11 months & Standing

Today, Derek turns 11 months old. He started talking up a storm shortly before 6 am. But we didn't go in to get him until 6 am. And here's what Mike found:

We have been working with him by incenting him with his favorite toys on the top of the ottoman or couch and he's been so close. We know he has the strength because when he grabs and uses our fingers, he pops right up. I guess he decided to mark the day by pulling himself up to a standing position all on his own.

It's a good thing Mike found time to install the baby gate last night. At this rate, he'll be walking by next week. :-) Yay Derek!

Zoo visit with Cousins

This weekend we had the opportunity to go to zoo with Derek's cousins.  We managed to find some time that worked well with everybody's nap schedule.  It was a lot of fun and wish we could have stayed longer.  

So that's a goat and I'm supposed to touch it like you?

Hi goat!

I'm bigger than this pumpkin!

Sippy Cup

Derek has been using a sippy cup for us for several weeks now for his morning bottle but he was struggling to make the transition at daycare. He did great with it all last weekend too - no bottles. Then it finally dawned on me that he might actually have a preference for a type of sippy cup. So last weekend I went out and purchased another sippy cup like we have at home for daycare. Monday he wasn't interested in his after nap morning milk because it wasn't in a bottle, but daycare gave him no other choice. He drank the milk at lunch wonderfully and also again in the afternoon. By Wednesday, he drank all his milk in a sippy cup and has continued to do so all week. Our little boy, just shy of 11 months, is officially done with bottles!

Big Boy Car Seat

At his gross motor skills appointment, the nurse took an informal weight (clothes and diaper on) but we also asked that she measure him. He was exactly 30" tall. That is the cut off for being in his infant car seat. Luckily this week Target was having a sale on car seats and had the one we wanted for $50 off per seat.

This past weekend, Mike installed Derek's big boy car seat. We should be able to keep this one for quite a while because it goes up to 60 lbs (and he's just over 20 lbs right now). We can keep him facing backward until 40 lbs too - something we were looking for given the new guidelines to keep children rear facing until they are 2 years old.  My little boy is growing up.  

So Proud

Derek has been achieving developmental milestones a plenty lately and he's so proud of himself. He makes the cutest little face and noises that just say "Look at what I can do". We finally captured this on video:

[I have it on video but keep getting 

a server error when I upload.  

Anyone know how to fix this?]

He has also learned how to clap this week. Since he knows how to sign the word "more", I have been giving him more and more food at meals. He started doing the same motion other times and I was a little confused. More stories...okay. More toys.... Then he started getting his hands to make noise. Now he really likes to clap. And I'm guessing he really wasn't asking for more but rather showing me his new found skill. Yay Derek!

Just another phase?

Derek has learned how to get to a sitting position from laying on his tummy - a new development skill.  Yay!  Unfortunately he likes to demonstrate this skill in the wee hours of the morning.  He will start crying, we go back in and lay him down and then he's sound asleep again shortly.  It's like he forgets how to get back to his tummy when it's dark out, even though he does this all the time during the day.  I'm hoping this just another phase that will quickly pass because neither of us are enjoying being woken up 2+ times a night to lay him back down.

Army Crawl

More big firsts for us this week - Derek is officially moving.  It's not very fast and we have to entice him with blocks but he's mobile!  Here's a video of his little army crawl:

This morning Mike went into get Derek and found him sitting up in his crib.  He has learned how to get from his tummy to sitting!  I love the look on his face when he knows he's proud of himself.  It's a look that says "Look at what I can do Mom!"

He's been achieving so many milestones this month I may have to add an extra page in his baby book!

Cutest little sleeper

Every night as part of our bedtime routine, we check or "peek" at Derek.  The last week or so, we have come in to find him sleeping like this:

I can't help but think how uncomfortable this must be for him....but it sure is cute.

Gross Motor Skills Check-up

Today we had Derek's check-up for his gross motor skills.  At his 9 month appointment the doctor said he wasn't were he should be developmentally so we came back today to check on his progress.  Going into today's appointment, I was very nervous and had a lot of questions.  Most of them came as a result of me having time to think and process our last appointment.  (It's becoming very obvious to me that I prefer to take in information and think before giving my feedback.)  Was the doctor concerned that their may be something wrong with him?  How should we be working with him differently to accomplish these milestones?  Is he sleeping to much to be able to have time to learn how to crawl, walk, etc.

All my fears were quickly put to rest when she walked in, smiled, and made the comment that he's made big progress.  He showed off how he can balance by holding onto just our fingers, how he bends down (at the waist) to pick up toys, how he gets into a crawling position from sitting, and how he inches forward.  She said she was concerned at our last appointment because it's right around this age that kids growth developmentally expands exponentially and if we didn't watch this carefully now, we could find that Derek is really behind other kids and it's harder to catch up.

Mike and I were able to address our other concerns, especially how to change the focus of the appointments from the past to the future.  Previously, I felt like our appointments consisted of what we should have been doing with Derek and where he should be developmentally.  I always left feeling like I'm failing as a parent and we kept playing catch-up.  We are now armed with the important developmental milestones for future appointments (kind of like the answers to the test questions) and received some guidance on how to achieve them.

Kiss, Kiss

We give Derek lots of kiss - hello kisses, goodbye kisses, and kisses just because.  Tonight, he started making kissing noises too.

Alone

Within the hour, the ability to do exactly what I want when I want will disappear.  I have been spoiled this weekend and had the entire house to myself all day Saturday and part of Sunday.  Mike is out of town and when my brother & sister-in-law offered to watch Derek for the weekend, I jumped at it.

