Morning Overview

Tonight Shannon and I are going to see Cirque Du Soleil. It's a good thing, because this is how my day has started.

1am: Still not asleep because I can't turn my brain off.

1:05 am: Adam starts whimpering because he's hungry but is trying his best to make it through the night. He whimpers for about 10 minutes, but conquers the hunger.

4:30 am: Adam starts whimpering again. I question his ability to tackle it this time, but he never fully wakes up to cry for food. He whimpers off and on for about 45 minutes.

5:00 am: Still can't go back to sleep. Get up to get water. Find Shannon on the couch, awake with back pain and get him a heating pad.

5:30 am: Adam is still whimpering. I decide to go ahead and feed him.

5:31 am: Discover that Adam's cough, stuffy nose, and now EYES are completely mucousy and realize that actually going in to the office today is not going to happen.

5:35 am: Feed Adam. Wipe his eyes. He can't figure out if it's time to wake up or time to go back to bed. He's okay with either. I put him back to bed.

5:40 am: Realize that since I need to work from home, I should probably run back up to the office to get my cell phone, which I had accidentally left overnight.

5:45 am: Take a shower.

6:00 am: Go to the office, pick up my phone, leave again.

6:30 am: Back home. Log on to work.

7:45 am: Call daycare to tell them Adam won't be there and to ask some questions about how Adam was bitten by another "baby" on Wednesday . . . Things aren't adding up. Questions were answered, but still not adding up.

8:30 am: Call pediatrician, schedule appointment for 11:30am.

9:00 am: Adam finally wakes up. Eats breakfast. Watches his video.

9:45 am: I change Adam's extremely dirty diaper. Extremely dirty. I put it behind me on the floor. Manage to control the mess and diaper him quickly.

9:46 am: Caley decides to roll in the dirty diaper. Diaper contents all over her tail and back.

9:47 am: Take Caley outside and spray her off in the cold. Lock her in the sun room. (She's not in trouble, but she's all wet.)

9:48 am: Come back inside to find Adam pulling out every wipe in the baby wipe container and grinning like he found a pot of gold.

Is it only 10 o'clock in the morning?

Elephants

My parents stopped by on Sunday evening to drop off a cute little outfit that my mom had bought for Adam and just say "hi," and Adam was at first in a little bit of shock - one moment he was just trying to get Shannon and my attention because he was bored, the next, there were 4 people in the room ready and willing to look at him and all of his tricks. So he showed off.

He went to his musical table, pushed some buttons and started dancing.

He showed them how he could turn from the couch to the coffee table like it was the easiest thing in the world.

He squealed and screamed and banged on the dryer door when I "let" him show them the joy of the dryer. (The dryer, apparently, is absolutely the best, most amazing and interesting thing in our entire house).

He banged two toys together in his hands (oh, so you CAN clap... but only when it makes good noise).

 

 

 

He loves, loves, loves to show them what he can do. He showed them things even I didn't know he could do.

On Monday night, Adam took two steps unassisted from the recliner to the couch without any coaxing necessary from Shannon or me. In fact, Shannon was sitting in the recliner, unfortunately looking the opposite way, and missed it. I cheered, clapped, said, "yay, Adam!" and he smiled at me. I scooped him up and kissed him and he had no idea what he had even done that was so fabulous. He looked pretty confused about why I was so excited. And yes, I teared up like a big baby.

Although he took his first steps, he's not barging head-on into the bi-pedal world just yet. He likes to see how long he can stand up on his own when he thinks no one is looking - but if he knows you're looking, he'd rather not show you his skills just yet. I suppose he wants to perfect his abilities before revealing them to an audience.

This morning he was very excited to watch his "Your Baby Can Read" video, for some reason. (Yes, I fell for the marketing and bought it. I thought, "what could it hurt?" but in the back of my mind am still not convinced that it will work. We will see, I guess. He has been watching for about 3 weeks now). It has actually been a good way for me to get all of the before daycare/work things done every morning. However, it has been touch-and-go about whether he really cares enough to watch the video - and he's so little, I'm definitely not going to force it on him if he doesn't enjoy it. But I guess it was interesting this morning, and he squealed and talked during the whole thing.

The first video has 22 basic words like "hi," "wave," "clap," "arms up," "toes," "mouth," "gorilla," etc. Adam really responds to the word "elephant," and I thought I heard him attempt to say it last week in response to the video. This morning, "elephant" flashed across the screen, the man said, "elephant" . . . and Adam said, "eleba."

