Back into it working out that is

I f'ed it up people. I f'ed it up good. Last year at this point I was 15lbs lighter then I am now.
And that was just with diet. I started my tracking 20 days ago with MyFitnessPal I highly recommend this app. Its awesome. I have friends on there and we cheer each other on. It helps knowing I have people seeing I worked out and I was under my calorie goal.
Last year was better cause Neil was doing it with me. We both tracked and seeing him workout motivated me to work out. Now its all on me. I have no partner but like Neil says I can not get fit for HIM I have to do it for me. And he is right. I felt so good last year. Last summer was amazing cause I was not as hot, I wasn't sweating as much, I could wear shorter shorts and not feel my thighs rubbing together. (they still touched but not down near my knees).

Right now what is keeping me honest and on track is that we are going on a cruise in 29 days and my summer stuff from last year needs to fit. Can not afford to get new clothing and I threw away all my 'fat' summer stuff.
I also know I will not track on my vacation. I will eat what I want and enjoy my food, not go super bad (fries with every meal) cause losing it SO HARD but I will have beer, ice cream, butter and wonderful french toast with syrup. Not to mention the cold fruit soups. OMG
I will have a fun time, I will be active.

I will be comfortable in my own skin this summer. I have to work for it but guess what, I should not have had cookies at every meal for the month of December. And if I do this year I HAVE TO WORKOUT.

My life will be a balance of healthy foods (with being 'bad' now and then) and working out everyday. Just is the way it has to be. I also find out when I work out I am a LOT less angry. I keep my cool much better.



Lets be this again... (last year in the summer when I was fit and my wedding dress was WAY to big)
<---- woowoo!

What I was when I was engaged and very heavy. (not what I am right now but sometimes I feel it)

<----- yucky!














And to be honest I am in the obese range right now (via myfitnesspal) I am okay with being 'slightly overweight' but obese is so bad for my long term health.

So guess what Mary. WORK OUT THAT ASS and work it off. Get fit, no stroke in my future damn it. I want a less sweaty summer this year again.

Hitting and Biteing

WOW

On the way to bath he bite me hard enough to leave a wicked mark and when I said OUCH! He slapped me. I put him on the change table and I held his face and told him he hurt mom and he hit mom and why would be do that? We do not bite or hit, I told him he hurt me again and mom would NEVER hurt him cause I love him so why would he hurt mom so much? He looked right at me sort of sad looking and said "Im sorry." Not sorry but I am sorry.

wow.

just wow.

I told him it was okay and he should be sorry for hurting mom but when we are upset we should use our words. I told him I know he is tired and coughing (not feeling great) but he should not hurt mom. I said I was happy we talked and he understood I asked him if we can high five for talking so we did. Then I asked if he understood he should talk to mom, he nodded and we went off to the bath.

it was pretty good.

I am so happy he understands me. He gets it. He knows he hurt me, he knows he shouldn't. Because of that I know he will hit me, sometimes by accident  sometimes when he is mad, but we can talk about it.

I love that.

When he is tired or not feeling well he regresses. He stops using words too and just grunts at stuff. I think I let him go past his bed time also. He didn't nap much at school so I am to blame for it a little. The first clue should have been around 6:45 when he stopped saying "apple" and "food" and started grunting and screaming a little. I kept saying "Bud, do you want apple? Do you want cracker? Do you want food or drink?" and he just kept doing this grunt and high pitch squeal. Oh well, none of us are perfect but we both tried. :D

Holy shit that bite hurt.

Election Eve, Halloween and changes

I am hopeful. I am hopeful my country men will make the right choice. However I am also worried.
I think this sums it up very well.
http://robdelaney.tumblr.com/post/34643328161/after-sandy


Last Wednesday we took Ryan trick or treating for the first time. We went over to Mike and Janets to meet up with the girls.

 Alexandra and Chloe 

Sloane

Oh no, we dropped the bucket. Oh it was empty? Thats okay then.

After having a snack we were off. Ryan was a little worried at the first door but by the second he wants to hold the bucket, knock on doors and grab his own candy. He didn't even really know what candy was he just knew if he knocked on a door a grown up told him he was super cute and put stuff in his bucket or let him grab stuff.

 Ryan in the dragon outfit getting the hang of it.

 CANDY! (love Ryans face here)

 The group.

Ryan got really good at saying "trick or treat" and "thank you". Sounds more like "tickteet" and "tankyou" but it was still super cute.

I went up with Ryan to one house and helped him knock on the door, the guy saw my outline and thought it was older kids. He puts on a scary mask and throws open the door and sees four small kids 3 years of age and under and pulls of the mask goes "oh my, I am so sorry!" and puts the bowl out of good chocolate for the kids to get one. Ry looks at me, I say"its okay buddy go ahead." he takes one. He looks at me again... and reaches in to grab with a little toddler hand and get three bars! He puts it in his bucket, he goes to do it again. I try to stop him and tell him that is a little greedy, the guy holding the candy is laughing and telling me to let him! I smile and tell Ryan to say thank you and very embarrassedly scoot Ryan on to the next house.

