One Year Later...

I don't know what inspired me to do so, but I checked this blog today and realized that it had been exactly a year since my last post. I'm thinking that now is the perfect time to check in again.

First of all, I decided to post a rant/tirade/empowering treatise for women with low supply that I started working on ages ago. I wrote it while I was up late one night and totally forgot to finish it. While I was going through my posts, however, I saw it and realized how much it meant to me and how much I still agreed with the sentiment. So if you see two posts from today, that's what happened.

In the past year, lots of things have changed. First of all, we are settling into life as parents pretty well. My son has had one 24-hour bug, one cold and two related, but unexplained bouts of projectile power vomiting. Otherwise, we are very fortunate that he is still very healthy.

I may be slightly biased, but he is also developing into quite a handsome young man. He is a real show-stopper at our local grocery store. The older ladies especially cannot resist a.) those cheeks! b.) those dimples! c.) those lashes! and, of course, d.) the name Charles! They love that his name is Charles because "it's a wonderful name" and they all have a son, brother, nephew, or father named Charles. What can I say -- he's a ladykiller, particularly in the AARP set.

He started walking at 11 months, which is his second favorite pastime, just before picking up gnarly crap off the floor and/or ground, and just after his best skill, eating. We have yet to find a food that Charles will not eat. The foods below are all his "favorites" and it is, in no way, an exhaustive list.

kale puffs, oatmeal, cantaloupe, strawberries, plain yogurt, plain Greek yogurt, cheese, baked beans, hummus, avocado, salsa, pizza, cake, ice cream, broccoli, banger sausages, potatoes, cereal, milk, key lime pie, lima beans, ham and bean soup, chicken, ham, turkey, beef, carnitas pork, corn, peas, green beans, turnips, rutabaga, zucchini, minestrone soup, barbeque ribs, cornbread, peaches, bananas, bread, pita...

...the list goes on and on. He has not tried chicken nuggets, hot dogs, hamburgers, macaroni and cheese, or similar items because, as I am told, I am a mean mother. Hey, if the kid will eat absolutely anything, why not give him hummus on spinach pita instead of a nugget? Right?

He is the older guy in town now, too. Because I am an only child, I have always been super close to my two maternal first cousins. We grew up together, vacationed together, and at times we even lived together. In January, my older female cousin had a daughter and my younger male cousin is expecting a daughter in October. Like all babies, he loves looking at (and poking at) his cousin and sharing the rad double stroller we bought for the whole family to share.

Just a few weeks back, we celebrated Charley's first birthday with a two-day extravaganza. We had a big party at my dad's house, then we bought a block of 20 tickets to the Phillies game the following day. He was a very good boy the whole time, he had his very first taste of cake, and he got his name up on the scoreboard for three-homer routing of the Cincinatti Reds.

Right now, I am wrapping up my first school year as a parent. So far, we were able to devise a complicated Google calendar of alternating family members so that he did not have to go to daycare in his first year, mostly because it's hella expensive. Next year, however, we will not be so lucky and he will have to go somewhere that will cost us an arm and a leg. For now, though, I am looking forward to a summer home with my little man. We're going to the beach, we're planning lots of day trips and maybe even an excursion to Michigan. He's a happy guy and I've never been happier!