Wordless Wednesday ~ Park Play

 

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Wordless Wednesday {But With Words}

 This is the best picture I currently have of Monster's Halloween costume. That's because, like the great mommy I am, I forgot to take my camera when we went to Grandma's house for trick or treating! This pic actually came from Grandma's cell phone.... and Aunt Alethea & Uncle Chris stopped by after trick or treating and got some cute photos then, but those will have to wait until I get them! For now, you get this.

Monster was an Egyptian for Halloween. BopBop and Grandma brought the outfit back from Egypt when they visited in the summer of 2010, and it was the perfect size for him to wear this year! He was the cutest little Egyptian I've ever seen, if I do say so myself. ;)

Linking up with And Then She {Snapped}for Wordless Wednesday But With Words!

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Wordless Wednesday {But With Words} ...on Thursday

  Linking up with Rachel @ And Then, She {Snapped} for wordless-Wednesday-but-with-words.

Except I forgot to post it on Wednesday. So I'm doing it today instead! Can you forgive me?

I finally took 18 month photos!
Behold, Monster's hair. Those gorgeous reddish curls!

 I love that hair. But, I think I may be coming to terms with the idea that we should probably cut it sometime. Maybe even sometime before the new baby comes - which means within the next 7 weeks (AAAHHHH! How can I be that close to my due date?!). I am afraid to chop off all the curls, so we will probably keep some curl. Just trim the whole thing up and make it a bit shorter on the sides & in the back.
I'm just not ready for him to look "grown up", which normally happens after that 1st haircut.

So... I'll avoid it for a few more weeks.
:)

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Zoo!!

Yesterday, we went to the zoo! It was free for all Tacoma residents - so we took full advantage of the opportunity! We went after Ben got off work, so we got there around 1 pm, and they closed at 4 - so we had close to 3 hours to see everything.I won't bore you with words.... but I took 145 pictures & videos during our 3 hours.... so I'll try to showcase some of the better ones, haha!

Well, folks - now you know. THAT'S what a monkey says! Haha

That's a Tapir!

 

Ben's pretty proud of this shot... poor monkey got caught doing his 'business'!

These fish make holes in the sand, and then pop in and out!

Can't do the zoo without taking advantage of the shark's mouth photo opp!

This was the best shot we got of the 3 of us. Seriously.

 

 

Monster's hand compared to a polar bear paw print!

Armadillo

Reindeer

That's one big fish!

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Hide & Seek?

This morning while I was making breakfast, Monster walked up and handed me one of his sandals. I took it and went to put it away in his room. On the way there I looked around the rest of the house to see if he took the other one out too, but didn't see it anywhere. However, when I put it away, the other sandal wasn't in the drawer either. So I asked him where his sandal was. He walked over to the drawer, opened it up, and gave me the one I'd just put away. I told him, no, your other sandal. This is just sandal #1. We need to find #2.

So he just kinda stared at me for a moment, and then he walked over to the diaper pail and just looked at it for a bit. My mind starts to figure out what he did, and I'm already thinking "Oh, no...." Then he looked at me, smiled, pointed to the pail, and giggle. So I walked over, looked inside, and whaddaya know - a sandal hiding in the diaper pail. :) I took it out and told him the diaper pail was for his dirty diapers only. "It's yucky in there! We don't want pee pee on your shoes!"

I guess we've reached the age of hiding stuff in random places... I'll have to really be on top of what he's playing with, now, and where it goes when he's done with it! Or I may just get a few surprises while doing my diaper laundry over the next few months.

Those of you with little ones - do they like to hide things in gross places, too, like a diaper pail or a trash can? And can anyone tell me how long this stage lasts? LOL

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How about some PICTURES?!

I just realized I haven't posted any recent pics of Monster. Part of the reason is that I guess I'm becoming a lazy mommy already, and no longer taking 200+ photos a day. (LOL, this poor baby#2 - will we have any pictures of him/her?) And partly because he never stops moving! 90% of the photos I take nowadays are just a blur - he either sees the camera, and comes running - or decides he's done doing whatever it was he was doing before I grabbed the camera, and is out of the room and onto other things.

But the blog is lacking in Monster cuteness, so here are some recent photos I've taken of him!

