Sweet boy

Lil Bubbs has been so cute and sweet and happy lately I can't even handle it.  For one thing he's clearly loving the fact that he can sit up on his own and hang out like the rest of us.  He's like a kid now.

Also he's been coming to work with me since last Wednesday (Meirwyn is out of town and needs me to cover full time, and I in turn need to have Bob in the office), and being with his mom all day seems to make a huge difference with Bobby's general mood and especially his willingness to lay down for naps and at night.  I can't read his little mind of course, but I do notice that the more time I spend paying loving attention to him while he's awake, the more content and relaxed he is all the time.  We've gone a whole week now with no pacifier at all; in fact I don't even know where the sucker is.

The other day Bobby posed for pretty much the cutest photo shoot of his life.  Not the perfect location or light -- but the cuteness was unstoppable.

Did you think I stopped there?  No, you probably didn't...

How many pictures do you think I have of this boy?!  You try to guess, and I'll try to figure out the answer.

Another way in which Bob is turning into a kid: he can choose his own sleeping position now.  Last night for the first time Bobby rolled over to sleep on his belly in his crib.  This also happened to be the first night he slept in a t-shirt and diaper, with no covers, because it was so darn hot.

Two more things to be happy about: it's been fantastic Jeep weather...

and the sunset tonight was gorgeous.

Time for bed.

Oh, I love weekends.

Two whole days spent with my two best loves.  What could be better?


We got to lounge out in our jammies on Saturday morning:

We spent lots of time doing cute stuff outside:

Lovely goat hill sunset Saturday evening:

Also, we had a couple of important developments...


First off, we went the whole weekend with NO pacifier.  Naps, night time, car seat, grocery store.  And Bobby did great with it; he went to sleep almost every time without a whimper.  He doesn't seem to realize that he could suck on his thumb, he just chews on a blanket or a stuffed animal to get his sucker fix.  Seems to be working ok, and dare I say that he seems to be sleeping for longer stretches at night?


Another big one: Today Bobby learned that he can really travel by rolling around.  He likes to get himself under the furniture in his room:

He even rolled from one room to another.  He was happy exploring by himself for, I don't know, an hour?  Half an hour at least.

Soon he'll be chasing us all over the house.  I think we need to start baby-proofing.  Oh dear.

gDiaper update

I'm diggin the gDiapers.  Super easy.  Super cute.  Cheaper and less annoying than buying diapers every week.

I bought the bulk of my supply at diapers.com -- cheaper than anywhere else, plus $10 off coupon for first purchase, plus free shipping, plus everything arrived the very next day!  I love internet shopping.  I wish I knew about this site before we already had more baby stuff than we have room for.  Also, I don't know what this means, but they gave me a "personal referral code" so if you ever buy anything at diapers.com go on ahead and type it in there: ANGI5140

I even made the switch to the cloth liners.  The cloth are actually way less of a pain than the flushable, which you have to rip in half, shake out the inside, swish around in the toilet... The cloth liners just get rinsed and tossed in the wash.  No big deal.  Especially since Bobby only poops once a week nowadays.  Convenient for cloth diapering, but when the end of the week comes, we do have quite a mess on our hands.  Too much information?  Sorry about that.

I guess I should note: I still use disposables for overnight.  Those things are incredibly absorbent.  And I am so over changing diapers in the middle of the night.

Learning and playing and me going overboard

It's so much fun to watch Bobby learning and interacting more and more.  He is turning into a real little person.

Earlier Bobby sat next to me on the couch with his back toward me, climbing on my "business tote" and playing with its straps.  Once every minute or so he would pause what he was doing and look back at me over his shoulder with a very serious expression.  I would look down at him and say something mom-like, such as "Bobby is such a big boy!" or "You are so special," or "Look at mommy's little climber," and Bob's tiny face would light up with a huge smile, and then he would turn away shyly as if to say "oh, mom," returning to his play.  I think he's really beginning to figure out how much I love him.

Bob can roll over every which way to go after his toys now, but he still sometimes forgets he is capable of this.

He loves stuffed animals.  He gazes right into their faces and talks to them.  He chews on and wrestles them.  I call them his "buddies."

Bobby's little sponge brain is learning so much, you can watch it on his face.  Reminds me of a quote I saw on a greeting card once:  "Show me a day when the world wasn't new."

So now I've finished "blogging" for tonight (well I was finished), and it's almost midnight, and my husband is asleep on the couch across from me, and my son will probably be waking to eat in about a half hour, and... I think to myself as I wash some dishes in the kitchen while my final photos upload, "Ang, seriously what are you thinking?  Why aren't you in bed?  Why the heck are you wasting so much time photo-journaling?"  (Photo-journaling: that's what I like to call it to myself.)  And yet here I am wasting even more time on this to say...

One small part of my desire to commit to the boblog is to keep Bobby's hundreds of grandmothers and great-grandmothers and great-great-grandmothers and everyone else in the loop of his life, because we don't get to see any of them as much as we want to.  But I have to admit, it isn't mostly for you, grandmothers, or whoever else may be reading this.  I want to commit to boblogging because I want to remember.  I want to preserve the little details and the way that I felt.  I have a strong sense that this time of life is the most precious there is, and I want to hold on to it with all my might.

