New Experiences

Tomorrow I'm taking Evan to Sea.rs to have his 6 month portraits taken. I have never done professional portraits of him before!! We didn't even have the hospital photographer do pictures just after he was born because the first morning I was way too frazzled to think about that and then the second morning we were in the hospital the photographer didn't show up because she was sick or something. I was so upset about that and we talked about taking him to a studio to have newborn pictures done, but it was too much to think about with a new baby.

Twice before my dad has set up his camera and taken better quality pictures of Evan (1 month and 4 month pics), but this is the first time I've taken him anywhere and had a "real photographer" take his picture! As a matter of fact, this will be one of the first times I've been in a portrait studio since I can remember. So I'm a little intimidated about the experience.

Another new experience...Evan's new food is carrots. He's not impressed, but still likes them better than avocados. Just now he's eating them mixed with green beans for the first time because I hoped he might like them better that way. Matt is feeding him and it sounds like Evan is being a goofball...something he only does when he isn't impressed with food. ;-)

And another new experience...Matt and I going out and leaving Evan with my sister and her boyfriend. In November we left Evan with my mom for a few hours, but this is the first time we've gone out and left him for 2 feeding periods and left him with my sister. Matt and I went to a casino night party for his office. His office did the same thing last year and it was a big hit. This year was just as fun (maybe even more fun since I could drink. ;-) Last year I was pregnant). Also, we won a $50 gift card to Lo.we's with the raffle tickets we earned at the "casino." Yay! It's perfect because we're using our tax return to do home improvements and the gift card can go towards new windows.

We returned home much later than I had expected (we called Melissa to let her know we'd be late!) but all was well. He did great and I thought it was cute that my sister and her boyfriend were waiting on him to poop before changing his diaper and letting him to go sleep. They put him in his crib at 7:30 (his bedtime) but they stayed in there waiting on him to poop! lol I don't know why they thought that was going to happen...I didn't tell them to do that. I actually could have told them it wouldn't happen at all since he pooped 3 times during the day. Anyway, after 30 minutes of letting him sit in his crib in the dark with a light up music toy to keep him awake (while they watched him), they went ahead and changed his diaper and then put him back in his crib and let him go to sleep! He was probably sitting in his crib thinking, "why won't these people let me go to sleep!?"

Anyway, Evan still has his dreamfeed at 9:00 every night, but I told Melissa not to bother waking him up and feeding him then. So I was concerned that his last feeding was at 6:30. I expected him to wake up in the middle of the night. But he woke up at 6:30 am! He went 12 hours between feedings and he slept great all night! I'm excited....now I'm more ready to get rid of the dreamfeed since I know he can make it 12 hours.

Appointments

This is a record for me to keep of Evan's appointment stats.

Birth
Weight: 7 lbs, 2 oz
Height: 19.5 in

1 Month (1 month old)
Weight: 9 lbs, 6 oz (25-50%)
Height: 22 in (50%)
Head cir: 15 1/4 in (25-50%)

2 Month (2 months old)
Weight: 11 lbs, 12 oz (50%)
Height: 23.5 in (75%)

4 Month (4 months, 2 weeks old)
Weight: 14 lbs, 4 oz (25-50%)
Height: 26.5 in (90-95%)
Head cir: 17 1/4 (75-90%)

6 Month (6 months, 2 weeks old)

Weight: 16 lbs, 13 oz (25-50%)

Height: 27.5 in (90%)

Head cir: 17.5 inches (90%)

9 Month (9 months, 2 weeks old)

Weight: 18 lbs, 15 oz (25%)

Height: 29 in (75%)

Head cir: 18.5 in (90%)

12 Month (1 year old)

Weight: 20 lbs, 6 oz (10-25%)

Height: 29.5 in (50%)

Head cir: 18.5 in (50-75%)

18 Month (18 months, 1 week)

Weight: 24.8 lbs (25-50%)

Height: 33 1/4 inches (75%)

Head cir: 19 in (50-75%)

6 months old

I am amazed to announce that my son is 6 months old!

It's indescribable that time has gone by so quickly. It seems like it was just the other day that I was posting I was 6 months pregnant...and even then I couldn't believe that I was actually there. My pregnancy went by so quickly for me. I spent the first part of it expecting to lose my baby. Then even after the 12 week mark when I felt more confident, I still felt like something would go wrong. I didn't really believe that I'd be holding a baby someday.

