Nine Months In, Nine Months Out

Seth has officially been alive as long as I was pregnant with him. I think that there are theories about everything getting easier at this point, but I haven't noticed any really magical changes. He is much, much more mobile now- hmm maybe that's what the changes are supposed to be :) He loves to explore and get into things, and now that he is doing very well feeding himself finger foods, he thinks that everything has potential to be finger food. So I am always trying to prevent catastrophe.

I love being Seth's mom. He is such an awesome baby, and now watching him become less and less of a baby is so cool. He says "mama" a lot now, and it absolutely melts my heart every time. He is very smart and very observant- I am really looking forward to seeing what he's like when he's older, and having conversations with him.

He got his first vaccination on Tuesday. We waited to start, and are following an alternative schedule, because from the extensive research I have done I feel that it is less of an assault on his immune system this way, and will put him at lower risk for adverse reactions, and also the vaccines will be more effective. This was probably the hardest decision I have had to make as a parent- whether or not to vaccinate Seth. There are risks either way, but I feel that we made the best choice for our family. Anyway, I was a nervous wreck before his appointment on Tuesday, and I gave him homeopathic ledum which was recommended, and then when they gave the shot he didn't even cry!
Besides the shot, Seth's nine month appointment went well. He has only gained four ounces in the last month, so his pediatrician asked us to come back next month to check his weight. I think it is because he is so active now that his weight gain has slowed. He still nurses a lot- day and night- and he likes his solids foods too. I'm sure he's just fine, but they want to keep an eye on it.

Our lives have been very busy lately. I am trying to balance working from home with being a mom and maintaining our home, and it isn't always easy. I have times when I feel utterly defeated, but I am trying to keep plugging away and telling myself it will get easier. Seth gets bored if we stay at home too much, so I try to go to playgroup events and get together with friends as much as possible. That has really helped me feel less lonely, too.

I have just started a new blog, so I'll have a personal one that is separate from my Etsy business blog. It's http://spicygranola.blogspot.com.

Finally, new Seth pictures (I know that's why you read this after all!)

More pictures mom, seriously?

Look I can stand! (With help from chair.)

I think I'll do a little reading now... (he loves to turn pages- it's so funny to watch!)

Crawling around

Strolling around downtown

Seth's Half-Birthday

So it has been 6 months now since I gave birth to this awesome little guy. It is hard to believe. He is growing more every day and is getting to be more and more fun to hang out with as he gets older. He weighed 17 pounds at the pediatrician's office this week, and he is sitting very strongly and sort of trying to crawl. He has also started trying some solid foods. His first food was avodcado mashed with a fork, and he liked it and ate it really well for a few days. Then we moved on to sweet potatoes, and over the last few days he hasn't been so into eating solids- he tastes things but spits it out mostly. He is definitely much more interested in nursing still, but I'm not worried. At this stage solids are more for the experience of it all. I'll just keep offering. I am mostly making our own baby food, though I have picked up a few jars of Earth's Best organic. I love this website: http://wholesomebabyfood.com/. It has a lot of advice on when and how to introduce solids and which ones, etc, and has recipes and tips for making baby food.

Before Seth was born I was a little worried about losing the baby weight and all that, and I had it in mind that it would be nice to lose it all by the time he was six months old. Well, I made it. My stomache is still kind of "softer" than it used to be, but I am back to my pre-pregnancy weight. I haven't excersized a whole lot, but nursing has definitely been a huge help. I am always hungry- Seth still nurses every 3-4 hours day and night.
Besides physically, though, motherhood has been such a huge adjustment and challenge. It has brought me the most joy of anything I've ever done, but at times to most anxiety as well. Every emotion is magnified when you're a mom, especially a new mom I think. Even the smallest decisions regarding your child seem monumental, and you're always wondering if you've made the right ones. Staying at home with Seth has been hard but I wouldn't trade it for anything. I am still hoping that I'll soon have the time to do some work from home to help us out, but overall the financial sacrifice is well worth the time given to our little one. It has enabled me to truly use attachment parenting tools, and I believe that in the long run that will pay off.

We are living with Manny's parents now, and waiting to close on our home. A few weeks now if all goes as planned, and we will own a house. It's really exciting and I think we will appreciate it all the more after not really having our own space for a while and missing a lot of our stuff because it's packed away. But we are comfortable here and truly blessed to have family who are close and so generous.

And now that you have made it through all my babbling, here are some new Seth photos (that's why you follow my blog anyway, right? ;)