Crabby Mama

Let me tell you, I don’t now if I am capable of being a boy mom. Ever since Addie started crawling, he has been hell on wheels. You cannot leave him for ONE second or he will be pulling something down on his head, banging his head on something, eating something, or destroying something. While doing all of these things, he is shouting at the top of his lungs. He wants attention ALL the time and is almost never content to be contained anymore. Of course the move has been rough nap-wise, and when he is tired multiply all above statements by 1000. I am exhausted and he is not even 1 yet!!!

There is a light at the end of the tunnel. When Addie is 1 and walking, he can started attending Erin’s school in their Mom’s Morning Out program. It is 9:15-11:45 and it is basically drop-in. So I can do it as often or as little as I like and it is only $10 a day!! I will get to volunteer in Leah’s classroom!! I can go on Erin’s field trips!! Is it November yet???

Addie at 9 months:

weight 24lbs 6oz=91st percentile
height 29 inches=67th percentile
head circ 45cm=34th percentile

Erin was 19lbs 15oz (90%) and 26.5 in tall (10%) at her 9 month visit and Leah was 19.5 lbs.

Erin at 3 yrs:

weight 33lbs=72nd percentile
height 36 1/2 in=35th percentile

Leah was 30lbs 6oz and 36 1/4in tall at her 3 yr old visit. Dr said I could prob go back to giving her whole milk when we switch Addie at 1 yr.

This is what Adam has eaten today:

1 small pancake
banana chunks
sweet potato chunks
blueberries cut into quarters
some of those chicken sticks peeled and cut into bites
yogurt mixed with a little peach and squash puree (a new thing Yo-Baby does)
black beans
canned carrots cut up
3-8 oz bottles of formula (so far)

He wants almost nothing to do with baby food so I am really attempting to find his things he will eat so that he sleeps well at night.

Here is a video of him doing his growling thing in his high chair:

This is the thrid night in a row that I have been unable to sleep. I DRAG all day, so exhausted, looking so forward to bedtime. Then as soon as I turn out the light… my mind starts racing. It is 3am now and I have seen 11, 12, 1, and 2 on the clock. I think I need sleeping pills from now until the move.

On another note, it feels pretty good to know that the only stuff we are bringing with us to our new life is stuff we really use. Boxes are being sorted that have not been opened since Mike and I got married. We are not allowing “what if we need…” to come into play. Yesterday, when Mike was going through a box of stuff, he found a NAPKIN that had somehow gotten saved. There was no writing or anything on it, just a plain napkin. WTH? That dude is a ridiculous pack rat.

Some other news, Adam has been doing something SO cute lately. I started counting to three and then squeezing him and grunting (his FAVORITE noise to make). So now when I count to three, he will clench his fists and grunt. He looks like the Hulk right before he busts out of his shirt. Sometimes he anticipates three and does his grunt on two. It makes us laugh.

He has also stopped wanting most baby food. He will still eat fruit most of the time and some of the sweeter veggies like sweet potatoes and squash. But no green veggies or mixed dinners. I had to buy canned green beans, peas, and carrots and lots of ripe fruit yesterday just for him! My baby is rapidly leaving babyhood behind. He is constantly pulling to standing on EVERYTHING (has resulted in a few bruises) and has been wanting to be held SO much lately, making it very difficult to pack.

Leah has been a writing and coloring fool lately. She likes to write us notes while she is in quiet time and has me read them when I come get her. Here is one she wrote for a friend (all her spelling and all caps):

Colin and Mila We are goootoomisu
bcuz we are
goin to Floodue
We are eowl
goig to moove
into Floared

How freaking cute is that? I can read most of her notes too because she is a pretty good phonetic speller. Cannot WAIT til she starts school.

On the school topic, I am stressed about that. Pinellas County requires you to have a User ID and password to register your child and you get one by going to a school to get it in person. Obviously I won’t be there until like the day school starts. And I want her enrolled before that so we get all the proper paperwork adn notifications sent to us about the first day of school. Also because we are living with my mom at first, we need to get an Affidavit of Residency notarized stating that we are residing with her. I don’t think they wanna see a NC notary on there, but we can’t get a FL one to witness it until we get there! Hence same aforementioned problem. I am going to call them tomorrow and talk it out, because I know they have encountered this issue many times before. It’s just one more think for me to thing about at 3am.

I guess I should update about Erin now. Except for today (we were out and about from 12-4) she has napped for 1.5-2 hours 3 times! Now I feel guilty, because maybe I wasn’t trying hard enough to get her to nap for all these months (years?). The afternoons after her naps have been wonderful, with a sweet little girl who listens and plays SO nicely with her friends. I love it.

