Ode to "Third-Day Hair"

Oh Third-Day Hair...how I appreciate you. While some may turn up their noses at you, and think that you carry the stigma of laziness and uncleanliness, I however, realize that you are the official hairdo of busy, hard-working mommies.  I turn to you when time does not permit me to wash my hair, blow dry my hair, and style my hair (after three days), because I'm late for a meeting, trying to rush out the door, and it's more important that my little boy looks cute. You may be third string on the hair line up, Third-Day Hair, but teamed up with baby powder to make my look less oily, it is you that I count on to pull my "I'm a mom, so I don't have the time to do my hair" look together. While we met for a period of time back in my college days, it has been in the last eight months that I have really come to know your qualities, and how you help to make my life as a mommy just a little easier. (Please tell your kin, "fourth-day hair" and "fifth-day hair," and even "sixth day hair," that it's not that I don't appreciate them, because I do, but it's just not as socially acceptable, and while I won't say that I haven't met them, I try to draw the line (even if it means going to bed at 2am) so that I can avoid them.) And that's why I appreciate Third-Day Hair...

Mango Smoothies for Buhba

Those of you who know me, know that I am NOT a little domestic mommy. I hate, repeat HATE to cook, and I'm not so good at being crafty, and such. However, since I'm doing my best to be frugal, I decided to take a stab at making my own baby food. So far, over the last few months, I've done really well with pears, yams, bananas, and carrots (if I do say so myself!). Tonight I tried a new recipe, and made several weeks worth of "mango smoothie" for my Buhba (inspite of my last post about orange foods!). I actually copied Gerber, which I like to do a lot. I will buy one or two of their jars, and test them to see if Buhba likes them before I go to all of the trouble of making them. (Fortunately, he's not really disliked any food yet!) Anyway, the ingredients in this mango smoothie had of course mangos, but also apple juice. So, I got a bag of frozen mangos, and unsweetened apple juice and pureed it in my blender to a smoothie consistency. After that, I poured it into ice cube trays and froze it. After it's solid, I put the cubes into zipper bags, and when it's time for Bubha to eat, I take two-three cube out and defrost them (NOT heat them) in the microwave for about 20 seconds. Ta-Da! For the same amount of money as two servings of store-brand baby food, I made several weeks worth! Look at me, I'm growing up! Ha Ha!

My Son: Future Oompa-Lumpa?

I read recently about a condition called, "carotenemia," which is a condition in which a child's skin starts to take on a yellow/orange tone. This is due to feeding your child too many yellow and orange foods. (I'm not making this up!) Since then, I've been in a panic, because I've been VERY aware that the majority of foods which Buhba eats are yellow or orange (mostly the latter). Blame it on my choice of colors, or the lack of baby foods that appear in colors other than yellow or orange; but most of the time, Buhba's diet consists of yams/sweet potatoes, peaches, carrots, squash, mangos, pears, apple sauce, and other items in this pigment family. I've been trying very hard to expand our options, but seriously, other than green beans and peas, what options do I have? I'm open for suggestions - and soon, because I'm concerned that one morning, I'm going to wake up to an Ooompa-Lumpa, singing witty little songs about chocolate factories, instead of my sweet little boy! :)

Treasure EVERY Moment!

I think that sometimes as mommies, we get into shark mode: we just keep going through the motions in order to survive the stressful days. I know that there are days where I think, "okay, if I can just make it to 1pm" and try to find something to distract Buhba while I get work done. Then it's "okay, if I can just make it to 3pm..." and I don't take advantage of the time that I have to be a mom to such a wonderful little spirit. Last night, I read the blog of a young family who's eight-month-old son is losing the fight to cancer, and the time that they have left with him is quickly running out. I don't remember the last time that I cried so hard while reading the tender, heart-breaking words that these young parents wrote to inform people on their son's deteriorating condition. As the mother of a seven-month old, (heck as a mother, period), my heart just breaks for this family! I can't even think about losing Buhba! I vowed last night that I would stop just going through the motions, and appreciate EVERY SINGLE minute that my Heavenly Father has blessed me with my son; and start to welcome and embrace the responsibilities and challenges that come with this calling.  Today, when Buhba started screaming in Walmart, I let out a sigh of frustration, but quickly thought to myself, I'll bet that this poor mother who is losing her child would welcome a fussy baby in Walmart! So, I quickly picked up Buhba and held him close to me for the rest of the trip. I guess my point is that we just never know what life will bring, so my goal is to not take this time with my son and husband for granted ever again - no more shark mode - I'm going to treasure every moment! 

