The Weekend is Near! And it's a Long One!

It’s a long weekend coming up and you’re getting over your first illness (we’re not counting your recent immunization-related fever nor the cold you’ve had just before Christmas when you had incredibly loooooooooooooong ribbons of snot hanging out of your nose for an entire week and had problems with the boob ‘cause you couldn’t breathe through your nose, hence making it difficult to eat and breathe at the same time) – anyway, you seem to have caught the same stomach bug I’ve had for the last few days and I know it’s not a fun one, let’s just leave it at that. Hopefully you’ll be over it by tomorrow morning, or better yet tonight as we’ve got another daycare thingy to check out. And then another one tomorrow morning and then we’re off to see Oma and Grumpy and some of the assorted aunties and uncles and cousins out in the countryside for the weekend.

Are you excited yet? I’m sure you wouldn’t be able to contain yourself if only you knew what was up, but as it is, you’ll just have to wait and see. Sometimes I wonder how you babyfreaks put up with this sort of thing – getting put in the car when really you want to play rather than go who knows where to do who knows what. Must be confusing, but you’ve been doing a stellar job of just going with the flow. I think you’re a pretty laid back baby, though Papa disagrees with that assessment. And he may be right… since you can also be incredibly prone to temper-tantrums every time you happen to disagree with something, or just think you might disagree with though you really don’t.

I guess maybe what I’m hoping for is that yes, you are on an even keel overall, and that for now, we’re just experiencing your early onset toddlerfreakishness. Even Oma M. who, as you know, claims to know all about babies (and everything else for that matter) was in awe of your full-fledged tantrums, including banging your head into the nearest hard suface, gesticulating with hands and feet, throwing your entire body around and complaining loudly. I must admit it’s fun to watch, but can be slightly annoying at times.

Anyway, I’m glad to be getting a break from work – what with the donkeys around here and all – and everyone will be happy to see you. Now I just have to make it to 4:00 and get out of here and I’ll get to see you and Papa, woo hoo!

Are you Ready?

Oh yikes, how I wish we were rich and I’d never ever, ever have to go back to work! My co-worker is still a donkey, but that’s not the reason. Really, it’s not. Though it’s not helping either. No one appreciates being stabbed in the back or anything, but really, the reason I don’t ever want to go back to work is so I can stay home with you and don’t have to send you off to some daycare provider!

Sigh.

We checked one out last night and Papa and I are so not ready to send you off to some stranger’s house for the full day! I mean, we always knew you were going to go to daycare and, honestly, I never had a problem with that – until I held you in my arms that is. That changed everything.

I know I’m a freak and I know you like spending time with people and kids best of all, but it still seems all wrong. It’s not that I don’t ever want to work, quite the opposite, I think I’d be bored at home all the time, but it just seems so wrong to have you spend most of your time with someone else.

On the bright side, my boss’s boss gave me three little frog bath toys for you this morning. Pretty odd, given that he normally doesn’t even speak to me (or anyone else), but I guess he is human after all. Apparently, he moved into his new condo and the previous owner forgot them in the tub, so he thought you might like them. It’s just that he didn’t explain any of this right off the bat. Instead, he asked me whether I ever give you a bath…..

Nice gesture, anyway.

Another Weekend Over

This weekend, we had a late Father’s Day (there was no point to do it last week, with the house full of Germans and Papa with a splitting headache) – went to Niagara-on-the-Lake, well, more the area around it. You liked running around after your ball in the grass, waved madly at various people and you ate cherries for the first time. Loved them.
We did stop in Niagara-on-the-Lake on the way home and some tourist family from Japan fell completely in love with you – the older woman kept staring at you and got her husband to come back and take a video of you…. You, of course, loved the attention and started waving at the camera :) Papa and I thought they were a bit weird, but they seemed harmless enough, so we let them do it. It’s just a bit odd when people do those things without saying a word, though I guess they didn’t speak any English. Oh well.

You also learned to stand up after having fallen down, without pulling yourself up on anything.

And you’re now sleeping in your own room. This doesn’t seem to be a problem for you at all, but it might be for me – we used to banish Papa there so he could snore in peace while you and I got some sleep…. Now that the guest bed has been taken down, I guess I’ll be stuck with him :)

Phew!

The last few weeks, days in particular, have just been nuts….. Oma left on Friday, Christiane and her folks, including all three little kidlets, arrived on Saturday and left on Tuesday, and work has been a complete mess. As you have yet to learn, co-workers can be backstabbing nuisances – anyway….

