This nephew... he is one cute baby! I can't help, but take tons of photos of him!

He is handsome, loves his mommy, can go from 0 - 60 in 2 seconds flat, very easy going, but has no problem letting you know when he wants something... very determined to crawl and get moving! His smile lights up the room!

His wrinkles around his ankles make his Aunt V very happy!

Now for exercising with Turner segment of this blog post...

"Lose that belly fat with a leg stretch like so"

Reach those arms! 

"Ah, what a work out!" 

Til next time...

9 Months is Almost Gone...

18 months ago, we were crying and jumping up and down with excitement at the thought that God was giving us a baby! 9 months passed and we entered into this thing called Parenthood, relying on God's grace to get us through! 9 months after that we are at today....saying goodbye to our Cai's 9th month of life! It's just all happening so fast!

I think this month we have seen the biggest change in developmental stage, yet. We went from not being mobile to crawling all over and being into everything! I thought you might want to see a little glimpse at what our afternoon looks like with a crawler and why I have no time to get anything done!
 

{We play in things we shouldn't}

{We get moved to a new spot and crawl right back to where we shouldn't}

{We hear mommy say "NO" and gaze longingly into the place we aren't allowed to go anymore...but we actually LISTEN this time...Yay!}

{We go to a new area of the house and get into more things we shouldn't}

{We get fussy because we have 6 more teeth coming in at once}

{Later, it is time for a bath which we LOVE with an excited passion}

{And we crawl all around in the tub like crazy}

{We eat a ducky}

{Abe comes to check us out}

{Abe thinks....It looks quite nice in there...I think I will join you, Sir}

{Please, don't make us get out!}

{We dry off and get into more trouble. "No" is new word we are not liking so much!}

{And get stuck in Baby Jail..."Get me OUTTA HERE!"}

{Mommy makes Jail seem fun!}

Well, there you have it! Even though my sweet boy is growing up before our very eyes, I, Vanessa, had some really sweet moments that only a mother gets blessed with. Today was a busy day and when we got home, I nursed him and he fell asleep and just was so cuddly that I didn't want to lay him down. One thing about my boy is that he loves to cuddle with his mommy (still working on cuddling with daddy)! I've also noticed an increased attention span. Whereas prior, he wouldn't even listen to hardly one page from a book, sometimes, now, he will let you read at least 3/4 of a book to him. I'm going to miss these baby days, I just know it!

9 Month Stats - Micaiah

We went to the doctor this week for Micaiah's 9 month appointment. Usually I write the monthly post AFTER his visits, so I can include all of this information in it, but his 9 month appointment was the day that I got terribly sick with the stomach bug and I had to reschedule it. I just thought I would add another little post to this one, so that I have it all in one spot.

• He is 95th percentile for height at 30.75 inches long. 
• He is 75th percentile for weight & head circumference at 23 lbs, 1 oz and 18.1 inches. (I think this is due to the fact that he hasn't really taken off with real food yet, but we are SLOWLY getting there. He actually started picking things up and eating more different types of food. So far his favorite is ham and avocado. He actually tolerated picking up and eating blueberries and mandarin oranges. I was holding my breath while he toyed with the fruit and then he actually picked it up, still gave the yucky face, but ate it, so PROGESS! 
• His Hemoglobin Test came in somewhere around 11. 
• Developmentally everything is right on target: He has started crawling, cruising a tad, he loves to stand up (especially in his crib, but hasn't figured the getting back down skill), and he is picking things up. We are still working on the pincher grasp, but he will get it, I'm sure. 
• He will babble plenty. We mostly hear "Da-Da" (especially when he doesn't like something) and the occasionaly "Da-Dee" type sounds. Lots of "Gee-Gee" or "Ga", an occasionaly "mmm" sound. Lots of sucking in air to make an excited "Haaaaaaaaaaaaaaa" sound. He's too funny.
• He is teething like crazy. He is getting all 8 front teeth at the same time right now.
• He's a beautiful baby boy! :) We love him! We feel so blessed by the Lord for him!

 P.S. 9 months is my favorite age so far!

9 Months - Fievel Photos & Monthly Summary

Last Wednesday, Micaiah turned 9 months! Since I was so sick last week, I couldn't put together a monthly summary! Here is his 9 month photo with Fievel:

 And another for fun! I love his surprise face!

Here's a look at two months:

He really is growing up so fast and I feel like he is making the transition to little boy, not baby, which is always going to make a mama sad! However, I love watching him learn new things and grow at the same time. And we all know that I am not a lover of the newborn stage and I am REALLY happy with our current routine/stage! Being on a rather normal 4 hour schedule has a lot of advantages and I am enjoying them. I know it will be even nicer one day when he is only on one nap, but I enjoy the time right now that I can get things done during his morning nap.