This is the bucket of candy Ryan kept grabbing from, I am to the left with him trying to push/pull his hand away from the bucket gently.

It was a VERY fun night! After about 10 houses and some very full buckets we went back to Mike and Janet. Here is Mike. hehe

Or Doctor Park to some of you. (with his youngest daughter, the cupcake) yes he is dressed as an egg.

Janet had to stay home to hand out the candy to visiting kids.

Here are some cute shots of the kids enjoying the spoils of trick or treating.

 Mmmmmm chips.

Sloane is not big on eating candy but she LOVES the smell.

 SNNNNNNIIIIIFFFFFFFF

Alexandra likes the candy though. YUM!!! Good choice!

Janet enjoying the treats too. heh

Ryan just wants to ride the BMW. Another good choice!

It was so much fun. The next night Ryan was being so good he got Smarties for the first time, big shocker is that he liked them.

______________________________________________________________________

On to his 18 month check up and new awesome things he is doing.

Doc said he is big. He is about 3lbs over where he should be. So we cut his whole milk to 2% and cut it back big time. Or at least are trying to. I am also trying to cut back on carbs for him, he LOVES carbs so we are trying new stuff like red pepper or cucumber when we get home. He will be so hungry he will be shaking and crying so he gets a snack. Doc told me to stop letting him snack. I explained he gets two a day. One at school and one when he gets home and stuff like Banana, yogurt or apple. He was like "oh then thats okay." Bloody hell, its not like I am giving him ice cream and a bowl of crack. It's a friggn apple.

However just switching the milk will help a lot. (water no juice, not a fan of juice). If Ryan hasn't pooped I give him 1/3 pear juice and 2/3 water. Always does the trick.
Other then the 'weight issue' he is healthy.

On to changes.

He is growing up, what feels like, to fast. Eats with a fork or spoon or at least trying to. Gets mad when I try to feed him (I CAN do it mom!). Understands when he hurts me or does something he shouldn't (more later on this). Liked to give a treat to Roag (our kitty boy). Is starting to comunicate with me so much better. (more on this too). Loves to drink out of moms glass.

Sorry mom...
Yesterday Christina and Robin were over for dinner. (sister/brother in law). After dinner Christina, Ry and I were in the living room/sunroom. Ryan grabs my glasses and starts to twist them. I say something like "RYAN NO, those are moms glasses, DO NOT TOUCH, you know better." He gives them to me. I go on my knees and say to him " buddy those are moms only glasses, you know better then to touch, they are not a toy for you, okay hon." Ryan looks at me and says softly "sorry". I say to him. "buddy I am not mad at you, thank you for giving them back to mom, can I get a hug?" he hugs me and then we tickle fight.
It was epic. Other parents will get how HUGE this is. Hell I think even non-parents will get how huge this is.

I WANT IT...

This morning I take Ryan out of the crib, change his diaper (all the while he is chatting and laughing as I ask him about his night). I pick him up and as we leave the room he starts to cry. I go into the living room and set him down. I say "bud, you have to use your words or show mom what is upsetting you, do you want to show me?" and I hold my hand out. He grabs my hand and leads me back into his bedroom. He points at the computer mouse on the floor Neil gave him to play with and goes "da?" I tell him its okay to grab it. He smiles, laughs, picks it up, grabs my hand and we go back into the living room to play. I sit down with him and tell him thank you for showing mommy what upset him and he can always show mommy or tell mommy what he is upset about. Then he follows me in to the kitchen  points at where we keep Roags (cat) treat and says cat in Hungarian and apple (apple is his word for food). We take the treats out and Ryan gives a few to Roag. Ryan laughs, asks for some Cheerios and drink. Takes them to his table in the sunroom, sits down and eats them while I am making breakfast.

It's insane.

It's so cool.

I love it.

Response to Emily and other topics/ramblings.

My buddy Emily has a new blog. (newish mom!)
 She wrote this post and I was writing a reply and then realized my reply was longer then her post. Figured I would just post in my blog since its been way too long.
http://minkflamingos.com/2012/10/20/im-in-your-relationship-dropping-bombs


Wonderful post. And all very very true. As you (most of you) know Ryan was a breast feed baby. I was very adamant about that, we both were. So those first few days are so hard. Then the first few weeks. Neil would work all day, come home and help me, and then make us dinner and even feed me while I tried to feed Ryan. It's really about a united front, still is and I think always will be.

Couples that are on the verge of splitting and have a baby really confuse the shit out of me. Really?! You think having a completely dependent being is going to keep you together. BULLSHIT. When neither of you get sleep for 3 weeks and you find yourself arguing over who got more sleep last night that is the reality of having a kid.
"I was up at 1am feeding the baby and you were snoring, I remember, I put it in my iPhone app. It was so annoying and hard to not kill you."
"Really because I was up at 1:15 when Ryan cried and you were sleeping away and you were farting in your sleep." Then I would pull out my iPhone and open my "what to expect" app and show him exactly when I feed ryan, on what boob and when he went back to sleep.
Yes I was a freak those first few months. No surprise there.

