Happy Birthday, Boo!

Happy Birthday, Big Boy!  Hard to believe Blake is already 1. What a year of blessings this has been. I saw a new born baby in the Nursing Mom's room at church today and it is so hard to believe that Blake was that little just 12 months ago.... Our life has completely changed, but every way for the better. 

Mike and I have loved this adventure of being parents, and I am so aware of how God has helped us care for this little one. If I had known back then that Blake wouldn't sleep through the night even at a year, I am sure I would have been discouraged and fearful for the trial ahead. But God gives us grace just when we need it, and God has given Mike and me abundant grace and patience for the health and sleep challenges of this little one. The delights and joys of being his parents make any challenges pale in comparison to the blessings. 

We continue to pray that Blake comes to trust in Jesus as his Savior at a young age, that he grows to be a humble and joyful servant and leader, and that God protects Blake and gives us wisdom to be his parents.

Here are a few pics of the little boy. Love the crazy hair.

His bangs seem a little long, right? Ahem, well, not any more. Mom got the bright idea to give Blake a trim before church today and unfortunately it looks more like a birthday scalping than a birthday trim. The curls are still on top, but his bangs are cropped (unevenly) way up. A photo of my (humbling) work will surely follow.

It looks like Blake needed a little more fiber in his diet. He took matters into his own hands and gnawed away at this crib this morning when he should have been napping. Doh. I had been thinking that I needed to put that crib-guard up, but apparently I didn't get to it in time. Here is a pic of his handywork:

We've since told Blake (and tried to demonstrate) that biting the crib is a "no" and we'll see how that goes!

I also wanted to provide updates of a few accomplishments of the little boy.

1. He sits and rolls a ball to me. If he is standing up (like in his doorway bouncer) he will even throw the ball to me.
2. After weeks of fighting with him every time I needed to clip his nails (flicking him when he pulls his hand away or wiggles or wines), the other day I took his hand to clip the nails and he just held out his hand for me peacefully and watched me clip his nails. I was SO proud of my little boy, and encouraged that maybe he is starting to understand to heed our instructions.
3. He really does respond when we say "no." It is so encouraging. We say "no" and he stops what he is doing. The other day he was playing with a potted plant's flower and I noticed that there was a wasp on the flower, and quickly told Blake "no" while I rushed to get him away, but it wasn't really necessary since he promptly pulled his hand away when I said "no." 
4. We usually try not to give him a cup in the bathtub because we are afraid he will fill up the cup and try to drink and choke on water. But the other day Mike let Blake have a full (big) cup of water in the bathtub and he poured it right in his mouth. Blake just let the water fall out of his mouth, and he spit out the extra. It was really quite impressive to watch!
5. He is starting to crawl on his hands and knees. He usually only crawls like that for a few steps (4-5) and then goes back to his military crawl, but we are excited that he is even trying.
6. Blake is also cruising a little bit, traveling around on furniture or on the porch rungs. 
7. He is getting a little better saying "all done." He flops his hand on either side, but sometimes he says "all done" when he isn't really all done. He doesn't usually say "more please" even if we ask him to do so over and over to get a treat. He is definitely trying to communicate more, and I hope this sign language will catch on.
8. I've heard him say "Oh Dada" which I think is short for "hellO Dada."
9. Did I mention he says "Mama"!? Sometimes is more like "Mom" and sometimes it is more like "Nana" but I'm not picky. He tends to say it more when he is in his crib, supposed to be napping, and wants me to come get him. (Smart boy - knows how to tug on his mom's heart.)

Stair-Climbing, "Driving" and RSV

The other day Blake climbed up ALL the stairs. I was right behind him, but I couldn't believe my eyes that he managed to pull himself up to the next step time after time. And he was super proud of himself.

He seems to want to try to go back down headfirst (which of course is a "no"!) but for some reason he is very scared about going backward. And for now he doesn't seem to want to try the stairs unless I am right there behind him.

