The giving of thanks.

November was a fairly calm month.  The King's biggest excitement came at Thanksgiving.  He and his minions dressed up in their finest loungewear and trekked to nearby familial lodgings.  This fine ensemble was a gift from Aunt Sue who lives in -- wait for it -- Virginia.  It should be noted that our King was but eight months old in this photograph, but was already easily sporting his twelve month sized clothing.  Truly, his greatness could not be contained in an age-appropriate frame.

Never let it be said that King Julian is without a sense of humor.  Nor is he reticent to be photographed in silliness. He is, however, likely to "borrow" his minions accessories for his own not-so-nefarious purposes.

October is for visiting.

October was a busy month.

The King and his retinue traveled to the far reaches of his kingdom to visit relatives.  This involved his first trip on an airplane!  First he had to travel to the airport.

His loyal minions were so busy trying to ensure his comfort that they failed to take any pictures of him actually on the plane, much to their chagrin.  Luckily the royal flight to Houston was rather uneventful and the court proceeded to their visit in peace.

 The first order of business was a trip to the Texas State Renaissance Festival.  The King was dubious of his rented stroller.  It was a bit rickety.

New minions were added to the party for these festivities.

Many spectacles were seen, including dragons...

pirates...















and even Waldo was spotted!

 'Twas truly a full day for King Julian.  He was even booed by the subjects of another realm for his regal gold and black attire.

 The King and his minions slept well that night.

Upon waking the next morning, King Julian was subjected to questing for royal attire.  Even new crowns were evaluated.

Ultimately, the King's visit came to an end and the royal entourage returned home.

Upon his return, King Julian was greeted with a surprise!

"What is this nonsense you have put on my face?"

Unbeknownst to King Julian, he had inherited Minion Nikki's farsightedness.  This meant the King added an accessory to his daily raiment: a teeny, tiny pair of spectacles.

"Well, I suppose it's not that bad.  Driving my Jeep has become easier."

"You may now call me 'Professor King Julian'!"

King Julian experienced a new holiday!  For Halloween he allowed his minions to dress him in an adorable vampire costume.  Appropriately, he proceeded to gnaw on the neck of the nearest creature.  Luckily his fangs had yet to come in, so said creature was safe.

*slurp*

What you do when you get there.

So, after I worked myself into a place where I wanted to have kids I started planning.  By luck or cosmic design I started having trouble with my IUD and had to have it removed.  This happened while I was still living in Texas.  I did not want to have any kids while living in Texas, so I started charting my cycles.  Fertility Awareness Method (FAM), or Natural Family Planning (NFP) if you're Catholic, is a way of keeping track of your fertile times by measuring your Basal Body Temperature (BBT) and keeping track of your cervical mucus.  It is not the rhythm method.  It requires patience to get enough data to be able to determine your normal baseline temperature and then you can tell when you ovulate by a temperature jump.  You can tell when you're getting closer to ovulation by the consistency of your mucus.  After a few months you can determine your "safe" time with some accuracy.  Then, when you're ready to conceive you can determine your "optimal" time with some accuracy. XD

So about eight months after the IUD was removed I was living in MO and we decided we were going to start actively trying to get pregnant.  We tried for almost a year -- faithfully charting temps and mucus and cervical height and opening -- before we decided that things were really hectic and we should leave off the active trying (but I still charted).  During this time things with Patricia got really crazy and finally hit their boiling point.  So, she went home in June...and I was pregnant by July.  Coincidence or a symptom of lowered stress levels? I don't know.

Since we weren't actively trying to get pregnant, I wasn't watching what I was doing as closely as I could have.  I was drinking at least a 20oz Mt Dew every day and on July 4th I imbibed. :o  Kevin and I were kind of stressed because we were taking part in a musical and it was taking up a lot of time.  I started getting headaches and began taking advil somewhat regularly.

Then, one day while I was entering my BBT into my electronic chart (what? you don't expect me to do math on a daily basis, do you?) I noticed that I was at 30 days on this cycle -- normally I run short and I'd never yet run to 30 days.  The next morning when I got up to go to the bathroom I peed on a stick.  Now, for those of you who've POAS, you know that there's a wick and you can watch the moisture rising up the wick and toward the reading area -- where the lines appear.  Well, I did my thing and watched the moisture rise.  First the control pink line to let you know that you're doing it right.  Then, as soon as the moisture hit the second line it turned pink.  No waiting three minutes and checking to see if it changed...just pink.

