Wow it's really been almost 10 days?
I didn't realize it's been this long since my last update. Time flies when you are kept busy non-stop by a 6 month old. Let's see if I can remember anything that has happened in the last week or so...uh no not really!
Last week I took Julian to the Tuesday movies. We haven't been in awhile since the older he got, the least likely he was to sit still for that long. I decided to chance it and since it wasn't a movie I was really worried about seeing, it wouldn't be a big deal if we had to leave midway. He was great the entire time he just required a lot of entertaining but we managed to stick it out the entire time.
Julian will be going on his first vacation in April! We just booked tickets to Chicago where we will be visiting my sister Kristy and nephew Brandon as well as our good friends Lisa and Jeff and their daughter for the first time who is a month younger than Julian. He does fly free at this age but we don't feel comfortable not having him in a carseat after talking to a girl I know who is a flight attendent. Apparently they refer to babies held in laps as "Meat Missles." Isn't that enough to make you want to buckle them up? It's not the takeoff and landing that is the problem it's the cruise portion and turbulance since holding a baby in that case would be impossible. Like holding a baby in a car when getting into an accident, you know there is no way to hold on to them. So it's going to be a very interesting flight.
I was so excited the beginning of last week. Julian created the most perfect schedule on Monday. His naps were at the ideal times and they were 2 long naps. At least 1 1/2 hours minimum. He slept well that night and Tuesday and Wednesday were just as good. I'm thinking oh yeah he's got this down now and I didn't even have to do anything. So uh yeah, Thursday was pretty bad and it's been down hill ever since. His naps are either extremely brief or non existent. And the evenings are probably the worst ever. And on occasion he had the brilliant idea that since he woke up around 2 am, he might as well stay up. Normally I can get him back to sleep instantly but for whatever reason there were a few nights he was ready to party. And we were ready to cry. We're hoping this doesn't become one of his favorite thing to do.
I know he'll sleep through the night when he's developmentally ready to do so. I also know these days won't last forever and there will be a time when I will look back and miss them. But I realized that I seem to be a better mother when days go like last Monday did. I have my me time to refuel. I can really focus on him when he's awake because I had my intermissions. Days like today I feel frazzled and distracted. I try to do too much at once and I know I'm not 100% mentally with him. I'm running through the lists in my head, trying to slip away toplay on the computer clean something and do really important things. Sometimes I catch on and realize it's not gonna happen and once I can let go of that expectation the day improves. But sometimes I just can't let go no matter how hard I try. I try to tell him we ALL win when he molds to my ideals. Kidding.
I'll go with the flow with these short naps but he then forfeits any yawning rights postnap. I've tried to explain this to him otherwise he has to deal with the disciplinary actions I've put in place. Right now these actions are: if he's yawning within 30 minutes of waking up from a catnap I gobble his face up and tickle his ribs. This isn't working as planned because it only throws him into fits of laughter causing me to join him in these fits of laughter which then have an adverse effect on my discipline. Jeez, can't win.
He seems to be a little fussier as well. We're beginning to think it's just the frustration of him wanting to crawl and move on his own so badly and not being able to. He wants me to hold him nonstop but when I hold him he wants to crawl all over me and try to get down. When he's down he wants me to pick him back up. I can't help wonder with the declining sleep habits and increase in fussiness if it's something that either I or he are eating. For now I'll assume he's just trying to overcome some difficult milestones. They are known to sleep worse when they are on the verge of a "breakthrough." I just wish he'd breakthrough already!
I am so ready for warm weather and sadly we are still in the early stages of winter! I just feel we'll have more options in the Spring and Summer. He'll actually be able to play at a park. I'll be organizing some outdoor playdates too. In the Winter, since he's still at this age where he can't do too much and when he doesn't sleep much either I run out of ideas and we end up sitting there staring at each other while I'm thinking "Man, I'm bored and I don't know what to do with this kid anymore" and he's thinking "ENTERTAIN ME, ENTERTAIN ME. WHY AREN'T YOU ENTERTAINING ME?" You can only play with the same toys, read the same books, go for the same walks, do THE.SAME.STUFF. so many times before you want to run out of the house yelling "someone please save me!!!" You know, not that I'm complaining or anything. I swear.
