We are officially down to our final month here in Georgia! I am actually pretty glad to be getting out of here. I love to be outdoors, but the Georgia heat in the summer was too much for me. It makes it really hard to stay on track for outdoor running when you step outside and it feels like a sauna. It's not me so much that I'm worried about, rather having my little one out there in the suffocating mugginess. This past week has been cloudy and rainy, but not a fresh rain. The air is still thick, so under the dark clouds, I feel like I'm living in a giant swamp. I can't tell if I'm hot or cold because the sun is gone and there's a breeze, but the humidity is making my leggings and tees clench to my body. I just want some nice, fresh air! Alaska may have been cold, but the air was always clear and fresh and I appreciated that.

We had a 5K this weekend. Ryan just running around pre-race

Another week of madness down. This boy has me on my toes nonstop. He is such a little stinker! He gets sillier and more mischievous by the day. My new thing has been Pintrest-ing toddler activities to do. Let me tell you-this kid could care less about arts & crafts. I gave him jumbo crayons and he only wanted to eat them. I made edible finger paints and he didn't really care at all about the colors or making a mess. I found a homemade recipe for something called Moon Sand or whatever it was-basically flour and oil- and brought some cups over to feel and pour and make sand castles. He didn't really care too much about that either. He just wanted to play with the cups. Well, that is until I tried to clean up and put it all away. Then he was ready to empty the container and spill the "sand" everywhere. Today, I am going to color spaghetti noodles and make a sensory activity. We'll see how that goes.

Finger painting turned out to be me finger painting and him playing with his little person. 

I've been trying to get him out to parks, but this rainy weather has kept us cooped up inside. We've been out to the mall a couple times to use their indoor playground. He has fun there, but then he realizes that when he leaves, I chase him to bring him back. He has more fun leaving the playground than actually playing in there. That's when I get tired, pull my back out and decide it's time to shop for a while.

Ry is starting to talk! Not consistently. Last week, he didn't say just his first word, but his first sentence! I get him from his crib, we walk into the living room. I go, "say, 'Hi Dada'" and he says, "Hi Dada," clear as day. He doesn't use his words consistently. Sometimes G will come home and Ry will smile and just say, "Dada". I've had him say, "Bye bye" and "Hi" as well-more or less. He uses his words only when he wants to, but it's reassuring to know that he knows them.

On one of those quarter rides at the mall. Hanging in the school bus with Arthur. 

I mentioned a few posts ago that I didn't realize playing Peek-A-Boo was supposed to be a milestone at our checkup. We started playing it and he'll join in and play with me. He's becoming so much smarter, I can't handle it. He'll walk up to me, throw a book at me and expect me to read to him. I don't appreciate the "Bitch, read to me" attitude, but I can't expect much from a one-year old at this point.

He definitely went through a growth spurt. This kid eats like none other. I keep reading about toddlers being picky eaters and ways to trick them into eating healthy, etc. etc. etc. I know one day (especially when he learns the word, "No") he's going to do a 180 and just not want to eat and make mealtime miserable, but for now, I can't picture him ever being picky. Sometimes he doesn't eat green beans, I'll give him that, but he mostly tries anything I give him. I gave him cucumber for the first time yesterday. He put it in his mouth, made a weird face and took it out to look at it. He maybe did that process 4 times.. in, then out-in, then out, before he finally ate it. I gave him another piece and before I knew it, he and I were chowing down half the cucumber.

His new things has been pulling his blanket from his crib and walking around with it everywhere. I think we may have an attachment item. 

When he doesn't like something, it ends up on the floor. And when he's full, food ends up on the floor. I'm thinking I should start a rental service where I lend my dogs out to mothers with toddlers. Every toddler should come with a dog. It's the best clean up EVER. Every little crumb of food disappears. Voila!

We've been keeping up with Tuesdays at the library. Last week, there were two little boys, and they left the carpet area to go look out and bang on the window. Ry went over there with them and joined them with the biggest smile on his face. He was so happy to be part of the group. It was the most precious thing ever. It seems like he's the only one, however, that wants to sit by me and sing and listen to stories. He's always the first to run in the middle and play and he'll join other families and try to sit in other mommy's laps. Great. He's already trying to run away from home. But he enjoys it, I think, and it's great to get out of the house.

