My favorite pumpkin...

Is the one with the chubby cheeks, wearing the grey sweatshirt... ;)

Thanks Gramma & Boss for carving such cute pumpkins for our little punkin'!

A boy and his dog

8 months old (actually 1 week shy of 9 months)

4 months old


4 weeks old
Nick has gotten bigger, Whinnie has gotten shaggier, Todd has inched further into the picture, and the pile on the end table in the corner has consistently been stacked higher. But I can say with complete confidence that nobody has straightened that lampshade. Ever.

A Teething Rhyme

My husband cracks me up. Like hilarious, full-body-convulsions-filled-with-laughter, cracks. me. up.

Yesterday evening we were hanging out in the living room before dinner, giggling at Nick who couldn't decide if he wanted to scream in delight at being in his bouncer, or scream in agony from the vicious top teeth that are seriously crowding our space right now.

So I said to Todd "should I go get the baby orajel?" Because we all know I can't make decisions on my own, and prefer to have Todd tell me the answer. And knowing full well that I wanted him to say "yes, go get it", he nodded profusely and said "absolutely".

I came back downstairs with the tiny tube of cherry flavored goo and sat down on the floor in front of Nick.

As I started to apply it to Nick's gums, I started to tell Todd about my visit with one of my sweet sorority sisters this past weekend. I had told her about Nick's teething and how much pain he was in. As a seasoned veteran mom -- two kids under two (17 months apart -- she deserves some kind of medal!) -- she told me "you know, a little rum really does work great".

So I was sharing this with Todd, and inadvertently said "My sorority sister said rum works. She said she just dipped her thumb, into a little rum, and rubbed it on her daughters gums..."

And before I could finish my story with "and she said it worked wonders" Todd, doubled over with laughter, interrupted and said "is this some kind of bizarre poem?!...Thumb, Rum, Gums...really?!" We both cracked up.

Man! I'm a poet and didn't even know it!

Feet are Funny

...and apparently delicious!




Todd has said I can get some new socks considering all of mine have holes in them (did you notice?) But I just don't see the need ;). Maybe I'll put socks on my Christmas list...

The Teeth

These top teeth might possibly be the death of me.

Nick's two middle top teeth are busting through his gums like a freight train, and little dude is UNCOMFORTABLE. Big time.

Poor guy screams and screams and can't get comfortable. Last night I finally slathered his gums in baby orajel and gave him a dose of infant Tylenol last night in hopes that would help. It seemed to help a bit, but it took him way longer than usual to get comfy.

And speaking of getting comfy, I have to take some pics of the monitor when Nick is sleeping at night. That boy can get in some seriously bizarre positions. And every time I point it out to Todd and say "that canNOT be comfortable", Todd reminds me that he sleeps in weird positions like that. And it's true. I often wake up in the middle of the night to find Todd sleeping with his knees up in the air. So strange.

Anyway, I'm keeping my fingers crossed that both teeth finishing pushing through today while Nick is at daycare. He's far less fussy and in much less pain when he's awake.

I just have to give a shout out to my girlfriend, Jessica -- she commented on my last post about night time crying and said that the crying would pass, he would become a great sleeper, and soon enough he'd be doing something else to make us worry all the time. How right she was! Just when we figure out the sleep training, it gets interrupted by teething. But she's also right in another regard..."this too, shall pass".

Before I Became a Mom...

(I saw this on another blog and thought it was a great idea, because every single day I have a moment where I think to myself "pre-mommy Melissa would have NEVER done/said/exclaimed/enjoyed/eaten that". So here goes...)

Before I became a Mom, I never thought that...

-I'd be so comfortable announcing to my husband "oh crap, can you grab the baby? I have to go #2!" (you'd be surprised how often this happens. And I'm sure before he became a Dad, Todd never thought he'd be so comfortable with his wife's bowels.)

-I'd be so comfortable announcing my child's bowel movements to others.

