Milestones

Little man is growing up! About a week and a half ago he signed for more while I was feeding him. He did it 5 or 6 times, but won't do it anymore now. Apparently he likes to show off and then refuse to do it again. He is also saying bye and mama. We're working hard to get him to say dada, but so far no luck. Recently he's also started enjoying time on his tummy. I'll sit him up and then he'll lean over until he's laying on his tummy. He's also started pulling his knees under him and he even scoots around a little bit. So far he's not moving very far, but I'm sure it won't be long til he's crawling. His other favorite things include: standing, playing peek a boo, and eating table foods. He gets mad every time I eat something in front of him. The kid will eat anything! It seems like he's getting a bit of a belly too probably because he eats everything in sight. Well, there's an update.

A Touch of Fall at the Boggs House

Here's a little taste of fall in our humble abode:

This is a shelf on the hutch in the kitchen. I hope to be able to do the whole hutch in fall stuff someday, but for now I enjoy looking at my beautiful glimpse of fall while smelling my pumpkin spice candle.

I've also had some fun with fall/Halloween foods. I got this recipe out of a Halloween booklet (the ones that are near the checkout at the grocery store). Yummy chicken fajita pizza with a spider on top.

Here's my pumpkin spice dip for Halloween. I also made the fall shaped crackers out of tortillas. Yum! Yum! Yum!

And finally the little family trick or treating.

6 Months

Well, the little man is 6 months old. He is now 14lbs 9.6oz and 27 inches long. The dr. said he's gaining weight well, but he's just gonna be long and lanky. He's got some chunky thighs, but that seems to be about the only place he's really gaining weight. He is such a happy little guy. We are all thoroughly enjoying our sleep now because Jared is sleeping through the night. He's so funny now because sometimes he wakes up around 6 am and then plays/naps until 7 or 7:15. I'm enjoying getting to sleep in most of the time.
He is also sitting like a champ. The little guy will sit and play for 30 minutes at a time sometimes. He is also loving playing games like peek-a-boo. Today he was cracking up when we were playing. His little laugh is so sweet!
Still no teeth, but I'm assuming we'll get some soon. He's been a little more crabby than usual the last few days and he's making chewing motions even when he's not chewing on anything.
Jared is also loving his food! So far he's had sweet potatoes, avocado, rice and oatmeal cereal, pumpkin, butternut squash, apples, and bananas. I think that's it. I'm getting ready to start him on some new foods, including meats. I'm really excited that Jared will be able to eat an approximation of the Thanksgiving meal this year.
I think that's about it for the update.

Very Quick Update

Jared is gaining weight! We went to the Dr. yesterday and gained almost 2 pounds in 2 weeks. He's almost back on his growth curve. Hopefully when we go back in 3 weeks. Also, I've been able to keep nursing twice a day which is nice. We'll see how long it lasts, but I'm comfortable either way at this point.
He is also so fun right now. He is officially sitting on his own, but he throws himself off balance sometimes when playing. He is also giving kisses which is so cute. They are slobbery and open mouthed, but so adorable. He has also started fake coughing. It is so hilarious and he really only does it when he's getting his diaper changed. I don't know if I coughed once or what, but it's pretty funny. I laugh and then he just keeps doing it.
Well, there's the update. I'm sure there will be another one soon. He's just growing up so fast.

My Mind Won't Turn Off Tonight

Well, I'm having a bit of insomnia tonight, so I thought it might help to write out my thoughts. Purge them from my system so I can get some sleep. =)
I'm sad right now. I'm probably going to be done nursing Jared soon (like days) because he's not really interested since he has formula and so my supply is drying up. I'm not really sure why this is making me so sad, but I've got some ideas. I really wanted to nurse Jared for as long as possible (without it becoming weird), I was thinking a year. Because I'm not able to do this I feel like I've failed in some way. In my mind I know that I gave him a really good start (5.5 months), but I'm frustrated that my body crapped out on me. I know there are some things I could have done to prolong nursing (like pumping all the live long day), but I decided that spending quality time with Jared and relaxing while he was sleeping was most important for me right now. In the future there will be far worse things I'll look back on as failures as a mother, but this seems like the first big one to me. I wanted to be able to provide for him. I think this is also related to some overall guilt about the fact that he needed more food than I was able to provide for some time and I didn't realize it. Luckily he wasn't losing weight or anything, but he's definitely put more weight on pretty quickly (I'll know for sure how much on Thursday, but he's got a chubbier tummy and thighs now in only 2 weeks).
The other thing that is bothering me is that this feels like his first real independence from me. When I was nursing he needed me, which I'll admit was kind of annoying sometimes when I wanted to go and do things, but now he doesn't need me for that anymore. We had some built in cuddle time that I really enjoyed (not when it was at 3 in the morning, but it was nice overall). Wow, I better deal with these feelings now because he's only gonna move farther in that direction (hopefully).
I guess I'll just enjoy the time I have left, maybe a few times tomorrow when I'm not at work. I can't believe he is growing up already. I was just thinking the other day that I absolutely love him at this age. He thinks I'm hilarious and he's developing his own sense of humor and personality. Boy, being a mom is gonna be rough. =)
This is also making me realize that I need some stuff going on in my life that doesn't involve Jared. Yikes! I've gotten pretty wrapped up in him (as I should) especially because he was such a handful in the beginning. Maybe I can find a dance team to volunteer with. Anyone know someone who coaches out here in the suburbs? =) Jon and I have talked about how it's tough, because our good friends don't live real close. I don't really have people that I feel comfortable calling up if I need to get out of the house for an hour or two. I should work on that. It's probably my own weird insecurities about imposing on other people. Well, hopefully I can go to bed soon. Wouldn't you know that this happens the night before I have to go to work? Oh well, at least it's only for a few hours. =)

