Word to the Mothers: Fresh Little Mom

Here's to all of the Fresh Little Moms!

Exclusive Unpublished Barking Baby Archives: Sweet

From back in January when SS was a wee little five-month-old...

I feel like it's always when I'm around J's mom and sister, the Expert Moms, that I do some spazzy-mommy thing, like last week when I picked up SS's carseat and the whole living room collectively gasped as SS's seat tipped to a perilous angle, because I hadn't realized that the car seat handle wasn't all the way up. Of course SS was safely buckled and strapped in, which kept the carseat from becoming a baby Slip-and-Slide, but still, it looked crazy-spazzy.  

And obviously no one but J and I are around when I do a rock star ninja-mom move like catch SS midair as he pops himself off my lap like a jumping spider when we're sitting at the dining room table. My awesome-mom moments are frustratingly private, while my spazzy-mom moments seem to be witness-induced. Especially if those witnesses are Varsity Moms. 

On Martin Luther King Jr Day J's whole family went to a magic/comedy show by Justin Williams at the Gaslight Theater - J told me I was a very good audience member because I spent the whole night exclaiming "Hooow did he do that?!" At Gaslight, you can order food to eat during the show, so J, BB, and I shared a massive brownie hot fudge sundae (you know, because I'm still trying to lose that baby weight) while I cradled SS. After a little while we played pass-the-baby and eventually Auntie Seen ended up cuddling him to sleep. When the show ended, the lights came back up in the audience, and Auntie Seen was suddenly anxious.

"Oh my gosh, look! Something's in SS's ear - is that blood?"

Of course we all swarmed around the sleeping baby.

"It looks like dried blood! Why would his ear be bleeding?"

"Did his eardrum burst?"

"And what is that little thing in his ear? Is that a bug?"

"It's.....is it...green?...What is that?"

"Wait.....is that...?"

I closely inspected the tiny green-and-brown object resting in my son's ear. And suddenly the context our evening dawned on me.

"It's a sprinkle."

I sniffed SS's ear.

"And that's chocolate sauce.

I was holding him on my lap while I ate my sundae, and chocolate sauce must have dripped into his ear when I took a bite. "

Crisis averted. 

Peals of laughter. 

Spazzy mom strikes again! What kind of glutton slobbers dessert all over her sleeping baby and doesn't realize it? Into her baby's ear?!?

The embarrassment continues...

A Breeze, A Boy, and His Blanket

 BB and his lovey, his blanket, exploring the wind at the park.

Word to the Mothers: Lunch

So I'm not some kind of expert food guru, but I thought I would post this since I never turn down a nutritious and quick lunch suggestion, especially one that is toddler friendly.

We eat our fair share of peanut butter and jelly, grilled cheese and quesadillas, but one of my favorite quick  lunches (and maybe the occasional dinner too) these days is a hard-boiled egg, a fruit, and veggies and crackers with hummus. You can even throw in a cheese stick or cheese cubes for some (additional) dairy (BB drinks milk with every meal).  Our go-to veggies are baby carrots (we always, always, always have these), cherry tomatoes (okay, okay, I know these are actually a fruit, geez), and sliced bell peppers (which BB holds up and proclaims "J!" See? Good nutrition helps kids learn. And be adorable.)  This quick, low-prep meal covers all of the food groups, fills the tummy, and is pretty tasty too.

Evidence of the toddler-friendliness of this meal

Plus, you get to hear your kid try and pronounce "hummus".

"Can I peas have some moe who-muss?"

Hope it can help!

Niner

Niner, niner, we have a 9-month-old.

(Technically, due to the delinquent nature of the timing of this post, we have a 9-month-and-11-day-old. Which normally I would just ignore, except I'm going to post a video from Tuesday night, which means it technically belongs in the 10-month update post, but I just can't wait another month to post it.)

There's some cute stuff happening this month folks.

Babbling. J and I have both thought we heard SS say something that sounded like Mamamama and Dadadada, but no official words yet. Just consonants and vowels and a volume dial slightly turned up (especially when his brother is around! Or napping.)

Teething. There are two little teeth slits on his lower gums and the gums are all flattened out - we're just waiting for them to poke through. SS has been gumming frozen teething rings when he gets the grumps. I think his teeth have stage fright, and are peeking out at the audience and then ducking back behind the curtain again, because sometimes I can see them and sometimes they disappear back into gummyland.

Kiss Pops. Kiss Pops has become part of the S family vernacular. SS has started making a little pop noise with his bottom lip, and it seems like he thinks he's doing kisses. But sometimes he does it when he's eating too, so I'm not really sure.

