Xavier at 12 months

It's been a long year, but a wonderful one. Xavier is such a sweet kid, and a wonderful addition to our lives.

Stats: He's still a wee boy, at only 18lbs. He's in the 26% percentile for height at 29 inches.  He has 15 teeth at last count, and he seems to be getting ready to work on #16. He has been walking exclusively for several weeks now, though today he crawled a bit and I'm not sure what to make of that. He has been sleeping through the night most of the time for a while now. Lately, he has also been sleeping in until 8 or so (with a wake up for a diaper change around 6, but usually he wants to go back to sleep after). Along with the later wake up, he's been dropping to one nap... we still have some 2 nap days, but we're on the one nap train and I like it.

Other things... He's persistent, and already quite opinionated and independent. He wants to do things on his own, and I do my best to encourage it, hard as that sometimes is because usually it's messy or time consuming. He wants to eat with a fork and spoon, but can't do it on his own yet. He tries to put on his shoes, socks, and pants, but can't yet. He can put at least an arm into or out of his shirts and coats. He imitates us and wants to help with whatever we're doing-- whether it's a diaper change or sweeping the floors. He helps open and close doors, turn off lights, hold the dogs leash... he just wants to be part of whatever it is we're doing.

He's starting to really communicate with us, which has been so exciting. He claps his hands once (that's his way of doing the "more" sign), and points at things he wants. And he'll push it away if we grab the wrong thing. He has signed mama and dad once each, and he says "RAWR!" (when he sees pictures of dinosaurs/alligators/dragons [he doesn't know the difference]). He also says "dog" and "dad". I show him pictures of us, and he can point to "mama" and "dad" in the pictures. He bends his elbows and holds up his hands palms up when you ask a question, especially "Where is it?" He waves bye-bye. He claps his hands when you say "Good job!" or "Yay!" He bends his knees and "dances" when he wants to hear music. He sings/babbles along when people sing (like at church). He reaches up and grabs my legs when he wants held. He understands "no," but is only just starting to listen when told. And by that, I mean he did it, once. He understands "switch"-- when he has something in one hand that he needs to move to the other in order to put the other arm into his jacket.

He's cautious with strangers. He'll smile at them, but does not want to be held, thankyouverymuch.  But maybe, sometimes, if he's in a good mood, he'll be ok with being held by someone new. Sometimes.  Definitely not if Mama is an option instead though. But, with people he knows, he'll give them hugs and reach to be held by them. He's a sweet boy.

He likes things with wheels, and musical instruments. He LOVES animals. He laughs and gets so giddy around animals, or even when seeing pictures of them in his books. He likes books and turning the pages. I've caught him alone in his room a few times, turning pages in his books. He sits there laughing at the horse in The Very Busy Spider, or at pictures of pigs or dogs. Who knew pigs, dogs and horses were so silly?

He's not perfect, and I do try to maintain perspective-- I'm quite aware that my son is not the second coming of the Messiah, and he has his difficult moments just like every kid. Case in point: After  throwing a temper tantrum in the pediatrician's office, and while also demonstrating that he's smart and independent (and thus, developmentally ready), the pediatrician said "usually I don't talk to parents about starting to discipline their kids and using time-outs until 15-18 months, but with your kid, I think you need to and I think he's ready."

But, overall, he is pretty wondeful. Love him.

1 year of parenthood! 1 year as a family of 3 (or 4 with Juniper)-- Yay!

Halloween

12 months-- and the end of our monthly photo shoots. 

I think after the 9 month pictures, these are my favorite-- they're my giggly, active, silly, happy boy. 

Weaning

When X was born, Kenneth and I wanted X to be breastfed. I'll be honest, most of my motivation came from 2 sources: the fact that breast milk is free and the convenience of breastfeeding vs bottles. Yes, breast is best and there's lots of scientific evidence for why, but I also know too many people who were formula fed and/or choose to formula feed their babies to feel like breastfeeding is the only acceptable way to raise a healthy, happy child.

One happy baby-- breastfed for 12 months!

It was A LOT of work early on-- breastfeeding is HARD, even though it seems like it should be so easy and natural. I don't think it stopped being a chore (and sometimes even stressful) until X was 2.5 months old. And I'll be honest, I definitely had some resentment to work through. ("Ugh, this sucks. I have a baby attached to my chest around the clock, night and day, but Kenneth gets to do stuff like EAT and SLEEP and GO TO THE BATHROOM WHEN HE NEEDS TO.")  

But I'm really glad we stuck with it. The lazy side of me has looooooooved that I've never had to pack a bottle and formula in the diaper bag, that I could nurse him quicker than I could make a bottle, that I've never had to run to the store to buy formula. I love that X has enjoyed nursing, that it comforted him in ways that nothing else-- not even the pacifier-- could. And I loved being that source of comfort. And, while my health was far from being my sole motivation, the fact that I lost the baby weight pretty quickly and easily, and that my lifetime cancer risks are lower, all because we breastfed for as long as we did-- well, that's icing on the cake.