Blake opened a birthday gift a few days early...He loves his new car! I have many fond memories of my brother playing in his car when we were kids, and now Blake has one, too!  Right now we have a floor board in (his feet aren't touching the ground) so we just push him, and he is tickled pink to sit in his car like a big boy.
Outta the way, Mom! (Notice his one hand on the steering wheel!)

Thanks so much, Grandpop and Mare Mare!

And this is just a typical pose of recent days. I love how pulls up on his knees to look out the window or door, with those chubby-perfect feet sticking out behind him. 

By way of news the poor baby has RSV, just in time for his birthday. I took him to the doctor because it had been almost a week that he has had a fever on and off, and the doctor heard some wheezing in his lungs. He prescribed an antibiotic and a bronchial dilator. But Blake just wouldn't take the antibiotic - he vomited every time I tried to give it to him, and it was quite a battle to get him to take it in the first place. At the end of the "battle" he still didn't keep anything down, and I couldn't imagine doing this three times a day. So the doctor told us to stop giving him the antibiotic. Now Blake has diarrhea and is up at night with tummy pain, and I am trying to figure out if it is a side-effect of the other med or of the virus. According to what I read online it shouldn't be a side-effect. However, the bronchial dilator is known to make kids super hyper which explains why Blake couldn't sit still, wanted to climb on me all day, and wouldn't take any naps. After discussing this with the doctor he reduced the dosage amount (but I've still not given any since...I probably should do that, but I'm still reluctant). I definitely notice an improvement with his breathing, but is it worth it if he doesn't sleep?

Also, I've read online that the nighttime coughing can often be an asthmatic cough related to bedroom allergies. Bummer. Blake often wakes himself up coughing at night, and sometimes he coughs if he is very active (which might also indicate asthma). Strangely, he woke up coughing at night at the beach, too, so I don't know if I can pinpoint it to a bedroom allergy. It can be discouraging, but we continue to pray that God heals our baby and gives us wisdom on how to care for him. I am praying that the nighttime cough goes away when he gets over this cold.

Tomorrow is his birthday! Stay tuned for a couple more pics (tomorrow). Unfortunately we'll be hanging out just as the fam, since Blake is sick and RSV is pretty contagious.

OCMD and Almost-One-Year

My mom kindly allowed us to crash her beach condo the week she had it reserved for herself to "relax" before her school year started. I don't think my mom managed to relax at all, as she was serving us the whole time, but we sure loved being there. Blake is very content at the beach condo - we are so grateful he is so flexible, even sleeping in the pack-n-play in our room at night. 

I should mention that he finally figured out how to stand up in the pack-n-play. At nap time we had to continually put him down, even teach him how to sit down once he got himself up (which he eventually learned). But the best was in the middle of the night when he was "sleeping" in our room. We would hear little grunts and rustling of the pack-n-play material and then his little head would pop up above the edge of the pack-n-play which was situated at the foot of our bed. And he would look at us and say "Gook" (which is Blake-speak for just about everything.) He was quite pleased a) that he was able to pull himself up, and b) to find Mommy and Daddy right there! It was very cute, but less so at 4am!

Uncle Matt was so eager to spend time with our little boy. It was very fun to see them together. Once when Mom-Mom was washing her hair the baby unexpectedly woke up during his nap and Uncle Matt was the only other person in the condo. Matt just picked up the baby, and rocked him back to sleep! (Impressive, because Mommy can rarely get him back to sleep if he wakes up early from a nap.)

And they got a beautiful sunset shot together.

A pic of the whole fam...

We also had lunch with my Aunt J and Uncle J who now live near the beach. They have bought numerous gifts for our baby boy, and we are so grateful for their generosity. 

To keep Blake occupied at the restaurant we gave him a lemon, and he loved it (actually we ended up giving him multiple lemon slices, he liked them so much)! Didn't even pucker. I don't understand....maybe his sour taste isn't developed yet? 

