Picture Spam

Aren't baby Halloween costumes the cutest? Unfortunately, my little lion won't be a lion come Halloween; the costume is already almost too small! But that's okay, we still got to enjoy it anyways!

Also, I think you all should know... MATHIAS IS 7 MONTHS OLD as of yesterday. Whaaaaat? Didn't I just take him home from the hospital like yesterday? And now here we are, playing on the floor while he watches Happy Feet Two and scoots backward until his legs are all squished against mine. He'll be crawling in no time.

The Moments You Missed

Life around the Minjarez household has been busier than usual these past couple weeks; we helped my sister-in-law move into her new place, took Mathias to his 6 month appointment (did I mention that already?), started class, and a bunch of other things.

What amazes me now is Mathias' newfound coordination; he's picking up things and passing them from hand to hand, turning them over to examine them, and NOT always shoving them straight into his mouth. And, oh, the babbling! His favorite is the "b" babble. Ba ba ba ba ba. Not to mention the mouth fart trick--that's another favorite. On the food front, we've started giving him a few new things: tiny pieces of fruit, apple juice, and cereal puffs. He adores them all, although he apple juice always elicits a confused face at first.

I've turned into one of those mothers who opens her own mouth while feeding her baby, walks around the house saying, "Bababa," and crawls in circles around him, hoping he'll learn from observation (which he will). It's one of the funnest and most rewarding experiences of my life. I've seen this boy turn from a ever-sleeping newborn into an infant with a rapidly developing personality--a little boy who smiles when he sees his pets, who laughs at his daddy's silly dances, who puts his arms up when he wants me to hold him.

May

August

As far as classes have gone, mine are excellent! One of my classes got cancelled, so now I have just two night classes a week. The good news is the homework is limited to reading assignments. I've really lucked out! In fact, I don't believe there really is any bad news about my classes so far. I'm very pleased with them. For those who were wondering, I'm taking Educational Psychology and Intro to Anthropology. Both are incredibly fascinating so far, and it's only been a week. We did have a bit of problems with Matt's financial aid situation and had to pay the college a fair chunk of his tuition last week, which was a pain. My advice to students--fill out your scholarship applications! And your applications for financial aid as well.

And now I will spam you all with our pet cuteness.

Camera Action

This is just to say that Mathias has acquired a new skill: SMILING FOR THE CAMERA! There's a catch; the flash has to be on.

Here is my proof:

TGIF V.4

Thank goodness it's Friday thankfuls:

Thankful Number One: Family! It's so exciting to see Mathias interacting with his aunt and cousins, even if it is just a hair tug here and a, "Oh, let me just chew on your fingers!" there. You can tell he delights in the attention (most the time), and even delights in watching the puppies give them attention.

Thankful Number Two: Quality baby food! Mathias seems to adore the organic Happy Baby brand of food, which has some great flavor mixtures, including pear + mango + spinach, which was today's choice. We mostly feed him the popular Gerber foods, but he seems to enjoy the Happy Baby brand more, so we may start incorporating that into his diet more often. The fun containers are also a plus.

Thankful Number Three: Baby medicine; don't get me wrong, I'm pretty against medicating my baby and use it as a last resort, but sometimes I don't know what I'd do without baby Orajel. There was one day this week where Mathias cried for two hours straight, and nursing/bottlefeeding/bouncing/achangeofscenery wouldn't calm him down. He had no fever and a clean diaper, so I realized perhaps he's teething again. A bit of Orajel calmed him down enough to nurse, and then suddenly he was a happy baby again!

In Other News:
For all of those who keep asking, YES, I AM GOING BACK TO SCHOOL! I registered for three night classes this semester. Each class is three hours long and just one day a week; so, Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday, I will spend all day home with Mathias, and then once Matt gets home, I'm on my way to class where I will remain from 5:30 to 8:20. I'm really excited, due to the fact that this is the longest I've ever been out of school since I started going 15+ years ago. That, and now all those concerned with me ruining my "potential" by taking more time off won't need to fret!

I do understand that everyone is concerned that having Mathias and having taken time off from school may have ruined my career prospects. These concerns have good intentions. However, I am no longer my priority; my son is. My husband is able to provide for us at this time, so if I need to delay my education to take adequate care of our son, I think it's in my family's best interest to do so. I'm trying to do a form of "attachment parenting", which requires that I be available almost constantly to meet the needs of my child. This means that even though daycare and babysitters are an excellent option, I would like to keep them at a minimum. Mathias is our son, and Matt and I will be the ones to raise him. I can't imagine a life where his daycare employees or babysitters spend more time with him than I do. I don't mean to bash those who send their children to daycare of have babysitters watch them regularly; I understand the decision and the intent. That is just not the right option for my family and my method of parenting.