The church Stryker goes to for Mother's Day Out was having a Halloween carnival last Saturday, so we took Stryker for a bit. They had a toddler zone with mini pumpkins to decorate, a small bounce house, and a little ball pit. Stryker had a great time and although he's still a little young for most of the activities, he enjoyed it. It makes me so happy to think how much more he will enjoy this stuff next year. The older he gets, the more activities we can do with him. I have lists growing in my head of all the things we can do with him when he's 2 or 3.

Stryker in the ball pit (he's trying to smile)


Stryker in the petting zoo area. He is being so gentle with the animals. Makes me proud.


I can't wait to see how he'll do on Halloween.

That night Stryker and I went over to dallastwin's house. She was having other women over with their kids. There is another little boy 2 months younger than Stryker. It's amazing how mellow this boy is. He will sit and play with toys, sit on his mother's lap and eat patiently, or will watch the other kids play. He sits!! It makes me realize how active Stryker is when I see another kid his age. I can't get Stryker to sit still unless I strap him down. Even then, he's not still. I love how smart and curious Styker is, but I get so jealous and wish he would just sit every once in a while.

Tags: stryker
Current Mood: excited

Here's an update on what's been going on... not much of it really exciting though.

I finished Mike's Christmas stocking. His only took me 3 months, where Stryker's took me a year and a half. It's amazing how much more I can do when Stryker takes good naps and sleeps better at night. I probably worked on it for about an hr and a half to 2 hrs a day while Stryker was sleeping. I know it's lame, but I really enjoy doing them. It's a great way for me to relax. Here's what Mike's looks like before it's made into Stocking form.




Mike left yesterday to go on a work trip and will hopefully be back Friday. He may have to stay for some of next week, though. I really hope he comes back Friday! Mike's been working so much lately that he's not home much anyway, but it's still nice to have him around though. So far it hasn't been too bad. It's just more work at night because I have to do the bath, feed Stryker, and do the whole nighttime routine myself.

On another note, today was Stryker's first day of Mother's Day Out. He seemed to do really well, like I knew he would. He loves being around other kids and having new stimuli around other than the same old at the house. The most surprising part is he actually took a nap with the other kids. It was only 50 minutes, but I'm shocked he took a nap on the little nap mat we got him with all the other kids. In fact I'm still quite amazed by this. You might be wondering what I did with my time off. I took a shower, cleaned and vacuumed the house, and relaxed a bit. It was a wonderful 5 hrs. I look forward to this weekly time to get stuff done.

Tags: stryker
Current Mood: accomplished

At times there seems to be so much going on, but then at other times it seems like things are so slow and uneventful. A few weekends ago my dad rented a cabin at the lake so we could go camping. It was a really decent cabin and we had as good of a time as can be expected. Taking the little man on trips is never an easy or "fun" thing to do. It's really good we go and give Stryker new experiences, but it is so much work. I have a feeling that until he's older all vacations won't exactly be "vacation" like. Stryker had a good time and loved the boat, except for the life jacket. Whenever we put him in it he reminds me of the Staypuff Marshmallow Man in Ghostbusters. He's very stiff and doesn't move much. But the boat totally relaxed him and mellowed him out. At one point it even put him to sleep and he slept for an extra hour since his nap that day wasn't very good. Overall I'm glad we went.

Here is Stryker in his life jacket. He's not really happy when it's on, but he's still cute.


Here we are boating, Stryker is just so stiff.


Mike has been working quite a bit. And now we've found out that he has to travel for work for a week. I'm sure it will be fun for him, but less fun for me doing 24 hr duty with the kiddo. Honestly I don't think it will be that different because right now Mike isn't home but for a few hours before Stryker goes to bed anyway. I guess it's just nice to have an adult to talk to at the end of the day. There's only so much toddler babble I can take without talking to another adult. I'll probably go hang out with my parents for awhile one day.

Stryker is getting really good and dancing on command and spinning in circles when we tell him to spin. He also just started clapping. It seems like it takes him awhile to do the simple things like wave and clap since he hates to have his hands held and shown what to do. But on anything athletic, he's really advanced. He's my sweet little man.

