This Year's Thankful List

It has been a great Thanksgiving, and I'm grateful for so many things:

• My amazing husband who is such a supportive and nurturing Dad
• My adorable, sweet Baby James
• My sisters and the fact that we're such good friends
• My family (including in-laws) and our great relationship
  
• The fact that James's runny nose is not accompanied by a fever
• Macaroni & cheese (the homemade kind with Grandmother's recipe that I made for today's dinner)
• The internet, which allows me to stay connected with the aforementioned sisters and other family members
• Running
• Naps
• Tenure
• The fact that we've weathered this economy, etc. well thus far
• Really good concealer
  
• My purple corduroy pants
• My group of mommies (and James's baby friends)
• Bananas
• Watching my grandfather and my son walking together with Granddaddy's walker
• NPR
• Our president-elect

Cutest Penguin Ever

So, as we're preparing to leave on a Thanksgiving road trip (which is what I should be doing instead of blogging; whatevs), I thought I'd better post our Halloween story & pictures.

I've called James "Lil' Bug" for much of his life. Thus, I thought I'd create a bug costume for him. Now, this was somewhat tricky because I didn't want him to look girly. Thus, no lady-bug and possibly no wings. My idea was to get a green (possibly stripey) outfit for him. I'd actually buy two outfits, cut off the arms of one, stuff them with polyfil and attach them to the outfit he'd wear. Then he'd have six "legs"-- his legs, his arms and the fake arms. I'd also make some antenae and put them on a hat. He'd look super cute as he crawled all over the place. Good plan, right? Well, two issues: 1) I couldn't find a green outfit (shocking, I think), and 2) the concern was raised that he might look like an alien, or at least not enough like a bug.

The next costume idea came from Dan-- Dress him as a monkey because he is one. Easy enough. Get a brown outfit. Put a tan belly on him. Perhaps a brown hat with monkey ears. He can carry a banana. Well, I couldn't find a suitable brown outfit! Everything had writing/graphics. I did find a zip-up hoody, but wasn't sure it would work.

Let me interrupt to acknowledge that there are plenty of VERY CUTE monkey (and likely bug) costumes available for purchase. However, I come from a family of homemade costume wearers/creators (partly because such cute store-bought costumes didn't exist in the 70s and 80s), so I felt compelled to make James's costume.

OK, meanwhile, hanging in James's closet is a penguin outfit from his Auntie Ali & Uncle P. He received it as a Christmas gift last year and would have disappeared inside it even though it is an infant design (read-- big sack). I figured it was likely too small, plus he'd get frustrated in the sack now that he's so mobile. . . Well, I took it out, and had him try it on. It fit, and HE LOOKED RIDICULOUSLY CUTE!!!!!

I was still concerned about the mobility factor, so I did make a homemade costume that he could wear under the sack. If he got too hot or too frustrated, I'd remove the sack, and he'd still be a penguin. (As it turned out, it was pretty warm for Hallween, so he didn't wear the sack much.) The homemade costume was a black unionjack suit (oddly easy to find compared to the green and brown!) with a white felt belly. I made a beak and eyes and sewed them to a black hat. Cuteness.

Oh! I did actually make yet another costume for him! A wind-up toy! I made a crank (cardboard covered with aluminum foil) and velcroed it to his back. It was pretty hilarious, but didn't stand up well, and he kept trying to look at it (think dog chasing his tail). Unfortunately, I couldn't capture it in photo form, but Auntie Peg has documentation!

Our Halloween festivities: Baby Isabella's Halloween party, Mommy's school parade (and visiting the fifth graders, aka her former students), Grandpa & Grandma's house, a party at the Whitakers'. Our trip to Daddy's work was cancelled because his building closed due to plumbing problems before we could get there. Sorry!!

Who Needs Toys?

Thought you'd love to know that James is currently playing with a big laundry basket. Pushing it all around the house. Crawling into it. Crawling out of it. Talking. Pushing. Having a ball. He was crying a few minutes ago because he'd flipped it over on top of himself somehow and was a trapped baby. It was slightly sad but mostly funny. As soon as I un-trapped him, he smiled and resumed pushing it around happily. So cute!

11 Months-- BIG times!

So, James turned 11 months old on Saturday. We're pretty sure that he's gone through a major growth spurt lately. He's noticeably larger (taller, heavier) than he was 2 weeks ago. (Perhaps this was lending to the latest sleep troubles...)



To celebrate his big day, we installed the new carseat. Now, this was preceeded with much research and stress. We knew we wanted a Britax as they are top-ranked for safety and ease of use and comfort; we just couldn't decide between the Roundabout or the slightly larger Marathon. We looked at lots of studies, and both were well-ranked. Our concern was whether James would get too tall for the Roundabout before getting too heavy. The Marathon (whose name obviously appealed to me) goes 15 pounds heavier (not really a concern of ours) and a couple of inches taller. Of course, the seat is substantially larger as well. After polling other Moms, visiting seats in stores, consulting Baby Bargains and Consumer Reports, we finally settled on the Roundabout. The great thing is that I was able to save 20% with a coupon and get it for under $200! Yippee! (We got the cow pattern--very hip.)







Well, after installing the seat, Dan crafted a slide from the cardboard box. James LOVES sliding from the ottoman across the living room now!