And here I am, with a healthy, beautiful 6 month old son. He's standing (while I hold his hands for balance), rolling all over the place, pushing himself up, eating solids, and is full of energy. He has his own personality now. He's laid back, serious, and independent. He loves playing on the floor and in his Exersaucer. He likes to concentrate on "feeling skills" (I read the book The Wonder Weeks, can you tell?). He touches everything. I know it's a common trait in babies, but when I compare him to his friends, he definitely enjoys holding, grabbing, and handling things more than they do. They probably have other favorite ways of learning (one of his friends concentrates on watching skills, a couple of others concentrate on physical activities). Evan will happily stay in one place as long as he has things to fiddle with. He doesn't want to look at things, he only wants to touch (reading him books is an interesting experience because he only pays attention to the book if he can touch it, but when he grabs it he wants to shake it and eat it which makes it hard for me to keep reading!).

Yep, it's crazy to think that exactly 6 months ago I was pushing pushing pushing. :-) You can read my birth story HERE. It was worth every second. :-)Newborn

6 months

Better?

So what about this design? Let me know if you have problems commenting! I know that was an issue with the other template I had up. You can email me if you need to. christmasinmarch {at} gmail {dot} com

is this a dream?

I can't believe that this is real. That it isn't a dream or something out of a movie. I'm really a mom. That's really my baby right there playing so intently and pausing to look up and smile at me every couple of minutes.

It took me awhile to feel like I was really a mom. I felt like I was just playing mommy for a few weeks. It wasn't until someone was holding Evan and he started crying and they gave him to me and he stopped that I felt like a real mom. Suddenly it was like, "I'm the mommy. He knows that I am his mama." Then I knew I was a mama too. :-)

What do you think?

So what do y'all think about my new layout? I thought it was time for a change... This looks a little more "professional" than I usually go for, but I like the colors. Do you think it "goes" with my blog??

rolling

Last night when we were at my parents' house Evan rolled 10 feet across the room! We were eating dinner in the dining room and had left him in the living room to play on the floor. He's been rolling more lately, but only once or twice, which only moves him a couple of feet. So I cleared the floor all around his blanket in case he rolled off it. We heard him fussing a bit while we were eating and after awhile Matt went to go check on him....and found him all the way across the room! Now I have to watch him all the time and make sure there's nothing on the floors that he shouldn't play with.

Peek-a-Boo!

My mom bought THIS book for Evan for Valentine's Day! So cute. :-)

heart

So it's Valentine's this weekend and on Monday it's Matt's birthday! We don't have anything major planned at this point. We'll probably go out to dinner on Monday to celebrate both occasions. I want to go to a Japanese steakhouse like we did last year, but it's not the best place to bring a baby, so we might choose another place. We'll see! Matt has Monday off of work, so I think we should do something special and fun as a family during the day, but I don't know what. Too bad it's supposed to rain that day!

What do you have planned for Valentine's Day?

I remember the year I started dating Matt...I was SO depressed on Valentine's Day (it was before we started our relationship). I thought he liked a friend of mine and I definitely didn't think he liked me "in that way."

I had had a crush on him for months, since October 2001. We had been friends for several months (I met him when I was 9 years old, but we didn't get to be friends until I was 15). My friend's mom saw him from a distance and said, "who is that young man? He's pretty good looking!" I laughed out loud automatically, like, "Matt!? Good looking!?" And then I realized....he is good looking. And nice. And funny. I thought, "oh gosh, I think I have a crush on Matt!"

Then just before Christmas 2001 I went Christmas shopping with him and some friends. I left my purse in his car when he dropped me off (it really was accidental!). My family was leaving to go to Arkansas the next morning and so I had my dad drive me to his house (I didn't have my license yet!) to pick up my purse. We went in and were talking to Matt and his family and Matt was kneeling on their couch, facing the back. I was standing behind the couch and he looked up at me.... he had the sweetest look on his face. I knew in that moment that I loved him, it wasn't just a crush anymore. It about took my breath away and it was hard not to show my emotions. I had a week of being in Arkansas to think about it. I missed him so much and emailed him as often as I could.

I kept it to myself, but after that I was so miserable and lovesick. I thought for sure he liked a friend of mine, but now looking back I can't really think why I thought he did since he paid more attention to me than he did to her. But on Valentine's I felt bitter and depressed about the situation. I remember telling another friend of mine, "life sucks." haha, so dramatic! I decided that before Matt went to college in the fall I would tell him how I felt.

