Edson at 2 1/3

His Favorite Things: 

• Garbage trucks, garbage day, the "garbage truck guys" (who know him because he and grandma have been known to chase them around the neighborhood watching them work)
• Fire trucks (which he calls fire engines about half the time)
• Books (in particular, books with fire or garbage trucks)
• Singing the ABC song.  Sometimes he'll let you sing along, but sometimes he yells, "NO! Edson wants to do it!"
• Playing outside.  He goes from bubbles to sidewalk chalk to his toy lawnmower to digging in my raised beds to playing in his sandbox in a quick circuit.  5 reps each, 5 circuits.  
• His train set.  I'm not usually allowed to actually touch the trains, but I can put the track together and reinforce prepositions ("The train is balancing on top of the bridge!  Under the bridge! Over the bridge! Up the bridge! Down the bridge!" - that's Edson talking.  He is a talker.)

My Favorite Things:

• Hearing him sing when he is supposed to be sleeping.  He usually sings Baby Beluga, ABCs, Twinkle Twinkle, or Jesus Loves Me.
• Asking who he wants to pray for.  It's a really sweet (and illuminating) glimpse into who he thinks about.  
• When he runs up to me at full speed and hugs me.
• When he tries to entice me to play with him during naptime: "MAMA! You wanna play basketball? MAMA! You wanna play with trains? MAMA! You wanna go outside? For a couple minutes?" (this is also somewhat irritating, as I want him to nap SO MUCH)
• When he calls us by our first names. "Hey, Mary, wanna make you special coffee? Hey, David, wanna make some muffins? Hey, Margaret, you wanna play outside?"
• His favorite foods.  They include normal things like cookies, quesadillas, french fries, peanut butter sandwiches.  And random things.  Gnocchi. Mango. "Red" (blood) oranges. Curry. Plain (unsweetened) yogurt.

For a while, he was referring to himself exclusively in the third person, calling himself Ah-nee.  "Ah-nee's coming in!  Ahnee wants some special coffee." He dropped that a couple months ago.  Suddenly, he was "Edson" or "You".  That's right, his first and second person pronouns are switched.  So in all the above quotes, whenever he says "you", he means "I".  That's not confusing at all. 

E: You wanna make the train go up the bridge and down the bridge?

Me: I sure do!  puts train up bridge

E: NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO! starts crying  Edson wants to do it.  Let Edson do it.

Me: Oh.  You meant to say I want to make the train go up and down.

E: Yeah.

I'm sure it will resolve itself eventually.

8 months old!

Edson's eighth month has been momentous.  I guess all the months are, but the party gets real when the babies start moving.  He is one busy boy, and if you take your eye off him for a minute he will find a dangerous activity (standing holding on to the rocking chair or swing, rocking the vacuum back and forth, standing holding on to one chair while pushing another chair, various unsanitary activities with the diaper trashcan, pulling out drawers... I could keep going for a long time). And now that he can hold out his arms to ask for me... melt.

These photos courtesy of Stephanie Hendricks

laughing!

rough housing with dad

I like...

• exploring the house!  I am especially fascinated by wires, plastic bags, the garbage can, and the wicker trunk.
• people.  I don't give out smiles indiscriminately anymore, but I still like people a lot.  Especially men with beards and children.
• moving.  All the time.  I can crawl, pull myself to standing, and cruise a little. I love to jump on people's laps until their biceps can't take it anymore.
• pulling out books from shelves. 
• ripping paper and trying to rip cloth
• bath time.  I've learned how to sit and splash, play with my duckie, and kick in the water while mom holds my head.  I cry when she takes me out, even if I'm cold.

I don't like...

• shoes, socks, and hats
• being alone
• not being allowed to play with mugs of hot coffee
• the bulb aspirator or saline drops

I can

• almost clap
• say dada, dayday, ahbah, gee, boy, and ma
• indicate in new and exciting ways that I am hungry (pulling mom's shirt down)
• stand holding on to moving objects (rocking chairs, swings, etc)
• Give slobbery kisses (my technique is improving)

Reading his book after extricating his leg from the constricting jammies

The first time I found him standing on his own

 

Constantly in motion

We survived his first cold

Edson at 6 months

Things I Love

• Daddy.
• My new exersaucer.  It lights up and sings!  There is even a dragonfly for me to chew on.
• Napkins.
• Hair.  It's soft AND pullable!  It's the best toy ever!
• Music.  I (Mary) have been singing him to sleep for many of his naps.  It started out as a last resort - a kind of I've-tried-everything-and-I'm-about-to-go-insane trick, but I've grown to like it as much as he does.  He also loves it when we play music (all kinds - I don't think he favors one genre over another yet).  His exersaucer plays a really catchy song about the primary colors that makes him light up when he hears it.
• Licking the floor. Hardwood, carpet, or grass.  Forget this nice soft blanket, I want to lick the thing that makes mom wince a little.

Scooting off the playmat (probably to lick the carpet)

Gazing at daddy

Things I don't like

• Taking naps
• My hat
• When anyone takes away a napkin I'm trying to eat
• Being by myself in the backseat of the car

New Talents

• I can grab my toes
• I can roll over both ways!
• I can scoot to any corner of the room (usually to lick the floor or eat a napkin)
• I can play peek-a-boo holding my own blanket over my eyes and pulling it away
• I can remove my hat

Kissing daddy

His first time in the exersaucer!  He can't pick which toy to play with first.

