A Win

Now that's an adorable kid. With an adorable smile!
But that's not the adorable smile I have gotten to see much this week...
This week has been a battle between my son's new-found defiance and my patience. And most of the week, I have felt like a loser with a capital L!
When my son wakes up happy he talks a lot and hangs out very easily by himself in his crib. This week he mostly just starts crying when he wakes. Not fun.
When my son enjoys life he plays very well both by himself and with others. And can do this for hours at a time before getting bored and/or tired.
When my son is hungry he gets clingy and then eagerly eats his food with a wide open mouth for every bite snd various excited noises after each bite.
When my son naps well he can easily be placed in his crib sitting and awake before he gathers his blankets and sleeps soundly for 2 hours easily. Often more than once a day.
But this hasn't been our past week. He has been refusing new foods, refusing unfamiliar foods, and even refusing foods that he normally greatly enjoys. If it is not his favorite his has been putting up a fight, throwing a tantrum and going hungry.
You see, you may not agree with this, but I firmly believe that if he is hungry enough he will eat. And if he is willing to refuse a food, he is just trying to get his way on his terms. What usually happens at this point is that he starts crying hard, sometimes throwing things, acting angry and defiant. And the next thing that happens is that I take him to his crib so he can deal with it on his own. And he seems to be ok with this, often just falling asleep for an hour or so. Sometimes he would wake happy, but often not. Either way, I would only offer the same food again. And again and again, until he would get hungry enough that he would give in and eat the food. And then life would start to seem normal again.
Long, angry days filled with lots of crying and sadness and little food...
Until today.
Today was great! He slept in late, woke up happy, ate a great breakfast, was great during all of our errands, took a long nap, woke happy, ate another great meal....and so went the best day we've had all week! He had great awake time, he willing tried new foods and ate everything we gave him on the first try. He had two great naps, and I don't think he ever cried today!
There's a part of me that feels like today was a 'win' for us in this battle. I don't want to think that way, and don't want everyday to feel like a battle, but today was good, and hopefully this is the pattern that continues. A fun-loving, gentle, compliant, adorable little boy. I know that's a lot to ask for, so that's why I'm praying for it!

New Stages for the Little One

There are always new things going on in our house, and it is so fun and exciting to watch and be a part of!
Sometimes these new things can be a bit funny too. Like the fact that Micah not only really enjoys always having something in both hands, but he has also starting bringing a blanket out of his crib with him. He doesn't carry it around the whole time he is awake, but he does until he gets distracted by something better. This picture shows how he carries all of this around with him, but please also notice the hair (and his excitement for me taking the picture!).
Again, notice the hair. Those long locks in the front. Notice them because next is a series of pictures of Micah's 2nd haircut, but I didn't take any before pictures because I had NO idea that it was going to be so drastic!
Don't get me wrong, I think it is great! I think it looks cute, and makes him look a bit older, and it helps hide the 'cow licks' and bald spots:)
And I think he is happy with the cut too!

Pillow Fights

My husband has recently learned that our son loves to have pillow fights! Granted, my son just turned 1 and cannot "fight" back, but he has some of his biggest belly laughs ever during these special moments with my husband. He plays on a big bed so the "knockouts" have a soft landing, and Micah just keeps coming back for more. It's hilarious to watch!
Last night as I was getting ready to leave the house, I heard them playing in the other room...then I heard a loud thump, followed by a second or two of silence, followed by "that can't be good" and then came the crying.
As much as this game has been fun and full of laughter (and seemingly safe) my immediate thought was that my husband accidentally knocked Micah off the bed. Bad thought, I know, but that's all I could think had happened. I ran into the other room to a crying baby reaching out for me. Matt said he was off the bed and was walking pretty fast towards some shelves nearby when he slipped and he thought he hit his forehead on the shelves. It wasn't long before we saw the blood coming out of his mouth though, and quickly realized it wasn't his head. Poor guy got a little bit of gum, a little lip, and cheek. Gum and lip were creating the blood and cheek was red and turning into a bruise. He cried hard for a bit, Dad felt horrible of course, but a little juice and yogurt quickly cured all woes...
Here's a look at the red/bruising cheek and bloody shirt shortly after.

And the next day, a little showing of the bruise and slightly puffy lip. His gums up top are a little red, but seems as though everything is where it should be...

