It's Raining, It's Pouring

It's been raining here since yesterday afternoon. It finally stopped about 2:00 and the sun came out, so Toots and I went for a walk. It was HOT after that sun came out, though! I was planning to take him to the pool after he woke up from his nap, but he's napping longer than usual, so we'll probably just hang out here until Tim gets home and then it's off to Rosa's for Taco Tuesday! If you don't know what Taco Tuesday is, there is this Mexican restaurant called Rosa's Tortilla Factory and on Tuesdays they have taco plates for $3.66 (or something like that, it used to be $3.33 and they just raised the price). You get three tacos, rice, beans, and two tortillas for that price! It's a good deal and we go EVERY Tuesday - it's a family tradition :)

This past week, we went to Waco on Thursday to surprise my dad for his birthday. I thought he was going to be out of town on his birthday, so we hadn't planned on going there but when I talked to him to tell him "Happy Birthday" on Thursday morning, I found out he was in Waco so I quickly called Tim and told him we needed to plan on going there. My dad was surprised and we had a great time. Before we left, we had our first playdate with several kids the same age as Toots. There was a little girl born January 3, a little boy born January 8, a little boy who was 7 months old, and an 11 month old little boy. It was really fun to see two other kids almost exactly the same age as Toots. I really liked the moms as well and hope to get to hang out with them more and make some friends.

This weekend, we mostly just hung out. Tim went and watched the soccer game on Saturday with some friends. He wanted me to come with Toots but I didn't feel comfortable bringing Toots to the bar they were going to (I felt like it was weird to bring a baby unless it was a restaurant/bar and this place isn't really like that). I was glad we ended up not going because he texted me when he got there and told me he was having to stand to watch the game. Holding a 20 pound baby for two hours while standing would not have been fun!

Sunday, we tried out a church closer to our new house. Well, it is closer in number of miles but almost took us the same amount of time to get there. It was a nice church and the people seemed friendly, but I didn't like it as much as our current church. We are going to try another one that is only 7 miles from our house and see what we think about it. I'm having a hard time wanting to switch because I love our church so much, but when it takes 20-30 minutes to get there, it's easy to decide not to go and we don't want to do that. Toots has started being quite loud in church and we actually had to take turns alternating going outside with him this Sunday. I think we're going to have to check out the nurseries at the churches and consider leaving him in there if we're going to go to church. That makes me nervous, but we'll check them out and see.

Nothing much else is going on. We went to the mall today and walked around for about an hour because I was going stir crazy in this house with Toots since it was raining. I am having a hard time lately because he is awake for a lot more time now (2 - 2.5 hours at a time) and I quickly run out of ways to entertain him! Because his attention span is pretty short, it seems like we can play with all his toys and read some books and it has still only been 45 minutes. I try taking him on walks, to swing, or to the pool when it's nice outside but since it hasn't been yesterday afternoon and today, I was not sure of how the heck I was going to find things to do with him. If any of you moms have any suggestions of things to do, please let me know! I'm not sure if I need to buy some more toys or what. He doesn't really like his playmat anymore. Actually, I take that back. He still likes the playmat and is on it right now. I think he just doesn't like to be on it multiple times a day anymore. We use the exersaucer and jumper some and I also play with blocks and some other toys with him. I might get him some light-up drums because I've heard from some moms on The Bump that their kids really like them.

Next Thursday (not this coming one, but the next) we have his 6 month appointment. I can't believe he's going to be 6 months old in one week! He's such a big boy - in size and otherwise now - and it's crazy it's been a half year since he was first born. Sometimes, it felt like it had been years and years but now that he's sleeping, it goes by fast ;)

We LOVE our new video monitor we got! I don't know how I survived without it and it would be a HUGE recommendation on my part to any new moms. I originally read that people didn't like them because they would stare at the baby the whole night and that's why I didn't register for one, but I definitely wish I had because it really helps to not have to jump up everytime I hear him make a noise and be able to know he's fine when he is crying. I got a funny picture of him sleeping the other day on it:

He konked out with his hand over his eye!


Me and Toots. This is, not kidding, the first picture I have of him and me (by ourselves) since he was about a month old or less. I told Tim we have to start taking more pictures of me and him - I'm usually the one behind the camera.

