If the Batter's Good, the Cake Will Be Good...

I have two nephews. They are both brilliant and funny in totally unique ways...as different from each other as night and day.

One day, I had the younger one over to my house while his mother (my sister) was out. Little E. and I decided to bake cookies. He informed me that we had to lick the beaters, "cuz if the batter's good, the cookies will be good." So we each, very seriously and scientifically, tasted the cookie dough to make sure the cookies would be good.

Following his sage advice, I tasted the batter for the cake that I currently have in the oven. It was really against my better judgement too, because the thing has like six eggs in it. But oh my word...if LE's words are true, then this cake is going to be to die for. The batter was absolutely heavenly, and it was only my fear of salmonella that kept me from eating more of it.

I think the only thing that could make it better is the honey vanilla butter than I'm planning on making to spread on the cake and the pumpkin muffins I already made. It's Fall baked goods heaven.

Mommy Brain

So I've been trying to resurrect this blog because I like to have it as an outlet. I had been feeling like my recent posts were kind of blah and boring. The other day something hit me to write about...I said, oh yeah, that's a real parenting issue that I can write a good post about! So I filed it away in my mental filing cabinet.

My mental filing cabinet isn't exactly foolproof. I can't for the life of me remember what I was going to write about.

So here's my list, for myself, of things I'd like to write about soon:

1. Teething...It still sucks.

2. Milwaukee Co-Sleeping Ads...Stirring up unnecessary fears.

3. Nursing the Growing Baby...Adventures in acrobatics.

4. Co-sleeping with a Growing Baby...who does this bed belong to anyway?

That's it for now.

(PS...An example of mommy brain: I could have sworn I posted this before I went to bed last night--a day late and dollar short, I guess.)

Walking Man!

So my little guy is a little over 13 months old. He babbles away, he crawls with lightening speed, and now he can walk!

He started pushing to stand himself up earlier this week...he's been pulling up and cruising for a while now. And now he can officially stand on his own. He took a couple of wobbly steps the first couple of days and today he took five or six steps all together. Then he did a bunch more times today.

He's growing up so fast...sometimes I can't believe how fast it's going by.

Again...it's been a while

Going back to work has certainly put a damper on my blogging. It's so hard to manage work, housework and the baby, let alone adding in extras like this blog.

I do miss writing and updating the world on my little guy.

Here's the update...he's standing independently now, he's taken a couple steps here or there, but nothing consistent. He's also taken to being a pill in new and different ways. We've finally gotten our old sleep issues under control, but now he doesn't like to let me sit on the couch and veg out on the computer.

Anytime I open up the laptop, he's right on it like a bear on honey. He also gets mad when we don't let him stand up in the bathtub. And he thinks it's unreasonably unfair that we won't let him go up and down the stairs.

I'm going to try and make a commitment to write more. My very few fans will be so happy!

Marathon Mom

Yesterday I read a blog about a woman who ran a marathon at 39 weeks pregnant, then went into labor and delivered a healthy baby seven hours later.

Today I saw a segment on the Today Show about the woman. Matt Lauer and Ann Curry were questioning whether or not it was acceptable for this mom to have run the marathon so late in her pregnancy.

Here is a woman who is fit and healthy and ran with her doctor's blessing. She slowed to a walk whenever necessary and drank plenty of water and ate along the way.

Now obviously this isn't something every pregnant woman should do. But this woman was an experienced runner and had already run while pregnant with her first child and earlier in her current pregnancy. She was cleared by her doctor and ran with her and her child's health in mind. Maybe for once we can stop judging every little thing that other moms do and recognize that here is a healthy mom who takes care of her body and her baby, and celebrate her strength and endurance.

God knows she'll need that same strength and endurance to get through the newborn phase. And I bet she'll be back to her pre-pregnancy weight in no time...a claim I still can't make a year later.

Why I Love and Hate Milestones

One of the coolest things about being a parent is watching your child grow and learn. It's fascinating to watch the progression of this person from a helpless little thing who can do nothing but sleep, cry and poop (albeit, he was very good at two of those things) to this person who crawls and stands and says Mama and Dada.

The flip side of this is that meeting milestones messes with babies' sleep. Now from my older posts, it's clear that I don't do well when Jack doesn't sleep. I can handle a day or two of bad sleep, but when it starts to stretch into a week or two, I get a little stressed.

And then there's chasing after the boy during diaper changes. If I can get him to stay still long enough for a diaper change, forget changing his clothes or buttoning his onesie. That usually involves me crawling after him trying to line up buttons while he makes his escape.

All in all, I'm at the point I just want him to walk already so we can get this milestone under our belt and get back to a regular sleep routine.

I'm Back

So it's been about a month since my last post. I actually thought it had been longer, so I have less blogger guilt now.

I do have some massive mommy guilt going on though.

While we were on vacation in South Carolina, my baby fell off the bed. Thankfully he landed on a pillow. Then two weeks later, he fell off the bed again...no pillow that time. I felt terrible. I felt worse the second time because it was totally my fault. And my little guy ended up with a bruise over his eye.

Plus I'm back at work now. My mother and mother in law split babysitting until my husband gets home. Jack is great for his grandmothers, but he likes to hassle his father. It makes me so sad that he's upset at bedtime and I can't be here to comfort him.

My only comfort is that it's only two days a week. I try to tell myself that it will improve the daddy and son bond, and honestly, the baby doesn't seem too traumatized by any of it. I think it's hardest on me.

Either way, we don't have much choice...and the paycheck is nice.