musings of Mother Hood

6 months in.

I didn't actually make that cake - but I sure think it's cute. And it's Colt's half birthday! (Yesterday.)

Six months. Six months of diapers and cuddles and baby feet. Six months of worrying that has officially put to shame any amount of worrying I only THOUGHT I had done until June 18, 2008.  Six months ago, we didn't even know this little thing, our son. And now our entire world revolves around his every need, want, and bodily function. Six months of head-over-heels, heart-bursting love.

There is no shortage of advice and wisdom out there for expectant new parents. And trust me, we heard it all. "Your life will be forever changed." It's true. We will never be the same. But even if you were to add up all of the being awake at 4 a.m., the whiney-and-fussy-for-no-particular-reason, the stink, and the flat out unpredictability - one little gummy grin is all it takes to make it worth it. I truly never thought I would list "cuddling a sleeping baby" as one of my favorite things. How things change...

You are a marvel. You are unique. In all the years that have passed there has never been another child like you. Your legs, your arms, your clever fingers, the way you move. You may become a Shakespeare, a Michelangelo, a Beethoven. You have the capacity for anything. Yes, you are a marvel.  --Pablo Casals

Our Six Month Old (which sounds so big and grown up) had his regular check-up this morning. Weight and height check yielded 16 pounds, 13 ounces and 27 inches. Which puts him in about the 75th percentile for height (which his Daddy likes to hear!) and about 50th for weight -- which would probably be more if it weren't for the teething-and-ear-infection-induced hunger strike he's been waging for the last 10 days or so. His noggin is 17 inches - also 50th percentile. He's a growing boy! AND - yesterday brought the appearance of his first tooth!   

Last weekend we went to visit a few friends. I think taking your child to the mall to wait in line to see Santa is a parenting rite of passage -- as is taking them to Chick-Fil-A to have breakfast with Santa Cow...

    

Also this week - I sent my camera to daycare with him, and Ms. Barbara captured his first Christmas gift exchange with his friends.

  

    

Josie and Andrew are the two older kids, and Bishop is the baby in the swing. Colt and Bishop drew each other's names :)

Looking forward to a big week of family and friends. Hope everyone has a great Christmas!______________________________________________________________________________________

Reminder: Don't throw out your "Colt for Heisman" campaign materials -- you might need them again in 2028 or so :)

Sarah's Wish List

I wish...

• That I could say I found this photo only after googling "cheesy ridiculous Christmas lights."
• That I could tell you this house is NOT in my neighborhood.
• That I could say this house is the same house of crazy people that staged the tree protest, when in fact this means there are (at least) two houses of weirdos on our block.
• That this photograph could do justice to the tackiness that has manifested itself in the house on the corner of our street and that photographs could capture blinking lights.
• I were a better photographer and could learn to take photos without a flash...

Aahh!

 

I know. I KNOW! It's been 8 days! That's an eternity in blogland. But let me tell you, it's been a hell of a week. 

For one, I am really out of practice as far as work goes. It used to be commonplace for me to work through lunch and stay late and go in on weekends to get things done -- but things really started settling down the last few months I was pregnant and hadn't really changed when I went back in September. Well. The last two weeks have been desperately trying to make up for lost time. Whew. And being busier than usual at work didn't so much lay a peaceful foundation for the rest of the goingson in the days since my last blog entry.

                      

That would be my Baby First Aid Survival Kit. Yep. The little guy's been sick. It started as just the sniffles and a nasty mood. After we isolated my being driven (by work) to drink Diet Coke as the cause of the nasty mood - we took care of that. (No amount of energy or refreshment I may garner from Diet Coke is worth the beast of a child we lived with for those 3 days.) So then we just had the sniffles. We have tried not to be the typical "first time" parents - jumping up and down on the panic button every time he sneezes - so we decided to ride out his cold. Well, it turned into coughing and then into weird breathing. So we took him to the doctor yesterday. He's fine - just some congestion. He needed some cuddles - so we stayed home today. And I think he's feeling a lot better. Baby's First Trip to the "Sick" Side of the Pediatrician's Office. Check. 

