Potential baby model?

Shame on us for waiting so long to get this photogenic little man in front of a professional photographer! Jordan McGee captured some amazing shots! https://www.facebook.com/jmcgeephotography

 

 

On being a "new" mom

I hate to admit that my blog posts are becoming a once-a-month event. With such an exhausting energetic baby, the computer is taking a back seat most days. That's a good thing, though.

Since one of my good friends just had a baby last month, I've been thinking a lot about being a "new" mom. There is no shortage of babble on the internet about what it's like to be a first-time parent, but it's hard to sort through the junk and find the good stuff. I could conveniently list all the things that are awesome or terrifying challenging about it, but hey - I'm a new mom! I'm not that organized!!!

Instead, I'll post cute pictures and videos and a couple of amusing anecdotes. So, first-time parents make lots of mistakes, right? I took Graeme to the park with some friends a little while ago and had a blast with him on the swings.

After all that adorable excitement, I picked him up out of said swing and suddenly needed two hands for something else. Can't tell you what it was... maybe something out of the diaper bag?! In any case, I set G down on the ground. All of you well-rested adults with coherent thoughts swimming around in your heads can probably see that the ground in these photos is covered with mulch. Didn't occur to me at the time. As soon as I set the little rascal down, he promptly grabs a handful of mulch and shoves it in his mouth. As I frantically try to scrape it out, I'm laughing at myself on the inside. Of course, he would try to eat the mulch, you dummy!!! It didn't seem like a big deal until he proceeded to scream bloody murder the entire way home, which made me obsess about the piece of mulch that may or may not have been lodged in his tiny esophagus. I've been on the lookout for mulchy poop ever since, but no dice. False alarm, I guess.

I'm sure there are babies all over the world currently munching on a handful of mulch, dirt, or rocks (eek!) from wherever their inexperienced parents happen to sit them down. It's comforting to me to know that even though new parenthood often feels isolating and lonely, there are other people all over this planet doing the same dumb things. 

Poor babies are globally being subjected to their clueless parents' experiments like guinea pigs whether they like it or not. Here's one I tried with G this very morning. He's been suffering from some vicious diaper rash for a couple of days, so I thought we'd try a little naked time to air out the situation. Can you already see where this is going? In my efforts to avoid an accident, I waited until after I changed his dirty diaper, cleaned him up and stripped him down. Not 5 minutes after he began free-balling around the nursery... he stopped mid-crawl and pooped on the carpet. Good times. And lesson learned.

No, I didn't take a picture of the embarrassing poop incident to blackmail him with during his teenage years, so I'll leave you with my favorite video of him so far. He learned how to dance, which is pretty much the best thing ever. I didn't teach him how on purpose (although I'd give the kid $50 to call me "mama" at this point) but he just started grooving in his high chair one morning. In hindsight, it occurred to me that he was actually imitating my dorky movements when I sing along to the Pandora Disney station. So, I did teach it to him, but not on purpose. That's a terrifying thought. What else have I already taught him by accident???

First snow

Technically, you could say this was Graeme's first snow last year:

This year, he loved experiencing it with his Dad:

See that top tooth coming in? It looks super adorable, but Graeme has started grinding his teeth now that he has some on top and bottom. It makes my skin crawl to hear it. I shove a teething toy in his mouth when I can, but it doesn't help much. It's worse than nails on a chalkboard!

He had a great time at first... until he felt that the snow was actually quite COLD!

Yeah, not so much. Take me inside, guys.

All better now.

BTW, do any other parents accidentally memorize the silly songs your baby's toys play? Just me then? Graeme has this first aid kit that plays a little song that ends with "All better now!" and I can't hear that phrase any other way. It's like how you can't just SAY the alphabet. You have to sing the song. Trent and I also find ourselves wondering about the kids (or adults with freakishly childlike voices) who record those songs for the toys. What a weird gig.

What a beautiful boy.

Grow, baby, grow!

This is another post I've been avoiding for a while, because I don't even know where to begin. It feels like my blob cherub of a baby has turned into a big, strong, boy overnight! Here are a just a few of the milestones that he is racing through at the speed of light: (is he shaving yet????)

First of all, my almost-eight-month-old is already cutting his fourth tooth. You can see his first two tiny chompers in this photo taken last month, but the top teeth coming in now must be doozies because he is clearly in much more pain. Which means less sleep for mommy and daddy. There was one glorious night of ten hours in a row last week, but we can't seem to duplicate it.

