Motherhood: Month 7

So far, month 7 has brought several new milestones. Quinn said “dada” and “mom” for the first time, he fed himself a (gross) sweet potato and banana wafer thing, slept on his belly, and sat up in a shopping cart in Target (admittedly not for very long because he was tired 😅). We were like the new parent equivalent of a tourist, stopping in the middle of the aisle to take pics of him sitting in the cart from different angles. He was laughing and liking all the “You’re such a big boy” talk but then he tried to put his mouth on the handle 🤮. I’ll be buying one of those cart covers before he gets to do that again 😉. The first time he slept on his belly I was so confused when I went in to check on him in his bassinet. I usually go in about every half hour and just put my hand on his belly to make sure I can feel him breathing or I stick his bink back in his mouth if he is fussing. Well I tried to put his bink in his mouth but I couldn’t find it. It took far too long for me to realize that he had rolled onto his belly to sleep and I was feeling the back of his head. By the time I figured it out he was really upset so I picked him up to calm him down and then I put him back to sleep and laid him on his back. He immediately rolled onto his belly and I spent the rest of the night being an anxious mess. I know that he’s capable of rolling and the risk for SIDS is less now but I still don’t like it. I went in to check on him one night when I got home from yoga and Philip had already put him to bed so I thought he would be sleeping. I didn’t take my phone and it was dark so I was just staring at him for a minute waiting for my eyes to adjust to the darkness so I could see how he was laying and he reached up grabbed my face 🤣🥰. He probably thinks I’m nuts. He’s really into face grabbing and hair pulling at the moment. Sometimes it’s really funny and sometimes it hurts. We’re learning what “no” means. Another “no” is reaching for food on our plates. It’s pretty difficult to eat with him around now. The funny thing is he doesn’t want to eat anything that we give him, he just likes the challenge of reaching for things that are just beyond arm’s length away. He refused all baby food from us this past week (although he ate at Linda’s just fine 🙄🤦🏻‍♀️) so we tried to just give him small pieces of food. I cut up small chunks of banana and Philip put one in his mouth. His reaction was the most dramatic display I’ve seen yet. He literally gagged and acted like he was choking even though I could see it on his tongue and it never reached the back of his throat. Attempt number one at real food was a fail. He still doesn’t have any teeth but he can chew so we got him some dissolvable wafer things. He ate about half of one the first time we gave it to him and seemed to like it. The other half fell on the mat in his play area, where it then got stuck on my pants leg, unbeknownst to me. Later that evening Sophie was following me around nipping at my leg. It took me a minute to figure out she was trying to eat it off my pants 😆.  

We gave him the banana before we left to go shopping and I didn’t realize that his onesie got dirty from him *not* eating it. I had my first (of many, no doubt) experience of being embarrassed that my kid was dirty in public. We always have people wanting to see him or talk to him so I hated that his clothes were dirty, especially with slimy banana, a substance easily mistaken for boogers 🤦🏻‍♀️.  I had to refrain from telling every onlooker that he was dirty from not eating his banana and wasn’t covered in snot. I’m 100% certain that none of them would’ve cared, which is why I didn’t. I still wanted to though 😝.  He was so good while we were shopping and he slept in the car both ways, which was a nice change from the screaming that’s been the norm on the way home on recent trips. I know that sometimes we have to or just want to go do things but I need baby cuddles when we get back home. I feel a little bit guilty that he has to spend so much time in his carrier when we’re out, even though Philip is really good about getting him out and carrying him a good bit in each store. I take a turn too but he’s getting heavier so it’s difficult to carry him for long. I’m gonna have to make an upper body yoga routine for myself so I can build some more muscle as he grows. Anyway, shopping wore Quinn out and he went to bed that evening and slept until 2 am before he woke for milk. I must have been in a deep sleep because I had a hard time staying awake while feeding him and pumping but he was wide awake. He was babbling all kinds of sounds but then I very clearly heard “dada.” That immediately woke me right up because that was his first word that wasn’t “goo.” I was pretty bummed he didn’t say my name first but then he said “mom” the next day. I heard him say it three times pretty close together while Philip was in another room. He heard him say “mom” later that evening and several times after that. Although I heard him say “dada” many times, Philip heard it for the first time at 7am this morning. Quinn woke us up chirping like a bird and said it. He’s definitely our child though because stubbornness runs thick and he won’t say either one on command 🙄😝. 

Sitting up in the cart like a big boy 😃

Eating his wafer that reminds me of the cuttle bone we used to have to buy when we had a parakeet 🤷🏻‍♀️

Insisting on feeding himself 🤦🏻‍♀️.

Just sleeping on the lap of one of his (and my 😘) favorite people, Chris. 

He celebrated his first Valentines Day by making a craft for mom and dad at Playgroup with Aunt Gina and Mimi. 

❤️ 

He also got a gift from his cousins, which he was very excited about, as you can see 😂. 

Loving on Aunt Lori. 

And then attacking her. 

And cousin Haleigh. 

And Kate 😂. 

And Mommy 🤦🏻‍♀️.

And Aunt Linda 🤣. 


Playing with his toys. 

Hanging out in his fence. 

