Burp

Finally! A picture of DS! Don't you love the drool?

DS loves when I give him little kisses on his cheeks. Since he was a few weeks old, anytime I get really close to his face and brush up against his cheeks or kiss them, he smiles and closes his eyes in a calm state of bliss. Sometimes he coos and sighs. A sign that all is perfect with the world. I love these moments and wish I could put one of them in a bottle for when he is older and I won't be able to get near his cheeks anymore.

Tonight as I was putting him to bed, we said goodnight to the different objects in his room. Then I sang him a little bit of my own version of Lullaby and Goodnight. This is our little ritual for every nap and bedtime. I could tell he wasn't really tired, but he was starting to calm down in my arms. As I kissed both cheeks softly and sang to him, he burped right in my face without skipping a beat. Now if an adult or even a child did this we would consider it rude and possibly get annoyed. But out of the mouth of a baby, it made the moment even more precious (and funny). One day that won't be acceptable and one day we both won't have our guard down enough to just let our true emotions "rip". Since the world will not allow me to kiss his cheeks when he's 35, I'll settle for as many as I can now...burps and all.

I'm reminded of Robert Munsch's book Love You Forever. For those of you not up on children's literature, this is a story about a mother and son. The mother tells the son she "will love him forever and for always as long as she is living her baby he shall be". The son grows up to take care of the mother when she is very old and says the same thing to her. It's a tear jerker and extremely difficult to read out loud, no matter how many times I've tried. I realized today that I will be that mother one day and hopefully my son will be just as loving, caring, and appreciative as the son was in that story.

Home Alone

I'm sitting at home while DH is out at the dinner we were supposed to be at together before the babysitter cancelled. I was really looking forward to going out tonight, and I hope we can do that soon! DS is asleep in his crib. We had a little outing to South Austin to a coffee shop. They did not serve any decaf coffee. I gave up caffeine when I was pregnant (not that I ever drank much, but I figured, why not? Since I am Bfeeding, I still haven't had any. Can't say I really miss it much either.) I really wanted a decaf iced coffee because It was about a hundred degrees out and the thirty five minute drive down to the coffee shop left me parched. It was one of those paralyzing moments when you just can't function after you receive a response that you were not expecting. No decaf coffee? In a coffee shop? Ummm...nevermind. Sure, I could have had a water, or a cup of tea, but my brain didn't even want to deal with that. Instead, I just felt grouchy for a few minutes and then got over it.

The whole reason we went to this place was to visit with my SWAT mamas who live down south. After DS had an explosive poop that woke him up from his nap, I decided we would go. I figured he would nap in the car, but he never did, which made him a bit cranky when we got home. I've trained him so well to sleep in his crib that he rarely sleeps anywhere else. That's a good and bad thing. It means that he gets relatively good sleep in his crib and he's happy when we go out in the car now (that took months!) But when we are out past his naptime, instead of just resting in the car, he gets way overtired and then it's harder to put him down when we get home.

We have been trying to feed DS some solids now and it's been pretty funny. He's not that fond of rice cereal, and I can't say that I blame him, but today he ate it all! He grabbed onto the spoon and kept it in his mouth for awhile and when I finally got it out of his hands, he just kept accepting more and more into his mouth. Sure, most of it dribbles onto his bib because he doesn't fully understand that tongue thrush thing, but he didn't fuss. I ordered a high chair using amazon gift certs and am hoping that it arrives tomorrow. Right now we are using the bouncy seat (bouncy function off) and that's a little confusing because sometimes I use that for him to play while I am in the kitchen and now I try to feed him out of it. Once the high chair is here, it will be easier to say, "It's mealtime!"

I'm pretty bored right now and feel like I am saying nothing of interest. I don't want to watch TV and I don't feel like reading. Getting sick of the Internet. Guess this is a good place to stop for tonight.

