Big Fish -- the sequel

Talk about crying buckets...
"Beautiful Boy" by John Lennon & "Hourglass" by Mindy Gledhill"

Also see: Big Fish -- the movie

Gone fishin' at 52 weeks

I'm not sure how this happened, but it's been a year since we first met Big Fish.   And while it seemed like it happened just last week, it also feels like a small lifetime has occurred in the past 12 months.  The past 365 days have seen lots of sky's-the-limit highs as well as it's fair share of lows.  One thing is for certain though, this kid is so amazing and I'm so glad that he is mine.

• Unscientifically, Fish is weighing in at 25.2 pounds and is 29.5 inches tall (weird to say tall  instead of long, but we are now measuring him standing up).  I will tell you that this kid is H-E-A-V-Y to carry around all day.
• At one-year, he is in size 4 diapers and is wearing 12-18 month tops and 18-24 month pants (due to length issues).
• We are still partially breastfeeding.   In the past four weeks, we have switched to whole milk during the day entirely.  He still nurses at nap time, bedtime and occasionally first thing in the morning.  And in the last couple of weeks, he has really picked up his nursing in the middle of the night (more on that later).  We are going to be cutting out the middle of the night feedings and winging the rest of the feedings.  I'm not in a rush to completely eliminate breastfeeding as I was with Finn (which I think had a lot to do with not wanting to pump during work).  Maybe in a month or so, we may start weaning out of the nap time nursing and then the bedtime.

• Fish is a great eater!  He eats anything and everything, almost.  There are some things that he refuses to eat, such as sliced cheese and sandwich meat.  And he is coming around to some foods that he used to refuse, like chicken and pasta.  Some of his absolute favorites are carrots (he can almost finish an entire 8oz can of carrots for dinner if he is really hungry), applesauce, yogurt, and Mac & Cheese.  I try to feed him a lot of variety, but with no teeth and a sister who doesn't like to eat anything anymore besides chicken nuggets (she will get her own update post in two weeks on her birthday), it's difficult to think about healthy options.
• As seen in the previous post, he is walking!  And even though he has only been walking for a week now, he is WALKING all over the place!  The comment was made last night at his birthday/Superbowl party that he "walks like Frankenstein".  So yes, his walking isn't graceful yet, but it definitely gets him to where he needs to be.  And he is walking long distances -- I think his longest one-time distance was from our kitchen to our living room -- probably 30-35 feet!
• He has become a master at getting down from furniture (like our bed and the couch).  Over the past couple of weeks, we have been showing him how to safely get down and last week, he finally got in on his own!  I'm still pretty nervous when he gets close to the edge of the bed as he is very indecisive at times and will get right on the edge and then decide to turn around and sit down with his bum teetering near the brink.   I've had him "fall" a couple of times (i.e. I've held him and slowly dropped him to the ground) in hopes that he will learn to fear sitting on the edge of the bed.  No such luck yet.

• He is also now into climbing.  He tries to get up on the couch, though his legs are too stumpy to reach to the top of the couch.  But with a little help from a toe under the bum, he is up on the couch in seconds flat.  He also likes to climb on the small kitchen set that my dad built for Finn (and now for him to use).  He will climb onto the chairs, stand on the chairs and one time, I even caught him standing on the table!!!!!!  But he doesn't seem to get the word "NO!" just yet.
• We have six teeth!  And four of them came last week!  There are still two that are on the way out (but not fully out yet).  With all four popping out last week, I think that is what led to a lot of our middle of the night feedings.  I'm going to miss that toothy grin that has been his smile for the last 12 months.
• Fish is really starting to talk in his own language.  He will read books out loud and loves to squeal a high pitch squeal at the top of his lungs.  And he is definitely understanding what we are talking about when we talk to him.  I was amazed the other day when I said that I had to go to the bathroom and he started walking towards the bathroom.  He understands a lot, but still no words or the beginning of words yet.  Although I think that when I tell him "NO!", he shouts back "YEAH!".  He is a big rebel when it comes to listening to the word "NO!"

• He loves to dance -- like seriously...  Like it was his job...  If you are dancing with him and stop even though he wants to continue, he will rock violently back and forth in your arms until you begin to dance again.  And now that he has balance, he will bounce on his knees during songs.  CUTEST!
• His sleeping zip code will be changing soon (much to my chagrin).  He is THE best snuggler -- like Oscar Award winning snuggling.  Last week, I started exercising in the morning and E even mentioned to me that he liked that I was getting up early because he loved snuggling with Fish when I left.  But now that we are slowing up on the breastfeeding, he will be moving into his room (or his and his sister's room).  I haven't begun to think about it yet, but I know that it's on the horizon...  (insert sad mama face here)
• And this kid definitely has pipes.  I can tell instantly when Finn takes something away from him (which happens at least 5-6 times a day).  The shriek and scream that is emitted from those tiny vocal chords is shocking.  And he also has begun to get a jealous streak -- recently he has been fine across the room until he sees Finn on my lap and then comes at a dead-crawl, whining because he wants to be on my lap, not her.

