Baby Max - 6 Months Old

I Can't Believe It ... Our Baby Is 6 Months Old ... 6 Month Milestones

Where does the time go? It seems like I gave birth to Baby Max just a month ago, but today marks his 6 months "almost birthday" and I am just in awe over our incredible little baby.

1) He showers us with kisses all day long.

2) He has been eating food for months now.

3) He rolls all over the place while playing on his floor mat.

4) He has just about figured out how to get his bottom up to crawl / starting to crawl.

5) Max can walk a 60 foot porch BACKWARDS in his little walker and he did this 3 times.

6) If I feed him a bite of peas after giving him a bite of apples, he will spit them out at me.

7) He goes crazy after he makes a #2 and then fights us the whole time we change his diaper.

8) He sleeps about 10 minutes when I want him to take a nap, but konks out completely when I do not want him to nap.

9) He has become a textbook case for "separation anxiety", so I dare not leave him alone too long at all.

10) He also started nursing roughly and pulling my hair and laughing.

Our baby still throws up all of the time, but it is getting better. I breastfeed mostly, but do use soy formula when we are out and about. It was worse when I used regular formula. I watch what I eat (reduced dairy, no spicy foods, etc) and it seems to help, but the doctor says this has
nothing to do with it. That it's just reflux because of the stomach muscles.

I want him to stay 6 months forever ...

Here is a complete list of 6 months old baby milestones:

• Babies are starting using receptive language at around 6 months. This means that they start associating words with objects. Your baby might point to things when asked.
  
  
• Your baby still needs and loves physical contact with you. Although not newborns, 6 month old babies are still changing and learning so much. Your physical love is comforting to them and maybe even needed more this month.
  
  
• 50% of babies are babbling one syllable sounds / word over and over again. For example, "ba ba ba ba" or "da da da da". The repetition helps them learn, plus it gets attention!

Two more details about what our baby is like at 6 months old:

It sounds like Max can already say "Hi" and "I love you". It is so cute to hear him say "Hello" to Elmo, Caillou and his brother. I love having a 6 month old; they are so cute and start to understand more each day.

Our baby has also developed quite a little temper. He kicks his feet and suishes up his face when he is upset. I know that part is that he is frustrated with not being able to communicate with us, but sometimes it is because he wants picked up (after we have already held him for a while) or a toy that we have in out hands. We are thinking that this is the age to start catching and redirecting those bad habits, so that he is not "spoiled". Regardless of his little temper, I still love having a 6 month old baby. He is just one precious little boy and we are so grateful to have been blessed with such a loving and incredible new addition to our family.

In Motherly Love,
Mother Baby Child

Dirty Laundry | I'm Airing My Dirty Laundry

OK, MOMMIES ... I'M AIRING MY DIRTY LAUNDRY TODAY ... CAN YOU RELATE?

For once, in a very long time, I have finished ALL of the laundry before more made it into the laundry basket. WOO HOO!!! We go through a massive amount of laundry; especially bibs, bed pads, washing rags and towels since the baby was born. My younger son always has laundry because he has always included clean clothes in his basket after cleaning his room (those clothes that were hidden in the closet or on the floor after he testes what he wanted to wear for the day, though did not fold the rejected outfits and place them back in his drawer). He has finally stopped doing this and I am glad. I felt like Super Mom after the curtains and the very last blanket had been washed. I took pride in folding all of those little bibs, rolling the socks and lining up the skinny jeans for the week.

SO WHAT IS MY PROBLEM? WHY WRITE THIS DIRTY LAUNDRY BLOG POST???

I walked into our bedroom to put clothes away (mind you that I have been up since 6:30 A.M. and it is now 8:30 A.M.) to find that my "baby's daddy" had 2 pairs of socks and a pair of sweat pants on the floor (his side of the bed). As I sit here writing this blog post, the Psycho movie theme and a picture of the woman screaming comes to mind. THAT is how I felt at that time: 1) he has laundry on the floor and 2) he is STILL sleeping while I have been doing laundry. As my friend's mother used to say, "WHERE IS THE JUSTICE"???

So, I took a quick peak in my 12 year old's room (he typically has laundry hidden in closets and under the bed NO MATTER how many video games he loses). Would you believe that I only found the PJ bottom that he went to bed in last night (must have gotten hot in his sleep). GOOD BOY!!! For once in his life, he is starting to take care of his room and listening to my "nagging". He even insisted that I start teaching him how to wash his own laundry yesterday. That is commendable for a pre-teen boy that whines when he has to do yard work and typically takes a month to clean his room ... another WOOT WOOT is in order here for the boy that loves his mama enough to try to keep the laundry coming! :)

WHY THE BIG DEAL OVER TWO PAIRS OF SOCKS AND SWEAT PANTS???

By 8:33 A.M., I realized that I really did not get all of the dirty laundry done. I FELT SO DEFEATED. I wanted to kick those socks and pants out the window. In fact, as the original Dirty Laundry lyrics go ... I wanted to wake him up and tell him to "Eat your dirty laundry" ...

