My 6 Monther

About a week ago I took J to the pediatrician and this is what happened.

Yep. "Little guy" sat on the couch next to me as if we were long lost friends having a conversation. Lugging around a car seat with an 18 pound baby inside is getting a little tiring so I've been trying to just carry him when I know I won't be holding him very long. 

Yes, I said 18 pounds. But look at those fat rolls. Don't you want to squeeze 'em? 

That leads me to my other part of the pediatrician appointment. I've been a little concerned because J isn't rolling over. He has performed this magical feat only three times and it think they where all by accident. The ped told me that large babies tend to not roll around a lot because they think that mom will eventually come and roll them over. So my baby is fat AND lazy. Great. I prefer to think of J's laziness as him trying to save his energy for figuring things like the sippy cup. 

Oh, Lordy. That brings me to the next big development. The sippy cup. Poor kid has NO CLUE how to work a sippy cup. B got the bright idea to take the stopper out and let him give it a go that way. He kind of started to drown but hey, we got a drinking and swimming lesson all at one time. 

At the beginning of the week of his appointment, daycare reminded me that pictures were being done. So, of course, I am a boy mom and I will never miss an opportunity to a: put a bow tie on my baby and b: have my kid sport a Mohawk. 

  

 

Oh yeah. That happened.

I can't wait to see the pictures!

Here are a few close ups of the growing boy.

 

I seriously want to eat that kid up!

We're planning our first beach trip for next month. B has fair skin and so does J. That being said, does anyone know where I can by 60 SPF sunblock by the box?

Until next time.

- Typical Boy Mom

4 Months.... and Change

I have seriously started this post 3 times now..... 3 TIMES!!!! Yes, the Lame Mommy award goes to me. Even though this is a 4 month check up post, baby J will actually be 5 months next week. BUT, some of the pictures are from the day he turned 4 months old. I promise. Cross my heart, hope do die ( seriously, we used to say this crap), stick a needle in my eye.

That's enough of that. Baby J is growing faster now than when he was in the womb. No kidding. He woke up from a nap one day and he didn't fit in his socks anymore. At his 4 month appointment he weighed in at 16 pounds, 26 inches long and he wore a 9 month onesie. My little porker. The pediatrician says everything is looking great right now and to keep doing what we're doing.

The doctor cleared us to go ahead and start solids. YAY!!! I don't know why but I'm so excited about this. This means that we might be able to start dropping a bottle during the day or that magical day is coming soon. We haven't moved to fruits just yet because we're still mastering vegetables. His current favorite is sweet potatoes and his absolute least favorite is peas. The faces alone are the reason to feed him. We also throw a little cereal in with his meals and he's a pretty happy camper.

The ped also told me that I can go ahead and stop pumping and giving breast milk at 6 months. I understand I can stop whenever I want (ha! Like it's an addiction) but I feel bad depriving him of all the good nutrients breast milk provides for my own selfish reasons. My breastfeeding experience didn't go as planned and as a result, I have ended up pumping for all of his bottles. For this reason, my goal was to get him to the point where he took cereal and then see where to go after that. Well, we've made it there and now I'm aiming for 6 months. When we hit that milestone, I'll see what my supply is doing and decide after that.

As for sleep, he's still sleeping 12 hours.... most nights. Sometimes he has a cold and has a pretty stuffy nose so he has a hard time breathing. Either way, we usually get 12 hours out of the boy.

But let's face it, you aren't here for the obnoxiously long post. Here are the sweet pictures of the amazing little man.

Yep, he's a thumb sucker!

Bryan likes to read to Jack at night.

Well, that sums up 4 months. I guess I'll try to check back in a week for month 5. Can we freeze time please? And not so much for Jack but to maybe slow down the laundry piling up?

Kthanks!

-W

Brought To You By....

This is a real life dinner conversation between me and B...

Me: I talked to a lactation consultant today at work about how the pump I use at work pumps out more milk than the one at home. She said it is because the one at work is hospital grade and mine at home isn't. Bummer.

B: I've got a shop-vac you can use. It sucked all the water out of the hot tub yesterday.

Thanks, B.

3 months

I can't believe we're already at this point. Little J is already 3 months old. Also new in the B news, I went back to work. I wasn't one of those moms who lost their marbles when they got to work and spent the entire day talking about how guilty they felt; I actually enjoyed my days back at work but I hated that I got home so late and wasn't able to spend more time with J. We self schedule at work so I'll play with my work schedule and fix it to my liking next time.