But a week ago, 1 week after his birthday, I decided it was time to let X choose whether to wean or not. The goal was to make it to a year, and I was bound and determined to make that happen if I could.  But, X had been showing less and less interest in nursing over the last 3 months or so, and I knew he would move on if I let him. So, once we got to the one year mark, and a supply of new sippy cups arrived from Amazon, I switched to a "don't offer, don't refuse" policy. And after that, he quickly weaned himself. He has even learned and started using the baby sign for "milk" in less than a week. We've gone 3 days now without nursing at all, and I have no more milk to offer, even if X wanted to nurse. (Although I do have a respectable freezer stash that we're now mixing in with his cow milk, and it will probably last us another month or 2.)

The last day X clearly and excitedly asked to nurse: the day we celebrated his birthday.
Somehow, that seems perfect.

It's bittersweet. I'm glad  my body is entirely mine once again (after almost 2 years, between pregnancy and breastfeeding), and I'm glad we met the one year goal. I'm proud that I stuck with it and gave that gift to myself and my child... But I'm sad too-- X is the one who made the decision, who let us know that he didn't need or want me to nourish him anymore. It's the first of many times over the course of our lives where X is going to show me that he doesn't need his mama-- he's growing up.

1 year ago today..

One year ago today, my normal, everyday-since-29-weeks-contractions started coming closer together. They went from 6 minutes apart to 4 minutes apart between 6am and 8am. Kenneth called his boss and took the day off work (even though I said I was probably just having my normal contractions and that he should go to work still). And then an hour later, when the contractions were still coming at 4 or even 3 minutes apart, Kenneth convinced me that maybe I should call the doctor after all, that maybe I actually was in labor. They hurt, but not that bad. I was feeling good about this labor thing-- oh yeah, I can handle this.

And 21 hours later, I was finally admitted to the hospital-- which at the time, seemed like the biggest barrier between us and our baby. Being admitted meant I'd finally made some progress, and my body was finally starting to do its thing. Whoo hoo! 

And, it meant an epidural. God bless epidurals and all the fine anesthesiologists of our great land who give them to laboring women. 

It was still 12 hours after that before we saw these little toes...

and this little face...

... and became a family of 3 (4 if you count Juniper). 

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Since having Xavier, I've decided birthdays aren't just about celebrating the person in question-- but also about the mom who did all the work to get that person here. 

So, 

GO ME! HAPPY ANNIVERSARY OF LABOR AND ATTEMPTING TO PUSH A BABY OUT FOR 3 HOURS BEFORE HAVING MAJOR SURGERY DAY TO ME!

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And yes, happy day-labor-started-with-you day to my boy. You did your part in that birthing-thing too. It must have been tough getting squeezed every 4 minutes for 37 hours, getting your head rammed against my pelvis bones for 3 hours, and then having to be pulled out of your happy little home inside me. Sorry about that, but you can't remember it anyway, so really, I don't feel too bad. :) 

 Can't wait to celebrate and call you a 1 year old big boy tomorrow. Dad and Mama love you to pieces.

Love these

When X was maybe 3 or 4 months old, we started calling him our little dinosaur from time to time because he made dinosaur type noises. Now his room is dinosaur themed (as in, we've painted it bright green and put up a few dinosaur prints-- real over the top, you know). Anyhow, he sort of says "dog" or "dad"-- sometimes. And it's not totally clear that he's saying it intentionally. But, he does say "RAWR!" when he points at the dinosaur prints in his room. And sometimes he'll say it when I ask him "What do dinosaurs say?" or "Are you a dinosaur?" So, "RAWR!"-- I can say is among his first words with absolute certainty. So stinkin' cute. (And very useful right? Because telling the grown ups what dinosaurs say is a really useful thing to communicate...? Guess we should have been working  harder on "eat" or  "mama" or something. Oh well.)

So, that's the story behind why I think these are so great. We might have to put up one or several in X's room. So cute that I thought I'd share.

The Real Story on that McDonalds Coffee Lawsuit...

I thought this was interesting. At least, it made me think a bit differently of the supposed frivolous lawsuit. I mean, yeah, coffee is hot-- but so hot-- 180 degrees!?-- that your burns require skin grafts, and McDonalds hadn't done anything after 700 similar cases? I dunno McDonalds... I think now I'd say you had it coming and the plaintiff only actually got less than $650,000. Which I imagine may have covered her medical bills and not much else-- I'm guessing skin grafts and 2 hospitalizations are not cheap.

Sometimes Law School Homework is Fun

Law school homework is almost all reading judge's rulings and then figuring out how it relates to other judge's rulings in order to come up with some principal of how the law is supposed to work. Which is interesting to me, although sometimes tedious. So the textbook authors nicely throw in the more interesting/bizarre cases and opinions when it will still get the point across. This is the best so far... it's really funny, so I know it's not everyone's thing, but trust me, it's really worth the read. I even deleted the parts that weren't necessary to get the jokes from the judge to make it easier for you. 

