Sprgtime

Dax riding his scooter

2011-03-30T20:23:00.000-07:00

I took Dax roller skating today to "preschool skate" time. We've never been to that before, but they allow ride-on toys and basically anything with wheels as long as it doesn't have pedals. They also allow parents to walk in the rink with shoes, and to push babies in strollers in the rink, too. :)
Dax had a blast. He skated around the rink. Then he rode his push/ride on car. Then he decided to try out his scooter. There was another boy there with a scooter and Dax was watching him pretty closely. So then he rode his scooter and got the hang of it and spent the rest of the time on that. We'll have to go again another week. :) They do it every Wednesday - 90 minutes for $5 at this rink. Other skating rinks have similar preschool skate setup times - so if you weren't aware of that, check near you. :)
Of course, that's assuming you live somewhere that's still too cold for outdoor play. Those of you who are already enjoying the playgrounds, well, I don't wanna hear about it. :P

Anyhow, here's a clip of a video of Dax riding his scooter. To a lot of the songs, he changed his pace to ride "in beat" it was pretty adorable if I do say so myself. Next time we go, I'm bringing his helmet. I didn't think he'd actually be riding a scooter, and didn't think a helmet was necessary for skating since he never comes close to hitting his head. Not that he was wiping out on the scooter, but he started going at speeds that made me a little nervous once he got more practice.

It's too bad the video doesn't really show a good shot of his face or him from the front. He's wearing his t-shirt that says "Powered by Mommy's Milk" :)

39" tall!

2011-02-02T17:52:00.000-08:00

Here was my little baby Dax, 1 day old, leaving the hospital in his Graco Snugride car seat.

At 4 months, he outgrew the weight limits of that infant car seat, so we bought him a convertible. I looked for one with really high weight limits so that he wouldn't outgrow it again. I was pleased to find one with a 65 pound weight limit, that would allow us to keep him rear-facing to 35 pounds. I've actually seen pictures of a bunch of 4 & 5-yr-olds riding in this seat, so I figured we'd be good for a while.

He happily rode rear-facing in this new convertible car seat for the next 20 months of his life

At age 2, he weighed 35 pounds, so we had to turn his seat around to forward facing, earlier than we'd hoped. :(

As I was buckling him into his car seat last week, I noticed that the shoulder straps are level with his shoulders, where they used to be above his shoulders.
I measured Dax. He's 39" tall, and most of it torso. Unfortunately, this means he has outgrown his car seat.

At age 2.5, he's on the tallest (17") strap setting in the Britax Marathon car seat. When a child is forward facing, the straps must be even with or taller than their shoulders. It's even right now.

For now, he still fits our other convertible seat, which is a Recaro Como and goes up to 19" torso (the Britax goes to 17" so we have 2 more inches until he outgrows the other seat).

Hoping the Recaro will last until he's 3 years old... and we'll probably have to buy him the Britax Frontier, which is currently the only car seat on the market that goes to 20" torso height in a 5-point harness. Hopefully that will get us to age 4 or beyond.

Awww. :(

Dax is 2.5!

2011-01-22T06:35:00.000-08:00

This week, Dax had a half birthday and is now 2.5 years old!

He wears size 5 shirts/jackets, and his size 3T pants are starting to look just a little short on him. He fits size 10.5xw shoes.

He has figured out how to ride his tricycle! And he is one happy little boy! Pedaling downstairs around the basement. He can pedal forwards, he can pedal backwards, he can ding his little bell. Steering... not so much, lol. Although he's amused and says "crash!" when he runs into walls and things. Sometimes he asks for my help because, "I want to go THAT way" and I show him how to point the wheel in that direction. Hasn't quite gotten it yet. He rides in circles mostly because he likes tilting the wheel, so he can't go straight.

Dax can clearly count to 20. Not memorized, I mean he knows numbers 1 through 20 and how much they represent and he's counted items that high. I'm chalking it up to yet another thing he mysteriously picked up somewhere.

He knows his shapes. I don't just mean circle/triangle/heart/square - he knows rectangle, diamond, pentagon, octagon.

Dax loves puzzles. Speaking of puzzles, it's great that he got jigsaw puzzles for Christmas because he absolutely adores them and he's been spending at least an hour a day puzzling. He can do his 12-piece jigsaw puzzles without any help. He can do his 25 piece jigsaw puzzles with minor help (if I turn over all the pieces and place like-colors together, OR if I do some of the border, he can do the rest by himself). He can do his 48-piece puzzle if I do the border and keep him company while he places the pieces in himself. I have a great video of him doing a 25-piece one, & I even edited it so that instead of watching him take 5 minutes, you can watch him do it in fast-forward in under 1-min with a chipmunk voice, lol. But my video program keeps freezing when I try to save it in an uploadable format. :(

He told me the other night, after my husband came home from work, "Mommy, it's your turn to go to work. I want to pway with Daddy now." hee hee :)

His sentences have improved, too. He's started using larger words, which is adorable. "Excewent!" "Mommy, that's fantastic!" "Are you serious, or are you pwaying?"

The only letter he can't pronounce is the letter L. I think his overall enunciation is still kinda poor, though - like he's speaking with a mouth full of marbles. I can understand him fine, and other moms of toddlers seem to, but strangers tend to have more trouble and that reminds me that he can't speak as clearly as I think he can. :)

He has figured out the concept that pictures and drawings can represent real things. We have a painting of a lake in our livingroom. He told me, "Mommy, we shud go there, and paddow a boat in the water. That would be fun!" while pointing to the painting. He's also started noticing more in books. I read him a new library book tonight and on one page in the background there was a playground. "Mommy, I want to go pway in THAT pwayground!"

Chicken Pox

2011-01-01T21:09:00.000-08:00

Seventeen days ago we intentionally exposed our son to the chicken pox virus, by arranging a playdate with him and another 2.5-yr-old girl who was in the contagious stage of chicken pox.

One day ago he broke out in spots - yay, success! Boo, uncomfortable, itchy boy.

Why we decided to do this rather than vaccinate him for varicella:

1. The chicken pox vaccine was cultured on aborted fetal tissue, and is not available in any other medium

2. Women who have had the chicken pox pass on placental immunity to each of their infants, and this immunity protects the baby from contracting chicken pox until around 8 months old It remains uncertain if the vaccination will pass on immunities to protect the woman's babies, which would leave them vulnerable in infancy. Dax is a boy, but this would be a huge reason for me if he were a girl.

3. According to the CDC, your child has a higher chance of having a moderate to severe reaction to the vaccine, than he has of dying of chicken pox. http://www.cdc.gov/nip/vaccine/varic...en-vaccine.htm

Quotes:

"As with any vaccine, there is a very small chance that serious problems could occur after getting chickenpox vaccine. However, after distribution of the first 10 million doses of the vaccine, reports of serious adverse events after vaccination for example, seizures, brain infection (encephalitis), pneumonia, loss of balance (ataxia) and severe allergic reactions (anaphylaxis) have been very rare, occurring approximately 1 for every 50,000 doses given."

"A seizure (jerking and staring spell) usually caused by fever may occur in less than 1 in 1000 vaccine recipients. This may not be related to the vaccine."

"before a vaccine was available, there were approximately... 100 deaths from chickenpox in the U.S. every year" (more than half of those deaths were adults)

4. The vaccine does not work for everybody, and those people will be unknowingly unprotected when exposed to the virus (at a potentially much more dangerous age to get it). Statistically, 2% of vaccinated children and 22% of vaccinated teens/adults will later get chicken pox. We wanted to control when he got it and try to make it a young age, as kids who get it when they're young tend to have an easier round of it, and they are less likely to scar. The girl he caught it from was all done with her chicken pox in 4 or 5 days. When this opportunity came up to expose him, we jumped on it. I was especially happy he was able to get chicken pox while he is still nursing, as that will help him get through this. I've also found that breastmilk provides relief on the pox discomfort and itching when applied topically - so yay!

5. As his parents, we've both had the chicken pox already, when we were young. Being around the chicken pox acts as a booster to your own chicken pox immunity, lessening the chances that you will get shingles later in life.

Edited to add: If he (or future kids) did not catch chicken pox by about age 9, the plan was to vaccinate him at that point.

Also - we're willing to share with anyone who would like pox, so if you live local and would like it, just let me know. Visitors have been dropping by to play with Dax. I know it can be difficult to find now that the vaccine is so common.

Christmas 2011

2010-12-25T09:43:00.000-08:00

Dax somehow knew you're supposed to wake up early on Christmas. He almost NEVER wakes before 7am (and lately has been sleeping until 8am) but today, he awoke at 5am!
We're talking wide awake, cheerful, let's go eat breakfast now, awake.
So I got up with him and got him breakfast.
At 5:30 he noticed that there was a tricycle under the tree that wasn't there last night.
"I want to ride that!" he said and started jumping up and down with excitement.
I told him to go wake up Daddy so we could open presents under the tree.
He zoomed down the hallway.
"Daddy! Daddy wake up! Put your glasses on! Daddy! Time to open presents under the Christmas tree!"
So adorable.
So the three of us (2 adults being very sleepy) went and sat around our tree. I had Dax grab a present and read the tag. He can identify & spell his own name, so he knew which ones were for him. Although he can't quite spell Mommy & Daddy, he can tell the difference enough to sort those presents without help, too, so that was pretty fun.
One at a time he would open one up, and play with it.
Daddy got a new wallet
Mommy got a coin holder (yay!)

Dax got 3 books, 2 puzzles, 1 game, and 1 tricycle. Our plans of limiting the number of gifts he got weren't completely successful, lol. It's Daddy's fault for buying 3 new books for him while we were visiting my sister, and my fault for buying the unplanned game. The puzzles are awesome. One is a 24-piece jigsaw by Kodak of a panda bear, and the bear pieces are actually fuzzy. It was unopened, brand new for $1. It sticks together great and is actually easier to do than his other 24-piece puzzles. We haven't yet tried the other puzzle, which is a Melissa & Doug 48-piece puzzle that I found like-new for $2.

He adores his tricycle but doesn't know how to ride it. He puts his feet on the pedals but doesn't push. He turns the steering but doesn't quite have the hang of how that works, either. He knows how to work the bell, lol. We've made a dozen trips to the basement today for him to practice riding. Which he'll do for 2 or 5 minutes and then come back upstairs. He'll only ride it if one of us pushes the handle. At least it's a nice tall comfy handle. :) I personally love this tricycle - I had fun inflating the real rubber tires last night. Hoping he'll get the hang of riding it this winter so that come spring/summer he can ride it on bike trails outdoors.

The game was an unplanned purchase. I found it a month ago while at Salvation Army and it was still sealed in the plastic, which always makes things more tempting to me. It's Hullabalu from Cranium. I think I paid $3 or $5 for it? Anyhow, he adores it. I thought he would since it's from Cranium and when I read the box at the store, it seemed like something he could play. There are a bunch of little pads you toss around on the floor to create the game mat. Each pad is a different shape, different color, and has a picture on it. There's a music box that yells out instructions - like stand on a red mat, or on a circle, etc. The instructions vary a lot, too - sometimes it tells you to put your elbow on a triangle. Dax was cracking up when we had to put our noses on blue. He thinks the game is hilarious and he's played it a ton today. I think it will be fun for him to play when he has friends over, and I bet he'll have a blast playing it with his cousins when we see them again. It's a high-energy game and the music makes him dance around. So this unplanned purchase was his hands-down favorite.

He did like each of his books and we read each one as they were opened, and he's put together the panda puzzle twice today.
By noon, he was worn out and tired and is napping. I think I may join him. It's a quiet weekend for our family, as we're sequestering Dax due to chicken pox. ;)

used kids stuff

2010-12-05T23:55:00.000-08:00

We've decided we're going to go with 3 gifts for Dax this Christmas. Something to read, something to build, and something for fun. So he'll get to unwrap 2 books that DH already picked out while I was visiting my sister, and a new 24-piece puzzle that I know he'll love (he has 2 24-piece puzzles now and loves doing them over and over), and a trike that will have a big bow on it.
This trike, with a bell.

The trike was more of an accidental impulse buy. When I bought a 6' slide for the basement a few months ago, the Craigslist seller wheeled out this trike and asked if I was interested. I offered him $30 and he took it. When I got home, I looked it up, and think I got a pretty good deal. :) The trike is in "like new" condition!
So my plan is to clear out some of the baby-ish toys in the basement play area and make more space for riding. I'm hoping he may figure out how to pedal the trike this winter, and could ride it around in the basement while we await warmer weather for riding it outside.
He already has a trike - this one that I bought for $5 at a yardsale when he was 12 months old. He loved it as a rocking trike, and he enjoys being pushed on it, but he hasn't figured out how to pedal the thing. I also have very little patience for pushing it because the parent handle is so low that I have to bend way over to push him on it. With the cheap plastic wheels, I was already planning to upgrade it one day.

I boxed up a bunch of toys and plan to attempt to sell them online. If they don't sell, I'll store them in the unfinished section of the basement to await our summer yard sale. I'd also like to see if I can get $5/ea for Dax's winter boots. I have size 6, 8, and 9. He wore a 6 last year. The 8 & 9 I received in a free bag 2 years ago, and I was hoping one of those larger two would fit this year. Nope. I attempted to squish his foot into the size 9 winter boot but that's just not going to work. Fortunately, I got really lucky - my first Salvation Army store visit on Saturday turned up a pair of size 11 Buster Brown boys winter boots, in excellent condition, for $7. Yay!
2-year-olds should not need size 11. Just sayin'.

I also finally boxed up his size 4 shirts that keep showing his midsection whenever he lifts his arms, and stocked up on some more size 5 shirts at the same store where I found the boots. :)

Thank goodness his heavy winter size 4 coat fits just fine because it's really long! I took him outside to play in the snow and he wore his size 4 coat and the size 4 snowbib pants that went with it - and he was warm and warm could be. Phew, I was so worried when I bought that last summer that it wouldn't fit him, but I couldn't resist it - Columbia set, really really warm, looks brand new, for $10. Hoping to add many hours of snow play to that set. :)

As for the biggest items I'm selling to make more room:

This leapfrog table I'm hoping to sell for $25

This leapfrog tube topper I'm hoping to sell for $25

And this indoor/outdoor swing & slide, which is taking up a ton of space in the basement playroom right now.

I love, love, love getting kids stuff used. I enjoy that I live in an area where it's easy to pick up high quality toys in great condition used, for a fraction of the original price. And then that I can turn around and sell them again for what I paid for them, and sometimes even more. Kinda makes his toys free in the long run, haha. Hopefully I can take pictures of them soon and get them posted for sale.

The Great No-TV trial

2010-10-13T17:08:00.000-07:00

To bring you up to speed:
My husband & I agreed on "no TV while Dax is awake" when he was a baby, and we've stuck to that for us. If Dax is awake, the TV in our house is off. When he was younger, we even tossed a blanket overtop of it to hide it so he'd stay away from the buttons.

After he was a year old, I thought I'd introduce a DVD from the library to him. I think he was maybe 13 or 14 months old when he watched his first Baby Signing Time video. I watched it with him and we both signed. I checked out a video each week until we'd seen all that the library had, and our ASL vocabulary had really grown.

