You Capture - Sunshine

It's been a long long while since I've done this, but I actually took some photos yesterday that apply to this week's You Capture, so I thought I'd share. Who knew my backyard had such beautiful sunshine? All photos are SOOC!

Head on over to Beth's to see more You Capture Sunshine photos.

New Things

There are so many cute things that Bean has been doing lately.

So BIG!

- Gives kisses: When you ask for a kiss he opens his mouth super wide and plants it on any body part that is close to him. Sometimes though he closes his mouth and bites! I found this out the hard way when I puckered my lips and let him plant a big one on me, only to have him take a big chomp on my lower lip (he has upper and lower teeth now. . . ouch).

- Talking: Welllllll, kind of. He for sure can say Dada, kitty, and yeah. I thought he had Mama down, but I think he thinks Mama means milk and not me. I'm not sure though. There are times where I swear he has said doggy (at least his version of it, it sounds more like daga), and all done (sounds more like ah-dan). He is extremely verbal though. Constantly talking in his own babble language. It's crazy how much it mimics normal conversation sounds, with all the inflection he uses. It seems like he is so close to talking a ton, I'm just waiting for the day for the words to start pouring out.

- Smarty Pants: It's true, he understands a TON now. Simple tricks no longer work, like hiding toys out of sight and telling him they are gone. If he sees the general place you stashed it he will go hunting for it.

Ok so now I want to talk about some of the challenges we are facing lately.

- Picky Eater: He is quickly becoming a very picky eater. At meals if I give him food he doesn't like I swear he just chugs down his milk and fills up on that. If I give him food he likes he will maybe drink half a sippy cup of milk with it. With a meal that he doesn't like he will drink a cup and a half! He used to love veggies and now he just throws them. I'm never sure what to do when he refuses to eat. I feel guilty and don't want him to go hungry, and also selfishly I know if he doesn't eat something he will be a huge crab. I also feel like he is still too little to do the whole "eat what's in front of you or don't eat" thing. I just don't know what to do.

- Hitting: I'm thinking (hoping) that this is just from communication frustration, but Bean has begun to hit (mainly me). If he is into something that he shouldn't be and I pick him up he will try to smack me in the face or rip my glasses off. The other day he was flailing in my arms and ripped a big chunk of hair out of my head. It's rough. . . and again, I'm not sure how to handle it. All I've been doing is grabbing the hand he is hitting me with and saying "no hit," but it doesn't seem to be working.

- Screaming for diaper changes: I remember when Bean was a new born and he loved to have his diaper changed. He would kick his legs and smile so big. Now he runs in the opposite direction when it's time to change his diaper. He kicks his legs and screams his head off. This gets old really fast because since we are cloth diapering I have to change him at least every 2 hours. That's a lot of baby wrangling. I should also note that he only does this for Hubs and I. If my parents or the sitter changes his diaper he's fine with it. He just sits there all nice and plays with a toy. The first time I saw him be so good I couldn't believe my eyes. It's hard not to take it personal.

- Not listening: Recently Bean has discovered how to shake his head no. . . . and ever since then he refuses to do anything I tell him to do. It usually goes like this:

Me: Come here Bean!

Bean: *shakes head no* runs in opposite direction

Me: Give Mama's phone back Bean.

Bean: *shakes head no* runs in opposite direction

etc etc etc

The second year of Bean's life is proving much more difficult then the first. I suppose other then breast feeding issues he was a really easy infant. I think a lot of it is communication issues. I try to teach him sign language, but maybe I'm not trying hard enough with it as I should.

Next post I'm going to try and put a bunch of other cute/fun things Bean is doing, because it seems like this post has turned into me complaining. Sorry about that!

We Are The Icky Yucky Gerrrrrrms (and random pictures)

*Pictures have nothing to do with this post. They are just some of my favorite shots from the past two months. I'm too lazy to make a separate post.

The title to this post about sums up February for me. The cold that would never die. Ugh.

Happy Birthday Bean!

