mama monster & baby monster are finished!

Yay! I managed to finish my mama & baby monsters only a week after my intended due date. That's pretty good by my standards of finishing my knitted projects on time. JC seems like to like it regardless if I'm a little late in giving it to him. That's why he's awesome.







If you are interested, you can get all the deets on my project's ravelry page.

<3 Melissa

flashback saturday

Ooops, I was supposed to post this yesterday for "Flashback Friday" but I was having too much fun hanging out with the Super Friends last night, staying up late and watching the first X-Men movie on our new TV. I like that we still try to have fun movie nights even though we all have kids 2 and under. It takes some patience and you can't really watch a movie that needs too much concentration, but we make it work.

Anyway, I'm unofficially making this JC's birthday week post-a-thon because I inadvertantly have only been posting about things pertaining to this milestone. I'm not going to apologize though. IT'S A BIG FREAKING DEAL! I can't believe that I have a one year old. It didn't really hit me until I called to make a hotel reservation for next weekend and the lady asked me how old my baby was when I told her it would my fiance, baby and I staying in the room. I was about to say "so many" months but I had to stop myself and say "one year". It was trippy.

I've been freaking out so much by how much different my baby is at a year old. My little guy was born at 33.5 weeks so he had to stay in the hospital for the first 17 days of his life. It was agonizing to say the least. Here's a couple pictures of his sweet little newborn self while he was in the NICU wearing one of his few preemie sized outfits.

He was so tiny you guys. Like itty bitty tiny. Well, he actually was pretty big considering how early he was. I'm so curious as to how big he would have ended up if he had the chance to cook a little longer before he was born. 

Poor baby man had to have a feeding tube for most of the time that he was in the NICU. That was the main reason as to why he couldn't come home right away. He was big enough but he didn't have enough energy to finish his feedings before he would fall asleep. I really like these pictures because it was the first time that I ever got to dress him in "actual" clothes. The hospital provided these HUGE gowns that he wore most of the time because they were easy to keep all of his monitors attached. My mom bought him this little outfit and I wanted him to wear it before he got too big. It was so nerve racking getting him dressed. He was just so little. I was so happy when I finally got him all dressed because the onesie was pretty much stretched to capacity. His little belly was so big. It made me hopeful for how big he would eventually get. 

I wanted to do a size comparison with now but for some reason JC wasn't down for holding still while I held the onesie up next to him. Who would have guessed. So I looked around for an appropriately sized stuffed animal and scored with his bunny that we got him for Easter. It fit the bunny perfectly!

He's gotten so big!!!

Seeing this made me smile so big. I'm keeping that bunny dressed so that any time I worry about how big JC is compared to other babies, I can look at that and see how far we've come. 

<3 Melissa

twelve month doctor check up!

Why that has an exclamation mark at the end of it I'm not quite sure. If you asked JC about it, he wouldn't be as excited about it. Actually, it wasn't all that bad.

JC showing off his sweet band aid, Tsunami looking extra thrilled in the background

His one year stats are as follows:

18 pounds 12 ounces

27 inches long

18 inch head circumference

Compare that one year go:

5 pounds 4 ounces

16.9 inches long

Do they measure your baby's head when they are born? I can't find this number anywhere if they did.

I can't believe how much bigger he has gotten! He's still a tiny guy compared to other babies we know but when I see how much progress he's made I am so proud. His doctor is definitely not concerned so I'm not either. My little tiny preemie is growing up.

He had the nicest nurse sing him "Happy Birthday" when he got a little fussy while he was getting weighed. That made him happy. We got three shots today, one in each arm and one in his thigh. This was the first time he's received shots and really seemed bothered by them. I'm not looking forward to bringing him into the doctor once he figures out/remembers where we are and what they do there. There was a mom there practically shoving her son into the back as he cried and cried, just terrified at the idea of being there. They hadn't even seen him yet. For now, JC cried just a little after his shots. But it didn't last long. Nothing a little daddy snuggles couldn't fix. An hour later he was as happy as could be.

Extra drooly, just how I like him

<3 Melissa

They say it's your birthday!

JC all brand new on his birth day, one year ago

Today is JC’s first birthday!!!!!!!!

I really wish I had my blog earlier so I could have done little posts like this every month but I figure better late than never right?

It’s crazy to think about how much change has happened in the last year. When I brought JC home, he pretty much slept all day. Being a newborn plus the added fact that he was a preemie made it so that he slept for about 2-3 hours, would wake up to eat and then immediately fall back asleep. I knew it was important that he saved his energy so he could grow and get bigger. Now he’s so active and alert. He’s a little person interacting with the world around him, learning a million new things every day. I feel truly blessed to witness his ability to find joy in the simplest acts. Everything is brand new to him and he loves it.

