Wonder Weeks

Bodie is entering into a Wonder Week. If you are not familiar with wonder weeks, it is basically a period of growth either physically, emotionally or intellectually that babies undergo during certain weeks. They usually occur every couple of months. Babies not only go through physical growth spurts, but they also go through mental growth spurts as well. In other words, their little brains are taking in sooo much information and trying to process at an alarming rate. With these wonder weeks comes a change in behavior and sleep patterns. This is SOOO helpful for us to know because we can understand Bodie better and what his needs are during these times. It also helps to know that a sleepless night or an increase in fussiness is all normal.

With that said, Bodie has entered into Wonder Week 37. This growth is more intellectual with brain growth.The major growth I have noticed is his crawling, exploring and independent play (though mama must still be close by with a watchful eye!)

Crawling machine! Lots to explore

A glimpse into Wonder Week 37 for Bodster (it may not be the same very every baby so don't compare :) )

• Bodie's sleep has been very unpredictable. One night he was up every hour, the next night he woke up only once.
• He is VERY clingy and will pull on my clothes. Loves to look down my shirt :)
• He is becoming more independent. Can play with toys by himself and loves to crawl and explore on his own. 
• Pulling himself up on everything. Even trying to climb up the wall. Silly boy.
• Still eating well, but will get fussy during meal times and not eating AS much. Favorites things to eat right now are raspberries, avocado, beef stew and salmon
• VERY curious about everything. 
•  Starting to interact more with other babies. Will babble to them and carry on a "conversation" I am really enjoying this growth!
• Naps are very consistent right now. Two naps a day and a small snooze around dinner time still.
• Takes showers and plays on the floor in the water.
• Plays with himself in the mirror.
• Give lots of hugs and cuddles. 
• While reading books, he will turn the pages and touch the pictures as we read.
• Discovered his love for swings and anything that rocks.
• Talks to himself while playing in the car.
• Will crawl to me or daddy when his name is called
• Tantrums. Yup. He will kick his feet on the ground, cry and throw his arms up if something is taken away or when he isn't getting his way. 8 months and we are already starting it. I go with it and let him express himself. It's not him trying to manipulate or to be mean, it's his way of expressing his frustration and that is OK! 

Learning to sit up in the crib. 

Playing and observing at friend's birthday party!

Finding magnets- and placing them in our mouth! Mama had to hide these :)

Ikea Shopping!

Helping mama with the dishes!

Trying to stand- yet banging his head at the same time.

Making jingles bells at story time

Add caption

Up to no good exploring in mama's office

Fun at the park with friends!

And of course, just as I am figuring Bodie out, it will change in the blink of an eye and we will start all over again. One thing I am learning- GO WITH THE FLOW! With his constant changes I need to remain open to changing myself as well- my approach, the way I talk to him, the way I sooth him, they way we sleep, eat and play. It's all changing week by week. And you now what, I LOOOOVE it! Being a mom has challenged me in soooo many way. I think I will devote a post just to that topic :)

Daddy Bonding

I have tried really hard to let go of the control of being a mama who takes care of every need for Bodie. But it has not been easy! Especially when hubby works long hours and I am basically a single mama doing everything from wake up to night night. BUT when time allows and daddy is not working, we have decided on a few special times to allow for daddy-Bodie bonding. This has been VERY important for ALL of us. It allows me to not only let go of control, but it gives me some time alone or time to get things done that I have been meaning to do. It allows for Andrew to feel involved and have those special moments with his son. And of course, Bodster gets to have some much needed time with his papa.