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REPUBLIC OF BOLIVIA, Plaintiff,
v.
PHILIP MORRIS COMPANIES, INC., Defendant.
United States District Court, Southern District of Texas, Galveston Division. March 1, 1999.

ORDER OF TRANSFER

Plaintiff, the Republic of Bolivia, brings this action to recover from numerous tobacco companies various health care costs it allegedly incurred in treating illnesses its residents suffered as a result of tobacco use.... For the following reasons, the Court exercises its authority and discretion to TRANSFER this case to the United States District Court for the District of Columbia.

This is one of at least six similar actions brought by foreign governments in various courts throughout the United States. The governments of Guatemala, Panama, Nicaragua, Thailand, Venezuela, and Bolivia have filed suit in the geographically diverse locales of Washington, D.C., Puerto Rico, Texas, Louisiana, and Florida, in both state and federal courts. Why none of these countries seems to have a court system their own governments have confidence in is a mystery to this Court. 

Moreover, given the tremendous number of United States jurisdictions encompassing fascinating and exotic places, the Court can hardly imagine why the Republic of Bolivia elected to file suit in the veritable hinterlands of Brazoria County, Texas. The Court seriously doubts whether Brazoria County has ever seen a live Bolivian ... even on the Discovery Channel. 

Though only here by removal,  this humble Court by the sea is certainly flattered by what must be the worldwide renown of rural Texas courts for dispensing justice with unparalleled fairness and alacrity, apparently in common discussion even on the mountain peaks of Bolivia.

Still, the Court would be remiss in accepting an obligation for which it truly does not have the necessary resources. Only one judge presides in the Galveston Division-which currently has before it over seven hundred cases and annual civil filings exceeding such number-and that judge is presently burdened with a significant personal situation which diminishes its ability to always give the attention it would like to all of its daunting docket obligations, despite genuinely heroic efforts to do so.

And, while Galveston is indeed an international seaport, the capacity of this Court to address the complex and sophisticated issues of international law and foreign relations presented by this case is dwarfed by that of its esteemed colleagues in the District of Columbia who deftly address such awesome tasks as a matter of course.

Indeed, this Court, while doing its very best to address the more prosaic matters routinely before it, cannot think of a Bench better versed and more capable of handling precisely this type of case, which requires a high level of expertise in international matters. In fact, proceedings brought by the Republic of Guatemala are currently well underway in that Court in a related action, and there is a request now before the Judicial Panel on Multidistrict Litigation to transfer to the United States District Court for the District of Columbia all six tobacco actions brought by foreign governments, ostensibly for consolidated treatment. Such a Bench, well-populated with genuinely renowned intellects, can certainly better bear and share the burden of multidistrict litigation than this single judge division, where the judge moves his lips when he reads....

Regardless of, and having nothing to do with, the outcome of Defendants request for transfer and consolidation, it is the Court's opinion that the District of Columbia, located in this Nation's capital, is a much more logical venue for the parties and witnesses in this action because, among other things, Plaintiff has an embassy in Washington, D.C., and thus a physical presence and governmental representatives there, whereas there isn't even a Bolivian restaurant anywhere near here. Although the jurisdiction of this Court boasts no similar foreign offices, a somewhat dated globe is within its possession. While the Court does not therefrom profess to understand all of the political subtleties of the geographical transmogrifications ongoing in Eastern Europe, the Court is virtually certain that Bolivia is not within the four counties over which this Court presides, even though the words Bolivia and Brazoria are a lot alike and caused some real, initial confusion until the Court conferred with its law clerks. Thus, it is readily apparent, even from an outdated globe such as that possessed by this Court, that Bolivia, a hemisphere away, ain't in south-central Texas, and that, at the very least, the District of Columbia is a more appropriate venue (though Bolivia isn't located there either).

Furthermore, as this Judicial District bears no significant relationship to any of the matters at issue, and the judge of this Court simply loves cigars, the Plaintiff can be expected to suffer neither harm nor prejudice by a transfer to Washington, D.C., a Bench better able to rise to the smoky challenges presented by this case, despite the alleged and historic presence there of countless smoke-filled rooms. 

Consequently, pursuant to 28 U.S.C. 1404(a), for the convenience of parties and witnesses, and in the interest of justice, this case is hereby TRANSFERRED to the United States District Court for the District of Columbia.

IT IS SO ORDERED.

X's nursery

We're finally making headway on X's room. We still need to put in a new light fixture, put in a new baseboard heater, buy & put up black out roman shades, paint the baseboard trim white, figure out where to hang his crucifix & baptism candle, & maybe paint a corner with magnet paint/put up some fun textures on the walls... And maybe some more things to make it feel dinosaur-y... But besides those things, it's done. Ha. So here's the start.