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.

Make You Feel My Love

When the rain is blowing in your face
And the whole world is on your case
I could offer you a warm embrace
To make you feel my love

When the evening shadows and the stars appear
And there is no one there to dry your tears
I could hold you for a million years
To make you feel my love

I know you haven’t made your mind up yet
But I would never do you wrong
I’ve known it from the moment that we met
No doubt in my mind where you belong

I’d go hungry, I’d go black and blue
I’d go crawling down the avenue
There’s nothing that I wouldn’t do
To make you feel my love

The storms are raging on the rollin’ sea
And on the highway of regret
The winds of change are blowing wild and free
You ain’t seen nothing like me yet

I could make you happy, make your dreams come true
Nothing that I wouldn’t do
Go to the ends of the earth for you
To make you feel my love

-Bob Dylan

Do you hear what I hear?

So, here's clip of W making the "mmmm" sound. I feel so bad not being able to understand what he so desperately is trying to say. Whenever he does this, I find myself doing it right back. Like I wanna help him say it. LOL! Do you hear the beginnings of "mama" or is that just wishful thinking on my part?

Still

I still can't believe he's our son.

I still can't believe I'm a mom.

I can't believe I gave birth!

I seriously can't believe I survived being pregnant. Ugh.

I can't believe I even got pregnant!

And there it is. P's and my mantra for the last 5 months. We still can't believe it all. I mean, did I want children...yes..one day. But it wasn't really in my sights for some reason. I was still struggling with finding a job. That was my priority. Whenever me and my girls would get together, the subject of "trying" always came up. I would pretty much stay quiet for this portion of the conversation, seeing as how I had no intention of "trying" any time soon. It happened anyway, didn't it? It's so typical of my life for it to have played out as it did. I'm the type of person who...won't jump off a cliff (cord attached, of course) willingly. You have to push me off. That's the only way it's going to happen. And that's pretty much how I ended up here. I think God "pushed" me and voila!

I'm still adjusting to the many changes in my life. The many sacrifices that need to be made in order to raise a child. I admit, my life before W wasn't the most glamorous. But it was mine and I loved it. I could do as I please. Before, Bug was the only real responsibility. He truly was our preparation. For instance, he always had to take care of business during the last 5 minutes of my favorite TV show. Always. Now, I just miss the entire show for whatever mommy reason. Still haven't eaten at a sit-down restaurant. You know, the kind with waiters? Who has time to wait??! I'm on a clock here, folks. I no longer listen to the radio in the car. It's been the same baby CD I made while I was pregnant, on repeat. The Grammys this year...no freakin' clue who those winners are. Haven't been inside a dressing room since shopping for maternity clothes. Haven't gone to see a movie in forever. Read for pleasure??Insert massive guffaw. All of my many hobbies are on hold indefinitely. But that's okay because I no longer have idle hands. I'm sure there's more...but it's been so long that I no longer miss these things enough to remember what they were.

The one thing I truly miss is my time alone with P. We were joined at the hip before. Maybe I crazy-glued him to me while he was sleeping, but WHATEVER! The point is we did everything together. Running errands all day was actually fun. Now it's a race to save my sanity. We hardly ever have time alone together. I really REALLY miss our lazy weekend mornings. We even trained the dog to hold his pee until we were good and ready to get out of bed. Freakin awesome. I don't think I'll be able to sleep into the double digits until the kids are in college. Sniff.

I know it sounds like I'm complaining. Oh how can she think about such trivial past times when she has this new baby in her life??!! Where are her priorities?!! Has she no shame?! No. Apparently not. Any new mom probably feels the way I do. And if they don't, well good for them. Let me put it into perspective for you. Until you've had to hold off wiping your own ass because you had to wipe someone else's first, don't judge. Take my shoes and walk a mile, would ya? Look, in the end, none of these complaints matter. When your life changes overnight, you don't just forget your old life without an afterthought. It lingers and you miss it.

But it's all worth it, right? If I hear that question one more time...someone's getting a black eye. Of course it's all worth it! Idiot.

If anything, I'll get to discover my old life again through W's eyes. We'll get to watch movies, read books, eat out...all that good stuff. And you know I'll be the bomb when it comes to crafts. Martha Stewart can kiss it! In time, I'll be sad that I have to do all these things by myself again. Get ready for future complaints.