-Day-to-day conversations with my husband would include the color, texture, and smell of our child's poop.

-I would ever leave the house without any make-up on. I'm talking NONE. In most instances I still won't leave the house sans make-up, but the babysitter is becoming more and more familiar with "just woke up" Melissa face.

-I could possibly worry about things anymore than I already did. But now? If Nick even so much as breaks out in a little sweat from wearing too many clothes, I freak out that he is sick and has a fever and needs an ice bath and needs to go to the ER and probably thinks I'm an awful mom, and ohmygosh I need to sit down.

-I would be more concerned with my child looking cute than myself. Truth be told, I've gotten better about this one...but for the first 4 or so months of Nick's life, taking a shower and washing/styling my hair were the last things on my list. Making sure Nick's pants/shirt/socks/jacket all matched was priority #1. Wait...maybe this hasn't changed much...

-Wearing stretchy waisted pants would be ok with me. Pre-baby, I used to beg my mom to not wear old lady pants with the stretchy waist because she was just too young to do so. Now? I wish all pants had stretchy waist bands. Buttons and zippers are just so binding...when you're trying to conceal the last bit of muffin top you're trying to lose, and get in and out of the bathroom quickly before your baby starts screaming, elastic waisted pants would be WAY more convenient.

-I would enjoy eating mushy apples, cheerios, pureed butternut squash, and slimy squishy peaches. But seeing the joy on Nick's face when I take a bite of his food and then share it with him (not to mention the encouragement it gives him to continue eating), is incredibly enjoyable.

-Drinking coffee would become more of an addiction than just an enjoyable beverage. Now we drink coffee like Juan Valdez lives in our backyard.

-My own health concerns would take such a backseat. It took me 6 months after Nick was born to finally make it to the doctor to take control of my blood pressure issues. And the eczema break outs I keep having on the back of my leg? I just mindlessly scratch and ignore. But I genuinely look forward to taking Nick for his monthly well check-ups. Hearing the doctor say "Your child looks perfect and healthy. You're doing a great job." is music to a mommy's ears.

-I would be able to cry on such demand. Now? One sad news story, 5 lines of a sappy country song, or 3 seconds of the ASPCA commercial, and I'm in complete and total body sobs.

-I could love my husband any more than I did the day we got married. His interactions with Nick and the way he loves his baby boy just melt my heart.

-I could love our son as much as I do. I knew the love I had for him would be immeasurable. But I had NO idea of the love of a mother until I became one. The saying is beyond true:
"Making the decision to have a child is momentous. It is to decide forever to have your heart go walking around outside your body." ~Elizabeth Stone

Dear Cheerios,

I love you.

Love, Nick

**Please ignore my annoying "mommy voice". Even I find it irritating ;)

Seriously...

...do they ever go to bed without crying? I wrote that whole post about how I was probably going to jinx us, and sure enough I did.

Nick is a great sleeper -- once he gets to sleep. But every single night, after he's gone down, he either starts crying as soon as he hits the crib mattress, or very shortly there after. And he'll cry anywhere from 20 minutes to an hour. It's excruciating.

Todd and I try to busy ourselves while he cries, so that we aren't focused on how desperately we want to go calm him down...but it is seriously hurting my heart.

Of course once he's finally settled himself down and falls asleep, I feel instant relief, because I know once he's asleep, he's asleep until morning. And we've had a couple of really great nights, where he's gone down quietly, and not woken up crying...but for the most part, the evenings are spent listening to Nick howl himself to sleep.

The only explanation I can think of is that he is really such a GOOD baby, that maybe he has a lot of pent up energy that he needs to get out before bed. I mean, the boy never cries during the day. He'll fuss here and there, particularly when he's hungry for a meal or ready to take a nap...but never full out crying. He only cries that hard when he's hurt...or when his feelings are hurt (i.e. bedtime). Maybe once he becomes more mobile, and figures out this crawling deal, and then moves on to walking, he'll be able to get more energy out that way, and will go to bed easily?