It all started beginning of the month about two days before Hubs was going to leave on a 9 day business trip. I could just feel it coming on, and did my best to chug vitamin C and get plenty of rest while he was here to take care of the Bean.

Play time with Pappy

The morning he left is when it hit me hard; never ending boogers and a horrible dry cough. Let me tell you, I thought it was horrible when Bean was sick and I was up all night with him. It is way way way worse being alone, sick and having to take care of a healthy energetic toddler. Mom's don't get sick days, especially single ones. (It just so happened my parents were also sick during all this so I couldn't even go to them for help.)

Playing in the snow with Daddy

So after about 5-6 days of feeling like walking death I started to feel better, the boogers tapered off and my cough was less frequent. Naturally that is when Bean started to get sick. Poor little guy had a super congested cough and tons of snot. Fun.

Then FINALLY Hubs returns from his trip on a Friday. Saturday morning I go to work, and I swear up and down that I'm starting to feel sick again. Two days later, the boogers return with a vengeance and this time I have a super congested cough like Bean does (he was still sick).

This one was the cold bug from hell. It took Bean about 13 days to get over it, and for me. . . well I still have a slight occasional cough, and randomly through out the day my nose will run. It's weird, but I suppose I'm maybe over it? I still don't honestly feel 100%, maybe like. . .96 but I'm not quite there yet.

Yep, February sucked.

I'm sure March will be better. I know we've had an awesome winter this year in terms of snow fall, and I feel bad complaining. . . but I'm ready for spring. There have been a few days where mother nature will tease us with a 60+ degree day (always when I work so I can't enjoy it) and it makes me feel so light and happy. I can't wait!

Cute Things

I just wanted to jot down some things that Bean has been doing lately, because they are cute and I don't want to forget them.

1. He plays around my legs. Tonight when we were visiting at my parents house the dog was chasing him/he was chasing the dog. When it was his turn to run, he would toddle over to me giggling, grab me, and then hide his face in my legs. He also did something similar when Bestie came for a visit on Saturday night. We were all in the kitchen and she was trying to say hi to him. He toddled over to me and wrapped his arms around my legs and peaked around the side of me at her. Mr. Shy Guy.

2. Tonight when we got back from my parents house I let Bean toddle around the family room while I put some stuff away. I was in the kitchen and he came walking in holding my big 32oz water bottle in his hands. It was such a sight to see; this little guy (with his snow hat still on), in his brown fleece sweat suit, walking, holding onto my water bottle with both hands, and drinking all at the same time. He must have been thirsty. It was one of those moments where you don't have a camera so you say to yourself, remember this remember this. It was just so adorable. . . .and so grown up looking.

A Rough January

The first month of the year has been a rough one for our little Bean. I feel like in the past two weeks my sweet baby boy has been replaced with Mr. Grumpy Pants.

First of all I think he's teething. He still only has just the bottom and top two teeth and he's 13 months old. Those lateral incisors are bound to be trying to pop through soon.

Second is weaning. Over the past 5 weeks we have weaned down to only nursing first thing in the morning when he wakes up. This is the one time of day I can ensure that I will always be there to nurse him (because of work). It's been hard for both of us I think. One of the most heart breaking things is I feel like I'm taking it away from him just when he learned how to ask for it (by signing). My milk supply has never been great, so even if he asks during the day now, and I let him try to nurse; there is nothing there to drink so he gets frustrated and cries.

The final thing has been a change in routine. Most mornings I will go get him, nurse him in bed, and then we will snuggle and watch cartoons for maybe 30-45 minutes. Well lately on my days off I've been trying to be more active by getting stuff done, and I don't think he likes it.

He's only 13 months old and I swear he throws temper tantrums. The other night while I was trying to cook dinner he screamed the whole time it took me to make it (almost 45 minutes). He was pulling on my pants and throwing himself on the ground. I would pick him up and he would push me away, and then I'd put him down and he would scream even louder. I even tried putting him in the Ergo so I could still cook and he didn't want that either. This fit all started when I took his paci away.

