Almost 16 months Update

In just 2 short days our little baby David will be 16 months old. That sounds so old, doesn't it? I can't even tell you in words how awesome this little dude is becoming. He is the best thing ever.

It seems as though he gets smarter and funnier by the minute. His big thing right now is going around the room and pointing at things to ask what they are. He's always really excited when he can tell you what it is before you do. Some of his best words right now are:
-Mama
-Dada
-Ted (tee)
-Kitty (kee) ...tries so hard to say "Missy" but mostly comes out "Mm"
-Block
-Ball
-Bottle (ba)
-Bath
-Snow (schnoow)
- Blanket (bla)
- Cracker
-Yogurt (yo gur)
-Vacuum (vaa)
-Cookie
-Dog
-So many others I can't think of

He's also really, really good at animal sounds! I feel like he knows a new one everyday. I would like to take this time to say, man alive I love daycare. I think it is the best thing for him. They are constantly teaching him things I wouldn't have even thought of! Sure, he comes home sick every other week, but dang it if he doesn't love that place. The teachers adore him and he has so much fun. Absolutely the right thing for our family.

(his main squeeze. no really, he loves her)

He has three most favorite things right now. Books, vacuums and snacks.

He doesn't play with many of his toys but the books? Constantly. It makes me so happy. He has several favorites that we read over and over again too. Any flap book, Goodnight Moon before bed and nap, 100 First Trucks, Dr Seuss Happy Birthday Baby (funny story- it was Zach's birthday yesterday so I started singing "Happy Birthday" and David went right over to his bookcase and grabbed that book. We may or may not sing Happy Birthday a lot around here), The Very Hungry Caterpillar and Pat the Bunny are pretty high up there on his list. He also really likes big people books and magazines.

 (good luck with that one kid. I couldn't even make it halfway through...too dang sad!)

Snacks are a given. All kids like snacks, right? Our kid loves snacks. He loves snacks so much he wants them every 10 minutes. Somebody please tell me this is normal.

Vacuums? I hear this is a popular love too. He is OBSESSED. He can spot one a mile away. I was putting him in the cart at Target once and he started wigging out because he could see the little broom vacuum peeking out from behind the trash can. Eagle eyes! His favorite daycare toy is the play vacuum. He goes for it first thing every morning.

We had a pretty big sickness the past week. He had a high, high fever that would just not quit. Five and a half days of 103, only going down with a dose of Motrin. I felt so terrible for him. He's never been so lackluster. He slept on me more that week than he did when he was an infant. Constant snuggles (won't lie, that part was pretty great) and hardly any eating. Luckily he still drank a lot (only from his bottle though. We've been off bottles for a few months now but suddenly he started asking for a ba when he was sick so I gave it to him. Now we are back to weaning him off his night bottle... again. Oh well, it kept him hydrated),  He's totally better now and spunky as ever.

It's the best. 16 months. I wish it would last forever.

David Lately

 

 

 

  

14 Months Old.

Super fun!

One + Two (months)

A David update! Without pictures. I know.  Probably nobody will read this. Sorry. The big camera hasn't been brought out very much lately and I can't for the life of me figure out how to get pictures off my iphone. Not kidding. I hate my iphone. Never again, Apple.

Ok. Here's one.

Looks like I haven't written much about what David is up to since his first birthday post. It's been over two months since then. So much has happened!

First - Walking. He started walking the week after he turned one and there was no turning back. He pretty much gave up crawling immediately and toddled his way around the house. All day long. Now that he's been on the go for about two months he is starting to try his hand at running. He's a fast little bugger! Places to go! Things to get into! Now he can also stand up without hanging on to anything. It's amazing. Along with running he's also quite the dancing machine these days. Put on some music and he'll bop around, stomp his feet and boogie around in circles. It's the best.

Next - Waving. Oh we love to wave. Wave. Wave. Wave. I've been waving "bye bye" for months and months now and he finally caught on. Now, whenever anyone leaves the house he'll stand up at the top of the stairs and just wave away. We wave to the cars driving behind our house, the dogs playing outside and just this past weekend he waved bye to the checkout lady at the grocery store. Now we've noticed the past couple days he will blow kisses! Oh it is heart-melting. He even blows air afterward. I mean really. It's the best.

