Living in the now; eat, crawl, sleep.

Milestones of the first year are a moms best friend and worst enemy. We are constantly checking what our babies are supposed to be doing this week/month and feel a sense of pride if they should start doing them early... and angst when they start lagging behind. One thing I have learned is never to compare, never push, and never say never. I am learning to appreciate the little, every day things rather then continuously look forward to what tomorrow might bring.

Never to compare. I was reading one (of many) toddler development books and a few of them said that around 5 months you might start hearing some familiar words/babbles. This of course put me on babble alert, listening and interrupting every sound. Wyatt has recently started saying, "Ba, ba, ba..." and yesterday on our drive over to Gigi's house he switched to (much to my dismay) "Da, da, da...". I don't know if this qualifies as his first word, but I think it is close enough to count. I don't want to be one of those moms that says her son was talking at 5 months when really he was simply sputtering through slobbery lips, but I will say he is starting to pick up on this thing we call talking. I just shared this bit of news with Bryan (who is over east hunting at the moment) and though he doesn't say much, I could tell by the tone of his voice he is overjoyed. Ahhh... 2 prophecies fulfilled- had a son, first words were dada. 2 gold stars for mom. I think so. (Gold stars magically turn into dollar bills when dad is gone!)

Never push. We are currently working on crawling. He has the pieces to do it, he just cant figure out how to put them all together. He is sitting up now without any hesitation and gets annoyed if you try to lay him down. He rolls over like a fish out of water (and somewhat resembles one too) and can hold himself up with his arms. I have seen parents push their kids to crawl or walk and it just looks miserable. I want crawling and walking to come naturally to Wyatt at his own pace. I want him to discover it on his own, so that he realizes he can do it... with or without me by his side. Someday I will wish he would just sit still, so I may as well enjoy this time while he still does.

Never say never. I had originally said that we weren't going to start baby food until 6 months, but when our pediatrician gave us the green light at 4 months (due to a good weight/height) I decided to go with it. One more fun thing to add to our day. Being a stay at home mommy, adding peas to your day is considered 'spicing things up'. I started with the rice cereal but he quickly got bored with that. Carrots, squash and sweet potatoes are favorites... with peas and green beans coming in last. We recently started making our own food... an endeavor I have been looking forward to for a while and he is in love with avocado (great, the spendiest of them all) and rutabaga. We have also been playing around with a sippy cup and he is starting to get the hang of it. This picture is of Wyatt at Gigi's house, sitting in the same high chair that his mommy and Grandma used. We are so lucky to have such an amazing Great Grandma! We love our Gigi!

So many things and so much time. Most people say so little time, and so did I up until a few weeks ago. I had to stop myself recently because I found that I was just going through the motions of the day, not stopping to really just enjoy Wyatt for the baby he is at this very moment. Every day I was waking up and he was that much bigger. It started to wear on me, the idea that another day had come and gone and it was a day we could never get back. I thought maybe we didn't do as much with that day as we could have. So now I take a moment each morning after Wyatt wakes up and I just sit with him. Its our time, without toys or books or baby food. Just me and him. I can never get these moments back, but I can make sure we make the most of every moment God gives us.