My 7 Month Old Baby Boy

Since you turned 6 months, it’s like you are growing and changing even more every day. This past month has flown by! You are getting more and more of your little personality, anger and all. The other day we were in the car and all the sudden you start screaming out of anger. For no apparent reason. It really threw Daddy and I off because we never heard you scream like that before. I also think you are going to be a rough little boy. Even though you don’t crawl or anything yet, when you are laying in bed with Daddy and I, or on the couch with me, you are always “crawling” and scooting your way over the top of us and love to “wrestle” (as much as a 7 month old can wrestle). I just love you so very much, Trenton! I am amazed every day that God gave us you to take care of and love on. You are such a miracle.

This past month you got to see both sides of great grandparents! We took a trip to Mississippi to visit Daddy’s grandparents. You and I both had never met them, so it was a first for us. They enjoyed loving on you very much :) Also last weekend my grandparents and Aunt Sherry came to stay with us and bring Daddy his Studebaker. You had so much fun with everyone. Except you are VERY clingy to me….it takes awhile for you to warm up to others and you only like them when you are in my arms. You even started crying when I would set you 6 inches from me on the couch….it was pretty ridiculous actually….crazy boy. Even though it can be pretty difficult on us by how much you are attached to me, I am making a conscious effort to soak it all up because I know pretty soon you are not going to want to cuddle with Mommy anymore because there will be too much to explore on your own.

A lot of things happened this month:

-When you play with Loretta, you think it’s funny when she nibbles on your hands. You also love to grab her tongue when she tries to lick you. The other day you even grabbed her face and put her nose in your mouth. Gross…..

- You’ve gotten really good at screaming….and whining….oh goodness you are such a whiner…

-I fully enjoyed the growth spurt you were going through because you actually slept at decent hours during the night. But sadly you are back to being a little vampire baby and not going to bed until after midnight :(

-Even though you are only getting solids one meal every 2-3 days,  you are getting much better at eating and not choking, as long as the food is soft enough since you like to take big bites.

-For some reason your little “tick” you have is to always bounce your right foot. It’s so cute :) along with you always crossing your feet

-When you sleep, or nurse, you always have to have your feet up. I guess you are just a chill kid and like to relax :)

-One thing we are trying to work on is your incessant need to bite and pull while nursing. I am really dreading the day you get teeth because it is so bad already. I don’t want to quit nursing for at least another year so you and I really need to get on the same page about this, Mr. Trenton.

-You are Mr. Nosy and always have to look around and see what is going on. Which drives me crazy while nursing since you will nurse for 5 seconds, then look around; nurse for 5 seconds, then look around…I eventually just give up. You are so nosy that you refuse to nap when there is too much going on. One time you even started falling asleep in Uncle Montez’ lap; your head nodding off and everything. It was actually quite entertaining for the rest of us. And don’t worry, we got a video and we will show your future girlfriends J

-Even though you still can’t roll from your back to your belly, you are learning how to pull yourself and scoot while on your belly. You can even pull yourself up from a sitting position to a standing position. When we set you in a crawling position you sit there for awhile and have even started rocking a bit! You just can’t quite get yourself to that position though.

-One thing I love is seeing you and Daddy play together. I especially love when you are both dancing in the kitchen. THIS melts my heart every time. You really do have the most amazing daddy in the world. I couldn’t ask for anyone better to raise a family with.

I can’t express how much love I have for you, Trenton. I just hope and pray that as you grow, our love is evident in how we raise you and your future siblings and you will learn from us how to love others. You are already such a cuddle bug so I hope that doesn’t leave from you as you get older. You are such an amazing little thing!

This month we got some videos along with pictures :)

 The must adorable little bulldog around!

You are getting so big!

