1 year old!

I guess its about time I caught up.  Daniel will be waking up soon so I'll see how much I can get in.

Sorry for skipping 11 months, it wasn't much different from 10.  Here are some pictures

We had a joint birthday/graduation party for Daniel and David.  It was great!  Daniel didn't know what to do with the cake at first, but he really liked the frosting.  Maybe it was because I fed him a little before so he would have some good stuff in his tummy before going to town on all that sugar that he's never had.

Inspecting

Enjoying

Sharing

Pretty typical face for Daniel

And now for his actual birthday.  We went to the zoo!  It will be fun for him as he gets older but he still had a great time checking things out.
We kept taking him in and out of the stroller so he could be closer to the glass to check things out.  He must have gotten something in his eye one of the times that he fell down and rubbed his eye because the whole left side of his face started getting blotchy and swollen.  I was freaking out!  It was almost nap time so I just took him into the nursing room at the zoo, fed him, put some breast milk in his eye to wash whatever it was out, and took him home.  When we got home I held him for his nap.  He looked much better when he woke up.

we got him a bubble maker as a bath toy

down for the count

12 month info:
He is a great walker... he is very close to running
So very strong!  He loves to pick heavy things up and carry them around.
Still wakes up 1-2 times at night, especially since more teeth are coming in.
Getting better at eating what we eat
Still takes 2 naps, the first he takes in his crib for usually 1hr30min.  The second is in my arms and it usually around 30-45 minutes.
No longer prone to constipation... yay!!
Still nursing 5 times a day.  So no weaning in sight.
Comprehends a lot even though he doesn't say much other than dadadadadadadada
He gives the best hugs!
Starting to wave
He is such a people person.  He is so social.
He is so long and tall that almost nothing is out of reach for him anymore.  Its hard to baby proof a giant toddler.
He has 6 teeth, with 4 coming in right now.  2 molars and 2 bottom teeth.


 At his pediatricians appointment they weighed him in at 29lbs 6 oz and 33 inches.  That means he grew exactly 20 lbs and 10 inches from birth.  He is off the charts in both.  The dr asked about his vocabulary.  He doesn't really say many words, but he comprehends a decent amount.

 And here are some photos for recap from the last few months

Easter photos-- No shoes... his feet are so fat we can't find any good shoes that aren't expensive

First face plant

New project

starting to look more like David

Tracking my progress

Trying a mohawk

David graduated

Lots of trips to the farmers market

Met the triplets

Saw daddy play

Loved on doggies

Peed on mommy

Love those lips

Went swimming outside and got some freckles

His 1st experience at Yogurt Land

First marshmallow

Favorite thing to do on walks

Slobbery kisses

Spiderman!

Splash pad

So much fun!

What a handsome boy

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 Lots of things to do and decisions to be made in the next few months.  Wish us luck!!

Why I Mother the Way I Do (Right Now)

I realize I have become very vocal about motherhood and my side of the story.  It is never intended to be offensive or hurtful.  It is never aimed at anyone specific.  I only do it because I know there are women out there who may have questions but are too scared to ask or don’t know who to ask.  I know my way is not the only way.  Shoot, my way changes frequently anyway.  I just want to relate my story on why I mother the way I do (as of today).

Let me start with the elephant in the room.  The opinion that has changed the most since my pre-mom days, even my pre-marriage days: breastfeeding.  I think to many friends and family I have become an outspoken advocate of breastfeeding.  There is a reason for this.  It can’t be summed up neatly but I can relate to an extent why I talk about it the way I do.  Here goes:

I knew before I was pregnant that I wanted to try breastfeeding.  I knew it was best for the baby because it was the most natural thing to give them, also it was free so big bonus.  When I became pregnant I thought it would be great if I could breastfeed for 6 months.  Then I started to read more about it and what babies need, my timeline changed to a year.  I knew by the time I was due I wanted to breastfeed for a year then try to wean.  That was my plan; including trying to pump so David and others could share in the bonding/feeding experience.

It is almost a phenomenon how quickly plans change once that baby comes.

Daniel would not latch in the hospital.  I loved my nurses but they were not experienced lactation consultants.  I kept asking for a specialist to come and help and they kept telling me that they were all trained to be LC’s.  I had a breakdown that my baby wouldn’t latch.  He was crying, I was crying, I was trying, he was bobbing around but breast did not meet mouth.  My mom was my advocate and asked for a nipple shield, she had gone through something similar.  He latched to the shield and my mind was eased a little.  I was producing colostrum and he was eating great through the shield.

