Nash is 2 Years Old!!

I can't believe it.  The day has come that my baby is, ahem, no longer a baby.  Like, officially, people!  There's no mistaking it now...he's a full fledged boy and has the 'tude to prove it!

Here's a rundown of Nash at 2 years old ::gulp::
Height: Just shy of 3 ft (35.75")
Weight: 29.4 lbs
Hair: It's a tad darker now, but still hovering in the dark blonde/light brown category
Eyes: Still hazel
Teeth: He finally has one of his two-year molars poking through!  That makes 17!
Clothes: All 2T
Shoes: Still size 7

Talking:  I had to put this one first because it is, by far, the most noticeable (and amazing) thing about this last month.  He is forming complete, multi-word sentences now and can carry on full conversations with us.  I would estimate that I can understand a good 90% of what he says.  And I swear, he learns so many new words every day that we can't keep up.  He's talking about things he's never seen (like snow) and recalling things that happened way earlier.  Not only recalling it, but he's able to tell us about it later.  He's expressing so much emotion these days, and I can see his little imagination really opening up.  He knows all of his body parts, some colors, can recognize images (and in many cases, name) in his favorite books (even obscure things like sandwich or table and chairs).  And he's learning now the difference between boys and girls (boys have wee wees and short hair...girls have, er, something else and long hair).  He tries to count (really only says two and six over and over again) and repeats things over and over again until everyone acknowledges what he's said.

Personality:  He's still this supercharged ball of hilarious energy.  I swear, if we didn't force him to take naps and go to bed at night, he'd probably just run in circles until he literally passed out in exhaustion.  He's go-go-go all the time, which really wears out whoever is in charge of watching him that day.  He's feisty and funny, yet shy too.  We're starting to notice he gets shy in front of people, and his teachers even pointed out that he prefers to stand in the back of the class to do things like sing or dance.  Funny since he's a total freakin ham when it's in front of people he knows.  Like, he literally shows off and acts up when there's more than one or two of us in the room paying attention to him.

We're still dealing with some anger issues, but I just have a really good feeling all of that will melt away as he continues to learn how to express himself.  He's learning that he's not supposed to hit people (with his hands or toys) and that hurting people isn't nice.  He sees us getting upset and walking away when he is too physical, so I think that's helping.  He still has his freak outs though, and we've all learned to protect our faces when he starts swinging or gets worked up.

Physical:  Oh lordy...there's so much to write on this one, it's hard to know where to start.  From day one, Nash has been this incredibly physical boy.  Even during my first ultrasound, he was flipping and tumbling all around in my belly and the tech could barely get a pic of him!  He was super active while I was pregnant and NEVER stopped moving when he was a baby.  I remember the pediatrician telling us at his 4-month well visit that he was going to be an athlete...that he was already pulling himself up with his own strength and putting weight on his legs.  He sat up at a normal age, but then only a few weeks went by before he was crawling, and then standing up!  And he took his first steps right around 10 months.  And when he went for it...it was 8 steps and he was off.  There was no contemplation...he just did it.  And even now, he continues to amaze us with his physical abilities.

At the playground, he's able to climb every. single. one. of the obstacles.  We were there one day and he could climb up these tricky bars that this little 4-year old boy was AFRAID to climb!  Not my kid...he's completely fearless.  Which scares the everloving shit out of me.

He can throw a ball (any kind of ball, any size) literally RIGHT AT YOU.  I'm telling you, we've stood 5-10 feet apart and played catch (except he can't really catch yet).  He throws a football with a spiral.  And he just got a tee ball set for his birthday and he crushes that ball nearly every time.  We have to quick put the ball on the tee, turn and run so we don't get smacked with the bat.  He kicks...deliberate, timed kicks.  I was sad to learn they don't offer soccer for kids until age 3 because I'm telling you, I think he could do it.  Not to mention, my husband went out and bought Nash a few cheap left-handed golf clubs and cut them down so they're short enough for him to actually use.  And he's able to hit the little golf balls right off the ground.  There doesn't appear to be a sport he (a) doesn't love or (b) isn't good at.