Breaking News! Breaking News!

We interrupt your regularly scheduled broadcast to bring you...

Walker, Texas Ranger!!!!!

A Week in the Life (v.2015.1.2)

Part II

 

Reading books is one of our favorites.

Sister is becoming quite the photographer!

One morning last week during a snow storm, the deer were out in force.

Literally 15-20 minutes later, two more.

Pretty eyes and pretty dancer

Working on some homemade gak

Also made some inside snow

Her hair is getting so long -- we tried to do an "Elsa" braid.

She wanted to check out the back herself.

Sister isn't the only one in the family that has moves.

Dining out -- don't worry, he can't really use his spoon yet.  He knows what he should do, just can't quite get the food on the spoon yet.

Now this is more like it!

This is as close as we are to walking... Two steps and then falling towards Mom.

I put a black stocking cap on him and literally keeled over with all the cuteness!

 He is totally a stocking hat kind of guy.

See!  He even likes it!

I thought that he looked a lot like Finn when she was his age in this photo.

He is also getting quite fast that cruising around things and is in hot pursuit for the phone.

Normal night Part I

Normal night Part II

A Week in the Life (v2015.1.1)

Part I
So it's been a while since I've uploaded my phone photos...  We are splitting this "week" into two parts.

Spending Christmas in Iowa, Fish got his fill of Mimi and Papa -- he loved it!

While back in Iowa, all my (legal, over 21) cousins were able to hit up a local brewery for a night out together.  It was a great time!

All the girls but one.  Drinking our Easy Beavers...

We even tried to come up with Spice Girl names.

Love you, Mandy!

Brother!

Making it to our third (and last) stop of the evening...

Midnight on New Year's Eve.  A 12 hour bug struck our house and I was getting sick at midnight.  Thankfully Finn just complained about her stomach and Fish was only cranky, but neither showed no ill effects beyond that.

Finn is becoming quite the photographer!

Fish just being cute -- making fish faces.

Again -- stop with the cuteness!

Gigglin' and ticklin'

We headed out in the snow a couple of weeks ago.  To say that Fish wasn't excited it about it was an understatement.  Please reference the video below if you have any doubts.

Someone isn't too thrilled to be going outside in this silly snow suit.

Finn, on the other hand, took the opportunity to become Elsa from Frozen -- complete with singing (which you can hear if you listen closely) and glove throwing (as in the Let It Go sequence)

Finn wrote her name recognizably for the first time!  She wrote the "F" without help.  The rest of the letters she wrote from seeing them written on a card.

Lovin' her Christmas present!

Gone fishin' at 48 weeks

---Unscientifically, Fish is weighing in at 23.5 pounds and is 31 long.  He is a monster!
---We are still in size 4 diapers, but have a feeling that those times are numbered.  The belly is expanding and if it continues, the tabs are not going to be closing very well.
---We moved over to 12-18 month clothes.  He is in 12 month pants, which are too short.  The pants that he is wearing above are actually 18 month pants.  The 18 month pants are fit a little loose in the waist and only ride high on the ankles when he is sitting down.  The 12 month pants are already too short -- either he is growing or I need to learn how to do wash!  We are still working with the 12 month pants, just throwing leg warmers on to keep his poor ankles from getting a chill in the arctic weather that we are currently having.  He is in 12 month months.  Some fit perfectly, others are on the small size in length.

---We are still breastfeeding.  He is as avid about it as Finn was.  She was like clockwork, crying if we forget.  With him, he doesn't need it and during the day would prefer a sippy cup of something or another.  But he is still nusing in the middle of the night and it has kicked up more recently (which I think has to do with teeth).  Nighttime is the only time where he isn't too distracted to eat.  My goal with him was 12 months and I joke that I'm not going to let him quit until I am down to my fightin' weight again.
---The boy loves to eat, honestly LOVES to eat.  But I can see preferences coming out.  He isn't into eating noodles or cheese, which surprises me.  But he loves beans, muffins, crackers, carrots, breakfast sausages, yogurt, bagels with cream cheese and applesauce pouches.  When he is done eating, he simply throws all the food on his high chair tray over the side, looking down as it falls and watching the dog eat it up, laughing.  When he gets angry that he isn't getting what he wants or is completely over eating, he will swipe his hands back and forth on his tray, sending food flying.  We are starting him on whole milk occasionally in a sippy.  He still plays more than he drinks and ends up with milk completely soaking the front of his shirt by the time he throws the cup down.
---He is crawling so fast now.  It amazes me that he can get some point A to point B so quickly.  His whole body (most booty) swings side to side in his hurry, getting him there even faster.