I was so excited I could hardly figure out what I wanted to do.  Mike made me promise not to do any cleaning and to take time to do things I enjoy.  Friday night I went to bed early and slept in.  (Sleeping in for me still isn't sleeping in because I get up to pump, but I went back to bed after that.)  I enjoyed the nice weather outside and then got all set-up and worked on Derek's baby book.  I completed all of the pages I had pictures for and got organized to get the missing pictures.  Halloween candy has been purchased (at $0.80/bag - go me!!) and I even got caught up on all of my "shows".  I only cheated and did a few loads of laundry and cooked a meal for Derek but both were very easy and required little maintenance from me.

I found myself thoroughly enjoying the days but a little lonely at night.  As part of my bedtime routine, I check on Derek.  But there was no cute little boy to peek on.  And without Mike home too to cuddle in bed with, I had a hard time falling asleep.  My boys are all coming home soon and I'm looking forward to it.  I feel less stressed and even....happy, because I got in a some quality "me" time.  I hope they enjoyed their weekends as much as I did.   :-)

Kidney Ultrasound

We are still monitoring Derek's kidney.  Periodically we have to go in for an ultrasound and visit to the radiologist.  We had another check-up today.  At every visit I keep hoping that we'll finally hear those magical words, "He's okay.  You don't have to come back again, EVER."

Not at this visit.  Instead I heard that he is doing well and the enlarged kidney that we are watching has gotten smaller and is looking to be more in proportion to the right kidney  (this is a good thing).  The time between visits has been extended again and we don't have to go back for another 6 months.  Additionally, we now can have the ultrasound and review in the same office so now we don't have to make separate appointments and try to coordinate them back to back.  All good news, so I'll just continue to hope to hear those magical words at his next check-up.

Stand & Peek

We had a big night tonight at baby class and accomplished two developmental milestones.  We've been watching for these very closely because our 6 week gross motor skills check-up is coming up soon.  As Derek and I were playing on the floor  (I was sitting cross legged with him sitting in front of me), he rotated around and started to lean over to me.  I put my arms out and he grabbed on.  Then he started to pull himself up on me.  Well this turned into a fun game and I started putting objects that he wanted (like my Nalgene bottle cover) on my head and entice him to do it again and again.  I helped just a little bit by lifting my arms up as he grabbed on, but he essentially pulled himself up to a standing position.  Yay Derek!

Baby class actually starts when he normally goes to bed - 6 pm.  Now that he's feeling better, we are trying to work back toward staying awake a little later at night.  But tonight, as is the case with most baby class nights, Derek was very tired toward the end of class.  I put him in his jammies and gave him his blankie & pacifier.  He was laying on the floor and started covering his eyes with the blanket.  I was assuming he was doing this to block out the light because he does the same thing in the car seat when the sun is in his eyes.  Then he quickly pulled down the blanket and smiled at him.  When he did it again, I finally caught on that he wanted to play peek-a-boo.  So while the class was wrapping up, I was smiling away as my little man accomplished not only one but two developmental milestones in a matter of 1 1/2 hours.   :-)

First Cold

Last weekend on Sunday, Derek started getting crabby.  By the evening, that crabbiness turned into a slight fever and a very sleepy little boy.  Monday you could just tell he wasn't feeling like himself.  He wanted to be held, was very cuddly (vs squirmy), and just looked run down.  We still sent him to daycare because so far, it's just been a phase...or maybe teething...or growing...we never know.  Monday we got a call from daycare that said his temp rose above 100 degrees and we needed to pick him up.  We made plans for Tuesday as well because that meant he couldn't be at daycare for 24 hours.  Since Mike has sick time and vacation time, he stayed home with him.  We generally stayed around the house, elevated his crib, put a humidifier in his room, let him take lots of naps, drink lots of bottles (vs trying to push the solid foods or sippy cup), and spent lots of time reading and cuddling.  He's now finally over his first cold.  I'm grateful that we got in 10 months of a healthy baby before he got sick, although the extra snuggles were nice.

5 Yr Anniversary

Yesterday Mike and I celebrated our 5 year anniversary.  I'm still in disbelief that it's been 5 years - the time seems to have gone by so quickly.  We traditionally celebrate our anniversary not by purchasing gifts for each other but rather by doing something together.  This year we decided on the Renaissance Festival.

Mike has been to the Renaissance Festival but I never had.  We both took off work Friday, dropped Derek off at daycare, and headed out.  We arrived shortly after 10 am and started wandering around.  I had no idea there was so much to do - tons of free shows & demos, free samples, food to eat, etc.  We actually had a hard time trying to figure out how to fit them all in because we had to be back to pick up Derek around 4 pm.

Mike enjoying his cream puff

We decided to take advantage of the opportunity to fence against each other (especially since it was only $2/person).  The objective was to pop the other person's balloons before they popped yours.

Mike getting suited up

Putting my balloons on

On Guard

Battling

He popped my balloon first, then we continued again.  It was rather challenging reaching that high in that heavy suit waving that tiny little sword.  But finally success!  I popped one of his balloons and we were even.  The next point decided who won.  And the winner goes to ......

Mike was victorious

We got back to daycare at the normal time to pick up Derek.  He was so happy to see us both walk in that he nearly lept out of Lorri's arms.  We had plans to celebrate that evening as well but he still wasn't feeling well so we had a quiet evening at home.  I had a great time celebrating our anniversary at the Renaissance Festival and am so glad we went during the day so it was less crowded.  I would definitely go back.