 

Other notes:  He's become quite attached to his snugglies these days.  Every night and during naptime, his bed is so crowded with friends and pillows that it's nearly impossible for us to lie down with him.  And sleeping is still kind of a struggle...at least here.  When we had our own place and he had his bed, he did really well all on his own.  But once we came here and he has this huge bed, he wants someone to stay with him until he falls asleep.  Which can take FOREVER some times.  He loves trucks of all kinds, legos and anything that plays music.  He's finally over his Yo Gabba obsession and has taken a ravenous fancy to Team Umi Zoomi.  He literally asks for it every second that it's not on.  Thank god for DVR.

His eating is off and on, although he's generally very receptive to new foods.  He regularly eats fish (even salmon and blackened), spicy foods and healthy stuff.  But, just like any kid, he loves crackers, toast, candy, cookies, juice, etc...  We've struggled a bit these last few months because he's having trouble going to the bathroom.  Sometimes he'll go days without pooping and we can tell he's starting to not feel well.  He won't eat, he's irritable...and he tries and tries, but nothing comes out.  We've completely eliminated bananas and cheese and have cut out all but a splash of juice in his water.   We try to make sure he gets a lot of whole grains and fiber, but nothing really seems to be working.  Next stop:  doctor.  But when he does eat, he uses a spoon and fork nearly perfectly (left or right handed).  He can drink from a cup, but tends to spill it while walking around, so we still give him sippies.  The high chair is completely gone...it just sits in this old red, wooden chair Joe's mom has and eats at the table just like the rest of us. 

  

The other funny thing is how much he has taken control over his outfits.  He's begun requesting certain jammies (loves baseball ones and the ones with rockets or puppies) and won't wear anything else if he happens to see them in the drawer.  Also, he picks out his own shoes every morning and then Joe or my mother in law will form an outfit around the shoes.  Sounds awesome, right?  Well it would be if he didn't pick the same orange and brown pumas all the time.  He loves those shoes, but we are running out of brown and orange outfits to go with them!  He's can just about undress himself, although pulling shirts over his head is still tricky.  He's learning how to put his clothes on, but that's taking a bit longer that the undressing part.  He can pull his pants up, but he usually ends up only pulling up the front.  And we're teaching him to find the big hole for his head and the small holes for his arms, so he's getting it.  Still hates it when we make him get dressed though...he'd run around naked all the time if he could.

No improvements in potty training.  He's only slightly interested in the idea and doesn't sit on the potty for more than 30 seconds at any given time.  He knows when he's going to pee though, so we're gently informing him about peeing on the potty...and tonight I even threw a few cheerios in the toilet and told him to squirt them with his pee.  He giggled and seemed to like it, but no action occurred.  Oh well...it will come.

There's so many more things to share, but it's late, this post is long and I still need to find our Elf, Choo, a resting place for the night.

Love you, big man!

Nash is 22 Months Old!

Better late than never, eh?  Truth be told, I was waiting to post this until I could download his monthly photos from my camera, which I left in Orlando.  But then I checked it when I got home and realized I never actually took photos this month.  It was LAST month I was thinking of.  Talk about time whirling by.  First time I failed to take his pics.  ::sigh::  And we're so close to 23 months, I figured I'd just throw in a few randoms from right around October 11th and call it done.

Height:  35 inches
Weight:  28.5 lbs
Teeth:  No change
Hair:  No change
Eyes:  No change
Clothes:  All 2T
Shoes:  Still 7's

And for all the crazy details (and a bunch of Nash cameos), watch this.  Fair warning:  It's a bit long thanks to a few interruptions and my rambling, but cute nonetheless.

21 Months

Yep, it's that time again, folks. Time for a holy-crap-my-baby's-even-less-of-a-baby update. Each month that I do these, it gets crazier and crazier because I realize how close we are to the big "2".   So close that Joe and I are already talking about his birthday party...which is a bit of a cluster already since we are living in Jacksonville, but visiting Melbourne as often as we can.

