It's my birthday/ Halfway Report

Our trip has been great so far! It's been hot weather, but that's how I like it. I feel comfortable and at home, haha! Chicago was an amazing city; we could have easily spent the rest of the week there. We walked a lot, and I'm still feeling it. It takes a bit to adjust to being in a city with public transit. We're way too used to cars. Jeffrey is a fabulous traveler and has been in a fantastic mood the entire time. Seriously- zero problems. He's in a better mood than he is at home! The condo we were in in Chicago was a bit tricky since it was not child proofed at all. Our little guy is on the go now! He's even started pulling up on things if they're a certain height for him!

We are now in Lansing, Michigan for the Odyssey of the Mind World Finals (you should look it up- it's an awesome organization that you should get your kids in if you can). We got a suite (woo-hoo!), so we have plenty of room for the little guy to romp and play. Jeffrey and I are the "Howdy Committee"- representatives from Texas Odyssey to the teams that are competing from Texas. Basically, we go see as many of their performances as we can and give them a little bag of goodies. I get to wear a cowboy hat, LOL! Jony is an actual judge, so we won't see him too often during the day. Jeffrey is currently taking a nap before we get started on our duties. Michigan State University is a beautiful campus and with the gorgeous weather, it should be a great trip!

I'm super glad things are going well- both for the obvious reason that they're going well and because it's my birthday today! Yay! Nothing too special, but I did get an e-mail from Jony (who left before we woke up) saying that he appreciates me and hopes that I have a great birthday! We'll do the birthday dinner thing when we get back home.

And we're off!

We're about to head to the airport for our Chicago/Lansing vacation. Let's see how this whole "travelling with a baby" thing goes...

BLW: Apples

We started him on his second food yesterday: apples. After bananas went so well, I went ahead and made out our list of when we're introducing each food. The plan is to give him something new every Sunday and Thursday, which puts us finishing foods about January. Ha. I give us about a month before we just start giving what we're having. We'll start out slow and like good parents, though. (Note: Nobody in either of our families have food allergies, so Jeffrey's very low risk. There is a chance, but it's not likely).

Anyways, apples went over alright. He didn't seemed horribly thrilled by them. He does enjoy playing with the spoon, so he liked applesauce for that reason. He also liked that he could pick up the apple slices much easier than the banana. He just gummed them, which is what I expected. Apples are a bit tricky to take a bite out of! We're going to do some baked apples for dinner tonight, and I suspect he'll like that. Especially since we'll be eating some, too.

Since we'll be on vacation until Memorial Day, he sadly has to wait awhile before an exciting new food (which will be avocado, if you were wondering). We do have puffs and rice cakes for him to enjoy so that we just don't stop solids all together. Hope it all goes well!

6 Months!

This milestone is a little bit harder to swallow than all of the other months. I mean, it means that he's been with us for HALF a YEAR! Unbelievable. It also means that we're closer to his 1st birthday than his birth, and that's super crazy to think about. The difference between then and now is remarkable.

Sleep is becoming hit or miss lately, although I'm super grateful that we're having a few hits. Every few nights, it's only one waking. Of course, it's about five the next. We're getting there, though, and it takes days like today when I see how fast it's going to remind me that he won't want anything to do with me in no time at all. Especially at night (unless he wants money, of course). He's napping great now, so that's awesome. His little personality is budding more and more each day, and he is hilarious! He LOVES peek-a-boo and is really working on his mobility. The kid wants to walk. Yesterday. He's so strong and just a remarkably awesome kid.

We went to the pedi yesterday, and all is well! He's definitely focusing on growing lengthwise rather than outwards, but that's to be expected in our family. With a 6'4'' daddy and a 5'9'' mommy, I have no clue where he's getting his height from! She was very impressed with his skills and gave us the all clear for solids any way we feel is best for him. Since he's breastfed, she's not real particular about making sure he gets food/water. He had a rough go after his shots, but after a good nap he was up and ready for the world. Such a trooper.

