First word?

Christian loves to play in drawers. He was rummaging through Grandma's Tupperware drawer. He licks everything then puts it back. FYI we don't rewash so if you're grossed out by Christian spit don't eat leftovers at Grandma's right now.

DJ walks in and says, "Christian, are you playing in the drawer?"

"Yes!"

To make sure we heard him right DJ asks again, "Christian, are you playing in the drawer?"

"Yeayea."

It was probably a coincidence but we both swear he said it clear as a bell. He also waves now, its pretty cute.

What a kid

So I wanted to document Christian's personality. He is very vocal. He does not hide his mood. All day the house is full of happy gabbering, giggling, grunts of frustrations, yells of frustration, and when he's really had enough or got hurt (physically or emotionally) he cries. He is never silent. His favorite person right now is his Dad. He cries when Dad leaves for work at night and when Dad works days, he rushes to the door to meet him. His next favorite people are those working in the kitchen. If you are by the oven or the fridge, he wants to see what your getting, and if you're sharing it with him. Because I'm sitting a lot, he just comes to me for his bottle when he's ready to go to sleep.

He really is a dream. He loves to be the center of attention and he LOVES other kids. During sacrament meeting he makes all the little kids around him giggle. He wants everyone to be his friend. His little cousin Charlie gets a lot of hugs and kisses. Christian can hardly sit still when Charlie is around. He wants to be right by him.

His emotional development has been very noticeable lately. He recognizes when he is being ignored and when another little child doesn't want to play with him. It breaks his heart. He breaks down in tears. He has learned to play some games. His favorites are, "Let's shake our heads together", "I'm going to get you", and just recently he'll try to hide when he gets caught playing with something he's not supposed to.

He's on the verge of walking. He spends all day exploring, mostly through the kitchen drawers. I just hope I can help him keep this personality because he really is a pleasant little person to be around.

Just pictures

Christian and Charlie spent a lot of time together in their high chairs last week.

The three kids staring intently at the camera. Christian and Charlie liked to race for the bottle. Christian, more experienced with bottles, won a lot. We were impressed at how quick Charlie's scoot became by the end of their time together.

My only picture from my high school reunion. I am expecting you guys to share.

As Cherie would say, "I just want to eat those luscious cheeks!"

Crawling along

Did you know that you get callouses on your knees from crawling? My knees are looking pretty rough. Yes I have crutches, but getting up and down the stairs is much easier if you just crawl. Today is hopefully the halfway point of not being able to walk. If my foot is healing as well as I think it is, I will get out of the cast and into a walking boot in 4 weeks. Thank goodness! The surgery brought on the nausea, but I am not nearly as sick as I was last time. I feel very confident that once the first trimester is over I won't have anymore nausea. I'm 11 weeks today so that may be very soon.

For those of you who thought you had the best Mom, I'm sorry to tell you its not true. Mine has blown all away. Most 60 year old women are preparing for retirement, have a lot of independence, are done as caregivers, and are looking forward to trips with their spouse and short visits from children and grandchildren. My mom will never have that. She has a child at home who more often then not acts like a little child, even though she's 34. Now for four weeks she's also been the main caregiver to Christian and my food gopher. Michele and Christian are demanding enough. But to add a pregnant Melissa to the mix and I swear she has spent the last 4 weeks in the kitchen.

She did get a short break this past weekend. My Grandma has been in and out of the hospital in Canada over the past month and my parents decided they needed to go up and help her get settled in a nursing home before the weather made it impossible to travel. So Stacey came over and spent a week taking care of her two kids, Christian, and I. It actually went really well. Christian was so excited to have friends to play with that he ended up being the dream child. He took long naps and slept at least 12 hours at night. I have some very cute pictures of the kids but the camera is not within reach, so I'll post them in a bit. Until then, enjoy.

Yea, I know its been awhile

Ok so I know its been months since I posted last. I am completely behind, but promise to catch up over the next few weeks. Tonight's post will be a quick summary of some things I need to say.

First of all, I've caught up on all your blogs. Your lives sound exciting, some of you have some very interesting events coming up, all of your kids are adorable and look a lot bigger since last time I peeked, and I'm very glad I know what's up.