We know we want to do it in Melbourne, but were working out the location still. Before we even get there, we've got to tackle our first Disney trip, both Mama and Daddy's birthdays, Halloween, AND Thanksgiving.  Lots of living left to do before December 11th.  But back to the task at hand. Bubs is 21 months old now and things are starting to get crazy!!

Here's the rundown: 
Height: 34.5 inches (I think)
Weight: 27 lbs (ish)
Hair: still dirty blonde
Eyes: still hazel-ish
Teeth: still rocking all but the last 4 molars
Clothes size: entirely 2T now
Shoe size: 7 and holding steady

He has to pick out his own shoes...and he loves these red ones.

Eating: 
We've definitely entered the picky phase as he rarely wants to eat what we want him to eat when we want him to eat it. He loves shunning foods we assume are his favorites and will not touch anything that looks remotely weird or complicated. Often times he'll put something in his mouth, let it barely touch his tongue and then spit it out with extreme distaste. It's maddening. And he wavers between periods of ravenous eating and nibbling like an anorexic bird, so we never know what to expect.

He still loves bananas (which we can't really give him) and toast and fruit in general, although he's been rejecting grapes lately. He refuses to eat grilled cheese, which is so weird to me, and definitely loves crackers, cookies and chips (of course). He drinks a fair mix of milk and watered down juice, but doesn't really like water (although we give it to him every night when he goes to bed).  Still wolfs down broccoli and seems to prefer wheat toast to white, which is awesome.

Sleeping:
This deserves a post all to itself. We transitioned Nash to a toddler bed a few weeks ago when he began crawling out of his crib on the regular. He seems to love his bed so much, and is always running into his room and pulling all of his stuffies on top of himself in the bed. But when it comes to bedtime, he's still a challenge. He does ok if we're in the room, but as soon as we try to leave, he jumps out of bed, runs over to the door and screams bloody murder until we return.

 I think this is just a phase and we just have to wait it out, but it's definitely been trying on both of us. Add in his recent love of smacking people in the face when he's upset and you've got a recipe for ugly.

Who me?  No, I don't smack Mama in the face at least three times a week.  Nope, not me.

Talking:
He's talking up an absolute storm now and it's literally the highlight of the month. Joe and I are always talking about how he repeats just about anything and understands just about everything. He's able to say most of the body parts we've been teaching him (even though he doesn't always finish the last consonant...like he's say "mow" instead of "mouth." He even says, "Na" when we ask him what his name is and every time we ask, he's closer and closer to an actual "Nash." He says "Pop Pop" for Grandpop and "Gumma" for Grandmom. He recognizes both our cars (especially Daddy's) and walks around the house saying, "Kitty?  Kitty?"

He loves saying "uh, yeah" or "uh, no" to just about any question we ask him (this is particularly hilarious) and recognizes a lot of animals and their sounds. Whenever the doorbell rings or a phone goes off, he grabs his ear and say, "oh!"  If we hand him something he really wants (like a yummy snack), he says, "Awww, man!" It's freaking funny, people.   He also does this thing where he smiles, says "chee" and put his fingers to his cheeks whenever we tell him we're taking a picture.  Must have learned that a daycare.  Can't wait to see his first "school" pics!

Other Developments:
The best part is that we feel like we can finally REALLY reason with him.  The other night we were having a particularly hard time getting him to go to bed, so I told him,"You're a big boy now, and Mama knows you can do this on your own."  And he laid down in bed like he totally understood and WANTED to be a big boy.  He literally glows whenever he accomplishes something, like taking off his own clothes and diaper for bath time or throwing away his own trash or coloring.  He loves being a smarty for sure, and we're always telling him how smart he is. 