3 months at home taught me a few valuable lessons.

1.) Never have a baby in the late fall/early winter... EVER AGAIN!
2.) I was not hard wired to be a stay at home mom but that could have something to do with #1.
3.) Boy Meets World has some of the dumbest story lines on t.v.

 OMG WHATACUTESTINKINFACE!

If that wasn't enough...

Fat. Rolls. And I pinch them all the time!

Who doesn't have a crazy cute bath time picture?

J is up to all kinds of stuff now days. First of all, he is really becoming a chatter box. He coos and is starting to mimic some of the sounds we make towards him. He's also crying a lot less. He usually cries for a few reasons. A.) hunger B.) he's awake and feels the whole village needs to know C.) B is trying to get him to play horsey with the dog.

Next, he's smiling like crazy! It doesn't take much to get a giant, toothless smile out of him. Well, anything can get it out of him but stick a camera in his face and it instantly runs away to hide. I had B's help getting the ones for the pictures in this blog but, as in most of the pictures, he's looking at me as if I grew another head.

Tummy time is getting more interesting due to him propping on his elbows. We have an easier time playing when he can look up and see me. I love how when he's propped up, his feet lift up into the air. Kind of like he's posing for a picture featured in the Babies of the Year calendar.

HE'S SLEEPING 12 HOURS!!!!! I never thought I'd be able to say this at 3 months. After our little trip to the ER, J started cat napping during the day. I was totally frustrated and couldn't figure out how to help him get back on schedule until I came across a post that made sense. It said that babies around this age will start dropping a nap or two during the day and can sometimes have a hard time which ends up in cat napping. I started paying close attention to his moods when he woke up and he was actually happy. I would roll him over and he would greet me with with a big smile and coo. If he were waking up happy with only a 30 minute nap, who was I to change that? I decided I needed to modify my schedule to fit his.

Due to the short naps, he also feeds more frequently. About every 2 hours. At daycare, they are able to get him to go 2.5 - 3 hours between naps and he sleeps about an hour but at home I can only get him to go 2 hours at the most but he still feeds every 2 hours. Either way, we start his bath, bottle, bed routine at 8 pm and he's usually down by 9:30. Occasionally he has a mishap in the middle of the night and wakes up around 2:30 but that's pretty rare. It can usually be blamed on a leaky diaper, stuffy nose or a poor feeding before bed.

While I was searching through pictures for this post, I came across a few that I felt a need to share

This is what I came home to a few nights ago. My little thug, sleeping off a trip to the grocery store.

This next is a group of pictures to show how quickly his mood changes. 

 6:22:00 pm He loves some daddy time.

 6:22:05 pm B clearly said something funny to make him chuckle. Probably something about me snoring at night.

 6:22:06 pm Uh oh. Take it back, B! Take it back!!!

 6:22:08 pm Phew. That was close. Good work!

6:22:09 pm Such a sweet face!

 6:22:30 pm Oh no! That's serious!

 6:22:31 pm His head is falling back. This isn't a good sign.

 6:22:44 pm Oh sweet Lord, no. The point of no return.

 6:22:45 pm Almost fully charged for all out wail.

 6:22:57 pm Yep. There it is. 

6:22:58 pm Well that started out nice. Better luck next time, B.

And on that bombshell!

-W

It's Late

Clearly I need to go to bed but I ran across this post on Pinterest and I hit a new level of rage. Please tell me what man would let his "previous wifey" organize his Wall O' Crap this way and why oh why would he want it monogrammed!? He doesn't need to remember what his last name starts with while building corn hole boards for his next Bro Party. Come on, ladies, I think some spaces in a house don't need a woman's touch. Oh and since when did chevron print become an acceptable motif in a workshop? Any man that has a shop that looks anything like this should have his Man Card revoked... Pronto!

-W

That Kid

Merry Christmas, Happy New Year, Happy Kwanzaa, Happy Hanukkah and all those other holidays I missed. Things got a little cray cray around the B house last month. Note to self, never have another winter baby. Being stuck inside has killed me.... KILLED ME!!!!! Our Christmas was fantastic but stressful to the max but who's isn't?