Then the nurses come in telling me he has lost too much weight since birth.

I did not know at the time that this was NORMAL.  They told me to feed him formula through a small tube syringe while he is latched to the shield.  At the time I thought I was doing the best thing for my baby.  Now I was not hurting him by any means, but after gaining more knowledge, I will know that is not necessary for the next baby.  It is normal for babies to lose some weight from their first weigh in.  If a mother is breastfeeding and producing colostrum, the baby will lose some weight.  I am not a medical professional so I can not tell you how much is normal or safe.  I just wish I would have known that he didn’t need the formula.

He needed the shield for 2-3 months and it was SO annoying!  I tried and tried to get him to latch without the shield but he was so dependent and I was too tired to try for a long period of time.   Finally at about the 2 month mark I noticed that he could latch on my left side without the shield.  I took full advantage of that.  We practiced on that left side and used the shield now and then on my right.  About 2 weeks later we were shield free and I was so relieved.

That was not the end of my struggle because the infamous nursing strike came at 3-4 months.  This is when a lot of breastfeeding mothers give up.

You put them to your breast, they suck for a minute, then start screaming.  You pull them off and test yourself.  Yep, milk is there but why aren’t they eating?  Re-latch, continue screaming, repeat, repeat, repeat, start crying, get very frustrated, hand baby to his dad.  This happened at least once a day for a good month or so.  I almost gave up because I didn’t want to give up my sanity.  I was too stubborn and had invested too much time and knowledge to give up.  I had experienced women and support behind me telling me this was just a phase, he’ll get through it eventually.  He did… thank goodness.

After that it was SOOOO much easier.  I am so incredibly thankful that I stuck it out.  Even with the biting and the snotty noses, I am so glad.

Had I not had the knowledge and a large number of supportive people, I think I may have given up.  This is why I am so open with talking about it.  Women who want to breastfeed need to be aware of what it might be like.  They may have it great from the start with a baby that is good at latching, but they can go through other struggles like infections, engorgement, etc.  I just wish women had the support there and breastfeeding wasn’t such a taboo subject.

I can not speak for working moms who have to pump.  I give them so much credit for working through that.  The pump is not easy.

I can count the number of times I have nursed in public without a cover on one hand.  I don’t think its wrong, I’m just not experienced with it enough to be comfortable with it.  I consider myself lucky to have a baby that does not mind a nursing cover.  I have nursed so many times with that cover that he knows what is coming and is usually excited to see it.  I do get offended when I hear people telling someone to go in the bathroom, nurse before they go out, or “pump it out” before going into public.  I will never tell a nursing mom anything other than “great job, its not easy.”  I have seen women nurse without covers and never has it been a “whip it out for all to see” experience.

I have nursed at basketball games, at church, at restaurants, in the car, at a doctor’s office, and other places I’m sure I’ve forgotten.  I will not hide.  Breastfeeding needs to become more normalized with or without cover.

I count myself very very lucky for having such a supportive husband.  We are able to have fun with the whole experience.  He doesn’t feed Daniel bottles because the only time Daniel gets bottles is when we have dates.  Does he have a different bond with Daniel?  Yes.  Does he have less of a bond with Daniel? No.  Daddy is the fun one and Mommy is the comforting one.  Dad gets the best laughs and mom gets the best snuggles and we are both okay with that.

I don’t think formula is wrong but I do think that women need to be more educated and supported before they go into trying breastfeeding.  There are obviously extenuating circumstances that hinder a mother from breastfeeding and I can not judge that.  I only wish that it weren’t seen as something gross, private (which it is sometimes), or weird.  Food is food and I’d rather see some side boob, see a mother covering at a table, hear a baby slurping, than hear a baby crying.

I love breastfeeding and I’m not going to stop until Daniel shows me he is ready.  That doesn’t appear to be anytime soon.

I could go on but I will spare you.

My other topic for today will be sleeping.

I was given lots of sleeping advice.  Co-sleeping, cry it out, when babies should be able to sleep through the night, big babies sleep better, yada yada.

Guess what, I threw it all out the window!  Babies are their own people and they will do their own thing.

Daniel is a big baby and he sleeps like crap.  There I said it.  It has gotten loads better but he’s still not great.

He started in his own room which is literally about 5 steps out of my bedroom door, so no, we do not co-sleep, no he is not in the room with us, and that is just how it works for us.  He does make it into our bed at least once a day because he naps with me.  Sometimes I do bring him in with me at night when he wakes himself up and I know he doesn’t need to eat.

