Happy Birthday Richie!!!

My baby is 1 year old!!!  Today was super emotional for me.  I think the main reason was because after a long Thanksgiving weekend I had to go back to work and didn't get to spend the day with my baby on his birthday.  

However, we survived and Saturday is his big party.  I bought him a super cute chocolate cupcake and he wasn't in love with it.  In fact he got mad when the frosting was on his fingers.  Hopefully Saturday goes better! LOL!  

Let's see what can we update this month...he so close to walking and stands for longer periods of time without holding on.  He can sign "please" and "more" for when he wants food or MORE food...which is all the time.  He can drink from a sippee cup, but we are still letting him have a bottle for now.

His favorite toys are his trucks and his push walker.  We bought him a brand new Radio Flyer for his birthday.  Daddy gave him a ride, but the poor guy was so cranky he cried through the whole thing. 

His birthday theme is TRUCKS and TRAINS and we have a lot of relatives and friends coming.  I guess that's all for now.  I hope to post some pictures from the party.  He has his ONE YEAR check up tomorrow with lots of shots.  Momma is not looking forward to it.

Julie

11 Months

Here we are...one month away from the big 1st birthday!  How did this happen so quickly?  I feel like I am saying that pretty frequently but after analyzing the most recent picture of little Richie I am convinced my BABY is no longer a BABY but turning into a little boy.  I know he will always be my baby but the infant look it totally gone.

This month he had his first hair cut!  He was such a good boy and sat still through most of it.  I was such a proud momma!  He has been doing a lot of pushing of his walking cart around the house.  He is getting more and more interested in this thing called walking but still isn't quite ready to take the plunge.  This little boy likes TRUCKS!  He loves pushing anything with wheels around the house.  Since he has been sick and still such a good boy this week I bought him a new toy which is a little dump truck.  I'm sad he is bored with almost all of his other toys, but with his birthday and Christmas coming up I just feel like I need to hold out one more month.  Speaking of him being sick...this has been horrible...for me.  He has been fine, but it makes me so sad to see my little man sick.  He must have some sort of virus that is clogging him up, his chest is congested and still he is a happy little camper.

I'm needing to get the birthday plans in full swing, but have been so busy!  House still isn't sold and in other updates I am 12 weeks along!  Feeling sick and not much different from the first time around.  Every day I am still thankful to be where we are at in life.  I'm so happy!

Julie

I can't hold it in any longer...

We are expecting...AGAIN...HOLY SHIT!!!  Only this time no intervention.  Some may say, the old fashioned way. I was of the belief that having sex didn't actually create babies, I thought it was all lies...so much to my surprise when my period did not show I was cursing my hormones thinking here we go everything is all screwed up again.  I waited until I was 15 days late before I finally caved and took a test.  It was positive.  This was the first positive test I have ever seen since I never took one the first time (after I cheated and took one early and it was negative and I about had a nervous breakdown during IVF).

We were in total shock.  Dick didn't believe it.  He told me until I saw a doctor he wasn't going to get his hopes up.  As soon as I tested and it was positive I was sure.  Those small little symptoms I had experienced the first go round had been there, weird dreams, crampy feet.  I just couldn't believe it was true.  The doctors visit that day confirmed it was TRUE.  We got pregnant naturally!

My first ultra sound went beautifully, baby measured 7.5 weeks, 153 HB and due date of May 12th.  I am currently 10 weeks 1 day.  I have all the same symptoms and usual suspects as last time.  I'm convinced it will be another boy!!  Anyways...that is it for now!  Little Richard is going to be a big brother and we couldn't be happier!  I guess it will always be a mystery why it took so much intervention the first time.

XOXOXO,

Julie

California Vacation

So I can't even remember if I brought this up,  but Dick and I took a long weekend vacation to California a couple weeks ago.  Grandma was available to watch little Richard and we headed off to Sacramento.  We have a friend who lives there and was willing to take us in, care for us and drive us around!  We got in Thursday night and woke up Friday and headed to San Francisco.

