Cutie Pie and Princess

Cutie Pie's cousins came over to play this weekend and oh what fun he had! I learned a lot about my little Cutie Pie from this experience. Usually when we visit with other babies it is only for a short while. Cutie Pie plays with his classmates at school but Mommy does not get to observe their playtime for more than a few minutes when he is dropped off or picked up. It was so neat to see him play with another baby all day.


Cutie Pie's cousin is about two months older than him. We'll call her Princess. They crawled all over the place and patted the dogs together. It was really fun to watch them play with toys together. I heard that kids who go to day care are more aggressive, especially boys. So, I was expecting to have to play referee when I saw them go after the same toys. I was shocked though to see my tough day care boy share his toys easily with his stay at home cousin.

Princess is older and a little more aggressive. Cutie Pie showed Princess around his living room and picked up all the best toys. When Princess saw something she liked, she just held out her hand and Cutie Pie gave it to her. No tug of war, no tears. My baby is nice. I am so proud!


Cutie Pie was quiet most of the morning. He seemed to be taking it all in. I have noticed that when he plays with new people he is not quite himself. After about three hours though, he seemed to come to life. All of a sudden he felt comfortable and the babbling began! He told his Aunt and cousins all about his day. "Blah ba Hey!"

The cutest moment of the day was when we had to put one of our dogs in time out. He was banished to the porch where he barked his head off in protest. The babies were very concerned about their little buddy and crawled over to comfort him. I think they were surprised to find that they were not able to go through the glass on the door. They sat together, babbling at the dog. "Blah, la ba ba, hush doggie!"

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Haircut Fun

Before: Cutie Pie is wondering why he has a towel in his highchair.

After: Cutie Pie announces the haircut is OVER!

As you can see, Cutie Pie does not look much different since having his hair cut. Daddy only removed a tiny bit of hair from around his ears. He still looks like he needs a hair cut! But, it will probably be a long time before he gets one again. That after picture breaks my heart everytime I see it.

Snip Snip: Cutie Pie's First Haircut!

I am the proud owner of a lock of my baby's hair. Cutie Pie got his first hair cut today.

Daddy has been saying for a while that Cutie Pie's hair has been getting too long. It was starting to curl around the ears and down on his neck. We live in a rural area where plenty of kids sport mullets but we just couldn't let that happen to our precious baby. So rather than become a fashion victim, Cutie Pie had to be brave and face the haircut.

You might be wondering which barber would cut a seven month old child's hair. None. Daddy did it at home. Now you are laughing and wondering how much worse Cutie Pie's hair looks than before.

Actually, Daddy did a great job. He used the clippers and a high guard. Cutie Pie thought the buzzing sound of the clippers was interesting. He didn't get upset until Daddy had to hold his head still. He wanted to look at the clippers. He didn't want Daddy to keep them behind his head! Cutie Pie needed a nap after all that excitement!

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Happy at Home

I had to spend two full days at work this week and it was like torture. I don't know how I used to work like that. Working all day means cramming my Cutie Pie quality time into just an hour in the morning and maybe two hours in the evening if he's not too sleepy.

I know that a lot of women work full time and they feel totally satisfied with their situation. I am very happy for them but working in an office full time is just not for me. I was a little excited to go to work on Monday after a long week with a sick baby. But the novelty soon wore off and I found myself thinking about what Cutie Pie was eating for lunch and wondering how long he would nap. These are not the most productive thoughts to have when one is trying to work.

Having a child has made me a much better employee. Anytime I think about slacking off I just imagine how great I will feel when all my tasks are accomplished and I can leave early to pick up my baby from his school. Suddenly, I am full of renewed energy. Cutie Pie is the ultimate carrot.

I'm so glad to be back on my short day schedule. Yes, it means I am much more busy trying to do paper work at home and take care of Cutie Pie. It also means I am exhausted from chasing my little crawler around the house, my skin is dry from excessive use of disinfectant wipes and I spend much of the day with baby food stuck in my hair. But, I love every bit of it.

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Hey, Da Da!

Cutie Pie gave his Dad the best Father's Day gift ever! Sorry Grand dad! All you got was a shirt.

Father's Day seemed like it was going to be a bust. Cutie Pie's Daddy was sick. All he wanted to do was sit on the couch and watch Die Hard while he coughed and hid his throbbing head from the sunlight. Since it was Father's Day, he got his wish. I was disappointed though. I'd have liked to celebrate in a more traditional fashion.