You get shit on, literally, barfed on, sore nipples, blisters, not wanting to eat, not being able to eat enough, zombie like brain function, pissed you ran out of wipes and it's just when the kid took a huge dump and it's everywhere, mad you are home with the baby and hubby gets to escape to work, mad the wife gets to nap during the day, try to keep the house somewhat cleanish, make sure you are feed too, oh is that barf on your shirt? Well it's just one or two spots so it's clean enough, wash your hair every 3 days because you rather try to sleep... and so on. All the while bleeding, healing stitches and dealing with crazy hormones. (not to mention being aware you are crazy and feeling guilt over that.)

One thing I should mention, my son is 18 months old. (1 1/2 to you non-parents). And it's AWESOME. Yes we have a whole new bundle of issues, you always will. (NO HITTING RYAN!) But it's so awesome when he says "whatisthat mama?" (always wanting to learn) or when I get him from day care and he comes RUNNING when he sees me. The hugs, the dancing together, colouring on a piece of paper, him stealing all my food and I don't give a crap cause he is eating, laughing and then him laughing at me laughing and back and forth, running in circles cause is fun, hide and seek, tickling each other... it's amazing. Nothing like it in the world. I can not express completely how it makes you feel.

One thing to take away from this is; always ask how the dad is doing. No one ever asks the father "Hey man, how you holding up?" It's hard when a baby is breast feed and the dad can't really help they just see the mom going crazy (what happened to my wife?!). It's hard when you are up all night with a kid and then have to work and then come home to watch the kid (you can't feed) so your wife can nap or shower or just take a poop. Then said baby screams at you cause YOU do not have boobs and they just want mom and you just want everyone to be happy and to sleep. Dads are always under-appreciated.

When I was in labor I remembered hearing that, no one every worries about the husband/male. I did. I asked Neil how he was doing. I knew it was exciting/stressful/joyous/worried time for him. Being that Ryan was not our first birth I knew he was a little worried. We knew what was at risk. Watching the heart rate on the baby drop so low he was worried, seeing the crash cart and the always slight risk he might lose me, maybe both of us, I knew my husband was worried. The feeling of helplessness. Nothing he could do but stand by my side, hold my leg up and NOT LOOK DOWN THERE. Smile at me and tell me it was going to be alright. I had to ask if he was okay. I remember him laughing, the nurse and doctor being shocked I was worried about him. Why wouldn't I be? He is my best friend and this was something we were embarking on together.


Hmmmmm looks like two glasses of German wine makes me chatty and full of nostalgia. Chalk it up to wine, turning 35 next month and wine.
Oh I already said wine.

heh.

In unrelated news. I took my Canadian Citizenship test Friday. I am pretty sure I missed three questions. One I know for sure I missed. Oh well I can miss up to five and still pass. I should get a letter in 3-5 months. I will keep my US so I will be dual citizenship. Very exciting.
A HUGE step in securing my family since my husband is Canadian and my son is Canadian born.

Oh wow

All of August went by without me posting.
Wow.

I need to remember that the reason I started this blog was to remember stuff. To remember all the silly things you forget as your child grows... or as you get less and less sleep.

We just got done with a wave of sickness. A scary one this time. Ry started off with a fever at school last Monday. A slight one, not even enough for them to call us.
When we got home he had gotten pretty warm. We took his temp and it was 102.5 (there abouts).
Gave him some Tylenol and a bath and off to bed. Around midnight be woke-up crying. Took his temp and it was in the 104's. And not the low 104's.
Neil grabbed him and was giving him cool water while I called Tellahealth. Long and short of it was worry when the fever is in the 104, if it gets to 105 go to the hospital ASAP. 108 is when long term damage can happen.
Scary stuff.

He had the runny poops since Saturday (we thought it was because he was teething since he didn't want to eat much either and was fussy)
Tuesday Neil was home with him and took him to a kids walkin. They told us to come back Wend if he still had a fever for blood work.
Wend came and he was still feverish. If we didn't give him medication to keep it down it would spike up close to the 105 mark. I took him tot he after hours walk in at the hospital since the one Neil went to tuesday sucks. They said if he still had a fever to bring him back Thursday. Clean ears, nose, throat and chest so no worries there and he was drinking like crazy just NOT eating.
So thursday came and we didn't like how high his fever still was so we went to the hospital.

