My baby is growing up! Tully is officially enrolled in pre-primary (toddler class) at Lake Hills Montessori for Fall 2012. This was a super easy decision and a really hard one at the same time. The easy part was that John and I agree Tully needs more stimulation and challenge than what we can provide at home. His little brain goes non-stop, and I think he gets bored easily. Boredom = whining = crazy mommy. The hard part is that he's so little. He'll be 16 months when he starts with the 2-3 year olds. And what is Nanna going to do all morning while he is gone? Lastly, private school is not something we were planning for financially. We've decided he'll attend for pre-primary (2-3 years) for sure and possibly for primary (pre-K & K: 3-6 years) as well. He can enroll in the public elementary school in 2015, so there's hope that we won't be paying for private schooling forever.
Another good thing about Tully starting school this fall is that he will get into a routine before the new baby arrives. I didn't want to have the baby in December and then Tully feel like he was being shipped off to school for the first time in January. I hope he's excited to return to school for the second semester, and it will give me some quiet morning time with the new little one.
In my head this all works out perfectly. In reality, I bet we're in the middle of potty training, binky withdrawals, full-out tantrums, and chaos in general. My kid will be biting everyone at school and smearing poop all over the walls. Oh well, at least I can say I tried to plan for life with two babies!
Tully took swim lessons this spring through Infant Swimming Resource (ISR). The lessons were a little different, but they came highly recommended by another mom who had two kids that successfully completed the program. The goal of ISR is to provide children 6 months to 6 years with the skills needed to survive should they fall in the water unattended. This was definitely not a fun mommy-and-me swim class. I had to listen to frustrated cries for nearly 5 weeks, but now that Tully has graduated, I can say that it was worth it.
The lessons were one-on-one up to 10 minutes/day, 5 days/week. Tully couldn't eat or drink 2 hours before the lesson, so we tried to time it where he was just waking up from sleeping all night or from a nap. I saw several kids totally lose their (milky!) lunch, and it was not pleasant. ISR is serious about waiting 2 hours to swim after eating.
The ISR site says that kids take 4 to 6 weeks to learn the necessary skills, but Tully ended up taking 10 weeks of classes. We had several three day weeks due to holidays, a fever, and the instructor being out of town, so I think that really stretched things out. Either that or Tully was just really, really stubborn. Most of the other kids that had lessons before and after Tully were still taking classes when he graduated too, so I'm not totally sure what was going on.
Here are the skills Tully learned:
Hold his breath underwater
Roll onto his back in the water
Float unassisted, rest and breathe until help arrives
Perform the above skills first in a swim diaper, then in a regular diaper while fully clothed (summer and winter outfits, including shoes)
Not happy but floating
My parents have tanning ledges in their pool where Tully can walk around with the water about chest high. It's hard for him to see where they end, and they drop off directly into the deep end. He has hopped off the ledges several times. When we were at my parents' house Memorial Weekend (after 8 weeks of lessons), it was hit or miss or whether or not Tully popped into his float. We talked to the instructor and described how the ledges and steps worked in my parents pool. Their setup was very different than the lap pool where we were taking lessons, but the reality is that he's going to be around my parents pool, not a lap pool.
The last two weeks of class Tully really made progress. He started flipping over more quickly, and his float was outstanding. He tested in summer clothes and shoes and winter clothes and shoes all with a regular diaper. (BTW have you ever seen a completely soaked Pampers Swaddlers diaper? UNREAL how much those things can hold, and the gel is kinda creepy.) With the exception of the two days of clothing, Tully wore a swim diaper with swim shorts and sometimes a rash guard (swim shirt).
Here are a few videos of Tully's progress.
Week 1 - floating but frustrated
Week 5ish - learning to roll, no longer frustrated
Week 10 - winter clothes, floating like a champ
Week 10 final day - mastered the roll and float
Next year Tully will learn the swim-float-swim sequence, so instead of floating in the water until someone rescues him, he can swim to the edge and rescue himself. ISR teaches children to roll to their back to catch a breath, so that's different than regular swim lessons where I'm assuming they would teach lifting the head. I talked to the other moms who have had older siblings take the classes, and most of them said their 2 and 3 year olds LOVED swimming after they learned the swim-float-swim sequence. It will be so fun for Tully to swim in Grammy and PawPaw's pool and at the lake with Gigi and Pops. I'm really looking forward to next summer!
