We welcome Elektra Lynn Salisbury!

6am did arrive sooner than later on Tuesday morning. We left the house with DJ and packed bags at 7, got to Eleanor's a little before 7:30, dropped off the soon-to-be big brother, and headed for the hospital. Knowing the end was near was wracking my nerves - gee, only bringing a new little creature into the world, but also comforting that I could finally start the process of healing my body and start to figure out how the family dynamic would work.

We checked in and were sitting in the waiting room to be taken back when my dad came to find us. It was nice to see him as it was a really nice distraction from what was immediately in my future. Only a few short minutes later, a nurse came to get me and down the hall we went to begin our journey of two kids in our life.

We had a gi-normous birthing room, apparently the VIP suite, according to Aunt Elaine, who dropped in to see us as well a couple hours after the induction process was started. I guess it's good to know certain people, though it's not like we asked for that room!! Heck, I didn't even know it existed.

The nurse was new to the OB team, having done heart work before, so she was learning all the procedures necessary for OB. But she was sweet as can be, very personable, and frankly, I didn't mind at all that she was "learning" on me. There was not a doubt in my mind that this induction would be routine. And even if it weren't, Dr. Hunter, from my OB's (high risk) practice, was the attending OB, so all bases were covered.

After the initial paperwork and medical history was covered, they started my IV. By 9am, Dr. Hunter came in, told me she wasn't staying up all night for me (wink) even though they work 24 hour shifts, gave me a pelvic exam (4cm dilated), and broke my water. Merconium in amniotic fluid, check. Just like with DJ. That means we'll need an attending pediatrician, too, when the baby is born. They started the pitocin, and then we got to wait.

By about 10:30am, I was starting to squirm with my contractions. They were 2 minutes apart, 1 minute long, and I really had to concentrate on breathing just to get through them. By 11, they asked if I wanted an epidrual (yes, please!), and Dr. Dominguez came in to do that.

Now Dr. Dominguez was just as hilarious as Dr. Hunter with comments such as "a vaginal delivery is a failed c-section!" and other such one liners. He was fantastic, though, administering the epidural itself. He talked me through absolutely everything I'd feel and what I shouldn't feel as he was doing it. By 11:30, he was done and I was starting to feel relief. I had another pelvic exam (5cm now), a catheter inserted, and now it was time to relax. I sent Steve to get himself some lunch since at this point, there was absolutely nothing he could do. Even moral support wouldn't be necessary as the contractions I was feeling were literally disappearing in intensity by the minute.

I took a nap sometime after noon-ish, after Steve got back from lunch, and at about 1:30, I woke up. The attending nurse, a different one from the morning because mine was in helping a delivery next door, looked at the fetal monitor and then looked at me and said, "Do you feel anything different?" "Well, no... I don't really feel anything, actually." She said that there was something about the readings on the monitor that made her think that maybe I was fully dilated now, so she went to go get Dr. Hunter for another exam.

Sure enough, not only was I ready, apparently, the baby was already crowning! Um, yikes?! Dr. Hunter told me that I was going to have this baby in a hurry. I thought she was teasing me from earlier but when she didn't waste any time getting into her scrubs, reality hit me over the head that she wasn't kidding. She said I really needed to push and push hard because she didn't like what she was seeing on the monitor, that when a contraction would hit, the baby's heart rate would drop. Else she would need to use forcepts. Eek, no forecepts! But I couldn't feel anything... the epidural, unlike with DJ, was still going strong. With DJ, I could actually feel when a contraction was coming and how I was pushing. This time, all I could do was what they told me and visualize what I was doing, hoping that it was the right thing. I started pushing at 1:50 and by 1:59pm, Elektra Lynn came out screaming.

Steve and I couldn't believe it. She is a girl. We were so convinced that she was a boy that we didn't know what to think besides, OMG. She's just beautiful. Our little girl weighed in at 7lbs, 15oz and 21 inches long... a whole pound lighter than DJ, but the same length. And boy does she have some long fingers, toes, and feet! She screamed at us for about half an hour (how dare you evict me from my nice warm home?!) but after that, she either slept or was checking out the world. Not a fuss from her.

My dad stopped by to see us on his way home from work which just so happened to coincide with Elektra's birth. So he got to see her first by complete chance. This actually worked out well later since then my mom and my sister could come and see Elektra after DJ went to bed since he was going to stay with them that night.

After I was stitched and cleaned and the room was cleaned, Steve and I got to hang out with our little girl for a while in the relative calm after the storm. We were waiting for my epidural to wear off, basically. At about 4:30, the nursery came to get her and my mother-in-law arrived 2 minutes too late to see her then. So she and Steve went out to dinner while I was moved to post partum to wait out the rest of my epidural.

That night, my mother-in-law, mother, and sister came to visit. DJ was with Papou. The rest of my stay was fairly uneventful, though Steve brought DJ to meet his little sister the next afternoon. He was wearing his Big Brother shirt that Eleanor gave him. So cute!

When he came in, DJ first found the balloon in the room to play with. I tried to pick him up to give him a hug (holy cow he's heavy!!!) but he pretty much pushed me away. The balloon was far more interesting, of course. LOL Steve picked up Elektra and I picked DJ up, and we showed her to DJ. He just stared. He didn't reach out for her, he didn't say anything, he just watched her. I took his hand and stroked Elektra with it and said, "nice baby. nice elektra. gentle baby." After about a minute, he was done. Time to go explore. Steve put Elektra back in the bassinet and then she started to fuss. DJ heard the fuss, and stopped what he was doing to listen. "Do you heard the baby crying, DJ?" I picked her up this time, brought her down to his level, and let him watch her fuss. This time, his attention was captivated a little longer, as this little thing actually DOES something. Again, his attention span didn't last THAT long, so Steve decided to limit the exposure and just take him home. Good idea, Daddy.

On Thursday, I got to come home. Elektra did great in the car, and she did great last night. Steve and I, on the other hand, had to figure out how to handle DJ and her and dinner all at the same time. Hmmmm. This will be a challenge, for sure, and it's a really good thing DJ has a relatively early bedtime else we'd be really up a creek. While I was putting DJ to bed, Elektra apparently had the enormous diaper we had been waiting for in the hospital. Well, we know she's good to go in that department now, too!

Elektra did great last night overall. She'd sleep a couple hours at a time after feeding, and that gave me some rest, too. I'm still totally exhausted, and my body just hurts overall, but all this shall pass. I'm waiting for my milk to come in, and that won't be long either. DJ saw his little sister this morning while he was still in his crib. He looked at me, pointed at Elektra and said, "Ba Ba!" Baby! That's right!! DJ's Baby! Eleanor and Sonny yesterday gave him a picture of Elektra to carry around, which he did, saying "Ba Ba" the whole time. Steve took DJ to day care (as I am not allowed to drive for 2-3 weeks), and I'm now home, alone with the dogs (who are re-fighting for alpha status because a new little one came home) and Baby Elektra.

It's almost time to feed her, so more later.

Baby Salisbury to arrive tomorrow

Tomorrow is the big day. Having it "scheduled" like this is actually a little unnerving. It was almost easier the first time, not knowing what is coming (in terms of post partum) and when since DJ was early. There were other nerves that I had at the time, but those were the first time parent nerves. Those are all gone. Now it's the second time nerves - how will DJ react? How will this change the family dynamic? etc.

Tonight, I started to get anxious. I guess it's because I have time to think. I have to remind myself to stay in the right now, and then the anxiety goes away. But I can't help it. ;-)

It's 9:30pm now, watching the Jets-Chargers Monday night game, and recording Heroes. Thinking about heading to bed, even if I don't fall asleep immediately. 6am will be here quite early tomorrow.

Little Baby Salisbury - we're going to meet you tomorrow whether you want to or not!

Baby Status: downgraded

Thursday night, when I wrote my last post, I could have sworn that I was on my way to full on labor. I was feeling significant pressure every 10 minutes for 30 seconds a piece for hours. Figuring I was on my way to full on labor, I went to bed at 9:30pm to get some rest assuming I'd need the energy sooner rather than later. Steve came in to check on me a couple hours later and I was definitely still feeling that enormous pressure.

Sometime shortly after midnight, though, everything calmed down. I was grateful to be able to get comfortable and get some rest for the rest of the night. Then again, I've felt nothing like those Thursday night feelings since.

In fact, on Friday, I stayed home from work (sick day) thinking I was really close and as the day went on, I actually started to get concerned. The baby wasn't doing much wiggling or moving. I could still feel it move every once in awhile, but it's activity level was definitely less. In retrospect, I have to guess the baby was getting rest from all the activity from Thursday night.

Yesterday (Saturday), the baby was back to its wiggly self, and so my stress level about the baby's well being has significantly decreased. At the same time, though, it's clear this baby is perfectly content where it is and has no interest in coming out into the world for us to meet it.

So everyone hang tight. We'll be meeting this baby on Tuesday.

Baby Status: Upgraded!!

Upgrading Baby Watch status to Baby Warning.

Ok, so I was wrong about what I've been feeling. Apparently, what I've been feeling has helped dilate me, but they aren't contractions. I'm 3cm dilated already. With DJ, I was in relatively painless labor all day, then painful contractions hit me just after dinner time, and by the time they saw me in the triage room at the hospital at 1:30am, I was only 3cm dilated at that point. My comment at the time was, "That's IT?!" This time, it was, "REALLY?!"

But since I'm not in active labor, I'm home right now, waiting for active labor to start and/or my water to break. That could be in hours, that could be in days. Either way, I'll be induced on Tuesday if the baby doesn't come before then.

You'd think I'd be running around trying to get all the last minute things I want to get done, finished knowing that the end of the pregnancy journey is near, but no... i'm sitting on the couch like a lazy lump.

I'm taking a sick day tomorrow so I'm not going in to work. This makes me happy... today, all I really wanted to do was be home laying down, so hopefully I'll get to do that some tomorrow. It's only 9pm and I already want to go to bed. Maybe the baby is trying to tell me something, eh? Maybe something like, "Get some sleep, Mommy. You're going to need the energy sooner than you think!"

Status: Baby Watch

We are still on Baby Watch status, though it would be nice if Dr. Khouzami upgrades that to Baby Warning during my weekly appointment with him today.

Clearly, our predictions for the baby's birthday (September 9th (steve) September 15th (me)) have long since come and gone. This baby seems to like Mommy's perverbial nest as it were. I haven't seen one sign of labor yet except for the settling down in the birth-ready position. That makes sitting in any position other than leaned back rather uncomfortable, for sure.