Toys- He loves to play with anything. Just as long as it's not an actual toy. I was warned of this and didn't quite believe it, but it's true, the box it comes in will always be way more entertaining than the actual thing. Sometimes I find myself stuffing tissue paper in random places that I know he'll look just to see his excitement when he discovers it. Phones are his next big thing. I try my darnedest not to let him touch my cell phone, but sometimes those little paws are just too quick. The first thing he does when he gets it? Puts it up to his ear and says "hi!". Zach and I are not big phone talkers. Like hardly at all, so I'm still a little baffled as to where this came from. My guess is daycare likes to play phone a lot? It's pretty funny though. He's starting to play with cars more and more and will "varoom" things around on the floor and in the bathtub. Other than that, he just is kind of all about toddling around and getting into things he knows he's not supposed to get into.

Health - I don't know. I feel like he's constantly sick. Always. Every week. It's never anything too terribly awful, but the kid seems to run a fever for every little thing. Runny nose? Fever. Cough? Fever. Teething? Fever. Bad mood? Fever. All the time. He's also had the stomach flu twice now and right now he's rolling around in bed with a cough that is getting progressively worse. I'm constantly beating myself up over all of it. I can't help but blame myself, but I can't figure out why he's always got something. Is it daycare? Is it the dogs? Is my house not clean enough? Should I not take him to the grocery store? Should one of us quit or jobs and stay home? Should I have breastfed him longer? Should I feed him more vegetables? Constant. All day long. Worry. This is the worst part. By far.

Today was his first day of daycare in the toddler room. They don't have cribs in the toddler room. I went out over the weekend and bought him a special new "nap mat" and we gave it a go when we got home. It lasted about 10 seconds. So, imagine my shock when they told me he slept for an hour today, on the nap mat, like a big boy. Holy cow. I was so proud. I think he'll have a lot more fun in the toddler room. It's about 3 times as big and they do a lot of stuff that the babies don't get to do. He's already obsessed with the gym and takes off for it every time I pick him up to leave. So, at least he loves it there. It's nice to know he has a good time.

He's got 11 teeth now with the 12th, 13th and 14th on the way. He got three molars at one time. I felt so bad for him, but at least most of it was done in one shot and it didn't drag out too long. We brush his teeth every night now. Sometimes he fights it but usually he gets mad when we are finished. Good problems to have.

Otherwise, he's happy, he's goofy, he's sweet, he's sneaky, he's serious, he's determined, he's silly and he's just about perfect. Couldn't ask for more. 

Christmas. 2012.

...and another Christmas comes and goes. I go back to work tomorrow after a 12 day break, but boy it doesn't feel like it was much of one.

I've been sick since Thanksgiving. Not kidding. It's been some combination of cold, flu, stomach flu, cold, and finally on Sunday I couldn't take it any longer and broke down and waited two and a half hours at the CVS Minute Clinic. So now I'm on a ridiculous dose of Mucinex and antibiotics. Today I could at least taste my food.

I had so many plans for this break and really, REALLY needed to stop and re-charge my batteries so I scheduled David for daycare 4 days. Of those four days, he went one. Karma. From now on, if I'm off work, David is off daycare. Every. Single. Time. I have taken a day off "for me" he has gotten sick. Every single one. Right now I'm holed up in the spare bedroom because Zach has the stomach flu. It also took an hour to get David down and he's still in there tossing and turning and coughing. So who knows. Maybe I'm not going back to work tomorrow after all?   I give up.

Anyway. Here are some cute Christmas pictures. Despite the frustrated ramble up above, we had a very lovely Christmas and David blew me away with how excited he got over the whole deal. He was on cloud nine with all the attention and presents!!  We had a ton of fun.

These are some pictures from his daycare Christmas program. They brought "the babies" out for the final two songs and while none of them cried, they sure weren't too impressed. I would share the video, but the expression below was what he did for the entire 10 minutes he was out there. He pretty much sat down and froze like this until everyone started clapping and he crawled over to his teacher and buried his head in her lap. Poor thing was so confused!

Checking out the tree was a favorite activity this year. He'd walk over, point to various ornaments and go "oooooooh". Sometimes he just couldn't take it and would grab a ball off, but not very often. He was very good with the decorations, which was a pleasant surprise.

