One year!

 

One singular sensation
Every little step he takes.
One thrilling combination
Every move that he makes.
One smile and suddenly nobody else will do;
You know you'll never be lonely with you know who.
One moment in his presence
And you can forget the rest.
For the guy is second best
To none,
Son.

Darling son,

Today you are ONE.  Our first year together is over, and the rest of our lives has begun.  

This month has seen you continue the transformation from big baby to small toddler, with a rapid increase in your understanding (or at least your demonstration of it), language that is continuing to improve, and your first steps.  You say "boo" when we lift the flap in the Spot book (under the flap is a mouse saying "Boo"), and you know how to get pretty much whatever we ask for- Monkey, Mr Bunny, books by title, shoes, balls and more.  You know where your stuffed animals' noses and eyes are, and when you cuddle them you give them your dummy.  You aren't walking yet, but you've gone from 3 semi-accidental shuffle steps to 14 more deliberate steps over the past few days, so I'm sure you're not far off.

You have continued to get into everything this month (I think that's called being 11 months old...)  Current obsessions include cupboards and doors, taps, containers and lids.  Our house got a little less childproof when you figures drawers and doors out.  Eek! No longer content to fill the bath with cold water during bathtime, you now prefer to empty it, trying to stop the water from gurgling down the drain after you've swiped the plug.

We cheated and kicked off your birthday celebrations in Wellington over the weekend.  And you, my dear, were a STAR.  From the moment you woke up from your pre-party nap til not too long before we wrapped up the festivities you were excited, and your happy, delightful, best self.  You enjoyed meeting new people, unwrapping presents, playing with the massive bunch of balloons, and swiping food from unattended plates.  The rest of the weekend was more up and down, but included some lovely, snuggly Manduca sleeps, playground fun, lots of hilly running and walking for Mum and Dad, chasing pigeons and Grandma and Poppa's small, patient dogs.  We're looking forward to a low-key birthday day, and a casual party with some of our local friends this weekend. 

It's been a heck of a year, Chip.  We are loving continuing getting to know you, and we know year 2 will be even more wonderful.

Love,

Mum

11 months!

Dear Chip,

In (a little under) one month, you will be a year old.  That is as amazing, marvellous and yet unsurprising for me as it is for most parents.

Your last month has been full of excitement, including:

• A visit from Aunty R and Funkle A (Highlights: pub time and a walk on Maungatautari.  Lowlights: car meltdowns, plural)

• Your first Christmas (in summary: enjoyed present time, napped long so we missed church, loved eating dinner in your new swing) 

• Meeting some of our Feb babies friends (and your first go on a big kid tramp)
• Meeting the rest of the family at Great Gran and Granddad's 60th anniversary party
• A lovely, relaxed welcoming ceremony (Highlights: family, friends, Dr Seuss, love, laughter, bubbles.  Lowlights: you had a short nap and grizzled through the whole thing!)

• A few days with friends in beautiful Havelock North (Highlights: lunch at a serene vineyard, fun with baby friends, runs for Mummy and walks up Te Mata Peak and out towards Cape Kidnappers.  Mixed light: seeing the New Year in with Mummy cuddles after waking up at 11:53pm. Lowlights: Few)

You have continued to grow and change.  Unsurprising yes, but still wonderful to see.  You have mastered going backwards down the stairs and sliding backwards off the bed.  We are pretty sure we can officially count "Daddy" and "birds" as your first words.  You are practicing standing unsupported, and working on getting yourself up into a standing position.  You ask us to read to you, over and over again (and boy do you make a fuss if we're not quick enough).  You still study your books on your own too- I have no idea what you're trying to learn, but it looks fascinating. You love turning the tap on in the tub and drinking the cold water. You know that there are plums on the plum tree and that they taste good (stone fruit in general is a huge favourite). You have rediscovered your love of bubbles, and you can spend minutes on end marvelling at the antics of mirror baby (I even have a feeling you've just about figured out who he is).  You are busy as anything, full of fun and mischief, and a perfect mix of delightful and utterly exhausting. 

