Five months!

Five months!

Your exuberance for life has exploded this month. They don’t call it the four month wakeful period for nothing. You’ve started waking up throughout the night again. Don’t get me wrong, I love every minute I can hang out with you, but I would actually prefer to spend our time together during my waking hours. When you do wake up, you’re not terribly interested in going back to sleep. You’re so much more aware of the world and want to spend as much time as you can taking it all in.

You continue to be huge. At your doctor’s appointment this month the doctor called you a “big ol’ moose.” Your dad couldn’t be more proud. You’re off the charts for height and head size (which you get from your dad. You and your dad both owe me for that one!). Your weight is around the 90-95^th percentile. A few weeks ago we took you in for your 4 month check up and you’re measuring in at the average size of an 8 month old. You’re outgrowing all of your 12 month clothes. I was hoping to wait until Christmas to get you more clothes but you may be running around naked by Christmas if I do that. On a sad note, you had to get your next round of shots at that appointment and you spent the next 24 hours sick and miserable. There are few things that make me as sad as seeing you sick. The one positive thing that came out of that is you wanted to be cuddled. You’re getting so active and alert that you’re not as content to snuggle with your mama, so I’ll take the cuddling where I can get it.

Your time is spent exploring the floor and your toys these days and especially flinging your limbs. You are really into grabbing anything and everything. You especially like faces. If it’s your dad’s face and he’s wearing his glasses, JACKPOT. You also do this new trick I call “the vampire” where you wrap one arm around my shoulder and throw the other one around my neck and attack my neck. I adore that. Recently you’ve started constantly rolling from your back to your stomach. Then you realize you’re on your stomach (which you don’t really like) and get upset and forget how to roll back over, even though you’ve been rolling from your tummy to your back for a good four months now. You often throw your head into the air and fling your arms behind you and lift your legs in the air like shamu or a seal skimming across an icecap. It is so stinkin’ cute! However, the back to stomach flipping/squawking does make for a really difficult nap time. I have found you in all kinds of crazy positions in your crib this month. The other night you rotated yourself 180 degrees and wiggled into the corner. That is so not how we put you in there.

Your legs are still quite strong and your balance is getting better but luckily (for us) you haven’t gotten down your muscle control. We are in so much trouble when you do. You’re sitting up supported by your arms and only occasionally faceplanting. All you want to do is stand. Getting you to bend at the waist takes some convincing. Putting you in your swing, strapping you into your car seat, and keeping you in the bathtub are all daily challenges. When you’re not standing, you’re kicking. Bath time is hilarious. We don’t really know if you’re annoyed or happy or quite angry, but you’re expressing something or maybe just trying to splash out every single drop of water.

We suffered through our first household illness this week. It started with you getting a little sniffly and sneezing last week. Then I got it. When mommy gets sick, it’s game over. Friday morning we hung out with your grandma and everything was fine but by mid-afternoon I was very miserable. I had to tough it out until your dad came home. We laid on the floor together, you playing and rolling, me just trying to breathe and make sure you didn’t roll out the door. By Friday night I was really quite sick and I spent the whole weekend that way. I tried to keep my distance from you except to feed you and it was so tough! In addition to being miserably sick, I was just as miserable to be missing out on a weekend with you. But that misery was nothing compared to the screaming resulting from clearing your nose. Oh THE SCREAMING! You can’t yet blow your own nose, so we have to hold you down and use a bulb aspirator which is a crazy contraption that sucks the snot out of your nose (just one of the many joys of parenthood). You ha-aaa-aa-aaa-ate it. And I absolutely hate doing it. I usually do the sucking and your dad holds you down. We try to make it this fun game and use upbeat tones but it doesn’t work. You will have none of it. The screaming that comes out of you doesn’t even remotely resemble a human, and it’s especially troubling coming out of a small infant. You fling yourself wildly trying to swat away our hands. It’s seriously like trying to tackle a windmilling octopus.

Oh and you prefer rap music. We’ve tried all kinds of music and dance parties with you and your preference is hip hop. Gettin Jiggy Wit It is your favorite song, which you’re not allowed to listen to by the way. Don’t tell your dad, but you like country too. Classical, eh, not so much. You do seem to like it when I sing to you. I mix it up, lullabies and classics and some personal favorites. Jack Johnson, John Mayer, the occasional DMX on the more challenging days (Y'all gon' make me lose my mind up in here, up in here). You’re not allowed to listen to that either.

We celebrated your first Halloween a few weeks ago. You were dressed like a tiger, in honor of your auntie Anna and the RIT tigers. We spent part of the night at the Harvest Festival and you spent the time in a kangaroo pouch strapped to your dad. You tried to eat the pouch the entire night and loved your new vantage point. Again, much cuteness abounded. I went pretty low key this year and got some tiger ears, so together we were the mama tiger and the tiger cub. And your dad was the kangaroo.

You are loving life baby boy. And we are loving life with you. You have filled my heart in ways I didn’t know possible.