Giggles with Daddy

He takes after his Mama with his love of books

He looks so much like a toddler in this one, it's kinda scary!

Just happily eating.

And lately, he only eats with his toes hooked under his high chair tray!  If he's wearing shoes, he continually kicks his feet and gets angry that he can't hook his toes on. Crazy kid!!

This is a fun one - Aunt Alethea is getting him started with photography young!

Mmmm... watermelon!

Enjoying a ride in the convertible on one of our (few) sunny summer days!

I shall leave you with this one, because I think it's hilarious! He was so tired, he fell asleep while eating dinner.

Hopefully that cute baby face helped cheer up your Monday!

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I love waking up to a good view. :)
Monster woke up at 5 this morning. On a Saturday! That was not acceptable, of course, so i snuggled him in my bed until we fell back asleep. Next time i woke up, this is what I saw. <3

All Good Things Must Come To An End...

Monster has not nursed for 2 days. At all. He hasn't even asked.

For the past few months, I could tell he's been slowly weaning himself from breastfeeding. By 1 month ago, we were down to only nursing in the morning and bedtime. Somehow that turned into only nursing at bedtime, and only for about 2 minutes, tops. He'd then roll away from me and sign "all done" and I'd put him in his crib.

Well, I'd also been starting to feel weird about it in the past few weeks. I don't know why, but I started feeling almost impatient when he nursed. Like an "are you done yet?" sort of feeling, but I just always pushed it aside - I mean, he would only nurse for less than 5 minutes! How could I be getting impatient with that? But for whatever reason, I was. I no longer had the satisfied bonding feeling when he nursed. I never wanted to admit it to myself, but I was getting to the point of actaully wanting Monster to wean.

So back to 2 nights ago. Like normal, he didn't nurse in the morning when he first woke up. Diaper change, get dressed, then out to the kitchen for breakfast - and he asked for his cup of milk then. Totally normal now. But when bedtime rolled around, for whatever reason, I just never offered the breast. We took a bath, put on lotion & had some diaper-free time, then put on diaper & PJs, and got him his cup of milk which he drank while I read him a story. Once the story was done and his cup of milk was empty, we would normally go turn off his light, grab the boppy pillow, and he'd nurse for all of 1-2 minutes, before wanting to be put in his crib. But last night, after the story was read, we got up, turned off his light - and then walked over to his crib. I said a prayer, told him I loved him, gave him a kiss... and laid him in his crib. And that was that. He never even signed "milk", which he would do whenever he wanted to nurse.

I actually felt relieved that he didn't nurse - but guilty at the same time, because I didn't nurse my baby! But after telling Ben how I was struggling with my feeilngs, he reminded me that Monster never asked to nurse, either. So it's not like he was asking, and I just denied or ignored his asking. I simply didn't offer, and he didn't ask. Nothing to feel guilty about - we just both must be ready to be done. :(

It is a very bittersweet feeling. I am kinda glad to be done, and have my body to myself (for the next 4 months at least, haha!) and very proud that I was able to nurse Monster for 16.5 months. But it's another sign that he's growing up, and that special time between us is gone.

For those of you who breastfed your children - how long did you breastfeed? How did you feel when your kiddos weaned? Did you wean them, or did they wean themselves? Please share your experience!

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Hitting

It seems we have entered a new stage of toddler-hood - hitting. 

Monster discovered that he likes to hit - everything and everyone.

He doesn't just ht when he's mad (although he hits then, too) but almost as it it's just for fun. I'll be holding him, and he'll out of the blue smack me. :S Not fun.

We have tried so many ways to stop the behavior but nothing seems to be working so far. Those of you with toddlers - please share any tips or tricks you have, to get him to stop hitting!

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10 Teeth

Last night I felt like the worst mother on the planet. Ok, ok. Maybe not quite that bad... but I felt pretty stupid when I discovered that Monster has not 8 teeth, as I thought.... but TEN!

He's had all 4 front teeth on both the top & bottom for about a month and a half. And I never had a clue he was even teething lately... until last night while I was brushing his teeth. Now, normally he likes to sit on the bathroom counter and let me brush his teeth. I know he only has the front 8, and that's where I would focus my brushing, before I give him the toothbrush and let him "brush" the rest of his mouth for a bit when I'm done with his teeth.

