Milestones

Just a marker for memory - yesterday Addie and Ryan were playing with a treehouse toy and part of it had come apart from being pulled too hard. I came in and said, "Addie, did you take that off?" and she immediately looked up and said, "No, Mama, Baby did it. Baby Ryan did it." Actually I'm pretty sure Baby Ryan did do it - I just had to marvel at the fact that this was the very first time I heard her blame her brother for something. How many more times will there be over the years?

Another big milestone in our lives is that we moved Ryan to the big carseat, forward facing. He is an extremely chunky child, well over the 20 pound rule, and close enough to a year to count, for me. So this means goodbye forever to the infant carrier that came with our stroller. Matt and I are both very pleased with the fact that we don't have to put away and save all the baby stuff this time around - it is going out the door, permanently. (Well, we're actually going to keep the carrier because it goes with the stroller, which we still use, and we'll sell/give away all of it together, but all the other baby paraphernalia is going). For those of you who were curious, which I know you all were, Matt's vasectomy followup came back clear, and I've resumed my own birth control, so, barring a miracle, we feel safe to pass along our baby gear forever.

My major feeling of Ryan being almost a year and moving to the big boy carseat is elation. Although I was fascinated with Addie from the moment she was born (and still am, probably more than I should be), I still could not wait for her to walk, talk, and play with me. I am just not a baby person, even when it was my own. While pregnant with Ryan, I actually went through a mini-depression and was not looking forward to him being a baby for an entire year. I just wanted to fast-forward. I knew that it would fly by, but I was still dreading it. I think I had some crazy-pregnant hormonal work going on there too. It also didn't help matters that Ryan was an irritable baby who didn't sleep and wanted to be held 24/7. He also had (has) a horrendous time cutting teeth and terrible allergies, which increased the whining and fussing factor. So now that he is almost 1, and walking, and eating real food and drinking from real cups and is on some sort of sleep schedule (nothing like Addie's 3 hour naps, though), I am thrilled. I feel like NOW I can finally start doing all the things that I envisioned for my family. Ryan is still little though. I have told myself before that when my kids are 2 and 4 is when things will just be a blast from then on, in terms of family fun. We'll see - I"ll be sure to check in next fall and let you all know if everyone is living up to my random expectations.