Lazy or Busy? 14 months

Boy oh boy! I am two months behind on posting! Honestly, it's partly cause being a mom keeps you busy, and partly cause when I'm not busy I just want to sit my bum on the couch for a few minutes and do nothing! 

My last post was for M's first birthday back in early-mid October. I got distracted by his birthday party and our out of town guests, then I turned 30, then we both got sick, then I realized that he turned 13 months and I never posted! Now it's freaking December and I'm even more behind!! Oy vey! I plan on writing a few posts to catch everything up hopefully before Christmas! But we will start here in the present at 14 months!

He did not want to pose for his 14 month picture. Crying face right here.

And then total cheesy smiley face!

This last month was fun and exciting! M still isn't standing up all by himself or walking, but he did stand on his own... I know that doesn't make sense. He was playing with some toys, and stood up while holding onto his car, then he let go and stood for about 15 seconds. He may have gone longer, but I was so excited that I scared him and he sat back down. It doesn't seem like a big deal, but you get kind of crazy when you are a parent and weird or simple things that your kids do make you insanely excited, and he's never stood on his own before! 

Baby Boy is quite the Chatty Cathy! Since roughly the beginning of November he had been saying: uh oh, oops, up, moo/baa (when asked what does the cow/sheep say. Sometimes he makes a meow like sound if I ask what the cat says), and in the last couple of weeks he has regularly been calling Rob "Da." It's really cute. He calls for Rob, points at Rob if you ask where daddy is, and if he hears Rob will start calling "Da," and crawling towards daddy's voice. He will call me mama, but usually only if he wants me to pick him up or if someone else is holding him. M babbles so much that I know he will be a motor mouth like his mommy.

Playing with M is a lot of fun now because he is starting to get how things work. He drives his cars along the ground or smashes them together, he tries to properly use his wrench and screw on his mechanic truck, he knows how to press all the buttons on all of his toys, and he had started realizing that his sorting blocks are different shapes and only go in certain holes. Watching your baby learn and work through problems is pretty amazing. I love his face when he accomplishes something new! He just gets this proud, "I did it!" look. Adorable.

He eats pretty much everything now, although we try and steer clear of sugary and salty stuff. Little Man can "use" his fork now. We are still working on stabbing the food with the fork, but once food has been forked he puts right in the mouth. He likes having two or three forks in his hand at all times though, backups I guess. He displayed his superb eating skills in Florida over thanksgiving. We went down with my parents to visit my Aunt Patty and Uncle Bobby. M had a little bit of everything at our thanksgiving feast! He was so excited that he didn't even bother with a fork! The little heathen just dove in with his hands and face. He also got very special Aunt Patty pancakes- M shaped, bunny shaped, Mickey Mouse shape. All covered with syrup. That's what happens when mommy tries to sleep in, not that M was complaining!

Hmm, what is this?

Oh man! These cakes of pan are DELICIOUS!

Taking a milk break after smooshing thanksgiving dinner all over his face and in his hair. The rest was tossed onto the floor for the dogs. Thanksgiving indeed said the dogs.

Rob going for a ride with my dad and uncle over thanksgiving.

It's been pretty quiet since thanksgiving so far. We had Hanukkah dinner one night with Mauri, Kevin, and Ezra. It would have been perfect, except Cash (their Rhodesian Ridgeback who weighs more than I do) ate ALL the latkes when we weren't looking. He got in big trouble. But hey, when you are bigger than a horse and you can see all the deliciousness on the kitchen counter... It's hard to resist temptation! (Cash stayed with us last near years and he turn on our stove trying to get a cake off the counter!) It was a lot of fun and it was the first time Rob and Michael ever celebrated Hanukkah. They got to learn all about it from Ezra's baby Hanukkah book! Ha!

We also went to the Founder's Day parade in my parents town this past Saturday with my mom. It was FREEZING! I had Michael in his sling zipped up in side my jacket! There were bands from the local high schools, floats, ballet dancers, cheer leaders, Christmas carolers, knights on horseback (from the cheesy medieval times restaurant), a living nativity, clowns, shriners, motorcycle police, Santa and his elves, etc. Michael looks confused at some points, and the police motorcycles didn't have to set off their sirens RIGHT in front of us (M was NOT amused), but overall he seemed pretty into it! It was fun, we even got free hot cocoa and popcorn! They had a Santa jam afterwards in the park, but it was wayyyy to cold to stay for that.

Trying to keep warm during the parade.

Braves are number one? Um, no.  Unfortunately the Yankees sucked so bad this year, I'm in no position to talk...

That about catches us up on the past month. Rob had a final today and another tomorrow, so wish him luck if you can! We are taking M to see Santa on Saturday, and hopefully I'll get some more of my back log of posts online soon!

Michael's a year old!

