JH and I celebrated our 2nd wedding anniversary. This year it was on a Wednesday so we went out on a Saturday. JH always plans our anniversary trips/events. On our first anniversary, we went to New Hampshire and Maine. I was just entering my 2nd trimester and felt great. It was the perfect relaxing trip. This year, we choose not to go out-of-town because of the baby. Instead, JH’s parents came over and we went to one of our favorite restaurants, “The Melting Pot.” It’s a great fondue place and since it takes 2-3 hours to eat, it is a nice getaway.

Baby J and I went to a baby yoga class that I heard about through my mom’s group. The class is an hour long and the instructor teaches fun songs and massage techniques that you can use on your baby. This particular class was free so there were about 30 other moms there. The babies ranged from tiny infants to 8 month olds. Some babies cried, which is to be expected, but not Baby J. He decided to use all of the silent moments to practice his sounds and laugh hysterically. My son is quite the comedian.

Sept. 29 was free museum day at select museums across the country. I heard about this through parents.com. Since we live so close to D.C. I got us tickets to the Newseum. I have wanted to go since its opening, but I couldn’t bring myself to pay 22 bucks per person for maybe 3 hours. I must say that the museum is very nice. My favorite part was the section that displays the newspapers from the 1800′s to the present. It was interesting to see how newspapers have evolved in order to fit in with the lifestyle of the consumer.

JH and I have a few more things planned for this month. Apple picking and pumpkin patches just to name a few.

I wanted to wait and write this post once we were a few weeks into weaning. So far, it has been a great success. Baby J has went from nursing 2-3 times a night to just once at around 4:30am. I don’t mind this mainly because he has already slept a full 8 hours and after he eats he goes right back to sleep until around 7:30. I am sure that he will most likely begin sleeping through this feeding once he is eating plenty of solids to sustain him throughout the entire night.

I have to admit, it is nice to get a decent nights sleep again. Really nice…

Baby J is also on the move. Well… trying to move anyway. He is constantly reaching, pulling, and rolling. Leaving him unsupervised even for a second is out of the question. These days I am so thankful for his crib.

Today I took Baby J to get his professional pictures done at Picture People. I took him there for his 3 month pictures and was very impressed with the staff and the fast service. When we got there Baby J was sleep. I really didn’t want to wake him because he can be a real grump when his is suddenly woken up, but I didn’t want the appointment to start late, so I took my chances. The results… he was not at all interested in taking photos. He wanted to instead do everything else except look at the camera. All of a sudden his shirt, shoes, and even his fingers became the most interesting objects in the world. When he became bored, he started grunting, when that did not work he started crying. In 20 minutes, the photographer managed to get 8 shots. I have to admit the photographer was good because the shots were all very cute!

For the past few weeks, JH and I have been experimenting with ways to get him in his room and ultimately in his crib. First we moved his bassinet in to his room. Every night we put him to sleep in his room and put him in his bassinet. We have a whole routine: turning on his night-light, playing lullaby music and rocking him for a few minutes until he is tired. Then we started putting him to sleep and then laying him in his crib. He would usually sleep for about 30 minutes and wake up screaming. This behavior landed him right back in his bassinet. And then the next night we would try the exact same thing again and get the same result.

Then I decided to put myself in his shoes. He has to be thinking, “since I was born, they have been putting me in this snug warm thing by their bed and now all of a sudden I am in this big thing with bars in my scary room.” If I were him I would be crying too.

Now i’ll begrudgingly admit, we tried to let him cry it out. We tried for about 20 minutes on 2 occasions. And guess what, it didn’t work. He never stopped crying, not even for a second. The kid has lungs of steel and a personality to go along with it. He is not about to be forced into anything especially sleep. And to be honest, this did not sit well with me at all. Letting him cry and cry and cry just went against every bone in my body. I just knew there had to be another way.

So we are trying a gentler approach. During the day, he spends more time in his crib. I put him down for his naps and will also put a few toys in there for him to play with quietly. I figure that if he plays in his crib he might not think it’s so scary. At night we are still placing him in his crib once he falls asleep. Each night he seems to sleep longer and longer.

So wish us luck. We don’t have a set goal, we just plan to continue trying this until he sleeps for longer stretches in his crib. The next step is him sleeping through the night, but it’s best if we just take one thing at a time.

My brother and sister had a great time! They were really excited to visit everything. My sister will actually be back in DC for her class trip next year, so I know she is excited to tell all of her friends that she got to visit some of the monuments and museums before they will. I hope to be able to visit her at least once when she comes back.

Baby J did exceptionally well. He slept on the drive down, only needed to be nursed once, and napped off and on in his stroller. JH and I thought that he would be more fussy since we were out for so long, but he did really well. We hope that this behavior continues because we like to go different places on the weekends that are not always close to the house.

Even thought I have been to the monuments and Smithsonian museums hundreds of times, I always have fun. JH and I cannot wait until Baby J is old enough to really enjoy visiting the museums.

Child-proofing has been a topic of conversation between me and JH for a while now. At first our conversations would go something like this,

Me:”I think we should go look at child-proofing stuff.” Him: “okay.”

