February 2012 – A Month in Photos

Yikes – I can’t believe another month has gone by and it’s already time for the next A Month in Photos post with Simple As That!

This month was a bit more quiet than last month and I was not nearly as good as documenting our days with my camera.  It was a bit of a struggle to find enough decent pictures for this month.  Which means,  get ready, Ben – you’re going to be hearing lots of beeping and clicking during March!

February 2012

• Benjamin started smiling and laughing A LOT!  Like, all the time.  Nothing is better than seeing him laugh!
• We celebrated our first Valentine’s Day with Benjamin (and got to go on a baby-free date!).
• We started cloth diapering full time.  I am loving it, and I think Ben is too!
• Ben got more tummy time than usual towards the end of the month.  He’s definitely getting more arm strength and he rolled over for the first time on the 28th!
• Benjamin became more and more curious by the day, and really started examining things, especially his black and white pictures!
• Ben started sleeping for longer stretches at night (slightly longer, let’s not get too excited here!).

 

Heather

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Rolling, rolling, rolling…

I was recently reading that some babies Ben’s age (3 months) can roll over.  He could not, which I’m sure is more a function of me hardly doing tummy time with him (I know, I know!), than a function of Ben’s future athletic prowess. 

In any case, I realized we needed to do more tummy time ASAP.  I also wanted to catch his first time rolling over on video, so I have approximately 5,362 cell phone videos of Ben on his stomach, getting increasingly pissed about all this tummy time with a camera shoved in his face.  Based on his floundering, it was relatively clear that this wasn’t going to happen any minute, so I figured we had at least a week or two before the big day.

Enjoying some tummy time a few weeks ago…

I was setting up his room for a little photo shoot this morning, and without thinking, put him on his belly for seriously, 5 seconds, while I took the lens cap off my regular camera.  In that 5 seconds, when I wasn’t prepared with my cell phone video camera, he freaking rolled over!

Luckily I was able to catch the second rollover (barely):

Hooray, Benjamin!

Yikes – what a big boy! :-)

 

Heather

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Baby’s Addictions

Pretty much every kid has some kind of addiction or vice.  Think I’m crazy and that addictions are adult problems (alcohol, hookers, etc.? OK, going in the gutter… apologies…)?  Think again!  Pacifiers, blankies, potty issues, sleep issues – oh there are SO many vices that kids can have!  All of which, can endlessly frustrate and embarrass their parents.

I’ve been wondering which addiction(s) Ben will have.  Because pretty much every kid has at least one.

We’re faring pretty well so far, which can only mean one of two things: 1) He’s the most amazing, perfect child ever born to the earth and won’t have a vice (obviously!) or 2) more likely, he just hasn’t picked one up yet.

Pacifiers - He seems to have escaped the paci addiction.  I didn’t give him pacifiers for awhile because I was all worried about nipple confusion.  By the time I tried them out, he was totally not interested.  I was also overly concerned that he would end up as the 5-year-old with a paci in the mouth all the time.  Like our good friend Suri.

Seriously, Tom, Katie, Suri, this is freaking ridiculous, I don’t care who you are.  People say that buying Suri a million dollar wardrobe is crazy?  Heck, if I had the money, I would do it too.  But this?  Embarrassing.  The last thing I need is to be getting the hairy eyeball from people because I have a full-grown child sucking on a baby’s toy.

On a similar note, please check out http://www.toobigforstroller.com/ for a good laugh.  Hilarious, and ridiculous.

Thumb sucking – Ben might fall prey to this one.  While he’s bypassing the paci obsession, it may be replaced by thumb sucking.  Now, Ben doesn’t have the dexterity for thumb sucking yet, but he’s recently taken to sucking on his hand.  He’s definitely showing signs of teething and I think the hand sucking helps, so we’ll see where it goes.