Now all this time he will go to sleep on his own and then wake up around 1-2 with a fever crying so we would put him in bed with us. We got smart and we just dosed him around 1am while he was sleeping before the fever hit. Thursday morning though it came back pretty strong.
So after waiting and tests we found out they think it was a Viral tummy bug. Guess it was going around.
After a catheter to get a pee sample, a swab in his throat to test for strep and a thermometer in his butt we found out nothing we could do but medicate him and try to keep him hydrated. Poor kid
Friday he was with Gabi while Neil and I went to work. Medication given every 4-5 hours to keep his temp down. Gabi was a little late on a dose cause Ryan was getting some much needed sleep and his fever spiked back up.
By Saturday fever was gone and he was in the mood to eat a little. Has some bad gas and poop that night but no fever. By Sunday almost back to normal.

By Monday he was back to being our awesome little guy.

He is 17 Months old as of this past Monday.
He is talking all the time, most of the time we dont understand what he is saying. He is STILL obsessed with balloons. Just yesterday I asked if he wanted more yogurt and he opens his mouth and points to it.
YES BUDDY! FOOD!
COMUNICATE with us!

I could care less how he lets us know he wants food or drink just as long as he starts letting us know before he goes into a rage.

Mothers Day

I have been so bad about writing on here since being back to work. Bad Mary.

Mothers day weekend was awesome. I got to sleep in BOTH days which was super of Neil to do. I know how much sleep means to us both. (we had a few rough nights with Ryan). Its funny, when you have a kid that doesn't sleep for a year you get sort of used to it. Then when the kid starts to sleep its really hard when he regresses and has a few rough nights.
Sunday I woke up a little early though. I come out in to the main part of the house and Neil sees me. I get "What are you doing up! Go back to bed you are going to ruin your surprise." (this coming from the kitchen) I see Ryan walking toward me with a charger cable in the living room. I start laughing and tell Neil its all good I will hang out with Ryan in the living room while he works on my breakfast surprise.

Neil brings me a cup of coffee while I play with Ry. We all sit at the table as Neil brings out maple syrup and his pancakes he made from scratch. YUM.
Plain ones, blueberry and chocolate chip!
Some of them are a little crispy around the ends but they are so so yummy. Ryan ate about 4 of them. (small ones) I think we both liked the blueberry ones the most which shocked Neil and me. I am not a fan of stuff in my pancakes but the blueberry ones were so yummy. Got an awesome picture of Ryan with blueberry all over his face which was funny. He shoved a blueberry up his nose and was laughing but by the time I got the picture he had pulled it out and set it to the side.
I got a super sweet card that Neil signed and helped Ryan to sign. Put a crayon in Ryans hand and helped him write it. I also got a $25 gift card to Tim Hortons which is pretty cool. The night before Neil got me Batman Arkham City. SCORE!

We ended the day at Rita & Tim's place for a really nice family cook out. Mothers day and Sandor's Birthday (grandpa). Lucy was even there (doggy).

All and all it was a pretty sweet mothers day. I think my favorite part was either the card or having pancakes with my two favorite men in the whole wide world.

 Saturday before mothers day we had a BBQ at Rita's house, just the three of us.

 Mmmmmm blueberry pancakes (nose blueberry in the lower right corner)

My super awesome fantastic kick-ass card. :D

________________________________________________________

Update on the stuff Ryan is doing now that he hit 13 months this week.
He sleeps all night about 90% of the time and wakes up between 530-7am.
He walks with no issues, though he had a rough time yesterday in Milk & Janets yard with his new sandals on.
I am pretty sure he can say 'thanks' and Gabi will back me up on this. He LOVES milk, finally he is drinking cows milk and when he sees an empty bottle he will go crazy till you give him milk. We are trying to wean him off breast feeding at bedtime. Trying to get it down to only morning boob and then hopefully in a few weeks none.I think around 18 months we will wean from the bottles of milk.
He loves bath time still. We found he also loves sandboxes. I saw a little of it last week when we were at the park playing but yesterday and Mike & Janets he really got into it. They have an awesome sandbox with a lid on it in the shape of a crab. Its on sale right now at TRU.
Neil and I are going to get him one for the grandfolk's place.
He still doesn't talk much. He says daddy and mom no problem but I have not noticed any other words just yet (other then thanks). We were looking up developmental milestones and on talking he is a little behind. Other things he is super ahead. Like turning the pages in his book, running after a ball, bending over to pick up stuff, sharing with you... using everything as a phone but knowing the phone really is a phone.
He is such an active kid. I am so happy he is back to being my happy guy again. For a little bit he was super whiney and just in a bad mood. Maybe he had tummy pain like I did this past friday (felt sick all day and then come home and barfed everything up). If he has the sick feeling like me no wonder he was grumpy and not wanting to eat. Poor guy.
Hopefully we will be tummy bug free for a bit. I can handle the boogers thanks to day care but the tummy pain SUCKS and Ryan having a tummy bug super sucks.

Birthday and day care

April 17th was a lot of fun. We hung out, cleaned, went shopping, played, went on the swings, slid down the slide and after we got home from getting Neil Ryan had a cupcake. This time it was rainbow chip and I put a tiny bit of frosting on it.
He loved it.

 Forget broccoli, give me cake!

 Hmmmmm

 Hey dad, try this out!