THEN I REMEMBERED THAT LIFE AS A MOMMY AND WIFEY IS SIMILAR TO THE DISHES IN THE SINK ... THERE IS ALWAYS MORE LAUNDRY TO DO :)

DIRTY LAUNDRY ...
Kick 'em when they're up
Kick 'em when they're down
Kick 'em when they're stiff
Kick 'em all around


In Motherly Love,
Mother Baby Child

Pre-Teens, Teens | Boys & Moms

WHAT DO MY PRE-TEEN, TEEN AND I HAVE IN COMMON? BLACK COMES TO MIND ...

Well, since they are my sons, I would have to say that we have a ton of things in common. I am aware of our similarities, but I am sure that I've overlooked some commonalities through the years ... As of today, the color BLACK comes to mind and inspires me to write this blog post for other moms of teens and pre-teens; especially those judging kids dressed in black these days. They are not all Emo, Punk Rock and Goth influenced teens / pre-teens.

YES ... BLACK! BLACK! BLACK! BLACK! BLACK!

As I was helping my pre-teen put away laundry and organize his dresser drawers, I noticed that he had SO MANY black items in his room. There are a ton of black clothes, hats, shoes, sheets, pillow cases, comforter, wrist bands, etc) and one pair of white sneakers with red and blue stitching. We just purchased these shoes, so they are a new addition to his wardrobe. Aside of some colorful "hand me downs" from his teen brother, my tween's personal wardrobe selections had really transitioned to dark colors over the years. The black is obviously the majority, but there are a few dark grays, hinter green and navy items. I guess this is not such a big deal to most, but it REALLY got me thinking!!!

"IF YOU DO WHAT YOU'VE ALWAYS DONE,
YOU'LL GET WHAT YOU'VE ALWAYS GOTTEN"

Although my older son was adamant about wearing black or navy blue hoodies - instead of a coat - by 8th grade, he has always been on the more colorful side. He did eventually trade in the "all black" and "all blue" hoodies for more stylish designs ... Regardless, the point is that his apparel did not transition too dramatically by middle school and high school years. I do remember his refusing to wear cargo type pants in 6th grade, but he now takes pride when dressing up or in a relaxed style.

WHAT IN THE HECK IS THE POINT HERE ... ?

My point being that there were not dramatic indicators that my oldest son had reached his pre-teen / teen years. I was kind of oblivious to the fact that we would have some REALLY challenging stages throughout those pre-teen and teen those years. He appeared to be the same, colorful, fella from 6th grade to 10th grade ... that is until he began refusing to play the sports that he had always loved. We soon had more conflicts in the home; his activity and friend choices transitioned quite a bit, too. Keeping in mind that he went from private school to homeschooling in the 6th grade and then public schools thereafter, there were obviously a lot of influences in the pre-teen and teen years.

LOL, LOOKS LIKE THIS NEW TWEEN OF MINE HAS BEEN CHANGING SINCE THE END OF 4TH GRADE AND WENT ALL BLACK BY THE MIDDLE OF 6TH GRADE.

My middle son has had a few changes in interests over the past year and a little attitude has peaked since Christmas, but all in all he has been the same to me. I guess it would have been more put he began homeschooling around Christmas ... This has permitted me to keep closer watch on his activities, friend choices and newly developed interests (which have just been few new interests as he has always been rather fixated on the same things). Regardless, he was making some not so great friend choices and showing changes in his interest well before my 1st son started to gravitate to the "darker" subjects, music and trends. Does this mean that his transition in adulthood will move faster, too?

AS I SORTED THE TOO SMALL CLOTHES FROM WHAT FITS, GOT THE SUMMER CLOTHES AND COMPARED WHILE I PUT HIS LAUNDRY AWAY IN THE DRAWERS ...

I noticed that, although my pre-teen has already made some darker choices over the past year and 1/2, those shiny white shoes REALLY stood out to me. I could then see how many other colorful t-shirts he has been wearing over the past 6 months, as well as how many new responsibilities he has taken with stride as we are trying to prepare him for adulthood (yard work, caring for the dog, accepting and wanting to help with his baby brother, not arguing about having to home school, etc).

I FELT SO RELIEVED!!! NOT BLINDED BECAUSE I KNOW THAT THERE IS MORE TO COME, BUT CONFIDENT THAT THIS 2ND RUN WILL GO MORE SMOOTHLY ...

I know that my teen and tween are very different people (oil and vinegar in some ways), but they are my boys and we all have a lot of similarities. I had some rough teen years and never expected that my children would experience the same because I planned to notice and handle things better than my parents. All I can say now is ...

"C'EST LA VIA" ...

I suppose that I better start going though my post pregnancy clothing. I have REALLY taken to wearing a lot of black to slim out the chunky areas and feel more comfortable while getting puked on :) Hum, now that I put it that way ... I guess that I understand "goth" and "emo" a little better these days!!! Meanwhile, I should have remembered because it was "punk" when I was a teen :)

I GUESS MANY "FADE TO BLACK" AT LEAST ONE TIME IN LIFE!!!


In Motherly Love,
Mother Baby Child