To My Darling Burke: Five & Six Months

My goodness! Can you really be six months old already? Time sure does fly, little one! What a wonderful six months it has been...and it just keeps getting better and better. You have really started showing us just who you are--your personality is developing daily and you never cease to amuse us with your silly antics!

 

That open mouth, slobbery smile has become your trademark. And those 2 little bottom teeth have really come in now. You also have two new residents in your gummy little mouth, as your top two center teeth are poking through your gums. Your right one came in just before you turned 6 months old and the left one followed the next week. Unfortunately, you have been in considerable discomfort due to teething, which breaks Mama & Daddy's hearts. We hate to see you suffer, but do what we can to help. The good news is, you won't remember even one moment of the terrible rite of passage. 

A week or two after you turned 5 months old, we decided to try introducing you to baby rice cereal just at dinnertime. You were still waking up for a feeding at that point, and the doctor told me to cut it out. So we thought that maybe a little cereal would fill your belly enough to make it the whole night. And it sure did! Ever since that first taste, you have eagerly awaited each meal and the anticipation of the next bite usually makes you very impatient! No sooner have you taken one bite when your mouth is open wide awaiting the next. At first, you tried to feed yourself--which I should have expected with you. You love to do everything yourself--you're very independent. Since you started eating food, you have consistently decided to sleep an average of 12 hours at night, which is amazing! You're a 7-7 kind of guy. Since that first taste, you have now tried butternut squash, carrots, peas, sweet potatoes and bananas. So far, you have enjoyed everything you have tried--all homemade!! 

 

Developmentally, this has been a busy and big two months for you, little man! You started to sit unassisted for short periods of time (like 30 seconds max) around five months. Since then, you have gone on to sit for minutes at a time by yourself, and you have learned to balance yourself when you start to wobble over to one side or the other. There are still times when before we can blink you've fallen over and knocked your head good on our hardwood floors (Mama & Daddy are REALLY sorry about this, Love!). It's times like this that we wish there was just a little bit of carpet in our house. Just recently, around six months, you have started to chase a toy from a sitting position to your belly/hands and knees. Just one step closer to crawling! Speaking of crawling, you have also learned how to get yourself pushed up onto your hands and knees. While you can do this, most of the time you're still trying to swim across the floor (kick your legs, wave your arms, and make lots of noise with great effort) and quickly get frustrated at the fact that you're going nowhere or backwards away from the toy you're trying to reach (or the dog...because you love to try to get him too!). 

Other firsts for you these past two months include:

 

Swinging on the swing at the park near our house

 

And picking out your first Christmas tree!

It has been another fun two months! We are so excited about each new day with you, Burke. We love you so much and continue to love you even more each day. (This is the miracle of parenthood that hopefully one day you'll get to experience). We can't wait to celebrate your first Christmas with you in just a few weeks! You are the cutest little elf we know!

Love,

Mama

 

A Seemingly Slacker-Like Attitude Toward Blogging

Yes, I have been slacking on my bogging presence lately. Here are the reasons (not excuses) why:

1) I am working 2.5-3 days per week at my "real" job -- a.k.a. I get all dressed up and put on my intellectual thinking cap in order to draft briefs, counsel clients and assist the shareholders however they may require.

2) I have the most wonderful privilege of spending the evenings (on working days), weekends and 2 days per week with my son, who is a busy bundle of happiness and may or may not choose to take a nap(s) on each given day. Some days, he blesses me with a 2.5 hour morning nap and anther 45 minute to 1 hour nap in the afternoon. On those days, we might have a cleaner house and something tasty for dinner! Other days, it's more like a few little cat naps sprinkled throughout the day. On those days, we do chores that involve driving, go for walks outside, and have just some good old-fashioned quality play time. Mama and her baby boy!

3) Ben and I are working hard on turning a hobby into a business. We have been making candles for our own pleasure for a few years and have decided to turn it into a sort of cottage business for ourselves. No, we're not aiming to make millions in this modest venture. But we are hoping to earn enough to provide a steady supplemental income into our home (especially since I am now part-time at my "real" job). The company is called Smell This Candle Co. (because it's exactly what you say when you're shopping for candles with a buddy) and will feature eco-friendly soy candles of varying scents. I am so excited to get this business up and running, and have been spending much of my "extra" time working on building an inventory, experimenting with different scents, creating a website, and considering branding, marketing, and all of those little details. The most exciting piece of this business is the fact that 10% of the sale price from each sale will be donated to fund the fight against childhood cancer! (There is another post all in itself on the reasons behind this).

4) I enjoy spending the evenings (after the babe is sound asleep) with my mister. We need our own quality time in order to sustain a happy and healthy marriage. So I try to make sure that despite my urge to crank out another post, I am attentive to (and attended to) my hubby, whether it's talking, hanging out or (most likely) vegging because we are simply too exhausted for anything else.

So there you have it. A rather brief explanation behind my seemingly slacker-like attitude toward blogging. In reality, it's simply the one facet of my life that gets subordinated to the other, more robust aspects. It is an outlet that I enjoy, certainly. But it cannot giggle or coo, it cannot provide me with memories to dredge up in old age, it cannot cuddle me in bed or tell me that I am loved. So it is what it is--an outlet that I visit from time to time, always with good intentions of maintaining a presence, but realizing that it's okay if I don't because my "real" life (the physical one in which my senses are alive) is just so much more important.