Nomnomnom

April 18th Neil took me into work and then was off to the doctor with Ryan.
He got his 12 month shots, in his arms, poor kid. We also found out he is 27.5lbs and 78cm (30.7inches). He is in the top 90% (which means he is a big dude)
He should drink whole milk (not 2%) No peanuts till 2 years of age (or peanut butter) and he had a rash (which might be athletes foot) on his feet so we have to cream him up at night and try to leave shoes off.
Neil and Ryan had a great time together while I was back at work. Neil gave Ryan a piece of twine while he was on the phone with Revenu Canada about our taxes.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GD-MBzrmJL4
Its pretty damn funny and it made my first day back to work go better.
My guys picked me up a little early and Neil had a frosty for me as a treat. It was awesome.


Today... today was the first day of day care. I was so 'butterfly belly' this morning. Ryan had no idea what was going on. We went into day care and after asking about the sign in for video over internet we took him to class. I let the ladies know Ry has a rash on his feet and to try to keep shoes off him and the milk was in the bag (breast for now, we really need to go grocery shopping). The young black lady (really need to learn her name!) took Ryan from me and told me "go have a good day." She put Ry in the middle of the room and he had his back to me and started playing. Neil took my hand and lead me out of there. I was crying. Not much just a few tears. Neil grabs my hand, puts it up in the air and turns to me and says "Lets celebrate, lets go to mexico! Ryan is their problem now!" I couldn't help but laugh.


I was pretty busy at work and trying to get into the swing but I did go online a few times to spy on Ryan. I saw him playing, being rocked, being hugged and cuddled, I saw him do the tired lay down and thought to myself "Oh they better put him to bed soon." I saw him step over another kid, play with a ball, eat, drink, walk around and have a good time.
The lady Rita told me he had two servings of tacos at lunch. LOL. And it also looks like he drank his whole bottle of breast milk at 4. Maybe I should give them two bottles? He ate pita, tzatziki, oranges and the fruit I gave them. Damn... kid can eat. I guess it's all the playing with other kids.
I am trying to get him to drink only from cups so we shall see. I will have to talk to them about that and what they think.
He was covered in boogers which was super gross. It was nice to bathe him tonight. Lets just say all the kids there have runny noses and its hitting my gross out factor pretty hard.


This is his report card.

(click to enlarge)

 I get one everyday.
 I fill out the small section to the top left and the ladys fill out the rest. They were really happy with how much he ate and drank but he didn't sleep. The 30 min nap he did take was on a hippo pillow in the main play room. Rita said he went to sleep in her arms around 11 (which I saw) but when they put him down in the crib room he woke up. She said they left him there and he chatted and cried a little. Hopefully he will sleep for them Friday. He was in a GREAT mood on the drive home and tonight while he ate dinner and played. He had a nice bath (a fast one though cause he kept trying to lay down in the water). Now he is sleeping. I am doing some wash and then time to make lunches for Neil and I. (and a shower)
I will confess tonight after bath, after saying goodnight to daddy and kitty Roag, after breast feeding and teeth brushing I let him sleep on me. I sat in the chair in his room while he slept on me just staring at him while the sun was setting. I was in there about 10 min longer then I needed to be. I wanted to hold him longer but we need to sleep train him again, he is getting bad. I just sat there cuddling him looking at him and smelling him and kissing him. Trying to engrave in my brain how he feels in my arms.


I know I am being dramatic... I also know other moms reading this blog will get this and nod in agreement to that feeling. The old cliche is true, they grow up way to fast.


Love you little man.

Food

For over a week Ryan has been not wanting to eat. Which scared me a little. Yes he is a big kid and has a little padding on him so he would be fine but still. It worried me because he also had a bad fever earlier this week as well.
Turns out he just didnt want baby mush anymore. He wants big kid food.
Shit, this is a lot harder to make. Seasoning it more and how to cook food that a kid with only 8 teeth can eat and not choke on. This is harder then it sounds. Cook the fruit and veggy enough so it is soft but not soft enough to be mush, cook meat enough so its cooked all the way but not dry.
Well today at lunch he has baked pears (perfect!) sweet potato fries (amazing recipe I enjoy them as well) and turkey meatballs. Thankfully he is eating all of it. He is going for the sweet potato fries first, then the pears and then the meat. hahaha
I have to limit how much I put on his try cause he put everything in his mouth and started to gag. He eats fast like his daddy.

 Mmmmm pears (sweet potato in the closed hand)

 Where did that pear go?

It's okay I have more!

Happy he is enjoying food again. Now to finishing making his Broccoli & Cheddar Cheese Nuggets for dinner.


Turkey Meat Balls here.
Broccoli Nuggets here.

Follow that with lots of water!

Doping up the kid, walking on his own and let me in!

