A Week with Grammy! (& a Date & Mother's Day!)

The weekend before Mother's Day Grammy and Louis came to visit! Sid stayed up extra late so that he could see them before he went to bed! It was a really nice weekend. I got to get out alone and shop and finally get my new iPhone 6! 

I was so happy to have my mom around! Sean has been so so busy with work, and Sid has been so so busy holding my fingers and directing me all around (heh!). I've been so exhausted (I even got a fever blister from being so worn out, yuck!). 

She cooked us a yummy Saturday morning breakfast!

She brought Sid a new toy (always). He loves his Henry the Helicopter!

On Sunday, Sid and I headed back to Arkansas with Grammy and Lou. My little guy is the best road tripper! Seriously, he only fussed for a minute in the six and half'ish hours it took us to get there! He only took a 30 minute nap, too. 

We stopped for a roadside picnic!

When we got to the mountain, Grammy had another surprise for Sid...a walker! He thought it was the greatest thing ever. I'm pretty sure he was totally delirious, but even still - he loved it!

We had a fun week in Arkansas!

We went on lots of walks around the Escarpment.

Sid helped Grammy sort through her mail. Or maybe he just helped her make a mess. Unclear on this still :)

Bentonville Film Festival was going on the week we were in town. There were a lot of big stars in town, so we spent a lot of time on the square trying to spot a celebrity. No such luck, but it was enjoyable all the same.

There is a cute little park downtown and they have baby swings!

Grammy thought he needed to put his feet in the fountain. He was a big fan!

We enjoyed some time on the Press Room patio having a frozen Chai tea (with whip) :)

It rained every afternoon we were there. So we were lucky and were able to get out, but we also spent a lot of time indoors. This table came home with us because he loves it so much!

Sid was extra snuggly during our trip. I think a tooth is finally trying to come through, and he would just snuggle snuggle. Grammy and I both took all the snugglin' we could get! Mostly because we loved it, but also because we were happy to give our backs a break from walking him all around!!

Sid really liked looking through this photo album that my mom made to show off his pictures. It has pictures of Daddy, Mommy, Grammy, Louis, Uncle Shawn, Uncle Adam, and more! Daddy wasn't on the mountain yet, but Sid would point to him in this album and smile! So stinkin' sweet!

We bought Sid one of those little squeeze pouches for the first time, and he sucked that thing dry in record time! You can tell he was very focused!

Sean came on Friday! We were all glad to see him. Sid loves his daddy so much and was really excited to see his car driving up the driveway! Grammy and I were also glad because we both had sore backs! Haha! Saturday morning we got up and went to the Farmer's Market on the square before the rain came! We walked around and then ate breakfast at The Station. While there, a lady and her husband came up to us. She was very sweet and said it was the puppy and baby that just made her come say hello. Turns out, their daughter was the winner at the film festival! Very cool!

We spent the rest of the weekend doing stuff outside in between the rain. We had a lot of snake sightings over the week. EEk! So we made sure to keep our eyes open while out in the yard.

Sid LOVED riding on the tractor with Grammy! He wasn't scared at all, and even tried to help her drive it by taking the wheel a few times. I just know his Grampa was smiling down on him with this one!

Saturday night, Grammy babysat and Sean and I had a date night! WooHoo!!! It was pouring down rain, and I didn't pack any "date night" clothes, but it didn't matter. I went with Sid's avocado smeared on my pants. Yep, I did. And I didn't even care! Is that a problem?

We went to 21C at the Museum Hotel for cocktails and appetizers. We met a nice couple there, who was also out on a date with kids at home. This place is just so cool! Great drinks and food!

