Ears better, sleep waaaay better.

Took Bright in to doctor for a re-check since he was still pulling at his ears. Infection is gone, just teething pain from working on his molars.... Great and not so great. He slept from 7:45 until 9:15 last night, woke up for like 2 minutes and slept uninterrupted from 9:15 until 5:50 this morning. Hot dog!

Here's a picture of our little guy. I got this outfit for $1.25 at the second hand store in town. Doesn't he look grown up??

Not much to report

Just a few pictures and a rather slow day.Bright before breakfast- wearing daddy's hat. He can say "hat"
now.
Do yourself a favor and avoid buying this barnyard bowling game if you don't have more than one child. Why? Because you will be the one setting this up every time your child gleefully knocks it down- which is as soon as you have half of it set up. If you have two or more kids, I say enlist (bribe) one of them to be chief in charge of setup...
Bright has a new obsession with pots and lids- he loves putting the lid on top of the pots in the kitchen, if I let him. They are soooo loud in our kitchen and he seems to enjoy this game as soon as Andy leaves for work at 8:00am, a bit loud for banging like that in an apartment. So, after taking away his lid this morning due to the noise, a meltdown of epic proportions ensued. The only thing that put an end to it was me giving him an olive branch in the form of the strainer- which he promptly bit and left a nice crease in the mesh.

Today was full of ups and downs. Bright only took a half hour nap with me this morning and was pulling at his ears for much of the day. He was pretty good through most of his afternoon playdate and then tried to whack Madelyn in the head with a tupperware bowl. Andy thinks he was trying to put it on her head like the two of them do when they play "Commander Colander and Corporal BowlHead" in the kitchen. Hmmm.. Back to the doc's tomorrow to investigate this ear situation. We'll be seeing her again in a week and a half for his one year but I don' t think we should wait that long. Perhaps we will get the green light for eating eggs and drinking milk while we are there- that would be great. French toast for breakfast with a side of whole milk! He'll be the only one drinking whole milk in this house. I prefer my milk to be as skim as it gets and Andy won't drink the cow. Interesting how the doctors push the cow milk on you as soon as the babes turn this magical number of a year old- suddenly all things previously forbidden are fair game- milk, eggs, honey, etc.

Gearing up for the birthday

So tonight we got together our invitations for Bright's birthday party. I can hardly believe that he is going to be a year old on the 9th of March. Still seems like not that long ago that he was born. I can finally say that the whole labor and delivery are becoming more and more of a distant memory. Hard to forget 30 hours of grueling discomfort and pain but apparently it does happen. I don't think that Andy will ever forget it though- whenever we, or should I say I, talk about a sibling for Brighty he always says no way, not gonna go through that again. So I can only imagine what it must have been like for bystander that couldn't do very much to help and to feel totally helpless for that long. But looking back there are several things about that night and the night before it that make us laugh and have fond memories- we'll keep those and let the others go.

Here are some pictures taken recently:

This is the face I get whenever I try to take a picture of Bright and I am not quite fast enough.

We are working on "Don't touch the stove it's hot, hot, hot. Ouch- you can get burned!" Not very successful- he either laughs, like in this picture, or he cries because he thinks he is in trouble or that mommy is hurt. This is not easy....

His sweet, "I have something I shouldn't have face" as he holds on to one of mommy's papers he snatched from the table. He can reach just about everything that he shouldn't now- we are thinking of hanging things from the ceiling next week :)

