Savoring the 11th month

I don't really have anything to say today, but did get some cute photos of Eddie to share.

What's that noise?

Dennis and I are standing in the kitchen, enjoying a conversation while Eddie naps. We hear this noise that we can't figure out, but it sounded like it could be coming from the basement--definitely near where Dennis was standing. I thought he was kicking the cabinet. We listened for Eddie, but didn't hear anything.

Back to our conversation and we hear it again. This time is sounded kind of like pipes rattling in a low quiet, but alarming way. Uh-oh. Dennis goes down to the basement but there was nothing. He decideds to check on Eddie. Wondering how he could be making the noise I have to go too. We are used to the 'tink' of a pacifier falling to the wood floor, but that's about the only non-vocal noise we'll hear.

We open the door, and what you see in the picture is what greated us. Eddie, with his pacifier in his mouth, grins this huge smile and rattles the crib so hard, he is basically moving it on the wood floor (mind you we have immobilizers under the wheels).
Then tonight, Dennis is changing a particularly poopy diaper when he looks on the wall just in time to see Eddie painting the wall--with poop from his hand. This is when I get the giggles. I was laughing so hard I could barely open the new package of wipes after I used 4 and hadn't made a dent. Dennis is trying to keep poop from getting everywhere--mostly him and is rapidly running out of patience. So we switch places with me holding the boy under his arms while he dances all over the changing table. Yup, we have exciting Friday nights in our house--and we love it.

SLC Trip Number 1

Daddy left for Salt Lake City (SLC) today. It's a quick trip--he gets home tomorrow night. We always hate to see him go, but at least we are easing back into the travel season after a month off rather than jumping right into the 6-dayer that is coming up next month. Eddie is starting to sleep better at night, so it hopefully won't be so bad (knock on wood).

Dennis and Eddie have bath time--that's their thing (along with jogging and cooking). I hadn't given Eddie a bath in such a long time, I just realized I forgot to wash his face, which really needed it. He splashed enough water on it, should take care of most of the grime.

Every now and then while I'm doing something else in the house, and Dennis is giving Eddie his bath, I'll hear something and then Dennis will crack up. Not wanting to miss out, I run into the bathroom. The latest "trick" is to lean forward, basically to the point of standing to try and reach the faucet. It was after the demonstration of this latest trick that I suggested it might be time to move on from the baby bath (which btw, has served us wonderfully). Dennis' excuse is that it saves water.

I tried like crazy to get a picture (dangerous thing -- I know I should be watching Eddie), but it cracked me up as much as it did Dennis when it happened to me. But every time the shutter opened, he'd have sat back down again. I don't know which trick is worse, this, or when he puts his face in the water, 1/2 blowing bubbles and 1/2 ingesting soapy water which then causes him to choke.

MONTHLY --11 months

By 11 months Eddie has had 2 real colds (beyond the sniffles), chicken pox, and one stomach virus. He's a champion crawler and I think is going to be a climber. He pulls himself up onto anything and is adept at opening kitchen drawers and cabinets. No surprise, but he's got a wonderful personality. He can climb a couple stairs and will follow us from room to room. He loves being read to and music--all the stuff that kids each age like. He's now to the age where there is so much to list that he can do--he seems to be right on track developmentally and all that stuff that people ask about.

I know everyone has their reasons, but I can understand those who get addicted to having babies---that feeling of pride and even excitement as you watch them grow and learn how to do new things. The knowledge you, as a parent have about this tiny individual, what makes him tick, and watching them acheive something they've worked hard to master.

For his 11 month birthday, Dennis took him for a jog because he didn't want to nap. He giggled as he bounced along. The pictures are from right before the jog. We then took him to a re-election kick-off campaign. Finally, we took him test driving -- a minivan.

It was a very nice car and had all the "family" features and versitility one could want. It fit in our 11 foot wide (9 foot opening) garage with inches to spare. But...I'm not sure that we are the minivan kind. Den outright refuses an SUV and I'm not a fan of the station wagon. So where does that leave us? At 11 months, Eddie couldn't tell us, but he gamely went along. We've also tested the Prius, Civic Hybrid and Accord. The Camry Hybrid comes out this spring--we'll see what that brings.

Next monthly update will be one-year. I don't think I'm ready for that--I've not filled out enough of his baby book. Is there a 'pause' button?