Well, last night he decided he wanted to brush his teeth by himself and he was throwing a huge fit trying to grab the toothbrush from me. So I laid him down on his back, on the bathroom counter, to better hold him still while I brushed his teeth... and when I used my fingers to open his mouth for the toothbrush... I saw a glimpse of something white where only pink was supposed to be!! Could it be? I opened his mouth up again to get a better look, and, YES! A tooth! And on the other side... ANOTHER TOOTH!

Monster has both of his upper first molars. The right one is probably fully out. The left one seems to be about 90%. And I never knew until last night. Holy cow!

The reason I had no idea about these is because he still doesn't have his "canines" (see chart below).

He's got his central & lateral incisors on both the top and bottom. And then his first molars on top. It looks kinda funny seeing that gap in there. But that gap is all I ever see when he smiles or talks. The front 4 teeth, and gums to either side. His molars have been hidden inside of his cheeks.

I suppose I could look at this as a good thing - after all, a teething baby is not a happy baby, but a grumpy baby. And a grumpy, sleepless baby makes for a grumpy, sleepless mommy. So yes, it could have been a lot worse - he could have been a nightmare while these were popping through. I definitely count it as a blessing that he was his normal, sweet, good-sleeping self.

But I attribute a lot of that to his Baltic Amber necklace that he wears. (click link for my post/review about the necklace back in November). You can see him wearing one in the picture above. Every word I said then is still true now. We now own 3 different styles of necklaces, not just the 1. Every one works like a charm - and they're cute, too!

So, there's my confession for the day. My baby popped through 2 molars without me ever knowing it was happening. And I still wouldn't know today if he hadn't thrown a fit last night that required me to lay him down while brushing his teeth. But, this fact makes me love my Inspired By Finn necklaces even more!

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New video!

I know everybody loves cute baby videos.... and I haven't posted in a while, so here's one that Ben took tonight of me playing with Monster.

Enjoy!

(Oh, you might have to pause the video player first!)

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Feeling Crummy

I've just been feeling kinda down this week. I'm not sure if I can put it all into words, but I'll try. Writing stuff out usually seems to help.
Part of the funk I'm in has to do with me feeling like I'm failing Monster as a mother. :(

Other than on the weekends, I only see him for maybe an hour in the morning while I'm getting ready for work, and then a few hours in the evening when I get home from work - but the evening time is spent with me cooking dinner, then us eating dinner, and some nights we have somewhere to run off to. Monday's its Bible Study. Thursday's it's band practice. So on those days, I'm only home for maybe an hour and a half at most. And I'm cooking dinner and then we're eating. By the time I get home, it's bed time. And on the nights we don't have anywhere to be, there's always the "something else" - whether it's working on the VBS plans for this year, or just trying to get in some internet time, etc.

The weekends are a bit better. We're typically home all day Saturday, or at least all together on family outings. But that's when we do the housecleaning - so that's more time that I'm not getting to play with him, but instead he entertains himself while I do laundry, sweep, and so on. Oh, and don't forget the grocery shopping. That's takes away from our fun time, too.

Sundays we're at church for the first half of the day (from band practice before service, through service, and then small groups) and we're not togther - he's in the nursery, I'm in service or my class. After that we go to the in-laws' house for supper. Which is always great. Except that all of us adults want to spend time with each other, and they all want to spend time with Monster too. So that's not really "Monster + Mommy" time either.
I guess I just feel like I'm missing so much. He's growing so fast, and one day he's not going to want me to sit on the floor and play cars with him, or chase him around the house on my hands and knees. (currently favorite game) :)

I know I'm blessed to have such wonderul people caring for him while I work - he gets to spend 2 days a week with Grandma, and 3 days a week with a close family friend who has known me since I was a little girl. He is very loved while I'm away, and he gets lots of play time, etc. So I guess he's not feeling like he's lacking in any of those areas.
And as much as I would love to be able to stay home with him every day, it's just not realistic. I'm not cut out to be a SAHM. If I stayed home every day all the household chores would be MY responsibility... haha. Currently, Ben & I spilt things pretty evenly when we clean on the weekends. That would change if I was home all day. See this picture? Do you notice something weird about it... the woman in the pictures is smiling. That, my friends, is not me. Not by a long shot. I don't like housework, and I wouldn't want to be responsible for all if it, every day. You can bet I wouldn't be smiling like this crazy lady...