The first time I caught him scooting across the room to eat paper.  He did this in the time it took me to fill up a mug of coffee and come immediately back.

Insanity! Beating the Jelly into Submission

7 things I would like to see in my Insanity DVDs:

1. Women who have to stop exercising periodically because they have to yawn so big they can't breathe.
2. Women who have to pause because their baby is crying.
3. Women who have to wear 2 sports bras or else their boobs hurt so bad from bouncing that they have to hold them to their chests with one arm.  I used to think these women just didn't have bras that fit.  I was wrong.
4. Anyone yell obscenities at Shaun T.  I can't be the only one.
5. Women who have jelly-bellies, stretch marks, or a linea negra.
6. Milk marks.
7. Anyone gasp witty comebacks at Shaun T.  For example:  Shaun, "You have to focus here!" Me, "I'll focus on (gasp for breath) punching your face (gasp)!"

That said, I do think Shaun T is the least annoying of the exercise-video-coaches I've tried.  And while it's taken me about double the time to do the 60-day series, I'm pretty happy with it overall.  I feel strong.  I have muscles again.  And, I still have a dozen workouts left before my last fit-test and I'm kind of excited to see how I do. 

20 weeks

20 weeks

20 weeks

Summertime!

As usual, I've been remiss in my blogging duties.  I've been pretty determined to savor this time with Edson, so that's my excuse!  It will be nice to do more reflecting and documenting.  We've been having a blast so far.  We've introduced Edson to our kiddie pool (full disclosure: purchased last summer for us) and laughed at him pretty thoroughly.  When he's initially dunked, he does this awesome expression (watch his mouth) and arm-flapping:

After the first shock wears off, he has a grand old time:

We did this again in a warmish stream (with a life jacket), a big swimming pool, and the splash pad at a park.  I really want him to like swimming.  This is partly because I really love swimming and I spent hours and hours swimming at the lake, and partly because I'll feel a little better water-safety wise if he's a strong swimming.  I recognize both those things as first-time-mom folly. 

A few weeks ago, the three of us joined some of our favorite people at Birch Bay to celebrate an anniversary in the best possible way: renewing vows with the community that publicly said we'd help support them.  On the beach.  With s'mores and little crabs.

This weekend really reinforced how much I love my friends - and how much I've missed them in this time transitioning to a different church.  They are some of the best people in the world, and I am so thankful for them.

David and I have also spent some time up at the river.  So far, we've mostly just cleaned the cabin to make it habitable (mouse feces... yuck).  Last weekend, though, David took Edson for an hour or so and let me play with my fun camera lens.

Body: I don't think you're ready for this jelly

My body is amazing.  Sometimes I look at Crusher's little hands with his itty bitty fingerprints or his beautiful eyes looking around in wonder at the world and think, "Wow.  God used my body to make this child.  He was an egg and now he's a boy." My organs moved for him.  My uterus grew enormous and then shrank back to the way it was.  My boobs make him food.  It's crazy and miraculous and wonderful.

However...

Right after having Crusher I felt completely disgusting.  I hurt.  My hormones were going nuts.  There were icky fluids coming out of everywhere - blood, milk leaking out all over my clothes, night sweats. My hips and thighs were bigger than before (and they were plenty big to begin with) and I had this jelly belly.  Seriously, it looked as though there were a thick layer of jelly between my skin and my abs.  Complete with a linea negra that doesn't seem to want to fade.  The belly has gone down substantially since, but at seven weeks postpartum I still don't fit into real pants.  I wear yoga pants, leggings, sweats, and maternity jeans if I must.  I don't actually like real pants, but that's beside the point.  I have a closet full of clothes that I can't wear. I avoid looking in the mirror.  I dress as quickly as possible.  I cringe inside if my husband's in the room when the belly is showing.

How do I reconcile my wonder with my miracle-body with my horror at my still-healing-flubby body?

In my rational brain, I know it just takes time (if it took 9 months to gain the weight, it's not just going to disappear) and exercise and healthy eating.  In my panicked emotional brain, I fear and make excuses.  It's hard to make time to exercise when one has a needy baby who doesn't like to nap in his crib.  It's also hard to exercise with gigantic, leaky boobies.  It's hard to find time to prepare healthy food when my window of having two free hands is unpredictable.  I start cooking projects and have to abandon them because Crusher's crying. It's hard to be patient with some of my other postpartum friends and relations already fit in their gosh durned pants.

That's my whining party.  Hopefully, by ranting about it I can put it aside and be done for a while.  I have a gorgeous, healthy baby.  My husband watches him so I can exercise sometimes (like today!  Wahoo!).  I didn't buy the chips I wanted very much all week.  (I did buy the cinnamon rolls, but nobody's perfect.)

As an aside, I had David take before pictures for an exercise regimen I may or may not be able to complete (it requires 45 minutes 6 days a week).  I haven't been brave enough to look at them myself, and rest assured, dear readers, you will probably never have to see them.  Here's hoping there are decent after pictures eventually.  Even if there aren't, he's worth it.