My Alarm Clock

I should get to bed, my alarm clock is going to get me up at 6:20 AM. That may seem like a good time to get up to you but I rather rise at 8:15, I live a mile from my work. Of course, motherhood, has brought responsibility in my life, I need at least another 10 minutes to get my son ready for daycare. If I have to drive him... add 20 more.

As my son approaches 11 months old - tomorrow! I have now enjoyed about 1.5 months of getting sleep at night (It makes the months before that seem like a distant blur!). We put my son down (isn't that odd to say "put him down") at 7:30. It doesn't matter if he gets a treat to stay up late... every morning at 6:20 him and his invisible friend have vocabulary practice. GRUNT GRUNT, UH OH, GRUNT GRUNT, UH OH, GRUNT GRUNG, MA MA, MA MA. And so it goes until 7 am. As the weather has changed, we have to leave our bedroom doors open so the heat spreads through the house. This is quite loud and hard to ignore. Thankful, about 10% of the time, after breast-feeding for 10 minutes, he will roll on his tummy and let us sleep in. There is no guarantee that this treat will fall on a day when you yourself can join him in this slumber. I've only set my REAL alarm 3 times - in case my new alarm fails me.

Bed time for you baby

There are things you just will never understand until you are a parent. I often laugh at myself around 8:30 at night. By 7:30, I am SO ready for my son to go to bed but an hour later I miss him. I am so glad I decided to become a parent. After sleeping well for a month, all the hard work of those first 9 months seem like there were all worth it. And my mind is gearing up to want to do it again.

What is up with babies and drawers?

I put stuff in in the drawer and my daughter takes it out. She loves to unload my pajama drawer all over my bedroom floor. Somehow though the fun stops and taking stuff out of drawers. I've never seen her have a blast folding stuff neatly and putting it back in the drawer. I wonder why that is? Any child development experts out there have a clue?

TEETH!

It has finally happen, my son bit me while nursing. I screamed he cried. He has had 4 teeth for some time so I was waiting. I admit I have a little fear about nursing tonight!

Anyways, teeth. They grow in a lot slower than I realized. My son has been "getting" his front teeth for over a month now! They still don't seem like they have grown in enough.

He seems to get grumpy when they break the gum and then shortly afterwards too. He will have nothing to do with a teeth ring. He much prefers to chew on his wooden blocks. His father will not let me try the teething tablets so I don't know if that would help. But I guess I rather take teeth grumps over dinner time screams any day.

Take care fellow moms!

Baby as Confidence Booster

It is natural as a parent to think your baby is the cutest thing in the world so when people tell you your baby looks like you it may lead to the following conclusion:

My baby is the most breathtaking creature alive
+
Stranger thinks my baby looks exactly like me
=
Stranger thinks I am the most breathtaking creature alive

Even though the logic behind this equation is faulty who really cares if it makes you feel good.

It is unavoidable – your baby will grow up

You may think you are prepared for this fact since everyone grows older but it comes as quite a shock when your own child does it. As that first birthday approaches you may throw yourself into other things to keep from thinking about your baby turning one so quickly. You might, for example, spend hours gluing black dots onto a plastic tablecloth for her ladybug themed party.

Your unexplained emotions over this event (that you knew all along was coming) might cause you to ask yourself if you are crazy. The truth is we start going crazy the minute that child is born but we don’t realize at first how every missed nap, every minor scar, and every diaper that refuses to contain a wild poop has slowly chipped away at our sanity. You might have told yourself “I will not be crazy like my mother”. I recently revised that to “I will not be AS crazy as my mother”. By the time my children go off to college I will probably wonder how my mother managed to stay so sane.

On the other hand the first year is a wonderful magical ride even if it is too fast for my sensitive stomach. The only solution I can see to this little first birthday existential crises is to have a leap year baby and push off that first birthday as long as possible.

From Jar Food Queen to Creative Food Momma 3 easy steps

I don't know if anyone still reads this blog but here I go.

So I didn't really think in advance that I would a jar food momma. I didn't think there was anything wrong with it, I just didn't really think about it. For a family that has two working parents it is a must... convenient and worth the money! We used any organic brand we could get our hands on. Don't feel guilty just do it!

Want to be creative, no worries, that is what you do from 9-12 months. Well if you are desperate there are stage 3 jars. A boxes of Os will become your best friends. Stage 3 doesn't work for me because we aren't giving our son gluten or meat. Yes, you can mash up what you eat but there are still two problems. 1. There are still things you can't give your child until they are 1. 2. You aren't with them at lunch (try and remember some left overs from the dinner before).

I am still learning but if I do make up something - I try and make up three baby meals worth. Since most things are good in the fridge for 3 days. Unfortunately, my favorite kitchen tool is not as handy in this stage - Hand Blender - but adding a little water helps. The most frustrating part from my perspective is it seems like every corner has a new stage of mommy feeding anxiety around it.