I asked Steve to come with me today to my appointment with Dr. Khouzami because now it's probably time to start talking post-prediction date options. How long do I wait before we consider inducing? How big is the baby and when does that factor into forcing me into having a c-section instead (which I really would rather avoid)? What's involved with both? I don't really want to make a decision - if I have to - without Steve's input. Besides, I'm not convinced I'm thinking all that clearly at this point anyway.

I also really want a massage. I want to ask the doctor first if I'm allowed before I schedule an appointment. My shoulders, lower back and legs could use the tension release!! A nap would also be a killer thing right about now, but going home and laying down just isn't an option for as much as it should be at this point! So I'm settling for having my feet propped up on the computer under my desk. ::sigh::

Speaking of work, at this point, I'm pretty much stagnant at work. They can't really give me anything to work on since we don't know when the baby is going to come. I have finished what I was assigned, though I'm going to reread what I wrote after I've finished writing this to see to proof read it. Honestly, there hasn't been enough time elapsed between when I wrote it and now to really proof read it well, but I may as well try.

I think that's news from here. Heh, that's not even really news.... ;-)

Steve is the happiest man on the planet

When Steve got home last night, DJ was still in the high chair, trying to rebuckle his high chair buckle. This is DJ's current favorite thing to do - buckle buckles. Upon walking in the door, Steve exclaims, "DJ!" DJ looks up at Steve and says, "Da Da."

Pause.

Steve starts dancing around the kitchen. I give DJ huge amounts of praise.

Just to confirm what we really heard, Steve said to DJ again, "DJ!" And to our delight, DJ looked up from his buckle at Steve and said, "Da Da."

This morning, we tried it again, this time while I was getting DJ into his outfit for the day. Happy Dance from Steve followed quickly thereafter. And apparently, DJ demonstrated this for Miss Eleanor, too.

"Da Da" is the happiest man on the planet. DJ just made his month. :-)

Restless

I remember the week before DJ was born, DJ settled down into my pelvic bone nice and solidly. There was no mistaking the distinct feeling of pressure in a spot where there hadn't been pressure before. I remember people asking me all throughout my last two months if I was uncomfortable, and I could honestly say I wasn't, until that week. I couldn't get comfortable no matter what the position, laying down, sitting, propped up... it didn't matter. Getting out of and into chairs was a challenge. Walking down stairs would seemingly knock the baby's head against my pelvic bone, sending a ping of an uncomfortable sensation through my body with every step.

But what I don't remember is being restless.

I have reached the stage again where the baby has settled into my pelvic bone, and I'm most definitely uncomfortable in the same ways I was with DJ. But this time, I'm having very restless dreams when I settle down for the night to sleep. When my alarm goes off in the morning, I feel like I haven't slept a wink. I know I tossed and turned all night, and there was nothing relaxing about laying in bed except that the belly has been supported by my pillows and my muscles are less tired. And because I'm basically awake all night, I now feel how often the baby is moving around. The belly gets uncomfortably tight as the baby flips from side to side or tosses an elbow or knee at the walls of my uterus. I also feel every kick to my relatively full bladder, and those kicks usually make me wince.

I have read that restlessness is a "symptom" (i use this word loosely as it's not really a medically sanctioned - for lack of a better term - symptom) that labor will be starting soon. The problem is, I also wonder how much of it is really just my being ready to just start the process of no sleep and healing from the pregnancy.

Another supposed "symptom" of labor starting soon is nesting. I started nesting last weekend. I put all the laundry away, cleaned the kitchen, gave my mother-in-law all of the bed linens for the queen size bed set we gave her, etc. It helped me settle down my brain of my "list" of things to do. Still, the bathrooms need to be cleaned, the kitchen needs to be cleaned again, we need to pull out the bassinet (not that that has to be done before we go to the hospital), and we really should vacuum one more time. I wish I could wave a magic wand and make the basement disaster organize itself but if wishes were fishes, I'd never go hungry.

And, as part of the nesting process, I started to pack my bag for the hospital. I think that's the other sign that I think the baby is coming sooner than later. Nevermind that I'm a planner...

I have a gut feeling that the baby will be here in a week or less. My inital prediction was September 15th. So we'll see!

Ok, so it's been a month...

Yes, it's been a long time since I've blogged. I was insta-swamped at work (typically when I blog) upon return from vacation, and it really hasn't slowed down until recently. I got my one project for the year into production (all my other projects were canceled or put on hold until next year), helped with one other project and wham-o, that's all she wrote. Anyway, have lots of updates....

DJ has done lots of things over the last few months, including saying his first few words. "Na na na" = banana. That has evolved over time to "Ana na na". We thought "awa" or "awer" = Flower was his first word, but everything lately has either been "ba ba" or "awa" (ceiling fans and lights are "awas" right now). He's also said "a play" = airplane though I haven't heard that again in a long time. It's interesting. He seems to say words once that sound REALLY close to the right word, and then we don't hear it again for forever. For example, he said "eh nor" for Eleanor, "ba ba" for baby, "abbi" for rabbit, etc. Now he has said "moooo" pretty consistently when you ask him what a cow says or show him a cow. And we think he's said "woof" when he hears/sees a dog.

Even if he can't say a lot of words, he knows a lot of what you're telling him. "Want to go bye byes?" and he goes right to the door. Asking him to blow a kiss will usually prompt him to put his hand to his mouth and actually send a kiss in your direction. "Where's (insert name of person... Mommy, Daddy, Eleanor, Sonny, Grace, Grandmom, Papou, etc)?" and he will look for the person. What really cracks us up is when the person isn't in the room, and he gives you a look of, "I don't know....". "Do you want (insert meal name)?" or "Are you hungry?" elicits an immediate run to his high chair. In fact, he'll go to his high chair if he wants something completely unprompted, too. He'll also give you his shoes if he wants to go bye byes or outside unprompted. And of course, there is always pointing as he will point to what he wants as well.

His coordination has clearly improved as well. He's almost running, and he's putting Duplos (legos) together with ease now. You only need to show him how to do something once or twice, and he remembers how to do it. He buckles his carseat, is starting to feed himself with a spoon (yes, it's a mess, but he's getting pretty good at it!), and is a master climber - if he's tall enough.

DJ has also been very sweet with the dogs. He's very gentle 99% of the time he interacts with them. He generally doesn't pay them much mind, but he's always entertained by them.

Speaking of being entertained, he will sit and watch - without as much as a wiggle - Steve fly his remote control planes and drive his remote control cars around. He'll point to the plane and "name" it as it flies by, too. Steve pulled out a Lego train today and DJ barely moved from my lap watching the train go around. He would talk to it and wanted to put stuff on the cars to have the train carry around the track. I have some pictures, so I'll see if I can post them soon (DJ is up from his nap, so I need to go get him momentarily).

DJ also still loves to open/close doors. He likes to put things in/out of boxes and other containers, and he still loves being outside. He claps when he's proud of himself for doing something, and waves bye bye when an electronic toy turns itself off and says "bye bye". Hilarious!

On another note, baby #2 is 3 weeks (or less?) away. I'm definitely ready to start the next phase (labor, delivery, post partum healing, lack of sleep, and eventually have my body back) to get through it already. But I'm not sure I'm quite ready yet for the seemingly enormous change of family dynamic that a second baby will bring.

This pregnancy really hasn't been any harder than DJ's pregnancy was, thankfully. My lower back gets sore fairly quickly, which I don't remember from DJ's pregnancy, and the doctor attributes that to it simply being my second pregnancy and my muscles and such are not as strong as in the first pregnancy. Laying down relieves that soreness so that's good. I'm also carrying the baby a little differently than DJ. This baby seems to be sitting a little lower in my abdomen which has allowed me to sit on the couch (instead of the glider chair) comfortably, even now. When I stand up, gravity pulling the baby down reminds my bladder that it's full. This actually is a real boon... I can sleep through the night still which I couldn't at this stage with DJ.

And this baby has been *feisty* in utero. Feisty!! The wiggles have been exactly that, wiggles, not kicks. DJ kicked, this one wiggles. So we'll see how feisty a personality this baby has! This baby has also gotten the hiccups a lot more often in this last month than over the whole course of the pregnancy. Wonder what's up with that!

So if I don't blog again any time soon, you know it's because I'm caring for a newborn! Can't wait to meet you, Little Wiggle Worm! ;-)

Vacation 2008

Greetings from Wrightsville Beach, North Carolina!

Steve, DJ and I are here with my family - my parents, my brother's family and my sister's family - enjoying the company and the change of scenary. It's been nice to be some place other than home, even though the vacation is not exactly restful. Chasing a very active toddler around in a house that is not exactly baby-proofed can be draining! DJ's had his share of bumps, bruises, and scratches this week despite our best efforts, and he is challenging his limits every moment that he can!!

We drove down Friday morning, and we got here in 8 hours, which was fantastic timing considering we're dealing with a 16 month old toddler and an 8 month preggo. And we didn't even break speed limits much - 10 over the limit, max. DJ did great; he took 2 hour and a half naps which helped our timing a lot. We took a couple of breaks to get him out of the car seat so he could walk around and get some energy out. Those were well timed with potty breaks and leg circulation stretches for Preggo.

Despite DJ being very active throughout vacation (and boy does it take effort to keep up with him), he has been an angel of a boy. He is obedient and despite the fact that he's teething (canines), he is a really happy boy. We've only had a couple of instances where sleep periods have been interrupted by poopy diapers, the construction guys next door, or teething and despite his lack of sleep, he's still generally not a huge fuss. In fact, he's a perfectly tolerable fuss. :-) He's adjusted to the new house with no issues, he sleeps in the pack-n-play great, and he eats really well. What more could we ask for? NOTHING!

DJ has had his first official beach and ocean experience, too. The first time , I took him out to the beach by myself. His aunts, uncles, godparents, and cousins were all out there, too, so it wasn't like I was being a daredevil or anything. DJ didn't fuss, not once, while we were out there. His cautious self came though, as he hung on to me very tightly for the vast majority of the time. He had no issues with the feeling of the sand under his feet and between his toes. In fact, he didn't even blink at that. But the ocean, now that was another issue. Again, he didn't fuss, but he wouldn't let go of me. He was tightly attached to my shirt as the waves would come up over his feet. He never left my side, in fact, but took in all the sights, sounds, and smells in stride. I picked up some wet sand and he pulled it out of my hand and played with it. He also got his first taste of salt water as a couple of the waves hit us pretty hard and splashed him in the face. He was smacking his lips tasting the salt.

