To Open or Not to Open

We did finally get the present open. There was no stopping him after that.

Imagine being a little kid and finding out for the first time that people hide toys in wrapping paper and pretty bags. Amazing!

A Late Evening

Can you believe my parents? They came and picked me up from daycare last night at 6. Then they dragged me to Alltel, to Sam's, to HyVee, and to Walmart. We didn't even get home until almost 10. Then I had to stretch my legs for awhile because, of course, they had me cramped up in a grocery cart nearly the entire time we were out. So it was late, late before I got to bed.

Then that Mommy person wakes me up early this morning just because the older kids have to be to school by 9. I don't care when they have to be to school. I was sleeping! And I did not want to get up. And I did not want to get dressed. And I did not want to go out to the car. And I did not want to go into daycare.

Bigger & Bigger

The Lil Dude had his 18-month dr's appointment today. (Yes, we're a month and a half late.) He now weighs 30.6 pounds and is 33.25 inches tall.

He also got a shot in the arm. He cried. For a long while - I think he was mostly just mad. Steffi asked him "Are you mad that the lady shot you?" So he punched her in the arm. And stopped crying. Just like that. I guess he just wanted somebody else to be hurt too. Luckily, she was wearing her big heavy jacket so she didn't even feel it but it made him feel better.

Lavendar

Sunday & Monday night the baby woke himself up coughing. Finally, I got smart and gave him some medicine before he went to bed. I put some lavendar baby oil on him because his skin is so dry and scaly. You know - lavendar - the stuff that is supposed to make you relax and go to sleep faster.

Yeah, right.

Apparently, no one clued Philip into this secret of the lavendar. I put him to bed and he just stood in his crib singing and dancing and rattling the bars.

For over an hour.

Then he finally fell asleep and either slept through the entire night or I was so tired I didn't hear him!

Sick

The Lil Dude is home again today. I gave him some milk last night after not having given him any since Monday morning and he threw up this morning. (I did, however, take Stephanie to daycare. She was very good the past 2 days at home but all she got to do was watch cartoons. Not that she complained about it.) Today is also John's birthday. I asked him if he would like to have the day off and stay upstairs with Philip while I worked but he decided the baby needed his mama. Now I'm thinking he just had a premonition of the last diaper change. Geeesh! Let's just say I'm glad I haven't washed all the clothes yet! Now the baby is walking around in a diaper, socks, and a large t-shirt. While he eats Cheerios. Apparently, he is hungry. I'm glad I brought the whole bag of Cheerios in here.

One apparent side effect of the stomach virus is the baby won't give me kisses anymore. I guess I should be relieved. I had a little bit of the virus yesterday morning and would rather not have it again but I miss my baby kisses.

Oh, when I took Philip and Stephanie to the doctor Monday, Philip weighed in at 30 lbs and Steffi at 40 lbs. (I have to write that down somewhere or I'll forget.)

Baby News

The 4 molar teeth are officially through.

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He's been throwing up occasionally for the past 2 days. My washer is still broken - this is not good! He still plays and eats and drinks and has no fever. Just every once in awhile, he throws up. ?!?!?!?!? He's the 4th kid, I still don't know what to do with him but wait it out or see if he gets a fever or listless. So I don't really even know if he's sick or just enjoys purging.

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A couple of weeks ago, we were reading a story and there was a part with a car that went "Beep, Beep!" Philip immediately turned to me and beeped my nose. Then he beeped his own nose. So, once again I have a child that thinks a nose is a 'beep'. (He doesn't know nose, I tried, but 'beep' he understands!)

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Here's our little nighttime ritual: I advise him it's "Bedtime for Bonzo!" and ask him who Bonzo is, then I say "It's you!" as I pick him up. We go down the hall and I let him turn off the kitchen light and his bedroom light (if they're not on, I have to turn them on first.) Then we talk to the "shadow baby" for awhile. We pat the shadow baby's head and poke him in the side (Philip thinks this is hilarious!) Then I can lay him down and he'll go to sleep - or he'll wait about 15 minutes and then start yelling at us. Whichever. At least he's in bed.

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Today we went to the store. When we got home, I caught the little guy trying to carry my 24-pack of Mountain Dew. "Me help." he said. He didn't want help - he was helping me. Such a good baby!

Update

Oh, he's such a sweet baby. He gives kisses and hugs.

He tries to say anything you tell him to but most of it ends up sounding the same. He really does speak some real words though but right now it a lot of "Dat" and "No". But he does say "Mommy" really clearly and that's the main thing, right?

He runs and 'jumps' and dances.

One of his favorite things is to follow me down the hall - there is a closet and some doorways that I can duck into and he comes to find me so we can "Boo" each other.