Tags: stryker
Current Mood: happy

Just a few things that Stryker is doing now...

I'm starting to see Stryker's personality more and his sense of humor. Sometimes when I'm going to put him in his highchair to eat he runs toward me, then runs past me while he smiles. Stryker will then turn around and laugh while he runs past again. It's so cute because he's joking with me and thinks he's being silly. I love it and will let him do it a few times before I grab him.

Stryker is also dancing now, too. He stomps around with a big smile on his face. He'll even start dancing sometimes if we tell him to. I love that he knows what things are and what we want him to do. Not that he obeys much, but I know that will get better.

The little man is such a good eater. He loves fruit and veggies. I'm amazed when he will eat foods like asparagus. I'm trying to get him drinking more milk, so I made him his first fruit smoothie this week and he loved it. I plan to have him fully weened before we go to Hawaii in September.

I'm so excited that Stryker is showing signs of being constructive now and not just destructive. He will now help me stack blocks and build a tower before he knocks it down. He's also starting to put things back in their place. When he takes my hair brushes off the shelf, he will reach up there to put them back. It's so cute that he's putting things back in their place. It gives me hope that he will be able to clean up after himself one day and put his toys away.

I've signed Stryker up for Mother's Day Out once a week starting in September. I know it will be very good for him to socialize more around kids his age. And I can't wait for a few hours to myself once a week. How much I can get done in 5 hrs! I know he will be completely fine, and it will probably take a time to two for him to adjust to being in a classroom setting. But I'm still a bit nervous. It's weird but I'm most nervous about having to pack him a lunch. What do you pack for lunch of a 1 yr old? Let me know if you have any great ideas.

Tags: stryker
Current Mood: cheerful

I'm leaving in about an hour for the middle of no-where North Dakota. My parents are going to watch Stryker Wednesday until Thursday night. Then Mike will take Stryker until I come home Saturday. I know Stryker will be fine, but I've never been apart from him this long before. The most I've been away is the 2 nights my parents have watched Stryker overnight for us. I have a feeling I might be emotional a time to two.

Tags: stryker
Current Mood: nervous

We've had a busy last 2 weeks. For 6 days we were watching Bruno for dallastwin. The first 2 days were pretty stressful, trying to play mediator between the dog, the cat, and the boy. After Sypz got used to Bruno (and stopped hissing at him), it got much easier. The main things we were trying to teach Stryker was not to pull Bruno's tail, not to hit Bruno in the face, and not to play with Bruno's water dish. After 2 days we gave up on the water dish. We'd tell him no and I even tried to make him sit in the corner, but it wasn't working. He spilled water everywhere many times and liked to splash in the water or drop object in there. Finally we gave up on the water dish and put it out of Stryker's reach, just offering it to Bruno pretty often. Other than that, it was great! Stryker loved having a dog around and he would often chase Bruno everywhere. When I'd throw the ball for Bruno to play fetch, Stryker would run after Bruno. It was like playing fetch with the both of them. We'd definitely watch Bruno again sometime, but know that Stryker is too young for a dog right now. Training one kid is enough and it will be awhile before I want to train something else.

Stryker is getting into everything! He has been for awhile, but he's getting taller now. So he's starting to pull things off the table and making more of a mess. He also loved to see things tip over. He's constantly pushing the trashcan, his highchair, and anything else that will tip over to see the effect. He's such a curios little man. And I believe he's so advanced. Not only is he walking and running around at a year, but he's walking backwards and likes to spin in circles sometimes. As much of a pain he can be, he's too cute not to love.

This is a mess Stryker made yesterday. There is cereal all over the floor

Tags: stryker
Current Mood: amused

On Saturday we got Stryker his first haircut. It's crazy how much hair they cut and how different he looks.

Stryker before


Stryker after


I love his new haircut, but he looks so different I can't stop looking at him. We took him to a little place that specializes in kids. In the beginning, Stryker did pretty well, but after a few minutes he really hated it! He was a little screamer, and I have no idea how stylists would want to deal with kiddos all day long.

