Bicycle Race (or not)

I just feel that this post needs to start with that song!

Anyway! I like bike riding. I love bike riding when it involves a lot of mud, or an awesome Danish bike on flat ground (RIP FroCycle.) We want the Bug to enjoy riding, and have been tossing around the idea of buying a bike trailer for him. I was nervous we'd spend $300 for a large object to sit in our garage. On Bug's birthday we took him to a consignment shop that he likes, and to check out bike trailers (they had new ones.) They had a Burley Bee marked at 20% off, and after reading reviews, we decided to give it a try. "We'll sell it if he hates it." (That seems to be the new motto.)

With Bug being sick last week, and party-palooza this weekend, the first time we had a chance to try it out was Sunday. It took us 5 hours to actually get to go biking (naps needed to happen) but it was worth it. We bought Bug a tiny helmet and while I was SURE he'd scream bloody murder, he did okay. We practiced at home, and we showed him how his daddy had on, and he had one. He loves whatever daddy has. We put his helmet on, put him in the trailer and they went on a "test ride." His smile was totally worth it!

Everyone gets thirsty after a hard work out. Helmet off, bub in.

There is a great trail around Fairbanks, and it is away from the road, so I feel pretty safe with towing the Bug (and my husband did the towing.) We only went out for 20 minutes, but he really seemed to like it. It was only a little over a mile, but I'm hoping to be able to get him to enjoy it so we can go on longer adventures. I think part of the problem is that his helmet weighs as much as he does, but we'll get there. Next summer we'd love to bike into Denali with him in tow.

Bug's Party

Grab some coffee and get comfy...this might take a while! Also, I apologize for errors, or repeating myself....not much time to proof read with a Bug running around and a house to clean!

Bug's fever stayed around 101 Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday. He had his 12 month appointment on Thursday, so I figured I'd mention it to his doctor then if it didn't go away. Wednesday night I was sitting on the couch with him and tickling him. He threw his mouth open and his whole little throat was bright red. The first thing I thought of was Strep. I quickly grabbed him a bottle and threw on my muck boots and ran out the door to Urgent Care. If he had Strep I wanted to get him on antibiotics right away, and I would need to cancel his birthday party.

Long story short, after a short wrestling session, we were able to swab his throat and the test came back negative. It did turn out that he had an ear infection. His third. This also earned us a referral to the ENT. Lucky, lucky us!

After two doses of antibiotics though, my happy guy was back and the fever was gone. He weighed 23.8 pounds and is 30 3/4 inches tall (82nd %tile.) His head stays at a solid 98th %tile. He's not talking yet, but babbling and the doctor isn't worried.

On Saturday we had his 1st birthday party! I spent the week trying to figure out how to pull off a "pond theme" and think I did a pretty good job. Luckily I found large green plates at Fred Meyer that reminded me of lily pads, so at least I had that and went with it. My poor husband. I decided I wanted to make a frog for the top of his smash cake, and then chocolate lily pads for the tops of the cupcakes (more on that later.)

Let me start by saying that I am the queen of procrastination. Usually I wait until the last second, but since the Bug I have started to plan things out a bit more. It's not possible to do everything at the last second, so I made the Frog on Tuesday, and what I thought would take 10 minutes took almost two hours. The molding (pre-made) took FOREVER to kneed. I guess that's the downfall of picking something up at the store that isn't used a lot. Either that or it is suppose to be a solid brick....

ANYWAY another friend of mine helped me with dying the chocolate green and gave me great advice on how to free mold the lily pads. I made those on Wednesday, and forgot to put them in the fridge...that meant when I went to put the on the cupcakes on Friday 1/3 of them were ruined. Opps! Lesson learned! She told me to put them in the fridge and poof.....just forgot!

Thursday Bug and I ran around for some final things for his party...and to get some stuff for his dad's surprise party. Last year my hubby got the shaft because we were just home from the hospital, I felt "wonderful" <-sarcasm and just didn't.

Friday I started watching my friends infant. (Side note: Bug will be an only child.) He's so sweet, but I do NOT KNOW how people have babies close together. After his momma picked him up Bug and I went on our ninja shopping trip to get supplies for his party AND his dad's party. He was a very good helper and we got home right before his dad.

Saturday morning, hubby went fishing with a friend while Bug and I got his cake finished, and the party set up.