I look forward to the changes the next month brings- in the meantime, first birthday party planning is calling!

Love,

Mummy.

10 months (another late one)

Dear Chip,

You turned 10 months just before Christmas.  

You didn't change a lot in any official, milestone-reaching ways, but to us you seemed to grow bigger and cleverer with every passing day.  You started month 10 as our baby, but ended it as our pre-toddler. 

Your grown-upness may have been due in part to your first haircut.  I'd never expected it to come around so early, but the fringe was getting out of control.  I'm sad that although I have before and after shots I don't have any of during because even the memory of you in a bright yellow kid's gown, checking yourself out in the mirror is enough to make me melt.





You enjoyed your first Christmas parties; with SPACE, with your "big kids" coffee group (full of [then] one year olds), and with the Cambridge Midwives.  Catching up with our much-missed Heather was a treat, even though you were feeling a bit overwhelmed and had quite the screaming fit.  You loved posing for the camera under the tree at our final SPACE session, and you were one of the only babies who kept the santa hat on his head!

You got to spend time with both your "Mum's side" aunties.  R and A stayed with us for a beer and tofu filled night between Tongariro and Whitianga, and J and D were here later in the month for an important appointment. We travelled to Rotorua for the day after Daddy agreed to run for Mike at the Half Ironman.  You enjoyed eating morning tea on the grass, paddling in the lake, and eating sand.

You continued to love books.  Books, books, books! It's a recurring theme, and I hope this love for books lasts a long time.

You also continued to enjoy getting outside, though it started getting a bit hot once summer arrived.  The heat also meant you started SUPER hating your carseat, so we worked on ways to keep you cool and prevent meltdowns- from stripping you down, to turning the aircon right up, to cooling the seat down with freezer packs before leaving the house!

It wasn't all fun and games.  You had your first tummy bug, which had you feeling pretty rotten for a few days.  And your first nappy rash, and your first fever too. That was a lot for a wee dude to deal with, but lots of snuggles and no-nappy time in the sun got us through.

Another cool month with our delightful baby.

Love always,

Mummy xx

Nine months (so, so belated)

 

The month between October 20 and November 20 was lots of fun!  

 

 

Chip's climbing and pulling up improved, he started hands and knees crawling, figured out stairs (up anyway) and learned to get himself into a sitting position.  All of this added up to a much more confident, mobile little dude.  Sitting, in particular, has been revolutionary for us.* All of a sudden, our busy little bee was pretty happy just to sit and "read" books for minutes at a time; I suppose because he knew he could move over and crawl away if he wanted to.

 

Chip's love of books was one of the highlights of this month.  He'd always enjoyed storytime, but in month 9, almost every time we come into the lounge, he made a beeline for his bookshelf, and sat there reading away; getting frustrated when he couldn't turn pages as easily as he'd like (and once screaming because he'd trapped a finger in a book he was sitting on- it was horrible, and the few seconds it took me to dash to him seemed to drag on for ages; poor thing was so confused). 

Summer's arrival was another highlight.  We were able to spend the fussy times of day sitting outside; Chip playing with his neighbourhood cat friend while I picked and podded broad beans, unpegged laundry, or did other outside jobs (ok, ok- Chip eating dirt, trying to eat broad beans, and mauling the hapless neighbourhood cat which for some reason loves him...)

 

 The month wasn't all fun and games.  Sleep was terrible for all of us, and Chip had his first tummy bug.  But overall, it was another great month with a great kid.  I really am loving this big-baby, pre-toddler stage!

*we loosely followed an RIE/Pikler approach which advocates not putting babies into positions they can't get into on their own.  The fact that Chip did not like sitting made it a LOT easier to stick with this approach!

 

 

Finding time

It feels like the best part of the last nearly 9 months has been a battle to find ways to fit exercise in (apart from the few months when I just totally gave up). 

By late October, I wanted to get back into it, but was starting to feel like I was fighting a losing battle.  Not only was Toby awake all night, but he was sleeping in in the mornings with his wee head resting on my arm, removing any motivation I had for a morning sweat session.  I'd looked forward to walks with Toby after cutting down my work hours, but then shortly after I started looking after him again, he decided buggy sleeps were no longer for him. 