The Brain in 3-D

As some of you may know, doctors discovered an 11mm brain aneurysm behind my mom's eye. In her quest to decide what to do, she probably did as much research as some of the doctors out there performing the surgury. She ultimately decided to go for the procedure at the Mayo clinic -- not the type of thing you can get done at your local hospital. I can't blame her--who wants to have the constant threat of an aneurysm?

Auntie M's blog provides a link that describes the procedure:

http://www.forbes.com/lifestyle/health/feeds/hscout
/2005/09/01/hscout527757.html

Auntie M also found that Neil Young had the procedure last year:
http://www.cnn.com/2005/SHOWBIZ/Music/04/01/neil.young/

The procedure went well and she is expected to be released today (Sat.) I guess the one redeeming feature of Cingular--free mobile to mobile calls so I could get the latest from my brother and dad.

Eddie had a really rough couple days. He threw up 5 times on Thurs. and 2 more times in the wee hours of Friday morning (most of these were on Dennis). I'll spare a detail of his symptoms, but throwing up was not the whole of it. He was basically refusing liquids. We were starting to get a little concerned when his demeanor changed on Friday and all he did was cry, want to be held, and sleep. The Doctor said these things usually peak in 3-5 days, so Friday would be his worst day. He was fighting lots 'o virus, she said.

After sleeping most of the day, he woke after his final nap around 5:30ish refreshed and happier--still not 100%, but oh so much better. The picture is of Eddie in his crib. There haven't really been many other opportunities for pictures ---I didn't think anyone wanted to see him post-puke.

I have to say, I was really anxious about how I would do with him being this sick--especially since we'd better get used it, having a kid and all. But it was not as bad as I'd feared. Course I wasn't the one getting thrown up on or doing the throwing up.

The 3 "P's" of a Sick Baby

Eddie's having a rough week. Between a snotty nosed cold and what we think is the stomach flu (at the same time), he's not feeling too well. And its only Wednesday. He definitely has his dad's genes when it comes to sick person behavior. If it were me, I would not be smiling and flirting with people at the grocery store (this was before he developed the stomach maladies).

So I was at a meeting tonight and Dennis was holding down the fort. Glad it was his night, below is his description of what happened:

I've had a rough evening. Eddie pooped in the bathtub on me (2nd time this week) just as I was about to scoop him out. Rince & repeat, I guess. Then when I was trying to give him some Dimeatap, he puked up his dinner & then some on me (2nd time this week). When I threw the puked up clothes in the laundry, I didn't notice the stopper in the bottom of the sink and flooded half of the basement. Maybe I'll have a beer . . .

Our snotty nosed kid

So last week we had the best week of sleep any of us has had since I was pregnant. For four nights in a row, Eddie slept all the way through till 6:30 or 7:30ish (maybe woke once for 10 seconds during the night a couple of those nights). Well, now he's got a cold. So last night he was inconsolable.

In the past, he's had colds--but those have been more of the 'congestion' type. Today, he has snot running out of his nose. To top that, he's drooling enough to put in a turbine and generate some power. The combination is such a pretty sight. Poor guy. Yet, you guessed it, he keeps right on smiling. And hey, he doesn't look all that bad in this picture. Maybe I'll wait and take one right before I wipe his nose and mouth.

So I amended this post to add in the side-profile picture. That is Eddie with a cheerio held on by snot. We've entered a new realm.

We're Baaaack.

Last week was really busy, we'll see how many posts I can knock out to get us caught up. This weekend we went to Williamsburg for the inauguration of Virginia's new governor. I'm a wee bit tired. We stood out in the rain to watch the parade and Dennis and our friend whom I'll call J stood in the rain to watch the actual swearing in. The rest of us--5 adults and 4 kids watched from the warmth of a local resturant. We then went to a ball.

It was the first time Eddie had a babysitter for the night who wasn't a grandparent while he was still awake (we've had other sitters once he's already asleep).

We got lots of comments on Eddie's stroller during the day--how warm and cozy he looked. I think a lot of people standing out in the rain in the upper 40s wished they could be in the stroller instead of Eddie. The stroller we got--a Zooper swing model has its limitations, but they sure know how to accesorize. It comes standard with a cold weather boot, a rain cover, and a 'sunshade' which really doesn't protect from the sun--nor does it work for bugs, so I'm not sure of the benefit. This rain cover is great for rain and for wind. It's got little holes so Eddie doesn't suffocate.

