Daycare Drop-Off

Well, I did it.  I dropped my most precious blessings off this morning in the K2 room and nursery at local church dayschool.  And, so far, I’m OK with it (it’s only been an hour).  I decided to give us a few days to adjust, so N is staying 5 hours today, a little longer tomorrow, and maybe 6 hours on Friday before I go back to work full-time on Monday.  A is an old pro and super excited to have the big brother job of checking on his baby.

They are armed with plenty of inchbug-labeled Mommy milk, extra bibs, burp cloths, three extra changes of clothes, his infant carrier, and a paci (in case he randomly decides he wants to take it).  They know he has reflux and occasional blood streaks in his stools.  Both of these issues have been significantly better since he switched from Zantac to Prevacid.  They know he sometimes screams to go to sleep and does not usually respond well to rocking and bouncing when this happens. They know he loves to stretch out and be talked to when he is not sleeping, and he tries to sing when others sing to him.  They learned in 15 minutes what it has taken me three months to learn about my precious N. So, I suppose I have a right to worry about him just a little.

But, since he was greeted by three sets of warm, nurturing arms and seven baby playmates, and he was all sorts of content with smiles at drop-off time, I’m going to try to accomplish some goals today during his 5-hour stay.  Tomorrow is a Mommy/A play-day so N will go for part of the day again, and Friday I plan to leave N a little longer before the full-time work stuff starts Monday.

Here are my goals for the day in no particular order…and I may just extend the completion deadline for some of these through Friday afternoon to make this day as stress-free as possible:

Blog.

Eat an uninterrupted lunch with my hubby.

Remember to pump.

Put away the four loads of clean laundry.

Organize the wrapping supplies that have been in the corner of the office since Christmas.

Find a gray tank to go under a sweet new top I treated myself to from a cute shop downtown that I plan to wear on my hot date Saturday night :).

Pick up two happy boys from above-mentioned daycare.

Watch the Heels beat Duke at home with my blessed little family.

So, here I go!

 

 

 

A Second 2nd Month

We just celebrated a second month with Little N. The first month was rather difficult – I’m not going to lie.  We suffered through colic, reflux, and just a generally seemingly painful, unhappy baby time.  After 6 1/2 weeks of thinking he was just a fussy baby and everything would work itself out, I finally decided he was miserable, and things were not normal.  He started Zantac at 7 weeks, and I am now on a strict, dairy-free diet.  Within 48 hours of making these changes, his temperament drastically improved.  I take back anything I ever said about food sensitivities in breastmilk and fussy babies – I guess you just don’t know until you live it.

Digestive issues aside, N. is a happy, growing, and active two-month old.  He weighed in at 11 lbs., 9 oz. (29th %ile), only 4 oz. less than his big brother, and he is 23 1/2 inches long (68th %ile), a half inch longer than A.  He made it through his first shots with 10 minutes of excessive screaming and extra cuddling from Mommy and then slept most of the rest of the day.  I am enjoying getting to know our precious baby boy #2 and am trying not to count down the time we have until I go back to work (4 1/2 more weeks).  He is now smiling, cooing, tracking well and making good eye contact with us, and he kicks his little, skinny legs constantly.  And, drum roll please, he sleeps 8 hours at night and has been doing so since 5 weeks!  That leaves us more energy to chase around Little A. who is now almost three – yikes!

5 weeks

6 weeks

7 weeks

8 weeks

8 1/2 weeks – First Orange Bowl (Fail)

9 weeks

I was pleased to see that I have at least one picture of every week of his life, so far :).

 

The Big ONE

Our little man turned ONE on Saturday.  I feel like the year flew by, and yet Ron and I can hardly remember what life was like without him.  He truly is a blessing who has brought us much joy and taught us to laugh more, cry more, and learn more about ourselves and our relationships, both with God and with each other, as well as with friends.  He has helped us prioritize and learn to examine situations from multiple perspectives, in only 12 short months…

Here are 10 other things Little A. has taught me, in no particular order:

1.  I can get dirt, food, and poop stains out of nearly anything.

2. I might be 5 minutes early or 15 minutes late on any given day, but I’ll still get there.

3. I can be successful as a working Mom both at work and at home; though it’s not always easy and I feel guilty in some respects, it seems to be the right situation for all of us.

