Titus at 15 months

Titus is now a happy 15 month old. This last month was a painful one for everyone, filled with teething mostly. He now has all of his teeth (until the 2 year molars come). Praise the Lord!

This month was also a month filled with "conquering", our first trip to the ER (well, second if you count that one time we thought he may have eaten a battery and when we got there realized that no, he hadn't eaten anything so we left), and a little bit of talking.

Weight: around 23 pounds
Height: around 32.5 inches
Teeth: 16!!!! (never been so excited about this!)
Shoe size: 6
Clothing size: mostly 18 months (some 12month pants still fit)

We had our first trip to the ER - like I mentioned up there. It all started at the park when I was trying to wipe his nose (runny from all that teething I mentioned). He jerked his head away from me, and ended up falling sideways onto the cement ground. Pretty hard, right on his head. He took one of those deep breaths and just passed out. Never got the cry out. He was out for maybe 10 seconds at the most, and I was pretty sure it was just because of shock and the whole not breathing thing. The other moms at the park freaked out, and after finally getting a hold of our new doctor/insurance (this was the first Monday of the year after we changed insurance, and didn't have any cards or anything yet), they wanted us to take Titus in to the ER. By this time, it had been over an hour since he passed out and he was seemingly fine. No bruise, no throwing up, no confusion. Completely normal. But, I complied and drove him to the ER where we sat for three (or maybe four) hours. We got checked in, but waited and waited and waited. There was too many people there (probably because it was the first Monday in the new year). After all this waiting, we finally just left. Titus was acting completely normal (still), and mind you normal for him is crawling on the ground, climbing on chairs, touching everything and putting things in his mouth. None of those are great in an ER. I'm hoping we never get a bill for that terrible day!

I also mentioned "conquering". Titus is a boy. Boys like to do things just to see if they can do them. They climb, they jump, they explore, etc. Titus has a face of determination when he tries to do all these things. When he finally does it, he has conquered! And then its time to find something else to conquer. He loves walking on the cement edges - around the park, in the parking lot, etc. Its much like a balance beam. He climbs on the table and chairs. He loves trying to build with duplos. He gets that same look of determination while he stacks the pieces together.

Titus is finally done teething. He had a rough go of it. Seven teeth in about three weeks. He is not a fun teether. Whiny, feverish, runny nose, sleeps poorly, etc. He is finally back to normal (although he has a slight cough at night - I think he has Dave's cold!).

Titus has been talking a bit more than previous. He now says "up" a lot. He says when he goes up the stairs, when he goes down, when he wants to be picked up.... basically he says it for movement. His other words include "dada", "eh-ma" (mama), "up", and "ah!" (hi). He also sings the phrase "let it go!" almost perfectly. He just started saying "na!" (no) and "eese" (please). He is also randomly using sign language - more and please and eat. He basically uses any of those signs anytime he wants something. For example, yesterday he brought me his sock and signed the word "more". I knew that he wanted me to put his sock on, although technically the words he used weren't correct.

Other stuff: He is a book lover, nature lover, and animal lover. He pulls all the books out of his boxes and brings them to me, especially the books that have animals in them. He can make many animal noises - cow (his favorite), duck & chicken (which sound very similar), fish (puckers his lips - super cute!), pig, birds, horse and sheep. He absolutely loves watching the garbage truck and any other truck. He could spend all day outdoors. (Thankfully we live somewhere with nice weather and he can spend lots of time outside!) He loves rocks and sticks and dirt.

One of his other favorite things - playing in daddy's car

His sleep has been really rough this month, mostly due to the teething. He had two nights in a row where he slept 11+ hours straight (amazing!) and I was sure he was done teething..... then the next night he was awake 7 times. So I checked, and sure enough there was one lone tooth struggling to make its way through. It took a couple nights, but it finally came through. He is sleeping better, but has been waking himself up with coughing fits. I really do think once this cold of his is gone we're at the end of the sleep-deprivation tunnel!

The reason why he has so many bruises/bumps/scratches - he has to conquer everything!

The other thing that has been difficult with his sleep is that he transitioned from two naps, down to one. He usually takes one long nap from about 10-12am. If I try to push that nap later in the day, he is overtired and sleeps poorer or takes a shorter nap. This makes for a long afternoon, and an early bedtime. Hopefully as he gets more used to his one nap-a-day, he'll be able to handle the long stretches better.

