Friends, Family, Racing, and Breweries

... and probably a lot more. It's been a while since I've updated, but we've been busy busy bees! Here's some bits of what we've been up to:

Picture Day at Daycare
I'm not sure what frequency they do these, but we had spring picture day at daycare! Got him all dressed in his nice polo and cargo khaki pants.


  
(fuzzy photos because it's a photo of a printed photo)

We didn't end up buying any of the photos, but they were still cute to see! Such a handsome little guy.


Scott's 40th Birthday
Scott was in Spain and Germany for a week leading up to his celebration, and his parents (Grammy and Grampy Trenor) stayed in Greenville with me and Dargan to help out. They did amazing work around the house, including some yardwork, a bunch of cleaning, and staining the fence in the back yard. It looks like new!

Hanging out with Grammy:


I didn't actually get any photos from the festivities, but it was a great day! The Wetmore parents came down, and we had probably 30 people at the house along with Mike & Jeff's BBQ and some tasty desserts.

Pavo Trunk Show in Asheville
I didn't buy anything, but it was interesting to go and see! They had four wraps for sale, plus the VIP wrap (not pictured).

I didn't stay long - just got in, picked up the VIP wrap (for a friend), had some food, then left to meet up with Scott and Dani, Houston, & Wendy for some beverages in Asheville!

We started out at Wicked Weed Funkatorium (Brewery #24) and had some lunch.



Next we went to Burial Brewing (Brewery #25) and Dargan fell asleep in my lap after he nursed! He woke up for some photos later but was still pretty groggy.



Post Ear Infection Check-up
Dargan had been diagnosed with an ear infection at his 10 month appointment, so we went back for a checkup to make sure it had cleared up. It had! Hooray, no more ear infection. He also now weighs 18lbs 3.5oz!! After his appointment, we had a snack in the car (goldfish crackers), and went to Mast General Store and bought a rain jacket for the upcoming weekend in Virginia Beach since the weather was forecast to be rainy and cool.


Another thing Dr. Butcher mentioned was that we should get him de-sensitized to as many allergens as possible, including grass. So on nice evenings, we have implemented Front Yard Time. Usually includes beverages for mom & dad. :)




Weekend in Virginia Beach

We traveled to VA Beach for the weekend with Robin and Dale to do the Shamrock Half Marathon (race day Sunday 3/20). Drove up together on Friday afternoon , Dargan slept a good bit of the drive (thank goodness) and only had a few fussy periods. We got in to town, went to dinner and grabbed a quick drink at Back Bay Brewing (Brewery #26) then hung out at the rental condo.

Fell asleep while eating a snack.

Brewery #26 - Back Bay Brewing

Saturday morning was Dargan's first race: the Leprechaun Dash! It was a 26.2-yard dash to the finish line. Of course, Dargan wasn't doing it on his own, but Scott carried him to the finish line and let him stand there for a minute. He had a race number, got a medal, and will get a race t-shirt! I'm so proud.

Pre-race photo (it was cold and windy!)

official race photo

Post-race photo - medal!

Next was the grand Brewery Tour of Norfolk, Virginia. John, a good friend of Scott's, met us and took us around town. Had some amazing brews and good times with friends! Of course Dargan hung out with his race bib and medal the rest of the day, like a good little racer.

O'Connor Brewing Company (Brewery #27)

Coelacanth Brewing (Brewery #28)

Bold Mariner Brewery (Brewery #29)

Smartmouth Brewing Company (Brewery #30)

It was a LONG day! But lots of fun, and we ended at The Birch for dinner - they have a gourmet grilled cheese menu!




After that, we were all tired, so headed back to the condo for the night.

The details of my race are in my fitness blog, so I won't repeat here... suffice it to say, it wasn't exactly an enjoyable experience.

Not excited.

For lunch, I got to meet up with a bunch from my online moms group - so exciting to meet them in person for the first time! We went to a brewery (duh) - Wasserhund Brewing (#31) - and enjoyed lunch with the little ones.

Love these sweet mamas and littles!

The rest of the day included a nap, some dinner, and that was about it. Monday we drove home. Long but fun weekend!

Other photos

Grocery shopping

Woke up on his belly TWICE last week.

Opening a gift from daddy - made in Germany!

How'd I get under here?

These PJs are too cute!

New wrap (this one is now OURS!):

10 Months Old!

Happy double-digits to Dargan!

Outtakes:





Clearly he is NOT keen on sitting still and posing for photos (at least not at 6am).

Stats
18 lbs (approx.)
~28" tall
two teeth (bottom middle), and the top ones seem soooo close
pivoting and scooting, but no crawling
stands while holding onto things
excellent hand/finger/fine motor skills (picking up small things)
Comfortably wearing 9 month clothes, though the onesies are getting difficult to snap and pants are a little long. #shortkidproblems

Standing watching big kids play at a birthday party.

