Ten Months Old

Frankly it used to be easier to take this monthly photos. These are the best of the bunch so you can imagine how difficult it was.

He's definitely Steven's son...look how much he loves his remote control.

Ten months, where do I begin? He's been pulling himself up to stand on his piano and now he's pushing the piano around the living room. I've only seen a couple steps but Steven said he's walks around. Makes me sad to have missed it. I really need to get a camcorder so I don't feel like I'm missing his "firsts" while I'm at work. Since Steven's been home, John is much more independent. I'm not sure if that's a sign that Steven leaves him alone alot or just a result of different parenting techniques. But John will sit in his playpen quite contentedly now. He'll play and stand around and grab the hanging elephants. He's still pretty vocal but nothing coherent. He pulls himself up and lurches around the furniture. Really, just imagine your drunkest friend stumbling around and babbling at the top of his lungs and you've got John in a nutshell! Heh.

He's got ANOTHER cold. Or we're not sure if he just never really overcame the last one. Poor snotty boy. Which means I've got ANOTHER cold. Lovely times in our house, the fun never seems to end.

And in other news, Steven officially quit his job. He gave notice that he wasn't returning to work once his parental leave is completed. I can now say it out to the world that Steven will be staying home with John for ...well, we don't know how long. At least a couple of years providing we can survive on my income. Hopefully I can give a whole new meaning to the word frugal.

The Other Night

This morning when John woke up, he played quietly in his crib for about 30 minutes. Steven laid in bed listening to him chatter and play but then he determined that it was quiet. Too quiet. Upon entering his room, he noticed that John had snaked his tiny arm thru the crib rails and had grabbed the kleenex from the box. I guess there were mounds of kleenex everywhere. We're watching his poop to see if he ate any. When I put him to bed tonight I found some kleenex tucked in between the bumper pad and the rails. I suppose he was saving those ones for later. We'll have to re-arrange the furniture, earlier this week we lowered the mattress. I have to use the step stool to put him to bed, my arms & upper body aren't long enough to lower him onto the mattress without the stool. It's sort of awkward.

Smell Ya Later!

It's always a bad sign when you start your day in search of an open drugstore to buy deodorant. I went to work extra early this morning and while sitting on the train I realized that I had forgotten a very important step in my routine. I forgot to put on deodorant. Damn it. And the store didn't open until 7am so I sat and did my work until I could scurry across the street and grab some.

Another gruesome way to start the day is to have the Lakota that you applied feel like 3rd degree burns when you start to sweat. Wonderful.

Welcome to my world.

Hi-Ho Hi-Ho, It's Off to Work I Go

So, this is me at about 600am. Pretty chipper looking, huh? I'm back to work full time and while I'm sad and I miss John like crazy, I'm doing okay. I'm doing alot of new & interesting things at work and it's challenging and making me use my brain again. (the big head is coming in useful once again!)

When I returned home on Monday night, Steven met me at the door with a drink, (it was only water but it was in the cup that I like) and he had made dinner (from scratch, a recipe that he had gotten from a magazine) and had done some dishes. It was all good.

John's been crawling into the bottom part of his "office". He hangs out there for awhile and then crawls out the other side. He's also trying to climb onto the couch.

I'm still working on trying to post "The Trip - Part 3" but it's taking longer than I anticipated. Hopefully soon.

Other Stuff

I asked Steven to take pictures when I'm at work. This was my first day back to work.

Pulling himself to a standing position is fairly new. Yesterday he started moving between the couch and the exersaucer (we call it his "office"). Soon he'll be motoring along the furniture.

The hitch box finally arrived. Steven ordered it back in January and it was the longest, biggest most frustrating process EVER. I would never recommend purchasing anything from these people. John actually helped Steven hook it up. Your first thought would be the tiny hands getting into small places but you would be incorrect. Apparently when Steven was hooking up the lights and was testing them, he just had to look at John to see if the signals worked. John's head would move and look at whichever signal light was flashing. First Dad & son home project.
Then we went to the zoo. It's amazing how the peacocks are free to just walk around.

The Trip - Part Two

All dressed up to go to Mass on Saturday night. We've been waiting a long time for him to be able to fit into this sweater vest outfit!

Isn't this a great picture? It's John and cousin Bernie. At least I think he's a cousin. I mean, he's not a first cousin to John... maybe Helen?

John and Uncle Winston

The Baptism

I don't know how it happened but somehow that fat woman jumped in front of me when the picture was taken. THE NERVE!!!

(note to self: stop having full profile pictures for the time being)

Uncle Winston and Aunt Jeanine were our stand-in godparents.

(in case you were wondering, Shawn & Marilyn are John's godparents)

John and cousin Sophie. (Walter's granddaughter)

near Mabou Coal Mines

John and cousin Sandy.

Sitting on Grandma's front step. (Steven's grandma) Okay, well, technically it's Mary Ellen's front step now.