Let’s go through some stats shall we…

JC ‘s sleep schedule has been pretty much the same for the past three months or so. He wakes up between 9 and 10. He goes down for his morning nap between 11:30 and 12. He sleeps until about 1:30 or 2. His afternoon nap normally occurs between 4:30 and 5:30. He sleeps until about 6-6:30. We start his bedtime routine around 9 and he’s down for the night between 9:30-10. When it comes to sleep, I really can’t complain. This kid is a champion napper. He has slept through the night since he was about 4 months old. OCCASIONALLY he wakes up in the middle of the night due to teething pain but it’s very few and far between. I feel pretty lucky that I have a baby who loves sleep as much as I do.

He’s eating three solid meals a day now. We are still nursing about four times a day. Well I guess three times a day since yesterday when I decided to officially start weaning him. We are both ready. JC’s favorite foods are scrambled eggs (with cheese, bell peppers, and/or tomatoes), rice & beans, avocados, yogurt with rice cereal & mashed up blueberries, ANY pasta/sauce combination, and quesadillas. He mostly drinks water but he has had a little bit of orange juice a couple of times and he LOVES it. He likes to feed himself with his hands but he hasn’t quite figured out that you need to tilt a cup to get water out of it. I’ve tried switching his sippy cups from a cup that has a soft sippy part to one that is hard but I’m not sure if he gets how it works. He finally seems to get how straws work now though and he likes drinking from them.

His favorite toys are his train and his new “mail cart” as I call it. Both of these are big and have wheels and are meant to push around while standing up. He is getting a lot better at pushing them without falling over. His favorite books are Biscuit and Baby Faces. They’ve been his favorite for a while. JC really only notices the TV when Sesame Street is on it; Elmo is his favorite. Besides that he isn’t huge on television.

JC is an expert crawler and pulling himself up to a stander. I catch him letting go of whatever he’s supporting himself with and he can stand for 10-20 seconds before he falls down. One of his favorite things to do is pull himself up to a stand using our headboard on our bed and falling down on purpose. He’ll fall on his butt and then on his back and he’ll laugh and laugh. It’s so funny to watch him play little games like this. He also loves to dance. His favorite songs are anything that involve a guitar, but especially Jack Johnson. Or when his daddy plays for him. Katy Perry is still his number one lady.

He’s starting to figure out how to clap. He’ll put his hands together and move them up and down. His pincer grip is pretty much down pat. He’s really good at picking up cheerios and other little pieces of food and feeding himself. He tries to pet the cat but usually ends up pulverizing her. Luckily, she’s really sweet and seems to be ok with it.

He says the words “dada”, “mama”, “baby”, and as of yesterday “birthday”. If he knows what they mean, that’s a different story. He has become quite the babbler. He used to be the strong, silent type but lately he will sit on the floor and babble all day. He’s also what you could call a “hand talker”.

Baths are very enjoyable. We are still using the little inflatable tub in the big bathtub but he’s getting more and more curious about the rest of the bathtub around him. He likes to stand up and splash down on his baby booty.

We are FINALLY getting some teeth! Well a tooth, to be exact. It is his bottom right center tooth, if that makes sense. It made it's first appearance a couple weeks back and has been slowly but surely making its way up. JC totally digs brushing his teeth tooth too. 

That’s pretty much JC, in a nutshell. He’s still super mellow and easy going. He has a little bit of stranger anxiety that’s setting in but that’s normal. It just takes him a little bit to warm up to you if he hasn’t seen you before or in a long time (which for him is more than a day). But once he does, he loves most people. I’m really looking forward to what the next year has in store for us!

I’ve still got to go through all the birthday party pictures from the weekend. I’ll get those up ASAP! Here's a teaser picture.

That is my adorable cake monster. Needless to say, he enjoyed his birthday cake.

<3 Melissa

countdown to JC's birthday party: 18 days!

Ahhhh I can't believe how fast this party is coming up! I feel immediately organized and completely unprepared all at the same time. Basically, I have a lot of ideas but I'm unsure how it will all work out together.

First things first, JC's birthday present(s) from us. Keep in mind that we did not buy JC a Christmas present because the pressure to give him the best present ever was too much for us. I've started making him this ADORABLE mama monster and baby monster set. I promised I would share some knitting adventures so here ya go.

