Almost 14 months!

Kyle will be 14 months next week. Geeze! My little (almost) 14 month old is on the move now. He's been taking steps for a while but this week he decided that he can walk anywhere and he does! I can't believe it. He keeps me super busy for sure. He loves being outside. He now walks to the door and reaches for the door knob. I'm going to have to get a top latch on the door once he figures out how to open it! 

As I read my last post, it said I was weaning. Well...we did good for a few days until he got the flu. That started us back at square one because he wouldn't eat or drink anything and wanted to nurse constantly. We started weaning again a few weeks ago...and he got sick again. Well...here we are trying again. I decided to try weaning "cold turkey" and the only thing I can say is, "OUCH!" He nursed once yesterday morning and that was it. By the time I went to bed last night, I was so engorged and in so much pain. I've been researching and reading and sit here now with cabbage leave compresses and still don't have much relief. He did nurse twice today, very briefly, and I'm just hoping that each day gets better. Besides being physically painful, it has been very emotional for me as well. As ready as I am to not breastfeed anymore, I also already miss the bonding time we share with it. Only I was able to do that with him and once he stops, we'll never have that special time again. But its time and we can do it. 

Jax, Brittyn and Kyle

Our March babies

 Kyle with my dad, his LuLu

 Kyle loved "driving" the boat

 Kyle and his Yeli

 My sweet boy loves riding around in his wagon with LuLu

 Easter Sunday

 We met the Pioneer Woman with Erica! 

This video makes us laugh every time

Sweet boy's first steps! 

12 months

To say things are busy around here with a 12 month old, yes, 12 month old, is an understatement. He isn't walking unassisted yet, but he will push anything that moves, including the end tables, to "walk" where he wants to go. I love watching him figure new things out each day.

I started weaning him from nursing this week. Sunday he only nursed three times and only twice yesterday. He is eating more table food every day and learning to drink cow's milk. He of course still prefers momma but he's doing great. It is bittersweet. The bonding time we have while nursing is something only I am able to have with him. That I will surely miss. I'm thankful that I have been able to nurse him this long. I always said I wanted to nurse him for a year and I was able to. Thank you, Lord. Now I pray daily that weaning won't be terrible for either of us and we can move on to the next chapter happily.

Here are a few snapshots of my big boy.

10...almost 11 months!

I'm due an update so here goes...

Kyle will be 11 months next week. His first birthday will be here so soon. I'm busy mentally planning his party and know that I need to get busy actually setting these plans in motion soon. I can't believe my boy is almost a year old! AH!
He is at a fun and busy stage right now. Today he actually walked across the room pushing his walker. I couldn't believe it! Up till now he has just been pulling up on anything and everything and taking a few steps down the side of the couch. Today was the first time he walked with his push walker. Exciting! When he isn't trying to walk, he is crawling everywhere and getting into everything! I learned quickly what I had to baby proof.
This past week was a rough one. Since birth I have nursed Kyle to sleep. I am hoping Kyle will be weaned not long after his first birthday so I realized that nursing him to sleep wouldn't work forever and honestly wasn't that good for either of us anymore. I knew he should be able to fall asleep on his own and without momma so the only way he could learn to do without me was to cry. It was a long, emotional week for us both. But after a few days my sweet boy had it down and is now a champ at laying down in his crib, snuggling with his blanket and going to sleep. He does protest every now and then but not for long and is sleeping so great at night now.
Kyle also has some new teeth popping through! Let me just say, I HATE TEETHING! When his bottom front teeth came in, he fussed a little here and there but it really didn't seem to bother him much. Well...now all four of his top front teeth are trying to come in. Two have pushed through and the middle two are close. These seem to really bother him. Teething tablets don't seem to do much. Tylenol works pretty well. But the one thing he seems to want the most is to nurse. At least he is able to sleep all night without waking up in pain. I'm so ready for them to just pop through but I know he has many more to come in so we are no where near the end of all this.