So, Cutie Pie and I were just sitting around and trying to make the best of the situation when he looked at his father and said "Hey, Da Da!" It was amazing but surely this was a mistake. His usual babbling must have randomly put together this pattern of sounds. Cutie Pie didn't mean it. Then, as if to prove us wrong he said it again and again and again. "Hey Da Da!"

What a great way to remember an otherwise lousy Father's Day!

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Happy Father's Day!

In honor of Father's Day, I wanted to share some pictures of Cutie Pie and his best friend, Daddy.

They are having some "Cheese" for dessert. HaHa!

Cutie Pie loves his Daddy. He is a great Dad. Happy first Father's Day!

Doggone Cute

Uh Oh! Cutie Pie found the dog's bowls. He is a quick little crawler. He was playing quietly with his new stacking toy, so I snuck into the kitchen to get his breakfast ready. Next thing I knew, I heard splash, splash next to my feet. Cutie Pie was playing in the dog's water bowl. He must think I put a little baby pool in the house!

The dogs saw the whole thing and they were horrified! I quickly picked up the water and food and placed them on the counter where Cutie Pie couldn't reach. As I cleaned the dog water off Cutie Pie and the floor, the dogs barked at me like someone had stolen their food.

I'm sure they are thinking, "That rotten kid! First he moves in here and takes all the attention. Then he gets all these cool toys that we're not allowed to chew on. Now he's taking our food too!"

When I put the bowls back down for the dogs, they eyed their food suspiciously like Cutie Pie had ruined it or something. They quickly wolfed down a few bites, probably in case I took it away again. Then they went back to gazing forlornly at the baby.

A little later, I gave Cutie Pie one of those Earth's Best Teething Biscuits so he could chew on something other than my arm. If you've never seen one of these things, you should know they look just like a dog biscuit. When my dogs saw Cutie Pie holding and eating something that looked like a dog treat, they got angry all over again. One of them even tried to steal it from him. I let the other one play with one of Cutie Pie's toys just to keep him away.

I was getting worried that I was about to have a mutiny on my hands when Cutie Pie suddenly grew bored of gnawing and dropped the biscuit on the floor. The dogs quickly scooped it up and all was right with the world again. Cutie Pie was delighted to see the dogs run over to him. He laughed and gurgled, oblivious to the drama between him and the dogs. Cutie Pie loves his doggies and he is always willing to share with them.

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The Next Big Step

Cutie Pie is pulling up and trying to stand. So far walking is not going so well for him but he's a fighter and he's not giving up! I can only imagine that he will take off in another couple of months. The kids he plays with at school seem to all walk around nine months so I'm preparing myself. I'm starting to look for baby shoes.

It is one thing to dress Cutie Pie in the cutest of clothes. Buying him shoes is a whole new ball game. I've looked at shoes online and tried to learn about sizes and the flexible soles that will allow him to still grip the floor with his feet. Of course, I don't want to buy him any old ugly shoe. I've got to find something cute that doesn't cost more than my own shoes.

I visited a few children's shoe stores last week. I didn't bring Cutie Pie because I was hoping to actually concentrate on choosing a shoe, rather than chasing a baby down the aisles of the store and trying to persuade him to not eat the store's merchandise. Unfortunately, it turned out that I needed Cutie Pie with me because I picked out all the wrong sizes. His feet seemed so much bigger in my mind!

I thought that buying shoes was my only big decision for this month. According to my research Mommies can't just write their child's name on their shoes with a Sharpie. Apparently, many Super Mommies also buy shoe labels so they don't get lost or mixed up with their friend's shoes. You can't just make and print your own labels because plain old labels won't last long on a child's shoe. You've got to get a special sticky label made especially for all the wear and tear a toddler can create. So I checked a few websites for labels.

Mabel's Labels is advertised in every parenting magazine I've ever read. They say I need to choose a picture to go with my child's name on the label to help my pre-reader identify his label. Good grief! There are princesses, sports, pirates, bugs, dinosaurs and just about anything you can imagine. But somehow I just can't decide how to label my child. It seems like such a big decision. This is the picture he will identify with himself! I'm leaning toward the dinosaur by the way.

I also checked out Oliver's Labels and Labels4kids.com. Who knew there could be so many choices for a simple name label? Oliver's Labels has more colorful labels and the shoe labels are shaped like feet. They are very cute. Labels4kids has special right foot labels that make a big picture when you put the shoes next to each other. This way, the child can tell which shoe goes on which foot, assuming that Mommy positioned the labels correctly in the first place. I can so see me doing that.

With all the decisions to be made, I'm hoping Cutie Pie takes his time learning to walk. He's getting around quite well crawling for now.

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Cutie Pie is Back!