He and Daddy were sitting on the porch the other afternoon and I snuck a picture of them through the window. I just thought it was cute.

He loves his baseball toy his Nana got him before he was born. It makes cute noises that he likes, but he mostly loves chewing on the ball and on the tee right now!

Look what I can do now! Last week, I reported he sat up on his own for about 30 seconds. Now, he does it for minutes at a time. It's amazing the difference a week makes in a baby!

Daddy's home! Yay! (His shirt says "My Dad Rocks")

We tried the duck tub again last night since he sits up better. He can sit up in it, but he prefers to sink down so the water is all over him, which leads to tilting and getting close to falling out. We'll keep trying :)

Uh, oh! She caught me!

Playing in his exersaucer. He is soooo good at controlling everything on it now and turning around to play with everything.

Thanks to those of you who commented on my "Blocking Spree" post. Jess and Lara, I unblocked you - sorry I didn't realize who it was! I hope everyone has a great 4th of July! We're taking Toots to see some fireworks for the first time. We'll see how that goes since he's scared of loud noises. I'll post next Tuesday after his doctor's appointment for sure and possibly before then.

Patty Cake

I forgot to mention a few other fun things about Toots in my post last week. He LOVES Tucker (our Yorkie) and thinks he is just the funniest thing ever. I have a really cute video of him laughing when we say "Tucker" to him but I can't figure out how to get the videos off of my camera and onto the computer. When I connect my camera to my computer, the videos don't show up for me to upload them :(

Also, he has recently discovered sucking on his feet and reallllly likes to have his right big toe in his mouth if at all possible. He's also very into patting things. He likes to pat one of my hands while he's eating, pat the couch, pat the table, etc. And he loves his Faith Newman/Sophie more than ever. He is very good at being able to get any part of her body in his mouth and pretty much chews on her all day.

He is still sleeping fantastic, yay! Yesterday, he was on his back and was pushing himself backwards with his feet. We turned him over on his stomach and Tim put his hands against Toots' feet and Toots pushed himself along to a toy I had just out of his reach. It was cute. Too bad we can't get him to roll from back to tummy to begin getting ready to crawl! He's sitting up well. This week, he sat up without be a tripod (hands down to balance himself), for about 10 seconds. I know that may not seem like a lot, but it was a pretty big deal :)

As for me and Tim, we are very much enjoying the extra sleep we are getting. I no longer dread when it's getting night time. We recently got a Netflix account and have been enjoying watching some movies and also started watching TrueBlood this season. Tim has been really excited about the World Cup being on and spent most of his Father's Day watching that. Toots and I go on a walk/run every morning after he wakes up (except this morning because I actually slept in as well instead of getting up right after I fed him at 6:00) and sometimes we stop and swing at the playground during our journey. STILL haven't gotten any pictures hung in the house but I think we will accomplish that the rest of this week. I'm ready to get it done so we will be finished getting the house ready.

I haven't been doing as well on my diet and have gained a couple pounds. I decided to quit Weight Watchers to save money and I also had to quit Stroller Strides because, in addition to it costing $50/month (which we could afford), because of the location of it, it was costing us an extra $150-$200 in gas for me to drive there everyday, which made it unaffordable. I was reallllly sad to have to quit because I love the workout and the women I met there and I think that's the main reason I've gained a couple pounds because I haven't been getting a good workout. I am trying to be diligent about the walking/running in the mornings and sometimes in the afternoon as well and I think I'm going to start getting up early in the mornings and doing P90x workout. I'm just ready to get rid of these last 10 pounds but I am NOT good about my eating habits!

I guess that's about all going on right now! Here's some pictures

I posted this on facebook, but for those of you that aren't friends with me on there, I had to post it on here for all to see! He's a ladies man, what can I say...
First time ever on the swing

Hanging out on the couch in his cool overalls

It's a little harder to see in this picture than it was on my camera, but look how read his hair looks! All the pictures I took of him in the overalls, he had really red hair

Father's Day! His shirt says "Dad's My Allstar"

Swinging with Daddy for the first time. This isn't the same day as the above pictures in the overalls...I just put him in them a lot since it is hot :)

Hope everyone has had a good week! Sorry there aren't anymore pictures...I haven't been good about taking them this week!

Happy Happy

Happy First Father's Day to my amazing husband and Toot's super awesome Daddy!

