My boy is getting independent. Dare I say TOO independent?? Possibly...

Karson can now take his shoes, socks, pants, and jacket off. Only problem is the shirt. But he does NOT want my help. At all. He will whine as he tries, but if I come near him he gets mad! 'No thank you, Mommy!'. :-(

Last night Karson learned the term sidewalk as we were biking home from the park. I realized he might not know the word so I stopped and explained what it was. My smart cookie kept bringing it IP in our conversation after that- and it made me so proud! He was repeating the word so that he would remember it! Genius :-).

A handful of times in the last two days I have caught Karson entertaining himself. I go to the bathroom and instead of having a tail, I come back to the room to see my little boy reading a book in a chair.  Made me want to cry! This has happened multiple times this week! What a wonderful thing for him to be doing too! Yay for his love of books!

On another adorable note- Karson can not let a person pass by without him saying hi :-) it just breaks my heart when he says hi so softly that the person can't hear him... But he keeps saying it. Makes me overflow with sad, overprotective love for my child.

Funny PS- Karson just now fell over twice as he stumbled to his bed. I tried to carry him when he fell but he said, 'no, I do it!'.

OK, lil man, OK.

Well, I've decided that I never can remember the cute things that K-man does so now my blog will be about the cute and memorable things about my babies :-). I am now pregnant with my second child, another boy, so I will have an almost 3-year-old and a newborn... Both boys. And I couldn't be more excited! I am nervous to have two kids and how I will put them both to sleep (etc), but I know in my heart that God has given me this gift and will help me do this, and of course I have the help and support of my hubby too :-).

So, being pregnant was soooo much easier when I didn't have another child to take care of, but I'm one of those girls who actually likes being pregnant. At least for the most part. I love the feeling of holding that precious miracle in my womb until he is strong enough to be out in the world. It is such an empowering and loving feeling you get when you think that way. And although the kicks can hurt (or make you need the bathroom ASAP..) I still love feeling them, and seeing how strong my babe is getting. Although, it does make me worried that he will be just as crazy and energetic as K-man is....

Anyway, the nice thing about having a child already and being pregnant with another is that the time goes so fast! Sure, I can't be boring and laze around all the time like I could last time, but that's ok... Cuz I've got this cute little guy I wanna hang out with... And since the days go so fast when I am with #1, I can't believe that I'm already nearing my 3rd trimester! How did that happen??? Its great! And I'm doing great on not gaining too much weight... Probably because K-man is a bundle of energy so not only am I running after him all the time, but I also hardly have time to eat glutinously because he wants to do the next thing, not sit at the table watching mom pig out ;-)

Anyway, today, as I was thinking about how sore my back is and my stomach feels like it is stretching too much, I wasn't able to sit down... I was literally waddle-running behind K-man as he pedaled as fast as he could on his trike, which he just perfected riding at about 25/26 months old :-).

On another side note... Looks like the heartburn is starting. Exactly at 26 weeks :-( great.... So heartburn and the need for a back brace are now in effect. Yaaaay. ;-)

Ahh, PS- Karson learned the word sidewalk today with me, then used it correctly 3 times :-) I love seeing how fast that child can catch on!

Starting a new daycare... harder on Mommy?

There is always something hard about being a Mommy. Sometimes it is leaving your child at daycare, feeling guilty because you are leaving him for 9 hours a day. And then sometimes, on top of that, you feel weird about the daycare itself and get the feeling that it isn't good enough for your baby.

I recently went through this excruciating feeling that my daycare wasn't what my baby deserved. I kept thinking, "He seems happy, mostly, but there are so many kids in such a small place, and no lesson plans...." The more I spoke with my mom friends who had their kids at other daycares, the more it was made clear to me that my care wasn't what I wanted.

I put my two weeks in at my old daycare, once I found a new one, and the last day my son had at the old daycare, I came in to pick him up and none of the caregivers had any idea that it was his last day! I couldn't believe the director hadn't told them! They were heartbroken, and had to rush around and find all of his things (which I don't think I got all of them anyway).

How does a Mom know if her baby's daycare is a good one or not? If they seem clean and he isn't crying when she gets there, and they seem to love him? Well, here are a few things I have learned in the year I have been a mother: 

Your daycare may not be a good one if: 

*It doesn't have a lesson plan (meaning they either have a lazy teacher, or no teachers that have an actual education in Early Education)

*None of the teachers have a degree in teaching

*Whenever you walk into the room, the teachers are all standing, and either congregated together or at least not interacting with the children

*When there are babies that are crying, and in the 5-10 minutes you are there, the daycare ladies don't even notice that no one else is helping the baby, and no one moves to take care of him/her.