After a year of bath-hating, he finally likes bathes! 

He is an eater! He out-eats Georgia every day. He always amazes me at how much he eats. Since he still has some allergies to soy and dairy, we have to be careful with what he eats. But, we went to In-N-Out last weekend and he ate 2 1/2 hamburger patties (plus quite a few french fries!). This morning for breakfast he ate two fried eggs (along with some oatmeal). He eats mostly fruits, veggies & meats, although one of his favorite foods is salsa.

Two months later....

So I did have a blog post that I started for Titus' 13 month birthday. And that was the end of November. Just a day before Thanksgiving, and two days before Georgia turned four, and then life happened. We've been really busy. Gift-buying, creating a photo book (for 2012.... I'm a bit behind!), starting a photography page and having a few Christmas photoshoots with friends, celebrating Christmas with Dave's family, and then traveling to Colorado to visit my family. What I'm saying is that we've been busy. I think this is probably our busiest time of year. So, I haven't blogged in two months. Here's a quick update on Titus. I'll try to get another blog post for Georgia since she just had a 4-year birthday.

Eating at a Mexican restaurant - he loves the salsa and will eat it plain

Weight: 22.5 pounds (around 25th percentile)
Height: 32 inches (around 90th percentile)
Shoe size: 5
Diaper size: 4
Teeth: 9 (8-front ones and one molar), another 7 have almost cut the skin - the other three molars and four incisors.
Clothing: 18 months, some 24  (and surprisingly wearing some 9m pants still)

Looking hot and handsome when picking out a Christmas tree

Titus has had some rough weeks. He's had a couple colds/sicknesses. He had roseola the week before we left for Colorado and had a really high fever - around 103 and 104 (and that was after giving him Tylenol). We had one night where he would only sleep if he was being held. I held him from 2am-5:30am, and then Dave took the early morning shift so that I could get a solid 2-3 hours of sleep. In Colorado, he had another sickness with a really stuffy nose and cough. He had another couple rough nights of sleep, but don't know whether that was more from being in a new location, the teeth that are cutting, or his cold. Last night was the first night back home and he went to bed around 7pm, woke up once at 8 or so (he was overtired - I rocked him) and then was up at 10;30 for a nursing session, then slept until 6:30 this morning. This is about back to normal, so lets hope he keeps this up!

His new eating position

He is all boy. I know I say this often, but he spends most of his day climbing on things, trying to throw and hit things, and generally plays very rough. He loves being outside (but only in California - he hated the cold and snow in Colorado). We've taken him "hiking" once and he loved it. He is all about the sticks and the rocks and the dirt.

He is beginning to "talk" a little more. He says "dada" now more regularly. He says "AH!" for hi. He also says "aaaah" for hot and blows on things or waves his hands to cool off the food. He has babbled the ma-ma sound, but doesn't say it to me yet. He pants for dog, and says "moooo" for cow. He understands what we say and will follow simple instructions (if he wants to!). Hes still not super verbal, but I feel like he's made leaps and bounds in the last month or two.

Right now, he loves reading books (he will find a book and bring it to me to read, then back up until hes sitting on my lap), playing outside (especially playing in dirt or sand or at the water table). He loves his two grandpas - both of them he is super close with and loves to be held by them. He snuggles in close. He also loves his blankies. We have three aiden and anais blankets that he's used since being a newborn. He will drag them around the house with him, especially if he's just waking up from a nap or tired. He also has to hold them on his lap while he nurses. All of them (that he can see - he doesn't notice if there is one in the wash or not in the room).

My little one year old

Although he is not truly very little, this is the littlest he will ever be. So sad to think that in a few short years he will start growing a beard and talking with a low voice. I wish I could just pause time because it moves too fast.

Height: 31.5 inches (96%)
Weight: 21pounds, 3oz - less than 50%
Shoes: squeezing into size 4
Diapers: 3 during the day, 4 at night
Teeth: 8, feeling some molars getting close
Clothing: mostly size 12-18 months

Titus loves: opening and closing things, filling and emptying things, playing peekaboo, his big sister, climbing on anything he can, playing with the cords on the blinds, eating spaghetti, most animals, being outside, eating dirt or rocks or chicken food, going for walks and exploring outdoors.

