I realize since I'm a stay-at-home-mom, snow days are essentially the same as any other day of the week for me. But still...there is something a little 'different' about being snowed in. An excuse for me and Mav to stay in pajamas all day? Yes. An excuse to not leave the house for three days straight even though we need diapers and Clorox wipes from Target? Sure. An excuse to pop in a movie in the middle of the afternoon? I think so.
Our baby turned five months old on Monday! Maverick celebrated with an especially crabby evening, I celebrated with two glasses of wine, and Josh celebrated by caucusing for Rand Paul.
I'm not sure how much Mav weighs, but on the same day a couple weeks ago when we were carrying him to church, Josh and I both noticed and commented on how it felt like it was getting heavier to haul around in that carrier. So...that's about as much as I can tell you about his weight. He's still in size 1 dipes, some 0-3 month clothes, and 3-6 month clothes came out of the drawer this month. He's a content and happy little man, so I'm not spending a second obsessing about his peanut-sized nature.
Speaking of peanuts...that is our favorite nickname for him this month. I quickly went back through my Instagrams and realized that is almost exclusively what we call him. Other favorites include:
Little Maverick
Mav
Punk
Little Mav
Naughty Mav
The other night Jamie and I made up two songs to sing to Maverick...sung to the tune of 'Frere Jacques'...
Maverick's Diaper Song:
Little Maverick, Little Maverick.
Is so cute, Is so cute.
Likes to poop in diapers, Likes to poop in diapers.
Pinch the legs, pinch the legs.
The Daddy Song:
Maverick Boersma, Maverick Boersma.
Has blue eyes, Has blue eyes.
Likes to pee on daddy, Likes to pee on daddy.
Has his toes, Has his toes.
And when the three of us do it in a 'round'...well let me just say it's pretty magical.
I blame the aforementioned insanity on all the Baby Einstein we've had playing in this house lately. Maverick has started to get a little more
Maverick loves to eat his feet and it's impossible to keep them out of his mouth during pictures, diaper changes, during his bath...basically all the time. He's still obsessed with bath time and kicks harder and harder every time...he's about to outgrow the size of his baby tub! He will love bath time so much more when he can sit up on his own and splash around. He is constantly eating his sleeves, socks, collar...I'm always finding soaking wet socks on the floor beside him.
Mav will sit in the Bumbo for 20+ minutes now (which is much different than when he could only go about 5-10 minutes at Christmas). Jamie and I like to stick him in the Bumbo in the mornings while we make breakfast and the evenings when we make supper. He observes everything from the island and tells us when he's had enough. But it's fun to eat 'with' him.
A new thing this month is his interest in standing. He locks his legs and likes to stand and bounce while we're sitting on the couch and we practice for a few seconds after every diaper change. I think we will be in the market for an obnoxious-colored-entertainment-walker-bouncer-thing any day now...but I'm holding off until he's done with the swing. My rule is only ONE large, crazy, colorful baby item in the living room at a time.
I have about 47 videos on my phone of Maverick laying on his tummy doing...absolutely...nothing. He has rolled a total of five times this month (from tummy to back), all when the camera is off. And AS SOON as I turn it on, he refuses. It's really hit or miss, and he also refuses to 'perform' his roll for anyone other than Josh or me...but I'm totally fine with this as I'm in no hurry for him to become mobile. No hurry at all. I caught him last week attempting to roll from his back to tummy more and more so that's when he started 'traveling' to each room with me while I undecorated Christmas instead of staying in the living room on his play mat because I will not miss it. Actually, there was one night while I was on the computer and Josh was sitting in his chair (with Maverick on the other side of the living room playing) that we heard him crabbing and fussing louder and louder...but it was the evening so that's pretty normal and we just ignore most of it. Turns out Mav had flipped almost all the way over from his back to his tummy and had his little arm caught underneath him...haha no wonder he was mad. Oops. First-time-parenting fail?
Maverick likes to be bounced, thrown, rocked, danced with, and swung. These things will usually get some giggles, but he doesn't give them away easily. Smiles are easy to come by but we have to work pretty hard to make this peanut laugh. I like to kiss his cheeks, mouth, neck, feet, tummy and legs to get laughs, Josh likes to tickle him with his whiskers or burrow his nose into his armpit for laughs. Or toss him in the air...that wears daddy out more than Maverick most of the time though. ;) He will also laugh at his sleeper zipper being zipped up for bedtime. But if we announce to anyone in the room that he's about to do it, that when he doesn't. And when we're not expecting it...that's when it laughs at the zipper. Punk.
Mav has started to want his scenery changed a little more throughout the day. He's no longer happy to spend all of his awake-time in one place. If he's getting crabby earlier than usual, I move him to a bed, chair, Bumbo, or his swing in whatever room I'm in and he's happy for 20-30 more minutes. He's grabbing and holding toys more and more, notices himself in the mirror, and pulls things down from his play mat to 'eat.'