For now I'm just wondering if he'll ever go down without crying...or are we doing something wrong?

Ahh, parenthood -- the consistent game of second-guessing and doubting yourself, that never ends!

yup

I should really learn to not get too excited about things.

Last night was just like the previous night. Nick fell asleep in my arms, I laid him down in his crib, he started to stir but rolled to his belly, and passed out. For all of 20 minutes. Then he woke up screaming like someone was torturing him with a red hot poker.

Finally after nearly 45 minutes of the horrible screaming, I asked Todd to go in and rub his back briefly.

But that husband of mine...boy is he a push-over. He stood there and rubbed Nick's back for damn near 30 minutes.

Typically when I go in to rub Nick's back when he's screaming, it's very quick and brief...a short little rub, a quiet "you're ok, baby" and then back out the door. He immediately starts crying again, but not nearly as hard and typically falls asleep shortly there after.

But Todd said every time he started to step away from Nick's crib, he would pop his head up, look right at Todd, and start to fuss.

Such a sucker! :)

So finally Todd left and Nick saw, but only cried some short, less violent cries, and finally fell asleep. By about 9:00pm.

On the plus side, as Todd and I sat watching the monitor, sending Nick "you can do it, buddy! fall asleep!" ESP messages, we managed to spend over an hour talking about anything and everything in life. It's been a long time since we had an actual conversation that wasn't interrupted by the baby, TV, or phone. It was truly enjoyable. You know, minus the crying coming from down the hall... ;)

Anyway, here's hoping it was a fluke, and tonight is another good night of sleep!

Probably gonna jinx us...

...but I'm just so dang proud of my little guy, I have to brag a bit.

After two grueling weeks of crying it out, I think we've finally succeeded.

We started the process on Wednesday, October 5th. And after several days/nights of crying after he went down, he seemed to be getting the hang of it. Granted he would still cry a bit each time, but each night the crying lasted a little less.

He had one great night of sleep where he didn't wake up at all. And it seemed like we were approaching the goal line.

But then we started getting of schedule...staying out late...past bedtime, past last bottle time...and things started to go south pretty quick.

So this past Saturday I decided we were starting over. But this time, we were going to do it for real -- really commit.

So we put Nick in his pj's, had his last bottle, a big burp, and then into his crib he went. He had fallen asleep in my arms, but true to form, woke up the minute we inched near his crib. Like it was radiating bad ju-ju vibes. He instantly started screaming the minute he got in the crib. And continued for damn near a full hour.

But once again, after that hour was up, he fell asleep and slept like a brick.

Sunday night was the same ordeal (Plus a bath -- we do bath night every other night...boy has his momma's sensitive skin, and frankly I don't see the need to bathe an 8 month old every night...he's seriously lacking in the body hair and body odor department so whats the point?). He hit the crib mattress and started the sobs. This time they started out less angry and violent, and more like the pouty, bottom lip stuck out, little tiny "wahs" he gives when he's just not feelin' something. This turned into his regular full body screams, and lasted just over 40 minutes.

But he slept like a log again.

Monday night he seemed off. Fussy all evening...refusing to eat dinner...just not himself. We did the same bedtime routine, and then he passed out in my arms. So I put him in his crib asleep, and magically he didn't wake up the minute he felt the mattress. I even walked downstairs to stick out my chest and declare to Todd that I was the master. As I entered the living room, Todd looked confused and said "is he not crying?" and before I could even gloat, deflated me with "well that won't last long". Snarkily, I replied "we'll see". But he was right. Less than 15 minutes later, Nick woke up and started screaming. And this screaming sounded HORRIBLE.

However, being too afraid to ruin the sleep training, I let him cry for as long as I could stand it. I watched the monitor in agony as Nick contorted his body into all kinds of shapes, rolled from one end of the mattress to the other, back to front, searched for his pacifier, and continued screaming as he put it in his mouth. This made me want to throw up. Usually when he screams during CIO, he stays in one position (on his belly) occasionally rolling to one side, but mostly just crying until he can't hold his little head up any longer, and then lays it down and falls asleep.

