Week 34

The leaves in our yard off of our trees are dumb.  Brown and boring.  I've been staring at my neighbor's bigger, colorful leaves for a few days and today I just couldn't take it anymore.  She was more than happy to let me borrow them and said she thought this morning about raking them up.  I'm so glad she didn't.

He reached over and picked the leaf up on his own as soon as I sat him down.

This is where I knew it was probably going in his mouth next, but he didn't.

He crunched it up and dropped it.

And then my camera said the card was full.

So I left him with my neighbor and ran back home to get an empty card.  He doesn't look like it in this picture, but he just loves her!  He smiles and jabbers at her the whole time he's around her.

Happy fall, ya'll!

Out to Sea

Have you seen those nature shows about penguins living down in Antarctica?  Maybe this does not necessarily pertain to the Antarctic penguins so don't quote me on any of this.  Anyway, the mama penguin sits on the egg or the baby penguin (clearly, I'm no expert) for several weeks or months (?) while the daddy penguin is out fishing.  Then when he comes back, somehow they swap the kid over and the mama goes out into the fah-reezing cold ocean to catch her own lunch.  The point of this no-where-near-accurate non-NatGeo diatribe is that Tuesday afternoon I was the mama penguin.

In August, even though originally I said I was going to keep Mayhem with me the whole time, I started dropping him off at the nursery at church.  He'd gotten big enough he was starting to be fidgety and somewhat loud at times and I was worried that he was disturbing the people around us during the service.  Not to mention the fact that I wasn't getting anything out of church besides wrestling with him in my nice clothes while trying to be quiet.

I felt comfortable leaving him with the ladies in the nursery after spending a week around them helping out down there during VBS.  I knew he was in loving and more than capable hands.  The first time I left him I thought, "I wonder what Mayhem's doing?" the whole time we were apart.

At 10:30, between preaching and Sunday School, I always go to the nursery to feed him while everyone else is changing services and visiting, so I'm never away from him more than an hour.  I've been pretty comfortable with this arrangement even though I worry about how I'm going to get him back into behaving in the sanctuary now that I've quit even trying.  I'm probably over thinking this a little, right?  I've probably still got time.

Recently, though, I've started thinking that maybe I need a little more time away from Mayhem.  Boots has suggested this on several occasions, especially when I get a little stressed and at the end of my rope, but I have been unwilling to even consider the idea until these past few weeks.  I know I've said before about Boots that when he looks at me like I just fell off Mars and "that is a ridiculous idea," it's only a matter of time before he changes his mind and acts like the idea was his in the first place.  That statement is probably true about me as well.

It's not that I don't trust people with him.  It's just that I want him and I need him and mine mine mine mine!  

I'm worried that maybe I'm too attached to him and too dependent on him and that can't be healthy.  Do all mamas feel like this?  I don't see how mamas that work and send their babies to daycare do it.  I'm positive it would break my heart.  (I'm also worried about being cooped up in the house all day every day after the cold weather comes, but SAD is another story.)

Tuesday I needed to go to town to the grocery store.  Boots was coming home from work early in the afternoon and suddenly I had the bright idea to leave Mayhem with him so I could make a quick trip by myself.  I knew Boots would love the time alone with Mayhem so I was a little surprised at my reaction when he said he'd be glad to stay home and play with him rather than go deer hunting, which he probably already planned and really needed to do.  I cried a little.  It made me sad to think about being 20 miles away from my baby.

So I hurried out the door right after Boots walked in and didn't even leave any instructions because, control?  I need to learn to share it.  A quick kiss and bye-bye and I was on my way with my nerves and apprehensions about being out in the world alone without my little parasite.  ;)

I was determined to make it a quick trip though and I soon forgot about my anxiety when I started rushing around Target and made the executive decision to skip Publix.  On the way home I listened to the radio as loud as I wanted to without worry of little baby eardrums.  By the time I got close to home I sort of felt like my old self, the pre-baby me.  

I was gone an hour and fifty minutes.  He didn't cry the whole time and probably never realized I wasn't there.  It was good for all three of us for me to get out for a little while, but mostly good for me.  I'm not making any plans for this to become a regular occurrence just yet, but who says I'm not open to the possibility?  Especially when I need it, since I returned refreshed and reenergized.  

Baby steps, ya'll.  They're for mamas too.

Week 33

Oh, Mayhem.  It seems like this past week of his life has been so full of changes!

He's not crawling yet, but he's going backwards and turning circles in the floor

He has a new smile- see that little nose squinch in some of the pictures?  That started Monday and it is the cutest thing!

Tuesday he started babbling da-da-da-da.  This is particularly sweet, even though we know it's just noise to him and he's not really trying to say daddy.  He tells himself little stories and laughs sometimes about whatever it is he said.