He loves to play with balls, light sabers, and his Weebles.

He also likes to tear up books - no, no, baby!

He likes to help in the kitchen by clearing everything off the shelf in the island and taking the pots and pans out of the cabinet. He also likes to help unload the dishwasher while I am trying to LOAD it.

He loves to play with his brother and sisters and jump on the couch.

He loves to climb up into my lap while I am trying to crochet and then loses interest in sitting with me when I make room for him.

He's a good baby. Mostly happy and content though he is willing and able to hold his own in a fight with Stephanie over whatever toy they both want at the time.

Injured

My baby decided to throw himself headfirst into the wooden arm of the couch Saturday night. Luckily, it was during Hayden's birthday party and my mother, the nurse, was there. Yes, she is a real nurse! A fact that I have exploited on numerous occasions. Anyway, we got the bleeding to stop and decided the wound wasn't gaping to there was no real need for stitches. Yay!

I believe the baby may also be getting some molars in there. Doesn't that look like another tooth coming in in the bottom?

Talking

Apparently, the baby talks quite a bit at daycare also. Yesterday he told Miss Alma he was "Stinky." Another day he was in the high chair for lunch and he was crying "I want Steffi!"

A Picture to Tide You Over

Shut Up!

The baby is learning to talk. He says all kinds of things, "Go", "Touchdown", "Scott Hall" (we have a magnet of Scott Hall on our door for some reason), "Thank you", "No", "Stop", and "Shut Up!"

Yeah, I don't like the last one too much either. I can't imagine where he might have heard that one. ahem, cough, cough.

OK, I admit it was me. Look, he has 3 older siblings and they all talk. All. The Time. They NEVER stop. The girls sometimes even talk in their sleep. A mother can only take so much before she loses her mind, you know.

I know, I know, I'm working on it.

Toy Bucket

I said, "Put the TOYS in the bucket", not the baby!

He looks surprised, doesn't he? I don't know why. He picked that spot to sit in. Almost a perfect fit!

Kisses?

Come on - give me a big kissy!

Ahhhhh. There's nothing better than a bubble bath with the jacuzzi jets on!

The Learning Curve

Know what I know? I know that when you drop a metal pan lid onto the kitchen floor over and over again, it makes a loud noise! Wait! Let me try again. ....Yep, a loud noise. It also makes Mommy cringe. Let me try again. ....Yep, loud noise, cringe. I wonder why she does that. It's funny. ....loud noise, cringe. Wow, it keeps happening. I wonder if it will do that every single time I drop this lid? ....loud noise, cringe.

Wait! I don't want to go in the other room! At least let me take the lid! I need to test my theory thoroughly! ...oh, a toy.

15 Months

The baby got shots on Thursday. Poor little guy. And he needed cold medicine for coughing and a runny nose. Poor miserable little guy. The cold medicine makes him weird. He'll be whiny and crying and sleepy, then he'll be running around giggling. (It just helps to prove my hypothesis that all small children are manic-depressive.)

Anyway, he is now 28 pounds and 33 inches. 90th percentile for both. The doctor said I could take him off the Vitamin D milk and just use 2% since he's obviously getting enough to eat and getting his essential fats from other things. Well, I'm not gonna take my baby off Vit D milk until he is 2. Just because I read somewhere that it helps with their eye development. And, anyway, it's not hurting him, he's not overweight, and if I want to spend 20 extra cents a gallon just to make sure his eyes develop properly even if it's an old wives tale, well, that's what I'm gonna do! So there!

The Helper

Here I am helping Mommy get stuff ready for Stephanie's birthday party. You can never tell when you might need a pan or what size so I got them all out for her. I even tried to get the right lids on them. And I left them right on the floor in front of the cabinet and blocking the pantry so she would be able to find them.
WooHoo! I got to try on Stephanie's birthday crown!

Antelope Park

We went to the park last night. They had a special area for the younger kids and I got to go on the slide all by myself.
But this was the mostest fun! I liked to run up and down the ramp. Up and down, back and forth. Up and down, back and forth. Up and down, back and, well, you get the idea.

Pictures

Awwww! He's so sweet. When he isn't covered in food.
Yes, I'm talking about you!

Shoe!

I like shoes! My favorite thing to do with them is to find a pair of shoes lying around or put away in their box. I like to take 1 shoe and carry it around. When I'm done with it, I leave it laying wherever I am. Then I like to go back to a different pair of shoes and do the same thing. It annoys Mommy. She starts complaining that there are shoes all over the place and why aren't they in the boxes she gave us to keep them together. It makes me laugh. She's so funny.

Video

No reason for uploading this. I just wanted to see if it would work. This was on our way home from Red Robin. The whole time we were there, if somebody said "Red Robin", Hayden would say "Yum." Because of their commercials. Stephanie actually requested Red Robin for breakfast the next morning and there was a chorus of "Yum"s.