It's been a big week for the squirt. He cheered his little heart out for Army last Saturday during his first Army Navy game. No luck for the Black Knights, but he held out hope til the end. Hooah!

                        

His newest trick (besides putting E-V-E-R-Y-T-H-I-N-G in his mouth) is removing one sock while playing.

                        

He comes home from daycare like this some days and it doesn't take him much time at all to get it off while he's in the jumper or his exersaucer. He's going for the Michael Jackson look.

In other news, we added squash to the menu this week - not a big fan. The little guy is within spitting distance of the Six Months mark. Wow. And - big news! - how many times will he get to campaign, "Colt for Heisman!"?*

And this afternoon, Nancy came over to take some photos as I still haven't done our Christmas cards... I hope we got some good ones. He was in a really good mood - so hopefully there are some "smile" pics this time!

I apologize for the lack of pictures this week -- coughing/sneezing/sniffling/wheezing doesn't make for the cutest photo op... I'll do better next week.

*As you can probably guess, we are torn on this issue. While we are not disappointed that Texas got what they deserved this year (or what they didn't deserve, ha! -- sorry Warren...), we have a soft spot in our hearts for Colt McCoy - for obvious reasons. We are not so much supporting Texas as we are supporting a football player named Colt. :)__________________________________________________________________

My parents have ventured into the blog world. Welcome! So check out Mom and Dad's blog -- leave them a note -- encourage them to keep it up!

Twilight!

I got an iPod six years after the rest of the world, and was recently heckled at work for disclosing that it's full of country music and showtunes. I do have an iPhone but have been informed by Andrew that apparently I'm not with-it because the only "apps" I have are for my bank and Facebook. When the seventh and final installment of Harry Potter was released, I stood in line with a million other people -- but I was there to buy the first book.  I'm a little slow. I can just hear future teenage Colt groaning at me, "Mo-om! You're so embarassing!"

But last night I went to the movies with my friend Angela. (The last movie I saw in the theater was Sex and the City. In June. That was - count it - SIX months ago.) And we saw Twilight.  Twilight! Twilight is cool, right? It's what all of the cool kids are going to see. Actually, I think we may have been the oldest people in the theater. By about 10 years...

I don't even feel qualified to give a proper review of the movie - having never read the books (or really even heard of them until Angela's birthday party a few months ago. My friends and I are full grown adults AND huge nerds and we have themed parties. Angela's birthday party had a Twilight theme. She's a big fan.) The movie was so unbelievably cheesy, but wonderful. The worst part was the constant distraction of the striking resemblance between the main character, Edward, and Edward Scissorhands.

 

You see it, don't you?

It was a lot of fun, and nice to have a Girls' Night Out. We decided we should definitely do it more often. The boys had a nice night at home.

I even dug out some photos of the Twilight-themed birthday party for you.

    

Angela's outfit was complete with black cape and wooden stake. And yes, those are vampire and werewolf petits fours. 

And since I've completely outted my innocent and unsuspecting friend, (who will likely never go anywhere with me again, for fear of being plastered on my blog...) here are a few more gems.

Here we are at a Mexican-themed birthday party a few weeks ago.

And, my personal favorite, tailgating before the Tennessee game a few years ago.

  Yep, taking applications for the Cool Kids Club.

Gratitude is Happiness Doubled by Wonder.

I just finished sitting at my computer for five whole minutes contemplating my "I am Thankful for..." blog for 2008. Even now, it seems cheesy to list the obvious items of family, friends, health, freedom. But not cheesy at all to realize that every word of it is true. My eyes get wet and my heart overwhelmed when I think about the things in my life of which I am so undeserving, yet so very thankful. Without my succumbing to obsessive, list-making tendencies, know that I can't feel anything but gratitude for every single moment of my stupid little life.

And I had such a relaxing and fun weekend -- family, friends, football. We left Wednesday afternoon for Granny and Pop's house in Arkadelphia.

 

We got there in time to eat dinner and get to bed-- resting up for the next few days. The next morning, Colt got up to watch the parade, see President Bush pardon Pumpkin and Pecan, and help Grandmother with supper.

