The past three weeks have been full of changes, milestones, and emotions. I feel like just this past week has brought a new skill each day and time is flying by! People always say that, that it goes by so fast and you just don’t realize it until your baby is less than 2 weeks away from being 6 months old and suddenly there’s a highchair occupying your kitchen table and your “baby” is this little person with a personality. He officially outgrew his Boppy lounger so for Christmas he got a new Baby Nest, like a Dockatot for those of you who know what that is, but a cheaper version from Etsy. While I have not seen a Dockatot in person to compare, ours seems to be of proportionate quality. Quinn has started grasping with both hands and can get his bink in his mouth 95% of the time. Unfortunately, he can take his bink out of his mouth 110% of the time and the 5% of the time that he can’t replace it is when I’m driving 🙄🤦🏻♀️.He gets mad and screams. With a success rate like that though he’s probably doing better than I do since I occasionally stick it in his ear when he’s fussing in his sleep and I’m just trying to reach into his bassinet to give it to him to calm him down 🤣🤷🏻♀️. He recently started being able to find it on his own and putting it in his mouth. I was sort of dosing off when I was pumping the other night and when I reopened my eyes, he had his bink in his mouth and I did not give it to him 🤨. We need him to hone this skill and help us because we always seem to be losing binks. He had three until Christmas and got three more. We looked and looked one night for one and couldn’t find it anywhere. That night when I was about to pump I just happened to see it, resting perfectly in the X of the table legs 😂. What are the odds that’s where it would be?
Not only is Quinn good at finding his bink, he has also perfected finding his weiner 🤦🏻♀️. At every diaper change and bath time his hand is like a magnet to it. The other day when I put him in his bath seat he started peeing and grabbed it, aiming it toward his face. Poor thing looked at me like I had something to do with it 🤣. His hand eye coordination has really improved and now he likes to try to help hold books while we read to him, which is super cute. He found his toes recently and can do his first yoga pose: Happy Baby. I’m so proud! 😊That’s a very fitting pose for him, too, because he typically is a very happy baby. His motor skills aren’t the only things developing; he fake coughs for attention and yells to get his burps out. That seems to be a pretty good strategy so remember that next time you have one stuck 😉. He’s babbling a lot and cracks himself up all the time. His giggle is the cutest thing ever.
My cute little elf.
Acting like a big boy laying in the big bed!
Just sitting in his high chair, waiting for his rice cereal so he can spit it out. This eating thing isn’t going great but we’ll keep working on it!
He did this all on his own 🤦🏻♀️.
Trying out his sippy cup.
Chillin in his Prop-A-Pillar. Thanks Valerie and Stephanie! 😊
Multitasking like a boss, using both hands and feet to play with his new toys from Aunt Gina 😉.
Half Happy Baby pose 😉.
He has fallen asleep twice now while walking the girls.
Just getting his toes while sitting in his Bumbo seat. And yes, I know it’s supposed to go on the floor and not the table. I never leave him unsupervised in it. Sitting him on the floor results in dog kisses and he’s not strong enough to fend them off yet 😜.
“Helping” me read our new book from Imagination Library, “I Love My Mommy Because.”
Really? Really?!
Everything isn’t sunshine and roses all the time though.
Doesn’t this picture look so sweet? I could’ve posted it to Facebook and talked about how much I love this kid and isn’t my life perfect? The truth is, while I do love this kid with my whole heart, he was being pretty asshole-ish that day and getting him to take a nap was a hard fought battle. By that evening I was just D.O.N.E. and mentally exhausted. I don’t beat myself up when I feel like that. Instead, to stay calm with him I tell myself this: “He’s having a hard time, he’s not giving me a hard time.” This sort of helps to keep me in check and not run wild with thoughts about A) him being an asshole and B) his behavior being a reflection of our attachment. When you feel like he’s being cranky and nothing you do is the RIGHT thing to do, you can sometimes feel like a failure and that’s just not true. Babies have moods and emotions just like everyone else and it’s our job to teach them how to deal with those feelings. I read a good quote one time that went something like “When children have big emotions, it’s our job to share our calm, not join in their chaos.” I think that’s solid advice right there. Have you ever calmed down from someone yelling at you? Didn’t think so. At this point it’s not like I yell at him. For one, he’s way too cute to yell at, and for two, he wouldn’t understand me. It’d be like when I say sarcastic things to the dogs. My wit is wasted 🤷🏻♀️. Another thing that makes me feel like a failure is the constant battle between wanting to be a productive person while also giving him enough attention. I can’t and don’t want to give him attention 24/7; he needs to learn how to occupy himself. However, sometimes snuggles are just really nice for both of us. I didn’t work this past week and I’ve been staying home, filling up my love bank with baby cuddles. They really are good for the soul. He’s at that stage right now, too, where he likes to lay his head on your chest and just hug you so it’s perfect timing to take some time off and just enjoy him. The house will be ok if I don’t get the floor mopped or the laundry put away. However, I have a really hard time letting things like that go, especially when we’re going to have company. We hosted Christmas dinner this year for Philip’s family and the house was a mess and it about killed me to have them over without having all the cleaning done. We had a cookie party the night before and the sprinkle pan didn’t serve it’s purpose with my 7 year old niece 🤦🏻♀️.
Like many families, my sister-in-law, Lori, and I get together to make Christmas cookies every year with her kids. This is a tradition that we started doing at my house when Philip and I first moved in 13 years ago. It used to involved my mom and grandma too, and even though now it’s just us (and sometimes Philip), we still do it. This year was a little different because my youngest nephew got sick so Lori had to stay home with him but her three older kids still wanted to come and make cookies so that’s what we did. I am so proud of Haleigh and Coen for how helpful they have become. That’s not a trait most teenagers are described as being 😂. They both helped with Quinn, holding him and keeping him entertained. I gave them the chocolate chip cookie recipe and told them to all work together to make them while I got stuff for the sugar cookies ready and they did really well. Coen and Kate spooned the dough onto the cookie sheets after they got it mixed up. I got out the double boiler for melting chocolate to dip pretzels into while we waited for the sugar cookie dough to chill a bit and Haleigh and Coen tended to it, stirring the chocolate and supervising Kate while she helped dip the pretzels. Coen even washed the boiler pan without being asked when they finished with the regular chocolate and needed to melt the white chocolate chips. I got busy with washing the bowl and attachments for the mixer to make icing when they were rolling out the sugar cookie dough but they kept on truckin’ and Kate even finished it up on her own. I was a little nervous about being the only adult around for most of it and having Quinn to tend to but everything went really well and I enjoyed my time with them very much. It’s been a while since I’ve spent time with them like that. I look forward to all the future cookie making sessions which will now include Quinn!
His first Christmas was a success. We had a great time with both of our families.
Quinn tasted all of his new toys.
And his cousin Coen’s globe
Best of all, he smiled. A lot. Which is the greatest gift of all 😃.
The girls got new stuff for Christmas, too.
Pretty, new collars and sweaters 😊
Soph is still driving me crazy. No luck with that turning two and calming down wish 🤦🏻♀️
We don’t normally watch tv but when we do, the dog sits like a human 😂.
However, she did sit pretty for a picture, which made for a super cute Christmas card 😉.
Happy New Year everyone! I hope 2020 is your best year yet!