THEN, I got my a into g and started post bedtime runs twice a week with a couple of women from my ante-natal group.  But separation anxiety hit.  All of a sudden, he not only needed me to put him to bed (not Phil), but also started waking at random intervals, screaming unless I attended to him quickly.  I gave up on my evening runs after heading out after pumping, when Toby had been asleep for a wee bit, and coming home 20 minutes later to find out he'd been screaming for 19, even when Phil got him out of bed to "play".  Bedtime also went from 7, give or take 10-15 minutes, as it had been for about 6 months, to 7:30-8. 

I was *this* close to giving up again, but fortunately one day I was so desperate for a run I asked Phil if I could head out during Toby's dinner time.  That didn't work, but I did manage to sneak out during bathtime, and my new routine was born. I'm now getting 20 minutes in most weekdays (including some with the jogging stroller, but that is very mood dependent), and I mix it up by including tempo and fartlek efforts in it to make the 20 minutes more "worthwhile".  I'm getting out for slightly longer in the weekends- doing 5km on Saturdays, and a gradually increasing longer run on Sundays (I'm up to 7km now).

It's not much, but it's showing me that every bit counts.  I've taken over 4 minutes off my Saturday 5k over the last few weeks, and my old tempo effort is now my easy pace.  My 3k pace is slower than my marathon pace, so it's not as if I'm running well, but I feel good again, and I think I'm not too slow for a hippo on legs!

8 months

Dear Chip,

Your eighth month was about climbing.  Climbing (then pulling up), pattern changing, and separation anxiety.  I feel like 8 month old Chip is a completely different baby to 6 and 7 month old Chip, and like we're starting to see glimpses of eventual toddler Chip.

So, climbing.  It's all you've wanted to do this month.  First just climbing up onto my legs to reach the iphone. 

Then using my belly and chest to pull up to standing, and then pulling up on anything and everything; couches, coffee tables, shopping bags, toy boxes, pump boxes, laundry baskets, the toilet (if only we'd let you). I'm still your favourite, though...

 ...and not just when it comes to climbing, right now.  Separation anxiety has hit, which has been quite a challenge for both of us.  Poor baby, it must be so confusing!

We've seen a lot of your cheeky side, and a lot of your proud of yourself face.  You crack up when you do something "naughty" like pinching my glasses or peeing in my face (yep... true story). You're stoked with yourself when you do something clever- pulling up especially, but also smaller things like drinking water from a sippy cup or grabbing something you particularly want.

You've had a talkative month too.  Mostly "Da-da-da-DA", but a tiny little "mama" once, and a few other less clear consonants and vowels too.  When you started cooing away fairly early, I thought you'd be a chatterbox, but I think you've been more focussed on other things recently, so talking hasn't been a priority.

You've stepped up your eating another notch.  Even in the week your grandparents stayed, Grandma noticed that your consumption increased.  You haven't been keen on veges, and spat out eggplant and asparagus.  You liked strawberries though, and bread, and cheese! Definitely your Daddy's son!

This month you had your first ear infection, which wasn't much fun for you, though you were a real trouper.  We travelled to Tauranga for me to run 5k, and to Auckland for Daddy to race Worlds.   You saw loads of family, and met your newest friend.  You are trying to drop a nap (which would be OK if any of your naps were over 40 minutes) and your latest trick is resisting bedtime, which used to be the easy part of our day!

This has definitely been my favourite month yet.  I love the way we can just lie down and laugh at each other for minutes on end, the way you smile when I blow kisses to you, the cheeky grin when you commando it across the room to climb me yet again.  You're full of personality, which is exhausting but fantastic!

Stay cool til after school.

Mum

Choroid Plexus Cysts: A post I plumb forgot to write

About a year ago, when I was 20 weeks pregnant, I wrote:

The 20 week scan, which confirmed that Chip is healthy and all major organs are present and correct and doing what they should. There was an "incidental finding" which, combined with googling and deciding I could read ultrasounds real good, sent me into a complete tailspin over the weekend, but I am now happy to rely on the medical profession who are unanimous that there is nothing to worry about. 