Trenton absolutely LOVES our neighbor kids. He attacks her with kisses :)

Trenton also discovered recently he can pull himself to get places

He also discovered just how fun it is to let his toys drop to the ground

To the Children of Tomorrow

There is so much wrong with the youth of our country today. In the past week there has been two brutal, senseless murders by teenagers, because “they were bored”. Something has seriously gone wrong in the way we, as Americans, have adapted to parenting. Instead of disciplining our children, we have let them walk all over us. Instead of being a good role model we are doing whatwe want, instead of putting our kids first and their well-being. As a parent, we are called to raise our children better than how we were raised, not worse. We are supposed to teach them how to love, how to succeed, how to be a good steward of what we are given, how to respect our elders. But instead, the children of today are rude, obnoxious brats who think they own the world and don’t need to respect those around them.

Well, as a parent of the children of tomorrow, your world will be different. Here is my vow, to my son, to my future children, to our future, to stand up and raise my children to be respectful, to love others, to be empathetic, to succeed in life, to love themselves, to feel accomplished and proud of who they are, to lend a hand when someone needs it, even without being asked.

If you are “bored”, I will teach you to go read a book, go play a game (not video games), go play a sport or an instrument, go invent and create something beautiful. I promise to teach you that taking innocent life is NOT okay. It is not your duty to decide who lives and who dies. Are you God? No. You are not. Only God gets to decide who lives and who dies.

I want your world to be different than my world. I want your world to be a safe place like it used to be. I don’t want you to be afraid to go jogging, afraid to go to the store, afraid to be home alone without a gun by your side. This is not how we should be living now. By changing the way we, as parents of tomorrow’s children, raise you, we can provide you with the abilities and skills to create a world that is a safe haven like it should have always been.

Hearing about the murder of the Australian baseball player in Texas and the 88 year old WWII veteran in Washington, it got me thinking back to four years ago, when someone that used to be close to my family was beaten to death by some teenagers in her home at the age of 81. Though no details of the Washington case has come out yet, all the teenagers involved in the other two cases were young black kids. While my son is biracial, he is still half black and can still, like any teenager, succumb to the defiant lifestyle of many kids today. I do not want my children to fall into the trap that so many young black kids fall into. And even if the kids we plan to adopt in the future are black, I want them to step out of that stigma and not contribute to that stereotype. My kids, along with everyone else, can be better than “the hood” if they truly believe it. My kids will make great things for their lives. They will not live in a world where they are considered criminals, just because they are black. I want to help them get out of the very unfair stereotype that is pushed on young black men. Granted, I was never a young black man, or woman, but I still have to power to teach my children that they are better than what the world thinks of them based on the color of their skin.

So my child, today I make my vow. I make it to you. To be the best parent I possibly can be so you can see by example how a truly good life should be lived.

Written August 23, 2013

Half a Year Already

Trenton,

This past month has been a huge month for you! Your little body has been going through a giant growth spurt, along with teething even more than usual so you have been sleeping a whole lot more. Which we aren’t complaining about at all :) But you have also been very whiny and clingy to Mommy, which I know makes Daddy a bit sad…but we both know soon enough you will want nothing to do with me and want to be just like Daddy, so personally, I am soaking up all this extra love now.

You had your first Fourth of July this month though! This summer has been a VERY wet summer and has been raining almost every day. And of course it rained the entire holiday weekend so we didn’t even get to go swimming :( Aunt Stephanie was in town though! And she loved all over you. We also went to a Braves game for the Fourth. Your second baseball game; but of course it was pouring the first half of the game. Luckily it dried up the second half and you enjoyed it. Although we had two really close calls with foul balls. Really scary moments for me! There were fireworks at the end of the game and you slept through the entire show except for the finale. But you enjoyed it. Once it was done you were looking around for more :)

Your new things this month:

-You give big monster hugs and kisses! You throw your arm back and then swing in for big hugs and kisses, which really consists of you blowing spit bubbles on our faces and necks. But it’s so cute and I love coming home to your giant monster hugs and kisses. The highlight of my day!

