Thursday, December 30, 2010

11 months

ian turned 11 months old on december 20. wow.  just one more month, and i won't have a baby anymore- i'll have a toddler. 

ian still hasn't gotten any new teeth- but it looks like he is working on at least 4 on the top.  all the signs are there- diaper rash, insane amounts of drool..  just waiting on the teeth. 

this has been a big month for ian as far as milestones!  ian did show us that he can crawl on his hands and knees- but still army crawls 99.9% of the time.  a few weeks ago i went to get him up from a nap and he was kneeling in his crib- so we lowered the mattress.  2 days after that, i went in and found him standing in his crib, so we lowered the mattress all the way.  now he's constantly standing in the crib, pulling up on furniture, will take "steps" if you're holding his hand, and tries to pull himself off the ground once on his feet.  i can't believe all this has happened in a just a few short weeks.  i know that cruising and standing and walking are right around the corner!  of course, this has brought lots of falls- poor kid seems to have bruises all the time now..

ian is still eating well, and eating more and more table foods.  we're moving towards more independent eating!  he is down to nursing only 3 times a day, has 1 bottle a day, and 3 meals a day.  we've introduced only a few more fruits and veggies- as there aren't many left (most of the ones that are have to wait until after he is 1 year).  i think the only thing we've introduced since is cantaloupe.  while we were at my mom & dad's we did jarred baby food for convenience, but he really didn't seem to care for a lot of it- i can't blame him- i tasted some of it - blech!  

we celebrated thanksgiving w\ dave's family the weekend before thanksgiving since dave's sister was going to be having a baby the week of thanksgiving.  then we headed to ft. wayne to have thanksgiving w\ dave's grandmother.  it was nice b\c we got to see a lot of dave's cousins.  i also did my first black friday- ian had no clue i was even gone! 

ian has gotten better about clapping- he just claps at random intervals and anytime you say "yay" plus he has started waving and saying "bye" and blowing kisses.  he also is now saying "uh oh" if he drops something (and he is dropping things all the time- mostly on purpose)...  he is changing so much- i just can't believe he'll be a year old!  ::sigh::

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Friday, December 24, 2010

merry christmas!

merry christmas!  love, dave, melissa & ian
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Friday, December 17, 2010

just an old sweet song

...keeps georgia forever on my mind.

hello warmer weather. 

tonight we head to husband's christmas party and then we will either leave late tonight or get a few hours of sleep and head out early saturday morning.  thoughts and prayers as we make the 12+ hour drive to georgia.  you'll hear from me once we've arrived! Pin It!

Wednesday, December 15, 2010

oh baby, it's another baby?

no, sillies.  you must be effing crazy.  i am not having another baby right now, or anytime soon.  so, don't get your hopes up, and stop asking...

also, this isn't directed to anyone, or meant to insult anyone.  when people want to have babies is their business.  this is my disclaimer!

i did want to write on this because it seems a hot topic now- ian and all of his friends are nearing 1, and siblings are already on the way or in the works!  i on the other hand feel sometimes as if i am being looked at like i have 2 heads because i'm not in the process of making a sibling for my child...

my niece was born 3 weeks ago, and if you've been following my blog for quite some time, you'll remember that my other niece was also born the week of thanksgiving the previous year...  they are 1 year and 5 days apart.  and as much as this thrills some people to no end the thought of another cute cuddly baby in the house, all i can think about is my terrified sister-in-law who has a 1 year old that needs her, and she has a 3 week old that needs 100% of her attention.  she can't even pick up her 1 year old b\c she just had her 2nd c-section in as many years- and she lives 225 miles away from here, and her husband works all day, and their other daughter is in school.  she's tired, she's experiencing the baby blues, and she's trying to figure out this new baby, and she's trying to figure out nursing, and my niece doesn't get why mommy won't pick her up- and it's hard.  i know she'll figure it out, because she's awesome, but i think she would rather have spaced them out further.  and that's reason enough for me...