But then there was the homeschool historic ball...that was my first hint that he liked me. He called me and asked if he could escort me. It was a magical night and the following weeks I felt more and more strongly that he at least had a crush on me. Then on March 24 he asked me to be in a relationship with him. He said he wanted it to result in marriage...it wasn't going to be a shallow thing. I "thought about it" for a couple of days, but of course the answer was yes from the second the words were out of his mouth, but I didn't want to rush into it so I gave it a couple of days to sink in.

Anyway, y'all know the rest. You can go HERE (same link as the "March 24" link above) to read a little more about our relationship and see some pictures! :-)

love/hate

Things I disliked before I was pregnant that I now love:
Milk & Italian food

Weird, huh? After getting pregnant I started craving milk and Italian food (not together!) and it's stuck with me after having Evan.

2 posts in one day..what!?

I started this post referring to "these people," trying not to be specific. When I started the new Christmas in March, I wanted to refrain from complaining about people. I would hate it if someone I know IRL read this and saw me complaining about family members or other people in my life, plus it just drags down the atmosphere of my blog. However, I want to blog about this and I decided to just say who it is. It's not like I'm exposing a secret. "These people" act this way publicly and they know it bothers me, so they shouldn't be surprised if I talk about it on a public blog. This is how I keep in touch with many friends, so I'm just going to go for it...I'm changing "these people" to "in-laws."
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Okay, I know this is the second post of the day! And I only have a limited time before Evan wakes from that tricky late afternoon nap, so you'd think I'd have something better to do like cleaning the house! But I have something on my mind that I just have to get out...

So my in-laws have neglected Evan since he was born. Yep, you heard me right, there's actually 2 people out there who don't like my little boy! It hurts, but the main reason it does is because they like other babies and have another grandson who is a regular part of their lives (they see him several times a week).

I don't expect everyone to like my son. Some people don't like babies and that's fine. One of my granddads (my dad's dad) doesn't like babies. He didn't hold Evan when we visited for Christmas and barely looked at him the whole week. That was fine with me because I knew he was like that with all of his kids and grandkids and any other baby that's crossed his path over the years (yep, it's true, he barely held any of his 3 kids when they were babies and certainly didn't help with feedings, changings, etc!). Now, if my grandpa had been holding another baby that week and ignored Evan...well, I'd be really upset. Who wouldn't be?

When Evan was about 2-3 months old we had a talk with them and told them that it was hurting our feelings that they weren't more involved in Evan's life. Not only were they not bothering to see him in person, they wouldn't call or ask how he was. We invited them over several times, but there gets to be a point where you kind of get the hint when you're never invited back. Also, it's hard to have people in your home (and have to provide dinner) when you have a newborn! Anyway, the excuse they gave was that they "forgot" about Evan and "didn't think" about calling. They said they remembered him when people would ask about their other grandson(??? why weren't they asking about Evan too?), but that by the time they had a chance to call they would forget again. MIL sounded very apologetic and sincere.

Kind of weird, but whatever, I know peoples lives get hectic and both of them work (they find time to do crafts, go hunting, and see the other grandchild several times a week, but oh well). So we start seeing each other more around the beginning of December and I think everything is fine and I'm so happy when we see them and they pay attention to my son. Well, we invited ourselves over there to give them their Christmas presents....and SIL invited us to their house for a birthday party for FIL at the beginning of January....we also saw them the first week of January at another relative's house...and that's it. It's been over a month since we've seen them and like I said, they haven't even invited us over since before Christmas (oh yeah, we live about 40 minutes away which is not far for people in the area to travel since that's how far they have to drive to get to stores and restaurants).

We invited them over a couple of weeks ago...called twice to try to set it up. They didn't commit to visiting the first time we called and when we called back they said they were sick. However, they didn't seem interested in rescheduling and never called to try to get together again (although I think Matt has talked to FIL at least once since then). I know they aren't still sick because they have seen the other kid several times since then (i keep up with SIL on facebook).

It blows my mind that anyone could be this way. Especially after we talked to them and told them that their behavior bothered us and they apologized for it!! I told my parents about the situation and they had a theory that basically the in-laws resent Evan for a variety of reasons. It makes sense (I won't go into the details of that), but who can know for sure. I want Matt to talk to them, but he's hesitating to do it again. And it's kind of understandable. I mean, what can they possibly say? It really makes no difference why they are doing this. It doesn't change anything.

