Falling behind...

So much for catching up on the blog during my break from school, it's just been so nice to have time to read for pleasure and to go to bed around 9pm.

So Bryce's 2nd Christmas has come and gone. Santa was very good to him along with everyone else. Unfortunately for us, but fortunately for him, he received LOTS and LOTS of toys. We are almost out of room for them, I can't imagine where we'd put them all if we didn't have the second living room that we have.

Before I get to the pictures I'll share what's been going on.

As for my first semester back at school as a Mom, I took 9 hours and I'm happy to say I made the President's Honor Roll with all A's! Hopefully I can keep my 4.0 GPA at NSU. That could be stretching it a bit, but I'm going to try.

Bryce still isn't saying much that we can understand, there's a few words: Mama, Dada, yay, and he attempts banana.

He still has just 4 teeth. Despite having so few teeth he still manages to eat 2 waffles for breakfast! This child can put down some food like nobody's business.

For almost a month straight now Bryce has been sleeping all night in his crib. He still fusses a little sometimes when he's tossing and turning, but he's able to put himself back to sleep.

Otherwise he's as happy as always!

So A LOT of pictures (and a video at the end)...some of these should have been posted a while back.

Excited about the Christmas tree.

Bedlam! Thank goodness the Sooners won!!

 Helping Mommy decorate the tree.

Then undecorate it!

Bryce's own little Christmas tree.

Since Daddy had to be at work by 7am on Christmas morning, we made a special request that Santa come early Christmas Eve morning.
And this is what we found that morning!

Someone is still a little sleepy.

A short time later we went south to spend some of Christmas Eve with my Dad and his side of the family.

 Then we headed back home to spend Christmas Eve evening with Daddy's side of the family.

Christmas morning Bryce and I went north to Wichita, KS to spend Christmas with my Mom's side of the family.

What's up??

So Thanksgiving has come and gone. Now the mad dash for Christmas shopping begins...actually I think it began before Thanksgiving!

I did get our Christmas tree up and wrapped a few presents I bought over the weekend. Other than that, that is all I have done as far as Christmas decorating besides redecorating the same section of the tree over and over because Bryce likes to undecorate it.

For this semster of school I've got a project to finish and 2 finals to take then I'm done for a few weeks. I'm looking forward to not having to spend my free time after Bryce goes to bed doing homework.

Since Bryce's first birthday we have taken away the bottles, we're all sippy cups now. His last bottle was Thanksgiving night before bed. Fortunately he didn't even notice. A while ago he quit falling asleep with a bottle, so it was actually a pretty easy transition. The transition from formula to whole cow's has gone really well as well. I was trying to finish up the rest of the formula we had but he seems to spit up or throw up every time he has formula, so I guess I'll just toss it. Next to conquer... the binky addiction!

Bryce had his 1 year check-up on Monday. Nic volunteered to take him, so I wouldn't have to take off from my new job. I felt kind of guilty that I wouldn't be there to comfort him after his shots, but I was glad I didn't have to see the monstrous tantrum he threw after the shots.  Bryce weighed 21 lbs and 15 oz (21%), was 29 1/2 inches long (31%), and lets just say his head circumfrence is in the 78th percentile. : )

Dr Rossman encouraged us to pretty much just let him cry it out at night.  She said to shut the door and turn the monitor off.  She promised he would still love his Mommy in the morning. I really didn't want to ever do it, but I guess I had to as a last resort. 

Getting him down, once we got back in our routine, has been pretty easy. I lay him wide awake in his crib, and press the 'belly' of his sea horse. He settles in and falls asleep in 10-20 minutes. One habit I'd like to break is that I stay in the room until he falls asleep, but that will come in time.

So I decided Tuesday night I would try it, I would turn the volume on the monitor...I cant't make myself turn it all the way off, I think I deserve a little punishment. That night I was able to hold off from going in his room until 3am.

Wednesday night I was able to refrain from going in his room at all until after I had showered in the morning. So we made it an entire night.

Last night was the best night of sleep that either Bryce or I have had since he was born! I'm not including Nic since he stays at the fire station 1 out of every 3 nights, so he's had ample opportunities for an entire night's sleep. Bryce was asleep by 8:20 last night, he fussed a little just before 10pm. Then I didn't hear a peep out of him until 5am!!! He got up for the day around 6:30am. SUCCESS!!!! Let's hope tonight is just as good if not better!

My job has been going well, I've got so much to do that the days fly by. What's even better is I have my schedule worked out where I get off at 1:30pm on Fridays!! My company is very charitable and I guess every year they "adopt" families for Christmas and the floors are assigned gifts to purchase for these families. This year instead of several small families our company is adopting a few large families.

The family that my floor shares with a couple of other floors is a family of 7, mom and 6 kids!!!! I cannot even imagine. If being a single mom isn't challenging enough, the youngest who is a 1 year old girl, also has spina bifida.

