Creative Kimpire: Motherhood: Month 8.5

Quinn turned 9 months old on the 10th!

Despite the circumstances, I’ve thoroughly enjoyed the last two weeks. Every day feels like a new adventure because Quinn is learning so much so quickly! That doesn’t mean it isn’t exhausting though. Sometimes I’m so tired that I can’t sleep. I’ve never been a “night person” but I’m becoming one because being at home with a baby all day leaves lots to be desired in the “me” time slot. Lately it takes, on average, about 3 tries to put Quinn to bed. Typically I’ll rock him and think he’s out but as soon as I lay him down he immediately sits up. I tell him that just because he CAN sit up, doesn’t mean he SHOULD but it doesn’t do any good 🤷🏻‍♀️🤪. Sometimes the second attempt goes the same way. Usually the third time is the charm though. I always think of it like in the movies about boxers how the one boxer is going to lose but he Just. Keeps. Getting. Up. I’m like, “Just stay down! You’re not gonna win!” Once he finally gives in to sleep I have to sneak away from his bassinet like a ninja because I don’t want to risk waking him back up. Do you know the easiest way to find the creakiest spots in your floor? That’s right, sneaking away from a sleeping baby. They sound 1,000 times louder in those incidences.

He has learned new tricks, like how to pull to stand and he’s starting to crawl on his knees for a few seconds before dropping back down to army crawl. He’ll use anything to pull to stand: the side of the bathtub, the door to the dishwasher when it’s open, Sansa…Poor Sansa. She has really taken a beating lately. He loves to smack things and unfortunately, she’s one of his favorite toys 🤦🏻‍♀️. She gets it from both siblings. I’m always telling him to use gentle hands and showing him how to pet her nicely. I tell him to use gentle hands and Sophie to use a gentle tongue. She’s constantly coming in hot and giving Quinn a tongue lashing on a drive by. Obviously, she’s still driving me crazy. Some days I want to socially distance myself from her 🙅🏻‍♀️. She’s so jealous it’s ridiculous. We were giving Quinn a bath one night and laughing about something when we heard a loud “mmmmmeeeeerrrrrr” outside the door. That’s Sophie’s way of complaining. She was waiting for us when we came out 😂.

Poor Sansa lol

It’s blurry but this pic captures Sansa’s plight perfectly 😂

The “baby” 🐶🤦🏻‍♀️

“What, Mom?”

Thank you, Lisa H. for the slide! He loves climbing on it...even though he doesn’t know how to properly use it yet 🤣👇🏻

🤣🤣🤣

Quinn has started exploring his environment now that he is mobile and keeping him occupied is somewhat easy right now. When we’re in the kitchen and he gets a little fussy, just give him some measuring cups to bang or a macaroni and cheese box to shake. He loves pulling on the dog leashes that hang by the door, too. When I run the sweeper he follows me from room to room and just watches. He’s pretty fascinated by the vacuum. Fortunately, baby proofing isn’t all the different from dog proofing as far as putting things away that babies/dogs can’t have so there isn’t much out that he can get hurt by. Some days when I’m busy trying to get things done for work or yoga, he’s great at occupying himself by playing with whatever he can find close to where I am. I almost feel guilty sometimes that he spent the day playing with my camera bag or some bowls. That’s not to say that I don’t give him any attention, obviously. I have to pump every 4-5 hours so we always play together while I’m pumping and at other times when I’m not trying to accomplish something. Of course I feed him and change him and care for all of his needs. I’m not busy every second of every day. I know I don’t need to tell you all this. For one baby, he sure can make a mess like a boss. On days where he has mostly occupied himself there will be toys/household items EVERYWHERE 🤦🏻‍♀️😩. Between him and the girls, the end of the day clean up is a deciphering game of what are baby toys and what are dog toys because they’re both all over the place 😂.

🤦🏻‍♀️🤦🏻‍♀️🤦🏻‍♀️

“Helping” fold laundry

Just hanging out in the kitchen, wondering what to get into next 🤪.

He loves to explore the pantry.

Pulling (chewing 🤦🏻‍♀️🤷🏻‍♀️) on the dog leashes (yes, I sanitize them 😉).

Trying to meal plan. I asked him who unplugged the Roomba, AKA Alfred. He doesn’t know 🤷🏻‍♀️

Quinn is really starting to communicate well. He doesn’t say so many words that are intelligible, but he can hold a conversation anyway. For those of you who have seen Guardians of the Galaxy, we’ve decided Quinn is much like Groot. Groot uses one phrase, “I am Groot,” but people seem to understand what he means anyway. Quinn often says “goo,” “dada,” and lots of other sounds and we just carry on as though he is participating in the conversation.

