Phases

The mood of baby seem to change like the wind.  We joke that Sam is manic depressive because he can go from a wailing sob to hysterical laughter in less than half a second.  This is normal, I know.  That doesn't mean it's not entertaining and odd.

Lately, I've noticed Sam has been more of a crabass than normal.  He's usually a happy and easy going person.  But now he cries at even the smallest thing that happens around him.  The puff falls off the tray and not into his mouth, the toy is far enough away that he would have to put effort into getting it, how dare I touch his foot while he's deep in thought!  etc.

On top of this, and no doubt bringing on some of this crabassitude, is the fact that he hasn't been napping well.  His long afternoon nap has instead turned to a series of little cat naps combined with anger that he is awake again.  Who knows, maybe he's teething again.

So this is me, taking deep breaths and hoping this is just a phase that he'll outgrow rather quickly.  Sorry baby, you have to put the effort into learning to do things for yourself.  I'm here to help and give hugs.  Now please pass Mommy the Tylenol.

"Don't touch my foot."

9 Months

That's right, my friends.  Sam has been out of me almost as long as he was in me.  He was 38 weeks & 6 days when born.  And since they start the pregnancy week count as of the first day of your last period, subtract 2 weeks from that.  So, if you're still following me, that means he was actually 36 weeks & 6 days old.  So yes, we are right on the threshold of him being older than he was incubated.

My God, I really need to work on not rambling.

We loves him.  He is awesome in too many ways to count.  He makes me weak in the knees.  Let's jump to the meat and potatoes.

My 9 Monther is Better Than a Potato Because. . .
~ He's an expert at feeding himself things like puffs and using a sippy cup.
~ He has just figured out how to get up on his hands and knees!  Sometimes.
~ He scoots backwards.  Hey, at least he's kinda mobile.
~ He's a fabulous sleeper.  In fact, Saturday he slept in till almost 9am.  Heaven.
~ He's getting much stronger at standing, jumping, and dancing.
~ He is proving to us that he has a sense of humor.  And it's a little crazy.
~ Torticollis Update - muscles on his right side have really started to loosen up!
~ Gives wonderful hugs and smooches that melt away any bad day.
~ All the other stuff he's already been doing including:  Saying "Mama" & "Dada" to the correct person, babbles in what sounds like a sentence, banging objects together, knowing something is still there even though you have hidden it from him, etc.

I don't have weight/height stats till Tuesday.  So I'll update with those once I have them.  But I can promise you some big numbers!  I can't believe how much he has grown!

Tuesday Update - Back from the Dr's and definitely shocked!  Shocked because he hasn't grown nearly as much as I thought he had.  He's just reproportioned in a way.  He's 30" long and weighs 20 pounds 9 ounces with a 19" head circumference.  Meaning he's in the 95% for height, 50% for weight, and 97% for head size.  Long and lean.  With I cantaloupe for a head.

9 Month Owl

Love that Pud.

Baby's First Thanksgiving

I am thankful for. . .

Clomid

Estrodiol

Prometrium

Ovidrel

Patience

And all that they have given to us.

Happy Thanksgiving!

Sam vs. The Orange

Now enter the stage of life where your parents torture your brand new taste buds with all the things they know will cause you to make funny faces!

Verdict - he obviously liked it because he kept coming back for more!  I know he really liked the way it smelled since he held that little orange for a while before tasting it, just huffing the little section I had peeled for him.  All big eyes and goofy smiles.  

Blue Jammies

Puffs

Latest development here in babytown is that Sam has started to feed himself.  Just little crumbled up bits of puffs, but it's a start.  He still refuses to hold his own bottle, which I'm fine with since I enjoy holding him on my lap and feeding him.  But he will drink on his own from a sippy cup and wrestle cakey little bits of puffs in the general direction of his mouth.  And I think he's just as proud of himself as I am of him.

Extreme Nom Nom face, or caught mid raspberry blowing?

It's Over: Indecision 2012

Yesterday the hubby, baby, and I loaded up into the car and went to vote.  Fastest and most efficient voting location I have ever used.  Ever!  We were in and out in 10 minutes tops.  This I was very thankful for as I had forgotten to pack a bottle for Pud and it was creeping up on his next meal.  

I'm not going to wax endlessly on how I'm glad about the various outcomes of the election.  I'm not going to yell and spit about any shady behavior I saw or heard about involving the election.  Instead I'm just going to say how happy I am that it's finally over.

Over the past 3 months I have had so much political bull crap shoved at me from every imaginable angle that I was ready to pull my hair out.  It was making me hate my own political party and hate those who supported even the causes that I agree with.  That's how apathy comes to be the general reaction from the masses.  And with apathy no one wins.

I'm proud to be an American.  I am thankful of my right to vote.  I despise the political animal.  

