Emilio - 6 months (!)

Emi- 6 months

Alright, stop with the growing!! how did 6 months creep up on us??  Sure, you are still a baby, but you are speeding your way through all these milestones and my mind just can't keep up. You are still following your brother everywhere with your eyes, and now even trying to ACTUALLY follow him around...on your hands and knees!  Seems to me you are still too young for any of that, but it seems it isn't something random that you've done once or  twice, but rather a skill you are determined to master soon. you definitely get on all fours no problem, but once you're there you start balancing back and forth trying to figure out what to do next. Most times you end up sort of leaping forward with both legs, like a frog, which almost invariably ends up with an ugly face plant and you getting frustrated and angry. But all that said, it all does get you places! I am convinced you'll probably be crawling in about a month from now.

Another huge milestone is you getting your two bottom teeth!! the first one showed up about two weeks ago, and the second followed about 3 or 4 days after. Not a surprise because you've been super drooly for quite a while now, and waking up with strange cries, and even been kind of cranky during the day.

Speaking of teeth, you are also well into your first solid foods. We started you on solids a good two weeks ago or so, and you seem to be really enjoying trying all those new flavours and textures. You definitely seem to get excited when we all sit at the table - you start kicking, screaming and reaching for food if we don't hand you some of our food quickly. We are trying "Baby led weaning" or self-feeding this time and it is amazing to me how much more enthusiastic you are with food than your brother ever was with traditional feeding methods and purees. Your dad gets very nervous with this method (and to be honest I kind of freak out a little too when you gag!), but I do notice that your ability to chew and move your food around your mouth is definitely improving.  So far you've tried orange slices (which you love and happily devour in no time), bread and butter slices, cantaloupe, mango, waffles, avocado, banana, strawberry and one of your favourites, sips of water.

Eating Strawberries and French toast

As for potty, I mean to write a more detailed report on how that's going. However, I'll say that we are still progressing and feeling great about it. We stopped all together for a few weeks so that I could observe your patterns and refocus for a while, but I've started taking you consistently after you wake up and after naps, and we have barely seen any poopy diapers in the last few weeks!

Sleep is still I guess our only "issue" this month, mainly because I haven't managed to kick you out of our bed yet, ha ha. Sleeping with you was getting very uncomfortable for your dad, who is a major bed hog, and honestly it is kind of bugging me as well that whenever you turn around and bump into me, you want to comfort nurse. I tried putting you in your crib several times but you immediately wake up 3 minutes after I've laid you down, and honestly, I'm too exhausted to persist, so I just take the easy out. And whoever wants to slap my hand about that (including your Abuis) is more than welcome to put you sound asleep any day. So, what I came up with is putting a little mattress top next to our bed so I can lay down and nurse you to sleep. It is working pretty well and you sleep for a good 4 or 5 hours the first stretch of the night, and when you wake up I'm always too groggy to have any will power or discipline, so I just pick you up and bring you to bed with us until the next morning. You are now sleeping about 1o or 11 hours at night (from about 8.30 or 9 p.m.) and sleeping 3 naps during the day of about 3-4 hrs in total).

Finally, I haven't taken you for your latest vaccines yet so I am not sure what your weight is, but my back can tell you must be getting pretty heavy. I took you and your brother to the playground while wearing you on my front, and I swear started thinking I wasn't going to make it back! I somehow hurt my back while carrying you, and my knees and feet were soar for days!! soooo, I can say our days of baby wearing might soon be over, which is a bummer because you nap so effortlessly in the sling, I can go anywhere with your brother and your napping schedule is never an issue.

Other than that baby boy, you are ALL smiles as usual, and you get more adorable by the day. I love you, we love you, and I am so blessed to see you grow little man <3 <3.

My two cents: Are we (women/moms) our own worst enemy?

A couple of weeks  ago I was reading this post on a blog I've been following lately from a mom who lives in Ottawa. The author writes about how she is reflecting on different events in her life, which have led her to think about the confidence she has gained socially  from having a daughter, which led her to think about the confidence she has lost professionally from having a daughter.

 

The author confesses: " The truth is, I’ve been making excuses when it comes to my career, underestimating my abilities and not stepping outside my comfort zone to take on new responsibilities and leadership because I’m afraid of failure and what others will think" (...) And she continues to say: "I’ve spent so much time working on my achievements outside of work and not enough time working on my professional self." (...) And she finally adds:" I’m already seeing how gender stereotypes are playing into my little girl’s life and I want to show her that women can be smart and powerful. I want her to be a strong leader in all areas of life and that means I should try to be one too. I want that for her…and for me."

 

Reading this post had me thinking about it for days, feeling like there was something about it that bothered me. I believe that thought would make any mother with a professional background and aspirations reflect on how their life is panning out come parenthood. So after digesting these ideas for days, these are the TWO main resulting sets of conclusions I've come to:

 

FIRST:

 

• This is such a common dilemma for women in our day and age. It is gut wrenching, and just confirms my belief that women have to carry the world on their shoulders to live up to the many expectations that this world has for us, and that WE have of ourselves.
• It is, what one of my neighbours very assertively referred to as `cultural insanity`. 
• Time is a limited resource, and therefore, even though we would like to dedicate all the necessary time to excel at home and in our careers, there is a point where we have to take some time allocated to A, in order to give it to B.
• Sure, we can `"buy" time if we make a certain salary and can pay somebody to get the laundry done, but up to a certain extent. How far will our ambition (if you will) go?
• In this life, we can't have it all.

