Seven Months-- Can You Believe It??

The first four months of Isaac's life were so slow. It felt like two years. And it was like two years-- in terms of my personal growth and the number of hours I have been awake. Ha ha. Anyway, the last three months have flown by in comparison. And I have a feeling, the pace of life isn't going to slow down from here. 


Isaac has become quite the mover. In Church, he likes to arch his back and flail himself from side to side. I think the chandeliers must look more interesting from upside down. He's not crawling yet, but he can get from being on his tummy to sitting and from sitting to being on his tummy. And he can usually roll over in any direction he wants. He also does the cute pre-crawl rock-- where he rocks his bum forward and back while on his hands and knees. But no true crawling yet. 


His favorite activities are tearing up the junk mail, playing with Dad, reading books, and now-- eating!! His favorite foods are sweet potatoes and carrots. And he doesn't mind peaches, pears, and squash. He'll tolerate green beans and apples when mixed with something else. And that's about all he's eaten so far. 


It's been a painstaking process to introduce foods because he has exhibited so many allergies, so we are taking things slow. He's shown allergic reactions to milk, rice cereal, bananas, and possibly peas. Anyone who knows me well can tell you two staples in my diet have always been yogurt and bananas, so it's a little bit strange that my baby is allergic to both. But hopefully the little chunk will grow out of them. 


Here are some cute pictures of him from the last month: 

Bath Time on His 7th Month Birthday

New Naptime Tricks: 

Tigger Tail

"Mom, why are you taking a picture instead of feeding me?"

  

A little blurry, but he always makes this face: 

Stress

Lately I have been stressing. For lots of reasons. But I've found that mostly it is the compound effect of many little things that tend to break me down. I know I shouldn't sweat the small stuff, but that has been my life-long battle. Any advice from all you relaxed, go-with-the-flow type people out there?

A Few Things That Make Me Happy

1. Perfect Fruit. Really, I like almost any fruit that is perfectly ripe and tastes like God intended. Last week I bought mangoes for 33 cents a piece that were just heavenly. And this morning, I ate a perfect peach. Ah! Really, there is nothing better than perfect fruit. (And nothing worse than biting into a strawberry that tastes like trash!!)

2. Babies. I think having a baby turned on a switch in my brain. (It probably turned several on and several off-- truth be told.) But anyway . . .  I always liked babies before, but to be honest, I was only semi-interested. I never really needed to hold other people's babies, and one little glance at them was probably enough. Now, I love babies. Every baby I see, I want to cuddle and kiss their chubby cheeks. Some moms have told me they aren't really baby-moms-- meaning they don't enjoy the baby phase as much as other phases of childhood. I'm not sure what kind of mom I am, but I definitely love babies! And so it's convenient that I live with the cutest one ever.

3. The Mormon Channel. I love listening to the radio shows on the Mormon Channel-- while I clean or cook, or even while I feed Isaac. (I think he likes them too.) My favorite shows are Conversations and the Relief Society interviews with Sister Beck. If you haven't listened to anything on the Mormon Channel yet, I definitely recommend this if you are a mother or ever want to be a mother; this if you are going through a hard time; or this if you are experiencing change in your life.

4. Sleeping. Poor Brent (and anyone else that has ever lived with me) knows this equation:

8 - x = a less than happy Sarah whenever x is greater than 0

As the value of x increases, the happiness of Sarah decreases. If x is negative, her happiness increases! There is your math lesson for the day. 

5. Eating out. I like to cook. But honestly, it is so nice to not have to do it sometimes. Brent is so good to me and usually takes me out on the weekend or we order take-out. He also likes to cook, when he can. I married the perfect man.  

6. Flowers. I told Brent not to buy my flowers for Mother's Day because they are so expensive. So, instead he made me some out of socks. But, really, I do love flowers. A few weeks ago, we invited a friend over for dinner, and he brought some white roses as a gift. They bloomed so beautifully for over a week on our dining room table, and were so beautiful, I couldn't resist commenting on them every time I walked by. (I'm sure that was really annoying to everyone else, now that I think about it. ha ha.) I also just bought some potted orchids at the grocery store for $8!! They are pink, over 2 feet tall, and still blossoming. And they fill an empty space that really needed to be filled on our side table. There really is nothing better than fresh flowers-- especially ones that are potted and will last a long time. 

There are so many other things that make me happy, but I'll end this list for now. What makes you happy? 

Rain Boots

When Marie came to live with us in Houston, she purchased a pair of these boots from Old Navy to help keep her feet dry in the rain. You see, Houston is very flat. And it rains very hard. So the water has nowhere to go, until it slowly drains/ soaks into the soil. Unfortunately, our parking spot also happens to be slightly lower than the rest of the parking lot. So whenever it rains, we have to carefully step in a huge puddle of water, trying to not get our feet wet with dumpster water. (Our assigned spot is next to the dumpster as well.)

Thankfully, Marie left these shoes for me to inherit when she moved back to Rexburg-- because this past week, I have used them every day! They make much more of a fashion statement than I am used to making, so it's been funny get comments from random people throughout the day on my shoes.

I have never owned rain boots until now. And really, I've never needed them (especially because last year was the worst drought Texas has had in history, I think) . . . until now. Thank you, Marie!!

A Teacher Mom

My writing has been sparse on this blog, because I've been writing here instead: A Teacher Mom. My friend, Lindsay, started the blog, and I'm really excited about it. Here is what I've contributed so far:

http://www.ateachermom.com/2012/06/25/book-review-simplicity-parenting-using-the-extraordinary-power-of-less-to-raise-calmer-happier-and-more-secure-kids/

http://www.ateachermom.com/2012/06/30/toys-that-encourage-creative-play/

We'd love to get an active readership going-- a community of moms who share ideas. If you're interested, let me know!