On Michael's actual birthday I tried to keep my phone and ipad off so I could focus all my attention on my birthday boy. It was totally worth it. Phones and internet can be so distracting sometimes.  As promised here is a more in depth birthday post!

We had a low key day cause Rob had a huge final exam on Friday morning and a surgery quiz Friday afternoon. Instead of a family dinner we had a family lunch cause Rob had a big break in the middle of the day. Michael's grandfather Don joined our bday party. Michael had his favorite foods- watermelon, mango, mozzarella cheese, and some squash. Oh and cake of course. I was going to make a healthy baby appropriate cake, but then I thought, what the hell. I'm making a regular cake that I know will taste yummy! He didn't get any icing, but he did like the cake! 

After lunch Michael and I took a walk around the neighborhood, and then played the rest of the day.  Nothing exciting or fancy, but loads of hugs and cuddles with my birthday boy. Michael had an extra long bath cause he loves playing in the water, and then we read a few of his favorite books. I have to admit, I cried a little when I was putting him to bed. I have really loved watching him grow and learn over the past year, but times goes so fast that it's heartbreaking.

He was very busy and would not sit still for his birthday photo. This is the best I got.

This was his last monthly sticker picture. He was done with it and ripped the sticker right off his chest. He's too grown up for that baby stuff.

Yesterday we had his one year check up. Michael is still little: 19lbs 2oz (25%) and 29.5in (50%). The doctor says his weight and height are fine, because he has consistently grown with each appointment. His development is pretty much on track, he's still not walking or standing up on his own, but we aren't worried.  Poor baby had four shots and his toe stuck! Michael was NOT pleased. Luckily we had given some Tylenol before hand, and he calmed down pretty quickly. We go back again in January when he is 15 months old.

Even though being a mom is hard work, it's definitely the best thing ever. Through all the ups and downs over the past year, it's all worth it because of Michael. He is such a happy, laid back and easy going baby. I can't imagine my life without him. I'm so thankful that I get to be his mommy!

One Whole Year!

I was going to write a nice blog post about Michael being a year old. But I did not. I decided the blog about Michael's birthday and his first year could wait til tomorrow. Ya know why? I had more important things to do. I spent the whole day playing, cuddling, kissing, hugging, and snuggling with my big one year old boy! 

I offer instead Michael's first pictures and some pictures from today!

Holding my baby for the very first time!

Love at first sight!

You know I love him cause I posted these terrible pictures of me, just to remind everyone of how teeny tiny and adorable his little squishy face was!

First family photo!

Birthday boy with Daddy!

Me and my one year old squishy face!

So much has changed over the last year, but from the moment he arrived my heart has been so full it feels like it's going to explode all the time! In a good way. :)

Happy birthday Michael! You have filled my life with love, happiness, and joy! I can't wait to see what the future holds for our family!

More tomorrow!

Family Picnic!

The weather in GA has been beautiful lately! I'm talking windows open all day and night, take a walk in the gorgeous sun, weather. Yesterday Michael and I went for a walk, and today we picked Rob up from soon at noon and drove to a little town called Winterville and had lunch in Pittard Park (suggested by some Athens moms).

Winterville Square is teeny, but adorable. We had the whole park and square to ourselves cause it was the middle of the day in the middle of the week. We picked a shady spot near the playground and swings and just relaxed. It was a perfect afternoon!

Toilet Humor

At 5:45 this morning I heard whining turn to crying. I dragged my mommy bum out of bed and went to Michael's room. After a diaper change my sleepy baby nursed for a while while dozing. Unfortunately for me he did not want to go back to sleep. So at 7, I handed him off to Rob who had been studying since before I got up with Michael. I headed back to our room in the hopes of catching a few more Zzzzs. It was not meant to be.

I heard Rob reading his notes out loud and he told Michael he had halitosis. Then a pause, then Rob yells, "Did you change his diaper?" I said that I had, but it'd been an hour and a half since then. Next thing I hear is Rob apologize to the baby for the bad breath comment, cause Michael had one FULL diaper. Then I heard, "OHH, oh, Michael!!!!" Not going to lie, it made me smile. And maybe laugh. And I didn't feel bad about it. 

Rob, and a very smiley Michael, came  into our bedroom to show me the poop smear on Rob's new crisp white shirt. I laughed again. As Rob pulled off his zip up hoodie, I heard, "Aww MAN!" Yep, poop on the hoodie. As he was changing his shirts, I jokingly said that he better check to make sure his shorts were poop free. Rob stomps back out of the closet and thrusts his leg toward me. Total outfit annihilation. Michael somehow managed to get poop on every piece of clothing Rob had on. I laughed again.

