Bye bye turkey...

Ok so of course several weeks have passed since my last post and SO much has happened. Thanksgiving has come and gone and Christmas is slowly approaching us. It is just insane to think how quickly the year has flown by!! Before we know it it will be 2010!
Bryson is growing more and more each day and has now joined the walking world! That's right! It is so funny to see his little self wobbling around like a little old drunk man.....and also very nerve racking! I'm waiting for him to bust his head open at any minute! He is getting the hang of it though and actually getting quite good at it. He can't stand up by himself yet so he will just crawl to the nearest object so he can pull himself up and then he takes off. I know when he learns to stand up, we are in BIG trouble.
Along with walking, Bryson has also developed a HUGE attitude and temper. I think we may be experiencing the "Terrible Two's" a little earlier than originally planned. He can be very aggressive and mean if he doesn't get what he wants. We are definitely struggling with these issues a lot. I'm trying my best to be patient and hope that this phase will pass soon!
He is also going through a huge mama's boy stage. If he isn't attached to my hip, he's following me around the house crying saying "maaamaaaaaaa......MAAAAMAAAAAA!!!" Don't get me wrong, I love having a mama's boy...however this phase he's in can get EXTREMELY tiring. I guess I need to enjoy it while it lasts though because I know he won't be wanting to be with me like this forever....and I know one day I'm going to look back and miss it so much.
Bryson has also added some words to his vocabulary...we hear "thank you" (tee-too), "duck", "got it", "nummy nummy" (which means I'm hungry), and Daddy's favorite "Go Gamecocks!" (gah cocks!) And of course we also frequently hear all kinds of gibberish accompanied with plenty of pointing. He is just developing so quickly and it's so neat to watch him learn and discover things. He dances whenever he hears music, he has begun to figure out how to push buttons and make things work, he knows how to look for things when you ask him....it's just amazing to see how much he's learned.
Unfortunately I don't have any new pictures to post today, however I will attempt to get some new ones on here soon, and possibly a video or two as well.
As always, thanks for checkin in!

Halloween!

So Halloween has come and gone and we had a great time hanging out with our friends Brian and Kristen and little baby Aubrey. We ate, trick or treated a little bit, and watched the Carolina game. Bryson dressed as a puppy and got to ride around the neighborhood in his wagon! He had a blast!!

Also, we had our 12 month photo shoot with Ashley at Harmon Tree Farm a couple weeks ago. The pictures turned out great! I wont share all of them, but here are just a couple of my faves.

That's all for now!!

Random items!

So as I said before, a lot has been going on over the past few weeks! Bryson has been increasingly pulling up and is now cruising along on anything he can get his hands on to! We try to work with him daily to take his first unassisted steps but he's still pretty unsteady! However, tonight he did take a couple wobbly steps by himself, just in time to fall into Daddy's arms! We'll keep working!

Bryson has also graduated to the toddler room at daycare without any issues. They say he moved right on without a hitch and without any tears! Thank goodness! He's been playing his little heart out every day apparently, because he comes home every night and is exhausted! Those big kids must be wearing him out!

Bryson has also begun to drink regular milk instead of formula. Can we say hallelujah?? What a relief on our wallets!! How wonderful it is to pay $3.00 instead of $15.00 for his milk!! Woooohoo!! Now if we can just get rid of those diapers....

We are also starting to see his vocabulary start to develop. So far we've got Mama, Daddy, Bye-Bye, and Pup-Pup. We also believe he has been saying "ah-cha" (a.k.a "chop") thanks to his Daddy who is frequently karate chopping me (while saying Ah chop of course!). So it looks like I'll be getting double chops soon. (doesn't that sound like fun?

Ok, now for some random shots from the past few weeks:

Swinging in my new swing!

Digging in my kitchen cabinet

Trying on Daddy's hat

Just hangin out in my diaper box

mmmmmm

Obviously enjoying some mac and cheese at McAlisters

Oh, and you might have noticed that a certain green object has been missing from all of these pictures....that's because we are 2 weeks paci free!! Wooooohoooo!!!

Playin catch up...

Ok ok so I've missed a month of blogging. Oops again!! A lot has been going on so I'll try to do a run down in a few blogs.

Bryson had his first birthday party at the Gilbert Park a few weeks ago. We had a blast and he did so well. He saw lots of friends and family and completely demolished his cake! I don't think he even took one bite of it! It was great to celebrate this huge milestone in Bryson's life with the people closest to us. It's wonderful to see how loved our son is!! Here are some pics of our time:

The adorable cake thanks to Carey and her mom! Thanks guys!!

Bryson and Torrin, wagon buddies!

Being silly

Checkin out the cake

Not liking the hat one bit!

As you can see, we did have a bit of a meltdown at the end of the party, but overall the day was wonderful!! Good food, good friends...what more could you ask for??

