Six Months!

The Beast is six months old! He is 17 pounds and something ounces (I can't remember what the doctor said) and in the 50th percentile for weight and 28 inches long and in the 90th percentile for height. If I end up with a tall, skinny kid I am going to laugh (seeing as I am very not tall or skinny).

I can't believe he is six months old, he just such an amazing little boy and the light of my.....blah, blah, blah. Y'all he's teething. (Note the fake southern accent, means I'm freaking exhausted).

I always thought people were being overly dramatic when they talked about their babies teething but now I realize that they are not, they speak the truth - teething is pure hell.



He's not sleeping, he's crying, there is little I can do to make him feel better. Its frustrating, heartbreaking, and nerve wracking.

And the drool. So much drool. There is drool everywhere.



Last weekend was the worst of it. All he did was fuss, cry, and nurse. I didn't get much done that weekend. He seems to be getting a little better and starting to act like his usual happy self.

When he is not teething, he is a very sweet and happy baby. He is still not rolling but the doctor said she wasn't concerned with that. He can sit and is starting to manipulate toys. He makes funny little sounds and laughs a lot. Especially at the bullies.



And I'm going to give myself a little shout out here, the Beast is six months which means I have been breastfeeding for six months. I'm pretty proud of myself since I didn't think I would make it six weeks. It makes me happy that I am able to do this for my son and it eases my working mom guilt just slightly. I've become a stealth ninja pumper. I've pumped in parking lots, parking garages, bathrooms, and other people's offices. I've even started nursing in public. Mainly because I'm too lazy to deal with bottles. We are going to continue with breastfeeding with the goal of making it to a year. The Beast does get formula occasionally but I try to make sure that he mainly gets breastmilk. So far it is working for us.

P.S. These pictures of the Beast are totally crappy because I have a totally crappy camera. For those of you who are reading this (which is mainly my family), I want best buy gift cards for my birthday (which is coming up) so that I can finally buy the fancy camera I want. That's all I want. Best buy gift cards. Don't forget. No other presents are necessary. Just the best buy gift cards. So Dad, tell Mom that is what I want.

Another First

Today the Beast had his first solid. It wasn't exactly a solid, it was rice cereal with breastmilk and it was practically liquid. But he was excited and I was excited too. It is just another indicator of how big my little baby is getting. Which makes it exciting and scary.



We don't really eat around the Beast. Sometimes I put him in the high chair while I eat my cereal but for that to happen the morning has to be going absolutely perfectly and completely on time. My breakfast is usually cookies in the car or driving through McDonalds. And we don't eat dinner around him because I want to spend my time with him in the evening playing and having fun in the bath, not cooking dinner and eating.



Now I see the result of not eating around him, he had no idea what to do with the spoon or the cereal. I don't know if eating around him would have helped the situation but it was pretty funny to watch him just spit the cereal out.

I think he enjoyed chewing on the spoon the most. We'll try again tomorrow. I can't wait till he is ready for sweet potato, I love sweet potatoes!

Happy Birthday Captain America

Today is Captain America's 30th Birthday! What an old man! (Please disregard the fact that I am already 30 and will be 31 this March).

Happy Birthday to a man who is loving, wonderful, loyal, sarcastic, a great dancer, stubborn as a mule, the pickiest eater I have ever met, hard working, seriously smart, a great attorney, a fantastic father (to the Beast and the bullies), a dreamer, expert traveler, and just an all around great guy*.

I hope you had a great birthday and I promise you the next year is going to be amazing!



*If only he would do dishes and laundry, then he would be even greater. Maybe too great.

No Time

I am not an overly confident person. When driving, I always turn around, thinking I'm lost, just to realize that if I had gone just a little further on my original course I would have reached my destination. I change my outfit at least twice before leaving the house. Between my wardrobe changes and the Beast's spit-up, mornings can get pretty interesting. I'm no stranger to second guessing, changing my mind, and asking for other's opinions.

But one thing motherhood, particularly working motherhood, has taught me is to be confident. To be sure in my decisions, not constantly question myself, and not care what others think about my decisions. Because I am just too damn tired and stressed out and pulled in a million different directions at one time to be anything else.

You want to judge me because I went back to work when the Beast was 9 weeks old? Sorry, don't have time for you. I'm too busy being a lawyer and raising a happy, healthy baby. You think I'm poisoning my baby because I supplement breastfeeding with formula? Don't have time for you either; plus, if you think that you are insane. You think my house isn't clean enough? I don't cook enough? I don't eat enough vegetables? My baby should be in cloth diapers? Yep, you guessed it, I don't have time for all of you either. I'm busy listening to my baby giggle, winning motions, and laughing with my husband.

