Is he ready....is it safe

So my cub is quite the little independent baby. More and more he fights with me to allow him to do things that honestly the scared mommy in me feels like he is too little to try to do. He amazes me daily with the things he can do and at times I feel he is moving too fast. I'm supposed to have my baby for a little while and every day he lets me know he is not trying to stay my little baby forever. My little six month old is not content with sitting up without supprt. Instead he thinks it's time to start pulling up. He literally sits in front of the coffee table or his play pen, grab the legs, and attempts to pull himself up to standing. Mind you he doesn't crawl or pulls up from laying to sitting. The thing that tickles me the most is his disdain for being cradled or held. He literally tries to slide down out of my arms anytime I sit and hold him. I guess he feels he has better things to do. The other day while bathing him he took his cloth bath toy and started washing his own feet. When I ask "what are you doing" he simply laughs at me. He no longer lounges back in his baby bath tub. He prefers to sit up so the other day I decided to try and bathe him like a big boy and just let him sit up in the bath tub. I was a nervous wreck the first several minutes and every time he moved I threw my arms in front and behind him to make sure he didn't slip. Each time he looked at me with these eyes that clearly read " really mom I can do this". I loosened up and let him enjoy his bath and that is EXACTLY what he did. He splashed about and played with his bath toys all the while babbling away. He was sad to leave the water. I think it tuckered him out because he was completely ready for bed afterwards. I was so excited for him and couldn't help but marvel at my little big boy. This mommy is going to have to learn how to keep her cub safe while still allowing him to explore and enjoy the wonders around him.

My Little Songbird

It's officially here; Antonio has discovered his voice. More and more he babbles. My father is convinced that he will be a very talkative baby like I was. I have heard all too often that as a child I talked A LOT. My mother jokes that I started talking at eight months and never stopped. I must admit I do like to talk. When I was in elementary school we had a system to correct bad behaviour in which each time your behaviour needed correcting you had to "turn your card". Each student was provided a set of cards in an envelope. The cards were taped to a wall or the back of the classroom door. The card set included Excellent, Satisfactory, Needs Improvement, and Unsatisfactory. Everyone started out on Excellent. If your behaviour needed correcting you were asked to "turn your card", demoting you to the next level. Once you reached unsatisfactory, you were sent to the Principal's office and your parents were called. Let's just say I made it to Principal Paris' office every week. Well there are only four cards and five school days in a week. Every day I had to turn my card because I was caught talking when I shouldn't have been. I actually still have progress reports from elementary school and I swear I made all E's, back in my elementary days we earned E's for excellent instead of A's, but under behavior it says either needs improvement or unsatisfactory. Under the teacher's comments it reads "Cassandra is very smart and participates well in class; however, she talks during learning time and disrupts the other students". Of course I disrupt the other students; I can't talk to myself. I never got that under control and quite frankly I have no idea how I am going to handle my child if he has the same problem. Honestly, I think he might. Antonio will lay in his crib talking to the animals on his sheet or mobile for as long as we let him. We often lay in bed listening to him through the baby monitor. We find it to be absolutely adorable. Well, as of recent Antonio enjoys making this extremely high pitch noise. It almost sounds like screaming. He literally will spend the entire morning making this noise and laughing at himself. This past Sunday, Easter Sunday, he was very conversational. As we dressed for church, the husband and I joked about what we would do if Antonio decided to share his new talent during service, particularly during prayer when it is dead silent. Perhaps we jinxed ourselves. It all started after the choir finished their selection. I don't know if I have shared this but the cub is extremely musically inclined. He absolutely loves his Baby Beethoven and Baby Mozart DVDs and the only way I can calm him when he is in a fit is by singing or playing Aladdin's A Whole New World or Pocahantas' Colors of the Wind. It's something about music that soothes him. He becomes completely absorbed in the melodies. Well, back to the choir. Antonio was entranced the entire time the choir sang. As soon as the song would end, as if to encourage them to continue on, he would squeal out his highest note and as loud as he could. Then he would smile and laugh to show his delight in what he'd just done. You would think it was a coincidence but he did it after each song and only after the songs. He settled for his babble during other parts of the service. I could be one of those parents that read into every little action but mark my words my cub will be a singing cub.

Five months and we have teeth

I know the real reason you all visit my blog is to hear about Baby Antonio. A few of you actually sent text messages or Facebook messages expressing your disappointment in my lack of posts. Well if you read my blog just published moments ago, you'll learn I'm working through balancing wife, mother, and employee. Our little cub is progressing very well and he is the most amazing baby. Categorically here is what we have going on with the cub:

Teeth:

So March 12th the first tooth crowned. He had been teething for some time and we were patiently waiting for his little tooth to make an appearance. Well we woke that Monday morning to find the tippy top of a tooth in his bottom gum. It had finally broken the skin. I was shocked to learn that the little tooth was quite razory (is that a word). I don't know why but we were so excited and proud about this tooth. I told everyone at work. Well Tuesday came and much to my surprise there was a second tooth. This tooth managed to catch up to the first tooth in one night. I could not believe my eyes. We've tried desperately for weeks to capture these precious gems but my little cub is not having it so I'll share the cruddy ones with you all. At four months our little cub had two teeth.