Then later, when he was maybe 18 months old, we watched an episode of Blues Clues, because the episode was all about Sign Language. Then he started getting to watch a maximum of 1 show (20-25 minutes) a day of either BC or ST. I was no longer watching with him most of the time, but was using this time to do projects, take a shower, clean up, etc.

So here's the problem - he was never done with TV. No matter how many times we let him know he'd get 1 show, he was always upset when it ended. There were even a few days (when he & I were sick) that I just let it play Blues Clues most of the day... like 5 hours. Okay, maybe it was just 4 or 5 episodes, but it seemed like A LOT and he just turns into a zombie staring at the screen. He's also watched more than his allotted time when I've left him with Daddy so I could go out alone for a couple hours on Saturday, and return to find that's all they did the entire time. I became concerned when he preferred TV even above playing outdoors or going swimming, his 2 favorite things.

Anyhow, I was reading someone's post on about how they cut out TV for 1 week just for a trial to see if they noticed any differences in the family, and were very surprised with the results. Reading about the changes they noticed in their kids, I decided to try it as well last week.
So no TV for Dax, not even his 1 show a day.
He was so mad. He stomped his feet. He had several tantrums. He tried to get the TV on anyway (I unplug it) by pulling the cord and trying to drag it to another outlet. He asked for it all day and would wake up at night asking for it. Sound like an addiction to you? It sure did to me! I was surprised how difficult the first 2 days were for him - it's not like he watched a lot anyway, you know!?

I also noticed, once that passed... he was more calm. He was more into creative and imaginative play. And, his great attention span for things like puzzles and building blocks had returned. He used to be able to build or play with his gears toys, very intently, for 30+ minutes straight... but that had stopped. I thought he'd outgrown it or was going through a phase, until I read about the no TV trial. Nope, it was the TV. Also - he was back to loving books. Reading books on his own, bringing many to me each day to read to him, and wanting books read over and over during our regular reading time rather than him wandering around as I read to him. This was the Dax I remembered and have missed.

I've come to the conclusion that TV is not okay for Dax. Not right now. It's clear to me that his developing brain just can't handle it. I thought it was making my life a little easier by getting a tiny bit of time each day, but overall it made Dax far more difficult to handle the rest of the time. He has fewer meltdowns now. He doesn't get upset the way he used to. All of that started when we started letting him watch daily TV, but I didn't notice at the time because it was somewhat gradual - and you never know with kids when they're teething or growth spurting or whatnot.
We'll try again in a few months, and let him watch just 1 episode as a one-time-only thing, and see if it affects his behavior. Maybe he would be able to handle a once a month or once a week 20 minutes, I don't know. I'm both sad and happy about this. Happy that he's easier to manage again, but sad that I had to take away something he really seemed to enjoy.
Oh, and after the first day of practically non-stop TV requests, the second day he asked for it a few times. After that, he'd ask once a day, usually when he was tired. Also - he's sleeping better, not fighting sleep as much, and not night waking asking for TV like he'd started doing.

So my little Daxling is TV-free again, for now.

Love the Beach

2010-09-03T18:56:00.000-07:00

Dax loves the beach! A combination of water and sand together, it's great fun.

Last week, on the way to the beach, we saw horses running alongside the road. Dax pointed and called out, "Hi!!! Hi horsies! Bye horsies!"
After we arrived at the parking lot. I got out the stroller and loaded it up with the cooler, sand toys, towels, etc. Dax is watching, squirming from his seat with excitement. I open his door and unbuckle him and he's leaping out of it "beach! beach! swim! sand!"
He pushes the stroller down the long pathway until we see the beach. Upon approaching the sand, he leaves the stroller and removes his sandals. Gleefully he runs across the sand until he's splashing ankle deep in the warm water.

I joined him in the water and we found a bunch of tadpoles swimming around. He stood very still, peering down into the water to watch them swimming. Later we found fish, usually individually, but sometimes in small groups of 2 or 3. Some small, some 8" long. Again, he stands oh-so-still so we can get a close look at the fish. His eyes are dancing with excitement even though his body is unusually quiet.
We spent an hour hunting for rocks and shells under the water. Clear water, looking down, spotting rocks. Throwing them and hearing them plop! Whenever he found a shell, he'd run to shore and put it in his bucket (which we emptied back into the lake before we left).

We dug a moat in the sand about 1' deep and 6" wide, we dug out from the lake about 8 feet. As it came time to dig up the last bit of sand so the lake water would fill our moat, Dax got down on his belly, his head inches from the sand/moat. I removed the last few shovels of sand, and the water flowed into our little moat. He watched the water with so much interest. Then he got up on his hands and knees and crawled to the end of our little moat and scooped out more sand and watched the water fill that space also. It was like a light bulb went off in his head. I love watching him see cause and effect in nature! :)
I built a bunch of sand castles and he happily knocked them to pieces as fast as I could build them.
After 3 hours, he was exhausted and asked to go to the car, so we cleaned out our sand toys and loaded up the stroller and walked back. On the way home, we saw fawns and deer. Dax sleepily lifted his head out from his car seat to look and point and smile and exclaim, "Deer! Baby deer!"

The leaves have almost all fallen from my cherry tree in the backyard. Fall is coming soon. Soon there will be no more trips to the beach.

Discipline - my thoughts

2010-08-10T14:06:00.000-07:00

Disclaimer: These are my own thoughts and ideas on how I choose to parent. This is not an observation or judgment about you and the way you or your mom/aunt/sister/family dog chooses to parent.

I personally don't believe in spanking/hitting children at all for any reason.
Currently, I also see no need for time-outs for my child, although I may see a benefit to a "time-in" in the future when he's a bit older.
Actually, I don't believe in punishments for small children.
I set limits. I have rules. I teach. Dax has discipline. But he has never been punished. The older he's getting and the more confident I'm becoming in parenting, the less likely I see that he will ever be punished. Would I ever punish my husband for misbehaving? Not really. Adults don't (okay, um, shouldn't) treat each other that way. Not that I treat my son like an adult - he's a child. My expectations for him are different. But that respectful kind of loving relationship - the one that doesn't involve hitting or punishing or withdrawing your love from someone in order to "get back" at them or punish them, that's the kind of relationship I want with my kids.
I've come to believe that punishment doesn't work long term. It only "works" short term, only when you can come up with punishments bad enough to keep the kid obeying your command (easy to do with a small child). There will come a point or an age when nothing you can threaten or bribe to do will be enough. I see Rewards as the same coin of punishment - temporary, short term.
Dax is learning. He doesn't run crazy or wild. He's a normal 2-yr-old. He's energetic. He has a need to run and be active for hours each day. If he doesn't get his energy out, he has trouble obeying house rules. He has a need for at least 12 hours of sleep, otherwise he's cranky and short-fused. He has a need for frequent snacks throughout the day and regular meals - if he's hungry, he's cranky. He tests his limits. That's his job. He's figuring out how his world works. :)

If he makes a mess, I expect him to clean it, help me clean it, or watch me clean it. Not in a punitive way (which is why I don't "make" him clean it). You know what's cool? When he spills his cup of water and immediately runs off to grab a rag to use to sop it up. Or when he spills popcorn or goldfish on the carpet, and goes to get the vacuum so he can clean it up. Why would I punish him for being clumsy? I certainly spill things myself!

If he doesn't stay in the yard when we're outside and I've asked him to - then we go inside.
If he won't hold my hand in parking lots - then he has to ride in the stroller
If he doesn't want to wear his shoes outside - then his feet get dirty and when he steps on a few rocks he changes his mind and asks me for his shoes
If he doesn't want to get dressed - he can't play outside
If he jumps on the bed - he gets kicked out of the bedroom (for a minute or two)
If he touches the stove or opens the running dishwasher - he gets kicked out of the kitchen
I try to keep breakables & sharp objects & markers & poisonous stuff out of his reach
If there's something I absolutely do not want him touching (like my laptop) then I put it away where he can't get to it.

We went to a state park today for 3 hours (until we got rained out, but at least we got in some good outdoor time before the rain came). I take Dax outdoors so he CAN MOVE and get his energy out. Giant empty open field of grass, far away from any street... he ran, he rolled, he jumped. We walked to the splash pad & he got wet. We walked to the rope web climber & he climbed, amazingly high, actually. We walked to the playground and he went down the slide and ran around and played in the sandbox for a while. Then back to the splash pad to clean off before our long walk back to the car.
After I dried him off to walk back to the car, I asked him if he wanted to wear his shirt. He said, "Yes! Shirt on" So I grabbed his shirt and held it over his head.
"Nooo! Mommy shirt"
I smiled. :) This is a new game I've started playing with him. I used to give him a choice between two shirts so he could pick, but that stopped being helpful because he was just refusing both shirts. More choices didn't help, either. So instead, I make a goofy attempt myself to "wear" his clothing - be it his shirt, socks, or shoe. He laughs and gets a kick out of it. Then he tells me that it goes on HIM - silly mommy. He'll even say/sign "Silly Mommy! Hee hee" and happily wear the item of clothing for me.
So I was amused that he didn't want to wear the shirt without our little game.

Why I Celebrate Nursing

2010-08-08T20:34:00.000-07:00

This past week was World Breastfeeding Week. I thought it would be appropriate to explain why I post about it, talk about it, blog about it.
I do so because it’s important. Not just to me. It’s important for people, and not just mothers, but important to all humans, to know the breastfeeding is normal. There is nothing obscene or immodest about it. It’s important for people to be able to talk about it openly, for mothers to come and ask for help, and for children to learn it is the normal way to feed babies. I dislike the “breast is best” message because it implies that formula is a good substitute. It is not. Breast is normal. Formula is barely adequate.

Formula Feeding Doubles Infant Deaths in America
And it comes with a high cost
Breastfeeding could save 1.3 million infant lives each year
Six million babies now saved every year through exclusive breastfeeding
Breastfeeding reduces risk of breast cancer, ovarian cancer, and others

That's a lot of babies and women and families affected by a normal way that mammals feed offspring.

I became an advocate for breastfeeding after my own experience as a new mother, struggling to breastfeed my son. Only after my own struggle did I really understand why nearly 74% of women attempt breastfeeding in the US, yet before their babies are even 3 months old, only 33% of women are exclusively breastfeeding. It drops even more at 6 months, to 13.6% That's a lot of disappointed mommies who tried and many who feel like they or their bodies failed them. Society failed them, is my opinion. Actually, I also believe the mothers who chose not to even try breastfeeding, were influenced heavily on their decision by our society. The one that shuns nursing mothers. The one that isolates new moms and babies from church meetings, social parties, and even family gatherings. The society that fills advertising with bottles and formula, so much so that it’s even difficult to find baby cards or gift bags without a bottle. Our children grow up never seeing it. Our sons and daughters grow up, curious about the shameful activity that must be taking place behind a Hooter Hider.
It's very frustrating to be trying to breastfeed, and when you ask women you know questions to try and get help, they tell you to just give the baby a bottle. They tell you that they never had those problems, and if it is hard, you should formula fed. Your friends tell you that the reason your life is difficult is because you're choosing to make it that way. Your baby would be calmer, happier, easier, you'd have more energy, you would have freedom, others would bond better... all if you just formula fed. I'm not making this up. I was told all of this when I was struggling in the early days/weeks to breastfeed my newborn son. All lies. Breastfeeding, once you get past the hard part (if you even have a hard part), is easy. It makes LOTS about parenting easier.
It's also frustrating that even the little "helpful tips" people, friends, even doctors & nurses tell you could unknowingly sabotage your milk supply. Stuff like having somebody else feed the baby a bottle in order for you to get a "break" (and they don't tell you that you need to pump whenever the baby is fed a bottle, so your body knows to make more milk... doesn't matter if you already pumped the milk in order to provide that bottle). Or topping off breastfeeding with a bottle (even if a newborn baby is full, they'll suck more down when that bottle nipple activates their sucking reflex). Or limiting the amount of time baby is allowed to spend breastfeeding (My MIL was told she had to unlatch baby after 10 minutes on each side, then give pacifier if baby still wanted to suck... and her milk "shockingly" dried up after a few months with each baby... yet she still passed on this "wisdom" to me because she was trying to help and had no idea that was likely the cause of her failure).

I thought I was prepared to breastfeed! I knew friends & relatives who had tried and failed, so it made me realize I needed to get as much information as possible just in case. I paid for and took a breastfeeding class. I read books, I read online, I watched breastfeeding latching videos online... had I not been so prepared before hand, I definitely would have failed. I wouldn't have been able to spot bad information for what it was, and since we ended up having a struggle already, I just don't see how I could have possibly succeeded. I would have been one of those women who initiated breastfeeding, only to become a formula feeder.
This is why I support World Breastfeeding Week. This is why for the past year, I’ve volunteered my time as a breastfeeding mentor on the “adopt-a-mom” program for new moms who want to breastfeed. If not for other women who advocated for me, I would not have succeeded. This is why I care.

My little escapee

2010-05-16T19:05:00.000-07:00

So today my fear about nursery came true.
Dax escaped. And nobody noticed.

I've had this fear it would happen since his first Sunday in nursery. Because he can open the door, and repeatedly tries to leave whenever he's bored. He's also quiet in nursery. He's not clingy. He's not a crier/screamer/whiner. He's not aggressive to other kids. He plays nicely by himself and goes where he should with the routine. He doesn't "need" anything, so in a room full of 15 nursery aged (18mo-3years) children, he's nearly invisible. After his third Sunday there, I talked about my concern with the nursery leader, as I wanted her to be aware of just how often I'd been preventing him from sneaking out. He IS sneaky, too. Just like at home, he knows I don't let him climb to the ceiling. So he waits until I answer the phone or start a load of laundry and makes a climbing dash for it! At nursery, he knows if he goes to the door, somebody will stop him. So he watches, he waits, he plots his escape for when the adults are busy tending to criers or passing out snacks or calming some chaos - and THAT is when he tries to sneak out.

The unexpected part? I was in nursery today! I've been in there with him every week, still because they're short staffed. They have never once had enough adults to handle that number of small children (I mean, we have enough if I stay - and often times they've had others stay in addition to me). I know how sneaky and curious and adventuresome my little boy is, and I wouldn't feel comfortable leaving him if I didn't feel confident they could care for him.

When/how it happened? At the end, during pickup time. I was standing in the back/middle of the room. I was holding the stack of papers the kids had colored, flipping through it and finding the right one for each kid as their parent picked them up. The room was very, very full - still full of the nursery kids, plus older siblings and parents picking up. As it got emptier and we were down to maybe 7 or 8 kids, a friend of mine who is not involved in nursery came into the room - holding Dax's hand. She found him clear on the other side of the building! I hadn't even noticed he was gone. :( This was after church let out and the halls were full of people. Glad she recognized him and that he was alone and brought him back so quick - he couldn't have been gone more than 2 or 3 minutes. But the idea of it makes me feel sick.
And this had nothing to do with his ability to open the door - the door stays wide open during most of pickup time because it's a constant stream of parents/siblings.

This makes me feel even more nervous about leaving Dax than I previously felt. :( Although his independent nature is nice in a lot of ways, there's safety to be had in a clingy child. At least he's not yet strong enough to open the door of the church and get outside. Hopefully by the time that happens, he'll have the ability to resist the temptation of the outdoors and remember/heed my rules.