Speaking of eating, this month Maverick had his first few TINY smells and tastes of lemon, avocado, yellow pepper, steamed carrot, Chick-fil-A sauce, ice cream, and brownie batter. We fell off the wagon with those last three...it's just funny to watch him taste and react to stuff! He doesn't seem super interested in any of it, so I'm holding off starting any solid food until he can sit up on his own and use his fingers better. My plan is do to Baby-Led-Weaning because, to me, it makes sense to teach a kid to chew then swallow instead of letting them swallow mush and then learn to chew their food months later. I've heard it can be an absolute mess (yay tile floors!) and have only done minimal reading on the topic so we will see how it goes. Also: I have ZERO interest in making my own baby food. Mav will be eating a variation what we eat around here (with exceptions like traveling, eating out, staying with babysitters, etc.) Breastfeeding is still going well, though after I hit 60 ounces in the freezer I quit pumping because I got bored of it. Thinking I should probably start back up again, but...I'm waiting for the Holy Spirit to move me.
We have a very talkative little man on our hands. This month his sounds changed from baby gurgling and whining to a hilarious fake cough/high-pitched squeal. It's so fun to watch him get excited because his legs go nuts kicking and he cough-squeals. He just started doing it one day and now we hear it constantly. Maverick gets exceptionally LOUD in the evenings...not always crying, he just starts shouting really, really loudly...like...making it impossible to hear each other, the TV...anything. I mentioned he's doing this fake cough thing when he's happy, he also now does it when he's mad. It's so dramatic and ridiculous and I can tell it's fake and he's clearly not sick or choking...but he has Josh falling for his dramatic tricks...he can't ignore it as well as I can.
Mav has discovered his tongue, as evidenced by this months' pictures. The face he's making in the picture with Chester the Raccoon is his new favorite and we think it's pretty adorable. He gets sturdier and sturdier each day and we're almost to the point where I can prop him on my hip and run around the house easily doing things one-armed in the evenings if it's TOO fussy...but he still surprises me with a flop every now and then. Last weekend when it was so warm was the first time I took him out of his car seat and into a store to shop rather than lugging the carrier around.
A quick rundown of his daily routine...can I just say how much I love our new four-hour schedule?! Maverick now wakes on his own almost every morning around 9 because that works for us Boersma's and our crazy winter vs. summer schedule. He eats at 9 and is awake until 10:30/11ish. Goes down for a nap until 12/12:30ish. Eats again at 1, is awake until 2/2:30ish and my goal is always for him to sleep until 5...though he only makes it all the way to 5:00 about half of the time. He gets up to eat at 5, is awake until 7 or 7:30 and then goes down for a 45 minute to an hour evening cat nap. After that he's awake (and usually crabby) until he eats for the last time at 9:00 and is in bed around 9:30. From there it's common for him to sleep until 5:30/6/6:30, eat, and then back to bed until he wakes for the day at 9. He will still have one weird/bad night each week, and occasionally he will wake at 1 or 3am, squawk about some farts, and then go back to sleep with his paci once he gets them out...but overall I'm thrilled with how he's sleeping. I think it's partly because we lucked out with a good and easy baby, but partly because I've never used any type of sleep prop with him...no nursing to sleep, no rocking or bouncing to sleep. He's put himself to sleep pretty much since day one (it was actually night three when I discovered he would cry when I put him down and stop as soon as I picked him up...nice try Mav).
Some mornings he will sleep until almost 7 so my guess is he will be dropping that early morning feeding any week now..meaning we will start our mornings at 8 and bedtime will move 8pm. But I'm not forcing that because, I'll be honest...Josh and I like sleeping until 9 in the winter. Thinking we'll spend another month with our current schedule and move to the 8:00 schedule when he hits six months (or if he tells me he's ready sooner).
We do have a schedule and stick to it most days, but I try not to be a slave to it when plans with family, church, or other things come up. If we need to run to Target or Fareway I do it during his morning or afternoon awake time and try to be back home by nap time. If we have too much to do out and about or have library or a play/mommy-date planned I try and squeak at least a half hour nap out of him in the morning to tide him over and be home for what I like to call, The Big One in the afternoon. I want Maverick to be able to adapt to different schedules, surroundings, and situations, but I also don't think it's fair to expect him to do something even I would never want to do...ie: napping during an all-day shopping trip or supper at a loud Mexican restaurant. He's a pretty easygoing baby all around so I know when he's overstimulated or just had enough because he quickly turns into a disaster. If I know those situations are possible (sometimes inevitable if he's had a rough napping day) Josh and I always try and remove ourselves from the situation before it's too late. We would rather leave on a high note with everyone saying, "He's not even being bad!" or, "Let him stay up and play a little longer! (MOM!)" than sit through church, supper, the caucuses, or a party with a fussy, annoying, disruptive, LOUD baby who knows it's bedtime. I know this will get harder and harder, and will be simply unavoidable in some circumstances...but I plan to keep doing my best.
In mom and dad news this month...we're depressed about a couple of things. I'm upset that Christmas is over and Josh is beside himself that Rand Paul dropped out of the presidential race. We've been drowning our sorrows in Netflix by binge-watching Parenthood, The Office, and Army Wives together. In fact, there was a week in January where we accidentally stayed up until l or 2am for a week straight because we just wanted to keep the December-party going. We have no idea what came over us, but it seems we're past that phase now that Christmas decorations left our house and February is finally here.
MmB
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