First day back at work

Monday was Bryson's first day at daycare and it was probably harder on me than it was on him. When I woke him up bright and early at 6:15a, he gave me looks like "lady, what are you doing in here this early." I brought him into school and talked with his teacher for a few minutes. I set him on the ground and told him I would be back in a few hours to get him. That is when he leaned over and gave me a kiss on my lips. I almost lost it there. He has never been the one to initiate a kiss. I usually have to ask him for one. That is when I told the teacher I have to go and I was in tears before I got to the car. I cried all the way home. I had about a million errands to run, so it was easy to keep my mind off of him. Three hours later, I went back to pick him up and I could hear him crying before I reached his room. His teacher said he did really well all day but had recently started crying which didn't surprise me because he gets a little fussy between 10a-11a. He looked happy to see me and laid his head on my shoulder all the way to the car. Tuesday when I brought him to school, he would say good-bye or give me a kiss. When I came back to pick him up in 3 hours, he was once again crying. They were outside playing and they were in the little kids play area which is fenced off from the bigger kids play area (who were also outside playing at the time). Naturally my son wanted to play in the big kids area, so he was standing at the fence crying because he couldn't. He was once again happy to see me. The teacher told me they colored with markers today and not to be surprised if I see some on him. When I got home, I realized how much marker was on him. I asked him if he colored on the paper or just himself!

Today is my first day back at work. I work at home, so the walk from our bedroom to my office was nice and short. Some may wonder why I put B in daycare if I work from home. Those of you who have toddlers will understand that there is no way I could sit at a computer for 8 hours and get work done with B running around. He is very needy and wants your attention at all times which usually means I have about 5 minutes before he starts taking everything off the desk or standing at my chair screaming. This morning Bryson had yet another doctors appointment which daddy was so kind to bring him to. My mother also went with him so she could tell me what the doctor says since Shane only hears a few words and forgets the rest. If you are wondering what doctor he is going to now, it's the Rickets doctor. When the doctor in Moscow was examining Bryson, he mentioned that he has rickets. This was news to us, but not unusual for Russian children to have. After researching this, Bryson does have some of the symptoms such as his breastbone projection and his distended stomach. Hopefully the doctor will figure things out today.

Bryson's first day at school (yes I made him take a picture)

18 months

I can hardly believe my baby is 18 months today! We received Bryson's referral 2 1/2 weeks before his 1st birthday and now he is already 1 1/2 years old. Where has the last 6 months gone? He is doing well, but we are possibly having some terrible two moments a little early. Temper tantrums are is speciality. You got to love those moments! Though when he brings me a book and wants to snuggle on my lap while we read it (and close it, open it, read it, close it, open it), you forget about all those frustrating moments. I return back to work on Wednesday. Naturally I am not very happy that the last 14 weeks (from the day we left for Russia) have flown by, but my time off is coming to an end. Bryson starts daycare on Monday. I plan to bring him there for just a couple of hours on Monday & Tuesday to let him slowly transition. I am trying not to think about the fact I won't be with my baby all day anymore. I am just trying to remember the positives of him going to daycare. He received his U.S. passport in the mail this past week. I have tackled everything he needed to get except for the re-adoption which we hope to do in the next couple of months.

Favorite Photo Friday #8

Bryson during nap time.

Tidbits

• He loves to go for walks in his wagon. Most evenings once daddy gets home, we try to take a walk as a family. We put some puffs in his snack trap, get his sippy cup, put him in the wagon and get the leash for our dog Angel who goes with us. He is usually upset when our walks are over.
• Right now he is so fascinated with our two cats. He will walk around the house saying kitty, kitty. Whenever he seems them walk by, he gets all excited. I can't say they are very excited to see him since he likes to grab their tails and pull. When I hear them squealing, I usually know why.
• He loves sweets (table food) and so does his mommy (bad habit). We will often share pudding, yogurt, strawberry poptarts, blueberry muffins. When I get these things out of the kitchen, I am most times getting them as a snack for me, but I guess what is mine is his, right?!? When the snack is gone, I usually have to prove it to him by showing him the empty container or wrapper. He never usually believes me. I always have to give him the last bit (I learned that the hard way).
• He still HATES the carseat. We have tried giving him toys, but they are usually tossed around the car in about 30 seconds of him being in there. He is good for about 10-15 minutes, than the screaming starts. Most times if I rub his foot, he will calm down. It's not that easy to drive nor is it comfortable to rub your son's foot who is in the back seat.
• He wakes up in a good mood every morning. I wish his mom and dad could take after him in that sense. My favorite part of the day is going into his room in the mornings. I usually slowly open the door and peak into his room until he catches my eye, than I swing the door open. I am always greeted by the biggest smile. I then take him out of his crib, I hold him while he holds me and we rock a little while I tell him how much I love him.
• My mom recently taught him how to blow kisses and it is SO cute to watch him do.
• He knows how to give kisses and hugs. Almost every time I ask for one, he is more than willing to give them. He is getting better about giving others kisses when they ask. The other day, I even got him to give the baby in one of his books a kiss.
• He really enjoys his books right now. His favorite is a baby Disney book that I am personally tired of reading! I always sit on the floor with him while we are in the living room playing. He will bring me the books to read to him and he will climb up on my lap. We can't usually get past the first page before he is closing the book and telling me all done.
• He sleeps a good 11-12 hours a night. Yes, I know I am lucky. He has basically slept like that since we got home. Maybe once a week he will wake up crying, but is pretty easy to get back to sleep.
• He HATES shoes and socks. This really bothers Shane because he wears shoes and socks at all times (except sleeping, showering and swimming). I on the other hand, could do without shoes. Don't get me wrong, I love cute shoes, but when I am home, I never wear any. As soon as we get in the car, in the house, or in the stroller, they are off in about 3 seconds flat. I got tired of always putting them back on, so now I carry his crocs around because they are so easy to slip on.
• He seems like he is constantly teething. Every time one tooth finally cuts through, we will see his gum swollen in another spot and I think lovely! He is like a running faucet of drool. He is not the only one who wears it on his clothes. I do as well since I am usually wiping his mouth and the closest place to wipe my hands is on my clothes.
• He is completely uninterested in the TV. He might watch it for a few seconds here and there, but that is it. I have tried numerous Baby Einstein DVDs, Disney DVDs, cartoons, but he could care less. I am not rushing it though.
• He is going through the open/close, pull/shut faze. He is always closing himself in rooms and opening drawers (and occasionally closing his fingers in them).
• He is impatient when it comes to meal time. He wants his food and he wants it now! Usually I have to tide him over with puffs while I make or get his meal ready.

