11 months (a day late)

i am a day late in wishing you a very happy 11 months. it hasn't been the best month, but we survived. your papa got hurt and hasn't been able to work..on the upside it's been nice having him home every night for dinner and bed time. you got very sick with roseola. your papa got poison oak from zoe. elliot cat got a fox tail wrapped around his eye ball and had to go to the vet. and me, your mama is recovering from the worst case of mastitis ever! probably from you being sick and nursing every hour and making my supply of milk go way up. and then going back to normal when you felt better and me getting engorged, which led to an infection. i tried going into work yesterday and ended up having to leave only after 3 hours. i had a major fever and chills and just couldn't bare it any longer. i was so cold, when i climbed into my 90 degree car to drive home, it felt so good, i just sat in there for like 10 minutes and warmed up. today my antibiotics have finally kicked in. i am still in pain, especially when you feed, but at least there is no fever and chills to go along anymore. 

today i felt well enough to take you for a play date at the river. you got pretty tan just from the walk to the beach. then i freaked out and slathered sun screen all over you hoping you wouldn't get skin cancer right then and there...you had fun playing in the water with your yellow dump truck. i am trying to get you used to cold water, because you start swim lessons next month, and i don't want you to freak out because it's not a heated pool. i am already freaking out because i hate water and don't want to get in the cold water to give you swim lessons. maybe i will just make your papa do it. hehe. 

your new major skill you do is throw things. i've been kind of avoiding this one. i haven't really encouraged this one for a while, but you are just doing it on your own, so now i have to. yes, you throw tows across the room. you hit me with your toys in the face. OMG you are obsessed with anything on wheels. or anything that rides smoothly across the floor while you drive it along crawling. it's very cute. you are so fast. 

today you attempted to take that first step, and fell flat on your forehead. we were still in shock about the first step that we didn't react very fast when you started to cry. then i picked you up and handed you off to papa, and you just gave him the biggest proudest grin. you're so tough! 

you're getting pretty good at signing. i love being able to communicate with you. we need to start teaching you new things now, but i want to make sure you get the basics first, which always have to do with eating of course! 

it's been such an adventure watching you grow bronson. i am always so astonished and amazed by you. your capability to do things. your excitement. your laughter. and your love that you show and give us. you are so easy to be around. sometimes i wonder if having you will be enough for us. since you are so great. just you. on your own. and i don't want to ruin that. 

love you my little man. you are almost a year! i can't believe it!

last week sucked

we had a rough last week. b had his first sickness ever. which consisted of a fever for four days straight. at one time it got over 103.5 and i almost had an anxiety attack. thank gawd jon was home and able to be the calm one, and to keep me relatively calm as well. (not really) but he tried. luckily he stayed very well hydrated, actually he would just gulp water down out of the sippy cup every time he would wake up..and his appetite was good until the last day. but still ate. just wasn't as into it as he usually is. i took him into my work and they said it was viral. then i took him to the pediatricians and she said it was viral as well, but to not be surprised if he brakes out in a rash. and if he does, well it will be Roseola. sure enough the rash came. yay! it feels good to have a diagnoses. 

b is feeling 100% better now and is back to eating and smiling and being his old happy self. we are so happy to have our boy back to normal. i've got to admit though, having a sick baby did make the days very relaxing. it was the first time since he was a new born where he would just lay on top of you and not move. and just sleep or just hang out. it was nice to cuddle. unfortunately not under the best circumstances. 

three good reasons i'm glad B got sick. 

1. he is immune to this virus for the rest of his life.

2. i got to cuddle with my boy for the first time in a long time.

3. b learned sign language really well. especially the sign for milk. oh man, i'm in trouble with this sign. but it feels so rewarding to see your baby starting to sign back to you. even if they get mixed up, or he alternates more and all done, which confuses the shit out of me. i have no idea if i should give him more or stop. but the milk sign never gets confused with anything. thats for sure! 

new favorite thing

to crawl to the top of the pillows of the bed, and to roll and or throw himself off of them. while giggling the whole time. sometimes he face plants. sometimes he has a perfect 360 roll. sometimes it's not as cool as the previous time, so he tries to add additional rolls while on the flat surface. which doesn't work out so well, but is still just as funny to him. and to us. oh man. this boy is a wild one. 

i.l.p.