So a photo montage of party decorations

I ruined 1/2 the lily pads so I decided on Salmon swimming...

Bug's BFF can't have eggs. I made a recipe that I found online, and it was DELICIOUS. Egg free and dairy free, it tasted like Oreos. YUMMY. I used this recipe for the vanilla cupcakes and this recipe for the egg free. Sadly, the frosting didn't turn out how I wanted it to. I didn't put enough sugar into it, but it was 11pm when I was icing them, and I figured I was covering them with a lily pad, SO it didn't really matter. Look at me! Not being anal! See how much I've grown?! I will say WHEN I follow directions, this frosting is A. Easy and B. Amazing (but add some creme of tartar to get it to keep its shape....if that makes any sense.)

Since I ruined 1/2 the lily pads, I needed to figure out what to do with the other cupcakes. Salmon and "bubbles" (aka blue Sixlets.) I think it turned out pretty cute! AND yes! I do understand that Frog's eat Bugs! Lol. We called Bug, Frog-man when he was tiny-tiny because of how he'd hold his legs. I also want to give credit for the lily pad idea. I got it from here.

Dirt Cups, which I forced everyone to eat. I'm such a nice host! 

Before everyone got to the house, and after daddy got home from fishing, we took Bug's final month photo. He's been sick all week and I wanted him to look happy. He's such a cutie.

Happy Birthday Buddy!! We love you! 

The party was perfect! Bug destroyed his cake. I laughed Friday night as I was icing it. SO much time for something that he was going to destroy. He did eat some of it, but we took it away before he had too much.
We have some amazing friends in Fairbanks. We are very lucky. It was the perfect day. There was nothing I would change about it.

Bug's friends left around 3:30, and I had planned for hubby's dinner party to start at 6. I had told Bug that morning that it was his job to distract his dad in the afternoon. I had NOT clue how I was going to get the squash all cute up, the asparagus cleaned and cut, the steaks to room temp, the potatoes baked, etc. without making him suspicious. I figured that I would just tell him.

BUT, around 4 hubby and the Bug took a nap together....for 2 hours! I had everything done, and his friends showed up JUST as they woke up! It was perfect!

He deserves perfect. He's a great guy!

Parties were successful!

Flour less chocolate cake with dark chocolate mousse and ganache....may look weird, but was pretty tasty! 

First Camping Trip

Yes, yes, I have a whole month of "stuff" that I am missing...I'll get to it...eventually!

This past weekend we added another thing to the "Baby's First" list. Bug went on his first camping trip! He turns one in a little over a week (SOB) and we wanted to take him before that. We left Friday and headed about 40 miles South of Fairbanks to a little dry cabin on the Salcha River. It was perfect! Not a soul around (other than the ones driving past on the nearby road) and just peace and quiet. We got to camp around dinner time, and hubby got to work starting a fire in the wood stove. (Note: My husband's friends are BRILLIANT, and gave us the idea of making calzones ahead of time to heat up on the fire. No cooking! AND yummy calzones.) We spent most of Friday evening trying to keep Bug away from the wood burner.

Friday night we snuggled into our sleeping bags, and Bug in his pack n' play in our little sauna, er....cabin. Around Midnight he woke up (probably because it was 934 degrees in the cabin.) My sweet husband tried to change him and let me sleep, but Bug thought it was a great time mid-diaper change to pee all over his dad's sleeping bag. Luckily, we keep an extra one in the car in case I ever break down in the winter. While up we went outside to see the Aurora. It will probably be the last time that we get a chance since it is really only dark enough from 11pm - 4 am, and even that is quickly going away. At some point during the night, the Bug ended up with us sleeping. He is worse than me, and takes over the ENTIRE bed area, elbows and all.

Saturday morning we work up and ate our breakfast burritos that we made before we left on Friday.  Bug wouldn't nap (too much light) so we decided to go for a drive since he will sleep in the car. We ended up driving to Delta Junction, which is about 100 miles from Fairbanks. On our way there we got run off the road by a large truck into a snowbank (on a back road.) Luckily, A. I have good tires. B. My husband is a good driver, and C. The truck actually stopped. We didn't actually need to talk to the truck driver since my husband got the car out of the snowbank and I got 1/2 my car cleaned off. No harm done. As frustrated as I was at the driver for causing my life to flash before my eyes, I did appreciate that he waited for us to get out.

