Solids!

The days of sweet smelling diapers are over, as Micah is now eating solids! We had gotten very comfortable giving Micah six liquid feedings a day and sleeping around nine hours at night. But after weeks of waking him up at 9pm for that last feeding, I was beginning to think he could skip it. As many parents will attest, the late evening feeding is a hard one to drop once the baby is sleeping through the night. No one wants a surprise wake-up call at 3am. I finally decided I would drop the 9pm feeding and would offer some rice cereal during the day to fill him up more. I felt a little guilty for doing this, as I am a rule follower and "the books" all say to wait until 4 months to start solids. But I figured 15 weeks was close enough. And my mom always says, "Micah is a person, not a book." He didn't seem to like it at first, so we stopped and continued with our old routine (six feedings).

Well, over the holidays my mom was baby-sitting, and she offered Micah some rice cereal mixed with applesauce. He loved it! I started offering it to him myself, and now he's about to eat us out of house and home! He's been eating 2-3 solid meals a day for the last week (in addition to five liquid feedings) and is now sleeping 10-11 hours at night. Today we introduced pears, and he seems to love those, too.

In a weird way, we're sad that he goes to bed so early now. When Jamie goes back to ECU in a couple of weeks, he won't see Micah much at all on his teaching days. On the other hand, I do enjoy settling in for a warm bath in the evenings and having some time just to spend with Jamie. Our baby is growing up so fast!

Unto Us A Child Was Born

I've noticed something lately that kinda blows my mind. It seems that moms I know who have 2+ children seem to get a lot more done than I do with my one. These other moms I know are throwing holiday parties, making home baked goodies for neighbors, doing really cool activities with their children, etc. Reality is a lot different in the Orr household. I really want to do these things, and I tend to beat myself up when I can't. I'm so scatter brained right now that Jamie had to remind me what I was bringing for Christmas lunch...and it was only one thing! I hardly remembered gifts for all my family this year, let alone friends that we usually exchange with. I feel like I'm just getting by - trying to do it all and coming up miserably short - and this Christmas was no exception.

Christmas is normally a three day affair in our home because Jamie and I have four sets of parents between us. We were really excited about Micah's first Christmas, but I knew that his schedule - which we normally love and live by - might backfire against us during this busy time. We spend Christmas Eve at my dad's house, and as usual, Micah was ready for bed around 7:30. I couldn't calm him down from all the excitement of the evening, and then he wanted nothing to do with his travel crib. And when he cries (which he did, rather loudly, for a rather long time), half the crowd wants me to stick a boob in his mouth, and nearly everyone wants a turn at trying to calm him. Needless to say, Micah got a lot of feedings the last couple of days (some of them were simply to shush everybody up), and I feel exhausted both physically and emotionally. In some ways, this was the best Christmas ever because Micah's here, but in other ways I feel like I missed it. While trying to be the perfect mom raising the perfect baby, I missed the part about it being Somebody's Birthday. I was too busy trying to...well, I don't really know what.

Tonight, Jamie and I were talking about how I set unrealistic expectations for my family, and that only leads to failure. But I do want to achieve that perfect balance in my life, which I perceive is true of so many of my friends. And it's driving me crazy. Maybe this is God's way of humbling me. Me, Mrs. super organized, babysitter to many, reader of parenting books, lover of children, is really just a novice afterall.

Finally!

"Baby Llama, what a tizzy! Sometime's Mama's very busy. Please stop all this llama drama and be patient for your mama." - Llama, Llama Red Pajama by Anna Dewdney

This is my fourth effort at writing a post lately. It seems like every time I sit down to do it, we have some "llama drama." Micah is three months old now. I can't believe how quickly time flies. A few updates on him...we don't have a 3-month doctor's appointment, but I would guess he weighs around 12 pounds. He's in 3-6 month clothes, sleeps 9-10 hours straight at night, and eats about every three hours during the day. We still use a lot of props for naps - rocking, swinging, bouncy seat - that are totally my fault. He goes down so well at night, though, that I tend to excuse/tolerate the other stuff.

Micah is so much fun lately! He smiles and squeals, loves to practice rolling over and likes when I grab his hands and help him go from laying to sitting. Gifts are such an afterthought to me this Christmas, as I really treasure the "gift" of my son and spending time with the family. My dad and step-mom are taking everyone to Disney World for Christmas, a trip that Jamie and I had to pass up due to Micah's arrival. But we have an IOU for a trip when he's older, and we can't wait!

Now that I have a child, I've found myself becoming much more mindful about the TV I watch, the music I listen to in the car, etc. There are so many influences that we can control, and I want to make sure Micah's being exposed to the right stuff. I love watching 18 Kids and Counting, and although we don't share all of their convictions (I don't really like skirts), I think they do a great job of championing family values. Popular culture now dubs certain things "family friendly" that clearly are not. Take Carrie Underwood's "family-friendly" holiday special on TV this week. After her first number, Jamie said, "Is she wearing pants or did they just paint her legs black?" Anyway...

Wishing everyone a very merry Christmas! God is good, and we look forward to celebrating the birth of His son!