Week 47 (plus 1 day)

After two snow days my model wasn't feeling very photogenic at all yesterday.

I didn't argue.

He's feeling much better today.

Interested in the camera again.

Very interested.

Week 46

Watch his lips.  He kept saying, "buh! buh!" which I assume means ball.  Sometimes block.

Unless otherwise stated in explicit detail let's just assume that Mayhem, and me by default, are not sleeping well.  Up every hour, two if we're lucky.  Religiously.  That sort of thing.  It's not looking like things are going to get better in the sleep department anytime soon and I'm tired of hearing myself explain it.  I'm tired of thinking about and calculating how much sleep we are and are not getting every single night.  I'm tired.  So tired I went to bed five minutes after Mayhem finally did last night and "Oh, yeah, I forgot to post..."  I'm giving myself permission to stop thinking about it.  Also, I will never describe a good night's sleep as sleeping like a baby ever again.  That's just inaccurate.

Sleep deprivation aside, but along that same line: the other night I propped myself up in bed on my elbow to read a book and rubbed the inside tender part on my scratchy line-dried sheets (dryer's half broke, another time) just a little too hard.  Automatically, that little bit of unpleasantness took me right back to the first night in the hospital with Mayhem, propping up on my elbow a thousandty times until it was nearly raw.  I was all hopped up on new mama adrenaline and too nervous to relax because I was convinced someone would steal him in my sleep after that whole protect-yer-baby speech they gave us during the tour.  I jumped at every tiny peep he made.  Foreshadowing of all the nights to come I guess.  Ha!

Are You Going to Eat That?

Probably not.

We've got ourselves a tiny man on a food strike.  What's this about?  Aren't I the union rep?

All he wants to eat right now is oatmeal.  And sometimes a little bit of banana.  

It started a few days ago with spoon refusal.  Maybe he's decided those colored baby spoons are just too childish for him?  So whatever he ate from a utensil came off of a fork, a real poke-yer-eyeballs-out fork.  I guess he got upset that I wouldn't allow him to hold the fork by himself and has now declared that he shan't eat anything!  Nothing!  

No matter the color, texture, or temperature.  Only oatmeal and maybe banana.  No eggs, no toast, chewed a bit of bacon, no veggies, no tri-colored cork screw pasta, no chicken, no shredded wheat biscuits, nothing.  

He'll pick up whatever is in front of him, consider it, maybe even touch it to his tongue for a quick flavor check, and then spit it right back out like you just told him he was eating a worm.  Milk intake is the same as usual, still drinks a lot of water.  

I hope this is just a phase and that it passes quickly because I am nervous as a cat that he'll grow up on the Standard American Diet.  You know: junk food, fast food, nothing green.

Any ideas?  Inspirational quotes to calm me down?  

Perhaps I should give him his food in the floor because he's quite interested in chewing on whatever microscopic bit of leaf or lint, or rubber door knob stopper tip he can find.

Week 45

This post almost didn't happen.  Boots accidentally swiped my memory card and it spent a day in his work truck and is an absolute miracle I got it back if you know my husband and his skill of losing E V E R Y T H I N G.  But I got it back!  Here are the pictures from yesterday.

It was a little cool yesterday (think 50s), but after all the bitter cold and time spent inside I couldn't resist taking things outside for our weekly photo sesh.  Mayhem wondered what we were doing out of hibernation and complained about his eyes being as sensitive as a sparkly vampire.  But it wasn't exactly warm so we didn't linger.  Spring will be here soon!

Teadrops

*I apologize in advance to your eyeballs.  It is not easy to photograph a tan box on a tan counter.  Don't get me started on the level of difficulty in photographing swirling tea.  Much harder than babies even.*

Have you heard about Teadrops?  Probably not, they're new (unless you saw my pic on Instagram a while back!)  Sashee was so sweet to send me a box to try right before Christmas and I promised her a review in return.  Review or not, y'all, these are good!

I was so excited when my package came with this cute little wooden box inside!