6 Month Stats:

• 15 lb 4oz and 27.5 inches
• wearing Carter's 6 month clothes primarily. We're transitioning him out of the onesie into little shirt and short sets. Sad, yet adorable.
• has a consistent bedtime routine and goes down super easily. Just working on those wakings still!
• started solids and already has stinky poop
• is sitting unassisted with very few falls now
• practically crawling
• get get from a sit to crawl position and vice versa
• when on all fours, he stands up on his back legs (like plank, if you know yoga)
• can pull up if you place him in front of something
• walks when you hold his arms
• can stand with just holding one of his arms or by holding onto a piece of furniture without any help
• can hold two objects at once
• has precise aim- can even switch a lightswitch to the off position
• mimics facial expressions and sounds (he goes real low when my dad is around- hilarious)

Bananas, Day 2

Today, Jeffrey got to experience a puree. However, he had to feed it to himself. Since we're doing Baby Led Weaning, it's all in his court 100% of the time. I got a few jars of food at a baby shower, and I don't want to waste it. Plus, it gives him a fun new texture to try. I started with it in a bowl, but that was a fail. I have a shopping list starting- those bowls that suction to the tray have been added. So, I just poured it straight onto his high chair tray. Things got much better after that. He did GREAT with the spoon- both sides of it! lol He is doing so well, it's almost incredible.

Banana!!

We have begun the adventure of solid foods. First up: the banana. For the most part, we're going to be taking a Baby Led Weaning (BLW) approach to solid foods. Mostly, it's all for fun and play. He did ingest a little bit, though! We heard some swallowing! He did so well- just one itty bitty gag. He was definitely ready for solids. The banana proved a bit slippery even with the peel attached to one piece, but he managed to do alright. He definitely made a mess and earned himself an extra bath time! I can't wait to introduce more foods. It was so much fun watching him play and learn!

E: Energy

This is a part of my ABC's of (my) Parenting series

Sleep is the number one topic of discussion among new parents. Whenever people see me, there is no doubt that the famous question "Is he sleeping through the night yet?" will soon follow. And then, when they hear my "no," it's automatically time to start spewing out advice. That's another issue altogether, though. While I realize that I have a super easy and content baby, sleep has been the one thing that we've had our issues with. He's not a great sleeper. There have been more times than not that I would actually label him a BAD sleeper. We were doing okay until 3.5 months- only waking up once per night after we got out of the newborn phase (and even that wasn't horrible; he was going about 4 hours stretches). Then- the 4 month wakeful. We have not escaped. During/after the wakeful, we've started encountering teething. We've also been hitting major developmental milestones: scooting, army crawling, sitting, getting on all fours, rocking, and (currently) trying to crawl. All of these things have left an exhausted mommy and daddy. We've done the 6+ wakings a night. We haven't done the 0 all night yet, but I know we'll get there eventually. We've been following "No Cry Sleep Solution" and have definitely been seeing some progress. When he gets up (no matter how many times that may be), he's back asleep in 30 minutes max. Usually it's 15-20 minutes. That's with absolutely no struggle, as well. He also goes down with no problem for bedtime. Last night- he only got up once. Absolutely amazing.

So, with all of this interrupted sleep, it's no doubt that you become exhausted. This is the aspect of parenting that I am so glad that I don't have to do it alone. Jony can take over in the mornings and let me have a few hours of consecutive sleep so that I can make it through the day. It's truly amazing how I can function on 6 or so hours of sleep (again- not consecutive) when I used to demand about 10. The important thing is to know your limits and stay within them. I've stopped worrying about cleaning during nap time and now take that time to just relax. That's made a world of difference.

Lack of energy is just one of those rites of passages in Parenthood. It gives us all something to relate to each other! Eventually, sleep will come. In the meantime, it's good that Jeffrey's adorable so that I can muster up the energy to get a good game of peek-a-boo in.

Fired/Hired

Yesterday was quite an eventful day in the career happenings in my life. I got to experience both sides of the spectrum.

Fired: I wasn't actually fired, I suppose. I currently work about 15 hours a week at a local Curves. We had a mandatory staff meeting last night and were told that we're closing down mid July. This was no surprise, and it's quite a relief. I was probably going to be turning in my 2 weeks notice after the cruise in June because the work hours were just conflicting too much with Jeffrey's bedtime and we want to use the grandmas to go on dates instead of watching him while I work. With work not being a necessity, not doing it seemed like the best option. So, only about two more months of being a Circuit Trainer (lol).

