I'm trying to get the 14 month post out before April if I can. :) Neil was 14 months on March 29th.
Neil is definitely walking. It's really cute and amazing. And of course now he's getting into a lot more, a lot faster. I've started letting him walk into our house himself when we get home from work/daycare. It's so cute but makes me kind of tear up because my little baby is growing up. He can also get up the stairs pretty well, crawling up them somewhat.
Opening a birthday present from his aunt (his new favorite toy, Rock N Roll Elmo). Don't mind the hair.
Neil only has the 2 teeth still but I'm pretty sure one of his top teeth is about to come through and there might be an additional top tooth that's somewhat close. He's been more clingy and cranky the last few days so I'm thinking that might be from teething.
Eating hasn't slowed down, either. Neil still favors avocados, and gets a banana every day. I am cooking for us more than I ever have and trying to make enough to have some to send into daycare the next day. I admit I have bought some frozen stuff (especially fish) and I look at the sodium to try to limit that. Some fish is actually fine if you buy it frozen. Also, with fish fries, we're going to those most Fridays. Neil likes crab cake and shrimp. Expensive taste right here!
He likes to eat with one foot up on the chair.
This is the eating schedule:
7:00 bottle/nurse
7:30-8 yogurt or other breakfast
11:30 lunch
3:30 snack (usually a banana at daycare I think)
5:00 snack (usually puffs just to tide him over until Dave gets home)
5:45 dinner
7:00-7:30 nurse
Pretty much anytime we offer food we offer milk (whole milk) with it as well.
We're still nursing morning and night and my supply seems somewhat sporadic. Some days I get more than others and I can't figure out if something in particular helps or hurts that. I only know because I pump before work. I also no longer ever feel uncomfortable like I used to if I didn't nurse. I have a feeling if I wanted to stop completely right now it wouldn't be too bad. But Neil is definitely still interested in nursing so I'm going to keep it up. I also still like the bonding time so for now we're continuing. One side story related to this- one day after work I was really stressed and upset. Neil came over and lifted my shirt. He had already eaten so I knew he was fine; I'm pretty sure he was trying to comfort me because that comforts and centers him. It was adorable. (And no I did not nurse.)
Speaking of comfort, he gives hugs and at times has patted me on the back. Just seeing him do some of these adult things is adorable. He really watches what we do and picks up on things really fast. It's very enlightening- you don't realize you do something until he repeats it (whether it's words or actions).
Me: Where's Donald Duck? (He's under the covers) Neil: I don't know....
We are still dealing with some temper tantrums. They really seem to be an indication that he's either hungry or tired. I'm sure we're coming up on tantrums from him for not getting what he wants. And he's definitely starting to test us. You can see his look to make sure we're watching before he tries to touch something, eat something, etc.
He now wants to use everything we're trying to put away. So we humor him. And then put it away.
At daycare, Neil only takes one nap a day. We seem to be able to cut it from two to one on the weekends only if he's busy playing/distracted. If he's not he gets very cranky and rubs his eyes a lot.
I'm understanding more of what Neil is saying. He added "help" although it sounds a lot like "up". And he's repeating things that we say. He also says phrases but it seems to be more nonsense right now.
Stats (these haven't changed from last month):
Size 3 diapers
Size 12 month clothing, and we started using some 18 month sized Gerber pajamas.
So sorry posts have been scarce. I have been extremely busy and very stressed. Not about anything I will go into detail here but I just haven't had time for anything at all. And the picture of Dave is definitely not one of the best; I did not take a picture just for this. But I love how he and Neil look similar (to me anyways).
Here are the questions and Dave's answers:
1. What's your lucky number?
Lucky numbers: 4, 8, 15, 16, 23, 42
2. Do you have a lucky charm?
I don't really have a lucky charm. The only thing that I really carry around with me day to day is my wallet, phone, and now my new watch that Jen got me on our cruise. I guess I do have something in my wallet that I've had since the summer of 1998, so nearly 16 years I've carried it around with me. It's a guitar pick given to me by the Lee, the lead guitarist in the band I was in from 1994 until 1998. We were called Apathy, a heavy hardcore band from Pittsburgh (yes, this mild manner guy who currently plays drums at church services was actually the drummer in a heavy metal / hardcore band). We played a few shows around the area.
Alienated - Apathy
(yes, that's me playing the drums back there)
That was such a good time in my life. So much fun! Playing in front of crowds that didn't know who we were, and they actually liked what we were doing. Seeing people mosh to our stuff was something that was incredible! What a great feeling!
