I just kind of want to talk about Orion today. I haven't been to a mom group in a while so... bear with me.
The 2nd night was fine. Lol! I guess I got all the emotions out the first night. The 3rd night he was awake every other hour and I finally gave up and put him in our bed. I was worried that I'd be ruining all the progress we made but it was fine. He's been sleeping in his crib the past couple weeks AND he's slept 11 hours without feeding breaks several times.
To me these just feel like facts of life and, as long as I don't let them overwhelm me or dictate my actions, I don't think it's a big deal that I'm a little less rational than I was before.
There's all this advice that says babies need to fall asleep on their own in the crib and I was worried because Orion tends to fall asleep on the bottle BUT you know what? Life is too short to worry. Currently it's not a problem and he is sleeping through the night most of the time and soothing himself back to sleep without a bottle or me rocking him so I'm going to let myself have this one. I need more peace in my life and right now that means sitting and holding my baby for an extra half hour each night.
Now he's starting to get it. I think chewing is actually easier for him than liquidy foods like smoothies because he doesn't understand the closing your mouth part so liquids tend to run right back out again. He also doesn't understand how to put food in his own mouth, which is kind of ridiculous because he puts everything else in there! He'll just sit there with an open mouth waiting, like a baby bird, or if he's really hungry he'll launch his face at my hand when it's close enough. This makes it difficult to feed him but is hilarious.
Luke has also learned that babies are a good source of food. He parks himself under the high chair every mealtime to await dropped food or the occasional treat from me or Ryan (we give in to begging as long as it's not obnoxious).
And now for the not-so-sneaky baby pictures! I'm breaking Ryan's and my rule but I don't feel that bad about it because after telling Google not to list my blog and removing all the places where I shared it, my hits are down from thousands a month to under 100. I think I know everyone who's visiting and you guys are cool. Here's Little Dude.
He's almost 6 months old!
People keep commenting on how fast he's getting older and I get it - other people's kids do seem to grow up pretty fast. But it doesn't seem fast to me, and that's not a bad thing. I'm enjoying our current pace of life. The only changes I want to make are less multi-tasking and more sleeping.We moved him into his own room!
I cried so much the first night. Like to the point where I couldn't calm down and sleep and had to get on my phone for some mindless distraction. Ryan was sad, too, but in a more stereotypical man way where he says, "I'm a little sad" and then rolls over and goes to sleep.The 2nd night was fine. Lol! I guess I got all the emotions out the first night. The 3rd night he was awake every other hour and I finally gave up and put him in our bed. I was worried that I'd be ruining all the progress we made but it was fine. He's been sleeping in his crib the past couple weeks AND he's slept 11 hours without feeding breaks several times.
Ryan keeps telling me he didn't expect me to be as emotionally attached as I am.
He then reassures me that this is a good thing but I wonder if he actually means it. In any case, I'm fine with my balance of being a mom and being myself. I don't have trouble focusing on non-mom topics and I'm just as obsessed with my business as I ever was. But yes, I do occasionally need to cry hysterically about various baby-related things and change is hard and I often feel unnecessary mom-guilt.To me these just feel like facts of life and, as long as I don't let them overwhelm me or dictate my actions, I don't think it's a big deal that I'm a little less rational than I was before.
My definition of peace is my baby sleeping.
This won't come as a surprise to other parents, but it did for me. I was at a counseling appointment and the counselor asked me to describe the first thing that came to mind when she said "peace." My first thought was nothing - like I don't have it at all, but my second thought was the baby sleeping. Specifically me holding him while he sleeps.There's all this advice that says babies need to fall asleep on their own in the crib and I was worried because Orion tends to fall asleep on the bottle BUT you know what? Life is too short to worry. Currently it's not a problem and he is sleeping through the night most of the time and soothing himself back to sleep without a bottle or me rocking him so I'm going to let myself have this one. I need more peace in my life and right now that means sitting and holding my baby for an extra half hour each night.
He eats people food!
Everybody knows I was excited to start giving Orion adult food. I read about mashing up food from our plates vs making purees or using jars of baby food, and decided there was enough support for the option I wanted to do (straight to adult food) that we would try it. It was hilarious at first because Orion didn't know how to chew so he'd spit everything back out again by accident and he made these frowny faces of intense concentration whenever he tasted a new flavor.Now he's starting to get it. I think chewing is actually easier for him than liquidy foods like smoothies because he doesn't understand the closing your mouth part so liquids tend to run right back out again. He also doesn't understand how to put food in his own mouth, which is kind of ridiculous because he puts everything else in there! He'll just sit there with an open mouth waiting, like a baby bird, or if he's really hungry he'll launch his face at my hand when it's close enough. This makes it difficult to feed him but is hilarious.
He looooves his bouncy seat.
Orion wants to be upright all the time but can't actually sit up yet. He's also likes to jump and he's starting to really get into all the various doohickeys there are to grab and crinkle and spin on the chair. Sometimes he bounces so violently that the chair sounds like it's going to fall apart and Toast flees. I feel bad for her but it's pretty funny.He's changing constantly.
Every week there's some new thing. A couple weeks ago it was his tongue - he learned how to blow raspberries and was constantly making this "pbbtbtbtbt" noise. I don't even know when he went from just being able to grab things to now being able to spin the wheel thing on the bouncy seat. He's also rolling onto his stomach and scooting in a circle. It happens so slowly you almost don't notice and then you realize he's facing the opposite direction from where he started.Orion and Luke are going to be best buddies.
He watches both of the dogs all the time and laughs when Luke licks him. (Toast is too chicken, which is unfortunate because she really liked him when he was smaller.) Luke just wants to lick anyone who will let him so we're constantly having to pull him away to keep his tongue out of the baby's mouth. I think they would both be fine with it, but we're not!Luke has also learned that babies are a good source of food. He parks himself under the high chair every mealtime to await dropped food or the occasional treat from me or Ryan (we give in to begging as long as it's not obnoxious).
And now for the not-so-sneaky baby pictures! I'm breaking Ryan's and my rule but I don't feel that bad about it because after telling Google not to list my blog and removing all the places where I shared it, my hits are down from thousands a month to under 100. I think I know everyone who's visiting and you guys are cool. Here's Little Dude.