While I managed to escape being covered in poop, Michael had something up his sleeve for me. After breakfast, Michael and I played in the living room and at 8:30 we put on PBS to watch Dinosaur Train. We were snuggled up together on the couch when I heard a crash. Freddy had knocked over his 435th water glass (he's been in trouble A LOT lately). Of course the glass was full so water was all over the table, soaked the placemats, ran off onto the chairs and the floor. After several dish towels and chasing Fred around the house, I realized Michael had been really quiet the whole time.

I peek over at the couch, and he is still there, kind of rolling around and laughing. I went back to cleaning up water, put the glass in the sink and towels in the wash. I go back to plop down on the couch next to baby. Michael was still rolling around on his tummy and laughing, but as I was sitting down I noticed his diaper was undone. Thank God it was only a pee diaper cause next thing I know he's pulled it completely off. Boy oh boy did he think it was HILARIOUS!

For the next hour he tromped around the house with only his pj shirt on. He must have felt quite liberated because he was talking and laughing and screaming. Toys were being tossed everywhere, Fred had his tail pulled a few times, and everything within reached was pulled down and/or off shelves. Now he's completely passed out. I guess naked adventure time will do that to people.

Oh, and another tooth popped out! That makes four! Yay!

Since I don't have any pictures of Rob covered in poop, and I am certainly not posting naked baby pictures online, here are pictures of Freddy after he got in trouble. You can see he felt terrible.

Teeth and Fevers in the Home Stretch!

We are finally back to normal after a week and a half of teething and a weekend of a 101 degree fever! The week before this one, Michael was SOOOOOOOO crabby and needy. He was cranky all the time,  needed to touch me at all times, didn't want to nap, wouldn't eat any solids, and wanted to nurse for 2 hours at a time. It was a pretty intense week. We could see that one of his top teeth was about to make an appearance, so we figured baby boy was a hot mess because of that. Unfortunately, last Thursday-Friday night when he woke up to eat, he was burning up. Turned out he had his first fever! He had felt a bit warm throughout the week, so I felt like a jerk mom who wasn't being attentive enough. :(

Couch Potato

We gave him some Tylenol and took him to the doctor. Michael's ears and throat looked fine, and his lungs and tummy sounded ok. Our doctor figured it was a virus of some sort, and wanted us to watch him over the weekend and bring him back if he wasn't feeling better by Monday. After a really difficult Friday night (woke up at 2, up crying til 4, more Tylenol, up with daddy til 7, woke mommy back up), he slept through the night on Saturday without a peep! Since last Saturday he has had ok sleeps, waking up just once or twice and sleeping til around 7:30 or 8. The past few nights have only had one wake up! Not going to complain about that. I can't believe that in 18 days it will have been a whole year from my last full night of sleep. Oh, and I'll have a one year old baby in 18 days too!

First time having pizza last night. He loves it just like his mommy.

As mentioned earlier, M was teething and three days ago tooth #3 graced us with its presence! Thank God, cause I freaking hate teething. It looks like the other front top tooth will come in soon, so maybe we will be a four teeth baby by his birthday. He'll need those teeth to help eat his birthday cake!

Caught trying to harass Freddy

Speaking of birthdays, I cannot wait for his party! I finished making his favors yesterday. I think they are freakin' adorable. This week my goal is to work on the decorations and hopefully finalize the menu.  I'm most excited that my grandparents, aunts, uncles, and cousins are going to come down from NY/NJ and help celebrate! Yay!

Ok, Rob is home for the time being so I want to wash my hair while he watches baby! Nothing like scheduling hair washes cause you're a mom!

Snuggled in his chair with his UGA blankie

Laying waste to the living room during sesame street

11 months!

Today Michael is 11 months old! Only one more month until he is one whole year old! I cannot believe that this time next month my baby will become a toddler! Not that he is "toddling" anywhere just yet.

Michael isn't walking yet; he'll walk along furniture or if you hold his hands, but he is so busy exploring that if he sees something interesting he wants down so he can crawl over and investigate. Michael has become a master crawler though; no more army crawling, he is up on all fours. He's gotten so fast that Freddy is always on the run. Michael also crawls faster when I catch him making mischief! It's really adorable when he's trucking around the house, cause he talks to himself as he's on the move. Like he's giving himself a pep talk. 

Cruising down the hallway.

Officially upgraded to the big boy chair this week!

The other activity Michael is good at these days? Climbing up on furniture and giving mommy heart attacks. The first time he did it, I was washing up his breakfast dishes in the sink, and he was quietly playing in the living room (and yes, I could see him). I hear the recliner rocking, and I glance up and see Michael standing up on the edge of the chair rocking it back and forth. I honestly can't believe my head didn't explode. He thought it was hilarious, just laughing and laughing. So now he climbs on everything he can pull himself up onto. His favorite is climbing up on the couch and looking out the window. It's cute and nerve wracking all at once. Par for the course with being a mom I guess.