Last night was the first night in 36 days that he slept through the night.  I did not have to get up with him once and this morning I bounced out of bed like I'd slept 2 days.  I don't know if it's because we went back to swaddling him or because he didn't have his 5 o'clock nap.  I repeated the conditions again tonight, hoping that it happens again.

Lately, I've sort of developed an obsession with making baby food.  When I cook vegetables I kinda hope we don't eat them all so I can blend the leftovers.  It's a good thing I like it so much because he has started eating like he has a hollow leg or something!  He gets excited when he sees me with a jar in my hand and grunts and hoots at me for more when I don't feed him fast enough or the bowl is empty.  The top shelf in my freezer is full of little jars of pureed peas, green beans, sweet potatoes, bananas, apples, and peaches.  They're usually too watery on their own so I always mix it with a little baby oatmeal to thicken it and to make sure he's getting iron.

Things are so much fun around here!

Week 32

Mayhem got a phone today.

It's a "my phone" by Sassy.  

All the cool babies have one!

It's got textured buttons that make silly sounds, bright colors, and beads. 

I hope the case is slobber resistant.

Week 31 (plus 1 day)

See those thighs?  I don't know why, but he always laughs when I grab them in my hands.  Ticklish thighs, who knew?  Haha!

Back to the doctor again today for another recheck of the ears.

He weighed 18 pounds and 12 ounces dressed.  

His doctor said his left ear had a little bit of fluid in it, but it looked "happy."  A happy ear.  

She laughs way too much, but I love her!  She's so cute and friendly and just looooves Mayhem.  I feel like we're old friends even though I've only seen her twice.  

I told her about last week and how I knew he had to be sick but he was really fine.  She laughed and said they do that sometimes.

She told me to keep doing what I'm doing because he's healthy, happy, and well-behaved.  Are babies bad at seven months already?  I never thought he was well-behaved or otherwise.  He's just a baby, right?

Neither the nurse or the doctor looking in his ears seemed to bother him, but he clamped down on the tongue depressor.  Gotta teach him to say, "Aaaaahhhhhhh!" I guess.  Finally got in it there though and she gagged him til he puked a little.  Gross.  Gotta work on that weak gag reflex, too.

7 on the 6th!

Laughing at his daddy

This one is my favorite

This shot is just because of his hair.

Mayhem at seven months......

-Rolled over from his back to his stomach once on our bed, still not rolling regularly

-Sits really well and loves playing with his toys 

-Can stick his pacifier in his mouth if he wants to

-Puts everything in his mouth

-Says ababababa!

-Grunts in frustration

-Squeals really loudly and high-pitched when happy

-Likes holding his toes and trying to get them in his mouth

-Wears some 3-6 month clothes and some 6-9 month clothes, it kinda depends on what fits over his head ;)

-Likes to be held so he can stand

-Laughs when you tickle him, blow on his belly, growl and kiss him, or eat him like an ear of corn

-Looks at you when you call his name sometimes

-Likes being read to, but wants to hold the book so he can chew on it

-Slides backward across the floor when he's on his stomach

-Digs his heels in the mattress to push himself around in the crib

-Wiggles and squirms when you dress him

-Loves to see himself in a mirror

-Holds my nose before he goes to sleep

-Gives big, wet open-mouth kisses all over your face

-Has the cutest laugh

-Still no teeth yet, but we brush anyway

-Tries to sneak and watch tv which has led to some creative tv-blocking screens in our living room

-Got too big to be swaddled and just sleeps under a blanket (this has worked out better than I would have imagined, even though he does get a little arm-flappy sometimes)

Week 30

This is one of his favorite activities.  Gaping mouth is his only expression today apparently.

This past week has been kind of weird.  Thursday, I took Mayhem back to the doctor for a recheck on his ears.  They were better, but not 100% so another recheck in another two weeks was scheduled.  (He weighed 17 pounds, 12 ounces nakey!)  The doctor said if he ran a fever or woke up at night with his ears bothering him then we'd start another round of different antibiotics to hopefully knock it the rest of the way out.

He hasn't been sleeping like he used to (12 hours straight) since he first got sick.  Waking up crying every few hours, waking up earlier than normal, and every night was worse than the one before.

Yesterday he rubbed his ears a lot more than I've seen him do before and he sat in my lap, staring into space just turning his head from side to side for what seemed like five minutes.  This morning he felt a little warmer than usual to me when he woke up (before 6 AM) and had a big blister on his tiny behind. After he fell asleep in the floor on his stomach I decided to call the doctor because if he's asleep on his stomach he must be feeling bad, right?

They said bring him in and I waited over an hour and paid $35 for them to tell me that his ears are perfectly fine, he has diaper rash, and has gotten into some bad habits at night.  (Dear kid, please be sick when you're sick and not make me think you're sick when you're not.  Thnx!)

So, we've been applying diaper cream and airing out the rear since we got home.  No pee pee on the rug yet thankfully.