Month 12

Happy 12 Months to my Terrific Toddler!!

Bryce and his buddy Madigan!

Well as usual, I’m late updating my blog.  It seems like I used to have a lot more free time.  Although, if you had asked me that months ago I would have disagreed.  Oh the days of multiple naps…where have you gone??  :)  By the way, wasn’t I told that a magic switch would flip at a year and Bryce would suddenly be sleeping more?  I suppose I should be thankful that continued broken sleep is the worst of my problems!!

Today is my last official Friday off before I return to work on Monday.  I look forward to getting back to my “old” life but dread it at the same time.  I’ve never been good with change and am a worrier by nature.  Thinking about the logistics of making this “new” life work with my shift structure makes me very anxious!  Breathe….   How do Mother’s do this??  I remember when I returned to work after getting a puppy!!  I was so worried.  I even hired a pet sitter to come!!!  It’s a million times worse with a child!  Having to place my trust in a stranger to care for the most important little person in my world!?  In fact I start to cry when I think of Bryce waking from his nap at daycare in a strange house, with a strange lady!  Hope he doesn’t feel abandoned!!!  Sniff sniff  :(

"Did someone say there was cake?"

 On to a happier topic, we celebrated Bryce’s first Birthday in December.  It was a perfect day and a wonderful celebration that we shared with his Great Grandma Steele.  We had surprise family guests who joined us that day, and even Santa showed up to deliver special Birthday greetings.  I made Bryce his very own “Smash cake”.  (A miniature cake of his very own to demolish and/or eat).  I had never heard of such a thing until recently.  In my day, you would present the one and only cake to the child for them to drool/sneeze/poke/blow out the candles on…and then we would eat it?! :s  Much more sanitary this way!! :) I was hoping he would dig into the cake a little more.  Probably my fault as it was still partially frozen!!  He did however take an interest in the piece of cake on his Great Grandma's plate!!

Christmas was also a fun celebration.  Bryce had a lot of practice with the concept of unwrapping from his Birthday...but still preferred to play with the boxes and tissue paper.  Had I known that, we could have all saved a lot of money by just wrapping a box of tissue paper!? :s  My Brother-in-law generously gave Bryce a deer hide, something that Bryce took great joy in playing with at a previous visit.  Are we doing unseen damage by sitting my child on the pelt of a skinned animal "saying play with the dead deer"!? lol When he gets older, he'll think we've done something horrible to Rudolph!!  

I’m happy to report that Bryce is walking on his own.  He still prefers the security of his “walker” as he can move faster and more confidently.  (Which is great for tormenting the dog)  But he also can walk unassisted for short periods of time.  Usually his top heavy self gets ahead of his slower moving bottom which results in a spill.  His poor wee head has definitely been “bedazzled” by an assortment of bruises. New ugly blue ones on top of old faded yellow ones.  Hockey helmet anyone???  Lol

He is also sporting 4 new molars.  They are gigantic!!  When I first caught a glimpse, I thought he had paper or gum in his mouth!! Thank goodness we don’t remember the discomfort of the teething process.  With his new chompers, he powers through just about anything I give him to eat.  I should be grateful that I do not have a picky eater!  (Just an insomniac!!)   I’ve been doing a lot of “muffin tin” cooking.  They have fabulous recipes on the internet that make a perfect portion size for a toddler.  All kinds of ingenious ways to make mini lasagnas, meatloaf, pot pies, quiche….all conveniently freezable! 

Well I think this will be my last Baby Bean blog entry.  It's been a magical, terrifying, awesome, tearful, joyful adventure that I never-ever thought I would have!  (Which made it all the more special)  Thanks for sharing this journey with me, and motivating me to document "The life of Bryce" from his creation (ok not exactly his creation!!!) but from his very beginning when he was only 8 weeks gestation and a mere 7mm. You've heard his first heartbeat with me, you've seen his first baby sonograms, you've watched my belly inflate to ginormous proportions, read the tale of his birth, watched as he reached his monthly milestones, and now helped us to celebrate his very 1st Birthday.  Thank you for sharing this most incredible time in my life!! xo

Month 11

Happy 11 Months to my Handsome Big Boy!  Wait…what???  11 months?!  :s

It seems like only yesterday that I was pregnant…but at the same time it feels like a thousand years ago.  I guess when you’re in the thick of it…time ticks so slowly, but then when you look back, it’s hard to believe the year is almost gone!  And oh boy, what a year of changes!

