Jaws

Well we have teeth! The first one broke through about two weeks ago, the second yesterday. There were quite a few nights with lots of crying, days with very short and very few naps and lots of crankiness but it seems like B is back to his normal happy self now that #2 is through. Hooray!

He shows it off whenever he opens his mouth wide for a smile and will let you sneak a finger in to rub it, but stubbornly refuses to drop his chin so you can take a look, so here are the best pictures we've been able to get so far:

Barrett - Six months old

Dear Barrett

Oh, kiddo, can you please stop growing so quickly? Seriously, my love, I cannot believe you are already half of a year! Each month seems to be going faster than the previous and I feel like life is going faster than a roller coaster since you've been in our lives.

The last month you have brought so much joy and laughter to our lives. You are really becoming your own person now. You can now roll over from your back to your belly. Once you got that done, now you are a rolling machine. We put you on your back, turn away for a second, and you're already on your belly, up on your hands and looking all around. Now that you have control of it, you love to be on your tummy now. You wake up on your belly every single morning now. You also sit up on your own now. You are not 100% with it, if you get distracted or try to turn your head - whoops - down you go. But you are becoming a great sitter.

The latest addition to our lives - two new teeth, the 2nd of which appeared today! I think you were really bothered by these two little sharp white teeth, because you weren't your normal, happy self for a while, so it was hard to see you so sad. But today you were in a great mood, so hopefully the worst of it is behind us for a while. You look so different with those two little bottom teeth in!

Your new best friend is Payton (although I'm not so sure he feels exactly the same way!). You love everything he does. You get such a kick out of watching him chase toys, wag his tail, and even lick your feet. Oh the smiles you give when you watch Payton! Your laughs are the best. You almost sound like you're upset, because it's this loud squeal, but really you're just so delighted and happy.

You are so easy to have as a son. You love to be held and carried around, love to have your tummy kissed, love to watch your musical seahorse. This month we bought a baby bjorn, and you love to sit in it and just look all around. You had been getting tired of being so cooped up in your stroller, so this is a nice, new viewpoint for shopping and walks.

I can't get over how little you are. At your 6 month doctor appointment, you weigh 16lbs, 4 oz, which is the 28th percentile, and are 26" tall, which is the 32nd percentile. You are such a little peanut! But you are the perfect size for carrying and cuddling, so I can't say I mind.

We made our first attempts at feeding you oatmeal. Oh boy, were you not into that! You made faces, blew raspberries (spraying food all over us, might I add) and turned your head in disgust. We will try again in a week or two. You can't eat just milk forever, baby!

Words cannot even adequately express the joy you've given me over the last 6 months. You have turned me into a MOTHER. We've both learned and grown this last half-year - this is my first time as a mom too, you know - and I adore being your mom. It's been an incredibly wild ride and I've loved it all!

Love,

Mommy

Father's Day

To my husband
Who grinned every time he rested his head on my belly and got a kick to the cheek
Who sat behind me and played the guitar against my tummy so the baby could hear the music
Who held my hand through contraction after contraction and wanted to take the pain from me
Who got tears in his eyes when he saw his son for the first time
Who cradled his baby more gently than I ever thought possible
Whose diaper changing and swaddling skills will never be surpassed
Who gently lifts his son off my lap to softly walk him to his crib
Who washes bottles every night without complaint
Who I can't imagine doing this without

Happy Father's Day



And happy father's day to my own father, who taught me so many things in life, worked incredibly hard to provide for our family and continues to be a great father and grandfather.

Not so sure they were right

This week marks 3 months now that I've been back at work after maternity leave. Everyone told me when I came back that it would get easier. And in some ways it has, in some ways it hasn't.

Easier - we're better with a routine now. Tim is absolutely awesome at helping with this, so mad props to my husband, who I could never do this without. He usually figures out dinner at night while I feed Barrett. Then when we put kiddo to bed, we eat. Okay, so that means we're eating at 8 most nights, but at least we're maximizing our time while he's awake. We've got the bottle drill down now, the pumping thing figured out and the daycare drop-off working. Errands and cleaning are still tough, but we've just made some sacrifices in those departments. No one will be eating off our floors anytime soon and for about two weeks in May the contents of our refrigerator were beer and salad dressing (took me back to the post-college years!), but we survived.

The same - lack of sleep. Though he showed some promise with a few 10 hour nights in April, that was all a tease and now he's consistently waking up once a night, usually around 4:30am. The good news - he has been officially deswaddled and it was relatively painless for all of us. I think we broke it at a good time and now, even when he rolls over onto his belly, he will usually sleep that way. But he's still up during the night = mommy still up during the night = mommy very tired. I know we need to break him of this, but am not sure how I want to do it just yet.

