More that CAN'T be said than can...!

Life is funny. Like hysterically, roll-on-the-floor-until-your-sides-feel-like-they're-going-to-burst hilarious. Unfortunately, that is also the kind of hilarity that brings on nausea after it has had its way with you.

That's where I am right now.

Between people breaking things (father-in-law: neck, grandfather-in-law: hip and/or leg), traveling for work, the insanely fast progression of my son from 'little baby' to 'ginormo', and a few other things I'm not entirely ready to share just yet, this has been one craaaaazy year.

But I am here to focus on the good!

Bruce had his 9-month check up yesterday morning, and is doing very well! He weighed in at a nice 23.75 lbs, with a 19.5'' head, and 30.5'' body. He's definitely a big guy, but not only is he proportionate, he is also extremely active! That ensures that his cute baby rolls stay "cute", and don't morph into "cankles" down the line. He has four teeth now (two on top have broken through, plus two on bottom), and is able to wave his arms and say "Eahhhh!" for "Yay!", clap his hands on command, and shake his head 'no' when asked a question... regardless of the real answer!

He is now a crawling machine, not content to stay put longer than about 1.3 seconds! I love watching him figure out what toy or book he wants to go after, because you can really see the thought process play out on his face. He has mastered pulling himself to standing, and has recently decided that he's ready to walk; he's not, of course (the poor guy keeps falling down...!), but it's still adorable to watch and help him waddle across the room by holding his hands. Cruising (walking along the edge of the couch for support) has also begun, slowly but surely.

As for food... he's a machine there as well! Not content to suffer through regular canned baby food, our little man prefers finger foods - prepackaged and not. Last night, he ate herbed chicken in wine sauce right along with us!

I'm loving my job, and may be up for a promotion (so to speak). We need someone to start doing some hardcore marketing to our members and potential members... and that's where I may come in! I'll find out more about that in a month or so, so stay tuned.

Steve is still considering a career in Radiology. After two years, he could be an Ultrasound Technician, and make some serious money... serious money that we could really use to pay for Bruce's ever-shrinking wardrobe, my coffee habit, and a house of our own!

Finally, we're in the early planning stages of an early-December trip to Florida to visit my Papa and step-grandma. They have yet to meet Bruce, and are in no condition to be flying across the country to do so. I hope to hear back from them soon about this, as there are some killer deals on tickets right now...!

(Internal) derby bruises, and my Bruiser

There have been more than a few occasions this week that I've found myself thinking, "What the HELL have I gotten myself into?". Then I remember that yes, while falling (and bouncing) on my ass while skating is painful and slightly humiliating, I want to do this.

My skating skills are nowhere near where I'd like them to be, but I'm working on it. That's all I can do, right? I've gone to as many Open Skates as a I can, even though I had to miss the PFM practice on Sunday due to exhaustion (read: 2.5 hours of sleep the night before). My main goals? Crossovers, crossovers, crossovers.

Tryouts for Rat City are Wednesday, August 11th. I have this sinking feeling that I will (1) not only be passed over, but (2) asked to get my ass off the track before I hurt someone. I wonder if my in-laws will let me skate indoors... or my work...

Happy topic anyone? (I'm bumming myself out with my pity-party crap.)

Bruce turns 7 months-old tomorrow...!
My sweet Bruiser; he's 22 lbs of drooling, grasping, stomping love and I can't get enough of him. He's learning how to wave 'Hi' and 'Bye' right now - he started doing it on his own! - and it's adorable, even if it's completely off. Seriously, he'll make this scooping motion with his hand, with his arm stretched out towards the person he's directing it to. Admirable, but hilarious!

What else? He's going through a mini growth-spurt... again... which means we've had to increase his food intake from one serving of baby food a day to two or three, depending on his mood. His favorite form of mush? Butternut squash, and anything with apple in it. He's also a big fan of the Pear & Mango combo his grandpa brought home. He's still taking more than a full day's worth of formula on top of that! He comes from healthy stock...? HA! His two bottom teeth keep shooting up, making his love-bites pretty painful at times. I don't see signs of any more teeth coming in, but basically once a kids starts teething, a tooth can come in at any time over the next two years. *whimper*

So, between work, family, derby, school, and attempting to see friends, my life has suddenly become very, very full. I'm amazed at how quickly things can change... and how some things never ever seem to.

Things that go CHOMP!

We have been fairly certain that Bruce has been teething for a while now (try since he was 3 months old and started drooling like a freaking faucet), but - drumroll, please...

His first tooth is coming in!

Steve called to inform me that he felt something a little sharp in Bruce's mouth (sounds terrifying, right?) and, after obtaining visual confirmation, we have tooth! The coolest part about this is that Bruce turns 6 months old tomorrow. Talk about milestones! What an awesome story this is going to make for him when he's older and wants to know about his milestones with growth and all that fun stuff.

Our little man - on top of producing his first tooth - has also been going through his 6-month growth spurt. We noticed very quickly that, when it comes to the 'typical' growth spurts, Bruce is about a week or two... or four... ahead of the actual date they should be occuring on. It just goes to show that, once again, BABIES GROW AT THEIR OWN PACE. While he normally takes roughly 32 oz of formula every day (on top of whatever pureed food we offer), these last two weeks have seen him consuming anywhere between 28 and 50 oz in a 24-hour period. *GULP* Big guy!

On a slightly sour note, we go in on Monday for Bruce's 6-month Well Child check-up mean - you guessed it - more shots. They put off giving him one round of shots at his 4-month visit, so he will be getting stuck THREE times. I can't stand seeing the look in his eyes while they hold him down and he's screaming... *shudder* I just want to snuggle him and slap the nurses!

Anyway, that's the newest on our not-so-little guy. I'll definitely post more after Monday when we have the latest growth/weight stats!

Adventures in "real food"

Ladies and gentlemen... my son, the (unwitting) spokesman!

As you can tell by the picture above, we've also started letting B.Max try his hand (literally) at drinking from a cup. He LOVES it! Sure... most of the water cascades down his chin after every enthusiastic gulp, but that's half the fun!

<-- Saturday marked the day Steve and I started trying Bruce out on rice cereal. Lauded for its gentle-on-the-stomach properties for "first foods", we figured it was a safe place to start. As the packaging recommends, we started with just a tablespoon of cereal (and added formula), which he seriously couldn't get enough of. I had found a great, low-cost, convertible booster seat at Babies-R-Us, and he seems to do really well with it.

We would be mid-scoop, getting more cereal on the spoon, and be met with a mixture of joy (see right), or ferocious yelling for what we assumed was more mush. Sweet boy... it's like we don't feed him or something!

This afternoon, I tried making the goop a bit thicker - instead of the runny, soupy mess we had started out with, I thought it would be fun to try him on something a little more substantial. Again - he loved it! It was all I could do to keep up with him... and pray that he didn't choke! My son can seriously wolf-down his chow!

The only down side to starting solids is that my father-in-law now thinks that Bruce is ready for sucking on watermelon and other "harmless" fruits. When I was at Bruce's 4-month checkup, our doctor recommended starting him on rice cereal, then moving on to oatmeal, then veggies and/or meat, and THEN fruits. I guess - and this makes sense, actually - that babies will start to just prefer the sweet taste of fruit and will reject or lose interest in things that don't taste as sweet!

My little man is growing up! Just 10 more days until he's 5 months old. I'm still amazed he's mine.