Shark Week

Now showing - teeth! Just when we thought Nathaniel wasn't ever going to get teeth those little buggers showed up. His bottom two are popping through and so are his top two. The top two aren't coming through as much as the bottom, but you can feel them. Knock on wood, but he hasn't been cranky or overly slobbery. If you stick your finger (a clean finger of course) in his mouth he will gladly bite you (I mean it was just shark week). Those little teeth are quite jaggedy and sharp. I haven't been able to get a picture of them, but once they come in a little more maybe I'll be able to get one. If you look super duper duper close you can kind of make out one in this picture. hahaha.

 

Nate Note: The little dude was able to climb a few stairs on Saturday ....UH OH. The minute that happened I was thinking about how I'm just starting to understand how much trouble I'm in for. He was so proud of himself.

 

 

Baby Proofing Bozos

Every time I see a checklist for baby proofing I cringe. I cringe in shame. It is like the baby police know all and can see the progress we've made. These baby police put us on some watch list where every email I get has that topic listed or shown as a top article on the websites I visit. Our house is certainly not baby proofed. It is Mocha proofed, which gets us halfway there. Mocha is a chewer (always has been always will be) so we don't have a whole lot of stuff anywhere. My old dog Mako used to be able to open cabinets, but luckily Mocha doesn't go that far. However, if he did I'd probably already have locks on the cabinets getting us closer to *real* baby proof.

 

It isn't that we haven't bought baby proofing materials - we have. I have cabinet door locks, a cushy pad for the entertainment center, outlet plugs... but they mostly are just sitting there ready to be installed (whoops). We have a pad on the coffee table and we have plugged the outlets he finds most interesting as well as install special baby proof outlets in his room. So that counts for something right? right? Our top priority lately has been the stairway gate. I have bought several and returned them. I am having a very hard time finding something that works at the top of the stairs. We are lucky that he heads to the top of the stairs full speed every morning from his room - that isn't scary at all! Oh wait, it is super scary. I have a new idea, but I need to buy an extra long stair gate from Amazon so I haven't done it yet. Soon, soon, I swear.

 

Those baby proofing checklists are long and a tiny bit overwhelming. I usually read the long list, feel tired and head to starbucks to destress. haha. I am always thinking to myself 'how is doing all of this possible?'. I'm pretty sure if I did everything on those lists the house will be Stacy and Kevin proofed too. Everything basically gets locked up or hidden or put behind a gate or covered with some plastic safety cover. So far it hasn't been too bad since Nathaniel doesn't walk and I'm able to watch him pretty much all of the time. I can see how it could quickly get out of hand with more than one kid. While you were grabbing one from falling down the stairs the other one is headed towards the paper shredder etc. etc.

 

I did buy a baby jail for Nathaniel. When I need a minute or two or three and I want to let him have some freedom I put him in this new baby jail. It is hexagon fence basically with some toys. I bought some foam pads for underneath. It is a bright and colorful baby jail. After setting this up I realized that our house has indeed been taken over by primary colored baby items. Who needs a fancy entry way table when you can have a big colorful baby jail greet visitors :) If you have visited our house - I have it set up right in the foyer. Pretty much every room has something primary colored, big and plastic in it. It is funny how quick you get used to your new decor. The dogs are used to it too and walk around it. One thing that is funny to watch is the stalking dogs. I tend to give Nathaniel some cheerios as a snack when he is using his exersaucer/walker thing. The dogs just stare at him waiting waiting waiting for a cheerio to be thrown to them or fall on the floor. There is nothing left on the floor after meal time either. I can already tell Nathaniel is starting to realize if he holds out something to the dogs they come to him. I can't wait until his whole meal goes to the dogs - that will be fun. I try my best to curtail it when I see it, but it just happens sometimes. Mocha will leave if you blow in his face and a spray bottle gets Kona out of the kitchen. Fun meal time activities! I can't blame them though when they see food flying to the floor or being held up to their faces. They are dogs.

 

Oh yeah, baby proofing. See how distracted I get even talking about baby proofing? That is why the cabinet locks etc. are still sitting in the closet. You might be thinking to yourself you could have had up 4 cabinet locks in the time it took to blog.... yep, probably, but putting up cabinet locks is sooooo boring ;) Here's to hoping Nate's parents get their act together (darn that means me) 



       

Hair Cut.... sort of

Nathaniel got his first hair cut. Literally, it was about one hair. I just trimmed a tiny bit of his bangs that were hitting his eyelashes and some right over his ears. I just quick took off a bit during a bottle feeding. In the back of my mind I feel like I have been told, or read, or something that you had to wait until he was a year to cut his hair. Scientifically this doesn't feel right, but I wasn't sure. I quick googled it right before I cut it. I only had the time of a bottle feeding (5 min.) So I spent 3 minutes researching/googling. In those 3 minutes I couldn't find anything conclusive to NOT cut it so I went ahead. I did run across something that mentioned an old wives tale about having bad luck if you cut it before a year. I hope that isn't true... yikes!