I found another running group for moms which I may try out this Wednesday. We'll see how it is, although I only have a few weeks to meet up with them. If only I'd found it sooner.

That's all for now. Nothing too exciting on this end. Just counting down the days and prepping to move cross-country AGAIN this year. I think I'm going to be done with traveling for a long while after this move. So people, get your buns to me because I am just sick of cars, planes and any other mode of transportation. We've put in more miles in a year than some people do in their lifetime. So stop asking me to come visit. I'm done. No mas. Time to be stationary for a little while. xoxo. M

Last week sucked. Sucked! It was one of those weeks where by Friday, I was ready to curl up into a ball and  guzzle a bottle of wine. Have you seen those shirts that say, "I can't adult today. Don't make me adult"? That was my whole week. Each morning I'd wake up and just not at all want to adult in any way, shape or form. Let's go back to the very beginning.. (Yes, I am singing like Julie Andrews in The Sound of Music.)

Ready for fall weather! (And CO) Loving the cooler mornings

I mentioned last week that I had an appointment on Monday about switching birth control for weening off breast milk and that the POP (progesterone only pill) is only effective while I breast feed. I am SO glad we are moving because I really am not too sure about my doctor out here. I don't really know why I exactly am not too fond of him, but I feel like every time I'm in there, I question his credentials. To sum things up, I'm back on.... The Pill (cue lightening and thunder).

Why? Well, he didn't really talk to me about my other options so I figured, hey.. WTH, I'm used to it. Why not? (Plus, it'll be easier to establish long-term bc with my new doctor when we move if this doesn't work out). I told him why I didn't like the last pill I was on--it made me so uptight and easily flustered at everything and I didn't feel like myself anymore rather a hormonal shell of myself. Not to mention I had no cycle, more like a civil war down there. (I won't paint any further pictures out there). He told me that the pill is usually set up to mimic one's hormones, so it varies each week. I learned something new! He told me he'd give me a kind that won't vary as much and will stay consistent until that last week (the iron pill week). Interesting! He also said that any birth control will take anywhere from 2-3 months to adjust to my body so I may not have a normal cycle or even feel normal for that long of time.

Wow! I learned some interesting things in that appointment. So why am I hesitant about him? Okay, here's a little shout out right now to any doctor with the ability to prescribe birth control to anyone (cause we all know doctors take time out of their busy days to read my blog). Always, ALWAYS tell a woman that she needs a second form of birth control for that first month when switching over. ALWAYS. I know of way too many birth control babies from college because of this, so I brought it up. I asked if I need second protection during the switch. His response, "Yeah.. we're supposed to say you need a back up for the first month. Will you need it? There's a chance. You'll probably be fine without it, but we're supposed to tell people use it for a month." NO NO NO NO NO. Do not tell patients, "You'll probably be fine without it." NO NO. (Of course, these are words coming from a man.) I am in your office for BIRTH CONTROL meaning I am taking measures to prevent more children from popping out of my uterus. Don't use words like "probably" and "maybe" and "supposed to". Just tell people, "Yes, you need a back up for a month." And also, START that conversation. Don't wait for the patient to start it with you. OH MY GOODNESS! I've done my research on birth control so for me, I was already planning on back up for a month, but there are so many uneducated women out there who don't know this and if doctors don't tell them, then they won't know!!! GAH okay, this little rant is over. Just always double book when switching BC.

Practicing weening. This boy eats everything! 

I've only been on the pill since Wednesday, but so far so good! Back to the part about my crappy week. I leave the drs office and head towards the pharmacy on base to pick up my new rx. I get there and the place is packed! I was number c566 and they were only on c505 when I got there. Not to mention those in uniform get priority when they all decided to show up after work. I was in there waiting for 90 minutes! Thankfully, G was able to come to my appointment after work and pick up Ry, so I spend the whole time doing laps around the hospital, since I was obviously going to miss going to the gym, putting my baby to sleep, and dinner. It was so crappy!

