11 Months!

How is it possible? This baby of mine will be ONE next month. I can't hardly even believe it! His party plans are well under way. I'll reserve the details for a later post. For now, since I've got my hands full chasing after a very mobile 11-month-old, I'll just leave it to the pics. ;)

Love this sweet, sweet boy!!!

On the Move!

Oh no!! My little darling is on the move! E mastered the army crawl over the weekend and my baby-proofing has gone into high gear! It's ridiculous how much stuff LO and Chase have that is considered choking hazards for a baby (loom bands anyone!?).

Cleaning is no fun, but watching this little guy slither across the carpet sure is! Check him out!

I must admit, this move of his is rather reminiscent of another little fella in our house, circa fall 2010:

)


In fact, I showed the video above to hubs and he asked if I had taken it yesterday morning because he was in a different outfit... LOL! Of course I pointed out how little LO was and then he realized this one is Chase! It's so funny how similar these army crawls are... right down to using that big toe to get some traction on the carpet! Oh, and for reference purposes, the video of Chase was taken on the day he turned 11 months old. Not too shabby for a sweet boy with two heart surgeries under his belt!

Well I suppose I should get back to vacuuming and cleaning the kitchen floor. Seriously, this guy is fast!


- Posted using BlogPress on my beloved iPhone 5

10 Months!!!

My precious little baby is now 10 months old! Well, technically, since there was no 30th of February, I'm thinking I can still consider him only 9 months old. No? ((sigh)) Oh well. I tried.

Plans for a little first birthday shindig are underway, although it's gonna be a bit different this time around. For starters, his birthday falls in our mandatory "quarantine period" before Chase's heart surgery, so we won't be able to celebrate on or even near his actual birthday, but will be celebrating several weeks in advance. This makes me sad because I feel like I'm losing a few weeks of precious baby time before he is officially a one year old! But on the other hand, I appreciate the freedom it gives me to switch gears and focus on his big brother's heart surgery when that is really where my focus should be at that time.

Let's have a little recap of my sweet 10-month-old, shall we? For starters, he LOVES to eat. Didn't see that one coming, did ya? Haha! He's eating more and more table food and less homemade baby food these days, and is well on his way to mastering the sippy cup. Over the weekend, I inventoried my supply of frozen breastmilk and found I had a whopping 582 ounces. And now a spreadsheet, too (not a surprise for those who know me well). With such a large stash in the freezer, combined with the fact that he nurses on average for less than 5 minutes during the day, I've decided to eliminate all but his morning and bedtime nursing sessions and go with bottles during the day. I did some math and this should get us right around his first birthday, so I feel pretty good with this decision. I am still so very grateful to have that frozen stash considering the challenges I had with my supply for the first two kiddos. It's such a blessing to (A) give him the very best nutrition and (B) not have to spend a dime on formula! And to reach my 1 year goal is a HUGE accomplishment that I'm very proud of! So anyway, back to food. He loves to feed himself and we haven't been able to find a single food he doesn't like (yet).

I have not been in ANY hurry whatsoever to encourage this baby boy of mine to get mobile. I love the fact that's always stayed where I've put him. But alas, his natural instincts are starting to kick in and he's figured out the rolling around to move to wherever he wants to. Belly to back to belly to back... and then before you know it, he's left the room! He does get into a crawling position and rocks a bit, so I know the crawling is right around the corner as well. SADNESS! He loves loves loves to stand up holding onto our fingers and loves to bounce, too. His smile, I tell ya -- it just melts me into a puddle of moosh! The dimple on his right cheek has to be the cutest thing on the planet. He's such a smiley, laid-back baby! He only complains if he's hungry, tired, or if he happens to physically witness mommy or daddy leaving the room. He's such a joy!!!

So 10 months now, and no teeth yet. Not even a swollen gum to speak of! I'm not sure what's taking so long, but I have been told by my MIL that hubs didn't get his teeth until almost one, so I guess I'll just blame hubs. ;) Again though, I'm still just so happy to see that baby's gummy, toothless grin, knowing that as soon as that first tooth pops through, he's going to look at least 6 months older to me.

How about more pics of my handsome little 10-month-old sweetheart? And my helpful little assistant, too! :)

A Long Overdue Update

Almost a month since my last post, huh? You'd think not too much was happening around here if I'm not blogging about it, but not surprisingly, I've found the opposite to be true. Life is so busy happening that I have minimal time to write about it! I really want to do better about that. And not just for my blog readers, but for myself. I started this blog in 2008 to serve as a personal journal of sorts to help me remember all of the little details about life. You know, that stuff that sort of fades over time not to be thought of again? I don't want to forget it. But sadly I will forget all of it if I don't make the time to blog about it! Duh. So let me catch up a bit today...