August Pictures

Action shot

Sleeping on dad's lap

This is his Olympic photo.  You can't see the USA
below Mickey, but it is there :)

Watching Phelps

First time on a carousel at the Nashville Zoo.
He loved it.

The Secret Ingredient

Let me first exclaim that I know I'm not the first to figure this out or the last and I'm sure it isn't some super secret, but for me I had never heard about it so it is now my secret ingredient success story.

Nathaniel hasn't been a bad or good eater. I figure he probably falls somewhere in the middle. Sometimes he will quickly eat up his puree and other times not so much. To be fair to the little guy I'd say he eats good a lot more than he eats bad. When he eats poorly it is definitely a test of patience as you sit in the kitchen staring at each other as he spits it back at you or just flails his arms in some sort of baby revolt. His spitting is mostly just pushing the food back out of his mouth. This in turn gets all over his hands and usually ends up pretty much everywhere since he then rubs his eyes, his hair, etc. He does the spitting with all the food whether he likes it or not. Sometimes I guess he is just in a mood. The puree's he doesn't like he just gives stink face and pretty much turns his head from you.

He has been doing better with finger foods. I think he likes his independence. The problem with finger foods is that he tends to 'squirrel' a lot of the more starchy finger foods (pasta, bread). By squirreling I mean he just packs it in but doesn't swallow. Eventually he will have 10 pieces of pasta in his mouth. As he stuffs more in a few fall out, but overall his cheeks just get bigger and bigger.  He does eat beans, cheese, melons, blueberries and cheerios like a champ still. I haven't tried pasta or bread in a while so I might soon just to see if the 'squirreling' phase is over.

Ok, back to the puree's that get super stink face. Green beans, carrots and chicken are probably the worst offenders.

Quick side story. I go through some work to make homemade food for Nathaniel. I buy organically grown fresh veggies and fruit and I steam or bake them, puree then freeze. I use jarred or pouch foods if we aren't at home, if it is food that I don't know how to make *prunes* or if I leave Kevin home to feed him. Well, it always seems like Nathaniel gobbles up these foods much quicker than mine. Little punk! Maybe he likes them more because the consistency is smoother. Or maybe they just taste better... who knows. But, it is a little offensive ;) Even though on occasion I feel like just giving him the store bought organic food all of the time - I continue to primarily use the food I make because overall I think they retain more vitamins when compared to the jarred. I have been using more jars/pouches that have spinach mixed in the puree. I can't puree spinach and if you remember he is low on iron so I do add those store bought ones to the rotation. Ask me again in a few weeks and maybe I'll have transitioned to store bought haha.

On to the secret... not 'The Secret' the famous book by Rhonda Byrne... but my little secret.

So green beans (both jarred and mine - yes I performed a mini experiment), carrots and chicken are big stink face causers. But but but they go down successfully with my secret ingredient. Drum roll please........ pear or apple sauce. I add a tiny bit of pear puree to carrots and you'd think they were sweet potatoes (one of his favorites). A little bit of apple puree in broccoli and down the hatch it goes. Pear and green beans is a winning combination. The secret ingredient for chicken seems to be squash (not pear or apple, but I'll take it). I've decided to change the classic Mary Poppin song 'a little bit of sugar makes the medicine go down' to 'a little bit of apple or pear makes the veggies go down, the veggies go down, the veggies go down'

You might be thinking that I am going to run into trouble when he eats these veggies as real food since I can't mask the flavor. I figure I will tackle that problem when it comes. For now he is getting these essential veggies and learning to at least like the flavor even though it is slightly diluted since it is still primarily carrot or green bean, just with a ** shhhh** secret yummy ingredient.

My New Job

Well folks, I have a new job. I'm not sure it is my dream job (a veterinarian, dog daycare owner, geneticist to name a few) or maybe it is...My new job is to be an all day 'spotter' for Nathaniel. No not the type of spotter that removes spots from clothing (well actually I do remove a lot of orangey stuff from Nate's clothes) and no not the type of spotter that watches for enemy aircraft, but the type of spotter that finds the most effective place to keep someone from injuring themselves in the act of executing a maneuver. In this case the 'someone' is Nate and the 'maneuver' is pulling up on things. When I say things I mean THINGS. He tries pulling himself up on everything... the wall, a swing, Mocha's crate, the couch, me, the stairway rail and his favorite... the window sill.

He can pull up on most things, but he hasn't quite mastered how to get down. He gets brave on occasion and falls on his butt. This works great especially upstairs where there is carpet. However, down on the wood floors I get nervous. I basically follow him around 'spotting' to make sure he doesn't fall straight backwards on his head. I'm like the coaches during the uneven bar routine in gymnastics. It is also great fun to run up and down the stairs when I lay him down to nap. He pulls himself up and can't get back down. So I run up, lay him back down, tell him to take a nap. I do this about 15 times before he actually starts to stay put. He gets such a kick out of himself when he is up there though. He celebrates every time with a little body jiggle and excited giggle noise.

