Month 12 of Kobe Dale

I have had a lot going on so I haven’t posted about Kobe turning 1, but I think that deep down I’m also slightly in denial and haven’t wanted to admit that he’s grown up this much. This kid has brought so much love and happiness into our home. Motherhood has been better than I could have ever imagined it would be; especially with this particular boy. He is still such a happy baby, and just loves people.

Kobe has finally gotten past his army crawl and upgraded to a normal crawl, and is also taking steps and standing a little on his own. It’s pretty cute when I look over at him and he is in a standing-almost-squatting position looking at me as if he had been waiting for me to notice, and he grins real big then sits down. He’s getting braver! He loves sharing, and Cheerios are his favorite to share. He mocks the noises of saying “here” and “thank you” if you give something right back. He is pretty good at mimicking a lot of things we say; mostly the repetitive words and phrases. The words he is getting good at saying are: dada, mumum, ba-ba, bah (ball), hi/hey, bah (bye…with a wave), uh-oh, and he still loves barking at dogs when he hears them, and makes his monkey noise. He randomly practices words/sounds he hears but those listed are what are consistent. He loves clapping his hands, especially when he hears cheering like on TV or something. He claps along to "If You're Happy and You Know It." He loves giggling and playing, and he even has a fake laugh that is pretty humorous. This kid has a sense of humor already, and he knows when he’s being funny. He cracks us up! He is still a little dancer anytime he hears music. He loves opening and closing doors. He’s testing out his new teeth - he has 7.5 – and is turning into a biter. Soft bites that turn into kisses when he’s playing and hard bites when he’s frustrated. Gotta do somethin’ about that! I love, love, love his kisses! They are open-mouth, puppy dog kisses, but they are full of love. I can tell that he loves his mommy, but oh my goodness does he love his daddy! He is obsessed with him! It’s pretty stinkin’ adorable. Lately at night, he likes to sit on Lane’s lap for about 20 minutes just watching TV. Every once in a while he’ll look up at Lane just to admire him. Melts.My.Heart.

Well Kobe was definitely spoiled this month as he turned one. He has a lot of people who love him, that’s for sure. We were able to go to California and visit my parents in my hometown one last time, and he loved the attention from Oma and Epop. When we got home we had a party for him that somehow turned into a huge, fun bash and he was spoiled, spoiled, spoiled by some wonderful people who have become a part of his life. We are so blessed with the friends and family that support us and love him. 

St. Patrick's Day 2014

 Playing with Lana and Heather

 First time around a newborn baby--checking out Ivy (Sunnie's baby)

 Heather is so wonderful. After being on the couch for a couple weeks, and finally being able to move some, I was craving going to the movies but still couldn't sit in a chair. She went all out and made popcorn, cupcakes, got candy and all the kinds of sodas we like and we watched a movie. It was perfect!

 Infamous Kobe stink face.

 First time facing forward! Getting ready to go visit Oma and Epop.

 LOVES dogs. #babymullet

 Visiting with Uncle Trevor

 LOVES dogs. Playing with Paco

 First MLB game-- Oakland A's vs. Seattle Mariners

 We got to see Lane's old roommate, Doug and his wife Cate and kids

 LOVES dogs

 Since my parents are moving down to So.Cal, I had to take a tour of neighborhoods and schools that I grew up in and say my final goodbyes. This is my elementary school. I'm a little sad that I'll probably never see these areas again.

 First birthday present--didn't eat too much paper

 Oma got Kobe his first Easter basket (probably good because Easter Bunny might not hit our house this year...maybe I'll recycle this one)

 Oma also gave Kobe his first haircut! This made me a little sad, mostly because he just looked like such a big boy after.

 Playing in sand and water with Epop

 He's becoming quite the wrestler/acrobat during diaper changes

 First NBA game-- Oklahoma City Thunder (used to be Seattle Sonics) vs. Sacramento Kings

 On Kobe's birthday we went to a little zoo in Folsom (his first trip to the zoo). It was a cute little zoo and there were monkeys there for him to "ooh-ooh-ah-ah" at. He doesn't show much emotion sometimes when he's just observing (that's how his mama is).

 Rode a little choo-choo train outside of the zoo

 "Cool dude" with Uncle Trev

Opening birthday presents!

 Spoiled by Oma and Epop-- he went straight for the buttons that made noise

 Turned it into a walker

 Birthday dinner at Roundtable Pizza (mama worked there for 3+ years) --first time eating pizza

 Yummy birthday cake! Daddy made an awesome basketball cake!

 Playing with Thomas, from Aunt Britt

 He was playing in the bathroom and I walked in and found him stuck in this positon

 Loves his Kermit from Oma

 My first time making fondant and decorating a cake. Michael Jordan-themed birthday party

 We lucked out with perfect weather for all the kiddos to go play outside

 Heather made 90 amazing cupcakes!

 Kobe's a cautious eater, quite the texture little man.

 All worn out after his birthday party

 Hanging out in the sunshine--first time on grass

 Loves his pseudo-aunt Laurel

 Too much work to move this picture up, but I love it! Kevin Durant needs to autograph it for Kobe (aka Lane)

 Epop and Oma

 Lane's awesome basketball cake

 Cute boy

 Sunnie was a huge part of my pregnancy and birth with Kobe, and although she had a rough pregnancy with Ivy, I have enjoyed being around for her pregnancy and seeing her sweet baby girl fresh out of the womb. I just can't believe that it's been a year since she was in the room with me, and now she's a mama herself. It's so fun that we both have babies now!

So the update with my back: I met with a couple surgeons this week that Dustin set me up with. We feel that surgery is the best option for me. One of the surgeons (who will be doing my surgery) was telling us that I could just get injections and this will probably go away...temporarily. If it were to make it so that I wouldn't have an issue with a disc slippage again, I would be all for that because I don't want surgery. But I want more kids, and I want another one soon. I don't want this to happen when I'm pregnant, or when I have a toddler running around and a baby in my arms, or years down the road when I have a few kids to chase around. They recommended that I get both the disc removal and fusion surgery because if I were to just get the disc removal, there wouldn't be much support in that area and my L5 S1 could slip. He told me that the first few weeks of recovery with this surgery will be difficult, and that I'll probably wish that I didn't get the surgery, but in the long run this will be a good thing. Luckily I have a lot of family and good friends that have been and are willing to help out with me and Kobe at this point. I don't want to be on medication for months and months just so I can survive. I am scheduled to get MASTLIF surgery on May 6th if my insurance approves it for that early. I am very overwhelmed and nervous, but I really feel like this is best for my body. Soooo we'll see how it goes.