15 Month Update

We had our 15 month appointment the other day and all is well:) which we expected would be the case. Of course we waited in the waiting room for 40 minutes (ugh) and I caved and actually let Keller touch the bead-toy thing and books after patiently sitting on my lap, reading books, and watching the fishies for the first 25 minutes...But, the tradeoff in all that waiting is that the doctor doesn't rush us and really takes her time with us, which I like. I just need to get that first appointment in the morning from now on!

So the nurse weighed him and was glad to be able to show that he's gained a decent amount of weight since last time (he had only gained a few ounces between his 9 and 12 month visits so they kept weighing him to make sure it was correct)...so he hit 22lbs on the nose, although he did have on a dry new diaper for the weigh-in--oops. And I don't remember his height in inches, but I know that he has officially fallen off the charts as far as that goes. But again, given his weight gain and his slow but steady growth and overall development, there's no cause for concern. His genes have gifted him with the ease of fitting into small places and being more comfortable on airplanes!

The doctor was impressed when he said "Pee pee" and touched the front of his diaper...I explained how since he had been bottomless for so long from his red heiny, he is now very aware of when he goes to the bathroom. I mentioned that we picked up a potty for him just to have on hand and then joked that he needed a stepstool to get on it because it was too high for him and she (being Russian) said that we needed to get a Russian potty for him...she had friends that potty trained at 6 months! The potty is really just a new toy for him to have around ("bobby" he calls it).

He's doing an awesome job with feeding himself, too. He's been having big-boy cereal with milk in it for the past few weeks and uses his spoon the whole time and then begs for more. The only really messy part about it is if I put too much milk in and he picks up the bowl to drink the milk at the end (which I didn't teach him to do...and I don't think Trav did either, he just figured it out:) then milk dribbles right down his front, which is usually bibbed so all is well. He had soup tonight which I just put some extra rice into to make it a little thicker for him, but no problem. He will still go in with the left hand on occasion to get something good out, like a blueberry or a black bean or what have you, but overall, he's a pretty proficient spoon-user. As for the fork, he's been using that for a long time now--he likes to stab his veggies and "burber" (veggie burger) bits or whatever else he can get on there...avocados are tricky so he generally has to squish them to pick them up when they're good and ripe!

And he continues to talk up a storm! I love how we can tell him a new word and he repeats it back (sort of)--He's getting better at naming people, too. He knows his cousins names, the names of the kids we babysit, and some friends names (Joe and Molly come to mind first).

He's not terribly into many toys at home, though he's been playing a lot with a little jar of counting bears and dinosaurs I had from my classroom. He likes this little figure guy (that has no head) and Mr. Potatohead (the glasses continue to be loads of fun for him!) Everything else that occupies his time is generally a non-toy. But he sure can keep busy all day long!

As for me, I love watching every little thing he does. I love how fascinated or silly he can be. I love taking him out of his crib in the morning or after a nap and having him cuddle right up in my shoulder with a hug. And I love that he is becoming more and more independent and curious about other kids around him. I can't imagine him any bigger or any smaller than he is right now. I hope that I always kind of feel that way, that Now is the best time I'll ever have with my little boy, and the next Now, and the next one. I get teary when I think about having a grown up baby boy, but then I have to remind myself not to get distracted from Now. Knowing it goes by so fast, it's oh so important to stay focused on Now.

And one last important bit of information...We have officially stopped nursing as of a week and a half ago. It wasn't really a planned thing and I'm not sure I was quite ready to just Be Done, but we were down to just morning and night anyhow and were really only aiming to get through February, but between his distractedness on the boob and his red heiny issue (Trav reminded me that while Keller stopped dairy first hand, I did not and therefore...) so after a couple mornings of him not being into it and getting a sippy of soymilk instead and a couple of evenings of sip-stop-sip-stop and on and on, that was it. The next morning came, Trav put him on my lap and when he would usually have been saying "Boobie, boobie" and trying to get in my shirt, he didn't say it and instead reached for a book:( Sad mommy. It took all my power not to offer it to him, knowing I should take the opportunity to let it fizz out naturally for him (if not me). And so that's that. I still make sure to get a little cuddle in with him on my lap in the morning either with a book or with his cereal or milk. I still need my cozy time:)

And one final boobie story to share...up at the end of this nursing thing, I think Keller was thinking I had like four boobs! I'd be start nursing on one side and he'd stop and say, no, no, no! So I'd offer the other side and he'd say no, no, no! Then he'd try to go down the top of my shirt (I have some sleep shirts that have big v-necks and so rather than pulling the shirt up from the bottom, I'd pull it down from the top.) So he came to think that there was one boob accessed from below and one from above, on each side! I'd occasionally oblige him and say something like, "Oh, you want THIS boobie?" Yeah, silly boob games. Poor kid is going to be awfully disappointed the first time he gets to second base with a girl!! And so the girls (all four of them!) get a five month break from abuse before the next one arrives!!