Pictures from first trip

I should be sleeping right now, but instead I am playing on the computer. I have never posted any pictures from our first trip, so I figured I would post a few. I apologize for the pictures looking so grainy, but our camera was acting up while there.

BubbleShare: Share photos - Find great Clip Art Images.

Referral picture

I have decided to share our referral picture of Bryson with the blogger world. A few of my closer blog friends have seen this picture, but not all. Now you will be able to see why we fell in love with this sweet boy almost immediately.

I have also added some pictures in the side column of this blog. I have seen a few other bloggers do that and I liked it, so I copied them.

First boo-boo

A few weeks ago Bryson got his first big boo-boo. We never really put him up on the couches with us, I normally sit on the floor with him. Well, one night I put him up there with me while we shared some pudding. He crawled from my couch across the ottoman to the couch Shane was sitting on, then crawled back. No problem, he did fine. Then he decided to crawl back to Shane except this time he was close to the corner of the couch that had our glass end table near it, so I was holding him. He crawled closer to Shane so I let go and in that instance he turned around quickly and fell and hit the end table. I saw it happen and I reached for him, but I was too late. He got hurt pretty badly and he was so upset (it didn't help that I was crying by this point either). It ended up making a pretty bad cut about an inch away from his eye on his cheek. Of course I felt guilty and felt like it was my fault. Everyone keeps telling me that was the first of many, but that doesn't make you feel any better when it's the first one. The next day he woke up with a black eye. Poor thing. It has healed now, but it looks like it is going to leave a scar. I have been putting scar medicine on it, so hopefully he will heal up better. I hate seeing the mark everytime I look at my baby's face.

The day after

A few weeks later

First wedding

Bryson ended up running a fever from the shots which we knew would happen. He wasn't feeling well Friday or Saturday and didn't have much of an appetite as a result. We had a wedding to attend on Saturday which was a few minutes from our MIL's house, so we left early Saturday morning and came back Sunday afternoon. The ceremony was at a church and Bryson quickly discovered that his voice echoed and he wanted to make sure everyone else realized that as well! He didn't care that they were about to walk down aisle, he just wanted to make noises, loud ones. So we went into the children's playroom at the church and I was able to hear and see everything from this room. Like always, we never took any pictures of us at the wedding or reception, but thankfully we took a few before we left our MIL's house.

I hate shots

My poor little baby had a rough day. He was given his 15 month & 18 month shots today, for a total of 4. The first one went into his leg with no reaction from him, but for the last 3, he screamed. He was so upset with me. Shane doesn't know this, but I think he is bringing Bryson next time. I am pretty over all these doctor visits, shots and blood drawn.

He is 31 inches long, which means he has grown an 1 1/2 inches since our first visit with the pediatrician a week after returning home. He weighs 20 pounds & 5 ounces. He weighed 19 pounds when we brought him home, gained a pound, lost that pound with the giardia and has now gained a little over a pound back. He is slowly growing. Eventually he will be able to wear pants bigger than he 9 months pants/shorts. He is still tiny compared to most kids his age. Most people don't believe me when I say he is 17 months. Oh well! I would be happy if he could stay this size forever!

The neurologist called today with the results from the brainscan and said everything looked normal. We were very pleased to hear that. We (as well as the neurologist) knew there was most likely nothing wrong, but we wanted to be sure.

Favorite Photo Friday #7

Bryson with Daddy's shirt on. I happened to catch him right when he was making one of his million funny faces.

