TYCHOSTEPS! AGAIN!

Perhaps I am a broken record at this point, but I LOOOOOOVVVVEEEEE Tychosteps. (Also, I love turning everything into a Tychoword: Tychosteps, Tychoman, Tychosmash, whatever.) But I just get all beam-y and ridiculous. And he's getting so good! Every single day he is a little more steady and a little more confident. He likes to carry his big red ball around the living room.  I just love it. I can't even write about it nicely because I'm such a big goober about it. WALKING! AMAZING! Love you, Tychobaby.

Monthlies!

Check it out, blog:

Tycho every month with his "birthday bear" showing us how much he grew in his first year. I'm not one for cutesy projects, but I did this anyway, and I'm so glad because lookit! How is this even the same baby! How was he so impossibly tiny? Aaaaaaaaahhhhhh!

And month thirteen:

I wonder how long I can keep this up!

Not such a baby anymore.

I know I just posted about this, but I'll say it again: I love toddlerhood. I do miss Tycho being a tiny squishy helpless newborn, and surely there was a lot that was easier about that stage. Food was simply breasts. No prepping snacks and toys for any trip outside the home. I didn't have to worry about discipline or child proofing or anything really. I will always look back on his babyhood fondly, and perhaps I will forget how hard I found it at the time. But it was hard for me. For both me and Kyle actually. The days felt very long and monotonous and even though he was beyond cute, there wasn't much in the way of positive reinforcement for anything we were doing.

Now can be hard, too. Tycho is boisterous and strong and is always getting in to trouble and on the verge of breaking something or eating something he shouldn't or diving headfirst off the couch. Tantrums happen now, and I still haven't mastered how to deal with them yet. Tycho requires snacks and he has opinions on them and his poop smells really bad now. BUT. But he is so awesome. He gives really great hugs. He gets better at walking everyday. He knows that balls are for throwing and he rolls toy cars along the floor. He is beginning to grasp the concept of gentle with the cats, and boy, does he LOVE the cats! He FINALLY is using baby signs after six months of seeing us do them. This time is so great.

TWUE WUV

So, like, yes, I totally love my baby all the time, always and forever, even when he is being a huge butt head. That goes without saying. Since he sprung from my loins and all that. But lately I feel like I am extra super in love with him. I think toddlerhood suits us all very well. I'm squee-city, here. Look at this kid, he is beautiful.

Amazing thing, amazing thing, amazing thing, amazing thing!

SOOOOOO.

Things are finally starting to turn around for my little family, and I'm at the point where things are not so secret. A few brief updates:

1) I GOT A PROMOTION! I am now a big fancy pants assistant manager. Haha. I'm really excited about it, though. I've been working my butt off for the past several months to prove myself and I'm so happy it's paid off. I really love what I do, so I'm super happy to climb another rung on the career ladder.

2) We're buying a house! Like, for real. We found a beautiful townhouse in an adorable neighborhood. We had the inspection yesterday, so now we need to do some negotiating, and , fingers crossed, it will be ours in about a month. More to come on that front.

3) TYCHOSTEPS!

Stuff

Blog! Why am I so terrible at updating? Ugh.

Life has been busy busy busy. Lots of BIG THINGS happening with us, most of which I don't really want to share until we're not in the thick of things. But the biggest thing of all: FIRST STEPS! Tycho actually took his first steps while I was at work for Ashley, and I am so proud of myself because I wasn't upset in the least about missing it. I am just SO excited about him learning to walk. We've seen quite a few more tentative steps since, and every time I feel like my heart is going to completely burst with joy. So awesome.

Anyway, more content soon. In the mean time, here's some pictures from Tycho's birthday party to tide you over.

Happy Birthday, Tycho!

Dear Tycho,

Yesterday you turned one year old. One year! That is amazing. YOU are amazing.

We had a fun day yesterday for your birthday. I am a mean mama, though, and started things off with your one year doctor appointment. It was a necessary evil, I guess. You were very unhappy about your shots, but only for a minute, and then we were on our way. You are still growing like crazy. You weigh 31 and a half pounds (99.99 percentile!) and are 32 inches tall (99.02 percentile), which means you are kind of thinning out. A teeny tiny little bit. Maybe. :)

After you had a nap we took a trip to the aquarium. The last time we visited, you were in my belly. You liked looking at the fish, and at the otters, but you were a little bummed when you reached out to touch them and the glass was in your way. Sorry, buddy. We'll take you snorkeling someday.

We ate some fish and chips for lunch, and then Daddy took off work early and met us at the new Great Wheel. It was a first ride for all of us. We were very high up, but you were no scared at all.

And after all that we watched Daddy's baseball game together. It was a long day, and by the end of it all you were pooped! So was I! But I think we had a lot of fun, and I'm glad I got to take off work and spend the whole day doing new things with you.

