being a parent is serious stuff. doing this whole mom-thing, alone a lot, has left me, exhausted, broken down, shedding all of the tears (even when i was sure i didn’t have a single one left), and feeling time and time again like i have nothing left to give, but somehow i keep giving. and then the weirdest thing happened the other day. after one of my “i’m a shitty mom moments,” i thought to myself, you know what. i’m not a “shitty mom.” i have bad (“shitty mom”) moments. but, who doesn’t? (and if you don’t, we can’t be friends…thats way too much pressure ya’ll). and sometimes they seem to outweigh the good ones, but my little man is happy healthy, growing, fed three fairly square meals a day and two decently healthy snacks. has bottles on time (for the most part), takes two decent naps a day (what’s decent ?!?!), gets to go the park on almost a daily basis, has a bath every night along with an evening family stroll, and is put to bed, bathed, fed, and fairly happy every single night. and i’m not trying to toot my own horn here, there are so many single moms and dads out there as well as parenting duos doing so much more than me. and i’ve only had to do it for a short year. soon husband will be home, and we’ll be parenting together, and that day cannot come soon enough. both little man and i miss him terribly.
all of that being said, little man does officially turn 11 months old today. he is weighing in at 21.6 lbs and is one happy, healthy and increasingly entertaining little boy. i think i’m loving this most recent stage the most. he interacts so much now and it is so fun! he can play games (we play ball - passing it back and forth, he knows how to play peek-a-boo! (he’ll hide from me now too!), waves “hello” and “bye-bye," is “walking” with the help of a walker and is crawling all over the place like a maniac!
he understands little words like “no” and phrases “where’d you go!” and thinks it’s hysterical to crawl into a “no-go” zone and make me go “liiiinccooooln” and then he responds by popping his head out and giggling because he totally knows he’s not supposed to do what he’s trying to get away with and so it’s turned into this type of game we play. another “no-go” zone game we play is when he sneaks away into the guest room to go splash in the dog’s water bowl, but now he waits for me to “catch” him and pick him up and tickle him and “throw” him on the bed. (side note: how much trouble am I in that he’s already trying to push limits at 11 months…dear god help me when he’s a teenager).
he continues to be a little houdini/dare devil and try and climb on and out of everything. the other day, i went to answer my phone and he had managed to crawl out of his high chair and was standing on the tray - cue: heart attack. (and again…dear god, help me when he’s a teenager). these days i tend to give myself high faves and pats on the back just for keeping the kid alive. i’m honestly shocked he hasn’t broken his neck yet!
he is eating pretty much every thing we eat and has been for a while. I mean i keep the chocolate and ice cream for myself but you know, i’m selfish ;0p we also got the official “a-ok” to start dairy, and that transition has gone really well. we’re working on our sippy cup usage, because those skills need some work. (he takes one or two sips and then decides it’s a toy and dumps it on the floor so he can splash in it!)
and finally, he’s sleeping through the night again!!!!!!!! i almost don’t want to type those words and jinx myself, but the past two weeks he has gone down between 8-8:30 and sleeps fairly consistently till about 5:30 am! we’ve had one or two 4:30 wake up calls (not fun!) but we even had a 6:30 one! that day was GLORIOUS to say the least. he does still have to be rocked to sleep…the whole sleep training thing went out the door when we were in New York and we’ve never been able to get it back. I gave up on trying when he started screaming for over an hour on an almost nightly basis. the fact that he’s sleeping through the night is win enough for me, and we can cross that “put yourself to bed” bridge later on (aka when husband’s home to help ;0p). rocking him to sleep only takes about 15 minutes and i’ll take 15 minutes of peaceful falling asleep over hours of screaming any night!
other highlights this month include his first real haircut!!!! first time in a kiddie pool and getting to taste a popsicle! i'm also pretty sure he's going to start walking any day. finally we're out at hat island trying to beat the 100 plus degree heat, mother nature has decided to grace spokane with. little man we'll be spending his first 4th of July out on the island and gets to enjoy fireworks, a parade and all sorts of festive goodies!
other highlights this month include his first real haircut!!!! first time in a kiddie pool and getting to taste a popsicle! i'm also pretty sure he's going to start walking any day. finally we're out at hat island trying to beat the 100 plus degree heat, mother nature has decided to grace spokane with. little man we'll be spending his first 4th of July out on the island and gets to enjoy fireworks, a parade and all sorts of festive goodies!
so there it is, 11 months in a nutshell. they say to savor each moment because it all goes by so fast, and no truer words have ever been spoken. next month lincoln turns one and will make the move into toddlerhood, and while i can’t wait to see what the next month will bring, i’m hoping that time slows down a little bit so my baby will stay a baby just a few moments longer.