I had gotten him some organic jarred baby food for him to try last week. There were a few vegetables I had no desire to cook and prepare at home such as sweet potatoes and carrots. Two things I ate way too much of on my diet. So one night at dinner I opened up jar of sweet potatoes and scooped some into a little dish. I also cut up some banana, not sure why because he clearly has very little interest in it, and also some apple which seems to still be a hit. I wanted to see what attracted him more, slices of crisp fresh apple, pieces of sweet banana or mashed up orange junk from a jar. The banana sat off to the side and his eyes were all over the orange slime. I spooned a little into his mouth and he gave the automatic initial "I just ate pooh" face. But then he opened his mouth for more. And more. Each time still making the face of disgust but something was attracting him to it. Normally if I try to use a spoon he grabs it from me and turns it into a chew toy. But not this time, he wanted me to keep shoveling it in. I was shocked. After getting quite a bit he started chewing on the spoon and I knew he was done. I continued to eat my dinner while he ate his spoon but then he dropped the spoon on the tray and started grunting and reaching for the sweet potatoes. I went with it and fed him some more until his interest ran dry. Pretty surprising I must say. Surprising and messy, my LORD these solids can make a mess. And we haven't even gotten to things like p'sghetti yet. But, I think Julian might be experiencing a sensitivity to the sweet potatoes so they are temporarlily on hold.
I decided to try to finally give him some of the rice cereal just to see what he thought. We can't continue to give it to him though as iron fortified cereals interfere with the iron absorption from breastmilk. See breastmilk is lower in iron than formula but it's absorbed at a better rate so it actually provides more iron that is unless we were to continue feeding him the cereal (you can read more about that here if you like) . So what did Julian think of it? I'll show you:
Well that about sums it up!
Awhile back I submitted pictures of his nursery for a book that is being published (yes I am freakishly obsessed with submitting anything Julian related into as much as I possibly can) by the manufacturers of his nursery furniture, Bratt Decor. I didn't think much of it as most people who use their furniture hire professional designers to do their rooms unlike us who bought it at a warehouse sale. Well I got an email this week from them saying they want to use our pictures! They went on and on how much they liked it but the kicker? We would have to hire a professional photographer to take photos. We would get $100 gift certificate for our participation but I have a feeling a photographer would cost us a lot more than that. I responded saying we weren't interested since the benefit of being in the book does not outweigh the cost. I got this response today:
We appreciate your time and submission. I understand your position, and I will mention to the editor your feelings, and hopefully she'll make a concession, because your room is so nice. The vast majority of our submissions are from professionals who do receive a great benefit from being in the book, as their businesses are published. However, she has a budget to get this book published, and I don't know how she'll respond. However, yours is a special case. I will push her, because I love your room. If things change, I'll be back in touch!
That's pretty cool they like us that much to even consider that! I'm really not expecting to hear back but nice knowing our "amateur" room was accepted into a book along side professional done rooms.
We went to our first "Mother Goose on the Loose" story time at our teeny tiny library yesterday. It seemed like there were 100 people there, I was impressed. They said it was probably their largest turn out. There were all kinds of people, some just like I thought there would be: old moms, moms straight from the gym, moms that dressed like their babies which I would never do. But there were plenty of young moms, dads, nannies, kids of all ages. It was the perfect melting pot. I of course, made eye contact with no one. Except I kept staring at a baby that made me do a triple take because he looked so much like Julian when he was little. That is weird, to see your baby in someone else's hands when he's also in your own.
I came in and everyone seemed to know just what to do, where to hang up their stuff, where to sit, knew everyone's names, date of births, social security numbers. I'm wandering around trying to look confident and comfortable but probably look more like a freak that escaped from the circus. I was trying to find a spot and I saw a girl with freaky colored hair and thought maybe I should sit next to her. No that would look to obvious so I went on the other side and sat next to the mom and daughter in the matching purple sweaters. The librarian that talks in a stereotypical whisper came in and started to sing in a voice that made Tracy Chapman sound like a soprano. Then everyone started to join in. That alone was enough to make me want to bolt but in an attempt to prevent Julian from experiencing the same painful shyness I stuck it out and mouthed the incorrect words to nursery rhymes I probably should know. Julian had a permanent blank look on his face, I think he was just taking it all it. They handed out props and all kinds of fun but no actual "story." I like what they did better.
In fact, I think this was more entertaining than and probably almost as interactive as our baby yoga classes were but this is F-R-E-E. My kinda fun.