Hired: Even though the money isn't "needed," it sure is nice to have a little extra spending money. Especially since we're going to start signing Jeffrey up for classes and such soon. So, when the opportunity presented itself for me to be one of the nursery workers at the church, I accepted. I'll be the one playing with the infants on Sunday mornings during church. I can take Jeffrey, and it's only one day a week. Awesome. Even if there are no kids, I still get paid for two hours. Nice.

I'm also working on applying to get certified in something completely new and different for me, but that's another post. For being a stay at home mom, I'm quite the working girl!

I'm Taking Over

The last 5.5 months, Jony has been helping me at night. I'd get up and feed him and then pass him off to be put to sleep. I've mentioned before, I believe, that I have a horrible time of getting him to go to sleep. He just doesn't do it for me. It's been nice (for me) to have to share the nighttime responsibility. I can tell that it's starting to get to him, though, with Jeffrey waking up so frequently lately. So, the last few nights I've been trying to get him down after I nurse. On Monday and Tuesday, I was successful, but he woke up 15 minutes later. Ugh. Last night, though, I got him to sleep TWICE. I'm so proud of myself, and Jony was able to get six hours of uninterrupted sleep.

The bad part for me? I usually get up with him when he wakes up (about 7ish) and feed him. Then, Jony will get up and play with him/get ready for work. It usually works out for Jony to then put Jeffrey down for his morning nap and then leave. Well, today Jeffrey didn't get up until almost 8. So, I didn't get that 3-4ish good stretch of sleep like I normally do. Darn. Maybe tomorrow...

Twitter

I'm trying out this whole "twitter" thing. You'll have to give me a few days to really get used to it, but I'm sure I'll be addicted in no time at all. Feel free to follow me @imavera.

Any tips/suggestions on who I should follow?

Exhaustion

We were finally getting back to a sleep routine that I could handle- going to sleep about 9pm, waking up at 1am, 3am, and then up for the day around 7am. There's no question that I would have loved to get rid of those two wakings, but, after the previous weeks of about six, I was feeling pretty dang rested.

Then, last night happened. Another night of six wakings. We've got a mixture of teething and new development going on now. I thought we'd be good for a bit when he got sitting down, but I was wrong. The little toot is now rockin' the rock and trying to crawl. He's lucky that his tiny tushie is adorable while it's going back and forth because otherwise I would not have been happy to see it so much last night.

I'll be honest. I am not a good mother when I'm so tired. I have little patience and am just not all there. I try, but I know that my son deserves better on days like today. It's not his fault; he's only 5 months old. I am incredibly lucky that Jony helps out so much at night, but I know that he does it because he knows how I am with too little sleep. I'm just no fun to be around. I have just FINALLY got the little guy to take a nap in his swing at 1:40pm. He's been up since 6:45am...

On a similar note, what the heck am I going to do when I have to pack up this swing?!?! I know it's getting close. I just don't even want to think about it.

I'm a Momma!

It was so weird to think that I was a part of this holiday that we call "Mother's Day" and not just from the perspective of a daughter anymore. I had a great day and am so grateful to have such a great husband and adorable baby.

After the wee tot woke up this morning and was fed, I passed him off to daddy and managed to get an extra 3.5 hours of sleep. Awesome. I was woken up a little earlier than needed, however, so that the husband could remind me just how I became a mother in the first place. Then, a pancake breakfast was prepared and served to me. When Jeffrey woke up, he gave me his card (and the card from his daddy) and present- a new digital camera! My old one was biting the dust, so I'm pretty excited. Maybe that will mean more pictures for the blog! It seems fitting that I would get a gift from him that will circle back to being all about him :) He's just like his daddy, lol.

We spent the afternoon at my parent's house just hanging out and even had a little dip in the pool while the little guy napped (it was too cold for him to go in the water just yet). I made sure to let my mom know how much I appreciate her. Her gift from us? A poop picker-upper for her to use in the backyard, LOL! She loved it and her back is grateful.

Happy Mother's Day!

D: Dog

This is a part of my ABCs of (my) Parenting series.

Definitely not as "deep" as the previous letters have been, but it's an important part of our family nonetheless.

We have a 5 year old dog (she turns 5 today- Happy Birthday, Coco!) named Coco (if you didn't catch that- ha). She's a Cairn Terrier and has enough personality to fill a room. She's a lazy little sucker and wants nothing to do but lay around and be doted upon. If you can manage to get her outside, she'll lay her chubby butt down in the grass and begin sunbathing. Now, she does have the occasional hyper streak where she goes nuts. An example would be after she gets a bath. She goes absolutely crazy. She's basically a super fun dog who loves to cuddle.