2010-05-03T17:45:00.001-07:00

"The way we talk to our children becomes their inner voice." Peggy O'Mara

Ten "To Do's" for Discipline

2010-03-23T05:26:00.000-07:00

Someone in my mom's group posted this, she said she has it on her fridge. I love this list!

Ten "To Do's" for Discipline

1. Tell children what to do

Principle: What you focus on, you get more of.

Application: Instead of saying, "No pushing, you know better than to push your brother, pushing is not nice," say, "When you want your brother to move say, 'Move please.' Tell him now." Focus on what you want your children to do!

2. Give children usable information, especially when you are upset.

Principle: When you are upset you are always focused on what you don't want.

Application: Instead of saying, "Why isn't this homework done? Do you want to fail? How many times do we have to go over this?" you could say, "You can start with your math homework or reading. Which is best for you?"

3. Help children to be successful instead of attempting to make or get them to behave.

Principle: The only person you can make change is yourself.

Application: How often have we attempted to make a smoker quit smoking or growing child eat her peas? There is a better way. Instead of asking yourself, "How am I going to get my child to stay in bed," ask yourself, "How am I going to help my child be more likely to choose to stay in her bed?" The first question will give you manipulative, coercive answers. The second question will give you creative, cooperative solutions.

4. Use your children as resources to solve their own problems.

Principle: Two heads are better than one.

Application: Instead of you trying to figure out what needs to be done, ask your children for input. You could say, "What would help you finish your homework by 8:00 p.m.?" Help children solve their problems themselves.

5. Put your children on your "to do list" and spend time enjoying them.

Principle: The motivation to behave comes from being in relationship with one another.

Application: When a child says, "I don't care," she is really saying, "I don't feel cared for." Cooperation comes from connection. If your child chronically refuses to listen or tells you they don't care, then you must start by rebuilding your relationship and rekindling family rituals.

6. Encourage your children during wonderful times and tough times. Do not attempt to get children to feel bad in order to behave better.

Principle: Encouragement empowers.

Application: Be your children's cheerleader. Constantly tell them, "You did it," "Way to go," "Look at you," or "Good for you." When you children are struggling you might say, "I believe in you, you can do this."

7. Take back your power. You are in charge.

Principle: Whoever you believe to be in charge of your feelings, you have placed in charge of you.

Application: Instead of saying, "Don't make me have to pull this car over," say, "I'm going to pull this car over until the seatbelts are fastened and everyone is safe." Instead of saying, "You drive me nuts," say, "I'm going to take a few deep breaths and calm myself down. Then I will talk to you." When children refuse to do what you ask state, "I'm going to show you what I want you to do." Them help them be successful.

8. Become the person you want your children to be.

Principle: We must discipline ourselves first and our children second.

Application: Instead of screaming, "You better get control of yourself right now," take a deep breath and calm yourself down. Be a S.T.A.R. (Smile, Take a deep breath, And Relax). Become what you want your child to be. If you want calmness, demonstrate how to be calm.

9. Do not save your children from the consequences of their actions.

Principle: Psychological pain is a signal to make changes in your life.

Application: Help your child handle disappointing choices. Offer empathy instead of lectures after poor choices. Instead of saying, "I told you not to take that picture to school. It's your own fault it got torn in half. That is what you get for not listening to me," say, "How disappointing for you. I know how important that picture was to you." Empathy allows children to take responsibility for their actions, while lecturing allows them to blame you for their distress.

10. Teach children how to handle their conflicts instead of punishing them for not knowing how.

Principle: Conflict is an opportunity to teach.

Application: When one child comes to you tattling on the other, use these moments to teach life skills. When one sibling says, "He pushed me," you say, "Did you like it?" The child will likely say, "No!" At this point you can say, "Go tell your brother, 'I don't like it when you push me.'" Use these intrusive episodes as a way to teach assertiveness skills to your children.

Baby led weaning (adding solid foods)

2010-02-26T09:01:00.000-08:00

I recently uploaded some old videos of Dax onto youtube. I did this because I loved watching videos of other babies eat when I was first starting to introduce foods to Dax. Especially babies who were self-feeding a la "baby-led weaning" style. http://babyledweaning.blogware.com/
This method of feeding solids was researched/developed by Gill Rapley. The basics are that you don't feed a baby solids until they are developmentally ready and meet the following signs:
Can sit unassisted
Have lost the tongue-thrust reflex
Are interested in food to the point that they try to steal your food
Have a pincer grasp so they can pick up finger foods

Then, instead of spoon-feeding baby cereals and purees: you offer to the baby what the family is eating, as long as it is appropriately soft.

I already knew I didn't want to introduce solid foods early for the many advantageous reasons on this page: http://www.kellymom.com/nutrition/solids/delay-solids.html
And of course, after he started eating solids, I was glad I'd waited because the diapers sure got a lot more gross! I miss that age when he was 4-6 months and only pooping once every 7 days or so on his breastmilk-only diet. Those days of mostly wet diapers and no food to fix were pretty easy. :)
Dax was ready at 6 months for solids. I hope if I have another baby, they won't be
ready so early and I can stall until 8 or 9 months, haha. :)

Benefits of BLW: Baby is in charge of food and can decide how much to eat and choose from what is offered. Babies tend to be less picky as toddlers. Babies continue to trust their own hunger signals. Families can eat together, as nobody needs to spoon feed the baby. It was nice that we were able to sit Dax in his chair, give him some of our side of veggies, and eat our meal while he played/poked/ate what we'd given him. It even worked nicely at restaurants when we went out. Because he always self-feed, his small motor skills had a big developmental leap from all that practice and he was able to feed himself quite well with a fork and a spoon by 12 months. He could also eat pretty much any food at that point - sandwiches, meat loaf, whatever we were having. Oh, and have I mentioned this is a great method if you're LAZY and don't want to puree, smash, or cut up your kid's food into tiny pieces? Yeah, that's why I loved it. :)

So anyway, here are the videos:

6 months old, eating blueberries

6 months old, eating chicken

8 months old, eating pasta

13 months old, eating a tuna sandwich

Danger of BLW: Watch your kid carefully, or they'll help themselves to the fruit on top of the table!

19 Month & language update!

2010-02-19T14:38:00.000-08:00

Today Dax is 19 months old! I feel like he's made a lot of verbal improvement since his 18 month post (technically, since he got his tongue tie clipped), so is due for an update for my records. He's also demonstrated that he recognizes colors and will ask for them by name (via ASL). He can now reach the light switches in almost every room in the house, and doorknobs, too.

Weight 31 lbs
Length 36.5"
Head Circumference 19.75"
Clothing Size 4T (shirts) , 12-18mo pants, 3T/4T underwear, 8.5xw shoe

Verbal vocabulary (22 "words") Dada, mama, up, Daddy, Mommy, buh (bus), nana (banana), booo (blue), up, gukie (cookie), gabble (garbage), ah eee (candy), doh (go), buh (bus), bubble, opsickle (popsicle), poo poo, pee pee, no, bye, ukgie (yucky), wahwah (water)

Signing vocabulary (over 70 words, most listed here)
all done/finished
again
apple
asleep
baby
balloon
banana
bath
bear
bed
blocks
blue
book
brush hair
brush teeth
bubbles
build
butterfly
candy
car
cat
cereal
cheese
clean
clothes
cold
cracker
Daddy
dog
down
drink
eat/food
fold laundry
get dressed
go
grapes
green
hair
hat
help
horse
hot
ice cream
keys
messy/dirty
milk
Mommy
more
music
open
opposite
orange
outside
peas
phone
play
popcorn
potty
rain
raisin
shirt
shoes
sit
sleep
slide
snow
socks
spider
stop
sweep
thank you
train
tree
wash hands
water
work
you

What Dax Likes His favorites right now include music, HORSES, blocks, balloons, bubbles, swimming, outdoors, and climbing. He really enjoys dancing to music, most times if he hears music he will spontaneously dance to the beat. Loves it if the music has instructions like "clap your hands" or "jump up high" and he actually does the movements for songs now, so that's pretty fun. One of his favorite songs is the ABC song, his leapfrog toy plays it for him. It's super cute to watch him dance to that now, though, because he moves his fingers trying to "finger spell" the alphabet and he totally doesn't have enough dexterity to do it yet! Haha, cute that he tries. He'll ask me to finger spell for him when the song comes on now - and sometimes I show him the ASL signs for letters when he's building his blocks. That's pretty fun, too, he'll keep handing me new blocks to see those letters.

I know I've written it before, but this is seriously my favorite favorite favorite age! He's so much fun! He's enthused about life and adventure and anything new. He's an animated happy little toddler with an adorable grin that lights up the room and my heart.

Here's a pic of him bundled up for a snowy walk:

I swapped out my Britax Marathon for the Recaro Como that was in hubby's car, as it can rear face to 35 pounds instead of 33 and that might get us to age 2 with Dax rear facing. It also has about 3" more torso space in height. It is a VERY tall seat!

Posting these next two as representations of Dax's common facial expressions.

Surgery!

2010-02-03T08:20:00.000-08:00

Today was the day for Dax's outpatient surgery, got his tongue-tie clipped. Arrived at 6:30am, Dax was quite cheerful, he only even asked to nurse again when we were in the pre-op and he didn't like it there.

The waiting room wasn't nearly as bad as I'd imagined, it helped that there were two of us with Dax and that he wasn't quite as active as normal since it was so early. But he was still running around the room happily babbling to all the strangers.

They called us back and had us remove Dax's shirt and put on a kids hospital gown. Then the nurse added an ankle bracelet, which Dax HATED.
The surgeon came and spoke with us briefly. They weighed Dax - he was 31 pounds.
They attempted to get his vitals but he just wasn't cooperating. By this point, Dax decided he was "all done" with the surgical center. (The "all done" sign is twisting both open hands in the air)

The anesthesiologist had us give him a little cocktail to drink to make him drowsy and calm. Dax decided he didn't like it after the first taste, so we had to pin him down and force his teeth apart to get the rest of it into his mouth. Lots of fun. Then Dax became far more limp in my arms. He signed "sleepy" and then he made up a sign! It looked like he was pretending to put a syringe of the cocktail into his mouth and slurping it up. That was the new sign. He signed "more" and then kept doing that new sign over and over, occasionally throwing in "sleepy" again.

So that's him being doped up and us killing time waiting for his turn for surgery. When it was time, the nurse came in and had me lay him in the bed, she pulled the sides up and wheeled him away and sent us to wait in the waiting room.

So we went out to the waiting room and I got a cup of hot cocoa. I sat down and barely a minute passed when the surgeon came out, smiling, to tell us how well everything went and that the surgery was all done. Yay! He said as soon as Dax woke up in a few minutes, the nurse would come get us and we could go see him and take him home. So we waited.
And waited
and waited.
And noticed a little boy going home with his mom who had gone into surgery after Dax had gone. 15 minutes had passed, we spoke with the receptionist, who paged the nurse to ask what was up with Dax. Dax was still asleep. This is where I got really really worried and was starting to regret doing the procedure now instead of waiting until Dax was old enough not to need general anesthetic. The nurse said sometimes it takes longer for some kids to wake up. So we waited some more.
FINALLY they told us Dax woke up. It had been 28 minutes. I went back and he was being held gently in the arms of a nurse. He immediately reached out to me, I sat in a comfy chair with him and nursed him. He was so happy to be allowed to nurse again!!! And wow, I must say... nursing feels SO comfortable now. It's like there's this soft cushy padding below now.

All done! Here's a short clip where we tried to get a glimpse of his tongue post-op. He sticks it out (more than ever before) in the very beginning of the video.

He's also been playing with his tongue a little bit, with a very curious & happy look on his face. :)

Dax visited nursery!

2010-01-03T11:27:00.000-08:00

Today I took Dax to visit nursery! I took him in about 30 minutes into the class, about the start of their snack time.

Even though I felt fairly sure that Dax would be fine in there without me, I have my own worries about me missing him! Or other kids rough-housing or picking on him.

So anyway, I took Dax into the classroom to join 10 other toddlers in there today. He was very interested in the other kids and what they were doing. He happily ate goldfish snacks with them at the table, and a little girl seated next to him ended up taking his plate and giving him his fish one-by-one, it was really adorable for both of them! I also noticed that the little girl knows sign language (I'm sure he noticed first)!!! YAY, another kid in there who will understand Dax! She signed "please" when she wanted more - I certainly noticed. Dax & her were super cute together - she'd give him a fish, and he'd sign "thank-you" and smile at her really big. I was actually a bit surprised that he let her take his plate of food! Food is a big deal to that boy, haha.

He gleefully laughed during bubble time. He danced to the music during dance time. He sat in his little chair and participated with a happy/sad paper face during lesson time. He did hand motions for songs they sang during singing time, and whenever they sang a word he recognized, he'd do the ASL sign for it. At the end they sang a song about families and when the word "Daddy" was used he frantically started signing "Daddy" and looking for him and then tried to leave the room to go find him. :) Unfortunately Dax can easily reach the doorknob and open the door, so I'll have to warn the leaders to watch for that in a few weeks when he's in there without me.

We did stay the remainder of the time but I really wasn't near Dax or giving him any attention. I did help with some other kids who needed guidance to follow the group and listen to the teacher, and I took a crying kid out to a parent (Dax saw me leave but couldn't really care less, nor was he even a teensy bit excited when I reappeared). I did stand right behind him closely during play-doh, but that's because I knew he'd try to eat it. I kept taking it from his lips and reminding him not to eat it. After doing that a dozen times in a row, he stopped attempting to eat it. Hopefully he'll get over his desire to consume play-doh soon. :)

So nursery was good, the 1.5 hours we were there flew by quick. The teachers agreed Dax should just come to all of it next week, and the week after that is his official week to "start" without me in there. I think I'll offer to help out for a few more weeks and maybe they'll ask me to stay. :) There are a lot of new kids that recently turned 18-months right in a row around Dax's age, and several of them need to be held and have one-on-one time to comfort them and distract them from the fact that their parent left them. And they are so sweet and cuddly and LIGHT - seriously, even those few older kids that are a couple inches taller than Dax weigh less than he does by a good 5+ pounds.

I can't believe my SON is old enough for nursery! :) And he loved it! He was excitedly "talking" about it with his hands after church, telling Daddy how he colored with "crayons" and sang "music" and played with "friends" hee hee. :)

"Extended" nursing

2009-12-27T18:19:00.000-08:00

As some of my friends may already know, I chose to continue nursing Dax after he turned a year old rather than wean him as is more common in our society.

Before I was a mother, I planned to breastfeed my children for 6 months. While I was pregnant, I found out that if I weaned at 6 months, I'd have to use formula until the baby was a year old. So I decided to up my goal to 1 year.

When Dax was a few months old, more reading, more exposure, and more research opened my mind to the benefits (and normalcy) of "extended" breastfeeding. A good list of the benefits of breastfeeding a toddler are available on this page for those who are interested http://www.kellymom.com/bf/bfextended/ebf-benefits.html it is quite a lot.