Believe it or not, he started crawling almost two months ago. He got so quick that I could barely stop him before he got a fist full of cat food in the kitchen. Yum-O. In a matter of days, Zoe was trained to jump up on a desk to eat and drink.

He is pulling up on anything and everything. The crib, the piano bench, the toilet (ew), the crib. (which we recently lowered... aaaaaaand, backache.) He can also stand just by pushing on flat surfaces, like the dishwasher. I have actually seen him let go and remain standing for a few wobbly seconds before he lands on that squishy diaper butt. He will also try to climb up our legs and reach to be held. I admit, I love it. I know our days of holding him are numbered, so I'm trying to make the best of the clinginess. However, it makes it that much more difficult for him to be "entertained" when I am attempting to do anything remotely useful, like cooking. Or putting away laundry. Or trying to get him to go down for a nap. Oh, how I miss the beautiful 2-3 hour naps.

My very favorite new development is his ability to really PLAY! He chased me around the ottoman of the rocker in his nursery the other day, laughing his little head off. Peekaboo and other general hiding games are a blast. Since I'm not so much of a baby person, this is what I've been waiting for! I mean, there are definitely some things I miss about those newborn days. Again, with the naps. I hear from most veteran experienced parents that it doesn't really get easier as they get older - just different challenges to face. For me, I really DO think it's easier. Every day that I learn more about his little personality makes it easier and more fun to be his mom.

Baby over cat

This post has been looming over me for quite some time. Yes, I have the normal excuse that we've been busy. Of course, Graeme is growing like a weed and I'll post more about that soon. The real reason I have been avoiding this post is my cat. If you've heard some of my funny cat stories, you might expect some silly reason, like my cat has herpes or something like that. (no joke!) I'm not sure how to turn this car around... but this isn't silly at all.

Last week, Rufus attacked Graeme. Let me start by saying that Graeme is fine. He had a large scratch across one cheek and some pretty deep punctures from being bitten on the back of the neck/head. I probably overreacted at the time, but I was terrified. It was totally unprovoked. I figured one of the cats would nip or swat at Graeme when he pulled their tails or grabbed handfuls of their fur. This was totally random and I was sitting right there within arms reach of both of them and I couldn't stop it or see it coming.

After lots of tears (mostly mine) and one night's sleep to really think about it, I decided I had to give Rufus up. I adopted him TEN years ago. Isn't that crazy? I got him when I was waiting tables at Ganache my senior year of undergrad. He's been with me through two UNCG graduations, my first teaching job, my marriage, my first baby... He was my first baby boy, in a way. I'm heartbroken. But when I thought about the possibility that next time, he might swipe Graeme in the eye or bite him and cause an infection, I couldn't see any other way. You should have seen the look the volunteer gave me when I walked out of the shelter with an empty cat carrier. No judgement at all, just like his heart was breaking for me.

Good-bye, Rufio. I loved you a lot and I will miss you. Even your snot. (No, I didn't mean for that to rhyme but it's good to be able to laugh in times of sorrow, right?)

Christmas Cutie

This is one of my favorite photo sessions with G so far. When I was snapping these, I kept wishing I could get his fingers and taggie dog AND shirt (etc!) out of his mouth and that the gobs of drool wouldn't show so much on his gray shirt and then... he cut his first tooth yesterday!!! Hindsight is 20/20. And he has been remarkably calm and happy, despite teething pain. Sweet boy.

Mess

Our lives are messy. Especially with an infant, but on a deeper level, too. I watched an awesome TED talk about vulnerability by Brene Brown and this quote hit me hard:

"When you hold those perfect little babies in your hands, our job is not to say, 'Look at her -- she's perfect! My job is just to keep her perfect and make sure she makes the tennis team by fifth grade and Yale by seventh grade.' That's not our job! Our job is to look and say,

'You know what? You are imperfect and you're wired for struggle but you are worthy of love and belonging.'"

I think that's so important to remember for our babies and for us as parents. It's okay to make a mess. Speaking of mess, we started solids! We gave Graeme oatmeal mixed with breastmilk and it was like... MIND BLOWN! There is a whole new world of sensation and it's awesome. And no, he's not wearing a bib in these photos. We were just so excited to feed him, we forgot. Like I said, it's okay to make a mess.

To add a little more mess to this week, we got Graeme's first Christmas tree! It's a baby-sized tree, much smaller than what we usually get. Simple is better right now. We took an awfully cute little snowman with us to choose the perfect one. 

Olaf ain't got nothin' on him!

Funny (creepy?) photobomber!