Looking so big!

Titus hates: bathtime, new people, new situations, sitting still, diaper changes, doctor appointments, riding in the car.

Yup.... hates bathtime. 

This month, we had a few rough sleeping nights. We've hit a sleep regression or something. Who knows - maybe some teeth coming in? Anyways, Titus has been waking up 2-3 times a night again. Yawn. He'll have a couple good nights thrown in there, just to get us excited. Stinker. Before the sleep regression, he was pretty much sleeping through the night or would do an 8-10 hour stretch, wake, eat, and sleep for another couple hours.

Another love: playing in his Uncle Matt's old cars (he likes Daddy's car, too)

He is napping great, and will either take two good naps or one long nap and go to bed early. He likes his sleep! I do nurse him before naps and bed, but he rarely falls asleep while nursing. When done nursing, he arches his back and wiggles away from me. I set him in his bed and he promptly rolls over, butt in the air and closes his eyes.

Rough when mommy wakes you up from your nap

Titus has hit an extreme whiny phase. Most of his life is spent pointing and grunting or whining or shrieking at stuff. I am trying to teach him sign language and simple words in order to make both our lives happier. So far, we're not getting anywhere. He knows "uh-oh", sometimes will say "dada" and that's still it. No mama from him yet!

Birthday!

Titus at 11 months

This month has been a hot, sticky one. We had a week of over 110 degrees, and our air conditioning broke on the first day. Thankfully we have grandparents who have a nice large house and live close-by, because it took 4 nights until our air was fixed. When the man came to fix the air conditioner, it was 95 degrees in our house. Titus this month has been expanding his skills. He loves to climb onto anything he can reach. He is also an excellent eater, and many meals he out-eats Georgia. Him and Georgia get along so well, and it brings joy to my soul to see them playing together.

Eating some beets

Weight: 21 pounds
Height: 31 inches
Shoe size: 4s!
Diapers: 3s during the day, 4s at night
Teeth: 8 still. I've noticed he has a severe lip tie, so am thinking about having it fixed.

Food: Titus is eating a lot. Seriously. So. Much. In the morning, I've discovered he likes oatmeal. I make him a 1/4 cup, and many times he eats all or most of it. He nurses an hour or two later, before his nap. At lunchtime, he eats whatever we have: leftovers, slice of bread, hunks of chicken, puffs, rice, applesauce, whatever. He likes to feed himself, and uses a spoon and a bowl for a while (before ditching the spoon and digging in with his hands). He is fairly messy, but I stick him on the tile floor for an easy-er clean up. Again, he nurses after lunch and then takes a nap. When often eats several times in the evening. He gets hungry around 4, so he will eat either what I'm making for dinner, or have a snack. Then when we eat dinner closer to 6, he will have another meal. He likes flavorful things - pico de gallo and brushetta were big hits with him.

Going shopping is difficult. He doesn't like to sit in the cart.... then there is lots of climbing and pulling things off the shelf when he gets down

Sleep: Our schedule is much more routine these days. He usually wakes up around 6:30. He naps around 8:30, then has another nap around 1pm. He likes to be in bed around 6:30 or 7, although there are several nights during the week where this isn't possible. At night, he usually wakes up once. Last night he gave me a 9-hour stretch. He normally wakes up to eat around 10pm, then will sleep until morning or close to morning (getting up at 5am, then going back to sleep for an hour). It is nice because his long stretch is when I am sleeping, so I mostly feel rested these days. A funny thing about his sleep is that he is very active. Georgia was never this way, but he moves from end to end of his crib (in his sleep). He faces one way, then the other, rolling around, changing directions, but almost always keeping his butt up in the air.

This was one of the first times that he fed himself. He has gotten a lot cleaner, thankfully! Also, he is signing "all done"

Activity: climbing, walking, getting dirty, carrying sticks and rocks around, wrestling with Georgia, playing hide and seek with her - she will run and hide somewhere and yell his name until he comes to "find" her. He loves playing outside (so great that it is starting to get cooler and now we can go outside) and will climb on our slide that we have. He walks around in circles, picking up sticks and rocks, and often eating them. He splashes in our water table, and tries to climb in and out of our cozy coupe car. If he can, he will climb on top of tables, chairs and anything else that is reachable. He loves the blankets that he sleeps with and will drag them around the house. When he gets tired he will curl up on top of the blanket.

