O Christmas Tree...

Sunday we went to buy our Christmas tree :) Right now it has only purple and white lights on in celebration of Advent, and then we'll turn on some multicolored lights on Christmas.  (That was the way the Christmas-decor-lover and her theologian husband compromised.)

Here's a picture of John waiting in line with us to get our tree's trunk trimmed (say that three times fast.)

I never thought I'd be one of those moms with a cart cover, but after getting looks from people at Target when I didn't use one, I felt bad and was worried that someone would report me to CPS. So I bought a cover for $5 at a church yard sale :)

When can I cut his hair? He looks like a fuzzy old man.  It doesn't look so bad in person, but in pictures he looks kind of ridiculous (and lovable, always.) How long does it take for his hair to really grow in? I'm still not really sure what color I'd call his hair.  Like sandy brown? Whose kid is this?? lol you wouldn't know he is a quarter Mexican and quarter Venezuelan... he looks pretty Irish to me :-/

Just a PSA...

Dear Shall-Remain-Nameless,

Don't try to feed lemons to my baby.  I don't see you taking a nice big bite out of a juicy lemon, so please don't encourage my son to do that.  While I told you not to do that because he's (supposedly) not allowed to have citrus until he's a year old, the real reason I said no was because giving a baby a lemon is ridiculous and mean and whyyyy would you do that? 

Hugs,
A.

Just a 7 month old in 12 month old's clothing...

Last night John wore his first pair of big boy pajamas.  Apparently they don't make cute little baby pajams in his size, so he wore the little long sleeved shirt and pants combo last night.  He's growing up waaay too fast.  Our most recent stats are -- 28 inches long and 18 pounds heavy.  

I love my amazing little guy :)

Dear baby boy, I'm still smarter than you...

My beloved son,

I realize that you're pretty strong.  In fact, you may be the most physically advanced child I've ever seen in my life.  While I will encourage whatever strengths and talents God has given you, I simply can't allow you to pull yourself into a standing position in your crib during every naptime. Yep, that means that I'm going to take away your beloved assistants... your crib bumpers.  I'm replacing them with mesh bumpers that collapse when you try to put your weight on them.  I was already a "bad mommy" for putting those death traps in your crib to start with, so I get double points for not only taking away your primary method of reaching the crib railing, but also for installing mesh, breathable bumpers and saving you from smothering yourself.
I'm sorry that your crib now looks like those sad ones in the orphan movies.  It's kind of boring and, well, white, but you'll be fine.  Maybe now you'll take a nap instead of pulling yourself up to chew on the crib railing.
So I think in this battle, I win.  I'm still smarter than you are.  Well, for now.
Love and kisses,
Mama

Edited to add: The mesh bumpers gave way immediately and he went right along pulling himself up in the crib.  Epic fail on my part.

5.5 months -- teeth (for real this time!!)

So I'd noticed that my little chomper was seriously biting on everything in sight.  Forget those squishy teething toys, he only wanted to bite on the super hard plastic rings and knuckles on our fingers.  Well, lo and behold, he has the very tops of his two front bottom teeth poking through! I have no idea how long it takes for the entire tooth to emerge, but it's very exciting!!

If only he'd stop chewing on my shoes.  I feel as if there's a puppy in this house. And no worries, I don't let him chew for long once I realize what he's doing :)

4 months, 1 week -- Teething?!?!

So I've attributed JWF's fussing, drooling, gumming, spitting up behavior to teething for probably over a month now.  But boy is it bad now.  Not so much the fussing, but the buckets of drool and incessant gumming... I found him gumming his playmat's support columns today, and pretty much everything he grabs with his teeny hands makes its way into his mouth and receives a good clamp before he lets it go. 

I never thought I'd say this, but I hope his first teeth pop in soon so we can move on and get back to nursing normally.  Right now he nurses like a maniac who has a love/hate relationship with the boobs, and I sure did feel rejected when he happily gulped down a big bottle of pumped milk before bed last night and tonight after angrily popping on and off of me for a while before.  Of course, he'll happily nurse at 2:30am, 5am... pretty much whenever is most inconvenient for the rest of the fam :)  We're going to the doctor for a checkup on Thursday.  I hope that she says those teeth are coming and not that he's some sort of crazy baby who's becoming a grumpy teen overnight. 

16 weeks, 5 days... or four lunar months ;)

So here we are, about to bid summer farewell in these parts.  Well, it'll still be pretty hot around here for a while, but John's going back to work next week, so it's essentially the end of summer.  Little one and I will be on our own again during the days, so we all have adjusting to do :)  I've joined a moms-of-young-kids group at church, so hopefully we'll make some friends around here who won't mind if baby boy needs to nap in the middle of a visit :)

I'm constantly in awe of how much this child changes week by week.  He now flips from tummy to back and back to tummy (though sometimes gets stuck on his side lol) and is fascinated with his hands.  He coos and gurgles and smiles a ton, but has yet to have a belly laugh.  He is pretty social and will enjoy the company of (most) people, but also likes his quiet time playing on his own.  He absolutely hates his carseat and is almost too long for it... he's growing pretty quickly! We don't have his latest stats, though I'm pretty sure he's around 16 pounds now. 

In other news, my arms are getting ripped from holding him all the time lol.  My hair is falling out at lightning speed (apparently such shedding is normal?)  My pants are starting to fit again, which probably means that my hips are returning to normal.  I wish my tops would fit, but I think that's going to take until I wean, which won't be for a while.

I think it's pretty amazing how much has changed in my life over the last year.  I found out a year ago yesterday that I was pregnant, and at that point I hadn't done much thinking about how I would give birth or raise my children.  So I went from someone with few opinions on those topics to someone who is pretty passionate about childraising topics.  The guys and I recently went to an awesome store in town (www.nurturedfamily.com) and were picking out a new baby ring sling.  While we were there, I helped two other ladies learn how to use the wraps they'd purchased elsewhere (the Moby wrap, if you're curious).  One of them had a baby girl who was crying and crying and it was sooo cool to watch that baby fall asleep in seconds (literally!) once her mom figured out how to put her in the Moby wrap properly.  The mom was so relieved and even had a few tears because her baby girl was finally resting.  It really made me hope that one day I can go into business doing something I'm passionate about, whether it be teaching Bradley method birthing classes or having a little shop that sells nice nursing bras, cloth diapers, ecofriendly baby stuff, etc.  I know some people may think I've gone off of the earthy-crunchy deep end, but I'm really happy with my choices :)

Well friends, I promise to post more.  And perhaps add pictures.  I have lots of them, but I'm guilty of having a full memory card and not downloading the pics as promptly as I should. 

Miss you all!