Kyle and I appeared in the December issue of American Baby last year! Such a neat keepsake now. :)

 We so enjoyed Kyle's first Christmas. His first experience was at BeBe's house. 

 Thanks to Pinterest, I got a great idea for taking Kyle's picture for our Christmas card. 

 Christmas Eve. Love my happy boy. 

 Santa brought Kyle balls for a ball pit! 

 He's now learned to throw those balls out of the pack n play...

 After Christmas we spent a few days at the Gaylord with my dad and family. 

 We even took a train ride to the Stockyards one day

 Kyle and I have taken advantage of the warm days we've had lately. 

 A few weeks ago we went to Midland with BeBe to meet our new cousin, Cash Pettit. Kyle loved giving Cash kisses!! 

 We even got to visit with Nana and LuLu! 

The holidays were wonderful and we are enjoying our new year. 2011 brought us joy with the birth of Kyle and heartache with the loss of my father in law, Salvador and Barbara's dad, Joe. I am praying for a fantastic 2012.

Occupation: Stay at home mom/wife

Occupation: Stay at home mom/wife

Description: Wife and mother who does not hold a job outside of the home.

Duties: Wake when baby does, change diaper, make breakfast for baby and self, attempt to enjoy a cup (or two!) of coffee, change diaper, entertain and play with baby till nap time, change diaper, take a few minutes of personal time to take a shower or eat lunch, clean and pick up around the house if time allows, get baby up from nap, change diaper, feed baby lunch, run errands outside of house like grocery store, bank, dry cleaners, drop of bills...etc., pick up niece from school, change diaper, put baby down for afternoon nap, do laundry, cook dinner, maybe have a few minutes of personal time, get baby up from nap, change diaper, feed baby dinner, eat dinner with husband, entertain and play with baby, bathe baby, put baby to bed, do dishes, pick up around the house, go to bed, get up every time baby wakes, repeat.

Now, I don't have a sparkling clean house. It's far from it. But I have a happy, healthy baby and a happy, healthy husband. I love my job. I realize it isn't for everyone but it is most definitely for me. This is the hardest yet most rewarding job I've ever had. I get to see every moment of my little one's life. I've been there to witness his milestones. I get to rock him to sleep every day and every night. These are moments I'll never get back and I'm doing my best to cherish them. No, it's not easy. There are days I long for help...for a break. But I know that this is my calling and I want to do the best I can at it.

Kyle will be 9 months old tomorrow. Wow. I am constantly amazed at how fast time goes. He started army crawling this last month and is now fully crawling on his hands and knees. Over Thanksgiving at my dad's he started pulling up and standing while holding on to something. He now wants to do this all the time. It doesn't matter what he's trying to pull up on...he's going to do it. He hasn't started taking any steps but I know it won't be long. He claps, chatters a lot, still only has the two bottom front teeth, smiles and laughs at things on tv, loves his walker and will cruise around the house. He loves bath time, still takes good morning and afternoon naps, sleep at night is unpredictable. Some nights he sleeps from when I put him down till 5 or 6am...other nights he wakes up every few hours or so.

He is the happy in my life. I am so proud to be his momma.

8 months!

These days, I feel like I'm doing a pretty good job at updating this blog if I can get around to it once a month. Kyle is crawling and is ALL over the place. When he is awake, I'm busy chasing after him. When he is asleep, I'm busy showering, cleaning, reading or napping. Sadly, I don't nap as much as I'd like to when he is but every now and then I sneak one in. His sleeping patterns have been all over the place lately. During the day he is pretty consistent (except for today, of course) with taking an hour and half or so nap in the morning and one in the afternoon. (Today, he took a 30 min nap in the AM and maybe and hour in the PM. Not sure why...) Sleeping at night? For a while there he woke up at 5:30am every morning, ate, and would then sleep till 9-9:30. Then for a few nights he started waking up around 1 and then again at 5:30 and awake by 9 again. This past week he started sleeping till 6:45 or 7 like I had been hoping he would! But we are going out of town next week for Thanskgiving so I'm sure his sleeping habits will be all over the place again. Even though they aren't consistent, I am thankful that he sleeps pretty good.