Just making it to a year sounded like a very long marathon to me in the beginning. I liked keeping my options open in my mind... I'll wait until he's a year old... and see how it's going. The older he got the easier breastfeeding became, though. By the time his first birthday rolled around, it simply felt wrong for me to wish him a happy birthday and take away one of his favored activities and biggest source of comfort.

After his birthday, nursing became even easier than before. It still had all of the nice benefits but none of the pressure. It was less about nutrition (although still adds a lot, breastmilk for toddlers is higher in fat, still provides immunity, and has a higher concentration of vitamins than breastmilk for babies) and more about bonding and comfort. I didn't have to be as closely tied to either him or my pump anymore, longer time periods away were more realistic. He didn't nurse as often as before (down to a handful a day)... and when he did nurse, he was much faster than he used to be (he typically nurses for 5 minutes now... whereas the first 6 months of his life, his typical nursing sessions were 30+ minutes long).

Because Dax doesn't nurse too often, most people are probably unaware we even do it. Well except for me bringing it up or posting about it on my blog, that is. :) Before I was a mother, I never even considered the possibility of nursing beyond a year, the entire idea seemed foreign and odd to me. I now attribute those prior thoughts to the society where I was raised, where breastfeeding is not the norm, and people don't know what the normal course of breastfeeding looks like. There's a fascinating article here about breastfeeding in Mongolia, very interesting read. http://drmomma.blogspot.com/2009/07/breastfeeding-in-land-of-genghis-khan.html

One thing I noticed about reading that article was her mention of how children who breastfeed until they choose to stop (and they all do on their own, by the way) are more independent than those who are prematurely weaned. I'm not sure how much of Dax's independence is due to his personality and how much is due to the fact that he is still breastfeeding, but I realize now it is probably a combination of the two. Many toddlers are dependent on a bottle, pacifier, thumb, or security blanket, and this is considered normal in our society. The fact is that babies who are allowed to choose when to wean rarely attach to inanimate objects. They feel more secure. In our rush to push our children toward independence, sometimes we steal away the tools that help them achieve it.

What is surprising to me is how much breastfeeding my toddler is a helpful parenting tool. It relaxes me. He decides to be picky about what he's going to eat today? Not a big deal, as I know that my milk will custom make the nutrients he needs to fill in the nutritional gap on days when his eating is more limited than balanced. It has prevented mealtime from becoming a power struggle because I just don't need to worry about it. I offer him healthy balanced options, he can choose what to eat from that and how much. That's it. It also relaxes him and calms him like nothing else can even come close to doing... when he's frustrated or tired or upset or in pain... he'll latch on and nurse and just a few brief minutes later, it's as though he has recharged his emotional battery and his wonderful personality resumes, with him in control of his emotions again.
Another huge perk I've recently realized is when I'm pushed to my limits with him when he's tired or cranky and not sleeping well. Those moments when we just want more space away from our budding toddler because we're feeling angry and they're acting like they're a year old... even though they are indeed only a year old. The other day I put him safely into his room for a minute or two to take a breather for ME because I needed to calm down. His screams pulled at my heartstrings and soon I retrieved him and hugged him and held him, but I was still fuming in my head, though. He asked to nurse. So I let him. My anger and frustration noticably drained clear out of me. I was restored to my calm, loving mommy self. I was reminded how much I adored this little tiny boy. It's almost magical how nature has provided this hormonal calming for mothers, especially mothers of toddlers who certainly need it on days when their exploring toddler creates one problem after another. Nursing has helped me to be a better mom.

I have no plans of weaning, that is up to Dax, but I do hope that he waits until after he turns 2, as that is the MINIMUM recommendation by several authorities and heavily backed by studies, plus I want my risk of cancer to be reduced and I need to make it to 2 years for that. It's also nice during flu season to have a nursing toddler, when I see so many of my friends' children sick and absolutely miserable. He gets sick, sure, but his symptoms seem so mild in comparison, and often my first clue that he's sick is his increased frequency of nursing and sudden lack of interest in solid foods until he's feeling better. What a nice way to keep him hydrated and nourished and speed his recovery. No need for pedialyte or worries of weight loss here. I love being able to comfort him so well when he's feeling sick. Sure boosts my confidence in my ability to care for my own son.

Little cowboy

2009-12-04T17:27:00.000-08:00

It's so amazing watching my little toddler - my BABY - grow up and play pretend and have preferences!

All summer I took him to a nearby petting farm. He saw lots of animals, seemed to like the ducks most but I think that's just because they were more active and he could get really close to them. Anyhow, horses and ponies are among the animals there.

Daddy shows Dax clips of horses running and jumping on youtube. Dax loves them! He signs "horse" and drags one of us over to the computer to indicate that he wants to see more horses. I always let him ride the mechanical horse at Meijer's for a penny, and he typically rides it 3 rounds before he's had enough.

Flashback: Photo of Dax at 7 weeks old in his cowboy boots & cowboy shirt. :)

He has a little 2" tall toy horse. He plays with it and makes it "run" around on the floor and jump up on the shelf and run more there. He even snuck it to the table once and was "feeding" it from his plate before I took the horse away. It's so adorable!

The other thing he does is that he's expanded his previous love of tackling & wrestling into riding us as though we're horses. If I'm on laying on the floor, as I often do when we're playing with blocks or something, he'll suddenly get up, run over to me, climb onto my back and pretend that I'm a horse he's riding. I don't know where he got this - we never played that with him. If I'm NOT already on the floor and he wants to ride me, he'll run down the hall to get a running start (have I mentioned how much he prefers running to walking these days?) and tackle my legs! If I don't pretend to fall down from the tackle, then he'll pull on my pant leg or try to push me over! Hahaha. As soon as I'm laying on the floor, he squeals in delight and climbs aboard his "horse".

The other day he was pretending that HE was a horse, crawling around on the floor and swaying his head back and forth. He's so very cute. :)

Anyhow, today I took him back to the petting farm & we went to the horse fence. The horses were clear far away, but once we were at the fence, they all turned and trotted over to greet us. Dax was so delighted, smiling so big he almost cracked his face into two pieces. He kept signing "horse" and looking at me and looking at the horses! They came clear up to the fence close enough to pet. Made his day! It was 29 degrees out and I was only wearing a windbreaker with a t-shirt underneath, so I decided we wouldn't stay long. Told him to say goodbye to the horses, he waved and we went back to the car. Of course, on the other side of the petting farm is his favorite huge park and he REALLY didn't want to get in the car after spotting that playground. Dax was dressed warmly but that wind was mean and made the exposed parts of his face turn all red, and his little fingers (he refuses to wear mittens) felt like ice cubes.

Sign Language fun

2009-11-05T08:40:00.000-08:00

Dax's sign language skills are increasing and it is making life easier for both of us. I LOVE SIGN LANGUAGE!

Here's an example: Yesterday, I heard him grunting and making little displeased sound effects. I looked over and saw he was trying to reach a ball that had gone back behind an end table and was out of his reach. His grunting from efforts of trying to reach it quickly escalated into whining and fussing and crying.
I asked him, "Dax, what do you want?"
All the frustration visibly drained from his body, he paused for a second or two, and then signed "help" and pointed to his ball.

It's amazing. There are times when he seems like a little caveman, with his grunts and yells and weird little toddler tantrums. It does seem like he is very frustrated sometimes. Signing has given him a way to communicate. A way to be understood. A way to participate in conversation. It's teaching him, at the ripe old age of 1, to use language to communicate.

Oh, and the conversation participation is funny! He's accumulated a signing vocabulary of 35+ words last time I counted. It's surprising how often those words come up in conversation when my husband & I are talking with each other, and Dax will sign! Let's say I talked about the neighbor's dog... right when I say "dog" then Dax starts making the sign for "dog". He just wants to participate. Letting us know that he understands what we're talking about, even though he can't speak. When we look over at him, he's usually wearing a very proud-of-himself grin.

Signing has increased his previous love of books. Now he reads books and signs to the pictures. I'll catch him "reading" on his own, too. I'll peek in his room to see what he's doing, and he'll have a book on his lap, turning pages. He'll flip to the next page and do a sign for the picture on that page! This he does even when he thinks he's alone!
He never really liked the book Goodnight Moon until I read it to him and signed. Then he loved it. That book has 10+ signs in it that he already knows. Signing along as I'm reading is something he loves to do. I can't help but love something that brings my son this much enthusiasm and excitement. I'm sure he could easily double his signing vocabulary in just a week, if he had more exposure. Mommy wouldn't be able to keep up, though! ;)

Bee Buzzing

2009-11-01T06:17:00.001-08:00

So Dax was a bumble bee for Halloween. His dad took him to trick or treat 6 of our neighbors that we know. I'm sure he would have liked to do more, but we wanted to limit it because Dax has been sick.

Dax thought it was pretty fun. He liked seeing the neighbors and wasn't ready to leave each porch, he wanted to stay and babble. :) He thought it was fun that they kept putting little crinkly "toys" into his bag, too.

He got back home and showed me his new toys

Hard to take costume pictures of a buzzy little bee that won't hold still!

Dax played with his new "toys" before bed.

He took them out of the bag, then put them back in the bag, then took them out, over and over until it was time for story, teeth brushing, and bed! Little bee was Zzzzzing away at 7pm. It was easy to not have him eat candy, because he doesn't know what it is yet, haha. :)

We only had about 35 trick-or-treaters come last night. Not as many as we'd expected for a Saturday with decent weather in our easy to visit neighborhood. I thought we even had more kids than that living here. I'm guessing a lot of kids were sick. Dax had a runny nose and has had a cold and some congestion all week.

Happy Halloween!

2009-10-30T21:18:00.001-07:00

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15 months old Update

2009-10-24T12:07:00.000-07:00

Dax turned 15 months old last week, so here is the update

Weight 29.9 lbs
Length 34"
Head Circumference 19.25"

Clothing Size 3T clothing, 6xw shoe

Eating/Sleeping Eats 3 meals of solids a day and sometimes a snack or two. Sleeps 12 hours a night, waking once to nurse. Taking 1 nap a day for 1-2 hours.

Verbal vocabulary Dada, mama, up
Signing vocabulary more, milk, cheese, hat, bath, book, water, eat/food, dog, potty, apple, cat, car, shoes, baby, ice cream, shirt, all done/finished, drink, bear, butterfly, cereal, cracker, train, grapes, sleep

Developmental Milestones
Dax walks well, even on bumpy/uneven/sloped surfaces. He walks backwards, he runs forward. He can stack 12 blocks on top of each other. He can pull up his entire body weight with his muscular arms. Dax is potty training, he now only wears diapers to bed at night, although he wakes up dry about 6 nights out of 7. He wears his cute little underwear briefs the rest of the time and is pretty good at telling me when he needs to go potty, even when we're out of the house. So now I carry a fold-up potty seat in the diaper bag instead of diapers.

Stuff baby likes Hide & seek, sign language, books, riding toys, climbing up & down stairs, going down slides, teeter totters, "helping," wrestling/tackling, balloons, new bathrooms

Dax returning cans at the store

Dax using vacuum sweeper to tidy up

Dax eating spaghetti

Dax's Pediatrician was surprised to see Dax wearing underwear. He asked us how we potty trained him. We explained Dax had been waking up dry, had been bringing diapers to us anytime he was wet for immediate changing, was interested in the bathroom, etc. The doctor said that it's highly unusual for a toddler so young, but he was happily impressed. Oh, and partway through the office visit, Dax told me he had to go potty, so I took him. Sign language is so helpful with my non-verbal tot!

October 15th - Pregnancy Loss Remembrance Day

2009-10-14T22:41:00.000-07:00

This video makes me cry.

Today is October 15th. For more information, visit www.october15th.com

In memory of my 4 babies lost to miscarriage, I plan to light 4 candles at 7pm
May 2001
May 2006 (twins)
August 2009

Sweater pants & Potty Training

2009-10-13T16:40:00.000-07:00

I've been wanting to make sweater pants (or longies) for a while, but never had enough time to buy 100% wool sweaters for cheap at a thrift store. This past weekend I dug through the racks until I found 5 of them with yellow tags to total $5. That's only $1/each! :)

These are the super-easy instructions that I followed to sew sweater pants. I felted my sweaters first by putting them in a pillow case and washing on hot.
http://www.cafepress.com/thatskindacool/864331?CMP=CJ-CLICK-10461796&sid=skim725X65726

These gray ones are made of a thin, soft lambs wool. I made a matching vest out of the leftover fabric. :)

These are thicker and poofy. So cute, though! I want to make a matching winter ear flap hat out of my leftover sweater fabric.

I have 3 more sweaters to sew. I'm thinking Dax is just going to wear these as pants until spring. :) He likes them, they're easy to sew and really easy to fit because of the cuffs at the ankles. They're easy to get up and down for potty training. And if you lanolize them (that's the only reason I needed them to be WOOL instead of just any sweater) then they're waterproof for snow or for cloth diaper covers.

Potty training is going unbelievably well. Dax just continues to surprise me. :) He's in underwear all the time now except that I put him in a diaper at bedtime. Underwear at naps and underwear when we go OUT! I let him wear underwear to church on Sunday and he did just fine and came home dry. :) Whenever he needed to go potty, he'd make the sign, and I'd take him to the women's room, use my portable fold-up kid potty, and put him on the toilet. This is just too easy!

Today I took him to visit my FIL at a nursing home, where is is getting rehab for his recent shoulder replacement surgery. As soon as we got to his room, I showed Dax where the bathroom was and told him to let me know when he needed to go. 20 minutes later, he walked to the bathroom door, made the potty sign, and grinned at me. And so he used that nursing home potty, which was elevated quite high and had big sturdy handles on the sides that entertained Dax.

The only snag we're really running into with potty training is that Dax won't go with Daddy that well, and if I'm not around, then he wets instead of goes potty. And sometimes when we have company over, he's too excited to let me know when he needs to go. Oh, & the biggest problem has been that Dax sometimes thinks it's great fun to hose down the bathroom wall with pee while sitting on the toilet. It's hard to effectively communicate with a toddler who has a verbal vocabulary of 3 words, & a sign language (ASL) vocabulary of about 20.

Cloth Diapers

2009-10-06T19:17:00.000-07:00

I made a new video of Dax from birth - present. This one features cloth diapers. :)

Dax is growing so fast

2009-09-01T11:24:00.000-07:00

I left Dax with a friend yesterday for 3 1/2 hours while I was at the hospital. He played with her 2-yr-old son and really enjoyed himself. I called a couple times to check on him. He refused to talk to me on the phone! Usually he will get on and say "mama! mama!" and melt my heart.
Anyhow, when I went to pick him up, I saw him from the doorway playing with a toy. He looked up at me, absolutely glowing, with such a big grin on his face. It was as if he were saying, "Oh, hi, mom, I'm having lots of fun! Look at this cool toy!!" and then he went right back to playing.
That's all I got. A look. No running into my arms for a hug greeting or anything. Plus he wouldn't come when I told him we were going home. I had to go pick him up, and drag him kicking and screaming out of her house. He kept trying to push me away and slip out of my arms so he could run back.

My independent little baby. I got an email about him starting nursery in January, hard to believe he's nearly old enough for nursery! I suspect he won't have any trouble transitioning. He's such a social baby, I know he's going to love it. He really loves library class and it's so adorable watching him with all the other babies his age and him sitting and listening to the librarian.

