TOUGH AS NAILS

On Saturday morning, we had to take Alexander to urgent care. The poor little guy has a broken arm. He did it Friday afternoon just playing as normal. He took a little tumble and tried to catch himself with his hands. He cried a little bit, but that was all. Later that night Chris and I noticed that he couldn't put any weight on that hand to crawl. We felt around on his arm, hand, wrist, and shoulder and couldn't find any tender spots. There was no swelling or redness so we decided to wait and check him out again in the morning. He slept great all night, woke up in a wonderful, happy mood but once he tried to crawl he was having the same problems. We took him to the urgent care where they took an x-ray and found a fracture. They couldn't cast it there and they didn't have any splints small enough, so the dr said to take him to our pediatrician on Tuesday so they can look at it. She didn't seem concerned about that, she told us to just try to get him to not put any pressure on the hand/arm in the mean time.

He has been amazing! He is so tough, I can hardly believe it. He has been in such a good mood the entire time, that it must not hurt unless he tries to crawl. He is still using it to eat, grab toys and play. The only time he fusses is when he tries to crawl and we don't let him. I think he is pretty annoyed at not being mobile. I feel so bad for him, but he is amazing. I can't wait to go to the pediatrician on Tuesday to hear what he has to say.

As parents this has been really hard on Chris and I. I have been so emotional and upset about "my baby breaking his arm". I just feel like I have let him down. I know that he has to be able to play and explore and I know that he will fall, but I just never expected this. As a mom, you want to protect them from everything. Yet I couldn't. It does help seeing how happy he still is and knowing that it must not be hurting much, but it still breaks my heart.

Today we went to a friend's house for a bbq and a pool party. This was wonderful for Alexander since he loves to swim and he can do that without hurting his arm. He stayed in the pool for a long time splashing and kicking with his daddy. I think he loved expending some energy that he is otherwise not using since he can't crawl. I just loved sitting on the side watching how much fun he was having. Things felt good.

A LITTLE BIT SAD...

Tonight I am a little bit sad. After 11 1/2 months of breastfeeding, Alexander is completely weaned. I have been gradually decreasing the number of daily feedings with a goal of weaning by July 1. I was worried before dropping each feeding, but he handled each one really well. My biggest concern was the one right before bed. It just seemed to be so much of what relaxes him and he always seems to be in such a hurry to get to it. Chris was gone tonight (his class is graduating and he is involved in the ceremony) so I was thinking about putting it off until tomorrow, but I decided to try it alone. I know this sounds strange, but I felt like I owed it to Alexander to not hide out in the hallway. I wanted to be in there with him. So, I went through all of our normal routine: bath, diaper and lotion, pajamas, and then instead of nursing I gave him a little milk in a sippy cup as I read him his story. He drank it happily, listened to the stories, and when I put him down in his crib he went to sleep quietly. It could not have gone any better, which I am so thankful for.

Before he was born, I really didn't think that I would be able to breastfeed for this long. I figured that teeth would scare me into stopping, but I am so happy that I have been able to give him this gift. This past year, he has been very happy and healthy and I hope that part of that reason is because of my milk. I am happy to officially have my body back to myself, but I feel a loss that my baby no longer needs me in that way. I know that he still needs me in lots and lots of ways and that growing up is a good thing, but I just feel a bit sad. This past year has been a blur and we're going to be celebrating his first birthday in 2 weeks. I just hope that the next 30 years don't go by this quickly, but I'm sure they will.

MY DADDY by Xander the Awesome, aka Alexander Burke Troyer

My daddy is awesome! I love him so much. He lets me do really cool things, especially when my mommy is not around. I get to eat food that has dropped onto the floor (he always says, "You have to eat something dodgy every now and then" and I totally agree), I get to splash in the bathtub for as long as I want even after I have soaked all of the walls and the floor, we fart all the time and then laugh about it especially when it is really stinky, and he lets me climb all over him and then tickles me. I love my daddy because when he goes to work in the morning he gets to wear pajamas! Mommy never lets me wear my pajamas all day. And he has all of these really cool patches, lots of pockets, and he carries around a pen and pencil that I like to take out of his pocket. Sometimes he doesn't like it when he can't find them to put them back, but by then I usually don't remember where they are either. He is great at playing ball and he tells the funniest jokes! He also gives the best hugs and has the best voices during story time. And I think that he might be a super hero that goes around making the grass shorter. I get told that I look a lot like him which I take as a compliment, but I'm not sure how since I have so much more hair than he has. I know that he will always take good care of me and I will love him forever. He is my bestest friend.

ZOO'S WHO?

Last weekend Chris went cross country to Florida, so Alexander and I were on our for a couple of days. On Saturday we went to the zoo that is a little over an hour from here. It is a very small zoo in Gainesville, TX, but it is very nice and very well kept. Despite the heat, we had a great time together. Since Alexander really loves to be outside I figured that this would be a fun outing for us. He wasn't really into all of the animals, but he seemed to enjoy himself. I definitely think we'll be making a repeat trip sometime.

This past week was Chris's 30th birthday!!! I can't believe that we are both turning 30 this year. We met when we were only 18 years old and it's hard to imagine that we are now in our 30's! Since Chris had to work that day (he got to fly twice!!) we took him out to dinner and then we had ice cream cupcakes for dessert at the house. It wasn't anything to big, but we are planning on having a nice weekend to celebrate that and his first Father's Day.

Today, Alexander and I had a nice day despite the fact that he refused to take a morning nap. For lunch we went over to a friend's house that we met through music class for a play/lunch date. There were two little two year old girls and a 6 month old girl. He's kind of out of his league with the 2 year olds, but he found them very interesting. You can tell he wishes that he could run around after him. And I know that it won't be very long before he is following them around. I really enjoyed getting to spend time with the other moms. This is something that I thought was going to be easier, but it seems that I haven't been able to find many moms to hang with during the day. Almost everyone we know has kids older than Alexander, so it was a great time to chat with new friends.

Then this afternoon (after the long awaited nap) we went to a local park where they have a "spray park" for kids. It is a very scaled down version of a water park for little ones. There are slides and fake animals to climb on. This is all in a big wading pool which at the center is about 2 feet deep, but then gets shallower as you get to the edge. Once again we met some moms from his music class and I wasn't too sure how much he would like it. But he loved it!! The minute I sat him down (near the edge) he started splashing up a storm! I was trying to hold onto him so that he wouldn't topple over, but he kept pushing my hands away. He eventually got on all 4s and crawled around through the water. He had a blast! We will definitely be going back there again. This kid loves being in the water. Which is a good thing since we are starting swimming lessons next week. This will be a 2 week, M-Th class at an outdoor pool through the YMCA. I'm really looking forward to being in the pool with him on a regular basis for a little while.

REAL FOOD

So for the last week I have been trying to make Alexander "real" food. I'm trying to get away from pureeing everything and starting to make him recipes. So far, he is loving it. He had red meat for the first time tonight in a pasta dish and he loved it! It feels good knowing that he is still eating healthy meals, but he is trying new things as well. And I must say, everything that I've made is super delicious! I feel like with a few more spices, Chris and I could eat this for dinner too!!

We bought a little play pool for Alexander to help beat the summer heat. He's pretty cute in it. He loves it for the first little bit, but then he gets a little sick of it and wants out. Chris and I like it because it helps cool us off a little.

He has also been "moving furniture" recently. He loves to practice walking, so he has been taking our dining room chairs and pushing them around the kitchen. He gets very frustrated when he runs into a wall and gets stuck. I usually have to help him figure out that he needs to go in another direction, but he's so happy pushing the chairs around. It's pretty cute to watch!