Warning…long post ahead since I decided to just roll everything into one!
Christmas
Husband got the flu the week before Christmas so he spent the week home from work and quarantined Baby E and I got to spend a lot of quality time together and our whole house smelled like Lysol. Baby E did have a slight fever on Thursday morning and we both had a cold, but luckily neither of us got the actual flu.
By Christmas we were all feeling better and only had a cough. We spend that night with my husband’s side of the family and Baby E got to open presents…way, way too many presents!
On Christmas we traveled again to see the other side of my husband’s family, had brunch with them then headed to my grandmother’s to see my family and have dinner with them. It was a lot of eating in two days. Baby E got to play with his cousin who is 3 – the two of them had a blast together.
His favorite part of Christmas was delivering presents to people. Since everyone would “ooh” & “ahh” over a gift. He’d make this surprised face like it was a big deal every time.
Baby E got shorted on his naps both days and ended up sleeping in till 9 for a few days after, but at least he wasn’t cranky! He didn’t even get to open his presents from us till the day after Christmas. We got our first (and probably only) snow on the 26th as well.
What did 2012 hold for us?
This past year held new jobs for both Husband and myself. His was a big change going from high school teacher to elementary principal and he is still getting used to the much longer hours as am I (it was nice when he used to be home by 3:30).
Mine was just a nice way for me to keep my creative skills in shape and have a reason to wear something other than yoga pants. I really enjoy working for our church because I have a lot of creative freedom and it’s very low stress compared to agency life.
Probably our biggest news was finding out about “Baby 2B” due to arrive in April. Baby E will have to teach his little brother everything he’s learned!
And he’s learned A LOT! Baby E started going to “school” at 8 months, when I started my new job. He also learned how to walk at 11 months. Since then he’s been getting into everything, terrorizing our dog and learning new words every day.
Some highlights for Baby E:
He loves books…so much so, he takes one to bed with him.
He likes to give kisses and then push people away. He used to kiss Daddy before bed then push him away, then do it again and again.
He loves accessories. He requests to wear his “coat” even if we aren’t going anywhere. Shoes are also a big deal.
Music is fun for him. He always gets wide-eyed and starts dancing around when something he likes comes on. He watches Sesame Street and over the break he got to enjoy a few Christmas “mo0-mee”s (movies) on the computer.
Talking:
He’s talking so much now and repeating absolutely everything (which means we have to start limiting what WE watch around him).
He now knows most family members and even extended family’s pets names as well as, a lot of foods, names for daily activities, body parts, toys and animals. “Baby” was one of his very first words and he still uses it when he sees other kids. Another first was “Be-ah-Be-ah” for banana – which is part of his breakfast almost every morning.
He started saying “Mommy” instead of “Mama” in November and proceeded to say it repetitively after that (“Mommy, Mommy, Mommy!”). He’s also started calling my husband “Bop-Ba”. He used to say “Da-da” but apparently has decided to rename him. He also picked up “Yucky” recently which comes out “Ucky” – and uses it most when we ask him if he needs a new diaper. He’s started combining words too – his grandpa had surgery on his foot and he learned “Papaw broke…crutches”. Just since Christmas he started saying “Play” and requests that we “play” all the time now. He likes it better when Dad plays and pushes me out of the way to make room for him.
Favorite Toys:
I bought him a book called “Down in the Meadow” from Half-Priced Books. It has foam animal pieces that pop out and can be placed on the pages. He is OBSESSED with the “foggies” (froggies). He likes to pop them out and just carry them around. The week he got it I think he only put them down to eat and sleep.
Cars are also a big hit. They come in handy when we’re running errands. Five or six Hot Wheels go in the center console and I can hand them back to him as he drops them.
For Christmas he got a Symphony in B, a Little People Zoo, a Little People Farm, a drill (which he holds in the air and grins like a manic when he pulls the trigger), more books and a Radio Flyer Big Wheel (which he can’t yet reach the petals on but that doesn’t stop him from pushing it around). He also got his own little chair from us.
New Year’s Eve
For the first time in forever (and I mean FOREVER – we were even out when I was pregnant with E and when he was six months old)…we stayed at home for New Year’s Eve. We had a nice dinner with family followed by some awesome desserts and watched Mr. Popper’s Penguins with Baby E. We were asleep by 10:30. Woo-hoo!
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