I always meant to come back to that "incidental finding" later in the pregnancy, or once Chip was born healthy, perfect and in one piece (Apgars of 9 and 10, y'all, you can only get a little more perfect than that), but apart from a false start somewhere along the way, I forgot.

Until yesterday, when I read my buddy Brittney's report of her 19-week scan, and I was transported back in time to the ultrasound room at Angelsea Imaging...

"See here, and here?  These are cysts on the brain... they're sort of pockets of water.  Back before we had the blood tests for Downs they were kind of a big deal, but not anymore....but I have to note them, so they'll show on the report."

At the time, all I heard was "no big deal" and something  that sounded to me like "coroplexis".  We had a healthy baby boy baking away in there, all four chambers of the heart were fine, the blood was moving properly, we had avoided all of the scary things I knew could come up at the 20 week scan (an aquaintance lost her baby after discovered it had anecephaly, another had discovered a missing kidney and a bowel problem requiring major surgery, and so on and so on), and there were cupcakes for sale next door. 

But of course, I am ME, so I went back to the office and started googling.  I soon realised that what we'd seen were "choroid plexus cysts", three words that plagued me for the next 18 weeks and 6 days.  Basically, choroid plexus cysts are nothing to worry about at all, in and of themselves, but (along with a massive number of other things), they can be a "soft marker" of chromosomal disorders; really, one chromosomal disorder, one of the nasty "incompatible with life" ones, trisomy 18.  One article suggested that the finding of a CPC increased my chances of having a baby with Edwards Syndrome eightfold.  If CPCs are combined with other "soft markers", the risk of having a trisomy baby rises exponentially. 

I'd had good blood test results, so my initial risk of having a baby with T-18 was about one in a gazillion (lots of thousands, anyway).  The CPCs took it to one in many hundreds, or fewer thousands; one of those anyway.  I can't remember the detail, and going back into my emails at the time is just soul-destroying.  There were no other soft markers mentioned during my scan, and we'd seen the baby's hands waving (clenched fists is a hallmark sign of T-18).

So, you'd think I'd be OK, right? Wrong.  At first I was just a bit sad, but that night, I decided to google some MORE (slow learner here...), and to have a look at the DVD we got from the scan "for reassurance'.  Reassurance- HA!  This Expert on Ultrasounds here managed to convince herself that the baby had a short femur, a too large head circumference, a munted umbilical cord, and a few other soft markers too.  I also managed to invent some kind of potential problem with my bloods- I can't even remember what it was now! In the space of an hour on google, my baby had gone from a baby with a one in a many many hundreds chance of having an abnormality to a baby who was almost certainly going to DIE.  I knew I was being silly, but I spent the best part of that weekend crying, reading T-18 blogs and preparing for the worst. I read lots of reassuring forum threads, but it still didn't seem like it was something "common", it still felt like it was just me.

I never really got over it, but it got a lot easier.  My midwife told me she pretty much always had a lady whose baby had CPCs (she laughed- good naturedly- when I told her about my googling... somehow she'd predicted that one).  I didn't come across anyone else with CPCs for a little while, but I did learn that a few bloggers I followed had had other soft markers come up during their anatomy scans, and their babies all came out just fine.  Then Lisa had her scan, and found out that the baby who was to become the gorgeous Miss Charlotte had bilateral CPCs like Chip.  And I learned from that that Heather's KB also had them- I hadn't even noticed in Heather's original post, which I'd read a few weeks earlier.  I still worried that my baby would be the exception, but I stopped bawling and planning for the worst, and started worrying about different bad things instead. And then eventually Chip was born, and after a few months of constant worry about SIDS, I'm not worrying so much about random scary catastrophes, and instead worrying about the basic stuff, keeping him fed, slept, healthy and happy.

So why write about this now?  So the next time someone googles Choroid Plexus Cysts, there's just one more good news story coming out in the search results (even if they have to scroll forwards a few hundred pages to get here!)