It's birthday time!

I can barely believe my sweet baby boy is a year old today, as of 11:55pm.  Rather than regale the birth story, you can read it here.

12 months and totally "Cool Like Dad"

Erik is literally days from walking, but I'm in no rush.  Not only does he cruise, he stands on his own without holding anything and will walk along if you hold his hands (sometimes only one hand).

Erik is a speed crawler!  I can't believe how fast that kid can move.  Nothing is safe from him!  If he wants something, he gets it.  He's a climber already.

Erik now has 5 teeth, and I think he may be working on number six with all the slobbering and chewing the past two days.  He loves to eat and chew what he can.

Erik has an expanded vocabulary: "ball" and "dog" are his new words, and boy does he like "ball!"  He also calls me "Mom" now sometimes instead of "Momma."  Because, you know, the extra syllable is so much work!  ;)

Erik's favorite toys--guess, quick!--are any balls be can get his hands on.  Anything even remotely round he thinks is a "ball," he just loves saying that word so much I think.  He got a slew of balls for his birthday from Matt and I.

Erik had a lot of new experiences this month--first zoo trip, first swimming pool, first plane ride (we just got home from vacation yesterday!), and more.  He takes everything in stride and is so incredibly curious!  He looks at and absorbs absolutely everything.

Erik smiles and giggles often.  He can clap, give a high five, wave, point, shake his finger "no, no, no!", do "E.T. phone home" and other fun things.  He also sings (including humming) and dances like nobody's business.  He "talks" to his stuffed animals, and loves books.

Erik definitely has Bernardy blood in him.  He laughs when people get hurt.  My Grammy would appreciate his sense of humor!

Erik is just so incredibly happy, I can barely believe it.  I didn't know anyone or anything could be that happy.  His verve for life and curiosity is inspiring!

Here's a look back at Erik this past year (and a little longer)--just click to make it larger.  I love you so much, son!  Happy birthday, my little dude!

P.S. For more pictures and videos, check out my Instagram, linked to the right.

Eleven Months (and two days)!

Erik at his first Caucus on 4 March -- Matt and I are very politically involved and Erik was the talk of the night!

Since I'm posting this after midnight on Monday, I suppose I'm now two days late (barely, considering Erik was born at 11:55pm, but we'll not split that hair right now).  This weekend has been a whirlwind, so I'm finally sitting down to write this post.

My sweet baby boy is one month (ONE MONTH) away from being one year old!  That just blows my mind.

Erik has a wide range of distinct sounds he now makes, and a few words at his disposal: "Mama", "Dada", and "tata" (meaning goodbye, we think).  He also loves to say, with vigor, "ka", "ba", "ga", and the "singles" of each of his words ("ma"--which we think means more food, the way he uses it, "da", and "ta").  He combines them in hilarious ways, which reminds me of the language of the Unas, for Stargate fans.  Apparently I need to find Daniel Jackson to help us translate!

Erik gets closer to walking each day.  I'm in no rush, so I'm not encouraging it at this point, but he cruises everywhere and will walk with someone holding his hands now (he wasn't very interested in that before).  He'll push things along and walk behind them as well.

Erik still loves his baths, and especially loves to splash!

Look at those teeth (the fourth one is just poking through)!

Erik now has 4 teeth and loves to try new foods.  He is good at gumming small smushy foods (bananas, mandarin oranges, etc.), loves his yogurt melts and definitely loves food from a jar--especially when he can bite the spoon!  He seems to love everything he tastes.  It's fascinating.  Cheerios are a big hit with this little dude (surprise, surprise!).

Erik spent over a week sick this past month with a nasty cold.  Lots of humidification (that's a word, right? it is after midnight...) and baths helped easy the process, but it's hard to have so little at your disposal to do.  His energy was so low that it was sad to watch--heartbreaking, even.  I did enjoy the extra snuggles and cuddles, though!

Erik has quite the arm and loves to throw everything, from books to balls to toys.

Erik's new trick, moving from his "beauty queen" wave, is to point at everything.  He does "ET Phone Home!" very well now.  In addition to pointing, Erik wags his finger when you say, "No, no, no!"  That was a cute trick caucus night when folks would ask him what we say to taxes.  ;)

I know, it's the same outfit as caucus night, but this is from Erik's 11 month birthday.  It's so cute I had to put him in it again!

Erik has also learned how to click his tongue.  In fact, most of the time I tell him to say "Dada" now, he just clicks his tongue since that's what his dad does.  It's amazingly adorable that he is so smart to associate those two things!

