on auto pilot. I'm looking forward to this weekend when we can really hang out and spend some time together when I'm actually somewhat conscious.

May 9, 2011

So Gage has been sticking his tongue out a lot lately. It's actually hilarious, when he's playing hard or trying to get somewhere fast, out pops the tongue. Like it will make him go faster or make him stronger. Cracks me up. This particular photo caught him dead set on getting my phone. The tongue did not work this time.

J said they had a great day today, the kiddo played pretty hard today and took a couple of great naps. He was napping when I got home, which gave me enough time to get dinner prepped for the grill. When he woke up, he was happy to see me - we had a good time playing in the living room and singing songs.

Gage's G-Pa will be here tomorrow and he hasn't seen him since December or January, so I'm excited for him to have some fun and see how big he's gotten since then. I think Aunt Rachael will be here on Wednesday and he always has a lot of fun with her. May is going to be a busy month!

May 8, 2011

I have a missed a few days because we've been pretty busy and I have been exhausted. Here are a couple of pictures from the last few days. The one with him and Nala is pretty funny, she just wanted to hang out in the window, but Gage really wanted to play with her. We've had a busy couple of days. Yesterday we went to a birthday party for a friend's 3 year old and Gage had a lot of fun. He was charming the crowd, but he was really fascinated with the balloons they had. He was sitting on the couch with J at one point and he was just staring at the balloons on the ceiling the whole time. He had fun and fell asleep about 5 minutes into the drive home.

Today he and I spent our morning together and then around the time he was going to take his morning nap, I headed out for lunch with a friend while he hung out with J. When I got home, we all went shopping for a couple of new shirts for me. The shopping trip was a little sketchy - it was SO hot outside that the 5 minutes it took us to get from the car to the store, Monkey's poor little face was so flushed. Not only that, but the store was burning up too. We did find a nice hat for him though, which was something I've been shopping for since we are going to a baseball game at the end of the month. Anyway, he was pretty tired and hot, so we didn't stay out very long. When we got back to the house, he took a pretty long nap.

Overall we've had a lot of fun this weekend. The kiddo has been in a great mood, playing a lot and getting more and more animated. Next weekend we are planning on driving out to Glen Rose for a family event and Gage's G-Pa and Aunt Rachael are supposed to visit this week. We have a lot going on this month.

May 8, 2011 - Soccer Ball!

Here's a little action sequence of little man playing with his new favorite toy, his singing soccer ball. He likes to roll it back and forth with me or J, and he'll grab it up and squeeze and kiss it before he rolls it back. He loves that thing. These pics are from us playing today.

May 4, 2011

Someone was perfecting their pincer grasp at dinner today! Those are his new favorite snacks, yogurt melts. According to J, he was awesome today. He graded Monkey a 98 out of 100 for the day. We both laughed about that. I could tell they had a good day though, he was in a great mood when I got home and we had fun playing for a bit in his room. We did our usual dinner, playtime, bath, bottle and bed. While we were playing, he would crawl over to me and stand up behind me, holding on to my shoulders and then he would pat my hair and give me kisses. Sweet sweet kiddo.

May 3, 2011

This picture is actually from a week or two ago. I didn't get a picture tonight because we were in a bit of a whirlwind when I got home. Monkey helped me make dinner, then he had his bath, a bottle and went straight to sleep. He likes hanging out with me in the kitchen, he gets to eat snacks and motor around in his walker. Lots of chatter and excited squealing.

He was pretty cute though. When I came in he was sitting with J on the couch watching his show. When he saw me, he got SO excited and crawled down the couch to get to me. We also had some fun in the bathtub. We've been playing with bubbles during bath time and they fascinate him. He gets the cutest smile and just stares at me while I blow the bubbles. He really wants to know how I do that. We are going to miss Gymboree the next couple of Saturdays, so I'm thinking of taking him up for late open gym time on Thursday. It will depend on whether or not he got his naps, so I'm hoping he gets some rest so we can go play for a bit.

May 2, 2011

Today was the kiddo's 9 month checkup and his stats are as follows:

Weight: 22 lbs (85%)

Length: 29 1/2 inches (85%)

Head: 18 1/2 inches (95%)

He did great at the doctors office, he played with the kids in the waiting room, was very giggly and social with the nurses and the doctor, and didn't fuss one time. That's a big deal because we were there for an hour and a half. I made the appointment a couple of months ago and forgot to get the early appointment. When you go midday, it's just a madhouse. Note to self, get the first appointment for his 1 year checkup. We were supposed to do a urinalysis and they put the bag on him, but of course he refused to pee the entire time. So we will just do that next time.

After that I brought him back home and left to go to work. He actually got to spend a couple of hours with Grangingy and Uncle James this evening. They came over to babysit while I was at work and J went for a job. He was in a great mood when I got home and we played for a little while longer before dinner.

He's graduated from onesies into more two piece outfits now and it makes him look so grown up. I can't believe he's gotten so big. We've also pretty much nixed the bibs unless he's eating, so he definitely looks more like a little boy and less like a baby these days. We have a birthday party this weekend and some visitors coming into town. I'm looking forward to seeing our friends and their kiddos. They usually get a bounce house and I'm hoping to get the Monkey in there (I'll stay with him, of course) and seeing if he likes it.