My excuse for being a blogging bum is not very good, but reasonable. For the past few months we've been living at the "Reisner House." Its a house my parents flipped, but just decided to rent out. It has been great living there, but since it was temporary we decided to not have the internet hooked up. So blogging meant going to my parents. Being at my parents is fine, but I like to blog at night when Christian is sleeping, not when he's begging me for attention and getting into all of Mom's files. So basically my laziness won out.

Ahh, but why'd we move in with my parents when everyone knows we could move into the apartment above the Pit Stop?

On September 14th, my friend Natalie, her little boy, and her boyfriend were in Moses Lake. He had applied at REC Silicon and was interviewing with them that day. They were following me around town. The plan was to show them some potential apartment complexes, where Subway was, and then I was going to go clean the Pit Stop. As we were driving my Incas, a car failed to yeild the left turn and turned right into me! I had enough time to react, slam on my brakes (I mean slam on my brakes, my ABS was going nuts) and I got a few honks out before the collision. I was totally bummed but this was not my first accident. My car was not smoking so I backed up, parked on the side of the road, and got out to check on Christian and asses the damage. As I was standing by Christian checking to make sure he didn't have any injuries my right foot really began to ache. My friend Natalie came over. I asked her to get Christian out because I needed to get all my paperwork and sit down. My foot was hurting pretty badly and swelling up by the time the police got there. They took our statements, called an ambulance (I told them not to, that we could drive up to the hospital afterwards to get xrays). I guess by law they have to, but they agreed that I was fine otherwise and that getting a ride to the hospital was fine. So after about an hour of calling family, getting help, and giving statements I was headed to the hospital. Thank you Trent for taking care of my car and giving me a quick blessing to ease my worry.

I was sure my foot was broken. It really hurt and did not look good. We got xrays and the doctor told me I had a foot sprain, that I'd probably be walking on it in a week, but to follow up with a Podiatrist just in case he missed something on the xray. I was a little shocked but hopeful that I'd only be on crutches for a couple days. He was right, I put my foot in a walking boot my parents had from when Michele broke her ankle. With that boot I could walk on my heel without any pain and I was starting to feel better.

DJ was concerned that Christian hadn't been checked out so a few days after the accident we went in to see our family doctor for a quick check up. Christian was fine, he did have two Chiropractic appointments for some minor issues but that was it. My doctor said to try putting weight on my bare foot everyday. He said if I couldn't do that within a week, he wanted to retake xrays. He said that sometimes breaks do not show up right away because swelling can hide them.

The next week we had Christian 6 month shots 3 months late so my doctor decided to redo xrays while we were there. He looked at them, said he still didn't see a break, and that my sprain must have been a good one. He said to keep trying to weight bear. Well, a few hours later, I got a call from the doctor's office. The radiologist saw something that didn't look right, but wasn't completely sure what it was. They scheduled a cat scan for the next week and told me to not take my foot out of the walking boot and to not try to weight bear.

I was like, really, its just a foot people, what is wrong. The day of the accident I had set an app with the Podiatrist but he was booked for 15 days. The cat scan was schedule for 2 days before my app with him.

To complicate matters I'm about to tell you all something that normally I would wait to disclose for several more weeks. The week of the second xray I missed my period. That weekend I found out I was pregnant the whole time! What the! I had had 6 feet xrays, one full back xray, one neck xray, and one pelvic xray and this poor baby has been exposed to them all and now they're telling me I need a cat scan. We're calling this our Fallout baby, for those of you who know the video game. So I go into the cat scan and let the guy know I just found out I'm pregnant and I'm not sure I want to do this. He agreed and called my doctor. My doctor agreed and ran over to talk to the Podiatrist himself. Apparently what is wrong with foot was obvious to him.

I have what is called a LisFranc dislocation and fracture. He saw it in the xray from the hospital. What happened is at impact, my foot absorbed the entire pressure of the accident. The pressure was so great, that the LisFranc ligament that holds the big toe and second toe together at the midfoot tore off one of the bones, dislocating the joint. This also forms the arch of your foot.

I did a lot of reseach on this injury. It is 98% misdiagnosed by ER doctors as a foot sprain. 96% of family doctors miss it. Most injuries I read about went months misdiagnosed. These people have chronic foot problems, have had multiple surgeries, and are in a lot of chronic pain. I am extremely blessed to have had it properly diagnosed so quickly.

