SEND ME ON MY WAY...

On day 2 of our vacation, the three of us are in Augusta, GA for the night. It's kind of a bummer because we are supposed to be in Goldsboro, NC visiting with our good friends. Unfortunately, we started our trip a day later than we planned due to Alexander having a fever. Luckily, he is feeling much better now!!! But I felt really bad not getting to make it so see our friends, but I guess that is how it is when you have kids. Plans have to change sometimes.

Alexander has been great so far on our travels. We turned his car seat around and he's loving his new view. However, I think it may be affecting the amount of sleep he's getting. He doesn't seem to be sleeping much in the car at all. Even when we got him up at 4am Thursday morning, he probably only slept 2 hours all day! But even without a ton of sleep, he's doing great! I know that I've said this before, but Chris and I have been very blessed with a good, wonderful baby!!!!

CAST

Here's a quick post before we leave for vacation. We took Alexander to the pediatrician today where they put a cast on his arm. Unfortunately it has to be one that goes over the elbow so that he can't get it off. He should be wearing it for about 3-4 weeks and then hopefully he'll be all healed up. Consequently he cannot get the cast wet either, which affects our beach and lake vacations that we are getting ready for. Oh well, I'm sure we'll make it work.

SPEED RACER

Chris has recently purchased a road bike and is training for the Hotter N' Hell Hundred. This is a 100 mile bike race that is held here in Wichita Falls every August, when it's usually 100+ degrees. Cycling is something that he has been very interested in for a while now and has been wanting to get into. I'm so proud of him! He is working really hard in his training program and seems to be progressing really well. Just this past weekend he went for a 37 mile bike ride. This is still a far cry from the 100 miles he'll complete in August, but quite a feat none the less. He is very diligent and really seems to be enjoying this new sport. We bought a bike rack for our car and will be toting along the bike this summer on our vacation. I think it's pretty cool that he'll be able to go on bike rides all over the country this summer. To me one of the best things about cycling is the fact that you can cover so much ground in a short amount of time as which is very different than running. He'll be able to see the world in a different view.

Here's a picture of him in his "biker gear". For his birthday, Alexander gave him the UK jersey. He looks awesome and Alexander and I cannot wait to cheer him on in August!!!

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.