11th Month

A year ago, Robby and I were heading to the hospital while I was having pre-term labor with kidney stones. Ahhh. Memories. It is hard to imagine that was so long ago. With that in mind, that makes Rylen 11 months old! He is growing steadily (18.6lbs & 28inches)and his personality is definitely starting to come out more and more. We have hit a stage of slight defiance. Rylen has always been a mover and a shaker making diaper changes a challenge, but he always wanted to be clean. He was typically fussy until we had him out of the dirty diaper. Then he was happy and smiley until we finished. We still get the fussiness for a clean diaper, but that fussiness is enhanced once he is placed on the changing table and he realizes that he can't continue to play on the floor and have you clean his dirty diaper too. I may be supermom in my son's eyes, but I can only do so much! HA! So, we get crying and a lot of baby babble until I am completely finished and give him the sign for "all done". Then the tears are gone and the smile comes back out.

Rylen is also starting to drop his middle nap and so we are in the process of rescheduling his remaining two naps of the day. One in the morning around 9:00a and the next one ends up around 2:00p. He is sleeping longer than 45 minutes at these naps now too. That makes for a happy mom who gets a lot more done during these restful periods. This also makes for a sleepy boy at bedtime. He has now begun to discover that putting on pajamas is the end of the day. He has always loved to be naked and LOVES bathtime, but now putting on lotion and the pajamas are no longer a relaxing get ready for bed ritual... it is more like a wrestling match. Having him "brush his teeth" (or rather holding his toothbrush and chewing on the bristles) used to keep him occupied long enough to slather him up and slip on the footed pjs, but now that only gives me about 2 minutes to finish the process before he is up and crawling out the door. And might I say, he is rather quick! By end of day I am worn out by the short sprints of energy I have had. Ah, but I do love him at this stage. So full of giggles and tugging at my pant legs. His beautiful smile and excited kicking legs when daddy comes home. He is still one happy baby. As you may have also seen from previous posts, he has starting trying to walk. He has made a few steps, but at this point he can get from "A" to "B" a lot faster with crawling. He still "cruises" around the coffee table and takes a few steps away from it to get to his other toys, but he hasn't made any earth shattering attempts. So, hopefully he will hold off a bit longer before he starts this new stage. (NOTE: after documenting such events, it is a childs duty in life to prove that statement false. After posting the blog, Rylen began taking quite a few steps away from the coffee table across the room to his toys. Many times. This is much more earth shattering than previous attempts. Help us all! HA!)

Robby and I are just treking along and enjoying this time with Rylen. Robby will be heading off to Hungary at the end of June and I will be heading to Indiana. It will be so strange to not see each other for 2 weeks. I know Robby will miss seeing us and we will miss him too.

I am still doing well with my arthritis. My hand knuckles and my ankles (which affect the bottom of my feet) are the only spots left that I complain about. I am hoping to start truly implementing an exercise routine to help these last stubborn spots. I do go through small bouts of wishing I didn't have to deal with all of this and could just eat like everyone else. But, I know this has been my thorn to bare for a reason. One day I hope to know exactly why. But for now, I hope that i continue to draw strength from the Lord. In all of our decisions, He has been our guide and always will be.