Our Biggest Challenge: The biggest transition that we are dealing with right now is still food. Micaiah has a definite texture aversion. I'm not completely certain what it is, but he WILL NOT pick up anything off of his tray except for cheerios, goldfish, lil crunchers (which are like  baby cheetos), puffs, and crackers. If it is ANYTHING healthy, he will not touch it, and if he happens to pick it up, he will put it up to his lips and give this face like it is the nastiest item on the planet and drop it. So, I'm still spoon feeding him baby food in the form of fruits and vegetables so that he gets them somewhere. The other day, I let him sit in his high chair for around 30 minutes with nothing but green beans on his tray cooked nice and soft. It took him awhile to even think about putting them in his mouth. Finally, hungry enough, he picked a few up and nibbled at times and then would give the "face" and drop it for Abe to eat. It's really not a matter of being able to pick things up. He can do that. It's a total mental thing. He even likes all of these things in puree form from a jar, but he does NOT like them in their whole food version. I guess it's going to take time. I know he is still young, but it is hard to be patient. I also know it is a mental thing, because he quickly and excitedly eats anything grain related or from a spoon (most of the time). Last night, I put into a mini-food processor what I made for dinner and he ate that from a spoon. I made a shrimp veggie skillet with rice. So, I guess he is just taking his time and will hopefully get over it.

How 9 months is fun: We are CRAWLING!!! It's not full blown crawling, but he is crawling. He did this for the first time yesterday and I got it on camera, so I will try to post a video. It took a lot of coaxing, but he managed to slowly crawl across the floor to get the truck. Today, he did it again for his juice cup. He hasn't quite figured out that he can do it when I leave the room, but it is coming FAST, I am sure! He LOVES to pull up, twist around, stand up and play, hold the remote control, play with Abe, swing, and move around. He's playing independently for longer, and he said his first word "Da-da" this month. Although, last night in the bath, I heard the Mmmm sound for the first time! Ma-Ma is coming! He is really such a happy, sweet boy!

Where I am at as a Mama: I would say I am definitely feeling like we are hitting our stride and while some of my other friends are already trying for/have baby #2, we are most definitely happy and content with one right now. In fact, I can't really imagine having more than one child for a few more years and feel like I am just kind of getting "my life back" + the enjoyment of our sweet boy and being his mama.

The Breastfeeding Issue: I have talked about in some past blogs or to some of my friends about the Breastfeeding Burn Out that I have experienced. I think around 6 months is when I got tired of breastfeeding and started to think about quitting. I pushed through those initial feelings and by 8 months I was going insane in my head. I needed a break, but the thought of completely stopping made me sad at the same time. At the time, Micaiah wasn't taking a bottle, but we hadn't found a sippy cup that worked well enough for us, and he wasn't really coordinated enough to use one. However, one day, Hart's mom bought a soft spout sippy cup made by Fisher-Price from the Dollar General Store (no one else makes this particular cup). We tried it out and it was OUR cup! I have since gone to about 4 DG stores and cleared out their sippy cup supply. I started doing 1 sippy of formula a day and it took about a week for him to drink enough for a feeding. I had been nursing 4 full times + the sippy feeding. As he got more efficient throughout last month, I dropped a nursing and went to 3 nursings + the sippy feeding. It is MUCH MORE MANAGEABLE! I have contemplated going to just a morning/evening nursing, with two sippy formula feedings until we reach 12 months, but to be honest, 3 nursings isn't really bad. In the afternoons, I like to run errands or go to the gym and I can give him his sippy of milk in the car on the way to those. It is giving me the freedom I need to do some things to keep me, his mama, sane, and that is most definitely the healthiest/best option for all of us! I do plan to breastfeed until he reaches 1 year and then make the whole milk transition. I will most likely go to a morning/evening nursing + two formula feedings at some point in the next 3 months, but we are fine where we are right now.

For you new breastfeeding mamas, I highly recommend doing at least ONE bottle of formula a day as early as you can. With our next child, I will be way quicker to implement 1 formula feeding per day. I say formula so that you as a mama can completely take a break (i.e. no pumping). The fear that your supply will drop if you were to do this is a FEAR that should be put aside. I take the stance that formula is actually good for your baby. It has vitamins and minerals in it that breast milk doesn't have(vice-versa), and in my 9 months of nursing, including last week when I was sick and barely kept up with nursing Micaiah or pumping to keep my supply, it was not affected at all. If you think about it this way....you will eventually go to just 4 nursings a day anyways, so why not go ahead and do one as a formula feeding, so you can get a break and have a little Mama Freedom?

