Busy Mama

I haven't had the energy to write in this blog for almost 2 months! A lot has been going on. Holidays came and went with the craziness that always accompanies that time of year. On top of that, I got fired from one job (heh) and quickly got hired for a much better one. I now work p/t Saturdays and Sundays as a home health aide/caregiver for an 80 yr old guy who has dementia and Parkinson's. I LOVE my job and the people I work for are amazing. It is incredibly exhausting mentally, but it's great for me to be able to go and work outside the house 2 days a week. And August goes to daycare on Saturdays, which is good for him! He loves it.
I've been busy transitioning Gus to eating more and more solid foods. I make all our baby food homemade (which I highly recommend!) in the Beaba Babycook.  So much more cost effective and no chemicals or preservatives in the food. So far he likes pretty much everything we have given him, except for edamame. He'll eat edamame but spits it out more often than not. I'd say his favorites right now are broccoli, pineapple and butternut squash. This week, I am working on adding beans and lentils into his diet for protein. Joel and I have decided not to give him any meat until after he's a year old. We don't eat very much meat at all (maybe twice a week we will have chicken or pork or turkey) and we don't want him to be a big meat eater for health reasons. We are going to do seafood though. I want to have him try salmon tonight. It's so healthy and has tons of Omega 3 fatty acids which are essential to brain development.
He's also been sleeping close to 7 or 8 hrs a night without nursing and during the day he'll often go for a 3/4 hr stretch without nursing which has been oh so nice for me. I vividly remember being exhausted from nursing every 90 minutes, 24 hours a day for almost 3 months. I do not miss that at all!
Socially Gus is developing like a champ! The comment we most often get is " he is such a laid back baby" which always makes us as parents feel great because I know we have at least a little to do with his temperament. We are extremely laid back parents and people so I think he picks up on that. High strung parents tend to have high strung kids and laid back parents tend to have laid back kids and that is definitely the case with us. Now, literally the only time he cries is when he is tired or hungry. That's it. He is such an easy baby all around! I also contribute part of his personality to us taking him everywhere and being social with him. I mean, we took him out to dinner when he was 3 days old! Being parents has not stopped us from being social, which was one of my goals while I was pregnant.
He is also becoming very snuggly and needs comfort from mama when he's tired or gets hurt. He is just starting to reach for me with his arms, which melts my heart and he buries his face in my chest when he's tired and needs a snuggle.
He is also standing while leaning onto something, crawling like crazy and laughing. He LOVES petting the cats and crawling up to the dog while he's chewing on his bone. He also is loving splashing in the bath with his toys! The one thing he hates right now is getting his teeth brushed. He puckers up his lips and tries to turn his head from side to side when I brush his teeth.
Currently I am trying to lose weight to get healthy for pregnancy/baby #2. Joel and I are in a much better position financially, we live in a wonderful house and neighborhood and we want our kids close together. I am  finally feeling recovered and healed from labor and pregnancy so I am ready to go again. Tentatively we are thinking of trying again in late spring or early summer...but we will see how it goes. I know once we have 2 that I will be twice as busy and twice as exhausted....it will be so worth it though. Gus has brought so much joy to our lives and the lives of those close to us. It makes me tear up when I see how loved he is by family and friends. And I know our second baby will be just as loved too! Joel and I are already set on a baby girl's name but have not found another boy name we like yet. We have lots of time though of course...we just like to plan ahead!