Happy 8-Monthiversary, Dear Brady!

Not much to report since I just wrote a few days ago, but Brady is now officially 8 months old! His month picture was yet again difficult to take; I think he's boycotting the whole idea of posing with a Pooh Bear. The pics are amusing at least :-) No teeth or crawling to speak of, but in a short time, he's really gotten better at attempting to sit up from lying on his back. He's starting to understand that if he turns onto his side and uses his arms to lift his little body, he'll eventually be upright. I'm sure we still have a few more weeks of practice to perfect this move, but it's fun watching him learn :-)

He's been sleeping so well (knock on wood), and that makes me very happy! He's been hyper at night which is strange because he used to drink himself sleepy and snuggle after his bottle. Not any more. He's interested in the dogs. He's interested in the lights. He's interested in remote controls and phones of all kinds. Once the bed time bottle is done, he wants more jumping time. No matter how active he is, though, once he's wrapped and ready for snooze time, it's a matter of minutes before he's out. I sure wish I were like that!

In the last few days, Brady has also shown interest in holding his own sippy cup. I'm excited for the day when he'll actually feed himself! He does well holding the handles, but still needs to get the hang of sucking through the spout. It's a heavy duty cup, so I was just happy he could pick it up!

Zach comes home tomorrow night; we're excited to have him back! We've been keeping in touch through e-mail and phone, but it's not the same. I do believe I'll have to accompany the Plum baseball team on their trip next year. I'm sure Zach wouldn't mind lugging his wife and son along....

That's it from these parts! The next few weekends are busy, busy, busy, but they're sure to bring tons of cute pictures. Until next time, Happy Easter!

More Things I've Learned from Mommying!

1. I must side-step a creaky floor board in Brady's room when I sneak in while he's sleeping. Even though a freight train wouldn't wake the child, I still feel the side-step is necessary.

2. Zach will inevitably leave the baby wipes open; therefore, I will always have to throw away the first wipe.

3. I now look forward to Brady's bath and bed time with the same enthusiasm I once had for Happy Hour on Friday with the girls!

4. Listening to Zach sing his "Lube the Boob" song as he puts lotion on Brady is, hands-down, the most hilarious thing in the world.

5. Watching Brady grow and learn kinda intimidates me! Zach and I are responsible for this little guy and how he will treat other people AND himself, how he'll feel about everything from trees to religion to animals to learning...at least for a little bit! That's just a crazy thought!

6. I would have checked myself into an insane asylum loooooong ago if it weren't for our amazing family. Special thanks to the grandparents because, without you, Brady wouldn't be as happy as he is and I wouldn't be as...calm as I am :-)

Moving from my lessons learned to Brady's: he's now pronouncing "Mama" and his N's and B's, and every so often, we'll hear a "Dadadadada" come out of him! He's also quite aware of his hands and their abilities now; he's become adept at locating his binkie (AKA: pacifier, nuk, ninny, etc.) and putting it back into his mouth. This makes Mom and Dad VERY happy, as Brady is now relying on himself at 2 am rather than screaming for us to return the bink! I even bought glow-in-the-dark ones so that helps. Yay for progress!

Speaking of 2 am, we haven't had too many of those meetings recently thanks to the cry-it-out method we had to enforce a few weeks ago. Poor Brady was just killin' us with his waking every few hours, and we knew for the sake of our happy home, we had to do something! One night, we put him down around 8 pm. Almost immediately, he started wailing. Zach and I waited patiently at the bottom of the steps, hoping he would stop. When he didn't, we looked at each other and just decided it was now or never. We retreated into the office and did some work while Brady screamed for about a half an hour. It was horrible, yes; but it was effective! The little guy hasn't woken up once since we let him yell his little head off! We're pretty fortunate, too, because from what I heard, the cry-it-out method usually needs a few nights of practice. Thankfully, Brady is a fast learner :-)

While we have made some gains with the sleeping, we have not made many in the way of his crawling. Just like with rolling over, I think he knows we expect some action, and as a result, he has boycotted doing ANYTHING while on his stomach or hands and knees. In fact, when we lay him on his stomach, he immediately rolls to his back and stays put as if to say, "I am not ready and you can't make me!" Apparently he's a late mover-and-shaker, which is fine by me. Here's hoping he's like Grandma Terri and opts out of the crawling and just starts walking!

Brady's been a busy bee the last few weeks. As the weather has been perfect for walks, we're out and about on a regular basis. He's quite social (he still really enjoys the ladies, which you'll see in his choice of reading material...), and we had another playdate with little Lani. The two finally acknowledged one another and Lani stayed awake for the date which was a plus! In the near future, we have many places to go for Easter, a trip to Virginia for Zach's friend's wedding, and in June, a vacation to South Carolina. Here's hoping Brady continues to enjoy car rides, otherwise he could make our travel plans quite difficult!

Zach left for Florida this morning, so I'm here with the babe and the cold my husband shared with me. I'll be mooching dinner (more than usual) from my parents, and hopefully getting more work done since Zach won't be around to distract me! He already called to let me know he made it there, so I now pray he has nice weather...only if we have it here, of course :-) Brady officially turns 8 months this Friday, so I'll post those pics for ya in a few days.