There are worse jobs in the world than following a funny little dude around the house I guess ;) so I will embrace my new job as a 'spotter'

The Next Michael Phelps

In the spirit of the Olympic games of 2012 in London I figured it was appropriate to give a shout out to the greatest Olympic swimmer of all time - Michael Phelps. He is arguably the greatest olympian ever based on medal count and repeat gold medals. He obviously had some athletic *swim* genes. As a new parent you wonder what talents your kid might be harboring in their genetic code. Do you ever wonder sometimes if you were suppose to be a great Javelin thrower, but you never picked up a javelin so you were never an Olympian. Haha, it is funny to think about.

Well, in an effort to see if Nathaniel has *swimming* in his genes we took him to his first swim lesson today. We just went to a parent/child class at the YMCA. We ended being the only people in class so we essentially are getting private lessons. I'm not sure we have a coach like Bob Bowman (Phelps coach), but she will do and seems nice. Kevin went in the pool with him for his first lesson.

Nathaniel, while stiffening a bit in the beginning, didn't cry or squirm too much. The first lesson went pretty well. Mostly, Kevin just swooshed him around using a few different techniques and singing a few swimming type nursery songs. The instructor is used to a few more people in class so she said Kevin had to sing too so it wasn't just her haha... funny. Kevin had to do a few almost dunks and Nate didn't necessarily like those. Nate did great for almost all of it though. We have lessons for the next 3 Sundays. While we would like to start him on his Olympic training path mostly we just want him to start getting used to water.  We are hoping this makes him more confident in the water in case anything was to happen, plus he will take to real swimming much better.  Although if he wants to be an Olympic swimmer I'll support him ;) 

 

Kiss Kiss?

There are all kinds of articles, book chapters and emails that explain baby milestones. Always, always always with the caveat 'Remember all babies develop at different rates, yada yada yada, blah blah, contact your Dr. if you are concerned' The online articles are always followed by people claiming their baby did this or that months earlier than the milestone has listed as an average (typical) age. You start to get nervous when you read the comments. You read things like ' My baby was walking at 5 months, eating finger foods by 6 months, rolling over at 1 month, talking by 3 months, changing their own diapers by 9 months, flying by 10 months, shouting the ABC's by 8 months. You get my point. It appears everyone's baby is an overachiever except yours. Then you sit back and realize that several of these people must be crazy. I think sometimes a baby lucks out and rolls by accident and doesn't do it again for months, but the parents mark that as the ability to roll over. I don't mean to sound negative, but come on. I'm sure there are lots of babies that beat a milestone here or there, but I have a hard time believing all of the 'fish stories' online. :) 

Ok, back to my original thought. No where have I seen 'Parent Milestones' listed. These would be things you achieve as you go through the eye opening experience of taking care of a baby for the first time. For instance, the first time you realize (and I mean actually realize and come to terms with) that you will not get to all of the things you have on your to do list. You might have 10 super cute crafts you plan on creating for your little bundle of joy, but forget it you will only get to a few of those in any timely manner. Once you let the long to do list go your life feels a little more relaxed. Or another milestone might be the first time you get your baby to laugh (The milestone where you visibly bring joy to your baby) You know, the laugh that just melts your heart and you are the one making it happen. You continue to act ridiculous or whatever method you do just to hear it over and over. What about a milestone when you stop thinking about all of the theories and sleep secrets you have read about and just tune in to your kid and finally FINALLY just get it and get them. Well, get them as much as you can :) I'm sure we can all think of those few times (milestones) that just really changed you and how you approached the next day. When you get to these parental milestones it is like a door opens to lots of new things. Sometimes of course the new things bring even more questions, but you moved forward. You move forward gaining little nuggets of confidence. Now along with confidence are the milestones that are just pure joy and probably don't teach you a thing, but it is something you have been waiting to happen. This is the milestone that just happened in the Hahm household.

Nathaniel gave me a Kiss last Monday. Oh I think every parent just cannot wait for this. The kiss isn't much of a kiss. It is more like a slobbery open mouth fish lick, but I'll take it. I'm pretty sure he doesn't even really understand the significance of a kiss or what emotion it evokes. But, for me anyway, it is one of the first times as a parent you feel like he is loving you back visibly. I can not get enough of these. He doesn't always do it on command and if there is any other distraction forget it, but it is just too cool. Right after naps is his most kissy time. I was feeling pretty good about this parental milestone until I saw him giving these same slobbery kisses to the stairway rail, the wall and his crib. Owell, maybe he just loves all of those things too!

I do think as a new parent there are things that just click or happen at certain times that are worthy of being called a milestone. I can't wait to experience more of these. You just know them when they happen. The day just feels different.

Nathaniel is sleeping now and I can't wait to go ask for a, 'kiss kiss' ....