4. As soon as I think I can plan a day around his schedule, he will either give up a nap or fall asleep in the car between errands.  Spontaneity is reality.

5. A smile, hug, and a kiss go a very long way in the eyes of a child.

6. If a baby wants just one ‘muh duhk’ before bed…read it to him.  The moments that he will actually cuddle in your lap and sit there long enough to get through a whole book are few and far between.

7. No matter how on top of things I think I am, accidents will happen.  I cannot control every situation.

8. In advocating for my child, I might get my feelings hurt or might be met with opposition, but I still owe it to him to try my hardest to do what is best for him.  Only I am his mother.

9. If he shares his cheerios with the dog using the floor as a plate…he will live to tell about it.

10. There are no such things as ‘perfect parents,’ no matter how hard we try.

Here are a few pics to help us remember our little monkey’s big day.

Part 1: The Setting…a relaxed, early evening cookout with 20 close family members and friends.

I tried my hand at a birthday banner...

and added pictures of his expressions and silly personality from every month of his life so far.

But I let someone else make the yummy cake and 'eggless' monkey smash cake...both were great!

Before the cake

Part 2: The Food and Friends

Wow...I get to see Granny and Nana at the same time? This must be a special day :).

A. cooked burgers with Daddy.

We were able to celebrate with old friends from out of town and special SC friends!

Part 3: The Fun for Little Man

Hard at Work

'Ohhhh..tuhhhk'

Balls and shoes and pool toys...oh my.

Part 4: The Cake Finale

Please don't make me wear this stupid hat!

He studied it for awhile...What is this stuff you call cake?

The verdict is in: the cake smashing was an overwhelming success, stitches and all!

I think he consumed more butter and sugar in five minutes than in his entire first year of life, as I am sure most kids do.  We had a great evening celebrating our little one’s first year and hoping for many more to come!  He has enough toys and cute clothes to last him awhile, and we appreciate everyone’s thoughtfulness and well wishes.  I know this was a long post, but our son only turns ‘1’ once, right?  And, if the speed of time in the past year is any indication, it won’t be too long before we’ll need these pictures and captions to help us remember this day!

Happy first birthday, sweet boy!  Look how much you have grown and changed already.

March 27, 2009

 

Stitches

I suppose no one ever plans to spend time in an ER (unless of course you work there), but our Friday night definitely did not go as planned.  Here’s a recap:

7:30pm – Little A.’s normal bedtime…Instead, we were hanging out at Ron’s sister’s new house planning to enjoy a quiet evening while Nick smoked some BBQ.

8:45pm – Little A. was finally ready for bed after finishing what was supposed to have been his last bottle…ever. (I didn’t have the heart to take it away last week after the turn of events).

8:47pm (all in a matter of seconds) – Little A. sees something interesting under couch.  He picks it up.  Unidentified object is a drinking glass.  Mom mistakenly reaches for it saying, “Oh no.  Let’s give that to Aunt B.”  A. jerks and takes off to the kitchen, with Mom within a fingertip’s reach of the glass, and slips on the hardwood floor breaking his fall with the glass, which proceeded to break and slice the palm of his hand.

8:55pm – Aunt B., who also happens to be an ER nurse, got the bleeding almost stopped and recommended a trip to the ER.

11:45pm – We finally headed home to begin our weekend over again and digest the events of our baby’s first boo-boo.

An overwhelming sense of Mommy-guilt, $125 ER copay, X-rays, many shed tears on both parts, and 8 stitches in the tiny palm of a baby’s hand pretty much sum up the evening, but we took a couple of pics just to remind us and show him someday:

Poor baby...when we change the bandages, he touches the stitches and says boo-boo. We say, 'Yes A. You have a very big boo-boo.'

I thought we had covered all of the 'firsts' except his birthday, but this one is 'First Ride Home from the ER.'

After seeing so many truly 'sick' children in the ER, I felt so blessed to have a healthy, bubbly baby boy who would get to go home with us that evening. I couldn't lay him down right away, so I let him cuddle with us in the bed for a little while. As this picture indicates, he didn't know the difference.

I know he is a very busy boy, and accidents happen, but I never expected an ER visit like this before Little A.’s 1st birthday.  Ron and I are very blessed to never have had to visit an ER in our lifetimes, and even though our experience at Greenville Memorial Pediatric ER was great, we hope to avoid visiting again anytime soon!