Making our way into San Fran we stopped for a quick picture.

First stop was the Golden Gate Bridge and it was a beautiful day for photos!

Naturally there is a picture of me out there taking a picture.

Golden Gate Selfie.

Battery Spencer - Built in 1878 to guard to bridge.

Then we hiked the Twin Peaks overlooking San Francisco!

We thought a good idea to run up one of them.  Bad idea!

Then we drove to the Pacific.

It was beautiful.  We found sand dollars and...

Dick found this crab.

Dinner?  No just kidding.

Drove down Highway One and stopped for Gelato!

and Dick bought the largest slice of pizza I have ever seen.

There are a few missing stops because I took some photos on my iPhone, but we stopped to see the Full House house and went out for dinner at a Spicy Cajun Asian Restaurant called Swamp.

Saturday we spent the day getting addicted to "Breaking Bad" and rested.  It was a wonderful getaway and we were so thankful to our friend Carly for taking us in!

~Julie

10 Month Stats

Weight 22 lbs 15oz   71%
Height 30.5"              93%
Head 47.4cm             90%

My BIG boy keeps growing!

10 Months on the Move!

Something changed this month.  It is like he turned into this new little person overnight who is now clapping, giving high fives, shaking his head NO, asking for "MORE" and getting into EVERYTHING!!!  This past month he really has become this BIG personality and I love it.  He still finds me to be hilarious so I'm good with it.

We have yet to get in out 9 month appt so I still don't have any stats to share, but he is around 22 pounds, still lugging him around in his carseat, but going to be looking for a convertible car seat soon.  Any suggestions?  He still is taking 2 naps per day and has SIX teeth and I'm pretty sure I see one more little stinker coming in.  For sure though 4 on top and 2 on the bottom.  He is dealing with it really well.  His main mode of transport is crawling at an incredible speed and from time to time surfing along the coffee table and couches.  Not interested in trying to walk since crawling is so much faster.  

Generally is babbling when he doesn't have his nuk in his mouth, mamamamamam, babababababa da da, and our favorite....doi doi doi.  LOL!  He is also now blowing raspberries and making motor sounds when he pushes his cars around.

Other news, house is still on the market, but still having showings - had one last night we stalked from up the street and got very positive feedback!  Fingers crossed!

I'm going to wrap up with some pictures - including a Halloween preview ;)

Julie

My Little Richard Bear is 9 Months!

Getting a picture these days of my little mover is almost impossible!  He is always moving around, waving both hands, crawling and pulling himself up on things.  It is actually funny to just watch him try and make his mind up about where he wants to go and what he wants to do.  He is usually chattering to himself, mamamamamam, bahbahbah, dadadadada.  Of course I encourage the mamamama the most!

He is eating 3 meals a day, I've started giving him cut up solids now and still purees.  We have his check up this week to get all his stats.  Eyes are still BLUE BLUE BLUE.

He's started doing that adorable thing little kids do when they want to be picked up, raising his arms up when I reach out to him.  He had his first couple of shy moments when I went to hand him off he buried his face back in my shoulder.  I can't say I hated it BECAUSE this little man is so independent.  He plays on his own.  He takes off and explores and I love it, I really do.  However, there are times it is just nice to know that he knows I'm his Momma and feels safe and protected by me.  I'd rather have him be independent though.

In other news, the house is still for sale with lots of showings but no offers.  I've been running a lot lately.  I mean a lot for me! :)  I've actually started running longer distances than just my standard 3, I've done 4 and even 5!  I am not able to tell much by the scale, but things seem like they are toning and I guess that is good too.

Of course we have already started getting the question....you know...when are you going to have another???  My snotty annoyed self wants to say...whenever you provide me with a free gift of $10,000 to do an FET we'll get started on that ASAP.  Instead I just say whenever God decides to send us another.  We honestly haven't been trying, but I can't say we've been preventing either.  I honestly try not to think about it.  This sometimes catches me off guard because I'm not quite sure when the red lady will show up...but gosh I'm just trying to not obsess.  It is so difficult because man would I ever LOVE to wait until the perfect age when Richard is 2 and think okay we are ready and then be pregnant the next month...but we don't have that luxury.  I'd love love love to have more, but of course that isn't even a given.  We are just so happy and blessed to have our little miracle Richard it seems selfish to even think about starting to whine about another so I will just stop myself right here.