Baby sleep drives me batty.  Do what works for your baby!  Your baby will do great with some sort of method, but do not knock other methods moms may be trying.  We’re all trying to stay sane!  Do not have any expectations with baby sleep.  Chances are they will either not be met or be exceeded.  I had too many and they were not met and I was mad for a little while until I realized that Daniel will sleep, even if it means we have to help him.

There is no magic date that a baby will sleep.  There is no magic weight that a baby will sleep.  Putting rice cereal in with their food rarely helps.  Know this before you expect anything!!

Okay, I will be done.  These are my biggest issues that I will most likely not stop talking about until they no longer become an issue for me.  Ignore me if you must, but please do not get offended.  Roll your eyes, I give you full permission and I totally understand.  Please don’t rethink our friendship.  This is just who I am right now.

The end (for today).

10 months

I can't believe in less than 2 months he will be a year old!

This kid is so fun, he is so loving.  I think he thinks he owns me though.  The clinginess is starting but I think that's just because he's learning object permanence so he can tell better when I leave.

Sleep
Month 10 was a bad month of sleeping for us.  He started going back to waking up 2-3 times a night.  I would just nurse him back to sleep because I was too tired to start training again.  Lately I think he might be getting better though, at least I hope.

His naps are getting better.  He is down to 2 naps and I'm able to get that first nap in the crib on most days.  We still nap together during the second one.  I'm not ready to break that yet.

Eating
He's decided to be Mr Independent and doesn't want me to spoon feed him anymore.  I'm learning different ways of serving finger foods that are still nutritious so he can get a balanced diet in throughout the day.  We started giving him smoothies too which he usually likes but sometimes can take awhile to finish.  In the morning we do a green smoothie and at night I just mix up some of his purees into a bottle and add some extra seasoning to make it more interesting.

He loves baked salmon, grilled cheese sandwiches, my carrot cake in a bottle smoothie, crackers, apples, strawberries, etc.

Play
Daniel is so close to walking!  He'll stand and look like he wants to take a step then get hesitant and sit down to crawl.  He is loving all of his different balls to play with.  We're starting to teach him how to dunk, start them young right?
I love pushing him in our little umbrella stroller because he kicks his legs like he's having so much fun.

Family
Things are pretty much the same here, just looking forward to being done with college and the NCAA. It's been difficult having to turn down people who want to help us out because of all the rules.  We could use it and they really want to help.  I still feel its a broken system and it could be a lot better.  I can see where such strict rules need to be placed for people who abuse it though.
I've started adding in extra pumping sessions for my good friend Kim's babies.  It's such a great story and I can't do it justice but in synopsis after a lot of unfortunate failed attempts at in vitro Kim's sister in law graciously offered to carry her egg(s).  They put 2 eggs in thinking that only one would take but both eggs took and one split so she is pregnant with triplets: twin boys and a girl!  Kim told me she was interested in my milk and I would say I'm being so selfless yada yada but I have to be honest:  I really love the extra calorie burn and feeling like I get to be a part of their lives and this awesome story in some way.

We're excited for spring and graduation!!!

9 months

I was debating whether to wait for his check up to post or just post right when he turned 9 months.  That debate when on long enough that it came to the point where I had waited anyway.

9 month stats:
Height 31.5 inches (99%)
Weight 26.4 lbs (98%)

Sleep
He's still struggling to be consistent at sleeping.  A good night for him is about 9 hours of sleep, a feed, then about 2-3 more hours of sleep.  Unfortunately this only happens once or twice a week.  The other nights he wakes up a few times and rarely goes down without me going in to lay him back down.  I wish sleep wasn't still an issue, but it is and I'm not sure what else to do.
Naps are still an issue.  We're trying to get him to take his first nap in his crib.  Its getting better but I haven't figured out how to get him to sleep long.

Eating
During this 9th month he was still a power eater.  We're introducing more finger foods and he's getting really good at eating.  He had wheat thins and chips a few times but tends to gag so we have to watch him closely.  He hasn't learned from the gagging either, he still loves to eat them.

Play
Lots of crawling and cruising!  This picture makes it look like he is standing on his own.  He's not but he is getting there.
He is getting better at playing "ball" with daddy.  He will flick it out of his hands and go in any which direction but he's figuring it out.  He'll be able to pass in no time.
He's clapping, blowing raspberries, figured out the recorder, and loves to pat his belly when he gets excited.  Its really cute.
His babbling is coming along.  He has recently started using "v" sounds.  I love his different noises

We finally made the quote bubble for the cut out in Daniel's room

Family
The snow was ridiculous!