Besides crawling (oh, did I mention that it's an army crawl?) he is starting to pull himself up in his crib and on me. I'm so not ready for walking! He loves his walker and will cruise all over the house. He discovered the pots and pans in the kitchen today. The walker has put him at a perfect height for several things he shouldn't get in to! I'm learning to baby proof quickly!

He is eating more solids now and even though he only has two bottom front teeth, I give him soft chunks of food and he's doing well with it! He loves macaroni and cheese and ramen noodles! He loves all fruit and will eat green veggies if they aren't pureed. If they are, he will just spit them out. But give him a green bean or an asparagus stalk and he'll chew away. I've tried giving him small pieces of chicken but he's still not sure about the texture. I need to try pureeing it and see how he likes that. I can't bring myself to give him jarred pureed meats even though I'm sure they are fine. I make a lot of his food but do give him Gerber fruits and veggies too. There is just something about baby food meat that I can't make myself give him.

At 8 months, I'm still breastfeeding him. This is something I'm very proud of. It has not always been easy and yes, it would have been nice to have someone else feed him a bottle from time to time, but breastfeeding is something I have always wanted to do and I am thankful I've been able to do it this long. I plan on only doing it until he is a year old but am already starting to get a little sad about it coming to an end. It is a special time that only Kyle and I can share and I love it. Now that he is on the go all the time, feeding is the only still time we have together anymore!

I can't believe Kyle is 8 months old now. He is such a joy and I just love being his momma! Oh! By the way, he can say "momma" and "dada" now. :) I love it!

One of my favorite pictures so far! Look at that sweet face!!!

 After swim class

 His daddy and uncles wore this same outfit as babies!

 This is his "cheese" face :)

 He LOVES bath time 

 He loves flipping over on his tummy and "swimming" in the tub. Ha!

 Peeking at Maverick :)

 Wish this picture really showed the food that was all over his face!

 My little tiger at Halloween

7 months!

I realize I am long over due for an update. Sorry.

Baby boy turns 7 months old tomorrow. Wow, how does time go so fast? I tried uploading updates on my iPhone last night and recieved a message that I had too many videos and photos for the update so I had to go through and clean things out. It was a nice trip down memory lane of when I was pregnant and the first few months of the boy's life. It is hard already remembering him being that small and still! At 7 months, Kyle is anything but still. He isn't crawling yet but seems to be close. He gets up on his hands and knees and rocks back and forth. I'm waiting for the day he just takes off!
He is sitting up really well now. As long as a toy is within reach, he will sit and play for a good while now. Sitting up has made it handy for me to sit him in the floor and run to the bathroom or to grab something from another room without coming back to him on the opposite side of the room that he would have rolled to. I realize that once he's crawling, this will be a luxury of the past so I'm enjoying it for now!
Kyle is now eating solids regularly and seems to really enjoy them! Well, he enjoys the fruit! Most veggies make him gag or make a really funny face but I've learned that if I mix them with a little fruit, they go down easier. I know he is still getting most of his nutrition from breast milk so I guess I shouldn't be too worried, I just so want him to love all food like his momma. :)
A week ago my boy cut his bottom front teeth! It amazes me how sharp those little baby teeth are! The teething process hasn't been as bad as I thought it might be. He's been a little fussy but not too bad. I hope he cuts all his teeth this easily.

Jax and Kyle in their Bumbo's at the Olive Garden

the "Stone" grin

 This boy rocks my world :)

 Kyle's first Oktoberfest with Uncle Michael and Aunt Julie (& mom and dad!)

 Uncle Michael was all too happy to give Kyle his first beer

 Not very excited about the avocados

 Mmm...

 My baby's first mow hawk

 Kyle got to meet his great grandfather, Papa.