Lots and lots of wrestling in this house

Another favorite game of his is putting items into a container and then emptying it. He does this with legos, toy cars, dominoes, etc. Basically anything small enough to hold!

The only picture I have (so far) of his lip tie. I'm going to need at least three hands to take a real picture of it

He is barely talking, although he has a few ways to communicate. He pulls on my legs and yells, "ah, ah, ah" when he wants me to pick him up. He does say da-da. He will mimic things such as "tank-oo" for thank you. He says "uh-oh" perfectly. He seems to understand much of what I ask him, and will answer by his facial expressions or his frantic "uh-uh". He is such a joy to have around. We all love him. Georgia will always beg (when she is doing something she doesn't want to do) to "go play with Titus" and I have to admit he gives the best cuddles. Dave loves coming home from work to see him - Titus will lumber over and hug his legs tight and want to be picked up. Usually hes so excited, his arms end up hitting Dave in the face.

Titus at 10 months

Well this month has seen the departure of my little baby and the arrival of my toddler. That's right. I have a toddler now in the house. The end of last month Titus learned how to walk, and he has just taken off! As of three or four days ago, he decided walking was better than crawling. And that was that. He now walks maybe 90% of the time. He does fall quite often, but its controlled (most of the time) and he picks himself back up and starts again.

Height: 29 inches
Weight: 20 pounds
Shoe size: 3
Diaper size: 3 (although I was thinking of putting 4s on at night for more absorbency)

Titus had a bit of a cold this last week that made life more miserable. Other than that, our days are very scheduled. He wakes up around 6:30. Naptime is usually from 8-9:30 or so. Sometimes a bit later depending on when he falls asleep. Then his second nap is usually around 12-2. I am trying to push it back because then he has a long awake stretch and bedtime is around 6:30.

He has a love/hate relationship with eating. He has a couple foods he really likes: watermelon, beans (refried or pinto) and puffs - the baby food variety. He also will sometimes eat coconut milk yogurt, meat (whatever we're eating), fruit - strawberries, banana, and peas. He will only sit still in his high chair for about three minutes (what can I say? I have active kids).

During the day, he is nursing quite a bit less than previously. He will nurse before his two naps and before he goes to bed. He wakes usually twice to nurse at night - once around 10pm, and then once sometime before morning. He falls asleep really easily for his naps and bedtime. He is so cute and sleeps on his tummy, with his but up in the air.

Like I said at the beginning, his activity level is extremely high! He is walking everywhere. He refuses to sit still in grocery carts - and can stand up (even with the belt fastened) in about 3 seconds. Grocery shopping with two kiddos is a challenge. He loves climbing and will practice going up and down stairs. He climbs onto chairs, and one of his favorites is climbing on the couch cushions. I'm sure one of these days he will figure out how to climb out of his crib (okay, I hope we have a couple months before this!).

Georgia is three and a half!

I haven't done an update on Georgia lately. She had a doctors appointment recently, and I was struck by how grown-up she has gotten over the last 4 or 5 months (since we had last been at the doctors together). She was a bit more obedient, able to sit still for longer periods of time. Her language skills have increased - she is able to explain herself and I am always shocked at her vocabulary and her ability for fast thinking and responding (sometimes in hilarious ways!)  She does have a few funny things she says - "buitar" instead of "guitar" and "butella" instead of nutella. Bessert is dessert.

We got this dress as a hand-me-down a few months ago. She is in love with is! 

Height: 44 inches - way above the 99% line  (the height of an average 5 1/2 year old girl). She has gone through a growth spurt this week and grown a full inch.  When we were in Colorado in the spring, we compared Georgia's height to my sister, Teresa. Teresa is tall - 5'10". Comparing a similar age of Georgia and Teresa (when they were both three), Georgia was a full inch taller than her.

Weight: 44 pounds - 95%

The last rainstorm we had in February

Clothing: wearing anything between 4T and a 6. She has a few odd pieces of clothing larger that fit - for example a size 7/8 dress that is just a tad big, but wearable. Most of the 4T stuff is too short, the 5s and 6s fit her well. I am starting to fill her closet with size 6s and 7s for this next year.

