I have a friend who is constantly telling me that she's jealous that I'm such an amazing mom. She says it's so great that we are always out and busy, camping and doing activities. The thing is, half the time, when it comes to our activities, I feel like a below average mom. I'm not great at getting down on the floor and playing with my kids, we don't get outside and go to the park every day, and I don't read them nearly enough stories.
I look at this same mom and think that she's unbelievable. She's in the lake with her kids, she goes on walks to the playground twice a day. With a two week old, she was still taking her two year old to activities on a daily basis.
I have another friend who potty trained her son before he was two. It was a long road, but she took the time to sit with him in the washroom. To constantly ask him if he had to go potty and stop what she was doing to take him throughout the day. And I think, she's amazing! I don't have the time or patience to do that yet with Parker.
I think that we are all looking for validation that we are good moms. We see what other moms do and think that they are doing it better than us. I want to take my kids to the park twice a day too! But then the day happens and the park doesn't. But there are things that I'm doing that other moms wish they could do. But the lucky part of this is, that our kids don't really know the difference. They love us for what we do actually do with them. Parker might not have memories of tons of playground visits (although this summer I'm making a huge effort to make millions of memories), but he will remember all of our camping and cottage trips every weekend.
And at the end of the day, when we are looking at the other moms highlight reels of their days, they probably had a time in their morning when their two year old just cried for no reason, they were cleaning up spilled cheerios and milk and they were exhausted because their eight month old has suddenly decided to wake up every two hours throughout the night. Just because you don't see it doesn't mean it's not there. None of us are perfect, but we are all doing our best.
Getting a picture of this guy was tricky this month. He doesn't want to sit still. He loves grabbing onto anything he can, so in this case the blocks and his fox. The sheet underneath him is super wrinkly because he just kept moving around. But that's why I take pictures every month, so that I can look back and remember what he was like at that point in time! And at this point we have a happy and content baby who just loves to touch everything!
Weight: He was last weighed a few weeks ago and he was 20lbs right on. So I know he's more than that, but not sure exactly how much more. I'm pretty sure he's officially bypassed his brother.
Clothes: 6-12 months, 9-12 months if that's the way the sizing goes
Diapers: He kept leaking so I switched him to size 4. He can still wear the size 3's (as they go to 28lbs), but I think his big bum means that the size 4 fits better. We still use cloth but mostly when we are at home as it's easier with the two of them. Cooper is more prone to leaks, so if anything I put Parker in cloth more if we are going out because I don't have to change him every hour.
Feedings: Probably still eating around 6 times a day. He's been teething, which I'm blaming for him being up twice a night. He will usually eat around 1:30am, 4:30am, 9, 1, 5, 8:30, 9:30 and then go to bed.
I give him some solid foods but honestly I'm pretty inconsistent. I try to feed him once a day but know I should increase that. I mostly give him purees that I made and in the past month we've added beans, strawberry, zucchini, blueberry, butternut squash and creamed corn. I've given him some banana, blueberry and crackers to eat on his own but he mostly just makes a mess.
Sleeping: We've kind of regressed this month because he's up to eat more. I think he wakes up with his teeth bothering him and then I just tend to feed him because I've been too lazy to sleep train. He is definitely napping better though and will usually nap around 10:30am and then 2pm in the afternoon. He might have another little nap later in the evening between his last two feedings.
He still wakes up happy in the mornings and doesn't demand to eat right away which is nice and probably due to the fact that he's up in the night!
Developmental Milestones:
-He sits up very well now
-Apparently moves by pushing himself with his legs while on his back - the other day I found him on the opposite side of the room from where I'd left him
-Plays with toys a lot, picks everything up, can transfer hands
-He has one tooth on the bottom! I keep waiting for that other tooth to pop through as I'm sure it's coming soon.
Likes:
Same as usual probably. Loves his big brother. Loves any toy he can get his hands on. Is very grabby if he is sitting on your lap and wants to touch everything. The bath. Just a happy little guy. Likes to talk away to his toys in a loud, screechy voice.
Dislikes:
-Bottles - he's still not interested, he's a mama's boy
I had some little sitter photos taken this month and can't wait to get them back! I love this stage so much where he just sits and doesn't move. I know the pictures are going to be just adorable.
I had to include all of these pictures to show what our photoshoot was like this month. Constant moving. Nothing around him was safe!
Cooper boy you bring us so much joy with your big blue eyes and ginormous smile. I hope you are always as happy and content as you are right now (although I doubt that will happen). You and your brother are trouble makers already and you can't even move! I will find the two of you getting into mischief. Well, your brother gets into mischief and you just sit there and laugh at him as you are covered in newspaper or all of the clean laundry. It's easy to be your mama and we love you so much!
