10 month Update: G’s first Christmas

I absolutely cannot believe my sweet baby boy will be turning one year old in just two weeks. It’s mind boggling how fast this year has flown by me. One minute I’m pregnant and nervous about giving birth and the next I’m planning a first birthday party and picking Cheerios and peas up off my kitchen floor.

My last update was the NINE month mark, and here he is about to be 12 months old. Shame on me! I have been so terrible at Baby G updates these past few months, and I know I’m going to regret it. Once I get a little behind, I feel as if I’ll never catch back up, so I just give up and don’t post anything at all. That’s insane, because a little bit of something is better than nothing.

So much has happened, I hope I can remember it all. I’m going to break it up into two parts so it won’t be too long and boring. Let’s see if I can hit the highlights between Thanksgiving and Christmas.

Oy vey. I make no promises to be witty, funny or in chronological order.

Here we go.

Let’s start with the milestones… the FIRST HAIRCUT!

He got his very first cut with Kim at the beginning of December. No more baby mullet!

He did really great, but that might have had something to do with the sucker she gave him before she started.

He got his first lollipop to suck on while she cut the back of his hair around his neck. He loved it, of course. Kim did a great job with him!

Somewhere in the bottom of my gigantic mom-purse I have his first curl wrapped up in a piece of aluminum foil. I guess I should dig that out and put it in a baby book, but since I haven’t written anything in a baby book since he was approximately a fetus, it probably doesn’t matter much. I am counting on this blog being enough of a record of his life that it will replace whatever I could have written in a baby book. But I can’t exactly tape a piece of his hair to my computer screen, so I think I’ll just toss it if I ever unearth it from the depths of my purse.

He has also gotten two more teeth and is working on a few more. The two incisors on either side of his top front teeth have arrived.

The fact that he is drooling buckets and chewing on everything in sight leads me to believe there are still more coming. I’m pretty sure two of the top bicuspids are coming through, but he won’t let me get a finger in there and feel for them.

I found a way to curb him crawling up my legs trying to get me to hold him while I’m trying to brush my hair and do my thing in the mornings.

That is until he turns the faucet on.

He has had a recurring ear infection for a looong time, and this is the face we see a lot.

He’s had two rounds of antibiotics, and I’m about to call the dr. again this week to see if we need to try some different meds. I feel so bad for him, and I pray we won’t have to see an ENT and discuss tubes.

Everyday for the past month he stands at the back door and reaches up to see if he can reach around the doorknob yet. He’s itching to go play with Gus and Woodrow, I think.

Finally one day he WAS able to reach around the doorknob, and that was the day that we babyproofed the house a little more. We added doorknob covers, outlet covers and baby gates at the bottom of the stairs. I feel a little better knowing he can’t just unlock the back door and head on out to play with the dogs.

Since it’s turned so cold outside we’ve been seeing a lot more of this:

And then this:

He is cruising more and more, and will stand unassisted for about 3 seconds before falling on his butt. He can crawl faster than a speeding bullet, though, so I have to really watch him around the stairs.

The good news is J and Papa taught him how to climb up the stairs, so I no longer have to carry him up them! I just have to make sure he doesn’t come tumbling back down them because he has no fear anymore.

At the beginning of December, G went to a Christmas luncheon at Papa’s office, so I dressed him up like an engineer so he would fit in with the rest of them. All that was missing was the baby pocket protector.

Here he is with his two Grandpa’s after the luncheon:

Nana, Papa and J took him to have breakfast with Santa Claus while I froze my booty off at Centreville Christmas on the Square.

It was G’s first time to meet Santa, but they said he did great. He wasn’t freaked out at all! Bewildered maybe, but not freaked.

Then Santa came to his school, so he got sit on his lap yet again! Except this time, the elves must have played a practical joke and short-sheeted Santa’s pants. And Santa is looking like he’s out for revenge.

Here he is with this sweet teacher, Miss Jennifer, on his last day of school before Christmas Break.

We LOVE Ms. Jennifer. She is the best! In fact I might be kidnapping her and forcing her to babysit for us all summer long. He was out of school for approximately two weeks, and I was about to go nutty. What will I do when summer gets here?

I’ll worry about that when it gets here.

We had an impromptu candy making day on Saturday the 19th with the family (it’s a tradition 4 years in the making!)

I decided to make Buckeyes this year!

My Granny would have said these are similar to Martha Washington Candy, except they have peanut butter instead of coconut. But I recently learned from my Ohio buds that they are actually called Buckeyes. Whatever they are called, they are freaking awesome, and I’ll be making them again next Christmas.

They are not the most perfect thing you’ll ever see, but it doesn’t matter. They sure do taste good.

I also made orange spice bread in mini muffin tins to give away to the neighbors.

That same day I attempted to steal a great idea from my friend MandyBeth and make a Christmas ornament with G’s footprints. I wound up stirring the gel way too long so it hardened up before we could get the impression made. It was pretty funny to watch me, my mother-in-law and my Dad all try to get G to put his feet in gooey green stuff.

FAIL.

The Sunday before Christmas we went to Leslie’s christmas party. Granny always goes all out for them for Christmas, and it’s always fun to watch them open their gifts.

Garrett was checking Leslie out.

Here he is with his Great Granny:

He did not like the hat:

Here he is opening his very first Christmas gift from Valerie:

He was very excited about the gift, but I think the paper excited him just as much!

Here is his first Christmas stocking that I had to hang on the lamp because he is tall enough to grab it and snatch it off the mantle. I didn’t want him to get conked in the head by a reindeer stocking holder, so I just moved it to the lamp. Worked just as well.

On Christmas Eve we all went over to Nana and Papa’s house to open gifts.

Here was his reaction when he saw his gifts under the tree for the first time:

The best gift was his very own CAR!

He loved riding around in it and honking the horn.

We even took it for a spin around the neighborhood. Great gift, Nana and Papa!!

On Christmas morning we woke up and brought G downstairs to see his gifts. Too bad Santa forgot to wrap them. Maybe he was too busy sewing a new pair of pants.

But first we ate some breakfast….

Ummmm monkey bread.

Then came the fun part – presents!! He got a Bee Bop Band with all sorts of noisemakers.

He got a construction truck that he can ride on or push around with a plethora of noises, buttons and lights:

It also came with a hardhat that wasn’t quite right for Daddy’s head:

But it was just right for G’s head!

He also got a Fridge Farm and a Big Bus that has provided hours of entertainment.

He has played and played with his presents, so I know I chose wisely.

After opening gifts at home, we got ready and headed down to Granny’s house for lunch with the family, and that was the end of G’s first Christmas. It was a wonderful day!