*When there are communication problems, such as the director not telling the staff that a child is leaving their care (!!)

*When your baby is constantly tired at home, but they tell you he doesn't need that second nap that you have been constantly telling them you want him to take!

Some reasons to love your daycare:

*If they have a crib especially for your child so that you don't have to worry about whether or not it is getting cleaned in between kids sleeping in the same spot.

*Lesson plans and menus readily available for you to peruse.

*Hand washing before and after eating, after changing diapers, even when they are a year old!

*Lots of toys that are age appropriate for the kids to play with.

*Teachers are down on the floor playing with the kids even at the end of the day and can give you a smile and still seem patient as ever, even though they spent 9 hours with at least a few very energetic kids!

*The more communication, the better!

I'm not an expert about daycares... yet..... but I am learning fast that there is so much more to finding a daycare than what is on paper! 

Babyproof? Pfbth, we have plenty of time!

Not!

When little man started scooting at.. 8-9 months we were so very proud of him!  But that means a whole new world has opened up for not just him, but for me too.  When I saw him take his first few scoots I thought, "I've got time, he's pretty slow at it and I'll be close by to monitor him".

Well, a week later, I was laughing at my ignorant self.  I'm just letting Karson play, enjoy his time on the floor in his room and being able to scoot around to his favorite objects.  Well, I soon noticed that if I made noises or made something appear super cool, he'd start scooting over to me.

And so the game began.  I would pile some blocks on top of each other, he would scoot over to me to knock them over (being the boy that he is) and then as he was doing that, I would go a few feet away and start rattling one of his favorite rattles.  Head turns, looks, then immediately changes direction toward me and the rattle.  And so on and so forth.  Finally I get him so into playing with his toys that I think, "I should probably go and check on his bottle now" so I get up and leave the room.  As soon as I am out of sight for more than a few seconds, he starts whimpering and scooting towards me.

Well, not more than a couple of weeks went by of scooting and soon he was crawling. WAY too soon for my liking, but I was so proud, it took me a little while to realize what this really meant- HE COULD GO FASTER!!! AH!

Scary thought... because he was already getting into WAY too much. Well, after he had been crawling for awhile, my husband put latches on our cabinet doors so he couldn't open any of the cabinets except for the one with the Tupperware (which he thinks is awesome! It's definitely a good idea to give a child at least one cabinet that they can get into without you worrying too much... just about the mess that you have to clean up later :-)).  I had to move a few things in our open cabinets, so that the things he can reach are unbreakable... but there is only so much one can do in an apartment. And we are finding that out the hard way, while Karson constantly goes straight to the computer with all the cords. AH! So I find myself saying "No, Karson, that is not for you" and if he doesn't listen, I have to put him somewhere else.... and then he crawls straight back over there, sometimes smiling and chuckling to himself as he crawls fast right to the cords again! AH! 

So the motherhood of NO's has come into play in my house... and I do not like it! And neither does Karson... he has the funniest temper tantrum when I say no. I tell him no, and he dramatically throws himself on the ground and cries his fake cry and if I don't acknowledge his tantrum, he comes and burrows himself on me and ends up laughing because I tickle the tantrum out of him. But then two seconds later, guess where he is!?

Well, I have yet to find out what I can do at this point, because he is so young (Just 10 days from his first birthday!) but I do know that if I don't set ground rules, my child will be the spoiled child no one wants to take care of (except for the biased immediate family, of course!).

On a happy, and scary, note, Karson has started standing and walking with our help and along the furniture. So of course the next step (and I do mean that literally!) will be his walking without help. Eek! Watch out world, Karson will be walking in a month... and my house is NOT ready! 

Praises to my Father in Heaven!

Well, it has been awhile since I posted, but I want to write this not only to help others, but also to help myself remember things that I know I will forget!

Yesterday was another wonderful day as a mother- I can honestly say that- because I love this beautiful boy so very much! I can't imagine a life better than the one I have, and I was thinking that as I was trying very hard to put my little guy down for the night and he just WASN'T having it! So as he was crying and flailing around trying to get out of the "fall asleep hold" I had on him, I was looking around the room and thinking, 'There is honestly no where I would rather be, than right here, right now.' Do I deserve to be this happy? Definitely not! But I am enjoying every second of it anyway! I know without a doubt that it is God who has blessed me with such a wonderful life, family, job, friends, and everything else! I have so many things I am blessed with, and I just needed to sing my praises on my blog!