 

11 months – Enter Toddler

It seems like I have been posting a ‘monthly update’ every other day, but with mixed emotions, we’ll start counting in years next month!  Little A. is in full-fledged toddler mode these days.  He certainly has a mind of his own, and just like most toddlers, he wants to do everything himself and wants whatever anyone else has.  His stubborn, strong-willed personality is definitely making more frequent appearances (I’m not sure where he gets that from), but he also has a very sweet, loving side that shows just as often.  We are leaving for a family ski trip to CO tomorrow, so I guess we’ll find out what it’s like to be the parents  of a toddler on an airplane.  Thanks to an advice-seeking Facebook post with great response from friends, we have a lot of tips to help us on our adventure.  Little A. and I will have a lot of help as we head West, but we’ll be flying solo on the trip back East.  We’ll have plenty of  ‘nacks’ (snacks), ‘cah-kuhs’ (crackers) and ‘duhks’ (books) to keep us entertained on the plane, as well as a ‘tuhl’ (bottle) for the take-off and landing.

I must finish packing and get to bed, but here are a few pics of what our little man has been up to lately:

Talking to the orangutans on our first zoo visit...

...and then acting like them at home 😉

CAUGHT! Hi Mom. Hi Dad.

It is so hard to tell this precious face ‘No’ sometimes!  I think the fridge could use a little cleaning out, but who has the time?!?

 

First Snow Day!

OK, so it wasn’t a real snow day since it fell over a weekend, but it was Little A.’s first snow outing.  Real snow without ice is a rarity in SC, so we enjoyed the 4 inches that fell Friday night, especially since it melted by the afternoon without causing any major issues.  Here are a few pictures:

Riggs loves the snow (especially turning it yellow)!

Little A. seemed intrigued by the white stuff...

...or maybe NOT!

He was much more impressed by neighbor Mr. Matt's big, loud, old, red truck!

Mr. Fussbucket (Translation: "Dear Mom, Please remove my boots, snowsuit, and three layers of clothing so that I may walk again. Love, A.")

Our Family of Snow-bunny Wannabes - February 13, 2010

We topped off the morning at our local McDonald’s with breakfast by the fire with our next-door neighbors, and then Ron and I celebrated our 7th Valentine’s Day together at a Brazilian steakhouse in downtown Greenville to complete our February snow day.

It is hard to believe Little A. only has one more ‘first holiday’ left before the big ONE :).

 

Mr. Independent 10-month-old

He loves to fill up his wagon and push it around outside - he thinks he is SOOO BIG and wears a permanent grin when he is outside.

Our little man turned 10 months old on January 27th!  He is changing daily and his face lights up when he learns something new or accomplishes something novel (like successfully removing the roll of toilet paper and putting it in the toilet, or stepping in the dog’s water bowl and dancing while wearing shoes and socks).  His newest accomplishments include the newfound independence of walking, which started when he took his first real steps across a whole room to greet me when I picked him up from Granny’s on January 19th.  I had been home with him all day on that Monday MLK day, but of course he had to wait until we weren’t there to see him take off.

Since then, he has started repeating everything and now says the words ‘more,’ ‘bye-bye,’ ‘dog,’ ‘ball,’ ‘bath,’ ‘book,’ and ‘no’ consistently and spontaneously.  His favorite book is the ‘tut duk’ (Dr. Seuss’ The Foot Book).  And, he says ‘eee eee ooo eee’ to his monkey lovie as part of his bedtime routine.  Needless to say,  he keeps us on our toes and laughing constantly.

His newest mealtime trick (other than finally drinking out of a straw cup on his own) is spitting raspberry-ing out several of the nutritious foods that used to be his favorites, like green peas, apples, avocado, banana, and lima beans.  Mealtimes are also much more of a challenge these days since we have learned that he does indeed have an egg allergy.  Despite giving him exclusively breastmilk through 7 months, waiting until after 5 months to start solids, and introducing all organic foods at the textbook times, we join the ranks of parents of children with food allergies.  We are hoping he grows out of it in the next few years, but in the meantime I am researching eggless birthday cakes, and his diaper bag is packed with Benadryl and a hopefully unnecessary Epipen Jr.  Any suggestions for nutritious eggless meals will be much appreciated.  I had him tested for peanuts just to see when we were with the allergist, and he was negative, so at least peanut butter is a protein option, and he loves chicken and turkey.