Bodie LOVES water and taking baths. We decided that this could be a time that papa could take the reigns. But instead of just setting Bodie in the bath and letting him play, Andrew decided he wanted to take a shower with him instead. And what a magical time that has been! Bodster LOVES being in the shower and he will just sit on the floor and play play play. Andrew is SO good with him in the shower too. They play together, and sing and just have a good ol' time! Now every time daddy goes to shower, Bo thinks he needs to take one too :)

The morning time is the best time that daddy and Bo can bond. They have a fun routine before breakfast. Andrew will (most days) change his diaper after waking, take his sleep sack off, and bring him downstairs. They proceed to a large mirror we have by the front door and they have fun playing in the mirror for a bit. Then Bodie likes to check the weather so they open the front door, look outside and decide what the weather is like. As they are doing this I try to get breakfast ready and by this time, Bo is ready for some eats. So daddy brings him in gets him all set for breakfast. Bo is starting to understand this routine and when daddy has to leave for work early, he knows the routine is just off.

And of course, another good bonding time is through football :)

Peaceful Parent, Happy Kids

 

In a mom's group that I attend, we are reading this book. Anyone heard or read it? It is pretty much amazing so far. Basically it talks about how to relate to our children on a different level, away from punishment and inflicting fear through consequences. By helping our children understand their emotions and helping them work through them, children learn how to express themselves appropriately and as the grow, they will develop healthy self esteems and peer relationships. Obviously there are a lot of parenting styles that are clearly not working with as much violence and mental disabilities our children are facing. So I figure let's try a more peaceful approach and TRULY learn to understand our children. I am excited to see how this plays out :)

In a Funk

I woke up today in a total funk. My brain is so foggy right now that I am even having a hard time writing this post. I have no idea what is going on but it is NO fun, especially with Little Man wanting all my attention. To make matters even more fun, I had to get blood work drawn this morning and I couldn't eat anything before hand. Try telling a nursing mama to not eat is like telling someone to stop breathing. Near impossible! However, I am trying to turn my day around and get out of this hole I feel like I am in.

I think that calls for a walk outside in the incredibly FRESH fall air. Yes, that should do the trick!! Oh how I love fall weather :) I am already feeling better just thinking about it! Your mind really does create your reality.

Yesterday was a fun day in CRAWLING land for Mister B. He is starting to really explore and we are just having a ball watching him. I feel like he just went from baby to per-toddler stage in an instant. Check out this boy trying to climb up our fireplace. I have a feeling we won't get to use the fireplace much this winter!

Yesterday we had a fun day swinging at the park and watching all the big kids play. He wants to play with them sooo bad!

Weeeeeee!

Dinner was full of beef stew, spaghetti squash and carrots. This boy LOVES to eat!

After dinner Bo decided he wanted to do an art project. Earlier that day we stopped at our favorite craft store, Micheal's, and picked up some Fall decor. Bo picked out some sticker leaves that he wanted to create a picture with. Check out his artistic skills!

All that crafting and cruising tired him out! It was an early bedtime! We were sad that daddy had to work late and couldn't join us :(

We have more fun planned at the park today with some friends! Trying to take advantage of the nicer weather before winter moves in. Hope you all enjoy a beautiful day!

Weekend musings

It has been such a lovely weekend, with awesome fall weather and huge milestones for my little man. On Friday, Bodster took his first full crawl! I am so happy because 1. I got it on camera and 2. Papa was there to witness it! How fun! He has been exploring a lot this weekend, though not crawling like a crazy man yet.

Friday afternoon we headed to our favorite play place with some friends. Treehouse Discovery is one of Bodster's favorite places with such fun toys!

Nursing fun!

On Saturday we had to deal with the aftermath of the mess our renters left us. Andrew and I own a duplex that we rent out and we had to FINALLY evict some tenants because they were not paying their rent on time or in full every month. Plus they were destroying the property and we finally said enough is enough! Well, when we went in the inspect the place we found it absolutely unlivable- trash and old food everywhere (even on the walls and floor), the kitchen cabinets USED to be white were now a disgusting black, the carpet was filled with cat urine, holes in every door and walls, tiles in the floor were broken, missing windows, missing refrigerator, bathrooms were black with mold, and fly traps all over the house just filled to the brim with bugs. I cannot fathom how someone could live like this. It looked like they never cleaned once the entire 4 years they lived there. Plus they had 2 young kids crawling around in this filth. We ended up calling the police for theft and vandalism. The police officer's jaw dropped when he walked in. He couldn't believe what he saw. After he took a report and left we got a call saying the tenants were trying to flee and they had them pulled over at a gas station. Actually was a coincidence because they were pulled over for having so much JUNK in their trailer.