Plsu I'd also miss adult social interaction. Oh, and not to mention that we couldn't afford to pay our bills if I wasn't working.

So I'm left stuck where I am. I can't stay home with Monster every day. I know he's well cared for while I'm away. But I still feel like I'm failing him because it's not me caring for him and playing with him all the time. I mean, I'm lucky if we get 7 full hours of just playing together a week. Mornings he sleeps until the last possible minute when I have to get him up and ready to leave. And then maybe 1 hour each weeknight (at least the ones when I'm home) And then a few hours on Saturday or Sunday. Sure, I spend a lot of hours a week with him doing the "have-to" stuff as well - such as getting dressed... feeding...

diaper changes....driving places.... bathtime.... etc.

And you could argue that I'm not failing him because I love him, feed him, clean him, keep him safe, etc. And it's true - I'd really be failing as a mother if I didn't do those necessities. But to me, 7 hrs a week of actually getting to play with my baby just doesn't seem like enough. It feels like quite an important piece that's missing.

Is this all the result of the pregnancy hormones wreaking havoc on me? Am I crazy? Or should I be feeling this way? Those of you with little ones who also work outside the home - how many hours a week do you think you get to spend playing with them?

It's Been A While!

Yikes! I just realized it's been quite a long time since I've posted. Sorry about that!Monster was sick most of last week - he had a fever for 3 days, and the proceeded to be a Mr. Grumpy-pants for the next few days. Whiny and clingy - which meant I barely got anything done unless I could do it while holding him. :( I think I was more miserable than him by the end of the weekend.

But, I'm happy to report that is he feeling MUCH better now! Last night he played on the floor with his toys while Ben & I watched a movie - something that could not have happened last week! He is back to being a crazy toddler.
Speaking of being a toddler - now that he's been walking for about a month and a half, he thinks he's ready to run! :) He doesn't get very far before he falls over, but he's right back up again and rarin' to go! He just learned 2 weeks ago how to stand up from the middle of the floor - instead of having to crawl over to a piece of furniture to pull himself up. Now he plants his hands on the floor, sticks his butt in the air, and somehow pushes himself into a standing position. It's so cute to watch!

He is also babbling like crazy - his current favorite phrase is "I dee". And it sounds like "Ey-deeeeeee!!" I don't know what it means - other than it seems to have replaced his "dadadada" phrase. So everything he points at now is "I-dee!" Sometimes it seems he's responding "I do" to a question. But other times, it's totally random. Oh well, whatever it means, it sure is cute to hear!

In other news... I am still pregnant. I'm now a little over 14 weeks. It seems crazy how fast it's flying by this time. I'm sure Monster has something do with that. I'm still debating with myself whether to be team yellow (meaning we will find out the gender at our 20-week ultrasound) or team green (we don't find out the gender, and it will be a surpise at the birth). There are so many pros & cons to both, I just can't decide yet! With Monster, we were team yellow. And I loved knowing beforehand, being able to call him by his name, decorate his room for him, etc. I've also always said that I could NEVER be team green. I'd just have to know, so I could plan & prepare, etc.

But now I'm thinking differently. I would love to give Ben the privilege of announcing "It's a ____" to me, and then to everyone in the waiting room. When labor seems like it will never end, or when I think the pain is too much, my motivation to push through (no pun intended, lol) would be finally finding out whether I have a son or a daughter. As for being prepared, this new baby won't have their own room, at least while we're living in this house (which we will be until the housing market turns around) so there'd be no decorating to do - Monster's room is a blue & green underwater theme. Definately geared toward boy, but it could totally be fine for a girl as well. We have all the baby gear we'll need, except for an infant carseat, a toddler bed for Monster to move into, and possibly a double stroller.

And if this baby is a boy - we've got all the clothes & diapers we need. If this baby is a girl - she can wear blue pajamas and sleepers for the first week of her life, we've got so many family and friends who will be buying dresses and pink clothes that we'll be covered for quite a while. :) The only thing is that if it's a girl, I'd just have to buy some new cloth diapers - pink & purple ones, flower, rainbows & hearts prints... so many endless options! Of course, a girl can wear all the blue, green, orange, yellow, red, and white diapers we currently own. I'd just have to add a few more to the stash to fulfill my cloth-diaper-buying love!