I said, "Great job, Adam! Elephant!"

I was picking up around the room and packing his bag for daycare, and a couple minutes later I heard him say, "eleba." I looked up, and the screen said "elephant," then the man said, "elephant." I think my jaw dropped. I'm still shaking myself, trying to figure out if it's even possible for a 9 month old (specifically - 42 weeks old) to even do that. When I do the flash cards or even try to tell him to do "arms up" or "wave," he stares at me like I have five eyes. Maybe I'm going crazy. Someone smack me.

I probably shouldn't point out to him that he's over-acheiving... my jaw would have dropped if he had just said "hi." Funny enough, I specifically remember that the first long word I could spell was "elephant." I learned it from a spelling game on my parent's Apple computer, back when computer games had like 6 colors and came on a floppy disk.

Then I dropped his happy, bubbly self off at daycare, where he cheerfully held his arms out for Amy to pick him up, and after she took him, he smiled at me and waved good-bye (what is going on today??). Billions of synapses must be firing for him this week.

On another note, my amazing, handy and helpful husband removed our ancient, circa 1980 gas range and replaced it with a beautiful new range.

Next up on the list is installing a microwave over the cooktop, removing the equally ancient built-in microwave (if they called them microwaves back then), building a pantry, and (sigh) probably re-staining the cabinets.

Don't get me wrong, I'm not sad about re-staining the cabinets. I think it will make an enormous difference and look a million times better - but anyone who has restained a mere 4 cabinet doors realizes how much work goes into sanding, cleaning, and applying 3-4 coats of stain evenly. Imagine doing it for 34 doors and 14 drawers - not to mention all of the wood work. That's probably why new cabinets cost about 30k.

But if Adam can take his first steps and do his best to say "elephant," and Shannon can install a new range . . . maybe I can get up the energy to tackle the kitchen.

41 Weeks Old

I'm starting to lose track of the weeks but I am determined to count to 52. Adam has now been out of the womb the same amount of time he was in it.

I'm working from home today because when I picked up Adam from daycare last night, they made me sign a piece of paper saying that I understand that he needs to be kept home from daycare for one day because apparently the whole class had diarrhea that afternoon... Okay, so you're telling the whole infant class to stay home?

I asked if he was feeling bad and she avoided the question by talking about which babies had it. I asked if it was some kind of stomach bug and she said, "I don't know but he needs to stay home tomorrow." I do realize that they have policies and have to abide by laws and all that . . . but there is a part of me that wonders if she just had her fill of changing dirty diapers all afternoon and started filling out forms. He did pass out in the car the second I had him strapped in and was out for the rest of the night. It was pretty obviously that something was going on.

But between the RSV, the bad weather, and being forced to stay home, I'm not quite sure why we're paying for the month of February. Oh well.

He feels like a million bucks today, so hopefully whatever it was has passed. I can't really complain; it's nice to be able to stay home with him when he's actually feeling pretty good. We took a little walk this afternoon in the nice weather.

Adam has finally decided that he's too big for the bottles and only wants sippy cups. I've been wondering if this would happen naturally or if he would need us to force him into it. He's timed this transition perfectly, as we've decided to begin our spring cleaning, which will include putting away all the newborn baby stuff that Adam has outgrown. Wish us luck with the cleaning - I'm worried that by the time we're done it won't be spring anymore.

Valentine

It has been a while since I posted, but that is more likely related to me feeling suffocated by the unacceptable freezing weather the last few weeks. Also, Adam has recently had a hard time sitting still and smiling for pictures, as he has realized he has far more important things to do. So it's becoming more and more difficult for me to get ones of him looking at the camera and smiling.

Sigh. I knew this day would come. :)

Adam had his 9 month check-up on Monday. He weighed in at 21 pounds, 2.5 ounces and is 29 3/4 inches tall. He's still in the 90% percentile for height and 75% for weight. When we went to watch the Superbowl this year at Kirsten and Bryan's house, another baby was there who was 16 months old - 7 months older than Adam. Adam was almost his height and definitely weighed more than the other little boy.

The father of the other little boy called Adam a little "linebacker," and I have to admit that seeing them side by side did summon that image. There he was next to a kid twice his age and without the very obvious "baby face" that Adam has, it would have been difficult to tell who was older. Adam is by no means fat, and is already losing what little baby fat he had to begin with, but he is extremely muscular and tall... and strong. Earlier this week we saw him almost do a pull up while hanging onto his highchair.