reasons for me to have another baby:
1.  they are cute and cuddly, and smell like babies, and tiny, and they have tiny cries, and clothes and yawns
2.  the actual experience of having a baby is awesome
3.  i love being pregnant, most people actually give a crap about you- plus it's fun to eat.
4.  my biological clock is ticking (i am under 35, so this does not apply to me)
5.  i have a lady condition that requires me to rapid fire babies (this does not apply to me- luckily b\c sadly i have many girlfriends with this issue- and it's just not fair)

reasons not to have another baby
1.  i would love to be pregnant again, but i must constantly remind myself that the experience of being pregnant is temporary
2.  babies grow up too fast- when i first had ian, i kept thinking about how he was going to grow so fast, and i wanted him to stay a baby forever.  yes, he has grown fast, and i wish he would stay a baby forever, but guess what, they all grow.
3.  i am not michelle duggar
4.  having a baby is a financial burden (yes, burden b\c you have no money- the baby itself is NOT a burden).  dave and i do not use credit cards (unless they say "ann taylor loft"...), so debt is not an option for us- however, after  not having credit card debt for 3 years, we have found ourselves having to use our 1 card b\c sometimes the money runs out before the month does, and another baby would be 2x the struggle.
5.  we are still paying for having ian after the insurance shenanigans
6.  i'm just enjoying ian.  i'm enjoying the hell out of him.  just.  him.


i had a friend who told me shortly after ian was born (she had just had her own baby as well) that if she never had another baby besides the one she had just had, that she would be content.  i thought she was crazy.  now, i can understand where she was coming from.  although i would love a little girl, i am perfectly content with ian- i even told dave that i would be happy if i didn't have another boy because i wanted ian to be our only boy- he's just that special.  first born babies are lucky:  they get mommy & daddy all to themselves- no sharing with siblings or competing for time.  i want ian to get as much one-on-one time before he has to share me with someone else.  i also don't want 2 babies in diapers, but that's another story.  so don't plan on me seeing yes or 2 pink lines or a plus sign or whatever your test reads for at least another year- or more.

and that's my take. Pin It!

Tuesday, December 14, 2010

here we come a-wassailing

one of the funest (not-a-word) things about marrying into another family is blending in their christmas traditions with yours, and one of my favorite things from my husband's family- wassail at christmas time, or as the family likes to call it (and i believe this phrase was coined by my bnl)- phw (piping hot wass)- i hope you enjoy it!
wassail

64 oz. apple cider
20 oz. unsweetened pineapple juice
1 cinnamon stick
1/4 t. nutmeg
3 T lemon juice
1 t. lemon zest
1/4 c. honey

put the cider and cinnamon stick in a pot and bring to a boil, then simmer, covered for 5 minutes
add the remaining ingredients and continue to simmer for at least 5 more minutes
optional:  you can also add orange zest and float sliced oranges on top!  so pretty

this is so easy- go make it, now!
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Monday, December 13, 2010

a date night in my future?

i honestly cannot remember the last time that husband and i went to see a movie... sadly it may have been winter 2008- we caught 2 movies with husband's best friend- gran torino & the curious case of benjamin button.  or maybe it was public enemies.  who knows.  sad times.  i'm not really into movies much anymore.  most movies seem to just be remakes of others with few new original ideas.  i live for classic film though.  i can safely say that most of my favorites were made prior to 1970- most way before that.  there have been a few movies that have caught my eye lately- so i'm hoping to somehow finagle a date night in my near future!  here's what's on my list of "like to see" movies.

love & other drugs:  i am wishy-washy on the rom-com genre.  some i like, and some are just way to much cheese for my liking.  this looks like it could have potential.

burlesque- i love singing and dancing and costumes and flashy!  i'm hoping this has modern-day moulin rouge potential.  plus, kristen bell is just so cute and little!

and finally

black swan- a psychological thriller (more up my alley) about ballet with gorgeous costumes by rodarte.  if i could see one of these movies, this would be my choice.

what about you?  do you make it to the movies often?  have you seen any of these movies- or are any of these movies on your list?  if not, what's on your list? Pin It!

Monday, December 6, 2010

nice to meet you, santa

ian met santa for the first time friday night.  he was really distracted by the whole set up and all the people walking around the mall.  we actually had to sit under the camera to try and get him to look in our direction- it didn't really work.  they did manage to get 2 pictures of him looking, but none of him smiling.  it was so fun for me to have him meet santa, i am just so excited to celebrate our first christmas with him!  i'm sure next year with santa will be a totally different story- so i'm glad things went well this time!

(santa looks a little drunk, no?)
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