Remember when I wrote about Tully's nursing strike around his first birthday? At first I thought he was holding out on me due to teething pain from his molars, but what I really think happened is that my milk changed. Tully's nursing strike coincided perfectly with the start of my second pregnancy. Tully knew about his baby brother/sister before I could even do an in-home test! Baby "C" #2 is due December 23.
Here are some things I want to remember about this pregnancy.
It started out exactly the same with Tully: light-headedness (weeks 5-7) followed by extreme nausea (weeks 7-12). With Tully I tried all of the natural remedies, and I felt like crap for months. This time I'm taking prescription medication, as needed, and I am able to function much better. God bless modern medicine.
I failed the C2K5 program again. It seems like every time I start this program, I get pregnant. I got to week 3 of the program, found out I was pregnant, and quit running completely. I just did not have the energy. My goal was to "train" for the 8 weeks leading up to Stevie's Head for the Cure 5K on May 12 and then jog the whole thing. When I found out I was pregnant, I devised a new plan that only consisted of walking. When we walked with the stroller last year, we waited for all of the runners to get started, so we weren't in their way. Unfortunately, we waited too long and got behind A LOT of really slow walkers. I realize these people weren't trying to set any records, but we didn't have all day to spend walking 3 miles. I had a 5-week old that was sure to need to eat within the hour. And the thought of breastfeeding while walking? Not easy. We didn't want to get stuck too far behind this year, so we hopped in after the serious runners had cleared the main start area. Bad timing again because we jumped in a little too soon and were surrounded by lots more runners. To keep from being "that guy/girl" we jogged the first mile or so. After about a 30-second walk, we were off again. We finished the race in 38 minutes. Definitely not a record breaker, but not too bad at 2 months pregnant and no prep. Also, we ran as a family, which was really nice. Even ZachZach ran with us!
John, Mom, Dad, Tully, Me
Post race with the inspiration behind HFTC 5K North Texas, Stevie Patrick
huffing and puffing along
Zach was such a good boy
We've already decided on the names for the new baby. Our girl name is the same as before, since we obviously didn't use it. And after only a couple discussions we easily reached agreement on a new boy name that was meaningful and unique but not too weird. I think we'll reveal the name when we discover the gender again. Stay tuned until August.
The most fun part of this pregnancy is sharing it with friends in Texas who are expecting babies right around the same time: November 4, December 5, and January 5. It will be awesome when everyone's house is baby proofed, and the days and nights are planned around nap schedules and early bed times. Then we won't be the only couple having to find a quiet place to put our little one down. As the kids get older, it will be so much fun for them to play together while the adults catch up too.
Here is our little peanut at 13 weeks. He/she has a healthy heartbeat and enjoys moving around a lot.
Tully has eaten sushi with us a couple times, but we've always brought a few "safe" foods from home like beef, ham, or chicken and some fruit and veggies. For our last sushi restaurant visit, we took Tully, his travel high chair, and a disposable placemat...no safe foods. He ate several pieces of edamame but wasn't too impressed with the avocado rolls. The sticky rice was...well, sticky, and I don't think he liked that it stuck all over his face and fingers. He was so distracted by the texture that he couldn't get to the part where he realized it was just rice and avocado. He watched us with our chopsticks very closely, so John asked the waiter for another set. Tully loves to mimic us, and he was a happy camper with his chopsticks. I'm sure he'll be hitting up his own sushi happy hours before we know it!
I've probably mentioned before that Tully is pretty terrible in the car. I think he gets bored. It's a little better now that he is forward facing though. He can watch DVDs, and I can tend to him much easier from the passenger seat.
I drove back from Dallas by myself not too long ago. It was my first solo trip with Tully. I OD'd on Xanax (jk) and hit the road. I told myself repeatedly the worst thing he could do was fuss and cry, which is par for the course for him anyway. He did pretty good. I don't remember much fussing or crying, and he even did 15 minutes of this.
Now I know most kids sleep a lot on the car. Not mine. Those 15 minutes were glorious, and I'm glad I have photographic evidence. Otherwise I don't think John would have believed me.
Lately Tully has almost seemed to enjoy the car. We listen to a lot of BPM on XM. Here is Tully feeling the beats. The cute little head bob gets me every time.
Please ignore the chest clip hovering around his stomach area...I promise it was moved up before we hit the road.
Tully turned one on April 5! Happy birthday, big guy! I've recently learned to translate because T's vocabulary mostly consists of the word, mama.
