So, Peter is on vacation from Wendy's all this week and we are looking forward to having some time together. Lori and Tim are visiting today and that will be fun, Tuesday is our anniversary - 2 years, and Thursday we might be going to the MOST in Syracuse. Other than that, it will just be time spent at home with Ray....time together is something that we do not have a lot of, so it will be nice. :)
I have been spending most of my time chasing Ray around our little apartment as he has become quite the proficient crawler and has suddenly realized that there is more to his space than the living room. lol He will be 8 months old on the 15th and we are amazed at how quickly the time has gone. He has 8 teeth now - 4 on top and 4 on the bottom and is starting to look so grown up when he smiles. He sleeps fairly well at night, but does wake up from time to time and cry for a little before falling back to sleep. I thought that I could never let him "cry it out", but I was so tired of trying other methods that I gave up a little. He has never cried for more than a few minutes though, so I only feel a little horrible as a mom.
We are struggling a little with choosing a bedtime for him though....
Pete closes at work 2 nights a week (4pm-2am shift) and on those nights, Ray seems rather tired and cranky by 7:30pm or so. However, on the nights when Pete works a 10am-8pm shift, Ray seems just fine to stay up and play until daddy comes home to do bath time. (Ray is also usually tired early on daddy's days off.) So, do I try and keep up a fussy baby when I am alone, or do I put him to bed early every night - meaning that Pete would rarely see him? I know that he needs a more consistent bedtime, but am just not sure how to do this....
We are also struggling a little with the concept of a cup....
Ray seems to think that his sippy cups are chew toys and also thinks this of bottle nipples now. I have tried to get him to drink a little juice out of the little bottles of juice that Gerber makes and this kind of works....though he would rather just play with the bottle with the cap on. Any ideas on how to get him to learn to drink? (Not that he needs to yet, but I figured that we should start about now in the learning process.)
Ray currently enjoys chasing our poor Alli kitty around the house, learning to pull up (he has done this a few times now), escaping the living room, and putting just about anything in his mouth that we will let him. (He really likes to play with the 6oz cups at Wendy's - lol) Ray also truly enjoys trying to take daddy's glasses off his face and grabbing mommy's hair....2 things that he is not really allowed to do. (Someday he will understand the word - "no".)
Ray's favorite foods at the moment are bananas, sweet potatoes, and pears. However, he really only wants to eat if it is mixed with his cereal...there is just something about the smooth baby food that he does not enjoy/refuses. (I know, he's odd...lol.)
Guess that's it for now....maybe this time I will get some comments...ha ha.
Monday, October 12, 2009
Vacation week :)
Sunday, September 06, 2009
Not much new....felt like I should post though....
Well, there's not too much new going on here, but I felt like maybe I should post something as I haven't in a while. Ray is doing well, any day now his top 2 teeth will be coming thru - we can see them under the gums, but they haven't quite poked their way thru yet. His favorite thing to do right now is to creep around the apartment on his belly and try as much as possible to put things in his mouth that just plain don't belong there....ie: mommy's shoes, the cat (when she doesn't escape 1st or mommy doesn't see it in time), the cat bed (eeww), daddy's glasses, etc. He is quite fast too, we can't take our eyes off of him for a second....I can't imagine what my life is going to be like when he starts crawling. LOL In other Raymond news....he is now attempting to wear some 6-9 month clothes, but a good majority of then are not fitting due to his current height and weight - 18 lbs 6 oz and 27.25 inches at his 6 month check up (that was on 8/20). We have been shopping around a bit for fall clothes and a winter coat and it looks like everything we buy is going to have to be in 12 month size. (Sometimes, I feel like I have a giant baby - lol) The last weekend of Aug., we took our little family to the NY State Fair. We all had a great time! Ray rode a few kiddie rides with daddy and even fell asleep on the wiggle worm ride - it was way too cute. (I'll try and remember to post pics of that soon.) We are also struggling thru a cereal strike with him right now. He used to LOVE to eat his cereal and fruit, but now, I am lucky if he will eat anything that does not come straight from mommy. Is this normal? Did your kids go thru a phase like this? Should I worry about his nutrition?