As always I must close with some pics of the great one:
Julian prefers to do his sprints in the buff. Can you look at this picture and not laugh? Seriously if you can, tell me because I sure can't.
His new buddy who is almost 6 months older:
Last week I took Julian to the Tuesday movies. We haven't been in awhile since the older he got, the least likely he was to sit still for that long. I decided to chance it and since it wasn't a movie I was really worried about seeing, it wouldn't be a big deal if we had to leave midway. He was great the entire time he just required a lot of entertaining but we managed to stick it out the entire time.
Julian will be going on his first vacation in April! We just booked tickets to Chicago where we will be visiting my sister Kristy and nephew Brandon as well as our good friends Lisa and Jeff and their daughter for the first time who is a month younger than Julian. He does fly free at this age but we don't feel comfortable not having him in a carseat after talking to a girl I know who is a flight attendent. Apparently they refer to babies held in laps as "Meat Missles." Isn't that enough to make you want to buckle them up? It's not the takeoff and landing that is the problem it's the cruise portion and turbulance since holding a baby in that case would be impossible. Like holding a baby in a car when getting into an accident, you know there is no way to hold on to them. So it's going to be a very interesting flight.
I was so excited the beginning of last week. Julian created the most perfect schedule on Monday. His naps were at the ideal times and they were 2 long naps. At least 1 1/2 hours minimum. He slept well that night and Tuesday and Wednesday were just as good. I'm thinking oh yeah he's got this down now and I didn't even have to do anything. So uh yeah, Thursday was pretty bad and it's been down hill ever since. His naps are either extremely brief or non existent. And the evenings are probably the worst ever. And on occasion he had the brilliant idea that since he woke up around 2 am, he might as well stay up. Normally I can get him back to sleep instantly but for whatever reason there were a few nights he was ready to party. And we were ready to cry. We're hoping this doesn't become one of his favorite thing to do.
I know he'll sleep through the night when he's developmentally ready to do so. I also know these days won't last forever and there will be a time when I will look back and miss them. But I realized that I seem to be a better mother when days go like last Monday did. I have my me time to refuel. I can really focus on him when he's awake because I had my intermissions. Days like today I feel frazzled and distracted. I try to do too much at once and I know I'm not 100% mentally with him. I'm running through the lists in my head, trying to slip away to
I'll go with the flow with these short naps but he then forfeits any yawning rights postnap. I've tried to explain this to him otherwise he has to deal with the disciplinary actions I've put in place. Right now these actions are: if he's yawning within 30 minutes of waking up from a catnap I gobble his face up and tickle his ribs. This isn't working as planned because it only throws him into fits of laughter causing me to join him in these fits of laughter which then have an adverse effect on my discipline. Jeez, can't win.
He seems to be a little fussier as well. We're beginning to think it's just the frustration of him wanting to crawl and move on his own so badly and not being able to. He wants me to hold him nonstop but when I hold him he wants to crawl all over me and try to get down. When he's down he wants me to pick him back up. I can't help wonder with the declining sleep habits and increase in fussiness if it's something that either I or he are eating. For now I'll assume he's just trying to overcome some difficult milestones. They are known to sleep worse when they are on the verge of a "breakthrough." I just wish he'd breakthrough already!
I am so ready for warm weather and sadly we are still in the early stages of winter! I just feel we'll have more options in the Spring and Summer. He'll actually be able to play at a park. I'll be organizing some outdoor playdates too. In the Winter, since he's still at this age where he can't do too much and when he doesn't sleep much either I run out of ideas and we end up sitting there staring at each other while I'm thinking "Man, I'm bored and I don't know what to do with this kid anymore" and he's thinking "ENTERTAIN ME, ENTERTAIN ME. WHY AREN'T YOU ENTERTAINING ME?" You can only play with the same toys, read the same books, go for the same walks, do THE.SAME.STUFF. so many times before you want to run out of the house yelling "someone please save me!!!" You know, not that I'm complaining or anything. I swear.