Pacifiers and crying it out

Like I've said before, Bobby is a good baby.  He goes to bed without much trouble, except he usually uses his pacifier.  Which I think may be creating a problem with sleeping through the night, since he loses it, and wakes up, and wants it, and in searching, gets hungry, and needs to eat.  Plus, I'm just not a fan of those things.  I don't care for any of the weird names that people use to refer to them -- "binkie" or "nunu" or whatever else.  We say "sucker" because at least it has half as many syllables as "pacifier" and it makes a little more sense than anything else.  Also I don't care for the idea of toddlers walking around with a big piece of plastic plugging their faces; every time I see one I want to yank it out of the kid's mouth.  Or maybe I'm just biased because I myself was a thumb sucker.  Oh, how I've tried to get Bobby to suck his thumb, but he only sucks his finger, or sometimes two, and those only casually.  I vowed I would have Bobby off the pacifier at three months because I know the longer you wait the harder it is, but yeah, that didn't happen, obviously (although he pretty much only uses it in the car seat and in his crib).

So, here we are, just past six months, and I've noticed Bobby changing and possibly getting a little worse about going to sleep by himself.  Fortunately we haven't had to deal with many sleep issues, but like I've just explained, we sort-of cheated by using the pacifier.  So last night Ben and I decided, this is it, we're going to "let him cry it out," as they say.  We need to force him to quit the sucker habit, and all the experts insist he should be sleeping through the night by now.

Just when I was getting into bed around 11:30, Bobby woke up whimpering and crying.  Moaning and whining and sounding pitiful.  It wasn't time for his normal mid-night feeding.  My heart (encouraged by my tired body) endured the pain for 45 minutes of incessant sad sounds until finally (after Ben had fallen asleep) I gave in, figuring that at this point sleep in the short-term was more important than sleep in the long-term.  I went into Bob's room in the dark and reached into his crib to feel for the sucker and when I touched the bed, everything was wet.  At first I couldn't figure out what happened -- surely he couldn't pee that much?  Then I realized, the poor boy had thrown up all over himself and all over his pajamas and sheet and blankets and sheep.  Everything was soaked with squashy milk puke.  He has never thrown up like that before.  The window was open a crack, and there was my baby, sick and wet and cold, crying.  And I had been ignoring him for almost an hour.  I felt like the worst mother in the world pretty much.

He threw up twice more during the night.  The third time it was all over me instead of all over his crib.

At least I didn't have to change the bedding again.

How can I make him "cry it out" or suffer pacifier withdrawal after all that?  I don't think I'll be very strong tonight.

Six Month Checkup

Bobby had his six month checkup yesterday morning.  All's well.  He sat in his own chair in the waiting room for the first time:

When we got to the exam room things took a turn for the worse.  The nurse that weighed Bob and gave him his immunizations was awful.  He normally loves getting nude and getting on the scale, but this lady yanked him from my arms and plopped him down so abruptly that it scared the poo out of him.  I'm exaggerating -- it only scared the pee out of him.  Here he is taking a quick break from crying as he fills up his little scale seat:

(And actually I am also exaggerating about her scaring the pee out of him; he always pees in the scale.)

I didn't take any photos of the immunization fiasco, but I don't think anyone really wants to relive that anyway.  Poor Bob.  Lucky for him, I don't think he's going to remember the experience for long...

Bob's 6-month (and 4 days) stats:

17 pounds
26 inches long/tall
17 1/4 inch head circumference
Infinite cuteness

I think all these were around the 35th percentile, except the cuteness factor, which is clear off the charts.

Way to grow, Bob.

Happy Mother's Day, Mom

In honor of Mother's Day, I'd like to share some of the reasons why I love my mom:

Just look at her.  She's such a beauty.  She was back then and she still is now.  Definitely the hottest grandmother I know.

I love my mom's kisses.  She still gives them the same.

Also I love that she never throws anything away, so that I never have to say goodbye to my favorite childhood dress (above), because it will live forever as wardrobe for my mother's favorite childhood doll (below).

I appreciate that she always encouraged diversity in our home by buying me the dark-skinned baby dolls.                 

Here we are after my first day of kindergarten.  See how she's looking down as we walk and listening to me?  I love her for that.  (Also gotta love the pink sweatsuit -- I find myself wearing something not so dissimilar at this very moment.)

Twenty years later, she drove across the state to be with me on the day I became a mother, and she was so wonderful that night and the days that followed.  She was there for me and so very helpful, while still giving me and my new little family the space we needed.  She was perfect.

(Plus, again, lust look how cute she is with her hours-old grandson.)