When we were almost into Delta we noticed a small black cow laying in a field, a field without a fence and no other cows around. After getting some coffee and chocolate milk (and with a Bug still sleeping) we discussed rescuing "Norman" (my husband named him, and that's why I love him) and bringing him home with us. I mean, who DOESN'T want a pet cow? Well, when we went back, Norman was gone, as was my dreams of cow ownership.

We spent the rest of Saturday playing on the gravel bar next to the frozen river and sled riding (well, Bug was riding in the sled, we were pulling him.) Bug just wanted to be outside, just like his daddy, so we did a lot of exploring. Saturday night, Bug did a better job of going to sleep and staying asleep. We woke up Sunday, went sled riding, and then packed up in time for Bug's nap so he could sleep on the way home.

It was a great first trip for the Bug. I don't think I'd change a thing, and really want to go again....like tomorrow...I think Bug will agree.

AND now, in true Brooke style....a bazillion photos.

Bug REALLY likes the camera.

The Pipeline

Just scroll through the next photos quickly...it's funny. ;)

Babysitters Club

I might have the most active 10 month old known to mankind....okay, I know that isn't 100% true, but holy.smokes. Today was Mother Moose. It is at 10:30, and right smack dab in the middle of nap time. LUCKILY (sarcasm) Bug woke up at 5 am. I somehow convinced him that sleep was AWESOME and that he could sleep with momma if he'd just SLEEP. He is so stinking cute when we sleep together. He snuggles right up and melts my heart. 

Lucky for us, he was wide awake and ready to go to Mother Moose. He LOVES IT. It might be one of his favorite things EVER. Today it was really busy, and lots and lots of babies. His BFF's were all there. When we walked in he saw his friend that he hasn't seen in almost two months. He was just SO excited to see her. Other than using her to pull up, I "think" she was happy to see him too. 

During the story time, Bug made it his mission to try to get to every single infant in the room. I don't know what he's thinking, but he kept crawling towards them and then trying to smash them in the face. I "think" he really likes babies, but just doesn't understand how to interact with them. I hope that's the case. I'm sure I was "super" popular. 

When we first started going to Mother Moose I remember watching my friends babies crawling around, while my little Bug just sat there....oh, those were the days...sigh. I wish I could just sit there. 

During story time, I turned my back for .3 seconds. When I looked back, Bug wasn't playing where I had left him. I couldn't find him ANYWHERE. My heart stopped (not the first and not the last.) He was there, just quicker than I think he is. At one point he grabbed his buddy and they started to crawl OUT of the room. My kid was skipping class with his bestie. 

His besties mom and I followed them. They crawled across the library the whole way over to the fish tank. It's no short distance, and the kid didn't even look for me! Thanks for making me feel loved. Thanks a lot....

All in all, I needed a nap after story time. 

In other fun news, Bug had his first babysitter tonight (that wasn't family.) She's Italian, and a PhD student  in (something impressive) at the University. We had her over for dinner on Saturday and he LOVED HER. She came tonight and he melted. I'm glad he liked her so much. Bug's dad and I went to dinner at his Archaeological conference. I've learned my lesson in the past, stayed for just the dinner part and left before the talks started. Not saying that the talks aren't interesting....it's just that they aren't interesting (unless you're an archaeologist.) I came home to a passed out baby. Hopefully he had a good time and is now fluent in Italian (that was my request when I left the house.) 

Bug has some other exciting news too. This morning he fell flat on his face (no, that's not it.) When I checked his face, I noticed that FINALLY we have a tooth coming in. I see it! 10+ months and no teeth, but it's almost here! 

Hope everyone has a great weekend. 

Bug Mode

I can't believe that it has been almost a week since I last wrote a blog post! Wow. Time flies when I am visiting my family. It's crazy!

This weekend my cousin and her family came in to go to see Punxsutawney Phil. They came in around 7 pm, and we went to bed close to midnight....and woke up at 3 am. There wasn't enough coffee in the world for that. Bug was off on his first sleepover, and the ONE TIME I could sleep all night, I slept 3 hours. It was worth it. My cousin and her family are awesome.