He's 5 Months Now

Jared is doing well. He is a fun loving little boy who definitely does not scream as much (whoo hoo)! Jon and I are having fun watching him change. Recently Jared has started rolling from his back to his front, but it seems like he only likes to do it in his crib at night. He gets a little mad too because he hates being on his tummy. He's also blowing raspberries and talking up a storm. It's so fun to see him laughing and playing. Yay he's a fun boy! We're also working on sitting. He's able to hold himself up in a tripod (with his arms on the floor) for a little bit, so I don't think we're too far from him sitting on his own. Tummy time has also gotten better. He still doesn't like it very much, but he definitely tolerates it better.
Jared also had a Dr. appointment on Friday to check his weight. He still isn't gaining as much as he should be, but he eats like a pig. You should see him take down his solid foods. Well, the Dr. wants me to nurse him and then pump and feed him that after he nurses. The first night I did this with my freezer supply and he went through the whole thing. Oh! He is also finally using a bottle. I pretty much forced it on him on Friday. =) He doesn't fuss after nursing though, so I didn't think he was still hungry, but apparently I'm wrong. So, I'm going to try to pump during the week, but this weekend was no going to work because we had friends visiting. I offered him formula, but he didn't drink it. I wasn't sure if he wasn't hungry or if he didn't like the formula. Today he finally took some formula and had about 2 oz. and seemed done (he left a little in the bottle). Overall, I'm kind of sad that I'm not providing enough for him and that I've been denying him something for all this time. Hopefully he starts bulking up now. On a positive note, now that he will take a bottle, I can leave for longer amounts of time. We go back to the Dr. in two weeks to see how he's doing. Oh, we've also added another feeding so he's currently eating 3 solid meals a day. What a piggy!
Jon and I also started sleep training this week because neither of us could stand Jared waking up so much at night. Jared's done pretty well, but this has also coincided with Jared's turning onto his tummy at night and screaming about it. He does pretty well sleeping until about 2 or 2:30. Last night he woke up twice before that, but he went to sleep on his own without much fussing/crying. We do have a little trouble after that though. He wakes up sometime between 5 and 6 and has some difficulty going back to sleep. I don't think he needs to eat because it's only been 3 hours at the most that he's been sleeping. We'll figure it out eventually. I'd just love some real sleep. =)
Onto my life. I joined some mom's groups online to see if I can meet some people in the area and get Jared out of the house. I met with two different groups and I think that I'll be able to find people I connect with in both groups. One of the groups is only first time moms, so that's nice because we're all new at this and there are at least 2 kiddos who are very close to Jared's age. In the other group the moms seem to have older kiddos or more than 1, which is fine, but I just don't feel like I fit in there as well. We'll see as I continue though. At this point, I was just proud of myself for actually going out and meeting new people. I hate doing that! So far it's been good though.

Labor Day Weekend

The Boggs family had quite the eventful Labor Day weekend. On Saturday Ben, Brianne, Brayden, and Brookie came over and played for awhile. Then we went to the Kane County Cougars game. I was really hoping that Jared would sleep during the game since he normally goes to bed at 7 and the game didn't start til 6. He did fall asleep for a little while, but had some trouble staying asleep. I guess he can't sleep through all that excitement anymore. He seemed to enjoy himself though and didn't get too cranky. He even liked the fireworks. =)
Sunday we headed down to Seneca, Illinois to go boating with my family on the Illinois River. Sunday was a bit chilly, but we didn't mind. Jared seemed to like his time on the boat and took a nice long nap on Sunday. He also spent some time driving the boat.
We spent the night at a hotel in Morris Sunday night. Monday we woke up and took Jared for a swim in the hotel pool.
He definitely enjoyed it more than the last time he went swimming. No screaming at all. Then he took a nap while the rest of the family got ready for the day. We spend some more time on the boat, enjoying the sun and fresh air. Jared really seemed to love being out there. We were laughing because the bigger waves didn't even phase him. He was also a lot more comfortable with my mom and dad which was nice. They got to spend some fun time with him and I got a little break. =) Here's Nana and Jared.
I really enjoyed being out on the water again and I got to show off my sailor skills. =) Jon was very impressed.
In other news, Jared is so much fun now. He seems to be getting into more of a nap schedule and he's so happy when he's awake. The kiddo loves to laugh. This is definitely more of what I was thinking of when I thought of having a little guy in my life.
We're also still feeding him solids. He's had sweet potatoes, rice cereal, avocado, peas, and apples. He doesn't seem to have any preferences except that I get it in there quickly. I also think he's been gaining weight. His cheeks look a little plumper to me. Next thing on the schedule...celebrate Jon's birthday! =)