So Snuggly

A few weeks ago Holden came down with his first major sickness, complete with a 104 degree, and while it was a tough weekend with a long nights, there was a little part of us that loved it too, because our little explorer was just so darn cuddly.

A lot can change in one year...

Man, that's the understatement of the century. At this time last year, we were anxiously anticipating the arrival of the little guy; here's our 39-week bump post from then. He didn't even have a name at this point last year ... just the ubiquitous "short stranger," or "baby awesome." We were as ready as we could get for this life change, and enjoying our last days of freedom (going out, going on walks, enjoying good meals, etc.). About a year ago this weekend, Bryna (toting the Short Stranger) and I went out to Eckert's Farm in Illinois to go pumpkin picking, and to simply spend some time enjoying fall.

One year later, and our lives are quite different. It feels like Holden has been a part of our life for much longer than just under a year (although I suppose if you add 9 months to that, he's been with us for more like just under 2 years). No complaints on this end, though -- things are certainly different, but not in a bad way. Holden has been such a rockstar baby (and now soon to be toddler), and he's been teaching US a lot about life, too. Every week brings challenges, amazing moments, utter silliness, and milestones that seem to blast past us.

Yesterday, we brought Holden out to the same farm/orchard we visited a year ago to do some pumpkin-picking, and he had a blast (although I think Bryna enjoyed the small children's farm more than Holden, with its goats, camel, pigs, and ponies, of course). Another very warm but beautiful fall day, and the drive up the Mississippi River is always stunning.


I have to keep pinching myself that Holden's 1-Year Birthday is just around the corner!! I hope we have enough time in our busy lives to truly savor this moment.

Holden Walks!

OK, so now it's official (without any doubt) -- Holden is walking! Tonight, he all of a sudden decided that it was just his time, and the rest is history (for us, at least). We were not sure if he was going to start walking anytime soon, or just keep taking small bursts of steps each day. Today, I know I was proven wrong. For most of the evening, he walked from one of us to the other without much hesitation. Here's video evidence of his first success at walking.

Now, we enter the new terrifying stage of a baby that walks! Wow! We are so sure that Holden is going to come home from daycare tomorrow with bruises and bumps from falling or tripping as he perfects this new skill ... just wait and see. And we're now pushed to enter a whole new stage of baby-proofing in our house (yikes).

Proud parents, proud baby -- and onward we go at breakneck speed into the life of the once little "Short Stranger."

Chef Holden

No, we haven't forgotten you, readers. We are just very very busy at the moment. To temporarily satiate your interest in the Holden-meister, I present Chef Holden (also known as 'adventures in daycare'). The fact that his teachers could keep this hat on him long enough to take this picture is, in my humble opinion, quite a triumph. I hope this bodes well for his future cooking skills.

sick

I'm not sure if its daycare, changes in the weather, allergies, or all this travel that's making him sick, but Holden's been sporting an off-and-on cold since for almost two months now. (Probably a combination....). And today will be the third time we try to bring him to the doctor, with the hopes that she'll be able to remedy the problem. On the past two occasions Holden merely had a stuffy nose; today he's tired, a bit winy, and feverish. Maybe these colds have finally transformed into an infection in need of antibiotics. In any case, it seems like our luck has run out on having a persistently healthy little one. And it seems the famed curse of daycare holds true for Holden too.

11 Months and a few days

So this month flew by faster than any other, as Holden started daycare, and I started back to school full-time. Holden is enjoying his new daytime hangout quite a bit, as pictured in this photo, in which he's eating his very first pizza. He got to make it himself, which mainly comprised of stuffing shredded cheese into his mouth, apparently.

So much is happening developmentally right now it's hard to chart it right now. He's turning into a toddler right before our eyes. He's picking up words (or what sound something like words), standing on his own, and still so very close to walking. As is always the case we have videos and pictures and thoughts galore that need to be posted. But because life is indeed speeding by, we haven't found the time to post them. Perhaps we'll do a "highlights" post at the 1-yr mark to get it all in. Hard to believe it's been one year.

Holden rocks his first flight ... and wedding

There were two big exciting moments during our recent trip to North Carolina:
1) Bob and Lindsay got married (yay!)
2) Holden took his first flight

To start with, Bryna's brother's wedding was beautiful and lots of fun! They had their wedding outside at a really cool old house in Raleigh, NC. We got to meet Bob and Lindsay's friends in Raleigh, as well as Bob's new in-laws. And Bryna's parents were there, so Holden got to see his grandma and grandpa. We spent lots of time driving around the Raleigh/Durham/Chapel Hill area, either looking for someone to eat or letting Holden get a nap in the car. The weather was absolutely awesome, and we were so lucky to get there immediately after a Tropical Storm had dropped record rainfall on the entire region.

The other big excitement was Holden's first flight! We had been nervous about this one for months, fearing the worst but hoping for the best. Every time I have flown since Holden's birth and heard a screaming baby, I always thought to myself, "That's going to be Holden one day." But nothing could have been farther from the truth. Holden was a superstar while on the plane. Bryna's mom had purchased Holden an extra seat for him (yes, grandma is pretty smart!), which worked out really well. He was able to just sit in his car seat the whole time. On the flight there, Holden slept for almost half the flight, and quietly played for the remainder of the trip. On the flight back to St. Louis, he slept the entire flight!! Yes, the entire flight! Very awesome!

And Holden loved the wedding, and meeting all these new people. He got to dress up in his fancy outfit (although he had to wear sweatpants, since the pants that came with that outfit were still too big for him). After the ceremony, Holden had to inspect all of the flower petals to see which ones were real and which ones were fake. We stayed at the reception for quite a while, until Holden pooped out and we had to go back to the hotel. All in all, a very fun weekend, and Holden was a rock star!!!