"You have got to be kidding me." Yes, I said this out loud to the test.  As though it were going to change back to white a declare the whole thing a joke.  I stared for a moment.   Then I set the test down, picked it back up and gaped then laid it back down.  I washed my hands and went back to lie down.  I snuggled up to Kevin and could tell that he was awake.

.:Flashback:.

 "Kevin, I need you to come look at something for me."

Now, keep in mind that it's 5:00am.

"What is it?"

"Just come look."

*sigh* and we get out of bed.  We go into the bathroom and I warn him that I have to turn on the lights.

"Oh God that's bright!" *pause* "What did you want me to look at?"

*point* and we eye the parallel pink lines for a minute.  "Let's go lie down," says Kevin.

We lie there in silence, arms wrapped, my head snuzzled into his chest.  Later he would tell me that the thought running through his head was "I'm going to be a daddy.  I'm going to be a daddy. I'm going to be a daddy."

"This is going to change everything, isn't it?"

"Pretty much."

And we had no idea how right we were.

Parenting is...

It turns out that being a full time masters student, a full time secretary, and a full time momm...I mean minion makes one somewhat busy.  Who would have guessed?

So, the speedy version of the last month and a half:

Too much. *pleh*

Bananas: messy and delicious. What more could you ask for in a food?  These have become a staple.

Bananas!

The split grip.

For my half-birthday (09.08.10): Avocados!

Plus: messy, easy to hold, delicious

Minus: minor allergic reaction

Next time we'll have to get the fancy fruit and vegetable wash instead of just rinsing it with water.

The grab.

Happy half-birthday to the King!

I know you're worried that he's the messiest King in history.  It's okay: after dinner is bath time!

It's what time?

Oh, hi there.

Ah-choo!

You didn't say baff time was so fun!

Julian has learned new expressions!

This is the raspberry monkey!

Kiss the penguin!

He has also broken my heart with his actions...

We were playing on the floor with some blocks (sitting up by himself makes playing together a lot more interactive now) when King Julian signaled that he wanted to be picked up.  Being the obliging minion that I am, I scooped him into my arms.  He wrapped his arms around me and rested his cheek on my shoulder.  Then he released me and wanted back down to play with his blocks.  This was the first time that King Julian has asked for a hug -- it's always been something that we would initiate.  I never knew that such a simple action could touch me so deeply.

...and his beauty.

Which lead me to this realization:

Parenting is an exercise in daily heartbreak.  Luckily, it's also an experience of existential joy.

Danger! Danger! High Voltage!

This song is stuck in my head now. XD

So, on Tuesday night I noticed a couple of little red bumps on the King's back.  I thought maybe it was heat or diaper rash (he does have a tendency to send the poops right up his back), but made a note of it so that I would remember to check again after the next night's bath.  Last night during his bath I noticed a lot more tiny red bumps.  These were all over and the ones on his back were clustered.  :/

No more mangoes for King Julian until we figure out what this is.  There are no bumps on his face, so I don't think it's an allergic reaction, but in reality, this is the only thing that's changed in his life within the last week.  So...mango hiatus -- for Julian anyway.  I guess the minions will just have to eat what's left so that it doesn't spoil. >.> <.<

Mangoes Redux

Because we're too excited to wait the extra two weeks until he hits six months, the minions have decided to start letting Julian nom on some sliced mangoes.  Mostly, at the moment, we're working on his motor skills and getting a feel for food in his mouth.  Don't worry, he's still getting all of his nutrition from my breastmilk and we're not going to be weaning any time soon.

We sliced the mango into several different sized slices.  The bigger ones like this seem to work better because he can get a good grasp on them.

Also, you'll notice that his bib is on the chair and not on him.  That's okay for mangoes, but when we get to messier fare I'll have to be more diligent. XD

As an aside: look at all that hair coming in! I think he's going to have my coloring.  It's very, very light brown or almost blonde.  Plus his skin tone is much closer to mine than to his dad's.

So far, Julian manages to get the bits into his mouth pretty consistently.  Now, of course, there are side trips to the eye and ear occasionally, but he's a trooper and keeps working at it until he gets some mango in his mouth.  Usually he misses because he focuses on his fingers and they end up in his mouth instead.  Still, there's inevitably a point at which it's 'mangoes away!' and he always sucks on it first.

