If Tobi is awake he is moving full steam ahead. The boy never stops. He has so much energy that just watching him exhausts me. He runs everywhere he goes. He loves to play outside and as long as he has a ball, a car or something to climb he is very content. The only time he sits still is when he is playing with his trains, small cars or tractors. He will sit and focus on pushing, parking and driving them around all complete with choo choo, beep beep and vroom noises.

Tobi talks more and more everyday and is starting to put together two and three word sentences. He is very funny and loves making people laugh. He has Andrej’s love for music and I look forward to seeing what talents God has given him. He also loves terrorizing his sister and knows just what buttons to push. At the end of the day, I know I can attribute more of my exhaustion to Tobi than the pregnancy. He is my crazy wild child, but I love that little boy so deeply. So whether I’m chasing him around the house as he is yelling, “Get Me! Get Me!”, telling him to stop tackling Kaiya for the tenth time or laughing so hard I cry at his antics, I wouldn’t change a thing about my precious two year old.

As for his birthday, we were visiting my parents on Memorial Day, so we celebrated Tobi’s birth with a big breakfast complete with my grandmother’s famous blueberry muffins before we headed home for a Memorial Day picnic with friends in our neighborhood. The next weekend, we threw Tobi a Thomas the Train birthday party at our local YMCA playground. It was so fun to watch his eyes light up as we sang happy birthday. Much to my surprise, he successfully blew out his two candles all by himself and we learned that black cake icing is very messy. It was a fun way to celebrate our little man.

The rest of Tobi’s birthday party pictures are located here.

Sunday, was not just any ol’ Sunday, it was Father’s Day. Unfortunately, I forgot that and as I heard my dad bumping around the kitchen that morning (Andrej and I were sleeping on an air mattress in the family room next to the kitchen), I called out, “Dad? Do you have any coffee ready over there?” It wasn’t until a little later when my mom was busy getting us to sign the Father’s Day cards that I realized it should have been me serving my father coffee on this particular morning rather than the other way around.

I embarrassingly wished my dad and Andrej a Happy Father’s day along with an apology for forgetting such a special day. I noted not to hold it against Andrej if he forgets Mother’s Day next year. I prompted Kaiya to also wish Andrej a Happy Father’s Day and she happily ran over to him and wrapping her arms around his neck she said, “Happy Mother’s Day, Daddy!”

After breakfast we quickly dressed and managed to make it to church a mere ten minutes after it had started. We enjoyed a nice service and then headed to a local restaurant for lunch and home for much needed naps.

During nap time, I was pleasantly surprised that my mom had already taken care of everything for Tobi’s party and other than a last minute run to the grocery store we were essentially ready to celebrate. Mom had sent out precious farm themed invitations to family members a few weeks prior and ordered the cutest birthday cake shaped like a barn, complete with little farm animals.

After the kid’s were up from their naps and we played a little in the backyard, we got dressed and headed back to my parent’s church where the party was being held. There were two jump castles, a swing set and slides to entertain the kids while the hamburgers and hot dogs were being grilled by the grill master himself.

We ate and sang and ate some more and had such a great time celebrating Tobi and his first year of life. The highlight of the night for me was watching Tobi tear into his smash cake. Kaiya wouldn’t touch or taste her first birthday cake. She would only shake her head back and forth saying no. Tobi got one tiny taste of the icing and then using both hands shoveled the rest into his mouth as fast as he could.

Opening gifts with a one-year-old is quite a feat. Tobi was more interested in climbing on the boxes and the gift table than actually opening the gifts, so the older kids gladly helped. Tobi received so many fun things that both he and big sister Kaiya have enjoyed.

We ended the evening by playing outside a little more to work off the sugar high before cleaning up, deflating the bounce houses and heading home for baths and bed.

I want to thank my mom for organizing and executing such a special and fun birthday party for Mr. Tobi and my dad for being such a big help (Good Toby!). Also a huge thanks goes to my Aunt Rachel for bringing her clan of grandchildren even though my cousins weren’t able to come, and to all those who helped us celebrate our lil’ man. The rest of the Tobi’s birthday party pictures are found here.