There was some concern about bringing a tot into this world of Coco (as she sees it, of course). She's always been a little hesitant around small children. Things are going great, thank goodness. She's not super lovey on Jeffrey, but it's obvious that she cares a great deal for him. When he's upset, she's upset. She'll run to wherever he is and make sure that we're taking care of the situation. I'll never forget the look of death she gave me when Jeffrey was crying really hard a few days after we brought him home (he had to have his diaper changed before eating. Not what he wanted at all). She doesn't let people just come up and see him until given proper approval by myself or Jony. She also likes to make sure that we bring him home when we come back from going somewhere. There is definitely some progress on the best friend attachment that we know will form between those two, albeit slow. They'll lay next to each other now (until Jeffrey reaches or crawls towards her...), and she's started bringing her toys over to him to play. When she's feeling really nice/brave, she lets him pet her. Nothing makes Jeffrey happier than that moment when he's petting her fur. Nothing else can go wrong on those days, haha!

It's so much fun watching them interact, and I love seeing the bond grow between them. Coco is still getting used to the mobility, but I can tell that she's really enjoying having Jeffrey around.

Jeffrey and Coco. Best Friends since 11.19.09...

Jeffrey Hits the Gym

Yesterday, Jeffrey and I loaded ourselves up to try out the free trial class at The Little Gym near us. My niece has been going there since she was about 15 months (she's now 3!) and LOVES it. She talks about her dance class that she's in now all the time and has always invited for us to come watch her. She has her first "recital" on June 2nd, and we're all pretty excited for her. So, anyways, we know quite a bit about the place. We live closer to another location, so I wanted to test out the people and place that we'd be at. He was in the Bugs class, which is for babies about 6 months to about 10 months. Obviously, Jeffrey is a tad young, but we're looking to start in the summer or fall, and he'll be well into that category by then.

The verdict? He LOVED it. Smiles, laughs the ENTIRE time. He had so much fun watching all the other kids about his age and was willing to try every single activity. He's my brave little guy. The coaches were so impressed with him, and he was in now way the runt of the class. Even though he was the youngest. My little go-getter. He did some forward rolls, backwards rolls, some handstands on the bars, climbed up the triangle mat, did some sitting practice on the inflatable thingie, and had some fun going back and forth on a ring into a forward roll. He was also practicing his standing skills on the soft steps. It's probably obvious, but a good portion of these activities were done with either myself or the coaches. Needless to say, he was exhausted after the hour of absolute thrills. He passed out before we were out of the parking lot.

We're going to the trial class at Gymboree next Tuesday, and we'll make a final decision from there. It definitely made an impact on my little guy, though!

We have a car payment again!

We are the new owners of a 2010 Subaru Outback. It's a pretty spiffy car, and it's much more family friendly than our current automobiles. We had planned on waiting until September to capatilize on the insurance drop Jony will have for turning 25, but the rates were so good this weekend that we figured we'd just go look and see what we could find. We got a good price. We got a good rate. So, we got a new car. Jony's old car (an 85 Mustang T-Top) is not suitable for a car seat in any capacity, and it's so hot to drive in Houston (t-top means no roof covering= smoldering, especially with black leather). Plus, he was getting annoyed with having a manual in traffic. Now, we have a car that will comfortably fit two convertible car seats (and maybe even a booster?) while having other people in the car, enough space to go on a road trip if we wanted to, and just a nice car for Jony to drive around in. He just got a raise, so it's highly deserved.

We had just finished paying off my car in February, so we enjoyed our 2 car payment-less months. It's completely worth it, though.

Here's our spiffy new car:

Success: in the Form of One Pink Line

I finally broke down and made myself take a pregnancy test this morning. You may remember about a month ago when I had some random spotting. I thought AF was surely on the way, but I was mistaken. This gave way to thoughts of potentially being pregnant. While I would love it, we're just not ready. So, I was freaked out. I ordered 20 of the cheapie tests, which should last us up until the next BFP (hopefully). I plan to test at the beginning of each month just for that sigh of relief. There is most definitely a benefit to having a period.

If you couldn't guess, I'm not pregnant. No Irish Twins in this household!