Eddie napped through the swearing in till right before the parade started. Fortunately none of the drums seemed to bother him, but he did have a look on that seemed to question why we were all out in the cold and rain, standing in the mud. See attached pics (and thanks to Eddie's buddy Eli for the loan of the hat (turns out mom did have one buried at the bottom of her bag).

Baby sensor?

Dennis and I are convinced that Eddie has rigged up some type of sensor system in our bedroom that knows as soon as we turn out the lights, lay down, and start to get comfortable. Because it is then that he calls for us. The last several nights have been pretty brutal.

Running out of patience, we decided to let him cry for a while. What a mistake. We listened to him cry for 20 minutes, when we could have had him back to sleep in about 30 seconds by just touching his back or cheek. Then, it took over 30 minutes to get him calmed down. This is why we can't do 'Cry It Out'. I tried one other time this week, and that was a huge failure--he screamed for an hour and ended up with no nap that morning.

Last night he finally slept through till 5:30am. We think he does this once a month just to let us know it's possible. I think his teething is causing part of the problem, but his increased interest in being social is another culprit. We don't pick him up when we go to him, don't talk to him, and all that. Hard sometimes not to laugh at his antics however.

We can tell how tired he is by how well he can stand in his crib. Sometimes he can't even pull himself up, or he gets wobbly knees as soon as we reach the crib. On those eratically few times when he does sleep through the night, I wonder to myself if there isn't some way to replicate the previous day and get the same results. But I know this isn't how it works (for the most part).

The picture in the highchair (a common 'staging area' for pictures) was from just before his spaghetti dinner. The picture in the bath tub is with his newest bath toy--it's a frog that has a mirror on it. It sticks to the wall, and he pulls it down and starts kissing the mirror. Hilarious. I snapped the photo just after a kiss. He of course chews on the frog too.

Vampire Baby

So Eddie is teething. And along with this he bites, or gnaws, or whatever way he can get something in his mouth. I bought a bib with a fish on it that says "Teething...Will Bite". At the time, I didn't know how literal that was.

So at Christmas, we're not there 5 minutes when he takes he Aunt's ears in each hand and yanks her head toward him, squarely chomping down on her nose. We hadn't even the time to warn her. After a short period of observation, she began calling Eddie "Vampire Baby". While at my parents, this picture was snapped.

Time to Babyproof

Eddie had a busy day. I don't remember in what order it all happened, but he went into the bottom kitchen drawer so many times, I gave up and emptied it of anything non-baby. Then he decided to empty the bookshelves in our living room. He tried to pull over a floor lamp and coat rack countless times (as he's been doing for a while). Oh and he got into bags of hand-me-down clothes--just had to pull them out of the bags and play with them.

He also tried crawling into every room on the 2nd floor, toppling trash cans and went for humidifiers, fans, books, and anything in his path. Remarkably, in our office, where there is *stuff* everywhere, he didn't go too crazy.

He also seems to go for electrical outlets and all things electric. Oddly, he has a thing for vents (fortunately this isn't really a problem).

And per the picture, he's mastered the stairs from the entry way into our bedroom.

Adorable Eddie

So all parents think their kids are adorable and we're no exception. I honestly don't have anything to write about today, but thought the picture was cute--plus you can see his two teeth really well on the bottom.

Eddie is singing like a canary and you can understand him about as well too. He really can go on for quite some time, chatting away. It's pretty funny--even at 3am (except then its annoying too).

Happy New Year

After an easy drive home from G'ma and G'pa Ohio's house on Sat., we went to some friend's for a relaxing New Year's Eve dinner. Eddie and his buddy Lizzie had a great time. And, Eddie climbed the stairs (well, 2 or 3 of them) by himself. What a development. And yet we egg him on back at home to climb stairs and surf the furniture.

Our main computer has been broken--no USB capabilities--couldn't download photos, couldn't even use the mouse or keyboard. Does it seem like every other post talks about computer problems? Sure seems that way to me. Fortunately between our work machines and home machines, I can eventually get to the internet. Otherwise I'd get the shakes.

Above is a picture of the 2nd or 3rd time our computer has been opened up for a repair in the last month.