I knew he was done with it all when he asked me to pick him up and he didn't "fish flop" or "surfboard" to get down. So we walked all the way back to the house with DJ holding my hand the whole way. He handled the non-steady surface of the sand with nary a thought, and was completely exhausted by the effort. He really did do fantastically.

Otherwise, DJ has been happily entertained by his cousins, and all of his attending and adoring aunts/uncles/godparents/grandparents. We've had to train the cousins that DJ is not a toy, and I think we're getting through to them... slowly. It's really neat to see DJ light up when he sees them, though, and that's really cool. He's warming up to my brother and his family since he's not seen them since December, and that makes me happy.

Steve and I aren't getting that much rest, but oh well. Dj is getting us up at 6am. Yikes. And I'm not sleeping because I'm 8 months pregnant (and boy did the belly grow in the last few days... ). It's nice to be here with family. We really missed it last year. I never would have been granted the time off with this week being so close to my return from maternity leave.... should remain a non-issue next year. But next year... how are we going to deal with 2???

Heck, we're not even sure how we're going to deal with 2 in 8 weeks..... ;-)

Kicker vs Wiggler

When DJ was in utero, he was known as "the soccer player". He even received a kids sized soccer ball as a baby shower gift.

This little baby inside me now is a wiggler. Steve is dubbing the baby "a gymnist". We both wonder what it is this baby is doing in there... backflips?!

I remember DJ being pretty active in the womb. This baby is, too. DJ was also an early bird; I'd wake up to a state of semi-consciousness in the morning, and so would DJ, kicking away. This baby is, too.

Looks like we're going to have two very active early birds for kids. :-)

Father's Day weekend update

On Friday, I took DJ to the doctor because the fever was not letting up and his cough was sounding worse. The doctor prescribed some antibiotics. Apparently, said antibiotics are bubble gum flavored, and DJ *fusses* when he sees it because he wants some and fusses when he doesn't get anymore because he wants more! Hmmm may medicine always be this easy to administer!

He's definitely feeling better; his appetite was voracious and he was in a fantastic mood all weekend. On Sunday he slept big time. He didn't wake up until after 7:30am, then he took an hour morning nap, went back to sleep an hour and a half later for a 3.5 hour afternoon nap, and then went to bed 2 hours after that. Clearly he's fighting something off, but the antibiotics must be helping him as his cough is sounding like he's bringing up stuff out of his chest.

On Saturday night, we went to Steve's cousin Shane's graduation party from high school. This is a huge milestone for him as he has Cerebral Palsey. He even walked across the stage to get his diploma (with a walker). Good for him! We couldn't stay long as the party started at 6 and DJ was tired by 8pm.

On Sunday, we had my parents over for dinner since they are leaving today for a 2 week trip through Europe and don't have food in the house. Otherwise, it was a pretty quiet day, except for when we watched the next door neighbor's black lab mix, Tink, jump their 4 ft fence because she was bored and wanted to take a tour of the neighborhood. That was a hoot!

DJ was sick

DJ caught a really nasty cold from Grace, who caught it from one of her younger cousins who thought it would be a good idea to lick Grace from chin to forehead in one sweep.

The cold was pretty standard, except that it just wasn't going away. On Thursday, it stopped up DJ so badly that he actually vomited mucus. EW.

Friday I kept DJ home, and he wanted no parts of eating, and didn't keep much down if he did eat anything.

Saturday, he got a really nasty fever and it took almost all morning/afternoon to get it to break. He was a complete clingy fuss, two traits very unlike him so you know he wasn't feeling well. We spent the entire day trying to get him to drink liquids, and we think that the mucus started to finally thin out such that his appetite started to come back. Phew.

Sunday he was in a generally good mood, his fever was pretty low if non-existent, and ate well. But Sunday night, he did not sleep well. He was up every hour to an hour and a half, and we have no idea why.

Monday he went to day care, ate great, but didn't really find his energy until the afternoon, probably because he'd gotten in a couple of good naps in. He barely ate dinner (he did want some of Daddy's grilled cheese - yum!), but slept like a complete rock for 11.5 hours.

He woke up in a great mood today. And when we got to day care, he immediately snaked Cheerios off of Grace's tray. Then, when he got his first taste of cereal, he actually fussed that he wasn't getting it fed to him fast enough. He hasn't fussed about that in *months*. Seems to me like he realized he was behind on the calorie count so FEED ME!!!

Looking forward to Miss Eleanor's report when I go to pick him up today. I have a feeling it'll be pretty positive.

DJ's new trick - climbing

DJ is learning how to climb on furniture. Miss Eleanor has a low futon that he's learned to climb on and now he's figured out that he can climb on the white chair in our living room. This, of course, brings him new access to things he couldn't reach before. Fabulous. It also means we have to be extra vigilant with him until he consistently gets off the furniture "the safe way" (backwards).

In the process of climbing the futon, apparently, DJ managed to get ahold of a cordless phone and pulled it down on to himself. Wham-o, one bruise on the forehead, and one black eye. I'll bet he screamed bloody murder. He must've realized how much it hurt because he was even "willing" to sit and have ice put on it for 5 minutes. Despite all that, his teething, and the head cold he has (which I think he's giving to me), he's been in a fantastic mood.

The Evil Vacuum Cleaner

Eleanor had told me some time ago that DJ is not a fan of the Dustbuster. In fact, she's demonstrated to me how he reacts. She uses the Dustbuster to clean up the food DJ has thrown overboard, and he starts to fuss almost immediately. He gets a very worried look on his face, too. Clearly, the Dustbuster scares him at some level.

Today, we decided to see how he'd react to the vacuum cleaner. I started in the back hallway and vacuumed both that and DJ's room. When I turned off the vacuum, Steve called out from the living room that DJ had been fussing, and even teared up. I was surprised to hear this since I wasn't even in his sights (and neither was the vacuum for that matter). Is it just the noise is so loud and droning?

To vacuum the living room, Steve sat on the couch with DJ on his lap. I brought the non-running vacuum cleaner over to DJ so he could see it while it was off. He touched it, but very hesitantly. I turned it on away from him, and proceeded to vacuum the living room rug. He fussed and had a very concerned look on his face the whole time, but he didn't cry.

I brought the vacuum back over to him and then turned it off so he could see it turn off. Although he wasn't pleased overall, he didn't seem traumatized. He definitely didn't want to let go of Steve for about 5 minutes afterwards either!

We'll have to work on the vacuum fears slowly. Good thing we stink when it comes to vacuuming regularly. ;-)

The 5 o'clock Sillies

I try to get to daycare to pick up DJ as close to 5pm as I can daily. Usually, I get there closer to 5:15.... which is a bummer because I like to spend as much time being able to sit there and just watch him play for awhile. Playing with Grace and a set of toys other than the ones at home leads to different reactions to things and I like to observe that.

When I arrive, I come in, sit down on the floor, and then DJ gets "The 5 o'clock Sillies". He becomes one big enormous gigglepuss who, if he could run, would, but can't so walks as fast as he can all over the room. He'll play hide-n-seek from behind the curtain and from behind you, do the "back up" where he turns his back to you and then backs up until he runs into you and has no choice but sit in your lap, he runs into your arms giggling... it's just mayhem!

More days than not, The 5 o'clock Sillies turns into DJ tripping and falling and knocking his head on something, ending The Sillies with some tears and cuddling. But it's just so predictable... maybe it's because he's showing off because someone new is there to watch him (our little extrovert!) or maybe it really is that he gets an energy boost right around 5pm. I have no idea, but it's adorable!

Recently, The 5 o'clock Sillies have also started to become the 7:00 AM Sillies. When I go into his room and start to figure out what he's going to wear, he starts to run around in his crib, play hide-n-seek from behind the bars and the diaper holder, and giggle like no other. When I go to pick up him to put him on the changing table, he's been "running away" from me giggling hysterically.

I could have had the worst day and that so puts a smile on my face!

Weekend update

DJ was one babbling little boy this past weekend. He just had a lot to say and not enough time to say it all! "Ra" became a second favorite syllable, and he also spent time stringing multiple syllables together, usually of the same sound e.g. "ra ra ra" but he'd use inflection to go with it. He may not be saying anything coherent to us, but he certainly thinks he's getting his point out!

I gave DJ a bath last night before bedtime, and one of his new "toys" to play with in the duckie tub is "pull the washcloth off the side of the tub" and then try to put it back. He will spend at least 10 minutes a bath playing that game with me. I'll finish bathing him, rinse the washcloth, and drap it over the side of the tub to dry. Instead, he pulls it right off... and then promptly tries to put it back up there. Of course I help, and he immediately pulls it off again. For added adventure, if he gets the washcloth in his bath water, he'll usually fling it around first, soaking me in the process!

DJ is also very happy that Daddy's back is a little better; DJ and Daddy rough housed a bunch this weekend, much to DJ's immense delight. :-)

Pointing and Communication

10 month old Grace learned to point with her finger at least a month ago. Meanwhile, sometime around his birthday, DJ started pointing at things, but with a full open hand. He had been "pointing" with an open hand to the "light" and the (ceiling) "fan", but that was it. Around his birthday, he started to point at very specific objects that he wanted, not just at things where he knows the names.

On Tuesday, Steve noticed that DJ was starting to mimick Grace and pointing with his index finger. The open hand "point" still happens, but the one finger point is happening a lot more frequently now.

His pointing is easiest to interpret at the table, as he points to his milk or whatever else he wants to eat at the time. Yesterday, I thought he was finished eating lunch. Instead, he pointed at MY lunch (english muffin pizza) and made the lip smacking noise he makes when he wants to eat/drink something. Ok then...! I shared at least half of an english muffin pizza with him!

When we've been outside (he *loves* outside - at least that hasn't changed since he was a newborn/infant), he's been pointing at things but because they aren't close, I'm having trouble interpreting what he seeing. Is it the tree? The leaves moving in the wind? No idea.

DJ's communication, overall, has been improving for sure and although when he learns to talk we'll be excited to truly communicate with him, I actually really like this method of communication now. It's a challenge, but it's so incredibly cute!! In fact, he's been babbling a lot more this weekend than we've ever heard him. He's stringing multiple syllables together with various inflections and sounds. He's not close to matching Grace in her prolific conversations with various objects, but he's certainly saying more than he had.

Monkey See Monkey Do

Earlier in the week, DJ's playmate at daycare, 10 month old Grace, tossed a Cheerio off of her high chair tray onto the floor. Eleanor and I were astounded as she had never done that and even DJ didn't start doing that until he was closer to a year old! Apparently, she's been watching DJ closely!!