Mama (sweetly) = mom
Ma ma ma ma ma (quietly) = nurse
Ma ma ma ma ma (loudly while banging fist on tray) = more food
Ma ma (loudly while looking at TV remote) = I want the remote
Ma ma (arms raised in air) = pick me up
All kidding aside, he is starting to talk more. Here's the list we have so far:
Mama
Up
Ball (baa)
Puppy (signing only)
Duck (signing and saying "ack")
Hot (sounds like "ot" usually while reaching for the oven)
Bird (signing only by pointing up in air)
Airplane (same as bird, they are similar, right?...smart little kiddo)
Tully telling us there is an airplane outside
We are teaching him some basic American Sign Language and using the Baby Signing Time DVDs. So far he LOVES the first DVD. It covers things like eating and drinking, family members, and animals. In addition to starting to communicate better with us, Tully started walking when he was about 11.5 months. He loves to toddle around the house and our yard to explore things.
Tully helps PawPaw change the tire on the bike trailer.
He always gets excited when Grammy comes to visit!
Tully also shares sticks with Zach
On his actual birthday, we visited the Tulsa Zoo with Grammy. The Tulsa Zoo leaves a lot to be desired as far as animal exhibits go. I also think 12 months is a little too young to really enjoy the whole place. If the animal didn't make big movements or loud noises, Tully pretty much ignored it.
Tully and Grammy monkeying around
Tully goes for a ride with Mommy
We celebrated Tully's birthday a couple times with family. First Nanna made a special birthday dinner: chicken, broccoli, carrots, cauliflower, and mashed potatoes. It was delish! Grammy supplied the cupcakes, and we all enjoyed watching Tully dig in.
We celebrated Tully's birthday the second time over the weekend at Grammy & Pawpaw's house (my parents) with Great Papa Jim (my grandpa) & Marge, Gigi & Pops (John's parents), and Aunt Sassy (John's sister). Tully got to try out Grammy's homemade cooking, and he let us know that he does not care for green beans. He gobbled up the ham, potatoes, and other fruits and veggies though. Tully also got another taste of cupcakes. I don't know if it's the dairy, visitors, or combination of the the two, but his sleep schedule is crazy, and he's been rather fussy. Poor kiddo. We're getting back on track though and sticking to his regular diet of meat, veggies, fruit, and oatmeal from now on.
Standard breakfast: eggs and strawberries
Tully reading with Pops
Tully is still nursing regularly (4-5 times/day), and we don't have plans to stop any time soon. It's working well for us. Yeah, scratch that last part. Go back to the last paragraph where I said Tully was fussy. Enter MOLARS. Tully's gums swelled up like marshmallows, and the poor kid refused to nurse for about a week. He would bite me each time I offered, and I tried everything--getting him up in the middle of the night ("dream nursing"), taking a bath together, offering to nurse when he was hurt, etc. Nothing worked. Then I had to go to DC for work. Flights were too expensive for me to pay for my mom to go, so I shortened my trip from six days to three and went solo. FREEEEEEEEEEEEDOM!! I finished two books on the flight there and my REAL SIMPLE magazine on they way home. Talk about some "me" time. It was glorious, and it flew by pretty quickly because my work schedule was insane. I was very happy to return home late Tuesday night though, and when I heard Tully moving around I took the opportunity to go upstairs. He nursed, and my mommy heart nearly exploded with joy. I offered again the next morning and was greeted by Count Dracula. Sad face. I offered again before his afternoon nap and succeeded. What a roller coaster!! I wasn't totally sure if was on a strike/his teeth hurt or he was really trying to wean, so I continued to offer during normal nursing times, but I didn't pump at all.
After a couple weeks of ups and downs, we've settle on a morning nursing and a bedtime nursing. It's nice because it frees me up during the day to focus on my work, but we still have quiet time together. We went straight to sippy cups, since he wasn't really using a bottle before, and he's happy to drink regular milk that way throughout the day.
What a year of growth, changes, and learning this has been for all of us. We love you, Tully, especially with your sweet little mullet curls.
A huge, huge, HUGE thank you to our fabulously talented and super sweet photographer, Meagan, who captured once-in-a-lifetime moments to celebrate Tully's first year. If you need a photographer for your little one in the Tulsa area, be sure to give her a call. You can see more of Meagan's work at MeaganReady.com