It's okay cause the next day, my phone fell out of my pocket on the concrete stairs outside and shattered my phone. It still works and I can see around the cracks, but it's terrible timing because we're trying to use out money towards this move (we need to put new tires on G's truck), budget since we'd been tight on cash lately, plus, my bday is coming up in a few weeks. The last thing I want to spend $ on right now is a stupid smart phone. I'm going to wait until we get to CO because we're debating switching from AT&T to Verizon when G's contract expires or not. Out here, we get a TON of dropped calls and I'm constantly having texts not go through. It's frustrating when you pay so freaking much for a cell phone service that fails you (AT&T is desperate enough though that they lowered our bill because of it, which was actually pretty cool of them.) So I don't want to commit to anything right now until we see what kind of service we'll have out there.

Okay, so a three hour day at the drs and a shattered phone really isn't that terrible of a week. I was just so tired all week and my spirits were killed from a rough start. I also think I'm fighting a cold or something cause my sinuses are active in the mornings/nights again and my body keeps wanting to sleep it off. Yesterday morning, I woke up and literally fell back asleep watching Ry play. Not for long. I was so wiped that I passed out on the floor. Oops. #mommyfail?

Speaking of mommy fail... here's mine. Tuesday was the day that my phone shattered and I couldn't seem to get anything right. Ry and I go to the library for our weekly Mommy and Baby library session. At the end, the kids are playing. He pretty much tramples a girl and starts climbing over her legs. I tried to help him by giving his legs a boost to get over her leg, and he rocks forward and completely bangs his head on the ground. I pretty much just pushed him over.. He starts bawling and immediately got a giant egg on his head. Poor kid, I felt absolutely horrible. I should have just let him continue to tramper that stranger child. Oh well..

My little minion-ha! And check out that bump on the head.. 

I got back into running this week. My body is very out of shape for that. It's amazing how a month off can set you back so much. Actually, I got back into working out more than 2 times a week, which is probably why my body is so tired right now, but in a good way. I'm doing this thing where I'm trying not to be lazy-especially since the weather has been cooler in the mornings (although we got back into the 90s this weekend, ugh). This includes walking the dogs around a little more than just poop-and-go-back-inside and taking Ryan out to the parks to play and just staying busy and keeping Ry moving.

Of course, I'm keeping up with my AH-MAH-ZING What to Expect book and they give all kinds of fun activities to give a toddler exercise. One was to make a pillow pile on the floor and have him climb. He didn't really like that. It was more similar to a foam pit that sucks you in the more you squirm. He did however like it when daddy would toss him into the pillow pile (a game that gave mommy a heart attack).

Ry did the cutest thing ever yesterday. Right now, he's in the kissing phase. We were sitting at the table stuffing our faces with chips and queso and the dogs, of course, were laying at our feet in case we dropped anything. Ryan comes over, looks at Cato, bends down and gives him a sloppy open-mouthed kiss on the nose, then giggled feverishly. Cato is the only dog of the three who is nurturing enough to allow this, so Ryan bent down and did it again. He probably gave him a total of four kisses, followed by endless giggles while Cato sat gently and appreciated it. Ry even pet him afterwards. It was so silly and unexpected that I was crying laughing at his cuteness. I'm always extremely cautious with him around the dogs. It's Denali and Belle that would have moved to the opposite side of the room before the even saw him coming. And I'm okay with that.

At the mall play ground. Giving kisses to the caterpillar.. 

Oh, one thing to bring up... my baby is a boy!!! I dress Ryan up in boy clothes. He's always wearing blue or sports or just little boy clothes and I have so many people come up and call him a her. Excuse me! If I had a girl, she'd be in tutus and glitter. I don't understand how people are confused.

Ry in his track suit! He got confused as a girl in this.. Ugh.

