The Last Baby Milestone

It finally happened! Last night, Patrick took his first steps. He hesitantly toddled two steps between our recliner and the couch where I was. He acted totally nonchalant about the whole event, as though he knew all along he would be able to walk on his own. I, however, was elated with excitement.

He hasn't repeated the feat yet, but I'm sure he will soon, now that we know he can. It's crazy to think that with this one milestone, he has officially joined the rank of other toddlers. As long as I've waited for this, I don't think I'm ready for it now. My baby is a toddler! Within weeks, as his confidence in his walking skills grows, I will be chasing him all over the house. It won't be the fairly relaxed pace I can assume right now as he crawls around, but a full-out run to catch him running. What fun times we have ahead of us!

I have another post I'm working on right now. I'll probably either post it tonight or tomorrow. You'll love it; it includes another short video.

Good--No, GREAT--News

I think it's finally happened, that day we've all been looking forward to for months. That's right; I think the morning sickness is finally starting to ease up. I had a really good day today with only a few bad spells that were short-lived. I feel better than I have in ages, and it feels great.

You want some proof I'm feeling better? I actually took some new pictures of my boys. Check this one out:
Patrick pulled his choo-choo book off the shelf himself, and after reading it on his own for a few minutes, he crawled it over to Daddy and put it on his lap. He wanted Daddy to read to him. How can a daddy refuse? Patrick loved how Daddy did the choo-choo whistle. Don't they look so content together?

Patrick got a St. Patrick's Day card in the mail today from his Uncle Dave and Aunt Jen and totally loved the card. He played with it for ages. I don't know whether it was the wonderful green color or the fact that it was a card, but this is one of his favorite toys right now.

I have one funny story from today to tell. When I went into his room to change his diaper after his afternoon nap, he was standing next to his diaper pail with one hand balanced on it (but standing mostly alone). Curious as to what mischief he'd been up to, I took a closer look at the diaper pail. He laughed right along with me when I saw what was going on. I saw a Gloworm placed in the hole of the pail. He'd been trying to flip the lid to send Gloworm to the diaper graveyard, but Gloworm was a bit too tall to flip over. The best part? When he saw me laughing, he smiled too and said, "Uh-oh," sending me into a hilarious fit of giggles. He couldn't have been prouder of the mischief he'd managed to accomplish during one naptime. (Side note: I think he gets the concept of "uh-oh" quite well. What do you think?)

Toddler? Or Turdler?

Now that Patrick is standing alone quite well, we feel sure his first steps can't be far away. With that milestone, he will officially be a toddler. Matt and I aren't entirely sure "toddler" is the correct terminology, though. Matt suggested the term "turdler" the other day when Patrick was showing some of his toddler tendencies.

It appears as though now that Patrick is becoming more vocal, mere crying will no longer get our attention appropriately. He hasn't figured out yet about yelling specific words to get the same effect. So instead, he found a perfect scream/squeal that is absolutely impossible to ignore. It's partially a loud, annoying screaming noise (think the most annoying sound in the world from Dumb and Dumber) combined with a squeal that I suspect only dogs can hear. It most certainly gets our attention, and it takes every ounce of self-control to ignore it. Our theory is that giving him what he wants when he screams like that will only encourage him to repeat it the next time he wants something.

Matt and I are also learning that the best way to approach most of his "turdler"-like behaviors is with a sense of humor. Although that's difficult with the ear-piercing screech, I found it easier to do when I walked into his room after naptime the other day. We baby-proofed his room flawlessly--so we thought--when we moved him to a toddler bed and he refused to sleep in his own bed, choosing instead to play until he fell into an exhausted sleep on the floor. He never did get to sleep during one naptime a few days ago. He discovered the joys of drawers, namely the ones in his dresser. Up until that day, he had ignored the dresser altogether, and we hadn't thought about the possibility of him getting into the drawers. Chalk that mistake up to first-time parents. Naturally, I walked into his room after his unsuccessful nap to find him standing at an open drawer with a onesie in one hand and a proud grin on his face. Strewn around the room were various articles of clothing and blankets. He couldn't have been more proud of the mess he'd made. Even faced with the inevitable clean-up, what else could I do but laugh?

Needless to say, we installed drawer locks on the dresser drawers asap (okay, Matt did).

True to toddler form, Patrick has suddenly developed a gourmet taste that is a mystery to everyone. Up until a few weeks ago, he ate just about everything we put in front of him. He had a few favorites but would eat anything. Then all of a sudden one day, a food he had liked a few days ago was intolerable. Since that day, it has become a gamble about whether or not he will eat what we fix him, even if he loved the food the last twelve times we fed it to him. We're learning a few tricks to persuade him to eat some of the disgusting food, such as giving him a spoon to hold (I guess it makes him feel like he has a bigger part in the feeding) or acting like we're about to eat it. If he thinks it's Mommy and Daddy food, it seems to go down a little easier. That's the other trick we learned: give him whatever we eat, if he can tolerate it. Whenever possible (i.e. whenever I don't have such a random and bizarre craving or specific food I can stand to eat), we plan our menu around what we think he might enjoy. Right now, that trick seems to be working. But if I understand toddlers and their eating habits correctly, that trick will only work so long before he finds a new way to frustrate us with his inconsistent eating habits.

Where I've Been

Sorry I've disappeared off the face of the earth. I'm really still around, just haven't felt up to blogging lately. Late last week I was diagnosed with a urinary tract infection (TMI? sorry). It explains why the nausea wasn't starting to ease up like I expected it to. Then when I started the antibiotics to get rid of it, they didn't exactly help the nausea any. I think it's safe to say they've been kicking my butt ever since. I gave in today and called the doctor. She put me on some new antibiotics that so far seem to be working better. Maybe there's an end in sight to this perpetual nausea.