Tomorrow at 10am I go in for surgery to repair the torn ligament and reset the dislocated joint. Best case senario is that for 8 weeks post op, I won't be able to do much but sit in a chair or in my wheelchair with my foot elevated. So now you know why we've moved in with my parents. When DJ is at work, I need someone else to help with Christian. There is no way I could do this on my own. The past few weeks have been difficult enough, but at least i could crawl around.

I am so grateful to have family that is so willing to help when needed, without complaining. And I am so grateful that the accident was not my fault and that all of these medical bills will be paid for in full.

Settling in

Christian and I are getting adjusted to life in Moses Lake. DJ is still in Spokane finishing up work. He will not be over till Saturday night. This past week has made me very grateful that I am not a single mother. I so look forward to DJ coming home each night. Each day while we're apart I have to find something else to look forward to. (Tonight it's Glee and Parenthood at my parent's.) The house is slowly coming together. Another reason I'm glad I'm not a single mother. I'd rather play with Christian then work on the house, so I'm working on balancing that as well. One of my favorite things about the Reisner house is that is has a lawn. I love taking care of a lawn. I'm pretty proud, the grass is already thicker. This brings us to some of the cutest pictures of Christian yet. I wanted to do some watering last night. It was also a very nice evening so I thought Christian might like some outside time. I was right. He has the cutest dimples.

I can't get over how quickly he is growing up. I'm including this next picture as a comparison to the Bath Time post.

And a picture of eating. Because he was cutting a tooth, we decided he could start cereal. He had his first cereal in a bowl on May 16th, 3 days shy of 5 months. He loves it. His second bottom tooth has broken through just a little. For the past couple of days he has biten me when I didn't let down fast enough for his liking. Wow that hurts. I'm giving him a few more days to figure out that that's not OK, or he's getting weaned. I don't want to experience that with larger teeth.

I also wanted to document that he's started to sleep in his crib all night. He's been getting up about 3 times a night to nurse. I'm sure his sleep with extend as he learns better how to soothe himself. I was taught the 5 minute rule from a bunch of people from my Spokane ward. You put baby down when they're drowsy to go to sleep. After 5 minutes you go in to soothe them, and then you leave. Then you wait 10 minutes before you go in the next time. Each time you add 5 minutes. The first night Christian got to 15 minutes and then he fell asleep when I went in to soothe him. He was also crying like Christian in Moulin Rouge when Satine dies. It is the most heart wrenching cry. Last night, however, he simply wimpered and fell asleep on his own during the 10 minute wait. He then slept for 4 hours! I am so grateful to be in a bigger home where he has his own room and is able to start learning to sleep on his own. This will be so much better for him and for me. Like my mom always says, growing is painful.

Drool

Christian drools a lot. He also spits up a lot. On Sunday he gained a desire to chew on things and spread his drool and spit up everywhere. His hard work paid off. He cut his first tooth today. His bottom right tooth. The left one feels like it'll come any day. Oh man, he better be a good boy and not practice any of that biting on me ;)

Unbelievable

So when DJ and I got married, we pretty much decided to always live in Spokane. We really like it here. We have 4 full seasons, are close to the mountains, lakes, good camping, and because we live in North Spokane, we're about equal distances between both families. We love our ward, and have become really close with just about everyone. And since I was YW's president and DJ teaches primary, we've also had some pretty cool experiences helping reach out to some families. We also have this house of a project that seems to be never ending. We have a lot of reasons to stay in Spokane.

Its amazing how much control money takes. It decides what kind of clothes you wear, the car you drive, the places you eat, what trips you take. It is never a bad thing to have more money. Well DJ changed jobs last August to find something that brought him home every night. This was a good job, but not a great job, and definitely not a long term job. It pays the bills, but there is no room for advancement, no pay increases, and his schedule is very unpredictable. Well in February, Brittany just had to tell me how much Dee loves his job at REC. I was pretty blown away by what she told me, but she showed me proof. I then thought, HA! This is a ploy to get us to Moses Lake. Aint gonna happen.