Speaking of playing with friends, I am trying to figure out a way to get these girls into a camp next week (Aug 9-13) so I can pack!! I feel awful about sticking them in front of the TV all day and then they don’t get enough energy out are bouncing off the walls by mid-afternoon. And there are a TON of options for Leah, including some REALLY great full day (8:45-4:45) ones at the Y. BUT Erin not being 3 til the END of that week is really hurting our chances. There aren’t really that many options for 3 yr olds anyway and NONE for 2 yr olds. I plan to call a few places tomorrow to try to sweet talk them into taking her but I don’t know. if none of that works, I am going to call our babysitter and ask her to maybe come a few days for 4 or so hours and just keep the kids occupied. We shall see how it goes.

Adam has been waking up at 5:30 for the past few weeks and it has been KILLING us. I have tried ignoring him, hoping he will go back to sleep, with disastrous results (a poop covered crib). So today at 4:30, we tried rocking, Tylenol, putting his crib bumper back in (still out from said poop), and nothing worked. Finally at 6:10 I gave him a bottle and he sucked down 8oz in NO time and went right to sleep. I guess he is hungry when we wakes up? Currently I give him 4 8oz bottles a day and he has been finishing them. AND he eats 3 meals of solids and some finger foods. Do I need to increase his formula intake in the 4 daily bottles? I would have to get new bottles because the ones I use don’t hold 9 oz. I don’t think I can convince his to eat more purees and the finger foods are not enough to significantly contribute to calorie intake yet.

Physical – Adam is crawling all over. He is not too quick at it yet but he definitely gets anywhere he wants to go. His favorite things to pull/chew on are shoes and electrical cords. He seems to try to grab onto the coffee table to pull up but is not really good at standing yet. Addie LOVES his doorway jumper and really gets air now. He also has started to finally enjoy swinging outside. He likes to ride in the stroller (thank goodness) and the ERGObaby carrier on my back. He will fall asleep in the Ergo for about a half hour when I need to take him out during a nap.

Eating – So the past 3 weeks, Adam has had some strange bug. He had loose poop for 3 weeks. About a week ago, he kinda stopped eating solids. He would take a few bites and refuse the rest. He still pretty much loved finger foods, so I thought maybe he was gonna be like Erin and switch to finger foods completely. I tried giving him the 3rd foods that are chunkier and hoped he would like to chew. It helped a little, then stopped working. Just Monday Adam started taking baby food again. His poop has resumed normal consistency too. We are hoping all that is behind us now.

Sleep – Adam sleeps all night 7:30ish until 6:15ish. He takes two naps a day at approx 8:30-9am and 1pm for about 2 hours each. Sometimes he cries a bit before falling asleep, but it never lasts very long. Monday night, he was up twice crying. It took me 45 min to put him back to sleep at 11pm and he was up for the day at 5:30am. This must mean his next tooth will be through soon. He has three now, two bottom and one top.

Personality – Adam remains the happiest smiliest baby (except don’t get between him and his bottle, baby!) I know. He never meets a stranger and is always flirting in public. He does NOT like when you take away a toy he is playing with and lets you know LOUDLY. He is ticklish now and laughs big belly laughs when you squeeze his thighs or belly. He is my little love baby and I feel like I could just eat him up everyday.

Remember how I mentioned, long long ago, that I felt different about Erin than I did about Leah? Well, I totally feel better about that now. Because I feel different about Addie too. I want to literally EAT him UP! So I have determined that it is due to less stress about “how to take care of baby” AND just the fact that you do feel differently about each child. SO crisis averted.

* Addie
* Shmaddie
* Shmads
* Shmee
* Shmoo
* Shmabapple
* Shminkle
* Shmabo

PS All of the above except Addie are from Erin

First Adam

6 months
20lbs 2oz (83rd percentile)
26 3/4 in (51st percentile)
head 43.5 cm (34th percentile)

Comparison:
Erin at 6 months
17lb 3/4oz (62nd percentile)
25 in (16th percentile)

Leah at 6 months
16lbs 8oz (52nd percentile)
25 in (16th percentile)

Even for a boy, Adam is a biggun. He got 3 shots, but now he doesn’t need anymore until he is 12 months.

Now, Leah at 5 yrs:
36.2lbs (24th percentile)
41 in (20th percentile)
BMI 15.1

She only gained a half pound since her 4 yr old appt, but she grew almost 3 inches. So the dr said that although she fell out of her curve a bit, she did the height thing this year instead of the weight thing. Which works out well for us because now she is tall enough to go on most of the rides at Magic Kingdom, even some roller coasters!

I wanted to note that going into the appt, Leah was super excited to get her “kindergarten shots” as she kept saying. I let her go first to get them out of the way. That kid did not want to hold my hand and did not flinch ONCE. I asked her afterward if they hurt and she said nope. Then she had to get a finger prick for the iron test and actually watched the tech prick her finger and siphon the blood off. She thought it was cool. I am SO proud of my brave girl, especially considering how freaked out I was about needles until just a few years ago.

Anyway, all is healthy and everyone is growing up quickly in our house. Next appt in August with Erin’s 3 yr and Adam’s 9 month.