Christmas Eve we spend with my mom's side of the family. Up until last year we always went to my Grandparents house but now the aunts and uncles are taking turns hosting. It was a little touch and go before we left the house as David was having a rather "moody" day but once we got there and he got started on all the food, he was a happy guy. Slept in till seven the next day even! A Christmas miracle!

Christmas morning we spent at home, just the three of us. It was low-key and a lot of fun. I made a french toast caserole and David had a great time checking out his Santa loot and opening presents. He is such a ham and really got into opening gifts. He's even got the whole "toss the boring clothes aside and move on to the next" thing down pat already!! I also got really spoiled by Zach who went over our small agreed-on limit and went on quite the shopping spree at Antrhopologie! Eeeee!! :)

 This picture kills me. The same expression! Priceless.

Next, we headed off to my my dads side of the family. Or to "the chaos" as I like to describe it. So many people. This was the first year we didn't eat there, but just stopped in to say hello and open presents. Apparently the overly-talkative, chaos-loving, uber-opinionated Italian genes everyone else in this family got somehow TOTALLY skipped me. I am a fish out of water over there.  David sure didn't mind and Zach also comes from a big Italian family so he feels riiiiight at home. While it is certainly always crazy, I do love the entertainment (and the family too)

 These are just the cousins. And several are missing. Also not pictured are the aunts, uncles and spouses. It gets a little crowded.

 Also? I got my hair cut. It's way too short :(

Next on the Christmas tour was my parents house for dinner. Traditionally we've done Christmas breakfast but since we have a little one now we wanted Christmas morning just for us. My mom made delicious stuffed shells, lasagna and a whole lot of cookies. We were told "Christmas will be small this year".  Yeah. That was a lie. Spoiled as usual. All of us.

 David got a "lawn mower" from my parents and I kid you not, he spent a solid TWO HOURS pushing that thing around the house. Total concentration on his face. The carpet NEEDED TO BE MOWED! It was hysterical.

And there you have it.  Christmas! Woo!

Now, lets all get some rest!

Seeing Santa Clause

This past weekend David made his very first visit to see the man in the red suit! We actually had tried to go the week before but the lines were out of control. This time we went first thing Saturday  morning and didn't have to wait too terribly long. Luckily, a love for people watching runs in the family and David was pretty content to just check everyone out during our wait.

He didn't have much of a reaction to Santa. I didn't think he would. Usually when he's in a new situation he goes all stone-face on us and Santa was no exception. Mostly, they just had a good ol' stare-down and that was that.  I hope he gets everything on his list! 

Here are the pictures!

 oook guys, I'm done with this.

I am ridiculously excited for Christmas with him this year. It will be so much fun to see his reaction to all the presents and commotion. Also, I'm pretty sure he's going to look dang cute in his nice outfit and even CUTER in his Santa pajamas!! Stay tuned! 

Over the river and through the woods

...to grandmothers house we went!

We spent this Thanksgiving up in Sioux Falls, visiting Zach's family. I will admit that I was pretty nervous about making the nearly seven hour drive up there with a one year old. We were originally going to go Thanksgiving day, but after realizing that most of the places to stop along the way would be closed we moved it up a day and went Wednesday.  Much to our amazement, David did excellent in the car. Didn't even fuss the whole way there and only a tiny bit on the way back. Road trip success! What a great little car buddy!

Our visit was nice. The whole family was in town so we really enjoyed visiting with everyone. Zach's sister finally met David, I finally met her finance and David got to finally play with his cousins! Jude just started crawling so it was fun to see them interact. It's going to be so crazy once they get a little bigger and really get going all over the place.

David looooooooved Thanksgiving dinner. He can now expertly climb stairs, Zach and I went on a date night and  Grandma and Grandpa got in lots of extra David snuggles.  So, pretty much a successful trip. 

Here's a look at the weekend... all out of order because blogger hates me.

 You know those pictures that you see and think "that's totally what he's going to look like all grown up"...? Yeah, that is this picture.

~

I'd write more but I am sorely under the weather and just need to go to bed. Boo that. Although I am remembering the last time I had this cold (drippy nose, exhaustion, scratchy throat) I also had a "don't you dare even think of putting me down" extra fussy 6 week old. Oh my goodness. It was the worst. Off to bed!