Perfect Ten

The holidays are over. Wahhhh. I have to admit that this was just the best little season. Christmas was hectic as always...it's par for the course when you and your spouse have divorced parents. The number of places to go and people to see just multiplies and suddenly you blink and three days have gone by. But it was a really precious time. Sam and I took some time off of work and linked it up with the holiday time off and weekends and managed to get six days...the longest we've both been off since Sam started his job in 2013. It was glorious. And in the midst of that, my little man turned 10 months old. I can see the writing on the wall now. The next two months are going to fly. His birthday will be here and then he'll be one and then I'll lay down one night and wake up and it'll be time to send him to kindergarten. Ughhhh. And then college. I'm soaking in as many minutes with my baby as possible.

Nicknames: Bupsie, Bubs, Nugs, Nugget

Mom, this is ridiculous.

Stats: So his starts have barely changed, but I learned that his stats from 9 months were probably a little less than accurate. When I took him in for his actual 9 month appointment (at 9 months 16 days) he only weighed 16 lbs 9.8 oz, so my 17+ was just a wee bit off. Again, I don't have super accurate stats but we're going with 17 lbs 5 oz. I was also worried about his height at the 9 month appointment (because he fell totally off the chart) so the doctor remeasured him and puuuullllled on his little body stretching his neck to get an extra quarter of an inch. We're going with that measurement because I am not repeating that at home. 26.75 inches. Those numbers put him at between the fifth and tenth percentiles for weight and under the second percentile for height. I'm satisfied I guess. I mean, I can't actually make the kid grow. He wears 6-9 or 9 months clothes and he's just switched to size 3 diapers when he's not wearing cloth. He officially has 6 teeth now. Four on top and two on the bottom.

Pancakes at grandma's house.
She's silly enough to let him eat in a cushioned highchair.

Eating: Baby Led Weaning has REALLY shown it's power this past month. Homeboy devours food. Looooves food. He wants to eat whatever I'm eating, which is cool unless mom is eating ice cream. He also refuses to be fed. He wants to feed himself. It's obviously messy and on mashed potato night I have to hold my breath so as not to puke on him, but I'm pleased with his love of food and his willingness to eat anything I give him. Thus far, BLW has proven to do as promised, so we'll keep plugging along. I've also seen the truth that as he eats more real food his desire for formula goes way down. We've been struggling just to keep him hydrated. I'm obviously a bit worried about calories and growth...there is just no amount of avocados, potatoes, or cheese that will equal the calorie rich formula. Especially since we fortify to a higher calorie content. The pediatrician gave the green light for introducing meat for some more protein and adding good fats at any opportunity. Garrison now gets real butter on just about everything. She also recommended adding safflower oil to lots of things as it's a really good fat and easy to add a few drops to oatmeal or cook veggies in. 

Thanksgiving 2015. Let it be known that the plan was to wear
 pants. Garrison changed that plan by spitting up on his pants
two seconds after getting ready. Still, he's pretty cute.

We've also been working on introducing a sippy cup. It hasn't been going super well, but Santa brought some sippy cups with straws. I'm VERY committed to the sippy cup because I am VERY ready to kick formula to the curb. I don't know if we will have to switch to something other than whole milk (so as to have extra calories and nutrients) but regardless it'll save a bundle over $25 containers of formula. 

Garrison's first ever Christmas present

Sleeping: Praise the Lord. The sleep situation is back to wonderful. At his nine month appointment I explained the sleep situation to his pediatrician. She pretty bluntly told me it sounded like I'd abandoned sleep training. And I guess I had. What started out as an anomaly became our every night and I was just too terrified to revisit sleep training. It was kind of the kick in the butt I needed to hear. Sam and I talked and agreed on a system. I'm happy to report that three not so fun nights of sleep training have equaled some very solid 11.5-12.5 hour nights lately. Even with the holidays. I can't complain.

Christmas morning. Nom, nom. Little people.

Likes: Cabinets. That's pretty much it. Oh and dog food. The only two things that's he's not supposed to have are the two things he most desires. Ughhhhh. The cabinet situation happened fast. He was using handles to pull up for a while and I wasn't really worried. He was pleased just to stand there holding onto the kitchen cabinets. But then, he discovered that the cabinets and drawers open. Have mercy. By day three of this discovery he'd already pulled out my ceramic pitcher from Pottery Barn (which of course shattered). Cue a rush to order cabinet locks.

The dog food thing is weird. He's obsessed. I literally pull him away from the dog food 20, 30, 40+ times a day. It drives me bananas, but I don't really know what to do about it. I just keep hoping it's a phase that he'll grow out of.

Garrison met Santa. For one brief moment it looked as if they might be friends.
Do not be fooled. Garrison actually hates Santa and would prefer if he never
visits our house. And thus began Stranger Danger. "Where's mama?"

Dislikes: Separation anxiety is still a big deal in Garrison's life. He really just wants mommy 24 hours a day when we're home. Sam can entertain him if he tries really hard, but sometimes dad just doesn't cut it. And even if he's playing contentedly with his dad, if he sees me walk off/leave the room he flips into hysterical mode like lightning. Thankfully, he still likes his teachers at daycare, so morning drop-off is still super easy. The day that changes??? Woe to my coworkers.

Winter = 10x more trips to the pediatrician

Garrison also hates being sick (as does his mom). He's gotten two viruses in the last couple of months. The one at the end of November was a glorious combo of ear infection and bronchitis. That one was not fun simply because of the medications, breathing treatments, etc. He was sweet and snuggly though, so while I hated that he felt bad, I was glad that that he generally just wanted to sleep and snuggle. The most recent was a sore throat...no definitive cause. Maybe a virus. Either way, that one suuuckkked. He screamed non-stop. I was so sure he had an ear infection that I took him in again. Nope. Clear ears. Ughhhh. The phrase "Winter is coming" now strikes real fear in my heart.

Garrison officially hates his carseat. Buckling him in has become a battle of wills. His will is very strong. Once he's in it, it's a 50/50 guess as to whether he'll happily babble away or scream like a banshee the entire trip.

He was certainly my best gift ever.

Ohhh, and diaper changes. What the heck? That child acts like I'm stabbing him with hot pokers as soon as I lay him down. He flips over. Crawls away. Flips over. Crawls away. Flips over. Crawls away. It seems so simple. Me VS 17 baby. This should not be a big deal, but oh. my. gosh. Can we potty train yet?

Riding his Elephant on Christmas morning. I love his little face.

Looking forward to: Well, I can tell you that I'm NOT looking forward to driving with Garrison down to Daytona, Florida. My cousin is getting married in January and we'll be loading up the car and driving some excruciating long hours. I haven't actually looked up how far it is out of fear. However, it'll be nice to have a long weekend again with my little man. Thanksgiving and Christmas holidays have spoiled me.

I'm also looking forward to planning his first birthday party. I'm telling myself to get into the planning so I can focus a little less on the occasion. I can't wrap my head around having a one year old. I mean, wasn't he just a little five pound burrito baby yesterday?