But for some reason, we wouldn’t go. Then a few weeks ago the conversation reemerged and we immediately got in the car and went to Babies R Us. This is a list of everything we needed to get:

• Gates
• Outlet plugs
• Cord Covers
• Corner Guards
• Cabinet Locks

So at the store they had an entire aisle dedicated to baby proofing. We spent the majority of our time looking at gates since that was the most important. We have 2 sets of steps in our house and it was imperative that we secure them. Our steps are longer than normal because we have 9ft ceilings. My worst fear is Baby J climbing all the way up the steps and then tumbling all the way down. So JH and I poured over the gates until we found a brand that seemed sturdy, easy to operate, and keep clean. After we decided on gates, the rest of the stuff was pretty easy. I almost got carried away with some of the little things, then I remembered that “what goes up must come down” and then possibly up again if we have another child, that immediately calmed me down.

Needless to say, baby proofing is expensive. The options are endless and the price tag adds up quickly. We needed multiple packs of everything!  I am always looking for a discount or sale of some kind, so once we left Babies R Us, I immediately went to Amazon and bought everything. I will say that we are lucky in some aspects. Our oven’s buttons are towards the back and our fridge’s handles are too high for him to reach.

This weekend we are going to install everything. I’ll handle the small stuff and JH will install the gates. I want to get everything up and installed before Baby J sees what we are doing and figures it out. I have heard plenty of stories of parents waiting to install corner guards and their child going right behind them and taking them off. How annoying is that?!  After that we will assess to see what things around the house need to be hidden or put away until baby J is a little older. Again, I would rather put away things that I don’t want him to touch instead of constantly saying “no”, “stop it”, “nooooo.” Now all I need to do is get JH on board with this plan.

Oh and also, does anyone know if they still make Mr. Yuk Yuck stickers? I would love to get my hands on some.

Now that Baby J is 5 months, I can get him to entertain himself usually through a 30 minute TV show. “Doc Mcstuffins” and “Jake and The Neverland Pirates” are now my best friends. However, some days nothing works and I pray that he will take a long nap so that I can work. I do my best to make him comfortable and if I need to get on a call i’ll have the “mute” button on standby in the event that he starts crying.

Suffice it to say that being a work at home mom is not easy. You can try to schedule your time but with a young baby it isn’t always possible. However, I feel that this challenge is worth it in order to be home with him during his first year. For all the work at home parents out there, this post is dedicated to you!

However, I needed help. When you are trying to function on 5 hours (or less) sleep a night and juggle a baby during the day, picking out healthy food all day everyday is hard. So today, I joined Weight-Watchers Online. The idea of points and tracking what I eat appeals to me. What’s great is that it doesn’t matter your age or background, the plan is specifically catered to you based on your weight loss goals.  This program is also great for nursing mothers because you don’t have to eat certain “diet foods” that may contain something that isn’t healthy for baby (i.e. fake sugar). The point system also keeps you at a healthy losing rate of 1-2 lbs per week.

In order to get started, I first needed to weigh myself. Which meant that I needed to buy a scale. I have never owned a scale, but luckily today I saw a scale at Costco sponsored by Weight Watchers and I thought to myself, it’s meant to be!! When I got home and weighed myself, I was the exact same weight that I was at my last doctors visit (over 3 months ago)! I became frustrated and then I knew that joining was for the best. After I entered all of my information, I saw that based on my height, I was considered to be overweight. I was somewhat prepared for this considering that im only 5’1. But seeing this also meant that in order for me to get back into my “healthy range” I needed to lose more than 10 lbs. More like somewhere between 20-30lbs. And that’s ok, im not ashamed to say it. I had a baby and now I want my body back.

So im ready. I’m ready to see my toned biceps that have been forming due to lugging around Baby J’s heavy car seat. I’m ready to fit back into my favorite straightleg jeans. I’m ready to feel great because im eating healthier and exercising. I’m ready to look great and know I look great!

So if any of you have been or are currently apart of weight-watchers, I would love to hear your stories! And if anyone is considering joining, know that you have a virtual supporter in me!

And of course, I will keep you all posted of my progress!

Yesterday, I took some of baby J’s clothes that he has outgrown over to “Once Upon a Child.” As I was going through all of his clothes, it really struck me how fast his first year is going by. Tomorrow he will be 5 months old. Wow, 5 months. I literally feel like JH and I just came home from the hospital with him.

One of the most incredible things about watching him grow is how quickly he is meeting his milestones. Everyday he becomes stronger. He sits unsupported now to play with his toys. Just last week “tummy time” was just him laying on his tummy and reaching for toys. Now, he’s kicking his legs and moving his arms on his tummy. He’s not moving forward or backward yet, but he’s got circling down! At this rate, he will be crawling by 6 months. JH and I really need to get this house child-proofed!

He is also talking up a storm. He not only practices his sounds, he also has full babbling conversations with himself. At the dinner table, he is talking along with JH and I. It is wonderful to see him realize that he has his own identity.

Watching him grow is so amazing. It makes you cherish every day. I cannot wait to see what baby J is going to do (or say) next. I now understand what people mean when they say “my child is growing up so fast!”

So, since I spent 5 dollars to get into the zoo, I tried to make the most of it and took baby J around to look at the different animals. There were plenty: goats, sheep, chickens, and horses just to name a few. He seemed really entertained watching them and would laugh every time the sheep would go “baaaaaa.” It was quite cute, actually. You can also pet the animals and feed them. We did not participate in that part though because baby J is so little. However, I definitely foresee spending many mornings there, especially once he starts walking.