21DSD

First of all, I need to address the 21DSD (21 Day Sugar Detox). To be honest with myself, my family and my readers, we have found ourselves completely unable to sustain the lifestyle of the 21DSD. In our world, at this time, it is just not feasible to eat 100% Paleo 100% of the time. It is just not possible to eliminate ALL refined sugar from our meals 24/7. I'm not sure if or why or how I could've possibly thought this would be feasible when we started, but alas, for us, it's not something we're able to do at this time. The UP SIDE, however, is that hubs has completely eliminated Coke from his daily lifestyle. This. Is. HUGE! I'm so very proud of him! Honestly the two of us very rarely indulge in a diet soda either, which is also great! And I personally learned a lot about what is healthy and what isn't; the foods that keep my body happy and those that don't; the foods that make me feel good and those that don't. So overall, it was a wonderful learning experience. But as I told hubs last night (coincidentally as I was making homemade chocolate chip cookies with M&Ms), our family just isn't ever going to be one of "those families" who can completely eliminate sweets and baked goods from our lifestyle. It's just not possible (for us) to rewire the way each of us have lived for 30+ years (we blame our parents for this, of course!). LOL! But it's all good. I know moderation. I know we can treat our kids to special baked goods and desserts on occasion and not every day. This is all good! Whew. Glad to get that out there.

E's Dedication

Next up? A huge day in the life of our little family! Baby E was dedicated at our church two weeks ago on Sunday, February 16th. It was amazing because ALL of our family was able to share in our special day. I made a lovely iMovie video of my favorite pictures of him over his first 9 months and it turned out amazing (if I may say so?)!

Here's a pic of our pastor and his wife as the children's pastor prayed over baby E.

And a pic of E that was taken after the service. Such a handsome boy!

I must also share that I was completely honored and proud to have made E's dedication outfit: a reversible long-all in off-white corduroy on one side with his monogram and a sweet blue and white elephant print also with his monogram on the inside. I put a little turtleneck onesie with it and found the cutest shoes on a whim at The Children's Place. I loved his look and was so proud to have made it all myself (with the help of Google and lots of YouTube videos, of course)!

LO's Daddy/Daughter Dance

Another big event took place last Friday, February 28th. It was the Daddy/Daughter Dance at LO's elementary school and she decided she wanted to go this year! In fact, she even had the perfect dress in mind for the big night and was nice enough to sketch it out for me.

It should be purple. With puffy sleeves. And a heart on the bodice. And floral trim along the bottom hem. And her hair should be in braids. And she'll be wearing heels. Pretty specific, huh?

Well, I found a pattern that was pretty close to what I thought she was looking for. Basically she wanted to look and feel like a princess. Okay, I can do that! I hope... So I found a pattern and prepared for what would honestly be the FIRST TIME EVER that I've worked with an actual pattern. I went with the Simplicity 2463 as shown below. I needed to use the bodice from Dress A to get the puffy sleeves, and the skirt from Dress F to have the princess-like tulle overlay.

Did I mention I picked up the pattern, fabric, notions and all of the necessary supplies on MONDAY, with the big event taking place on FRIDAY. Nothing like setting myself up for success, right?

So after hours of painstakingly cutting out pattern pieces in satin and tulle (seriously, the tulle.), lots of sewing, googling of sewing terms, YouTube video watching of sewing techniques, and at least one bout of tears (mine) later, I was done. A quick purchase of some shoes (with heels... shudder) and a little tiara for my princess, and she was ready for the big dance in her new dress! I should note that she made the decision earlier in the week to forego the heart on the bodice and flower trim on the skirt hem. She was straight SMITTEN with this dress, folks! And I was so proud of myself for sticking with it and not giving up (it would've been SO much easier to give up and go buy her a dress!). But knowing her heart was set on this dress made it easier to commit to finishing it for her. I'm so glad I did, and so was she!

One of my newest favorite pics of my LO!

Daddy made sure to set the bar high for her future dance dates... a sweet wrist corsage for her (and a beautiful rose for her mommy)! Love.

 This pic doesn't have the best focus, but I can't help but look at it and think how I will blink my eyes and she'll be riding off to her High School prom in no time. It makes me so happy and sad all at the same time!!!

Chase's Fontan

Chase is not one to be left out of the spotlight with this catch-up post. As you probably already know, Chase's Fontan -- his third heart surgery -- is scheduled this summer. We have a cardiology appointment later this month to talk through some of the specifics of the surgery. We were able to book a rental home in Charleston for the duration of our time there, and have our wonderful parents lined up to help with childcare. Plans are being made and things are falling into place. We're trusting God with every facet of this trip, the surgery, the recovery, the routine changes for LO and E, and everything that goes along with having a child who needs heart surgery. Please begin praying with us even now for a successful, uneventful surgery, minimal complications, no infections and a strong recovery for our little Rock Star. This time around will be MUCH different than his first two surgeries (at 1 week old and 4 months old), so we appreciate your prayers more than ever before!

Whew. Well I guess that's as good of a catch up post as any, right? I've got to make it a point to update more frequently! Starting with E's 10 month pics... hopefully tomorrow? :)