I’ll post the next “chapter” of our June travels tomorrow.

The nurse shared that her now grown son was also born on Memorial Day weekend. As we talked about our commonality, she mentioned that over the years she had been frustrated with trying to plan birthday parties for her son because so many people were out of town during the holiday weekend. I knew I would too face that dilemma someday, but staring down at my newborn son’s precious little face, a birthday party seemed so far away.

A short year later, I was finding that many of our friends would be spending the weekend camping or traveling. However, two of the families we are most close to would be in town and were excited to help us celebrate our little man. Taking into account our own crazy Memorial Day weekend plans, we decided to have a birthday brunch on the morning of Tobi’s birthday. It was so much fun to laugh and rejoice together over breakfast casserole, fruit salad, monkey bread and coffee. Yes, Tobi enjoyed monkey bread in lieu of birthday cake, but he sure didn’t complain.

On the plus side of having his birthday fall on Memorial Day weekend, we were able to go with friends to a parade the next day. The kids loved watching the floats, big trucks and even llamas go by. The flying candy was a big hit as well. Tobi managed to consume most of a sucker before I couldn’t stand the sticky mess any longer and ended his sugarfest. After the parade we had lunch with our house church and went to a carnival at a nearby church.

All in all we celebrated our Tobi well, and were looking forward to doing it all over again with family in South Carolina. Happy First Birthday, Little Man! We love you so very much!

Here is a little video of our man in action:

Although he is taking more and more steps on his own each day, he still LOVES to walk behind his push walker. He makes laps around our house and can turn and maneuver the toy without any problems, rarely getting stuck. He is such a proud boy! He also likes to walk holding onto my hand and can balance and walk well by just using my finger for stabilization.

In addition to walking Tobi has decided climbing is lots of fun too. A few weeks ago we were having dinner with friends, and Tobi followed closely by Andrej, climbed to the very top of their staircase as if he had been doing it for months. He still needs help going back down, but we have been working on the concept of turning around and going down feet first. He is slowly getting it and has also used the trick for getting down off of the couch as well.

In the language department, Tobi is a little chatter box. However, the only sounds that he has made that resemble words so far are mama, dada, nah-nah-nah for “no” and a few times he has said “ba ba” as he is waving bye-bye. As for baby signs, he hasn’t shown much interest. I wrote in his nine month post that I thought he would start signing soon because he could manipulate his hands to make the motions for “more” and “all done”, but he hasn’t progressed much since then. He waves his arms frantically and says, “uh uh!” if he wants more food. We are still working on it though and as I recently watched a video clip of Kaiya’s first attempts at sign language, I was encouraged to keep it up.

Recently Tobi decided two naps were no longer necessary, much to my dismay. He most often either takes the morning nap and plays in his crib through his afternoon nap, or plays through the morning nap and can barely make it through lunch he is so tired. I remember this stage well when Kaiya went through “two naps are too much, but one nap is not enough”. Although, I can say that I am looking forward to him being consistently down to one nap by summer so we can get out of the house in the mornings and enjoy trips to the zoo, local parks, our backyard and time with friends.

At 11 months, Tobi is so much fun! He keeps us laughing and his snuggles are priceless. He is working so hard on his fine motor skills and can sit for quite a while stacking rings and blocks or putting small things, like the coins in the picture, into various containers. He is growing up way too fast! The other night as I was nursing him before bed, I could not believe that the huge baby sprawled across my arms and lap was the same tiny one I brought home from the hospital almost a year ago. I laughed as I thought what Kaiya would say at the situation, “Mama. Tobi is such a BIG bo-weeee! He’s all growed up!”

At Tobi’s 9 month well baby check-up, he weighed in at 19 lbs and 9 oz. He measured 28 1/4 inches long with a head circumference of 44 1/2 cm. I was a little afraid that the appointment would be a nightmare because Tobi decided not to take his afternoon nap. Add a tired baby to the serious stranger anxiety he’s experiencing right now and it equals a recipe for disaster. However, in typical Tobi fashion he was on his best behavior and not the least bit fussy. He happily allowed the nurse and Dr. B to give him the once over and he even flashed them a few smiles along the way. Our doctor was very pleased with his overall health and development.