Lazy Mama

Lazy mama because I haven't been very good with pictures on the blog lately or with taking pictures in general I should say. Part of the problem is the camera which really needs to be taken in for service--the auto focus setting is not always focusing or allowing a picture to be taken...very frustrating. But anyhow, here are some random pictures from the past month or so:) Keller got some fingerpaints for Christmas (thank you Jeff and Marisa) and we finally opened them up and squirted a little paint on some paper and Keller would not have his finger touch the wet messy stuff (have I blogged about his dislike for messy, dirty, broken things???---will have to be a post unto itself at some point!) So he wouldn't touch the paint and I had no paintbrushes easily accessible so I thought fast and grabbed some Q-Tips which did the trick thankfully! They even helped him to eventually be comfortable enough using his fingers, although he definitely did some complaining like "ohhhh:(" in a sad and disappointedly messy kind of way, like soiling his finger was against his morals or something...But, that too he got over as you can see him showing off his red finger above!!

Keller's buddy Sammy came for a visit Before Christmas and they had some pretty good parallel play going on for awhile--they tried to show each other the proper way to play with the pots in the cabinet, and then Keller gave Sammy a ride on his bike which was just too cute because while Keller has a few months on Sammy age-wise, Keller is such a little guy that it seemed like Sammy should be riding Keller. We saw Sammy again last week and the boys practiced their sharing techniques (Keller's favorite technique is "No, no, no, no!") and did some chasing around the chair at Jenn's house. Very cute:)

Keller likes to take an occasional break from the heavy stresses of playing and calm his mind and re-center himself with a little Downward-Facing Dog on occasion.

Keller's first "bubbos" in the tubby-tub. This picture was taken after he stopped crying and actually sat down in the tub. He loves the tub and we talked up the bubbles but he was not wanting to get into that tub that appeared "dirty" or "messy" with bubbles ruining his perfectly good, fun plain old water.

Bobo insisted on joining the family in the small bathroom for the experience. He got bubbled, too. Look how humiliated he seems!

And this may be a not-so-sure-of-these-bubbles picture of Keller...

And finally, like on another friend's blog, this picture is a "Mommy Spotting"--she's actually IN the picture this time! (Looking her morning-time-finest I might add!) We were having a cozy morning cuddle on the couch. Maybe I'll try working on more pictures again, or at least getting the camera fixed!

Cookie...

So Keller just bumped his head pretty good on the coffee table, right in front of me, and recognizing it was a good bonk, I picked him up to check things out and console him. He's crying away on my lap, I'm looking for bumps or red spots or something showing me exactly where he bumped, he's crying and I say "You're okay, you're okay. You're such a tough cookie." And the tears stop and about 10 seconds later I hear "coookee, cookeee" and I get that he thinks I just offered him a cookie. So, not wanting to equate every fall with getting a cookie, (I imagine that could be dangerous;) I said "no, no, that's not what I meant silly guy..." and he got that he wasn't getting a cookie and cried and cried again, saying "coookeee, coookeee." And I was able to see that clearly his booboo was just fine, but he continued to whine for a good 10 minutes, every so often muttering, "Coookeee." Poor guy. He likes cookies just as much as his mommy! So after enough time passed from associating the cookie with the booboo, he got his wish and mommy caved and gave him a stinkin' cookie. Now at least I won't feel guilty about sneaking in a brownie with my tea without him noticing!! My little cookie monster! I'll take the blame for that one...

Boobies!

