one tooth, two tooth

Husband spotted it this morning. felt of it with his pinky finger.

"Its broken thru," he tells me. "I felt it this morning. He has his two bottom teeth now."

"I've got to write that down," i say, searching for my wallet calendar thats somehow hidden down in my purse. I pull it out to document the event. 'Second Tooth!' i write.

"And his top left is almost there too. pretty soon he'll have top teeth showing!" husband says.

"oh my gosh," i sigh. not an excited sigh. but kinda a sad one. lately the milestones and the firsts, while still exciting and fun, are also coming along with a bit of sadness to me. they are all signs he's growing up. and its starting to happen even faster. he feeds himself. he doesn't need me to. he can hold his own bottle. he doesn't need me to. sigh. growing up. being more independent. doing things himself. i'm a little sad. but happy too. he's a healthy happy growing boy and brings us SO Much Joy.

speaking of healthy - he is still battling the ear infection problem in the right ear. we took him to the doctor last night for a small lump in his neck and a low grade fever he'd been fighting all weekend, which resulted in some very restless nights, for all of us. i saw him messing with his right ear at the park on saturday. uh oh i thought. The doctor confirmed that the right ear is still infected. this is the fourth time. if counting by doctor visits. but its possible its been one long ongoing ear infection thats never really gone away. we feel thats probably the case.

the doctor gave him a shot of antibiotic to really zap the infection this time. we're hopeful it will finally work. we are doing a followup next monday to see. We're hopeful this will do the trick. The next step would be to go to a Ear Nose Throat Specialist. The Dr said they will want to do a tube in that ear. But we aren't there yet and are hoping this shot will be successful. (dr also confirmed the little lump is only a slightly swollen lymph node from the infection, absolutely nothing to worry about).

but when i say Healthy - He is. sure, ear infections have been a battle for him and i hate that. but in the grand scheme of things, its minor and treatable so for that we are very thankful!!

Easter time...

The kid keeps growing up, despite our efforts to keep him a baby - sigh. He will soon be 11 months old and is eating up finger foods. He pulls up to a standing position on most anything, is about to get his second tooth, and usually, keyword usually, sleeps thru the night these days. He's extra anxious to eat what we're eating, especially me. so if its food he can have, he eats what we have for dinner, i just chop it up into little pieces and feed it to him or he shovels it in himself. He LOVES to point these days. He will still wave goodbye sometimes but prefers to point at people, things, the dogs, and even nothing - just space ha.

This week when he was awaken in the night (usually 3am ish) he isn't upset. he just appears ready to get up for the day!

He shouts " AHHHHH " at me from his pack n play. I look over. He's staring at me thru the mesh wall. He grins and waves. almost laughs. sigh. he's too damn cute but really - 3am? not that cute.

"AHHH" he says again. I roll over to ignore him, hoping he'll lay back down and go to sleep.

"AAAAAHHHHHHHH..... " and then he starts to cry. and cry more.

I go over, lay him down, rub his belly and he stares up at me with WIDE Eyes as if to say. Hey mom, i'm up, lets do something! I pull him into bed with husband and i. he rolls to husband. puts his finger up his nose and laughs. he tries the same with me. i turn my head.

"Sleep time," i whisper to him. and do the sign for sleep, laying him into me.

"AHHHHH" he says, rolling over to pet Nelly. he laughs again.

This cycle goes on for an hour till apparently he gives up on any nighttime fun and goes to sleep.

This is a new one for us. Before he would wake at night, obviously tired but sad, crying, and potentially in pain from teething or fever. etc. This though - happy, alert, awake. As if to say Now What? We're dealing with it as it comes...

The weekend before Easter, we had a visit from my sister and her family. Abram and Ashley finally had a chance to meet. and us moms have decided at the very least a yearly get together in a must from now on. The babies were good with our tourist activities, gung ho before and exhausted after. As babies should be. Example Below...

Before Activity


After Activity


And they all got visits with the Easter Bunny. Abram and Ashley's first time. Emily was an ole Pro!

"Why are these hands so big?" she seems to be thinking...


and the kid seemed to like the big bunny...


His only eggs were a plastic purple one and a solid chocolate one. We (meaning me! ha) loved that chocolate one:) more stuff to come. slowly catching up to posting again!