Rocking/feeding/misc. form of soothing to sleep – I think we’re escaping this one too.  With very rare exception, Ben falls asleep on his own without any kind of “intervention,” which I find pretty impressive.  Must be my amazing parenting skills.  Kidding :-).  I often use white noise to help him fall asleep, but I can’t imagine that becoming some kind of annoying, socially unacceptable addiction.  Even if he’s 10 years old, using a white noise machine, well, that doesn’t seem that bad, compared to other addictions.  I am a little concerned that his recent 3-day refusal of the co-sleeper (read: will only sleep in our bed, snuggled up to me) will turn into some kind of problem down the line, but that’s a story for another day. 

A baby AND a puppy in my bed?  Cute, but crowded…

Potty issues – This one’s a crapshoot.  Hahaha, couldn’t resist the pun.  Anyway, who knows what will come of this.  I’m hoping our cloth diapers will help speed up the process as I’ve heard it does.  I know boys are harder to potty train than girls, which already endlessly frustrates me and we haven’t even started the process.  I can’t be having a 4-year-old in diapers, that’s just bananas.  I already get unreasonably creeped out by diapered children who can walk (I realize that being old enough to walk and wear diapers is totally normal – I’m not a cruel, uninformed moron – I know that kids walk at a year, and they’re obviously not potty trained at that age – but diapers are cute on a little baby – once the baby is walking, diapers just look weird to me.).  I’ve heard horror stories about kids who refuse to go on the potty and will hide behind furniture to squeeze out a poo in utter defiance.  Lord help me if I have one of those…

Which, side note, I’ve heard kids generally are potty trained for pee before poo.  For reals? How the heck does that make sense?  I can easily see slipping out a little pee because you lost control – I mean, even adults do that – it’s just harder to control.  But poo?  That actually requires conscious pushing.  It doesn’t just slide out.  Sorry if this is gross guys, but really.  These kids are playing with our minds I tell you.  They know when they’re pooping, they can control it.  Don’t let the little devils fool ya ;-). 

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And before you get all judgy thinking I’m a terrible person for talking about kids’ addictions like this, I have my own baby addiction.  I’ll admit, I slept with a teddy bear until… BEN WAS BORN.  And the only reason I’ve *temporarily* given it up is because the bear occasionally falls on the floor when I’m sleeping, and with the co-sleeper right next to me, I’m scared it will somehow fall on Ben’s face and smother him.  So, teddy’s taking his first vacation in his nearly 30-year-old life. 

Proof positive:  I brought the bear on our honeymoon to Jamaica (and every business trip I ever went on, for that matter).  And judging by the below photo from Jamaica, I’m not the only one in the family showing the bear some love :-).

Thank god he rarely reads this, otherwise I would catch a rash of sh** for posting this photo hehehe…

And now I’m off to try and coax a sleeping Ben into his co-sleeper, hopefully for at least a few hours.  Mommy needs some ZZZZs…

Heather

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Nipple Confusion?

A few nights ago, I was getting ready for bed, and Derek was hanging out with Ben.  I hear, “Heather you have to see this!” and went to see what was up.  Ben was clearly very hungry… and a little confused…

Yummy…

I found this endlessly hilarious and had to share.

Heather

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All Night Long (and gratuitous photos of Ben sleeping)

I think one of the most common questions new parents are asked is, “Oh, does the baby sleep through the night yet?”  Honestly, I cannot even tell you how many times I have been asked this.  If I had a nickel… well, I won’t even go there.  Needless to say, I’d never have to work again. 

Why is this such a common question?  Maybe a “filler” because people don’t know what else to ask, and everyone knows new parents don’t get much sleep?  Legit I had people asking this pretty much since we returned home from the hospital.  Let’s consider how small a newborn’s stomach is, and how often they dirty a diaper...  Chew on that for a minute and then tell me if you really want to ask your question.  Yes, some babies do sleep all night from very early on, but many don’t.  I prefer the much more innocent and much more reasonable, “Oh, how is Ben sleeping?” or “What is his sleep schedule like?” or “You must be exhausted, can I give you a massage?” Hehehe…

Passed out, sitting up in his “straightjacket” after a good amount of teething screaming…

Benjamin most certainly does not sleep through the night, and I get mildly irritated by people who seem completely aghast when I tell them he doesn’t sleep all night long.  For real?  He’s 3 months old.  I am not even expecting him to sleep through the night for at least another 3 months at best.  If you’re interested in knowing, then don’t be all bug-eyed and concerned when I say no.  I have a lot of friends with kids and from what I’ve gathered, kids don’t reliably sleep through the night until they’re pretty freaking old.  Reliably being the key term.  I mean not getting up at all at night, every night, for weeks on end.  THAT is a child that sleeps through the night!