Finally after an hour of screaming, I could tell he was getting tired, but couldn't get comfortable. I went in, rubbed his back for about 30 seconds, which completely calmed him down, and then I left. As soon as I left, he picked his head back up and cried for about 15 seconds, and then passed out.

That same night, around 3:00am, he woke up crying again. I let him cry it out, and it lasted all of about 10 minutes before he went back to sleep. But I couldn't help but think how that was unusual for him to cry in the middle of the night after crying himself to sleep.

When I went in to wake him up that morning, my suspicions were confirmed. Poor guy must've gone to bed with a bad tummy ache (hello fussing and refusal to eat dinner?!), because he had pooped enough to fill his entire diaper. Which of course meant there was nowhere for all that pee to go, but out. So his jammies were soaked, his sheets and mattress pad were soaked, and his diaper was FULL. Poor guy was just trying to tell me something in the middle of the night. "MA, my frickin' diaper is full, I'm soaked, cold, and nobody cares!" Ugh. Mother of the year, right here.

So I apologized profusely and promised "never again, buddy!"

But last night was much better. Nick ate all his dinner, enjoyed his bath time, and fell asleep mid-bottle as usual. I placed him in his crib, and he started to wake up. But no crying. He rolled onto his tummy. Still no crying. I rubbed his back for 5 seconds, then made my exit. STILL no crying! I went downstairs, did some dishes, chopped some veggies for a beef stock Todd is making (from scratch...I married Betty Crocker), and flipped through my Redbook (and he married a cougar). STILL NO CRYING! Todd said "no crying, huh?" and this time I didn't gloat. I kept my guard up, certain the crying would come. At one point, I heard a little "wah" and raced to the hand monitor. He was awake, head up, looking around. I'm certain he had a burp. But he wasn't crying. So I went into the kitchen and helped Todd steam some artichokes I had bought that were on the verge of becoming compost. Then I checked the monitor again. Sleeping like a baby!

By 10:00pm, I knew he was out cold for the night. And I was right. Little man slept through until I went in to wake him up at 7:30am.

I took him to daycare with a little pep in my step. So proud that my little guy woke up in the middle of the night, knowing he was all alone in his crib, and managed to put himself back to sleep with little to no fussing.

I'm convinced now that the schedule really does work, and is SO important and valuable. Nick needs his routine.

And aside from a mysterious case of diaper rash (his first ever...and really it's just some redness in his butt crack), everything is hunky-dory in our baby world.

Hopefully this won't be just another fluke...like it has been so many other times that I've bragged about his sleeping. But this feels different. This feels like a small victory. And after all, isn't it the small victories that make it all worth it?

Look what I can do, Ma!

"If I can't pull myself out of this crib, I'm sure as hell gonna try to eat my way out of it!"



**Also, can we address the amount of hair he suddenly grew?!

There is no sweeter sound

...than a baby laughing at his daddy... :)

I think I can...

Poor guy...he knows how to get in the correct position, but he just can't quite figure out what to do once he's there...



(Feel free to turn down your speakers...all you can hear is my mom talking to my aunt, and a little bit of Nick's fussing/frustration)

Happy 8 Months and 12 days, Baby Boy!

