Love Notes

Found under my pillow last week:

"L-

I am so amazed at the mother you have become & thank God everyday for having you in our lives. You becoming a mom has made you an even better wife which I did not think was even possible.

Thank you for what you have become and what you have always been.

I am so proud to call you mine.

<3 Rob"

Yes sir, he's a keeper!

Mom Reality #6

If your child is crying and something comes out that sounds like "mama," you are 50% more likely to go to him and 97% more likely to pick him up and cuddle him.

Also, 63.5% of all statistics are made up.

7 Months!

(I apologize about the length of this.  I have written about 4 words in the baby book I purchased, so this really is my only way that I'm documenting what's happening month-to-month!)

Already? Didn't I just document 6 months??!!

I think this month has been the month of the biggest changes around here.  Not necessarily big changes in Drew's milestones, but we hit a lot of parenting milestones.  Earlier this month, we put Drew's infant chair, infant swing, infant bath tub, and infant car seat in the attic to save for future children.  And somehow our lack of "infant" items must have gotten to Drew, because he is looking more and more like a toddler every day (tear!).

Drew's biggest thing this month was his first tooth popping through on Mother's Day.  His personality changed 100% (for the better) right after that happened- obviously teething was not a happy process for him.  We are still waiting for that tooth's mate to come through, so I expect we will go through it all again shortly.

I have watched Drew just get stronger and stronger this month.  He can sit up for 30-45 minutes at a time, up from 5 minutes at the beginning of the month.  He continues to be obsessed with the table, which he did manage to pull down on the walker the other day (no babies were harmed in that incident).  He really wants to pull up on things, but everything he picks to pull up on comes to him (like the pillows on the back of the couch), so he has yet to be successful.  I need to find a good place to let him practice that.

Since he is rolling over on his stomach all the time now, he has started sleeping most of the night on his belly.  I think I have just now stopped checking the monitor every time I wake up to make sure he is breathing- those SIDs people do a good job of putting fear into your heart about stomach sleeping!  I probably will worry about him sleeping on his stomach for the rest of his life.  But the sleeping on his stomach has really helped the head issue, and we are starting to see that round out.  We are quite grateful for that.

His small motor skills are improving daily.  The last several weeks he has really enjoyed picking up his paci and attempting to get it back in his mouth.  He is doing much better getting it in, although sometimes things don't work out as planned....

I am seeing what I think is the first hints of separation anxiety in the last few days.  He used to play happily in my room and I could walk in and out and he was fine.  Now if he sees me leave he starts to whine.

OH! The Whine! That's a new thing. When there is no pressing concern (food, change, sleep), but Drew is unhappy with the present situation, he starts this low whine. It seems to come out most often when he isn't getting 115% of my attention. It is the most grating sound I can think of, especially since the reason he isn't getting 115% of my attention at that moment is usually because there is something I need to get done!!

Drew now rides in the "big kid" part of shopping carts, which does make shopping significantly easier.  On our first trip to HEB, Drew spent most of the trip either trying to eat my shopping list or reach the shiny packages on the shelf.  And then the check-out lady gave him one of the best things he had ever seen-- a balloon.

He is eating 4 bottles a day and doing two meals of baby food a day.  He HATES the texture of the pureed food, so I end up mixing every food with 1/4-1/2 cup of rice or oatmeal to make it chunkier.  He goes to bed between 6:45 and 7:15, and will generally sleep until at least 6AM. 

Drew got up to watch the royal wedding earlier this month.  He was quite excited for Prince William and Princess Catherine, and wore his best "British" outfit to celebrate.

Then later this month we took at trip to Houston to stay with ____ and _____ (AKA Dee Dee and Bruce) while Rob was in Taiwan.  They bought Drew a swing, which he loved and has since been relocated to our front yard.  Also,  he and my dad had deep conversations about the pressing issues of the day.

Uncle Travis came to visit us one weekend.  I had lots of fun!

The most interesting thing in his life continues to be Sophie.  They share a lot of things.  If you have a child who is teething and a dog, might I suggest letting them share the same rawhide?

Drew, you are a joy and a gift from God.  We love you so much and can't wait to see what you can get into this next month!

Mom and Dad

Why 6 Month Olds Are Fun

1. You can't break them- they have finally achieved a "solid baby" status.  Where as it used to be that picking up the baby meant you had to use utmost care, now you can throw the kid up in the air, and he laughs.

2. They can't break themselves- They aren't really moving, so they aren't scaling the bookcases or putting fingers in the sockets.

3. They are totally predictable- If they can get it in their hands, they will put it in their mouths.

4. They have opinions- this may or may not be a good thing, but if the baby wants to be held/fed/changed, you know it.

5. Games and toys are easy- Oh, you can do the same thing over and over and over and over and get a laugh every time.  And the best toys are shoe laces, sugar packets and wrappers.

6 months has been fun.  I can't believe 7 months starts tomorrow!!

Mother's Day Recap

What a great day it was!!

I started off with a run in my new running shoes. (Sidenote- the salesman was quite impressed that he brought me 8 different pairs of shoes to try on and I chose the most expensive ones without having any inkling they were the most expensive.  Story of my life.)  I felt like I was running on a cloud that was immersed in a swimming pool, since the shoes fix the cushioning problem, but not the humidity.