Near our elevators there were little mittens and hats to choose with gifts listed on them. My floor was assigned to purchase gifts for the 1 year old girl and the 2 year old boy. So the gift I chose was the purchase "2 or more shirts" for the 1 year old girl. I'm always the personal that usually buys gifts based on the needs before the wants. I wanted to go ahead and get the pants hat/mitten too, but I thought I'd allow others the opportunity to buy for them as well. If there's any gifts left over to buy as the deadline approaches, I'll grab another.

I feel very fortunate that Nic and I can provide whatever Bryce needs and even wants,  and still be able to help out those less fortunate.

I'll post pictures later!

As promised...our first "family vacation" review. Better late, than never.

At around 4:00am Saturday November 6th, we loaded up in my Pathfinder and headed to the airport to catch our 6:10am flight. After a short stop in Houston, around 10:15am we landed, albiet a rough landing,  in 15 knot winds on our beloved island of Cozumel!

It was my 8th trip to the island. Since I had a short visit when I was early in my pregnancy we counted Bryce as being there for his 2nd trip ; ). As mentioned in an earlier post we stayed at El Cozumeleno. I'm not a really big fan of the All-Inclusive resorts, I don't really care to eat my meals off of a buffet but I find that they are a little more relaxing. I can't make myself eat every meal at the resort, but we did manage to eat at least 2 of out 3 meals every day.

Despite getting to the hotel at 11:30am, two of our three rooms were ready. After doing some unpacking, we changed into our swimsuits, ate some lunch, and were ready for some sun.

Instead of sunshine, it was cloudy and windy...not my ideal beach vacation weather. Apparently a cool front had just came through, a "norte" as they call it, and usually lasts a few days. Oh well we made the most of it.

We decided to eat at the hotel restaurant that night for dinner and the food turned out to be really good.

The next day was Sunday. The sun made an appearance, but the wind remained. While waiting for the rest of our group to arrive we watched some kiteboarders take full advantage of the wind.

 It looks like so much fun when they catch a wave a fly up into the air.

We spent a little time on the beach, relaxing.

Our final two traveling companions made their appearance around 3pm.

That evening we ventured out to town, to eat as Casa Denis and enjoy the local Sunday Fiesta. We were disappointed to find that Casa Denis wasn't open, so plan B: Plaza Leza. I had forgotton how great the beef tacos were there! YUMMY!

 Enjoying some songs from a local singer.

Bryce tried on a sombrero.

Monday the weather definitely improved and we took full advantage of it, enjoying Miami Vices and Blue Hawaiins by the pool.

That evening we watched the awesome sunste before we ventured into town to eat at my favorite restaurant, Especias.

Bryce got to meet the owner of Especias, Adrian who always greets us with a hug!

Back in April of 2009 we had quite the memorial night with Adrian. I did not partake in any of the Don Julio activities, but it was still quite enjoyable for my pregnant self.

Tuesday morning half of our group went snorkeling on a tour with Roswitha Flury. In 2007 I had did a snorkel tour with her and enjoyed it.

After snorkeling we returned to the hotel, played bingo and lounged by the pool. Real exciting stuff! That evening we had dinner at the hotel restaurant and once again were pleased with the meal.

Wednesday morning we negotiated a price with a taxi driver to take us around the island to the east side. The east side of Cozumel is primarily undeveloped aside from a few beach bars/grills and one wind powered hotel.

First stop was Mezcalitos. Where most of us enjoyed small but strong margaritas.

.

Our next stop was Coconut's, where we once again enjoyed margaritas...and lunch too!

Our last stop was Paradise...Rastas...er maybe the Bob Marley Bar...I don't know I can't every get that last one strait!

After returning to the hotel we spent the rest of the afternoon laying by the pool.

Nic and John participated in a horse shoe tournament and won!

That night we had dinner at the hotel again. We did learn not to order the mahi mahi...well one of us did!

Thursday was our last full day! Usually by this point in the vacation I'm ready to go home, but it just went by way to fast. I think I could have stayed another week. Since it was our last full day we spent it doing absolutely nothing!

That evening we had dinner in town at Casa Denis's, where we tried to have dinner on Sunday night. No one was disappointed!

Food was great and everyone (except me) enjoyed a celebratory shot of tequila!

Bryce kept himself entertained by playing peak a boo with the table cloth. 

Upon our return to the hotel, I put Bryce to bed and Nic's Mom was kind enough to stay in the rooms with him while we went out to the hotel "nightclub". Of course  I was ready for bed by 11pm!

It was a great trip and I was truly sad to see it end, I literally had tears in my eyes as we were on our way to the airport. At least I know we'll be there again sometime in the future...I just don't know when.