Food

In the last 24 hours, Wyatt has attempted to try 3 new foods. Probably, a better way to phrase that is Wyatt has resisted trying new foods. He is becoming quite the opinionated eater. Vegetable? No. Fruit? Yes. Protein? No. Bread? Yes. Dairy? Hives.

In an attempt to bring the balance back towards veggies, I cooked a nice butternut squash last night. One bite in, one bite right back out. Same thing at lunch. Tonight at dinner he managed to eat it... mixed with applesauce and nutmeg. Red plums were an easy yes. Grape tomatoes fared in the middle. He chewed them for a while, then spit the skins out. We're in a rut where he wants to eat with his hands, but 4 front teeth aren't quite enough for some foods. He loves pickles, just can't mush them up enough to swallow. His tastes are a little crazy!

Flush

Today, I wasn't the one introducing the new things. There was a cute new outfit for fall (bringing out the new clothes is the best); an attempt at a new food... but Wyatt decided he would show off a new skill

Flushing the toilet. The shiny silver handle was too much to resist. Mom just pulled it, why shouldn't he? I think we're entering the phase where innocent household items become a huge mess for me to clean up.

More!

Wyatt and I didn't do anything "brand new" today. Unless wearing a new shirt counts? He looks so grown up wearing non-onesie shirts and with his little boy haircut. Where did the baby go?

He has started to sign "more" to me when eating. The cutest is when he nurses and is ready to switch sides. He just sits up and claps his little hands together (his sign for more, somewhere between a clap and the actual more sign). Tonight at dinner he ran out of chicken on his tray and signed for more without my even asking! I never imagined that such little things could be worth so much until I was a mom.

He only has one spoken word so far, "Ba" for Ball. He'll just babble, "ba, baba" and make a beeline for his soccer ball and football. I'm still waiting for Mama. Dada seems close.

40 Days

Once I heard that if you do something everyday for 40 days, it becomes a habit. maybe. Though I definitely can develop a habit for more than 40 days and drop it in like 2. I had good grammar and punctuation all through school. Look at me now.

Anyways, I'm going to try to post everyday for the next 40 days. One new thing for Wyatt every day.

This summer, I was challenged to focus on just 3 things. If something doesn't fall in those categories, it's not a priority. To be completely honest, I have some bigger priorities than the 3 that I feel God is asking me to focus on. Like Himself. However, this fall is about:
1) Being physically healthy. Establishing good habits and passing them on to my family.
2) Building relationships. Making effort and taking risk to go deeper. Giving the time and effort to relationships that they deserve.
3) Paying attention to how I can help Wyatt grow happy and smart. This one is the hardest to describe. It's more of a concept in my head. I don't want to stress about doing a million things, but I want to encourage his interests. For example, he responds incredibly to music so we're looking into baby music classes. (Thanks, Grandma Pat!)

As a part of that, I want to keep myself accountable for expanding his horizons. Hopefully, this will continue past 40 days, but you gotta start small, right?

So, for today, it was our first Tuesday morning Bible study for the fall. And Wyatt's first time in the nursery on Tuesday morning. He seemed to love it! There was a little crying when I started to leave, but a graham cracker did the trick. They said he took a great nap, and when I came back I saw him playing with Cooper and Fox. I loved watching him play with them and imagining that these could be friends for a long time! Hopefully with less crying and unintentional hitting each other...

waiting

I'm not good at waiting. I used to think I was not bad, but I'm terrible with patience.

The last few weeks have felt like only waiting. Waiting to hear about our future, waiting for Wyatt to have a better schedule, waiting, waiting. And stewing and being irritable. And waiting. And whining. And whining and complaining. Still waiting.

Wait... is life for waiting? This was the last week that I met with a group of moms this summer and read "The 10 Habits of Happy Mothers" I needed this chapter at this time: Hope. I had no hope, only waiting for less terrible things to happen. No hope of a good future, no hope in my Savior. I felt ashamed reading about the value of Hope. Where had any glimmer of this been in my life? How had I let hopelessness take the place of my stress? Letting go doesn't mean slipping away.

I could come up with a lot of excuses as to why I have been so stupid and selfish the last few months. What is comes down to is this course will ruin me. Literally ruin my life. I'm loving being a mom but I let that hide so easily and put the little things in front. Who cares where we live. I truly have peace about it. God knows. He has a great plan. Not an easy plan. Not a convenient plan. A great plan and HOPE. I have to wait for his timing, but I can wait in hope.

So, I'll revel in being with my parents this week. I'll laugh at Wyatt's silly antics. I'll even give Cory a hug when he gets home instead of trying to get more done. I'll put it all in God's hands and wait expectantly knowing I'm right where I should be.

And I'll wait for my homemade bread ready in a few minutes! A new breadmaker has been a highlight this week. Thanks, Mom! (and whoever donated it to the Salvation Army!)

stress

I didn't realize how I'd let stress creep into my life these last few months. Then, as I was falling asleep a few weeks ago I felt the familiar aches and tightness in my back. My body recognizes my stress before my head does. It was disappointing to realize that the peace I'd revelled in early on as a mother had escaped. I let life take over without a thought... or more accurately with way too many worried thoughts.

As I've struggled to pinpoint the stress, God has shown me lots of blessings that I've ignored. I live in a comfortable house, have plenty to eat, have a very healthy and smart baby... on and on. Instead of focusing here, I've let the unknowns subconsciously eat away at me.

So today, I'll enjoy my mobile standing on everything mischief maker of a son. And I'll be proud of my husband who has multiple job options for the future. And I'll remind myself that I'm worth being a friend too and actually take some initiative.

Perspective

The last few weeks have been hard. Wyatt started sleeping through the night... or what he considers the night. I've been hoping every night for months that we would reach this point. Then life would be easier; things would flow normally. Right? Wrong. He sleeps for 10 hours, meaning morning is 5:30 AM. We've tried pushing bed time, letting him cry in the morning, and numerous other things. 5:30 it is.

Yesterday, I hit the wall. I'm tired! 5:30 is not when my body wants to wake up. Going bed in time to wake up at 5:30 is not when I want to go to bed. After being up with a whiny yet energetic baby for an hour, I fell apart. How could I keep going? Cory helped me calm down, we got back on track, and the day started. We've been giving Wyatt a new food at breakfast every few days, and it was time for yogurt. I've been reading about when to give what foods and felt good about this. It would be so fun for something other than baby cereal or fruits and veggies.

He loved it for a few minutes... Then I noticed the hives. There were just a few red bumps by his eye where he had rubbed (Wyatt's great at spreading food everywhere on himself) So we stopped, cleaned up, and took stock of the situation. Thankfully, he had just a few spots on bumps - almost all where he had food on him and they disappeared within minutes. My mom has some unfortunate experience with allergies, having discovered Laura's peanut allergy as a toddler. She talked me through what to watch for. I think it may have just been a little early for dairy. No big worries yet.

And more importantly, I was reminded of how important my baby and my job as a mom are. Even that little bit of hurt was more than I wanted him to have. The rest of the day was enjoyable, not a burden. It is a blessing to be here with him and to take care of him. It's not going to be easy. He doesn't make it easy as he gets into everything. I have to look at what is good in that - he's learning, he's exploring, he's growing.

More than any other time in my life, I'm content with where God has placed me. It's easy to let the little things take over and rob the joy from that. Today I make the choice to live abundantly in His love and His will. I am thankful for the opportunity to take changes with a smile and a prayer for guidance. No more fear and stress as a first response. Hopefully, no more at all!