Cloth Diapering: We are doing it again! And it hasn't been bad at all. I am being much more diligent to wash every other day or every 2 full days at most, and I have yet to have moldy diapers. Switching detergents (BumGenius Cloth Diaper Detergent), washing more frequently (every other day), and putting them in a wet/dry bag that remains open inside of a plastic trash can is key (they get air and don't get in a zippered moist environment anymore)! I'm interested to see how much our water bill goes up. I will let you guys know!

Well, that's it, folks! We are 9 months! Having fun! God is good to us! And about to spend our first weekend away with MiMi and GrandMaMa away from mommy & daddy, so that Mommy & Daddy can spend time together alone at the beach! :) 

Nine Months: A Reflection Story

Our little baby boy will be 9 months on the 14th of this month! It is the best thing in the world to watch him grow. He is one of the happiest, sweetest, little boys I know and SO full of smiles and fun! As we near that time, I've been looking back over how our life has changed from the 9 months before his arrival, when we looked into the future KNOWING in 9 more months our lives would be drastically different. Nine months to try to get ready for something that nothing in life can EVER prepare you for.

I think I was seriously naive 9 months ago. I look back and I really have a hard time remembering fondly those newborn days. I remember his arrival and the tremendous blessing that God gave that day with our son. I remember the first 3 weeks and the sweetness of his sleeping on our chests. I remember thinking he was so tiny and small and just gazing with amazement at this little tiny human being that was a combination of both of us knitted together by God's hand.

But then, it all changed. And I really really have a hard time remembering WHEN and WHY it changed and am not really sure what happened or when it exactly stopped being crazy. Hart tells me that I only remember the bad stuff, because I was so sleep deprived that it was hard for me to focus on the good stuff. And sometimes I regret that, and wish I could go back and do it again. If God gives a next time, I won't be so consumed with perfection.

It's been hard for me reflecting on those newborn days, because sometimes I feel like I'm the only one that had a difficult time, even though I'm sure it's not true. It seems, though, as if ALL of my friends that have had babies within the last year have had dream babies. Their children literally come home from the hospital sleeping 4 to 4.5 hours at night. And by 6 - 8 weeks they are doing 8 hour stretches and are sleeping through the night rather well.

Um, that was NOT our experience.

It was hard at times, because, as many of you know, my sister-in-law and I had babies exactly 2 weeks apart. I remember at 12 weeks, my son was still waking up at least 2 - 3 times a night, and her baby had been sleeping at least 12 hours for around 6 weeks already. It seemed as if everywhere I looked babies were doing "better" in that area than mine, and because I was so exhausted, it was blown out of proportion and I couldn't think about it sanely. I couldn't stop comparing. It made me go deeper into postpartum depression and at times I even felt suicidal.

I actually went to the doctor and considered giving up nursing my baby, because I felt like I needed anti-depressants. I remember lying in our bed sobbing, and Hart put his hand on my head and poured out prayer over me. I had thought numerous times that I couldn't even care for my own baby and he would be better off without me. Satan had a serious hold on me. I was being bombarded with suicidal thoughts. As I laid there, Hart's prayers flooded over me. Light poured in. It was quiet. Jesus was there. They were gone and I was wrapped in peace.

That's when everything changed again. Honestly, everything got better again. My baby still wasn't sleeping through the night, but it was okay. I stopped comparing and I just focused on what I needed to be doing for my son. I started being his mama.

Exactly 3 weeks later, my son started STTN 12 hours a night! As I slept longer, I was able to have sane thoughts and I functioned normally again. I continued to just focus on what I thought was best, and I left what other people said in the dust, especially the number one thing that I was letting rule my life: Babywise.

It's difficult, because in our day and time, we have access to tons of information. Information for how to do everything, including parenting. While it is good, I think you have to be careful in this area, because NO ONE has been exactly where you are. They are not your family. They are not your baby. As a first time mom, a good student, I studied. I knew what I was going to do for the "test." I was prepared. I had a plan and if I did X, X, and X, it was going to work out perfectly, and my baby would be the BEST baby on the planet!

(While I DO have the best baby on the planet....)

Somewhere around 7 months, I got into a rhythm that was all our own. At 6 months, I started to feel like I was settling in as a mama and in my new role. At 8 months it was even better, and at 9 months I'm loving it.

It feels good to be his mama and to feel comfortable here. To understand this baby stuff and not because a book told me how it should be done, but because we figured it out. We relied on the Lord's strength together.

You always have to be careful not to compare, even now. I could stress that my son is 9 months and not mobile, but there are so many bigger things than that to think about, and that isn't one of my concerns. I could stress that he doesn't really like real food, but he is doing awesome right where he is, at the rate he is at, and he makes us smile and laugh daily. He is a blessing and I have loved seeing him grow and learn. Even if it were all to change tomorrow, we would know God is good to us, always. I pray you know that today, and if you have a baby or a newborn that God would allow you to love your little one right where you are at with him.

Hugs to you!
Vanessa