Also earlier in the week, Grace would have nothing to do with the grass outside. You couldn't sit her down in it, stand in it, nothing, without her raising a royal fuss! But after watching DJ sit down and play in it on Wednesday, she was willing to sit in it on Thursday and play with it. Yay for Grace!

Grace has also learned how to crawl, pull up and stand as well as cut two bottom teeth all in the last month! She's been a busy girl!

Flower?

At Miss Eleanor's, there is an azalea plant still in its pot that sits on the kitchen table. Today, DJ kept pointing to it so Eleanor got it off the table and held it for DJ to feel it. Of course, I told him "gentle" which, of course, is not exactly gentle how you and I know it. For him, "gentle" is swatting, not pinching, pulling or otherwise rougher than swatting. In the process of his being "gentle", DJ managed to knock off one of its white flowers onto the floor.

Eventually, Eleanor picked up the plant and put it back onto the table. DJ picked up the flower and held it in his hand, very gently, in fact. Then he tried to put the flower back on the plant! He reached up and dropped the flower onto the table as far onto it as he could reach. Good boy!

New shoes for DJ!

I have been struggling with the "shoes" concept. It was my understanding that we're supposed to leave shoes - ones with real soles and stiff(er) sides off of baby feet for as long as possible to allow the baby to flatten his foot when he walks. Or something. I don't remember now.

We have a pair of Robeez (http://store.babycenter.com/product/baby+clothing/shoes/robeez/truck+sand+soft-soled+leather+shoes.do?asc=false) that we bought for our trip to South Carolina in February. We figured that the best thing we could do for DJ was to get him out of the carseat during stops and let him walk around (he was still holding our hands at the time) to give him some exercise. Therefore, we needed a pair of shoes, and Eleanor mirrored my thought... Robeez shoes. These things are THE BOMB. They're soft soled, they're very comfortable for the baby/toddler, cute as can be, and perfect for learning to walk. His first pair came from Lisa Garfield as an infant; they had race cars on them. :-)

But summer is here. And that means more outside time, and outside involves things that soft soled shoes might not stop from hurting a tender little foot.

I decided to do some light research on the subject, and started with my favorite online baby reference site, BabyCenter.com. I found this article about it which talked more about how to size/fit a shoe for a toddler than the shoe issue with which I've been struggling. Effectively, it said that as soon as your baby is walking, it's time for shoes. Article link here: http://www.babycenter.com/0_your-childs-first-shoes_1736073.bc?articleId=1736073&showAll=true. Ok, so I assume that's a valid answer. Now what?

Target. The Bull's Eye Boutique. Tar-jjjjay.

As I was perusing the shoe aisles looking for shoes his size, I found a pair of nice sandles to wear to work that do not require buckling. Excellent, I found a pair of summer pregnancy shoes. I won't be able to bend over to buckle anything very soon....

Then I found the kid shoe section. One aisle was dedicated to boys. The other 3 aisles were dedicated to girls. I was amused by this, and certainly not surprised.

The next problem... what size is he?! No idea. I walked by a display that said, "pre-walking shoes", so I stopped there to see if I could at least figure out the right size. There were soft soled shoes on that display as well as some harder tennis shoe type shoes. I picked up a pair sized 4, put the bottoms up against his foot bottom, figured they were close, and tried to put them on. No dice. That shoe was not going on his foot (he had socks on). Oh good, they have the same shoe in a size 5. That shoe actually went on his foot. He has about half an inch of room before his big toe hits the end of the shoe, so I'm thinking that I'm close enough.... and that they might last 2 months at his growth rate!

We take them home and while DJ is eating dinner, I put his new shoes on his feet. He wasn't exactly happy about them as he fussed a little, but food comes first so they were mostly ignored.

When he was finished, I put him down on the floor in his new shoes, and he just stood there. And then he started to *wail*. He didnt move, just cried. He wanted no parts of them. So I took both of his hands and showed him that he can walk in them around the kitchen. After about 10 minutes, his seemed to regain some confidence in his walking skills, and started walking in them on his own. But he really wanted nothing to do with them at first.

This morning, Miss Eleanor and I put his shoes on him so he could walk around in the kitchen. When Eleanor first put him down, he refused to move again. A short 5 pace walk to me with Eleanor guiding him reminded him that the shoes were not concrete blocks cementing his feet to the kitchen floor.

We'll see how the rest of the day goes.... :)

Baby Thumper

I've been able to feel the new baby kicking me for a number of weeks now. Unfortunately, the kicks weren't strong enough for Steve to feel then.

But now they are!! Earlier this week (monday?), Steve got to feel his first kick. It wasn't a whomp of a kick, but it was enough for him to know that it was the baby. Last night, however, he got a good solid whomp from the baby! Hi baby!!!

Molars have a function!

DJ has gotten all but one of his 1-year molars, and the one he hasn't gotten has one point through. It's just that the rest of the tooth hasn't come through yet.

Meanwhile, DJ is starting to figure out that those back molars actually serve a purpose in life. It makes chewing stuff easier and more efficient than using your front teeth. Neat-o!

DJ with Yiayia and Papou

DJ spent the afternoon with Yiayia and Papou yesterday. When they came in yesterday, he started out immediately with walking all over the living room, showing off all of his tricks with walking.

Before I left, DJ was playing with a puzzle and when Papou put a piece in and said, "yay Papou!", DJ clapped his hands for Papou! Cute!!

Apparently, DJ loved walking all over the yard yesterday, especially the stairs. He wanted to walk up them like a big boy! He saw Miss Mary, our next door neighbor, and all the neighbors' doggies, too.

I had taken him out into the yard on Saturday afternoon and after walking around parts of the fence, feeling spiderwebs and picking up rocks, he sat down in the grass. He pulled up grass and handed it to me, and then he found a stick that he poked into the ground at things. The doggies hung around us like they were protecting us (from squirrels??), I think. It was pretty interesting.

Meanwhile, he took a 2 and a half hour nap yesterday afternoon (wow!), and then wasn't hungry for dinner until 6:30, when he devoured the vast majority of a Hebrew National kosher hot dog. The bread Yiayia offered was instantly tossed overboard, but he also had some yogurt and star puffs. He went to bed late because he was having so much fun with Yiayia and Papou!

A side note: Daddy and I were reading a book to DJ called "I Am A Bunny" on separate occasions. Yesterday, I was reading it to him, and I noticed, when I got to a certain page, he would make the lip smacking sound like he wanted to eat/taste it. I said something to Steve, and he said that he'd seen the same thing and from a distance, to him, that page looks like food or something he'd eat. DJ has been showing us that he wants to try something by smacking his lips together, so this had to be it. He apparently did it for Papou, too, when Papou was reading the book to him, too. During dinner last night, DJ saw Papou's soda, pointed at it (with an open hand) and then smacked his lips because he wanted to try some! No Diet Coke for you, yet, little boy! LOL

Daddy?

I took DJ in to our bedroom to wake up sleeping Daddy yesterday. After a few wiggles and squirms and squeals of delight, DJ turned to Steve and said, "Dad---y." He swallowed the second syllable, but holy cow did it sound like "Daddy". We both looked at each other wide eyed; it was clear we'd heard the same thing. Steve said then that when he said "doggy", it sounded very similar to that. He got "dog--y" out but swallowed the second syllable. We haven't heard either word since, though. :-(

Some DJ updates

DJ now holds the toy phone up to his hear and walks around with it next to his ear. It doesn't matter whether he's holding the phone correctly, but he's doing it! :)

DJ has also figured out that sunglasses go on your face. Again, upside down vs right side up doesn't matter, but he puts them on!

DJ knows where a "nose" is, shoes, socks, hair, head, the (ceiling) fan, the light, "blow a kiss", wave bye-bye, throw a ball, and we think he's starting to figure out that a spoon goes in the bowl when he's eating, though the coordination is far from that. He's been walking like a champ, and he still "leads with his head". The poor boy has more bumps and bruises on his head than anywhere else on his body, just like his Uncle Dave!

He loves his milk and sippy cup, and is definitely exerting independence when it comes to eating. He will eat a variety of foods still, but I think it has to be on his terms. Giving him his own spoon while you're spoon feeding him seems to help.

He seems to know what "trade hands" means, but I think it's just habit and he knows what's coming. When I putting a shirt on him and he's holding a toy, I ask him to "trade hands" - put the toy into the other hand while I put his free hand through his sleeve. He also knows when I'm going to put a shirt over his head... he'll raise his arms up over his head (as in "sooooo big!") and so then I have to tickle his belly to get him to put his arms down. Fun game!

Easter

Christos Anesti. (Christ is Risen.) <---the way the church would say it.
Que Pasca. (What's up, Easter.) <--- the way my brother would say it.
O pappas se harike. (The man upstairs is smiling down on you.) <--- the way my Uncle John would say it.
Queso Anesti. (Cheese is Risen.) <---- Apparently the way I now say it.

This wasn't DJ's first Easter - he was born just in time for it last year but he doesn't remember much of it. He won't remember much of this one either, but that's ok.

We went up to my sister's house in Lancaster for dinner. We actually got up there a little before 3 and unfortunately, DJ didn't nap on the way up. So DJ and I went up to the guest room and napped together for about 20 minutes. It was better than nothing!

Then it was time for dinner. DJ ate a TON... lamb, spanakopita, feta, hummus, Greek potatoes, green beans, asparagus tips, and Greek stuffing. Then he had dessert: koulouri ( a greek short bread cookie), tsoureki (Easter bread), strawberries and a couple bites of chocolate cake with milk mixed in with all of that.

On our way home, DJ didn't keep all that down, we think because we belted him in too tightly. Lesson learned. :-( We pulled over, stripped him of everything but his onesie, and got home with minimal issue. He was so tired that he went to sleep exactly where I laid him down in his crib. He didn't fuss once. He is a little angel.

Queso Anesti, for another 40 days.

What would you do for a Klondike Bar?

Apparently DJ only had to walk up to me and make a "I want a taste" sound with his mouth. Mommy couldn't resist that and shared her Klondike Bar with DJ. He seemed to REALLY enjoy his first taste of both ice cream and chocolate. Mmmmm!!

Doggies?

Is that what he said? Did DJ say "doggies"?? According to Steve, DJ was in his high chair, looking down at the dogs and said a two syllable word... it sounded remarkably like "doggies".

I think "doggies" or "daddy" will be his first word. He loves the "d-" syllable, and he hears "doggies" a lot. We'll see!

Woof! Woof!

On Monday when I went to pick up DJ, Miss Eleanor was telling me how DJ's playmate at daycare, Grace, had learned to woof like a dog. Grace has always been way ahead of DJ on the verbalization curve so this didn't surprise me though of course, she wouldn't do it on command.

