Henna: Act II

Done with cranberry juice this time....
I like it!

Valentine's Day

We had a very non-commercial Valentines Day today.... no flowers or cards or diamonds bought with money we couldn't afford to spend to "prove our love to each other."

My husband made dinner for our family (it was his turn) and we watched a movie together, "Akeelah and the Bee".... just a nice quiet evening at home....

But you know: it will be little moments like this, done often, that will cement our relationship more firmly than a diamond I will never wear.... moments like tonight we can take out any time and share together, unlike dozen roses that will wither and be thrown away.

I truly am blessed to have a family that doesn't rely on worldly possessions to make us happy, because, in the end, we can take our experiences, our love, and our family with us.... but all this stuff we have will just be left behind....

my baby's growing up!

My son turns 1 year old on Friday! I don't know how to feel about it.... he is getting so big!

His personality and independence is coming out more, but he still needs me... he still loves to nurse, not as frequently, but still... mostly he nurses for comfort, he nurses most frequently at night. During the day, he nurses when he gets a bump or if he is bored or if he is thirsty, but he doesn't nurse because he is hungry any more... He still co-sleeps with us at night, and he prefers to nap in arms during the day, which is fine with me... I love to hold my baby boy... he wont let me hold him forever, I might as well get my fill now :-)


This year he got 5 teeth, a full head of hair, and the cutest smile you ever saw in your life...

This year he has learned to:

drive his parents crazy and woo the grandparents all in the same moment (from about day 4)
roll over, sit up, scoot, smile, laugh, play in the bath, and swim (0-4 months)
cruise holding on to furniture (8 months)
crawl (8.5 months)
eat solids on his own.... including pennies :-( (8 months...pennies at 11 months)
walk (9.5 months old)
climb (this month and I want to pull my hair out! He pulled his high chair over on top of him!)
he can also say a few words (first coherent word was "mom-mom" at about 6 months)

and a whole slew of other things that I couldn't possibly list on one page...

so the score has been totaled and the results are in...

WE ARE MADLY IN LOVE WITH OUR SON!!!

loose change

My beloved 11 month old son was nursing after having eaten some baked potato. He was squirming, and generally acting like he was uncomfortable. This usually signifies that he is done and wants down, so I put him on the floor where he promptly gave me a look that clearly said "You just don't get it!" and he went to the kitchen to find Dad. We go through this sometimes when he is done with me and wants his father, so I didn't think much about it. Alex stood at the the baby gate and screeched at his dad, who was preparing lunch. My husband stopped what he was doing, and came to see what it was that had Alex so upset. At that moment, Alex starts gagging, he was breathing just fine, so we weren't concerned that he was choking - last time Alex started gagging it was because he had a dry throat from too little nursing after eating. So my husband brings him to me to try and nurse again.

You can tell from my writing thus far that we were not terribly concerned, as we had some experience with Alex behaving this way. But were we ever surprised by what happened next!

Alex continues to gag, act uncomfortable, and refuse to nurse. At this point we were starting to get a little confused, as we had tried doing all the usual things to no avail. Then Alex starts to throw up! Ok, this is different! My husband runs to get something to clean up the mess (he is more squeamish than I am when it comes to vomit) and I pick up Alex and start to get up. I must have put some pressure on his tummy as he spat out a penny. Alex looks at me, smiles the biggest, cutest smile in his arsenal and dives for the boob. Time to refill!

My husband appears out of the bedroom with a receiving blanket to clean up the mess and I handed him the penny. He looked at me and laughed, I laughed, and Alex looks up at me like "Hey I didn't order a milkshake!" and we looked over to see my husband's jeans lying on the floor surrounded by loose change...

oooops!



As good as this story came out for us, this could have turned out much worse. Although it is not always possible to prevent all accidents as kids are quick little buggers... it is important to be mindful of what is in your child's domain.

here is a link that talks about the dangers of children and pets swallowing loose change:
http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/1998/12/981201033841.htm

a picture is worth 1000 words