Teething

I'm getting more teeth, I think. I'm crabby. Leave me alone.

Hide & Seek?

Philip is good at hiding. I lost him for a moment yesterday. He was in the living room with us and then he wasn't. So I immediately went down the hall to the bathroom and kitchen and called over my shoulder for the other kids to look for him. I got halfway down the hall when Meredith saw him. He was in the corner behind the big table we have in the living room. There is just enough space for the kids to crawl behind the table and they can "hide" back there and that is what he had been doing. John doesn't like them to go behind there but I don't see what the big deal is - every kid needs a hidey spot even if it does give their mother minor heart palpatations once in awhile.

Then, I went into my room to put some clothes away. (Yes, I folded clothes - on the same day I washed them! well, the same day I washed some of them) I put the clothes away, then turned off the light and shut the door. I got about 3 steps away when I heard a "Waaahhhh!" Apparently, the baby had followed me in there and was snooping around while I put stuff away. I didn't even think he could get over there that fast. Those little legs can mooove!

Pirate

Philip swiped Stephanie's Pirate Uniqua doll this morning while she wasn't looking. He was quite sneaky about it. And do you know what he said when he had the doll in his grasp? He looked at his ill-gotten booty and he said, "Arrrr!" I kid you not. He'll make a fine pirate one day.

Haircut

Just kidding. No haircut for this one yet. From the looks of things, it will be awhile before he needs one.

This picture was taken on Monday. I know this because that's the day I decided there would be no baths because I was exhausted. Clearly I had forgotten Parenting Rule #4,172 - "Do Not Feed the Baby Spaghetti on Days when You are Too Tired to Give Baths." sigh - so we had baths on Monday after all. It was all in his hair - ewwww!

Update

We do walk now, by the way. Philip started really walking 2 weeks ago. ...If I ever have time to figure out how to upload video onto the computer, I'll try to get it on here. That is my goal for the week.

He also has started talking - a lot! OK, I can't understand most of it, Occasionally, he'll say "mama" though.

1st Birthday

Well we still haven't gotten around to having an actual party for the Lil Dude but he did get to eat some chocolate cake.

Hmmm. What's this?

Ohhhh! It's GOOD!

He's starting to walk now. All evening he has been standing up, walking a few steps, and then falling on his rear, and then starting it all over again. He's finally decided he wants to walk.

Walking & Talking (kind of)

He's got a few words in his vocabulary now. The most recent and most used is "uh-oh". He has also taken up to 5 steps. He can stand up on his own now without pulling up on something but he really still just doesn't seem to care all that much about walking on his own. However, he does like to crawl up the stairs on his own and Mommy likes that.

I promised some pictures.

So here you go . . .

When Will He Walk?

I can't believe it. This baby still isn't walking. And here I thought he would be early. Even Meredith was walking by now - she was 1 year and 1 week. Philip has been pulling himself up and walking around furniture for months. Why isn't he walking? The answer is: He just doesn't see the need. He can get wherever he wants to go. He can "bear crawl" really fast and he walks behind the little cars all over the living room. Monday night, John and Hayden saw him take a step by himself - it was a falling step, but a step nonetheless, and he did it again last night. So, MAYBE he's working on it.

Speaking of the "bear crawl"...Meredith and Stephanie were playing with him the other day. They were bear crawling back and forth because they saw him do it and thought it looked funny. And I swear I heard Philip say, "medoit." John thinks I'm making it up but that's what it sounded like and as I'm in charge of the baby book - that's what is going in there.

Speaking of the baby book, maybe I'd better go find it and get some of this stuff in there!

ONE YEAR OLD TODAY!

My baby is one-year-old today! He's such a little sweetheart. This weekend I was sitting on the couch and he crawled over, pulled himself up to look at me, then he waved and said "Hi." Then he irritated me by refusing to say it again. (Hayden and Meredith were like that too - they'd say something once and refuse to say it again. Meredith said her name when she was 2 & refused to say it again until she was 3!) Stephanie, on the other hand, would repeat just about anything over and over as long as you kept asking her.) So far, Philip only has 2 words: Hi & mama. He's not walking just yet - by himself anyway. He'll walk all over the place while hanging onto one of the little riding cars we have. He doesn't like to walk holding onto your fingers either. He seems so small to me. I'm not sure if he's just littler than the others were at 1 or if it's just because the others are so big now. Or maybe it's just because he's the last of the brood and I need him to be little for awhile longer.

Don't worry, I'll get some current pictures on here soon!