What a Difference a Year Makes!

My husband is an assistant football coach at a local junior college, and with football season in full swing, I'm having some serious flashbacks of last year's season. Has it really been a year ago this month that my husband started coaching, and that I was put on bedrest at 14 1/2 weeks along in my pregnancy? It hardly seems real as I look at the healthy, little seven-month-old who loves to give out slobbery kisses to his mommy and daddy, asleep beside me (okay, I admit, sometimes I give in and like to lay him down and snuggle with him in my bed when he naps :) . 

NOTE: If you were watching a TV show of my life, now would be the point of the wavy screen and the flashback sounds... :)

I'll never forget the day that I started having very hard cramps and my stomach went rock-hard. I looked up at my husband in horror, "Honey, I'm not sure but I think that I just had a contraction!" From that point on, it was strict bedrest, and lots, and lots of trips to the doctor's office and later on lots of trips to the hospital. 

I remember listening to my hubby's football games on my laptop as I lay in bed, and feeling the baby kick as the announcer got excited because our team made a touchdown!  I would always would look forward to the weekends because of the football games, but most importantly, it meant that I had kept Bubha in one more week, and every week meant a better chance of survival for our little guy! 

Some times I have flashbacks to a year ago feeling like I am still on bedrest and teetering on the verge of insanity from laying in bed all day :) I would literally countdown the hours until hubby got home from work each day, so that I'd have something to look forward to! 

This year has flown by! That time in my life seems so short now, now that I have something (actually someone) so wonderful to show for it! 24 weeks of bedrest doesn't seem like a very big deal in the grand scheme of things. I know that I've been so blessed because I know that some women unfortunately go on bedrest with less fortunate outcomes. 

The Story of Buhba's Bath and the UnWelcomed Visitors

This is a story about a little seven-month-old named, "Buhba" who loved to take baths. One night after a VERY long day of traveling, Buhba's mommy put him into the tub for what she thought would be a short bath. Buhba's mommy had just started washing his head when Buhba looked up at her with a funny look on his face. It was at that second that Buhba's mommy realized what this look meant, but she was too late. She looked down to find a VERY un-welcomed "visitor" in the tub floating along the side of Buhba's rubber ducky and other bath toys. 

Buhba's mommy panicked and grabbed a naked Bubha out of the tub so that he wouldn't "play" with the "visitor", and set him on the carpet in the hall, just outside of the bathroom (so that he wouldn't fall over and crack his head on the bathroom tile), while she started the process of "fishing" the visitor out of the tub. After she caught the visitor, drained the tub, got all of Bubha's toys out of the tub, cleaned the tub, and ran fresh water, Buhba's mommy picked him up off of the carpet to finish up his bath. But to her horror, smashed in the carpet and all over Buhba's backside were more, VERY large "visitors"! Buhba's mommy tried to hang him over the toilet to "brush off" the "visitors", but that just made a bigger mess and she just had to take the still-naked-boy into his room to get some wipeys. Finally, when he was cleaned up, Buhba finished his bath, and his mommy got some stain remover that she had purchased for doggie accidents to get the leftover "visitors" out of the carpet! 

That night Bubha had sweet dreams, but his mommy spent half the night scrubbing the carpet (which finally came clean thanks to a great new product!).           THE END!

To Alternate or Not to Alternate...That is the Question...

So, I just read somewhere that I should be feeding Buhba several different types of food at each sitting. I don't do this. I just get one container (or two helpings of my homemade babyfood) out and feed it to him. I do change up what he eats at each sitting/meal - but I don't really see the point in getting out a ton of food for each meal. My thoughts are that it may confuse him and his little taste buds. However, if the magazine says this, then perhaps it's the hard and fast rule for feeding - and I'm the only one not doing this??? I'm new at this stuff! I just don't want to make a mistake like this, and have Buhba grow up and be messed up as a result of my lack of alternating :) I'm finding that there's a lot of pressure with these decisions, you never know what ones will scar a child! ha ha...I can just picture it now. He's sitting on a therapist's couch saying, "Doc, I think that the reason I have relationship problems now is because my mom didn't alternate the number of foods I ate at each sitting when I was seven months old." You just never know... :)