10 months...

...and I'm just now sharing his 9 months photos, I'm just a little late! So as promised here they are!

Yes, my baby boy is 10 months today. I can't believe he's going to be ONE year old in 2 short months! I better get to planning a first birthday bash! Unfortunately I did not get his weight before I put him to bed for the night, so I'll try to that tomorrow or the next night. I'm guessing he's probably just a little bit over 19 lbs.

So at 10 months he's still in some of his 6-9 months clothes...he just a little guy! The Old Navy 6-12 months though are fitting him perfectly. He's starting to wave, and pretty much the only thing he sounds like he's saying is "Hey". Still not walking yet, but he's using the furniture to walk around, just hasn't found the courage to let go. We are able to go the entire night without a bottle (most nights at least), but he's still not sleeping straight through the night.

Last night we spent what I thought was going to be our last night at the lake this weekend...until my husband informed me we were going down next Friday night.

Yesterday morning we loaded up and were at the lake by 10. We were on the boat by 11am and enjoyed a wonderful day on the water. There weren't many people out, the wind was calm and the temperature was just about perfect!

Nic caught probably the biggest sand bass of the year...unfortunately this year we didn't have very good luck with sand bass fishing.

Our lone guest of the day...and Nic's accomplice in the golf cart theft.

And about that golf cart theft...

Nic saw one of his buddy's golf cart parked and no one was around. He went down there and the keys were in it. So as a practical joke, he drove the cart around and hid it behind another travel trailer. A little later we had just finished eating dinner and there is a knock on our door. Nic's buddy was rounding up a search crew to find his missing golf cart. Nic almost went searching with them, but decided to confess before the joke went too far and someone called the sheriff. From my perspective it was pretty entertaining.

This morning we had to get around pretty early to head to Lake Eufaula for a family reunion. Fortunately for us getting up early involves us getting to observe a little wild life.

Here's Bryce waving at the family reunion.  

Bryce and his Papa.

Catching up...yet again!

I should be working on some homework while my child is in bed and my husband is working, but I felt I should post to my neglected blog.

Nothing too exciting has been happening. I've been thinking about a project for school which about brings me to tears because honestly it scares me to death!

Wait hold that thought...Bryce is awake...

Okay to continue...this project is quite intimidating, especially after hearing what other students had came up with: writing a grant, creating a nonprofit organization, etc. I'm not a creative person, I'm not a person that likes to be in the spotlight.  I like to know exactly what I'm supposed to do and just do it while laying low. So I think I've found something to do, it won't be impressive but it should get me the grade.

Enough about me and on to Bryce. I'm sorry this is all going to be random stuff with no method to the madness.

Hopefully this weekend we will finally move Bryce's crib into his room, but we have been saying we were going to do that every weekend for the past month. Life is just so busy and that is not nearly as important as homework, cleaning, cooking, and of course playing with my son.

Bryce has learned which cabinets he can open and make the biggest mess out of. So today Daddy bought cabinet child-proofing locks so Bryce will so be dissappointed to find that he can't open the cabinets anymore. He's also taken to opening the shower door, especially when I'm in there taking a shower. Last week he actually crawled in there with me!

He's figured out how to get off the couch. Check out the video below. He's been trying to throw the dog's toys, and dropping food over the side of his high chair to feed the dog.

Bryce has been enjoying his bathtime, splashing and all. However, he has gotten into the habit of crawling away from me when I'm trying to dry him off. Of course his towel is dragging behind him like a cape.

Last but not least, he loves the dishwasher!

Tomorrow morning we'll head to the lake to spend our last night there for the summer. Then on Sunday we'll head to Lake Eufaula for a family reunion. Two lakes one weekend!

 Oh I just realized I have never shared Bryce's 9 month photos, so I'll save that for my next post...maybe I'll do that on Sunday when we get back home.

Labor Day

This past weekend we spent what might be our final weekend of the year at the lake. Fortunately it was mostly a beautiful weekend, especially Saturday. 

