It's a weird thing, teething.
It can happen at any time, with little to no warning. And it's impossible to predict. You can guess, you can assume, but you won't really know until a tooth shows up. Oh but there are symptoms, you say. Sure - drooling, irritability, trouble sleeping, putting things in mouth, pulling at their ears... all symptoms.
Even though I'm quite happy that we are DONE with January, I'll look back for just a moment. It was a quiet month, with a lot of time at home, and a lot of time squeezing the Bubba. You can see for yourself, since we've posted the January summary video - found below and on our video page here.
When you're younger and you think about your future, there might be a hypothetical family. With some fuzzy, undetermined number and gender of kids running around. It's all purely theoretical, so I never worried too much about it besides to know that I'd like to head in that direction.
I’ve officially moved from the “I’d like to have a family and kids someday” to being in the middle of making it happen. But I’m not on the other side yet, where I’ll know what that family looks like. It’s a weird place to be. A short period of your life when things change very rapidly. I’ve gone from being single, to married and living with someone, to having a kid, in a relatively short period of time. But even with all that, there’s more change to come. Our family is unfinished, and there’s no way to look ahead and know when it will be finalized.
Nick Names: The Bubba, Bubba-bee, Sweetness
Height: 26.5 inches (Estimated because no doctor's appointment)
Weight: 20 pounds (Estimated)
Head: 17+ inches
Special Outings: None? We were total home bodies unless you count shopping trips..
Visitors: Raina & Zaida
Loves: Being surprised, cousin Zaida, poking at faces
Hates: Getting face/nose cleaned, being tired or hungry, not being able to crawl
"Oh he's almost there!"
"It's going to happen so soon!"
"He's almost got it! I bet it happens this weekend!"
I try not to pay too much attention to milestones. I certainly don't care if they happen early or late, and it doesn't bother me when another baby checks something off before we do. I know it will all happen eventually. If anything, I usually tell myself whatever it is will happen way later, so that I'm pleasantly surprised when it does happen.
These are the days I'm going to forget. The days where nothing happens, but that make up the essence of our life. Scheduling our days around naps. Teaching E how to eat and cleaning up so many messes. Jumping in the car and walking around AC Moore or Lowe's or the supermarket so we have a chance to get out of the house and E gets some stimulation and people to look at.
Sitting on the floor playing with toys, watching the kitty and building towers out of blocks. Tossing cat treats that make Maia run in circles and E belly laugh. Watching the world pass by out the window. Turkeys and cars and the neighbors and snow.
When I was pregnant and we'd walk through Target looking at baby clothes, Tom was always drawn to the socks. He'd talk about one day possibly having matching socks with E. Somehow when I was looking for Christmas presents this year, I stumbled upon Happy Socks and fell in love. They come in awesome designs, they have sizes (not just one size fits most) so they actually fit Tom (!), AND they have matching baby socks!!
The mom guilt is real, y'all.
What do you do when there's only two options, and both of them have negative consequences? There is no winning no matter what you choose. Do you make a choice and move on? Or do you cry yourself to sleep trying to figure out what the magical third option that doesn't exist is, and wonder why you didn't do that instead?
We don't know what E will be when he grows up. We don't know if he will decide to go to college, or a trade school, or end his education after high school. We don't know if he'll get married or have children or be attracted to boys or girls or both. Because of that, I try not to have expectations for his future. I know so little about him, how can I choose a future for him? I'd much rather let him show me where he belongs as he grows up.
Just an FYI that I posted the December movie today. As a reminder, all previous videos can be seen here.
What do you do when the windchill is below zero, you've been inside for the past few days, and your kid is getting cabin fever? Why you head to the local furniture store of course!
I swear this blog could be an ad for Jordan's Furniture store with how frequently I talk about it here. However, our options are limited. We've already hit up Target and the local mall, and there really isn't many places where you can get food, entertainment, and is child friendly when it's this cold.
At some point you realize that life goes on. Even though you feel like yours has completely turned upside down, and nothing will ever be normal again... you adjust. You go from thinking about keeping this tiny human alive 100% of your day, to 98%, to 95%... And you find you have room to start to care about a few of the things you did before he made his arrival.
Nick Names: The Bubba, Bubba-bee
Height: 26+ inches (Estimated because no doctor's appointment)
Weight: 18 pounds
Head: 17+ inches
Special Outings: Wedding in Lake Placid, VT
Visitors: Linzy, Drew (wedding party represent!), Jill
Loves: Taking baths, bubbles, silly songs and noises, broccoli and avocado
Hates: Getting his face/nose cleaned, being tired, the end of meal time
I know they're not trying to drive me crazy every time someone asks "Hey, has anyone ever told you that E looks JUST like Tom?" but after you get that same question at least once a day for the past 6 months, it gets old. It gets really old when you hear it multiple times in a day. Throw us in a crowded room and I'll probably hear it three times in under an hour!
This past weekend we went to a different kind of winter wonderland. Instead of celebrating first birthdays, we were celebrating a wedding!
It's been a while since I've been at a wedding where I wasn't in the bridal party (or the bride!) but this one was so much fun (and less stressful!). It was weird, because for the first time we had to worry about who was watching the tiny human we'd brought along with us, but luckily some planning ahead of time minimized that problem as well.