What a long week it has been! Last Thursday I went to pick up Cutie Pie from school and I heard two of the most horrifying words I have ever heard: Pink-eye. Cutie Pie had been exposed! Now at face value these words don't seem alarming. Pink is a pretty color. Eyes aren't scary. But I soon found out just how terrifying these words can be.

The next morning, I took my puffy, crusty-eyed baby to the doctor. Cutie Pie put on his usual show of flirting with the nurses and trying to snatch the stethoscope out of the doctor's ears. We were given a prescription for fancy eye drops and sent home with instructions to lay low until the illness passed.

Unfortunately for me, Cutie Pie's Daddy was out of town so I had to entertain a mobile seven month old by myself all weekend. Cutie Pie didn't like the eye drops. He cried like his world had ended each time he saw the drops come close to his face. No toy or song could distract him from that medicine bottle. Not even Old McDonald!

When Cutie Pie doesn't feel good, Cutie Pie doesn't sleep. My little boy becomes his alter ego, Mr. Crankypants. He stays up all night, loudly protesting everything Mommy tries to make him happy. No toys! No swing! No blanky! Poor Cutie Pie. Poor Mommy!

Cutie Pie got restless spending all that time at home with no one but a tired Mommy to play with. He grew bored of chasing the dogs and began working on his pulling up skills. He mastered the coffee table and the couch but the dining table is still a little tricky. He fell a few times and earned some new bumps and bruises.

Somehow we made it through the weekend. I was so excited to get back into our routine on Monday. I got all dressed up in grown up clothes and was walking out the door when Cutie Pie threw up all over both of us. Here we go again.

Cutie Pie went back to the doctor. He had a sore throat that caused him to cough each time something touches his throat, including drool and food. So he pretty much coughed all day and night. And when he coughed too hard, he threw up.

So my staycation continued with Cutie Pie. In between baths, I got a crash course in Pedialyte. I discovered that the clear stuff is way better than the flavored stuff. Why would you give a baby, who is already throwing up, a liquid with dye in it? That is just asking for trouble. As if it's not bad enough that you're going to have to do a million loads of laundry, you've got to scrub colorful dye out of all the bibs too!

Thank goodness for Cutie Pie's Grandma. She took pity on us and came to help out today. She spent the day with my coughing, grumpy Cutie Pie so I could take a break and go to the office. She must have the magic touch because he is feeling much better tonight and is actually sleeping! It's been a long week but Cutie Pie is back!

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Read To Me, Cutie Pie!

I was watching the news this morning when I heard something very disturbing. It was a commercial for Your Baby Can Read. One mother said her eight month old child was already reading. I highly doubt the legitimacy of that claim. An eight month old doesn't even really talk. How can she tell the child is reading? If I gave Cutie Pie a book that said "blah la hey," I could brag to all my friends that he was reading too!

I've been reading to Cutie Pie every day since I brought him home from the hospital. He sometimes seems to listen. Sometimes he even looks at the book while I read. He's had ample opportunity to discover books and words. But to Cutie Pie, books are food. Every book he gets his hands on goes straight to his mouth. I tried to take him to the library but that was a big mistake!

That stupid commercial must've gotten to me because I found myself pointing out the letters and numbers on his Fisher Price learning table later that day. I used to just marvel at how he pulled himself up to the table and managed to balance while pushing the buttons. I loved to watch him laugh at the colorful lights as he learned how to make the toy sing and shine for him. Now that's not enough anymore. Now I've got to teach him stuff. He's already seven months old!

So I googled the company's website and checked it out. The sight looks nice and colorful. They have a video of a baby "reading." It all looks pretty cool. I guess it would be nice to have the amazing child who can read. I'm not interested in teaching him to read quite yet though. I think I want to enjoy his "babyhood" a little bit longer.

You know what would be really great? Some kind of amazing system that teaches your baby to feed himself with a spoon and change his own diaper. Now that's a DVD I'd buy!

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Crawling, Crawling Everywhere!

It's official, Cutie Pie is a crawler! He can go just about anywhere he wants. If Mommy walks into another room, Cutie Pie follows her, laughing all the way. He seems very excited about his new found mobility. He has already discovered that he can fit his arm behind the entertainment center and grab the cable cords.

When he crawls, he gets really excited to be moving so he giggles and gurgles the whole time. If my visual attention is focused elsewhere I can usually tell that Cutie Pie is moving and in which direction he is going. I suspect though, as he gets more used to crawling, that he will soon enter stealth mode and I will have to keep my eyes on him at all times.