Saturday morning was cool, but there was no wind. Nic and I decided to try fishing for a little bit. For the first time in a VERY long time Nic out fished me!

Melissa, Ozzie, Kell and Audrey showed up around 11am or so and we headed to our little "island", where the kids and Nic fished a little more.

Nic caught several catfish and a LARGE  half clam shell!

That evening we enjoyed a feast! We did a crab boil and it was so good!

Even Bryce enjoyed some of it...actually just my leftover corn on the cob.

After our feast we headed up to our friends' place to watch the OU/Utah State game.

Of course it was getting close to Bryce's bedtime but he didn't think he needed to go to sleep.

Go Sooners!!!!

Sunday morning I was surprisingly allowed to sleep in until 8am, while Nic and Bryce enjoyed the cool morning and watched some deer. So later they took a nap together.

Goofing off until we headed out on the boat.

The wind was blowing pretty hard on Sunday so some friends of ours found a little cove that was protected from the wind and boat traffic.

Bryce assumed his position.

Sunday evening we grilled some burgers and hotdogs. For dessert I made some brownies and my Mom made homemade vanilla ice cream, so we made sundaes.

Me and my two babies.

After dinner and everyone else left, Nic and I took Bryce on his first 4wheeler ride, which he enjoyed.

This would have been a really great picture if Bryce's eyes weren't closed.

We still don't know who Bryce resembles the most... ; )

So there you have it, our labor day weekend in pictures.

Wow where did August go?!

The end of summer is fast approaching, which I have mixed feelings about. I love, love, love summer, but with baby boy this summer at the lake has been extremely exhausting. I knew at the beginning of the summer this year would be the hardest and each subsequent year will get better and better. So as summer does approach the end I will begin to dread the winter and look forward to next summer...just wishing our life away.

A lot has happened over the past week. Bryce had his first full on vomiting episode Thurday morning, soaking me from my shoulders to my toes. Nic said the look on my face was priceless however he was pretty sure I was going to pass out so he grabbed Bryce out of my arms while I collected myself and changed clothes. I really can't handle vomit very well, I'm sure I'll get better. At that point I really should have jumped in the shower but I had a meeting at our regional office and I didn't have time. So plan B...baby wipes. Fortunately the vomiting spell was just a one time deal and he didn't do it again the rest of the day.

Saturday morning we went to the lake, where my Mom, Todd and Audrey joined us. We headed over by Western Hills to watch the Parrothead Golf Tournament for a little bit...atleast one hole of it. This wasn't your ordinary golf game, it was more like an obstacle course. The hole that we were near had a bucket on the edge of the water and the players had to hit the ball off of the course and try to get it in the bucket. No one made it while we were there.

We even managed to squeeze a little fishing in.

 After a little while we headed back to our little "pontoon island" and relaxed in the water.

Of course during the course of the day while we were out on the boat Bryce's nose starts running. Now this runny nosy has turned into full on yuck! Apparently we now have our second cold!

I apologize for the horrible picture of me here, but this was the beginning of our runny nose.

 

Since Bryce wasn't feeling well and had the yuckiest snotty nose I have ever seen...not really, but it was pretty gross, I thought I would be best if I stay home with him and not take him to daycare. It was obvious this child thought he needed to be held constantly and a daycare with 5 other kids, that's just not feasible...plus I'd had to spread this yucky cold to the other kids.

Here's my pitiful boy on our sick day.

We finally moved Bryce's bathtub to the bathroom instead of the kitchen sink, with goals of eliminatin the smaller tub altogether. However he does not like to be in the big tub, and really wasn't like his little tub in it. Bath time was starting to get a little stressful. So last week I decided to upgrade his mini bathtub and got the inflatable duck bathtub. He likes it alright, he'll stay in it long enough for me to wash him down, but when it's time to rinse he's ready to get out. I don't think it's necessarily that he doesn't like the bathtub, I think he just wants me in there with him...more of a seperation thing.