If I continue to get better over the next few days, you can expect another great post about Patrick. I've been collecting great stories lately and hate that I haven't felt up to sharing yet.

Nothing Extraordinary

Today's doctor's appointment went almost exactly as expected. We waited for a long time to be seen, weighed and took blood pressure, heard the baby's heartbeat (for the first time on the doppler), asked the doctor a few questions, and headed home. Everything is remarkably routine, right down to the morning sickness starting to ease up just a bit. I go back in another month, and probably about a month after that we'll get the "big" sonogram. I don't know if I can wait another two months to find out the gender, but I guess since I don't have a choice, I will. My gut still says boy, but for the first time yesterday, I found myself thinking about the baby as a girl sometimes, too. I'm no longer quite as sure.

By the way, I have guesses for your babies, too, Jen and Ginny. Not that my track record is any good on myself, but I'm pretty good at guessing other people's babies. Jen, I see you with a little girl, and Ginny, I'm getting the boy vibe for you. I can't wait to find out whether my guesses are right--although I might have to wait a bit if your baby continues to be so uncooperative in sonograms, Jen.

Patrick is still doing well. He is finally vocalizing more in words that can possibly be translated into normal talk, not baby gibberish. He's learning the concept of "uh-oh," even though it sounds more like "eh-eh" the way he says it. Tonight he finally also stood completely alone without something to hold at least nearby, and for a good minute before sitting down again. We're really starting to think walking isn't far off; he's quite good at walking while holding our hands finally. He'll be a full-fledged toddler before we know it.

We had some minor pregnancy problems a few weeks ago (which have since been totally resolved), and I was instructed to be careful about my activity level in the meantime. That included much Patrick-lifting. As a way for me to cope, we converted his crib into a toddler bed. It felt foolish to us, with him not even walking yet, but we felt like we had no other options. He took a few nights to get used to the idea, but now he loves having the independence to play in his room until he gets tired. Unfortunately, he can crawl out of his bed but not back into it. Every night I have to sneak into his room late at night to move him back to bed. He has taken a liking to curling up on the feather bed we've placed on the floor next to his bed to cushion his deliberate fall out of the bed every night. It's really cute, even though I wish he would start to understand that he's supposed to sleep in the bed, not next to it.

One of Patrick's new words is "baby," and I think he's starting to understand what a baby is. I had the sweetest moment with him tonight when he was cruising around our bed after sneaking into our bedroom. He kept repeating, "baby, baby," so I asked him where the baby was. He was probably just reaching for me to get me to pick him up, but he happened to touch my big belly right then. Since he got to hear the baby's heartbeat earlier, while watching the nurse hold something to my belly, it is possible he's figured out that somehow Mommy's belly and the new baby are related. Maybe not too likely, but we all know how smart Patrick is after all...

Twelve Weeks and Counting

Yes, I'm at twelve weeks, nearly the end of the hellish first trimester. And yes, I'm wearing real clothes, for only the second time in over a week. And yes, those real clothes happen to be maternity clothes. Baby 2 is turning out to be a big little guy or girl, apparently.

The good news is that the last two days have been much, much better. The morning sickness has been totally controllable, to the point that I have left the house at last. Today I even went in public and went shopping, picking up several new things for Patrick (he's into 12m clothes now, and we don't have too many of those) and a few new shirts for myself as I'm not fitting into my wardrobe as well either. It's been a great weekend all around.

Tomorrow I head back to the baby doctor to make sure everything is still doing great. Hopefully I'll feel up to posting again when we get home to update everyone. I'm not expecting any extraordinary news, so it may be boring, but it may mean I post two days in a row, an unusual occurrence for me these days.

Not Sure What to Make of This

Along with Patrick's sudden insatiable appetite has come a sudden pickiness for what foods he eats. He seems to enjoy the "big boy" foods he's been getting the last few weeks, even when he'd rather swallow them whole than chew them up. Now that we're on the second round of the foods, though, focusing on the ones he seemed to enjoy most the first time around, he's decided he doesn't have to eat everything anymore. It's beginning to get frustrating when I feed him and he knocks the spoon out of my hand with every bite, especially when he thoroughly enjoyed the exact same meal last week.

Today we tried something different when he decided he didn't want the ravioli I was feeding him for lunch. Matt came into the kitchen and attempted to feed him for a few minutes. Although Patrick was wary at first, he ate quite readily for Daddy. When I took over again, Matt was still in the room. Patrick ate everything I put in front of him. As I suspected, the whole situation was due to Patrick's stubbornness. For some reason he had decided not to eat today, even though he liked the meal. I assumed it was because he wanted something different, but it turns out it was because he wanted Daddy to feed it to him. As long as Daddy was around, he was fine.

Don't get me wrong; Patrick has pulled the "I won't eat it" stunt on Daddy too. Every time that has happened, though, it's been when we've tried feeding him a new food altogether. He's tried a bite or two and refused to eat anymore. We're much more willing to accept him turning down what is offered to him if he tries it and then decides he doesn't want to eat it.

The problem is that Matt has been feeding Patrick much more often lately to give me a break. When you add Patrick's sudden attachment to his daddy, it makes sense that he rebels against my doing anything for him. He doesn't seem to mind Mommy, but if Daddy's around, Patrick would prefer to be with him. I should probably be bothered that my guys are ganging up on me, but I love it. There's something so sweet about seeing my son want to be just like his daddy. I also know that eventually the tide will turn the other way again, and I'll miss watching my boys together then, so I'm enjoying every minute of it now.