Made it!

We did it. We made it out of the house this morning without an outfit change. The spitting up this child is demonstrating lately is nothing short of impressive. It has to be some sort of defiance of calorie math that he is still growing. I don't understand how he can be getting enough to eat with how much comes back out of him! From what I gather, this is yet another symptom of teething. Which makes sense because he doesn't seem to have an upset stomach. He'll just sit there all content, and then all of sudden puke. It's gross. Doesn't seem to phase him though.

Yesterday morning I waited to get him dressed until the very last thing before we left hoping to avoid a wardrobe change. Got myself fed and dressed, got him fed early and waited as long as I could to dress him. He was in a super cute outfit. Before picking him up, I made a deal with him that he wasn't going to barf on himself or on me. I got an "Oooooaah" in response, so I figure we have an understanding and are good to go. He is not a man of his word. Not only did he barf, he managed to get none of it on the burp cloth I had on my shoulder directly in front of his face. Oh no. That would make too much sense with the laws of physics and all. No, he got it all over his shoulder and chest and a big ol' blob of formula barf on my sleeve. Awesome. So the outfit changes began. The sad part is that I contemplated, for longer than I will admit, if I could get away with not changing my shirt. For the sake of the noses of all people I would be dealing with throughout the day, I changed. For the sake of not having my kid in a puke soaked shirt all morning, Alex got changed.

Cereal Success

Based on last night's performance, Alex is beginning to understand the idea of eating. He seemed to really like the rice cereal last night. And most of it actually went down. The last couple times all but .0014 ounces of cereal have been pushed back out of his mouth. Not last night though. That kid wanted some rice cereal. Can't say I blame him. It's not half bad. It kinda tastes like a sweet communion wafer.

As happy as I am that he has started to understand what to do with the mush we are putting in his mouth, it is nothing compared to how amusing it is to watch Travis feed him. He gets so excited when Alex actually eats the cereal. Every bite that goes down is followed with fanfare comparable to Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade. There's cheering and smiles and songs. Followed by a request for me to watch the next bite. Which of course I excitedly do. It is pretty cool watching him learn something.

Speaking of him learning...He once again proved me completely wrong. I swear making me look like an ass that doesn't know her kid is his main motivation. On Friday I was talking to one of the teachers at daycare and she was saying how Alex is really starting to bat at toys. I agreed and then said that he isn't quite getting the idea to grasp a toy and hang on to it yet. Fast forward to Saturday. As I am changing his diaper, he reaches over, GRABS A TOY, and pulls it to his chest. See? What do I know?

Too soon

My godfather has passed away. He fought cancer and he fought hard. But cancer sucks. It is unyielding and doesn't care who it takes away from us. I know I am supposed to find solace in the fact that he is no longer suffering. But I don't. I want him back. I want more laughs, more hugs, more time. He was an amazing man and any person he knew is lucky to have had him touch their life. It hurts my heart that my son will only know him through stories and pictures. It hurts my heart that all we have now are memories. None of us were done sharing our lives with him.

I don't think many people are as lucky as I am to have had such an incredible relationship with a godparent. I got to grow up across the street from someone who's love for me was second only to my own parents. His influence played a big part in shaping the person I am today...whether he would admit to it or not! I do know he was proud of me. He loved me enough to make sure I knew how he felt. Always knowing I had unconditional love and support right across the street was a security I didn't realize I held so dear.

I love Bob very much and am happy I got spend some time with him and tell him so before he left us. I know time will ease this pain as they say it does, but right now...it really really hurts.

Naaaasty

Alex has cradle cap. Luckily he is a hairy beast child so you can't see it unless you really look for it. But it is there. And it smells. Like rotting Parmesan cheese. So he has been getting a bath at least every other day so I can shampoo the cheese stank out of his hair. And according to the doc, getting it wet and gently scratching to remove the dead skin is a good way to get rid of it faster. And that remedy allows me to let my inner monkey out and pick at my son so I am good with it. Hopefully it will follow what everyone says and go away soon. I like to snuggle this kid, and it is hard when he stinks. It's also hard because he will never sit still, but I am getting good at sneaking in kisses when I can.

