Happy Halloween!

For the 2nd year in a row we've found ourselves in Oregon for the month of October.

Which means we could reenact the cuteness of Baby Jett's first Halloween from last year.

This year I put him in his skeleton jammies and pretended it was a costume.

He wasn't too sure about the terrain, it made walking a bit tedious.  But he seemed to enjoy himself!

We rode in wheelbarrows with cousin Parker.

 We watched Aunt Jill pull stupid faces for pictures with giant sunflowers.

 We walked with Grandma through the pumpkin patch.

 We turned our noses up at baby pumpkins.

 Deciding we wanted a bigger one instead.

 We watched Daddy find the biggest pumpkin he could find.

 And we tried to reenact our photo from last year...we were only kind of successful.

Happy Halloween Everyone!

The Mom Chop

Guys...I think it's time to chop my hair.

Not TOO short, but shorter.

My hair is long and obnoxious and I can't remember the last time I wore it down.

I shit you not I just went through the last 6 months of photos and could not fine ONE single picture of me with my hair down.

Sigh.

So, it's either wear my hair UP for the foreseeable future or chop some of the length off and see what happens.

I'm thinking something like this:

source

And here's my hair now...

Alright, you're right, that's from last Christmas! But my hair looks THE SAME.  All the more reason to DO something to it as I haven't changed it in a few years.

OMG how cute is Baby Jett, so tiny!

Anyway, I need some feedback, should I chop it?  Anyone else chop off inches and inches of their hair lately and NOT regret it?  I feel like every time I cut my hair I just want it to be long again...

Our Journey to Parenthood

I'm over here today guest blogging for Leah at Everyday Love.

Pregnancy & Infant Loss Remembrance

Today, October 15, is Pregnancy & Infant Loss Remembrance Day.

Most days I am well past the heartache of losing our first pregnancy 2 years ago but as we contemplate embarking on this journey once again the scars from the past come to the surface.

Jett will get some extra snuggles from his mama today for all those mamas who never got to hold their babies.

All the Baby Deuxs

It seems nearly everyone in my blogroll, both fertile and infertile are either:

Pregnant with Baby #2,

Trying to get pregnant with Baby #2 or

Talking about trying to get pregnant with Baby #2.

Is there something in the air?

Or do I just happen to only follow bloggers who gave birth roughly a year ago and the logical next step once your baby hits a year is to get pregnant again?

I fall somewhere in between the last two categories.  We haven't been using any protection but I have yet to have a postpartum period.  That means theoretically we're trying because I could ovulate at any time but really I'm pretty sure I'm not ovulating so it's more talking about trying!

I must admit, the fact that I have yet to have a period is starting to make me anxious.

I know people who didn't start ovulating again until 15 months, 18 months, 2 years or until they fully weaned.

I GET IT.  Some people, NORMAL PEOPLE even, don't get their fertility back right away.

I shouldn't worry yet.

It's the fact that I have an anovulatory disorder that has me worried.  Am I already all cysty?!  Am I not going to ovulate at all?  Or am I just one of those people who's not going to ovulate until I've weaned?

THERE'S NO WAY TO KNOW.  And short of weaning there's not a lot I can do about it.

If I'm being really honest with myself it makes the most sense to wait until after we get back from London which will be the end of December to worry about this.  In fact we've decided to not DO anything (no temping, no OPKs, no Vitex, etc etc) until after the New Year. 

Should we fall pregnant on our own between now and then?  So be it, obviously that would be awesome.  BUT I DON'T REALLY WANT TO BE PREGNANT ON A 10 HOUR FLIGHT WITH A TODDLER. 

And...I want the wee ones to have a little bit bigger age gap than 2 years.  Somewhere around 2.5 years would be ideal.  Which means waiting another 6 months or so.

All that being said, I can't help it, I've started worrying.  And obsessing.

ISN'T THERE SOMETHING I CAN PEE ON???

At least I know I'm not alone, basically ALL OF YOU have started obsessing again too.

So let's discuss, if you had the power to choose, what is the ideal age gap between your kiddos?

Hunger Strike Round 2

My post earlier this week about rules somehow turned into a post about feeding my baby.  I didn't realize that this was really where my struggles with discipline lie.

You guys offered some sound advice so I wanted to elaborate and clarify a bit and then ask for more advice!

First, Jett's diet is almost stricly fruit, veggies and proteins.  He eats very little grain, very little dairy and next to no processed food.  His "crap" snack that I let him have is Cheerios and he only gets them for car rides.

He loves fruit and he loves veggies but he does NOT love meat.

How do two meat loving parents end up with a VEGETARIAN???

Such a hippy already...good thing we live in San Francisco, he fits right in.

Second, he's only in the 18th percentile for his weight, so I do worry a bit more about him eating than I would if he weighed more AND he's slightly anemic...perhaps that's because he WON'T EAT MEAT.