We can’t wait to see what the next month has in store for our growing little man – a car seat upgrade, perhaps?

 

Happy 2010!

It is hard to believe 2010 is here, and 2009 flew by.  As I reflect on the year, as with every year, there were ups and downs.  The year started out tough, but mostly for us, this past year brought much joy and excitement and opened a whole new chapter (or maybe series) of our lives.  Here are a few memories that stand out presented through pictures:

January House Fire: We watched Ron's parents' home, where he grew up, burn through the night, but we cried tears of joy that his parents are with us today and stayed so strong through the entire process.

March - We welcomed Baby A., and the Tarheels won another National Championship!

April: Easter in Atlanta

May: First Mother's Day, Trip to Chapel Hill, First PGA Tournament @ Quail Hollow Championship in Charlotte

June: First Father's Day and a Family Trip to VA

July: Little A. experienced his first dip in Papa's pool, went to his first Brave game, traveled to Raleigh to spend 4th of July with the Piccs, and Ron and I celebrated our 3-year anniversary.

August: Baptism Day and the experience of a smooth transition back to work.

September: Labor Day trip to OIB

October: We enjoyed three NC weekend trips to Winston-Salem, Hendersonville/Sky Top, and to visit Jennie and Chris and see their new home.

November - December: We visited with our SS class, family and friends, took Little A. to his first Tiger football game and basketball game, watched Lauren graduate from GSU, traveled to Alpharetta, VA, and DC, enjoyed a weekend getaway to Opryland, and experienced the joy of the Thanksgiving and Christmas seasons as a blessed family of three.

Little A. spent his first new year’s eve in Yorktown, VA, while Daddy was back in SC.  Of course, our little man fell asleep long before midnight anyway, so he wasn’t disappointed by the rather calm 2010 celebration.  Here he is with Nana watching the Hokies play and signaling touchdowns during the Chic-Fil-A Bowl:

Touchdown Hokies and Happy New Year!

We enjoyed visits with Aunt Linda, Uncle Jerry, Kevin, and Nanny in Chesapeake, a nice New Year’s Eve (with the exception of missing my new year’s kiss) with Aunt Sandy and Uncle Randy in Yorktown, a brief visit with the Brays in Williamsburg, and a great time catching up with aunts, uncles, and cousins to celebrate Nanny’s (aka GG) 75th birthday at Aunt Brenda’s house in Washington D.C.  I even got to have a short visit with college roommate and sorority sister, Amanda, and Little A. and I got to see her new place in Arlington.  All in all, our little trip was a great start to the new year.

Here’s to 2010 – wishing all of you many joys and blessings this year!

 

First Christmas Recap

Little A. has officially experienced his first Christmas, and his Mommy and Daddy think it was the best one yet! It will be impossible to capture all the giggles and smiles that filled each family celebration, but here are a few highlights and pictures:

Dec. 12th – Christmas Family Reunion with the Wades

Playing with Papa Wade

We stopped at the fairgrounds to see the 'Nights of Lights' on the way home. Little A. loved the lights but was not too impressed with Santa!

Dec. 19th – We hosted our Sunday School Christmas party and enjoyed celebrating with the Turners, Kulicks, Metcalfs, and newer Metcalfs.  We are blessed to be able to experience such great fellowship with special people.  Next year, we need to remember to take some pictures!

Dec. 20th – Christmas with the Wilson families in Pickens
Little A. got to spend some more time with his 5 older cousins (didn’t take the time to figure out how many times removed, etc., so we will just call them cousins), and they showed us a lot of the joy that the anticipation of Christmas brings. We have a lot to look forward to over the next few years!

Dec. 23rd – Dinner and Annual Viewing of “National Lampoon’s Christmas Vacation” at Granny and Pop’s condo with Aunt Becca and Uncle Nick (Our little man took his bedtime bottle and went to sleep within the first five minutes.) Becca gave them a picture she painted of their old house for Christmas which will be a beautiful part of their new house when it is complete.