I'm getting socks for Christmas? Waaaah!

Well ladies and ummm ladies. (I don’t think many gentlemen read this blog), WE HAVE A CRAWLER!!!  Nov. 6^th is the official documented date when he crawled from the carpet to the dog dish.  Yum….Kibble! I was getting worried that he was never going to figure it out – and now my world is suddenly a lot busier.  He is into everything! Drawers, cupboards, bags!  Gone are the days where you could plonk him down in the center of a room and be confident that he wouldn’t get into trouble.  Along with the crawling, came the “pulling up” and “furniture cruising” - which has caused a few lumps, bumps, and tears!!!  Oh…and it also created some attitude!  Mr. Independent suddenly realizes that he gets a say (or so he thinks) about when and where he wants to go.  Now we’re all waiting for (or dreading?) the next milestone…walking!  :)

We put up the Christmas tree a little early - an artificial.  I have always decorated for Christmas, but now having a little one, it feels so much more important to make all the holidays special and create traditions.  Initially, he was petrified of the green tree “limbs” that I brought up by the armloads from the basement.  He would tentatively reach out to touch them and quickly draw back as if he’d been bitten.  Oh how I wish he was still terrified of the tree!  I finally had to move all of the ornaments and lights half way up as it was his single daily mission to remove/rearrange/eat whatever he could touch…including the artificial pine needles.  Sigh.  He’s like a cat that eats the tinsel!

Spaghetti face!!

Thankfully we found daycare for Bryce.  She comes highly recommended and had MUCH more interest than available spots.  She is only taking 3 little ones so I feel blessed to be “one of the chosen”.  As I said to “Daddy” at the interview…WE were the ones really being interviewed for her service!  It’s definitely going to be an adjustment for all of us!  And poor wee Bryce…he is unfortunately going to be “thrown into the fire” without the traditional week of “pre-visits”.  The daycare is not actually re-opening until January after being closed for a year due to family reasons.  There will be no time for slow integration! :(

We are busily and excitedly planning for Bryce’s 1^st Birthday party which will be a joint celebration with his Great Grandma who will be 99 years old!  I look forward to posting pictures on the 12th month update!

That's it for now.  See you back here soon.

Month 10

Well another month has flown by….Happy 10 months Biggie Boy Bryce!

Saunders Farm - Pumpkin Pickin'

With Halloween fast approaching, we made a trip out to Saunders Farm Pumpkin Patch last week.  I had never been before but had heard lots about it.  It is far more than simply a pumpkin patch….but a Halloween wonderland for kids.  There are haunted houses, a petting zoo, cedar hedge mazes, wagon rides, wacky play structures, and of course pumpkin picking-carving-eating etc!  Bryce really didn’t seem all that thrilled but I was!  Maybe in another couple of years.

Bryce is still little Mr. Social instead of little Mr. Sleepy.  It is like pulling teeth to get him to “wind” down and fall asleep.  And it’s not like he’s sleeping all day.  In fact I’m lucky if he has 2 x ~40 min naps.  I’ve read that “sleep begets sleep” and that if he has a restful day, a restful night will follow.  Therefore, I always schedule my day around his “nap times” so he has the opportunity for a quiet, comfortable rest.  He just usually has something else he’d rather do.  And in regards to night-time…he sleeps well for the first 4-5 hours.  After that, he is awake every 2 hours or so.  I know, I know…it’s my fault for soothing him with a bottle.  Now he “needs” it every time he wakes in order to fall back to sleep.  Oh well!  My theory is that this time of “neediness” is short (in the grand scheme of things), and Bryce is not an “animal” to be trained (i.e cry it out method), and that he isn’t something that needs to be “managed”…rather someone to comfort, nurture and enjoy.  (O.K…so I might not always feel that way at 3 am!) Ha Ha