You’ve been a bit sick from the end of last week on, had your first fever ever because of your latest shot, and for those few days turned into the calm, snugly baby we sometimes wish you were! We felt bad for you having a fever and not feeling so hot, but otherwise we thoroughly enjoyed the New You. You are back to normal again, though, and haven’t snuggled much since, but at least we don’t have to worry about you anymore.

We survived the last few days with Oma and it seemed that toward the end, she had calmed down enough to make things a bit more enjoyable for Papa and me. Or maybe she'd just run out of energy. At least she didn’t constantly try to tell us what to do with you, how to do it, when to take you outside, when to wake you up from your nap, when not to wake you up from your nap, what to feed you, when to put you to sleep, etc. etc. You ended up having a lot of fun one night with her and laughed your head off like you’ve probably never done before, or maybe only when you first learned to really laugh and oftentimes could not get over some small funny thing. Anyway, it was nice to see and it made Oma happy. You haven’t complained yet that she’s no longer around, but maybe that’s just because you can’t, I don’t know.

Papa and I had Saturday morning to clean the house and get ready for Christiane and everyone – too bad you weren’t yourself entirely, else you’d have enjoyed being with her little kidlets much more. Especially Mia, who’s 5 months older than you, shorter, lighter and wears smaller diapers :) As it was, you got pushed over by her a bunch of times, had fun petting each other on the head one afternoon and she kissed you a few times. The boys kissed you, too, constantly actually, but you just tried to keep to yourself most of the time. Not at all like you.

But now you’re back to normal and we’ve got the house to ourselves again, yay. All the plants we planted with Oma are also still alive, yay for that, too.

I'd Count My Blessings if I had a Religious Bone in My Body

Oh BabyFreak, are we ever lucky to have you!

Work is a right old bummer these days, so I try to do as little of it as possible and read people’s blogs instead – so many sad, sad, sad stories about people trying to have kids and it not working out. I can’t even begin to imagine what these women (and men) go through – but it sure makes me really happy that we’ve got you and that we didn’t have to go through much of anything to get you!

And let’s see, maybe we can pull it off again, so that within a year or so there’ll be two of you BabyFreaks around…. Papa and I have come a long way from I-guess-we-could-have-a-kid-but-definitely-only-one to More-we-want-more.... Actually, I want a whole bunch more, but Papa is close to a nervous breakdown whenever I say that and I'm getting to be too old for that.

Anyway, it just makes me really happy that we've got you!

Gravel Stuck to the Monkey's Nose

Another weekend over…. We took you and Oma to Campbellville and the Crawford Lake Conservation Area yesterday. And a nice day it was, though you may feel a bit different….

I made the fist mistake by letting you walk once we got there – of course, you did not want to go into the stroller, but instead you wanted to push it around. Not a problem normally, but in the gravel parking lot things didn’t go so well. Papa somehow had you and let go of you, so you ended up falling down flat on your face! For the first time ever (well, you have fallen down before, many times in fact, but never quite like that….)! Scraped your nose and ended up in a pissy mood for pretty much the rest of the afternoon. I got freaked out, but - and yes, I’m still proud of myself – managed not to shriek for you and not to scream at Papa for letting you fall down.

You, on the other hand, wouldn’t go near Papa for the first bit, or near the stroller. You wouldn’t walk either, meaning that I got to carry you around…. Not that I mind that or anything, but you do weigh over 20 pounds now and you do get heavy…. Anyway, we walked around and you were quite happy – as long as neither Papa nor the stroller came near you, as long as I was holding you or helping you climb up the big rocks. Oma, as usual, wasn't helping matters much by remarking more than once that “It won’t be the last time….”. She's all warm and fuzzy, that Oma, huh?

Eventually, you needed the boob, but even that didn’t help much as you still refused to go near Papa, near the stroller or walk. We were all happy when eventually you calmed down enough to sit in your stroller without complaining too much – but really, you kept starting up again and again, sometimes just when Papa looked at you. We went for a late lunch and to walk around Campbellville after and things started improving, but you were really only completely fine after you had a nap on the way back.

Your little nose is still scraped up.

Ginormous MonsterBaby no more?

Papa took you to your 1-year check up at the Doctor’s yesterday and, as it turns out, you’re not off the chart anymore :) You’re still high up in the percentiles though – of course you are, you’re almost as tall as 2 year old Arthur who lives down the street.

Anyway, in your first year of life, you’ve gained 13 pounds and grown by over 21 cm!