After drinks, we had dinner reservations at the newest restaurant in Bentonville, Oven & Tap. It had only been open 3 nights. I know, we need to cut them some slack, but. We left. We ordered drinks. That took an hour. So we drank them. And we left. In the pooooouring down rain (we were on foot!). We landed in a gem of a place called Tavola. It had a table for us and the food was legit. I had eaten there several times, but Sean hadn't. We had great conversation over dinner reminiscing over how this date was so "us". We used to always have random things happen to us and end up in random places when we would go out. As in, just not what the plan necessarily was. It felt good being able to be so spontaneous for a few hours. By the time we had our bellies stuffed the rain had ended and we enjoyed the walk back to the car. We got home around 10 and Grammy said Sid didn't make one peep :)

Sunday was Mother's Day! The day again, was filled with rain on and off. We had a very enjoyable day none the less. Spent most of it in the yard and then Sean cooked us mama's a steak dinner! 

I picked a few weeds and played with Louis :)

And just like that, another memorable trip to the mountain in the books! 

Sidney Loyd - 11 months

Eleven months old. Hard to believe. As much as I've tried to stop Sid from growing, it just isn't working. I know it's a fact of life, but gosh it's tough. He's turning into such a little boy! (and a joyous one at that!)

Sid is getting super fun to play with. He is starting to understand the idea of playing games. He likes to roll the ball back and forth and knock down blocks that Sean and I have stacked in front of him. Lately, his game is to hand us something and then we hand it back to him. Or helping put a lid on something, or making sure daddy's hat is placed back on his head ;)

Speaking of being full of energy - this guy is on the move! He isn't crawling and at this point I think it's safe to say he's going to skip it. His new favorite activity is holding someones fingers and walking all around. His balance is getting better every day and sometimes he even wants to totally let go, but mommy isn't quite ready for that yet. No really, his balance isn't THAT good yet ;) It's really fun, but we are all paying for it with aching backs by the end of the day. He will go and go and go until we finally force him to sit.

Sid's fine motor skills have blown us away. He can push the tiniest of buttons, and hammer small pegs into his favorite toy with ease. He will sit and study something for a long time and you can see his wheels turning, wanting to understand how it works. He is good at focusing for a while on one thing. 

If there is one thing my son and I have in common it's not liking silence! This boy babbles all day long! When I wear him into a store, he immediately starts babbling and making silly noises with his tongue. It makes me laugh. He is starting to really sound things out. When he hears or sees birds (or birdies as we call them), he starts making the "b" sound. He also makes this same sound when reaching for a banana (which is quite possibly his favorite food!). 

I've noticed when he's tired, cranky, and just generally needing something and upset, he will say, "mmmmmaammmmugh" and it pretty much melts my heart. When he sees his daddy walk through the door or if I say, "Where's daddy?", he turns and says "dddugh" or "ddddaa". These are just the main things we've picked up on. I know he is really understanding me a lot more which is fun to see. He is good at getting what he wants by pointing and making a "da" sound. 

Sid loves drinking out of his new cup! It's so cute! He gets so excited when he has it and then he has to pound it on anything and everything in sight! He sometimes drowns himself while drinking out of it, but he's getting the hang of it. 

We had our first case of the sickies this past month. It hit, and then hit again. It was a double wammy for my sweet fella. 

It started on a Monday afternoon. I could tell he was hotter than normal. Sure enough, fever. Not much, only a degree, but still, fever. He really was ok and not extra fussy or anything. And he even slept ok that night. But then Tuesday afternoon his tummy got upset. It got upset and it stayed upset for nearly 2 weeks. Uck! Let me tell you, cloth diapering is no big deal. It's what we do and it works for us. But. When you have a baby with an upset tummy, cloth diapering is exhausting! We made it through. 

But then, the next week he came down with a loose cough and congestion with a runny nose. Oh man, that broke my heart. It was so tough hearing him trying to breathe while nursing. We ended up using the Nose Frida on him, and if you don't have one, get one. I mean it. Run, don't walk to the store! This thing cleared him up so fast! Thankfully with the help of the Nose Frida, the right foods, and essential oils, our little guy made it through a rough 2 weeks.  

The other tough part about his being sick was his sleep. All sleep training went out the window. Poor guy was waking up in the middle of the night with a messy diaper, and then I would nurse him to get him from getting dehydrated. 

I love everything about this picture. Except that Sid is sick, of course.