Happy Labor Day everyone!!!

Julie

Just Being Us

Don't get me wrong I LOVE being around people.  I energize that way.  However, this weekend we went away on a much needed family getaway up to our families cabin.  It was just us 3, well 4 our dog Lady came as well.  We had so much fun staying busy almost every minute only to crash when we'd get back at night.  Here is our weekend in pictures:

Friday Night!  We arrived and started up the fire.  Our smiley boy was awake the entire trip up and couldn't wait to eat his dinner so I sat in back and fed him while we drove.  On the menu was mixed fruit.  We had to wait until we arrived.

Bacon wrapped venison, fire roasted potatoes and garden zucchini and green peppers.

Up early Saturday morning for a hike.  We headed out and got on the trail by 7 AM.  We hiked for an hour.

We definitely earned breakfast and stopped at a cute little diner in Waupaca called Little Fat Gretchens.  Our first family breakfast outing.  Richie had pancakes!

I loved the mismatched chairs and atmosphere.

Sunday we headed back to Mom's and I worked on a little landscaping project.  25 Tulips planted in the center section. I can't wait until spring :)!

As if we didn't do enough we made it home by late afternoon and I had some tomatoes that needed to be made into salsa before they went bad.  There was just too much to use up before it would go bad so we canned!  Immediately after I fell into a heap and was spent for the evening.  Oh I forgot to mention the 3 mile run.

Last but not least it was wonderful spending the weekend with my two main men.  My Richards!  This little man is soon to be 9 months and I will update in a separate post.  I am so glad we could spend some time just being us.

Julie

I'm addicted! Another Tattoo ...soon...

They seriously aren't kidding people when they say tattoos are ridiculously addictive.  I'm dreaming up my 3rd.  It will of course be a tribute to my Dad and I'm not going to spill the beans just yet :).  I will say it will be on my back and it will bring my two current tattoos together.  Its gonna be awesome!  In case you forgot...

8 Months

Thanking about Richard being 8 months old I immediately thought...only 4 MONTHS until he is a YEAR OLD!!!  Above I put together a collage of his pictures from 2, 4, 6 & 8 months.  I love this month he looks like a little smarty pants - or as his toy sings --- Smarty Paws!

He is so fun at this age and goofy!  He can sit himself up, he eats 3 meals a day, he is crawling and just generally wanting to get into things.  He is an overall super happy little boy and loves shouting out random dah dah dah...ba ba ....dah!!!  Every once and awhile I get a mah mah mah!  My heart melts even though I know he isn't directly calling me Mama.  We are busily working at packing up the house and cleaning.  We've even taken a few loads over to our future house.  Things are busy but life is good!

Julie

7 Months

Wow is my baby growing!  Here we are at 7 months and he is so much fun.  He can sit on his own, he is eating 3 meals of "food" per day and right now really focused on talking!  All day long bah bah bah....-gah gah-gah---dah dah dah!  It is so cute!  I keep saying this, but he is so close to crawling.  He is kind of scooting forward now getting into crawl position and then walking his feet forward.  He just can't get the hang of moving his hands.

This month we went on our first Mommy-Baby mini-vacation to Chicago to visit my good friend Keely.  We had a blast!  It was difficult though being away from Daddy and parenting 24/7.  I realized how lucky I am to have such a good parenting team!  I also had my first weekend away from baby over night and it was sad, but kind of nice to be responsibility free!

This past weekend we celebrated a joint birthday party with my Sister-In-Law hosting a pig roast!  It was fun, but as with any party that requires some major planning I was happy when it was over.  Between the new job and parenting it is much more difficult to use free time on things not related to baby....Speaking of I am going to share a few pictures and then spend the last few minutes before he goes to bed!