---He has been cruising for a while.  But now he can stand on his own for long periods of time (over a minute at least).  You can see him check himself as he is losing balance to one side and correct himself.  But still no walking.  I can set him about 5 feet in front of me and let him go.  He will stand there and then take a single step to me as he falls into my arms.  And when he is standing along something and wants to get to another piece of furniture, there is no reaching yet.  He will sit down on his booty and crawl the 5-6 feet to the final destination.
---The kid still only has two teeth.  I'm thinking that we are getting more teeth soon (maybe within the next week or two).  He is getting crankier and pulling on ears.  He is also doing this thing with his tongue where he sticks out his tongue and rubs his gums, sometimes the top gums and sometimes the bottom.  Finn didn't get her next set of teeth until 49 weeks (then she got all four top teeth at once).  So my kids just get their teeth late.
---He is a jabber jaw.  He doesn't talk all the time. But when he does, it is lengthy conversation.  He is finally saying "mama" -- not to me, just in jabber.  Lots of unrecognizable syllables put together, no "dadadadada" or "papapapap" or "babababa" or "mamamamamam". 

---Dude is a dancer with a capital "D".  Any music will get him going, even his sister's singing.  He is going to fit in to the kitchen dance parties without a doubt. 
---He still sleeps well.  The nighttime isn't full of restful sleep lately (which I'm hoping is teething's fault).  If we are on our normal schedule, he takes a morning nap (about 45 minutes) and an afternoon nap (about 90 minutes).  If we miss the morning nap, he can lengthen his afternoon nap into over 2.5 hours (but is a BEAR that morning).  He doesn't need the soothing that Finn did (and still does) to fall asleep, but he is a snuggler.  He will fall asleep on your chest in a heartbeat if he is tired.  But rocking with a tired Fish will put him to sleep within 2-3 minutes. 
---We have a drama queen on our hands.  He has begun to throw fits of epic proportion.  If something is taken away from him or he doesn't get what he wants, he begins to screech LOUD.  It isn't a continuous screech -- just a 5 second ear-splitting shriek and then he'll cry.  His arms also flail around and he will bury his head.  Total drama. 

---But he also has the most amazing squeals of delight.  Those happen more often when we arrive upstairs and he realizes that he is going to get a bath.  But they also have been known to happen during indoor sled rides as well.
---

'Twas the Night Before Christmas

Practicing his photobombing skills

After leaving E's family in Ohio, we traveled to Iowa late in the evening on the 23rd.  We left at about 6pm and arrived home in Iowa at 2:30 (and that's with gaining an hour due to time change).  The kids were more or less great -- except for Finn.  With her cousins at our place and all the commotion, she didn't get a nap in that day, which I thought would bode well for an early "bedtime" and her sleeping most of the way to Iowa.  Well, she fell asleep within the first 45 minutes, but proceeded to wake up an hour later and cry, complain, and wake her iPad until about 11:30 Ohio time (thankfully it was 10:30 Iowa time).  I drove the entire way, so it was E's duty to deal with her.

But we arrived safely and my parents woke up with our arrival and we chatted for about an hour before hitting the hay around 3:30 on Christmas Eve morning.  On Christmas Eve, my brother and his family came over to open up gifts for the kids.  With some job changes and my lack of a paying job, we decided to forgo exchanging gifts between adults.  But the kids made out like bandits!

Cousin Owen

Baby Reid

Finn was very excited with all her Frozen gear and dolls!  Fish fell asleep during the excitement of Christmas Eve.

Christmas morning came and Finn completely forgot who was supposed to be visiting the night before.  We had to remind her that Santa may have came.  She was more interested in her donuts, obviously.  Fish was a riot when it came to opening his gift.  He didn't do any of the actual ripping, but you would have thought that he won the lottery as Sister checked out his toy.  Finn got a doll and some clothes to go with it from Santa.  She also got a bell from Santa that was supposedly from his sleigh (reminiscent of The Polar Express).

Full Christmas realness with that hair -- there was no brushing before presents.

After presents were opened and later in the morning, the kids got to get all dressed up to go on a Gator Ride with Mimi and Papa.  Fish was infatuated with Gator Rides -- we went on a couple while we were there.  It was quite chilly and the rides were long, but the kids really like it.

On Christmas night, my mom's family held their annual Christmas get together.  It was a bunch of fun!  I didn't get to take a lot of photos, as I was lugging about a 23 pound kid.  But we did take a family photo of everyone that was there and I released Sparky (the Christmas Card trophy) to my sister-in-law.  But I told her that she is only holding onto him for a year -- that she should be ready to send it back my way next year.