Naps were scarce, and nighttime was a lot of up and down. Here we are two weeks later and I think finally back on track. It took a few nights of letting him cry, but it worked and I know we are all happier because of it (but from all of this exhaustion, mama got a fever blister - ugh!). 

In other news, Sid still loves going for strolls. We go for walks often and he just kicks his little feet and smiles up at me from the stroller :)

He still loves his bookshelf in his room. That little rainbow stacker toy is probably one of his favorites that lives on his shelf. He can do it by himself!

Sid takes after his Grampa in a lot of ways, but most recently, it's the way he can stretch his leg up and put his foot in his mouth. Yes, what I'm trying to say is that his Grampa could do (& did do) this exact same thing! I get the biggest giggle out of seeing this from my rear view mirror!

Daddy is his number one person these days! I seriously can not compete with this bond (nor would I want to). Sid sees him and his eyes light up! You see, there are things he does with mommy, and there are LOTS of things he does with daddy. As in, lots of things that mommy says no to. There is absolutely NOTHING off limits to him when he plays with daddy. Le Sigh. I can't compete. And it's ok - as long as daddy lets me pull my hair literally out when Sid turns 2 and doesn't understand why he can't play with the electrical wires coming out of the wall. No but really, they have so much fun and Sean can get a good laugh out of Sid almost always. One day, Sean had to run and grab a phone call and he handed Sid back to me. Sid had a complete meltdown (it was 2 hours after I made him cry it out for a nap). So I guess this past month was a first for something else for Sid - his first grudge! Against ME! Wahhhhh!!!

In just one more short month he will be one! I mean it when I say I can't believe it! He's the best ever and I can't imagine doing life without him :)

Weight: He lost some weight when he was sick, but we think he's back in the 19lb range

Height: Not sure, but definitely long & lean

Medical Issues: None currently

Naps: 2 a day. He is typically awake 3-4 hrs in between. He occasionally only gets one, and he does ok.

Night Sleep: It's been a rough sleep month due to him being sick. But we are mostly back on track now and he's going down around 7 and wakes around 6.

Clothing Size: 12m & 18m

Diapers: BG 4.0 w/ cotton or bamboo inserts during the day / nighttime BG 4.0 w/ 3 bamboo inserts.

Diet: We are trying to feed him 3 meals a day now. We added black beans to his diet. Bananas are his absolute favorite! He eats them in pieces and mashed with avocado almost every morning. I am nursing him 4(ish) times per day. The only set time is when he wakes in the morning and when he goes to bed. The rest of the day is just whenever he wants it. 

Favorite Baby Gear: His books! His giraffe with the balls, jumparoo, hammer toy, rainbow stacker, anything that rattles

Personality: He loves grabbing the attention of everyone in the room. He wants to make sure everyone is watching him being silly. He loves imitating silly noises. 

Milestones/Firsts: Walking - nonstop! He constantly is grabbing our fingers to help him walk. He's really starting to sound out words. And he can direct me to what he wants through his pointing. We started music class and he loves it!

Likes: Bouncing! He thinks everything should be able to bounce him. He loves me to hold him and then bounce him on the birthing ball (exercise ball) while we play fun music in his room!, sucking his 2 fingers!

Dislikes: he has not been happy getting in the bathtub lately. He's ok once he's in there, but it takes work getting him happy.

Nicknames: Sid-Sid, bud

OUTTAKES

Easter 2015

I think it's safe to say that Sidney's first Easter was very special. Grammy, Louis, and Uncle Adam all came in town.   It was busy as usual, but I still feel like we got a lot of good visiting in. I was really excited to make Sid's first Easter basket! I started pretty early, as I had big plans! On our last trip to Arkansas, Sidney became fond of this little bunny that my grandmother made for Shawn when he was a baby.

I didn't think anything of it at the time, but the closer we got to Easter, the more my wheels began to turn, thinking about what would be special to fill Sid's Easter basket with. Obviously candy wasn't the answer! I thought about it for a minute or two, then I decided I would make him his own special bunny! It looks nothing like the one above, but I still really love how it turned out!

