We’re moving!
Well, i decided to make the switch to a new blog location. It wasn’t making much sense for me to jump from place to place and I use this one less so I figure it isn’t that much of a pain to switch, but sort of. I hope you will all come visit us at BellOrel Baby’s blogspot.
8 months old!
My little man turns eight months old today…. where does the time go. He has such a personality – an aggressive, silly, monstrous personality. He tears the glasses off my face, pulls my hair out, head butts everybody, bites onto my face and tries to tear my lips off. He goes after all forms of paper, shred it into bits and puts the little pieces in his mouth and laughs when I try to get it out. He climbs the stairs at every chance, doesnt forget that there is a globe in another room that he wants to get at it, makes a mad dash for the toilet/shower room in the master bathroom if we forget to close the door. He loves to stand 2 inches in front of the tv, hang onto the outside of his jumperoo and thinks it is no longer cool to be inside it. His real toys entertain him less than 10% of the day, the rest of the day is paper, diaper boxes, phones, cords, car seats, loose feathers on the floor from pillows, magnets on the fridge, and shoes. I am sure there are more I am forgetting. He has finally started to sleep better at nite, but there are occasional hiccups. And naps are still a challenge, we have to bounce his body and head around in our laps while singing, then get him in a spot that he will accept sleeping – our bed or the couch, on his tummy . We are taking a chance if we try to put him to nap in his crib, might have to spend another 30 minutes to hour putting him back to nap. Then once asleep if we want it to last we usually have to stay there and shake him when he starts to stir – his idea of a nap is if he has closed his eyes for a minute and then they open again he must have napped and now its time to play – but he is still cranky. I know its not a great habit to shake him all the time to keep him napping but it is the only way to have some time to myself – even though I can’t walk around – at least i can do my work on my laptop. But no matter how crazy he is, he still melts my heart with his smiles and pure laughter.
Unsubscribe
As I am sitting here too exhausted to write another fitness article for work, I am doing a few miscellaneous fitness article related things that don’t take as much brain power, like tweeting my newly published article for AC. I got email to my blackberry and mac mail, usually simultaneously. I glance at it and see that it is just another product/company email I signed up for at some point, for some reason. I realize I usually don’t even read them, and just hit delete. So i end up needing to delete them in both locations and now I am asking myself ‘why not hit “unsubscribe”?’ this would help de-clutter a much cluttered environment. So that is my plan to start doing that. I actually got lucky with the loss of my business email account because a lot of “spam” went there and now I have much less email to delete! Do you have any simple de-clutter tips?
Time to simulate his brain.
I would consider my son quite advanced in the physical sense – sitting up since 4 months, crawling since 6 months, right into standing. And I should expect it since that was definitely our main focus (ours, but really my husband’s) since day one. Now that he is in to EVERYTHING it almost makes me wish he couldn’t, but not really because he was so unhappy when he wasn’t mobile. And I love to see him move. But, now we think it is time to focus on the mental. After all, as my husband likes to joke, he married me for my big brain and expects me to pass it on to our son. I have been pretty lax about this, come on, this kid will not sit still to have a 5 page story read – he would rather try to eat it. But I have been reading about the positive benefits of sign language for early communication and the benefits extend into life. In fact I even found a mommy blogging
about it, and her own experience with her son. So I have been giving it a try (I actually used to be extremely interested in signing, I had an aunt who did it for her profession and I worked with deaf children at camp), what I can remember, and it just so happens the one I need the most is easy for me to remember and sign, “NO!.” I remember the sign for STOP too, but I figure I should focus on one, and at this point NO will do just fine for both. “No climbing on that. No grabbing at the waste basket. No eating mommy’s papers. ” So let’s see how long it takes. I think he must see and hear NO about 20 times a day and still doesn’t get it. Or, I think he does get it and is just playing me. HAHA. Aside from the signing I keep telling myself to take a hint from the Your Baby Can Learn to Read commercials and write words as flash cards on big paper, again I am hoping he will sit still long enough. OOh if I could get the words to show up on the TV that might work (he is already addicted to ESPN?!). So I will let you know in a bit how it goes. In the meantime share your parenting stories with me!
Finally getting more sleep
Well, my little man, now almost 8 months old is finally becoming a better sleeper. Still not perfect – did have to give him a bottle around 4am when you refused to stop fussing and it grew into a cry, but some nites he self soothes and doesn’t require a bottle until 5 or 6am. Pretty good since we had been getting up every few hours with him for most of the first 6 months. Strange since he is so active, I would expect him to crash hard at the end of the day. He crawls like a professional and is constantly standing up trying to reach things he shouldn’t. He got his first tooth recently and I imagine another is close behind so I guess sometimes he is dealing with that pain – but usually seems ok. So I am happy to be able to get a little more rest, although now I have been dealing with a pinched nerve in my neck for quite some time which is making it difficult to sleep…hopefully that will go away, but there is always something, right?
Full Plate
Maybe I am getting out of control with adding another thing to my plate, but as a stay at home mom with minimal income I am always trying to add a little something. Mainly I am writing health and fitness articles as a freelance writer, so this got me thinking I should do some writing for myself as well – in turn i decided to have a fitness blog that I will post on daily to provide useful information and tips to the public. I have a Master’s degree in Exercise Physiology so the information you find you can trust, unlike a lot of other fitness sites. So in the midst of chasing around my highly mobile 7 month old son i will be keeping tabs on my personal training studio (occasionally training someone), writing articles, writing on my 2 blogs, and maintaining the baby boutique. ay yay yay… but what else can I do?!
My son started crawling, forward!
So excited to see my little man start crawling forward yesterday. It took him awhile to get that concept. He still seems a little unsure of it, or maybe just lazy. Not sure. He doesn’t always do it, and seems like he forgets that he can when he is just lying on his stomach wanting to move. But it is so exciting – what a milestone. He will be 7 months next week! Where does the time go??
Catching up!
Taking a week vacation sure leaves a lot to do upon return. But I think I have caught up with most things. Articles written, blogging, and new products in store (you have to check them out – SOFT brand organic baby onesies, baby knee pads from Bare Bottoms, Inc)
Tummy Sleep
My Little Man seems to sleep better on his tummy. He is still a pretty bad sleeper, but he seems to settle in quickly once his anger gets him onto his tummy- he has started falling asleep in just a couple minutes once he turns over. It still makes me nervous – I always go check on him, but there is nothing I can do now that he can put himself that way. Last nite he actually went 6 hours without waking – that is huge for him. He has done it in the past, but it has been very sporadic. I hope he is developing better sleeps habits finally.
How does/did your little one sleep? Were you comfortable with tummy sleeping before one year?
Crawling – It’s Happening!
I have to admit we have put my son through quite a bit of bootcamp since the day he was born, but he always seemed tough enough to handle it. He was born about 5 days later than expected and I swear it helped him grow big and strong. He could hold his head up from a tummy position so quickly so we started baby bootcamp with the mission to have him crawling by 6 months. Well, we are 6 months and 4 days and today he crawled, backwards, off his play mat onto the hard tile floor. We were so excited it brought tears to our eyes (my son is the one thing that makes my husband emotional and actually remind me he is human). Now I have to get the house ready for baby-proofing. We have multiple levels so it makes it even more challenging… But, I am just so excited for this milestone! Can’t wait to see him crawl forward and really take off.
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