The End of Co-Sleeping, Butternut Squash, Walkers and the Inevitable Vacation

So, let's back track a bit, shall we?

Back on the 22nd (which, you may or may not have known is the day for the March for Life in Washington, D.C.), our parish held a 24 hour Adoration of the Blessed Sacrament to pray for all crimes against life. The Husband and I, being some of the youngest members, decided to go up in the evening to ensure the Blessed Sacrament was not left unattended, as well as to make sure coffee and the like were kept up with downstairs. Since we would be there in the wee hours, I packed up Xave's co-sleeper, as I intended to use it as a stand alone crib for the night, as well as I packed a diaper bag stuffed to the brim, to ensure that we wouldn't need anything. It was then that I decided to call my mother, and let her know we'd be gone for the evening, as well as we would most likely be sleeping in until late the next day. She then proposed that we drop off the baby with them to spend the night. The Husband and I, after thinking it over, decided this would probably be the easiest route to take, particularly because my parents had pretty much anything and everything Xave needed.

Anywho, since the Co-Sleeper was already broken down and in the car, it kind of just, stayed there for the past few days. Only yesterday, when we were trekking down to visit The Husband's family, did we even remove it from the trunk of our car. Thus, rather unintentionally, the co-sleeper has been removed from our bedroom.

In the world of solid foods, due to Xavier's very obvious distaste for rice cereal, I jumped into the world of veggies - which, quite honestly, he loves. His favorite so far seems to be butternut squash - when I feed him, he tries to grab on to either the spoon or my hand to shove it into his mouth...really, this kid likes his vegetables! I am increasingly hesitant to give him any fruit...maybe I'll bypass it altogether? Is there anything detrimental in doing this?

Xave has also come into a walker from The Husband's grandmother. The Husband wanted to buy him a walker initially, but I was pretty firm in buying an ExerSaucer after reading that you shouldn't buy a walker (there's a risk of them going down stairs in them). However, Xave seems to love it and is gradually starting to understand that with the proper steps (no pun intended...well, yeah, maybe it was) he can move towards us. In order to not have him taking an unintentional trip downstairs, the house rule is that if Xave is in the walker, the stairway door is locked. Seems reasonable to me.

Now, to make things come full circle (or at least, attempt).

When we left Xavier with my parents last week, it was almost like cleaving the heart from my chest. Well, okay, maybe not quite that dramatic, but it was pretty unnerving - not that I do not trust that my mom and dad will take care of him, but I miss him intensely. The Husband and I are only a little over a month away (37 days actually) until we leave him for an ENTIRE WEEK. I might go mad.

Where are we going?

Hawaii.

It seemed like a good idea at the time.

Disclaimer: I really AM excited to go to Hawaii...but I'm trying to figure out if the sandy beaches and blue water will outweigh me wanting to be with my baby - I highly doubt it.

Manners.

There is a part of the that is convinced, that if I had a card reader on my desktop (which is now my main computer) I would update my blog more frequently. Likewise, the other part says, "No, that's an excuse you lazy mongrel - you just think you're too busy." In truth, it's somewhere in the middle, mixed with the fact that I have a beautiful baby who is infinite amounts of fun to play with - so, there are some priorities in place.

December 17th
I'm not really sure how I missed uploading this one! One of my favorite pictures of Xave playing.

Speaking of my darling and perfect little bundle of boy - it takes every ounce of decency when people compliment him, to simply say "thank you". The mom part of my brain wants to shout out how immaculate he is to everyone and anyone who will listen. Let me attempt to illustrate in an example:

What I do say:

Random Stranger: "Why, what a pretty baby you have!"

Me: "Why, thank you very much."

What I want to say:

Random Stranger: "Why, what a pretty baby you have!"

Me: "I KNOW. I'M NOT SURPRISED YOU COMMENTED BECAUSE HOW COULD YOU NOT. HE'S PERFECT ISN'T HE? NOT ONLY IS HE THE MOST BEAUTIFUL BABY TO EVER GRACE THIS PLANET, HE'S ALSO THE MOST CHARMING - NOT TO MENTION MOST INTELLIGENT. YOU SHOULD REALLY GET HIS AUTOGRAPH."

Thankfully, my family taught me manners - but the urge to spout those very words are just ready to boil over every time someone talks about him.

January 9th
Xave can hold on to things now so he can sit up. Often when he fusses, it's due to his frustration of not being able to do this on his own, or that he is laying down and wants propped up.

Things, in general, have been going well for The Husband and I. We are mainly just busy with work and the like - classes resumed for me last week, but I don't believe I'll be very busy with them...after all, I'm only taking 1 class this time around.

January 9th
Kain and I realized we are getting old - on a Saturday night, we decided to work a puzzle.

More and more often, I do not blog about my day - who comes over, where I go, what we do...it's all about the baby - and that's fine with me.

January 14th
One of our favorite shirts we bought for Xave before he was born (it says: "Cradle Catholic").

January 15th
Xave and I now have matching hoodies from the Gap - thanks to my ability to wear a GapKids.

January 16th
Since he's wearing 6-9 month sized things now, he can finally fit into his Cubs outfit that The Husband's friend bought him. I love it!~

Yes, he IS his mother's son.

Not even quite five months old, and already Blackberry addicted...

Back on track...

Well, I was having an incredibly productive week...up until Tuesday afternoon when I decided to get stomach flu. At first, I thought, no biggie - I had been through this last Christmas, while pregnant no less, and ended up surviving. Oh, how being a nursing mother changes things! Nursing, in of itself, made me more dehydrated (not that I wanted to drink anything anyway), and due to this dehydration my milk supply went down - which in turn made Xave need to nurse more frequently, which, leads to, being woken more frequently as well.

Luckily, I have the greatest husband anyone could ever ask for.

Other than outside of the realms he could control (i.e. breastfeeding) he took complete control of the baby and the house, leaving me to read Eclipse and Breaking Dawn and grabbing some recovery rest.

He took this adorable picture of Xavier after giving him a bath:

And yes, that is a baby bathrobe...

So today, I was feeling about 75% there, and I am hypothesizing tomorrow I'll be back to normal - and therefore, back to the grind. There's plenty of housework, and work work to be done 'round here!!

Hello 2010!

Finally, I am getting around to posting some pictures!







Now, to get us up to speed...

New Years Eve, my parents baby sat Xavier. The Husband and I went to Mass (and answered that Xavier was with his grandparents to a million inquiring minds), then to a potluck afterward (which was amazing as always), and then we went out with our friends. They brought him back over the next day, and I fixed a pork loin, cabbage (as I'm quite averse to sauerkraut), and green beans. Then my dad and The Husband watched WVU get beat in both football and basketball, whilst my mother, Xavier, and I went shopping.

There is about one more week before school is back in session which, honestly, isn't that big of a deal since I only take one class per semester, but I think it will probably be spent like the past few weeks have been - rather lackadaisical with intermittent bursts of work here and there.

On a side note, I have noticed I do not photograph nor blog about my baby nearly as much as I once did. I then questioned if this was because he was not nearly as interesting to me - however, I could hardly believe this was the case. Then, I realized what it was - throughout Xavier's growth and development, he has become increasingly aware and interactive - thus, I simply don't use the time like I once did! Instead of grabbing the camera to photograph his every move or twitter his newest milestown, I'm playing with him, getting him to laugh with me, singing and dancing with him, etc...