We only did a few swimming lessons, but we learned the basics and continue to encourage him to "swim."  He's able to sit on the steps of the pool and walk around without plunging into the water or needing either of us to be right on top of him watching him.  He kicks his legs and has even gone underwater a handful of times...all in the name of "swimming like Nemo!"

He jumps like a champ (with both feet) and goes up and down stairs.  He has mastered all but one of his puzzles and loves to sort his toys (Joe always tells me how he'll go into his room and come out with all of one certain kind of toy).  He's coloring now and even drew on the walls for the first time this month (that's like a mandatory toddler milestone, right?).  I try to come up with new things for him all the time, like water balloons or finger painting or helping me clean so that he's always learning.  He's really into movies now, so it's tough not to let him just sit in front of the tv after a long day of working. 

Overall, he's super sweet, but also super emotional and impatient so we're lucky to make it out alive some days.  Now that he's able to do a lot of things on his own though, we're starting to crawl out of the messy house, no time to relax, where has our marriage gone hole that inevitably accompanies the first few years with a baby.  Now it gets REALLY fun.  Right? Anyone?  Bueller?

On the Verge of Big Boydom

{Sorry for the grainy photos...these are courtesy of my phone}

Last night was a rough night on all fronts.  We arrived back home late from a weekend trip down in Melbourne and made a mad dash to knock out a quick bath before bedtime.  About a week ago, Nash began crawling out of his crib on the regular, so we were worried he'd slip and fall one time while he was trying to get out.  So, we made the decision to convert his crib into a toddler bed.

While the actual conversion was a piece of cake, getting Nash to stay in his bed was not so simple.  Although he was super stoked about his "big boy bed," he wasn't so thrilled when Mama tucked him in and the made a move towards the door.  He wanted me to sit next to him while he laid in his bed.  Which normally wouldn't bother me except I had a lot of unpacking and work prep to do before an early morning.  And he was overtired, so he kept fidgeting.

I tried a few times to just shut the door and let him complain, but he

What we weren't expecting was how significant an event it is.  I knew going it that it would be tough for all of us - Nash has to get used to staying in bed now that he has the freedom to roam around and we have to get used to our little man growing up.

All this has come right when we're dabbling with potty training (I use the word "dabbling" verrrry loosely here) and he's talking more, eating by himself, learning to swim and hitting any one of a dozen other toddler milestones.  It's all so much I just want to throw my arms around him and say, "Stop! I'm not ready!"  Truth is, I'm excited about him growing up, but I also can't believe it's happening so quickly.  We went over to a friend's house for some drinks a few days ago, and our friend April says, "I swear you were just pregnant."  I was like, seriously...

I can't wait until this job comes to a close so I'll have more time to spend with him and Joe.   I know these next few months are going to be crazy as Nash speeds towards his 2nd birthday, and I hope I can remember to slow down and take it all in.  After all, these are the last three months that he'll ever be 1.    And I'm 100% sure we'll be making these faces on the regular.

I've Got the Fever...

Baby Nash - 1 day old

I feel like I'm surrounded by babies.  Babies in real life, babies on the interweb, babies in Target.  There are goddamn pregnant women everywhere!  Is it something in the water or what, people?!

::sigh::  I only say it like that because I'm supremely jealous.  You see, I always thought I would have my babies close together.  Two years apart always sounded good to me.  I never really wanted to be one of those people who let years pass and then one day, GO!  Let's have another!  Not saying that's not an awesome choice too - it definitely has its perks - but I just thought I wanted them to grow up together.  Plus I didn't want to be an old mom...hahaha!

But as time ticks away following the birth of Nash - six months, one year, 18 months, now almost 21 months - I realize I will have to be one of those people.  Our lives have become so completely disheveled that there's no room for a baby (or a pregnancy for that matter) right now.  Joe hasn't made any money at work in almost a year.  I'm seriously a career nomad right now just trying to cover down on everything by myself.  I'm on the short list to mobilize to DC again next year - which I don't really want to do, but it's ridiculous money and DC is a fun place and yadda yadda.