Here is my little trouble-maker! Oh, and Blake, too. =) We had to cut the neck of his water shirt because it just didn't fit over his head! (It is a size 12 months.( At this point Blake seems to be wearing 12-18 month shirts/onsies, but he can still fit into some 9 month pants (as long as the waist is big enough). Looks like we have a short-legged boy! His great-grandfather was 6'4" but only had a 30" inseam, so maybe that is where he gets it.

Okay, now some pics from back home, and some general updates... 

Blake always looks so delighted when Daddy holds him, and I just wanted to capture his happy face over Daddy's shoulder. Who wouldn't love that? It looks like Daddy is even giving some butterfly kisses here, too.

This was the cutest thing. For some reason Blake just decided to make a lot of noise as Daddy bounced him around the kitchen today. It might be a little hard to tell, but they are definitely happy noises - he finally cracks a smile at the end.

Other general updates...

Motor Skills:

He is now quite adept at pulling himself up on just about anything, crib included. He has learned how to sit himself back down (which was a big and important step, particularly when it came to going to sleep!)  He even generally understands that he shouldn't pull himself up in his crib when it is nap time. But, as for the rest of the day, this means Mommy needs to be on her toes! I can't just leave him to play in the living room any more - he might pull up on the steps or widow sill or bricks and then fall over (it has happened, and I don't want it to happen again). 

Teeth

He is super clingy these days. Either he was super-spoiled at the shore when he had 4 eager playmates and he never had to play along, or he is teething, or both. I know I gave him a cold last week. He seems mostly over it, but that probably doesn't help his mood. We are waiting for his two front teeth to come in (so far he has 4 teeth, the two bottom, and two top side teeth). We are trying (not sure how successfully) to not let him whine to get what he wants. If he continues to whine we sometimes correct him and it seems to click.

Sleep

As for sleep, generally he still wakes up for one bottle in the middle of the night but the time is very unpredictable, either around 12:30am or 5am. Daddy wants to play hard-ball and let him cry/not give him a bottle. Mommy can't bear the thought of that, however. The wise little boy has responded to these closed-door conversations by periodically sleeping through the night, just enough to give Mommy hope and to  convince Daddy to wait a little longer. These days bed time is later than it was: now it is closer to 7:30/8pm, AND he is waking up later, closer to 7/7:30am. He is still napping twice a day, but the schedule is sometimes shifted a little later since he is waking up later. First nap is generally around 9:30/10am, second around 1:30/2pm.

Food:

Unfortunately he is still showing signs of a dairy allergy. I have given him some yogurt (cows milk and goat's milk), and some things that "may contain traces of milk" and he generally gets diarrhea and painful gas. I haven't tried soy yet, and he is still taking ~4 bottles of EleCare a day. At his 1 year appointment I will need to discuss with the doctor how I can get the nutrients he needs without the formula. Since I can't transition to whole milk I am not sure what the option is. He is doing some finger foods (grapes, bananas, sticky rice, rotisserie chicken, puffed kamut, organic puffs and freeze-dried apple bits), and I am feeding him Beechnut meat/veggie combos, but I will need to expand his food world soon. 

Words

And, drum roll, I really think I have heard him say MaMa at least twice. Wuhoo!! About 12 words preceded it, but better late than never. 

In just 4 days he turns 1 year old. I can't believe at this time last year he wasn't even born yet. What a wonderful year it has been with this little one. It just keeps getting better!

Walker Madness

Our little boy is absolutely crazy as he races around the house in his walker. My favorite is when he picks up speed and holds out his arms, closes his eyes, and just enjoys the wind in his hair. I was able to capture a few brief seconds of this...

I tried to upload some other clips, but apparently Blogger isn't having it, and one is enough for tonight. So I'll end with a bit of news...

After many months of being "behind the curve" our little boy finally decided to sit up on his own. So now (finally) he can get himself into a sitting position from laying down. I think he just hasn't been motivated to sit up until now - so far he has enjoyed life from either a) the military crawl position or b) rolling around on his back. But now, the big boy sits up, too! Phew. I thought he was going to walk before he sat up.