Weekend Over

Oh little Babyfreak, I’m sooo tired. You were up most of the night once again, not nice at all… The latest trick is that you wake up in the middle of the night, screaming like you’re in pain, getting Papa and me up really fast, hearts racing and adrenalin pumping. We can’t wait for you to get over that…. Though I guess I can't complain 'cause this weekend was not all that bad – on Saturday, you didn’t get up around the usual 6:00am, but you actually slept until just before 9:00!!!!! That has not happened since I’ve had to go back to work and we all had to get used to getting up early - so it was blissful. Absolutely blissful. Now if only we could get you to do that every weekend! Or at least every once in a while....

Your birthday was pretty exciting for you – the balloons! – the re-arranged furniture! – the people! – the presents! – and it was a good party. Friday night after work it was just Papa and Oma M. and me, but on Sunday afternoon we had a party with everyone. It was fun – lots of good food for everyone, you got lots of new stuff and it was the first party in our still-ugly-but-now-shedless-backyard.

You were a bit shy at first when everyone just got here, but it didn’t take you long to get over that….. You were a bit confused about the very yummy birthday carrot cake, tried to poke it a few times and pretty much refused to eat it - you didn’t want any at first and when you did take some, you spit it out. Immediately.

You got a cute teddy bear from Papa and me, some books, new clothes from Oma (they are cute ‘cause I picked them out), a bobbycar, also from Oma, A – Z books, a drum kit complete with a trumpet and another trumpet-like thing, and gardening tools from Uncle Chris. Lots more stuff, but I guess those stand out – especially the gardening tools (just what was he thinking????). Oh, you also got Emily's little baby piano (and you love it already), and some plastic crap that makes lots of noise if you hit a button etc. that we'll donate away to those who need it/want it. And really, there's only so much Papa and I can handle... plus, we're thinking that you won't miss it 'cause you've probably aleady forgotten that you had it :)

All in all, a good weekend!

Happy Birthday, Schnuffi!

You are completely oblivious of this, but it is your birthday today! You’re one whole year old! Woo hooo!

Papa and I have been thinking and talking a lot about this time last year and you know, not being pregnant is a vast improvement on its own, but having you is just everything. I never thought I’d say something as corny as this, but you have brought a lot of joy and laughter to us. Really.

I come home from work, not always in a good mood, but just seeing you and being close to you when you nurse, playing and wrestling with you make it all better. Especially when you are being sweet and snugly and don’t scratch or pinch or bite.

Here’s a bit of a list of what you have learned and done in the past year:

 Your hair has turned from standing on edge and being brunette to being flat and very blond.
You can say Mama and I love it.
Most of your clothes are for 2 year olds, and some of those don’t even fit you anymore.
You can clap, wave bye-bye and climb up the stairs.
You know your own will and have no qualms about letting us know what it is. You complain beautifully when something doesn't go your way or you just think it may not.
You can give wet sloppy kisses.
You get excited when you see people, especially other kids. Same for dogs and cats and raccoons and squirrels and even birds.
You love making your rounds around the coffee table, always carrying a toy and always going in the same direction.
You love it when we sing to you.
You have 14 teeth, with 2 more coming in.
You can walk, a bit anyway, and you can crawl very fast.
You like jumping up and down on the couch when you look out the window.
You like to eat all kinds of fruit, Cheerios, chicken, cottage cheese, yoghurt, but beans and rice seem to make you gag.
You keep trying to jump off anything, usually head first.

I could go on, but that’s what comes to mind right now. I can’t wait to get home and see how you like your new toys!

As for Papa, he says: “It’s been a year of being tired!”
But he meant it in a good way, really.

Happy Birthday, Schnuffi!

Are you a Toddlerfreak now?

And now you are indeed walking, all by yourself. Still wobbly and falling down often, but you really and truly are w a l k i n g!

Tuesday afternoon, just 3 days shy of your very first birthday, you just went after your blue, spikey ball like you’ve done many times before. Just this time you didn’t crawl, but you walked. Alone. Without holding on to a chair or anyone’s hand or anything at all. Just let go of the table and kept walking. Wobbly, but it got you to where you wanted to be. And I got to see it because I had called in sick that day because Oma is visiting and I thought I should, ahem. I’m glad I did.

And I’m not the only one who got excited about it. Oma did and Papa did when I went to get him out of the basement where he was building a trellis for the clematis we’re going to get for the front yard. And you did, too. Started pointing with your finger and talking excitedly, and when we had you in your high chair for some food right after, you just sat there with a quiet little grin.

So, now you are a walking little Babyfreak – it’s so nice to see, but it also makes me a little sad – just because you’re growing up so quickly. And in a sense, it’s almost like the end of an era…..