-You’ve been going to the church nursery on Sundays and I am sad to say you are “that” kid who cries in the nursery unless he is being held. You also don’t like it when other kids are crying. But you will get better.

-When nursing, you are practicing your acrobatics already because you always have to have your legs up by my shoulders. Even when you sleep in our bed, you have to have your legs up or you get mad. Silly boy….

-Lately you have discovered that you can fake cough and you think it is pretty darn funny. You also think its fun to scream now.

-You have figured out if you bang your toys down, they make noise. So guess what you have been doing lately? :)

-Your infant car seat doesn’t fit in Daddy’s car, so this month you got a big boy car seat! It looks very comfortable too

-Over the holiday weekend we started on solid foods! Your faces still are such a crack up, but you seemed to enjoy it! So far you have tried avocado, carrots, bananas, and broccoli. We have been doing a mixture of purees and large chunks for you to “chew” yourself. You do very well with both. Except you would much rather feed yourself with the spoon than have me or daddy feed you. You always grab the spoon and stick it right in your mouth. Smart boy :)

 Your first time eating carrot sticks

 Your first time having solid foods! Yummy avocado :)

-Since you have been going through this giant growth spurt, in just three weeks you went from your 0-3 month clothes fitting just fine with a good amount of growing room to fitting into your larger 6 month clothes! We just got you a bunch of summer 3-6 month clothes but now I’m wondering if you are just going to skip that size and go straight to 6-9 month clothes!

-One of my favorite new discoveries you have had lately is the discovery of your hands and that you have full control of your fingers. You just sit there and wiggle and wave your hands in front of your face like it is the coolest thing in the world. You are mesmerized and it is so cute. I just wish you would let me video it!

Your 6 month appointment was sadly a mixture between your regular checkup and a sick visit because you have not been feeling well this week at all :( It turns out you have a bad cold which caused a double ear infection. This is your first time being sick and we don't like it at all :( But even though you are sick, you are still a happy baby! You just want to play while being held instead of playing by yourself....You got a prescription for Amoxicillin for your ear infections and your first night taking it, I think it gave you a new-found sense of energy because you were up happy as can be from about 11pm to 3am! Mommy and Daddy are so tired....

We decided to postpone your 6 month shots because you are sick, but at your visit this time you shot up in weight! You only grew 1/4 inch in height though so now you are 25 1/4 inches tall and 14 lbs 13oz! Apparently you are a small little guy because according to the CDC charts you are only in the 9.75th percentile for weight and 14th percentile for height. Of course that chart is really geared toward formula fed babies and not breastfed. You are pretty normal to us :)

Trenton, when you grow up and are hopefully reading these letters, I want you to know just how amazing your daddy is. I'm sure there will be many arguments between all of us over the years, but you have the best father in the entire world. I hope you grow up watching him and learning how to be a real man from him. I pray you will learn from him how to treat women and your future wife and children. He is the greatest husband I could ask for and I am so very blessed to be called his wife. And you, my son, are the most precious gift we could ask for.


Love Always,

Mommy

Five Months!

This month has been a very busy month for us! So because of that I haven’t kept very good records of what you’ve done and learned this month :( We are finally getting settled into or new house! Daddy and I are so glad you are not mobile yet, because the past three weeks our house has definitely been far from baby proof. We got your room and our bedroom painted, along with the kitchen cabinets (minus the doors). For your room I just need to find some time when you aren’t napping to finish putting up your decorations.

You have changed so much this past month and are growing up way too fast! It seems every day you are getting bigger and bigger and learning something else.

-You love to play peek-a-boo with your burp rag. Except you are a crazy adrenaline junkie baby and think it’s funny to hold your breath and gasp like you can’t breathe. (I know I’ve posted about this before, but you are doing it more often!) It’s come to the point where you aren’t allowed to have a burp rag within reach unless you are supervised 100% of the time….