Then it happened. The one thing I warned B about back in October when J made his grand entrance. B got the flu a day after Christmas. I was devastated. I had visions of plopping J in B's lap and running off to finally get the laundry done or dishes washed. Fun fact: the laundry hasn't been completely done since J came home. That's a lie. Since I was 8 months pregnant. Then in one fail swoop, my parenting cohort dropped to the ground saying he felt like death. I'm a nurse, no one is ever that close to death and still plays on their iPad. But one Sunday I made him go to the Minute Clinic and the swab proved me wrong. This was after we ended up at the emergency room with J because his fever was high. No worries, he's fine.

While B was sick, I experienced a triad of emotions. First I felt really horrible for him and took care of him because I never want to take care of myself when I'm sick. While I've never had the flu, I've experience flu like symptoms when I had mastitis and it was the pits. I then felt anger because I told him months ago to get the flu shot to which he replied "Humph, I don't need a stinking flu shot." And finally, I felt jealousy. I was jealous because he got to sleep in the basement for 3 nights, uninterrupted and played on his iPad all day long. How I long for laziness. I'm excited to go back to work so I can sit for longer than 15 minutes at a time.

Which brings me to my next thought. J starts daycare next Monday. I'm scared to death. Not of having to leave my child with someone else or the fear that they won't be patient with him when he pulls a W and changes his mind half way through a task. No, I'm scared of him being "that kid". We all know who he is. He's the one that you see coming and you find a hiding place quicker than when a Jehovah's Witness comes knocking at the door. I'm scared of that day when I show up to daycare and I hear the words, "Jackson bit Betty today. We need to work on our biting skills." But seriously, who could be angry with this kid?

Today I'm going to set aside my fears and breathe in his baby smell. We're hibernating in the bedroom today because it's 8 degrees outside and our house wasn't built for this kind of cold.

Sending warm, happy, beachy thoughts your way!

-W

I Don't Always Love It

Merry (late) Christmas, everyone! I hope all of you had an amazing and blessed Christmas this year. Here in the B house, we are still recovering and now we're battling the nasty cold bug that has started making rounds. B is bed bound today while J and I hold down the fort. We've been traveling to various family events so J is now sleeping off all his exhaustion.

Last Sunday we found ourselves at my aunt's house for my dad's family Christmas. Me and B were sitting at the table with the rest of my cousins when we started talking about being a parent. You see, one of my cousins had the first grandbaby last year, J was the second and the youngest of all of us is pregnant with the third. There was one more cousin at the table that is now engaged and his fiancee was talking to us about our baby's schedules. We began comparing sleep schedules, breastfeeding woes (don't worry, my breastfeeding post is being compiled now) and the most recent winner of the "Guess What's On My Shirt" game and that's when she looked across the table and mouthed to her significant other "We will never have kids". That's when it hit me that I was that person I hated during my pregnancy. I think every new mom knows that person. She's the one who tells you every horror story known to man about childrearing before she tells you of all the joys that come with it.

I don't always love being a mother and I would be lying if I told you there weren't days when I secretly wished I were alone in my house or on the beach with Mr. David Beckham.... wait, I think that's my marriage speech but I can honestly  say I would never trade this experience for anything in the world. 

I don't always love it when...

1.) I get nice and cozy in bed just to have J wake up and start screaming

2.) He looks at me with giant alligator tears in his eyes and I don't know how to fix whatever is making his tummy hurt.

3.) I am all dressed up nice for an event and J pukes on me. Who needs perfume?

4.) It's 5 am and I can't find the paci in his crib. Why don't they make those things glow in the dark?

5.) I feel like I finally have some sort of schedule figured out for J and then he has a growth spurt and we start over at the beginning.

6.) I'm covered 24/7 in puke, pee or both. I actually went to bed last night with both on my clothes and didn't bat an eye.

7.) J gets gas or has a hard time with his poops. He cries while he's being held, eating, laying down, sucking on his paci, then he blows up his diaper and feels all better.

But these are the things I love...

1.) I love when J smiles up at me with milk all over his face and gurgles a noise of approval.

2.) Bath time. I love giving J a bath because he's such a cute naked baby!

3.) Play time on his mat.

4.) When he gets sleepy and just wants to snuggle.

5.) He's now starting to giggle and it's the best sound ever!

So while I don't always love being a mother, I wouldn't trade my experience with anyone or for anything else in the world. J has turned our lives upside down but day by day we're learning to deal with his changes and it's the most rewarding path we could have taken.

-W