Lee was moving to Virginia, and thus Apathy ended. On the day that he left, he gave everyone in the band one of his guitar picks. I wouldn't consider it lucky, per se, but just a reminder of a really great time in my life.
3. Do you fill out a bracket for March Madness? Who do you want to win?
Yes, I do fill out brackets for March Madness every year, and I want everyone I pick to win every year. lol! I've only won the whole thing once, and I've come in 2nd or 3rd once or twice.The time that I won, it was the 1999 tournament I had picked Gonzaga to make it to the Elite 8, with UCONN beating them (exactly how it played out). I also had the entire final 4 correct with UCONN winning. That bracket was based on seeding # times the round #. The higher the seeding, the more points you got. So picking underdogs would be very beneficial if they actually won. Because Gonzaga was a #10 seed, I racked up some big points even before the final 4. I was so far ahead by then that I won it. People were saying "I can't believe you picked Gonzaga in the Elite 8" and my response to them was "Hey, I looked at their record and they were a good team. Plus I had the Final 4 and champion correct." I always try to pick at least one or two big upsets to make it far, sometimes you get lucky and pick the right upsets, sometimes you don't.
4. March 10th is "Middle Name Pride Day." What's your middle name?
My middle name is Lee. I was named David after my dad's and grandpap's middle name (plus there are a ton of Davids on my dad's side of the family, and was a very popular name in the Drylie family). Lee came from my mom's side, but I don't remember exactly who had it. I think it was a great uncle. I'll have to ask my sisters to see if they know.
5. Submit one question that would would like to see on a future The Boys Behind the Blog.
hmmm... I could list many "favorite" types of questions: Who was your favorite superhero growing up? Favorite board game? Favorite game on your smartphone? Who is your favorite actor / actress? Favorite TV show? Favorite character from a tv show or movie? Favorite store? Favorite restaurant? Favorite piece of electronics?The Pinta, the Nina, the Santa Maria? But for a question with deeper meaning (or thought), I dunno... I'll have to think about that
I stole the stolen post from 3 Cheap Runners. I answered these before looking at the post I linked or the post that they linked so I wasn't getting ideas for how to answer. Also, I'm doing a mix of answering since I'm not in the thick of running right now.
1. What weather do you refuse to run in?
Cold rain. I don't mind snow, and I don't mind rain when it's warm out. But if it's cold, rain is brutal. I also don't care for cold wind. I do like running when it's cold out but not if it's raining or windy.
2. What distance is your short run?Right now it's 1 mile. I say that because I try to run at least a mile.
3. How do you stay hydrated while running? Water fountain, carry your own, etc.
My runs right now are short enough that I don't need to worry about it. When I was training for the half though, I used water fountains or stops at my car (did a 5 mile loop so I could do that if I went more than 5 miles). I don't like carrying anything when I run. My hands get too sweaty.
4. Music or no music?
No music. I do love listening to music but I don't have ear buds or anything and don't want to carry my phone or mp3 player in my hands.
5. Do you ever run nekkid? (without GPS, not literally, silly)
What, run without a GPS watch? That's crazy talk.
6. What is the first thing you do after a run?
Take a shower. Haha. Actually, usually it's get a drink of water. I should stretch but I haven't learned my lesson yet, even after injury.
7. What's your favorite running shoe ever?
Brooks Adrenaline but I've only owned two different types of running shoe so far.
8. Do you make deals with yourself to finish a tough run? What are they?
Yes. Usually it's negotiating not to walk. I pick out a landmark and say if I force myself to run that far then I can walk after that for _ distance or _ time. But then when I get there I pick another landmark and try to keep running. I also think about if I keep running I can have another beer later to make up for it because I burned the calories.
9. Two things you could not run without besides kicks
My GPS watch and I wish I could always run with a running buddy, especially either Colleen or Tim. They are perfect running buddies for me.
10. Running has helped me ___.
De-stress and feel good about myself.
11. Are you following a training plan? If so, what does your weekly routine look like?
No, not right now. But I'm going to talk about what my weekly routine goal is because I just started back up. I'm going to try to run at lunch at work, 2-3 times a week. My work running buddy, though, is switching to night shift and I'm having trouble motivating myself so we'll see what happens the next couple of weeks. We did one run together so far, and we are starting out with run/walk intervals of 1:1. We're going to up the length of the run interval as we get into it. Right now we run around our set of buildings, which is about a mile loop. I haven't told him but I was thinking once we get to the point that we're doing 3 loops (I think that will be 3-4 miles) then I would like to do an out and back that Tim says is 5 miles but includes one pretty big hill.