-Whenever a stranger or someone you don’t know tries to talk to you, you usually sit and stare at them for a long time and study them. You are pretty good at that blank stare thing. I think you get that from your daddy.

-You really love your door bouncer! You can even get so high both feet come off the ground. You like it so much that you still bounce even when you are crying...!

-When you have tummy time, you are finally learning to put your arms out in front of you instead of flailing at your sides. You are even playing with toys we put in front of you.

-Whenever you want to be picked up, you are learning how to put your arms out in front of you. You don't quite reach up yet, but you are moving in the right direction!

-You love your puppy. Whenever Loretta comes close you always reach out to her and try to pet her. Sometimes she will even lie next to you so you can rub her belly (and grab her paws and ears). You like to watch her play fetch too. The other night I had you on your tummy on the floor while I was playing with Loretta and you turned yourself completely around on your belly so you could watch too :)

-Rolling from tummy to back is getting easier for you, and you are even trying to get from back to tummy sometimes! Pretty soon you are going to be all over the place…..

-We have been working on your sleep schedule the past couple weeks and I am happy to report you are getting better at not go to bed at 2am! You are starting to sleep semi-normal baby hours, which is fantastic.

-You are also a very happy baby. You love to laugh all the time, and you even laugh now when tickled, instead of cry :) Your little laugh just brightens my day.

This past weekend was also Father’s Day! It was Daddy’s first one and you and I did a cute picture for him. He fell in love with it! Every year we decided we are going to do the same picture and we will be able to watch how much you change every year. We also took Daddy to a Braves game. It was your first game! And of course you flirted with all the ladies around us :)

Since you are always watching and grabbing for our food, we decided we will probably start with your first foods a couple weeks before your 6 month birthday. Because we have a long weekend for 4^th of July, we will probably start that weekend just so we can make sure there won’t be any allergic reactions at all. So that will be another fun milestone in a couple weeks!

I love you so much, Trenton, and I am so blessed to call you my son.

Four Months!

You are four months old! Every month you change and grow so much. It is such a joy to watch you learn new things. The past month we have coped with our new lifestyle of me going back to work. But Trenton, you really REALLY need to get on a better sleeping schedule. You are driving us crazy! During the day you can’t stay awake longer than 3 hours at a time, but at nighttime you will stay awake for 6+ hours! And those hours are always from about 8pm until 1-2am or sometimes later. And you are usually wide awake playing, not fussy. Which makes it really difficult when I need to get up at 5:30am for work…. But we love you anyways and one day we will figure out how to make you go down for the night at 8pm :)

We are also moving this weekend! We are finally getting a house and it’s a lovely house. It won’t be completely done when we move in, but our landlord is a friend from my Bible Study so we are all good with it. We will have a backyard and our landlord lives next door and has a pool and a garden that we can use any time. So this summer you will have lots of pool time!

Some changes this month:

-          You love it when Daddy covers your face with the burp cloth. For some reason you think its fun to hold your breath every time. We wonder if that’s a bad thing….we just say you are getting strong swimmer’s lungs maybe :)

-          You are starting to hold your bottle all by yourself!

-          You have started chewing on your fingers instead of your fists

-          And you are teething. Which I’m not too happy about, but you are. Your gums have been white and swollen the past couple weeks and we can feel a couple bumps where teeth will break through soon. You haven’t really been fussy or anything so we are happy about that.

-          You are so sneaky when it comes to the TV! We try to limit your screen time to hardly nothing but when it is on you will twist and turn, and even hang upside down JUST so you can watch TV

-          Sometimes when we are trying to put you to sleep, you will talk to yourself as you doze off in our arms. It’s pretty cute.
-You are such a little daredevil! I have a feeling you are going to be one of those "typical" boys who drive their mom crazy by jumping off everything and hanging from the ceiling fan, and doing everything we girls call stupid that boys do. At 4 months old you love to fly in the air, throw yourself backward when someone is holding you (sometimes when they don't expect it), hang upside down by your legs, and generally just hang upside down while laying in our arms or lap. Silly silly boy.....