Dax initiated ALL of his potty breaks today - I never took him, because he kept telling me when he needed to go. Him running to the bathroom door and making the "potty" sign never gets old. Plus when he initiates it, he always needs to go and there isn't that waiting around wondering if he's really going to go or not. He only wet 1 pair of underwear, and that was while he was in the high chair eating lunch. Maybe he'll be all potty trained by the time he gets to nursery in January. Crazy little boy, I thought he'd be in diapers for another year.

Miscarriage #4

2009-09-01T11:11:00.000-07:00

This past Thursday, I discovered I was pregnant. Happy. Excited. Giddy. I had bloodwork done on Thursday and on Saturday. Amazing how fast our brains and emotions start churning when we find out that kind of news.

I couldn't wait to get Dax an "I'm the big brother" shirt. Was looking up information on all kinds of pregnancy-related topics from things I was thinking about after my last pregnancy. I was due May 8th, 2010.

I was waiting until Monday to let people know my happy little news. Due to my bicornuate uterus, I am, and always will be, at high risk for early miscarriage. Monday morning my doctor called me with my new bloodwork results. New little baby wasn't hanging in there. If it doesn't implant at just the right spot... not enough bloodflow to support the pregnancy.

So I'm feeling sad. This is the fourth baby I've lost to miscarriage. The first one after Dax, though. I will say it has been a lot easier for me this time. Having a smiling happy toddler around rather than empty arms and a quiet house makes the place seem less sad. It still feels like a piece of my heart has broken off, but my heart seems to have grown a lot since having Dax. And then I remember all of the many memories I have of Dax, and think of what a massive loss this is again. I know more clearly what I have lost.

Sign language & other Dax cuteness

2009-08-15T10:23:00.000-07:00

Dax is really getting into sign language this week. He's using it a LOT and learning new signs. He also made up a sign for hairbrush the same day I taught him the sign for toothbrush. I haven't looked up hairbrush to see what the actual sign is for it, but he uses the 1-finger like tooth brush but pretends to brush his hair with his finger instead of brushing his teeth with his finger. Although he barely has any hair at all and it doesn't need brushing, he likes to play with his hairbrush when I am brushing my hair.

Dax signs:
more
milk
hat
bath
book
water
eat
dog
potty
toothbrush
hairbrush
fan

On our morning walk today and he made the dog sign. We hadn't yet seen a dog, so I looked around, then I spotted the one he'd seen - inside the window of a house we were passing. It is so much fun to have him bring up topics and try to communicate with me!

He also brings me toys and books. He requests songs he'd like to hear by doing finger play (like, he does itsy bitsy spider hands when he wants me to sing that song). Oh, and he recently started running to me and hugging my legs with his arms while giggling. I love this age. :)

Training briefs

2009-08-12T12:24:00.000-07:00

Dax is really wanting to use the toilet. This just figures, he's such a determined little guy. When he wants something, he makes it happen. He's always had really sensitive skin, which has made us cloth diaper him even on vacations staying at other people's homes and even at hotels. His skin gets red & rashy within a few hours in a disposable diaper - and we tried several brands.

Anyhow, I think his sensitive skin, his loath to be in a soiled diaper, and his control over his bodily functions is all just making this work. I'm going along for the ride with him because I think it's amazing that today is Wednesday and the last day I had to change a poopy diaper was Friday before I first sat him on the potty.
Okay, well writing it out, that doesn't sound like a long timespan... but doing it in person - that's a lot of poopy diaper changes I've gotten out of doing because he'll hold it until he's on his potty. :)

It's a pain making him lay down in the bathroom each time to put his diaper on him again. I took several layers of super flannel, cut them to fit the shape of the front of underwear, and sewed them into 6 pairs of little boy underwear for Dax. Now he has cloth pull-ups that are much easier to pull down/up for potty breaks. I still put him in a diaper for naps and night time, although he usually wakes up dry, I don't want to risk heavy-duty cleanup.

So Dax has been running around the house in these little 3T toddler briefs from Disney Cars. He's been wetting about 2 (no leaks, they work great even though they're not waterproof!) a day, usually mealtimes. He looks so different to me wearing them, though. I miss his cute ginormous poofy cloth diaper butt. Doesn't he look all slim and grown up?

Potty Training?

2009-08-09T15:26:00.000-07:00

I need to get this written down so I won't forget.

My sister told me a month or two ago that I should introduce a potty chair to Dax and see how he takes to it. Last week I was talking with my neighbor and she was playing with Dax, and she commented how he seems ready for potty training and I should really give it a try. Hmmmm.

I bought a baby bjorn potty on craigslist last week for $2. Two nights ago, just before bath time, I removed Dax's diaper and sat him on the potty seat so he could test it out. He was very happy to sit there. Right away, he peed in it. No leaks. He seemed pretty comfy on the little potty and I let him stay there as I got his bath ready. Yuck, then I have to empty the potty, though.

Yesterday when he woke up in the morning (dry diaper from 12-hour overnight sleep) I sat him on the potty again. He peed. Floodgates were opened and he just about filled that little potty! Heh heh, he drinks a lot like me, and apparently has a huge bladder like me. No wonder he's such a heavy wetter when he pees in his diapers!
Then I fed him breakfast. Then straight back to the potty (but his diaper was wet), he peed again.
A couple hours later, put him on the potty, he peed and pooped.
Several more pees in the potty.

We went out shopping yesterday to a couple of stores. He wet a diaper while we were out.

Those were the only two diapers he wet all day yesterday. Everything else (including a couple poops) was on his potty chair. It's kinda cool, except for the cleaning it out part. I sit him on it and he goes within a minute or two every time! He's fast. I usually read him 1 cardboard baby book, but he's often gone before it's done. He doesn't want to get off the potty, though, so I read him some more and talk to him and then drag him off the potty and put his diaper back on. It must be a comfy little potty.

I'm using my sister's method of potty training so far. I haven't read anything about how to potty train and I feel like I don't know what I'm doing at all. The method consists of taking the kid to the bathroom with you anytime you need to go, and sitting them on their potty seat while you're in there. If they happen to go on the potty, you praise them and show it to them and let them watch you flush it. (It's not that hard because he was always in the bathroom with me anyway, he won't let me go by myself without screaming outside the bathroom door. And it's easier to have him on his potty seat, content as can be, than to be blocking the toilet paper and other miscellaneous items from his reach the whole time.)

So far so good.

I asked her what comes next and she said he'll start letting me know when he needs to go.

So far, I'm not sure what to do with outings, like shopping, parks, & church. I'd also like to try & find a seat that goes over the toilet & will also catch his pee sitting. I tried a First Years potty but the pee catcher for boys doesn't go up high enough for Dax.

Happy Birthday, Dax!

2009-07-19T20:26:00.000-07:00

Dax is 12 months (1 year!) old.

Weight 27 lbs
Length 32"
Head Circumference 19.25"

Clothing Size 3T clothing, 5xw shoe

Eating/Sleeping Eats 3 meals of solids a day and sometimes a snack or two. Sleeps well most nights - 12 hours, waking once to nurse. Taking 1 nap a day for 1 hour.

Developmental Milestones
Dax can take 5 steps on his own, and can walk over a block beside you if you hold one hand. He can stack rings on his ring stacker, and he can stack one block on top of another block. He can fit the circle into his shape sorter.

Stuff baby likes Cruising & walking with help, books, riding toy cars, riding on my bike, climbing stairs, going down slides, riding teeter totters, splashing water.

I can't explain how hard it is for me to believe that it was an entire year ago when I gave birth to Dax. He has changed my life for the better. I love being his mommy, and I'm thankful that I chose such a good daddy for him.

I made a video slide show with pictures and movie clips from his first year of life. I have a TON of media on this boy, it's a little embarrassing. :) I picked through and tried to be choosey about which things showed his personality and development the most. It is the length of 2 full songs, which play in the background.

Pictures & videos

2009-06-22T19:03:00.000-07:00

Dax's hiding place

2009-06-17T08:08:00.000-07:00

So each night after Dax goes to sleep, I put all of his books and toys back on the shelf. This usually takes about, I don't know, 10 minutes or so.
Anyhow, I put like-toys together again. So all the blocks into his block container, his shape sorter pieces into their bucket, etc.
If pieces are missing after everything is put away, I search. I find little toys and shapes on the window sill, on dining room chairs, under the couch, etc.

I haven't been able to find 2 of the 3 balls for his tree toy in more than a week! They just disappeared. Plus one of his blue (favorite) shapes from the shape sorter toy had also gone missing.

Yesterday, I saw Dax reaching his chubby little arm on top of the our DishDVR box, which is in a slot under the TV stand. He was fussing about something. I went to look. He was trying to stuff a triangle shape behind the DishDVR box. But it wouldn't go back there so he was frustrated and kept trying to push it down.

Do you know why it wouldn't fit? Because there were 2 balls and a blue shape back there already! Wow, I never would have thought pull out the DishDVR box and look behind to see if some little baby was hiding toys back there! I removed the toys. Dax saw them and his whole face lit up. He then crawled around the house while holding a ball in each hand so that his crawling makes funny noises (he does that a lot - he's crawl while grasping a block and go on the tile floor to make clip clop noises) to celebrate.

Also, Dax has started enjoying a baby version of "hide & seek" I leave the room he's in and go somewhere else and "hide" behind a door or a chair. Then I call out to him, "Where's Mommy?" And he giggles and laughs and crawls to my voice. If I'm hiding too well, I have to call out to him again, which makes him resume giggling and then he finds me and squeals in delight. It's so adorable!

20 minute nap??

2009-06-15T16:20:00.000-07:00

Dax has never been much of a napper. He's been pretty consistent the past couple months, though. He naps for about 1 hour every day. Sometimes 2 hours, but usually 1. That's it, for the whole day.

Lately, he's really been fighting taking a nap. He'd rather play. So he's been falling asleep in the living room with a toy instead of in bed, and then I move him once he's asleep.

Recently, there have been a couple days here or there where he doesn't take a nap due to there no being a long enough time of quiet calm. Excitement, outings, visitors, sounds... all this will stop him from going to sleep. Once he's asleep, no big deal, I can vacuum and be loud and no problem. But before he's out, the conditions have to be juuuuust right.

Today he took a nap right around 1pm. Yay. But he woke up 20 minutes later. That was it, for the whole day. A 20 minute nap. Apparently that's all he needed, too, because he wasn't really fussy the way he gets when he misses his nap. He went down for bed super easy right at 7pm (that's our norm, he sleeps from 7pm until 7am). He did seem extra slow-motion-y just before dinner, and was less animated at dinner than usual, but that's pretty minor.

Some kids drop a nap around their 1st birthday, right? Is it possible he won't be napping much longer? He's almost 11 months old now. Can 12 hours of sleep be enough for a 1-yr-old? I was hoping I'd get to enjoy his daily nap a bit longer.

New pics - swinging

2009-06-01T09:24:00.000-07:00

So nice that we have a swingset in the backyard.
Here is Dax enjoying one of his favorite activities in the backyard: swinging!

Dax is 10 months old

2009-05-20T14:33:00.001-07:00

Dax is 10 months old (yesterday). Forgot to post yesterday because I was too busy celebrating our 9th wedding anniversary! :)

For the first time since Dax was born, he's actually fitting the same size stuff as he fit last month! So I'm guessing most of his measurements are close to the 9 month update.

Weight 26 lbs (guess)
Length 31.25"
Head Circumference 19" (guess, couldn't find my tape measure)

Clothing Size 24-month & 2T (STILL, yahooo!)

Eating/Sleeping Eats 3 meals of solids a day and sometimes a snack or two. Sleeps awesome at night - 7pm to 7am and naps once a day.

Developmental Milestones
He has two top teeth in addition to his 2 bottom teeth now. He carries objects around the house now. He's doing a little baby sign language which is fun. At the lake when I showed him the ducks, he said, "duk duk duk" and when I came home after leaving him with my MIL, he said, "Momomom!" when he saw me.

Stuff baby likes Swinging fast. Taking items out of containers and putting them back into containers. Playing in the bath. Books are still his most frequent go-to toy, he loves to pick out a book, sit down, and flip pages all by himself.

Mommy moment We were at the library and he was playing. He picked up toy ice cream scoop and was carrying it all over the place. When he came near me, I asked him for it, and I pretended to take a bite. He laughed like it was the funniest thing in the world.

Daddy moment Dax misses his Daddy who works a lot of hours. One day Daddy came home during the day, and Dax was completely clinging to him! Dax wouldn't come to me, and he screamed whenever Daddy tried to put him down. Finally Daddy had to untie his shoes and take them off to show Dax he wasn't leaving. Then Dax let himself be put into his high chair and we all ate a rare weekday family meal together, which Dax enjoyed very much.

I thought last month was fun, but I'm enjoying this one even more.

Here's a clip of him swinging. He likes to go fast, really fast, but the indoor swing is kinda lame and doesn't go all that fast. You can hear him laughing each time I push him, though.

Very active baby!

2009-05-04T17:14:00.000-07:00

My oh my how Dax is in constant motion these days.

I'll start with an adorable picture of him in his new 25-cent yardsale hat, which I love on him! Actually, when I bought the hat, I first put it on him to try it on for size, and then I put it with my stack of stuff to purchase. Dax started crying and screaming. He likes hats. Don't taunt him with a hat if he can't have it to wear. He cries when the wind blows off his hats, so don't you dare take it away.

Here is a shot of him standing while wearing his Amazon size 5XW shoes I bought him. At more than half off, they still rang up at $22. :( Most expensive thing he has, lol. I'm glad I bought the next size up because they already fit him. Darn. He does use them outside when he's cruising on playground equipment, though, so it wasn't a completely wasteful purchase.

He's getting much better at standing, and can stand for nearly a full minute not holding onto anything (typically while playing with a toy using both hands and forgetting that he isn't holding onto the couch anymore). He's also pretty good at changing positions from standing to squatting to sitting and back up again.

This is a really common pose he makes. I'm surprised this is the first time I've got it in a picture. When he's crawling along the floor and he stops, he rolls to his side just like this and crosses his legs. A friend of mine laughed and called it the Sports Illustrated pose. He's playing with a shoe, but you can also see how cute his little brown shoes are on his feet.

We have to be careful with putting things on the edge of our dinner table these days. The table cloth was removed months ago, but now even the edge perimeter of the table is not safe from Dax's little hands. He crawls across the room and looks at what is on the table, then goes straight for that spot. Same goes for bathroom counters - he can reach the tops of them along the edges.

Today, after he pulled himself up using the legs of a barstool, he decided he could climb up the barstool. Lightweight Ikea barstool cannot support a heavyweight Daxling . He fell backward & pulled the stool on top of himself. Stool seat hit his mouth. His tooth was all bloody from cutting his lip & it instantly swelled up big & fat. Poor little baby boy was a screaming mess. I sat on a chair with him in my lap, cleaned up his runny nose and bloody mouth with kleenex, and gave him frozen grapes in a mesh feeder, and the swelling went right down. He ate all the grapes and wanted more. I set him down on the floor and went to refill the mesh feeder. While closing the feeder, I heard him giggling happily in the living room. Uh oh.
I rushed back to the living room to find him surrounded by a sea of white! Kleenex was everywhere. All over the floor, on his head, and on the chair where I'd accidentally left the box. There was little Dax with his bloody red lip, yanking tissue after tissue out of the box, grinning from ear to ear. No picture cuz my camera was out of the room and once I removed the box he decided to start ripping and tearing the tissues so, um, yeah I wasn't about to leave him for a minute again.