Any day now! 

Sleeping

This has been a good week, despite some later-than-normal bedtimes. Unfortunately later bedtime doesn't correlate to later wake-up time... he's pretty consistent on a 5-5:30am wake-up, but at least he mostly sleeps solidly from bedtime until that point! WOW what an accomplishment that has been. The other bad thing, though, is that the more sleep I get, the more sleep I want! It's like my body is going, "Sleep? Oh yeah, I remember that! I want AALLLLL of that!" so I feel more tired during the day. Still, I'll take this routine over the old one from a few months ago any day!


Eating

Still loving to eat, not much change here. He had a few nights where he didn't seem to want anything but fruit or yogurt, but last night he was chowing down on some zucchini and eggs, so I guess it was just a temporary thing. I'm still a little confused as to how much food he should be getting at each meal, so I just keep giving him things until he seems uninterested. Seems to be working out ok.

Pooping while eating.

Nursing

This is still going steady, and I've even let myself skip a pump here and there when I just didn't feel like it. I'm struggling with the idea of when to start weaning myself down to fewer pumps. It's such a weird thing because for so long the mindset has been "MUST INCREASE/MAINTAIN SUPPLY!" and now to try to switch that to the opposite of intentionally decreasing supply... it's giving me all kinds of uneasy feelings. I have no idea when to start or how long it will take me to fully dry up, and the idea of being done is really making me sad. As much as I have been longing for all the "perks" of not BFing, I'm really going to miss it. (There, I said it!)

Voted in the Democratic Primary

Kisses!

What do you think, is he my kid?

Running buddy!

Hanging out at Quest

Banana toothbrush

Upcoming:
- Scott's 40th birthday party on Saturday
- Pavo Trunk Show in Asheville, followed by meet-up with baby friend
- final week before Shamrock Half Marathon

Clapping and Wrapping

We've learned a new skill: clapping!

He mostly does it while eating, but also did it for a while during our (failed) attempt at a nap this morning. It's very cute, though, and he seems pretty proud of himself. :)

Sleeping

This hasn't been the greatest week for sleep, but far from the worst. He's generally had one MOTN wake-up per night, but it's been lengthy (30-90 minutes). Timing varies - one night it started at 11pm, one night it started at 2:45am. It's typically towards the later end, but there's no rhyme or reason to it.

His daycare naps have been alright, too - usually two naps, anywhere from 30-90 minutes. Occasionally we'll get a 2-hour block from him there, but that's rare.

Today we tried something different for the weekend... when he woke up at 5, I fed him then put him back down. He slept until 7:15 which was great! But it screwed up our nap routine for the day. He flat-out refused his morning nap and finally went down right after lunch. All my plans for today went out the window! :(




Eating

Oh yes, we love eating. Give us all the foods!

Pictured below (top-bottom, L-R):
Eggs for breakfast!
Shoving whole animal crackers in our mouth.
French fries at Mojo's on Thursday night.
Fun with spoons.
Check out my toofers!
Messy lunch - black refried bean quesadillas






Still nursing/pumping, too - nothing changed there so far. I'm still thrilled to bits that my freezer stash is growing. I even organized it last weekend!



I think I'm up to 130oz frozen... enough for 5-6 days. Yay! I think, based on my calculations, I know of 8 days total that I'll need milk for... if I can keep up my current rate of pumping and stashing, I should be ok. Fingers crossed!!

The best part, though, is that nursing means I get my guaranteed Dargan snuggles :)  <3



Movement

Still not crawling, but boy, he wants to go places! He'll push up and pivot around... that's about as far as we've gotten.

I did finally witness a front-to-back rollover last weekend, too!

But he still prefers just sitting and playing...



Wrapping

Aquaria is still visiting (thanks to an understanding and generous owner!) so I've had more chances this weekend to wrap D. We've even had our first try at some back carries, and he really enjoys it! He'll just sit back there quietly while I go about doing dishes, cooking, laundry, and whatever else.

First pics are a Basic Ruck back carry (from several different days), last three pics are a Double Hammock back carry.

9 Month Check-up

Mr. Man is 17lb 8.5oz (13th percentile), and just shy of 28" tall (3.5th percentile). His weight for height ratio is in the 50th percentile, right on target. He's on par with developmental milestones and Dr. Butcher has no concerns at this point!

He did great at the appointment even though it was right during his usual morning nap time. He took a long afternoon nap at daycare, so he was in great spirits when we picked him up. We celebrated with a trip to Barley's for dinner! Dargan enjoyed gnawing on a pizza crust with his now TWO teeth!!