First time he scared the bejeezus out of mommy.

Just scoping the scene outside.

The hardest thing to cope with is teething. As far as I'm concerned, teething can go to hell! Michael is working on his top two front teeth at the moment. That means he is a whiney, grouchy, emotional, needy mess right now. He's refusing to nap during the day and wakes up a lot at night. During the day he will scream bloody murder if we aren't maintaining physical contact at all times. Seriously- AT ALL TIMES. I'd really like these freakin' teeth to just come in already, cause I'm going out of my mind! 

In other baby news, Michael went to Boston last weekend. We met my family from New York and New Jersey there, and it was a lot of fun. As usual, M was well behaved on the plane, thank God. The kid has been on 4 plane trips before 11 months, never a freak out.  He was a real trooper over the weekend too. He was out and about each day, and up WAY past his bed time each night. He didn't fuss too much in public, but boy oh boy, when we did get back for the evening he took a long time to settle down and have a good tired cry.

Waking up his uncle at the hotel in Boston.

Play space at the Boston airport.

We don't have too much going on over the next month. I'm working on getting Michael's birthday party planned and organized. Rob has been studying like it's his job, cause it is his job. He has a big test AND surgery today! Oh, and my Uncle Dave and Aunt Diane moved to Georgia from New York this past week! I'm super super excited about that! I am so excited to live really close to family again! Yay!

Oh, it's time to go, Michael is pulling all his books off the bookshelf! 

These are a few weeks old, but I wanted to share them cause they make my heart happy- Playing with Daddy.

10 Months!

Ten down, two to go! I know I say this everyone month, but I can't believe it's been 10 months already! This weekend last year I was pregnant and moving all our stuff into our apartment in Athens (our first place together in the states!) and Rob was finishing up at Ross University!! Now our baby is nearly a year and Rob is beginning his third year of vet school (second at UGA).

Today was tax-free day in Georgia, so we spent the day with my mom and brother at the outlet mall. Rob and Zach tried on so many clothes; seriously every store we went into. What a bunch of girls! :) Of course, my mom very generously made sure Michael made out like a bandit! He got lots of 10 month birthday clothes today!

Oh, hello there. Care to read me a bedtime story?

These were the three least wiggly pictures we took. He is way too busy to sit still for his 10 Month picture!

Michael is changing and growing so fast. He is pulling up on everything, cruising along furniture, babbles/talks all the time, and he looooves splashing around the bath. His tooth is really visible now, and the other bottom one should be coming in soon. He also REALLY wants to be friends with our cat, Freddy. Freddy has absolutely zero interest in being friends with Michael. 

If you've met Fred, or know anything about him, then you know he is kind of a jerk. He's a big Egyptian Mau tomcat we rescued while living in Cairo. Normally he runs the other way if he sees Michael coming in for the kill. Occasionally, Michael gets a handful of Fred and yanks. Michael then gets smacked with a paw. Once Michael got bit- Fredrick got smacked that time. Rarely, Michael will "do nice," but Freddy is so jumpy that he escapes as soon as possible. Perhaps one day is the distant future they will coexist peacefully. 

Finally- We have another trip in our future; Michael will be going on his FOURTH plane trip to spend Labor Day weekend in Boston with the Ikarians (Ikaria is the island in Greece my family is from)! Michael is bummed his daddy can't go because of school, but he is looking forward to seeing his great-grandparents, aunts, uncles, cousins, and his godfather!

That is all for now friends! I leave you with some pictures from today of 10 month Michael!

Can you see it? Can you see my tooth?!

Trying and failing to take his 10 month pictures. He wanted Daddy's camera. 

Getting naked in the car after a long day of shopping. 

Seriously, is it possible to be any cuter? The answer is no, no it is not.

The Great White Tooth

It's here! It's here! Michael's first tooth arrived on Sunday night. No pictures yet cause it's only a teeny tiny nubbin right now. Although I could definitely feel it when he chomped my chin!  

With his new found dental super power, M has pretty much refused any puréed food and will only eat pieces of food. Totally fine with me, less messy (kind of). It's like he knows the tooth is there and he bites everything at the front of his mouth. He talks a lot when he eats now too, it's as if he's saying, "look ma! Look what I can do with my awesome tooth!"

It looks like his other front bottom tooth will be making an appearance soon. Maybe in the next week or two. So, while he is still a bit crabby from teething, it's not nearly as bad as last week. He was just a mess. Pretty much everything made him cry. Poor crab cake.

That's all I got. Saturday is his 10 month birthday, so I'll write more soon!

Chomping some food like a boss.

This is his go-to silly face. (The line on the side of his face is cause he fell asleep against the slats of his crib. It's hard to tell in the photo, but the line went all the way down his face. He looked hard!)