Last night while getting Ryan dressed for bed I noticed he had a bad red rash on his face. I thought maybe he was having an allergic reaction to something (he was very fussy as well). Neil and I gave him baby Benadryl for the first time. I warned Neil it said on the package it might make him either tired or excited.
Well Ryan slept from about 7:45pm till 5:30am. He has NEVER done that before. I mean never, most we have ever gotten out of him was 6-7 hours of sleep. I fed him at 5:30am and he went back to sleep curled up with me until Neils alarm went off a little after 7am.
WOW.
I think it was good he got so much sleep, he is still fighting the cold he got last week.


Tuesday lunch time I noticed something. I was blowing on his food because it was hot and when I put the food near his mouth he would blow on it too! It's awesome how much he copies people. I love it. He is just this big sponge. In regards to the waving hi Neil said he thinks Ryan doesn't know what it means. He just knows it gets a huge reaction out of us when he copies us. 
 It's silly, if you told me 10 years ago I would get excited about a baby waving or blowing on food I would have laughed at you. Now it makes my day.
 It's strange how much you change when you have a kid. I never understood it or thought other women were full of shit and sometimes they even got pity from me. Now I get it. I SO get it. Ryan is amazing. Everything he does is amazing. When he hits developmental milestones it thrills me to my toes.


 Now if only he would stop being a scaredy cat and walk! He can do it. He does it more and more but he gets scared and sits down and starts crawling. He has been walking (with help) since December, it's March now. We practise one hand walking (I only let him hold one hand) and I will walk beside him. Then I let go and turn around and hold out my hands for him to come to me. Which he does most of the time.
Video of him walking.


Ry has also started trying to open the bedroom door. He will stand on his tippy toes and touch the door knob. He knows that is how you open the door but thankfully he can not reach high enough to do it. Yikes. Isn't it a bit early to be trying to open doors? He also started opening the cabinets under the sink.

 LET ME IN! (sorry so blurry, this kid moves a lot)

 This morning chewing on everything... new teeth coming soon? BAH!

Tiny hands not so tiny anymore. (this was taken today)

This was one month old. So tiny. My thumb is GIANT in his hand.
This year is going way to fast.

Sickness again

Why oh why did we go to the birthday party on Saturday. I think Alexandra infected us with her coughing and face sneezing. I know she didn't mean too but darn you kid with your cuteness, cuddles and mucus.


Monday Neil started feeling ill early afternoon by night my throat was on fire and someone turned on a hose in Ryans nose.
Monday night was rough, Ry was in bed with us and woke up A LOT because the poor guy can not breath. He wants to cuddle a lot and he really wanted to sleep but he is a nose breather and when he can't breath from the nose he gets very upset. It's a sad sight really.


I woke up covered in boogers and damp. This was from Ryan. Ew. (clean sheets tonight!)
He went through 4 clothing changes and I had 3 shirts today.  We put him in the hot shower with me tonight before bed and hopefully that helped. I think so because its 9:45pm and he has been sleeping since a few min after 7. Much longer then last night. 


Neils nose has started tonight. I am wondering if Ryan had it first and passed it on to us. Neil said Ry was odd on Sunday. Maybe it was the sore throat. OH crap that means I will have a lot of mucus in the morning. BAH! Ill take a sore throat but I HATE runny nose to much. Last time we had a family cold I had to mop because my nose would just drip. So gross.


Oh well, fingers crossed in a few days this passes and we are all back to our healthy selfs and Ryan can go back to sleeping well. Hopefully.

Shit he is starting to wake. Oh well time to cuddle!

He walked today and fun with Lucy.

Ryan walked today. We were on the floor and he stood up (using me to get up) and I pushed myself back and let him stand on his own. He then took three steps to me and fell toward me. I caught him and I was so proud I started clapping and tell him how great that was and how hard it must have been but I was super proud. He sat there smiling clapping with me.
I love this kid so much... during the day.


Last night was super nasty again. I looked at his teeth this morning and the one little on on the top right is super red and looks inflamed. Poor kid. Poor Neil. He was up with Ryan a lot last night. We are still weaning him and its going pretty good. He wanted to feed last night because its a comfort thing for him but we stuck to it till, I think, 6am.


We had Lucy this weekend. Good lord we are not ready for a dog, she is a pretty well behaved dog. Well minus the jumping on our futon and humping Ryan's head. 
Yes you read that correctly. 

 Look mom, a puppy and dad!

 Watching The Incredibles Sunday night while I cooked cookies for Neil. 

He woke up and we figured 'eh let him have some fun with us.'

 NOMNOMNOM Peanut Butter

Best friends forever enjoying the window

Ryan was very happy to see her and she was super excited too. After Robin and Christina left she calmed down a bit. After Ryan's nap we let them play together. She is so good with him but when she would get excited and hit Ry with her tail he would get so annoyed it was hilarious.
They play pretty good together. She was letting him 'pet' her aka pulling in her hair around her mouth. She was just letting him do it. Such a good girl. Don't worry we stopped him and try to get him to pet her belly/sides.
The first day we had her (Sunday) we went for a walk around our neighbourhood with her and Ryan. They enjoyed it and both were worn out afterwards. Monday we went to a park near us and had a nice walk. Lucy is so amazing in the car! She just plopped down in the back seat with Ryan. Didn't try to lick him or anything. Such a good girl.
She got into everything she could though. It was sort of having a 4 year old kid that shed a lot and sleeps great. Now I SORT OF know how it is to have two kids, its hard! Neil and I both were saying NO a lot Sunday and Monday.