About Me

The kid's daycare sent home an 'About Me' form for us to fill out - random questions about his favorite toys, any pets he had, favorite food, etc. and along with the questions, they requested 4 - 5 pictures of abram doing his favorite activities, interacting with his pets, or hanging with siblings/parents. we thought, hm, perfect time to get a pic with him and the dogs. HA. HA. HA.

We tried ...

We started inside, where they all 3 had been hanging out... a no go with the dogs. we tempted them with treats which just made sammy hyper.





So we moved outside....

and of course, the dogs need to pee first... can't have a photo made without peeing first!



sammy wants his treat - you can tell. nelly is missing because she's freaking out a neighbor who came walking up. husband yells at nelly to get back in the yard and sit down!!! the kid then gets very upset at husband yelling...



and began to bawl his eyes out... tears a streamin!!



so these were our five attempts. can you guess which one we sent to daycare for his wall? well, we opted to go with the last one. it was just too damn funny to pass up. and there it is, on abrams about me wall:-)

thursday nights...

Thursday nights are for me and the kid. I pick him up and we head home to tend to Sammy and Nelly together. Then me feed him while i manage to snag a little something for myself after working all day. Husband has school All. Day. Long. on thursdays. Literally. He leaves home at 6:45am and usually gets home around 9:30pm or so, with classes basically all day. He's working so hard and is almost done! whew...

And by thursday night, the kid is rather tired from a long week of daycare and being away from mom and dad. He likes for me to hold him basically the whole evening. Not quite as bad now that he's mobile but still - a lot. I love that he wants me this much. yet do still need to do a few things that aren't so easy holding a 19lb pound kid! So i put on the sling, toss him in so he's snuggled up close to me, and go about my business. Feeding the dogs, unloading groceries, getting dinner ready, etc. He loves it. We took a self portrait a couple weeks ago:)



Meanwhile i've been trying to capture a quick pic of THE tooth. His one and only. Yet he just won't let me. that tongue of his keeps coming right out, preventing me from hardly getting to see THE tooth. In other news, we've been with our families recently (and are expecting more tonight! yippee!) and its been so much fun seeing everyone and abram having the chance to visit with them (us too!).

A Tooth !

Though i have many pictures i need to upload, and want to share, i just quickly wanted to post that the kid FINALLY, I repeat, FINALLY has his first tooth! Whew, this baby was a long time coming. He's been so restless at night, clearly not feeling well, and we played the 'whats wrong with the kid' game each night for quite sometime. i read babies can teeth for months. and felt like crying. sigh. but thursday night, while having some play time, i felt those bottom gums where he'd been swollen and ?!? wait?! what is that? a tooth? I had to pin the kid down a bit and hold back his tongue to get a real look. he doesn't like this. he fought me off a bit but i still managed to snag a good look, and - there it was. a little glimmer of white. his bottom left tooth had emerged!

"You have your very first tooth!!" I tell him. Clearly I was more excited than him. "A tooth a tooth a tooth!" i sing to him. He laughs. Now he likes it. Put anything to song and he likes it.

I wondered if more sleep was in our future. I heard, from who or what i don't know, but that the first couple teeth are the worst. I cross my fingers.

The weekend we were traveling and his sleep was still hit and miss. or sleep and wake should i say?

But Sunday night at home he only woke once. Monday night - slept thru the night. When i woke at 4:30am, I examined him as he slept. Yep, still breathing. just sleeping. Ahhh Sleeping.... Sleep:) Last night he woke once, at 2am. i gave him his binky, rubbed his belly, and he dozed right back into a snooze. I quickly did the same myself... with dreams of more full nights sleep in my future... I hope they aren't just dreams anymore.

Family visit...

The kid was so excited by the family visit, he decided to pull up for the first time, to a standing position! Very exciting:) He pulled up from the floor by holding my leg (i was sitting on the couch with the laptop) to try and get to the laptop (which he's obsessed with by the way!). My mom and i were chatting and were both witnesses to this first. so much fun. on another note, husband was gone with my papaw to the store so he missed it. total bummer. especially sinces earlier in the week, there was another first we missed.