I'm moving the bar stools to the basement tonight. With the cuts/scapes/bruises that he's quickly accumulating faster than they can heal, I'm thinking I might benefit from a First Aid refresher for my accident-prone, fearless little baby boy.

New clothes!

2009-05-02T12:43:00.000-07:00

So I've been washing Dax's laundry every 2 or 3 days and he's been wearing the same stuff over and over and over since his growth spurt 2 weeks ago. It was in his torso, of course, and it made a lot of his 2T t-shirts barely meet the top of his diaper. It also made me adjust all of his cute overalls to the longest torso setting possible. The 2T legs on his clothes? Still too long on him.

Anyhow, finally there's warm weather and finally I got to go to a few yardsales! I found some really cute stuff and was able to pick through for my favorites!
I bought:
5 overalls w/ long pants
5 overalls w/ shorts
4 rompers (one-piece shirt/shorts)
10 t-shirts
2 white collared shirts for church
1 adorable hat
1 super awesome waterproof bib that snaps (since he now removes the velcro ones) and has a pocket
2 longsleeve shirts
3 onesies
1 light footy pajama
$24 spent

All of them are size 3T, but I think one of the rompers was a 4T. I think I'm set on spring/summer clothes for him now, phew! Well, except for pajamas. He needs more light pajamas, and I forgot about that and didn't even look at the yard sale that I bought most of the stuff from. I was also hoping to get him another hat or two.

Oh, and they're all in wonderful condition! I was worried I might be picking through worn out stuff since the sizes are now where most kids are actively playing, but I didn't see that at all. These clothes look new, and several of them still had the tags on them from the store.

Dax likes to eat

2009-04-29T17:17:00.000-07:00

Last night I did laundry. I'd left a pile of bibs on the living room floor that I didn't put away.

This morning I let Dax play in the living room while I got breakfast ready in the kitchen. He crawled over to the pile of bibs. I watched him, thinking to myself that he'd scatter the pile because that's what he does to all piles - knocks them down. He bapped his little hand on the bib pile a few times but left it in place, then he picked up one bib and closed his chubby little fist around it. He crawled from the living room into the dining room, carrying his one bib in his closed fist, and looking adorable crawling around with a shut fist. He crawled over to his high chair. Pulled himself to standing using the high chair's legs. Looks up at me, waving his bib in the air, and says, "MmmmmMMmmmMmmmmm!"

Later, close to lunch time, I had the kitchen baby gates open because I'd be in there cleaning the counters anyway. He eagerly crawled into the (normally inaccessible to him) kitchen and started slapping the tile floor. Then he spotted a couple empty cereal boxes in the corner on the floor and crawled over to them. Cool, something I don't mind him playing with - my recycle pile. He picks up the empty box of store-brand Cheerios from the pile, then lifts and tilts the box like he's trying to empty cheerios into his mouth! Nothing comes out, so he taps on the other end of the box, then gives it a good shake. Then he looks at me and furrows his eyebrows! Cheerios (well, store brand - that box) are the only cereal he's had, and it interested me that he didn't want the other cereal boxes, he wanted that one.

He amazes me. Every day. I know this is tiny little stuff but it absolutely amazes me how fast he's growing and how much he seems to understand. 9 months old. So much fun.

Where does the fat go?

2009-04-27T21:15:00.000-07:00

Power came back on in my neighborhood Monday at 1:30pm. It took longer than most of us had thought.

Anyhow, thought I'd post some new pics of Dax. He's losing his chubby chub chub. And is it just me, or are his arms looking really muscular for a baby?

The great thing about him getting slimmer now that he's crawling is that he's fitting into diapers he'd outgrown! So out of the box came his cute red Rumperooz brand diaper! Isn't it adorable? I love fluffy cloth diaper baby bottoms!

Here's a reminder of what he used to look like on his blanket (at 4 months in a green Swaddlebees diaper)

And back to present day... picking out a book.

Swing Set!! :)

2009-04-25T17:06:00.000-07:00

Big storm came in around 2:45pm... 3pm my neighborhood lost power. It's now 8pm and still no power. Well, I mean, we personally have power cuz of our super generator, but still... the houses surrounding our house are dark.

Anyhow, I found a swingset on Craigslist for $125 and we got it today! The swing set is all set up in our back yard and it's so weird seeing it there. Dax got a tiny test swing before the rain poured down. Here are pics.

The back of the tower/fort thingy has stairs going up to it instead of a ladder. They're pretty sturdy, since I climbed them myself and sat inside the fort while Dax played with the steering wheel up there and crawled around. Personally, I love the adult swinging bench, I might be spending lots of time out there reading while Dax swings. :)

We're going to get some stain for the swing set since it is CCA wood and we don't want the arsenic leaching out. That plus the new bolts plus the $3 baby swing I added to the set... still makes it a pretty good deal to me! :)

Dax is 9 months old... and I've got a huge baby

2009-04-20T13:45:00.000-07:00

Weight 25 lbs 4oz (97th percentile)
Length 31" (off the chart, higher than 97th)
Head Circumference 18.75" (95th percentile)

Clothing Size 24-month & 2T Shoe size of 4xw

Eating/Sleeping Nursing every 2 to 3 hours during the day, and eating 3 meals of solid foods. Sleeps 11 hours at night and 1 or 2 hours of a nap during the day.

Developmental Milestones Dax is crawling fast, pulling up on things, and can stand unsupported for brief periods of time.
He has two bottom teeth. He has pincer grasp. He claps his hands. Says "hi" "dada" and "mama" all in proper context.

Stuff baby likes Bucket swings at the park. Going fast (in carts, stroller, on "horsey" knee rides, etc.). Music. Books!

The other day, he crawled and got one of his books, then crawled, scooting the book along the floor, to me. Then he shoved the book against my leg, and he attempted to climb into my lap, looking up at me all adoringly.

At night, I realized that he'd somehow unsnapped and unzipped his footy pajamas. They were around his waist, so his top half was all bare skin and felt cold to the touch. Silly boy! Not sure how he did that. I mean, I know he loves unzipping zippers but he's never done it on his clothing before. He does untie his shoes (& ours!) whenever he gets the chance.

Since he learned how to crawl a couple weeks ago, I've stopped carrying him inside the house (this is why he's losing his chub rolls). I tell him to crawl to his highchair/changing table/bathtub and that's nice except for when he gets distracted by other stuff he sees. The other morning he wanted breakfast and crawled over and pulled up on his high chair with no prompting from me. I can't believe my baby has turned into this cute little crawler!

I really loving this age, he's such a delight! I love that he can actually communicate, sort of, what he wants or is thinking. He even has a cute little sense of humor. :) I'm fortunate to be his mother.

Happy Easter!

2009-04-12T18:15:00.000-07:00

Happy Easter! And now for some of pictures of Dax... and a new short video...

He's wearing a pastel green cloth diaper that happens to match the sweater vest. Instead of pants, he's wearing baby leg warmers that I made him.

His favorite thing today - twirling the Easter basket to make the plastic egg inside spin & bounce. He's smiling & you can even see his cheek dimple!

This is a video I took after telling my husband that I taught Dax to "Gimme 5"
I'm disappointed because I didn't know he was going to do it twice in a row, and I stopped recording just before Dax repeated it again. Anyway, it's cute and short.

New baby, oops, I mean "toddler" clothes!

2009-04-08T08:51:00.000-07:00

I got a box of clothes from my Sister-in-law, stuff her boy has outgrown.
Adorable stuff in the box! Dax just recently outgrew the torso length of his 18-month clothes. He's not even 9 months old yet. ~sniffle~
Anyway, here's one of the cute outfits from the box:

Doesn't it look all "spring" and nice!? :) I think I'll put it on him again for Easter. It's a size 2T.

Dax is 8 months old

2009-03-19T10:50:00.000-07:00

Having fun visiting with my sisters. It's time for Dax's update, though. :)

Dax is 8 months old today.

Weight 26 pounds (guesstimate)
Length 30" (measured about 12 days ago)
Head Circumference 18.25" (measured about 12 days ago)

Clothing Size 18-month & 24-month

Developmental Milestones Dax is getting up on his hands and knees about every time I set him on the floor lately. He also pulls up on things more and more. As of this week, Dax has a tooth! On the bottom of his mouth.

We went to the park and Dax was riding in the toddler swing, which he LOVES. A gust of wind blew past, and it knocked Dax's hat off his head. He cried immediately because he missed his hat. I picked it up and put it back on his head. He reached up and held the bill of the hat with one hand. Then he kept it there, holding the hat the entire rest of the time he was swinging! So instead of both hands holding the swing, one hand was on the hat. Silly baby. He loves his hats.

I cooked a corned beef brisket for St. Patty's day and Dax absolutely loved it. He ate several mouthfuls, definitely more than he's ever had of any meat before. That was after eating about 1/2 cup of cabbage, some potato wedges, and an entire pear.

At the zoo, Dax got a closeup view of a sheep.

He also rode on the carousal, which he enjoyed very much.

Photos & video

2009-03-13T10:56:00.001-07:00

I realized I haven't posted photos in a little while. Here are some new ones :)

Here is Dax looking pouty. For some reason when he makes this expression, he reminds me of my oldest brother.

This is him on the quilt that I use to take his monthly picture. 7 months here.

A picture of him laughing.

Here's a new trick of his he's been doing just the past couple days. He licks the bars on his crib! Then he laughs about it. He'll stick his tongue wayyy out there and lick the bar.

Saving the best for last, here's a video of Dax & I playing peek-a-boo with a blanket. He could play this all day, but I'm good after about 5 minutes of it. His little laugh is so addicting, though!

First "Sick Baby" Dr visit (warning, includes some TMI)

2009-03-10T13:35:00.000-07:00

So Dax has had a runny nose for just over a full week now. Very runny. I keep suctioning crazy amounts of mucus out of his itty bitty nostrils. Eww! Mucus! Yuck!
I've decided I dislike mucus. Mucus is even worse than poop (because, well, poop I don't have to handle... his come out fully formed and plop right into the toilet... barely even a few specks to normally wipe off his butt). Poop doesn't end up wiped on my shoulder when I pick him up. Mucus does. Yuck.

Anyhow, my sister warned me to watch his ears because when kids have runny noses they can get ear infections. Three days ago he started swiping and pulling on his left ear. Then again the next day. Then again today even more than ever before. So I called the doctor and scheduled a visit for today to see if he has an ear infection.

Went in and the nurse checked his temp (98.1) and weighed Dax. He looked ginormous on the baby scale. It was hilarious. Should've gotten a picture, seriously. He's really big and really long and was completely overhanging most of his legs off the scale with his head on the far other end of it. Plus, he instantly realized that he could kick his legs up and down to make the scale bounce and that was fun. So he kept bouncing the scale from 22 pounds to 28 pounds. We finally got him to lay still for a moment. He weighed in at a whopping 25 pounds 11oz (this was clothed, though, and normally they weigh him naked, so he technically weighs a bit less than that). Still, wow, he's huge.
He's also grown another full inch, which means he's grown more than 9 inches in less than 8 months since he was born!

The doctor came in and commented about this being his first sick baby visit and Dax is almost 8 months old, which is apparently very unusual. He checked him out, felt his neck, peeked into his ears and throat. Declared him to perfectly healthy and made a joke about this not really being a sick visit afterall.

Doctor thinks he's pulling his ear due to referred pain from teething, which also explains the horribly runny nose. I told him I really wanted to make sure he wasn't sick before I went out of town for 2 weeks.
Dr responded, "So Dad's in charge?"
I stared at him blankly, not sure what he meant.
"You'll be out of town visiting relatives, so Dad gets to watch Dax," he explained.
I was so stunned about his assumption that I didn't say anything more than, "No, Um, I'm taking Dax with me."

Really? Do mothers leave 7-month-old nursing babies with anybody when they go out of town for two weeks? That seemed unbelievable to me!

$30 for a 5 minute visit when nothing is wrong with my kid. Oh well, at least I know for sure now. Dax has a clean bill of health. And still zero teeth.

Monthly Update

2009-02-19T15:36:00.000-08:00

Dax is 7 months old.

Weight 23 pounds (guesstimate, he was 22lbs a month ago)
Length 29"
Head Circumference 18"

Clothing Size 18-month

Eating Eating 3 meals a day of solid foods in addition to nursing.

Developmental Milestones Making new sounds that are more clearly enunciated than his previous babble, he now says "baba, mama, more, dada, haha" His finger dexterity has massively increased now that he feeds himself 3 times a day. He's almost got pincer grasp down and it's fun to watch him pick up something as tiny as a pea or blueberry and maneuver it around with his finger and thumb. He's recently decreased putting everything into his mouth. Now he's more likely to pick it up and spin the item all around with his fingers as though he's solving a rubix cube.

Stuff baby likes He's gotten VERY into books lately. He really likes "Wheels go Round" "Green Eggs & Ham" and "You're My Little Lovebug" He's showing an interest in cars and wheels. He also quite obviously prefers the color blue.

New Foods In addition to the previous list, Dax has now also eaten:
peas
green bell pepper
yellow pepper
red pepper
orange pepper
green chilies
black crock pot beans
rice
onion
celery
acorn squash
white asparagus
butternut squash
blueberries
more apple varieties
ice water (yeah, he prefers ice cubes in his sippy, he likes it really cold)

Sippy cup:

Pincer (almost) grasp:

Here's Dax standing in the snow in our yard. He thought this was pretty fun. The snow was actually deeper than his waist, but that's as far as he sunk before enough snow packed underneath him to support his weight.

This amusing clip is Dax attempting to crawl. I think (hope) that's still a ways off, though.

New "green" tee!

2009-02-17T13:54:00.001-08:00

I bought a new shirt - it's 95% bamboo and super comfy! It's a nursing shirt, with a secret under layer for discrete feeding.
I only have a couple special "nursing" clothing items, but they sure make it easy. Especially if you have a baby like Dax, who thinks that every blanket exists for him to yank on and play peek-a-boo.

http://www.motherwear.com/prod.cfm/cid/107/sid/2286

Swimming is over for now

2009-02-16T14:01:00.000-08:00

This past Saturday was the last day of our 6-week baby swim class. I decided that, as fun as it has been and as much as little Dax enjoys it, that's enough swimming for now.
It's smack in the middle of Saturday and kind of prevents us from doing much on Saturdays. Also, while I enjoy him having water exposure, I'm not sure he's going to get anything more out of another class right away. He does get to practice every night in the bathtub. Unfortunately he learned how to kick really well at swimming class and now in the bathtub he soaks me because he kicks when he lays down in the tub to make his splash high.

