We are alive.

The fact that I never write anymore is an ode to my life. Before Callum was born, I blogged several times a week. Now, you get several times a year.

I have been "off work" since the end of June, although I still have worked 2ish days a week at my per diem job. And I have worked 11 days in August at my regular job. School/Work starts again on the 8th, and I am looking forward to it. Sad that I will have to go to bed early and stop being nocturnal. Sad that I will have less free time. But happy to get back into our routine, have an "adult" purpose to my day, and happy to GET MONEY again. Seriously, can I just win the lottery already? I'd proably still work lol, I'd just like some money in savings and to know I could cover all my bills at any given time. And take a vacation.

We got married July 9th. It rained that day, and ruined my plans of an outside ceremony. But it still turned out perfect :) We had it at Highland Park. Originally meant to have the ceremony on the patio for the conservatory, but we had it inside the Olmsted Lodge, which is where our reception also was. We were able to take our pictures INside the conservatory, so it still worked out fine. Our wedding was small, about 85 people, and the Olmsted Lodge was a perfect spot. Our wedding party was just my sisters, Callum, and Eric's dad as the best man. Everyone says the day goes fast - and it did. We got behind while getting ready, which made us behind the rest of the day. Also there were a few snafus - like my grandma being forgotten, and the caterers getting a ticket. But overall, still a great day!

 

 

 

 

 

 

                    

 

 

Well that's over. 

Callum will be 21 months on 9/10/15. He is a little person. I don't even know where to start with all he can do. He love to watch Daniel Tiger and Sesame Street. He loves the "what's the number?" song and STOMPS his little feet during it. He especially loves when we cuddle in bed and watch reruns of Elmo's World on youtube. He loves to "clean" - he'll take the extender to the vacuum and pretend he's vacuuming. He'll grab some piece of fabric and "dust." He picks things up and throws them in the garbage - whether they are actual garbage or not lol. He picks up toys if you ask him (if he feels like it). He loves to take things out of the pantry, carry them somewhere, then carry them back and put them away when you ask.
He also will point (proudly) to pretty much all his body parts if you ask where his big belly, nose, ears, etc are. For his mouth he moves it up and down as if he was saying "nom nom nom." He will even point to his teeth and tongue. And yes, he knows where his "private parts" are. He especially likes to point to that.

 I've been trying to "teach" him how to count. He doesn't get the concept, but he recognizes the repetition. I count to 5 with my fingers and he understands "1." He will hold up his pointer finger - which also works out well when I ask him how old he is. Oh and he is OBSSESED with controllers and remotes. First thing in the morning, he runs to the living room and stares and points up at the shelf where he knows the xbox and PS4 controllers are. He throws a tantrum is he gets one and it's taken away. He is also obsessed with brushing his teeth. I got him a stool and he climbs up there and just sucks water and toothpaste off that brush, for what feels like an hour. 

He has 2906924 temper tantrums a day. And also likes to dig his nails in, and scratch. It is the worst and we don't know what to do about that mess.

I am concerned about his lack of speech however. He doesn't say many words. He imitates sounds more than anything... he says woof, moo, clucks like a chicken, vrooms cars on the floor, does a cookie monster impression. He still does some signs - more, drink, eat, all done, brush teeth. He's also starting to shake his head NO. He understands everything we say, and follows directions (when he wants). He "fake talks" -  its more than babble, it sounds like he's carrying on a gibberish conversation with the right syntax and everything. He says "eeehhh" a lot to indicate what he wants. He just doesn't say real words. I think I may contact Early Intervention just to get him evaluated. 

He was sick for a few days earlier this week. He just had a fever that varied between 100-104, depending on how the motrin was working. One day it went away but came back in the evening, and he started acting sick and lethargic. Prior to that he was still playing like normal. I dont get worried worried when he has a fever but I was thinking... isn't it crazy how I have the luxury not to worry? I mean, "a long time ago" kids got "the fever" and just died. all the time. Anytime your kid got sick or had a fever, that could have been it. People would have like, 8 kids, and 4 might die from childhood illnesses. We don't really worry like that now. As I was cuddling my feverish child in bed at 3am, I was seriously just like wow. I can't imagine the anxiety mothers had back in the day. We are so lucky.

He still wakes up during the night about 5x a week, wanting bottles of milk. I don't know how people have two children under like, 2, because he is still so very much a baby at night. He's still babyish a lot, actually.

Here he is on a boat.

With grandma Uma

17 months old

I haven't updated in forever and I have no idea what has happened in our lives since then. Callum is 17 months old now. When this happened, I do not know. He is a real little person, totally a toddler and not much a baby.

Callum still doesn't speak much. He says dada and mama when he feels like it. He usually says a weird "isssh" sound for everything and babbles constantly. He signs "more," "eat," "all done." He does say daa and ma or mom and sometimes he tries other words like dog or grandma but it really sounds like nothing.

HE takes his diaper off now CONSTANTLY if he doesn't have pants on, which makes diaper changes a challenge. Actually, last weekend while we were outside, he somehow managed to get his diaper off while wearing a romper. All of a sudden he comes toddling up with a diaper in hand, very proud of himself, and I'm like "wait is that your actual diaper?" Sure enough, upon feeling his nether regions, there was no diaper to be felt. I seriously do not know how he managed it.

