Why do I forget to blog?

Yes, once again, it seems I've forgotten that this blog exists. It's been four months now, during which time Ruby has recovered from being dropped, come through a case of presumed pertussis, survived having her shoulder popped out of the socket by her multi-tasking mother (oops), and has learned to crawl and stand up with the help of furniture. Leonidas has turned into quite the big brother himself, and despite their rocky beginning, my children have come to love one another. We have also survived our move to Hemet (along with Granny), and are doing quite well. We have also acquired two pet rats named "Kitty" and "Mayu-Mayu" (pronounced "My-you My-you"), and will soon be adding a pair of chickens for our egg-laying delight (more on that later). Other developments are in the works...more to come...but for now, that's us, in a nutshell. :)

Leonidas Update - 12 months

Ok, so it's been a lonnng time since the last update. Let's see...

Walking! Leonidas took his first two steps at 7 months...then would only take one or two steps at a time for two months after that, lol. He officially started walking at nine months - by which I mean, he took seven steps one day and has been running ever since!

Throwing and kicking a ball: He's been doing this since about 10 months. Such an athlete!

Teeth: He now has 10 teeth. Yes, he's still nursing. No, it doesn't hurt.

Speaking of nursing: We're still going strong. He's still nursing on demand, which is several times a day (I don't count). He just snacks all day - a few minutes here and there - and only has "meals" at naps and bed time. I wonder how he'll react to me nursing the new baby...

Baby-Led-Weaning: We have been doing BLW since about five months. I absolutely love it and will never do purees or cereals after this experience. He eats everything. It's been so nice not to have to spoon feed him or deal with solid-food-introduction bowel problems. He can join the family at meals and we all get to eat together, which is priceless. Of course, saving money on baby food is also a plus. Now if only restaurants would have something other than pizza, macaroni and cheese, and chicken nuggets on their kids menus...it's really nice that he will eat healthy meals like steamed vegetables and seafood, but it sucks to have to spend $15 on a meal for my one-year-old, even if I do have leftovers.

Baby's First Piercing: Leonidas got his ears pierced last weekend! He was so brave and only cried for a few minutes (thanks to mommy, the human pacifier). We've decided to make it a tradition to get all our children's ears pierced when they reach the one-year mark - their first "coming of age" ceremony, so to speak. I know that even more people will think he's a girl now, but we did our best to make them look manly - he put in 16-gage labret studs facing backwards so the flat disk is on the front, which is a bit more masculine in my opinion. He wears them quite well, actually :)

Talking: We've had a bit of a language explosion lately. He now knows how to say about 40 words consistently and learns more every day. He favorites are "flower" (followed by "mmm" and leaning forward to smell the flower - or plant, tree, grass, as the case may be), "book" (his favorite past-time), "bird" (a new fascination), and "banana" ( I usually have to spell this in front of him, otherwise he will be terribly upset if he can't have one).

I'm sure there are more, but it's late and I'm tired, so here's where it ends for now. :)

Leonidas Update - 4 month dr. appointment

Leonidas had his four-month appointment today. He is 25 1/4 inches long and weighs 20 lbs. 7 oz.! :O Yes, he's a mighty boy. He is just above the 75th percentile for height and head circumference and WAY above the charts for weight. The Dr. loved the idea of baby-led-weaning and said she was going to suggest it to some of her patients. She advised continuing to exclusively breast-feed until 6 months, but that offering him food the way I have been is great.

He got two shots today and didn't even cry at all for the first one and cried for about 3 seconds after the second one. What a brave kid! He is in perfect health and doing just peachy :) Here's to fat and healthy children!

Leonidas Update - 18 weeks

New this week:

Sitting up! - Leonidas can now sit up all by himself :) He still falls sometimes, especially when he's trying to reach for something, but he's pretty much got the hang of it.

Pushing up on all fours - He's mastered this a handful of times, then face-plants into the floor :/ But it's a start...

Driving - yeah right. But he can reach the floor now in his walker (that looks like a car) and he pushes himself up in it. He hasn't figured out how to make it move yet, but he's trying.

And he found his tongue. He's been sticking it out at us all week.

Leonidas update - milestones and such

New this week:

Rolling over! Leo finally rolled over from his back to his tummy this week. He thinks it's a great game now, and since he hates to be on his back, he does it all day long. He still hasn't mastered going from tummy to back yet. I think he's either too fat or he just likes being on his tummy too much!

Crawling - ok, well not yet. But he's creeping, anyway. He gets on his tummy and inches forward, sometimes with his butt straight up in the air, which is hilarious. He can't get on his hands and knees yet, but he's almost pushed himself up there on occasion, so I don't think it will be long. For now, he's got this sort of hopping-army-crawl going on. He's moving, but it's slow-going, and he gets so frustrated with himself!

New food adventures: We began offering solid foods during the last few weeks. He's been given bread, french fries, chicken nuggets, and broccoli. Mostly he just takes it and doesn't know what to do with it, but this week he's figuring it out. He sucked the life out of a french fry a few days ago and chewed the hell out of some broccoli last weekend. He LOVES the broccoli (good boy!) and is moderately impressed with chicken nuggets.


Sitting on the potty by himself - he can now sit there for quite some time without assistance. I still have to be there though because he can't catch himself if he goes backward. Earlier this week I let him go for a second and he ended up flipping over backwards with the potty landing on top of him. He was not amused.

"All Done" - As many of you may or may not know, I'm not big on baby sign language. There are conflicting reports about whether it enhances or delays speech, so until I find more convincing evidence, it's just not my thing. I am, however, attempting to show him the sign for "potty" (I think it's actually "toilet") and "all done." He began signing potty a week or so ago, although not consistently, and this week he did "all done" a few times. Since he's taken to blowing raspberries in an attempt to communicate his elimination needs, I figured I'd help him out by giving him more specific gestures so I know the difference between "I'm playing" and "I have to pee."

"Pfthththth" - oh yeah, and he found his lips. My whole house is now covered in baby spit. Lovely.


Join us next week for (hopefully) more fascinating updates!

The Cold That Wouldn't Die.

I know. Sounds like Mystery Science Theater 3000 fodder, right? Seriously, this cold just will not quit - Leo's, I mean. He's had this terrible cough for a week now. He's usually ok during the day, but will have coughing fits at night and in the morning and they just won't stop. He goes until he's out of breath, then he cries. And not just any cry; he does THE LIP and looks at me like, "Mommy, why?" It breaks my heart. I just want to hold him and make it all better. I guess it's getting gradually better, but it's still there and it sucks. I'm just so sad knowing that it's gonna be like this for the rest of my life. Experienced mammas, help me out: What do you do when you can't make it ok?

Leo's 2-month check up

Three weeks late, but oh well. Leonidas weighed in at 15 lbs. 1 oz., and was 23.5 inches long! That puts him between the 75th and 90th percentile for height and off the charts for weight. No problems with my milk supply, I suppose, lol. He's a growing boy, for sure - and wearing 6-9 month clothing now (for anyone interested).

He got his first shots as well. We aren't doing all the shots, but I did want him to have a few. He got Hib, DTP, IPV, and PCV. We are not doing HepB or Rotavirus. Unfortunately, they were out of the 3-in-1 shot, so instead of getting two shots, he got four! He took it like a champ, though. He was asleep when they started, and didn't even really wake up until the second shot! He cried a little, pf course, but it lasted all of 5 seconds and then he was back out. What a brave boy!

All in all a clean bill of health. His umbilical hernia is looking much better and it should heal on its own. Some reflux problems but nothing major - lungs are clear and heart is great. He's just a healthy rolly-polly little boy!