I am happy we don't have a dog right now. Ryan puts everything in his mouth, including hair balls and we have enough of those with the one kitty.
Speaking of which. After Robin and Christina picked Lucy up Neil and I vacuumed and cleaned. I was in the bedroom putting Ryan to bed and I hear Neil laughing like crazy. Roag (our kitty boy) found a ball of Lucy hair I missed... well he ate it. He sat down, took a smell and then ate it.


Weird cat.

10 Months old

Ryan is 10 months old today. I have two more months of fun before work. Boooooooo

Things he can do:
Stand on his own, he did this today for 6 seconds while clapping his hands! He started clapping his hands Tuesday. I have been trying to teach him this for a few weeks now. He is starting to wave and I am trying to teach him to say 'hi' while he does this. He can feed himself but still misses his mouth sometimes. He hides stuff from me! He is very adventurous and loves to get into stuff he shouldn't. 
He knows what No is and will stop and look at me to see if I am serious. I am still waiting for him to sign back to me 'drink' or 'food'. I have been trying to teach him this for four months now. He talks a lot but not really words we can understand or if they are I think it's just how they are formed. Not that he understands what the mean yet. He sings and dances also. He loves when I use the vacuum or blender. Today he was chasing the vacuum and I had to put him in his playard while I finished up. He just stood there dancing and talking.


Things he eats / drinks:
He eats about anything he can get. I have not really noticed if he has favorites or not. He pretty much loves it all. I have noticed he doesn't like warm food. He makes a face and then rubs his face with his hands like its super hot. I think I caused this because I never heat up his food. I wanted him to get accustomed to room temp or cool food to make it easier when we go out. I got him a fork and spoon so tonight we can start letting him feed himself. 
He drinks from a no spill cup or bottle. I am trying to get him to have a cup during the day and a bottle of water or weak tea at night (chamomile or fenil, black no sugar or milk). It helps him sleep and pass gas (my mother in law taught me this and I swear by it now!)
I am also trying to get him into more texture food and have been experimenting this past month. He likes it. (big shocker!)
I can not eat anything without letting him have some. He has climbed over stuff to get to me and will try to climb me to get it! He LOVES hummus and pita. I have hunted down whole wheat pita with no salt in the ingredients which are perfect.
We are still super strict about him having salt or sugar (refined or added) I know he gets enough sugar from the fruit he eats. That is when Neil is not eating his strawberries and pears with cinnamon. heh


Sleeping last night:
Last night was pretty great. He slept from 8pm-3am no waking. When he woke I gave him breast because I was swollen and lumpy. (ouch!) I followed it up with the tea so no milk would sit in his mouth. He cuddled in my arms for a bit while I hummed. I had my eyes closed and when I looked down at him he has his eyes closed with a big smile on his face. Happy baby was happy. I put him in his crib and sat on the floor. I put my arm through the crib and rested it on his belly while I hummed Twinkle Twinkle Little Star. Did this for about 20 min. By 4am he was sleeping in his bed and was there till 6am. Then he came into our bed till 7 cause no way in hell I was waking up at 6am. Neil did pretty much the same thing the night before (no breast obviously) and got him to sleep in his crib till 6:30am.
I dont know if it was a fluke but I was so happy he slept till 3am. Hopefully we are nipping that 11:30pm wake up. Next up is the 3am wake up. (sometimes 4am).


He has two more teeth on the top coming in (next to the big ones on either side) they are starting to cut through. He has four on the bottom all cut out and still pushing. The one on the left top is out and the right top is pushing out. He will have eight teeth soon, crazy.


He loves to chase his ball. We have three one them. A easy to grab one we got from Jenn and Craig at his shower, a plush soccer ball Sherry got us and last night we picked up a bouncy textured one from BRU. Tara and Chris has the same one and Ryan loved it so much we had to get it. Not a bad investment for $3. He was playing with it forever last night with Neil. I think that helped wear him out.


It's so cool to see how much he has changed. I love to go back and watch old videos of him when he was a month old and how excited we were about him lifting his head up on tummy time. Now he is almost walking! Well he walks if we hold a hand. We have been practising holding only one hand and he is getting better. He can crawl like a champ and stands up super fast. 

At the hospital about to go home. He was so small! 8lb 9oz

 Playing with Dad this weekend.

Today looking out the window. 10 months old! 25.6lbs!!! and 30" tall

Video of him at 1 month and 2 days during tummy time.

Ryan playing with Roag, using my pajama string.

Ryan chasing after Roag. I was petting Roag and Ryan tried to make his move.

