04-8-2009 - Update for the past month or so

My mood while writing this blog: Exhausted

Hey ladies. Just thought that I would throw an update out there while I was catching up! I have been really busy as of late.. my mom/dad/siblings all moved to Lousiana so I have taken over my moms business! Lots of work trying to get it back on track and I don't have alot of free time. Joel is taking a nap currently so I figured I would hop on here and see what all my lady friends have been up too!
Joel is now 6 1/2 months old.. he is attempting to crawl and can sit for short periods of time. He is still breastfeeding but gets solid foods twice a day. He is on the Gerber second foods and loves them! It takes a bit of work to get him to eat the veggies but he has to eat those first before he gets a fruit :)

He is napping better during the day.. normally takes two naps for 1 hour each so I am getting a wee bit more time to myself during the day! However at night he is being a bear.. for the past two weeks he has wanted to eat every two hours. I put him down at 9pm and he gets up between 11-midnight for a feed, then 2 am, 4am, 6am, and then daddy leaves for work around 7am so I get woke up again. I look like a zombie and have lost more weight so now I am BELOW my pre-preggo weight and am starting to look scrawny again :mellow I have been trying to eat right but its just taking so much out of me. I thought maybe that it was a growth spurt but they have never lasted this long before so I am at my wits end. I start him out in his crib beside my bed and he will sleep in there until he wakes up for his first feed. Then I bring him into bed with me for the rest of the night because the only time I get to sleep is when he is eating. I just pop him on the boob and I pass back out. Its really difficult not getting any deep sleep.

Joel has two teeth now on the bottom and one seems to be coming in through the top. He is a biter and loves to bit me while eating. I was hopeing to make it to the year mark with breastfeeding but he is making it really difficult. I am so sore and he thinks it is just such a game. I have tried everything in the book and on the internet to make him stop biting but nothing so far. I love to breastfeed but hate the biting.

He is attempting to crawl now and wiggles all over his play mat. He likes to pull his legs up underneath him and scoot forward on his face. He doesn't have too much belly time because he hated it when he was younger. So I am doing 5 minutes at a time several times throughout the day and he is slowly getting better with it. Not so much yelling and carrying on. He is actually starting to play with some of the toys on there!

He has pretty much outgrown his bouncer but he loves it so I continue to put him in there. He bounces it back so far that he hits the floor. He thinks this is hilarious but I can just see the poor thing breaking under the stress he puts on it lol! He is doing some time in his walker now and scoots backwards in it and gets stuck on furniture... then yells for me to come and get him out. He has really found his voice now. Yells about everything and then grins when I tell him to hush. He really is a little stinker but I love him so much :) He hasn't said any words yet but opens and closes his mouth when I say mama mama at him. He tries so hard. He sticks his tongue out and copies my facial expressions.. really is just so cute.

Also, is this just a boy thing? but when he farts he thinks its the greatest thing ever.. also he has figured out that he has a weiner and loves to pull on it while I am changing his diaper.. is that normal? LOL it is quite annoying when I am trying to change him and he messing around with it lol.

He is really attached to his tiger toy that I got at the baby shower. He doesn't want to play with anything else! And he loves his binkie and puts it in his own mouth to calm himself down (so great!). Also he has this blanket that he won't sleep without.

He is drinking out of a sippy cup and eats rice cakes like there is no tomorrow. I give him a bit of juice with a bunch of water and he will drink the whole thing. He loves to be independant now (as long as I am within sight!). He is making best friends with my cat Misty and she just loves him. Whenever he is on the floor she is right there beside him. He pulled one of her wiskers out the other day and she didnt' do a thing. I'm happy that they are getting along. She has needed something to play with ever since I got rid of my other cat (the siamease).

On to other things.. I could go on and on about Joel all day lol! But DH and I have not been getting along as of late. He is working more and is really grumpy when he gets home and doesn't help out at all. We are fighting alot and things have just been tense.

Also, I think I may be pregnant. I am over a week late for my period. I am scared to take a test because.. well just alot of reasons but this wasn't something I was expecting right now if I am pregnant.

Anyways.. some recent pics of Joel <3

6 months post-pregnancy. 118 pounds. Little under pre-preggo weight. Sure do look different though lol!