5.5 Meses

We are TWO WEEKS away from Ry's 6 month check up. Which means we are TWO WEEKS away from him starting solids. I know, technically we could start solids now, but I really want his 6 month bday to be special and exciting. What better way to celebrate than eating a banana? Ha! I cannot wait Although, I totally can because I love the stage Ry's in. Poop isn't stinky-at least compared to how it's going to get-he still isn't moving around or talking back. He's just a cutie all around and easy peasy to take care of. Sigh, I'll miss this so much. Every second that passes, I miss.  A few weeks ago, I was at a store carrying Ryan in his car seat and I passed a mother whose child started throwing a tantrum in the middle of the store. She looks at Ryan and goes, "I miss that stage." Poor lady. I really CAN WAIT for him to grow up. I'd rather a little fussy baby I can hold and soothe than a bratty kid who can't be consoled because he's stubborn. We'll get there one day. They all grow into bratty kids. I'm sure I was one at one point, and my mother loved me through it (I think..)

Okay you guys, I have a couple mommy fails to share. This first one is so bad, that I don't even want to admit to it because I'm worried someone will call child services. I knew the second it happened, it was a mistake. Here it goes: I left my baby with a stranger. It's not AS terrible as it sounds. I didn't leave him with some hobo on the corner to babysit or anything. It was in bldg 600 (the main army building where pretty much every thing you need to do, ever, is.) I was carrying my computer bag, the car seat, my diaper bag, and my child, who had a poop explosion all over his back. As I'm walking a woman offered to help carry my car seat. Actually, she insisted. She worked there (she had the official tag) and as we got to the doors, I told her she didn't have to carry it outside to my car because she had no coat on. She insisted. I said no no, really don't worry about it. She offered to hold him while I put everything in my car. LITTLE MISS STUPID here said yes. My car was parked right by the door and I knew the second that I gave him to her (I warned her about the poop) that I was committing a mommy crime. I still remember every detail of her face and the exact yellow short sleeve peasant top with mini flowers that she was wearing because I thought to myself, "if you aren't here in the next 90 sec when I get back, I will hunt you down and kill you." Luckily, I didn't have to murder anyone. She stood and played with Ryan even though he was a poop monster and all was happy again. And I will never do that again. Or if I do (which I won't), I will take a picture of them on my phone together before walking away. Come on Molly, Stranger Danger! I beat myself up over this all the time. Seriously, so stupid of me.

The next mommy fail isn't as intense. I gave up chocolate for so long because Ry reacted poorly to it. Well, with Valentine's Day, I fell off the wagon. Completely. I don't even really like M&M's, but that's all I've been eating for 2 weeks. I even ate M&Ms with tortilla chips (weird combo, but surprisingly good). Then, when Vday candy went on sale for half off, I bought a heart shaped box of candy. Not a small one, but the medium sized ones you expect to get on Valentine's Day. I ate THE WHOLE THING before my car even made it home from Walgreens. I turned into a chocoholic. And then I couldn't figure out why Ry kept waking up at 1, 2, 3am angry and not tired. Poor kid. I've finally decided it's time to avoid the chocolate again. It sucks. I'm going to miss it. But chocolate, we had some good times this month. Yes, we did.

This week's big baby accomplishment was sitting up!! He can't quite get over his big belly on is own yet. You'll see him clench his tummy and his fists while biting his lower lip trying to sit up, but he only just barely gets his shoulders off the ground. However, I sit him up with his boppy behind him and he just sits and plays as if his toys are totally new now that he can see them from up top. He's been working on his balance all week, and the first few days, I'd come over to him face planted into one of his toys, but I think he's pretty much got the hang of it. He's such a big boy!!! All sitting up and what not.

AND we've started moving him up into some of his 6-9/12 month clothes. Whenever I get close to the next size change, I start going through the next size up. Baby clothes sizes make NO sense. I grabbed a 12 month outfit of his because it looked tiny. I put it on him, and it fit. Then I put him in a 9 month outfit, and it was huge. So confusing. I start arranging his clothes now by what looks the smallest compared to his 6 month clothes to what looks the biggest. Why even bother putting a number on it? Those numbers mean nothing. And why do company's make baby clothes that shrinks? Really? I think we're at a stage of life where manufacturers should be able to pre-shrink the clothing and then sell it. That's what they do at Pink (VS). Not a hard concept...