12. Be honest, do you regularly stretch + foam roll post run? See my answer to #6 above. No, I do not. In fact, my foam roller is at work. I let a coworker borrow it, she gave it back, and I never brought it home. Although that might work since I'm running there, but I'm not sure my coworkers want to see me rolling in my cubicle or the hallway.
Our last day was really a travel day. We had breakfast on the boat and then debarked, went through customs, and headed to the airport. It was a very efficient process, something Disney seems to be good at. I figured I would post a few pictures and give my final thoughts our Disney cruise experience in general.
This was definitely a good cruise for kids. If you have a kid over 3, they have the Oceaneer's Club for those kids, and even activities for pre-teens and teens. They have a specific area for the teens as well and I bet that teenagers would love a cruise like this. I did not see any teens on the cruise by the way. They were either off on their own or it was more of the younger kids. There was also an adults only area that we didn't spend much time in but it seemed like a nice area and had a private pool.
For Neil, he might have been too young. BUT we didn't pay for him (other than taxes and nursery time). He really enjoyed the food and took random naps in some interesting places. He got cranky a few times because of lack of sleep. We also missed out on evening activities because of Neil's early bedtime.
The service was hit or miss. I had heard so many rave reviews of how spectacular the service is so maybe my expectations were too high. When we first boarded and had lunch, the cast members that were in the Cabanas restaurant were awesome. They paid a lot of attention to Neil, made a Peter Pan hat out of a napkin, and spent quite a bit of time with him. By the way, he loved the attention throughout the cruise.
However, I wasn't impressed with the cast members assigned to us (dining and stateroom). I kept reading how they learn about you and cater to what you usually do and your needs. But they didn't seem to.
Our stateroom- the first night we were back early and the room was ready. We saw the cast member who took care of the room and he was surprised we were back. I laughed and pointed at Neil and said early bed time, and he nodded. I thought from then on that he would have our room done earlier than the others but it was not, to the point that on the Pirates night I had to ask him to clean our room and we had to find something to do because the room was not ready when we got back from dinner. Neil was really tired, too. That was the next to last night and the cast member did have the room clean when we got back the last night. But I had kind of expected him to clean our room earlier after the first night, especially after he commented on (noticed) how early we were back and was already cleaning other rooms so he could have shifted us to an earlier priority. With that said, though, he did do a different animal towel each night, helped us with the television the first day, and seemed very nice, always giving Neil a lot of attention when he saw us in the hallway.
The dining cast members I ran into the same thing (lack of attentiveness). I had read somewhere that they are very attentive to the point that they sometimes even will cut up food for younger kids if they need it. I know that's above and beyond what should be expected. But again there were comments about how they remember your drink order after the first night. That didn't happen either. The first night I had hot chai tea. The server even commented on that being a good selection. The second night he brought me green tea instead (ok he did remember hot tea so he got that right). The third night after bringing the mug and tea bag, he never gave me hot water and I had to ask someone else for it. Now, maybe part of this was us being absorbed with Neil. And again maybe my expectations were too high. Another example- we kept putting Neil's food on a separate plate after we cut it up so that he wouldn't grab whole pieces of chicken/fish, etc. We were using one of the bread plates on the table. But the server kept bringing Neil's plate out with uncut food and setting it right in front of him, in reach. Not a good idea with a 1 year old. And as we tried to move it around (there was a LOT on the table, I will say that), he just looked at us and didn't really try to help at all. This happened each night at each meal.
We also had a very messy kid though and they had to really clean up after us. We did feel really bad about that. Neil enjoyed his food but isn't using silverware and did make a real mess.
We did have a very good time and I'd like to go back again. We didn't do a lot of things because of Neil's bedtime but it was still very relaxing and I slept very well. We loved having a verandah. We couldn't use it at night because the door was hard/loud to open and close and Neil was right next to it. But for his naps we wedged the pack n play between the bed and the wall, used the privacy curtains, and spent time on the verandah and couch just relaxing while Neil slept. If we needed to use the bathroom we crawled over the bed, haha, but it didn't seem to wake Neil up.
We did bring a bottle of wine and corkscrew and it was nice to have free wine in our room.