Solids. SS has been eating 2 solids a day (and actually, in real-time 9-months-and-11-days-old world, he's eating 3 solids each day, eating each meal with his brother, which is way easier than just 2 solids, I think because it's automatic, no decision-making necessary. I have to conserve my brain power for more important things, like Downton Abbey). We feed SS a lot of plain Greek yogurt, applesauce, avocados, and sweet potatoes. Applesauce is his favorite. He eats other stuff too (squash, peas, bananas, chicken, tuna) but those are our go-to foods for him, because they are so fuss-free. He is still eating everything fairly pureed (meaning mashed-with-a-spoon or stirred-into-a-slurry-with-water, not necessarily put in the food processor or blended or anything - the less dirty dishes to wash, the better. Which is why I think avocado is the perfect baby food - because it comes in it's own little biodegradable bowl.) And when we're not at home I feed him those organic food pouches (using these amazing screw-on spoons I found at Target for $4!) for convenience. SS is nursing 4-5 times/day, which is followed with a bottle of formula, and then a solid. Feeding him three different ways isn't time consuming at all...

Isn't this a silly picture?

Creeping. SS has been wiggling his way across the living room rug to BB's toys this month, and despite the fact that he is not yet crawling and often just lays on his belly kicking his legs with his arms perpendicular to his body (which I call "swimming"), he can definitely get where he wants to go. How, you ask? Rolling, wiggling, scooting. He reaches over with one arm and plants it, lifts up his legs, and rotates on his belly.

But just the other night, SS took his mobility to a whole new level. I don't even know what to call this - maybe some kind of Hybrid Army Crawl? One-armed Wiggle? Whatever it is, this was the first time we'd seen it, and we can't stop giggling about it.

What a nut.

SS remains ever-beautiful. His hair is growing longer.

SS is holding it down in the 2nd percentile for weight at 15 lbs 9 ounces.

And is in the 50th percentile for length at 28 1/4 inches long.

And is in the 1,000,000th percentile for big blue eyes, and grinning at and talking to himself in the mirror.

SS started playing in this propped-on-one-elbow pose this month - I think he thinks he's sitting up. His actual sitting up is improving, but is still unsteady. At any rate, this pose frees up one hand for toy-grabbing-and-putting-in-mouth.

Ridiculously Overdue Recap: Everything In Between

And now, for the final Ridiculously Overdue Recap, I present to you...a bunch of stuff. Stuff of life. Stuff that happened in between the major holidays that I didn't want to end up totally eclipsed on the blog.

In November we cheered Papa on as he rode in the Tour de Tucson. He rode past Matt and Serene's street, so we met on the corner there and waved and cheered together.

And then there was Tada's 5th birthday, which we celebrated with a Frogs & Tutus Birthday party. She made the theme up. Because she loves frogs. And tutus. And then a couple of days before the partyTada proclaimed that the boys should wear tuxedos, so Auntie Seen made felt bow ties for the men to clip onto their shirts. I loved seeing all the men of the family "dressed up" in their bow ties. And because BB wants to do everything his cousins do, BB ended up in a tutu by the end of the party. The picture of him sobbing I have titled "Toddler Hours Past Naptime Mourning Cake-Pop-Falling-Off-Stick Tragedy". It makes me laugh every time, because he was almost inconsolable.

And sometimes J and I are not only parents, but adults with our own friends and lives and parties. When I'm trying to simultaneously breastfeed SS and take BB potty or refill his sippy cup and then SS spits up all over me 5 minutes after I finally changed out of my pajamas while BB throws a fit, it can be hard to believe. But I have evidence. Back in December, we had a Friendsgivingmas party, to celebrate our friends and the general holiday spirit...and the babies went to Nacky and Papa's house. I cooked a turkey and made my grandma's cranberry salad and supplied wine, and friends brought a bunch of food too, and we ate, drank, and were merry. I wore high heels and everything. I had been envisioning this party for months, and it happened just like it went in my mind (which is rarely the case and was cause for even more celebration). Even the "no stress" rule I imposed was fairly fulfilled. Friendsgivingmas was by far one of the best times of the whole holiday season.

For us, New Years is a holiday traditionally spent with Team P. Usually we celebrate New Years Eve at their annual Cootie Party - this year, we were unable to attend Cootie, but we still rang in the New Year by heading up to Phoenix for New Years Day. Here we are ending the first day of 2012 with (heavily supervised) fireworks.

J's cousin just had her third baby, and in January we celebrated with a baby shower, where we enjoyed time with a lot of J's family. SS even got some great-grandparent cuddles, and some playtime with J's cousin's daughter, who was born just a week after him.

 

And thus endeth the Ridiculously Overdue Recaps. I'm putting "the cap" on them! (Waah waaahh). Okay, how about "You are officially Capped."

It's true. You are.