Taken right after his teeth appeared

Eating:

The doctor cleared the cub for solid food at his four month appointment. We were excited because I've been eager to use my Beaba (baby food cooker). Of course we started with the rice cereal then oatmeal. So far he has been introduced to bananas, carrots, sweet peas, green beans, apples, pears, and sweet potatos. His favorite is definitely the sweet potato. My mother bakes the sweet potato then mashes it up. We don't use the Beaba to prepare the sweet potato because it doesn't taste as good. He does not care for carrots. We just introduced pears yesterday so I don't know how he feels about them. The next item on the list will be avacados. I definitely support making your own baby food. It's so cost friendly and it really doesn't take the time people think it takes. You literally peel the fruit, cut it up, then put it in the food cooker to steam for like 15 minutes. The timer goes off then you blend it. Twenty minutes tops and we've prepared a week's amount of pureed fruit for the cub. The Beaba is amazing because everything is done in one place. We don't have to steam it in a pot then transfer it to a blender.

Physical Growth:

So he finally allows us to do tummy time. My cub hated tummy time. We've been gradually increasing the amount of time he spends on his tummy and he has shown great improvement. No crawling. He currently prefers to roll everywhere he needs to go. Those little grabby hands are quite busy and I officially can not wear a knecklace or my glasses. He particularly likes pulling my hair. He does this differently from most babies. He actually puts his hands in deep to the scalp then he pulls from the root. He's a little strong for a baby. He sits independently for a few minutes before toppling over. We are still growing in this department.

Babbling and humming:
I'm a talker and let's just say my son will be too. He is the most babbling baby ever. In the morning he waits in his crib for us to get him all the while babbling. We have caught him several times talking to the animals printed on his sheets. He actually plucks at them and we believe he gets frustrated with them. I've replaced the animal sheets with blank ones and noticed that with these there is less babbling in his crib. My son also hum while he eats. It's quite adorable.
Loving:

Ok so my cub gives the most amazing sloppy wide mouth kisses ever. The first time he gave me one I almost melted on spot. So many emotions flew through me because here was my cub expressing love back to me. I thought I was a goner the first time he smiled at me but these kisses are to die for. He only gives them to me. No kisses for the daddy yet. I keep reassuring my husband it's due to the fact that I kiss all over all the time. For now the husband is content with the bright smiles and giggles.

Lastly he sleeps throught the night. He is actually the best baby when it comes to sleep. He gets fussy between 8 p.m. and 8:30 p.m. becasue he is sleepy. Once the fussiness begins we lay him down for the night. He usually takes his blanket, roll over, and begin sucking on it or wrapping himself in it. We pray, say goodnight,  then leave the room. The next time we  hear from the cub is between  6:30 a.m. and  7 a.m. babbling away in his crib. We had a few hiccups where he woke in the middle of the night/wee hours of the morning because he'd rolled onto his tummy. Now that he is better with tummy time and with rolling back over we no longer have this hiccup. I have found sleep once again.

Well, there is more but this is lengthy enough. I  promise to get this balance thing together so my posts are more frequent and less lengthy.

Enjoying the sunshine

More Responsibilities=Less Balance

I always laughed at celebrities when their response to how does it feel to be a new mom was I'm learning to find a balance. Well I'm no celebrity but boy does this balance thing get tricky. I've recently acquired more responsibilities at work, which is naturally demanding on my time. I find myself rushing home barely making it in time to play and spend time with my precious cub. I feel myself missing him and I squeeze him with hugs every time I walk through the door. If you've been following my blog you know I've been fortunate to have help from one of  my mothers. Well I say that to say I don't know how mother's without the additional help do it. Let's just say that dinner is made, the house is clean, and laundry is maintained because my mother has picked up my slack. Without her my house would look like a garbage dump, laundry would never be done, and my husband and I would live off take out. Earlier this year I resolved to working out and getting fit. This lasted two months. I have not worked out since the last week in February. Needless to say the two inches I lost in my waist are back with a vengeance. I wore a dress the other day and I swear I thought I was pregnant again and at least six months pregnant at that. Do I have to say UNACCEPTABLE? I won't even go into detail on how I've taken advantage of my poor sweet husband. I thank God for the patience he instilled in that man. I don't know if I've mentioned how patient my husband is. You know how you meet people that are the most compassionate or the most giving? Well, my husband is the most patient person you will ever meet and I know God designed him with me in mind because it takes a lot to deal with me. If you have anything less than the patience of Christ you will find yourself upset with me often. I've gotten off track though so back to this balance thing. How to do it all? I'm open for any recommendations from those of you that have managed to conquer this. Some thoughts I have that will help:
1) Create a schedule and stick to it. I'm thinking I need to actually devote certain days and times of the month to various tasks i.e. laundry every Saturday morning. I've tried this once before but somehow I was always thrown off by this event or that but I realize that maybe I need to treat these commitments as just that COMMITMENTS. So, I cannot cancel these events.
2) Learn more crock pot and quick meal recipes. I first need to get a cook book. Every time I go to the cookbook aisle I'm overwhelmed by the selections then I start questioning whether the recipes are any good. I hate recipes that call for items you never have in your house like dill or mustard seeds. I have mustard but never mustard seeds. Oh and flat leaf parsley, they only sell those things by like the barrel and I always end up wasting them because recipes only want like two pinches from the barrel.
3) Start saying No at work or at least tell them my limitations. Too often when I asked if I can have something done by the end of the day I reply sure. From now on, if it will prevent me from getting home at a decent time, I'm going to say no. If my child were in daycare I wouldn't have this flexibility and I would have to commit to a reasonable schedule. Most importantly I want and need this time with him. He's only five months old.