So there you have it - my biggest dilema at the moment. Our ultrasound is scheduled for June 28th.
Which is just over a month away. That's not a lot of time to decide! What would you choose if you were in my position? And why? Convince me!

I think I'd better shut up now- sorry it was soo incredibly long. I guess I had a lot to say! I will have to get better at udpating more often. Forgive me please! I hope all of you are doing well and enjoying your weeks!

The Story Behind Monster's Nickname

I recently had a follower ask me the story behind Monster being called Monster..... and I realized I've never explained it on my blog before! It's actually a pretty short explanation, but it's cute. So here you go!

When Ben & I first got married, we rescued a cat from the animal shelter as my wedding present. (Which was actually a big deal, because Ben doesn't like cats <3 ) He is cross-eyed and has 6 toes on each of his front paws - so we named him Bigfoot. ("Bigfoot, also known as Sasquatch, is purportedly an ape-like cryptid that inhabits forests, mainly in the Pacific Northwest region of North America." Bigfoot on Wikipedia)

Bigfoot when we got him - crappy picture, but see his extra toe?!

In late 2008, we adopted a ball python, and sticking with our monster theme, we named her Basilisk. (You may be most familiar with a Basilisk from Harry Potter & The Chamber of Secrets, lol. It's "reputed to be king of serpents and said to have the power to cause death with a single glance" Basilisk on Wikipedia)

Basilisk & Bigfoot playing:

Then in 2009, we adopted a mastiff puppy and named her Nessie. Nessie is the nickname of the Lochness Monster, which we both think is pretty cool. ("The Loch Ness Monster is a cryptid that is reputed to inhabit Loch Ness in the Scottish Highlands...The legendary monster has been affectionately referred to by the nickname Nessie since the 1950s." Nessie on Wikipedia)

Nessie & I - 8 weeks old, the day we got her.

Nessie & Ben - just under 1 year old:

So, there we were with 3 pets, all named after legendary monsters. When I became pregnant, and later found out that it was a boy - my brother in law made a comment to the effect of "You'll be adding another monster to your clan". And it stuck. From then on, my brother in law called my growing belly Monster, and after he was born, the nickname continued!

When I started blogging, I didn't want to use his real name online for security purposes, so the Monster nickname seemed to be the perfect solution!

He is still affectionately called Monster by that side of the family. And that nickname was even the reason for the theme of his 1st birthday party!

So there you have it - that's why I call him Monster! :)

As Promised....

I remembered to catch the walking monster on camera!
Here he is... wobbly legs and all!

(note: you will need to pause the music player at the bottom of the page to hear the video!)

Holy Cow This Kid Is Smart!

It's crazy how much Monster is learning, and how fast! He doesn't really say any words yet, so sometimes it's hard to remember how smart he is and how much he is absorbing and learning.
He just reminded us last night of how crazy awesome he is, by doing the sounds that a cat & dog make!
Enjoy!

(note: you will need to pause the music player at the bottom of the page to hear the video!)

 He has also been REALLY walking for a full week tomorrow, and I don't have any videos of it yet. It's too cute for words, so I promise I'll get a video soon, and when I do - I'll share it here. :D


I'm off to do some much-needed housecleaning today, and then tomorrow will be a busy day with 2 church services (Ben plays guitar on the worship team, so we have to be at both services) 8:30am and 10am. It's gonna be an early morning! But after that, we're going to my grandparents' house for Easter lunch & an an egg hunt. Then when things are winding down there, we're heading across town to celebrate with Ben's family. It's gonna be busy, but it's also gonna be a lot of fun.

I hope you all have a wonderful Easter weekend. Got any fun plans?

Sneak Peek at Monster's 1-year Photos!

I was just sent these 5 sneak-peek photos from the photographer who took Monster's 1-year photos!

I am completely in love with how these turned out. I can't wait to see the rest of them!
Anyone local looking for a great photographer? I highly recommend Illusion of Grandeur!

So, which of these 5 is your favorite?