My happy boy 🥰

We had another funny first time parent mishap last week. So the back story is I’ve checked Quinn’s temperature almost every day of his life because I always think he feels hot. Unsurprisingly, it’s always right in normal range and I always say the thermometer must be broken. Anyway, because I use it so much, it pretty much lives on the table. Well, Quinn has been chewing on it lately because he discovered it one night when he was being cranky and it made him happy so we let him have it. I think he likes how hard it is. Anyway (again), I thought he felt warm a few days ago and Philip did too so I took his temp. The thermometer said 103! We freaked out and I immediately gave him Tylenol. I took it again to make sure (yes, after giving him the Tylenol 🙄) and it said 101. So then I took both of ours and they were 102 and 101. It was then that I started to question if the thermometer was working properly. Luckily we had another one, and that one said 97. So he got a dose of Tylenol for nothing and the 103 thermometer is now a permanent toy 🤦🏻‍♀️.

Quinn is quickly approaching 8 months, which means I’ve been exclusively pumping for 7.5 months now. My supply has gone way down and I’m worried that we’re going to have to supplement with formula soon. There’s nothing wrong with feeding a baby formula but I’m disappointed that I’m most likely not going to make it a year without it, like I’d hoped. I’m trying to drink tons of water and pump more often to get my supply back up. Even though I know it’s irrational, I can’t help but feel like a failure. If I hadn’t tried to cut out my night time pump session so that I could go back to sleep sooner when he wakes up to feed would I still be having this problem? I can’t help but feel like I wouldn’t and that makes me frustrated. I hate being annoyed or upset with myself, I much prefer to be mad at someone else 😉. And in other disappointing news, he is starting to outgrow his 6-9 month old clothes. Is it weird to feel sad that he’ll never wear certain outfits again? 

You know what else makes me feel bad (because apparently it’s the night to air it all 🤷🏻‍♀️)? Being away from the girls all day, and especially with Sophie being in her crate, and having to yell at her for being an asshole. I wish she understood that I don’t want to have to yell at her but jumping on the bed when I’m trying to nap and ignoring me when I tell them to come inside are not acceptable behaviors. She’s so unreasonable. I try to give each of them extra attention each night after Quinn goes to bed so they know that I still love them. It’s hard splitting time between all of our children. Do dogs have a sense of time and know if I’m being fair? Like does Sansa feel bad if I pet Sophie longer than her? It’s actually probably more likely to go the other way around because Soph always starts biting fingers and loses her petting privileges. Anyway, I wouldn’t be surprised if they do know who gets longer lovin’s and they probably tease each other about it because they definitely have a way to communicate that humans can’t hear. Sophie is afraid to go outside after dark by herself. She just won’t do it. She’ll go to the door but she won’t go out. She’ll even wake me up because she has to pee and then won’t go out. My solution to this was to make Sansa go too and now Sophie has learned this. Sansa will be asleep in the living room and Soph will go to the back door. I’ll open it and she won’t go out but will instead go to the living room and come back 5 seconds later with Sansa in tow. She doesn’t make any noise but Sansa knows she has to take her out to pee 😂. She really is the best big sister.

The best way to prevent Sophie from sleeping in our bed: tuck her in on the couch. It probably won’t last all night but it usually keeps her away for a bit. 

I love this face.  I call her Big, Brown Dog lol

😆 

💜 💜 

He opened his mouth for a kiss 🤦🏻‍♀️😩

Sansa got one in too 🙄. Oh well, I guess he got two really good doses of immune boosting germs! 

This is the tail of his stuffed lion that he loves chewing on. I’m concerned for the future. Sansa has a nice tail that will look super inviting, I’m sure. However, I’m more worried about Sophie’s docked tail (which is not typical for a Dalmatian but it was already done when we got her 🤷🏻‍♀️) and Quinn accidentally (or on purpose) poking her butthole as he tries to get it 😳. 

Motherhood: Month 6.5 Part 2

It’s been a rough day. Actually, it’s been a rough like 4 days with a breather thrown in on Friday. Quinn has been super cranky, maybe he’s teething and he might be constipated but it’s totally out of character for him. I appreciate his pleasant demeanor so much more now that I have experienced what a full time cranky baby would be like. Whatever it is, teeth, poop, or something else, I hope it rights itself soon. Mama can’t take much more 😫.  

We had his 6 month check-up a little late because his doctor was out of town. He’s growing consistently and took his vaccinations like a champ! He didn’t even cry. They stuck him in his legs while I sang to him and he scrunched up his face like he was going to scream and then just relaxed 🤷🏻‍♀️. He has to go back in 4 weeks for a booster for his flu shot and I hope it goes as smoothly as this appointment did! Taking an infant to the doctor (or anywhere, really) is an introvert’s nightmare. While I’m capable of making small talk, I strongly dislike it and as I’ve said before, babies are like magnets! People want to talk to him (and touch him 🤬🤬🤬) and ask me all kinds of questions and then typically want to tell me about their grandkids, or their sister’s grandkids, or their own adult children as kids. The worst part is you’re trapped in a waiting room, at the mercy of the nurse to call your name and save you from Small Talk Hell. Okay, that may be slightly dramatic but believe me when I say it’s truly wearying to me 😩😭.