{linking up to 'I Spy-Handmade Edition' on Little Miss Momma}

Those would be a pair of mama monster feet. I'll give complete project deets once it's all finished but I'm using the leftover yarn from JC's Where's Waldo halloween costume. Sorry all the links are from ravelry, if you don't have an account. Even if you don't knit, if you like perusing some awesome stuff, make an account. I'm sorry ahead of time for the incredible waste of time you will encounter. Anyway, I'm actually a little bit farther along on this than I was when I took this picture a couple days ago. I've kind of lost my knitting mojo for the last month or so. I just haven't had any time but I'm trying to make some. Besides this, I'm still not sure what we will be getting him. Maybe something like this, or this? I know he would have the time of his life with a cardboard box but I really want to get him something special. 

I guess the other big part is kind of combined, at least in my mind, decorations and food. Charles is in charge (heh, Charles in charge) of the main food but I am in charge of what really matters, dessert. We are going to have his party under a big gazebo in a park right behind our house. The gazebo has four tables, all of which I plan on using. One table will be at least mostly dedicated to desserts. I plan on making some toadstool-esque cupcakes like the ones found here and my big undertaking will be creating S'more cake pops like the one's found here. These should both go well with the overall woodland theme of JC's party. I'm still looking for a creative way to display both of these items. I also found a few really cute figurines at the antique fair on Sunday to use to decorate the dessert table.

Sorry for the 2341243134 toys in the background. I only spent about $14 for all of these and I think they will add a unique touch to the decorations. I have already purchased this banner for general decorating purposes. It's unbearably cute. I will also attempt to create some tissue paper pom poms to hang up around the gazebo. 

I'm still hung up on what to have for favors for the kids that are coming. Surprisingly, there will be quite a few little ones but they are vary widely in age. A favor for a five month old will not do for a ten year old. I'm probably going to make a special onesie/shirt for JC. Basically do an applique like this one but make a big number "1" or something like that instead of a bunny. I want to haul JC's high chair out there too so he has some place to eat his cake (ooo that reminds me, I'm not sure if I'm going to make him a special cake or just give him one of the cupcakes...) so I'm debating about whether or not to decorate that too with a special banner or something. 

Sorry, this post kind of just turned into a stream of consciousness of my party planning brain. This is the first big party that I'm going all out on since I am able to devote a little more time to it. Luckily I'm doing a lot of it myself, so it shouldn't be too expensive. If you care, I will be keeping everyone updated on any new party planning activities/crafts and I will definitely do a comprehensive post after it's all said and done. If I make it that far and don't have a panic attack.

Birthday planning and doctor's appointment

Urrrr I really wanted to post about our Bodega Bay trip but Charles has the external hard drive that has all of our vacation pictures so I'll have to do that tomorrow if I have time. But we did a couple other things so far this week that are worth posting about so I'll catch everyone up on that stuff.

On the way home from Bodega Bay on Tuesday, we decided to stop by Land Park and take some pictures for JC's birthday invitations. Side note, I really can't believe that I am already planning this kid's first birthday party, it's insane. Anyway, I'm going to do a woodland theme for his party so I wanted a picture of him amongst some cool trees. I think we got our shot, but here are some pictures that didn't make the cut but are cute none the less.

 

This kid loves the camera so much it's ridiculous. He was having a mini fit in the car right before we got to the park and as soon as the camera came out, it was all smiles. Land Park is one of my favorite places in town and it was fun to hang out even if it was only for a little bit. It was a nice ending to our Bodega trip before Charles had to go back to work. 

On Wednesday, we took JC to a doctor's appointment to check his weight. When we went in for his nine month check up, the doctor expressed a mild concern in his weight. He's always been small, which is normal because he is a preemie but he followed the normal growth curve and is of average weight and height for his adjusted age. At his nine month appointment, he had dropped off this curve slightly so just to be sure his doctor wanted us to come back in six weeks to weigh him again. So in we went and luckily he is back on his normal curve. At nine months, he weighed in at 15 pounds 10 ounces and six weeks after that he weighs 17 pounds 3 ounces. So he gained more than a pound and a half in six weeks. I'm not surprised, knowing the amount of food that JC chows down. He's such a good eater and he will try anything. I made him an omelette for breakfast today (which is a HUGE feat for me considering the first time I scrambled eggs was last week) with two eggs, bell pepper, tomato, green onions and cheese. He ate about 3/4 of it and a piece of toast. I was so proud of myself for making him a good breakfast and I was so happy that he liked it. 

I'll try to post about Bodega Bay tomorrow I promise!