10 Months - The Mighty Double Digits

 Our sweet little guy is 10 months old. Hard to believe! One month closer to that big 1 year mark. Cliche, cliche, but there is no way to comprehend just how fast time goes.

We had his "9" month check up just a couple days before he turned 10 months. I told him that this would be an easy one. No shots, nothing big. Just a quick check up. Little did I know just how wrong I was...

The first part went dandy. Stripped him down, did the length, weight and head thing. The numbers:

Weight: 17 lbs 13 oz... 5th percentile. What?! 5th? Oh this tiny little man. We made progress last check up. Not so much this time.

Length: 27.5 in... 14th percentile.

Head: 45.5 cm... 46th percentile.

Thankfully the doctor is not concerned about his weight. He says it is pretty close to his height and he is sure that since he is so active he is just burning off all the calories. It's not like he isn't eating.

Or is he? Of course the couple of days following this check up he wouldn't eat. Go figure. Well, he was still eating,  but just wasn't eating very well. I have been assured that most kids go through these stages and not to worry about it. In general Pierscen seems to prefer real food to his bottle. I want to find more ideas for finger foods. He is great with his fruits. He will eat veggies too, but things like carrots take so long to cook! I just want to make sure he is getting his calories. If he burns it off, fine. As long as he gets it. 

The basic check up went great. I was really hoping (in a strange way) that Pierscen would start up his little wheeze that he has had for months. He sounds just like me when I get asthmatic. His wheeze picks up when he gets really excited or when I hold him in a certain position. To date, the only two times he has really stopped wheezing was at his last doctor appointment and when I stopped by the ER in Utah to visit friends and see if his wheezing was affecting his air saturation. Of course. Of course. 

When I brought up the wheeze at this appointment, P wasn't really making much noise. At last little P started wheezing. It wasn't as strong or as loud as it has been, but at least he was making it. The doctor listened and listened but couldn't find a true cause. He said his lungs sounded clear. His guess at this point is that it's a noise he is making higher up, possibly in his larynx. Weird. I don't know what to make of that. I am relieved that the doctor doesn't want to call it asthma yet. I am really in no hurry to get a diagnosis like that. Especially if it's wrong! But I sure wish we knew what it was. For sure. 

I did decide to get him the flu shot. I don't know how necessary it is. But I want the little guy to be protected. So, sorry P, I lied about no shots. But I didn't know! I promise!

The real pain was also unexpected, and horrific. He had to have a "tug back" with his little pee pee. Basically, the skin on the shaft closer to the body kind of stuck to the skin near the head. In order to fix it, the doctor literally had to tug back the skin - pull it apart, little bit by little bit to reveal the rest of the pee pee. It was incredible painful for the little guy. I felt so bad for him! But on the plus side, he gained a good 1/2 an inch! Hahaha. Follow up care is basically like a circumcision all over again. Be sure to push the pee pee out it's full length and put lots of Vaseline to make sure it doesn't stick again. For the first couple of days it was super red and raw and diaper changes were awful. But it is looking much, much better. Poor kiddo.

Some fun things about our 10 month old Pierscen.

STAIRS:

He has mastered the stairs. Up that is. He has made it up about 5 stairs tops. Until the other day. I was sweeping in the kitchen and noticed P was gone. I dashed to the stairs and there he was, 5 steps up already. I ran up to stand behind him and see how far he would make it. He climbed the entire flight in a matter of seconds. He didn't even stop until he reached the 10th stair. Now going back down stairs is going to be a challenge. But we have time for that. 

VOICE:

He loves his voice. He has learned there are certain places in the church that amplify really well (like the cultural hall) and he loves it. As soon as you walk in, he will start making noise. His new one is a simple "la" sound, but he holds out the "l" for a long time. "Lllllllllllllllllllllllllllllaaaa!!!" It's super cute.

MR. GIGGLES:

This little boy is so giggly. He laughs constantly. It really just started the other day. I was feeding him lunch in his high chair and he looked at me and just started giggling. It's not a true laugh. It's a fake little "Ha. Ha. Ha." It may be forced, but he means it. His eyes light up and you can tell he thinks he is hilarious.

He also giggles whenever he is crawling around. It is adorable.

GUILTY CONSCIOUS: 

This kid is going to be nothing but trouble. I love sneaking up on him when he is off playing. When you come around the corner and say, "Pierscen... what are you doing?" he starts giggling like crazy, drops (or throws) whatever he is doing, and starts crawling away as quickly as he can. It is so funny! The other day I was out walking Dodger, and when I came back inside, Ryan said Pierscen heard the door, jumped, and crawled under the computer desk laughing. What are we going to do with this kid? Haha. 

BATH TIME:

Little P has learned the pure joy of splashing like there is no tomorrow. He loves his baths. He loves playing with all the toys, crawling, and kicking his way around the tub. But splashing is his favorite. Be prepared to get wet!

Sometimes it seems like he can't get any more personality or be any more fun. He is such an amazing child. Every night when Pierscen goes down to sleep, Ryan and I turn to each other and say, "I miss Pierscen." I think that says a lot. We can spend all day with him and still miss him when he goes to sleep. Happy 10 months baby!

Um... I've Been Turned Into A Cow...

 Sundays are a mixture of joy and worry. I love going to church. I genuinely do. I love dressing Pierscen up in nice clothes. You put by boys together and you have two handsome dudes!

But church is so hard with a mobile baby! When he could just roll over, it wasn't too bad to just spread out a blanket by us and put down a bunch of toys. But now he doesn't want to hold still. And he doesn't want to be held either.