Yesterday morning, Grace's mom, Nadia, said that she had been up at 4am for whatever reason. As she and Grace passed their stair banister where a stuffed dog was sitting, Grace said, 'Woof! Woof!" I can't imagine that Nadia was amused at 4am, but it is funny.....

When I picked DJ up yesterday, Grace showed off her "Woof! Woof!". It was hysterical! Her first word, really, Woof.

Combing DJ's hair

Today I was combing DJ's hair when DJ took the comb from me, and tried to do it himself! Of course he's not coordinated enough to actually get the comb through his hair correctly, but he tried! I showed him how to turn his arm to point the comb in the right direction, and he tried again. Neat-o!

DJ is feeling better

DJ had a touch of a fever this morning when he woke up, but a dose of Tylenol seems to have kept that at bay. He hasn't felt warm since which I hope lasts through the night. He nose ran a lot less, and I don't think he sneezed today. He's coughing but overall, he seems to be feeling better. He's a little more of his happy self more often. He also napped for about an hour and a half this afternoon, plus the 25 minute car ride from church to our lunch destination. This is better than previous days, too.

To boot, though, it seems like his right side bottom 1 year molar is coming through again as he's just chomping on anything he can in that back right corner. So his crankier mood must be influenced by that, too.

Our little Snot Nose

Poor DJ, he has his first full fledged cold. He's gotten a small one before, but this one includes fever, sneezing, lots of snot, and a generally miserable little boy.

We're thinking he got it from little Grace, his daycare buddy. She got over it in a few days, but this is now Day 2 of full blown symptoms, with no signs of getting any better. Well, I don't know if that's true.

Wednesday he was sneezing and the snot was starting to make its presence really known on his upper lip. That night he didn't sleep great.

Thursday during the day, he was apparently a miserable little boy, and developed a fever by the end of the day. He would only nap about a half hour at a time, and only once Eleanor rocked him to sleep. He had a small (for him) dinner, lots of milk, and wanted to walk around and do stuff but by the time bedtime came, he was toast. He took about an ounce of milk, Tylenol, and went right to sleep. He slept the whole night through and then some... a total of 13 hours.

He woke up with a fever, though, and because I'd taken so many hours off for his doctors appointments and because Steve had worked waaay too many hours the last few weeks, Steve is staying home with him. Of course he refuses to nap, so Steve has to rock him to sleep. He had virtually no breakfast, but lots of milk so at least he'll be hydrated.

Poor little guy!!

Hi Baby!!

This morning, Steve and I dropped DJ off at Miss Eleanor's a little early so we could get to the OB's office to view the sonogram of our baby! No, we did not find out the gender, but we did hear the heartbeat, which was measured at 152 beats/minute (I assume it's in minutes).

The baby was laying on its stomach at first, so the sonogram technician could get a really good view of the spine and top of the skull down into the brain itself. The baby had a closed fist under its chin, like The Thinker, and was kicking me with those little feet! Flutter flutter! I actually couldn't feel them because of the position I was in, but the baby was definitely awake! The umbilical cord had the 3 required veins, too, and we could see the beginnings of teeth.

Then she had me roll over onto my left side to try and get the baby to flip over onto its back so we could get a good view of its face and the four heart chambers. The baby wasn't cooperating fully, but the technician got a pretty good shot of the baby's face and put it on the 3D sonogram picture! COOL! We never got that with DJ, so that was really neat! You distinctly see the two lobes of the cranium, the eyes, nose and mouth. Granted, the baby looks skeletal, even in the 3D picture, because there's no fat on its body yet, but it was still neat. DJ's facial picture was literally the bones of the face and skull.

The technician measured the cranium, the arm and leg bones, and with a few other measurements, came up with a birth date of September 21. Dr. Khouzami had predected September 20th. Now this is interesting because DJ was predicted by Dr. Khouzami to arrive on March 31st, the sonogram predicted March 28th, and he actually arrived March 24th. So who knows!!!

Hi little baby! We see you in there!

Can you give that to Mommy?

In the last couple weeks, DJ has started handing us things. The first time we noticed it, he was walking around with a piece of a magazine page and he just handed it right to Steve, completely unprompted. Now he does it regularly, mostly unprompted still. Sometimes he expects to be able to take what he gave us back. That hasn't happened too often yet, but you know that's coming. :-)

Yesterday's fun

It was gorgeous outside yesterday, our first truly Spring day. And of course, we spent it inside. Mostly.

Right after Steve left for work, DJ was watching IO play with the stuffed carrot. When IO dropped it, DJ went over, picked it up, and held it out for IO to take, which IO did very gently. That was DJ initiating interaction with the doggies all by himself!

After his morning nap, DJ and I went to visit my aunt Athena and Uncle John at Kenilworth Mall as they were working an antiques show there. They hadn't seen DJ in a number of months, so this was a great opportunity to get DJ out of the house, especially since I was flying solo on baby duty (Steve was working).

My parents joined us as well, so they got to spend some quality time with DJ as well. DJ walked all over the mall's second floor with at least one grandparent in tow. ;-) My father, DJ, and I went to get some lunch at noon. DJ ate 2/3rds of a kid size hot dog and a little bit of his roll, and of course milk. He also had his first taste of lettuce, though I'm not sure what he thought of that.

A little before 2pm, DJ gave me every sign he possibly could that he was tired, pulled on his ear, rubbed his eyes, yawned... all that walking wears him out! We came home, and he fell asleep in the car despite the windows being open! I transferred him to his crib when we got home, and he went back to sleep for another hour and a half. What a good boy!

Meanwhile, Steve got home from work, and we finished preparing for our dinner party for his direct reports and a former employee of the bank with whom we're close. It was still nice outside at that point which is such a nice change from all this wet, grey and cold weather we've been having lately.

DJ went to bed at 7, and dinner was served shortly thereafter. Everyone left a little after 10, and I think I was asleep on the couch by 10:30. At midnight, Steve woke me up to tell me to go to bed. Apparently, he'd fallen asleep on the couch as well, having come home after midnight Friday night from work.

I got kicked!

Let me start with introductions:

Uterine wall, baby foot.
Baby foot, uterine wall.

:-)

I went to the OB yesterday for my 4 month appointment, and the doctor asked me if I was feeling any kicks yet. It told him that I thought I'd felt something over the weekend, but I wasn't sure. Thus, I thought I was close to feeling kicks.

Like with DJ, the little kicks arrived while sitting at my desk. :-) I only felt 2 today, but I know without a doubt what they were; the feeling was unmistakable.

Hi Little One!!!!!!

Sharing Cheerios

One of DJ's favorite foods is Cheerios. He gets excited just seeing the yellow box coming out of the cuboard. At Miss Eleanor's, both DJ and Grace get Cheerios to start for breakfast before they get their baby cereal. They sit side by side in their respective high chairs, and Grace tries to swipe Cheerios from DJ's high chair tray if she doesn't have any of her own.

Today, I witnessed Grace trying to swipe the Cheerio closest to her on DJ's high chair tray when DJ put his hand over it. I thought he was getting protective of it but he proved me wrong. Instead of eating it, he tried to hand it to Grace. Neither child is coordinated enough to complete such a transaction, but the fact that he tried was amazing! When she didn't take the Cheerio, he offered it again! After the second failed attempt, he ate the Cheerio himself, but holy cow! That was a neat interaction!

Holy molars, Batman!

Unfortunately for DJ, he's been teething all 4 of his 1 year molars at the same time. He's been an enormous drool monster and he's had his fingers constantly in his mouth trying to reduce the discomfort he's been having. He's not been outright unhappy, but he's certainly been a little more needy than usual. Surprisingly, he's not been sleeping any more than usual. In fact, he's been the Early Bird this week, wide awake and playing by 6am, nearly a full hour earlier than usual. Yikes.

I've not been shy about giving him Tylenol every 4 hours and when its been really bad, a dose of motrin, too, which I've given him 2 hours after the Tylenol. Last Saturday, for example, absolutely nothing made him happy. Once the motrin kicked in on top of the Tylenol, his mood started to change towards his normal self. That's when Steve and I knew for sure that's what was going on.

Yesterday, when I went to pick DJ up from Miss Eleanor's, he was a huge cuddle bug. Not that I minded (!) as he's normally far from a cuddle bug, but clearly he wasn't feeling like himself. I decided to venture into his mouth with a finger to see if he's managed to break any of those monsters through (careful, don't bite me!). Sure enough, the two bottom ones have broken through at least 1 point, if not 2. The top right one still hasn't poked more than the one point through, and the top left one is still hiding under the gum. He has been drooling a little less, but those fingers are constantly in his mouth still, so clearly, he's not done yet!

Bottle to Cup

The bottle --> cup and formula --> whole milk transition has begun.

At DJ's one year appointment with the pediatrician, Dr. Boscia said we could take him off formula and put him on whole milk. And while we're at it, switch him from the bottle to the cup. He didn't recommend specifically that we do both transitions at the same time, but we did it anyway.

DJ's actually taken to the whole milk pretty well overall. He's drinking about 10 ounces at Miss Eleanor's daily, and then he usually drinks a few more during his dinner. He's not been much into the idea of the sippy cup/whole milk before bed, though. I'm not sure that's a bad thing either. He's sleeping through the night just fine without an 8 ounce bottle of formula, so I'm not complaining that he's not drinking much before bed. I offer it to him anyway, and he pushes it away after an ounce or two.

But it's also easier for a baby (well, toddler) to give up the during-the-day bottles than it is to give up the before-bed bottle. He hasn't seen a bottle since last weekend, so I'm hoping that by the weekend, he'll have forgotten about it. Something Miss Eleanor said is that she thinks it's been easier with him than with other babies she's watched because Grace and DJ use(d) different kinds of bottles. So when Eleanor feeds Grace, DJ doesn't go bananas because he doesn't see that as his nor does it remind him of his. I thought that was an interesting dynamic that I hadn't thought of and glad it wasn't the case. :)

Hopefully, DJ will continue to be a trooper and keep going strong with the sippy cup so that I can put the bottles away, at least for a few more months...

Plant food

The dog food incident should have clued us in, but it didn't and thus, this post.

We have a plant stand of various plants growing in our kitchen. We thought that they were out of DJ's reach, but apparently, they aren't. In particular, there is a cactus - not the prickly kind but the water retaining kind - that must have shed some of its long-ish "pods". DJ got a hold of one, and in his mouth it went. ::sigh:: I love that you love vegetables, DJ, but that is not a green bean, even if it looks like one.