When we pick him up from daycare, they give us a form with timelines, showing his activities of the day. When he ate, peed, pooped, napped, drank from a cup, had snacks, etc. this day, i scanned the form quickly and the words "FED MYSELF" popped out at me!!! HUH!? We've been sitting puffs and banana chunks in front of him for weeks and he just smears and smashes. Sigh.

At home we test this. We pour puffs onto his high chair tray. he picks them up, shoving them in his mouth, as if he's been at it for months now. Duh mom and dad. of course i know how to do this... its old news. We exchange remarks of 'hate we missed that', 'can't believe we missed it', 'why'd he do it there and not here', and 'wow, i can't believe he's feeding himself'. The kid grins and throws his head back, displaying three puffs hes cramed in. husband looked concerned. he'll choke he exclaims. i calm him, letting him know, i've tested the puffs multiple ways. and yes, they do really dissolve, its next to impossible to choke on them (even when you try to), and i personally felt they were tasteless. The kid shoves in another one. He clearly likes them though. Or at least the act of eating them. He grins. He's cute.

An Unwanted First

"So how did drop off go?"

Its what i always have to ask during our usual morning phone call. Husband drops off the kid at daycare and we alternate picking up. I go into work too early to ever do a drop off. But since i don't get the experience, i want every. single. detail. was he tired? was he happy? what was he doing when you left? what did the staff say? were his other buddies there? I ask the same question everyday. I often wonder why husband doesn't just offer up this info. he always waits for me to ask. does he think one day, i just won't ask?

"Well, drop off was - different today. We had a first," he says.

"What do you mean? different? how?"

"He cried when i left him today. not just whimpering but real cry - crying. tears. sad face. reaching for me. the whole thing," he rambled, letting out a big sigh.

We've been so lucky. A normal drop off is just that. Normal. uneventful. when he was wee little, husband wouldn't hand him over to the daycare ladies, wave bye, and leave. No issue. lately, the kid has even been waving bye back and grinning. but today. his first tearful 'no please don't leave me daddy, i need and want you, no no no don't go, i'm in tears now, i'm reaching for you, take me with you, please please' goodbye:(

"WHAT? You have got to be kidding me! What happened? What was different? WHY?" I asked.

"I don't know. Nothing was different! It was our usual routine! I handed him over to Nancy, gave her the papers you asked me to, and then kissed him on the cheek, told him I loved him and waved bye bye. His lip came out, a sad look came over, so i grabbed him and snuggled him real tight, kissed him again. and promptly handed him back. I started to walk out while waving. he usually loves this part, where we do the wave bye bye routine. but NOT Today. The sad face came back, he was whimpering and when i kept walking away, he broke out into sobs and tears were flowing! He was reaching for me, his face got all red and sad, then he was pushing nancy away... thats how it was when i left," he finished, paused, then let out a big, sad sigh.

Another Sigh. (husband)

Sigh. (me)

"Well..." (me)

"Yea. Well..." (husband)

"Hmmm..." (me)

"Whats this mean ya think? Maybe he hates it there now? he wants to be with us?" he brainstorms. We go back and forth over several ideas. He was there a long time yesterday. We are sharing one car right now and depending on others for rides, drop offs, etc. So the kid was there for a long time yesterday, the longest he's ever been. Maybe he's going through a seperation anxiety phase? we've read about this. Did something happen there yesterday? Hmmmmmm --

"He's probably sick of the place!" I suggested. "Monday he was there from 8am till 5:15, Yesterday from 6:30am till 5:15! WAY too long. those are just long days. AND when i picked him up, he was sweating! it was too hot in there. He's probably sick of the place and tired of being hot while there, sweating, trying to nap while burning up. AND he got his solid breakfast before his morning bottle, which i did not like, i want his bottle first, then foods!" I ranted. Another sigh - from me this time.

"What if he starts hating the place?" I ask. "It's not like he can tell us!"

"This week is unusual for us because of only one car. So maybe thats it. He's there longer than usual. We get the car back tomorrow. that should help. We'll get back into our routine, meaning less time there, more time at home," husband suggests.

"I guess," I pouted. "I hate that. I don't want him sad, but maybe its bound to happen. Tearful goodbyes. They just go with the territory I hear."

"I guess," he agrees.

So yea, another first. But an unanticipated one. An unwanted first.