Our landlords were good enough to get the snow plow to come behind the complex to the parking area but the parking spots on either end were unfortunate because thats where the plower pushed the snow to.  We are on an end spot.  Getting out and in took a bit of maneuvering but eventually the snow melted enough to make it a little easier.

Sorry I'm a little sick so I'm making this brief.  10 months will be more interesting and not so late... promise!

The not so beautiful side of childbirth

It seems like a new baby is born or a pregnancy is announced almost everyday on my facebook.  It takes me back to what childbirth was like with Daniel.  I was thinking about this as I was nursing him this morning.  There are a few things that I wish I had known before childbirth.  It wouldn't have changed my mind about getting pregnant, but at least it might have prepared me a little more for it.
I know I have moms that read this that have many more kids than me.  I'm not an expert like you, but I do have my 2 cents.  If anyone wants to add stuff to the comments, feel free!

Some things I wish I would have known:

I knew I wouldn't be able to eat once I was admitted, but I wish I would have eaten more before I was admitted to the hospital.

All the classes couldn't have prepared me for how painful the contractions were, they took my breath away.

Some babies don't latch right away.  This was a sensitive thing for me.  With the exhaustion of childbirth then to have Daniel struggling to latch, it made me very emotional.  Luckily my mom was there to see that I was struggling, she went through the same thing and knew that a nipple shield would help.  He latched on to that great.  The 2 months I had to use that were frustrating but at least he was getting my milk.

Hospital beds are not made for tall people.  I was basically sitting Indian style the first night because the bed was too short for me to extend my legs.  Luckily the next day the nurses found a bed extension, but I was SO uncomfortable.

Make sure the nurses give you a donut to sit on in the hospital bed (if you have a vaginal birth).  I didn't have one and I could not find a comfortable position after they took me into recovery.  I maybe got 1 hour of sleep after Daniel was born.  Once my mom again saved me and told them to get me one, it was so much better.  I could actually relax a little.  It was so painful down there without it!

I had absolutely no appetite after they took me to recovery.  They brought me a turkey sandwich but I could only force feed myself to eat about a quarter of it.

Nurses come in A LOT.  Almost every hour to push on your stomach, check your temp, and check on baby.  You do not get a lot of rest.

Breastfeeding contractions.  I've heard its worse after the second or more child.  Because breastfeeding naturally releases hormones that contract your uterus back to its normal non-pregnant size, you can feel it (if you're not hopped up on pain meds).  I definitely felt it.  It was like a period cramp.  I had heard about it ahead of time so I would try to tell myself that its just my body doing what it is supposed to to get me back to my pre-pregnant state.

Finally able to get some rest after the bed extension, donut, and pain meds kicked in.

Hemorrhoids!!  This was so painful.  Childbirth constipated me and on top of that my medication was known to make you constipated.  All the stool softeners in the world could not have made my first bowel movement any less traumatic.  It was like going through childbirth again.  I was screaming and crying the whole time.  It took a few days after that first one to get me normal again, but the hemi's would not go away.  They would come and go for about 6 months.  I could not sit down after going to the bathroom because it hurt so bad.  I had to lay on my side until the pain subsided enough to be able to sit down.  This made breastfeeding so painful.  Not only was I in pain from sitting, but I was in pain from Daniel's latch.  If there is one thing I try to warn new mothers about its hemi's.  Its an uncomfortable subject but I feel like if I was a little more mentally prepared for it I wouldn't have been quite so traumatized.


Some glimmers of light during a rough childbirth/recovery:

Root beer flavored ice chips
Cupcakes
The first shower... oh my that was like heaven!
Witch Hazel... saved my sanity from the pain of stitches and stretching down there
Ice packs... also for down there
Graham crackers

Next time if we can afford it I would love to go to a hospital that gives out mani/pedis to new moms.  I would have loved a little pampering during the rough recovery.

I wouldn't trade Daniel for the world, but I guess you can never be fully prepared for childbirth since you never really know how its going to go.  I hope this helps some women out there prepare and some men prepare to have lots of sympathy.

