Summer Lovin' Baby Love

Mister Mister in his Summer outfit.

Every Friday the meteorologist on our local NBC affiliate says, "it is Friday, we have made it everyone." I used to roll my eyes. But now that the baby is old enough to really have fun, I get it. 

Weekends are family time and I love them. Beardface usually gets home early on Friday, if he doesn't stop to fish on the way home. It's a hard life. 

A couple weeks ago my sister was in town and we took the baby to swim in my mama's pool. He absolutely loved it. 

Bathing suit courtesy of Aunt E.

My sweet boy will be eight months old next week. I cannot believe it. He is sitting up, eating table food, desperately trying to crawl and he says "Mama." 

How are you spending you summer weekends?

Life's a beach... or a pier... whatever you prefer

For a long time I was afraid to take the baby anywhere. I had all these really dumb ideas of all these things that were going to go wrong.

What if he gets hungry? Feed him.

What if he gets a dirty diaper? Change it.

What if he has a melt down? Ignore the glares of the ignorant and go home.

So slowly we have been venturing out of our home. Very slowly. My son is 7.5 months old. I know shame.

Friday we slathered him in sunscreen and took him to a local pier. And he loved it and it was free! He loved looking at the people, the flowers, the boats, the water, the birds and of course his Daddy.

On what adventures have you taken your children?

Don't Blink...

My baby will be six months old on Friday, which is odd because I only had him 5 minutes ago. 

When I first learned I was pregnant it seemed it would be a lifetime before my baby arrived. Now that seems like two days ago. It goes by so fast and I feel like we, as parents, only have so long to hold our babies, to cherish their first smiles, their squeaky giggles, their chubby thighs. (Although in my family chubby thighs stick around... TMI?)

A few weeks ago I came across a new mom while sitting with a friend. She was desperately trying to get her six week old baby to take a bottle. "I'm ready for him to get on solids," she said. 

That made me sad. It would be a good three or four months before her little boy would eat solid foods, why would you wish away a portion of your child's life? But then it hit me, haven't I done the same thing. 

I remember in those first few weeks, when the baby honeymoon had ended and my son wanted to nurse every 45 minutes around the clock. I had a passing thought, "I am ready for this baby to sleep through the night." 

My boy was 4 months old before he slept through the night for the first time. Did I really want to wish away those weeks? 

My sister has three children, she is gracious and kind and always offers the best advice. When my baby was just a few days old she told me to enjoy the minutes and to look him in the face. "Not enough people do that," she said. 

I have. There were afternoons when my son refused to nap and I sat on the couch exhausted, hungry, needing to shower, surrounded by unfolded laundry and I looked at his face. My house is a mess, my hair is dirty and my shoes didn't match, but I didn't care, it is a moment I won't get back.