I think this week's focus will be on getting the weening process going even further and having him drink some whole milk instead of breast milk. It's so routine to nurse him that sometimes I forget that I'm trying to cut back. It's instinct. Hungry baby, boob. I keep forgetting he can go eat an actual meal. It'll be one more thing for me to perfect. I know this post hasn't been too exciting, but neither has my life, so deal with it! But thanks for reading, my people. It makes me feel better about the fact that I have zero time to call everyone I know and say HI. xoxo ~M

What?! I'm updating only a week later? "How in the world did you find the time to do that?" you may be asking. Well my friends, this brisk Monday morning, I put my child down for his first nap at 5am. 5AM! This little boy is draining the soul of out me slowly, but surely. And thanks to the "on this day" section of Facebook, I saw that one year ago today I was posting about my successful first week as a mom. It was touching to go back and read and see just how far we've come. It's also a great reminder to re-live that pain and exhaustion I was feeling back then, in case I start thinking about a second child.

Speaking of second child... I have a doctor's appointment today to go over birth control options for when I start weening Ry. I am SO ready to ween. We have zero issues with breast feeding and it's been such an amazing experience, but we're both just ready. He gets too distracted to drink these days. Plus, he drinks out of sippy cups, straws, and regular cups so we really don't need to worry about transitioning. We hit our recommend ended 12 month mark at the breast so it's time to move on. The main reason I want to ween (other than being sick of pumping!!!!) is we are getting ready to move to CO next month. They won't ship one of our cars this time, so we both will have to be driving and it's going to be a hell of a lot easier and safer to not have to worry about pumping while behind the wheel. I'll still stop to feed him regular food every couple hours because I'm not comfortable with him eating alone back there in case he chokes, but it'll just be much easier on everyone to have him off the breast at this point. Plus, I think we're both just kind of over it.

My happy boy

With that being said, my whole BC roller coaster has been nothing short, so I'm a little nervous as to what lies ahead of me. Before, AK doctors took me off the PO pill and the dose of estrogen about killed me. I was so angry and moody and got frustrated at the tiniest things. When I came here, the doctor took me off that and said I'd be fine going back to the POP while I'm still breast feeding. I really don't want to be Mr. Jekyll and Mr. Hide again.. so I'm considering an IUD (which I rejected last time) even though I'm still pretty iffy about having something just hanging out in there all the time. I know there's a shot too, but if we do decide we want to go for #2 in the future, I don't want that in the way. We will see how the appointment goes and what the doctor recommends (did I mention I hate talking to men about women's bc? Oh well.)

We had more family in town to see Ry this past week. I feel like every time he hangs with someone new, he immediately matures. He's so grown up and I can't stand it. His walking is so much more refined than it was a couple weeks ago and he's definitely into that toddler phase of imitation. His uncle stuck his tongue out and spit at him, so guess what Ry started to do back to him? Too funny! He's got so much personality, I can't take it. I think my boy is the most loving being on this planet.

Although, he's also getting that tantrum thing down pat. He whines like crazy when something doesn't go his way. He's still not saying "Mama" and "Dada" to us, but he's saying the words just in general. I'm pretty sure his new cry is now just, "Mamamammaamama." I think it's because I call snacks, "Yum yums" and "Mama" is his way of saying he's hungry. Not because he wants me.. So we'll see. He understands words and phrases but he's not really showing signs of wanting to communicate. I think his favorite command is, "Go get Stitch." He has this giant stuffed animal from Lilo and Stitch and he'll stop what he's doing, walk to his bedroom, and give the thing huge cuddles and kisses. He's OBSESSED with Stitch and it's adorable.

Ry and Stitch

He's cutting more teeth on the bottom. His next two incisors are coming in. Mix that with the shots from last week and I had a very grumpy baby for two days. Two days of grumpy baby + sleepy mommy = face broken out this week and body run down for the rest of the month. I feel like I'm losing energy and the will to recover these days, but I'm pushing through and working on it one day at a time. I keep telling myself, "Tomorrow will be the day!" and then 4:30am comes and I'm ready to just curl up and hibernate til Spring. I think I sometimes confuse my child with a T-rex because I have that thought process that, "maybe if I stay still, he won't see me." I need to learn-he always sees me.

Tuesday baby and me library time started up again last week! FINALLY. When you have a child under the age of 2, it's stupid to have a "summer break". Most of us are first time moms so we don't have a "summer break". Our babies aren't in school so.... let's just keep the program going so we can socialize and not be ostracized by society during the hottest months of the year. We went last week and Ry mostly just wanted to play with the toys in the middle of the mat instead of sit in my lap and sing. Understandable I guess. I'm not nearly as cool as I used to be, in his eyes.