We left our house and got to Punxy around 5:00. We drove around trying to find parking, but could not. I was 16 the last time I went to see Phil give his prediction, so I've done it, and once was enough. After about 30 minutes we decided to go home. I know that sounds stupid...drive the whole way there to turn around, BUT I got to get coffee and then sleep for HOURS without worrying about the Bug. It was nice.

Yesterday was also one of my favorite days of the year. It's like Thanksgiving, but a "snacky" version. I love snacks, so it's right up my alley. Even better was that the SEAHAWKS were in the Super Bowl. I L-O-V-E the Seahawks.

I don't need to analyze the game. I'm not sure that Denver actually showed up. About half way through the game my mom made a comment that she was impressed with how calm I was (I flipped out during the NFC Championships.) No real point in flipping out when the Broncos are getting demolished.

My favorite moment of the game did not have anything to do with the actual game. At the same time Marshawn Lynch got the ball and ran it in for a touchdown, Bug took two steps! Marshawn might go into Beast Mode, but Bug goes into Bug Mode. Bug waking was as adorable as I imagined it would be. He took a few steps today from the couch to the table, but still thinks that crawling is the fastest form of transportation.

Baby Firsts - Haircut

Another blogger that I read writes, "Babies don't keep." She is 100% correct, and Bug is growing faster than I ever thought possible. How did THIS 

Photo credit to Jill

Go to an almost 9 month old!! HOW!? I do not know how this sweet little guy has grown into a little boy. They say time flies, but...well, I could go on and on about how big he is getting, and how sad it makes me. I won't. Well, I will, but I'll stop for now. 

Bug was born with long locks. At 10 days old a hairdresser offered to cut his hair. In my ideal world, I was planning on waiting until he was a year old, but that hasn't worked out. Bug's hair kept growing and growing. I trimmed it once, but didn't trust myself to do much more. 

Bug's dad had a haircut yesterday, so we figured we'd get Bug's first haircut. I thought he'd cry or something. Nope. He was so good. Lots of laughing and giggling. I was such a proud momma!

He wasn't really sure when she started.

I think the kid ate 9 combs. He kept dropping them and the lady cutting his hair
kept handing him a new, clean one. I loved her. 

 

Finish product! We miss the Muppet hair. 

Now, someone make time slowdown. Please!! When we got home tonight Bug was playing and crawling around. He fell, which he's done before, but this time he hit his gums and was bleeding. Poor guy. Life is hard when you're 8 months. 

First Foods

While living in Seattle I traded my dear friend a maple doughnut for her baby food maker. I thought it was ridiculous, but now that I have Bug, I might trade my car for someone to bring ME a doughnut. Okay, not really, but WOW is it hard to "run out quick" to get something. (Thanks again T for the baby food maker. It was amazing!! ) 

On Sunday I went about making "Bug Food." He has been super interested in watching us eat, and I wanted to have some food ready for him when he is ready. Saturday we ran to the Co-op and I picked up some Organic Yams and Organic Carrots. It was the EASIEST thing ever to make him food. Especially with the handy dandy food maker. 

Organic Carrots and Organic Yams-CHECK!

Two cute assistants - Check! 

Cleaned, and ready carrots - Check!

One baby food maker traded for a maple doughnut - Check! 

Ice cube trays - Check! 

Funny story about the ice cube trays. I bought them at Wal-mart. I don't like Walmart, but I don't have a million options. I threw the tag away earlier in the day when I washed them. When I went to put the food in I realized that I didn't know if they were BPA free. So, I got to dig through smelly ricotta cheese to find the tag.

Frozen baby food into ziplock bag- Check! 

I froze the carrots and the yams for a few hours. and then popped them out of the ice cube trays. Each ice cube is about an ounce, so I can take one out in the morning to have it ready for dinner.

So what did Bug think of his first taste of food? He wasn't impressed! He wanted to play with the bowl and the spoon. I bought him a high chair today, and he thought THAT was cool, but not so much into the food. I decided to give him yams this week. They are a little sweet, but not as sweet as the carrots (the carrots were amazing. I want to eat them!)

This kid knows what the camera is for. Right before my husband took this photo he was bawling his head off, but he apparently didn't want to look bad on camera.

After a while I gave up trying to feed him.
 He just wanted his spoon. Baby steps!

He made SUCH a mess. I "think" he got some in his mouth.

6 Month Photo. They grow up so fast!