Happy Birthday to my sweet Bryson

Dear My Sweet Baby Boy,
One year ago today, the most beautiful child was born into this world and my life was forever changed. You have brought so much joy into our lives since the moment we first looked into your beautiful blue eyes. This year has held so many priceless memories: your first smile, first laugh, first tooth, first crawl..and soon to be your first steps. Each milestone has made my heart burst with a pride I'd never known. I never knew it was possible to love someone as much as I love you. Every smile, every hug, every kiss makes my heart feel as though it will burst.
Over these past 12 months, we have watched your personality develop. You are always quick to smile and laugh and can easily brighten the moods of those around you. You love to test your daddy and I to see what you can get away with....most of the time with a huge grin on your face. You love to sing songs and laugh at Mommy and Daddy's silly dancing. You love to play with your pup-pups, especially Joey who loves to play with you too. You love to watch Sesame St when you have TV time, and rarely pay attention to anything else when this is on. You love bath time and you always have. Splishing and splashing are your favorite things to do.
You do not like nap time or bed time and you put up quite a fight some days. You do not like to brush your teeth and you make that chore very hard for Mommy and Daddy (usually Daddy). You don't like your face to be wiped or your fingernails to be clipped which drives Mommy bananas!
There is so much more to tell about your personality, that I could go on for days. Your Daddy and I love everything about you....even the parts that drive us crazy. You have made this year so wonderful and it has truly been the best year of our lives. Every day is brighter because of you and the world is a better place with you in it. Words just cannot describe the love I have for you or just how truly special you are. You are the most amazing, beautiful person I have ever known and you are loved by SO many. You are my world, my sun, my moon, my shining star. I love you with my whole heart and every ounce of my being. I cherish every single moment we spend together.
Thank you for the little person you are and the person you will become in the years to come. I am so glad God has chosen me to be your Mommy. Happy 1st Birthday baby! I hope it is wonderful!
I love you baby, always and forever.
Mommy

Update!

Hi there!

Just wanted to update everyone on the whole tube situation. Bryson had the procedure on the 23rd and it went VERY well. While Jeffrey and I were a little nervous (ok, who am I kidding..it was just me) Bryson was absolutely fine. All the nurses even commented on what a perfect little patient he was. The procedure was literally over in just a few short minutes and in no time we were back talking with Dr. Bouknight (who we LOVED!). She told us that when she went in to put the tubes in, his ears were just horribly infected and full of fluid. She was really surprised that Bryson wasn't in pain before the surgery. She said if she had any doubts that we were jumping the gun on doing the procedure, that they were completely gone when she saw the condition his ears were in. This was absolutely the right thing for us to do and I'm SO glad it's over and behind us now. Bryson recovered within an hour or so after the procedure and then he was back to his normal self. So far so good! I'm hoping this is the end of ear infections for good!!

In other news... since my last post Bryson has been pulling up like crazy on everything he can get his hands on. I guess he fooled me when I thought he might skip this step. Walking is getting closer and closer!

It is SO hard to believe that in just 2 days, my baby will be a year old. Not to mention, I'll be a whole year older tomorrow also! AGH! Time is just flying by so quickly! This time last year I was sitting here, big as a house, thinking I still had a couple weeks left of pregnancy. Then wam, bam, here I am a year later, and my almost toddler is asleep in the next room. Wow. Ok, I think I may cry if I think about this anymore tonight. I'll just live in denial for the next couple of days until his birthday actually gets here!

In the mean time, here are a few recent pics:

Rootin on the Gamecocks!

Putting on my game face

Hangin out, watching the game

Waiting for my surgery

That's all for now! Love you all!

Infections, molars and tubes...oh my!

Well we have certainly had an interesting couple of weeks. A couple weeks ago we started noticing some big changes in our sweet baby boy. He was starting to be "not so sweet!" I quickly noticed (while he was screaming his head off) that his entire top gums were completely swollen. I just knew this meant his 1 year molars were coming in. To top that off, we started noticing his eyes were becoming pinker and pinker and sure enough, another bout of pink eye had arrived. We ended up having to take him to the doctor on Labor Day during emergency hours to get some meds for his eye. At that point we also found out he had another ear infection. WOW. He was MISERABLE to say the least. Fortunately, after a few LONG nights and endless screaming, we made it through the weekend and he was slowly but surely feeling better and better.
Thursday we had our appointment with the ENT which went very well. The doctor agreed that tubes are our best option at this point and we scheduled the procedure for September 23rd. We feel very comfortable with this decision and absolutely loved our doctor. She put my mind at ease letting me know that he will be put under with gas for around 5 minutes and then the procedure would be finished. No biggie! Phew!!!
The ENT also confirmed that Bryson is in fact cutting his top molars. Poor little fella! He has just had a rough time lately. But I'm happy to say that he is back to his normal self now and is happier than ever. I think the worst is over at this point.
I also have another huge announcement to make. We have now graduated to exclusively using sippy cups! No more bottles for my big boy! I do have to give the daycare workers a lot of credit on this one as they have worked hard on getting him transitioned over the past couple of weeks. He is now drinking better from his sippy cups than he EVER did from his bottles! We even had to increase his ounce intake! We are so proud of our little man.
We are still keeping our eyes peeled for Bryson's first attempts at walking. He seems to be a little bit on the lazy side at this point. He does not have any interest in pulling up on objects that are taller than he is. However, if something is level with him (say a laundry basket on the floor) he will grab hold and push himself into standing position. He even will attempt to stand up by keeping his head on the floor and extending his legs completely like an upside down V....imagine a teepee if you will. But he just refuses to "pull" himself up. Who knows, we may be skipping this step all together!
It is hard to believe that in a little over 3 weeks, my little baby boy will be 1 year old. How fast the time flies!! This has been the most wonderful year of my life by far and it only gets better each day. I'm so sad that this year has come and gone so quickly, but I'm so excited to see what the future brings for us and Bryson. He is growing into such a sweet and wonderful little boy. I feel absolutely blessed and honored that I was chosen to be his mother!! Thank you God!
I don't have any pictures to share right now as I'm at work and don't have any updated ones here. I will be posting new pics within the next few days though!
As always, thanks for checkin in :)