Thanksgiving leaf fight

Seeing as how the weather is growing increasingly cold, we made sure to visit the Experimental Farm here in Ottawa before the snow comes.  No, it is not a place to take your children to be experimented upon although maybe they could tell me why he doesn’t sleep.  It is actually a real livestock/agricultural farm in the middle of the city that teaches children about farming and raising animals.  I had high hopes that it would be something that Bryce would enjoy….WRONG.  As we made our way from barn to barn, his nervous “laugh/cry” (something he does when he’s unsure) became a “cry/cry”.  Especially once we entered the last barn which housed the Clydesdale Horses and one really loud lonely cow.  He did however enjoy sitting in the dirt and eating leaves.  Well worth the price of admission! :s

Bryce is still not crawling.  I’m sure he’s thinking…”Really?  You want me to crawl around on a dirty floor with my bare hands?  And what about the knees of my pants, they’ll be ruined?!  I’ll just wait till I can walk!” lol  He is actually “cruising” around in his own way…sort of a modified bum scoot.  And he’ll occasionally get on his hands and knees for a minute or two, grunting with exertion as he attempts to support his portly proportions, which typically ends in an ungraceful belly flop. (He’s 27.6lbs now)

Even though he is not making much progress in reaching the "mobility milestone", he does now speak English.  O.K....so it's only one word.  But it's still English!!  He says Mom!  I win....sorry "Daddy"!  I'm sure he doesn't really know what he's saying but I make such a big production...that he figures it's good!! :) Hopefully the video plays so you can hear his first word. (Please excuse is dirty lunch face!)

Well that's all for now.  Happy Halloween!

Month 9

Happy 9 Months Baby B!!

Sock monkey hat - Halloween costume

Well it is official…Bryce has been out of my tummy longer than he was in it!  It seems that time ticked by so much more slowly while he was inside than out - must have been because we were so full of anticipation for his arrival.  But now time is moving TOO quickly and it’s hard to believe his 1^st birthday is just around the corner!  Speaking of birthdays, his 1^st will be celebrated on the same day as his Great Grandma’s 99^th. Now that’s a lot of candles!

Bryce’s pediatrician appointments are every two months so I don’t have an update on his weight…but my aching back and hip will tell you that he weighs a lot!  (Actually I put him on my ‘non-accurate’ scale and it said 26.5lbs) He is currently wearing size 18-24 months, and sometimes even those pants are too tight!   In fact I was joking with “Daddy” that he only has 1 more size of diaper left (size 6) before he’ll be in adult depends.  Thankfully Mom reminded me that there are “Pull-ups” for toddlers…otherwise I would have had him ‘jimmy rigged’ into the “Depends”!  lol

I was hoping to be able to tell you that Bryce is crawling, but alas he is not.  I suppose I should be thankful as  that will make my day much busier and Maddie dogs' life a little less lazy.  I can tell he really wants to get moving and it must be super frustrating to not know how to coordinate his limbs.  Maybe if he wasn’t such a chunky monkey…he’d be off to the races by now!

We haven’t made many gains in the “sleeping through the night” department either.  In fact he still wakes 2-3 times a night.  Mostly just looking for a quick drink and then straight back to sleep but sometimes he’ll be wide awake wanting to get up.  And it’s not like he’s sleeping all day.  Normally he only has two 30-45 mins per day...and his bedtime is around 8:30-9:00pm.  Sigh!  I’m so desperate, I’ve EVEN considered Feng Shui which talks about crib placement etc.  Interestingly, it said to take down the ceiling fan as it represent “spinning knives” overhead and will never feel friendly or safe to sleep under.Maybe THAT'S the problem!? lol

There is one "baby milestone" (besides gaining weight) that Bryce is acing...and that is growing teeth!! At this rate he'll have all his pearly whites before he can walk!  Tooth #6 appeared on Sept. 13 (bottom left), tooth #7 appeared on Sept. 24^th (top right), and tooth #8 (top left) is just about to pop! 

Well that's it for now.  Have a happy and safe Thanksgiving weekend!