Of course there is no such thing as a block of church that doesn't interfere with someone's nap time. Pierscen is no different. We have had church from 1-4 and now from 9-12 and both are super rough. If we were home and could just lay Pierscen down, it wouldn't be a problem. But in order for him to fall asleep, it requires one of us (usually me) to walk the halls, let him crawl, alternate attempting to lay him down in my arms and then letting him go again. He eventually will fall asleep, but it will never last longer than 20 minutes. It's exhausting.

Admittedly, some days I have a really hard time having a good attitude. I am not learning a whole lot in class considering I am usually wandering the halls. But at the same time, that's how I have met several of the younger sisters in the yard. Same predicament. 

I have joked with my mom that I feel like from the time a kid starts to crawl to 18 months when they can go into nursery that moms should be excused. It reminds me of Emperor's New Groove when the soldiers get turned into various animals. "Um... I've been turned into a cow. Can I go home?"

Sigh... you mothers with multiple kids... how do you do it? 

Well this last Sunday was no less difficult, but there were some redeeming qualities. This was the first time I have ever actually done his hair. Can you believe that? I don't know why I never have. I have wanted to for quite a while, but just never have. In addition, we found his little tie, and boy did he look amazing? What a stud!!! He is so stinking cute!

He got lots of attention from the ladies and other moms. At one point, I stood him up on my lap and he turned to look at some girls behind us... and belched. They burst into laughter. Nice, P, nice. He was already tired when we got there, and within the first 10 minutes of church we had gone through all of our cards. Everything we could think of to keep him entertained. Ah!

Relief Society was hilarious. After Pierscen's short nap, he ate his bottle and made friends with the lady across the aisle. She pulled off her bracelet and let him play with that for a while and then handed him a container of mints. He loved that! 

The rattling from the container attracted another little boy that was sitting in the back. He came cruising up and the battle began. Pierscen totally lit up as he saw the little boy coming towards him. FRIEND! Even though these pictures look like it was a little violent, it was so cute. They kept passing the mints back and forth. There was no screaming or crying. Just lots of fun.

As we were getting ready to go, the same lady that was letting them play with the mints gave them each a sucker. P has never had a sucker. He is now a fan.

Don't panic. I have no intention of letting him have suckers on a regular basis. 

We let him suck on it on the way home and then tossed the rest. 

Sundays are hard. I wish I could say differently. I love dressing Pierscen up, and I love being there, but it is really tough. I know it will get better. I look forward to Pierscen making good friends. And I know I will make friends through it too.

Acres Of Corn And Animals Galore

 This last weekend we kept up with the fall festivities by heading out to Green Acres Corn Maze. The singles ward was there giving out cider and donuts in the parking lot for our stake from 2-4. We saw them in the parking lot, but we both chickened out when it came to asking them for some. 

We met our friends Lauriel and Casey and Casey's dad and step-mom, Tom and Anna. We took a picture of the maze at the beginning and used it to get through a lot faster than we probably would have. Honestly, looking at that picture didn't help me at all, but Ryan understood it and navigated us through really well. Cheating, yes, but still fun.

After we made it through, Tom decided to sit it out while the rest of us did the smaller of the two mazes. 

From there Lauriel and Anna were planning on taking a tractor ride out to the petting zoo. It was only an additional $3, but I didn't think it would really be worth it. I just didn't see Pierscen really caring. However, they did manage to convince me to go, so off I went to buy an additional ticket.
 

 While waiting for the tractor, Pierscen had lots of fun with Lauriel's hat. Cute little bug.

Pierscen LOVED the tractor ride. I stood him up on the hay and he held onto the side railing. He started dancing and and squealing. I love that he is so simple to please. :)

The first animal we saw was Mike the Giant Bunny. And boy was he giant! Look at that guy! That is amazing!

I will just say here and now, it was totally worth the extra $3. Pierscen loved it. He was fascinated by all the different animals and loved playing with each of them.

 Baby Chickens

Big Piggy

 Ginormous Piggy!

Funky Chicken

Lama

Anna was really smart and was collecting corn as we went through the mazes. She was prepared to feed the animals and they loved her!

 Donkey

 

I learned that Anna used to raise miniature horses when she was younger. How fun is that?

 Mini Horse

This guy pictured above is Popeye in the Billy Goat. The sign on his cage said he wasn't much of a people person, but he was actually really friendly. Nasty. Filthy. But friendly. Lauriel put her finger between his horns to rub his head and he was in heaven! It was funny.

These little guys were my favorite. Oreo the Fainting Goat (I want one so bad!) and an Angora Goat (I forgot its name). They were so soft and so cute! Anna gave Pierscen some corn to feed them. I think it kind of freaked him out, but it was still cute.

Once we had visited all the animals, we started making our loop back around. We went back to the ginormous piggies first. Pay attention to his right sock visible just on the bottom of the picture below.

Sock on...

What are you doing piggies?

Where did the sock go?! 

I didn't notice that the sock was gone until I put him down by Mike the Bunny again. We had walked straight from the pig pen to the bunny, so it's not like I had to retrace the whole barn. However, it wasn't on the ground, so I knew it had to be in the pig pen. We walked over there and there was no obvious white sock to be seen. In the 30 seconds it had taken us to walk to the bunny, those piggies mashed it into the ground. It was nasty! But at least I was able to retrieve it.

When I first put him down with the bunny, he was far more interested in the bale of hay behind him. 

 
Look at that thing. He is easily as big as Pierscen! He didn't really notice him until Mike practically hopped into his lap.

Pierscen was good to be soft with him, though he did grab a tuft of fur on his cheek. At that point I released the poor bunny and decided we were done.

We had such a great time. I can't wait to go again next year. I bet Pierscen will love it even more. Everyone was right - the petting zoo was totally worth it. :) I love fall!