In my perfect world, I would tell the Army to go "F" itself on October 28th (my 30th birthday, how appropo).  Joe and I would say, ah hell, let's just do it and we'd have another baby (girl, please).  He'd finally be done with this County Line deal and move on to something else and make enough money to buy a house.  We'd move to North Carolina and I'd stay at home with my babies while earning extra dough as a photographer and a blogger.   Hey, a girl can dream, can't she?

Heading home from the hospital.

Bub and Daddy....who naps like this??  Only a tiny baby...

I think most of this stems from feeling like my baby will only be a baby for a short time, you know?  In just a few short years, he'll be off to school and that won't stop until he's an adult and moved out and gone.  So, I only have a few years to stay with him, teach him things, and help him grow into this fabulous little man.  Instead Joe handles it most days (no offense to my amazing husband, but nobody does it better than a Mama does).  And the days he works or needs a break, a couple of random women take over at daycare.  I'm left with a few hectic hours in the evening in between making dinner, cleaning up Nash zillion and one messes, and preparing for work the next day.  Oh yeah, and trying to find quality time with my husband.

I miss being home with my Bub.  And I want another shot at this baby thing.  And I don't want to be in the military anymore.  And I hate not having our own house.  And (shoot me for saying this) I kinda miss being pregnant too.

Vacation Part Two - Home in New Hampshire

No, I'm not really from New Hampshire, but it sure does feel nice to visit.  My whole family on my dad's side lives there, so it makes it a nice one-stop shop to see everyone.    It's incredibly beautiful there, and I always begin to question my love of suburban/urban life after spending a few days there in the summer.  We went once in the winter...never again.

My dad's house is surrounded by this amazing nature.  Woods, lakes, paths, animals, berries.  So much to see and experience, and we were super excited for Nash to take it all in now that he's finally old enough to really appreciate it.  We took walks, picked berries from my dad's bushes and made it a habit to spend as much time outside as possible.

Fresh Blueberry Milk!

My dad is renovating this old house in the next town over from where he and his family lives right now. Let me tell you, when we saw the house for the first time last year, I was like, whoa. I couldn't really understand why my dad had bought a house that needed so much work. Like it needed everything...

And after one year, he says he still has quite a bit of work left to do. But things are coming along...and I can tell he's really enjoying the process of redoing this place. And I can't wait to see it when it's done.

Vacation - The New Jersey Adventures

Yep, that pretty much sums up the travel portion of our vacation.  No, seriously, the trip there was pretty damn flawless.  No delays, no major issues...although we did almost miss our flight thanks to ZERO boarding calls.  We finally asked the desk 30 minutes before the departure when they were going to board and they said, we already have...we're getting ready to leave.  We were like, WHAT?!?!

But the kiddo slept the whole flight AND we had an extra seat, so I was able to lay him down for the second half.  That freed me up to get a drink, let some blood flow to my tush and relax.

Our first stop after the drive to the shore was to take little man to the beach.  It's New Jersey beach so the sand is soft (no crunched up shells here) and the water was a tid bit nipply for our Florida blood.   I'll let you go ahead and guess if that stopped a certain toddler with an affinity for all things involving water.

Joe's nephew Damian is an incredible piano player and he's 7!  So, the grandparents have this old keyboard at their house for whenever he comes over, and Nash noticed it right away.  After we disabled the volume slider (how does he find the worst buttons to push??), we let him bang away to his hearts content.  I think he's got good form...

The majority of our time in Brigantine was spent hanging in the yard, playing with Grandmom and Grandpop (Joe's parents) and, of course, more beach time.

Many evenings were spent in the yard burning off toddler energy.

On Saturday, all the family came down to the shore to visit.  We needed to celebrate Damian and Nico's birthdays, which are both right around the same time.  Cupcakes were eaten, margaritas were chugged sipped and lots of good times were had.

Stayed tuned for more vacation posts, including Nash's first rides, a Phillies game complete with REAL cheesesteaks and getting back to nature in New Hampshire!