I was reminded this week that I definitely do not give praise to my Father enough, and I am ready to remedy that situation right now! I'm trying my hardest to make sure that reading my bible happens daily, and I did it today... so that's a good start! (Ha, no one is perfect!) My praise music is blaring at work, and I couldn't be happier!

Another blessing definitely worth mentioning is the fact that my little guy is ALMOST ONE! WHOA! I am so excited for every day with him, and so excited... and sad... that he is getting so BIG! He started crawling right after Christmas and now he is standing with almost no help, and is taking steps with help... and it makes me want to cry and laugh and sing all at the same time! I've never felt this love before, but I just want to cuddle him forever so he gets that I love him with every fiber of my being! 

We've definitely had our ups and downs, mostly our downs being that Karson is not much of an eater, and especially when he is sick every few weeks, he eats even less.... so I struggle with the fact that my little baby is not a chubby one. My family loves chubby babies and seeing my skinny little guy makes them say, "Feed him more!" Well... I do! But he is not one for eating. It took me awhile, but I think I am getting to the point where I realize there is nothing I can do to change it- it's just who he is! 

My son is also a social, beautiful, mischievous, helpful (or so he thinks :-)), and so very smart child! As soon as he hears me doing dishes, he crawls really fast over to the dishwasher and proceeds to try to "help" mommy with dishes! He is super funny and cute as he does that- and now I resort to doing dishes really fast... and when I see him crawling crazily towards me I rush to put the rest (or as many as I can) of the dishes into the dishwasher and close it before he gets there! It's a marathon, but it is fun.

At daycare, my little guy gets awesome attention. And when you are that cute, why wouldn't you?  A couple months ago he moved from the Young Infant room to the Mobile Baby room, and he seems to be loving all the new toys he can play with! The best part is that he always finds a favorite teacher, and in fact one of the teachers that is a float will always come to find him at different times in the day to give him snuggles and love, and I absolutely love that! There are goods and bads to daycare, but that is one of the many good things about daycare- he gets used to meeting new faces, and he has lots of friends and love!

My life may not go as planned- I don't have the house, I'm not debt-free, and I'm not a SAHM (Stay at home mom), but I love my life and that is all thanks to my God!

Sickness is a very big part of my job

I am blessed in so many ways.

But when it comes to my child's constant sickness, I have to wonder, "Is my baby more sick than other babies?"

Because I swear I never hear of so much sickness as I see when I am with my little guy.  I've even noticed one pattern- EVERY single month, around the 8th (which was when he was born) he gets sick!  There's always something, whether it be a small thing like the cold, or a big thing like pneumonia, my baby boy never misses his birthday!  It makes it very hard for a mom to be excited for her child's monthly birthdays when he is always going to be sick!

This month, his ninth month, he is sick with his first ear infection and a horrible case of the stomach flu.  It started on Friday, the day before his monthly birthday, and it is still here today- almost a week later!  Friday, Saturday and Sunday he wasn't eating, and he had diarrhea.  We took him in on Sunday and found out he had the flu and an ear infection.  Started giving him antibiotics (amoxicillin) and I feel like I am on to something- I wonder if he might get sicker from the amoxicillin.  When we try to give him ammoxicillin and tylenol at the same time he vomits every single time- and this happened the last time we had to give him amoxicillin (for pneumonia that time).

So after having been vomited on three times in half an hour (and changing as many times), my morning has already started off at a bad start.  I am a working mom, so every time I am late, I worry it will go against me.  Every day I have to ask off, I worry it will get me closer to the door (and not in a good way).  It is hard to be a stay at home mom because of the lack of contact with people, but I sincerely believe that it is harder to be a working mom.  Before 7:30 I have to be completely ready (pump, shower, makeup, breakfast, dress, and get my lunch ready) and have my little guy all ready for the day (fed, change diaper and clothes, bring whatever supplies he may need for the day) and out the door already on my way to daycare.  It takes half an hour to get to work when it would take half that time if I didn't have daycare to go to (and a cute little guy to get in and out of the car and such).

So of course I had to call my boss today and tell her that for the second time this week I will be late, because my husband has to come home from work to take care of our sick munchkin.  All week we have stayed home with him, with the majority of the days being Daddy staying home, because I have the full time job.  It is days like these that make me go "Why? Why does it have to be this way?  Why can't everything be perfect and daycare take care of my little guy no matter what?  Why do I have to work full time- why can't I stay home with him?"  But there is always an answer- because there is always a good and a bad side to each of those ideas.  If daycare took care of him while he was sick, they would have to do the same for all the other sick kids.  And where would that get us?  Sicker, that's where.  And if I stayed at home in our current financial position, you would be seeing us on the streets eventually (only half kidding).