So I took Keller to the doctor this evening after him having a fever more or less since Wednesday afternoon. First Trav and I talked it up to a random bug since there were no other symptoms aside from fatigue/sleepiness. Thursday morning he was fine so I dragged him out to run some errands and he zonked right out when we got home. When he woke up from his nap, he ate a little and fell asleep on me again for a couple more hours. He woke up with a fever of 103.5 Poor guy. He had a nice little burst of playtime when Trav came home, ate very little dinner and went to bed. This morning he was up early and playing like a champ. He took an earlier nap than usual and woke up with a fever of about 101, not bad. He ate a little lunch, and then I noticed his lips and hands were pretty much blue. I called the doctor's office but it was the answering service/lunchtime so I said I'd call back in 10 minutes when they were expected to return. By then, lips and hands were fine and Keller was playful again for a little bit and then we had a nice little family nap on the couch. (Trav was able to stop home from work for a little while:) So Trav leaves and I call the doctor after Keller has a 101.8 fever (and taking into account this is day 3 of fever, his lips were blue for a few minutes, and he's got four teeth rarin' to pop through, AND it's a Friday afternoon). Doc says to come in so we go. 103.1 fever via the heiny (we do the ear temp at home) and Keller sits up on the crinkly papered table with just his onesie on, unbuttoned, and being so knowledgeable of his bodyparts, apparently decides to show off to this lady, lifts up his shirt to the nurse and says, "Boobies!" as he pats his chest! The nice new nurse tells me what a nice shade of red I am after politely asking Keller to pick a different body part to show off! I then confessed to the nurse that I was still nursing and while my husband and I always said, "If you can ask for it, you're too old for it!" yet here I am, still nursing my boy who says to me every morning, "Booby? Booby?" THEN, the doctor is in with us and we're wrapping up and the nurse stops in to let the doc know she's leaving, then the nurse grabs her boobs and asks Keller, "What are these?" Oh my humiliating!! I don't know that I like this new nurse...I much prefer Joan and Maureen. But anyway!! We left the doctors office with a 103.6 fever AFTER having given him Motrin and with a diagnosis of "It's probably a virus, but I can't name it because he appears so healthy everywhere else" (besides the fever). Her best guess was Roseola so if that's it then we should be winding down the fever thing and expecting a rash in the next day or so. Hopefully that will be that...Unfortunately, this sick thing made me miss my visit with Becky and Candace and will keep us from spreading the germs at Cali's first birthday party tomorrow, too. Boo hoo! But I'm so glad that even though I've got a sick kid, he's in generally good spirits. In fact, at the moment, he's trying to take Bo's temperature with his thermometer...he points it at him and says "beep"...very cute little boy. But way past his bedtime. Sleepy time!

Okay, he's in bed...and as I was rocking him I thought of two more doctor office funnies...While we were in the waiting room (on the "sick" side) Keller was walking around and pointed at the toys and books and said, "dirty"...hmmm, I wonder who taught him that??? Ooops, maybe since the first visit there I may have been saying that...It's cool that he can remember that though, we haven't been there in awhile.

The other funny was after the nurse came in and gave him the squirt of Motrin, he looks at her and says, "More, more!" She laughed and said he can have more later. Then she said, "Did you like that?" and he, looking up at her just nods his head (in the "yes" fashion) So cute, love the yes nod. This morning, too, he had picked up the Tylenol bottle on his changing table and said to me, "Opern, opern" (open). Uh, oh...hopefully this is not a sign of things to come!!

Abbreviated Version

So after writing the big long blog entry below, I thought I'd spare you the boredom and give you the abbreviated version here:

I joined a gym. It is good. I am happy about it. I can exercise there. Exercise is good. Happy New Year!

If you care to read on, feel free, but if you don't, you're still up to speed on my goings on. You decide.

No Excuses!

$99 for a year's membership. The mailings kept coming and I'd look at it and think, "Wow, that's a good deal even if I use it only once in awhile." But they always ended up in the mail recycling basket. Back in September, I finally cancelled my Bally's gym membership because it was a waste of $32 a month that I just don't have. I used that gym straight through my pregnancy with Keller (well, I shouldn't say straight through because I'm sure I took the first trimester off and then have a general gym habit of falling in and out of consistent attendance). But I certainly recall being there with a big belly and getting some looks and paying closer attention to my heart rate, and reading up on when to stop doing abs/lying flat on my back, etc. Also while pregnant with Keller, I was still at school and managed some jogs early on with the jogging girls, which turned to walks. Bo the dog also got daily walks to the park before school and often after school we'd go for a longer walk in the neighborhood. Point being, I exercised fairly regularly throughout my pregnancy with Keller. Once he came on the scene, I had to take it easy given the C-Section, but did find my way back to the gym early on when Trav had a lighter schedule. I had inquired about the daycare at Bally's and they told me the babies had to be at least 9 months, which was fine because I wasn't crazy about leaving Keller in the germy gym daycare when he was so itty bitty. But I maintained hope that I'd get back into the groove and find time somehow. I bought the jogging stroller which I used a good number of times for walks and jogs in the neighborhood, but really, I'm not a cold weather kind of person so that just sits in the corner for now. I thought briefly about getting up early to go to the gym, but I've thought about that plenty in the past, too. It's just not a realistic thing for me to think about. I love my early morning sleep and cuddle time with Trav. Why get out of a nice toasty warm bed to go to the gym? Not an option for me. Or what about when Trav gets home from work? Nope, I value our family time and our dinner together. Trav is already Jiu-Jitsuing two nights a week so it's important to me to have us all together on the other nights. Then there's the weekends, and generally speaking, I'd rather stay home and be lazy on the couch! So really the conundrum is about me and my inflexibility in managing some kind of consistent exercise program for myself.

