That Mom

Today I became "That Mom." You know, the mom that everyone is always looking at and talking about. The mom that I swore I'd never be, and yet, no one in my family is any worse for the wear, in fact, some are even better off! Let me show you...

First of all, today was Wednesday. That means that school starts 10 minutes later so that the staff can have a full hour before school of professional development time. I don't mind, I just don't always remember to send them later and we wind up wating outside the doors, and waiting with five-year-old boys is never good.

So, therefore, we don't get home from walking them to school until almost 9:30. By the time I get Alyssa settled down and down for her nap, it is almost 9:45. At 10:45 when it is time to take Zachary to gymnastics, just 5 minutes down the road at the community center, she is still sound asleep. I don't have the heart to wake her up for a ten minute adventure, after which we would be right back home. Enter my wonderful neighbor. I call her and she agrees to "babysit." This means that she gets my monitor and if Alyssa wakes up, she will use my garage code to get in my house and get her up. Then they will go back to her house until I come home. To me, this is a much better solution to a sleeping baby than waking her up for little reason. So, Alyssa stays asleep and I end up still having to wake her up at 11:40 to go and pick Zachary up. Alyssa got almost another full hour of nap this morning. Yet, the idea still makes me feel like, "that mom."

Then after gymnastics, Zachary, Alyssa, and I head to the Burger King by his school so that he can get a quick bite to eat and be at school on time. Since Alyssa had just woken up, I figured that I would nurse her there and then give her lunch at home after we dropped Zachary off. Well, Alyssa wasn't so sold on that plan. She wanted to eat, since the rest of us were eating and I hadn't brought any of her food. So, then again, I became, "that mom." I was finished, so I sat Alyssa on the table with her legs hanging off, facing me (I was right there, she wasn't going anywhere) and started giving her bites of french fries. That's right. I gave my seven-month-old daughter french fries. It totally worked too because she never moved and just kept right on eating. I think I gave her 4 or 5 fries in total. She couldn't get the bites in her mouth fast enough. It was actually kind of fun to watch her. Then we took Zachary to school and I brought her home and I did give her some yogurt and what not.

So, all in all, Alyssa actually benefitted from me being "that mom" and now I can completely understand why moms do many of the things they do. If you had asked me why 5 years ago, I would have just shrugged and shaken my head. I am learning--do what's best for your family, even if it means you have to become "that mom."
B

Alyssa Update-Six Months

Okay, so again, I know that she's going to be seven months tomorrow, but I didn't want six months to slip away--yet another thing that's getting away from me!

Anyway, Alyssa continues to be a very happy, very flexible baby. I am always amazed by the way that she can get herself from one nap to the next to bedtime given the confines of our schedule. She can't go down until about 9:30, after I get the boys dropped off at school, and she has to be up from her second nap by 3:15, and 2:45 on days when Zachary has school so I can get everyone. Then on Tuesday and Thursday nights, she has to get an early bath and then hang out at Jacob and Kyle's soccer game. This means that she cannot go to bed until at least 7:30. And through it all, she is rarely fussy and just loves to see all her brothers.

Kyle continues to be the one who can get the biggest belly laughs out of her. However, she has started to take a real liking to Zachary-since he is now the only one home with her all day. She loves to watch him run from place to place-especially if it if right past her.

She started sitting right before she turned six months and by now I would say she is a pretty proficient sitter. She has also started to try and get on her hands and knees. Look for a video soon. I'm not sure how much time I have until she is crawling.

Just in the last couple of days she has started babbling, so I'm not sure if we would consider her doing this at seven months, but it is so cute. She just talks to all her toys and it certainly sounds like she has something important to say.

Right after she turned six months we again started letting her cry at night (not going in and giving her the pacifier) and this time it worked great! She now goes down between 7 and 7:30 and sleeps until about 6:30 or later--one day as late as 8:15! We still do hear her cry at night every once in awhile, but it's gotten so much better. She will only cry for a few minutes and in the morning I often find her with a pacifier in her mouth-and not the same one she went to bed with! She is taking two great naps a day and I really couldn't be happier with her sleep.

She has also started eating three meals a day. Her breakfast is some kind of cereal-rice, millet, oatmeal, etc. mixes with some avocado. Her lunch consists of yogurt with fruit mixed in-usually pears or bananas. Her dinner is usually two vegetables or a fruit and a vegetable, whatever we have on hand. She loves her food and can get cheerios and puffs in her mouth all by herself. I can't wait until she can expand her food choices a little more!