Sweet Stretch

For the last three nights Bright has been clocking about 7-8 hour stretches at night. He has been ready for the day to start at 5:00am though too because of this. Ugh! Well- we'll all figure it out and get back on track eventually. I was reading BabyCenter.com on the updates for our 11 month- 3 year baby. It said that most babies by 12 months have 2-3 teeth. That made both Andy and I crack up in a semi-hysterical (and not in the funny ha-ha) way as we looked at out not yet 12 month old with 8 teeth, currently drooling up a stream while working on first year molars. Jeesh Bright- we know you are advanced but the teething we could really just give a rest for a bit and things would be okay...:) His teething has to be the most drawn out, frustrating process for him. It makes him miserable off and on for weeks until one pops out. Today the poor guy actually bit me hard on the shoulder he was so frustrated. Not that he hasn't bitten either of us before, because oh, has he ever. I remember when we would let him suck on our finger instead of a paci as a newborn. We were both dead set against that from the start, although we did have two of them and yes we did use them in emergencies and no, they never really worked. To this day Bright will find them around the apartment and pick them up and chew on them the wrong way. Then the teething started and Bright would chomp on our fingers with his little gummy mouth and then he started adding more pressure to it and it would be uncomfortable. Then the teeth popped out and he was like a gnawing puppy. He would get excited and nip us, he would get tired and nip, etc. All of these were redirected and easily forgiven. Today's bite was way, way harder and made me actually cry. Forgiven- yes, but after I gave myself a baby break. we all need them from time to time.

Friday I cashed in my gift certificate from Christmas and got myself a first time ever pedicure. Thanks Mom and Pop! I think I might be hooked. I asked Andy what color to get before I left and he said pink, so I came back with a sweet Pepto-Bismal pink. Bright promptly came over and tried prying my toenails off my toes.

The sick is still hovering around this place. Bright's nose is still crusty and he has a cough still. His ears must still be bugging him since he keeps poking his fingers in there and has woken up three times in the last hour since we put him down. But he also digs at his fingers when his teeth are bothering him since apparently the same nerve that runs along their gums also feeds their ears. Wish I had my own otoscope so I could check it out at home. Off to bed for some hopefully healing sleep.

Still Sickly

Bright has been napping like a champ since the ear infection- napping like a champ when he is snugged up next to me in our bed that is... I have been bypassing the crib entirely since he will only nap for a half hour in there and will go for almost two hours next to me. Gives us both a chance to recharge. He slept for 6 hours straight again last night. Woke up a bit after 2:00, nursed and was restless. I asked him if he needed a new diaper and he fell asleep while I was changing him. Slept until 6:00 after that. Maybe our boy will become a better sleeper after all? It's funny- he still has night terrors which are really awful to see, but he now also jabbers in his sleep. He must take after his dad. Andy has some strange/unique sleep habits. We will leave it at that.

Now that lil' Chuffy is almost one I find myself getting really caught up with how much he has grown and changed so quickly and how many things I had worried about really weren't worth getting excited about.

One example was the co-sleeping. Doctors advised against it, but told us they did it with their own kids. People told us he would never sleep in a crib and we would have a 15 year old sleeping in our bed with us. well, he sleeps in his crib- not for long, long stretches of time but we are okay with that. It was good for us to have him close by when he was little- good bonding for both. I only wish that I had not been so worried that Andy would crush him- he really likes getting to snuggle him and probably has not had his fair share of that.

Another was the feeding of solid foods- strange how one coast starts them on solids at 4 months, and another waits until 6. Each side thinks the other is a bit off in their decision for one reason or another. Bright's choking on solids sure was rough and made us rethink what the doctor wanted and what we wanted for him. Ultimately he is eating just fine and we never had to subject him the swallowing study after all. Every baby develops at their own pace. Andy really took over on that one and was more brave in getting Bright to try new textures than I ever would have been- although When I see him letting him stick 4 pieces of Veggie Booty in his mouth at one time, I have to put my foot down :)

I cannot get over how fast he took to walking. It seemed like one day we were counting how many steps he was taking at a time and the next we were looking around the room to figure out where he had taken off to. He is super fast and really out of control most of the time. We need to start getting him to wear shoes now. He hates them! All of the ones we had he could never wear because his feet were so chubby. Now when I try with some bigger ones- he cries.

Another was the nursing. So many different people gave me their two cents on this. We're still doing it and he has only been sick, sick once. Still planning on sticking with it a bit more after his birthday. We made it through the tongue tie and clipping, the biting (not fun but it passes), and the super distracted phase. Now I can ask him if he wants milkies as we call it and he says "Yesh" or just keeps playing if he doesn't.