Shoes: 11 (almost in a size 12)

When Titus was a month or two old.... Georgia is a great big sister! 

Some sayings: 

This morning, Georgia woke up and said, "I prayed by myself last night!" She went on to say "I prayed for kids who have no families and no food and no purple beds" In case you don't know, she has a purple bed that she is very proud about. Obviously she feels bad for everyone else who does not have a purple bed.

While we were on our vacation, we asked if she wanted to wear shoes or go barefoot. She replied, "Barefoot. Like a bear!"

We don't get to go very often, but Georgia loves the beach

Georgia is fairly independent and can entertain herself and play by herself for a while. Of course, being the extrovert that she is, she really enjoys playing with other kids and being around other people. She enjoys going to the park, but only if there are other kids playing there. She cried this week when some girls told her they didn't want to play with her. She runs up to every kid she meets and asks, "do you want to play with me?" She gets really hurt when they say "no". I'm trying to teach her that she can just play, without having to ask every kid.

Her favorite color is purple. She loves eating macaroni and cheese (with hot-dogs, or course). She is not adventurous when it comes to choosing ice cream flavors. She will almost always eat vanilla, and sometimes will eat birthday cake flavor or mint and chip. She loves playing pretend and almost always pretends princess. She wants to be Rapunzel, Elsa or Auna, or Cinderella. She loves the movie Frozen (along with every other preschooler). She has most of the songs memorized and will sing them over and over, knowing almost every word. She has been watching Doc McStuffins, a TV show about a little girl who pretends she is a doctor and "fixes" all her stuffed animals. Georgia loves playing pretend and fixes up all her animals and toys with bandaids.

Titus is 9 months

So we have a 9 month old in our house. This month proved a bit difficult for us since we had a vacation to Wisconsin, almost 2 weeks of an ear infection and some teething. Poor Titus was pretty miserable for a while.

After eating refried beans

Height: 28 inches
Weight: 18.5 pounds
Shoe size: 3
Diaper size: 3
Teeth: still at 6, still can see two additional teeth still under the skin

Sleeping: This has been our biggest challenge this month. Due to his ear infection (poor guy), he refused to sleep laying down. Well, he refused to fall asleep while laying down. Once he was out, I was able to set him in his crib and he would sleep relatively well. But, for two-three weeks, I had to put him into the ergo and carry him around while he fell asleep. As cute as it was, it was getting a bit tedious and painful, especially for his older sibling who may have felt a bit neglected. The last couple days we have had a more painful time trying to re-teach Titus to fall asleep on his own in his crib. Hopefully it is a short-lived period in our life and will bring in a new era of easy baby.

The scratch down his face is an accidental meeting with a chicken claw. It was gone after a couple days. 

Nursing: still going great! I love this time with my babies. He nurses about 4 times throughout the day and then 2 times at night.

He is practicing walking! Getting so very close

Activity: Well, because of his ear infection during the first half of the month, his balance was quite off. He was falling a lot, and kept hitting his head - even while crawling, poor thing. Anyways, he had two weeks of inactivity because of this. He is just about ready to walk. I thought for sure he would be walking by 9 months. (Georgia was taking her first steps a week before her ninth month). We'll see if he takes any steps in the next couple of days. He is starting to babble and started saying "da-da-da-da" our last day in Wisconsin. Now he makes a few consonant sounds.

Fun in the airport while traveling

Favorites: He loves eating paper. Toilet paper, newspaper, junk mail, napkins, whatever he can find to eat. He loves playing piano. He will play Georgia's little toy pianos multiple times each day. I am shocked at how long he will play it - often a couple minutes at a time - a great amount of concentration for such a young boy. He does love classical music. When he is trying to sleep (especially during his ear infection days), I would play classical music for him. He instantly calms down. He likes books, balls and cars. He will run cars along the floor, pushing them while he crawls. He likes our push toys that we have, and will walk along while pushing something (often with one hand!).

Meeting Great-Grandpa Brinsko

update 8/8 - while waiting for myself to finish editing pictures (I am so behind right now!) to add into the blog, Titus had a dr. appointment today. He was almost 19 pounds (with clothes on) and 29 inches. The doctor remarked about how advanced he was, and how he is very very active for his age. Titus was crawling, walking, talking and climbing all over the room. We love him so much and are so thankful for his addition to our family!