Oh Christmas!

I am getting so excited for Christmas this year. Usually I enjoy the holidays, but it's not really something I start thinking about until at least the third or fourth week of November. I'm one of those people that roll their eyes when the Christmas stuff starts showing up.

"It's too early!" I always exclaim. No matter when the green and red paraphernalia appears.

Last year, I would have preferred if Christmas just skipped right past us. I was SO tired, SO utterly and completely exhausted, the thought of doing anything other than eating something and going back to bed when my very little one was sleeping left me overwhelmed. Just the thought of decorating, baking, trimming the tree etc. was beyond me.


We did cut down a tree. Brought Isaac out in his stroller to one of those u-cut places in Lynn Valley. By the time we got there, Isaac was hungry - AGAIN - and tired. But we trudged around the lot, looking for a tree. It was fun and I'm glad we did it. But then that poor tree sat forlorn in our living room, looking bare and dying more every day. By a few days before Christmas, all that had happened was a bunch of needles fell on the floor. Finally Justin decorated it one evening. Poor guy, pretty much did it all himself. I sat on the couch in my pjs and watched.




Christmas day was nice. Isaac slept at the right times so that I could open presents with my family and eat Christmas dinner. He was taking approximately an hour to nurse still, and he nursed quite frequently. So the fact I was able to partake of some Christmas activity was a big deal.

But then Boxing Day, he did – I am not kidding – a 16 hour nursing marathon. He was obviously going through a growth spurt, so I literally spent the day on the couch. Ugh.

But this year? Oh yeah, this year is going to be AWESOME! My little one is not quite so little anymore. He crawls and rolls and sits up and plays with anything and everything put in front of him. I can't wait to see him playing with his toys and, let's be honest here, the boxes and wrapping paper too. I can't wait to let him try some Christmas goodies, to sip a bit of egg nog (that's OK, right?) and to hopefully take him out in the snow. Squee!

When the silver balls and red bows started popping up in Superstore - right next to the bloody chainsaws and scary skeletons - I couldn't wait to start browsing. I twinkle toed up and down the half an aisle, picking up this and that, dreaming of decorating and Christmas pictures and stuffing stockings.

Yup. This year, I've been smitten with Christmas spirit. I cannot wait. Hurry up Christmas, get here already!

These pictures are basically the only pictures I took on Christmas day. I didn't even take any of our tree at home, though I think Justin did. And we didn't even get a family picture. So much for starting traditions with our boy! Oh well, traditions can start a year later, right?

11 months

My baby,

You're almost not even my baby anymore. You're almost one year old. You're almost the age where we will start tracking the time less by the months, more by the 'year' and 'half year' markers. You're almost at the age where you will do much more boy stuff, much less baby stuff. You're almost at the age where you move inexorably towards independence and further away from needing me. Gradual, slow, small steps, but each one a step towards standing on your own two feet - first literally and then as the years pass - figuratively.

But for now, you are still mine. You're my baby and I will hang onto you for as long as I can, keeping you safe and cuddled and mine until my job has been done well enough that I become incidental in your life.






You are learning so quickly now, each day you are discovering more and figuring out how your little world works. Just this week, you started dropping objects into containers. It's a big deal, since up until now it's been take out / dump out things. We have a shape sorter ball that's broken, and you put the shapes into the empty, upturned half a ball now. Then you dump it out, grab the shape and drop it in again. You also spent a good deal of time yesterday dropping a ring into the container and taking it out again. So precious.

You caught your first cold this week. Mommy got sick on Tuesday, Daddy caught it Wednesday, and we managed to keep the germs from you until Friday afternoon, when your nose started running. You're a real trooper with your cold so far, still playing even though you're not feeling too great. Yesterday afternoon you had a small fever, but by the evening (after your second two hour nap of the day) it had dropped.

Hmmm, what else? Anything significant happen in the last month? Oh, I don't know, maybe the fact that you're CRAWLING!!!! We are SO proud of you, little one, as you pull yourself along with your hands and push with your sweet toes. Your bum lifts up a bit, but you don't have the classic "crawl" happening yet. I know I mentioned this in the last post, but it's worth expanding on. Because people, this is a BIG DEAL!!!



At first you would get so frustrated just moving a foot or two forward. Now, you move across the living room quickly, you go out into the hallway and turn around, figuring out where you want to go next. If Mommy is working in the kitchen, you "fwop fwop" (the term I've dubbed for the sound you make) your way towards me. You let me know you're on your way not just by the sound of your hands fwopping, but also giving me a talking to about the fact that I am not in the same room as you anymore and you are not impressed!

In the last month you've cut three top teeth: the top front left Sept. 20, top right Sept. 30 and Oct. 16 (OK, one day past your 11 month) you cut your third. Now you've got five - wow!

You still say lots of 'mamama' sounds, and your favourite sound is 'ba'. You make that lots, especially when you're happy. But if we ask, "where's Daddy" or "where's Mommy" you look right to the correct parent. Good job!

Anyway, I could go on and on. But seriously, I think pretty much every moment with you is worth recording and everything you do is adorable. So that would be a lot to write about. Ooh, one last thing. Yesterday morning you tried blueberry pancakes for the first time, and loved them. I think we've found your new favourite food. You inhaled those flapjacks like they were made of candy. Which as far as you know, they are.

Thanksgiving

Thankful today for so many things. But most of all, thankful that the Lord blessed us with such a beautiful baby 11 months ago. He is my boy, and I am his momma, and that is a blessing beyond understanding. There is nothing I did or can do to deserve this perfect child, this baby with his body and mind intact, who is growing, learning, developing, who has no genetic diseases, sicknesses, who can see and hear and taste and touch and smell, who understands and responds. I cannot praise the Lord enough for this child of mine.


And in related news, Isaac is a crawler now! Hurray!! Within days of him "creeping" a bit across the floor, he was learning to pull with his arms and push with his toes, and is a boy on the move now. He gets his bum a little bit in the air, and it's still a lot of hard work. But he can motor from one end of the living room to the other, and come out into the hallway when I'm in the kitchen. It's cute and pathetic at the same time, because he's crawling and crying since it's still hard work for him. I feel like he's thinking, "Mommy, how come you don't want to be with me as much as I want to be with you?!" He's working so hard to get to me, but then it's so rewarding because I meet him in the hallway and scoop him up in my arms and get the best cuddles!! I love this kid.