For those of you with kids in daycare do you ever get reports of them having a clingy day?  I'm wondering if its a behavior displayed for all caregivers or just Mommy.  I don't know why but its extremely annoying.  Little man had me at the end of my rope today!

So we've made the big decision to move to a different place in Richmond.  We actually signed a lease that starts in July tonight!  Originally we were thinking about moving into The FAN, which is a trendy Richmond neighborhood but then reality sunk in....unless we wanted to pay a lot we just were not going to find something that met our standards.  AND we would also have to rent a storage unit.  So we decided on an apartment community where all the homes are townhomes.  They were originally built for home ownership.  I'm not sure at what point they decided to rent them out instead.  But they are a really nice mix of siding and brick and actually remind me a lot of the last place we lived in in Minnesota.  A place that Mike owned.  We were able to get a 3 bedroom end unit with a garage for a little less than we are paying now.  But we know we'll save a ton in utilities and we're also getting access to a very nice pool, playground, walking trails, and dog park.  While I've never been too hung up on amenities my hope is I'll have a little more to do without always having to put Kolton in the car to go some where.  We'll be about 15 minutes closer to the city and just as close to a Target, grocery stores, fast food places, etc.

Of course I'm completely hesitant.  Will we be happier?  Will we miss the space?  Is it worth it?  Can I handle yet ANOTHER temporary living situation?  Aaaaahhhhhh!  Here we go again!

Bottoms Up!

A few weeks ago I was introduced to Bottoms Up pizza.  I haven't been able to stop thinking about this pizza ever since.  It's in the city of Richmond so it isn't super convenient for us to get to.  But, on Saturday we made the trek and it was soooooo worth it!  I've given Kolton little tastes of pizza before but he never seemed that enthused over it.  This time he ate a whole piece all by himself!  And I mean everything, event the crust.

Thank you to all of the friends and family members who reached out to me about Kolton's speech issue.    Your kind words and insight really helped me feel better about the whole situation.  We won't know anything for a while because first I have to go and fill out a bunch of paperwork.  I wasn't able to get an appt for that until May 22nd!  So who knows how long it will take before he actually gets the evaluation.  

Delay

We got a little troubling news at Kolton's 15 month appt.  The pediatrician recommended that we get him evaluated for a possible speech delay.  At his age he should have a vocabulary of 3-5 words and he doesn't have any.  I'll admit that I was pretty upset about it.  Maybe I've just had too much blind faith that everything was OK even though he is a little behind.  Thankfully everything else looked good so the probability of Autism is relatively low.  Although the Dr. didn't want to say absolutely not...I think they just do that at the risk of being sued later.  So, now we are waiting to here back from the county.  They send someone out to do the evaluation for free and then make therapy recommendations from there.  The biggest question I have is What does this mean?  If it means he'll just be a little limited but eventually catch up I am totally fine with that.  I'm hoping it doesn't mean he'll always have trouble speaking.  To me that doesn't make sense because I know he can hear and use his voice.  He just has to make the connection.

Here are his other stats

Height: 2'7.5''  55%

Weight: 21 lbs 12 oz  35%

Head:  19"  90%

I'm really trying not to spend too much time worrying-it gives you something to do but doesn't make a difference!

It's been raining ALL day!  Thankfully Grandma Barb brought this rain jacket for little man when she came out last month.

Sorry for the lack of posts.  We spent the later part of last week in Baltimore again.  Mike was out of town so it was the perfect time to go back for a visit.

Parenting Kolton has reached another level of physicality.  He is such a squirmy worm!  Diaper changes are a challenge to say the least.  He twists, turn, and flails around.  I basically have to hold him down with one arm and change him with the other.  Thankfully when he has a poopy he seems to grasp the fact that it will feel so much better when he's cleaned up.  And OMG he's getting sooooo heavy.  I'm really excited for his 15 month check up tomorrow to get his latest stats.

My Little Fish

Yesterday was Kolton's 1st time back in the pool after the crying debacle in Baltimore.  He's signed up for a six week swim class at our gym.  I started to get nervous about it on Saturday.  I certainly thought I was in for it when upon walking into the pool area Kolton jutted out his bottom lip and started to whine a little.  Um, he LOVED IT!  We had so much fun!  I even dunked him twice; and although surprised he didn't cry at all.  He was actually smiling and laughing pretty much the entire time.  I was amazed at his instinct to kick, more of a butterfly and less of a flutter but a kick all the same.  I was so proud!!!!!!

Weight of the World

The weight of being so negative is crushing me so I'm deciding to let it all go!

Living in Richmond.  It is what it is.  All this thinking and talking about how much I miss Baltimore is distracting me from living my life here.  You never know what the future holds and maybe someday we'll be back there.  But for now I'm thankful that those friends are just a 2.5 hour drive away =)

Kolton's Development.  I've let myself get caught up in comparing him to other kids his age.  It's a slippery slope.  I'm stopping.  He is a perfect creation and just like any other human being, big or small, he has strengths and weaknesses.  I love him for everything and all that he is!

There are also a million little things I beat myself up over.  But if I can let go of those two big things then maybe those won't feel so heavy.