Anyway, my point is that I LOVE the idea of plopping the kid down in the high chair, giving him some food and then that's it.  He eats or he doesn't, his choice.  LOVE THAT.  Like, honestly, it appeals to the laziness in me and this is what I WANT to do.

BUT, I got kind of a stern...not reprimand, but warning? that we needed to get Jett's iron levels up by his 15 month appointment or we were going to start talking supplements.  So, handing the kid a plate of food only to have him eat just the veggies followed by a snack of fruit later in the day then some more veggies for the next meal means he's not eating meat, thus not getting iron.  Because really the only way he'll eat the meat is if someone feeds him, at which point he HAPPILY eats the meat but he won't eat it on his own.

I've done other things like eggs, spinach and hummus for iron but let's face it, red meat is the easiest.

After my last post in which ALL OF YOU told me that you let your kid decide how much they want to eat ONLY IN THEIR HIGHCHAIR I decided I would give it a go.

What resulted is that my baby has had nothing but fruit, veggies and some Cheerios since Tuesday.  Last night he blatantly refused to eat ANYTHING except two bites of broccoli.  I even tried to resort to my old ways of hand feeding him after he was out of the chair but even that was refused.

I thought he would be crazy hungry this morning, but NOPE, he only ate half his breakfast.

So of course I worry, it's like part of the job description of MOM.

This is not the first time Baby Jett has gone on a hunger strike.  He basically ate nothing but fruit for 2 months just before he turned 1.  Ultimately I had to just let it happen and he went back to eating on his own.  But that time I wasn't concerned with him being anemic!

Luckily he's still nursing so I know he's getting SOME nutrients but guess what breastmilk does not provide?

Oh that's right, IRON!!!

So, now that you all know the WHOLE story, do you have the same advice?  Put him in the high chair, give him food and don't worry about it???

I'm trying to be all relaxed and chill about the whole thing, but in reality I'm starting to dread meal times.  So NOT how I wanted to approach food/meals as a parent.

How Strict Are You?

I can safely say that I let my kid get away with some stuff that I shouldn't...and that I swore I wouldn't.

I rationalize it all away by saying I'll be more strict when he can understand me/communicate with me and when I'm all alone it makes it easier so I'm doing it!

But as we've hit toddlerhood we're beginning to discover that my husband I disagree on how strict we should be with rules at this young age.  I, being of the mind that we need rules now but letting him get away with some things now that we wouldn't when he's older is ok.  

My husband believes that rules are rules and he needs to adhere to them...regardless of his age.

Some of the things we don't agree on?

I let him eat walking around/playing.  He doesn't like to be in the high chair for any extended period of time these days and while I insist on breakfast and dinner at least starting out in the high chair, I sort of let lunch slide and I feed him while he plays. He's still pretty small weight-wise and I find he'll eat more if he's not confined.  I REALLY don't want to continue doing this and I've vowed to quit by the time he's 2...but for now it works.   My husband thinks he should eat his meals in his chair and if he doesn't eat...then he doesn't eat.

My husband doesn't have to live with Screamy McCrankypants if he doesn't eat...which is what happens when kids don't eat!  So generally we do things my way =)

He's getting really good at his baby signs which is helping IMMENSELY.  He can now tell me when he's done and when he wants more and we've begun to...ahem...compromise with him regarding how much he has to eat before he gets down.

Another food arguement?

I don't force him to eat anything.  I give him choices...probably too many choices.  If he doesn't want to eat the first thing I present to him for dinner then I give him another option.  I never EVER had to eat something for dinner that I didn't want to eat, so I have a lot of trouble forcing him to eat something he doesn't want to eat.  

My husband is of a very very different opinion in which he thinks he needs to eat the food that's presented to him.  Period.  

Bathtime meltdowns?  

Every once in awhile, usually when he's super tired he has an epic meltdown in the tub and wants out IMMEDIATELY after getting in.  My way to deal with it?  Let him get out of the tub.  Even if he was older and could talk I wouldn't force him to take a bath if he was having a meltdown.  If he started doing it EVERY night?  Different story and he'd probably get forced into a bath, but once?  

My husband disagrees with me and wants to nip the tantrum in the bud, not wanting him to think he can get away with things just by screaming and makes him stay in the bath until he quits crying (which doesn't happen he just keeps crying until mama saves him!)

Things my husband does that I don't agree with?

He lets him get on the coffee table and he lets him play with screwdrivers.  Sigh.

These are just a few things that we disagree on when it comes to rules/discipline.  We agree on the rules that we ultimately want our child to follow and the manners we want him to possess but disagree on how to get there.

It's all a learning game, I guess we'll see what happens in a few years.

How has everyone else started dealing with rules/discipline?  Are you super strict starting super young?  Or do you let things slide now that you plan on being strict about later?