My Little Angel

I was holding my little baby last night and he dozed off to sleep. And I looked at him and just looked at his perfect little face with its perfect little nose and chin and lips and eyes. He truly is a beautiful baby. I was almost awestruck by this little guy. And then I got hit with a blast from the future and I could see myself as a grandmother and my little baby would have a baby of his own.

I hope he will take the time to look at his sleeping baby the way I saw him last night. And I hope he will be awestruck by her as well.



And, I hope, I truly hope, that when he looks at his beautiful little baby who just dozed off in his arms it is in the middle of the gazillionth night in a row that she has woken up 2 or 3 times a night thereby keeping him from getting a decent night of sleep - ever. And, I hope he remembers his mother's (that would be me) words of wisdom, "Someday I hope you will have a child of your own and I hope she will be JUST LIKE YOU!"

Then I hope my baby will call his mother (again, me) the next morning just to say, "I'm sorry for all those sleepless nights and I understand now how you felt."

To which I will reply, "Do not call here before 10am again. I am still trying to catch up on the sleep you refused to let me have when you were a baby!"

The Little Guy Has a New Nickname. . .

FANG

Apparently, his tongue is too long to fit in his mouth?

Ears

My baby has to have tubes put in his ears on Wednesday. I took him to the dr today for his mandatory physical and he now weighs 23 lbs, 11 oz. and is 30.25 inches tall. I forgot to ask where that puts him on the size scale. Oh well. They took some blood out of his finger and he didn't even cry - just looked at them like they were morons. Right now the surgery is scheduled for 7am. It could move back if a younger baby needs to come in - they go youngest to oldest because of the no food after whatever time thing. I need to call tomorrow to see what the cut off time is.

Philip

What Philip Means

You are influential and persuasive. You tend to have a lot of power over people. Generally, you use your powers for good. You excel at solving other people's problems. Occasionally, you do get a little selfish and persuade people to do things that are only in your interest. You are truly an original person. You have amazing ideas, and the power to carry them out. Success comes rather easily for you... especially in business and academia. Some people find you to be selfish and a bit overbearing. You're a strong person. You tend to be pretty tightly wound. It's easy to get you excited... which can be a good or bad thing. You have a lot of enthusiasm, but it fades rather quickly. You don't stick with any one thing for very long. You have the drive to accomplish a lot in a short amount of time. Your biggest problem is making sure you finish the projects you start. You are relaxed, chill, and very likely to go with the flow. You are light hearted and accepting. You don't get worked up easily. Well adjusted and incredibly happy, many people wonder what your secret to life is.

What's" Your Name's Hidden Meaning?

He'd better be relaxed and go with the flow - He's got 3 older brother and sisters!

Getting Toothier!

I have 3 teeth now! THREE! And another coming in. So I have the 2 middle ones on the bottom and soon will have the 2 beside the middle ones on the top. Now I can bite for real. And, hard, too. You all had better watch out because I do like to bite fingers and hands.

News

Philip crawled on his knees for the first time on Sunday. Just a little ways and now he's back to scooting. I'm thinking it was the tile floor we were on at the time - I guess he didn't want to drag himself across it?

Yesterday was his first day at daycare. We've got him going less than 6 hours a day for the time being. When Grandma leaves, he will have to go to fulltime and Stephanie will be joining him.

I took him to the doctor for his 9-month checkup last week. He was 29.25 inches tall and 22 pounds 6 ounces. That puts him in only the 75 percentile for both. John's wondering why he dropped but, hey, he JUST got 2 teeth last week so he's not eating like babies with teeth yet. I'm sure he'll pick back up again.

My Very First

I got a tooth last night. And the 2nd one is about to pop thru too. Daddy & Mommy were wondering why I was so crabby and sleepless last night. Daddy's sad because I'm not a little toothless baby anymore. Mommy thinks it's cool.

Sorry, Mom

There will be no more resting on the couch. not anymore. Not when there is a curious 7-month-old scooting around the place. He likes to check stuff out. His favorite so far seems to be the video tapes on the shelf under the tv. But he has also found my desk, the extension cord, and the kids' toy area. Luckily, most of the little toys are put up high but you never know when one will show up. This weekend, I caught him chewing on a french fry that somebody dropped on the floor.

Speaking of not getting any rest - Philip woke up last night but he wasn't really awake. He was kind of between asleep and awake. He was crying but it was like he couldn't wake up. He would flail his arm around trying to grab onto something but at the same time try to push me away. He does this once in awhile. I don't know if it's night terrors or what but it takes awhile to calm him down and you have to keep him calm for about 20 minutes before you can actually lay him back down in his bed even if he seems to have fallen back to sleep.

I'm very crabby today!

I don't know what's wrong but Mommy isn't fixing it. She's supposed to be taking care of me - JUST ME!

I do not care how many other kids are here!