Disney does rotational dining and your servers follow you. We ate the first night in Animator's Palate, which had my favorite food (and Neil's favorite), then Enchanted Garden the following night and for Pirate's night as well, and finally in the Royal Palace the last night. They had early and late dining. We had early dining, which started at 5:45. We were usually getting dessert around 7. Three of the nights we took dessert back to our room.
The hot tubs had a glass bottom that you could see down. We only went in one at night so we couldn't really see but what a neat concept.
The stateroom had a lot of storage space and we were able to easily put both of our suitcases under the bed with room to spare.
Now that I've written a lot of text, here are pictures from our last day.
Our last breakfast on the ship
Waiting in the Orlando airport
We had a long time to wait so we stopped in a restaurant for some beer.
Doesn't this look like a Sam Adams ad (but maybe not a good ad if a baby is in it)?
At the Hello Kitty store in Orlando airport
The tram to the gates. We got on the wrong one so Neil enjoyed riding this back and forth
Our plane!
This is the first flight that Neil didn't sleep much.
This was our last full day on the ship and it was an at sea day. Dave and I took advantage again of the nursery and had reservations for brunch at Palo, which was amazing. It cost an extra $25 a person but in my opinion was well worth it. Then we had a martini tasting, and when we went to get Neil at the nursery he was still sleeping. We wanted him to sleep so we decided to leave him (which meant paying for that time) and took some time to pack up without him in the room, which was much easier!
There was a huge storm so the ship ended up heading back to port early and we could feel it rolling a lot. We also were able to watch the storm from the verandah for a little bit and it was really pretty to see the lightning all around us (until the rain came in on the deck itself). Although we were in port by 11pm they had us spend the night on the ship and still have breakfast the following morning before debarking.
The nursery and Oceaneer's Club had an open house so I took Neil to both while Dave got ready.
This is one of the rooms in the Oceaneer's Club, which would be great if Neil had been a bit older. Next time...
Neil really liked Mickey Mouse so we bought him one in the store.
Our brunch at Palo
My dessert choices at Palo. That's a chocolate covered strawberry on the right.
Walking around between Palo and the martini tasting
The Aquaduck, their water slide. We rode this the night that Neil was in the nursery
Dave on the top deck
Standing on our verandah
Neil's first taste of ice cream
He really liked it and ate everything out of the cone (we didn't let him eat the cone itself)
Mickey statue outside the Walt Disney theatre
Chandelier on the Disney Dream
We didn't stand in line much for the characters but Neil loved Mickey. The pictures from this were blurry though.
I decided I want to continue these monthly posts because I like looking back and remembering things that Neil did. We won't take monthly pictures, though, so I'll include some that we've taken from the previous month. For next month I might start a better format. I'll be looking for good examples to get ideas between now and then.
Neil is starting to walk. I'm not sure when you can consider that they're walking. He can definitely stand without holding onto anything for a good amount of time, walks holding just one of my hands, and is starting to walk in between things. I saw it about halfway through the month for the first time when he walked from a kitchen chair to his high chair (about 2 steps). I was so surprised! Towards the end of the month he walked about 8-10 steps in front of Dave, stopping in the middle, standing on his own, and then continuing on. But he prefers crawling over walking still and if he's tired he doesn't want to walk.
I see him now and can't remember when he wasn't crawling, rolling, or mobile. It's weird to think that in a few months I won't remember what it was like before he walked.
Neil only has two teeth that we can see and I don't feel any more coming in yet. His two teeth are so cute though!
We definitely can't eat anything in peace anymore. Neil sees what I have and wants it. (Now I have to attempt to be more healthy to be a good example.) And even if I have the same thing on my plate as he has on his, he wants mine. Typical, right? He ate like a champ on the cruise and still doesn't seem to be very picky although avocados are still his favorite. So far he also seems to like peas a lot. We are at the point that we can pretty much go to any restaurant and order off the menu for him. We actually don't usually order off the kid's menu, either. He seems to really like grilled chicken as well, and maybe fish (based on how he ate fish on our cruise). I don't like seafood at all though so I want to take advantage and order fish when we're at restaurants. I guess I need to learn some good fish recipes to cook it for Neil and Dave and I'll eat something else. We let Neil try ice cream for the first time on the cruise and of course he loved it.