Anyway, the reason this is on my mind even more today is that my mom called and said MIL is going to call me about something. My mom thought she'd already called which is why she brought it up. When I said I hadn't heard from her, my mom just told me that MIL has an idea that she wants to talk to me about. MIL talked to my mom about it on Sunday. Mom told me that if MIL doesn't call by Friday she'll go ahead and tell me what it's all about so that I'm not in the dark. I talked to my sister and she also asked if I'd talked to MIL this week. I told her I kind of know what's going on, but that I don't want to know details at this point. Missy said she doesn't think I'm going to be thrilled. I asked if it has something to do with the fact that they are neglecting Evan. She said yes and that she feels that MIL's idea is a lame attempt to make up for the fact that they've pretty much ignored him for 6 months.

Sooooo..... now I'm curious. I also feel like a confrontation is coming up between MIL and me. I've put up with a lot from their family over the years and have never said a word. But this is my son and this is very "in your face." There is no way to excuse their behavior this time around. I wonder if MIL is going to outright say she's making up for all of this, or if she is going to hedge around it. If she tries to avoid it, I wonder if I should let her. I wonder if I should tell her what I think about grandparents who show favoritism and treat one of their grandkids so badly. God says to forgive people, but does that mean that I should let MIL "get away" with all of this without telling her my feelings? Should I let them be a part of Evan's life in the future if that's what they want? I don't feel they deserve that and I feel it would be simpler to separate from them completely. I feel like I've given them so many chances already and that I want to keep my son away from all of the drama. But is that really the right thing...

I don't know what I expect you to say but feel free to vent about your own in-laws (are there other in-laws out there that ignore one of their grandchildren?), to agree with me (of course that's always appreciated, haha!), say what you would do in my situation, and you can even try to offer a reason for their behavior. Please try not to make me feel too horrible for my feelings because it's a touchy subject. It's hard to relate all the details (I could go on even longer!), so even if you think I'm overreacting, keep in mind that there are other reasons why I feel they are neglecting Evan).

Weird

Babies are weird. It's just crazy how many things affect them and change their behaviors!

The past week Evan has been waking up early every morning. Like around 6:30 - 7:30 when his normal wake time is 8:00. He's sleeping all night, just waking early. And he's happy when he wakes up, so I don't think his sleep is being interrupted by anything. So I read up on my Babywise books (I now have the second one too) and all kinds of things can cause him to wake early. It's just ridiculous to try to figure it out! I've decided that it could be caused by his dream feed (that I am still in the process of dropping) or his late afternoon nap. So the past 2 days I decided to try to skip that last nap to see how it goes.

Yesterday afternoon he stayed awake until we drove home from a friend's house. He fell asleep in the car. However, he stayed awake later than usual (until about 5:30) and he did sleep "later" this morning (he woke up at 7:30). Today we were at home all afternoon and I decided to skip that nap. Ha. I am seriously wondering what I'm going to do with him when he really does drop that nap! I'm exhausted. And that's after all of the independent play he did. lol Anyway, he started crying and so I decided he needs a nap.

At this point I'm feeding Evan a little before 9:00 pm every night and then he goes straight to bed. When I get him down to 8:30 (which I'm hoping will be in the next 2 or 3 weeks), I plan on going to a 4 hour schedule (where I feed him every 4 hours instead of every 3.5). Then his last feeding will be at 8:00 pm and he'll go to bed just after.

Oh yeah, and thanks to those of you who commented on my last post and said that babies don't officially choose a hand until 2 - 3 years old! I had thought I heard that somewhere, but wasn't sure. It will be interesting to see if Evan continues to favor his left hand when he starts feeding himself, writing, etc. I'm hoping he really is a lefty like my brother and cousin. :-)

Give me a hand

I had a relapse. :-( I actually got completely better...then got sick all over again! So I'm better again and just hoping it'll last this time!

I just want to say, I think my son is a lefty! I've noticed that he uses his left hand more since he started grabbing things somewhere between 2 and 3 months old, but it's more and more obvious now. I didn't even know that a baby could show a preference at such a young age, but that's what it's looking like with Evan.

The little boy who used to live with us used both of his hands equally until he was close to 2 years old. Then it seemed like he started using his right hand more. So I thought that's how it was with all kids.