 He has, however, started chomping on the mango strips.  See those little cheeks all pooched out?  That's a big strong bite. :) Sometimes he gets a piece off the strip and rolls it around in his mouth chewing away.  It's adorable.  His little lips pucker up like he's waiting for a smooch.  Thus far none of the bits have made it down the hatch (and a couple have caused the minions some alarm as he gagged on them) but I know it's just a matter of time before he's worked that out too.

I have to tell you -- the small gags are not a big deal because he just makes a *pleh* face and spits the bit out.  The big gags are scary and I've fished a piece or two out of his mouth because we didn't know what else to do. O_o

There has been one other side effect of his introduction to mangoes.  And, I have to be honest, I didn't anticipate it.  Can you guess what it is?  Well, what goes in must come out.  He has mango scented poops!  Both my sister and Ms. Gloria have reported his fragrant diapers and it kind of cracks me up.

So, to sum up, I think this should give you an idea of what King Julian thinks of mangoes.

Omnomnom

This weekend marked the first bits of non-breastmilk (okay, I'm going to grudgingly include formula since we had to feed him a little when he was a newborn) Julian has ingested.  We bought one of those little 'fresh food feeders' -- it looks like a tiny mesh bag attached to a big ring (for grasping).  We put a chunk of frozen mango in there because we thought it might help soothe his gummys (pobrecito is teething) and we could get a bead on how he'd react to solids.

Since we're planning on starting him with fruit instead of cereal -- I can't see the point in feeding him tasteless mush with questionable nutritional value when he gets all that he needs from me and we're just supplementing and developing eating skills, but that's a rant for another day -- we thought it might be good to gauge his reaction and see if he had any allergy issues before we went and bought a bunch of fresh fruit that he might not be able to eat.

As it turned out, he freakin' loved it.  Let me tell you: that boy knows what he likes.  We put the little bag in his mouth (a no-no for baby-led solids, but this was a teething issue, remember?) and he spit it out and made a 'pleh' face.  He stuck his tongue out a couple of times and caught the taste of the mango and his eye got very big.  I put the mesh bag against his lips to see if he might want to taste it again and he opened wide, grabbed it, and went to town. XD  I'm fairly certain that if he could speak he would have been making "omnomnomnom" noises as he gobbled it down.

When I rinsed out the little baggie all that was left was a little bit of pale, pulpy mess.  Needless to say, we purchased a couple of fresh mangoes and a high chair (after a fashion -- it's a little adjustable seat with a tray that we attach to our chairs so he can be at the same level as us -- we have a 'bar height' dining set) and we're very excited to start feeding them to him.  We want to make sure that they're ripe enough, though, so we may end up waiting a few more days.

I want to thank Charisma over at Adventures in Solid Food for inspiring me and giving me the courage to do things a little differently.  Also, for posting pictures and videos of her trials and her adorable baby. :)

Getting there (the long and winding road)

Before I met Kevin I considered myself childfree.  For those of you not in the know that's a group of people who don't have children -- not because they can't, but because they don't want to.  It's a lifestyle choice that I fully support and understand.

Then everything changed for me.  I started having new dreams about being pregnant and having a baby.  The ones I'd had before were generally nightmares in which mewling aliens ripped their way out of my body. [I wish I were kidding, folks.]  But these new dreams were me wanting to be pregnant and enjoying the process.  They were of me having a baby and being happy about it.

In addition to the dreams, at this time my sister was nearing the end of her second pregnancy and I was finishing up my first year of law school.  Since I didn't have a job lined up for the summer I decided to go to Missouri and watch my niece and help take care of my sister post pardum.

Let me back up for a minute, here.  When my sister had her first baby I was living in Springfield.  I was working at my first post-college job and my sister was 19.  She was induced at 10am had her water broken at 6pm and gave birth at 5am. She had this massive baby (naturally and without stitches, I might add) and I thought she was a crazy pants.  Kitti* was beautiful (even with her ginormous** alien head), but I thought Lolli was borderline insane.  As it turned out Kitti was a colicky baby and spent a lot of the time I was around her crying.  This didn't really impact my ideas of having a child in a positive way.

So, a handful of years later Lolli is having another baby girl.  This one arrived much earlier in the day after less labor and was a much more manageable size.  She did come out with a true knot in the umbilical cord which, as I understand it, is extremely rare.  Sunshine was also beautiful and I spent a great deal more time with her in her newborn state, as I was unemployed and living with my parents while in Missouri.  She was a very subdued infant and she only cried when she was hungry or needed to be changed.  I was enthralled and I found myself sitting on the couch with her one night bawling my eyes out as I stared at her.  I suddenly realized that I wouldn't mind having a baby of my own.