So I took it out of his mouth (he hadn't chewed it much) and since then, we've had to be on high alert when DJ's loose in the kitchen with us because he heads right for the plant stand now. Next time, DJ, try the Italian Flat Leaf Parsley or the Oregano we have growing in the kitchen. At least that's truly edible, and probably tasty, too!

Surgical success!

Earlier this morning, DJ had his probe and irrigation surgery on his left tear duct. We had to be at the hospital at 8:30am, but DJ couldn't have breakfast. This worried me as he is Mr. Food Motivated, but it turns out DJ did just fine without it. My dad (Papou) met us at the surgical center and helped to keep DJ distracted while we checked him in.

After he was checked in, we were taken back to room 51, where we let DJ run around the room and get some exercise in. His favorite toy right now is walking, so that's what he did! The nurse came in and had us change DJ into a mini hospital gown and socks that were waaaaay too big for him. He toddled around in that, too, until it was time to take his vitals. I so want the thermometer they have... you just rub it around his temple and voila, in 2 seconds you have his temp. That was sooo nice.

Dr. Collins (his pediatric ophthalmologist) and the anesthesiologist came in to talk to us and then it was time for Steve to put on the hospital coveralls to take DJ back. That was at 9;30am. Steve said that DJ tried to first bite the anesthesia mask but took it and in 20 seconds or less, was asleep. Then we got to wait.

Dr. Collins was back in 20 minutes with the results of his surgery, that he was already starting to stir, and that everything went well. By 10:15, DJ was back in our arms, alert, but not thrilled to be feeling kinda bleh. He sat in Steve's lap with his pacifier in, content to just sit there until I brought out his bottle with some apple juice in it (as recommended by the doctors). That was his first taste of juice (he'll get some chicken broth later). I was told to have him drink it slowly. Yeah right. He took that first sip, realized how good it tasted and then realized how hungry he was. He fussed at me every time I took it away to make him slow down! Ultimately, he sucked down 8oz of apple juice and wanted more.

We got him dressed in his street clothes, put him in the stroller and he loved his ride back to the car. He talked the whole car ride home (clearly his blood sugar had leveled out and was a happier boy). When we got him home, we let him walk around, but it was clear he was a little unsteady still, and definitely tired. We put him down for a nap just after 11. Sweet dreams little boy. :)

I feel loved!

Almost without fail, every morning DJ will wave bye-bye to Daddy and blow him a kiss (hold his hand over his mouth and then pull it away saying "maaa"). I rarely get waves and I never get kisses. Usually DJ is too busy playing or stuffing his face with Cheerios. ;-)

But today, I got 3, *THREE*, kisses!! I feel so loved!

Quack

It's actually been more fun to see what DJ will eat than it is eating in general. Last night, Steve grilled a duck breast, and we decided to feed DJ a small piece to see what he'd do with it. Sure enough, he not only ate it, but he fussed for more! Once again, Mommy wasn't cutting up his share fast enough! He also fussed for more asparagas while he was at it. ;-)

HAPPY BIRTHDAY DJ!!!

11:26am, one year ago, Steve's and my life changed forever. DJ was born that minute, and we can't imagine life without him now. He has been our angel child, and tonight he sleeps in his crib with his pooh bear rattle in hand and binky in mouth, 15 pounds 9 ounces heavier and 9.5 inches longer than when he was born. I just wanted to hold him in my arms all night, but he's a wiggle worm when he sleeps so eventually, that plan would have backfired on me. :-)

His day today didn't start ideally... he had his 12 month check up with the pediatrician which means vaccinations. He weighed in at 24 lbs 6oz, and 30.75 inches long, placing him solidly in the 75th percentile in height and weight. He received 3 vaccinations and a clean bill of health allowing us to now feed him everything but peanuts (even shellfish is allowed!). Whole milk is on the grocery list, and that will be the next big transition for him, besides moving to a cup from his bottle. But as the doctor said, one change at a time!

We then went to have his blood drawn for the (socialist) state of Maryland lead test since we live in a house older than 1970-something. Needless to say, having a toddler's blood drawn is quite dramatic, and he really let me know he was unhappy about it. At that point, though, he was soooooo tired as it was way past his nap time, nevermind he'd already been given 3 shots earlier. But he was a trooper nonetheless. He did better than I would have under those same conditions!

We then went to Miss Eleanor's, where Savannah (4 yrs old), Lauren (2 yrs old), and Grace were waiting for him. The older girls were so excited to see him! As Miss Eleanor put it when I came to pick him up at the end of the day, "He got more mothering than what he needed today!" The birthday boy had lunch at noon, and then went down early for a 3.5 hour-much-needed nap. The girls and DJ celebrated his birthday with cupcakes after his nap. DJ also received really nice gifts from Grace and from Mr. Sonny and Ms. Eleanor.

I brought DJ home, and he got to walk around a little before dinner. Walking is his favorite thing right now. He had dinner, got to play (walk around) some more, and then he went to bed having read his favorite books and drinking a whole bottle of formula. He put his pacifier in his mouth by himself, and I haven't heard a peep since.

Sweet dreams, Little One. And may you have many, many more happy birthdays. Mommy and Daddy love you very much.

Added some pictures

I went back to my March 1 blog about our trip to the Isle of Palms, SC (Charleston) and added some pictures if you'd like to go take a look. :-)

DJ's 1st Birthday Party

Yesterday, Steve and I threw DJ his first birthday party. We invited immediate family and very close friends to keep the size of the party down. If the invite list were any bigger, DJ would have been completely overwhelmed by it all.

The day started out with DJ and I driving to the grocery store and doing some last minute shopping, including picking up the deli tray I'd ordered a few days earlier. Got home in time to put DJ down for a nap, and finish the party prep. I had cleaned the house and done laundry on Friday, so that was done, at least.

Side note: It was Good Friday for the rest of Christianity and why the US Stock Exchange is closed on Good Friday but not any of the other minor federal holidays (like Veteran's Day) is beyond me, but I'm not complaining. It was a nice day off for me.

DJ napped until Damian, Jenn, and DJ's 2 year old buddy Leo arrived due to the dogs going bananas at the door. Then Mike (it was early for Mike, but not as early as we were making him get up in Charleston - see my earlier March 1st post) and Andy arrived, and slowly family started trickling in as well.

We served lunch, and DJ had his first taste of goat cheese, and both green and black olives. Then we sang Happy Birthday and DJ took a swipe at his cake (Yiayia's famous Marshmallow Cake). With marshmallow icing all over his hand, he ate some, and then promptly put his hand on Steve's shoulder. Steve went to go change while I washed DJ off. DJ ate nearly a whole piece of cake; he certainly wasn't going to stop opening up for such good stuff like that! He'd never had something that sweet before, and boy did he like it!


After cake, we opened presents. He wasn't much into helping me open the gifts, even though we thought he might enjoy ripping off the paper, but alas, that was not so. There was a gold wrapping paper that caught his attention after it was off the gift, but that was the extent of his playing with the wrapping paper. DJ received a nice assortment of clothes, books and toys from everyone.

By 2pm, DJ was ready for a nap, and Steve took him in to put him down. He went down without a protest and slept for at least an hour and a half. Andy stuck around for another couple hours after everyone else left, and Steve's dad stuck around until later in the evening.

All in all, it was a really nice day for DJ. He'll be celebrating his real birthday tomorrow with Eleanor after his 12 month doctor's appointment.

1 Year Molars

I mentioned in my March 6th blog that DJ was teething his first (of four) one year molars on his top right side. A week later, I found that he had a hard spot on his bottom left gum, a good sign of his next one year molar on its way. Today, I felt around again, and the bottom left molar has poked through the gum (a little), and his top left molar is starting to work its way down as I can feel a hard spot on the gum. There is no sign of the bottom right molar yet. All this teething explains why he's been sleeping and drooling so much!!! He's been a little more cranky than usual but if not for the other two symptoms, you'd never know he is teething!!

Dog food. Yummy.

On Friday, I was busy in the kitchen while DJ was playing in the kitchen with me. Naturally, we keep the dog food bins in the kitchen where we feed the dogs. Up until Friday, DJ couldn't open the bins; he wasn't coordinated enough despite being strong enough. Friday, he not only opened the bin, but then took out a piece of food and popped it in his mouth. Yes, our son ate dog food, sort of. I pulled the dog food out of his mouth before he started to try and chew it. Multiple people had asked us if he'd eaten any dog food yet and now we can say YES! And yes, we have secured the bins so he can't open them now. However, he knows what is keeping the bins from opening! He just doesn't have the coordination yet to undo a twistie tie. ;-)

DJ is officially Greek

DJ has now been officially indoctrinated into the Greek culture. He had lamb chops yesterday for dinner. I cut him very small pieces of my chop for him to chew on, and he kept opening up for more after he'd swallow. He probably ate at least half a chop, and that was after he'd had a full dinner. OPAH!!

Well Hot Dog!

It's lunchtime, and I wanted a hot dog for lunch. Since DJ was eating lunch with me, I decided to share my lunch with him. And thus, he had his first taste of a Hebrew National hot dog. And it wasn't just a taste, I'll have you know. Every time he'd run out of hot dog, he'd whine at me for more! So far, he's had 1/2 a hot dog, 1/4 cup of applesauce, and a half a slice of multigrain bread. Where does he put it all???

Choo choo train

Yesterday, I went to the obstetrician, and I got to hear the heartbeat of a little 12 week old baby in utero. Again. :-) I love the sound; it sounds like a little choo choo train. So yes, DJ is going to be a big brother in September! Clearly he has no concept of what's going on what it'll all mean when the baby arrives, but I hope that one day, he and his younger sibling are very close. Sure, I expect that there will be lots of fights growing up. But I hope that they will love and protect each other as feverently as they will fight. Here's to what I hope will be another low stress happy textbook pregnancy, and Steve and I look forward to another happy healthy surprise!

Wreaths

It's official. DJ loves wreaths. He gets totally excited every time he sees on one hanging on a door. He starts panting excitedly, he'll make noise, and then kick his legs like a frog. Of course when we get close enough to it, he tries to grab it. And it doesn't seem to matter what kind of wreath it is. He loved Miss Eleanor's Halloween wreath, her Christmas wreath, her January/February purple wreath, and now loves her Easter egg wreath. I'm almost tempted to put a wreath on our garage door just for DJ! I suppose I could use one of our corded race tires; it would be appropriate!!

What's with the tongue?!

Last night, as DJ was playing, Steve and I noticed DJ was sticking his tongue out. He was just holding it there while he was doing his thing. He was doing it again this morning at Ms. Eleanor's, so it's a new trend!

