Am I the only mother that enjoys ridiculous pictures of her child?

I am thinking not.

But, if so, my apologies.

Exhibit A


I love this picture.

I was trying to take a picture of him on a Sunday morning a few weeks ago. The lighting was great so I set up a little makeshift background (Ian later asked me if we were playing ‘fort’ before church :). But, I just could not get a good picture of him. We tried many, many positions..

Which led to this picture. He was annoyed that I kept positioning him and taking his picture instead of playing with him.

Cutie patootie.

Then there is this one..


I have no idea what that face is about, but that wrinkly nose is all I’ve ever hoped for.

And finally..


There are just too many captions for me to pick just one. I mean seriously.

What a kiddo.

Me and My Double Standards

I’ll admit it.

I have double standards.

Probably for everyone. Because I’m vain and self-centered and judgemental, right? (that’s a rhetorical question, ahem.) So it happens.

But usually my double standardness makes itself known in my expectations of Ian.

Like how I want him to keep his clothes off the bathroom floor. (but sometimes I am sneaky and leave mine there)

And how I want him to put his dishes in the dishwasher. (but I’m lucky if mine even reach the sink)

Or how I want him to take the pile of clean clothes upstairs. (but it takes me at least 53 trips up the stairs before I finally give in and grab that blasted pile)

Or like how when he is sick, he is only man-sick, if you know what I mean. He still has to do all the normal stuff (ok, I might have cut him a little slack) even though he is sick. Poor wittle baby. (but when I am sick, don’t even think about suggesting that it might not be that bad.. because it is)

I do stuff like that all the time.

And every time I do it, I think this will be the time. This will be the time when he finally gets fed up and bites my head off. This will be the time when he shoves my double standard back in my face where it belongs. This is it.

But it never is.

Never once has he been impatient with me about this. In fact, more often than not, I point these things out to him. He doesn’t even bring them up. I am forgetful, lazy, and inconsiderate. He doesn’t even bat an eye. He sees all of me, the good and the bad, and still loves me. Heck, he even thinks my post-partum body is attractive, bless his soul.

He is a good man, that husband of mine. He loves me with a love like no other. He serves me in a way that humbles me and is far beyond anything I am deserving of. He is willing to do what it takes to make sure I am leading a fulfilling, satisfying life. He walks with me through each day, making it sweet to the end. He makes me spend every second he is not with me wishing he were, and when he walks through the door, all is right in our home.

I kind of have a thing for him, you know?

Neither one is perfect, but together we are stronger. I am so thankful for my hubbywubbykins. I just wanted you to know.

Oh How I Wish..

Sometimes I wish that when I am playing with Aed, he would stop me and say..

"Hey mama?"

And I would reply..

"Yes my little Aediewadiesnookiewookiemunchywunchykins?"

And then (this is the clencher) he would say..

"If you keep doing that, I'm going to puke."

And I would stop right then and there. And avoid yet another costume change.

That would be nice.

:)

Twice is Still Nice

I knew it would happen.

As soon as I told everyone about how our little Aediepoo had figured himself out, he’d go and change everything on us.

I wasn’t surprised.

I also wasn’t discouraged.

Because he is still as sweet as ever.

He is still so melt-my-heart-achingly cute.

He is still my baby boy.

He still sleeps.

He just wakes up more :)

We’ve been working on getting him to wake up later in the morning. He had been waking up at the cheery hour of 6am (sometimes earlier, but I just refused to get him out of bed until it was 6am). Unfortunately, this meant a ridiculously early bedtime of 6pm (not to mention a mother that could barely find the floor as she tried to keep herself awake long enough to make it to his first nap), which meant that Daddy hardly got to see the kiddo unless he came home early. Also.. I felt like he just seemed tired all day.

So, we started pushing back his bedtime.

And listening to him cry a little longer each morning.

And it was gradually working. He was waking around 2:30-3:30ish to eat in the middle of the night, and then waking at 6 one morning.. 6:23 the next.. 6:25 then going back to sleep til 6:45.. I think this might be working!

Then a few nights ago as we are going up to bed, we hear a little cry.

We freeze. (You learn the art of freezing when you have a screamer. Your heart begins to pound. Your sweat glands begin oozing. Your mind begins racing about what it could be this time, how long it may be until your ears find peace and your eyes find precious sleep.. Even when the screamer is no longer a screamer.. You are trained to respond this way.. Anyway..)

Did we just hear that?

Another one.

We did.

Daaaaaaaang iiiiiiiiiiit. Why is he awake? Why is he awake now that we are just going to bed? What do we do? We must have woken him up.

In the end, I decide to feed him and put him back down since he doesn’t normally do that. We decide to just wait and see if it happens again the next night.. but we know it probably won’t, right? Because we woke him up, right?

Wrong.

Since that night, whatever night it may have been, he has been waking up an extra time in the late evening.. 11ish. Perhaps he is having a growth spurt? Perhaps he is just being the hungry child he has always been.

I am now realizing that he was not waking up for the day in those early mornings when I was hoping he only needed to eat once at night. He was waking up to EAT and then simply responding to his mama when she made him think he was ready to be up for the day.

The sleep book does not always have the answers, you see. It instructed me that if he is waking up around 2 to eat, that should be all he needs. Whenever he wakes next will be when he is awake for the day, and that shouldn’t be any earlier than 6. (or something like that.. I am an oft-confused, forgetful new mother.. these things happen..)

Well.

The sleep book does not know my child.

It was not there sitting awake with me while I nursed this baby hour after hour through those loooooooooong nights. And then continued to nurse him hour after hour during those loooooooooong days. It did not listen with me to everyone wondering if my milk supply was low because he was always eating or worry with me that maybe they were right. It did not then witness his intense love for eating grow as he discovered solid foods which he now consumes four times a day on top of nursing before AND after every nap.

The sleep book does not know. It does not know that even with all this eating, my baby boy is still just right on his growth curve as he has always been.

So one morning I said to Ian, “Maybe I should just feed him and put him back down and see if he’ll go back to sleep for a while.”

Ian was half asleep. Sleepy Ian is notoriously unhelpful. Mostly I am just musing aloud when I am talking to sleepy Ian.

So that is what I did. And after a few nights, I am finding that my baby still needs to eat twice at night. When these two times might occur varies, but two times it will be.

I actually had to wake him up this morning at 8.

That. Was. Awesome.

Sleep is a good thing. You should try it.