Sid hasn't paid too much attention to it yet, but I'm hoping one day it will be his favorite lovie :)

The weekend started Friday afternoon when our company arrived. When Uncle Adam got here, he walked up to Sid whom I was holding and reached out wanting to hold him. Sid went right to him. He just stared at him and I honestly wasn't sure if he was about to scream wanting me back, or was happy and just trying to figure things out. Next thing we all knew, Sid just laid his little head on Adam's shoulder and looked at me and Grammy. It was like Adam totally calmed him, and Sid was so comfortable. And then, Sid stayed just like that, totally relaxed on his Uncle Adam's shoulder. It was just about the sweetest thing I've ever seen! I told Adam I wasn't going to let him go home since he clearly had a very strong calming effect on my child!

I took advantage of having extra hands around and while they played with Sid, I dyed Easter eggs and made a quinoa salad to snack on over the weekend!

I used purple cabbage, yellow onion, red onion, and tumeric to dye Sid's first Easter eggs. At first I wasn't sure how they would turn out, but I really think they ended up so beautiful!

Way better than the artificial colors! Although I know that day will come when we, too, will have bright neon green eggs!

Grammy couldn't wait to give Sid his Easter basket. It was loaded up with all sorts of fun stuff!!

Like a big green bouncy ball!

Sid quickly got the concept of pulling the paper away to see what was in his basket. He loved the crinkle paper, but he knew there was more to discover! :)

He got bubbles, and a book, and a crawling tiger (that Grammy is convinced will get him to crawl soon), and a stuffed chick, and a squeaky bunny...all sorts of fun stuff!

Saturday we got things prepped for Easter meal on Sunday, and just hung out at the house. It was an absolutely beautiful day and when Sean got finished working that morning, we spent a lot of the afternoon on our back patio. Sid decided he didn't want to nap that morning. I wanted to blow a gasket knowing he needed a nap (clearly not in his plan!), but Grammy took him outside instead and he was happy as a clam! 

Daddy showing Sid his bubbles for the first time.

For dinner that evening, we went to Jack and Sheryl's for a Passover feast!

Matzah Ball Soup is my favorite!

Sid was just lounging on the sofa with Grandpa (except he got cut out of the photo, whoops!)

It was a delicious meal! We skipped dessert because we were so full, and because Sidney was getting super fussy and ready for bed. We didn't completely not eat it though, we just saved it for Sunday instead :)

Easter morning, we all got ready for church at 9:15. It was Sid's first church service. The church is literally 5 minutes from our house, so that made it easy to get to and get back home in time to finish up our meal since Jack and Sheryl were coming over to eat.

Grammy bought Sid these adorable bunny ears! I seriously could have left them on him all day! 

Before lunch and after our FaceTime with the DC crew, I gave Sidney his Easter basket :)

2 books, 2 egg shakers that I made, his bunny, and a chick that lights up!

How cute is he!

When we got home from church, Sid was so sleepy! I had to change clothes immediately so I could nurse him (dress wasn't nursing friendly) and Sean had to finish up the ham (which burned in the oven while we were gone, oops). That said, this is the best family Easter picture we got. At least Sid still looked cute! Lesson learned: Take your pictures BEFORE church!

His first pop-up book

I made colored rice to make the table look like spring. It was so easy and I will save it for years to come!

Our meal was SPOT. ON. Looking at this picture is sort of like torture! We made a Peach-Riesling glazed ham, garlic cheese grits, roasted asparagus with hollandaise, and Orange-Vanilla fruit salad. (last two recipes from Pioneer Woman). For dessert, I made a carrot cake from Smitten Kitchen. I think I forgot to take a picture of it though :( Jack and Sheryl also brought over the dessert that we skipped from Saturday night, which was Tiramisu from Central Market, yum!!

I have no complaints about the entire weekend, except that everyone had to leave and go back home. We love having a house full of family. I'm so thankful for the family we have that was able to be with us to celebrate this special holiday. HE IS RISEN.

And just in case you need a little more cuteness...