I wish Cutie Pie could have taken a little more time to break me in but it seems that crawling is only half of his newest accomplishments. Cutie Pie is pulling up on everything sturdy enough to grab onto. Unfortunately, once he gets up he doesn't yet know what to do next. So, he usually falls and often bumps his head on the way down.

Cutie Pie got a little bruise on his face from the leg of the dining room table. I was quite proud of myself. I didn't get upset or emotional. I didn't consult my baby books about head injuries or hematomas. I just hugged my baby until he felt better and moved along with my day. I guess Mommy is growing up too.

Splish Splash

Bathtime with Cutie Pie has become downright dangerous. He no longer fits in the sweet little baby bath he used since he was born. Now he's a big boy and he sits in the big bath tub. Well, maybe I shouldn't say sit. It's more like wiggles/crawls/falls.

When Cutie Pie hears the bath water turn on he can't wait to jump in. I can tell he's excited because he seems to throw all this body weight against my arm closest to the bath tub as if he's trying to get me to drop him in the tub.

We tried the bath seat thingy that hooks to the side of the tub then keeps the baby in a sitting position. It didn't work for me. Wet babies are too slippery to maneuver in and out of a seat. Cutie Pie takes his bath without the aid of any safety devices. We had to put little frog decals on the bottom of the tub to minimize the slipping and sliding. Before we had help from the frogs, Cutie Pie would just float all over the tub like a little ice cube.

He loves to play with his little bath toys. They keep him occupied while Mommy tries to rub soap all over him. Washing Cutie Pie isn't easy because he doesn't stop moving. My first priority is to keep him from putting his face under the water. Any time spent not playing lifeguard is used for washing. Keeping Cutie Pie clean is not always easy. Who knew a baby could get so much gunk on him?

I read somewhere that I shouldn't drain the tub while Cutie Pie is still in it because it will make him afraid of the drain. But removing the water from the tub is the only way I can convince him to get out when bath time is over.

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Whew! Just Another Day

Yesterday was just another day, thank God! Danger and chaos loomed behind every corner. Yesterday almost became the day we lost the dogs. Then it almost became the day we had to rush Cutie Pie to the hospital for a head injury. Instead it was the most exciting and action packed boring day I've ever had.

I stayed home with Cutie Pie all day. Yep, that's right, I never left the house. Yet somehow, I managed to lose both of my dogs. The Roomba, aka best present ever, trapped itself in the bathroom. In the process of freeing it, one of the dogs must have gone into the bathroom and I shut him inside. I noticed that I hadn't seen him in a while. It wasn't until hours later when Cutie Pie was eating lunch/ playing the bongos on his highchair tray that I heard him bark. I felt bad for shutting the dog in a dark bathroom for hours. But at least he was in no real danger.

An hour later, my husband came home. The dogs, Cutie Pie and I all went outside to greet him. Then we all went back into the house, or so I thought. It turns out that my other dog did not come inside the house. We never noticed she was missing. Almost an hour later we heard frantic barking. I recognized the bark and yelled for the dog to be quiet. The barking wouldn't stop so I followed the sound to the front door. There was my dog sitting on the front stoop. Did I mention it was raining? Thank goodness she was OK. We are so lucky to have such a smart dog.

When I put Cutie Pie to bed that night, I remember thinking about the close call we had with the dogs and how grateful I was that everything turned out OK. Cutie Pie had a little extra energy but he seemed pretty happy so I put him in his crib and turned his soother on. Sometimes he'll lay there watching the pretty lights and just drift off by himself. I went about my evening, putting laundry away and when I came back in his room with a hand full of towels I saw something that made my heart stop. Cutie Pie was standing up in his crib, leaning over the side and reaching down like he was trying to touch something on the floor. If I had walked in just a minute later, I'm sure I would have seen him tumble head first out of his crib.

Cutie Pie's crib was immediately adjusted to accommodate his new found skills and the family made it through the day without having to rush to any hospitals. I'm so glad yesterday is over. I can only hope that tomorrow is boring.

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No! No! No!

"Here we go Cutie Pie! It's a new food. No, you put it in your mouth. What's wrong? It's not yucky, it's good. Put it back in your mouth. You'll like it. No, leave it in your mouth. It's good. Yum yum yum! What's wrong? Are you choking? Why are you coughing? It's not even in your mouth! OK, smile and open wide. Here comes another bite!"

Cutie Pie is expanding his repertoire of food. Each day we try a new food or texture. He used to be very adventurous, willing to try anything new. Now he is becoming more cautious. He is careful when he puts new foods in his mouth and sometimes makes his I don't like it face before the food even touches his lips! He's never had an allergic reaction or a bad experience with food. So, I'm not sure where this new apprehension is coming from. Luckily once he tastes it, he usually likes it. He's even starting to like bananas.