Our only concern that we shared with the doctor was about his bright orange nose and cheeks. We started noticing his rather orange complexion back in January and I decided to cut out orange veggies for a few weeks hoping it would go away and when it didn’t I started to get worried. Dr. B wasn’t too concerned and was pretty sure the color was coming from the veggies, but mentioned that we could get blood work done to rule out serious causes if we wanted. We decided to wait and see since she wasn’t too worried and because we have high deductible insurance so anything we choose to do will come straight out of our pockets.

On the way home, Andrej and I were discussing the appointment and the worry wart in me came out and I started to think maybe we should get the blood work done just to make sure it wasn’t jaundice or something serious. Several people have commented on how orange he looks so it must not be normal. A few days later I called to schedule the blood work, but couldn’t shake the feeling that it would be a waste of money. Plus, I absolutely HATE to have my own blood drawn so I wasn’t sure I would be able to hold my nine month old down to have his blood drawn.

Before making the final decision I wanted a few more professional opinions. We turned to my uncle who was a pediatrician for years and my good friend Dr. Google. My uncle immediately named Tobi’s “condition” as carotenemia, which is when an infant’s skin appears yellow or orange after eating a lot of foods that are high in beta-carotene (orange veggies, dark green veggies and breast milk). More importantly my uncle said that it is harmless and no reason to be concerned. My google search of “baby’s skin is orange” told me the same thing. I canceled the blood work and decided to see T’s orange skin as a good sign that the boy loves his veggies and his body is absorbing them properly. Hopefully, in a few months when he is eating more table foods he won’t look like a little pumpkin.

As for Tobi’s new tricks, he can clap, wave and stick out his tongue on command, or at least in response to you doing it. He is so close to signing “more” and “all done”. He already does both motions, but I don’t think he has connected the meaning with the actions just yet. He is such a funny little guy and he knows that if he waves his hands around (mimicking the “all done” sign) he will get a good reaction out of his audience. If there is one thing Tobi does get is how to make us all smile and laugh at him.

Around the end of Tobi’s eighth month, he figured out that crawling on his knees is much faster than sliding around on his belly and now crawls full speed ahead. He is getting really fast too. Tobi loves a good game of chase and thinks it’s so funny to take off down the hall, turn around to see if you are following and then as soon as he sees that you are he slaps his hands down on the floor in a fit of laughter and crawls as fast as he can to get away.

In addition to crawling, Tobi is also cruising all over the place. He can pull up on just about anything and then move around the room on his feet by holding onto cabinets, walls, chairs and people’s legs. He also loves to walk behind Kaiya’s old push walker. He can’t turn the toy yet, but can walk behind it until he runs into something. Then he stands there banging the toy against the wall laughing at the noise he is creating. He also likes to push the chairs around the kitchen to get where he wants to go. I’ve also caught him independently standing playing with something in his hands not holding on to a single thing. After a few seconds he will realize this and either flop down on his backside or quickly grab on to something for balance. I won’t be surprised if he starts walking soon.

Tobi is all boy. His second favorite game, after chase, is throwing things and laughing as they crash to the floor. His new nickname is Tob-nado because he blows through a room, pulling up onto each surface and throwing everything off of it onto the floor. He pulls all the books and toys off of the shelves, throws blocks, balls, toys and anything he can physically pick up. His main mission is to search and destroy anything in his path. It is exhausting to watch and pickup after! Plus, he thinks when I tell him, “Tobi! No, No!” that it actually means to hurry and finish what he is doing as fast as he possibly can before mama gets to him. It’s almost like he hears, “Tobi! Go! Go!” instead of no!