Blake at 11 months (and a couple days)

So this blog post is just me catching up on posting a bunch of pics and documenting some updates on where our boy is at 11 month.

Mom Mom and Blake hanging out in the grass...

Blake isn't sure what he thinks of grass. He usually just pulls it out in handfuls.

And he is finally pulling himself up in his crib. I have some great video to post but I've run into some technical difficulties at the moment.

And there is no real good explanation for this, except we had a box and the baby fit in it. He loved being pulled around in the box, and just sitting in the box for that matter.

And for his latest trick, he loves playing with the water as we fill the bathtub. Since he is so much fun we typically just leave the water running, and he just splashes splashes splashes. I love when he splashes so much and his eyes are all filled with water, but the baby doesn't blink so they just stay filled with water. I didn't quite capture that, but I got some cute moments.

I also wanted to document a few other other tricks the baby has been doing recently:

1. When you ask him "How big is Blake" he raises his hands and we promptly say "SOO big." It looks more like a hold up, he seems so serious, but it is a very cute hold-up!
2. He is starting to understand the baby sign language we are teaching him. He can't seem to get "more" (it looks too much like clapping, I think), but he can do "all done." He flaps his hands on both sides and says something that sounds more like "ah duh" which I think is close enough to "all done." And he isn't shy about telling us he is "ah duh" when we try to feed him something he doesn't prefer.
3. He is a little dancing fiend. As soon as we turn on the radio, he wraps his legs around whomever is holding him and starts to bounce up and down to "dance." He loves it. If music is on and he is on the floor he will do a little wiggle (kinda like the worm without getting any air) and sometimes claps or slaps his hands on the floor to the music.
4. He is a little terror in his walker! He races around the house, picking up his feet on the long stretches for optimal speed, and sometimes he closes his eyes as he glides, with arms wide open, until he crashes into whatever wall or piece of furniture bring his cruise to an end.
5. We hear "uh oh" all the time. It is so cute that we almost forget that we have to pick up whatever he has dropped (over and over and over).
6. He says Dada all the time, too. He definitely knows that Dada is "dada" but sometimes he calls other things "dada" as well. We aren't too picky.
7. He waves "bye bye." Unfortunately he usually only does so after someone is out the door. And for whatever reason he says "dada" every time he waves, probably because Dada is the person he waves to most often.
8. If we ask him where our nose is, he promptly points to it. I was surprised the other day when I was showing him a picture of an ear in a book and he grabbed my ear! He also knows toes and belly.
9. He loves bellies! Particularly after a meal while he is still sitting in his booster seat and I stand up to take off his bib he will pull up my shirt and giggle and often plant a wet zerbert kiss on my belly. Sweet - and a little strange - but we still love it!
10. He says a lot of other words, but not on demand. His other words so far have included (in rough chronological order): Dada, ball, uh oh (I think that counts as a word), baby, car ("cuh"), dog ("gaw" - that might be a stretch, but I really think he was trying to say dog, and he points to the dogs when he says it), duck...I'm sure I'm forgetting something. Everything else is "gook" and he really likes to make gutteral throat noises.

We are continuing to try to train him when he goes after "no touches" with a little flick. He usually responds when we say no, but unfortunately we have to say no to the same things, day after day. He reaches for it, and then turns to me anticipating that I will say "no" and then backs away. Perhaps I should switch him when he reaches for it in the first place, but generally I don't. I shouldn't be surprised, I suppose. He has been mostly responsive when we say "no" when he is whining, too. I feel for him, that sometimes whining is the only way he has to communicate that he wants to be picked up, or he is hungry, so we are working hard to try to get him to says (or sign) "up" and "bah bah."

And lastly, his 4th tooth just poked through, so now he has his two bottom teeth and two side top teeth.

Sorry for the very long post...it has been too long!