Another form of communication he has adopted is nonverbal: arching and throwing himself backward when he gets mad. It’s amusing at this point but I know it will get old fast if we allow him to use this technique to get his way. Unfortunately for him, he has two very stubborn parents so I think we’ll be alright. He also likes to pick his legs up when you want him to stand in the tub so it’s easier to wash him. Good times. Good times. There’s only been one day so far that I was about to lose my shit with this quarantine and I know I gained a whole patch of gray hair that day. All these memes talk about coming out of confinement knowing everyone’s true hair color. I’ve said I don’t plan to dye mine and let it gray naturally, I just didn’t think it would happen all in one month 🤦🏻‍♀️😝.

Even though some days are challenging, I love being a mom and I’m so happy Quinn is ours. When he crawls over to you and puts his little arms up to be picked up it will just melt your heart. You think, “Oh, he chose me” ❤️. He is such a happy kid and we laugh all the time. He hasn’t been that into solid food until just the last few days. I was worried I would have to pump breastmilk to feed him for the rest of his life but I think he’s finally coming around. He tried a pickle for the first time the other day and it was the cutest thing ever. Even though he puckered his face, he kept going back for more. However, Philip tried to give him a piece of bread and it made him cry 🤣. The hard part is keeping Sophie away from him while he’s eating. She loves food and he is going to love giving it to her, I can already tell 🐶😩.

“I love pickles!”

Speaking of food, I didn’t feel great the other day. Don’t worry, I don’t think I’m infected, just had a bellyache. When I was growing up, we always ate KFC mashed potatoes and gravy when we didn’t feel good so that’s the ultimate comfort food to me. During this period of social distancing we have only eaten take out once, and that was for my birthday. No offense to anyone but I don’t trust that people won’t go to work sick. I worked at Pizza Hut for 4 years and at Po Boy before that so I know what it’s like to miss out on a paycheck and also not have sick time. Anyway, I haven’t wanted to risk bringing anything home to Quinn or either of us so we’ve been cooking every day. However, that day I just really wanted some KFC so Philip went and got us some after work. I don’t know if their mashed potatoes have always sucked and I didn’t realize or they’ve changed their product in the last couple of months or if I had just gotten so used to cooking real food that my taste buds are now skewed, but I was completely disappointed. They were noticeably instant potatoes and maybe they always are and the gravy does a better job of hiding that fact. I don’t know. I’m not here to dog KFC because I’ve told you what sentimental value their mashed potatoes hold for me. I’m hoping it was an unfortunate incident and the next meal will be redeeming.

I think my bellyache and subsequent need for comfort food was the result of anxiety from this trying time in our history. While I am enjoying being home with my family, being distanced from everyone else I love is hard. Some days are tougher than others but when you already struggle with depression, this sort of thing is concerning. Not being able to go to the store when you need something is stressful. I guess I shouldn’t say not being able to, but rather not wanting to. I go grocery shopping once a week and that is so anxiety inducing that it exhausts me. You could drive yourself crazy trying to disinfect everything. My thought process could easily spiral into an overwhelming pit of fear. Fear of being the reason I make Quinn or Philip sick. One of them having to go to hospital alone. I just can’t even imagine that horror. What’s truly scary is going shopping and seeing everything as it once was while an invisible enemy lurks and could attack without warning. Ugh. I just try to do the best I can and shower as soon as I get everything wiped down. Just for the sake of it, I want to say to everyone please don’t judge what people are buying. One person’s essentials may be different than your own and that’s ok. Just go about your business as quickly as possible and don’t worry about everyone else.

I need to take my own advice on that last one because today was difficult. Philip and I still cooked Easter dinner and we had fun with Quinn, but I missed having dinner with my brother’s family and my dad. When you get on Facebook and see that some people didn’t obey the social distancing guidelines and chose to celebrate with their families (while also risking infecting their families—a selfish move in my opinion), it’s frustrating. I like rules. Mostly. When they make sense. It’s frustrating to me when people don’t follow sensible rules, for whatever reason. We need this to end and it won’t if people don’t do what’s asked, which isn’t hard to do. Well, not physically anyway.

Anyway, I’ll get off my soapbox now.

Quinn’s first Easter!

His bunny butt ❤️