Our biggest challenge in his ninth month has been the separation/stranger anxiety he is experiencing. I literally cannot leave the room without him attached to my hip. I often try to sneak away while he is playing contentedly to go to the bathroom or check on Kaiya in a different room, but as soon as he notices he is alone a meltdown is soon to follow. Our regular babysitter is such a trooper as I have left her on several occasions with a hysterical Tobi that somehow knew Mama was leaving soon. Thankfully, I know this is just a stage and will hopefully pass soon. I sure am looking forward to when I can once again use the bathroom alone.

Since that day, Tobi has been pulling up on anything and everything including stable things and unstable things. He has so many bumps and bruises from his dare devil attempts to pull up on things that flip over or slide away with his weight. His favorite thing to pull up on is his dresser. He scales up each handle until he is standing on his tip toes hanging from the top handle. Then, as if that isn’t daring enough, holding on with one hand he stretches his other arm way out to reach the handles on the other side and then takes a few very wobbly steps to get there. Maybe he will enjoy rock climbing someday.

Over the last few weeks Andrej and I have noted many times that Kaiya was never so brave and much more cautious as she was learning to pull up on things and cruise. Thankfully we have this blog, which is obviously way more accurate than our memories. I recently read Kaiya’s eight month post and it is accompanied by a picture of her standing in the refrigerator. I guess she was just as bold as her brother.

Not only is Tobi climbing and pulling up on everything, he is army crawling all over the place and consequently into everything. Thankfully he hasn’t figured out how to use his knees to propel himself faster, yet, and we certainly aren’t teaching him. He is so determined when he wants to get somewhere, and slides himself across the floor with his eyes set on the prize. Unfortunately for him, his eyes are usually set on something that I don’t allow him to touch, like cords, plugs, the fireplace screen and floor lamps. I almost feel bad when he works so hard to get somewhere and then I have to redirect him at the last minute.

I’m really glad Tobi is able to move about and explore his surroundings, but the bumps and bruises and constant need to watch where he is headed and what he is into is exhausting. It’s a good thing that he is so cute and such a charmer because when he flashes his big ole smile my frustration from removing him from the fireplace screen for the hundredth time melts away.

Tobi is an extremely happy, smiley, giggly baby. It doesn’t take much to get a big belly laugh out of him and his smiles are contagious. We love our little man so much and are extremely thankful that he is a part of our family. The following is Tobi at 8 months in numbers:

8 months and
5 days old
18 (plus) pounds (weight from a few weeks ago at a sick baby visit)
12 hours he sleeps each night
2 naps each day
1 ½ – 2 hours he sleeps during each nap
6 – 7 cloth diapers he goes through in a day
4 times he nurses daily
3 meals of pureed and soft finger foods
2 little teeth (bottom middle)
1 big goofy grin
1,000,000,000 (plus) times a day he makes me sooooo thankful that he is my son!

It’s been three months since I last wrote a detailed Tobi update, and so many things have changed in those three months. At six months, Tobi finally sleeps soundly through the night. He nurses around 7:30 pm and goes straight to bed afterwards and sleeps until about 7:30 or 8:00 the next morning. It’s pure bliss! I didn’t think Tobi would ever consistently sleep 12 hours at night.

Well, he actually first accomplished sleeping through the night during his fouth month, but then we went to Slovakia. With jet lag and sleeping in the same room with us, he started waking again for a really early morning feeding sometime between 4:00 and 6:00 am. Once we returned home he was pretty set on having that feeding no matter how hard I prayed he wouldn’t wake up until after 7:00 am. It took a few weeks to convince him that he really didn’t need an early morning date with mama, and he eventually complied and started clocking in 12 hours each night.

In the middle of his fifth month, we gave Tobi his first taste of “soild food”. It took a few spoonfuls for him to figure out how to swallow the rice cereal and not just let it run out of his mouth, but once he did he seemed to really like it. Since then he has happily consumed anything and everything we’ve offered without so much as a even a scrunched up nose or funny face. It seems he has his father’s appetite.

At six months our Tobi sits up fairly well unassisted, is an incredible napper (much better than his sister has ever been), loves splashing in the tub, laughs at almost everything and bring us so much joy. I’ll end this six-month post with a little video of Tobi cracking up during his bath one evening a few weeks ago. Make sure your volume is turned up and enjoy!