My Chunky Monkey

Peter's always been a little guy. He entered this world weighing 4 lbs. 15 oz. and measuring 17 1/2 inches, putting him in the 1st percentile on both the weight and height growth charts. He was little Peter (a name I'm sure he won't appreciate when he's older). For the first 9 months of his life Peter fluctuated between the 1st and 2nd percentiles. He finally hit a growth spurt and celebrated his 1st birthday by landing a spot in the 14th percentile for weight and the 5th for height. He continued to grow slowly and by his 18 month doctor appointment he slid into the 15th percentile for weight and jumped to the 18th for height.

Today Peter had his 2 Year checkup. I knew he had grown, but I was anxious to see where he landed on the charts. While Peter eats a large variety of foods he usually eats a very small quantity; somedays I think a caterpillar could beat him in an eating contest (he must get that from me). So you can imagine my surprise and delight when Peter's pediatrician told me that I could move Peter from whole milk to 2%. He then showed me that Peter had leapt into the 48th percentile for weight and the 27th for height. WHAT! Where did my little Peter go? I guess he's been making more hidden trips into the pantry than I was aware of.

Pete's Party

Peter didn't like his party hat or his family singing Happy Birthday to him

A 2-year-old doesn't understand what a birthday party is, let alone a birthday. But Ryan and I think that any photographic proof/ammunition we can produce right now to disprove Peter's almost certain to happen teenage rant of "You never did anything for me," is enough reason to have a birthday party for a 2-year-old. So we had a small family party a couple of weeks ago (it's taken me this long to finally go through the photos).

My mom generously offered to bake the birthday cake and I smartly and generously accepted her offer (it's not nice to invite people to a party and serve them a cake I baked). We discussed possible themes for the cake but were unable to come up with anything. Peter is one of those rare toddlers that is not obsessed with a particular animal/vehicle/cartoon character. Really his dream cake would be 12 mini cupcakes frosted in 6 different colors; he could spend his entire party sorting and lining up the cupcakes. Then my mom and I realized that there is something that Peter loves more than anything: Big Walter! So my mom made an amazing cake of Peter's beloved dog. We were a little worried that he wouldn't want to eat the Big Walter cake but of course he scarfed it down because it was cake.

Peter was a bit confused about everything. And having 10 adults sing Happy Birthday to him was more than he could handle (apparently our singing voices are worse than we thought). But overall I thought it was a success. We were able to spend time with our families, celebrate an adorable little boy, spoil Peter more, and eats lots of cake.

Peter with the real Big Walter and the cake Big Walter

Hmm, maybe this birthday thing isn't so bad

Yummy cake

Overheard

I overheard this conversation between two women at the gym today. (Yes, I'm a terrible person because I eavesdrop.)

Middle-aged woman with really bad eye makeup (think goth teenager): "I just love big families. I always wanted one but I was only able to have 6 kids."

Her completely serious friend: "Oh, that's too bad. I never wanted a big family so 5 was just right for us."

WHAT?! Since when is 5 or 6 kids NOT a big family?!

Why I Want To Be A Kid

Wouldn't it be nice to just go to sleep whenever (and wherever) you felt like it.

Happy Birthday Peter!

My baby is 2 today! Here's a little video celebrating Peter's illustrious life thus far through photos. Enjoy.

When I was putting together this video there was no question of what song to use. "Starlight" by Muse will always be to me Peter's song; whenever I hear it I always think of him and the weeks following his birth. As many of you know Peter had to stay in the hospital for 3 weeks after he was born. Because of this I was pumping my breast milk every 3 hours around the clock. During the first week I often did my middle of the night pumps on the glider in Peter's unused room in an effort to feel closer to him. One night I decided to listen to my iPod while I pumped to keep me awake. As I sat there with one of Peter's blankets around me, "Starlight" came up on shuffle. Even though I had heard the song before and liked it (I did put it on my iPod) this time it was different. Listening to it I felt closer to my little boy who was miles away from me. I just wanted to hold him in my arms and never let go. Since that night whenever I hear "Starlight" I always think of Peter and how much I love him and what he means to me.

Sleep Wars With Screams and Roars

A common sight at our house

A much less common sight (and of course I woke him with the camera!)

Peter has never been a great sleeper but a couple of months ago he declared war on sleep (or on me and Ryan?). His sleep schedule has become as complicated and frustrating as the IRS tax code. Most nights he refuses to go to sleep before 11:30 and then he wakes up multiple times during the night and it's incredibly difficult to get him to go back to sleep (Peter is very good at imitating a roaring lion). I'm tired.

For whatever reason this tiredness seems worse than the tiredness experienced when Peter was a newborn. I think there must be some chemical the brain produces after delivering a baby that enables a woman's body to handle the lack of sleep and physical exhaustion that accompanies a newborn. I just want to know why there isn't a chemical to handle the toddler inducing exhaustion. True I am getting more sleep than when Peter was tiny but I'm also doing a whole lot more. For one thing, a newborn stays in one position while a toddler manages to hit 12,000 positions in less than 5 seconds (why walk when you can run and throw things simultaneously?). Also it's okay to be a bit lazy with a new baby: laundry can pile up (and it does with a spitting up and pooping machine in the house), dirty dishes can take over the kitchen, and meals can consist solely of frozen food. But that phase isn't allowed to last too long (hopefully). However, life and all its chores marches on with a 2-year-old. And another big difference is the public attitude towards fatigue. It's acceptable and even expected for a new mom to be tired. The checker at the grocery store doesn't give you a funny look when you give her your address when she asks for your phone number as long as you have that cute, sleeping baby in the carrier with you. Now, my kid not sleeping is my fault and supposedly no big deal.

But when I'm really honest with myself I realize why I'm more tired now. I've come to the awful realization that this is my life for at least a couple more decades. When I felt like the exhaustion would completely destroy me when Peter was an infant, I was comforted and strengthened by the idea that the tiredness was just a phase and that I would soon be sleeping 8 hours straight every night for the rest of my life. Now I know that I will never sleep an entire night through until I'm old and then I'll probably be up every hour with an overactive bladder and arthritis pains. I'm tired just thinking about it.

Excuses, Excuses

Guess who's back? Kristin's back! (I'm pretending that you care.) I wish I had some great excuse to explain my temporary absence, but only the mundane has kept me away. A combination of things has contributed: 1) a busier than normal schedule; 2) fatigue (a lovely gift from my son who refuses to sleep) that makes me crawl into my bed (actually at this point any bed would do) as soon as I can every night; 3) a son that screams anytime I get within 82 feet of the computer; and 4) a case of the awful January blues. I know, I know those are all pretty flimsy as far as excuses go. Really, all it took was one crazy week to get out of the habit of blogging and because I am such a creature of habit and a perennial procrastinator, it has taken a bit to get me back on here. But it's probably a really good thing I haven't been blogging because basically I would have posted lengthy and vitriolic discourses on why I despise health insurance companies and the Utah state legislature. And all the anger from those posts most certainly would have been unfun for you to read and heart attack-inducing for me (also unfun). So anyway I'm hopefully back to posting a few times a week (although, I wouldn't believe it until you see it).