Let Downs/Too Good to Be True

DS took a three hour nap today, which is unheard of in this house! I resisted the temptation to go in and check on him because I knew that the door would wake him up (cheap paint). Instead, I decided to try to be productive and get a lot done during that time. I vacuumed, did the laundry, dishes, swept, picked up and then busy with customer service representatives. I spent about an hour and a half on the phone with various people-- insurance companies, education departments, accounting offices-- and got NOWHERE! How frustrating. I waited on hold for nearly an hour with a state ed. dept. only to get disconnected (I swear, there is someone on the other end who knows you have limited time and just when it's your turn, they hit a button to make you disappear by "accident"). I can only hope he takes a long nap tomorrow so I can try it all again.

DH and I were excited this weekend when we came across a sign on someone's lawn that said "Christina's Babysitting". I called her yesterday to see if she could babysit this Thursday (we were invited to a dinner and weren't sure if we could go). She sounded really sweet and was prepared to bring over references today and to meet DS. I was so excited because DH and I haven't been out alone other than when relatives have been in town to watch DS. Alas, things did not go as planned today. The babysitter was supposed to come at 5:30 and she called to tell me that her mother wasn't home yet and she couldn't get a hold of her (she's a nurse). She said she would still be able to come by tonight when her mom came home, though. I thought it was responsible of her to call, but kind of wanted her to meet DS so I could see how she interacted with him. At about 7, I got a call from babysitter's mom telling me that they were on their way to our house, but her daughter was complaining of not feeling well and from her symptoms, mom thinks she has appendicitis! As I am talking to mom, I hear, "No honey, not here, I'll pull over if you need to throw up!" Needless to say, mom was taking her to a clinic to get checked out and we don't have a babysitter for tomorrow after all. This means I can't go to this dinner and DH has to go alone. Bummer!! I also feel bad for babysitter. I hope we can meet her sometime.

Today's events have put me in somewhat of a blah mood. I need to work out, but I told DH to go out instead because he had a rough day at work. I guess I'll read or something. I could use a good chat with a friend, but most likely I'll just reach their voicemail. Okay, gonna go before I totally bum everyone out!

Back Home

We have been to Long Island and back. I was just reading my last post and realize how lucky I am that I already brought my milk to my parents. I would have a hard time getting it there with all of the new carryon restrictions on the airlines. DS was terrific on our airplane flights. I fed him on the way up and down and he slept a little bit in between. Mostly he just flirted with the flight attendants and the other people around him. Everyone was commenting on how happy he seems. I think he's pretty happy, too and credit a lot of that to the fact that he gets enough sleep.

He stayed on a pretty decent schedule at my parents' even though he was sleeping in a pack n' play. He also cut two teeth while we were there--the first one coming on his six month birthday. He can also sit up for a little while on his own and roll over onto his knees and rock back and forth. He's been extremely busy hitting those milestones!

Got to see some good friends and family while we were back east as well. All in all it was a lot of fun to be back there. DH and I commented on how green everything was. The 80 degree, low humidity weather was also a pleasant change from the 100 plus weather we've been with for the past three months. The only drawback was that DH and I both came down with a bug, which resulted in me getting strep throat. I get it once every few years and this must have been my time. It really sucks having to fly when you are sick.

DS had a little bit of trouble adjusting to being back in his own time zone. He has been waking up at 5 am screaming like crazy and cannot be consoled. This is uncharacteristic for him; usually he wakes up smiling and bouncing. But lately he has been so unhappy. The six month shots at the pediatrician the other day haven't helped either. He had a fever for almost three days and wanted nothing else but to be held and carried everywhere. Poor thing.

Today was much better. DS has been taking four short naps, which is not helpful when you want to get things done around the house, but at least he was a little happier. We also gave him some rice cereal today. He wanted to eat the spoon before I even put it near his mouth. Then when I gave him some cereal, he kind of sloshed it around in his mouth before dribbling most of it down his chin. I wish I had a window into his head so I could see what he was thinking about!

I also got to meet my friend's two week old baby. He's only over five pounds and it so small! He's very tall and skinny. DS was never that little since he was almost 8 pounds. He slept in my arms for nearly an hour, only opening his eyes briefly. What a cutie. I can't wait until he gets a little older and he and DS can play together!