And Happy Father's Day to my super awesome Daddy :)

My really great Step-Dad

My fabulous Papa

And my sweet, sweet Pappaw!

Hope everyone has a great day and an especially great Father's Day!

Chronicles of Crying It Out

As wrote in my post last Monday, Toots has been sleeping horrendously. His sleep was getting worse and worse as time went on, to the point that week before last, he was waking up 6 to 8 times from 1 AM to 6 AM and not sleeping well for his naps, either. I was exhausted and unable to get much of anything done because of him not sleeping during the day or at night and Tim was also extremely tired at work.

I had always been pretty against Crying It Out for Toots. Just seeing how he cried during the day when something was wrong, I thought it would be WAY too traumatic to let him cry himself to sleep. As mentioned last Monday, I had tried letting him cry it out for his morning nap. He cried for 40 minutes with me going in every 10 minutes and it took me at least 10 minutes to calm him down when I picked him up and then he finally passed out. I told Tim if we were going to do this crying it out thing at night, I was probably going to have to sleep upstairs or sleep somewhere else for the night because I couldn't bear hearing him cry for a long time. The next day, I tried it again for his morning nap and let him cry for 30 minutes, with me going in every 5 minutes. Same result as the day before. At his afternoon nap, I decided to be a little harder on him and I let him cry for an hour, only going in once at 20 minutes. He still never fell asleep and after an hour it was time for him to eat, so I just got him up and he never took an afternoon nap.

I posted on Facebook about the trouble I was having and had a friend suggest not going in there at all when he was crying. She said they tried over and over with her little girl to get her to go to sleep, going in every 5, 10, or 15 minutes and they weren't making any progress. Her sister-in-law suggested not going in there at all. She said her little girl cried for 43 minutes the first night, 21 minutes the second night, 8 the third night, and then none at all. I really wasn't sure if I could do that, but she mentioned that they had purchased a video monitor so they could watch the little girl and make sure nothing was actually wrong with her and that she was just crying. I called Tim at work and told him about it and he told me to go ahead and go buy a video monitor. I went to Target right then and bought one.

Tuesday night, we set it all up and put him in bed to cry for as long as it took (unless, of course, it became obvious something was wrong). He cried for 15 minutes and fell asleep! I couldn't believe it! Then, he slept the ENTIRE night (NINE hours and 20 minutes straight!), woke up and ate, and went back to sleep for another hour. At his naptimes on Wednesday, he cried for about 20 minutes each and then fell asleep. Wednesday night, he cried for approximately 2 minutes and then fell asleep! He did wake up once at around 12:30 and cried for a couple minutes but he slept an extra 45 minutes before waking up for his first bottle. He only went back to sleep that day for about 30 minutes, I didn't mind when he had slept so well the night before.

Thursday for his naps, he was completely asleep for one of them (fell asleep eating his bottle), so there was no crying, and minimal crying for the other one. Thursday night, he did not cry for even one second! He played in his crib for about 5 or 10 minutes and then fell asleep and slept the entire night again. Friday was the same result. Saturday morning, he didn't want to go back to sleep at all after his first bottle at 6:30 (why do they always do that on the weekends? :)) but we managed to get him back to sleep with us for about 45 minutes before we got up. He cried a little longer for his naps yesterday, one time about 20 minutes before going to sleep and last night he cried for about 5 minutes after he was put in bed.

But, last night, he sleep from 8:45 to 6:30, ate a bottle, back asleep by 6:45, and slept until 9:25! That was, by far, the best night we've ever had. Today, he cried for about 5 or so minutes when I put him down for his first nap, but now he's fast asleep.

I wanted to chronicle these crying it out adventures so that I would remember how they went for the next kid and so other people could see how it can work. Like I said, I was very against it originally and I definitely didn't think I could ever, ever let him just cry without going in there, but I've learned as a parent so far that we end up doing lots of things we thought we would never do. And, it worked. Like magic. I can't even believe all the sleep I'm getting now. I'm able to get up at 6:00 when Tim gets up for work so I can be completely dressed and usually have the house straightened up before Toots gets up. One day last week I was even able to get 30 minutes of work done before he got up. If he somehow continues the trend of what he did last night, I would be able to get lots of work done before he gets up. I feel better than I have since about a month before Toots was born!