I had gotten him some organic jarred baby food for him to try last week. There were a few vegetables I had no desire to cook and prepare at home such as sweet potatoes and carrots. Two things I ate way too much of on my diet. So one night at dinner I opened up jar of sweet potatoes and scooped some into a little dish. I also cut up some banana, not sure why because he clearly has very little interest in it, and also some apple which seems to still be a hit. I wanted to see what attracted him more, slices of crisp fresh apple, pieces of sweet banana or mashed up orange junk from a jar. The banana sat off to the side and his eyes were all over the orange slime. I spooned a little into his mouth and he gave the automatic initial "I just ate pooh" face. But then he opened his mouth for more. And more. Each time still making the face of disgust but something was attracting him to it. Normally if I try to use a spoon he grabs it from me and turns it into a chew toy. But not this time, he wanted me to keep shoveling it in. I was shocked. After getting quite a bit he started chewing on the spoon and I knew he was done. I continued to eat my dinner while he ate his spoon but then he dropped the spoon on the tray and started grunting and reaching for the sweet potatoes. I went with it and fed him some more until his interest ran dry. Pretty surprising I must say. Surprising and messy, my LORD these solids can make a mess. And we haven't even gotten to things like p'sghetti yet. But, I think Julian might be experiencing a sensitivity to the sweet potatoes so they are temporarlily on hold.
I decided to try to finally give him some of the rice cereal just to see what he thought. We can't continue to give it to him though as iron fortified cereals interfere with the iron absorption from breastmilk. See breastmilk is lower in iron than formula but it's absorbed at a better rate so it actually provides more iron that is unless we were to continue feeding him the cereal (you can read more about that here if you like) . So what did Julian think of it? I'll show you:
Well that about sums it up!
Awhile back I submitted pictures of his nursery for a book that is being published (yes I am freakishly obsessed with submitting anything Julian related into as much as I possibly can) by the manufacturers of his nursery furniture, Bratt Decor. I didn't think much of it as most people who use their furniture hire professional designers to do their rooms unlike us who bought it at a warehouse sale. Well I got an email this week from them saying they want to use our pictures! They went on and on how much they liked it but the kicker? We would have to hire a professional photographer to take photos. We would get $100 gift certificate for our participation but I have a feeling a photographer would cost us a lot more than that. I responded saying we weren't interested since the benefit of being in the book does not outweigh the cost. I got this response today:
We appreciate your time and submission. I understand your position, and I will mention to the editor your feelings, and hopefully she'll make a concession, because your room is so nice. The vast majority of our submissions are from professionals who do receive a great benefit from being in the book, as their businesses are published. However, she has a budget to get this book published, and I don't know how she'll respond. However, yours is a special case. I will push her, because I love your room. If things change, I'll be back in touch!
That's pretty cool they like us that much to even consider that! I'm really not expecting to hear back but nice knowing our "amateur" room was accepted into a book along side professional done rooms.
We went to our first "Mother Goose on the Loose" story time at our teeny tiny library yesterday. It seemed like there were 100 people there, I was impressed. They said it was probably their largest turn out. There were all kinds of people, some just like I thought there would be: old moms, moms straight from the gym, moms that dressed like their babies which I would never do. But there were plenty of young moms, dads, nannies, kids of all ages. It was the perfect melting pot. I of course, made eye contact with no one. Except I kept staring at a baby that made me do a triple take because he looked so much like Julian when he was little. That is weird, to see your baby in someone else's hands when he's also in your own.
I came in and everyone seemed to know just what to do, where to hang up their stuff, where to sit, knew everyone's names, date of births, social security numbers. I'm wandering around trying to look confident and comfortable but probably look more like a freak that escaped from the circus. I was trying to find a spot and I saw a girl with freaky colored hair and thought maybe I should sit next to her. No that would look to obvious so I went on the other side and sat next to the mom and daughter in the matching purple sweaters. The librarian that talks in a stereotypical whisper came in and started to sing in a voice that made Tracy Chapman sound like a soprano. Then everyone started to join in. That alone was enough to make me want to bolt but in an attempt to prevent Julian from experiencing the same painful shyness I stuck it out and mouthed the incorrect words to nursery rhymes I probably should know. Julian had a permanent blank look on his face, I think he was just taking it all it. They handed out props and all kinds of fun but no actual "story." I like what they did better.
In fact, I think this was more entertaining than and probably almost as interactive as our baby yoga classes were but this is F-R-E-E. My kinda fun.
As always I must close with some pics of the great one:
Julian prefers to do his sprints in the buff. Can you look at this picture and not laugh? Seriously if you can, tell me because I sure can't.
His new buddy who is almost 6 months older:
posted by Julian at 10:23 PM
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