Hello!

DJ now waves bye-bye consistently, as long as his right arm is available (i.e. not holding on to someone). But to add to his repetoire, he now waves hello with his left arm!

Someone is teething again!

It started on Sunday... the drool. Yes, DJ was blowing raspberries, too, but there was an awful lot of drool beyond the raspberries, too. Then, it was the chewing. DJ would put his mouth on anything he could to chew on. Table tops, chair seats, toys and your finger were all valid and frequent targets of DJ's chewing.

Yesterday, I decided to check to see if a tooth had actually come through yet. Sure enough, the right side 1 year molar has poked one cuspid through his gums.

There is no question he's not done yet, so I'm wondering if the other one is coming as well, as has been his trend of teething two teeth almost simultaneously.

So he has all four of his top front teeth, then skip a spot to the right and he's got the next tooth over poking through. He also has all four of his front bottom teeth, for a 9 tooth-count total!

The official Dilbert widget

I have a Dilbert habit. I love reading Dilbert. So I always ask for the Dilbert 360 day calendar for Christmas every year and I get Dilbert in my email daily.

Now I am sharing the Official Dilbert widget with everyone reading this blog. I've posted it to the right-hand sidebar. You can read today's Dilbert strip and any other strip back to January 2005. I suspect Scott Adams will be adding more strips to that widget eventually, but 3 years of strips is certainly a nice start!

I also added it as a Dashboard widget for my Mac. Love it!!!

Back in Baltimore

The rest of our South Carolina trip was just as nice as the first few days.

On Sunday, DJ was up at 5:30am. Mommy and Daddy on the other hand, were not, but awake we had to be else DJ would have woken up the whole house with his wails. We never figured out what was waking him up so early; it's not like the sun had even risen over the horizon yet! We brought him to bed with us to try and get him to settle down with us for a little while longer but that was a futile effort. The Wiggle Worm lived up to his name. By the time the rest of the house was awake, I know I looked as bad as I felt... bad. DJ took an early nap, thankfully, and I lay down, too.

Meanwhile, Mike, Andy, Damian, Jenn, and Leo started a road trip to see the Battery in Charleston. When DJ woke up, we hopped in the car to follow them figuring we'd catch up at a playground there. Unfortunately, the wind was really whipping off of the Cooper River (neat bridge!), so the first crew called us to let us know they were going to Fort Moultrie instead.

Steve wanted me to see the Battery so he drove us through there as a detour. Talk about some ENORMOUS houses. Holy cow... clearly they were old but beautiful. What a neat area. As Steve put it, on Saturday nights, the Battery is where the teeny boppers and the motorcyclists go to be seen. Steve also recognized some of his favorite restaurants on Battery Street, and filled me in on a little history. I'm glad we detoured... what a really neat place.

We joined the rest of the crew at Ft. Moultrie, and DJ got to see the fort from up high, thanks to Daddy. Mike and I were sitting in the grass taking in the sun and some really nasty burrs, apparently. OUCH! It's not like you could SEE them on the ground, so I had no idea until I sat down. But the sun was warm, the breeze was gentle within the protection of the fort's walls, and the sky was cloudless. Truly, it was a perfect day.

We found lunch at an Italian restaurant, and DJ heartily shared my spaghetti and meat sauce. The boy takes after my own heart. :-) Sunday afternoon was spent with most of us catching a nap in a sunbeam. We brought dinner in that night, and we spent the rest of the night packing and cleaning the house in hopes of leaving on time on Monday.

DJ apparently wanted to go home early because once again, he was up at 5:30am. Brutal!! But this time, when we brought him to bed with us, he didn't wiggle. In fact, he stayed curled up with each of us for about 20 minutes apiece. He didn't sleep, but he wasn't wiggling, talking, or fussing. He was just playing with his pacifier and I guess enjoying our company (we were certainly enjoying the cuddle time and extra "sleep"). At 6:30, it was time to get up i.e. DJ was done with cuddling with us. ;-) We got a head start on getting our sheets washed and cleaning our room and bathroom because of DJ.

DJ's breakfast was notable because I don't know where he put it all. He had a full bowl of oatmeal, a smaller bowl of yogurt, and 2 whole pieces of raisin bread. Yikes! While DJ was eating, we helped finish cleaning the house and doing the laundry. At 9:30, we were ready to depart.

The ride home was about as uneventful as the ride down, except that we turned DJ around for the first time during one leg of the trip. He LOVED it. He was so excited that he was waving his arms around and talking a mile a minute. It was so cute! But it was so exciting to him that he couldn't fall asleep when it was time for his nap. So at the next rest stop, we turned the car seat back around. Within 3 minutes of the car moving, he was out like a light. He had his next taste of fast food, this time Wendy's grilled chicken and oriental noodles out of my salad, and some chicken nuggets (sans the breading we could get off) from Chick Fil'A.

At dinner, Damian offered to drop Mike off at his house since we had much further to go than everyone. That really was a blessing. DJ only fussed for 10 minutes after dinner in the car, and then he was quiet the entire rest of the way. I'm wondering if because he was alone in the back, he didn't fuss because there was no one to fuss to! Whatever the case, he was an ANGEL. We got to my parents' house to swap back cars at 8, and we were home by 9. DJ was in bed by 9:15, and we were in bed by 9:45.

It was a long day and drive, but I'd do it again because we really did have so much fun with everyone. This trip also showed me that we'll be able to drive down to Wrightsville in July and that DJ will do just fine.

Isle of Palms, SC

Greetings from the Isle of Palms, South Carolina!

Currently, Steve and I are sitting in a beautiful ocean front beach home (hoping for DJ to go back to sleep!). We're looking out at the ocean on a 65 degree sunny day. After the 18 degree day we left in Maryland, this is a very welcome change of pace!!

We're here with Damian and his family, Andy and Mike. This house is Andy's cousins', and they have been gracious enough to let us borrow it for a few days this weekend. We couldn't be more spoiled by this place. The 10 ft ceilings make the rooms feel beyond enormous, and the house is truly luxury. It feels like the house my family stays in when we go to Wrightsville Beach. It's just wonderful.

The drive down was LONG. We left the house just after 8 on Thursday morning, picked up Mike at 9:15 or so, had lunch around 12:30, stopped for dinner at 6:30, and got to the house around 7:15. We let the kids play as much as we could during the stops and once we got here, but naturally they were so done with being in the car seat by dinner time. The 40 minutes from dinner to the house was one big fuss, but the kids truly did awesome for that long a trip. At one point during the trip, we swapped bachelors, and we got Andy and Damian and Jenn got Mike. It was good bonding time for sure!

We let the kids play in the house once we got here and while we unpacked the stuff for them. DJ went to bed around 8, and then we unpacked the rest of our stuff, created a grocery list, and then I effectively went to bed. I was wiped out.

Despite it being a new place, DJ slept great. He woke up at 5am on Friday morning (rough...), and eventually he fell back to sleep in our bed with us for about another hour (as we hoped that by doing that, we wouldn't wake the entire house). He took two 2 hour naps on Friday and ate like a horse all day. I think he was making up for the fast food we had on the way down of which he didn't eat much (good boy!). We spent most of the day doing nothing but trying to catch up on sleep and letting the kids adjust to the new digs. DJ spent a lot of time walking (with and without fingers!!), and he tired himself out big time!! But he did great progress walking as he'd take 4-5 steps at a time without any assistance. As he'd get overexcited, though, he'd fall over trying to "run" because he seems to forget to remain balanced. We also think that he's watching 2 year old Leo run around and is finding confidence that way, too. DJ went to bed at 7 with nary a complaint and slept through until 6:30 Saturday (today) morning.

Today, the group of us went to see the USS Yorktown (aircraft carrier) and the Coast Guard ship, the Ingham. Both were WWII era ships, but the cool thing was that Mike's dad did his CG service on the Ingham! Although Steve and I didn't do too much exploring (it's tough walking up and down ship stairs with a stroller, even folded!), we talked a lot about what we were seeing across the Cooper River, which was Charleston itself. We also watched a sailboating class of 13 boats practice maneuvers from the deck of the Ingham.The Ingham

We then went to see the Yorktown and you know what, it's big. And what's scarier is that today's aircraft carriers are a football field bigger. To someone like me who's not really familiar with military procedure, learning about how planes land on a carrier, both WWII era and today was neat. DJ was kicking his legs the whole time, people watching and watching the movement of everything around him.

We snagged lunch at Firehouse Subs. DJ had an *entire* grilled cheese sandwich. The subs were yummy, though it certainly helps when you're starving! :-) After lunch, Steve, DJ, and I took a drive down Memory Lane to see some of Steve's old haunts, including driving over the "new" Cooper River Bridge. It was nice to put some images to all the stories I'd heard. DJ and I fell asleep on the way home.The Cooper River Bridge

This afternoon was spent mostly enjoying the downtime. Steve took a long nap in the sun room, Mike took a nap outside on the deck, Damian and Jenn took Leo to the beach, and Andy and I watched DJ together. It was a nice quiet afternoon. The guys are currently making dinner, Steve is watching DJ, Jenn is watching Leo and I'm here blogging.

We wish we could stay another few days. This has been great! I'm hoping this becomes an annual tradition with us because this has been good bonding time and really fun for the kids.

The 4th bottom tooth is here!

DJ seems to have a 2-at-a-time teething habit. Only a week and change later after a 3rd bottom tooth showed up, the left side bottom tooth has poked through next to his bottom front two teeth. I suspect it's actually been a few weeks as I didn't notice the 3rd bottom tooth as soon as I noticed this 4th one. The third tooth was visible from a distance whereas this one I had to feel for it - and promptly get bitten - serves me right!

native american indian battle call

Miss Eleanor showed me this morning how DJ will sustain sound while you pat his open mouth like a native american indian battle call. She says he can do it on his own, too, but I thought it was hysterical that he knows what to do when you do it to him.

SOOOO Big!

I was feeding DJ dinner on Saturday night when I asked him Greek, "DJ, how big are you?" And by golly, the little boy raised both arms up over his head with no prompting whatsoever! The next meal he was in the high chair, I asked him in English how big he is, and he raised both arms over his head again! I think the little boy has learned So Big in both languages! That is SOOOO COOL!!!

A 3rd bottom tooth

DJ finally broke a third bottom tooth through on Wednesday night. I was feeding him dinner when I noticed it. Naturally, I stuck my finger in there to make sure and CHOMP. Yeah, ok, so I deserved it. ;-) Sure enough, that tooth was most certainly through!