Bon Voyage and Such

Oh, the things that have been happening.  Given, it's all been happening at a nice slow pace that I am spoiled with knowing it's November and at any other November in the past 8-10 years I would have been training seasonal hires and prepping for holiday staff meetings.  Hmmm.  Give me a moment while I read that last sentence 20 times and really let it sink in.  Life is good.

1.  Just as Sam's PT for his Torticollis has been trucking along great and his head tilt is almost completely gone, he has started something new.  Something I'll have to talk to his case worker about on Friday.  Spasms and head shaking that I don't like one bit.  I think it's a reaction to his latest stretches we've been doing, but I want to make sure of that.

2.  My cousin and his lovely wife leave in 6 days to go live in Belgium for 3 years.  Can you imagine?  Going to live in a foreign country and what an adventure that would be?  I'm wicked jealous and forced them to give detail after mind numbing detail on the entire process of finding an apartment, preparing to move across the pond, and what they didn't expect to become an issue with this process.  I can't wait for stories to start trickling back about their new life.  Rumor has it there's a pastry shop a block away from their doorstep.  Hmmm. . .Belgium pastry shop.  And I mean, come on.  LOOK at how adorable their European apartment building is!  Three floors of living space and a rooftop patio!

3.  I spent 6 hours trapped at the mall while Sears put tires on my car.  And you know what?  I didn't even care all that much.  Normally I would have been climbing the walls and shooting daggers out my eyes at the mechanics.  But not this time.  That's how stress free my life is now.  I was like, "Oh, car's not ready yet?  Well, I think there's a Lego play table in Barnes & Noble that's calling Sam's name!  Doo dee dooo!"  Recognize!

4.  Speaking once again of the kid - he's in that phase where he's only happy on his belly.  But he's also gonna complain and cry while on his belly.  So yeah, Morgan drank an entire bottle of wine Saturday night.  I ate about 30 pieces of leftover candy.  We all find comfort in our own way.

5.  I made at least 9 quarts of Vegetable Beef Soup on Sunday.  It's so damn good.  We'll be happily eating it for an entire week.  This after I made 4 quarts of Chicken Noodle Soup the week before.  Soup is good.

6.  My friend had a baby boy on Saturday!  I look forward to being able to visit and get details.  I can barely remember what a tiny newborn looks like.

7.  Sam ripped a couple keys off the laptop that we can't get back on properly.  First expensive baby damage.  Daddy is not happy.

Ok, I'm rambling.  Laters!

I Huffed Candy

Let me just start by saying, I love Halloween.  I'm sure I have only mentioned this about 100 times over the past few years, but it's true.  Morgan cowers in fear of the natural high that over comes me as the sun starts to set and the Trick or Treat bowl is full and waiting by the door.  I skip about the house.  I giggle and chase him against his will.  For 4 hours I'm a full on moron.  And it's the highlight of my year.

"You right, Dad.  She weird."

On Sunday it was with a heavy heart that I drug in all the Halloween decorations before the hurricane hit.  I left out the pumpkins and the skeleton tied to the mailbox purely to see if they would still be there the next day or be relocated to Jersey.  For the most part they were right where I left them.  And on Tuesday when the power came back on I looked at the husband with a satisfied smile knowing that most likely Halloween would still be on!  

Yesterday I did a little redecorating, stuffed Pud into his owl suit, herded Morgan out to the porch, and sat on the front stoop rocking back and forth like a crackhead waiting for the little kiddies to arrive all decked out for the holiday.  We had your usual sampling of candy corn witches, Star Wars and Avengers characters, and a ton of princesses.  Best costumes we saw included a boy who made a robot suit out of cardboard boxes wrapped in tinfoil, two boys who wore boxes on their heads painted up to look like Minecraft characters, and the vampire chicken farmer.  Yes, a vampire chicken farmer.  As in, she was a vampire carrying a live chicken (named Ginger) under her arm.  That, my friends, is 5 pounds of awesome right there!

Now the best night of the year is gone.  All I have left to do is clean up.  And clean up will no doubt involve the use of a snow shovel since the warm and wet weather over the past few weeks made my once proud pumpkins turn to. . .soup.  Well, the big one at least.  That thing is nasty.

Oh, and I tried something new this year that I will definitely be doing every year from now on.  Glowing creepy orbs hanging from the tree!

A glow stick inside a water balloon shoved into white pantyhose hanging from a tree makes for a very creepy cool Halloween decoration!  I wish I could have gotten a good photo of the tree with lots of these orbs hanging from it looking all awesome in the moonlight, but I'm not that handy with a camera.  Trust me, it was super nifty.

I hope you all had a great Halloween and have just the right amount of candy leftover to go into a sugar coma this coming weekend!