First Christmas Eve Eve

Dec. 24th – A.M. Breakfast and Christmas with Ron’s family at our house with Granny, Pop, Aunt Becca and Uncle Nick
We enjoyed breakfast pie and hashbrowns and exchanged a few gifts. Little A. received his Radio Flyer push car and a play cube to keep him entertained.  We also gave Granny her third digital camera in three Christmases (#1 – Lost, #2 – Burned in House Fire, #3 – we hope ‘the third time’s a charm’).

What did Santa bring?

Merry Christmas from Granny and Pop!

I think the boxes were his favorite toys!

Dec. 24th – Afternoon Lunch at Nana and Papa Wade’s with Uncle Len, Aunt Lorri, and Marley, Granny and Pop, Becca and Nick
Little A. received his first $100 from Nana and Papa and thoroughly enjoyed all the love and attention he received! He also tried a couple bites of his first prime rib and asparagus.

Great-Nana Wade, look what I can do!

I never knew crochet tasted this good.

Question of the Day: Do I eat this or put it in my college savings?

Dec. 24th – Evening We packed up the car and headed to ‘Milpharetta, GA’ to spend Christmas with the Michaels. We enjoyed a traditional ham dinner on Christmas Eve. I was very disappointed that the candlelight Christmas Eve service was not working out for Little A.’s schedule, so we rode around and looked at lights (in the rain) and read him ‘The Story of Christmas’ telling him about the birth of Jesus.

Dec. 25th – We celebrated Christmas morning with the Michael Family, Papa Kevin, Nana Lynn, Aunt Lauren, Aunt Erin, plus Riggs, Bailey, Jackson, Remy, and Tigger (affectionately referred to as ‘the zoo’). Little A. again received from super-cute and needed clothes, a convertible push/ride-on toy, and a big learning farm. He spent the afternoon sleeping off his busy couple of days and learning how to play with all his new toys with Aunt Lauren and Nana while Papa, Dad, Mom, Aunt Erin, and Drew caught Avatar in 3D at the Avenue.  We enjoyed a breakfast of Nana’s yummy breakfast pie and Christmas dinner of perfect Prime Rib!

We get to do this again!?!

We celebrated a great Christmas with family, and we were certainly able to experience great joy and remember the true gift of our Lord and Savior with our little guy!

Little A. and I are heading to VA and DC with the Michaels tomorrow to celebrate the New Year and GG’s (my Nanny/grandmother) 75th birthday, so I need to get busy unpacking and repacking…

 

Thanksgiving in Review

I feel as if I have been neglecting our blog lately, and since Thanksgiving is my favorite holiday, I really wanted to recap our little guy’s first turkey day before Christmas sneaks up on us.

Thanksgiving has always been the one time of year when we always make an effort to spend time with as much family as possible, and with the exception of traffic (air and ground), there is not near as much stressful anticipation, commercialization, need for last minute gift shopping, or just plain hustle and bustle as at other times of year.  I also love the colors, scents, and crisp air of Fall, and I am reminded more often during this season of all the blessings that have been bestowed upon us.  This year added a whole new realm of ‘thankfulness’ since we were able to celebrate with Little A.

Playing with Granny

He loved his turkey, peas, sweet potatoes, mashed potatoes, and rice!

Taking a bottle with the help of a much older, experienced cousin...

Grandma Wilson with all 6 great-grandchildren!

After a wonderful Thanksgiving meal with the Wades and Wilsons, we packed up the car again with stuff and the Riggs pup, and we headed 2.5 hours South to Thanksgiving with the Michaels (and friends) in Milton, GA.

Thanksgiving #2 - Part of the Crowd

We spent the Friday night after Thanksgiving at Stone Mountain with Nana, Papa, Lauren, and Erin.

Great Family Fun!

Until the train ride, when he became tired, hungry, and bored.  His favorite parts were the Polar Express 4D Experience, although he wouldn’t wear the glasses of course, and a 1/2 hour musical review complete with four singing and dancing elves – he danced and jumped the whole time which was better entertainment for me than the show itself!  Then, despite the fact that it was 9:30 and two hours past his bedtime, he was intrigued by the Snow Angel who flew over the park and made it ‘snow.’

Snow Angel at Stone Mountain (from Little A.'s perspective)

All in all, we had a wonderful first Thanksgiving with our little guy and both families, and we look forward to many more happy holidays and times together!  Next up for the Wilsons is an adventure to Statesboro for Lauren’s graduation from GSU and Four Christmases :).