Say Cheese!

I know I'm going to be saying this a lot for the next 20 years..but...my baby is growing up! Sniff. Teeth?! Already?!! More sniffing. Every time I see his smile now, I'm reminded of how much he has grown and how quickly this first year of his life is going by.

They're super cute but we weren't ready for them. We weren't ready to give up that adorable gummy smile! I guess I should be thankful that he wasn't fussy or in a lot of pain as they were cutting through. Still! I feel like they're saying, "I'm not a baby anymore, mom."

If there was a costume that made me look and sound like P, I would buy it and wear it all daylong because no one can make W laugh the way his daddy can. :)

In my eyes, W will always be a baby. Is that wrong? (Don't answer that.)

Bon Appetit! :Part II

So remember how W wasn't liking his solids too much? Well, persistence DOES pay off because look what he's doing now?! Halfway through our solids battle, he just decided to open his mouth for each bite! He practically inhales his food now. Again, takes after me.

New before and after video!

Bon Appetit!

We started solids!! It's actually been a few weeks but we weren't consistent in the beginning. W just wasn't having it. He hated it. He hates it still but to a lesser degree. It's really strange watching him eat his cereal. You ever watch those animal shows and you see a baby animal being born, trying to walk minutes after birth? It's all so foreign and new and really just plain frustrating to watch. Yet it's so fascinating to witness the progress and finally success!! That's how I feel about feeding W solids. With each little gulp, I feel like celebrating. Not to mention it's incredibly cute! You can see in his eyes that he's not sure what's happening and that it takes intense concentration to do this thing called "eating." He's still not very good at it...but he's a pro at spitting it back out. Most of it just ends up on his bib. This is pretty much how it goes...

"I'm ready for another bite, mommy."

She has no idea what's coming.

Watch this. Kekekeke.

"Mmmm...sooo good."

"NOT!"

LOL! She falls for it every time! I'm so funny!

That's my little smartass. Takes after me, of course.

Guess what!? He's got teeth! No wonder he's been biting me! His two front bottom teeth are emerging and they are sharp little suckers. It explains why he's been biting me, sucking his lower lip and making bubbles with his drool. Sigh. I love when there's a reason. I'm sure gonna miss his toothless smiles. A lot.

Bigger and Better

I'm not sure what he's doing. LOL! And he's only done it the one time. Maybe being naked made him feel squirmy or something. It was right before his bath so don't go thinking we let him hang out in the buck in this wintery weather. I thought...my son has a future in breakdancing for sure! Jam on it!

I can only imagine how tiring it must be to levitate as he was. Poor guy spent the next couple of minutes like this.

He's 5 months old now. Can't believe it. I mean, time went by fast and yet I feel like I've been stuck in the house forever! I go on playdates here and there and when P's home, he's gracious enough to spend his days off running errands with W and I. It's so much easier to do with P because we tag team all the major nightmare scenarios. Pooping(W, not me) while feeding in the car. Um....do car designers NOT have children because they sure as hell didn't design cars for them. Not babies anyway. One of us will stand in the checkout line while the other walks around with W. I can actually go to the restroom without the baby strapped to my chest! That's right! I've done my business in public restrooms while bjorning my little one. What else can I do? He hates his stroller and with the acoustics in the restrooms, I'd make everyone go deaf leaving W wailing in a stroller. You gotta do what you gotta do. I have no regrets.

We recently received a baby book about sleeping. Yes, another dreadful baby book. If I wasn't so lazy, I'd sue all these authors for being complete liars!! But surprisingly, this one wasn't so bad. It's called The SleepEasy Solution. It didn't make me feel like a bad mother for letting W cry, and it doesn't feel so strict and impossible like so many of the other books do. With this book, I was able to wean W off of 2 night feedings!! Count em. ONE. TWO!!! I know, right?! So our bedtime routine goes like this....

Bath (only couple a times a week)

cuddle

Aquafor body treatment (we just shlack this stuff all over his body so he's nice and soft)

2-3 books, always ending with Goodnight Moon

all the while we have Adele singing Make You Feel My Love in the background on repeat

we sing the song to him as well

then one last feeding and into bed.

Does this always work? No. But we continue to do it because we know eventually he'll love the routine and look forward to bedtime.

Anyway, so yeah...he's in bed by 7pm and I feed him one last time around 10pm. And then I don't get to hang out with my little sweetie until around 7am!! I'm totally shooting myself in the foot by saying out loud, let alone in writing!! But I'm so excited about this long awaited development that I have to share. I still have to wake up around 2am to pump. Otherwise, it's been great. Really great.

What else. So, remember how he hates being in his bouncer or any infant seat for that matter? Well, we decided to get him a jumperoo. The guy loves standing and kicking, so we figured we should give it a try. OMG. He absolutely loves that thing. And our boy can jump!! He was confused at first but as soon as he realized that he can be airborn of his own free will, it was over. He starts cracking up and screaming while his little toes hit the ground. It's hilarious! Footage coming soon.

I'm certain he's teething because the drool is increasing. And he's biting me while I nurse him!! Ouch!! He did this before when he was around a month old...and after a few flicks to the head, he stopped. But this time, every time I flick him, he just looks at me and smiles! How devious, right? So then I tried to say "ouch!" or gasp real loud. He would just start crying, which made me feel like crap. But I think it worked because he hasn't bitten me the last few feedings. I'm really nervous about the day he gets teeth! I enjoy nursing him so much now, it's funny to think about how painful it was and how much I dreaded it just a few short months ago. It's THE MOST darling sight and I'm going to miss it like crazy!! He may laugh more and smile more when he sees his daddy. But this is the one thing that I can give him that no one else can and I feel immense joy in that. And I feel sooo humbled when I think about all the women before...all these thousands of years, feeding their children just the way I am now. It's truly an amazing thing. It's really nice to know there are some things that can't be replaced, no matter how advanced the world gets.

Babies grow up so fast and yet so gradually, it's hard to pinpoint the exact changes. Especially when you're running on fumes and all you can think about is sleep. But I know if I don't document it all, I'll totally regret it. I can't fill out one of those baby book things. Writing by hand just takes too long. So all these baby memories will just have to be in my blog.

Just received an email from a friend with a 13-month old. She says he's walking all over the place and already pushing her away to explore. What?! 13-months!? That's less than a year away for W. Oh no!! Where's my baby? Must. Kiss. And hug him NOWWW!! Before he wants nothing to do with me! Sigh. Oh crap, here come the waterworks. Somebody's hormonal.