 

 

Colt perfected his sitting-up skills while we were away last week, and really has it down. He looks like such a big boy. *Sniff*  But every now and then he gets either distracted or really excited - and topples over. We also took the jumper with us to Granny and Pop's and thoroughly entertained everyone with Colt's athletic abilities... that boy is a jumpin' fool. Thursday was topped off by a Cowboys victory and some fabulous food.

Friday, Jeff went to work with the TV folks at the game and I headed to Cabot to meet up with Andrew and Devon for the 2nd Annual CHS Class of 2000 Day-After-Thanksgiving Get-Together (which is really just Devon, Andrew and I getting together to gossip about everyone.) Also joined Devon's family for Thanksgiving dinner and took Colt to visit Tom's caboose.

Friday was a long day "on the road" in Little Rock and Cabot, but we had a good time. And out of respect for his Uncle Paige and cousin Eric, Colt has promised not to rub it in TOO badly that the Razorbacks have been beatin' up on those lousy Tigers his WHOLE LIFE! Go Hogs!

The Teeds were all back in town on Saturday and we were together for lunch. One of my favorite moments of the entire week was this one:

        

Will and Colt were totally fascinated by each other. Colt really hasn't met that many other kids, and Will played so gently with him. Will didn't even seem to mind that Colt systematically drooled on each and every one of his blocks...

                  

We got home Saturday night, and Sunday was a day of napping, unpacking, napping, laundry, and napping. I don't really know who needed it more - Colt or Mom and Dad, but we all gave in to some serious rest on Sunday afternoon. I think it improved everyone's mood just a little.

        

I think we have all but recovered from the chest/cough/nose/cold/sneeze crud we all had last week, and we had a nice, long holiday weekend. Thankful for health, home, happiness and each other. It doesn't get any better than that.

Stop AIDS. Keep the Promise - Lead - Empower - Deliver

When I wrote about my sister Laura this morning and her unfortunate series of events over the weekend, it must have been my subconscious urging me to write about her. This morning, I failed to remember that today is World AIDS Day.

Observed on 1 December each year since 1995, World AIDS Day is dedicated to raising awareness of one of the world's biggest health threats. And my little sister has committed her time and energy for at least the next 18 months to this grave and important cause, as a Peace Corps Volunteer in Botswana, Africa. Nearly 1 in 4 adults in Botswana are infected with the AIDS-related virus HIV -- second highest in the world.

Laura keeps a blog of her experiences in Botswana - and I invite you to visit and drop her a note, or email her at laura.martin.cal@gmail.com. She and her colleagues could always use words of encouragement -- but they are especially important on days like today when the gravity of their efforts is being recognized by the entire world.

If you have a strong enough WHY you can withstand any HOW.

Monday, Monday

So according to whomever nicknames things - it's Cyber Monday. And time to start my Christmas shopping! Actually, I've already started - online of course. I'm a huge fanof the online shopping movement. Huge! Browse. Click. Ship. Ahh.

The only downside to online shopping is that all my favorite retailers have my email address -- which any other time fo the year is a good thing. I get coupons, notification of sales, etc. But throughout the recent economic "downturn" all of my favorite retailers have been rather desperate persistent about letting me know they are giving away their merchandise - and it has culminated today. My inbox reads something like this: TODAY ONLY - 20% OFF - PREFERRED CUSTOMERS - TODAY ONLY - FREE SHIPPING - TODAY ONLY - BUY ONE GET ONE - TODAY ONLY - 40% OFF - TODAY ONLY TODAY ONLY TODAY ONLY - Ahh!

It's dangerous for cyber-shoppers like myself. We tend to push aside our self-control and start tearing through our Christmas shopping lists like mad people. The good news is that I may have all of my shopping done before the work day is over...

In other news, it snowed! In Fayetteville! In November! We woke up yesterday and let Colt feast his eyes on his first snowfall. He was underwhelmed. That batch of snow melted in record time, but last night we got more. This morning as I drove down our street on my way to work - I thought warm thoughts for all the people standing around shivering while digging out their cars.

Also! Please keep Crazy Aunt Laura in your thoughts. She had a "Laura Moment" over the holiday and is now nursing a broken ankle.  Keep your head up, Warona! And don't turn down any pain medication! We love you. And hope you feel better soon.