I'm beginning to think he doesn't like the camera...

Well...maybe he does just a little bit.. :)

No time for talk!

Long time no type

Yes, yes I realize it's been a month since my last post! I'm sorry! Man I'm bad at this. Here I thought I was getting better and I've fallen off the wagon again. Please, please forgive me. (Is anyone even still reading this?!)

Well, it's been an eventful month. Bryson is now a full-time crawler and he rarely stops moving. He is all over the place at full speed ahead. It is so funny to watch his little self crawl around and follow us all over the house. He knows now that he doesn't have to sit and wait for you to come back...he can go find you himself! So far he has been very good and hasn't gotten into too much stuff. He knows the meaning of "no" and fortunately obeys it very well. He does like to test us though! We have not witnessed any pulling up yet but I think this may be happening at daycare. But we all know it doesn't count until they do it at home for Mom and Dad! So we'll keep waiting on this.

All four top teeth have come in now! It's so weird seeing all these gigantic teeth in his mouth. I am so glad that these teeth have come thru though. He had such a horrible time with them...and no wonder because they are 10 times bigger than the bottom teeth! And talk about sharp!! He also HATES having his teeth brushed. I'm really hoping he'll grow out of this because I dont want to have to chase him around the house with a toothbrush when he's older!

Now for some bad news. About 2 or 3 weeks ago, after a couple nights of Bryson screaming his head off, I knew we probably had another ear infection on our hands. Unfortunately after a dr's visit, we found out that he had not only one, but two infections. He was MISERABLE to say the least. We were so relieved when those cleared up. But our relief was short lived. Over this past weekend we noticed that Bryson wasn't drinking his bottles and he was quite a bit moody. Not really fussy but he sure had an attitude about him. Well Monday we made a dr's appt and sure enough we've got another infection. This time we had to dicuss the "T" word....that's right...tubes. Our little baby boy will need tubes in his ears. We have an appointment with an ENT next month to find out all the details. While it scares me, I know this is the best thing for him. He needs a break from these nasty infections!

In other happier news, Bryson has also learned the song If Your Happy and You Know It, which he looooves to clap to. How cute is that? We haven't gotten the stomping or the Hooray parts yet but I'm sure those will come. I think I've almost got him saying Mama too so of course I'm excited about that after months and months of hearing "da-da".

What else can I say? My precious boy is such a blessing! Every day I love him more. When he crawls up and gets in my lap and gives me a hug it just melts my heart. He is so sweet and loving, and he is most definitely Mama's little boy.

Here are a few pics taken earlier tonight.

Watching his favorite show, Sesame St.

Making snootin faces at Mama during dinner

Ha ha!!! Check out those chompers!

Til next time....

And we're off!

There have been big developments in the past week! Bryson finally decided to join the crawling world on Thursday! Fortunately we were able to witness his first attempts and I couldn't be happier about that. I was so afraid I'd miss the big moment but God was watching out for us! Jeffrey and I, along with our friends Brian and Kristen and their daughter Aubrey, all got to see Bryson's first crawl. :) I was so proud of my baby boy I could have just burst! That was by far my proudest Mama moment yet. Even though he's started making his way around, he is not quite the pro yet. He is also very lazy and would rather not crawl than crawl....but he's slowly getting the hang of it! Of course, after not having baby proofed the house one bit, Jeffrey and I rushed out on Saturday to get all the necessary supplies. Being the procrastinators that we are...we're still working on it. Oh well! We'll get it done eventually. And now, for your viewing pleasure, here is a video of the first crawling attempts!

Also, this past weekend, we took Bryson to the park with our friends Carey and Tony and their son Torrin. The boys had a great time riding in Torrin's wagon and eating snacks. Torrin was so nice to share his snacks and even help feed Bryson! That was the cutest thing. Bryson even had his first swing ride, which we are pretty sure he enjoyed but his face gave away nothing. It's always serious business with him! We even went down the slides. Overall, we had a great time at the park! Here are some pictures of our time.