Anyway, that's about all in the land of Ray - now on to his parents.
Mommy, is adjusting to some of the new phases of motherhood and is still (most days) in love with being a SAHM. I wouldn't trade this for anything in the world. I love knowing that my boy is happy, healthy and well cared for...something that I do not think I would be confident in if I were working and he were in daycare. I wish my hubby didn't have to work so much to make this dream work for us, but I am glad everyday that he is willing to make the sacrifice for us. I am also learning to trust in the Lord that one day, our debt load will be smaller, so Pete will not need to work quite as much - and also, one day, God will send Peter to a church to fulfill his calling of becoming a pastor.
Speaking of that - in the world of daddy....
Pete has applied to a local church for a pastoral position. We are hopeful that if he were to be selected as a candidate, that he would be able to get the position, and that the church might be willing to raise the salary slightly so that we could pay our bills on that alone. We have decided that anything other than a paper route in addition to being a pastor just wouldn't work as he has to be available 24/7 for his parishioners. The good news is is that they do have a parsonage, so rent would no longer be a concern. He is also placing his resume in other important locations. So, please, be prayerful when you think of us, that a pastoral position may work out for him in the not to distant future.
As for my family, things seem to be going well. My dad has finished the x-ray therapy treatment for his cancer and all the tests that he has had so far show that it was being killed off. Now we just wait and see, I suppose. My mom is also doing fairly well, and she hopes to come visit us soon.
I suppose that's about all I have for now. Hope all is well with everyone. :)
Tuesday, August 25, 2009
Is it wrong....?
Today was a day of struggles....
I am struggling as a mommy from time to time...as I'm sure everyone does, but....
Ray was rather fussy today and nothing that I was doing seemed to work most of the time. he didn't want to play, eat, sleep, snuggle, have some cereal, nurse, etc. I couldn't seem to keep him calm for much time at all today. I am sure that his top 2 teethe are about to come in, but as the bottom 2 didn't phase him, I was not expecting the others to bother him either. I'm not even sure that this is what is bothering him as the typical teething solutions do not work either. He has been like this for a couple of days now and today was the end for mommy....I had many spouts of crying today.
I was frustrated at the fact that my husband has to be gone so much at work to support us. I was frustrated that I feel so alone, so often. I wanted a break.
Is it wrong that I want some extra sleep now and then? Is it selfish of me to ask my hubby who works so hard and gets very little sleep to get up early sometimes and let mommy sleep in a little? Is it wrong that I wanted time alone today? Is my dad right that now that I am a mommy, I am not supposed to sleep or have any time to myself until Ray is 21 (not to mention future children)?
I did get out for a while and go to Barnes & Noble to read and sip a smoothie. However, when I got home, I only felt guilty for not being here to nurse my boy (he had a bottle in my absence and continued to refuse cereal/fruit for the day). I also felt guilty that when I got home, he was asleep. Normally, he would have bath time around 8:30pm and then nurse/play and go to sleep at about 9pm, but tonight, though I was home in time for bath time, he was out and I missed it.
Why am I so conflicted? Why am I so selfish? Why do I feel that I am a bad mommy and that even though I know that I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me, that maybe, He just isn't going to give me enough strength?
Thursday, August 06, 2009
Ray's interests
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He loves to play on the floor and creep around on his tummy. He does his best to try and get to his toys so that he can chew on them. He now does this with his head up and his arms reaching out. Yay!! He also loves to rollover as much as possible so that he can get around. He has started making some weird growling type sounds when he is happily playing....mommy is still unsure when these sounds come out if he is happy or annoyed. (Sometimes it is really hard to tell....) He also continues to squeal with delight (as seen in the exersaucer video) and has started giggling a lot more often. Sometimes, mommy is not quite sure why certain things make him giggle....he has a weird sense of humor....lol
Ray also loves his rice cereal mixed with apple juice and is up to about 6 tablespoons a day. He will be 6 months old on the 15th and mommy and daddy are looking forward to trying new foods with him soon.
He is getting closer to sitting up on his own and seems determined to figure out how to crawl. Mommy and daddy look forward to each new accomplishment and are really enjoying being parents. :)
