Summer is my favorite season. Sure, it’s hot, but when else during the year can you get amazing, organic strawberries (and SO many other fruits) for so cheap?

Also, swimming is the most fun during Summer, ponytails everyday of the week are okay, casual clothing is totally acceptable and people are generally more chipper.

And don’t get me started on being a kid and Summer. That’s pretty obvious!

Now, if you’ll excuse me, I have dessert waiting. Mmmmmmmm….

PS – This is my first post with my iPhone. Look okay?

Love those baby blues!

My husband took this photo of Binary Boy on the 4th of July, outside, after playing in a baby pool over at our friends house.

Also… I am working on posts for months 7 and 8 (honest!) and an updated photo over to the right. Hope your week is going well, so far!

Binary Boy has grown so much in this past month, it’s hard to remember all the milestones he’s reached! Here’s a rundown:

Cut his first tooth – That was rough, on both of us. He’s had about a week of great naps during the day and sleeping through the night before his second tooth is starting to cut in. I’m hoping these two teeth are the worst of it, if only for his sake.

Started sitting up on his own – I am so, so proud of him for this one especially, because being the little independent boy that he is, he always wanted to be able to sit up from lying down on his own and now that he can, it’s such a relief for both of us!

Started “army” crawling – It’s a bit awkward to watch, but it gets him from point A to point B pretty quickly. Plus, now, he can army crawl his way over obstacles like pillows or even torsos!

Pulling himself up – This is still very early to report, I know, but it’s happening. I doubt it’ll go anywhere for several months, but he tries this on a regular basis if there’s furniture around to pull himself up on. He’s also tried it in his crib and we’ve turned around to see him in a very wobbly stand. Ahhh!

He’s still eating solids, though for several weeks now I’ve cut back the amount heavily after one of my readers brought up that maybe the solids were giving him gas. It worked and he’s not had any gas since. Now, though, he’s starting to want more than the tiny serving I’ve been providing. I think it’s safe to give it to him as he’s almost 7 months old.

We’ve also got the hang of running errands together during the day and he no longer fusses in his car seat unless he’s super tired. Speaking of car seats, we just purchased a new one to graduate from the infant seat and he loves it! I’ve been thinking about posting all the gear I use and giving my thoughts on it because I end up researching everything I purchase extensively, so I figure that someone else should benefit from that research and knowledge!

There’s more to say, but since he’ll be turning 7 months today, I’m just going to get this posted (d’oh!) and start working on the next post.

Mom and Binary Boy (5 days old)

Beginning when you’re very young, everyone asks you what you want to be when you grow up. For a long time, I wanted to be an artist – as in paintings. As I got older, my idea of what I wanted to be when I grew up changed. For a while I wanted to be a biologist, then an oceanographer, then a geographer, then a park ranger, then I flirted briefly with the idea of joining the Navy, then a nutritionist, then a teacher, and then I went for my Veterinary Technician degree. Obviously, none of them worked out and for the most part, I’ve worked in administration.

Through all of my years trying to find something that I found fulfilling, it never occurred to me, as a little girl, that I could be a mom when I grew up. As young children, we all take our moms, and everything she does for us, for granted. And besides, a mom doesn’t get paid money for her job and she doesn’t have to go into an office, or even dress up…so does it count?

As a woman who’s worked since she was 15 years old and now a new mom, I feel I can say that yes, it counts. Not only does it count as a “real” job, it is possibly the most important job on the planet. Moms are caring for and nurturing and molding the future adults of the world: the future husbands and wives and moms and dads of this world. It occurred to me that, for the most part, moms truly are the glue that keeps the human race together.

Even though moms don’t get a salary, paid vacation, sick leave or a pension, being a mom is a real job, and, for some women, a career. However, whether or not a woman makes a “career” of being a mom or not, being a mom is still a full-time job. Once a woman is mom, she will FOREVER be a mom, even when her child is having children of their own. It is a lifelong position that provides a challenging work place, room for growth and, best of all, unconditional love.

Even though most girls don’t really say “I want to be a mom when I grow up.”, most of us do become mothers and, I gotta tell ya, it really is the best job in the whole wide world. Oh, and those applying must be able to multi-task!

Happy Mother’s Day to all the moms out there!

I am such a proud mama today, because Binary Boy sat up on his own! He’s been able to sit for a while now, but he’d sorta slump slightly or fall over after a while, but today he used those strong back muscles of his and sat straight and tall and played for a half an hour on his own!

