Happy Halloween

Happy Halloween from Cersei Lannister, Robb Stark, and Gray Wind

Wordless Wednesday

advent calendar - 2011, originally uploaded by queenvanna creations.

A Day in the Life

Before Pike was born, I was scared. The usual stuff: whether I would be a good mommy, how we were going to afford child care, whether I could maintain my sanity being a full time working mom and Wes a full time working dad.

I can now confidently say that we've got this. Do I mean that we're always perfect and that nothing ever goes wrong? Duh, of course not. I can say that 14 months in, we've found a rhythm that works for all three of us (four if you count Pike's Aunt Kathy, who is with us while she goes to college).

We all get up at 6 (Wes usually before), and Wes gets Pike ready for the day while I get me ready for the day. Since Wes works from home most days, he and Pike and I do breakfast together. Sometimes we just sit, a lot of times we watch The Daily Show. Then at 7 Pike and I head off to drop him off at daycare and Wes heads to work. By 7:30, Pike is settled in and I'm driving to my day job.

Thankfully I really do love my job even though leaving Pike is the hardest thing I do all day, bar none. By 4:30, I'm back on the road to get the baby man. He usually gives me a big ol' grin and reaches for me now, which makes it even better. We head home, and more often than not, Wes already has dinner going for us. It's honestly lucky for us that he's the first home and usually does that - he's definitely the best cook in the house. Most nights we do dinner around the kitchen table, though Friday is movie night and we try to make something that can be eaten on the couches while we catch a flick.

Then it's veg out time - which actually means time to put Pike on the potty for awhile, build towers out of blocks so he can knock them down, crawl after the baby while he crawls after the puppies... you get the idea. It's still one of the most fun times of the day. Right around 7 Pike gets his bath, a story, and then says goodnight to all the fish on his walls before laying down to cuddle his glow seahorse.

Life has gotten fuller and busier since Pike's arrival, not to mention more expensive, but there's nothing I would change. Being Pike's parents is the most important, most interesting thing we've ever done. He gets more interesting and more fun to be with all the time. Believe me, I know parenting isn't for everyone - but I'm glad that it's been good for us.

Wordless Wednesday

One Year Plus: Food & Fun

Pike is now a year and a month old. He gets cuter and more awesome all the time. I realized the other day that it's been awhile since I did an official update post, so here it is!

• Pike is crawling for real. No more army crawling, he's got those arms straight, and he's doing things properly now - if there's a proper way to tear across the floor like a madman.
• He can't get near the stairs without wanting to climb them. Climbing the stairs is his favorite thing. Seriously.
• Still no walking, but when he doesn't notice he's doing it, Pike can stand on his own. He's just still terrified of it, so as soon as he notices it's happening, he gets freaked.
• When he's bored with eating or full, Pike starts handing his food to people. He likes most giving it to the puppies, but we do our best not to let him - so he hands it to us. Sometimes when we hand it back, he'll eat it. Sometimes when Wes pretends to eat it, he will then pretend to eat it. See the video below:
  
• He's more interested in sounds than words at the moment, though he's learning context for "mama" and "dada." He's also getting better about saying "bye bye" and waving when people leave - though he notably won't do it for me when I drop him off at daycare.
• Pike's finally learned to walk using the walker toy he got from Jeremy & Cori's little one Sylvia. And he loves it. I think once he realizes the he can have that same range of motion without mommy and daddy turning the toy and helping him steer, he'll be unstoppable.
• Though he's by and large an unpicky eater, he is learning to hate some things or just ignore them. While he loves meatballs with marinara sauce, we gave him a hamburger patty the other day and he was having none of that. 
• We're finding a schedule with potty time so he can get used to it, and he's hitting the target of peeing and pooping in the potty in the mornings and evenings pretty regularly now. I know, gross. But I'm still proud!
• Pike officially outgrew his baby carseat and is now in a convertible seat. He's still rear facing until he gets a touch bigger, but soon...
• Pike is obsessed with the Roku remote. I don't know why, but that particular remote is apparently the best thing since sliced bread.
• We're running into the clothing problem that 12 month stuff fits great except for pants, which he tends to be a little too skinny for. 

So there's the state of the Pike address for September. How are your families doing?

The Best of Baby Vomit

I was reading a list of embarrassing baby stories, and I figured that I'd share mine right here. It's not my only one, of course, but it's my favorite so far.

My best friend is in the navy, so when she was home visiting her family, I brought Pike up to see her and her parents. We went out to lunch, which I wasn't at all worried about since Pike (who was around seven months at the time, I believe) was always so well behaved. Naturally that day he was fussy. Instead of just letting him scream, I decided to distract him with his lunch.

He ate like it was going out of style and devoured everything I'd brought alone. I figured he'd drift off for a nap, but he was still a little fussy, so I picked him up to cuddle him into submission. The waiter came over and was saying how cute he was and, just as our (thankfully very nice) waiter finished the sentence, Pike puked. He didn't just spit up a little. He vomitted everything he'd eaten - right onto me. Naturally I had a change of clothes all ready for him, but I had to pass the baby off to my friend so I could go to the bathroom and clean off as much puke as I could.

It's worth noting that he's only puked like that one time since... and it was right down my back. Yep, mommy's a puke magnet. Lucky me!

Mom Thought of the Day: Vacuuming

Woman looking at the vacuum bag, originally uploaded by thefroghunter.

My floors are not so clean that I would eat off of them. Thankfully Pike's standards are lower than mine, and if I hate a guest so much that I'd make them eat off the floor, they probably wouldn't have gotten in the front door anyway.