He's a Crawler....Shockaller

What a sport! He is the best little baby and couldn't be any cuter if he tried. It's a good thing that I hang out with a lot of other gushing mommies so I don't have to make the general public sick with my never ending doting remarks. I could talk about this sweet boy 24/7.

Max is doing so much these days. He crawls from one end of the house to the other. We had to start baby proofing when he was 7 months old. Once he started chasing the cat around the house, I knew we had reached the "getting into everything" stage. After Max dove into Boogars' cat food bowl, I told Marc that he has to keep his eye on the baby at all times because has gone mobile.

Several days later after I had explained this bit of information to Marc, I came home from yoga to find Marc asleep on the couch. Of course I thought it was a joke that Marc was napping before midnight because he always goes to bed so late. I asked him "where's Max" and he threw a quick glance toward his feet and said "right there". Once again I thought he was joking or trying to fool me because there was no baby by his feet. In response to my confused expression, he jumped up and started walking in circles and looking around the couch as if he had misplaced the baby....I thought that he was possibly playing a joke on me and Max was sleeping soundly in his crib. I really didn't know what to think about Marc's state of mind until I saw his jaw drop as he looked at his son in the hallway climbing up onto the laundry detergent.

Having a baby has caused me to relive many moments of my own childhood and this stirred up a huge memory. I vividly recalled how serious an incident we had in our home when one of my brothers drank lime away and was sent to the hospital. It was really scary to think back about my brother and a wake up call to Marc. You can't be asleep and watching your baby at the same time.....duh!

Fortunately nothing bad happened and now it is fun to watch little diaper butt scooting around the house. I don't mind that he is all over the place because he is usually having a blast with the cat or his toys. It took him so long to show interest in the cat and now he is all about their brotherly love.

Unfortunately for Max, Boogars is not so keen on having clumps of hair pulled out and has resorted to batting his paw a few times. Ahahahaha....I am still laughing over that one. Boogars is all bark and no bite and trying to show Max that he needs to keep his distance. They are friendly for the most part, but as Max continues to get stronger I think Boogars will keep running away faster and faster.

Max is jabbering away these days and has lots to say. He says quite a few consonants in all the babbling and still only has the two words mama and dada. He said mama for the first time at 6 months old and would repeat it over and over as one long mamamamamama. Then after about a month of that he began dadadadada. Now for the first time this week he is trying to imitate many other words on a regular basis. I looooove it when he does this. It's not too often, but we have our rituals that involve saying and doing the same things.

For instance, this morning when I picked him up out of his crib, I said the usual "good morning". And he just smiled and cooed and made a good morning sound that imitated the inflection of my voice. It was so sweet. And other things I tell him such as "I love you" have been mimicked as well as the word kitty. These words aren't coming out terribly clear and if it weren't in response to what I had just said, I'm sure they wouldn't be as easily understood. With a little more practice I'm sure he will be saying lots more soon.


I'm reading the most fabulous book. Whaaaa----you say? Read? Gosh, I haven't had time to do something like that since Max was born. If I have a free minute, I'm usually trying to squeeze in a nap or a quick workout or a post on my blog. These are all things that I would like to do every single day, but there's absolutely no way. It's always a sacrifice to do one thing instead of another.

But alas, I am reading a book! Even if it is only a few pages a day, I am reading. My first book back is "The Continuum Concept" by Jean Liedloff. Wow, it is amazing and a must read for all parents. I'm on Chapter 3 entitled "The Beginning of Life" and am fascinated by the assessment of a baby's needs.

When a baby is born, they have strict requirements about what they need. We have learned that he cannot hope that if he is uncomfortable now, that he will be comfortable later. Either things are right or not right. He cannot feel that "mother will be right back" when she leaves him. If a baby is left to cry for too long and the response it is meant to elicit does not come, that feeling gives way to utter bleakness without time or hope. That breaks my heart to think of a screaming, crying baby left all alone to suffer!!!

It does make sense to me that we have these maternal instincts to respond to our baby's cries, and it bewilders me that there are people who bring another life into the world and ignore their cries for help. It says that if you can't be received as a baby, that you may have trouble bonding and forming attachments. The psychotherapist that recommended this book to me simply stated that if I ever have any doubts about my role as an attachment parent, to read this book and keep up the good work.

I wish I could stay up all night and read this whole entire book. But there is no way I would be a good mommy tomorrow without any sleep. Funny how parenting doesn't allow for a day off and breast feeding gives about a 6 hour break at the most. I love my full time job!

Speaking of jobs, I have some part time work coming up for the holidays. I'll be working in short 4 hour little incriments on the weekends for Kitchen Aid and I'm looking forward to the small amount of responsibility. Marc's mom does this same job in Florida and hooked me up with the little side gig. Sounds manageable enough for a start back to earning an income!

I'm missing the entertainment industry, but not enough to go back to it any time soon. Those hours are tough to keep up with for anyone, but for a new mom....forget about it. I would definitely have a meltdown! I don't know if I could keep up with breast feeding and would feel horrible about using formula. And not to mention, we still get up once in the night and I would be exhausted all the time. No thank you!

It would be so sad to miss out on special moments and huge milestones if I were working full time. I am so grateful to be at home with my boy. I love being with him and moments like bathtime are the best. His little butt is so cute as he tries to crawl out of his froggie bathtub. I treasure every moment with all my boys!!!

Goodnight!