Here are a couple of pictures from her last four weeks. She seems to be changing so much by the day!

B

Bouncing Baby Girl

So, we just got a new computer and we're hoping that the videos will load better now. Thought we'd try it on this. A six month post is coming, but here is something to keep you coming back!

B

Alyssa Update-Five Months

Wow, I can't believe that she is already five months old. She all of the sudden seems less like a baby. She is starting to sit on her own and today rolled over for the first time. See the video below. It's not a great video, but it gives you the gist.

Alyssa is really becoming very intertwined with her world. She especially loves her brothers. Kyle can really make her laugh, but all of them can definitely make her smile. She usually takes one two hour nap a day, and sometimes more than one. We aren't doing much better at night yet, she is still up anywhere from 1-6 times to put her pacifier back in. I am wondering how that will change now that she is rolling over.

She can consistenly get toys into her mouth, and her hands are always in there. She drools like a madwoman. My mom thinks there are teeth coming soon, but none of the boys had teeth until at least 8 months, so I'm not holding my breath.

She has wonderful smiles and you can tell that she is proud of herself just to be alive and be able to do all the things she can do.

She went to her first Cubs' game in the middle of June and luckily the Cubs won, because she did not particularly enjoy it. She cried every time the crowd clapped and cheered, and since we went to a Cubs-Sox game, that was pretty much every batter. She did finally go to sleep, but I think we'll wait awhile before she goes again.

Alyssa Update-Four Months

Okay, okay, so I know that she is going to be five months tomorrow. But, I missed three months and I didn't want to miss getting down on paper (or in cyberspace) what she was like at four months.

Alyssa continues to be our little peanut. She weighed in at 12 lbs. 1 oz. at her four month check. She was also 24 3/4 inches as well. She is in the 60th percentile for height, but only the 10th for weight.

Milestone-wise, however, she is right on track or maybe even a little ahead of the game. She has no desire to roll over, but I think she could if she wanted. She has found her feet and her hands just immediately go for them if she is laying on her back. She has even gotten them to her mouth a couple of times. She holds herself really well and the doctor thinks that she will be sitting by the time she goes in for her 6 month check.

We still are not sleeping all that great. As much as I love that the pacifier makes her a happier baby, it does give us problems at night. We are up anywhere from 1-5 times a night to plug that silly thing back in. We tried for about two weeks to let her "cry it out" and not go in and put it back in, but it never got any better, so we are putting that all on hold for a month or so. She is still going to bed late at night (around 9:30 or so), but she feeds around 4:30 or 5:00 and then goes back to sleep until about 8:00.

All in all, she is a very happy baby. She has discovered that she knows her brothers and Kyle can get her laughing like no one else can. She started laughing just after she was three months old.

Here are some pictures that I took right after she turned four months. She was getting tired by the time they were actually ready for her so her smile is not the best. She has this wonderful smile. She has a huge mouth! There are others on the JC Penney's website. Here is that info: Go to https://www.smilesbywire.com/home.asp?AC=LTPP0250111481JCP and then enter my first and last name as the customer name. You should be able to see them all.

Can't believe how quickly it is going by! We love our little peanut! All five of us!

B

Tulip Time

Okay, so I'm a lot late in posting, but these last two months have just seemed to get away from me. At the beginning of May we went out to my in-laws in Pella for Tulip Time. We love to go every year and my mother-in-law has even made Dutch costumes for all the girls and manages to find wonderful costumes for all the boys. This year she even made Alyssa a costume that matches mine. I hope that she knows how special that was to me. It is such a wonderful time--all of my hubby's family finds a way to be there together. We come from Chicago and Denver and it has become more of a family affair than Christmas and it's very speical that way. Anyway, after much eating and parade-watching, here are some of the pictures that were taken.

Doesn't Jacob look extremely excited to be scrubbing streets?

Kyle did a great job! Maybe I should hire him permenantly!

Zachary pulls the "I'm too cute to work" face!

This is the Dutch costume my mother-in-law made for Alyssa. She looks so happy to be wearing it! Hopefully it will fit her again next year!

Here is the best picture that we have of the whole family. It's pretty good!

Looking forward to next year!

B

Overheard

Zachary: What kind of shower talks?
Mom: I don't know, what kind?
Zachary: A TALKING SHOWER!
Mom: Oh, of course.
Zachary: That was a joke.
Mom: Oh, it was, huh?
Zachary: Was it funny?
Oh Zachary, not as funny as you are telling it!
B