This being my first experience of Mother's Day as a mother myself, I will say that my perspective has changed a bit, or a lot.  I realized within the first hours of Bobby's birth that one truly cannot fathom the joy and pain of being a mother until she is one.  I am obviously a very new mom, and I have been blessed with lots and lots of joy.  But I have already felt the pangs and beginnings of pangs -- like a fist to the gut when I hear of a mother losing her baby, the irresistible urge to hold my drowsing son for just five more minutes because I know I won't be able to rock him to sleep forever.  I look into Bobby's tiny face and when my mind wanders to the future, I am afraid for him and afraid for my heart -- I wonder who he will grow up to be and I pray that he will one day become the man God made him to be.  I am already bracing myself for the pain I will inevitably experience as I try to guide this boy -- but I am hopeful that if I really love him, and encourage him, and pray for him, and be there for him as an example of God's loving presence for us, every single day, then there will be a lot more joy, and a lot less pain.

So today I am especially appreciative of my mother, and all the other mothers that made my life possible:

My mom's mom:

And her mom:

And my dad's mom:

And let's not forget the mother of my sweet loving husband:

Or her mom:

Happy Mother's Day to all of you.

I'll leave you with just a few more reasons why my mom was and is the BEST mom:

She really knew how to make holidays special and exciting when we were kids.
She taught us how to spit spitballs through straws at Friendly's.
She has always been quite a weirdo, which I now know is a virtue.
Her cheesecake is to DIE for.

My mommy sang the same song to me every night at bedtime when I was a little girl.  It went like this: "Angie's my baby. She's such a cutie.  I love her so much.  She's my little _____."  She would mix up the last bit -- lots of times I would request which ending I wanted that night.

Now I sing the same thing to my little boy.

I love you, mom.  So very much.  And I am sure that as the years go on I will only appreciate you more.

Bobby is 6 months old!

Exactly six months ago we were here:

That fuzzy, wrinkly newborn back of his was the softest thing I ever felt:

Look at how little he was in his car seat on the way home from the hospital:  

As opposed to now:

Look at those skinny little chicken legs:

Not so skinny anymore:

He's still such a little person today, but look at how teeny he was then:

This is an 8x10 picture frame!  He looks like a doll!

I can't spend forever working on this, so I won't go through the whole list of "should be able tos" again this month, but I will mention one recent development...

Generally, Bobby has been happy to play with whichever one of his dozen or so preferred toys you gave him -- any one would do at any given time.  But now Bobby is becoming quite selective about which toy he plays with.  If he has his eye on one, he won't accept another.  Sometimes he'll have two toys - one in each hand - and he'll sit looking back and forth between them trying to decide which one he wants.

A few nights ago I (brilliantly) let him play with a piece of paper until it started disintegrating in his mouth.  When I took it away, he had a major breakdown.  I mean major; he has never cried that hard or long in his life.  He screamed for 15 minutes, he refused to calm down.  I almost made the same mistake today.  I cannot let that boy near paper.

So, my tiny Bob is six months old already.  At this very moment.  I need to go kiss him now!

(I just went in and kissed Bobby on the cheek, and he smiled in his sleep.  Then I took his picture and he rolled over to cuddle his sheep.)

Have baby, will travel

Bobby's passport arrived in the mail today:

After months of debating, Ben finally decided to jump on board with the idea of taking Bobby to Jamaica (thanks, love!)  Seriously, how could I leave that face behind while I go on vacation?

Now I just need to figure out everything else we need to bring with us in order to make for a smooth trip...

Weekday reunion

When I got home from work this afternoon and took Bobby into my arms, he squeezed my face with his hands and laughed and laughed and kissed me over and over.  (When I say "kissed," I really mean something closer to sucking on my face.)

I guess that in a way, when I quit working I will miss our little reunions.

It made me feel so good that I think I'll try the same on Ben when he gets home from his super long day at work.

A couple developments and random thoughts

1.  Today was the first truly hot and muggy day of Bobby's life.  He has a sweet little sweaty scent to him that I can't get enough of.

2.  Last night Bob slept for almost 8 hours (from 12 - 7:45 am) without waking me -- for the second time in one week!  Could we be on to something?

3.  Bobby recently learned to pull his socks off his feet.  I'm sure that will impress me less and less as time goes on.

4.  He can sit up without support now, although he sometimes gets distracted and topples over.  Tonight he sat at Ben's softball game like a real spectator:

5.  Bob's hair is finally getting long enough for me to form it into a mini mohawk (his first hair-do):

6.  Now this is the one I really want to remember:

Yesterday afternoon I was feeling really crummy, sick to my stomach with a headache.  It was time for Bobby to nap, so I brought him in to my bed with me for some mother-son rest time.  Sometimes when I have a headache it helps me feel better to have my eyes gently rubbed; lots of times I'll ask Ben to do it for me.  So, Bobby and I were settling in for our nap; I lay facing him with my eyes closed, hoping to be able to fall asleep.  After a moment Bobby reached over with his teeny tiny hand, and he started tickling my left eyelid with his teeny tiny fingers.  He laid there gently caressing my eye for a good five minutes, and then he moved his baby hand over and did the same thing to my right eye.  I laid there not wanting to move, almost in disbelief at the beauty of the moment as my tiny baby son comforted me -- one of the most beautiful feelings I have ever felt.  When he finally pulled his little hand away, I whispered to him, "you are an angel from heaven."  Oh, he melts my heart.