I told DJ what she told me, he too was blown away. We thought about it, so the day Christian was blessed Brittany brought an application to REC that DJ filled out and she took it back with her. It was submitted the next Monday. Last week DJ interviewed with them and today he was offered a position there.

So guess what...we are moving to Moses Lake on Saturday! Crazy, I know. Who would have thought? Who wants to help!?

Rolling along

Today Christian rolled over for the first time by himself. I put him down to play with his floor mat. I then started to go through his clothes weeding out those he's grown out of. I look over to see him on his side, almost over, just his arm keeping him from going over. He's trying to grab one of the toys. I go over, totally excited, to cheer him on. He started to lose interest in the toy. I was bummed because he does that, and then just gives up. So I tried enticing him with a new toy. It worked for a little bit then he lost interest in that as well. But lo and behold, he caught a glimpse of his binky and that sealed the deal. He plopped over to grab it. Of course it didn't last long, he hates tummy time. So after a minute on his tummy he was pretty upset. I positioned his arm and leg and he rolled to his back. It won't be long before he's all over the floor. I'm just grateful we're probably moving soon so he can have some more space.

He had his 4 month check up last week. He is now 16 lbs (60%) and 27 inches (90%!) He is still a tall, lean boy.

Here is a picture of him and his two cousins that were born within months of him on the Berezay side. Lucky kid will have lots of cousins to grow up with! Isabella was born last October and Ashton was born about a month ago. Christian and Ashton are the first grandsons with the Berezay last name, so that's pretty cool.




We were also lucky to go to Jordan's baby shower. Here is Tiffany's boy Bridger with Christian. They had some fun checking each other out.










There was some arm sucking...












Until both realized they were not sucking on their own arms.

Now I know...

Just an FYI...that single egg is a very IMPORTANT ingredient in brownies. Do not try making brownies without that egg.

Other then that, life is going pretty darn well.

Cousins

Charlie Noah entered the world on 4/2/2010 at 12:39 am. He weighed 8lbs 13oz and is 21 inches long. Christian was quite excited to meet his little cousin. Here they are, 3 1/2 months and 3 1/2 days.

Starting the habit early

I should have known that even a 2 month old would love to stare at a 52" screen....Here is a close up so you can see how he arched his back so he could watch.

Silly baby. Now here are some giggles just for fun.

FYI: Christian's best friend Charlie is expected any day now!

Oh and I took a shower the other day and found this secret message. He forgot the "you" but I figured he meant me.
I desperately need to clean my mirror but am not quite ready to erase this just yet. :)
I made a Moby wrap to carry Christian. Its great for shopping and doing housework when he wants to be held. Here's a picture of me wearing it in the with him forward facing. See what I mean by messy mirror?

Christian's Blessing

We blessed Christian this past Sunday. He was such a good baby for it. DJ gave him a great blessing and he slept right through it. It was awesome to get the Berezays and Redfords together afterwards. We counted that between the two families, Christian had over 50 people at his blessing and 12 men in the circle. He will have plenty of support as he grows up.

I have to give a shout out to my sister in law Charice for hosting the brunch after his blessing. Her house was the perfect place. And another shout out to my sister in law Kim for taking Christian's blessing photos. She's still making them pretty but put some up on her blog. Check them out here.

My sister Kim showed me some very cute, but very expensive blessing outfits on some website. I was so tempted to buy them, but reluctant to pay over $100 for an outfit. So I searched the internet for some crochet patterns to see if I could maybe make something similar. I've only crocheted scarfs and maybe one little blanket before, so I really had no idea what I was doing. I found a pattern for free on alicefowler.com and my mom found me a how to crochet book. So I went at it, but it took a lot longer then I expected. I finally finished at 6am on the day he was blessed. But I'm going to admit it, the outfit turned out perfect.

I have to give another thank you for everyone for coming. The Redfords drove over the night before, including Brad and Anne from Seattle. It was their first time seeing Christian. I'm really glad they were able to make it. Also a special thanks to Justin for sleeping on our couch. I know we're a little cramped still but having him was actually very helpful. And thanks again to the Berezays for hosting the lunch and welcoming us all out to the "compound". Love you all!

2 months

I took Christian in on Friday for his 2 month checkup.