Matt and I spent a weekend in DC this past month, and the day after we got home, Erik crawled up to each of us, laid his poor sick head on our chests, and called us by name ("Mama" and "Dada").  Of all the amazing things I've witnessed since he was born, that was probably the most incredible yet.  Talk about awe.  I am so grateful to have all our family nearby for occasions like this.  It has been such a blessing, and both Matt and I believe it is very important to have grandparents, aunt(ie)s, and uncles involved in the upbringing of children.

As always, keep up with Erik on my Instagram page (linked to the right).  I post videos and pictures regularly.  Next months post will probably induce some tears... at least on my part.

Inquisitive Erik

Ten months!

How has a whole month past already?  Wow.  My sweet baby boy is growing like a weed!

Erik now has 3 teeth (two on the bottom, and one poking in from the top).  He loves food.  He's fascinated by everything we eat, and is very much enjoying his cheerio and cookie treats.

Erik is a crawling master (he's a speedy little booger!), and is cruising right along.  Everyone who sees him says he'll be walking any day now.  Yikes!

Erik smiles and giggles and talks up a storm!  He says "mama", "dada" and "no" discernably, and I swear he says other things too.

Erik loves to be read to and cuddled, especially by his grandparents.  But not for too long, because that boy will not be contained and he loves to be free!

Erik is an excellent sleeper, and puts himself to bed with very little fuss.

Erik still loves his bathtime, particularly since he's learnt how to splash.

Erik is curious about everything, and love to try and figure things out.  He is very studious and has been learning how to touch instead of grab everything.  He's so delicate and dainty with it... until he decides to slap and grab (it's a work in progress!).

Erik does have a destructive side... he's ripped three keys off Matt's keyboard.  He is fascinated by electronic devises of all kinds.

My baby boy is so sweet.  I adore my little dude!

Nine months

My whole year has been messed up between only working two days last week because of holidays in the middle of the week, and being home sick with some fluish monstrosity the last three days.  I'm finally on the mend and realized that today my Little Dude is NINE MONTHS OLD--I nearly forgot that it was today (I kept thinking it was tomorrow).


This little boy continues to amaze me with his curiosity.  He is particularly fascinated by wheels and things that move.  He turns everything around to study it from every angle.

Erik is increasingly mobile.  He's a quick little crawler, and is well on his way to walking--he pulls himself up and knows how to get back down, and is cruising along furniture.  Yikes!  One of his presents for Christmas was a walker, which he knows how to move forwards and backwards now.

Little Dude's first Christmas was so much fun!  Instead of falling in love with a box, he found himself a bow and was fascinated for hours.

Erik eats more and more foods and like to try and "chew" things with his one tooth.

Baby boy still LOVES his baths!  He now splashes quite a bit and is very pleased with himself when he does that.

Erik loves to jabber and sing.  He says "dada" and "hi" now, and is starting to wave and does "so big" (sometimes--he's as stubborn as his parents!).

Mostly, this kiddo is just so happy that it's contagious.  I couldn't ask for more. <3

P.S. My favorite memory from this month was immortalized on video: Erik playing with my mom's little 4lb Shih Tzu-Poodle mix pup.

Post by Sarah Marie Arnold.

Post by Sarah Marie Arnold.

Update: 8 month family picture!

Love this picture!

8 months!

I know, I'm a day late.  Erik has his first cold, and he's so generously shared it with me, so I am doing this as I can. :)

Erik continues to grow like a weed!  He's in 12 month clothes for the most part because he's too long for everything else.

Erik got his first tooth!  I'm sure the other one, next to it, is not far behind.

Erik is very quick with his army crawl, and is well on his way to crawling: up on his knees and rocking, and sometimes taking a crawl or two forward before going back to the belly.

He loves his high chair and seems to still like squash the best of all the foods he has tried.

Erik sleeps pretty much through the night, from about 8pm-7am (give or take) every night.  Yay!

Erik is fascinates by everything.  He studies and manipulates things to figure them out.  It is incredible to watch.

This little boy continues to amaze me every day.  He has the sweetest, happiest disposition, even when sick and teething.  He is so curious and so smart already.  He's learning to mimic others, and he loves to sing.  Every single morning, I come in to find him singing to a stuffed animal.  It's precious!

Erik's 8 month picture is actually a family picture--and as soon as we have it, I'll post!

<3

Seven Months

Seven months.  Wow, it has been a crazy few weeks!  I can't believe it's already been a month since Erik's 6 month birthday.

He continues to grow like a weed.  He is wearing 12 month sleepers.  He's over 18 lbs and almost 29 inches long.

He jabbers constantly, sometimes yells now, and even sings!

He sits up so well on his own, and is starting to actually sit up by himself.

He is days away from crawling--he has it all figured out, he just hasn't put all the parts together yet.