Bye Bye!

DJ decided to wave bye-bye to Jeff, Grace's dad yesterday, when he dropped her off at daycare.

Eleanor told me when I went to pick him up and I figured he wouldn't do it for me. Well, he didn't. But when Grace's Mom and Aunt came to get her and we were getting ready to leave, I told DJ to wave bye-bye and sure enough, he did it! He raises his whole arm and waves it up and down. How cute!!!

More on clapping

DJ likes to clap now. He's gotten lots of positive feedback in the past few days when he does clap, so he claps more often now. But he won't clap while standing up, at least not while he's thinking about it. He can certainly balance himself while clapping but only when he's preoccupied with something else. So in most cases, if he's standing, he'll very pointedly sit down and then clap. Funny boy!

Patty cake, patty cake...

... bakers man. Bake me a cake as fast as you can...

Steve and I got to see DJ clap with our own eyes yesterday! It's absolutely adorable! He won't do it because you're doing it, at least not that I can tell. He just has to be in a mood to do it and he'll just spontaneously do it! That is so cool!

Clap! Clap! Clap!

We haven't seen it for ourselves yet, but DJ learned to clap yesterday! Miss Eleanor was so excited to tell me when I arrived to pick him up. She hoped he'd do it for me, but of course he wouldn't. He was much too busy doing other things.

Steve and I tried to get him to clap (yaaaay DJ!) while he was in the high chair, but again, DJ was much too busy eating to clap!

Alas, we will wait until tonight to try again!

DJ's first basketball game

DJ went to his first basketball game tonight. We went in support of Grace's dad, who is the head coach of the Varsity as well as the Athletic Director for Cardinal Gibbons.

Cardinal Gibbons was going to play Loyola High at Loyola, and Miss Eleanor said that she and Mr. Sonny would be attending. So I decided to take DJ to give him his first experience of a live game, even though it was going to be past his bedtime.

I carried DJ in the Snugli, and he was enraptured with the game the entire first half. He was happy to see Mr. Sonny, Miss Eleanor, his girlfriend Grace, and her mom, Nadia, but he didn't pay them too much attention at first. The game was fast paced and very exciting!

DJ was tired by the time it was ending, but we stuck it out to see Gibbons overcome a deficit to win.

DJ also met Mr. and Mrs. Brune, my high school classmate Kieran's parents. Mr. Brune is a legend at Loyola, and it's really cool that he still comes to the games though he's long since retired. So he met them, and I sent my regards to Kieran.

THOCK!

DJ learned to click his tongue on Friday! At first, the sounds were light, little click click click clicks. Then on Saturday, he really started to THOCK his tongue. It's when you press your tongue to the roof of your mouth and really create some suction to then create the thock sound. He really seems to like that sound so he's been repeating it often.

DJ is also standing more often by himself and for longer periods of time between 10-20 seconds, especially if he's distracted while he's doing it. And despite his steps towards us earlier in the week, he now likes the game where a parent lets go, and DJ dives into the other parent's arms without taking any steps. Kowabunga! ;-)

Step, dada, step!

On Monday night, DJ was babbling in the high chair while I was on the phone and Steve was cooking dinner. I'm paying enough attention to keep feeding DJ but not much else other than my phone conversation. Next thing I know, Steve is jumping up and down saying, "DID HEAR THAT?! He said "DA DA!" And sure enough, he repeated it. So da da da da da is a new syllable for him, though he doesn't know that it can be associated with Daddy yet. Nonetheless, that's pretty cool stuff!

Yesterday evening, DJ was standing with Steve's help facing me (who was sitting on the floor a foot or so away). DJ let go of Steve's fingers and took two steps towards me and then lunged himself into my arms! After lots of "Good jobs!", hugs, and kisses, I turned him around and sent him back to Steve. He took two steps again and launched himself at Steve. That's awesome!

DJ will let go of and even push away your hands, fingers, etc. so that he can stand by himself. In fact, he lets go of the things he's holding on to for balance more and more frequently and without any prompting from us. So it's just a matter of time before he'll be walking... !!

The Whirlwind Holidays

The holidays this year were a total whirlwind. There was so much going on that I need a vacation from my vacation. I've really enjoyed being not at work and therefore home with DJ, but bills must be paid and I'm sure DJ misses Miss Eleanor and baby Grace.

The holidays began with Steve's brother, Dave, and his wife, Nancy, flying in from San Diego on the Friday before Christmas (see earlier blog about how airlines are frustrating) to stay with us for the holidays. This means that there is constant activity in the house! I love having them stay with us because they remind me that I should drink alcohol and play video games more often (maybe not always at the same time...). They're also just a breath of fresh energy and since we don't see them that often, a really good time to catch up.

Their staying with us also meant we needed to clean the house and grocery shop before Dave and Nancy arrived. It mostly got done. Their room was ready in general, though Steve and I cleaned out their closet of all the extra stuff we'd been keeping in there so they could hang clothes and put their bags in it. Their arrival was great timing because DJ was just starting his bedtime routine, so they got to see him before he went to bed that night.

The Saturday before Christmas was relatively quiet because I didn't go anywhere. Steve, Dave, and Nancy went Christmas shopping and I was happy to stay home with DJ to avoid that insanity. I'd finished all of my Christmas shopping the weekend before which was my goal because this year, unlike years past, I wanted no parts of the commercialism insanity that comes with shopping the weekend before Christmas. I'd wrapped all my gifts, including the stocking stuffers, 3 days earlier so that I wouldn't have to deal with that once I had house guests. Steve, Dave, and Nancy wrapped gifts later that night after we had steamed crabs with my mother-in-law. Guitar Hero and Halo 3 were also on tap for the evening, topped off with a Red Bull-Vodka. :)

My brother, James, and his family flew in from Minneapolis that Saturday. We didn't get to see them before DJ's Baptism on Sunday, so we caught up for the first time at church. I was concerned that DJ might have some stranger anxiety and wouldn't go to James or Susan, but that turned out to be one less thing I needed to worry about because DJ went right to them. Eleni and Alexandra were tickled pink by DJ, and they proved to be worthy babysitters during the course of their stay in Baltimore.

I'd been stressing about DJ's Baptism (see earlier blog about the baptism). I had all sorts of things that I needed to have for the service itself plus the prep for the reception thereafter. When you're planning a party for 70, there's no end to the things that could go wrong! Naturally, there were plenty of people who didn't RSVP so I had to call them all individually so I could give The Acropolis an accurate count. It turns out I was off by like... 10 due to people being ill so I couldn't have known otherwise. It was a bummer they couldn't come. Plus, trying to keep DJ on a reasonable schedule so he'd be fresh enough to deal with a big thing like a baptism and a reception afterwards was a big challenge. I was totally stressed out the hour before we needed to leave... snappy doesn't even describe me well which is sad. Of course I forgot stuff at home that we had to turn around and go back for (his outfit is important!), too.

Once that was done, that was one less major stressor on my plate. Then came Christmas Eve. I met DJ's godparents at church in the morning so they could take him for his first post-baptism communion. Later that day, DJ (the Santa Baby) and I went to the Hopkins Club with my family while Steve, Dave, Nancy, and my parents-in-law went out with cousin Tim and Aunt Jan to the Manor Tavern for Christmas Eve dinner. On the ride home, DJ was inconsolable, and I couldn't figure out what was going on. Once we got home and out of the carseat in my arms, he was fine and went right to bed so I still have no idea what was wrong except that maybe he just wanted the company. I went to bed right after he did so I was asleep by the time everyone else got home, to Steve, Dave, and Nancy's disappointment.

I already blogged about the Christmas Day insanity.

The 1st Day After Christmas, my true love and I had a fight. And so I chopped the pear tree down and burned it just for spite! My true love, my true love, my true love gave to me. Just kidding. The day after Christmas involved my going to my first ever Valley View Farms 1/2 price Christmas stuff sale. I expected it to be a zoo. Surprisingly, it wasn't though it was getting crowded by the time we were leaving. I'm thinking that there's a 6am rush, it calms down and then another 9am rush. DJ was in the snugli with me, and we bought a nativity scene for next year. Then we went to Wegmans and we were home in time for DJ's morning nap and before Dave and Nancy woke up. Dave and Nancy had given Steve and me a copy of Dance Dance Revolution for Christmas so we busted that out for the first time. Steve, Dave, and Nancy then went to my mother-in-law's to help her with stuff around the house.

I took DJ to my parents' house to visit with my brother and his family. Eleni and Alexandra wanted to babysit, so changing diapers and following a crawling baby around the house was all part of the training process. Alexandra did a great job changing DJ's diaper (a poopy one, even!), and both girls did great watching him and keeping him safe from himself. :)

That night, my father-in-law spent the night to make his trip the next day easier since he'd be taking Dave and Nancy into Washington DC. So on Thursday, Steve had to go to work, and I had a dentist appointment. I dropped off DJ at my parents' house so the girls could babysit again picked him up when I was done with the dentist. Dave and Nancy had left by the time I got back home which was a bummer, but we'd said goodbye earlier that morning. I spent the afternoon trying to get DJ back on schedule and cleaning the house. That evening, Steve, DJ, and I went to Andy Leeds' house to visit with my McD friends. We had a wonderful time there, too.

Friday morning, I took DJ to see his godparents, his grandparents, and Eleni before the Minneapolis crew left for the airport. Once again, the girls did a great job babysitting, including feeding him a bottle and cereal. After his morning nap, he played with everyone for a little while longer, and then the Minneapolis crew left. I fed DJ some lunch, and then we left to go to the bank and open a savings account for him. We got home in time for a nap. When he got up, we me with Steve at White Marsh Mall to do a little post-Christmas shopping. Friday night was finally a quiet one.

Saturday I met up with a friend for lunch while DJ and Steve stayed home. My mother-in-law came over to play with DJ and rip some of our CDs. Saturday night was quiet.

Sunday we took DJ to church for his second round of communion and then spent the rest of the day doing nothing useful. :) New Year's Eve, my parents came over briefly to drop off a New Year's bread (basilopita), but otherwise it was quiet. Our next door neighbor, Steve, set off fireworks at midnight, and the rest of the night was uneventful. New Year's Day was also quiet. We needed the downtime!!

The 2am Ahooo Waahooo Waaah

Steve and I were getting ready to go to bed around 2 this morning after having celebrated the new year when we heard, "Ahooooo waahooo waaaaah." DJ was apparently awake, too, though we didn't dare go in his room! We hoped he'd just go back to sleep eventually (which he did).

Ahooo waahoo waaah. :)