Theo walks!

Theo's 1st steps! from Melissa Hill on Vimeo.

Catching up.

It seems as though our young son has overheard us discussing that he is a little behind his peers in terms of crawling and "tooth eruption." As such, he decided within the last few days to just take care of all of that and is now a crawling fool and the proud owner of a little sliver of a bottom right tooth. 

We were sure he'd skip crawling. He's been rocking on hands and knees for months and for the past several weeks has been walking behind a push toy, cruising and standing unassisted (while holding a toy and clapping, thankyouverymuch). We thought he'd just be like Aunt Sammy and head straight to walking, as he does share her little penchant for ramming his walker into obstacles. As with all things, though - he does it when he is good and ready. Friday he got on his hands and knees like he had a million times before and crawled across his room. And now, he crawls out of his room - and all over the place. There is also a lot more vacuuming going on around this joint, thanks to three hairy beasts who shall remain nameless. And if you should see our child in the next few weeks, no we didn't beat him. His head is covered in bruises from all this newfound mobility. And as Susan learned this morning, you can be sitting three inches from him and he can still get hurt. Sigh. 

And the tooth! I was tossing him into the air and he was laughing with a big open mouth when I spied a little slit in his gums that looked suspiciously like a tooth breaking in. I stuck my finger in there and felt around and sure enough, he has a bottom right tooth that is just cresting the surface. At 11 months and 1 week old. Amazing.

OK, things happen in 3s, right? Maybe sleeping through the night will be next. Hey, a girl can dream, right?

Birthday wishes.

We hope to see everyone at Theo's 1st Birthday! While your presence will most certainly be present a-plenty for our little guy, a few folks have asked for a list of what he might like. Here are a few ideas for you guys:

Anamalz
Leap Frog Magnet stuff (like the fridge farm)
Wooden Chunky Puzzles
Books!
Jack in the Box
Ride on toy, like this.
Toddler sized hooded towels
Little People stuff


Anything Melissa and Doug brand is good (we already have fridge magnets, ring stacker and the stacking/nesting blocks). In general, we try to avoid anything that lights up/makes loud crazy music/etc.

And really, you can just show up. We just want to celebrate our boy!

Giving ourselves a break.

As parents, we want the very best for our kids. As neurotic parents very devoted parents, we tend to make it our life's ambition to be the best parents our kids could ever hope for. And I am woman enough to admit, that I fall into the neurotic devoted category. And I needed a break.

This weekend, I took Theo up to Virginia for a stop on the festival of fun runaway train ride that is October ("birthday month") in our family. I was making a mental packing list, which included the cloth diapers and I decided that Theo's backside would not in fact, burst into flames if he spent a few days in disposable diapers. And given that he spends the other 362 days a year in cloth, I felt the environment would give us a pass on this dalliance into the world of planet wrecking convenience. I did at least put him in the fancy pants marketing scam otherwise known as Huggies Pure and Natural with organic cotton. Then I decided to really break bad and feed him from jars. Yeah, I even punked out on slaving over the food steamer and Magic Bullet and/or figuring out which table foods his royal highness might consider putting in his belly. I simply went to the grocery store, picked out some Earth's Best jars and went on my merry way. 

So, how did it all turn out? It was glorious. I threw diapers in the trash without remorse and Theo scarfed down that jarred food as if it was his first taste of McDonald's. Having thrown myself off the perfectionist parenting track for the weekend, I let him eat beef stew, multigrain Cheerios and watermelon and never once asked if it was organic. Instead, I made sure he had all the pieces to his Halloween costume and that he had fun with his cousins. You know, the important stuff childhood is really made of. 

And guess what? I'm still a good mom. I'm a good mom because I made sure his Halloween costume was perfect. Because I get down on the floor and play with him every chance I get. Because I read to him instead of letting him watch TV. Because he's 11 months old and I am still breastfeeding him. And many other reasons. Organic or not, he eats. Cloth or not, he doesn't sit in soiled diapers. All that important stuff. 

So, I challenge all you other devoted parents to give yourself a break today! You are still a good mom. Heck, you are still a great mom! Our kids will grow up happy and healthy and that's what matters. 

And tomorrow you can go back to scrubbing baby poop out of diapers and pureeing organic squash. Just like I did. :)

Halloween craft cuteness.

Look what I made! I love them. Admittedly, I can't take credit for the idea, I have this random stranger to thank. They took me about two hours total and weren't hard at all. You should make some. 

Inside, outside.

What a difference a year makes!

About that new job ...

I love it! I finished up my second week yesterday and I can honestly say that I am feeling really good about it. It's been a lot of boring trainings, certifications, getting an ID badge, pager, finding the bathroom, etc. but the people are super and I think I am going to be very happy there. It's also really nice in terms of having two days to work and the rest of the time being a full time Mama, which is my most important job. It's a great balance and I am SO thankful that we were able to work this out. 

I'm doing well being apart from Theo, too. The first day was hard and I did cry when I had to leave him. It wasn't that I was worried about his care or anything, I mean, he's with his other parent afterall. It was just that I was going to miss so much of his day. I was worried that he would miss me. I was worried that he wouldn't miss me. I was really worried that he would be upset over missing a few nursing sessions. But, we survived. He and Susan have a lot of fun together and he is learning to drink breastmilk from a cup. The hospital has 12 lactation rooms for employees, so I am able to pump very easily at work. I don't even mind it like I thought I would. It gives me a break in the day to focus on him and feel like I am doing something for him, even though we are apart. By the second week, I wasn't crying and I wasn't worrying so much. It's good for me to get out and interact with people and use my brain and that damn Master's degree I will be paying for for the rest of my life. It's a good message for Theo: that you really can have it all if you work at it. And that it's ok to have a life outside of the home, too. He will always know he is my #1 priority, but a little work is good.  And I love seeing my two favorite people sitting on the porch waiting for me when I come home. Yesterday Theo's face lit up when I got out of the car and he clapped and smiled. I'm sure he did the same thing when one of the dogs walked past him, but hey, I'll take it. 

So, yeah. It's good. It's all good. 

Hey, remember that time we went didn't go apple picking?

I love fall. I love all things fall, apple picking included. Susan and I made plans to meet our wonderful friend, Kelsi, see her new house and then travel on to pick our own apples last weekend, but then it rained. We rescheduled for today and we were so excited. Visions of apple pies, apple butter and apple brown betty danced in my head during the 90 minute sojurn to the orchard I had passed on my way to the zoo a few weeks ago.  When we pulled in, it looked a little less impressive than the orchard Susan and I had been to in Vermont a few years ago. And by this I mean, there were lots of trees but nary an apple in sight. I sent the girls to suss out the situation while I gave Theo a bite sip to drink, but they decided to wait on us. We all went in together only to be told by the owner that they were sorry, but they were "all picked out." That's right, folks. We drove 90 minutes and would not get to pick a single apple. 

I think we were mostly in shock and I felt stupid for not calling or checking the website (which had apparently been updated as to their new status last week) before making the drive. What a disappointment! Kelsi decided to buy some apples they had already picked while Susan and I staged some pictures so we could one day tell Theo about the day we went didn't go apple picking. 

On the upside, Kelsi's house is fabulous, she saved us some of her homemade chocolate caramel doughnuts, we had a GREAT time walking around downtown Pittsboro and eating at a cute soda shop, Theo played in a wonderful little toy store that specializes in wooden toys and the weather was fall-ish. In unrelated news, I also learned how to ungrain my pictures on the blog. Hey, when life gives you (no) apples, make cider!