Since he isn't crawling yet, Erik scoots and rolls all over.

Last week, we finally acquired a johnny jump-up (now called a "door jumper"--how silly!).  Erik bounces and bounces and bounces himself silly.  He's even fallen asleep mid-bounce.

Today I'm away from him at a conference in Milwaukee, but he is staying with my mom and sister.  He couldn't be in better hands.

This morning, he visited a dear family friend, and she took this cute picture.

I'm both anxiously awaiting the next stage of development, and dreading it--I enjoy having my sweet little boy stay mostly where I put him.

Six Months

Six months.  Six months!  How is this even possible?  I could never have imagined how much my world would change in just half a year.

Erik is the most incredible child I could ever ask for.  He's growing like a weed and does something new and fascinating every day.  He is so smart and so chatty already.  He is trying so hard to crawl, but he is already mobile by rolling and scooting around.  His smile just slays me.  I am so blessed.

He is so fascinated with everything.  It's such a wonderful thing to watch him learn and explore the world.  It's also amazing to watch him do even simple things like balance when he sits up--who knew watching someone sit up would be so fascinating!

I am also very lucky to be able to take him to work almost every day with me.  What a delight!

Erik is running a slight fever today (to be expected--he had immunizations yesterday and is teething), and still managed to smile almost all day.  It is amazing!

Check out the link to my Instagram page on the side for more pictures, but here are a few (and a video!) from today (well, actually, the last two pictures are from last week).  :)

5 months

This week has been crazy!  Finally glad to sit down and write this post.

Speaking of sitting, Erik is now sitting up a lot (with a little help), pulling himself up, and even sitting by himself for longer and longer bits of time.

Erik loves to inch his way around.  He is getting very mobile, between the rolling and inching.  I see crawling coming up very soon.

Erik is absolutely in love with his "cuddle monkey".  Every time he sees it, he reaches out for it, then gives it a cuddle and a kiss after it is given to him.

Erik loves squash and bananas best of the foods he has so far tried.

Erik loves playing with his toys and is becoming quite dexterous.  He has an incredible grip.  So far, he doesn't yank (much) on hair, but once he gets a hold of it, it's hard to get it back!  He loves to hold everything, especially when in his car seat or swing or some other such thing--he's always holding onto the side with at least one hand.

Erik is growing like a weed--over 15lbs and 25"+ long now.  It's amazing!  He's about to out-grow (length-wise) his rear-facing car seat.

Erik has become a fairly consistent sleeper, going down about 10 at night and up at 5 in the morning (this morning he slept in until 6:30--score!).

Erik is so chatty.  He has such a good tempered personality, but he definitely likes to let everyone know what he is thinking!  I just wish we could understand more of it...

I can't even believe it's already been 5 months.  Where does the time go?

<3

Little dude just hangin' out at work.  So cute!

Five months--coming soon!

Today was a crazy, busy, wonderful day.  I haven't had the time to write up Erik's five month post yet, but I am hopeful to do it tomorrow or Tuesday. 

In the mean time, here are a few pictures from Erik's baptismal recognition at church today.  He was baptized on 10 April while we were at the hospital, but today was the public acknowledgment of that baptism in the church. 

I have lots of pictures from the family gathering today to go through, and I'll tell the story of Erik's little baptismal cap in my longer post.  I just wanted to share something briefly before the end of his 5 month birthday. 

Also, happy grandparents day to all his grandparents!  I am so glad we got to spend the day with them and my own Grandfather.  What a blessing.

I love this little guy so much.  He melts my heart every single day and I couldn't be more proud.

Four months

It is so hard to believe my sweet baby boy is already four months old!  It seems like so much has changed in the last month.
 
Erik jabbers constantly, with facial expressions to match so it feels like a real conversation!

As it turns out, my little dude is a morning person (my husband and I are not).  He is so sweet, smiley, and cuddly in the morning, however, it's hard to be mad about that.

Erik scoots all over the place, doing the G.I. Joe crawl and pulling himself around.

Little dude is very strong, and can pull himself up to a seated position.  He is doing great at holding his head up, and will sit up all on his own for short periods of time now (he is learning balance quickly).  Still a ways to go yet for unassisted sitting for long periods, but we are getting there!

Erik sleeps for long stretches at a time now, although not always all through the night.

Baby boy is teething, with his bottom two teeth already poking through.

My sweet Erik surprised us recently when he demonstrated his ability to roll from his back to his tummy... off the couch and onto the floor!

Little guy is enjoying trying a bite or two of orange yogurt and banana baby food.  Not going nuts with it yet, but he is the best behaved baby I've ever seen with food: it all stays in his mouth.  I can't believe it.  He really likes his rice cereal, too.  He gets that sometimes in his bottle.