So, if you're a parent now having sleep issues or if you become a parent in the future and have sleep issues, never say 'never' and consider all options :)

Blocking Spree

Ok, guys, I'm about to go on a blocking spree. This means, if you have recently started following my blog and have never commented before, I need you to comment no later than next Friday (June 25) or I am blocking you. I'm realllllly trying hard not to take this blog private because I enjoy knowing anyone can read it who might want to know about the happenings of a new mom, but when I have a new follower nearly everday and I have no idea who you are, I don't know why the heck you're reading if you never comment. If you have a profile or your own blog, I'm a little less weary because I can find out about you through your profile, picture, or blog. But, if you have a cartoon for a picture, no picture at all, no profile, and no blog, I can't help but to be a little suspicious of you.

So please comment and let me know you are a real person and not a crazy weirdo. I'm specifically talking to you Elif Gokmen, argos 2793, sharath banuka, Helen Gargan, JessB, Lara, renaria rodrigues, stephen, nasus_ale, Shay, leenieemt13, lucyinthesky89, and marinegurl6.

I really appreciate all y'all reading this and being interested but, like I've said before, I've gotta know who you people are! :)

The End

A couple weeks ago, I decided I was going to quit pumping. I went through a time where I really felt guilty about stopping, like I am doing a big disservice to Toots. I know that breastmilk is the best source of nutrition for him and I am really glad he was able to get it for a little over 5 months and I hope to be able to keep it up with our next kid longer than that, but with having to solely pump and never being able to actually breastfeed him, it was becoming so tiring and challenging. I started pumping only twice per day at the beginning of June and did that for two weeks, then I went to once a day and then I stopped.

I almost feel like it made it harder to pump since I stay home with him. I know that probably sounds kind of crazy, but here's what I mean: If I pumped while he was awake, I would have to hope he could entertain himself for 30-40 minutes in the morning and 20 minutes two to three more times during the day. You moms out there know that it's hard to keep a very small child occupied without crying for that amount of time without playing with them yourself. I tried to do it while he was napping sometimes but I have SO many other things that I need to do while he's napping - cleaning, doing work, preparing food. I couldn't do work while I was pumping because I have to have a ton of documents spread around since I am doing title work and it was nearly impossible to be able to have everything out along with the pump and be able to move around like I needed to.

I also felt like I pretty much had to revolve my life around pumping. I had to make sure I had time to do it everyday, if we were at a family member's house for the weekend or travelling elsewhere, I would have to leave everyone for 20 to 40 minutes to go pump, bring the pump and all the accessories with me everywhere, etc. If Toots would still have breastfed off of me, there is no question in my mind that I would still be doing it. I had just gotten to the point where I enjoyed it when he got the cold and decided he wouldn't nurse anymore. I think some people probably think I am making it up when I say he refused to nurse anymore or think that I didn't try hard enough to get him to start again, but I WANTED him to continue nursing, so I promise I am not making it up and I didn't just take the easy way out. I feel that pumping was much, much more work than him just breastfeeding, so I was definitely not doing it by choice.

He doesn't seem to notice any difference that he's not getting breastmilk anymore and hasn't had any issues. I did try to switch him from Similac Sensitive to Earth's Best Organic Formula and it made him gassy and constipated, so I had to switch back. I'm planning on asking the doctor at his six month appointment if there's anyway to gradually switch him over.

Anyway, I just wanted to write a post on here about it as kind of an update of something going on in our lives at this point. I'm still a little sad about it but happy I was able to do it for the amount of time I did. And, like I said, I plan on trying to do it longer with the next kid.

La Ti Da

Toots is 5 months old! It's been two weeks, but I haven't been a good poster, so I'm just now talking about that :) I did his five month stats myself and he is 19.6 pounds, 27 1/2 inches long, and his head circumference is 17 3/4 inches. All those are 95th percentile. He's still my BIG boy!

Currently, his favorite thing to do is scream. Not even necessarily when he's upset, just because he can do it. He refuses to roll from his back to his stomach. He did it once on the bed but never since then. He'll get all the way turned up on his side and we'll even put his leg over for him and he will.not.roll. But, when we put him on his stomach, he will kick his legs like he's trying to move. Who knows. Also, whenever we are holding him, he frequently tries to "leap" out of our arms like he wants to go somewhere but, of course, he can't move if he gets down so I don't know what he's thinking. He talks still and also makes whiny noises when he's falling asleep.