Love,

Mama

Catching up on my lunch break

Every day I really did think about what I was thankful for. So here's a little catch up:

11/14: I am thankful for working phones! Especially since I don't have one. I'm carrying around 3 right now and none of them really work right. Long story, hopefully it will be fixed soon, but it's really showcasing my dependence on my phone. There's a reason they call it a crackberry.

11/15: I am really thankful to have all 4 of my grandparents. I know that's a huge blessing and I don't want to take it lightly. My goal this thanksgiving is to get a picture of Carter with all 4 of his maternal great-grandparents.

11/16: My car. We've had our Pilot almost a year and I still love it. It keeps us safe and cozy. It carried across the desert and back, transported us to the hospital and home with our little bundle, and I'm sure it will take us on many more adventures.

11/17: Schwans. Last night was a rough one for some reason. I was so physically exhausted and the thought of making dinner was too much to bare. And just then, the doorbell rang! Dinner came to us on the most perfect night for it. And the Light Vanilla Caramel Brownie Ice Cream was a nice plus too.

In other catching up news... Carter's Five Month letter coming soon!

Oh I love technology.

But not as much as you you see.

Seriously though, I love that I can use technology to talk to those I love. I can skype with my sister from thousands of miles away from my own couch. And for that, I am thankful.

Sponsored by the letter T

T is for Thankful. It is is also for TEA.

And today I am thankful for tea.

I like tea a lot. My favorite is Mighty Leaf tea. It comes in a gorgeous silk pouch that's almost too pretty to throw away. I love the Orange Dulce, and last night I enjoyed a delicious cup of the African Nectar variety.

Tea is a bit like wine. There are regional differences, environmental considerations, fanatical enthusiasts, ceremonies and traditions. Personally, I will take a good cup of tea over a glass of wine every time.

Thankful.

I love Thanksgiving. I love Christmas more than I love almost anything (hey, I said almost!) but I really enjoy Thanksgiving. It is such a tribute to America. Football? American. Family? American, at least in theory (that's a whole different post). Stereotypical pictures of native Americans and pilgrims? I'm skipping commentary there. Gluttony? Very American. There's something special to me about Thanksgiving because it's the most unifying holiday. You don't have to consider PCing-it up and worry that the grocery clerk or dog walker you pass or whatever may not celebrate the same way you do. The only people who don't celebrate Thanksgiving are ungrateful anti-Americans. Okay, that's probably a little harsh, but you catch my drift.

Last Thanksgiving I was 10 weeks pregnant and still reeling with "morning" sickness. Or all-day-every-day sickness, in my case. I think my Thanksgiving meal consisted of a little mashed potatoes and a crescent roll and some pie. Side note: now that I'm the one and only food source for a baby who eats A LOT (dude, have you seen that kid's rolls? He's almost 1/6 of my weight) I will be eating quite a bit more this year. Like, my own turkey.

Thanksgiving 2008 was still a very special day for two specific reasons. We announced our pregnancy to my extended family, which was great of course. The second reason is that it was a holiday full of promise and hope. We knew last year that we would have a little baby in our arms for Thanksgiving 2009 and we could only imagine what our lives would be like. On this side of it, I have to say that it is so much more amazing than I ever dreamed. I love that little boy more than I knew I could. The only thing really different is how I envisioned a little baby in my arms. Instead I have a tank of an infant rolling all over the place trying to figure out how to run, not walk, all over the place.

Several people have posted something along these lines on Facebook…

"Let's see how many people can do this. Every day this month until Thanksgiving, think of one thing that you are thankful for and post it as your status. "Today I am thankful for..." The longer you do it, the harder it gets! Now if you think you can do it then repost this message as your status to invite others to take the challenge, then post what YOU are thankful for today"

I think this is a lovely idea, and I'm going to try really hard to do that here. I'd love to hear you do the same! My blackberry is dead which may prove a challenge, but I'm also stubborn and determined.

So today I'm thankful for Carter. I realize friends, family, God, etc. are a little cliché and I'll probably get more creative but especially today as I remember last year with nostalgia, nothing seems more appropriate.

Still Truckin’

This was a weekend of many adjectives. First and foremost, adorable. Carter's first Halloween was basically a snuggly photo op. He really could not have cared less about the actual Halloween part, but he did get to spend some time strapped to his daddy in the kangaroo pouch. This gave him an incredible opportunity to suck on said kangaroo pouch for well over an hour.

It wasn't all sunshine and giggles though. The weekend did include a fun-size break down. I say fun-size as in "this fun size candy bar is not fun at all." King size, now that's fun. I think Carter sensed mama needed a little help Sunday and continuously melted my heart. Riiight up until the massive blow out followed by an emergency bath (for him and the surrounding area) followed by throwing up all over his clean self. I just stood there for a minute and looked at him and said "huh, well, I wish your dad was here." And he laughed. So it was all good.

Moral of the story (without going into details): working motherhood is not easy. It's not how I envisioned my life. I don't like all the issues that come with it. But, if that's the challenge I have to deal with for such an incredible blessing, I can work with that.