He continues to love baths and water.  He just figured out this past week or two how to splash.  I see swimming in his future!

Bottom line, my baby Erik is so sweet, so precious, and so stinkin' cute that I still have no idea how Matt and I get anything done around here.  Like right now, I'm trying to type this and he is just staring at me with his big blue eyes and it just makes me melt.  :)

My little jabberwocky!

Happy 4 months, baby boy!

A bear butt!

Three months!

It's hard to believe my baby boy is already three months old (also, as of today, exactly 13 weeks).  He laughs and smiles and giggles.  He's already teething, and his first two bottom teeth are finally peeking through.  For over a week now, he has been sleeping 7-8 hours a night (unfortunately for me, when he goes down at 9 or 10, 7-8 hours of sleep still comes too early...).  He is starting to mimic other people (i.e. if I smile, he smiles).  He is starting to push himself up, and getting closer and closer to rolling over.  He still loves his baths, and has learned to kick in the water.  He got his first set of shots two weeks ago, and took it like a champ.

He is an absolute doll.  I love this baby boy so much.  My little dude.  My chub-chub. <3

Follow my Instagram (@cologirl27) for your daily dose of baby boy cuteness!  You can usually find pictures on my Facebook and Twitter (@smarnold89) as well if you aren't on Instagram.

2 months

My little dude is two months old today!  He holds his head up very well now, loves tummy time, and laughs as he punches the cat rattle on his play mat.  He likes his swing, and is starting to babble non-stop (not that this should surprise anyone who knows his father and I)  He smiles a lot, and likes to flirt by smiling and winking.  He now weighs 11 1/2lbs, and is 22 1/2" long.  He went on his first trip to the mountains in the last month, and definitely enjoys father-son time when momma is busy.

I can't believe how much and how quickly he has grown and changed!

See more pictures on Facebook (although I've not been on my computer much to upload them lately--hopefully I can get to that soon) and Instagram.

A Birth Story

While I was pregnant, I got loads of advice--some good, some bad, some unwanted, and some desperately needed.  I don't want to give anyone advice... I don't want anyone giving me the "smile and nod" I gave so many during my own pregnancy (yes, I admit, I did that...).  Every one (both women and pregnancies) is different, so I wouldn't begin to think yours will go exactly like mine.  I don't even think my next pregnancy will be the same as this one.  But I do want to have a record of it.  Hence this post.

After my husband (Matt) and I got married last year (a year ago this coming Sunday, actually!), it didn't take very long to get pregnant.  It was a little bit of a surprise, right in the middle of a heated campaign--but a much needed joy at the time, all things considered.  And then... we miscarried.  To say we were devastated might be an understatement, as anyone who has been through that can relate.  However, much to my surprise, about 6 weeks later... let's just say "fertile Myrtle" would be an accurate description of me, apparently.  Of course, I didn't realize I was pregnant until after almost 4 weeks of walking pneumonia and some pretty heavy-duty drugs.  That was my first concern as soon as I figured out I was pregnant.  And then, of course, my concern was that I would miscarry again.  Luckily, I didn't.

My little dude at about 8 1/2 weeks

And little dude at 20 weeks

Strangely enough, our due date ended up being our first anniversary--28 April.  Like all new moms, I was excited--and had a whole brood of excited first-time grandparents (since this is the first grandbaby on either side)... and with a whole posse of excited friends enjoying the ride, I ended up chronicling the "baby bump" every week on Facebook.  These are the first and last pictures from that silliness--at 10 1/2 and 36 1/2 weeks, respectively--56lbs later.

           

I barely made it to my baby shower (on 6 April), and I wasn't sure I was going to make it, to be honest.  When I was about 32 weeks, I started having preterm labor which sent me to the hospital and got me put on Procardia to stop that.  Then my husband went out of the country for a few weeks, and rather significant swelling started.  I figured that was just typical of pregnancy, so I wasn't worried about it.  Of course, the day after my husband got back stateside, we had an appointment.  And back to the hospital we went, this time with a diagnosis of preeclampsia.  And back to the hospital we went thrice more that week (35 weeks into my pregnancy), along with two doctor's office visits that week.  Things seemed to quiet down after that.  I probably didn't need to go in as much, but both my doctor and I were being hyper-vigilant.  

Week 36 seemed fairly normal (except one false labor scare, but that was quickly and easily resolved without yet another hospital visit--I told them I absolutely was not going back to the hospital until it was D-Day), so I expected when I went in for my visit on Monday, 8 April, everything would be fine and dandy.  But no.  I was dilating (just 1cm at that point), and they sent me back to the hospital.