We rushed over to the gas station and sure enough they were trying to get away. One guy was even arrested for having a warrant out for his arrest, this guy also threatened to beat the living day lights out of my husband just minutes before. Unfortunately I had Bodie with us as well so I tried to stay out of everything but it was hard not to ask them how they could do this to us. There is at least a couple grand in damages that WE have to fix and clean. It's almost a health hazard in there! Plus We found out that there were 9 people living in there, only 2 were authorized to live there. Oh geeze. I don't know what we will do from here. Probably hire someone to take care of the trash and furniture that was just left there. We have new tenants waiting to move in but there is no way I will allow them to live in such conditions. We will definitely be checking in more often to the condition of the place. No more allowing people to destroy our property! I will post pictures of the place once I get them off Andrew's phone. In the meantime, here is B and I just chilling :)

Today, September 29, is Bo's 8 month birthday! He has been kinda cranky today but I did get a few shots in before he conked out for a much needed nap.

Just a typical Thursday

I woke up today excited for Thursday. You see, this mama's social life is pretty non existent, aside from Thursday mornings. I am apart of a group called "Crunchy Parents" (yes, the term crunchy can mean "granola" "hippie" "holistic" or whatever you want to call it) and every Thursday someone holds a play date at their home. Not only is this a great time to get the kids together, but it is a CRUCIAL time for the mamas to gather and chit chat about their daily musings. It really is a sanity lifesaver and we often times meet at parks, coffee shops, and indoor play areas other times of the week. Bodie just LOVES this time as well because lets face it, he is a social butterfly. He is even the youngest of the bunch but that doesn't stop him!

Hmmmm possible Christmas present??

 Bodie thinks this chick is pretty cool...

Poor J. She always gets picked on by Bodie. He really just loves to pat soft hair LOL

Found an apple just laying on the ground. I think I'll eat it!

Beautiful kale and chard from a dear friend's garden. LOVE my greens!

During Bo's nap, I finished making applesauce from the apples I put in the crock pot in the morning. I will never buy applesauce again! Bo is going to devour this!!

After lunch and a lovely THREE hour nap....

we decided to go visit daddy at work. We don't see daddy much during the week so it was a special trip to visit him at the office. Again, everyone just gaggles over him (is that even a word?!) I also secretly like visiting A at work because I am friends with all his co workers so its fun to catch up with everyone :)

Anniversary as a family

September 25, 2010 I said "I DO" to an amazing man of God. I had no idea what was in store for us, but the road has been bumpy. We have bought 2 homes together, struggled with infertility, had a baby, gone on MANY vacations (so blessed!), celebrated successes and failures, and most importantly grown in our love for one another. The most important aspect of our marriage is keeping God in the middle. Without Him, we would not survive our marriage and tribulations.

To celebrate, we wanted to go out to dinner since we don't do that very often anymore (thanks Bodie and my fear of leaving him during our night time routine). So we called up Andrew's sister to watch Bodie and we were going to head to an early dinner so I could be home to put Bodie down. Our routine is sacred you know ;) However, we decided to cancel that idea and bring him with us since he has been such in integral part of our marriage (before he was even conceived) so we wanted him a part of our celebration. Not to mention he is SOOOO good when we are out and about and he never makes a fuss in restaurants so we thought it would be fun. He would soak it up anyway! So off we went to White Chocolate Grill with the whole family in tow. Aside from Bodie spilling my balsamic vinegar for my salad, all went beautifully. I just hate leaving my little man out of our adventures :)

Eating some of mom's salad and fish

Dad is doing something silly with his ring