Weight 11lbs 11oz - 50th percentile
Height 24 inches - 85th percentile

He is meeting all of his developmental milestones and doing really well. This past week he started jumping on my lap...time to get the jolly jumper going. He also discovered he can suck on his hands.

So DJ started Christian sleeping with us his second night on earth. DJ held him because he said he didn't sleep well in the bassinet. I swore I would never be one of those mom's who sleeps with their kids because I'm scared of it, but it ended up happening. Ever since that night I've been worried that I'd never get him out of our bed. This fear became even more evident when I tried to get him to sleep in his pack n play a month ago. It didn't work out because after a little crying DJ let me know he was too little to sleep on his own (noticing a pattern?) Two weeks ago I went to Babys R Us with Stacey. I found a sleep positioner. I got it to help him from sliding right next to me at night. Best purchase for sleep so far! He likes it so much he'll sleep in his own bed now. I am so thankful that transition went to smoothly.

Swim Time

My dad travels around the state and does work for the state inspecting Credit Unions' commercial loans. Every few months we're lucky to have dad here in Spokane. He stays at the Oxford Suites so we like to take advantage of the pool and hot tub. This was the first time he has been here since Christian was born. I have to admit. I have the cutest little boy.

Here he is with his Auntie Stacey. She has the cutest little belly. Only a month and a half till Christian gets to meet his cousin Charlie!

He loved just laying back and floating. His diaper kept his butt up so I just had to support his head. I'm working on teaching him how to splash.

Christian is starting to stay awake for longer periods of time, which I love. He'll stay awake for about 2 hours then nap for 2 or 3. And at night he's giving me a 4 or 5 hour sleep before going back to 2 hours. He is nice to me and doesn't want to get up for an awake time till 10 am. He has great eye contact, and likes to talk and smile. He has also gotten very good at protesting. But he really is a good baby. He only fusses when it times to eat or sleep, and that only lasts till his need is being met. He started to make strange. A couple weeks ago my mom and dad were over. My mom picked him up off the couch and he stuck his little bottom lip out. He held back the tears once I talked to him. He did it again to DJ's mom on Monday. He gets over it quickly, which is good, but I am a little surprised he has started already.

Look at this cute little smile.
He really loves his daddy.

Bath time

DJ took these pictures of Christian while I was giving him a bath last night. I have to post them because they are so funny. He looks like a little muscle man. He's gained a pound but he's still so skinny.

Stake Conference

Xnay on blessing him this next weekend, its stake conference. We've really been out of the loop.

New number?

This post is for Anne. Apparently when you moved, you did not give me your new home number. So we're thinking of blessing Christian next weekend because it is MLK Jr. Day and I thought Brad and the kids probably have a three day weekend. We are tentatively planning it for then, but it depends on how the pass is. Does this work for you guys? We'll definitely post pone it if the pass ends up being impassable next weekend. DJ has the following Monday and Tuesday off, so if we do bless him that day, we'll probably head back with everyone to ML Sunday afternoon.

We took Christian to Sacrament today. He was so cute just staring at the ceiling and smiling. We sat by the Kassings, some of my YW and I let them hold him during the meeting. They are infatuated with him, it is really cute. Then the YW surprised me with a present for him. They made him a monkey blanket and burp rags.

Here's another cute picture of him.

The tip is gone

Today Christian went from being a little boy to being a little man....he was circumcised. I really did not want to do this, but DJ was pretty adamant about it. Since he is also male I was convinced by others that he should have a bit more of a say about what happens with the boys. We both felt like huge softies when we both teared up when they took him away. But my little man is a champ. He handled it just fine and is now napping peacefully. It looks pretty good, so I'm hoping recovery is quick and easy.

Christian also had his two week check up today. He has gained a pound since leaving the hospital, putting him at 7lbs 5 oz. That made me feel good. Its nice to know all those hours spent nursing were not wasted. His head is in the 25th percentile and he is still 20 1/4 inches long. He is spending more time awake during the day. We've also introduced him to the bottle, which is has taken very well. One bottle was pumped milk, which he had at Grandma and Grandpa Berezays. This morning DJ fed him a bottle of formula, which he also took very well. He really is a great little man.