8 months

I guess I should write this before he turns 9 months

Updates:

Sleeping

He is getting more consistent at sleeping 9 hours before waking up for a feeding.  Its nice to start feeling more like myself since he is sleeping better.  There was one week that he would wake up after 5 hours and just scream so I would bring him in with me and get him to sleep a little better.  We think it was because he was backed up because once he got regular again his sleep got better.  He is now starting to push 10 hours before waking up to nurse, then goes back down again for another 2 hours.
We had to drop the crib mattress because he stood up and was leaning over way too far for comfort.  I was worried because he wakes up when I put him down even at the high setting, but for the 2 nights it has been down he has slept great!
He sleeps with his bum up in the air, its so cute!
Naps we are still working on.  They are getting more normal which is nice for planning purposes, but he is still not very good at taking them in his crib and the standing up issue is not helping at all.

Eating

This kid eats A TON.  He still nurses every three hours and on top of that has 2-3 good meals during the day.  He gets his own breakfast then likes to share my scrambled eggs.  He will snack on puffs or cheerios all day.  At dinner he eats about 11oz of baby food.  Its a veggie, applesauce, and a meat all mixed together.  So 3 different bottles of baby food and he chows down.  Its gone so fast!

He loves his new high chair

Play

Crawling!  Getting into everything!  Lots of talking!  Man, this kid has had so much personality come out.  We took some of his toys to storage because he was growing out of them.  I think we're due to take more down.  He pretty much just plays with the jumperoo, doorway jumper, and whatever he can find on the floor.

I don't know why but the bathroom is his favorite place to crawl to.  I guess its because when we're not out in the living room with him its because we can usually be found in the bathroom.  He loves to come in and sneak up on me in the shower (with David's supervision).  He is currently crawling into the bathroom as I type this to go see daddy.

Holidays

So much fun!  My mom took such good care of us, it was awesome.  She got the room we stayed in hooked up and even got a glider to go with the crib for the room that Daniel was in.  It was nice to not have an interruption in schedule which a vacation usually brings with a baby.  She would even go in when he was waking up in the morning and take him to go play to give me some extra sleep.  Amazing!  They had so much fun together.  She hadn't seen him in 5 months so they both needed the time to get reacquainted.  By the end of the trip they were best buds.

Flying out... he did so well!  Flirted up a storm with all the ladies around us

Their favorite game

 Sorry for the weak of stomach but we still have to give him prunes to keep him regular.  Well, they were really working one of the days.  Gross.  David doesn't know the trick with onsies to take it off going down instead of over the head so he got poop in his hair.

 This kid loves dogs!  He loves it when they lick him, he loves to grab their soft ears, its so fun to watch.  He did this with two different dogs while we were there.

 We got to meet up with a teammate of mine and her cute little guy.  He is 6 weeks younger than Daniel.  They were so cute with each other.

 Christmas Day!!
He was having so much fun ripping off the paper.  He could have been happy with just the wrapping paper.  He got a bunch of new bath toys which we have really been enjoying.

I love Christmas THIS much!

My sweet boys together

Handsome

He loved playing in this, we would fill it with toys and he could keep himself entertained.

Our room at my parents house had a mirror on the closet doors.  Since the only mirror in our apartment is in the bathroom he doesn't get a lot of time to check himself out.  The first time we set him in front of it this happened.

Vacation was awesome, it was really difficult to leave.  We've been having lots of fun here too though.

Here are some other fun photos.

teeth!

No more photos mom!

Kisses with mama

Saying happy birthday to nana

7 months

Wow that month went fast

Updates on:

Sleeping:

If you see my posts on facebook you probably noticed me getting excited a few times this month about his sleep progression.  After letting him figure out how to get himself to sleep on his own, we all found out he is a tummy sleeper.  This made the unswaddling very easy because his arms can't wake him up when he's on his belly.
Even though he still won't give us two nights in a row of great sleep, he does give us every other night. Funny kid.
I usually give him about 5 minutes to get himself back to sleep and to listen if his cry is needy or not.  Usually its not and he goes right back to sleep.
One night (sorry for the redundancy facebook friends) he fell asleep at 9 after nursing, woke up briefly at 1:30 then quickly fell back asleep on his own, then didn't wake up again until 8:20!  I call that a successful night.  While I don't anticipate another night like that for awhile, I'm hoping nights like another more recent night become more consistent.  He went down at 9, woke up at 6:30 to nurse, then quickly went down for another 3 hours.  I am totally okay with that!

Our tummy sleeper

Naps are a different story.  He is starting to nap around the same time everyday which is nice, but I still have to bounce/rock him for 2 of the 3 naps.  The long nap in the middle of the day we nap together in my bed.  He goes right to sleep on that one.