Breastfeeding/nursing: So the cruise was a bit enlightening because I was with Neil 24/7 pretty much and he could nurse on demand. He seemed to nurse 3 times a day when we're together all the time. First thing in the morning, late morning, and then as part of the bedtime routine. We also gave him whole milk and water. However, I really can't pump anymore at work because of the way my job is. I'm not "protected" by the law anymore and I think most people there would be shocked to know I'm still nursing. So I did cut out that last pump at work and was able to do it after we returned from the cruise. I used the last of my freezer stash the day Neil was 13 months so from here on out it's whole milk and water for him. I'm going to continue nursing morning and night although I'm noticing that my supply is REALLY dropping now. I think we're going to start giving him food for breakfast as well.
This seems to be his eating schedule:
Nurse/bottle in morning (I pump before work the days I work) 7:00am 4-5 oz and yogurt
Lunch with whole milk 11:00-12:00 5oz
Snack with whole milk 3:30 5oz
Nurse at night around 7-7:30 I just pumped for a date night and only got 3 oz
We might be missing a mid-morning snack but we're still playing things by ear. Neil now eats a lot for dinner. The last two nights in a row he ate as much chicken as I did.
Cutting out that last pump session at work was a lot easier than I thought it was going to be. Every other time I've cut out a pump session I've gotten very full and been sore. I was a little full the first couple of days, at the end of the day, but not too uncomfortable. And Neil seemed to empty me at the night nursing, which is good.
I also cut out his 5pm nursing session. He wants it more for comfort because if I give him whole milk he doesn't want that. So now I'm dealing with after work crying/temper tantrums that I'm not sure how to handle. I try to hold him and even that doesn't help. So maybe it's mean but I've kind of taken to just setting him down on the floor and letting him cry. If hugging/holding helped, I would do that. But it doesn't make a difference. The only other thing I can think is that he is tired. They don't give us sheets with what he did at daycare now that he's over a year old. I know that he was cutting down to one nap a day there (in the afternoon) and on the weekends he naps both in the morning and the afternoon so maybe that's the problem. But if he sleeps at 5pm then it pushes back bedtime. This whole thing is something I'm trying to figure out. We have moved up his bedtime a bit to see if it helps. We'll keep working on this. He does sleep well.
Neil is talking up a storm. I can't understand a lot of what he says but sometimes I can figure it out based on what he's pointing at. He calls fish "pout" or "pout pout" (from a book Dave reads to him with the pout pout fish). Cats are either "Tigger" or "kitty." He says banana (ba), ball (ba), truck, boat, dog (woof and d)... those are just some of the words I've heard the last few days. He says a lot more. If I don't understand what he's saying and can't figure it out, I try to respond and just say something like "Oh really". The sign language is good although he doesn't seem to understand yet when to say things. If we say "please" or "thank you" he signs it but doesn't offer it on his own yet.
Neil does seem to be overtired. I have a feeling they've cut out his morning nap at daycare but I'm not completely sure. I know he wasn't getting it all the time. He sleeps really well at home though and his routine for sleeping is:
Wake up around 7am
Nap around 8am for about 2 hours
Nap around 12-1 for 1-2 hours
Bed between 7 and 8pm
The reason I think he might not get the morning nap at daycare is that sometimes after work he just wants to sleep in my arms, and he doesn't need that on the weekends. Dave and I are trying to figure out what is normal for this age.
This video is cute- our friends told us about another toddler who says cheers so we thought we would try it with Neil. It's so cute but now he wants to "cheers" all the time, ha.
Just one thing about me. I finally feel like myself again. I think part of it is that I have been breastfeeding and that's finally slowed down enough that it really doesn't affect me. I'm going to try to run at lunch at work and have a running buddy for there, who is willing to run in the cold, snow, etc. But I am starting to feel thin again (although my hips are definitely wider than they ever used to be) and I'm not super hungry all the time. I notice when I eat more I do gain more weight so I think that breastfeeding isn't allowing me to eat extra calories and not see an effect haha.
Stats:
Size 3 diapers
Size 12 month clothing, and we started using some 18 month sized Gerber pajamas.
Speaking of comfort, he gives hugs and at times has patted me on the back. Just seeing him do some of these adult things is adorable. He really watches what we do and picks up on things really fast. It's very enlightening- you don't realize you do something until he repeats it (whether it's words or actions).
I'm understanding more of what Neil is saying. He added "help" although it sounds a lot like "up". And he's repeating things that we say. He also says phrases but it seems to be more nonsense right now.
Stats (these haven't changed from last month):