Anyway, aside from shots (which may or may not have caused the constipation 😕) and fussiness, the last two weeks have brought new skills, too.  Quinn’s doing well with eating and had his first fruits lately, prunes to help with the poop situation, and apples. He’s turned into Mr. Independent and wants to “help” feed himself. This resulted in a huge mess but a very funny picture the first day he ate prunes. He is beginning to grasp cause and effect through the super fun game called, I Throw Stuff On The Floor And Mommy/Daddy Will Pick It Up. Yay. He likes to smack things when he gets excited: his high chair tray, his toy against the floor, your face….that’s fun, too 🤦🏻‍♀️🙄. My favorite new ability of his is hair pulling. Yep, definitely. That’s sarcasm for anyone who doesn’t know me well. He likes to reach for anything that’s out of his reach. It is kind of funny when he grabs one of us by the ears and pulls us down for a kiss. Or to eat your nose. Or your whole face. 🤣 He slimed me so much earlier I had to blow my nose. I’ll take that though because when he was covering my face in saliva he was happy, and that didn’t happen much today. The poor kid. I feel really bad for him. For as bad of a day that I had due to him fussing the entire day, I know his was worse. To get him to settle down this evening I stood and held him, because if I sat he would cry, and sang to him for at least twenty minutes. It’s a great workout if anyone is interested in taking a shift 😉💪🏻. He won’t calm down to just any music either, you have to sing. He loves the 5 Little Monkeys song and Row, Row, Row Your Boat but we like to mess up the second verse and say, “Row, row, row your boat, underneath the stream. Ha ha, fooled you, I’m a submarine.” So even though my arms were about to fall off and my lower back is gonna hurt for days, when he finally fell asleep I didn’t want to put him down. Sleepy baby cuddles are the best and after the last couple of days we’ve had, I needed some nice cuddles.

Prunes. Are. So. Sticky. 🤦🏻‍♀️  He’s so proud of himself 😂

I put the flip over changing seat over him while he was sleeping to block some of the light. He woke up and reached for the tag 🤦🏻‍♀️.

Attacking his cousin Kate 😂

He even reaches for stuff in his sleep 😂

He had his first snow day. He looked so cute but he wasn’t at all impressed 🤣. 

Having a baby has really changed us. Like our house for one, there is baby shit everywhere. Not literally baby shit. All his stuff. We bought him a fence for the kitchen so he can play without the dogs bothering him. It’s big. His bouncer seat is big. His high chair is big. His carseat sits at the kitchen table and takes up one of the chairs. I like to buy his clothes ahead of time when they go on sale and I greatly overestimated his need for jackets at 6 month old 🤦🏻‍♀️. He has toys that make music and talk. They get on my nerves sometimes. I realize this is only the beginning of that plight. I find myself singing kid songs long after the baby has gone to bed. I’m sometimes less tolerant of Sophie’s rowdiness and limit pushing because Quinn has been fussy and I don’t have any patience left to give. However, I’ve never seen Philip be as silly as he is when he interacts with Quinn and it melts my heart. I’ve never loved a smile as much as I love Quinn’s. We all have so much fun together and that makes having all his stuff taking over the house worth it. I wouldn’t trade either of them for the world. Even though Quinn has been most difficult these last few days, refusing to take his bink and forcefully shoving it out of his mouth anytime I try to give it to him, (and I’m pretty sure he would cuss me if he could talk), I know that this is only temporary and I hope my sweet baby will be back soon. Possibly with a new tooth or two 🤷🏻‍♀️🦷. In the meantime, Mama will just have to practice some self care to keep from going insane. I teach yoga 3 days a week so that helps. Yesterday I threw our meal plan out the window and drove to Moundsville by myself to get pizza from our favorite place. It’s all about balance. 

His HUGE fence. 😉

Since he doesn’t know what day it is, I decided to give him his Valentine’s Day gift early today. Really I was ready to give him anything that kept him quiet for a few minutes that didn’t pose a choking hazard but that’s neither here nor there 🤪. 

He got the outfit that says Loved from Mimi 🥰. We recently got a gift in the mail from Nana that was Squid Socks. They’re great and I highly recommend for anyone who has the sock losing problem that we do. They have little grippies on the inside of the heel that help keep the socks on! 

Sophie is always pushing her limits. Always. But today she surprised me. I was playing with Quinn on his floor and she kept encroaching on his space so I told her to go get a toy. She went into the living room and came back with a toy she had been working on ripping the stuffing out of since the day before. She brought it over to Quinn and gave it to him. It was super sweet until she tried to play tug-o-war with him and I had to break it up 😂. 

Speaking of sharing toys, I bought the girls a pack of tennis balls the other day. They just happen to come in packs of 3 so each of our kids got one 😆. 

Checking on her brother. And almost getting kicked in the head. 

🙄🙄🙄🙄🙄🙄

She’s such a baby. 

Sansa’s tail was wagging so fast 😂. 

My little punkin is sleeping peacefully for now. Keep your fingers crossed for me that his smile returns soon!