I know he's frustrated because he can't communicate and he doesn't fully understand what's going on. . . .but it's so hard to handle when he's like that. I also don't want to hold, coddle, or give him his pacifier to calm him too often because I don't want to create bad habits.

So any advice for me? Any parenting books to recommend? Is this just a phase? If it is, I sure hope it passes quickly.

Oh Hello There

I've been pretty absent from my blog lately. The only posts I've been writing are Bean's monthly letters, and honestly my only motivation for doing that was because I wanted to put them in my 365 photo project book.

Did everybody have a nice holiday season?

Ours was busy. I'm used to a very calm laid back holiday. I'm an only child, my mother is an only child and my father's side of the family (2 aunts, 2 uncles, 4 cousins with spouses) all live very far away. . . so yeah, our holidays were pretty much just us. Now between my husband's family, and Bean's birthday. . . things are nuts.

I plan to remedy this by celebrating Bean's half birthday in the summer once he gets old enough to realize what birthdays are. Summer birthday parties are always so much more fun. Plus then he will get presents twice a year evenly spaced out. My birthday is July, I always loved where it fell in the year (except I was always sad I never got my locker decorated during school). . . .speaking of I'm turning the big 3-0 this year. Yikes.

Anyway, I've been working on laying out my 365 photo book in MyPublisher. It's A LOT of work. I've been working on it for over a month and a half now. While the 365 was fun, and I learned a lot, I've decided not to do one again this year. I like how I have a photo a day (mostly of Bean). Watching him grow is so cool, but some photos are junky cell phone ones (not to trash cell phone pictures, some come out beautiful). I am going to keep taking lots of pictures, but I'm not going to stress about getting THAT photo for the day. I'm also going to do another photo book, but it will just be a "2012" one, not a 365. . . MyPublisher is such a cool program, I really hope that the book comes out as neat in real life as it looks on my computer screen.

And just for fun, here is Bean sleeping with his little tushie in the air. Love it when they do that.

12 Months

Dear Bean,

Well we survived our first year together!

Twelve incredible months made up of so many special moments I can't even count.

Today when I was nursing you in our rocker you popped off and signed "milk" to me. Lately you have really starting using the three signs we taught you: milk, more and all done. Then after you signed to me you smiled and continued to nurse. I looked down on you and asked you if it was yummy; I do this a lot when you are eating anything. Again you popped off, babbled "bum bum" (I think you meant yum yum) and then went back to nursing.

After you finished nursing I called downstairs to your Daddy, yelling his first name really loudly. Right after I said that you followed up by yelling, "Da!" You've done this several times in the past few days and it melts my heart when you do it.

Last week you started standing on your own. For the longest time whenever you would stand and let go you would immediately plop on your butt, then all of a sudden you started doing it like it was no big deal. A few days later your Grandma and Grandpa came over and you were showing off your standing skills and took a few steps on your own. I thought it was a fluke but you have been walking more and more every day. Today you took about 5-6 steps before you fell, I think in a week or two you will have it down pat. Then I will really be in trouble keeping up with you.

You are a very musical baby. This month you finally started to clap while I sing "If You're Happy and You Know It." Sometimes if there is music on the t.v. you will do this little dance where you stand and bend your knees and bop your little butt. I think it might be the cutest thing ever. A close second might be when you wave hello and bye bye. Sometimes I swear you even say bye bye too.

While you were staying with your Grandma and Grandpa's for new years eve they said you were playing catch; not only catching the ball but throwing it back. They also taught you how to gently pet Olive, instead of whacking her in the head or pulling her beard. I'm sure she appreciates that new lesson.

You are starting to remind me of a little sponge, picking things up faster and faster. I am so proud to call myself your mother. Watching you grow and develop these past 12 months has been one of the most incredible experiences in my life. Not a day goes by that I don't look at you and think how lucky I am to have you in my life, and how blessed your Daddy and I are to have you as our son.

I love you to the moon and back,

Mama