Other developments:

• Eating solid foods at least once a day! So far he’s tried (and enjoyed!) rice cereal, banana, sweet potato and green pears.
• Unfortunately, the eating solid foods has lead to… ahem, shall we say, some wind breaking. It was causing him some pain, too, at night. So for the past 3 nights, I’ve been giving him a dose of Little Tummy’s. It’s seemed to help him immensely with the gas pains.
• The teething has gotten better because his dexerity has improved vastly over the past few weeks. So, whereas he would have trouble getting a teether into his mouth then, now he practically puts anything he can get his hands on in his mouth.
• Also, in regards to the teething, Children’s Tylenol has been a huge help with night time pain. If he’s having a really rough night, I’ll give him a dose so that he’s able to sleep.

I hate to give him unnecessary medicine, but if he can’t sleep because he’s in pain from one thing or another, I gotta give in and dose him. Thankfully, the teething and gas are only temporary ailments!

Also, since I’ve started pumping breast milk (I hadn’t started until a few weeks ago), he is able to take a bottle while we are out and about. Though, he won’t take it from me, Kevin has to feed him! I only pump once or twice a week (not one or two days, literally just one or two times during the course of a week). Anyway, just that factor has made it infinitely easier to go out for longer periods of time.

So, when my grandparents came to visit recently, we were able to go out to dinner both nights with them and visit the State Capitol building (which is here in Austin) without having to worry about finding a private spot to nurse.

Here’s a photo of me and Binary Boy (he’s all cozy in his Ergo Baby Carrier):

Binary Blonde and Binary Boy at the Texas State Capitol building in Austin.

Anyway, it’s shocking how fast he’s growing and doing new stuff. It seems like every day he does something new and amazing! I totally being his mom.

I’m tired. No, scratch that. I’m exhausted. It’s a good exhaustion though, I guess. Not a crabby-type tired. A healthy-and-busy-new-mom tired.

Clearly, one of things I don’t do when I’m tired is write, though. Or upload photos! Sorry about that. To be honest, the last thing on my mind is writing in my blog after Binary Boy gets to sleep at night. I just want to decompress and think about absolutely nothing.

And writing makes me think, so I don’t really relish the idea of doing it. But, I’m thinking now, so I figure I’d post an update!

Teething: Still pretty much the same. Though, no teeth as of yet! I’ve tried just about every safe teething item under the sun, but I think now that Binary Boy has turned 4 months old and, subsequently, been getting a whole lot better with his hands, all the teething items that were formally too large or too cumbersome will soon be able to give him relief. I will be trying another teether that a neighbor recommended: Sophie the Giraffe, which I order along with this odd-looking teething item: RaZberry Teether

Napping: Better, but still not super great. It’s sporatic, and when he does nap, it’s erractic, though on a good day Binary Boy will nap for 2 hours at a time. Sometimes, it’s as little as 40 minutes, so it’s still hard to plan anything that requires a specific time during the day. He is a very light sleeper, so when we get him down for the night (which sometimes takes 3 hours, literally) we have to pretty much whisper and tip-toe around the house.

For some reason, the time change has discombobulated his internal clock and we’ve had a rough couple of nights. Tonight, for instance, he conked out around 8pm and his usual bedtime is 9:30pm or later. So, who knows! I’ve come to just accept that it’s useless to expect any sort of routine for any extended amount of time. No sooner than I am used to his routine, then he goes around and changes it. Heehee!

New Achievements: His new thing is flipping from back to tummy. He’s been doing it for a few weeks now, but only within the past week and a half has it been his “default”. Basically, if I put him down anywhere on his back, he will flip over pretty much right away. So, now I just set him down on his tummy. He’s much happier that way. He’s also getting really good with his hands and wants to grab anything and everything within reach. Yikes!

Oh, and how could I leave this out? He had his first “meal” last night! A whole tablespoon of rice cereal mixed with 3 tablespoons of breast milk. He ate almost all of it. I would say “all of it”, but a good portion of it ended up on the table, him, me and anything within splattering distance.

Overall Health: At the end of last month, he went for his 4-Month check-up. He weighs in at a healthy 14 pounds 13 ounces and is 24.5 inches tall. All within perfect range for his age. Yay!

We’re all very happy and I am just loving being his mom. If you can believe it, we’ve already been asked if we’re having another one. WTF?! As of right now, that answer is “no”, because, let’s face it, I already have two kids (with my husband being one of them)! Haha!

A friend of mine suggested that I blog only photos until I find time to write posts again. I think it is a great suggestion! So great, in fact, that I will start with some photos I took today of Binary Boy playing on his Boppy play gym.

Binary Boy enjoying some tummy time on his Boppy play gym.

Binary Boy enjoying some tummy time on his Boppy play gym.

Hopefully, I can post a photo a day. It might be too ambitious, but it’s worth a try! Also, in 10 days, Binary Boy will be 4 months old. I know I’ve said this before and I’ll more than likely say it again, but they really do grow so fast!