the difference between a mom and a dad

Caution... long winded. Caution also, mom post. That's to be expected.

What is the deal? Matt and I have been following all the Ferber rules... I think. Anyway, it was working so perfectly, but in the past three nights or so Henry has started waking up at the same exact times in the middle of the night: Midnight, 3:00 AM, and 5:30 AMish. And he cries for like 3o minutes every time, which is NOT supposed to happen! C'mon Ferbs.

ANYWAY, if you want to know the difference between a mom and a dad, here it is. Henry is currently crying, and as a result, my insides feel like they are going to crawl out of my body and it's taking 100% of my energy not to go get him, and there's NO WAY I could possibly sleep right now. Matt, on the other hand... Well, I guaran-darn-tee ya that Matt has no clue that Henry is crying. Matt's dreaming about... about who knows what, but the point is he is sound asleep. Completely unmoved. (Even if I turn the sound on the monitor up high IN OUR BED, Matt hardly notices... not that I'd ever do that.)

And we're going on 35 minutes.

In other exciting baby news... My child who refused to feed himself for about 2 months after he should have been capable has started to put his own food in his mouth. He used to just drop it on the floor. Now it's on the floor and in his mouth... and all over his hands, face, shirt, pants, etc.

As for a clean house, I keep telling myself, "LOWER YOUR STANDARDS!" Cause Henry's favorite pastime is taking every single piece of clothing out of our bottom drawers. Or taking every piece of Tupperware out of the cabinet. Or pulling all the books and magazines off the shelves. So, in my former life, I would re-fold my clothes, put the Tupperware back in the cabinet in a very orderly fashion and realphabetize the books and movies and magazines before putting them on the shelf... Now, if I do put the item back in its place (cause most of the time I just leave it out till Matt comes home to entertain Henry), I shove it in the drawer, cabinet, shelf... just to get it out of my sight.

This new life stage has forced me to prioritize (cause I can't do everything), and perfectly organized everythings is something I've just had to drop. I could go into detail, but I don't want to bore you. Maybe another time, but when you only post once every three weeks, you have to be selective... more selective than I am being in this post right now.

Going on 50 minutes. Please, child, give it up.

Next. Henry has WORDS! It's so exciting. He says (or actually just repeats) the words, "Dada," "Hello," "Hoorah," and for the first time today... "MAMA!" He also tries to say "uh-oh," but only gets out the "uh."

Okay, I am not going to lie. There are times when I don't want to have a blog anymore because sharing things with a mostly anonymous public just feels weird... plus I don't really feel like updating a lot anymore because I don't know what to say... HOWEVER, when he's crying I am SO thankful that I can write to all you crazy anonymous people who are, for some unknown reason, interested in what's going on in my life. Also, the grandparents and great-grandparents love it, so don't worry - I won't go anywhere.

And, with that, I am going to get that child out of his crib. Wait... one more thing.

Can I just say that I NEVER EVER EVER planned to be nursing my child till he was almost 11 months old. No way. I thought it would be over as soon as he got teeth, which is totally what I would have done if that surgery hadn't caused the dude to stop taking a bottle. I cannot believe that we have made it this far. And I mean, I would have quit yesterday if I could. But it is sort of special - I'll give you that, whoever you are. But I'm trying to start weaning. He's picky about the bottle. He takes it sometimes, he denies it most of the time.

Who cares?!?!!?!? I know. I know. This is totally lame and ALL about mom stuff - the stuff you never want to get caught in a conversation about when you don't have kids. I've been you before, you kidless DINK. I know.

Okay, as you can all see, my brain is no longer inside my head. I left it on the pillow.

And, oh my goodness, he might finally be asleep... 1 hour later. Lord, help me.