So some final swimming pictures:

Dax likes to get people's attention. Once he has made eye contact, he immediately tilts his head to the side and gives them a huge open-mouth grin. It's adorable. Anyway, he did it to his swim instructor a couple of times. This last time, his swim instructor did it back to him - that's why this guy is looking goofy in the picture. :)

Oh, and I'm once again stranded at home due to car trouble. :( I'm a winter person and normally love almost every minute of it, but this year I'm really looking forward for nicer weather now that I have a baby - I want to go for walks and not worry about freezing him. Being stuck in the house gets old. My husband has been doing Stake business for the past 3 Sundays in a row (still a lot more work to do, unfortunately) so I've been going to church alone with Dax. This week my car wouldn't start, though, so the two of us stayed home. My mechanic has the car now, hopefully this will be the last time I'm stranded this winter due to car trouble.

Eating videos

2009-02-11T06:27:00.001-08:00

I love watching Dax eat! It's so entertaining. You're lucky I don't have like 20 videos of him eating, ha ha. :)

This is him eating broccoli

And here he is picking up his fork that has a blueberry on it

Mooo! (Custom ring tone)

2009-02-08T13:41:00.000-08:00

So it only took me 4 months to finally do it, but I made a custom ring tone for my phone using Dax's voice. It's from him mooing when he was 8 weeks old. I edited it to remove my husband's prompting him to copy the "moo" sound, plus I put Dax's best "moo" in there like 4 times.

So now when my oldest brother calls me... my phone will moo and moo and moo! ha ha ha. :)

Here's what it sounds like:

I can't believe how much Dax has changed. He looks like a little baby in the video!

2009-02-01T14:20:00.000-08:00

We decorated a few of Dax's plain white diapers to make them more fun.

"Live Long & Prosper" from Star Trek. Lead butt, hee! :) Then there are the Noble Gases. And the intercom symbol from Star Trek.

Oh, and you can barely see it in this picture, but Dax has the exact same Stork Bite birth mark that I have on the back of my neck! I thought it was kinda neat when he was born with it. :)

He may look innocent and cute, but this shirt is sooooo true!

Another pic from Mommy & Me swimming class:

Solid Foods

2009-01-30T15:25:00.000-08:00

Okay, so Dax has now been on solid foods for a couple weeks. He's definitely surprised me with how much food he wants to eat. My sister says, "He's a growing boy!!"
(Oh, and he's outgrown all his 12-month clothes now and some of his 18-month stuff is starting to get snug in the torso)

I haven't been following "rules" about food introduction aside from holding off on "danger" foods (cow's milk, nuts, eggs, etc.)

And, um, well, he's had a LOT of food already.

Foods Dax has eaten (not in this order):

steamed asparagus
crock pot pinto beans
boiled broccoli
boiled cauliflower
baked sweet potato (cut into fries)
mashed sweet potato
crock pot roast beef
pureed roast beef w/ broth (he preferred it not pureed)
crock pot chicken
boiled peeled apple
avocado
banana
pear
boiled green beans
boiled brussels sprouts
oatmeal (had to grind oats before cooking, he couldn't handle oatmeal texture when I tried it cooking it regular)
organic brown rice baby cereal (the only "baby food" in my house, and his least favorite food, ha ha ha)
cooked carrots
peach
frozen grapes (in mesh feeder)
cantaloupe (oops, forgot this was "acidic" food and let him have a few slices of it, but he fortunately had no reaction to it)

Planning to wait until he's 8 months old to introduce dairy products (although not milk) like cheese & yogurt. Also plan to wait that long for pasta & wheat & egg yolks.

I want to feed him barley, but I keep forgetting. I'd also like to give him some white fish & acorn/butternut squash but that means I need to buy them.

He loves food, and I've pretty much just been sharing whatever I eat (as long as it's age-appropriate) with him. So he's had much more of some of these foods than others. Like, at least 6 meals of pinto beans, yum yum! :)

I started meat this week at my pediatrician's advice, due to the higher iron content... and so far Dax loves chicken & beef. Oh, I also tried to give him sardines when I was having a can, but he wanted nothing to do with it, kept spitting it out. His loss. Mmmmm.... sardines. You can't really enjoy the snow without eating sardines (family tradition)!

Hungry hungry baby!

2009-01-25T03:39:00.000-08:00

Apparently turning 6-months old has made Dax decide that he needs to return to his hourly nursing schedule. Except this time, that includes night time as well as day time. Oh, and that's in addition to him now eating solids! He loves solid food and gobbles up nearly everything he's offered. He insists on nursing immediately before and after every solid food meal, though. With his hourly nursings, his new multi-nap-wantings during the day, and him keeping me up at night because he's starving... I'm tired.

Plus all this eating/sleeping this week seems to have made Dax suddenly outgrow all of his 12-month clothes, so now the 12m onesies won't snap, the 12m pj's are too short, and all of the 12m one-piece outfits no longer fit in the torso. :( I did find a couple nice warm one-piece coverall 18m Carters outfits at Meijer yesterday for $4, though! :)

Here is Dax munching on cauliflower.

Oh, and if anyone is interested in sharing their tidy-baby tips for mealtimes, I'd appreciate it. I tend to get food on me and/or changing table and/or bathroom floor after he's done eating and I pick him up and change him. He also screams when I use a washcloth to clean his face & hands - I tried letting him "play" with the wet washcloth but that didn't work, he ended up squishing it around in whatever food he can find on his hands/clothing and then using wash cloth to catapult food particles across the room.

Dax tricks

2009-01-19T12:28:00.000-08:00

Crib trick. He actually had his feet and legs way up and was balancing on his shoulders when I walked into the nursery to get him. Left to get my camera and then he was back down on his back. He always does this crazy tricks when I leave the room!

Munching on the bar of the crib. He has figured out how to pull to standing using the bars, which is why we lowered the crib and removed the bumpers in December.

I lowered the front so I could get a good picture of his face and how happy he is standing in his crib, but once I lowered it he was only interested in looking down and trying to escape.

He LOVES food! He feeds himself (we're doing baby-led weaning and part of it is not putting any food into baby's mouth... they self-feed everything). He lunged that spoon into his mouth like a hungry-hungry-hippo. He's pretty good using his fork & spoon because he's been practicing using them with nothing but air for about 3 months now at mealtimes.

6 months old

2009-01-18T15:47:00.000-08:00

Tomorrow, Dax will be 6 months old. Wow, hard to believe he was born half a year ago!

Weight 22 pounds
Length 28"
Head Circumference 17.75"

Clothing Size 12-18-month clothing. Hats, shoes, and socks are 2-3T.

Eating/Sleeping During the day he nurses every 1 to 3 hours. Naps once or twice a day for 30 to 120 minutes. At night he sleeps 6 hours, barely wakes to eat, then sleeps another 5 or 6 hours.

Developmental Milestones Can sit up from a reclined position to fully seated by himself. He looks for toys he drops off his high chair, and will look for a toy I cover up with a towel. He's been banging objects together. Has been increasingly vocal with jabbering. He's figured out how to indicate things he wants with different sounds and facial gestures. He loves to stand up while holding people/things for support. He pulls the string on his elephant toy to make the wheels turn. I swear he's understanding more and more of what I say and he can tell when I'm talking about him to people.

Stuff baby likes Loves bath time and swimming. Loves books. He likes imitating what we do. He laughs at "this little piggy" and peek-a-boo. Enjoys putting his toys into a container and dumping them out over and over (when he dumps out the container, he often taps the bottom of it, ha ha). He plays with his spoon & fork at mealtime and copies me - when I take a bite, he will put his empty spoon into his mouth and grin at me.

Mommy moment Dax has figured out a way to communicate with me. He makes a special little sound, kind of like "Mmnnh" while using his lips to point! So when he wants something, he'll point at it with his lips and say "Mmnnh Mmnnh Mmnnnnnnnnnnnnh!" When I pick up the correct item, he smiles at me.

Pediatrician commented that Dax is behaving more like a 9-month-old than a 6-month-old. He said 6-month-olds never push his hands away during exams, and that Dax appears to be extra aware of his surroundings and able to communicate. Growing up too fast!!

Walk/Push toys?

2009-01-14T11:34:00.000-08:00

Dax is still nowhere near crawling. He can't even commando crawl.
However, how do you know when they're ready for a push-along toy like a push wagon or something to stand on and hold for support? I've had my eye on one at Ikea that looks cute.

Dax is a fish!

2009-01-10T16:56:00.001-08:00

Took Dax to our first Mommy & Me swimming class today. He loved it, it was so much fun. Took right to the water.
This is before we got into the water, him wearing his cute yellow fish cloth swim diaper. Looked way cuter than the other babies with their disposable swim diapers. :) His legs have gotten so pudgy!

2009-01-02T16:14:00.000-08:00

Dax has a cute tongue! Constantly playing with it these days and sticking it out and making funny faces.

Oh, and those are a new pair of baby legwarmers he's wearing, I made them using knee-hi socks I found on sale at a teenage store in the outlet mall (I went to the Socks Galore store first, and they told me the "wild" ones were at this teen store, so then I went there)

2009... the year Dax starts solid foods

2009-01-01T12:18:00.000-08:00

18 days and counting.
In the meantime, Dax has been practicing eating the air with his fork and spoon. He's gotten pretty good with the spoon. He's still figuring out the fork.

And hubby thinks this following video is better. Dax gets giddy at night and laughs at anything and everything. This particular night, he was laughing each time we made eye contact. Hubby went and got the camera to catch some laughs.

Plaid

2008-12-27T21:22:00.001-08:00

My new favorite onesie (found it on sale at the OshKosh outlet mall!). Am I the only one who likes dressing up my son in outfits that make him look like a miniature version of his Dad? I was so disappointed when he outgrew the baby shoes that looked just like his Dad's shoes.

At the outlet mall I also scored a few pair colorful of knee-hi socks that I plan to convert into more baby legwarmers for Dax. I'm loving the pair I already made. Might post pictures of them... maybe... if you really want to see them. ;)

2008-12-25T22:23:00.000-08:00

Dax opening his Christmas present. :)

He sure was happy when I handed it to him.

Then he decided he needed to wrestle it and make lots of noise with the outside of the package.

Then I showed him where to pull to rip the paper off... and it was quickly unwrapped!

Almost done unwrapping it all by himself. He decided to reward himself with a snack of wrapping paper. yum yum

His pajama's say "If Mommy says no, ask Santa"

Merry Christmas!

2008-12-25T06:59:00.000-08:00

We went to a lovely Christmas Eve party last night at a friend's house. It was a yummy Christmas-y dinner followed by a full re-enactment play of the Savior's birth story, complete with at least 7 songs thrown in there. And the star of the play? Little baby Dax, playing baby Jesus. Mary was played by a 9-year-old girl, though, and she couldn't carry him across the room cuz he's so big, ha ha. I sat him down in her lap once she was seated. Unfortunately, by the time the play started it was bedtime for Dax and he screamed and hollered and cried. Oh well. :)

The very authentic play also included live "sheep" that arrived with the shepherds. The sheep had long tails. They looked a lot like cats, but the kids assured me they were sheep. Oh, and they got Dax some Christmas pajamas that are pretty cute - size 24month and he's sleeping in them now, they're long on him but they actually kinda fit since the cuffs hold in the extra length in the arms and legs.

We drove home after the party and I put Dax in bed. Little angel fell asleep right away at 9:30pm. Just an hour late for bed, and he was fine. Then I wrapped the little present I got for my husband, and I wrapped the present for Dax and put them both under the tree. Now there are 4 presents under the tree. The other two are for me - from feeling/smelling/shaking/squeezing the packages during the past week, I'm guessing that one is a book and one is a CD.

It's Christmas morning, and I have a wonderful husband and a little baby. I couldn't be happier. They're both asleep even though it's 10am, and I can't decide which one to watch. :)

5 month photos + video

2008-12-21T18:33:00.000-08:00

I can't believe I posted his 5-month update and forgot to put any pictures with it!!! Here they are, plus here's a video of him taking a bath (very short, and no, he doesn't normally wear swimming trunks at bath time, lol).

Dax is 5 months old today!

2008-12-19T12:12:00.000-08:00

Weight 20 pounds (using adult home scale, probably not super accurate)
Length 27.75"
Head Circumference 18"

Clothing Size 12-month, some 18-month (please, please slow down growth soon). Hats, shoes, and socks are 18-24 month.

Eating/Sleeping During the day he eats every two or three hours, and it now only takes him 5 to 10 minutes to eat! Naps once in the morning and once in the afternoon for 30 to 120 minutes. At night he sleeps 6 hours, barely wakes to eat, then sleeps another 5 or 6 hours.

Developmental Milestones Sits without support very well for like 20 minutes without toppling over! He loves to sit and manipulate a toy with his hands, he loves bath time in the big tub and afterward I drain the water and let him practice crawling naked in the empty (but still warm) tub - he can crawl from one end to the other.

Stuff baby likes Sitting in high chair (I've recently given him a spoon to play with and he loves it and mimics me while I eat - he puts it into his mouth every time I take a bite!), still loves books and turning pages, he has REALLY started enjoying his math dot cards - he gets the biggest grin when I show him new numbers. He also likes playing with cups (more imitation play). He laughs at "this little piggy" and enjoys me playing patty cake with his feet.

Daddy moment Dax is getting more and more attached to his Dad. He's now starting to give big reactions/laughs to him. (Dax always gives the biggest smiles/laughs for me, and then mutes the reaction when others are around)

Chubby can sit unassisted!

2008-12-15T21:04:00.000-08:00

Dax has been working at sitting for weeks now, he's been able to sit for seconds at a time and then topples over. Well now he's figured it out! He can sit unassisted for minutes instead of seconds. Here's a little preview of "proof" :) He can even play with toys (or his foot, lol) and still keep his balance. In the video he's wearing his new (size 12m) pj's that my MIL just got him, and they have anti-slip texture on the feet that he was investigating.

2008-12-07T18:33:00.000-08:00

So we got this http://www.amazon.com/Intex-Soft-Sided-Playpen-Bouncer-Center/dp/B00186C08U/ref=pd_sim_ba_34 for Dax and it looks like sooo much fun I wish I could shrink myself and play in it. hee hee. :)

Use for old socks!

2008-12-03T09:25:00.000-08:00

I've finally made some babylegs for Dax! I've had my eye on them for a while, but they're too expensive for my cheapskate self to buy.
I didn't realize how easy it would be to make them from the tube part of already-existing socks! Plus this is great because our socks get worn out in the toes and heels, and that's the only part you don't use. Waste not want not. :)

I'm sure you'd have all kinds of fun cutesy options for girls, but I'm made some boyish ones for Dax out of faded worn black socks that now look gray.

Not having to bother with pants and easier diaper changes sound good to me, especially with my baby-clothes-and-snap-challenged husband! Plus this means my cute cloth diapers won't be covered up all the time. :)

It took about 5 minutes. :) VERY easy sewing project! I used crew socks, but it would be better/longer with knee high socks or tube socks.

Step 1 - find pair of socks

Step 2 - cut socks

Step 3 - fold foot portion in half into a tube, align with leg portion to get ready to sew

Step 4 - Sew! I zigzagged & straight stitched because I don't have a serger.

Step 5 - Oh wait, nevermind, no more steps. All done. :)

Put them on your baby:

I've been tagged!

2008-12-02T18:20:00.000-08:00

Here's the info you've all been DYING to know!!!

