May and 10 month olds

Happy May!

The weather is warm, the flowers are blooming, and my son just turned 10 months old. He is seriously the most fun, most charming, most joyful thing in my life. 

Currently, Jackson...

- weighs upwards of 25 pounds

- wears Size 5 diapers and 18 month clothes

- has both bottom teeth and his top teeth have broken through

- sleeps through the night (usually goes to bed between 7:30 and 9pm and wakes up between 6:30 and 8am)

- loves to eat Cheerios (which he feeds himself), carrot & sweet potato mash, avocados, apples & lentils, and whatever we eat...we have had success with feeding him at the table. Tonight he tried mashed banana with berry sauce (homemade...wonder how much longer I'll feel like making food for him? Probably always.)

- army-crawls on the floor

- rolls over in a deceptively fast way

- sucks his thumb

- loves to have "The Itsy, Bitsy Spider" sung to him...it's the key to his relaxation.

Being his mom is the thrill of my life.

We are gearing up for Liz's wedding: her shower is in 2 weeks, followed immediately by her Bachelorette Party in Charlottesville, which should be a blast. I am so excited for her.

The end of the school year is fast-approaching...the poor seniors are so ready to be done. Soon enough. Am teaching WUTHERING HEIGHTS right now to the sophomores, and we are watching THE GODFATHER in my film class. Good times.

Off to make some Thai chicken lettuce wraps!

Snow days and 8-month olds

Today is--I think--our 6th or 7th snow day of this year. I'm not complaining...it is GREAT to stay at home and be with my family!

I give my childcare provide a LOT of credit: how does she manage 6-7 kids all day long?

Let me be clear: I love being home with Jackson, but it is hard work! Move around, get distracted for 10 minutes, feed food, feed bottle, change diaper, change clothes, spit up, change clothes, nap for 10 minutes, wake up, walk around, feed bottle, play on the ground, roll over...and over...and over..., cry, laugh, poop. Change diaper. Nap. Being a mom is so fun, but being a mom is work. I cannot in my right mind imagine having a child before now. This job leaves very little room for me time, but that's my point: before my 30th year, I'm not sure I would have wanted to give up the "me" time. Now, everything I do for myself comes last in my routine (Pluck my eyebrows? What is that?), and that is okay. I care a lot less about what people think of me and how I look and care EVERYTHING about what's going on with my kid and my husband. How do people do this with more than one kid?!

By the time my grandmother was my age, she had four kids under the age of 10. FOUR. That's insane--cool, but insane. And she and my pop did not have a ton of money! AND all five of their kids turned out to be really awesome humans whom I deeply love and respect. How did my grandmother do it? (N.B. Kid #5 came two years later.)

I'm going to Italy in less than two weeks. I am both excited and dreading the trip. The only reason I'm not looking forward to this is because I will not see my son for nine days. So far, the longest I've been away from him is sixteen hours. It'll be hard, but I know it will be good for me and make coming home all the more sweet.

Jackson is eight months old today! I'll admit I had to look up the time he was born (9:34am).
- he currently weighs 22 pounds (more than Brewski)
- he wears Size 4 diapers and 12 Month clothing
- he eats three meals a day (applesauce, cereal, yogurt, avocado, veggies) and has six 7-oz bottles of formula
- he loves to turn over...I feel that crawling is sure to come soon
- he is happy, loves to smile, enjoys snorting, laughs when he gives raspberries, and makes great eye contact with people

Jamie and I absolutely adore him - we still look at him and reflect upon how crazy it is that we have a son and how much we could not imagine our life without him.

#crazyblessed

6 months old - WHAT?!

My sweet Jacks is 6 months old.
Currently, he is...
- wearing Size 4 diapers and 9 month clothing
- a solid 18 lbs, 14 oz
- in the 50-75% for weight and height, but 90% for head circumference
- rolling over (back to belly and belly to back!)
- smiling all of the time
- eating solids (we've tried applesauce, sweet potato/butternut squash, peas, pears, and yogurt...he loves it all - avocado is next!)
- sleeping from 9:30/10pm until 7:00am (much to our delight!)
- getting his first tooth (bottom front right)
- absolutely the best thing ever

I live for waking up in the morning and seeing his smile--it saddens me that this gummy goofy smile will not be there for long. He seems to be adjusting well to his new tooth. I love picking him up from daycare (need to post about daycare), giving him baths, holding him, hearing him laugh, feeding him.

I adore everything about being a mom. Even the poop.

Jackson Update

Been a while since my last blog. So much has happened - mainly with Jackson!

First, he is five and a half months old. WHAT? How did this happen?

Currently...

- he eats 6 oz of formula in every bottle

- he loves applesauce mixed with oatmeal or rice cereal (we tried butternut squash and sweet potato, but he does not love that as much...unless it's mixed with applesauce).

- he is between 6- and 9-month clothing - right now, my favorite outfit of his is a Christmas onesie with an elf-like hat

- he is starting to sit up on his own - still topples over from being top-heavy, but he is trying

- he LOVES his jungle gym - looking up, giggling, cooing, and interacting with the animals and music

- he kind of blows rasperries at you if you do it to him

- he wears Size 3 diapers

- I am guessing at this time he is around 20 pounds

- We bought him this Swedish gadget called the NoseFrida. It sucks the snot out. Well, I suck the snot out. Gross but effective.

As I've written before, being a mom is so awesome, but I've never been so tired in my life. Jacks is currently teething (?) and he likes to stay awake and be held. We can NOT sit with him - he likes to stand.

Alright - enough for now. More observations later. Heading to Ohio on Saturday for a whirlwind trip - 10+ hours in a car each way with a baby - YAY!

24 Hours to Process

I need 24 hours to process things. 

This means that I should not make any major life decisions without taking 24 hours to let the thought/idea/anger/energy high settle. Maybe my "problem" is that I initially react emotionally (hey, I am a Leo/fire sign!) and then need to cool off. Because too often my intense happiness or extreme anger cloud my good judgement.

In the last week I have found myself really angry one day, but more focused and calm the next day. Maybe my opinion has not changed, but my emotional response has. I also got overly emotional over n issue at school, but the next day I was able to see a more clear image of the bigger picture.

All I know for sure is that sleep helps and that I am still figuring out things about myself.

Jackson found his hands!

In the past few days, my son has found his hands.

It's hysterical.

He looks at one hand while the other encircles his head; during this process, he usually smacks himself in the face. He then mashes both hands on his cheeks and nose until they find each other.

Sometimes one hand hitting his mouth will result in his sucking that hand's thumb; this is usually the right one - is he right-handed?

He continues to smile a whole lot - his eyes sparkle when he does. There is literally no better feeling in the world.

We've moved to Size 2 diapers - 12-18 pounds. Wow!

I love being a mom.

Please do not make my sensitivity wear out...

Please do not make my sensitivity wear out.

This can occur when you continuously do not meet my expectations.

I try my hardest to be kind, polite, clear with my instructions, attentive to details, and aware of the fact that there are things that go on in people's lives that they may not advertise or wear on their sleeve.

But after feeling slighted, mocked, whispered about under one's breath, and ignored, my sensitivity begins to wear out.

And this makes me tired, irritated, and a little sad.