 

SECOND:

 

• I kind of resent the last frase where she says: "I want to show her that women can be smart and powerful. I want her to be a strong leader in all areas of life and that means I should try to be one too."  I think the author may be able to better explain her thoughts on this one, could I ask her to elaborate on this particular point. However, regardless of whether she meant to say what I interpreted in this particular comment or post, I have seen this type of thinking in many other places, coming from women themselves: i.e. "I want to be a positive example for my daughter", "I want to show her women can be leaders", etc.  I think these particular statements show how WE WOMEN are seeing ourselves in the same light we complain men seeing us with. We are selling ourselves short. And we are constantly underrating the amount of effort, dedication, skill and intelligence that is needed to successfully run a home and a family. MOREOVER, we are belittling the impact that us women and especially moms, have in society; not only through educating children, but in SHARING the responsibilities to run a household (or is it SUPPORTING the role of those men who go out there and have what we ourselves think are "real jobs"?).  I think anybody who participates and contributes to a household can recognize that this role is key to a functional family, whether this role is performed by a nanny, a housewife, or other family members.

So, my final thoughts are:

 

•  How about we forgive ourselves for not being EVERYTHING, ALL THE TIME? how about we forgive ourselves for not "leaning in" at a particular time in our lives, when we are much needed standing straight at home? Perhaps then we can ask for the rest of the world to start doing the same.
• How about we start valuing our work at home fairly? whether we give it 50%, or 30% or 100% of our time, working at home and raising kids is absolutely no less important than working downtown alongside with men. I know many women will think "But I don't get excited about scrubbing bathrooms" -- well, I don't think anybody does. And yet, like in all jobs, there are less exciting tasks that still need to get done as part of the bigger picture.
• Only once we fully and sincerely understand the above, can we stop being OUR OWN WORST ENEMY.

Emilio - 5 months

5 months and quickly approaching the half year mark. I just can't believe it has been five months since we had you in our hands the first time! Since daddy caught you as you made your incredibly fast way into this world. 5 months since you spent your first night in our bed... incredible.

 



Emilio - 5 months



I just took you to your 5 months check-up and vaccinations. You weighed 17.5 lbs/ 7.9 kgs and measured 71 cm. You are 60th  percentile for weight and about 99th for height, which is not surprising considering how long you feel when I carry you and how long you look when I see you lying down from the distance.

 

As one of our friends once said, babies are either good sleepers or good eaters. That was true in your brother's case and has been true with you as well. You sleep well in the sense that your naps and bed times are very predictable and consistent, and when you wake up it is only to nurse and you go right back to sleep. However, you do still eat ALL.THE.TIME, and this means you wake up often at night.

 



Happy Feet

 Honestly, I can't actually tell how many times or how long you sleep at night, because I have you with us in bed for most of the night and whenever you start being fussy I just nurse you lying down and don't really wake up, so most times in the morning I can't remember how many times I was up or how long your sleep stretches were. I have been making an effort to let you sleep in your crib more often. You now have most of your naps in your crib at least until you wake up to eat. Then I feed you and put you back in our bed. However, at night I put you in your crib for the first stretch and you usually wake up shortly after I go to bed, and I am too lazy to try and make you go to sleep back in your crib. You certainly resist it, and usually at that time I am too tired to insist, so I just put you in bed with us for the rest of the night.

 

This month you have been consistently rolling from back to front, like it's no big deal. You start kicking your legs really hard and manage to push yourself inch by inch. You have pretty big head control and you have also started to make a lot of noises, as if you are trying to talk, especially in the morning. You usually go to sleep somewhere between 8.30 and 9.30 and you seem to always wake up around 6.30 or 7 a.m. , waking everybody up with your little noises. If I take you away you will go back to sleep about an hour later, but usually you brother wakes up a minute after you've gone back to sleep and he comes barging in, being too noisy for you to sleep through that, and too excited to see your little idol walk in the door.

 

Brothers

It is amazing how much you follow your brother around with your eyes. You look at him and you just seem to smile in awe. He has been much better with you as well, being a lot more affectionate in the last few weeks.

 

Most days you are either lying down somewhere, in your car seat as we drive somewhere, or being carried around in the ring sling. However, you are definitely getting waaay to heavy for that thing and my back and shoulders don't appreciate it that much anymore, so I've been putting you in the stroller now, which you seems to enjoy okay.

 

I had your Aguis buy you a real rebozo in Mexico and I am excited to see how that works out to carry you in my back. You love being carried around so much. People turn their heads all the time to see you, and they ALWAYS get a smile from you and ALWAYS comment on how content and quiet you look. It is true, you are by far the happiest, most content baby I think I've met. You almost never cry, except for when you're tired or hungry, which is not often.

 

Little Emi, cosita, little chubby cheekers, little Emster, we love you so much. I am so excited to see you grow and can't wait to have more adventures with you.  

 

The best smile in the world!