Cute? Yes. Does he look like this all night? No.

Now, Ben technically DOES occasionally sleep through the night via the medical definition.  Do you know the medical definition of “sleeping through the night” is midnight ‘til 5 am?  I want to know what kind of a sick freak invented that definition.  How the heck is that a whole night’s sleep for anyone? 

To be honest, I really have no idea how long Ben sleeps because he’s in the co-sleeper (best invention of all time, and many thanks to my most wonderful friend Meghan who is letting us borrow hers!) so I just pull him in bed when he wakes up, feed him, and fall back to sleep.  I hardly even open my eyes, let alone look at a clock.  I do know he’s been going for longer stretches.  How do I know this?  Because when he sleeps longer, I wake up in pain with boobs like cantaloupes, and I begin to silently beg him to wake up and eat so I can get sweet relief.

And as for me?  Totally not concerned.  I actually cannot remember the last time I slept for 8 consecutive hours. It’s getting close to a year I think, what with all the pee trips during pregnancy and all.  So, I’m pretty used to getting up.  I’m a superfreak about SIDS (read: completely, utterly terrified) and don’t plan on even thinking about Ben sleeping in his crib until he’s at least 6 months (Plus, how the heck could I check to see if he’s breathing every hour all night long, if he’s in another room? Hehehe.  But for real.  I can’t stop myself. I’ve poked him at least 3 times while writing this post.) – though, with his superhero growth rate, I’m not sure the co-sleeper will last that long.  At which point, we’ll pull out the pack ‘n play or I’ll start sleeping on the floor next to his crib (I kid, I kid.  Okay, somewhat serious…).

Sweet dreams!

Heather

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Happy Valentine’s Day!

 

Love, Ben

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Addendum–Google Ad Found!

Found the new dad Google+ commercial… Enjoy!

Get your tissues!

Heather

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Don’t Play With My Emotions, Google

Have you seen the new Google + commercial  (sadly I can’t find it online yet)?  It’s about a dad with a brand new baby, and all the photos he took of the baby are on his cell phone.  He loses the phone, which, ordinarily, is not a big deal – you can just replace the cell phone – BUT, this is where he has all his pictures of his newborn son. 

O.   M.   G…

Way to toy with a still-hormonal new mom’s emotions, Google.  I can’t even write this post without crying at how touching the commercial was.  There’s like, a million pictures of a newborn in the commercial, which gets me weepy to begin with.  Let alone the fact that we’ve already experienced an unspeakable baby photo loss in our home, which I’ve yet to get over, and still refuse to talk about. 

Luckily, the dad had a Google + account, and all his photos are automatically uploaded to his + account, so nothing was lost!

After recovering from a mini panic attack, envisioning ME losing MY cell phone with countless Ben photos and the only videos we have of Ben from birth until now, I immediately set up an account and I’m uploading the photos and videos as we speak.  At 1 am.

PHEW.  Disaster averted.

I won’t even go into the Dear Sophie Google commercial where the dad sets up an email account for his newborn daughter and writes her emails throughout her life.  I can’t even look at the video still below without getting seriously teary-eyed.

God help me, someone go get me some tissues, here come the waterworks…

Yup, set up an account for Ben to do the exact same thing…

What a sucker.  Well played, Google, well played.

 

Heather

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Baby Feet

 

Is there anything better than watching a baby’s feet flex and move while nursing?  So cute…

Happy Sunday!

Heather

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Search Words

 

Anyone on Blogger find it really funny to look at what search words brought people to your blog?  Since Cookies For Breakfast hasn’t been around that long, I haven’t had anything pop up in that section of my Dashboard (except for me Googling my own blog), until today. 