Don't get me wrong, all of my parenting decisions have been carefully researched, pros and cons weighed, and input received from the husband. I am confident in all my decisions so that I don't have to deal with those who question them. I don't claim to be a perfect mother. Or a perfect wife or a perfect lawyer. Heck, there are dirty dishes all over the kitchen, dirty laundry all over my bedroom, the Beast is wearing the same pjs he wore last night because I didn't' feel like doing his laundry, and I did most of my Christmas shopping online while at work today. And if you want to judge me for that? Too bad. I don't have time for that.

Sea World

Tomorrow is Captain America's 30th birthday. To celebrate, we went to Sea World this past weekend. I know, crazy way to celebrate the big 3-0. But we wanted to do something with the Beast and we have been wanting to go to Sea World for a long time so it worked out. But on the way there I started to think, "what the hell am I thinking, taking a 5 month old to an amusement park???? How am I going to change his diaper? Feed him? What if he freaks out?" In the end, there was nothing to worry about, the Beast did great. He took a few stroller naps and was pretty content while we were there. I even nursed him in public (with the help of a hooter hider)!

We started off with the Shamu show, we did not sit in the splash zone. I will never sit in the splash zone. That water is nasty. You don't know what those whales are doing in that water. There isn't enough purel in the world for me to sit in the splash zone.



We sat pretty high up so I'm not sure if the Beast could really see it but he appeared to be watching intently. I'm not gonna lie, I got all teary eyed watching the show. There were 3 "shamus" and it looked like a daddy, a mommy, and a baby. I have no idea if they are related or how they are related but I was so happy to be with my little family and I just couldn't believe that Captain America and I were sitting there with our son. So yea, I got emotional, it's a good thing I wear big, black sunglasses.

Captain America and I used to rule the self portrait. Turns out it is really hard to take a good picture of yourself when there are three involved.

One of the really cool things about Sea World is that there are a lot of interactive exhibits. You can play in the tide pools, pet the bat rays, and the dolphins. Captain America was very excited about the bat rays and he got to pet a starfish. It is so cute when he acts like a big kid. I touched a bat ray and ran away shrieking like a dumb girl. In my defense, it was really slimy.

Captain America and I really enjoyed Sea World. The Beast? Well who knows how much he really got out of it but he does love aquariums. He stares at the fish and follows them as they swim around. Note to family: this does not mean we want a fish. We don't. Do not buy us a fish.

Could this fish be any uglier? Yuck.

I absolutely love sea lions. They remind me of my bullies. Some are fat and lazy like my Frank and some are in your face like my Mickey.

This guy has some attitude. I respect that.

We had a great day at Sea World. And thank the good Lord that we have family that live in San Diego. We were able to drop off the bullies and then spend the night at their house. It makes things so much easier when we have the bullies taken care of. Although I have learned that I just cannot sleep with the Beast in the same room. And he can't either. Sometimes I feel a slight twinge of guilt that we don't cosleep. Like I should be snuggling my baby at all possible times. But then I have a night with him in the same room and no one is getting any sleep. He makes so much damn noise during the night which wakes me up to check on him and then he wakes up. It is an ugly cycle.

This is the Beast's 5 month picture. He's actually just about 5 1/2 months. Which is insane. He's becoming more of his own person every day and it blows my mind.

Five Months

The Beast turned 5 months this week. Normally, I would take his monthy picture with some kind of "5" marker in the picture but I can't find my freaking camera. I have a baby and no camera. Horrible. I know it is somewhere in the house. The last time I had it was the other morning when I tried to take a picture of the bullies because they were squished in the same bed together and it was so cute. Anyway, since I don't have any pictures here is a little video.

The Beast is still a happy, smiley baby. He laughs a lot now. He loves the songs Jingle Bell and Rudolph the Red Nosed Reindeer. That is probably because those are the only Christmas songs I know by heart so I keep singing them over and over again. He has rolled over but doesn't seem to care to do it again for the time being. He does scoot himself all over his crib. And he's getting close to being able to sit on his own.

We haven't started solids yet but I think that we will in the next couple of weeks. My doctor gave me the go ahead at 4 1/2 months. I was all excited and ran to Target to buy little spoons and rice cereal. And then I just felt like it was too early and I didn't want to interfere with breastfeeding so I waited.

I'm not sure how much he weighs. The only method I have for weighing him is weighing myself first and then weighing myself holding him and figuring out the difference. I don't really care to weigh myself right now so I'll just wait till his 6 months appointment to see how much he weighs.

There is the five month update for the Beast. This post was primarily written for my family. If you are not related to the Beast this was probably rather boring. My apologies.