Weaning Process

Don't know much about this personally, since I haven't had to deal with it...but I am continually amazed by my son and how easily he has made transitions in his life!
Now, not everything is easy. Like he is getting more aware of not being in his crib for naps/sleeping if we are out or he is at my mom's house or a sitter's house...places he used to sleep fine at, but is now beginning to struggle. But otherwise, I would have to say I have had it pretty easy whenever we have tried to transition from one thing to another.
When he was about 4 months old, he went from the bassinet to his crib in one night. Granted, he had been taking naps in his crib already, but his first nap in his crib was no big deal either!
Micah LOVED being swaddled at night, and sometimes for naps. This really calmed him, helped him to sleep, and was a very nice and easy solution for us if sleeping was ever an issue. But he was getting too big and too strong to stay swaddled at night and would wake up whenever he would get an arm out, so we decided it was time to try normal sleeping. And he was fine. First night. No problems. As if it had never been any different for him!
Against all things we had read, we started using bottles within the first week of birth. Micah never had a problem eating, whether it was nursing with me or taking a bottle of my milk, as long as it was warm and it was milk, he was content. And when my supply started to deplete and I started supplementing with formula...no problem there either! And then when it was all bottles and all formula...nope, just another day in the life of Micah!
When I started not even worrying about warming up the formula I was afraid he might revolt against it. Not sure why, he hadn't revolted against anything else. And he didn't here either. Then I allowed plenty of time to help him transition from formula to straight milk, but he didn't need it. Within 3 days of started the transition and helping him use his new sippy cups for milk, he was done with formula and done with bottles. His decision. Easy decision. Another easy transition.
And most recently, the pacifier. I have never worried about it too much. I could always tell he wasn't totally dependent on it, but if it was around he would grab it and suck on it and go about his business. I think he just liked having something in his mouth, because if it wasn't around, he would find something else to carry around in his mouth. He did always have it for sleeping at night and for naps, but it would often end up in the crib or on the floor at some point during his sleep. But when he turned a year, I decided we would just use it for naps and at night for sleeping. I wasn't sure how this would go...it had been a year and he was becoming much more aware of when things were missing...It has been one week and by about the fifth day he would take it out of his mouth at the end of his nap or in the morning and hand it to me for me to put in the new spot by the bed, waiting for the next nap...how amazing! No crying, no fighting it, no nothing.
I love my little angel! I know #2 may not be the easy and I may still not know what to do if transitions are hard since I haven't really had to deal with them, but for now, I am continually amazed by my son and his adaptability!

First Haircut!

Micah got his first haircut!

(before)

(trying to figure out what is going on)

(don't clip my ears, dad!)

(toys help with distraction)

(end product. much thinner and shorter in the back, as opposed to the mullet that was beginning to form)

(almost could have sent these to "locks of love")

To cake or not to cake...

I vowed not to have a birthday party, not to have birthday cake...after all, how much does a baby turning 1 really know what is going on? and why does he need cake? and why are all the people watching him my adult friends? and did he ask for a party? and on and on the questions roll in my head...the one thing I might enjoy about it? looking at pictures later of him with icing on his face. But do I have to put the icing there? does he even know what to do with it?
Questions, questions, questions...
Some people have no questions at all, they just know this is the only time their kid will turn 1 and they want to make it a big celebration in honor of that. And that's okay, it just hasn't been my thought process...
But I caved. I had a "party." We had 6 people, 2 of which were my parents. We had a "cake" and that is in quotes because it was a baby-friendly version of a carrot cake. We opened a few presents (and I say we here because he had no idea what to do, and really had no desire to rip the wrapping) and then played with some of them. He eventually enjoyed the cake. He pushed the box of diapers away, but he enjoyed the rest of the presents. He had fun with his 2 "younger" friends, the only kids he really seems to recognize and enjoy.

But he didn't nap good. And he didn't go to bed good. And he didn't sleep good. And he wasn't happy to wake up the next day. And he didn't want to be around other people the next day. And he wasn't consoled by food the next day. All things that he is normally great with on any given normal day.
And all of this is all the more reason why I didn't want to have a party...it threw him off schedule just enough to make the rest of the day, the night, and most of the next day next to unbearable for him (and a little unbearable for me).
Oh well, at least I have pictures of him learning to eat cake!

He's Smarter Than I Think...

The little guy turns 1 on Sat.
Crazzzzzy!
He is walking (as long as he wants to do it and we don't try to get him to), clapping, pointing, teething, eating, sleeping, playing, dancing, all the normal things for a 1 year old, right? I don't know. This is my first.
He is also very smart and learning to tell us things through motions, mainly pointing. I am not totally sure when or where he picked it up, but every time I get him out of his crib now he immediately points to the light switch (he likes to turn the light off) then points out the door, then to another room he might want to go into, or sometimes down the stairs. Then either into the living room (this morning first thing he wanted to do was read, so he took me straight to the books, picked one out and sat down with daddy while I got some breakfast ready!) or the kitchen if he is hungry. It's a fun game, I just don't want it to get out of hand, as in a demanding sort of way!
So the smart part. He starts to climb the stairs. I go get him and say we are not going upstairs now. He starts to fuss and then gets as close to a temper tantrum as I have seen him get, which is to cry and then lay down on the floor and continue crying as I walk away and let him deal. This is what he did today when I did not take him upstairs. He eventually (still crying) made his way back to me, held up his arms (for me to pick him up) and then started pointing to the stairs again. I told him if we went upstairs then he was going to take a nap. I really didn't think he was ready since he already took one 3-hour nap and had only been awake less than 2 hours at this point...but he kept pointing, so I obliged. I took him upstairs and he immediately put his head down on my shoulder. I put him in the crib and he grabbed his blanket and I haven't heard from him since...guess he knew what he needed more than me! I just need to listen better (and sooner) next time so we don't have to go through the tantrum stage...