18 Months!

A few days ago the baby, aka ERP, turned 18 months.

How did that happen?

Oh I know. I blinked.

Don't blink.

Ever.


I often forget that he is not a baby anymore, but rather a toddler.

This also leads me to forget that TT isn't a toddler anymore, but rather a preschooler.

And when did that happen?

And don't even get me started on the biggest boy, and his hairy upper lip and deep baritone singing voice.

Anyhow, I digress....

ERP is still a little squirt. I call him Bird. Husband calls him Mouse. He has his 18 month check-up next week and he may finally weigh 20 lbs. He is certainly going through a growth spurt these days.

He may look a lot like TT and have some of RR's mannerisms, but he is certainly not his brothers. He has broken the mold in every way possible. From his blue eyes and curly hair, to his temper and all of those teeth. He is one tooth shy of having all of his first set of molars, and then on to cutting his eye teeth.

And that temper I mentioned. Oh the temper. He pitches the biggest fits. He bites toys and furniture. He turns beat red. He throws things. He just gets so mad. It takes all of mine and Husband's strength not to laugh at his over the top pint size melt downs.

He is still nursing. Which is another post in itself. I recall being so happy with reaching this milestone with TT. These days nursing is the same as breathing. It just happens.

ERP has a total disgust for getting wet. And as we found out the other day, when we went to the park; he also hates sand. Really hates sand. As in "clean my hands every time it touches me" hates sand. He should be a ball of fun at the beach this summer.

So the water thing. He hates it. Unless it's the dogs dish, a small puddle or his water table. Water he has to get into. Forget it. When he has to be bathed, it's a two person job. One to hold him down and the other to wash him. He totally looses his shit. Seriously. And he tries to escape from the water like it was on fire. He will scale you like a cat climbing a tree to get away from a dog.

Actually he tries to climb me a lot. He is without a doubt a "worn child". He is also a mama's boy. He likes Husband enough, until I'm around. When I am around, everyone else if chop liver... assuming you don't like chop liver.

Food. Food is all over the place. Some days he's eats, and eats a variety of stuff. Other days he turns his nose up at everything.

He's all about doing what his brothers do. He loves hanging out with them. He likes RR to take him for walks in the stroller, and he loves playing play-doh and coloring with TT.

But he doesn't plenty his brother's never did. He climbs. Oh, he climbs. On everything. He likes to stand on chairs. He races from one side of the couch to the other. And it's not like we endorse these activities; they happen in a blink of an eye. He certainly keeps us on our toes.

And for everyone that ask - how's he's sleeping? He's not. We'll just leave it at that.

And now... the photos.

A Year!

ERP is a year old. Actually one year and five days. But, who's counting?

We had his one year well child check today. And guess what? He is still a peanut. Getting more and more peanutty as he gets older. He is a whooping 18 lbs. and is 28.5 inches long - note this was said dripping in sarcasm. For ever inch TT is a giant, ERP is just the opposite. His weight is holding steady at the 3 to 5% but his height has gone from about 20% down to 5%. He's petite as his doctor put it. He is easily 4 inches shorter and 4 pounds lighter than his brothers were at this age.

What he's got that they didn't have - sixth teeth!!  And more coming in. He has four top ones just about in, the two bottom ones (he's had those for months) and some random ones further back making their way on through.

He is "this close" to walking. He's taking a couple steps between Husband and I. He cruises along furniture, but still loves to crawl. And he is FAST.

He is still nursing on demand - read all night long - and eating three meals a day and two snacks as well. He is fully eating table food and has what we are having (as long as the sodium isn't insane). The only food he doesn't like - eggs - scrambled or fried. But he will eat them boiled.

He says "mama" and "dada" and RR swears he says his name. He makes lots of other sounds as well, but I don't think they mean anything at this time.

He is still napping two times a day. Some days he still naps three times.

He is stacking blocks and putting things in and out of containers. He waves bye-bye and loves to clap and read books. In his jumper he rocks it back and forth, and gets some serious air time.

We celebrated his birthday on December 6th with a circus themed party. His brothers even had clown wigs to wear. Husband and brother-in-law did an awesome job with the streamers and I made a five layer rainbow cake.

And I didn't cry. OK, maybe once...

Oh yes... and the crazy hair. He has some serious crazy hair.

Things I don't want to forget from this last months
~ How the hair on the back of his head is so course - and he sleeps on his belly so that's not it
~ How the rest of his hair is super wispy and fine
~ The way he HATES and I mean HATES the shower
~ The way he arches his back and becomes stiff as a board while crying and turning red when he doesn't want to do something - like go to bed or get a diaper change
~ His smile and his giggle
~ The "stork bite" on the back of his neck - I am guessing it's a faint birthmark by now.
~ The way he will happily lay on me in the darkness for hours on end
~ How afraid of meeting St. Nick he was
~ The way he looks in he morning with his hair all a mess
~ How he loves his pacifiers and will crawl around with one in his mouth and one in each hand
~ The way he plays with TT and they are doing more actual playing these days
~ The way RR simply adores him and dotes on him
~ The face he made when he saw his light up book for his birthday
~ His baby smell
~ The softness of his skin and hair

Friday Five - The Sick Edition

This week was dominated by sick little boys. Three of them to be exact. Three boys, all with hand-foot-mouth-disease. In case you are not up with your infectious childhood illness this disease is marked by a fever to start with, then puss filled sores around the mouth (and in the mouth and throat), on the hands and feet - hence the name.

