Syntax

The other day, as I changed Shepherd's diaper, he smiled, waved downwards, and said, "Bye-bye ni-ni!" Yes, we have our first two word sentence, but somehow, I'd hoped for something other than waving bye to his "ni-ni".

(By the way, that's not what we're calling it... we've decided to use the proper words)

(And another note, we aren't planning on showing him that video either... that dude just plain creeps me out)

Home!

We're home!!! We were discharged yesterday around 11 am, allowing us to settle in at home. Shepherd is adjusting well to the "bee-bee" and loves running up to her and rubbing her hair, saying "hay!" over and over. Last night, I knelt down beside Shepherd's high chair with Colette so that he could get a better look at her. He grabbed a piece of cheese and tried offering it to her. I smiled, thanked him, and told him Colette couldn't eat cheese yet... that she only drinks milk. He put the cheese back, grabbed his sippy cup, and tried to give it to her. It was the sweetest thing I've ever seen, and I totally lost it crying. :)

So we're home... hopefully, I'll get cranking on the birth story soon. :) Thanks for all of your well wishes and congratulations. They truly mean the world to us.

Busy Bees

Sorry for the lack of posts this week, and thank you for all your suggestions for things to do. Liza suggested some DC stuff... which normally I'm game for. Only thing is I live a good 30 minutes from the District. However, on Tuesday, I didn't let that stop me, and Shepherd and I spent the afternoon at the National Zoo. All in all it was a great afternoon. Shepherd loved most of the animals with a few exceptions. T

he toucans were fascinating at first, but when they started flying around, they spooked Shepherd a little. Then the otters put on a show for us by swimming back and forth, swimming directly at the glass. It did look as though they could come through the glass and tickle Shepherd to death (Otters are so dadgum cute!), but I guess from his perspective they looked as though they could eat him. Finally, the Tiger was a huge hit..at first. The poor guy was starving and pacing back and forth in front of the door where I guess they feed him. After a few minutes, he let out a huge roar, which scared Shepherd to death. Shepherd started screaming, and I started walking quickly away. Some idiot thought it was hilarious, and egged the tiger on by roaring back. They roared like that until I was out of sight, but mind you, had Forrest been there to walk Shepherd away, I probably would have had words with the idiot. What kind of jerk thinks it's funny to scare a baby??? Moving on... Our favorite part was the sloth bears and the fishing cat, to which Shepherd repeatedly said, "tat! tat! tat!"

Needless to say, he was worn slap out that night (I was too for that matter). Then yesterday, we went to our bi-weekly MOPS meeting at church, where he had a blast running around with all the other little munchkins his age, and I had a blast eating breakfast on my own without little man while visiting with other grown ups. Today, was Gymboree, which Shepherd TOTALLY LOVES. It was his birthday gift from everyone... and he totally made use of his time. I'm guessing I'll get a good nap out of him this afternoon.

Anyways... that's what we've been up to lately, and I'm sure one of these days I'll post something a lot less boring, but I thought I'd bring folks up to date.

No nap Monday

As I type this, Shepherd is refusing his afternoon nap, leaving one very grumpy boy and one very exhausted mommy. I finally had it with his grumpiness, and put him in his crib, where he is currently screaming because he's mad at me. I know, I'm the worst mother ever (which I know is totally not true, because sometimes we mothers just need a gosh darn BREAK).

Anyways.. I haven't been the best at writing lately, probably because the only things I can think to write about are the morning sickness, the exhaustion, and again with the morning sickness. (Ooo, the screaming stopped! maybe he's asleep?) I know you guys have heard enough of the "whoa is me! I'm sick" shpeel, so on to better things.

Shepherd is learning things super fast now. Faster than I'd expected, and honestly, I'm surprised at how smart he is. It's amazing what these little ones are capable of communicating at such an early age. On Friday of last week, we went over to Sarah's house for a playdate with Claudia, Ian, and Mia. Sarah has these two cats, which Shepherd totally ADORED. The entire time we were there, he chased them and kept calling after them, "tat!" "tat!" Yes, it's official, my son now knows how to say "cat". Over the weekend, I showed Forrest how Shepherd will wave bye-bye to the apartment when we leave to go somewhere, and on Saturday, as we were putting his coat on, he started waving and saying, "ba-ba" over and over again until we left. It's so amazing that he can say and understand that concept.

This morning, after he woke up, and spent a good 30 minutes crawling around the apartment calling out for "da-da", he finally walked into the living room, and looked at me, then turned around, leaned against the sofa, and waved to the apartment, "ba-ba". This kid is SMART! He was telling me he wanted to either go get daddy, or he just wanted out of our tight quarters. So I bundled him up, and we headed to DC. We went to the National Museum of Natural History to look at the dinosaurs and the other animals there. Shepherd was totally fascinated with everything, and would squeal out in joy at every new thing he saw. It was so adorable. After a while there, we left (I was beginning to feel sick again). On our way home, we stopped for lunch, and I ate my first "real meal" (something that consisted of something other than bacon and yogurt) in over a week. And so far, I've kept it down. YAY! Ever since, we've been home playing. I'd love to report that Shepherd is STILL napping, but no such luck... he's screaming again, so I'd probably better go...

Looking up

Yay! Mommy feels okay enough to play!!!

Today things are better. I realized that my last several posts have been "poor, poor me" posts, and realize that there are many worse things that could be going on right now than morning sickness. For that I am thankful.

This morning was wonderful... Forrest brought me breakfast in bed (am I lucky or WHAT?!) A wonderful breakfast of bacon and Eggo waffles. I can't help but wonder if it wasn't that very thing that has helped me today. I was able to eat breakfast before getting out of bed, and I actually haven't been sick at all today. I've actually cleaned up a little, and straightened up the house, which feels great. I can't tell you how bad it makes you feel to see your house go to shambles when you have no energy to do anything about it.

I've been able to play with Shepherd today, which he seems to really enjoy. In fact, he's been worn out from all the walking, and the dancing we've been doing. Yes... dancing. It's so adorable. When I put some music on, he'll walk up and down the hall shaking his hands in the air and shaking his head back and forth. Either that, or he'll find something to hold on to, and bounce up and down while shaking his head. It's great... the better the music, the more he gets into it.

He's really learning SO much and so FAST! He's been signing for "food" for a while, and last week, Forrest introduced the sign for "bath" since Shepherd really, really loves his bathtime. Right after he finishes dinner and we're cleaning up his tray, he starts patting his chest and rubbing it up and down, which is the sign for bath. It's amazing that he knows that bathtime comes right after dinner. :) So smart!!!

Other than the morning sickness... I'm definately feeling more and more pregnant. I've got that heavy feeling in my lower abdomen letting me know that my uterus is growing in size... it's so exciting to think that there's a little person inside of me, growing daily, and that in a few short months, we'll get to meet this little person. Craziness.

Well, I think I'm going to go sprawl out on the couch, to take advantage of Shepherd's naptime and catch a few winks of sleep myself. Hope you all are having a wonderful day!!

In which I appease you with pictures

We're back in VA now, but still exhausted. Thankfully, Shepherd is sleeping now, and he's on medicine for his ear infections (2!! one in each ear!! ouch!!). Here are some pictures from Shepherd's first Christmas (and using my wonderfully fun new camera!)