bronson's new nick name is impatient little piggy. apparently jon has renamed our son this. food is a BIG deal to this kid. if you are eating something, guess who comes crawling up your leg wanting whatever you're having. yup. lots of grunting, pulling, tears start happening if it's not baby edible. very impatient. very little. very piggy of himself. much like, ME! these days we have to sneak off to shove something in our mouths, or else..we have to feed the beast! 

some of our favorites are: ground beef. chicken. salmon. rice. pasta noodles. cottage cheese (which he hated the first time, but now loves)especially mixed with peaches. yogurt. blueberries. oatmeal. broccoli. and of course sweet potatoes. 

dislikes: raw tofu. i will try again next week. he did this with cottage cheese the first time as well. and 3 weeks later tried again, and he loves it. i think it's the texture of both that he disliked, or dislikes. avocado is kind of becoming in the the dislike category, which i am very bummed about. i give him avocado at least every other day since he was 6 months. he eats it, but doesn't scarf it down like his other food. and sometimes he makes the worst face ever when eating it, but still swallows it. i am hoping this is a phase. because i love avocado so much, i can't imagine my child not liking it. even my dog loves it. 

it's been a fun 4.5 months introducing new foods, even though i am scared of him chocking on everything. i have anxiety when meal time comes around for this specific reason. i can't wait for those molars come in. :)

10 months (a day late)

happy 10 months old my big boy! yesterday. i can't even handle how fast you're growing up. mentally. physically, you're still the size of a 6 month old, so that part doesn't astonish me as much as the cognitive part. you are so damn smart, sometimes i am just baffled on how you would be able to do something at your age. or maybe it's more at your size, and the age part is completely normal. whatever it is, you are smart. you are funny. you are the sweetest thing ever. you give the tightest hugs, especially when you are feeling shy in front of someone you don't know. you KNOW your Zsa Zsa, Memaw, and Nana Leslie. you know your baby friends and their mamas. you know your music teacher Annie and all the little toddlers in the class. and most importantly, you know your parents. and that is the best feeling anyone could feel. 

your papa and i were just talking about how strong you are. and if there was a baby arm wrestling competition, you'd probably win. sometimes you are stronger than me. you push off me when you don't want to be held, and i can hardly hold on. you twist and turn and wiggle until you are loose and fee to roam the grounds with your dog. you love your dog. you share your puffy snacks with her in your walker. you eat one, then you give her one. its a sweet gesture and all, but we don't give our dog table food. 

food is always the highlight of your day. you love your food. and you seem to never get full. i usually stop feeding you when your belly is ready to explode. you pretty much eat all finger foods, not many purees anymore. you've got the pincer grasp down now. along with pointing. you point at everybody and everything. you even point at our noses and eyeballs, and then hook it with your nail, which hurts like crazy. everything you do to us these days pretty much physically hurts us. you nip. you grip our skin with your nails. you slam your head in to ours, which hurts us more than you i think, and you slap in the face. it's all a fun game to you. 

you are a champ in your walker. you can cut corners, reverse, and pivot all with your little tippy toes. you can climb out of it if you really want something in front of you. you run into cabinets and open all the drawers and pull just about everything out you can get your hands on. today you learned to ope and take out each individual baby wipe out of the package and to taste test each one. good thing they're honest. 

lately you have been able to stand without holding on to anything for a good 20 seconds. you can even squat down and pick something up too. we saw you even stand up from sitting. just once though. you squat all the time from sitting. you are so close. you do a cool move where you kneel on the knee and put your other food on the group. we call it the 'captain morgan' pose. 

i think my most favorite thing you do is dance. you wiggle your upper torso and just grin as wide as your little cheeks and mouth will let you. or if you are on all four, you wiggle the entire back and butt in this spiral motion. this happens anytime you hear music. or even if you don't. you still dance. it's just too much. so is your laugh. it's contagious. when you laugh, my laugh is always followed by it. i can always make you laugh by tickling 
your feet, or by blowing on them. 

i can't wait to see you grow into this amazing dude i think you're becoming. they say that babies temperaments in the beginning say a lot of what they will be like when they are older. and so far. you have been such a joy. obviously we both have our moments. like when you are tired, or teething, or hungry. but we have had a nice teething break this past month. it's been quite nice. much love to you baby b. 

love mama

truckee

happy birthday dada!

happy happy birthday to the best dad/friend/bf there is out there. these two and me are so lucky to have you in our lives. thank you for taking time off and for such a great mini family vacay to mendocino this week. it was a nice treat to have you home. we love you dada! 

love, mama, B, Zoe, and Elliot.