On our way to church (which is over 20 miles from our house), Rob (driver) looks at me and says, "Where is that feature on your car that tells me how many miles to empty?"  I pull it up and instead of a number it just has four asterisks, which I think means "Lady, you are running on fumes.  Get thyself to a gas station STAT."  So we had to turn around and head back towards the house to fill up.  Once we are all gassed up we leave our neck of the woods at 9:15 for a 9:30 service.  We hit the last few chords of the last song, but made it before the sermon so we consider it a win. 

After church we went to grab some Mexican food.  Drew's new thing is gumming the tortilla chips, which he was doing a good job of until he started choking on one, so I stuck my finger in his mouth and caused him to throw up.  Nothing like a little scene!

We came home and did something that hasn't happened since Drew joined our family- we ALL took at NAP at ONE TIME.  I'm pretty sure that was God rewarding us for our perseverance with getting to church.

Then Vicki and Austin came over and Rob cooked short rib, mashed potatoes and creamed spinach.  Drew gave me a card with our blog address on it and I found the precious letter he wrote to me (Rob swears all he did was spell check).  But Drew also gave me one present all on his own.....

For about 2 months now he has been having teething symptoms and I would tell people "I think, perhaps, he is teething.  Both Rob and I got teeth around 5 months, so...."  And then nothing.  And I said this more than once.  I was totally losing credibility.  So for Mother's Day Drew decided to work really hard and let that tooth go ahead and come through.  So I was pretty excited about that, but that little bugger is SHARP.

Rob and Drew, thank you for all you did to make my Mother's Day special.  I'm lucky to have you both.

Happy Mother's Day...from your little man

Mama,
I racked my brain trying to come up with the perfect Mother's Day gift a 6 month old could give. I thought of flowers, a manicure, maybe a massage, but none of those gifts seemed perfect...and I have no money. So i figured I would make sure you knew how much I love and appreciate you and what better place than on your blog where you do the same for me.

So Mama....
thank you for all the laughs
thank you for all the tears
thank you for all the late nights and early mornings
thank you for playing me music
thank you for reading me books
thank you for figuring out my eating habits
thank you for letting me get some sleep
thank you for learning how much I love bath time
thank you for pushing me to roll over, and over, and over
thank you for all of the great walks with friends
thank you for letting me play with Sophie all day
thank you for dressing me like a little stud 
thank you for making me feel better when I am sick
thank you for not being afraid to let me make mistakes, but always being there so I don't get hurt
thank you for giving me real food (well kind of real) and keep it coming


thank you for being so proud of me
thank you for loving me so much
thank you for being the best mama in the whole wide world. This has been the best 61/2 months of my life

Love you mama,
Drew
oh...Daddy says to tell you he loves you too!!


PS...let me get you a tissue for those tears.

Couch to 5K to Crazy

One of my good friends claims that one of her interests is "taking up and quitting new hobbies at a record pace."  And I kind of feel that way too, which is why I haven't said anything on the blog about this yet.  But I'm almost 5 weeks in, so I feel committed.

A recent newest internet sensations in the workout arena has been a running plan called Couch to 5k (C25k).  Great idea, no?  A plan that takes you from couch potato to running a 5k in 8 weeks.  The problem is I have started this plan no less than 3 times in the past, and never made it through week 2.  I have this habit when it comes to work out plans (See also "Jillian Michael's 30 Day Shred, where I never made it past day 4). 

So I started it up a couple of weeks ago, and with the exception of a week where everything was green with pollen and I was feeling bad, I've stuck with it and will complete week 5 tomorrow.  The work out slated for tomorrow is  "Warm up for 5 minutes.  Run for 20 minutes.  Cool down for 5 minutes."  I may die.

But the reason I am staying on this plan (and then hope to do the accompanying "Bridge to 10k" plan) is that I have signed up for the See Jane Run half marathon October 9th.  That's the "crazy" part of the title of this post.  Like I tell people, I've always wanted to be a runner.  They talk about this 'stride' they hit where they can run for miles and miles and not even realize they are working out.  I WANT that.  I've never gotten there- generally I spend most of my work out time looking at my watch and wondering when it will be over.  Also, runners have really good bodies.  I want that, too.

So when a few friends of mine decided to do the See Jane Run half, and I realized it was far enough out that I could feasibly accomplish getting prepared for it, I jumped on the opportunity.  And honestly, I'm kind of excited about it!

I am also excited about what I'm going to do today-- go get fitted for a new pair of running shoes.  Because let's be honest, the best part about taking up a new hobby is buying all the new supplies.

And so it begins....

It was pretty innocent when it happened the first time.  I was in the kitchen doing something, Drew was toddling around in his walker.  It got silent, and I looked over to find him.....

..... chewing on the curtains.  He just grabbed a big handful and stuck them in his mouth.

I would have taken a picture, but before I could even think about that I said "No. No!"

I feel like that is a phrase I'm going to get very used to saying over the next couple of years.

It happened again when Drew realized that he really likes a specific table in my dining room.  Mom bought it for me way back, and it features crystals hanging from a metal base. 

The crystals are (a) shiny, (b) exactly at his eye level and (c) the perfect size for his hands.  So my new vocabulary word for the week has also been shifted to the table.

I'll just die if D's first word is "no."