-          Your motor skills are improving so much every day! You are grabbing things more and more, you focus intensely on something you want and then sometimes will lunge for it

-          Last night you were really focusing on Loretta and even lunged for her :)

-          You are able to sit up by yourself for a few seconds at a time! Though you still aren’t rolling over regularly

-          Your two new favorite games:

       o   One: Blowing spit bubbles. You absolutely love to spit

       o   Two: You put your binky in your mouth, bite down, then snap it out quickly so it makes a loud popping noise

At your 4 month doctor’s appointment, you weighed 12 lbs 14oz and are now 2 feet 1 inch tall. You grew THREE inches in 2 months! Your doctor said you didn't gain as much weight as you had been, but since you shot up in height that is understandable. We all keep thinking you are going to be a tall kid! You did get your 4 month shots this time though and you were not happy about it :( Last time you did pretty well, but this time you wanted nothing to do with anyone but me. Not even Daddy. When we got home from the doctor, you took a long nap and then didn't want to be held by anyone except me. You would play and laugh as long as I was holding you, but the second I tried to pass you off you would cry. We even had to give you some Tylenol this time because you were in pain :( But you are a tough little guy and we love you so very much!

Our First ER Scare

Well we had our first trip to the ER, Trenton! Along with your first ambulance ride (mine too) and hospital admittance. You were a trooper though! I happened to be on my way home around lunchtime because we forgot to take your car seat out of my car and Daddy needed it. Then when I was about 5 minutes away I get a phone call from him saying you won't stop crying. My thought was you just needed to comfort nurse and you will be fine. Sometimes you just need Mommy. Lo and behold, It was a blessing to have left your car seat and me having to make the commute back home at that time.

When I got into the house, I see you laying on the couch with daddy in front of you but as I was about to pick you up to nurse you daddy fills me in. He was going down the wooden steps carrying a pizza box in one hand and you in the other when he slipped. The pizza and you both fall out of his arms as you all slide down a few steps. You hit your face first and tumbled down and hit your head also. (Daddy suffered no injuries except for a sore wrist and a guilty heart). He called 911 and the ambulance got there a few minutes after me. Good thing I got there first or I would've had a heart attack myself seeing that first. Daddy was so scared though. Luckily you are one tough cookie, but he thought you were seriously injured and so so scared! He will tell you all about it one day. And then it will probably be a funny joke, but today it was the most terrifying thing.

Once the ambulance got to the house, they assessed you and found a lump on your head along with the redness on your face and your swollen nose. They recommended we take the ambulance to the ER just to make sure you were okay and run a CAT scan on your head. The worst part for me was not being able to hold you and comfort you right away. Hearing your blood curdling cries and not being able to do anything about it is the worst feeling in the world for me and it just breaks my heart.
The EMT in the ambulance said he dropped his daughter when she was 6months old down metal stairs at Disney World so he definitely knows how daddy feels. It happens and he's been there. Of course his daughter is perfectly fine 13 years later, and so will you.

 You can see the redness and his swollen nose. Poor baby :(

Once we got the results of your CAT scan the doctor showed us that you had a tiny bit of bleeding on your brain so we needed to be admitted overnight for observation. Your nose was fine though and the redness and swelling went down significantly during the evening. The neurosurgeon came in and talked to us also and explained more about why you had to stay but reassured us (especially daddy) that this happens all the time and the slight bleeding sounds worse than it is. They just need to watch you and make sure you don't vomit, have a concussion, and your head doesn't swell.