Still trying to teach Ryan how to be gentle when petting Roag.

This weekend is a three day one so we get Neil for three days! Ryan loves playing with dad. And we get Lucy Sunday morning till Monday late afternoon. We are doing a play day with Tumbler (Joe and Angelas dog). The weather is supposed to be nice so we are planning on some walks with Lucy and Ryan. Ryan loves Lucy so much it should be fun. And its a good test to see how crazy it would be with a dog in our life (in a few years).

New stuff Ryan is doing

I made the huge mistake of teaching Ryan how to tickle our feet. Opps.
He is obsessed with it. He will chase me down to tickle feet. I was playing on the floor and I laid down and put my feet in the air. He tried to climb my legs to get to them.


Also yesterday for the first time he was clapping his hands together! I was so proud of him. I have been trying to teach him that and waving. He sort of waves (open and close hand). He is also getting better at walking while only holding one grown up hand and standing without any help (nothing to lean on or hold) he can do it for a few seconds now before falling. I think he will be walking on his own by 11 months old. He is almost 10 months now.
Video of him clapping while I feed him.


He kept rubbing his face because his teeth are bugging him big time still.


He is pretty good about leaving stuff alone. I tell him no, leave it and then explain why. AKA "NO leave the iphone alone, that is mom's toy and you have all your toys you can play with. Thank you."


Sleep is still a huge issue right now. Though the teeth on the bottom are almost out. The one on the right is out all the way and almost done, the one on the left has cut through the gums but still coming out. The left big top one is cut out and almost done and the right big top one is just cutting out now. There is also a small one on the left top coming out. (this is on top of the two on the bottom he already has) Hopefully he will have the seven by April.
I guess its good they are all coming out now so fingers crossed in April when I go back to work we can have a few months break of teething so he sleeps.
Last night I was so worn out I just didn't even care to fight with him on sleeping. I fought at 12:30 and gave him bottle only (weak chamomile tea) and at 1:45 I put him in bed with us and got him to sleep with no drink or boob. At 3am I just didn't give a shit anymore I was so tired and I wanted Neil to have a good night of sleep I gave him boob. He was also up at 4:30 and 5:30 and then up for the day at 6:30. Tired of people telling me to 'stick it out' easy for you to say when you are not the one up all night for a week straight.
I was supposed to take the car and go grocery shopping but I am so tired that was the last thing I felt like doing today. So it is laundry and clean the house a bit day and sleep cause I have Zumba tonight.


Here is a video of Ryan dancing while I blend up some cantaloupe for him. He is now dancing when I use the blender or vacuum. Its pretty darn cute...
Dancey dance dance.


Ya know what, if all we get is a kid that has sleep issues I will take it. He is healthy and a pretty happy kid over all. It could always be much worse as we know first hand. Now to remember this at 3am when I am so tired I have a hard time walking.


Also Neil was super sweet last night and got me chocolates (the expensive kind!) and my favorite cinnamon hearts YUM! We had a great dinner out Monday (the 13th) with no kid. Went to Milestones. Sooooo yum.

Random update

Five teeth coming in SUCKS. 
Two at the bottom and three on the top.  I feel bad for the kid, I feel bad for Neil and I feel bad for me.


As most things this too shall pass.


Today we signed up for PeekABoo Day care Center on Traders Blvd. Made me sad. I hate that we have two months and a week tillI have to work and I cant spend all day with my little dude. I think it will be good for him though. He loves other kids so much and it will be good for him to play with some kids.


This morning/afternoon Ryan enjoyed some pita and hummus with me. Kid was in love. He really likes hummus.


He is also obsessed with his ball. Neil was kicking it to the wall while holding Ryan and he was laughing like crazy. I got a video, I will have to upload it later.
Its starting to get a little harder to care for him cause he is crawling like crazy, trying to walk and gets into everything. Its awesome. I am so happy he is doing so great. Not to mention still amazingly cute.


I sure do love my little man, even when he bites me heard enough to bruise.


DAMN teeth!

Skiing and Doctor Update

Neil and I went Skiing last Saturday for the first time. Ill update more on it later. Pressed for time right now.
Ryan saw the doctor today for a check up.
He is 25.6lbs and 76cm (29.9in). Big baby is HUGE. Doctor also told me to stop breastfeeding him at night. To transition to water at night.
Plan is starting tonight no more big bed for Ryan. We put him in bed with us around 4am. So this week we break that habit. Next week start on the no more breastfeeding in the middle of the night. Doc said Ryan should be sleeping through the night now and its not good for him to have breast milk in the middle of the night because of his teeth.
BAH!
I knew this time would come but its gonna suck so hard. Thankfully he breastfeeds now and then I hum or sing him to sleep so I just have to leave out the breastfeeding in the middle of the night. 21 days to form a habit. 
I know in the long run this is a good thing since I am going back to work in April but still. I hate not sleeping. I shot myself in the foot putting him in bed with us and bfing to sleep. Stupid Mary! Oh well.