What hands do your kids use? Do you know if this is something hereditary or something? The only left handed people in my family is my brother and my cousin (who was the same age as my brother). Everyone else is right handed as far back as anyone in my family can remember. My family always thought it was interesting that the 2 of them were left handed and now here's Evan to join them. :-) Everyone in Matt's family is right handed too although he doesn't know about his extended family.

sick

I was sick all day yesterday. My stomach was a little upset on Tuesday night and in the early hours of Wednesday morning I woke up feeling awful and threw up. I'm so glad Matt was here to help me out!! I was too weak to walk from the bed to the bathroom, so I don't know what I would have done without him to help. I was sick all day yesterday. I had a fever and chills, was VERY weak, and had an upset stomach. Matt worked from home most of the day so I was able to take a nap and relax most of the time.

Today I feel much better, but still very weak. I know I should eat something since I hardly ate anything last night. In a few minutes I'll try to pull myself together and go make something. Matt couldn't work from home today since he's teaching a class at his office.

We are going to visit my grandparents this weekend! I'm very excited about it! We haven't seen them in 4 months. My entire family is going (except my brother who is at school). It's been a long time since we all went to visit my grandparents as a family, so I'm happy about that too. I'm just hoping I'll feel completely well by then!

Thankful

The other day I was having lunch with some friends who have daughters Evan's age. The conversation turned to naps and I found myself complaining about my little boy. It hurts to write this and think back on it, because I love Evan so much and I'm so thankful for him. The other day I wrote a fac.ebook status about a messy mealtime experience that Matt wasn't around to help out with. A friend apologized and I realized that she must think I was complaining about it! It was a shock that anyone would think that (although I have to admit the status unintentionally sounded like that, but I actually found the situation humorous!). I thought, "why would I complain about something like that?" And then just a day later there I was complaining that Evan doesn't sleep enough during the day.

Yes, being a mother is hard. Yes, at the end of the day I'm glad Matt comes home to help out (unless he's on a business trip). But I LOVE being a mom. I was made for this. This is perfect. It's what I always dreamed it would be. Evan is amazing and him not napping much means that I just get to spend more time with him during the day. And I've really thought that before, I'm not just saying it now because I feel guilty for complaining about him!

Nobody's experience with motherhood is really perfect, but as for me, I have to be careful about letting myself complain about things that don't really matter in the long run. Sometimes it's good for moms to vent about things that are rough, but I don't consider our situation to be that bad. So my child only naps for 45 minutes. Some people have babies that only nap 15 minutes. And some people don't have a child at all. I'm so grateful for Evan and that God gave me this beautiful boy.

nom nom nom

Feeding Evan solids is going really well! I thought it was helping his acid reflux, but he wasn't spitting up as much because he wasn't eating as much (since my milk production was low). ;-) So I wouldn't say that it's helped that so much. However, he is sleeping better at night and he takes some pretty good naps since eating solids too! It isn't consistent, but before he would sleep 45 minutes MAX. Since i've started solids he sometimes takes longer naps. I'm hoping that he will keep that up!

Making our own baby food is going really well! I love doing it. It also isn't as complicated or as time consuming as I expected it to be. I've tasted the food I've made and compared it to the jarred food and I have to say, the homemade food tastes much better. I'm using organic vegetables and fruits. I wouldn't consider myself a big health food nut, but I figure since I'm making baby food so that Evan can have the "best," I might as well go all the way and make it organic too. Homemade organic baby food is still cheaper than buying the jarred regular food on sale! Oh yeah, if you have a Trader Joe's nearby, you should definitely go there. They have GREAT deals on their produce!

So far Evan has eaten:
Sweet potatoes
Butternut squash
Avocados
Bananas

His favorite is the sweet potatoes. His least favorite is the avocados (can't say I blame him, avocados don't taste so well without onions, tomatoes, chili powder, garlic powder, and salsa!). He still ate the avocados, he just wasn't nearly as thrilled about them. :-)

Today I mixed bananas in his cereal and tonight I think I'll mix them with some avocado. This is the first time he's had a combination.

Next we'll do green beans (they are already made and in the freezer). I also have carrots in the freezer, but I'm going to wait until he's 6 months to feed him those since they have a stronger flavor and there's a (very small) risk of too many nitrates with those.

Oh remember how i was saying last week that Evan is fitting into his 3-6 month clothes perfectly? Well, about 2 days after writing that I started putting him in 6-9 month clothes!! It seems like he made the transition faster than the last time around. But I was happy to change him into 6-9 month clothes since I bought most of those whereas we were given all of his 3-6 month clothes. My little boy is getting so big....it's just amazing to think that at one point he fit in those itty bitty newborn clothes!