Of course, I bought the book What to Expect the Second Year. And, of course, I praise it. Unlike the first two books, it's not broken down into months. It doesn't go, "Okay, month 13 you'll expect these to be issues," rather it just is a huge book full of information about everything in the second year. It's awesome, yet overwhelming at the same time. I don't like to jump around when I read, so I have this urge to just read from cover to cover this month to have all the information I could possibly need for the next year. Unlikely. I'm only on page 40 of like... 500. But I have learned a lot so far! Thanks to this book, I may try to make a dental appointment for Ryan in the near future. We used to do what we called, "Happy Visits" at the office I worked at, and it's just to get the little one accustomed to the dentist. I should probably wait until we're in CO, but i know once we get there, we're not going to be settled in until we find a house, which could be a couple months so I don't want to keep putting it off. I may as well book and appointment while I have time to kill out here.

But it's given me really great ideas about getting Ry in the habit of brushing his teeth (which we've already been doing since he got his first 2 teeth) in the morning at night, and our next step is flossing and learning to rinse and spit. Not an easy task, but I think repetition will help instill the mindset of good dental care throughout his life-mostly because my "family has bad teeth" (really, my family has bad dental hygiene practices) and he'll be prone to lots of cavities like I had as a child. Really, I'm trying to save him from paying thousands of dollars worth of dental work when he gets older and realizes insurance only pays so much. Now if only I could get my husband on board...

I've been doing most of my reading on hygiene in general-skin care, teeth, hair, baths, etc. Also about weening. Lots of good info. I know this is the last book in the What to Expect line, but I really wish it would continue every year for the rest of his life. Especially since none of these military doctors out here have gone over ANYTHING. Everything is like, "Wait for your doctor to okay these items for your little one," and I'm over here like.. crap. As I mentioned, our whole appointment was mostly Ryan freaking out and us trying to console him so naturally, I forgot to ask most of my questions about what he could or couldn't eat. The doctor seriously didn't go over anything other than his height and weight statistics (the nurse already did that) and answered my question about the blemish on his chin that's been there for a few months (he claims it's an inflamed capillary that will fade as he grows). He didn't say anything else. Just poked a bit and told us he was healthy. So you can understand why these books are so useful to me.

Okay, I better quit while I'm ahead. This little munchkin should be awake within the next 20 mins and I have a little more relaxing (or dishes) to do before that point comes. I love everyone that reads this so thank you for taking your time to hear me rant about motherhood. Xoxoxo

How far he's come! 

ONE YEAR MARK

We survived the first year!!! Between deployments, last minute travels and moving across the country, it's been quite the journey. This boy has probably seen more than any other 1 year olds have seen. May he live the rest of his life full of experience and opportunity.

He's 1!

Ryan's first birthday was great! We had family come in town for the long weekend to celebrate with us. We kicked off the weekend with a trip to Atlanta's aquarium and Ry loved looking at all the fish and remained somewhat in tact for the dolphin show. Sunday was Ryan's actual birthday plus the party. Our house was a Dr. Seuss wonder world. I coordinated all food and decor to fit in with any of his books and the place ended up looking great! I really want to be a party planner one day, or a wedding planner or something, but I'll look more into that once we live somewhere for more than just a few months.

Green Eggs and Ham, Poodles with Noodles, Cat in the Hat Kabobs, Roast Beast Feast, 1 Fish 2 Fish have some Goldfish-only a handful of Seuss foods

The worst part about planning a birthday party when all the guests are in from out of town and staying with you is that there is no official beginning or end. I made everyone leave at 11 and enter as if they were just showing up (party was from 11-1). I didn't make anyone fake leave-ha! Instead, we all went to the pool and swam and came back to watch movies and play games. I wish the weekend could have lasted longer.

