Happy valentine's day to my silly valentines

We had a fun day today. Tate humored me when I wanted to do a little v-day photo shoot.



And the Midnight Baker even whipped up a batch of Pecan Sandras late last night in honor of the occasion (pretty delicious, if I do say so myself).



We hope everyone had a day filled with lots of hugs and big sloppy kisses.

Mommy really needs this snow to melt so we can get out of here

Sleep deprivation

The other day I was putting away dishes and opened the cupboard to find Brad's opened can of Diet Coke up near the juice glasses. It sort of made sense, since he likes to drink his Diet Coke from those glasses. When I asked him about it he said he knew he had opened a new can and was wondering where he'd put it. We've had a lot of those moments around here in the last 6 months.

How about getting off of these antibiotics...

Tater and I made a follow-up visit to the pediatric urologist today. We've been following the situation with his right kidney since I was 20 weeks pregnant with him (how crazy is that?). Basically, his kidney isn't emptying as well as it could. We found out during tests after he was born that this was due to a small(ish) blockage, and that it would either get better on its own or he might need surgery. At today's visit the doctor said that he doesn't see anything that concerns him. The kidney isn't worse, and if anything it's a little bit better. Tate had been on a low dose of antibiotics since he was born to help prevent infection, but now the doc feels comfortable taking him off. Yay!!! And we don't have to go back for a follow-up visit for a year. The doc said we're still just waiting for Tate's body to tell us what needs to be done, and that usually you can get a better idea of what is going to happen by the time a baby is 1 or 2 years old.

I got what felt like a bazillion ultrasounds when I was pregnant, including several to follow the kidney situation. It was funny to see Tate lying there with jelly on his tummy getting an ultrasound to check something I had been getting ultrasounds for when he was still inside me. Tate actually seemed to enjoy the trip to the doctor's office after being condo-bound for the last few days because it has been so cold. During the exam he kept trying to get the doctor's attention (I think he wanted to play) and grabbed onto the cord for the ultrasound scanner with both hands (sadly, Dr. M. didn't seem to get that it was time for tug o' war). And he really enjoyed the ride in the Zipcar. I had trouble getting his car seat in and out since I rarely do that without Brad. I was jostling him around, and he just laughed and laughed. I am so grateful for my happy, healthy baby boy.

Please don't let me become that woman...

A week before Tate was born I was at dinner with friends joking about people who breastfeed older kids. On the way home my friend Beth snapped this photo of a display in the window at Be By Baby. At the time I thought it was super creepy--the kid mannequin looks old enough to eat pizza, and is that mom mannequin wearing lingerie?!? It was really funny at the time. Now I'm afraid I might actually become that woman who breastfeeds forever, minus the creepy lingerie.

Newsflash: Rice cereal? Not so good. Bibs? Delicious.

So we gave Tate his first taste of solids a few weeks ago. Based on how excited he is about his grape-flavored antibiotic, his Vitamin D drops, and even the sweet oral rotovirus vaccine (he cried almost as much when they stopped giving him that as he did when he got his actual shots) I thought he'd be one of those babies who dive right in when it comes to solids. Nope. The first time he let me feed him the rice cereal, but he just pushed each bite out with his tongue. Ditto with attempt #2 a week later. So then I tried the rice cereal. It's horrible! So I'm not sure if Tate just isn't ready for solids or if he just has a discerning palate. My doctor had said we could also try applesauce or a really ripe banana, but my sister read somewhere that if you start with something sweet the baby will develop a sweet tooth and it'll be harder to get him to try vegetables. Too late on preventing the sweet tooth, I think.