How Old is Nick: Nick turned 8 months old on October 2nd! But true to form, I forgot to post his update on the 2nd, so I figured, what's 12 more days? WELL, 12 days is a LOT in baby world, let me tell you! Stats: I recently hopped on the scale holding Nick and he weighed 19 lbs. But I'd be willing to bet he's 20 lbs by now. As for height, I have no idea. But boy is growing fast! He's still in size 3 diapers, mostly because we want to use up the plethora of size 3's that we have in his closet. They still fit pretty well, but I think he could wear a size 4 overnight to hold in all that extra pee. He's wearing 9month clothes and jammies, but comfortably fits into a lot of 12 month sized outfits. Mostly pants/overalls in 12 month size, as he seems to be pretty long. There are a few 6-9 month onesies that he can still squeeze into, but only if they were sized pretty big to begin with. Last weekend I packed up all of his 3-6 and 6 month clothes. Little dude had so many clothes, it filled a HUGE storage bin. I might've cried as I sorted through several things that he never wore and realized he would never be able to wear them again. And I also might've made the statement that while I would love to have a daughter, I sort of hope we someday have another little boy because we wouldn't need to buy a single item of clothing for him. Sleep: Holy mackerel. Sleep is now SO much better. Had I posted this on Nick's actually 8 month birthday, this would be a different story. After weeks and weeks of unpredictable sleep patterns, multiple wakings per night, and plenty of sleeplessness for all three of us, Todd and I decided one night "he just needs to cry it out". So that's what he did. For 71 excruciating minutes, Nick screamed and cried. And then he laid his head down, and slept for a solid 9 hours. The next night he cried half the time, laid his head down, and slept a solid 10 hours. This past Monday night, he was down by 7:45pm (a record for us!), and did not make a peep until 7:30am. Almost a FULL 12 hours. Granted throughout the night, every now and then he'll wake up and fuss for a few seconds, but he is now able to put himself back to sleep, which is a huge triumph. Sometimes we still have to let him cry it out when he goes down for the night, but it doesn't last too long, and the crying seems to help him sleep harder and longer. It also helps that he has mastered searching for, picking up, and replacing his own pacifier. I am so proud of our little man.

Milestones: Nick still only has the four bottom teeth, but damn are they cute! It looks like he's going to cut his top teeth very soon -- I swear I can see a little white poking through -- but he absolutely HATES when we try to look at his top gums, so we don't get to check often. He also looks like he is going to crawl any day now. He gets up on all fours and starts rocking back and forth. Every now and then he'll lurch himself forward and flop on his belly and then push back up to all fours and try again. As soon as he gets the arm/leg/brain coordination down, watch out -- he'll be movin! As for words/sounds, he likes to scream and yell and grunt (boy LOVES a good grunting match), but he's also added a repetitive sound that resembles "Dah Dah" to his vocabulary. Of course this pleases Todd immensely -- and I have to admit, it is the cutest sound. Especially when he says it while looking at Todd. :)

Food/Appetite: He's has almost mastered feeding himself puffs. He picks them up with his little fist -- usually between his fore-finger and thumb, but sometimes they get stuck in the palm of his hand -- and instantly brings his fist to his mouth. He is making contact now about 80% of the time. The other 20% of the time, they drop on his lap, get mushed to his palm, or get stuck to his face. Otherwise he is still on pureed baby food that the babysitter and I make. I'm pushing him until his 9 month appointment to ask the doctor how I can start to incorporate more complex foods. I'd love to have him eating whatever we eat for dinner, but I'm so nervous to try anything extreme. Not to mention he loves to blow raspberries while he's eating, and doing so with a mouth full of pureed squash = big yucky mess!

Nick is officially out of his baby tub, and sitting up in the big tub for bath time. He LOVES to be in the bath, splashing his little heart out. He loves chewing on bath toys and really loves having water poured over him. He hasn't quite figured out to close his eyes while water is being poured on his head, but he loves it regardless.

He is also officially sitting up in high chairs and shopping carts! Thank goodness for the shopping cart cover...it keeps him strapped in, and keeps my mind off the worry of germs everywhere.

As for the growing friendship with Whinnie, she is starting to come around even more. She will often drop toys in front of Nick and bark in anticipation of him throwing them for her to chase. Of course he doesn't understand, nor does he know how to throw on demand yet, but they'll get there. Mostly she ends up laying next to him as he plays because we spend 50% of the time yelling at her to stop licking his toys. Poor girl just doesn't understand why there are so many dog toys laying around that she's not allowed to touch!