Food & Words

We are still battling the table food issue. Bryson would prefer baby food for the most part. We have tried giving him any table food we eat, but he won't even attempt to try it most times. We have also tried the Gerber graduate meals, but he spits it out every time. Any advice?


The only table foods he will eat:
Bananas (it's his favorite fruit)
Peanut butter & marshmallow sandwich
Peanut butter & jelly sandwich
French Fries (occasionally)
Graham crackers
Blueberry muffins
Poptarts (he will usually share mine when I am eating one)
Ice cream
Yogurt
Pudding
Oatmeal

I have tried cottage cheese & he hated it! For breakfast he usually gets oatmeal and a bottle of formula (for his weight per the doctor). At lunch time, if we are out somewhere, he eats baby food. If we are home, I give him half a sandwich and a jar of baby food fruit. For dinner, it's usually baby food. I will have to try giving our food to him in a bowl with a spoon and see what he does. Usually went we put our food on his tray, he hands it right back to us.

You can tell Bryson is really trying to say some words. He is a very vocal child 90% of the time. He doesn't care where we are. He wants everyone to hear him. I plan to call our local intervention program to have his speech evaluated.

Words he says:

Da-da

Kitty

All gone (with the hand gestures, except he doesn't open his mouth for this)

And he has a few of his own words that he has created and we have no idea what they mean.

The test is done

Thankfully the brainscan is done and over with. It was very hard keeping him up last night and entertained. Finally a little after 11p I laid him down for bed and went to bed myself. I woke him up around 5:30a this morning and fed him breakfast. He looked a little confused when I came into his room so early this morning. We were told to be there at 10:30a for an 11a appointment. Naturally, they were running behind. They moved us from the waiting room in the front to a waiting room in the back. Finally around noon they came in to give him the sedation. He didn't like the taste of it, so I wore most of the first batch. We were able to force the second one on him, but by then he was so upset. I started rocking him and within minutes he was asleep. I was able to go into the room with him while he was having the scan done. I am thankful that I was able to stay in there with him, but it was also scary to see my little baby go inside this big, noisy machine. They ran the multiple tests which took around 30 minutes. The fun part was trying to wake him after they were done. I was able to get him to open his eyes, but only briefly. I tried everything to get him to wake up and stay awake, but it wasn't working. He was out cold! So we were stuck there for about 2 1/2 while the sedation slowly wore off. I thought I would be able to put him down for a nap once we got home, WRONG. He was wide awake and ready to go while I was dragging. I laid him down early for bed tonight, but now I can't fall asleep. I probably won't get the results back till our follow up appointment with the neurologist in May.

Appointments and more appointments

It feels like most of my maternity leave has been filled with various appointments. Some may not agree with all that I am doing and how soon since we have only been home 2 months, but it is much easier to get everything out of the way while I am off. We applied for his social security number and received it last week. We have a very busy week ahead of us. Today we went and did his passport. Wednesday we have a brainscan scheduled. Our pediatrician was concerned about something found in his medical and referred us to a neurologist. That doctor doesn't feel there is anything wrong, but the only way to find out for sure it to have the brainscan done. I am in no way thrilled about it, but I would rather get it over with to ease all of our minds. They have to sedate him so he can only have about 5 hours of sleep the night before. Can I tell you how fun it will be with us both running on that little of sleep! Than Friday, he has to have his 15 month shots. I don't do well with shots, so bringing him to get shots will be even harder.

Sorry for the lack of updates. The week before, my MIL came to stay with us for a few days and this past week my little sister was out of school for spring break so she spent the week with us. It was very nice having an extra set of hands for the whole week. My sister is really wonderful with Bryson and he loves his Auntie Caitlin as well. I think during this past week she has finally realized how much our lives have changed now that Bryson is here. She told me several times how exhausting he can be. Welcome to my world! Tuesday the 8th was our 2 month "Gotcha day."

On Monday we went to the zoo and Bryson's cousin (who is only 6 months older) decided she wanted to pull him around in the wagon.

We decided to take advantage of our wonderful Florida weather and pulled out the baby pool.

Favorite Photo Friday #6

Admiring the water with his Aunt Caitlin

Favorite Photo Friday #5

Daddy & Bryson

My munchkin

Is doing really well. I won't say he is wonderful all the time because he is a typical toddler and has his screaming fits and tantrums. I call him Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde because you never know what mood you are going to get. I try my best to keep him busy and active because he tends to get bored easily which naturally bring on cranky moods. Oh and he is cutting teeth. Not one, not two, but three at once. Did his mouth decide it wanted to test my sanity and cut 3 teeth at once!?! I return to work in 4 weeks and I get so sad thinking about having to leave him. Where on earth did the last 8 weeks go? They flew by. I have been calling around to day cares and plan to go check out a couple this week.

Bryson has a little girlfriend who is 11 days younger than him. We try to get them together about once a week. Last Friday, I decided to take him to the pool for the first time. It was a kiddy pool and he really enjoyed it until his head went under the water, than he wasn't too sure about it.

It also had his first taste of sand (in a sand box) and was not sure of that either (yes I know, another shirt with a saying).