You were in a lot of pain until about 7pm and screamed every time I put you down or someone else touched you. But then you started getting back to your happy self. We gave you your octopus toy and your doggie blanket and you were just talking away for awhile :) You definitely enjoyed your "pass" of me letting you watch tv during your hospital stay though :)

Daddy cuddle time 

When you started feeling better you played with your octopus and enjoyed some TV time

 

Around midnight you started screaming and would not calm down though. I felt so helpless because I didn't know what was wrong with you. Luckily daddy was able to calm you down and after a couple hours was able to put you in the crib to sleep. The parent couch is far from comfortable, especially for two people, so I didn't really get much sleep. Daddy and I both could not wait to get home.

Gi-Gi came over to the hospital right away and Uncle Montez and Aunt Brittany came over soon after. Everyone was so worried about you! Later Pimpa and Gi-Gi came back again to bring daddy and I some stuff and to see you again.

All the hospital staff here is wonderful and so helpful. Which of course is a blessing when new parents of a 14 week old baby comes in. They all commented on how cute you are and how much they love your hair. The X-ray technician even said she wanted to take you home :) such a ladies man already.....

As we were waiting for the doctor to finish the discharge papers, he decided he wanted to run one more test just as a precaution. So you had a full body x-ray to make sure all you rlittle bones are okay from the fall. And you hated it. You cried and screamed the whole time and it was so heart-wrenching :( It was amazing how fast the techs went though. I've never seen x-rays get done so quickly!

We finally got discharged 30 hours after your fall and it was a very long and exhausting 2 days! I cannot even begin to explain the helplessness I felt when I could not comfort my baby. I think it's something only a mom can know. But we are so so grateful that you are just fine!

You are 14 weeks old and within the past week, Loretta scratched you in the face, you tumbled down the stairs, and you had your first ambulance ride, ER visit, and hospital stay. We don't need another $800+ medical bill from you any time soon, so how about we keep the incidents at a stand still for awhile? :)


I love you, little man.

Time Flies

Trenton,

I cannot believe you are three months old! You have changed so much in the past month and it is amazing to see it all.

-Your laugh is coming out more and more
-You like to be thrown into the air. It scares you and you throw your hands out, but as soon as you come back down you start smiling and laughing. I wonder if that means you are going to be our little daredevil?
-You don't make quite as many funny faces as you used to. But you do use your pouty lip! You pulled it out on Gi-Gi while she was watching you one night. You already have them wrapped around your little finger :)
-You are talking a lot more! You will sit and have what seems like very intense conversations. And you LOVE talking to Daddy the most. You light up every time you see him. I am so blessed to have both of you in my life.
-You had pretty bad cradle cap and eczema when you were a little younger but now all that is gone finally! And your hair is getting curlier and longer on top.You are going to have a little afro by the time you are 6 months :)
-Just this past week you have discovered the water in your bathtub and if you kick your legs then it splashes. At first you weren't quite sure what you were doing, but you quickly figured it out! Now I have to have a towel across me or I get soaked as well.
-You are also starting to open your hands up more and trying to grab things. It takes a lot of concentration but you are getting there!
-Daddy and I were so proud of you last week. You rolled over 3 times in 2 days! It was even better that Daddy and I got to witness your first time together. You haven't rolled over since then though, and now you just flop around on your belly like a fish. But you still love your tummy time; especially if I am on the floor with you.
-You also love to read! You don't seem to have a favorite yet, but you love to kick and look at the pictures of all the books we read together. Your little library is slowly growing as well! I hope reading stays an important part of your life and you will choose reading over watching TV or video games. Here's to hoping at least :)

You didn't go to the doctor this month so I'm not sure how big you are, but we can tell you are definitely growing! A huge change that happened this week was when I had to go back to work. I was so sad to leave you, but you get to spend time with Daddy and Uncle Montez and Aunt Brittany during the days now. I learned that I loved being a stay at home mom and taking care of you and Daddy. Maybe one day I can go back to staying home with you.

This weekend you get to make another road trip. We are driving to Albany to visit Grandpa Joe and that whole side of the family so they can finally meet you.

I love you baby boy and I'm thankful every day God gave me you.

Love,
Mommy

Your first time at the park and on the swings! You loved it :)