Just a few weeks ago, I could name every food he'd ever had. But now that he's a solid food pro it is easier for me to name foods he hasn't had.

Cutie Pie is now only mildly interested in eating but he is fascinated by the mess he can make with his food. He actively tries to knock the food off the spoon. Once there is a splat of something on his high chair tray, he reaches for it enthusiastically and smears it as far as he can reach. Then Cutie Pie likes to grab his sippy cup and slam it on the table. He knows it won't spill if he tips it over but he can get water to fly out the spout if he bangs it. So this is what he does. He closes his eyes because he knows he will get splashed in the face.

Meal time has become great fun for Cutie Pie. He especially likes it when we have guests over so he can show off his new tricks to visitors. He loves to smile and flirt with Grandma in between bites.

Somehow he has learned to shake his head as if he is saying "No! No! No!" I have no idea how he learned this because as far as I can remember, Cutie Pie has never even heard the word no! Meal time is especially fun to say No. Cutie Pie likes to do it right as the spoon is entering his mouth, sending food flying every which way. It's part of his plan for turning meal time into play time. The kid is a genius.

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Jon + Kate = Not So Great

Everyone has been talking about this Jon and Kate show on TLC. My friends say they've been watching it for years. Last week when I was at the salon, another lady was getting the "Kate" hairdo. I don't get why anyone would want to copy that hair style but it did look good on her. On my last "Mom's Morning Out," aka grocery shopping trip, I noticed that they were on the cover of every tabloid in the check out line. I thought to myself "Wow! Jon and Kate must be great!"

When the show started five years ago, I had no interest in watching a reality show about raising kids. But now that I have my own child, I thought maybe I'd like it. I set my DVR and started recording. It's a reality show about a family who had twin daughters and then had sextuplets. There is constant chaos in their home as the two poor parents try to cope with raising eight young children.

I've watched a couple of episodes now and I'm shocked that Jon and Kate is so popular. Of course, I don't have a lot of time to watch TV but I turned the show on for background noise while I was busy with my Cutie Pie. This was a bad idea. The kids in the show are always whining and screaming while the parents are ignoring them or yelling at them to stop screaming. The last thing I want to hear is another child whine or scream. I certainly don't want my child to hear that. I would like him to think there is no such thing as whining for as long as possible!

People are especially excited about the show now because the parents are having trouble with their marriage and supposedly are splitting up. I do not understand why anyone would think this is exciting. I think it is very sad. I saw the recent episode where Kate cries while she talks about possibly taking their last family photo together. That's when I decided I didn't want to watch anymore.

I cancelled my recordings. Besides, I don't have time to watch TV anyway. Cutie Pie is starting to crawl!

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Mom Envy

The other day, Cutie Pie and I ran into a family that I met in my hospital birthing class. They had a baby boy just a few weeks after Cutie Pie was born. The other Mommy was one of those people who always looked perfect and put together, even in her third trimester. I swear she wore designer maternity clothes to class, even though all we did there was roll around on mats on the floor, practicing how we might cope with labor pain if for some reason we did not get an epidural.


This day, the other Mommy was still dressed up and her hair done to perfection. She introduced me to her son, who had one of those weird trendy names. He wore a matching Ralph Lauren outfit with a collar so crisp it looked like it had come straight from the cleaners.


They looked like a picture of motherhood that you might see in a magazine. Her little doll gazed at me passively while his mother held him. He had the longest hair I'd ever seen on a baby and when I asked his mom about it, she said "Oh, he was born with that hair. Isn't it the cutest thing?"


Meanwhile, I was holding Cutie Pie. He was being his usual active self. Cutie Pie babbled and grabbed at the pen in my hand. He waved his arms around, smiled and gurgled at the other family. Cutie Pie was already on his second outfit of the day and in need of his third. My first choice had been covered in applesauce and never even made it out the door. The clothes he wore were collecting a puddle of drool down the front from the neverending stream coming from Cutie Pie's mouth that could rival Niagra Falls.


So why did this chance meeting stick in my head? I haven't thought about those people since we had our last hospital class. I'll probably never see them again. But for some reason, I can't stop thinking about how much I dislike that other mommy. She made it look so easy. Too easy!

I know that we, mommies should stick together. We shouldn't compare ourselves to one another. We should support each other. But, instead of feeling happy for her and her family, I just felt annoyed that she somehow found time to put on makeup.

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