So this week I am thankful for:

1) Acetaminophen and ibuprofen - for those fevers over 103F.
2) Snugly PJs and blankets - for when the chills hit
3) The magic mixture the nurse on call told me about - Maalox and Benadryl - for treating those mouth and throat sores
4) Naps, naps and more naps - because they were up all night
5) Three little boys on the mend - Amen!

Blissful Awakening

Wednesday morning brought the rude end to my time off from work and the end of RR's summer vacation. The alarm went off at 7am, and the day began. Thankfully I was still technically off from work, so I was able to take my morning slow.

Thursday I was back at work, but I had a class to attend; much closer to my home than work so I was also able to ease into the day (some).

Mind you... ERP was not sleeping during the time.  Thursday night we discovered the first "toother" had popped through and sleep mystery was solved.

Friday I was back in the office and RR had decided to go running before school.  This meant up and out, way earlier than we both had been up and out in a while.

Yawn.  Friday was a long day.

Last night I crawled into bed early.  Ready for some serious shut-eye.  Only to be awoken by ERP shortly there after.  I was concerned.  Generally speaking, if he sleeps from bedtime till after midnight it will be a good sleep night.  Waking before then and it is typically a long night.

But last night he proved me wrong, and after his little snack he slept till 4am.  From 4am to 5:30am, it was rough. Husband and I were tag teaming taking care of ERP and sleeping, or trying to sleep.  At 5:30 we opted to give him so Tylenol, he has another toother just about to pop through, and I took him back to bed with me, where he nurses till we both drift off.

Fastfoward to 8:30am... and I slowly start to wake up.  Aware that the room is brighter than I am used to. We nurse and snuggle.  Daddy wakes up and we play with Daddy.  ERP babbles, we all giggle and the day slowly starts.

Around 9am TT wakes up and comes to bed to nurse.  ERP snuggles happily with daddy.  Shortly after TT is done nursing RR wakes up.  He comes and snuggles with Husband and his brothers.

I take TT for a shower and come back to find RR snuggling with his littlest brother.

It was a quiet and relaxed morning, a blissful wake-up after the first week back at school and work.

RR then proceed to keep snuggling ERP even after I got him dressed.

8 Months

This year is ticking along really quickly, and ERP turned 8 months old last week.  I've already started thinking about his first birthday.  Gasp!!  I can't get over how much he's grown.  We're still nursing, and we're still working on sleeping better.  ERP is sitting like a pro, and is getting very close to being mobile. Just before he turned 8 months old we added in a second meal of solids per day, but then he started getting constipated so we backed off.

ERP is still my little peanut.  He's wearing a 3-6 month cloth size typically. He just started wearing a size 3 disposable diaper.  And I may finally have to move the straps on his car-seat up. Speaking of diapers, this month ERP had a terrible diaper rash. More terrible than any rash his brothers ever had. So he spent a good week without diapers, except when he was sleeping or we were out.  (Yes, our floors and all his seats were covered in doggie-wee-wee-pads... it was a great look NOT!)  Now that was fun. I think the cause was a funk in our cloth diapers, so those went out to be professionally sanitized, after a failed attempt at home to do so.  Who knew these services even existed?

So... what I want to remember from this month:

~ I really noticed that ERP has a sacral dimple
~ How he rubs his head and pulls his hair when we are nursing and he's sleepy
~ That is finally likes bathes
~ How much he still hates showers - he cries just hearing them
~ Actually he cries anytime anyone else cries
~ And he cries over loud noises
~ How he learned to splash in the bathtub
~ If he is in the kitchen while we are making dinner, he needs to be eating otherwise he screams
~ Those 2 weeks of wonderful sleep where he was only getting up twice to nurse
~ How excited he is to see me when I get in from the office
~ The day we went to playgroup and he stood there shaking a toy and yelling his head off
~ The night he pulled himself up to his knees in his crib
~ Playing "ball" with Teddy
~ His hair finally growing in on the bald spot on the back of his head
~ The first time he had broccoli - he LOVES it
~ He mastered using a straw cup
~ He had his first shopping trip where he sat in the carriage - he started out well, then ended the trip laying on his back and hanging his feet out of the cart... we're back to babywearing while shopping
~ He started sleeping unswaddled, and became a side and back sleeper


And now what you've been waiting for...