Cabinets

Kolton has finally discovered cabinets!  He doesn't haul stuff out of them or anything yet...he just likes to push things around.  I have cabinet locks on the cleaning products but other than that I kind of like letting him test his skills.

I'm not sure if I've mentioned it on here but Mike and I are thinking about moving to a different place in Richmond.  More than anything we have found that we are really overpaying for this house.  A lot of the things we see on Craigslist that are comparable in size & location are about $500 less per month!  We are also thinking about moving to a neighborhood closer in to the city of Richmond.  We are really missing city living.  Last week a Mom I've met through playgroup invited us over to take a walk through her neighborhood.  It was really great and reminded me a lot of Uptown in Minneapolis, my home for 3 years after college.  The hard part is the homes are turn of the century old...I mean 1900's.  After touring one I'm not sure I can go back in time to being OK with a home that isn't newly updated.  Of course there are some gorgeous renovations but then we would be paying just as much, if not more, in rent.  But let me tell you now I'm incredibly nervous to give our landlord's notice.  That means we have to find something....what if we don't?????  I'm almost hoping they would be willing to renegotiate the rent here.  I'd love to find a place that's a better overall fit for us but I also don't want to land ourselves in a worse situation.  Oy!  Now all of a sudden I have a lot to fret over!

Happy Easter

Happy Easter!  The bunny came and left a basket full of goodies for Kolton and a basket full of candy for Mike and I.  Easter Bunny was pretty generous with the candy this year.  At what age to kids start to eat candy anyway???

Holidays are always slightly strange for us when we don't make the trek home.  It's weird knowing that most folks are getting together with their families and we are having a day just like any other.  I did make an instant version of a holiday meal...all out of a box, bag, or can.  It only took me an hour for everything to cook; er, reheat =)

Dye Job

I dyed eggs tonight for the first time in what must be close to 20 years; at least 15...yes, I'm old!  I was definitely out of practice.  I broke 2 and wrecked 3. That stupid wax crayon didn't work at all. I only started with a dozen.  Thankfully, I purchased two dye kits this year so I'm thinking I might have to try again tomorrow.

Kolton and I had kind of a rough day.  I think he's teething like a maniac again.  It's always so hard to tell because my little man is the king of teething.  He doesn't get any of the regular symptoms like excessive drool or fever.  He just gets especially fussy for seemingly no reason.   And today he was fussy and clingy. He's been completely off bottles for a couple of days now but tonight I gave him one when he wouldn't settle down at bedtime.  He just chewed on the nipple.  But he did quiet down and I took the opportunity to rock him for awhile.  I'm always giving my mom a hard time about rocking him to sleep but I know these moments will pass before I'm ready for them to go.

Egg Hunt

Today Kolton's play group had an Easter egg hunt.  Ever the observant little guy Kolton inspected one egg over, over, over, & over again.  He's so funny!

Despite the wonderful smile about an hour before this photo was taken Kolton had another EPIC meltdown.  We were in the car and I decided to pull over into a gas station to try to calm him down.  He was not having it.  He didn't want a drink, snack, or to simply be out of he car seat.  I had no idea what to do! It was really awkward being in a gas station parking lot with a screaming kid.  I was nervous that someone might think I was hurting or kidnapping him.  We were only 5 minutes or so from home so I reluctantly buckled him back in (making him scream harder).  Once back at the house I gave him a cup of milk which seemed to do the trick.  I was afraid we were going to have to skip the egg hunt but thankfully he rode to the park with ease.  And we proceeded to have a lovely afternoon.

So a funny side effect of using a cup more often is now he thinks its appropriate to drink bath water.  I've always used a cup to rinse his head.  Now he grabs it, fills it with water, and drinks.  This is one battle I'm just prepared to lose.

Lobster Fest

Upon arriving in Baltimore 6 years ago Mike adamantly stated that we would never eat at a Red Lobster given the abundance of fresh sea food in local restaurants.  Well, those "I sea food differently" commercials finally got to us!  Kolton enjoyed playing by the tanks and behaved relatively well during the entire meal.  When we go out to eat I usually order something that I can piece up and give to him; letting him feed himself.  But just like at home, a lot ends up on the floor.  Mike was wondering if other parents allow their kids to do this...so if I'm not alone please let me know!  I try to compensate by stacking plates, silverware, napkins etc and cleaning up large pieces.  But I know the server is still going to have to get that little vacuum thingy out to clean up after us.  Long ago I was a server at Don Pablo's.  I guess I've always felt like its a given that high chair = mess.  But if I'm in the wrong I definitely want to know about it.  Oh, and btw, we ate dinner at 4:15pm; I know better than to go at prime times =-)

Overall we had an incredibly lazy weekend.  We were just plain bored really.  We ended up visiting two different Richmond area malls.  The cool thing is that both malls are outdoors so its not like we wasted the good weather.

I hate to be a broken record but the reality of not living in Baltimore anymore and not having a social life is really hitting us hard once again.  We were so spoiled to have so many amazing friends near by.  We miss you guys like crazy!