The last thing I miss about his real baby phase is that toothless, gummy mouth smile. Nothing quite as sweet as that- as soon as the first tooth pops in it's gone forever. Sigh.


The Beginning


The Present

Intervention Time!

This morning an intervention was held for Bright with some of his closest friends invited. Bright has a bad habit of refusing to wear socks and a hat when going outside to check the mail with Mommy. His friends stopped by- all wearing their hats and socks just to show him how it should be done and that all the cool kids are doing it..... Stay at home has too much time on her hands??

Ear Infection

This is Bright- feeling sick with an ear infection- first one ever- but looking cool in his dinosaur jammies!

Bright and momma hanging out. He looks less than thrilled to be held down for this picture.

So Bright has an ear infection and is on antibiotics. I am a little hesitant to give them to him after all you hear about whether or not they really help ear infections, etc. All I know is last night he finally slept for 6 hours straight again after way too many nights of not....

Still Sick

Bright still has a cold. We all do. Mine are always worse than Andy's, and Bright seems to be in good spirits in spite of the continuous stream of goo that he has running down his nose. Poor guy! We are still looking at interesting ideas for houses. Yurts, shipping container conversion... who knows!

Still Cold and now with a Cold

It is still cold as all get out here- the boys decided it was cold enough to zip back on their faux fur collars for a little added protection from the biting winds. Bright now has a full-fledged cold- possibly the first ever. He has had a sniffle or two in the past that lasted only a day- this is a full on cold. Two nights ago he would only sleep laying on my chest with me sitting upright- all night- because he was so congested. Last night he was just all out fussy all night long. His nose is running constantly and he has a cough. Now, if only I could teach him to blow his nose, or let me wipe it without a battle! Upside to things? He napped for three and a half hours yesterday and was in a great mood until nighttime. Down side? Probably will have to cancel playdate today with cousin Madelyn. Rats!

New skills? sneaking in between furniture and getting stuck, sticking head in between slats on the back of dining chairs and getting stuck, somewhat like the kid that gets his head caught in the staircase, chasing the cat while saying "tat, tat, tat", and as per usual, not sleeping well.

Holy Cold!!

Today is Sunday and it is freezing outside- literally. It is 7 degrees and with the wind chill factor is is -25. Holy cow. I am hoping for a snow day tomorrow- for Andy.

First Words

Over the past few days we have been hearing more and more words coming from Bright. He now says Bye, Hi, Cat, Dada. He has been taking great pleasure at waving to people- all people, even those on tv. He has a delayed wave though, so many times the people that he is waving to have long been out of sight by the time he starts waving. Tonight he is having a tough time getting settled down for the night. Grammy and Grampy came to watch him for bit tonight and I think he got overexcited. I put him down at 8 and he has woken up twice in the last hour and a half... I am going to bed now, this might be a rough one. Again.

Ash Wednesday

Last week Bright's godfather, Brian, came for a visit. He brought his light saber and Bright fell in love!

Bright seemed so grown-up in this vest. Have to love those thrift store finds.


Bright and his proud Papa. Bright has been so chatty lately since Andy has gone back to work. As soon as he opens the door after work, Bright can't stop saying Dadadadada.

We tried to take Bright to Ash Wednesday mass. We lasted until just after the ashes were given out. He wasn't misbehaving- just jabbering the whole time and wanting to walk/crawl up the aisle. We left after I got my ashes. Good thing too since there was freezing rain outside. Almost got excited about the possibility of a Snow Day, then remembered that every day is a snow day for those of us that are stay at homes!!

Bright is walking about 70% of the time now. He is pretty steady most of the time. He can toddle around, scoop up toys and keep on going. Pretty impressive. He is working on his first year molars now. we figure he'll be eating steak and corn on the cob for his birthday. Last night was not such great sleeping, but he did have eight and half hours straight the night before that. Who knows what keeps him up at times and why he sleeps better on other nights.