Sweet baby napping with me

Eating:

Solids!  We haven't taken out any nursing session and he still rarely stretches the time in between nursing.  That is his #1 priority when it comes to food.  He has started lunging for my shirt when he wants to nurse.  This kid knows where his food is at.

We have tried:

Sweet potatoes: liked after a couple tries and still liked it when we went back
Peas: hated it.  I tried putting in garlic, salt, you name it he still gave a stank face... until I put in some bananas
Butternut squash:  Liked after 3 days
Carrots: Liked the second day
Green beans:  Tried it once, hated it.  Went on to other solids.  Tried it again, hated it.  Added salt, no, added a little apple sauce... yes!  (I hope he doesn't get used to only eating his green veggies with a little something to sweeten the deal)
Pears: loved day 1
Prunes: chowed down and cried when it was gone
Chicken/Turkey/Beef (ground up baby food):  full on gag.  I don't blame him, i've tasted everything he's eaten and I almost gagged too.
Greek yogurt:  liked it with bananas

I was able to make everything myself of the food he has eaten now except for the pears, prunes, meat, and yogurt.  Makes me feel pretty proud, and thrifty.

Loving the yogurt

He got wayyy backed up.  I think it was all the bananas.  So we stopped bananas and went to simple foods until his bowels regulated.  I had to go up there a couple times and help him with the hard stuff.  Poor guy, that was not fun for either of us.  Today he pooped and I've never been so excited to see his poop... normal!

Play:

No crawling yet, this boy likes to be on his legs.  He gets plenty of floor time.  He's really good at spinning around in circles and rolling around to get where he wants.  I feel like he might start an army crawl soon.  You can see he wants to get places.

David is so good at playing with him when I need to take care of things around the house.  The other day I caught this

Playing ball!

His johnny jumper is still his favorite toy.  He uses it and a way to get around the area most of the time. He is able to walk around in it.  We've had to move everything off the side of a little desk thing because he gets to good at pulling things off.  We now put his toys up there to see how far he can reach.

He's a tricky guy

Likes:

Blowing raspberries!  He has done this non stop almost all week.  Its fun to watch even if he does get spit everywhere.
Pulling my hair.  If there is hair within reach, he goes at it.  Especially when he's nursing.
Jumping.  His #1 activity.  If you stand him up, he will jump.  If you sit him on your knee he will try to jump.  If there is any possible way he can make the jumping motion and move, he will do it.
Putting everything in his mouth.  Good thing we have a decent vacuum.
Pulling up on things.  This boy is getting strong!

Saying "Mom" over and over and over.  He's probably not aware what exactly it means, but he does seem to say it when he needs something, so I'm going to say he knows sometimes.  He has said something that sounds like "Dad" a couple times so David feels pretty good about that.

I wish I had more pictures of all of his facial expressions.  He has some new very funny and very intense expressions that have popped up.

Mom:

With him sleeping better I'm starting to feel more of myself come back.  I still think I might need to see my OB and just talk things over.
I was able to go to the gym.  It was only once but it really resets things.  I love a good sweat.
I'm back to my pre-preg weight!  Its still not where I'm used to because I gained a little bit before I got pregnant, but its definitely something I'm proud of.  Thank you nursing and good eating (for the most part).  I was at Gap the other day and the clothes actually looked good on me again.  I was soooo happy!

Family:

We took some family pictures at Sears.  We can't afford much else (I prefer doing photos outside in natural lighting), but at least we got it done and we had a gift certificate that paid for it.  They did a black backdrop, which I also don't like but beggars can't be choosers.  Daniel was so good during it.  Then he conked out after, being cute is exhausting!
We put our Christmas tree up!  I was debating putting it up because we don't have any floor space but then I wised up and realized that Daniel needs a Christmas tree for his first Christmas!  So I moved some stuff to behind the couch and we put the tree up.  Luckily he doesn't see it as a toy (yet).
2 weeks until our California Christmas!!!!!  I don't know if I can get any more excited.


This last month this kid has exploded with personality and it is so fun to watch.  He is so caring but you know he loves to have fun and explore too.  He really is a good baby.  I used to only be able to say that about him during the day but now that his nights are getting better its easy for me to say it about him all the time.

He is starting to grow out of his 12 month clothing.  Dang kid.  He is 23 lbs now and probably close to 30 inches.  He is just right for us.

From us Fosters to your family, we wish you all a Happy Holidays!!!  Be safe and have so much fun!