So, here we are, the next pregnancy. Went to the first doctor visit and weighed in a few pounds below the weight I started with Keller (thank you nursing, because it sure wasn't diet or exercise that pulled that one off!) So that was a nice way to start. Then what do they say, something minimal like 3-5 pounds in the first trimester...oops. And so here I am, pregnant and nursing still, yet the pounds seem to be coming on much easier this time...Yikes! And I told Travis the other night that I thought my legs were atrophying from lack of muscle use...they were actually bothering me, needing to be stretched or something (stretching is usually a big part of my gym routine)...So between that, between watching the numbers add up so quickly, and generally feeling a little less good about myself, I decided (finally) that I really needed to do something for me, even if it cost a little money. And so off I went to go check out the $99 deal.

As I was driving to the gym, I started thinking that it was not at the place I had originally thought it was and then was thinking that it was too far away for me to get my lazy butt to enough (Bally's is like 2 or 3 miles away) so I decide to go the gym that I had thought was the $99 deal place but realized it wasn't but figured it was closer and I might as well check it out. Well, I met Dave in the front as I was thinking, "Ahh, nice open, airy, new, bright place..." and immediately asked him what a membership cost. He told me and at first I thought, uh, definitely not $99 a year and almost turned and left at that point, but I didn't. I asked about childcare, which was of course an additional cost...ugh! Free at Bally's I'm pretty sure... But still, we walk through and stop in at the daycare room which was actually a pleasant surprise...Big and bright (and new and clean-seeming) three women staffing the space, all kids get Purelled upon arrival...way better than the dark, small, closet-like daycare room at Bally's...big windows all along the wall so I can have a peek in if I need to... And so I left and crunched numbers and thought about exercising and feeling good and me-time and how exercise has always been an important part of my life and how I feel like Keller is (or I am) ready (for him) to be in more independent social settings with other kids and grown-ups. And so on Wednesday after getting out of babysitting a little early, I went straight back to the gym and joined! Yay! And on Thursday (New Year's Eve) I got out of babysitting a little early again, came home, changed, and Keller was home with Trav who had the day off and I went for my first official exercise date with myself in a really long time! It was really nice. I ellipticalled, rowed (I love rowing machines and Bally's didn't have one!) then found the yoga room empty and stretched, used freeweights, did abs and squats and stretched, in a room all by myself. It was soooo nice! Of course I was a little achey the next day given that I just jumped right into my standard routine. And so today, Saturday, I told Trav I was going to the gym and then saw that there was a cardio kickboxing class at 10 so went to that. It was a packed house and I asked the girl next to me if it was always such a crowded class or was it New Year's guilt. She said always crowded and that this particular teacher is a toughy, apparently unlike the lower key weekday instructors. And so in she comes, music on, and bam, we were moving, to the Jackson Five only on high speed, chipmunk style, so freakin' fast, it was a shock to my system!! I almost left the class immediately thinking "oh my god, should i do this after being relatively inactive and 3.5 months pregnant" but I decided to stay, and just go at my own pace (which was mostly the teacher's pace because I'm who I am and like a challenge) but I did take a few breaks when I felt my heart rate getting higher (or felt a little dizzy;) damn hormones! I'm so glad I went to that class and have achey arms from all that punching, practically non-stop! So, good stuff. I have a complimentary training session on Wednesday and plan to ask the nice young girl trainer how I might be able to unsag my butt (it seems to have elongated post-Keller) and hopefully she'll catch me up on the most efficient toning strategies...

And so, my New Year is off to a good start:) I just hope I can maintain my enthusiasm for this exercising thing and that Keller enjoys going to the daycare for an hour and a half a couple of days a week...Wish us luck! (And sorry to bore you with all these details...apparently I was in the mood to write a novel tonight)