Special shout-out to Nonno who is home from the hospital, but still not feeling 100%. We had hoped to visit, but first Zach was sick with a cold and now I've caught it, so it looks like Easter might be our first reunion! I'll prepare for our visit with some meds and a nice nap....starting now!

An Attitude of Gratitude

It's me again!! I felt the need to write again because I'd like to amend my earlier post. Yes, I'm exhausted. Yes, I'm overwhelmed with grad work. Yes, sometimes I wonder what in the hell I'm doing as a parent! But something happened today that really slapped me in the face--and I deserved it.

I went to visit some old pals at Valley High School this afternoon. I hadn't seen some of them since Brady was born and they've been begging me to take him in. It was so fabulous seeing happy, familiar faces, running into some of the students, catching up. There are some amazing educators and people in that building, and I really do miss them. Brady and I made our rounds and by the end of the day, there were about 10 of us in a room just chatting. Of course everyone asked about motherhood, how I was feeling, etc. Without even thinking about it, my automated response was, "I'm exhausted!" or "The past week or so has been rough." Sometimes I would add, "But it's worth it;" other times, I didn't. I didn't think about how ridiculous I sounded until I ran into 2 different people.

The first was a one of the PM custodians. She was always so good to me when I worked there, always smiling and happy. Then one day a few summers ago, her daughter--who had just graduated from VHS--was killed in a car accident. I went to the funeral and will never forget the emptiness in her eyes or what she said when I hugged her: "It hurts so bad." My heart broke for her back then, but now as a mom, I can't even imagine the pain she must have felt. Seeing her today and introducing her to my son was a little uncomfortable because I knew she couldn't have helped but remember her daughter.

The second familiar face I ran into was a former co-worker, a math teacher. He was so excited to see me that he dropped his bags and swept Brady out of my arms. We hugged and talked about parenthood and, as I did with everyone, shared how exhausted I was with him. He said he remembered those days, but suggested I cherish them because pretty soon I'll be in his shoes with a 10 and 12-year-old who want nothing to do with their parents. I smiled politely, thinking I must look awful with my messy hair and bags under my eyes, when he told me that he has cancer. He's already undergone one operation and has another one scheduled next week. He told me about the day he found out, how he's explaining it to his kids, and how he truly feels that God won't let him die without realizing one of his biggest dreams: to be a grandfather some day. He went on to say something that I myself have said many times: everything happens for a reason. It's easy to say (and believe) this as a healthy adult, but for a man who has had one kidney, lymph nodes, part of his lung, and a rib removed, I find it nothing short of inspiring. I had to hold back my tears as I listened to him. We hugged goodbye and went our separate ways: I to my home, he to the hospital.

I can't decide whether or not I'm selfish, stupid, or a little bit of both for needing both of those people to point out the obvious: I have it sooooo good. I am mortified that I answered "how are yous?" with such a stupid response as "Exhausted." I should have answered honestly and told everyone who asked: "I have an amazing family who loves and supports me, my husband is my best friend, my son is healthy and happy, my friends are amazing, and I have opportunities and privileges in my life that others only dream about." That's the truth.

I found a few more Sir Brady pics; figured you wouldn't mind looking at them :-)

Happy 7-Monthiversary, Dear Brady...a week later!

I'm a bit late in posting Brady's 7-month old pictures, but that seems par for the course these days. Brady hasn't been sleeping well (again) at night and even though everyone including our pediatrician says he's teething, I've yet to see or feel any baby teeth. I realize it takes some time, but it's been, like, 2 months! I've been telling everyone that if I don't see a tooth real soon, it's safe to say the devil has possessed my baby boy. Baseball is all but in full swing (no pun intended there), Zach is leaving for Florida and I fear I'm on the verge of a nervous break-down!!! Don't get me wrong, I'm super grateful for all of the help I have because I realize there are many others out there who have it worse/more difficult, but this is a first for me and some days I feel like I'm drowning! Parenting: IT'S HARD!

Okay, now that I've gotten that off my chest, what else do I have to share? Hmmm....well, Brady had his 6-month check-up and weighs about 18 pounds, is 28 1/2 inches tall, and will probably keep his baby blues. He's also developed a small rash which, everyone says, is another sign of teething. It better be! He's also pretty feisty these days. It was much more difficult getting him to sit still for his pictures this month, as you'll see in the slide show! His new favorite things to do are sitting up to roll a ball back and forth (he's getting really good!) and playing with every and anything that makes noise. He's a very busy child!

On a separate baby note, my college roomie/gal pal Sandy and her husband Kevin are expecting their first in early October! That was very exciting news! Baby Lani is home and doing well; Brady and I stopped in for a visit the other day, even though she slept through most of it :-) I just love that Brady will soon have baby friends!

I'm sure there is more I could write, but quite honestly, my brain is fried from working on a 12 page action research paper for grad school. So, enjoy these pics...our little guy is getting so big!!