Funny story about the 'ball' in his hand in the above picture. My mini schnauzer Fara thinks that those are her toys, so last night was getting Bryce's bath ready and she grabbed the ball and started running circles around Bryce with it. She would stop and drop it, then Bryce would go after it. She of course would pick it up just before he got it, and run away. He'd chase her again and the cycle repeated over and over. It was so cute to watch them play like that.

Here's some final pictures that were promised on my previous post. Bryce tries to climb up everything. Here he is trying to climb over his piano. I will note that the piano is probably his favorite toy.

His obession with his feet has never stopped, he loves to have them in the air, or have his toes on his bottle.

 

Neglected

Dear Blog,
I know you have been severely neglected but my son, work, and school are my priorities and the latter of the three is going to taking a little time to adjust and to get into my groove. I will try to do better in the future.

<3 Laura

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

So while I spent my day working and spent my entire evening in class, Nic and Bryce were horsing around...how dare they!?!

The above picture is a really great picture, despite Nic's hands but I guess Bryce has to stay on the horse some how.

I'm a little sad that I didn't get to witness this in person, but I'm excited that it's something he and Nic got to share. At least my school schedule gives those two time to bond.

Last week our sweet baby boy turned 9 months old. He's been out as long as he was in! Monday we went to the doctor for his 9 month checkup, fortunately no shots were required at this visit. Pretty much what we got out of this visit is that Bryce is just a little guy. He weighed 18 lbs 11 oz (21 percentile) and was 27.75 inches long (32 percentile). They were not concerned about his drop in percentile, because they said it's to be expected when they become more active and he is extremely active.

I have some more pictures to post, but I'm too tire to get them off my camera then upload them...so I'll save them for another day.

Ch ch changes

We should have prepared better for the changes that are beginning this week...but we didn't.

First off I HAVE to share this photo I took this morning when I was taking things out to my car. You can't really tell in this picture but Bryce was smashing his face up against the glass looking at me. What's evening funnier about this photo is that it looks like Bryce is sticking his little finger out through the hole in the screen when actually he's not, his finger is hitting glass.

Tonight was my return to college. I'm so glad I took the spring semester off but I really didn't want to go back this semester. Oh well, the sooner I start back the sooner I'll finish. I'm anxious to be done once and for all.

Unfortunately I waited too long to enroll so the online courses I needed were all full, so I'm stuck with a Monday evening class and a Wednesday evening class. Fortunately the Wednesday evening class is a blended class, so I won't have to go to class EVERY Wednesday. If one of the online classes I wanted does open up, I still may go ahead and enroll in it.

So our first major change is that Nic is going to be picking Bryce up on the days at that I have class...provided he's not at the fire station. He's going to get to be the one who feeds Bryce his dinner, and will put Bryce to bed. Bryce really, really, really loves his Mommy and all the times we've had Nic do dinner and the bedtime routine have not gone over so well with our stubborn little son. He out right refuses to allow his Daddy to do these things. I know we should have shared in these activities to avoid this problem, but with Nic being gone one out of every three nights, we just kind of fell into the routine of me doing it all the time. Fortunately tonight Bryce was very good for his Daddy. Sadly part of me wanted to wake him up and snuggle with him. I missed him!

On the days that Nic is working, my Mom will pick him up (on Mondays) and keep him until I get done. My plan is to have her get him ready for bed so all I have to do when we get home is put him in his crib.  

Our next change is more like a finale. This week will be the end of our breastfeeding via pumping. I was able to go over 2 days without pumping this weekend, so I'm sure this week I will be able to completely stop. It's definitely a bittersweet feeling, a little sad but glad.

The best change though is the weather!!!!!!!! Oh my goodness I didn't ever thing I'd be so glad to see the 90's again. After a week's worth of 100+ degrees temperatures I sure am!