He doesn't sleep well, still. In fact, the past few weeks have been pretty much terrible. He starts waking up around 1 AM and wakes up 6 or 8 times after that. Awful. We are trying to figure out what the deal is and are considering letting him cry it out. I tried it today for a nap and it was terrible and I hard a hard time even calming him down after I went in and picked him up. But, if things don't get better, we will have to have some desperate measures because none of us are getting enough sleep at this point. We do have a very strict day-time schedule down so we aren't still trying to get a schedule down during the day, but just not good sleeping at night.

He is starting to like the pool. We went to Waco this weekend for my friend, Lindsey's, baby shower (baby Caroline due August 5th! Toots can't wait to meet his new friend), and swam in my dad and stepmom's new pool. He is still a little unsure about it sometimes but seems to be getting more and more comfortable and liking it more and more.

I'm still trying to get work done for Tim's firm. It's been difficult to get anything accomplished with Toot's terrible sleeping patterns the past few weeks, but I'm hoping things will get better soon and I will start getting up with Tim at 6:00 AM and getting everything I need to get done around the house done and get dressed for the day so that way when Toots naps, I can work during his naps instead of having to do house stuff. Luckily, Tim's boss is super patient and awesome and understands that I can't get a lot of work done right now.

What else is going on...ummm...I still haven't gotten anything hung on the walls at the house, so I still don't have pictures for y'all. But, I think Tim is having friends over to play poker on Friday so it WILL all be hung up by then and I will post pictures.

Here's some pictures.

I'm FIVE months old! Aren't I cute?!

I know you can't seem the "5" on his shirt in this one, but I thought this might be the most adorable picture ever with the way he has his hands and his cute facial expression.

This is his favorite way to be in the jumper, with his arms in it. Usually, he doesn't even have that one hand on the top of it. He keeps both arms inside of it and leans back like his lounging and turns around and around. No jumping so far, much to my dismay because I think jumping is the cutest thing.

We copied my friend, Lacey, and got a duck tub for Toots. He's looking at me in this picture like, "um, mom, I still can't sit up good on the dry floor. Why would you think I could sit up in a slippery duck tub?" Love the tub, and I think he likes it, too, but we're going to put it away until he can sit up better.

I accidentally put the wrong one of these pictures in this post but it's too difficult to switch them out. I meant to put one where his face wasn't blurry, but you get the idea. Just thought he looked cute moving around in just his diaper :)

Happy boy! (I can't remember if I already posted this. If I did, oh well. It's always okay to see a happy baby more than once)

Today, Toots decided he would like to have some orange juice.

No, really. He wants some. Give me some juice, mom!

A little bit about solids. I know there is a lot of controversy with starting solids sooner than six months. I realize there are studies saying it can cause problems in babies to start solids sooner than six months. I talked to our pediatrician at length about this and ended up deciding I was okay with it. We started at 4.5 months or a little later with some rice cereal. We did that for a little while but he didn't like it very much and we had to mix it with prune juice because it made him constipated. He never had the tongue thrust or anything, he was super about eating from the start. Next, we tried sweet potatoes. He LOVES them. Along with butternut squash, those two things might be his favorite things ever and he eats a ton of them. He's not so sure about carrots. He thinks he might like them, but maybe not. He doesn't like green beans so far. He gags whenever he eats them. We started trying peas last night and he seems to like them okay. Not love them like sweet potatoes and butternut squash, but he doesn't gag on them. He also had bananas for the first time. He liked them unless he got a bite that wasn't mashed up enough and then he would gag a little. He eats a pretty big amount of food at dinner. Probably around 6 tablespoons. At lunch, probably about four and he just started having breakfast today and probably just ate one or two tablespoons of bananas. He sometimes has a little bit of water when he's eating and we've started using a sippy cup for that. He loves chewing on the spout of it and likes to hold it but doesn't understand how to turn it up to get the water out yet.