Seriously, this kid is constantly moving. Constantly. Unless he's asleep. And a good portion of the time when he is sleeping he is fidgeting around. He's getting really good at getting himself turned perpendicular to how he should be laying in his crib and completely void of any and all blankets. We have tried the sleep sack thingys a couple of times, but he still really seems to prefer to be swaddled, at least at first, so those are a little tricky. They have swaddling versions of them, but they are only big enough for 10lb babies. Our big bruiser will not fit. But now we are running into the problem that he wakes up when he is no longer in baby burrito mode. No good. He doesn't seem to mind. Actually he was quite excited to see me this morning. At 2:30am. No joke. He was all smiles, giggly, arms and legs flailing with happiness. I am surprised I could see all of this through eyes that burned each time I tried to open them, but there he was...all "HI MOM! I AM SUPER EXCITED TO SEE YOU!!!" I have to admit, it made me laugh.

Who's hungry?

I am warning you. Do not go any further in this post if you are remotely hungry. You will instantly become a cannibal. There is no way to not want to snack on each and every part of this kid. Just look at him...

I told you to be careful. And you can't even see his little corn kernel toes. De-freaking-licious. Travis had to stop me from dipping them in melted butter last night. Can't help it.

And, does his hair not completely rock in the first one? He looks like a dandelion! Or a punk rock star...yeah, a punk rock star. That's way tougher than a flower.

5lbs 'till Turkey Day

My mom and sister have made a deal that they are both going to try to lose 5lbs by Thanksgiving. Being that my ass size is no longer acceptable I am thinking about joining them on this endeavor. By the way, I finally bought the demon device. A scale now resides at my house. So I had to get an accurate start weight. Got on the scale when we got it home on Saturday. The same seizure inducing number showed up that was there when I weighed myself at my parents' house a couple weeks ago. At least we are at a plateau.

But then I remembered that you are supposed to weigh yourself in the morning. The aforementioned weigh in was in the evening. No good. So this morning I very timidly stepped on the scale. It took a lot to get me on the stupid thing. What if the number went up? Did I really want to start my day so horribly? A higher number would definitely send the entire day into a downward spiral at a breakneck pace. But I did it. I made sure we were on a level surface. Made sure to go to the bathroom before placing even a pinkie toe on that thing. No need for any bodily waste to be weighed. My mind was reeling through all the terrible for you but oh so yummy things I ate last weekend...not to mention the amount of all the terrible for you but oh so yummy things. I think I ate enough soft cheese on Saturday alone to set some sort of record. Feta stuffed tomatoes, blue cheese topped toastettes, cheesy potato fried dumplings. Oh yeah baby. And all this was after having dinner at Kari's on Friday where I was fed breaded chicken stuffed with fresh mozzarella over pasta. God I love food.

Anyway, back to the weighing. I took a deep breath and stepped on. I had to use a pliers to get my eyelids open to look down at the glaring red LED lights displaying my weight for the world to see. 5.5lbs lighter than Saturday's weight. I am almost passed out. Instead of falling over and peeing myself with glee, I moved the scale to a different spot to really make sure it was level and got back on totally expecting a different number. But no. It was still 5.5lbs lighter than Saturday. Perhaps the workouts I have been really trying to squeeze in are helping. Now if I can just get my demanding stomach under control we might actually get somewhere.

So now 5lbs by Thanksgiving will get me to pre-preggo weight. Here's to workouts and hopefully less food. I don't know that I can stop eating the deliciousness that is cheese and all things made with cheese, so hopefully the portion control part will do the trick.

Teeth and Daylight Savings can suck it.

We are pretty sure Alex is dealing with teeth coming in. I say pretty sure because nothing is physically showing up in his mouth yet. But if the other signs are not signs of teething, I am not sure my kid is right. He is drooling like mad, spitting up more, chewing his hands and his blankets and his hands while covered by his blankets, and is occasionally crying for no reason that I can see. And it's that something actually hurts cry. Not just the my parents can't figure out what I want cry. I am totally aware of that one. Not that being aware makes me any faster at figuring out what he does in fact want, I just know that he wants something and isn't in pain. But this cry is a pain cry. It sucks. Luckily Tylenol and Orajel have been easing the pain so far. He hasn't quite figured out how to hang on to a toy and get it to his mouth yet, so teething rings are a bit difficult. They're fine if someone is holding him and holding the teething device in his mouth for him, but otherwise not so much.

This is throwing a big ol' nasty wrench in his sleeping. He lays down, falls asleep, wakes up crying. This goes on over and over until the Tylenol kicks in, or his exhaustion takes over. I feel really bad for him. I am not a huge fan of pumping him full of medicine, but I am even more not a fan of him being in pain. Drugs to the rescue!

Anyway, add teeth to daylight savings time and you get one tired baby and two tired parents. Get those chompers in baby!