My sister and the boys left Monday and it was up to my bff and mom to spend the day together with me... Oh, what would three ladies do on a day off with a one year old boy? If you guessed SHOPPING then you would be correct. This boy is so incredibly loved. His wardrobe is entirely filled for the next size up! Okay, not entirely.. he could use some hats and shoes (the devil, in his eyes) and of course, once it comes out, holiday gear! I cannot wait for Colorado so he can start wearing his fall outfits (it's still hot and grossly humid out here.)

Oh, speaking of spoiled.. this kid got some AMAZING birthday gifts! Our house looks like a  toy store. Let's see.. he got a police car (which my mom is on the lookout for a policeman outfit for him to wear in it lol!), a ball pit fort with a tunnel leading to it, a personalized step stool (ours broke in the move so I'm extremely happy about this one!), a sports center (from mommy and daddy), giant building blocks, a new puzzle, and all that new clothes! You'd think he'd have enough at this point to play contently all day, but no. He still needs mommy as a play mate. Oh well. Safe to say that I'm getting nothing accomplished every day. Except aiding in the development of a child.

Ry has gotten so sweet! He figured out how to give kisses, so he'll come up to me, give me snuggles, then open his mouth and touch his lips to mine! And then he giggles when I kiss him. It is the most adorable thing he's done thus far. Just when I thought the first year was going to be the best of my life, he uses his first days of "toddlerhood" proving me wrong.

We had his one-year appointment yesterday. It was HORRIBLE. He did not want anyone to touch him. Lately, he's been hating putting on or taking off clothes, so it all started going downhill when we had to undress him. He didn't want the nurse measuring him, taking his blood pressure, checking his temperature, or anything having to do with touching him. And what made it worse was I went in to give him a kiss and he head-butted me and freaked out even more :( Then the doctor came in and wanted to check his body, the bump on his chin, and check his heart beat. Ry was not having any of it. He was miserable. And then.... came the shots.

At the aquarium getting photo bombed by the divers

This poor boy started his day off by falling into the door and getting a big bump on his head, head butting me, being traumatized by the doctor, then he had to get three shots. I was so annoyed at the technicians. They seemed like they'd never administered shots for a baby. At JBER, they had the bandaids placed and everything quick and ready to go. It was shot 1, shot 2, shot 3, close bandaids, done in 20 seconds max. These people were like.. okay, let's stick the needle in, then we inject the vaccination, take it out. Okay, where's the next one? Okay, stick it. Oh wait, my finger fumbled trying to push the injection, okay there it goes. Number 3 now. Got it in, let's push. All done. Okay, where's the bandaids? Gotta open them. Oh, there's blood dripping, I guess I'll put the bandaid there. Where are the other two? Let's open them. Okay, all done. Luckily for me, G was able to get off work to be there for the appointment so he was the one this time who held Ry down as Ry choked on his own tears. Such a traumatic day. He usually spikes a fever after shots so I'm holding my breath that he'll be okay this round since he's bigger.

As for his stats, he's a little shorty. He's measuring at 28.25 inches (the 8th percentile LOL!) and weighing in at 21 lbs 4 oz (26th percentile). Doctor said his growth curve looks good and healthy! Although, he claims they mis-measured last time because he "shrunk" which isn't possible. One thing that really annoyed me were these supposed milestones Ry is supposed to hit when he's one. I was asked, "Does he participate in a game of peek-a-boo?" My response, "Um.. we don't play peek-a-boo, so no?" I didn't realize that playing peek-a-boo was going to be apart of the one year old test. Or how about, "Does he wave goodbye?" "No, but he sometimes waves hello." Then we were asked if he does daily tasks. I didn't know what that meant... I mean, he's not vacuuming or anything. We just said yes. The technician didn't really know what it meant either.

Overall, he's such a healthy boy and of course, he's the happiest baby I know. Oh! He finally ate birthday cake. He picked at the icing and ate a few chunks of it. I think he was sugared out because once he got to the cake part, he was more happy throwing it around than eating it.

He took the whole cake!

I probably have a million more things to say but I am wiped. He's been waking up between 4 and 4:30 everyday and it's killing me. I haven't worked out in so long because I've been running around prepping for company and his birthday and now trying to recover. I am just tired and my energy is running low. I'll get back at it at some point. For now, I'm just enjoying play time with my little nugget. I can't believe he's one!!! I love him!