On the other topic, Stryker has started enjoying sucking on my neck. I'm not sure why he does it. Is he giving me kisses, is it comfort, does he just love how I taste? Either way, the first few times I thought it was really funny and jokingly told Mike that Stryker was going to give me a hickey. Turns out... he did. I forgot how strong his sucking power is. Here's a picture.



At least I know my son loves me :)

Tags: stryker
Current Mood: amused

My little man is 1 year old. The first 3 months went so slowly. The next 3 were a little better. After 9 months, the time has flown by. Stryker went to the doctor on Friday for his 1 yr checkup and everything is good as normal. We have such a healthy little man. He's had a cold a few times during the winter, but other than that he hasn't even had so much as an ear infection. He's 50% for height and 3% for weight. But the doctor said his weight is fine, he wouldn't have even thought he'd weigh so little just by looking at him. The rest of Friday was spent preparing for his birthday party. I'm sure I drove Mike crazy trying to get so much done. My Mom and I made Stryker's birthday cake. I'm really proud of it, because we did it without a pattern. It took awhile, but turned out so well!



I even made a little duckie for Stryker that he could demolish



Saturday was great! Stryker took a good nap, which is so important, and was a happy boy all day long. For awhile, Stryker played outside with his cousin Lexi and played with this big balloon you hook up the the hose and it sprays water. They had a blast.



Here's Stryker after eating his first cake



When we were opening presents, Stryker would just walk around until he saw something he liked. He liked his toys, but seemed to love his yellow bows and tissue paper. Such a cutie! After people left, some friends stayed over to play games with us. At one point Stryker sat in Shelli's lap calmly for a good 10+ minutes. (This is very unusual) We realized Stryker never really showed a sugar-high, but this was probably his sugar-low. Overall, it was a great First Birthday Party!

A few things about Stryker now that he's one. Although it drives me crazy, I love that he's active. He always keeps me guessing. Stryker loves carrying objects from one place to another. Sometimes I will find a magazine on top of the laundry bin, or a shoe in the dryer. I also think it's adorable when he drinks out of a straw... he looks so grown-up. He's gotten to be a happy little man, even when he's teething like right now. At least we're on tooth 6, so 2 more to go and then we get a break. I also love to see him running around, he's such a toddler. Stryker is so curious! He analyzes everything and wants to know just how things work. His favorite toys right now are balls of all sizes, and the roomba which he will follow around and try to pay chicken with.

I made it through the first year, yipee!

Tags: stryker
Current Mood: cheerful

I finally finished the Christmas stocking I started for Stryker about a year and a half ago. It's all cross-stitched, but hasn't been sewn into the stocking shape yet. Here's a picture of it.



I'm quite proud because it took so long. In the beginning I didn't have much time to work on it. But I'd work on it almost every day while he took a nap. Next I have to start one for Mike. If we have more kids someday, I'll probably be working on stocking for the next 5 years at this rate.

Tags: stryker
Current Mood: accomplished

I love the days like today when things are fun and easy with Stryker. He's been sleeping so much better, so then he's happier during the day. And twice this week I got to go work out. And he's actually doing well in the kid's area... finally! He loves watching other kids and gets fascinated by them. We've been going to the park pretty often and he's getting really good with his shoes. I still have to try to keep him from eating the bark chips that are on the ground, but he's having a good time. He's even getting a bit more mellow and will sit for longer periods and enjoy being in the stroller taking walks. When you see him again, you probably won't notice a difference and still think he's constantly moving, but I can see a slight calmness forming. Or maybe it's just wishful thinking.

I can't believe Stryker will be a year old in 2 weeks! This has been one of the most challenging 12 months, but there seems to be a light at the end of the tunnel. He's such a big boy, and I'm so proud of him. I'm amazed at how smart he is and how quickly he catches on to things. He wants to know how everything works, and I'm sure he'll be just like his dad when he grows up.

Tags: stryker
Current Mood: happy