Adam's favorite thing to do is wave (my dad taught him that one and he's a pro at it now) - his wave doesn't involve any wrist or hand movements, but a desperate attempt to stick one arm as high up in the air as possible. Today Adam has begun to say "mama" when he actually means me. Also in his vocabulary is "baba," "dada," "adoo," and when he really has something on his mind, he can put together a string of syllables like nobody's business. And today, he said what sounded like an attempt at "elephant" in response to the TV. He knows what "no" means, and will listen sometimes - but if you're asking him to put down something really interesting (like the bathtub stopper or the cords behind the TV), well then, you might just be asking too much.

He can stand up without help for a couple of seconds at a time, and even took an unassisted step from the couch to the coffee table (he fell when he got there but caught himself before he hit the ground). He's quicker than you would ever think a crawler could be . . . and yesterday almost discovered what scotch tasted like when Shannon left his glass where he thought it was out of reach while he made a quick trip in and out of the kitchen. According to Shannon, Adam was two feet away from the table when he left the room, and when he came back 5-10 seconds later Adam had the scotch in hand and halfway to his lips. Whose brilliant idea was it to teach him how to drink from a "big person" glass, anyway? (oh yeah, that was me.)

He can no longer be contained in the family room and wants to roam the rest of the house, which means that putting off baby-proofing is no longer an option. But the moment we get one section baby-proofed, he's desperate to move on to the next part of the house.

He prefers to feed himself and sometimes would choose not to eat over having "baby" food. His favorite is still meatloaf, and he's definitely a carnivore. I suppose you need a ton of protein to fuel those muscles he's building. Today at lunch he tried chicken enchiladas and liked taking bites off of mom's plate . . . but not nearly as much as he like people watching and socializing in the restaurant.

He was yelling to another baby in a highchair 4 or 5 tables down. It's a good thing it was mostly families in the restaurant.

 After lunch, we came home and played outside while Shannon washed his truck. Adam really enjoyed being outside when there wasn't any white crap on the ground.

my new favorite picture of Adam

He really liked that bucket - even more so when it was full of water and bubbles.

mischievous

After exploring in his walker and attempting to steal the bucket of bubbles, Adam and Caley sat down for a picnic.

This is what Shannon calls his "Dr. Evil" look.

He looks unhappy here, but it's really just the sun in his eyes.

Caley soon became Adam's jungle gym.

Then Caley was put in charge of Adam's puffs.

"Here, Caley, hold onto these for me."

She takes her job very seriously.

Reliable Caley protected the puffs and didn't eat any.

Shannon and I don't celebrate Valentine's Day - it's not a hard and fast rule, but it seems to sneak up on us every year, costs money that doesn't really need to be spent (we do enough eating out every other day of the year - and don't have to fight every couple in Dallas in the process) and usually it is more of a hassle than a treat. But since it's Adam's first, I wanted to do something for him -- so I got him a balloon. He has cheerfully tossed it around and tackled it when it crosses his path.

Tonight we plan to take advantage of the nicer weather and grill some steaks. It has been a nice, relaxing day - I just wish that tomorrow wasn't Monday.

Cabin Fever

Adam and I are not cut out for being snowed in for 4 days in a row. Last night we got 5" of snow, which is on top of the ice that was already there. I actually went outside for the first time in 3 days, and it's eerily quiet. Like we've been abandoned. I guess that's what cabin fever starts out like. They say we might be let free tomorrow afternoon (as in, it might get to 39 degrees by noon).

Wish me luck trying to keep Adam entertained for another full day. He had his fill of being inside by Tuesday evening and I've been struggling to improvise ever since. I don't blame him for being bored. He tried to participate in all of my conference calls yesterday. Today he wants to sit in my lap and type my emails.



 
He has learned the word "mom" and says it frequently, but it's like a chant, and I think he thinks it means: "Run and fetch." When he's bored, hungry, upset, wants ANYTHING, he says "mom mom mom moma," while wearing his upset face. I've heard it very often in the past two days. That's not what "mom" means! (Well, maybe it is.)

Here are some pictures from this morning.

View from the Backyard

Cedar Tree in Back

The firepit?

Back of the house - check out Eli between the cooler and the firepit.

view from the front of the house

view from the front porch, looking down the street

the street (I'm standing in the street)

The Front of Our House

Adam standing at the front door

We're not going out, right? RIGHT?

Can I help you work?

it's all white!

it looks cold...

when will it be summer?