Since we had finally (barely) reached 37 weeks, my doctor wasn't worried if I was to give birth then.  In fact, he decided to induce me the next morning, so they gave me some medication to get things ready for the induction at o'dark thirty on Tuesday.  My momma made yet another trip up from Colorado Springs to be with me, and my husband's mom was there most of the afternoon, but when it seemed like we were waiting until the next day, my mother-in-law went home.  Then the contractions started getting worse--to the point where my low pain-tolerance couldn't handle it and they gave me a shot in my biggest muscle (oh, joy) that was supposed to last for several hours.  It made things tolerable for maybe two hours.  Did I mention I have an incredibly, incredibly low pain tolerance?

When that stopped working, the nurse reminded me I couldn't have an epidural until 4cm, and I was creeping up on 2cm at that point (more like 1.5).  Yeah.  Like I was going to make it to that.  My poor husband and mom--I think I may have scared both of them.  I certainly scared myself.  Never in my wildest dreams did I expect pain like that, and we had barely gotten started!  

By the way--I never would have been able to do this without my husband and momma there.  So a huge thank you to them both... I don't know what I would have done without them during my labor.

And, while we're off the story-line a bit, let me take a moment to digress here.  I have a lot of respect for those who give birth naturally... but there was no way on God's green earth I had ever given serious thought to doing that myself, despite the efforts of many to convince me otherwise.  I knew I did not have the pain tolerance to handle it.  By the way, those who say the sciatica is worse than childbirth are a bunch of liars.  I've had sciatica, more than once, and with my low threshold for pain, it was debilitating at times--but not even remotely in the same universe of pain as labor.  Oh, and those who say you forget the pain afterwards?  HA!  Not even close.  It was worth it, absolutely, and I intend to do it again for at least one (probably two or three) more children, but I will never forget this pain.  Now--back to the story.

I literally couldn't breathe through the pain.  Did I mention back labor sucks?  Well, it does.  And then, it felt like something ripped.  Oh, that was my water breaking--right around 9pm.  That wasn't supposed to happen.  I was supposed to be induced the next day! The nurse checked and, sure enough, I was progressing.  And because of the level of pain, I got my epidural at 2cm.  So there.  Did I mention that I have a really low pain tolerance?  Yeah.  Really low.  Things started progressing fairly quickly after that, and by 11pm, I'd hit 4cm.  But it wasn't quick enough.  

My little dude didn't like it in there without the amniotic fluid, and went into distress.  And so an emergency c-section happened--which, to put it mildly, freaked me out.  Not at all in my plan.  I'd never broken a bone before, never had stitches--the worse thing was having my wisdom teeth out, which was a surprisingly pain-free experience for me--I don't think I took any of the pain medication they prescribe for me because I didn't simply need to.  Besides, in my little OCD mind, I was loving the idea of a 4/9/13 birthday (because 4+9=13).  So, just to mess with me, my sweet and wonderful little Erik Torsten joined us at 11:55pm on 8 April 2013.  He weighed 6lbs. 6.9 oz. and was 19 1/4" long. 

My momma took this picture while they were cleaning him up and doing all the fun post-birth stuff

When I saw him, all my plans didn't matter anymore.  All the pain--much as I still remembered it (rather vividly at that)--didn't matter anymore.  All the worries, fear, and doubts didn't matter anymore.  My little dude--my son--born 3 weeks early, after a lot of grief the last month plus of my pregnancy--was as perfect as I could ever have hoped for.  Watching my husband's face when he saw Erik was incredible.  And wouldn't you know--my little dude smiled at me before they took him away so I could get stitched up.

We spent a long four days in the hospital, getting released on the following Friday.  Lots of family came to meet this special little man, and on Wednesday the 10th, he was baptized (just because that's what I wanted, there was no particular rush other than I didn't see any point in waiting).  

After the baptism with Pr. Wolfmueller

We had a few scares--me spiking a fever and still having high blood pressure, and Erik losing more weight than they were comfortable with--but nothing terrible.  And now my sweet little dude, at 15 days old, is back up past his birth weight, and in the words of his doctor last week, he really is perfect (and looks exactly like his daddy).  It has been the most incredible 15 days of my life.  What an experience for me and my husband--I feel like it has made us closer as a couple, and I've been blown away by watching him be a father.  I have been so blessed with the most wonderful husband and son possible.  I couldn't ask for more or better.  And I am so excited to be celebrating with my husband our one year anniversary on Sunday, 28 April.

My favorite picture of my two favorite men

And, just because I'm a proud momma, here are a few other pictures of my little dude.