Harder - On that first day back at work, I didn't think it could possibly get any harder to leave my baby, but somehow it has. It takes every ounce of restraint that I have to hand him over to the daycare provider every day when what I really want to do is hold him forever. I think of him all day long, wonder what he's doing and miss him with every ounce of my being the entire time we're apart. Right now he's doing SO many new things constantly. In just the last two weeks, we have experienced rolling back to front, one (maybe two!) little teeth popping through, and he's sitting unassisted for increasing amounts of time. It's crazy! I hate that I feel like I'm missing out on these new experiences and the time just keeps going faster and faster. 6 months next week? How is it that my little boy is already going to be 6 months next week??

So there you have the 3 month update of my experiences as a working mother, the good, the bad, and the bleary-eyed!

Future Model?

We got professional photos of Barrett taken this weekend. He wasn't his usual smiley self - because, as it turns out, we found that some teeth are popping through now! Oh no. I think that made him fussy and pretty somber. Despite that though, we got some pretty awesome shots of our little boy! Here are some initial shots the photographer shared with us. Finals to come in a few weeks.
We tried to get him to give us Blue Steel but nothing yet. Maybe he's saving it up for the next shoot.

Memorial day in St Louis

Finally - pictures from our Memorial Day trip to St Louis - long overdue clearly! We took a few extra days off work and visited my parents at their house and their lakehouse. It was incredibly relaxing to get away for a few days and hang out together. I absolutely loved spending six days straight as a family, it was great to have all the time together.

We started out the week by meeting up with my friend Abbey and her two adorable kiddos for lunch. It's hard to believe, but we have been friends for 17 years now. Holy cow! That makes us (old?)long-time friends. We miss Brian and Abbey up in Chicago but at least she's back in St Louis so I can see her when I go home.



On Thursday we went the zoo. One thing I love about the Lou - so many of the attractions are free. If we wanted to go to the zoo in Chicago, it would probably take over an hour to navigate traffic and we'd end up dropping around $40 just to get in.

It was a super hot day. It was wonderful to finally feel some heat, but may have been a little extreme!


I think the heat got to someone -




Exhausted baby later that night! He fell asleep right in Daddy's arms. It was a long day.


Memorial Day celebration. They had lots of kids-oriented events: bouncy houses, arts and crafts, one of those big swing rides, animals to pet, snow cones. The only event Barrett participated in was the stroller ride. Maybe next year.





Watching the Cardinals game together


Hanging out on the deck




Poor baby got Mommy's very fair skin. He has a lifetime of spf50 and hats to look forward to!


Tim fishing off the dock and my dad pulling up the paddleboat


Tim's catch. Not as good as the 3 foot stick-bass I caught a few years ago, but I guess it's okay.


On our way home. What a fun weekend!

Barrett - Five months old

Dear Barrett -

I am very delinquent in writing your five month letter and maybe that's because I don't want you to get any older! Please stop growing up so fast! Every month seems to fly by faster than the one before and I wish I knew how to freeze time to make it all slow down. I see more of your little personality every day. And there isn't anything not to love! You smile all the time now, are always looking around and curious about everything around you, you rarely fuss, only when you're tired or bored. You've really started reaching those pudgy little hands out to grab at things, at books, at toys, at mommy's hair - ouch! You love to stick your fingers in my mouth while I nurse you and smile when I nibble on those fingers. You love to be held and I love that you're such a cuddler. I hope that never changes.

Love,
Mommy

The downside of visiting daycare at lunch...

is coming back to work with pee all over your shirt. Ewwww....

Indianapolis

Two weekends ago we made the trek down to Indianapolis to visit my sister and her family. It was great fun! We finally were able to meet her baby Caroline, who is a mere 8 weeks younger than Barrett and see her two other boys, Jack (4) and Grant (2). The doctors predict our hearing will return to normal soon.
It was pretty low-key. After all, with 4 kids between us, I think our wild and crazy days are behind us.

We were lucky enough to be there on Jennifer's birthday. I'm pretty sure some candles are missing.

Little finger-suckers


Side by side babies. Started out so well...


Then a little boy crawled on the back of the chair and one of them had a little spit-up issue...


At least one child is happy!




Loving those big fat baby thighs!


Jack


Us trying to corral some restless kids. Surprisingly, the babies were the easy ones


Barrett already making the moves. I don't think this child knows a stranger


"Are those things for real? Let me push them and see if they'll pop!"


"And my, what a tasty looking arm you have..."


"yum, yum, nearly there"


"Just kidding!"


Our family


Their family


I really wish we lived closer to each other. Sometimes I get really sad that we live so far away from family. Yesterday my co-worker went to her grand-niece's kindergarten graduation and was telling me how the entire family was there and had a big party afterwards and it made me sad that Barrett won't have that. I know my family will come visit for the big stuff, but they just live too far away to come to school recitals or Halloween parties, won't be there for Saturdays at the park or random runs through the sprinklers. I didn't grow up near cousins or grandparents and I really wish my kids would be close to theirs. We are hoping there will be a time when this will change...