Last day with Grandma.

Helping The Mommy pack.
Trying to duplicate the last picture of Steven and his dad.
Stopping at the beach on the way out of town.

This is on the way to Lunenburg...sort of. We thought we were on the right road, around here was when we realized that we weren't. This is West Dover. It's a pretty little village just outside of Peggy's Cove. We had dinner here. This is the view from their patio. Isn't it gorgeous? A nice unexpected stop.

A tired & cranky baby and too many hours later we arrived in Lunenburg.

Wow, this trip update is taking me alot longer than I realized. Phew... I guess there will be one more trip entry coming up. Maybe I'll have time this weekend. I mean I started this post on April 12th and am finally able to post it 4 days later!

The Trip

I've been meaning to update everyone about our trip but I keep running out of time and energy. But really, if you've talked to Steven then you've heard about the trip already! I'll just keep it short and sweet. (well, sort of short)

Last trip in the infant car seat. On the way to the airport

At the airport. Tried to get a plane in the background but it didn't work.

We didn't take any pictures on the flight itself since it was an overnight flight and we didn't think our fellow passengers would appreciate the flash at midnight and after! But we're happy to report that John did FANTASTIC on the flight out. There were some fussy moments but for the most part he slept, nursed and coughed his way thru the entire flight. Yes, unfortunately he had a cold. In our defense, we thought he was getting better.

Our very first stop after picking up our rental (and spending nearly 20 minutes trying to install our car seat) was to visit Steven's godfather Nicholas, his daughter Marie and her husband John. I felt really bad about dropping in at 9am on Easter Monday but they were the picture of kindness and while shocked, welcomed us with open arms. Big John "stole" little John and cuddled and walked him. I'm sure if I had turned my back, Big John would have kept him!

We decided to get a hotel since neither of us had gotten any sleep on the flight and John was sick and very cranky. Next time I'm not going to listen to Steven and I'm going to pre-book a hotel so I can get a cheaper rate.

I tried to feed John but he was coughing so much that he ended up throwing up almost everything. So at this point, he really hadn't eaten anything for more than 24 hours. We tried to go swimming at the indoor pool, but unfortunately it wasn't heated. Holy crap was it cold. So we sat in the hot tub for a bit. Then back in the room, John fell asleep again. It was the most difficult night ever. He cried and coughed. He would only sleep if I held him and only for short durations. The longest night. I alternated walking him, rocking him, holding him on my chest while laying and holding him while sitting in a chair. Again, I got NO sleep.

As soon as it was light, I took his temperature and discovered it was 102. Eep. Feel like a bad mother, much? So we bundled up (have I mentioned how f***** cold it was?) got directions and drove to the Children's hospital. On a side note, I'm absolutely amazed that we found it considering how bad the map was.

I am a little sad that I didn't get any butt crack in this picture. But aren't these the most saddest yet adorable pictures ever? It makes me sad that they have to make gowns this tiny. We were grateful for the amazing staff. We were in & out in under 2 hours, they gave us free parking and calmed me (us) down. John had a cold. A bad cold. And the start of an ear infection. Since he still had wet diapers, they weren't too concerned that he wasn't eating but only breastfeeding. They recommended pedialyte and motrin. We also got a prescription for antibiotics for his ears but with the strict instructions to do 2 days of rest, motrin and pedialyte first. And only if he wasn't getting better then to get the prescription filled. As far as hospital visits go, it was incredible considering what we're used to here in our emergency rooms!
We returned to our hotel to pack up & check out. Instead of sightseeing the south shore, it was time to head to Grandma D for a bit of home comfort. And of course, we got lost. (One funny thing, about a block from the hotel there was this "bing" and the message "tailgate is open" popped up on the dash. At the next red light, I hopped out of the SUV and ran to shut the back. Could you imagine driving on the highway and suddenly the stroller and all our luggage flying out?) So after a visit to the drugstore to stock up and a visit to cousin James to prank him, we hit the road. You saw the travelling pictures in the previous post. I sat in the back with John since he was so sick. At the causeway, we did the obligatory pull over and took pictures.

I took this picture over John from the back window.

Meeting Grandma for the first time. Note what is on her lap! She didn't expect us until the following evening!

Thanks Grandma for the metal pot and spoon! (hopefully he forgets since all he gets at home is plastic containers!) And that's Bruce's old highchair. We had to use a belt to secure him.

Poor boy is so sick and doped on motrin, he fell asleep on the floor. He never does this at home.

While John & I stayed at home to rest, Steven went to explore.

Here's John doing thumbs up for Aunt Jeanine. (I tried to get it on "film" but kept missing) He took quite a shine to Jeanine.

Behind Grandma's house. (Steven's grandma)

Yes, that's me. I still don't believe that I hit the bottle twice.

John and cousin Walter. Such an adorable picture.

To be continued...