The Adventures of Eating

Okay, I am wrapping up work on my thesis for the night and should be going to bed but had to share my adventures with Jerbear!
We have now entered the eating phase!!! Wow, was I not prepared. At his doctor's appointment last week he suggested we begin "introducing" Jeremy to solid foods. Not so much for him to get full, but to acquaint him with the spoon, and the concept of eating (I guess instead of drinking).
Now before this time I noticed my son beginning to stare at my food or his father's food as we ate. Little did I know he was recognizing that we were eating food. Color me stupid but the doctor confirmed this.
Ok, quick side note, we tested this theory (because you know me.... I don't believe until I can test it for myself or "see" it with my own eyes). I forget what I was eating but I decided to put it up to his mouth to see if he would open it. By Jolly George (hey, leave my sayings alone... you know I never get them right so I make them up), he opened his mouth!!! I could have picked my mouth up off the ground because I always thought this happened much later (and when I say much I mean at 1 years of age) in their intsy tintsy little lives. I see now that I am wrong, and never to taunt him with food I don't intend to give him ever again. Yes, you guessed it.... he became upset with us for doing that. NEVER again. Bad mommy reprimand. SN: It was still very funny to watch.
OK so on to our adventures of eating. You know how I refer to my son as a bear. Well the name fits! This little boy weighing in at 16 pounds (yes, I know exactly). He is in the 75th percentile- for those of you who are clueless as to what this means, it means only 25% of infants his age are bigger than he is. By Jolly George, no wonder my arm hurts so much.
OK, back on topic again....
So my Bear (and there is a literal context for this now :) ), is a terror when he eats. I mean terror in a good way. He LOVES his food. You would never guess this child had any problems at birth or spent an entire week in the hospital because of his low blood sugar and eating habits. See this takes me back to my premise that he was just afraid to go home with us that first week. He knew we needed so extra training :-D! Thanks Bear!
Ok, so our nights go like this....
10 pm- Mommy begins to make bottles and cleans the kitchen. He sits in his boppy entertaining himself and me
10:15 pm Mommy warms bottle for bed and prepares food
10:20 pm Mommy gets everything set up for bed and for the next day -- run his bath water, set out his clothes for the next day, turns back crib covers, turns on his gospel music and set up his classical music (this is what he sleeps to)
Note..... because he has watched Mommy prepare his bottles and food he is getting antsy... okay more like annoyed, but I have to watch him or he will really get annoyed
10:30 pm begin feeding Bear. Ummmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm......... let's see he literally grabs at my hands for the spoon and tries to put the spoon in his mouth himself. I am never fast enough for him it seems. Is he really 4 months old or did I sleep through a few months of his life?! Though he appears clean before he begins to eat, he is totally clothed in his food by the end. But trust me, a great deal did end up in his stomach.
10:40 pm He has finished eating.... shouldn't it take longer than this? LOL When begin his bath
10:50pm He is dressed and eating his next bottle
11 pm He is in his crib falling asleep
11-1:15 pm... while working on my thesis.... I am rubbing my hands he has lovingly scratched while grabbing for his food.

So to end this .....
Gerber Rice Cereal $3
Baby Spoons $4
Bowl $2.50
Watching Jeremy enjoy his food.... absolutely PRICELESS!!!!!!

Life with Jeremy, His first snow day!!

Can you believe that four months and two days ago I gave birth to my beautiful baby boy?! As I was making his 6 OZ! bottles this morning I started laughing that an extra human being was living in our home. He "belonged" to us. I still have moments where I cannot believe God trusted me enough to be a mother. WOW, pretty remarkable.

I am not sure how big he is because his 4 month check up is next Monday. They don't offer 3 month check-ups for some reason. But after his 2-month check up I am happy. I needed some time to regroup after his breakdown due to all of the shots they gave him that day. I pray next Monday's appointment (or shall I say the day/night) goes better.

He really is developing nicely. I tell everyone what a true delight he is. He is such a happy and easy baby. He wakes up smiling and loves, loves, loves to laugh all of the time. He found his voice a few months back so he "talks" our heads off. He jabbers so much I really think he is holding on a real conversation in his head.

He was sleeping throughout the night, but as of last week that has stopped. YIKES!! I am sure it is due to a growth spurt. But I am now no longer using his swaddle to put him to sleep because he started getting heat bumps all over. So laying him on his back has been interesting. He still hates it. He woke up at 1:30 am this morning asking to sleep with Mommy and Daddy. By 4:30 am he was back in his crib. Yes, he transitioned to his crib two weeks ago. Maybe that has something to do with his recent sleep changes. I hope we figure this sleep thing out soon. I work on my thesis from the time he goes to sleep, about 10p until 1:30 am. Now if he wakes up an hour later and stays awake, when will I sleep?!?!?!? But he is SO worth it. Honestly I can't even complain because he is so wonderful.

As stated earlier, he now takes 6 oz. bottles. This is getting SO expensive. We are buying 32 oz boxes of formula a week. Those $5 coupons are not doing much justice. I wish there was a tax credit for this sort of stuff. But as long as he is grow healthy and happy we will continue to buy the "good stuff". I wonder if there really is a difference though.

On Friday night (January 29, 2010) North Carolina had its first real snow storm in years. We have been in the house since 7pm Friday night. We took pictures of Jeremy enjoying his first snow day. Well we tried to get him to enjoy it but he missed his nap time and it was his next eating time. So not too many smiles this go round.

Last night (Jan. 31st) he ate his first solid food..... rice cereal. If someone can tell me what that is, that would be nice. He LOVED it. He loves grabbing at things he enjoys, such as my cell phone, his bib, his cloth diaper, etc. He kept grabbing at his food and the spoon. I could not give it to him fast enough. I asked my husband to take a picture but the batteries in the camera died from the snow day pictures. Oh well...

I decided to take today off of work. This may sound silly to many but it is because I fear being hurt or dying on the road. Not because of any pain this will cause me, but because of the pain it may cause Jeremy. I grew up without my biological mother. This has left such a void in me I wish this hurt on no one. So I take every precaution I can to ensure I am here to raise him for the long haul. I do need to work on my diet and exercise though. But I realized that my driving has improved greatly, I don't stress as much (maybe I just stopped caring about things that use to bother me), and I am trying to be much less clumsy. I want him to grow up with both parents.

Today is the first day since I have returned to work that I am actually home with him and get to stay with him the entire day. I should add this past Saturday and Sunday as well. On Mondays and Wednesdays my older sister Regina takes care of him. Tuesdays and Thursdays my mother-in-law drives up from Fayetteville and takes care of him. This makes me so happy I cannot begin to explain. Friday his Daddy stays up (since it is the weekend) and watches him. Saturday his AuntMa has him and Sunday is usually his Aunt Shonda/Aunt Carolyn or someone else in church. Taking care of him at night, while cleaning, cooking, and working on my thesis is really fr the birds. I miss him and I know he misses me. Which is why it was so hard for me to transition him to his own room and his crib. It feels like I spend so little time with him now. But I enjoy every minute I can get in with him. We pray every morning and night, read, spell, talk, play on our tummy toy Mama King bought him for Christmas and the other toy Aunite Kym bought him. We have such a wonderful time together. All I can say is thank you God for your vision.

Until next time. I will post pics of our snow day in a separate post.