In another 11 month-old, growth-spurt celebration, James got new jammies. He was bursting out of most of his footie-jammies, and his fleecy sleepsacks were ridiculously small--the sleeves were like 3/4 length, and he couldn't extend his legs fully (yes, we've considered that this could have contributed to the sleep difficulties). We got him two new roomy sleepsacks and some great BabyGap jammies. The jammies are two-piece sets, so he looks like a toddler instead of a baby. Even Dan got a bit verclempt! I think they'll last longer though because his feet aren't contained.







So, now we have taken some of the bigger clothes out of the closet, washed them and introduced them to the wardrobe line-up. We'll be bagging up the footed jammies and other too-small clothes, and we need to put away the infant carseat and its accompanying snap-and-go stroller. Our baby is getting big now!

Shocking Development!

OK, so this photo has nothing to do with this post other than it goes with the title, but it is a funny face that James is making more and more often these days.

So, this afternoon, James was showing signs of tiredness at the end of lunch-- rubbing eyes, glazed expression, etc. I took him back to his room to get him ready for a nap. We did the usual routine: change diaper, read a book, nurse,... His eyes were droopy, but he kept fighting it. Meanwhile, my phone rang. After ignoring the phone and trying to get Baby Boy to sleep for a while, I finally just put him in the crib and went to turn off the beeping phone. He cried when I left. Then he was talking and playing, so I decided not to go back in just yet. I checked my email. After a little while, he whimpered a bit, then turned on his music (left from the mobile). A little bit later there was silence (well, other than the mobile music)-- he fell asleep!!!! On his own!!!!

Sleeplessness

So, we're pretty tired around here.

In October, I finally nailed down James's nap schedule, and was working on night sleeping. He'd take a nap at 9ish and 2ish every day, usually for an hour and a half each time. For a while, he was falling asleep at 8:45 every morning like clockwork! With the help of The No Cry Sleep Solution, we established a nightly routine and found ourselves happily getting Baby Boy in bed much easier and by 7:00 each night. He was still waking a few times, but I felt we were definitely making progress.

Then we were hit with a one, two punch:

One: The marathon. And all its accompaniments: Dan offering to tend to James in the night in an effort to get me more rest (major backfire), visitors from out of town, major schedule alterations (traveling around the city, etc.)....

Two: The time change. Because of the marathon, we didn't really try to pre-empt this because it actually worked out better for us if he woke up an hour early the morning of Nov. 2nd (so I could nurse before heading to the start, and he could eat a good breakfast before trekking to Brooklyn to cheer).

In the first days after the time change, he still napped twice a day, and slowly seemed to adjust his time from DST to Standard.

Not so much anymore. He's been fighting naps like crazy and waking up lots at night. I'm really hoping it is the elusive front teeth causing all of this. (His gums are all white and swollen.)

On Tuesday night, he woke several times then was up for the day at 3:30!!!! Dan rocked him for over an hour. I nursed him. He even went for a 30 minute stroller ride around the dark house. No luck. We finally gave up at 6:00 and got ourselves up.

Guess what. He's crying now. Loudly. After his second lame, 30-minute nap of the day. This is killing me.

Long Time, No Post

Sorry that it has been over a month since the last blog entry. Here's my lame excuse: the New York City Marathon. True, it was just last Sunday (Nov. 2nd), but I got injured in late September, so I spent all of October mending. I had PT three times a week, and was napping whenever James did in an effort to mend. So, with all of that, not much time for blogging. I did succeed in running the marathon, but more on that later.

James is doing WONDERFULLY. He is standing up all of the time now. He's still crawling (very fast) to get from place to place. He loves exploring: the cabinets, the bathroom (he pulled off all of the toilet paper on Saturday), the plants, the stereo (it cracks me up when he turns on the radio then crawls away in a hurry as though he's frightened himself), anything!



He's also a fan of the playground. He likes to ride the swings and go on the small slides. It is so fun. One day we did the playground twice, and he ended up falling asleep with his mouth full of fish at supper!

We did have a bit of a scare the week before the 'thon. That Tuesday evening, James got a fever after having had a runny nose all day. The fever lasted about 24 hours (with Tylenol every 4 hours), then it broke. Hooray! The runny nose stuck around a bit longer, but no RSV-like difficulties, so we're alright. Unfortunately, Daddy & Auntie Peg (who was in town for the 'thon) also got the cold, so that was no fun.

October was a busy month for parties as well. James attended THREE first birthday parties! Our friend Jolie in Brooklyn celebrated her day in Prospect Park. The next day, Marissa, one of our baby buddies, had her party complete with a magician! The following week, we went to baby pal Cora's house for a fun princess party. As if that wasn't enough, we attended TWO Halloween parties (plus the parade at Mommy's school)! Baby friend Isabella had all the babies over on Halloween, and the Whitakers hosted a bash the following day.



In these photos you can see James's homemade penguin costume. He also has a VERY cute, warm & cuddly penguin suit from his Auntie Ali & Uncle Preston-- photos will come.


James continues to enjoy lots of new foods and eats most items in bite-sized pieces rather than as mush. Lately he's enjoyed: avacado, pears, plums, applesauce, waffles, pancakes, bagles, bread, hummus, bananas in yogurt, "grown-up" oatmeal, beef, chicken noodle soup, tilapia, peas, sweet potatoes, carrots and cheese.

I hope to do much better blogging this month! Look forward to discussions of sleep progress (or lack thereof), car seat graduation, and "rotisserie baby".