He has also discovered his penis which has been interesting. Seriously WHAT is up with boys and it. Girls do not seem to do this. He points, tugs, manhandles, rests his hand, anything. It's like yes you have something down there but really? So much attention. He gets mad during the diaper changes also that we are covering it up, so he can no longer touch it. Ridiculous. He points to many body parts, speaking of, if you ask him to. Including his penis/weiner/peepee/whatever. However ask him where his nose is and he's clueless LOL.

He understands so much now and if you tell him to do something or get something, he will usually do it. He also has entered the phase where he picks random things up off the ground and hands them to you as a "present." Which is kinda nice since it beats putting them in his mouth. Which btw, he's still in the oral phase and many things still go in his mouth. This works well for all the things he picks up that he shouldn't (like xbox remote, the "good" tv remote - this child LOVES remotes, my sparkling water cans, glasses, etc) because if you just say "Callum, give that to mama" he will usually walk over and hand it over. Whereas, if you just take it from him and say "No!" a tantrum will ensue.

He tests his limits constantly. He loves to lightly touch something he know he shouldn't, while glancing back at us with this i'm-so-innocent look to his face. My mom says I was the exact same way. Payback is a bitch.

 He also loves to dance now. The littlest hint of music and he's over there grooving. His dancing is like an awkward hippie dance. A somewhat unfluid motion of his body and limbs, which includes touching objects and spinning. He also does this thing recently where he bends to the side a bit, and tilts his head to the side, while walking towards you. And it's REALLY weird and sometimes I worry he has a neurological problem. I think he's just being funny though. He loves to spin in circles. If you say "callum do helicopter" or "callum can you spin?" There he goes, with his arms out like he's imitating a penguin walking.

Trying to recap so many months that I've missed documenting my kid's life is just too hard. So I will just photo dump. I have many videos but I am a little unsure how to get a video onto the blog from my phone (galaxy s4)? Anyone know? And there are totally random, chronologically although they kind of go newest-oldest.

 

When I became a REAL mom

I blogged on here all about my pregnancy. I was a mom-to-be then.
Then I blogged about giving birth and the early days of Callum's life. I was a new-mom then.
Now I will blog about the event that cemented my mom-ness into history.

I got a minivan.

Yes. A minvan. The thing I used to say I would NEVER get. I would tell my parents, "psh they are so dorky and embarrassing. I will never drive one, a car or SUV is fine." My dad would smile and say "you'll see. They're the ultimate family car." (This also from the man who owned an early 90s full sized conversion van that we all piled in to. And it had a TV. If you were a 90s kid, you know TVs in vans were a luxury that wasn't installed into every van like they are now a days. You were pretty cool if you had a TV with reception so horrible to render it useless in your family's van in the 1990s. For the record, on trips my parents would somehow hook up a VCR to it. Yep, a VCR, baby,).

So anyway, fast forward 15 years and suddenly I have a kid. When the receptionist at the dealership asked how many kids I had, and I replied "1" she said "oh." as if that was not good enough for a van.

 But then I reminded her of all the STUFF a baby has, and she got it. It's not just Callum. It's Callum and his GIANT HONKIN' carseat that takes up as much space as a 400lb person riding in my backseat. It's the struggle to get him into that carseat, backwards, because that's safest. While it's 0 degrees and snowing and icy, and he's wearing layers (but NOT a puffy coat because that would kill him). All without bumping his head while I toss him over to the middle seat, because that's safest. And the struggle to adjust the straps to the current clothing layer, and pull as tight as I can at an awkward stretched out angle, because that's safest. And then having to remove him once we reach the destination. It's his diaper bag. It's his toys. It's  the baby gate I bring to someone's house. It's his strollerS. It's the baby carrier. It's the portable baby seat that attaches to tables that's supposed to fold up but only one side does. It's my purse. My coupon binder. The boots I forgot to add to the bag. And the bottle/sippy cup I threw in as an afterthought on the way out the door. Oh and if I was at the grocery store or shopping and have bags to put in or unload... forget about it.

I view my life in 2 time periods.
Before - when I could walk out my door, get in my car, and drive away. Get to destination, get out, and walk in.
AFTER - see my above description. It takes about 3 trips to load everything and everyone, and 3 trips to unload. It's exhausting.

When I get to leave the house alone, I am giddy not so much for being childfree and not having to watch Callum. I am giddy that I can enter and exit a car like a normal person again, saving time and effort. Oh the effort.

A minivan, while not perfect, does help. It allows me to fit more junk in my car, without things being as cramped - which means I can also leave things in my car (which cuts down on dragging them in adn out of the house). The seat is at a more "comfortable working height" and *right there* for me to set Callum into. Now, it's still a PIA to get him into the backwards carseat, and still a pain to finagle with the straps. But It's a tiny bit easier. I also have the option of climbing into the car, out of the COLD, and snow and rain to settle him in. And in our van, the pathway between the front seats and middle seats can be opened (console folds down) so it's easy to just walk up front. It also helps that I am the size of a large child, a giant man probably couldn't crawl in between - but I digress.

So without further ado, here is my baby with my new baby lol