Really big mustache – 2 hits

Pregnant of 10 babies – 1 hit

This, of course, gave me my laughs for the day.  And a reason to do this:

Searchers for “really big mustache,” eat your heart out.

Heather

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Rite of Passage

 

Ben met another milestone today – somewhat of a rite of passage in my family – his first trip to our local Polish market.  Hopefully someone out there finds this as humorous as I did.  My family has been going to this market for forever – it’s super tiny, really old school, and the only place in the area where you can get certain food items.  I usually feel like quite the outsider there – I’m the youngest customer by oh, about 50 years, and can’t understand most of the conversations because hey – they’re in Polish!

We went in, hobbled around the tiny aisles, trying not to knock over anything with the ginormous and heavy carseat (a trip this fast is not worthy of pulling him out of the carseat and stuffing him into the Baby Bjorn – too much hassle for 3 minutes of shop time!), picked up a freshly made kielbasa and kiszka, like good little Polish boys and girls, and were on our way.  While I waited for the woman behind the deli counter to pick out our goods, I had to discreetly snap a picture of Ben on this momentous occasion (discreetly because this woman would have thought I was a supreme weirdo– who wants to take a picture of their baby in a Polish market, anyway?):

He looks a little nonplussed.  I love that word, nonplussed.  Should use it more often…

ANYWAY…

What is a kiszka, you ask?  Very interesting story, I must tell you.  We used to have kiszka a few times a year, every year, while I was growing up.  It’s this big brown sausage-like thing that you bake in the oven – it pretty much looks like a giant turd.  I always loved it, and every time we had kiszka for dinner, I would say, “What the heck is this made out of?”  For real – every. single. time.  My mom would say, “Oh, it’s just barley and seasonings!” And I bought it. 

Well, one evening after a wonderful dinner of kiszka, I went off to my weekly piano lesson.  As a backstory, I never, ever practiced piano like I was supposed to, so in order to deflect my not practicing and in an attempt to avoid getting in trouble with my teacher, I would chatter away about anything possible to delay actually playing for her.  So, that evening’s mindless chatter was about what I had for dinner and how I could never figure out what it was made out of.  As soon as I said, “kiszka,” my teacher exclaimed, “OH!  Blood sausage!” 

WTF?!

My parents knew what it was the whole time, but played along because they knew I would never eat it if I knew it was MADE OF BLOOD.  Nice.  I was temporarily grossed out, but then went right back to loving it.  Pretty freaking sick, huh? 

To this day, I will go out to this Polish market and pick up a kiszka about once a year and enjoy it all to myself.  Derek won’t touch the stuff, so it’s mine, all mine.  Reminds me of that part in Home Alone, “A lovely cheese pizza.  Just for me.” 

Photo courtesy of sweetlysurprised.com

Yes, a lovely kiszka, just for me. 

 

Heather

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Now on Facebook!

 

This just in!  Cookies for Breakfast is now on facebook!  Perhaps a little premature in my blogging journey, but I couldn’t help myself.  Come join me!

http://www.facebook.com/pages/Cookies-For-Breakfast/229660807116261?ref=tn_tnmn

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January 2012 – A Month in Photos

Join me, and Rebecca @Simple As That for a year in photos – a monthly photo collage that shows all the happenings of each month.  I’m loving this idea – I always end up with computer folders filled with pictures that just sit there – at the end of this year, I’ll have 12 pretty collages that are already organized – and will be great to track Ben’s first year!  You can visit Simple As That to download the template for yourself.

Thank you, Rebecca, for the inspiration and great template! 

January 2012

• We took Ben on his first trip to the Cape, and first walk to Woods Hole (that’s him on the walk in the hat and plaid shirt!).
• Ben experienced his first snowfall.
• He started smiling and laughing!
• I did a few “photo shoots” with Ben (more pictures from them to follow!), and plan to keep doing these – we had fun and got some great shots!

This is my first time posting a button – couldn’t get it to work like it was supposed to (can anyone tell me how to do this the right way?) so I did a bit of a hack job to get the below  

Heather

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