3 Joys-
*Dax, my darling little boy
*Spending time with my husband
*Sewing

3 fears-
*anything happening to husband or Dax
*not being able to get pregnant again
*losing another pregnancy

3 obsessions or collections-
*cloth diapers
*craigslist/yardsales/resale shops
*Dax

3 surprising facts-
*I attended community college my junior & senior years of high school... and 6 days after my high school graduation with honors, I attended my college graduation and received my Associate's degree (just 2 months after I'd turned 18).
*I met my husband on the internet in 1995. I was 16 and he was 24. We're still madly in love.
*I don't eat sugar

I tag Missy, Tammy, and Christine!!! Happy Tagging!

Happy Thanksgiving!

2008-11-27T12:03:00.000-08:00

The ABC's of things I am thankful for this year

Adoption. Although it has not yet touched our lives in the way we expected.
Breastfeeding. The ability of my body to completely nourish my son.
Cars. Two working & reliable ones. Made in 1997 & 1998, but they've both been great for us since we bought them in 1999 & 2000.
Dax. My adorable firstborn son.
Eternal Family. The belief that I will always be with my husband, in this life and for all eternity, and that any children we have will also be able to be with us.
Financial ability to stay at home with our child
Garage sales, resale shops, craigslist, and being able to find quality used stuff for cheap
Home
In-laws. Mine are wonderful. I'm blessed to have every single one of them.
Job. It isn't the hours I hope for, but I'm thankful my husband has a job in this economy that continues to support us
Kisses
Laughter, a heartwarming solution to stress
Motherhood, and the heart expansion pack that comes with it
Nephews & Nieces
Oxytocin. Yummy feel-good doses of it every time I nurse Dax.
Pictures. I'm glad I live in a time when pictures are so easy to get, save, delete, share, and publish.
Quiet moments
Reading
Sisters. My biological sisters, my sisters-in-law, my ward sisters, my girlfriends who are close like sisters
Time for bed/naps
Unblocked uterine tube. Hey, it only takes one. ;)
Vaginal birth. It's amazing. I'm so thanksful I was able to experience one.
Watermelon. I ate tons and tons of watermelon this past year
X-chromosome. Only needed one of those, too. ;)
Yasmin birth control, because it brought me Dax
Zero debt. Well, aside from our home mortgage, but I'm not counting that.

Happy Thanksgiving, Everyone!

Snow Play

2008-11-22T12:48:00.000-08:00

This is how I wear Dax... every single day...

My sister said Dax isn't too young for snow - she was right, he loved playing in it today.

4 month update

2008-11-21T11:52:00.000-08:00

Dax is four months old.

Weight 19 pounds 10 ounces
Length 27"
Head Circumference 17"

Clothing Size 6-9 month clothing, 12-18 month shoes & hats

Dr visit: We got in our room and put Dax on the long padded table covered with paper. Dax immediately noticed the crunch of the paper beneath him and reached down and grabbed it. He squished the paper between his fists and happily babbled. Then he noticed if he yanked the paper more would come (it was on a roll). He was very soon making a big mess of paper on the table within just a minute of sitting down.
The doctor glanced over at Dax and said, "Wow. I can't believe that at 4 months he is so actively into his environment."

He was also pretty impressed with Dax's muscle tone and his ability to roll both ways and how close he is to sitting up all by himself. Doctor said he usually sees larger babies are behind on physical milestones because their central nervous system has trouble keeping up with everything, but that it was certainly not the case with Dax.

Eating/Sleeping During the day he eats every hour or two. Naps once in the morning and once in the afternoon for 30 to 90 minutes each. At night he sleeps in 5 & 6 hour increments. Most of the time I get plenty of sleep now, which is really helpful for the long days by myself with Dax.

Developmental Milestones Reaches for and picks up toys, passes toys from hand to hand, holds toy with one hand while spinning/manipulating it with the other hand, rolls over with ease either way, babbles & drools lots, can sit up without support for small periods of time, loves books and turning pages

Daddy moment Hubby finally got Dax to copy his tongue sticking out. Dax has the cutest little tongue!

Dax appears to like his new Britax car seat. He doesn't scream in the car like he used to in the SnugRide car seat. Maybe all that cushy padding helps, or maybe he just likes sitting up higher to look out the windows. Whatever it is, I'm happy car rides aren't as miserable for him (and me!) anymore. Also - now he frequently falls asleep in the car, which rarely happened in the past. Hurray! :)

I live for his laughs these days.

Can you shrink a baby?

2008-11-14T21:16:00.000-08:00

This is baby Dax smiling at 3 weeks old.

Last week we had to get him a larger car seat because he's exceeding the safety limits height/weight of his infant seat. :(

How did my baby get so big? He's not even 4 months old quite yet!

2008-10-20T13:28:00.000-07:00

Dax is 3 months old. No pediatrician visit, so guestimating weight/length.

Weight 16 pounds (absolute guess)
Length 26" (roughly measured)

Clothing Size 3-6 month & 6-month (Oh, but still wears newborn pants, since his legs are disproportionately short compared to his long torso, like his father)

Pics of cuteness below cut!

Cute froggy diaper, and look at Dax's muscles. The necklace is raw amber and seems to help his teething pain.

Eating/Sleeping During the day he eats every hour, sometimes will go as long as 2 hours (seldom). Naps once or twice a day for 10 to 50 minutes. At night he sleeps in 3, 4, & 5 hour increments. Dax loves nursing and typically stops hunger crying when I simply pick him up (but not when anybody else picks him up when hungry, ha ha).

Grinning, babbling, and playing baby piano.

Developmental Milestones Moves fingers independently instead of everything being fists only (like, he can stuff 1 or 2 fingers into his mouth now), can sit pretty well when lightly supported, can stay in crawl position on hands and knees, brings toys to mouth, reaches for objects with hands, babbles a LOT, drooling a TON and going through many bibs to stay dry.

I spy Daddy's eye

Daddy moment While I was at the church teaching a group of 8 to 11-yr-old girls how to sew on buttons, Daddy came to pick up Dax so that he wouldn't be needing my attention while I was in charge of the 13 girls. Daddy took Dax to the nearby strip mall and proudly walked around with him. They wandered into the book store, where Dax was read several baby books. Daddy decided the pile of books we had at home was simply not enough, and came home with a bag full of another 5 cardboard baby books. Methinks Dax has him wrapped around his cute little finger.

Dax has started a "polite cough" when he wants attention. He'll be playing or babbling and I'll walk away. After a bit, I'll hear him cough once or twice. It's as if he is saying "*ahem* I'm still here come pay attention to me!" If I ignore his polite little cough, then he escalates it into actively calling for me. He's so clever. :) He fusses when his mobile winds down and stops moving - but only if I'm not in the room. If I'm in the room, he just looks over at me and waves his arms.

Pregnancy and Infant Loss Remembrance Day

2008-10-15T07:02:00.001-07:00

Pregnancy and Infant Loss Remembrance Day is to promote Support, Education, and Awareness for grieving parents nationwide (and worldwide).

As I hold my little miracle today, I do it with remembrance. I remember the ones that I lost. I remember the losses of my friends. I remember that there are hundreds of thousands of women out there who share this sadness.

Teething baby

2008-10-09T11:04:00.000-07:00

So I think Dax is teething. I hadn't really thought that was it because I thought it was way too early, until I was talking to my sister about his recent behavior changes and she immediately suggested it. Then I looked up symptoms and it sure seems like a fit.
My poor baby is teething :(

He's been a fussy cranky screaming baby all week. He has been horrible to get to sleep every night. He's been biting me (ouch ouch super ouch). He drools a ton. His cry sounds higher pitched than normal and painful.
So I'm having just a fun week. :) Lots of cuddles. Poor guy won't let me put him down for a minute. Not even to play his piano! *gasp!*
So we've been basically staying home and not getting much done. Well, getting things done that I can do while wearing or holding him. Like paying bills and doing laundry.

As frustrated as I sometimes feel, especially when he's really screaming, I also kind of enjoy the way having a baby makes me slow down. I've got to just sit down, relax, and feed him. I've got to cuddle and rub and sing to soothe him. These are just precious moments. I wish he weren't in pain, but I'm so glad I can be here to comfort him.
Plus, having the knowledge today that it's him teething, I've been giving him things to chew on and he's been much more content being held (as in, quiet enough to make a load of phone calls I'd needed to do today while he chomped away on frozen toys).

Oh, and I found out the reason we haven't gotten his birth certificate yet is because they were waiting for us to "order" it and it isn't automatic. !?? What was up with the forms we filled out at the hospital for the birth certificate? Shouldn't they have told us at that time and given us the option to order it then, if that was the case? Oh well, it's ordered now so we should have it in 2 weeks.

A Year Ago Today (General Conference/Infertility)

2008-10-05T01:37:00.000-07:00

So this weekend is General Conference... in my religion, it means we watch a broadcast from Salt Lake for 4 hours on Saturday, and another 4 hours on Sunday (this replaces church for that weekend... happens twice a year).
Anyhow, I can't help but remember a year ago at this time. We were close in the adoption process, and we were hopeful that we would receive a phonecall telling us there was a baby for us at any moment. We were waiting for something that would change our life forever, but not knowing when it would happen. The wait was difficult.
One of the talks a year ago resonated to me loufly. It was about patience, hope, enduring to the end... at least, that was the main point of the talk. However, the examples used were all scriptural references of infertility. I loved this talk. I cried tears of happiness and validation when I heard it. I felt such sympathy for Rachel as I'd never realized before. And when the speaker promised that we would be remembered just as Rachel had been... I felt deeply in my heart that this was true, and that soon I would have a baby.
At the time, I thought this meant the baby we were adopting. Little did I know that in October last year, the same month as this talk, and quite possibly even the same day, I conceived Dax.
I've pasted the talk below. I still find it beautiful.

ELDER SPENCER J. CONDIE
Sometimes, in our earthly impatience, we may lose sight of the Lord’s precious promises. Important components of faith are patience, long-suffering, and enduring to the end. The Apostle Paul recounts the faith of Abel, Enoch, Noah, Abraham, and Sara, concluding that “these all died in faith, not having received the promises, but having seen them afar off, and were persuaded of them, and embraced them, and confessed that they were strangers and pilgrims on the earth” (see Hebrews 11:4–13). These faithful Saints knew that this earth life was a journey, not their final destination.
When Abram was 75 years old, the Lord promised him, “I will make of thee a great nation”—this at a time when he and Sarai as yet had no children (Genesis 12:2). He was 86 when Sarai’s handmaiden Hagar “bare Ishmael to Abram” (Genesis 16:16). And the Lord changed Abram’s name to Abraham and Sarai’s name to Sarah, and when he was nearly a hundred and she was 90 they were promised that Sarah would bear a son to be named Isaac (see Genesis 17:17, 19). Amidst their disbelief the Lord asked: “Is any thing too hard for the Lord?” (Genesis 18:14).
And “Sarah conceived, and bare Abraham a son in his old age” (Genesis 21:2), and the Lord promised: “I will multiply thy seed as the stars of the heaven, and as the sand which is upon the sea shore” (Genesis 22:17).
Young Isaac grew into manhood, and when he was 40 years old he married Rebekah. “And Isaac entreated the Lord for his wife, because she was barren: and the Lord was entreated of him, and Rebekah his wife conceived” and bore twin sons, Esau and Jacob, when their father was 60 years old. (See Genesis 25:20–26.)
As Jacob matured and became of appropriate age, his parents sent him to the household of Laban, where he would meet Laban’s two daughters, Leah and Rachel. Jacob told Laban, “I will serve thee seven years for Rachel thy younger daughter. And Jacob served seven years for Rachel; and they seemed unto him but a few days, for the love he had to her” (Genesis 29:18, 20).
You will recall how Laban beguiled young Jacob into first marrying Leah and then Rachel. “And when the Lord saw that Leah was hated, he opened her womb: but Rachel was barren” (Genesis 29:31). And Leah bore Reuben, then Simeon, then Levi, and Judah. Meanwhile, Rachel remained childless (see Genesis 29:32–35).
With ever-increasing envy and mounting desperation, one day Rachel explosively demanded of Jacob, “Give me children, or else I die” (Genesis 30:1). Leah subsequently bore two more sons and a daughter. In this age of one-hour dry cleaning and one-minute fast-food franchises, it may at times seem to us as though a loving Heavenly Father has misplaced our precious promises or He has put them on hold or filed them under the wrong name. Such were the feelings of Rachel.
But with the passage of time, we encounter four of the most beautiful words in holy writ: “And God remembered Rachel” (Genesis 30:22). And she was blessed with the birth of Joseph and later the birth of Benjamin.
There are millions on earth today who are descendants of Joseph who have embraced the Abrahamic promise that through their efforts “shall all the families of the earth be blessed, even with the blessings of the Gospel, which are the blessings of salvation, even of life eternal” (Abraham 2:11).
When heaven’s promises sometimes seem afar off, I pray that each of us will embrace these exceeding great and precious promises and never let go. And just as God remembered Rachel, God will remember you. I so testify in the name of Jesus
Christ, amen.

Car Insurance

2008-09-27T21:33:00.000-07:00

So hubby logged onto our auto insurance website to see if it will make a difference in our rates now that I'm not using my car to commute to work anymore... only to be surprised that we do not have car insurance.
No car insurance! Apparently it expired in JUNE and we both had no clue!!
Um, in our defense... for the entire 8 years we've been married, we've had the same auto insurance, and we have had it set to auto pay and auto renew every 6 months. Every 6 months I get a little notice in the mail stating what the rates are and the new effective dates. I open the envelope, file the paper, and think nothing of it.
Well, apparently when I was 8 months pregnant and barely keeping up with mail anyway, I opened the familiar envelope, unfolded the paper, and stuck it into the file without noticing that the wording had changed! Same format (how stupid is that of them to have the same letter format when they're saying you have renewed your policy versus when your policy is expiring on June 22nd!?).
So anyway, hubby spent over an hour on the phone today arguing with a lady, then her supervisor, then that person's boss, in order to get the same long-term-customer-perfect-record rates we used to have, instead of the $100 extra they wanted to charge us since we had to start a new policy. So aggravating.
At least they finally let us do it. How can you change auto-renew and make it not auto-renew after years... and not contact your customer? By phone or email would have been nice in addition to the letter. They've contacted us by email when our credit cards have expired over the years, to get the new info. Anyhow, now we have auto insurance again. Good thing nothing bad happened when we didn't have it. The plus side is that we saved like $400 for not having auto insurance for 3 months! ha ha. :)

Oh, and while I was planning on taking Dax and attending women's conference this evening, I completely spaced it and forgot. Now I'm bummed that I missed it.

Dax rolled over!

2008-09-25T18:16:00.000-07:00

He's been able to roll over from his back to either side and then from side to his stomach... for nearly a month. However, yesterday, he rolled over from his stomach onto his back! And I missed it. I walked back into the room a minute later and he was magically on his back instead of on his stomach on his little floor mat.

I'm very curious as to how he did it. Especially since I've seen him roll from his back onto his side, and it isn't the typical way a baby rolls. Dax rolls using his legs. Specifically, he uses his legs to create momentum and thrust his body to the side. It's adorable.