Let me be realistic: I wasn't suddenly overwhelmed with the desire for a house full of children.  I just thought that if the opportunity presented itself then I would not decline said opportunity.  However, as I was currently single (having recently split {amicably} with my seven year boyfriend and, more recently, Kevin) and believed that any future relationship would almost certainly be Sapphic in nature, I didn't foresee the opportunity presenting itself in any near future.  This would give me plenty of time to ponder the realities and possible consequences of this line of thought before it was brought into fruition.  I.e. I could think about how many kids I might want and how far apart they should be and I could start thinking of possible names.  I am, after all, a control freak and it's difficult to be in control when you're flying by the seat of your pants (as so often childbearing seems to be).

Then, just as suddenly as it had ended, my relationship with Kevin resumed.  Luckily, I was armed with Mirena so I could still make copious plans before I was faced with the reality of a child.  I went back to New York, but later moved to Texas and married Kevin.  Shortly thereafter we were presented with the unenviable situation of having two of his teen sisters come to live with us.  One left (being eighteen) and later we were joined by his mother.  All family planning was put on hold while this situation was in place. I had time to review my ideas of parenting and found that I wasn't happy with how I was dealing with a teenage girl and the issues associated therewith.  It wasn't long until I was more scared of having kids than I had ever been.  Still, Kevin wanted children and I was on board...as long as it was in the right conditions.

I wasn't willing to bring a child into the chaos in which we were living.  I wasn't willing to raise a child with a warped sense of family, a propensity for lying, or the massive codependence in which I was immersed.  I gave an ultimatum that, while I'm not particularly proud of, was ultimately what was needed to raise a child.  Either we leave the vicinity of this family or we don't have kids.  Kevin still believes I would have given in, but I am more stubborn that even he realizes when something is that important to me.

Needless to say, we moved to Missouri.  All the pieces were now in place for me to actually have a child.  How terrifying!  Despite my misgivings and worries, I was (I foolishly believed) ready to start this chapter of my life.  I knew I didn't want more than two children, I had names picked out for both a boy and a girl, and I was reading books on alternative styles of parenting (later there will be book reviews, I know you're thrilled). If I was not ready (as the saying goes, no one is) I was at least prepared to get pregnant.  It was now a matter of making it happen. 

*While the primary players are named, the secondaries are masked.  Not for any particular reason other than I feel safe enough sharing my own info, but not that of anyone else.
** I can't see or hear this word without thinking of some commercial in which it's called 'grammatically questionable, but widely accepted'.  I find that description delightful.

Confession

I created this blog to indulge my obsession with my son without having to expose anyone who is not at least a little on the same side of obsession.  It's a courtesy to the childfree and apathetic, really.  I suppose I could post all of this on my livejournal, but it's always been me centered and I don't want to muddy the waters.  And anyway there's something very exciting about a vast empty area just waiting to be filled.

There are so many things about being a parent that are fascinating to me only...or possibly to a few close friends and family...and I don't want to forget anything.  So, I'm making a space that is dedicated to my beautiful son and maybe someday he'll come here and look over his history. 

I only wish I had started this process sooner.  I'm already behind on the whole pregnancy and nearly six months of his life. *staples back of hand to forehead*

Introductions Part Two and a Warning

I should probably warn you that this is going to contain copious amounts of TMI (too much information) and I likely won't apologize for it.  So, if you're not up for hearing about poop, spit-up, boobie juice, various types of mucus as well as all things related to pregnancy and childbirth you're probably not up for reading this blog.  Just sayin'.

Now that I've introduced the minions, you should come meet the King.

Presenting: King Julian Shiloh

Careful, that face will eat your soul for breakfast.  He kills with the cute.  *sage nod*

Mr. Julian (aka Jude the Adorable) entered the Kingdom on March 8, 2010.  He presented weighing 8 pounds 1 ounce, was 20 1/2 inches long, and had a 13 1/2 inch head.  He instantly stole the hearts of his people and has proven himself a demanding, but gentle ruler.

He is fond of breastmilk, clean diapers, kisses, bath time, and, in particular, all forms of snuggles.  At his most recent visit to the physician (that would be the four month mark) he weighed in at 17 pounds 15 ounces, was 26 1/2 inches long, and had a 17 inch head.  All are impressed with his growth.

It is widely accepted that King Julian bears a striking resemblance to Minion Kevin.  However, there are rumors that features of Minion Nikki are evidenced in more occult locations.