Ryan created his first master piece this weekend. I put some paint on a canvas and sealed a baggie over it and let him smoosh the paints around (no mess!) It was perfect. He loved watching the colors move around and he got to explore what happened when he moved his hand over the paint area. And the result? We now have some new artwork for our wall :) It was fun! I  also discovered this website that gives weekly games to do with your baby to help with development. Such good ideas! Here's the site for any of you mom's out there with infants: CLICK ME. I got him to take breast milk off a spoon to start prepping for actual eating. He ate it like a champ, although his face was all scrunched as if he had no idea why he was doing what I was making him do. OH MY GOODNESS I love watching my baby learn. He's the cutest.

I'm just going to throw this out there one more time. If you're a mom... READ A FREAKING BOOK ABOUT IT. Do your research! I just saw another mom post on Facebook not understanding why her baby isn't sleeping through the night. And then, someone commented with a suggestion that isn't advised without the go-ahead from your doctor. So frustrating! We live in the age of technology where information is at your fingertips in the click of a button. If you don't want to buy the book I keep suggesting (What to Expect the First Year... whaaaaaaat?) then go to the websites and look things up through valid sites rather than FB friends. Being a mom isn't just about being around your kid nonstop and making sure they're fed. It's an active, ever-changing job that requires you to put in a little extra effort to make sure your baby is on track for health. I hate that incompetency is now being passed down generation from generation. Seriously, people do nothing but evolve our species into one that's more stupid with each passing year. And no one seems to care. Well I do, and I'm telling you, it's not going to kill you to try to read something to provide for your child. If you have time for TV and Facebook, then you have time to read. UGH. Anyway....

On Friday, we got a new addition to our family. A new truck. We're supposed to be moving down to GA in the next 2 months (however, we're still waiting on orders... let's see how long they delay this process) so we've been doing a lot of research trying to figure out how the hell we're going to get 3 dogs and a baby from one corner of the country to the next.. including a drive through Canada. We figured a truck may be our only hope, as long as we can get a topper for the back so the pups will have some space for their cage and to roam with our luggage. My hubby found one he liked and we got it. I have to admit, I'm not a fan of trucks, but this one is pretty sexy. It has heated seats, lumbar support (which, for my billions of back issues, feels amazing), individual heating, a sun roof, and lots of space in the back seat, cause, let's face it.. we're going to need to pack for 6 creatures to survive for a month without our goods. We need the space.

Other than that, life hasn't been too thrilling. We've been dealing with a legal issue for the past 8 months now with our old landlord. We had our trial on Thursday, hoping to finally have this issue solved, however nothing got resolved, so we have to go back in two weeks. Such a stress. I'm ready for this to end. It's consumed me all week and caused so much stress. On top of every day stress.

Yesterday, I had maybe 15 mins to sit down all day. Every time I went to sit down, either Ryan had a poop explosion, or he woke up, or he had another poop explosion. I was so busy that by the end of the day, I was ready to just sit down and watch the Oscars. After watching about an hour of it, I realized how much of my precious time I wasted. Seriously, I don't even like the Oscars. I don't care who wins best costume design or the music editing of obscure movies. And it's like the same 5 movies that I haven't seen are nominated in every category. I don't want to listen to people who I've never heard of's speeches. I only wanted to see NPH but he only got little snippets of time every 5-10 mins. I was so upset that I even wasted my time watching. So many better things I could have done with my rare free don't-have-to-be-a-mommy time .

Ugh, and now it's Monday again. I know it's going to be another long week followed by another couple stressful weeks. My body is exhausted. My mind is exhausted. I know this weekend is Fur Rondy and I'm so excited for it, but I also feel like I don't want to go wasting energy by having fun. (I'm such a drag!) I hate that my husband has to work all the time and that he maybe comes home in time for Ryan to go to sleep. He's been gone for 4 months. Seeing him for tiny snippets at the end of the day doesn't really make up for the time we've lost. I'm just wiped and need a break. I'm hoping these next couple days give me just that so I can at least enjoy the weekend. I think I'd be a lot happier if I knew I could have chocolate. Ha! Oh well. Until next time my loves. xoxoxo.