You are without a doubt the most significant thing that has ever happened to me. You made me a mother. You have changed my life. I am such a different person now than I was just over a year ago. I love you.

FOUR

I have a lot of posts to catch up on, I know, but I have been married for four years today and I think that is important, and I don't want it to get lost in the shuffle of all the baby birthday shenanigans. :)

Labor Day!

Happy Labor Day to me!

Party on!

Two more days 'til my baby is no longer a baby.

We had his birthday party today. A lot of stress and prep for a couple hours of overstimulated cranky boy, but oh well. First birthday! You have to throw a party. He probably won't have another real birthday party, though, until he is old enough to actually understand the concept of birthday parties. I'm not even sure when that is, yet. I will have pictures, eventually, I am sure, but I wasn't the one who took them, so not yet.

However, this:

I cannot believe how big he is getting, how old he seems.

For real, what happened to my baby?

Full circle, almost.

Tycho's birthday is in a week and a half and I am being completely consumed by nostalgia. I have no idea where the time went. I stayed up late last night looking through my weekly belly photos from when I was pregnant, and it was like looking at a stranger. I barely even recognize the person that I was just a year ago. Motherhood is awesome, in the true sense of the word. I don't think I am one of those women whose entire personality gets taken over by the mom identity. I have a job and interests outside of my offspring, and I can still have adult conversations with people about things other than my kid. But at the same time, I have become a completely different person. Motherhood can't help but change your priorities. Life has more gravity. I shake my head looking at the girl in those pictures. She has no idea what she is getting  herself into.

You can expect a lot more navel-gazing and introspection in the coming weeks, I think. How in the world did we get here?

Needy

I don't think it would really be fair to call Tycho a high needs baby. He has such a happy disposition. And anyway, with other people he's not. Kyle claims that he will happily entertain himself throwing balls around the living room and chasing the cats for an hour or two when I'm out at work. But, if I am home, I am a magnet. He has to be on me. Physically touching my person at all times. But not in a sweet cuddly type of way, either. Grabbing, hitting, biting, generally flailing. It's exhausting. If I am home and he is awake, I'm not doing ANYTHING else. Cleaning? Laundry? Relaxing? Ha!

I guess what I have is a mama's boy.

Doctor, doctor.

I suppose I should update on our visit to the endocrinologist, huh? (Thank you, anonymous commenter, for reminding me.) But really, I got nothing. It's almost not worth mentioning at this point, but loose strings ought to be tied up, I suppose.

My stomach was in knots over it, and I was warned by other mamas how traumatic baby blood draws can be, and I was steeling myself to stand up to a doctor that is under-educated about breast feeding and blah blah blah, and... nothing! Seriously.

Doctor man gave Tycho a full physical to try and find any other symptom besides his unusual size that could point to any sort of problem or condition and, no. The only things slightly out of the ordinary about my kid are:

• his eyes are slightly far apart,
• the bridge of his nose is a tiny bit wide, and
• the distance between his nose and his upper lip is a little long.

And that's it. So basically nothing at all. We didn't even do a blood draw, because there was nothing to test for. As I had been saying (mostly to keep myself calm), if there was something wrong with him, there would be something else wrong with him. And there isn't. At all.

His barely curving growth curve is still a little bit of a concern, I guess, and the endocrinologist suggested just watching it, and if it hasn't leveled off some by his birthday then we can go see a nutritionist if we're still worried. I'm not still worried, so it's kind of moot, anyway. I asked what a nutritionist would do and he said they would probably want us to keep a food journal for him to figure out exactly what he's eating, and exclusively pumping for a few days to see how much milk he is getting. I kind of tuned out at that point, to be perfectly honest, because a) no, and b) he won't drink the same amount from a bottle as he will straight from the source. And also, HELL THE FUCK, NO. Pumping. Right. No. 

Anyway, unless he's gained another ten pounds by the end of next month, the nutritionist is out. I don't know what they would be able to tell us anyway. He eats table foods, very little in the way of carbs, and breastmilk. I'm not going to stop nursing on demand and I'm not going to put him on some sort of crazy baby diet, so just, NO. No.

And I'm done worrying about it. Really and truly. He is fine. He is THRIVING. I'll save my worry for when there is something to worry about, thank you very much. Doctors. Whatever.

Thank you for your time. He is an adorable picture of my totally healthy baby, rolls and all:

Time Flies

Somehow last week my baby turned eleven months old. He's barely a baby anymore. I'm planning his birthday party. Where has the time gone? It's probably standard mom fare to feel emotional about this time, but for some reason I wasn't expecting it, and I get weepy at the oddest moments. I'll look at him playing or sleeping or whatever and I'll see this big kid. Where did he come from?

This year has been more full than any other in my life. I think that's the only way to describe it. So much packed in to such a tiny space. My mother told me that parenthood makes time speed up and she was so so right.