The top slides away and you can see the little teadrops patiently waiting for you.  (I've already used several, but my box came with 8.)

Directions?  Right on the side!

Keurig and Starbucks don't have anything to do with this, but that's how I got my hot water and that's my favorite ceramic mug.

One cup of hot water...

One teadrop...

Unwrapped, of course...

Drop it in and wait!  Immediately, the teadrop starts to dissolve and things get happenin'!  Little bubbles are floating and the grains are spreading out everywhere!

About a minute later, you get this.

Stir it well.  (That's a fork.  I hadn't ran the dishwasher in two days so all my spoons were dirty.  But you can't tell!  Carry on!)

The teadrop is already sweetened, but at Sashee's recommendation I added a little milk.  That's how the English drink their tea, I hear.

Sashee sent me the cardamom spice flavor, which I've never tried before and jumped at the chance to add something new to my (very) short list of Teas I've Drank.  

My tea connoisseurship is pretty sad.  My palate is not refined enough to detect notes of whatever dirt the tea was grown in or the specific mortar and pestle that ground the spices.  Basically, it was delightfully sweet and tasty, kinda reminded me of English Breakfast tea.  

I even managed to talk my sister (the one that only eats white bread and chicken fingers) into trying a cup and although it wasn't really her thing, I think she admitted that she liked it.  :)

It will definitely give you a caffeine jolt though, which I really appreciate on those days I feel like ZombieMommy!  

One bit of advice though?  Unless you like the taste of grains I wouldn't drink it down to the last drop.  Just wash that part out.  A small price to pay for such a lovely cuppa!

If you're the least bit curious, check them out.  More flavors are being developed as we speak!

Week 44

10 Months

It is suuuuuper cold down here this week!  Our Southern bones aren't used to the high being 22*F so we've been hiding out in the house.  We're not stir crazy yet, but we are only one day in.  Thankfully, there has been no snow!  (I am the world's biggest snow-hater.)

Anyway, today Mayhem finally clapped!  I've been slapping his chubby starfish hands together a few times every other day or so and he did it completely on his own today!  Baby accomplishments make all mamas proud, right?  Now if he can figure out where his nose is......

The past two weeks have been horrendous as far as sleep goes.  He wakes up in the middle of the night, crawling in his bed, standing up, tears rolling, screaming bloody murder with his eyes closed for an hour, sometimes two hours!, before he exhausts himself and passes back out.  We try to hold him to calm him down, but he bucks and fights the whole time.  It's crazy.

We don't know if he's dreaming something that wakes him up or maybe his stomach is bothering him or what.  Last night after his supper I had a little talk with him about how much better of a day we would have if he would just go to sleep and sleep all night without making a peep.  He partied hard until nearly 10 PM, but wouldn't you know the little bugger didn't wake up until 4:20 this morning?  Then he slept from 5-6:30!  I was shocked!  

All day today I told him how happy I was that he'd slept so well last night and how much fun we were having since we were well rested and tonight I encouraged a repeat performance.  I sure hope he took it to heart because he went to sleep before 7 PM.

He is so much fun though!  So happy and playful.  I can't believe he's 10 months old.  He seems more like a little boy than a baby most days.  He's a little eating machine, loves to feed himself, and will try anything.  He has the cutest little squinch-nose smile and I love listening to his little "da da DADA da" conversations even though every other syllable has a "plbbttt!" between it.  So. Much. Fun!  

Two Things That Made Me Smile

My boy (finally!) getting over the texture of eggs and feeding them to himself and "reading" in his room.

What made you smile this weekend?

Week 43

Now that the Christmas tree has been taken down and packed up in the attic until next year, we've got space in our living room to keep a few toys in this corner for Mayhem to play with.

Usually it's the farmer he's slobbering over, but it looks like the horse is finally having a turn.

He's figured out how to press the button underneath the farmer to make the music play, but hasn't yet figured out that the buttons under the animals make sounds too.

And Happy New Year!