I make his food with the KidCo Feeding System. I didn't win the one I blogged about awhile back, but Tim's Aunt Pattie e-mailed me after reading my post and offered to buy one for us so that I could make Toot's food myself. She had it sent to us and I've used it to make every bit of food Toots has eaten. It's awesome and makes home-making baby food super easy. Thanks so much, Aunt Pattie! Whenever I am preparing, cooking, and pureeing the food, Toots sits on the counter in his Bumbo chair and watches me. He also likes to touch, look at, and sometimes attempt to eat this decorative bear I have on the counter. This is what I get to see while making the food:

The food making is quick anyway, but seeing this adorableness makes it even quicker!

I've got some other things to write about but this is a very long post so I think I'll save it for some other posts throughout the week. Hope everyone had a great weekend! Sorry for the blogging drought!

*The title of the post has nothing to do with anything. I just couldn't think of a title!

Where Oh Where...

...have I been? I promise I'll do a blog post after Toots goes to bed tonight! Sorry I didn't post at all last week!

One Year Ago...

One year ago yesterday (June 2), I thought about how I had been feeling a little "off" lately and snuck into the guest bathroom to take a pregnancy test while Tim was in the shower. A couple minutes later, I saw this: (it says "pregnant" I know it's hard to read)


A week and a half later, we saw this on the ultrasound:

Twelve weeks later, "it" turned into "he" this on the ultrasound:

And 18 weeks after that, he became this:

Now, 21 weeks after that (and one year after that "pregnant" popped up), he has become this:

My, oh my, how things change in a year!

Help Sam

You may have noticed a new badge on the right-hand side of my blog. A sweet baby boy named Sam Sartin was recently diagnosed with Stage 4 neuroblastoma. This really hit home for me because he is only 6 months old - almost the same age as Toots. The Sartins have soaring medical costs and Cassie, Sam's mom, has had to quit her job to be with Sam because he is in the hospital so much. Her job was where they got their medical coverage. Right now, they are using COBRA but it is very expensive and Alex's, Sam's dad, job only covers their immediate bills.

Baby Rabies blog (babyrabies.com) is doing a fundraiser to help them with all their costs. For only $5 to help the Sartin family, you can be entered to win a TON of great prizes and help out a worthy family. Please go here (click "here" or copy and past this website address:
http://babyrabies.com/helpsam-fundraiser/) and donate to Sam. Whether or not you decide to donate, please pray for Sam and his family that he is able to overcome this cancer and grow up and experience all the things we all want our children to experience in their lives.

A Montage of Sorts

Here are some pictures from the past couple weeks.

Right after we closed on the house. Toots is concerned about the whole process :)
Look what I can do now!!

I got a new chair so I can be just like my Daddy!

Just chillin' with his BFF Colt

Sharing a seat together so they can lounge

What? I'm just trying to hang out over here.

Sitting in the big boy chair because I am such a BIG boy in my cool outfit!

After the zoo...Toots and mommy were worn out!

Relaxin', resting my hand on my leg

Sleepy from so much moving and excitement

Such a happy boy! (Note, I'm not discussing solids on here, yet. Please don't turn my picture montage into a solids discussion. Be distracted by the adorableness of my sweet baby.)

I LOVE playing!

Trying out a high chair for the first time. I promise, it wasn't nearly as terrifying as it looks and he sits in one everytime we go eat now. We have one of those high chair covers that give him some more support and cushion and he seems to love it.

Bath time! My favorite part of the day!

Hope everyone has had a great week so far! Thanks for putting up with the blog hiatus with all our moving and such. Hope you enjoyed lots of pictures to make up for it :)

Splish Splash

We took Toots to the pool for the first time this past Saturday. Our new neighborhood has a hugeeee community pool and it was open for the first time this weekend. It was pretty crowded, but there was still plenty of room and a great pool that started out very shallow for us to be able to sit with him in. Here's some pictures:

Showing off his new shades for the occassion (they are Thomas the Train). He's too cool.

Daddy and Toots when we got to the pool.

Trying out the water for the first time....He was actually really tired and was fine when Daddy was holding him on his leg and he was in the water, but when he was put in the water on his own (like below) it resulted in crying.

Five minutes after the above picture, this is what happened...

After a 20 minute nap, he went back in the pool for a little more and was okay with being set in the water on his own. We only stayed about an hour because we didn't want him to be out in the heat too long. The pool will open up daily next week, so I plan on taking him some during the day during the week when it won't be as crowded. I'd say it was a success, though, because he didn't hate it :)