So it goes

Omigosh blog. It's been a while. I swear I intend to update on the regular, but life and things. I've been pretty much working every single day since we got back from vacation though, including some overnight shifts (another one tonight!), so I've been busy and exhausted. But with Kyle still out of work, it's been wonderful that I've been approved to work so many hours these past couple of weeks. Overtime isn't usually allowed. I've got another six days of crazy to go, and then things should slow down a little next week, thank goodness.

Anyway, updates! Our trip was actually pretty wonderful! I was so not excited about traveling all the way across the country with my 30-pound, newly mobile baby, but he was good on the airplanes about 90% of the time, and I'm pretty sure that's better than you can ever expect. We bought him his own seat this time around, and yeah, best decision ever. Worth any amount of money. Will not travel with him in my lap ever again. Bleck.

In pre-trip planning, my MIL suggested a trip to Cedar Point. Kyle agreed without thinking about it and I was kind of upset, because why in the world would you take an infant to America's biggest roller coaster park? In the summer in Ohio? WHY? BUT Tycho did really well. He hung out with his grandparents while we rode some roller coasters and he went on his first carousel ride and thought it was the most awesome thing ever. Next time we go to the zoo I am doing a carousel detour, because oh, man, he was shrieking and laughing and and flailing his arms in delight and we were just on the boring stationary horse. He'll probably lose his mind if he gets one that goes up and down.

In true summertime, theme park form, Tycho got to try his first ICEE! (His face may suggest otherwise, but he LOVED it, and kept going back for more.)

The point of the trip, besides generic family-visiting, was to go to Kyle's cousin's wedding. I was a little nervous, because it was my first time attending a catholic ceremony, and the when to sit and stand and shake your neighbors hands business is stressful enough without trying to keep a baby from disrupting things. But Tycho nursed to sleep just as things began (add a catholic church to the list of places I've breastfed him), and I was able to lay him down in the pew for a nap. He woke up just as things were finishing up, in a delightful mood.

He also did great at the reception, even though it was a late night. He ate lots of generic wedding buffet food, and he loved dancing with me to any kind of music, and took a hour and a half long nap on his great aunt Nan so that I could get some socializing and dancing-with-my-husband in. And I dressed him up in a little vest so his was scene-stealingly adorable, but did you expect any less?

This trip was also the first time Tycho met his great grandparents, as they were out of town when we were visiting in October. And I was able to take the best picture ever taken: four generations of Boddy men. The first born son of the first born son of the first born son of the first born son. They all share the same middle name. I DIE.

And all wearing novelty shamrock ties as a joke on the groom!

My in laws borrowed a bunch of baby gear from one of Kyle's aunts, so we were well stocked with toys and a high chair and a kiddie pool and even a swing in the back yard, so that made everything so much easier for us.

Another highlight of the trip was meeting Kyle's best friend's week old son, Dominic, but I have no pictures from that even because I was too busy snuggling him and huffing new baby smell. I miss new baby smell. And new baby cuddles. Tycho doesn't cuddle so much anymore.

Leaving on a jet plane!

It's been a long time since I updated, I know. We are currently on our way back to Seattle after spending a week in Ohio with Kyle's family. Actually we are currently stranded in a mini-jet on the tarmac waiting to get clearance to take off. Right now I am exceptionally happy that the baby is sleeping, and that we purchased him his own seat.

More updates soon, I promise.

momtime

Before I even got pregnant I'd heard that kids go through phases of preferring one parent over the other. And now we are living it. And boy does it suck.

Currently Tycho wants mama, only mama, GTFO daddy. Which wouldn't be SO bad, except for Daddy is the stay-at-home parent. So, Kyle gets yelled at by an angry baby all day, and mama gets absolutely zero downtime, as when I'm not working I'm ON DUTY. It is shitty and exhausting for everyone. This is only a phase, right?

Check Up Check In

Quick blog check in before I head off to work this morning.

Tycho's visit to the endocrinologist yesterday went fine. I need more time to sit and think and write about it, but for now we're no more worried about him today than we were last week.

A real post, soon.

Update.

Hey blog. I've been away. Nowhere in particular.

Tonight I am up later than I should be. We have Tycho's endocrinologist appointment tomorrow morning, and I'm kind of anxious about it. More about having to do blood draw than the actual results of whatever tests they are going to do, but anxious none the less. But I'm glad that after tomorrow it will be behind us. And then we'll move on to waiting on results. But it's probably nothing.

That's all I have for tonight.

Some Days

Tycho, asleep when I left for work this morning.

Some days are harder than others. Today was one of those days. I didn't sleep well and had a hard time getting out of bed. Tycho was still asleep, so I didn't get any morning baby cuddles. I spent my day yawning and missing my baby.

Most of the time I know that working outside the home is essential for maintaining my sanity. But some days all I want to do is stay home with my family.