Ahh... the things we do to stay afloat.

Life is never easy as a mom, and I am most reminded this when Karson is sick.  There are always parts of me that wish I could stay at home and take care of him to the Nth degree and be there for every cough and every sneeze.  Other times I think it is nice to get out of the house and have some adult conversation.  There will always be grass that looks greener on the other side, until you are ON the other side.  I was reminded of that as I watched my son play with toys today.  Since he is so sick, he wants us to be close to him always, even if he doesn't even look at me for ten minutes, as long as I am there beside him he is happy as a clam, but if I walk away for a second, he notices and cries bloody murder.  So as we sat on the floor playing, I started drumming on one of our cups and he looked at me and the cup and set aside what he was playing with and started playing with the cup I was playing with.  Then when I took up drumming on something else, he again did the same thing, because obviously Mommy was having so much fun- so he will probably have more fun with that toy.  

This reminds me that that is how our lives are.  While our friends are staying at home and we are working, we think, "Man, it would be awesome if I could just stay at home every day with my little guy and be there for every new thing he does, and wear pajamas all day if I want, and go out to the mall or shop or do whatever."  But at the same time, I am realizing that the stay at home moms look at us working moms and say, "Although I love being with my little guy, sometimes I just need to get out of the house, or have some alone time, or even some adult conversation that isn't my husband!"

I guess we all have to just be happy with what we have.  There's always the silver lining, and I try to remind myself of that daily.  I'm happy to have the job I have- I'm very blessed because I have hours that work with my daycare, and eleven holidays that are paid time off, a great work environment with lots of people that I can get great interaction with, and a good daycare that I can trust.  I'm thankful that God has given me all of these blessings.

Mommyhood - Every Day is a Reward

Today I was boasting about my child's newest achievements and remarked, "Being a mom is the best reward ever!  I don't know why everyone isn't a mom!"  And that stopped me to think- why doesn't everyone want to be a parent?  Well, I don't know why, but that isn't the reason I am writing today.  I'm writing today to write about all the wonderful things that parenthood brings.

I fall in love with my little guy daily.  Daily.  And I can't imagine that there is one mother that doesn't unless she seriously does not take 5 minutes out of her day to just watch her child and stare at him.  How can you not be in love with someone who is so excited about every new thing that he is introduced to?

For example, my little guy has just learned how to scoot (almost 9 months old) and it is the cutest thing you could ever see!  He pushes with his toes and pulls with his hands, and gets where he wants to!  Probably not as easy as crawling but he refuses to stay on his hands and knees for more than a minute.  He may never crawl, we will see, but for now, the scooting is adorable.  He sees something he wants (which is half the time off limits) and scoots toward it.  I can't help but smile and get tears in my eyes, because I remember the day when he figured out how to use his arms and legs.  I remember when he started to get curious about his surroundings.  I remember when he rolled over and when he sat up by himself.  Each time he did something new like that I was overcome with joy and pride.  My child achieves his goals!  

Karson also is a socialite.  Absolute charmer, really.  When he was just starting to take notice of people, we were at one of his doctor appointments, and his doctor remarked, "There is nothing wrong with his social skills!  He is flirting with me right now!"  And there he was, smirking with his big blue eyes twinkling.  If he looks at someone, they are obligated by the 'cute kid law' to smile and try to make him laugh.  It's just impossible not to love on this kid- even for the people who know nothing about him.  I've gotten to know more people because they can't help but come up and get to know him. :-)

I'm even proud of the things I know will drive me crazy someday.  Such as the fact that I know he is a mischievous little stinker- I can see him try to figure out what will get my attention (which is normally something he isn't allowed to do).  And the way I got him to scoot for the first few times was by putting something he REALLY wanted that he couldn't have just out of reach.  Watch that kid scoot the marathon if there is a cell phone, cords, or plastic anywhere near him!

So, every day is a challenge with a child, because we all have to face the fact that we can't be as selfish anymore- can't just run out and get groceries or go shopping, can't blow all our money  on things that we don't need - but every day a parent should be able to find at least one reason they are happy to have their child in their life.  The extra colors that now decorate your family room because of the activity mat and exersaucer.  The people you have met or gotten close to because you both had children around the same age.  The art that decorates all your rooms because your child loves you and shows you by his artsy talents.  The music of your child's laughter.  The smile that only YOU can get out of your child.  

There's always something.  And today I was reminded that every day is a day to celebrate being a mom.