9 Month Check-up!

We went to Milo's 9 month well-check yesterday and he checks out!
Head Circumference: 18.1 inches (68 percentile)
Height: 29 inches (71 percentile)
Weight: 19.45 pounds (29 percentile)

The doctor was super impressed that he can crawl really well, pull himself up on things, and take steps along things.  She's sure he's going to be walking soon.
My feelings: YAY and Oh, no. (50/50 percentile)

He's also eating a lot more real food and less formula, which is nice. He's using a sippy cup (after trying 4 other brands, this one is his favorite) exclusively, is working on his top two teeth, taking two 1.5 hour naps every day, and making word noises. In other words, he's been fighting a nap for the past half hour. HAH. No one is perfect. (But seriously, kid, go to sleep.)

Plans for the BIG trip this summer are coming along swimmingly! We went on a test drive (2 hrs, round trip) with the baby and the dog to see some logistics of it and everything should go well. We even had a taste of what carsickness was like (Milo was still getting over a stomach bug) and it was handled with relative ease.

We've decided that Strider will come with us because it's SO much cheaper and he's going to love being able to run around Sean's parents' yard with their dog Katie. We've got the hitch in place, the luggage rack purchased, the trailer booked, the campsites booked, and I only have like 10 lists that I'm working on. It's getting more exciting the closer it gets and less terrifying. So yay!

AND!

Congrats to Kayla and Jeremiah on their new little boy!
Welcome to the world, Sirius Severus Donner! We're so excited to meet you in a few months!

Love, Miss Ellen

The Spirit + Sleep Deprivation = Me Crying at 2 am

Disclaimer: If you don't want to hear (read) church-talk, you'd better stop reading here. Thanks for visiting anyway!

Moving on. I don't post a lot of church things on here (I have my reasons), but last night I had a somewhat profound experience that really boosted my testimony a few notches that I thought I might share (plus it's good to have these things written down for the future).

It was 1:30 in the morning and a teething Milo had fallen asleep on my chest again after a dose of pain-killer/fever-reducer, a small bottle, some singing, a change of jammies, and a whole lot of wailing (all this started as soon as Sean fell asleep about 3 hours earlier, after having assisted me with the meds). I was almost certain I could lay him down without too much fuss and go back to my own bed, so I went for it. He started squirming as soon as I stood up and only relaxed slightly after I'd put him down. I started to sneak for the door when he started up fussing again. I stood over his crib, patted his back and just started crying.

I was so tired. He was so tired. I had no other ideas of what to do, so I crumbled. I collapsed with my head in my hands on the rocker and just started pleading with God to help put Milo back to sleep and let him not be so in pain. After a couple minutes of that, Milo had fallen asleep in his crib on his own (thank goodness we'd already sleep-trained him a few weeks ago) and I could finally go back to bed.

As I crawled under the covers for the 4th time that night (long story), I had a vision of Heavenly Father sitting in my rocker holding Milo like I was just holding him and Milo was perfectly content and asleep, no aching whatsoever. Of course I broke into tears again, thanking Him for helping take care of Milo.

I realized that He has the same love for us as we do for our children, the difference is that he can feel that for every single person ever in the history or future of the world. That's beyond my imagination. I don't even know anyone, aside from truly loving everyone. Plus he has the omnipotence to truly know exactly what everyone is doing always and somehow has the time to come and embrace my little boy in a time of need. It's unfathomably incredible. I am so lucky.

Having watched General Conference this past weekend, I had been spoon-fed exactly what I needed but couldn't quite swallow it until last night. When we both woke up (thankfully, 8 hours later), I put on one of the talks I'd missed from the women's session that I didn't attend because I didn't know about it, and it just reaffirmed exactly what I needed to hear.

It was Cheryl A. Esplin's talk on service this morning that brought me to tears (again, I know).
"One woman who took care of her invalid husband explained, 'Don't think of your task as a burden; think of it as an opportunity to learn what love really is.'" Even when I was overwhelmed last night, He had the patience with me to show me what true love really is.

I know that my Heavenly Father is watching over me always and is constantly aware of my struggles and my triumphs. I know that as soon as I come unto him, He will help me and show me what I need to know. I have a powerful testimony of prayer. Sean and I struggled for 11 months to have a baby and as soon as we started praying together every night, we were blessed with Milo. I know that he puts obstacles in our paths to grow together and learn, so that we're always progressing and not just sitting stagnant. I know that whatever He has told our prophet is true and even if it is difficult to understand right now, we can take comfort in knowing that he knows exactly what he's doing and we don't have to.

Milo is crying again and it might be time for some more medicine.
Love, Miss Ellen.

Back To Normal(ish)

Sean's trial finally ended last Friday. It took 8 weeks total and we are all more than glad that it's over. Now we're trying to get back into the swing of things, but it's not super easy. We had to re-stock our kitchen because we stopped having dinners here and Milo's internal clock is still slightly off because his bedtime is back to 7:30 (where it was pushed back to about 8 every night so we could get in a quick visit with Dad for dinner). Plus now he's climbing on everything and I'm running around trying to keep things out of his mouth and not letting him fall on hard surfaces.

I'm getting the feeling he's just not super interested in our living room any more, which is something I totally understand. I'm pretty much over doing the same things every day, but I'm having a hard time thinking of appropriate things for him to do. Here is a small list of ideas that pinterest has helped me with, plus some things that I thought up by myself:

• Spaghetti Adventures
• Colored baths
• Sensory Bags
• Discovery Baskets
• Playing outside

Most of these things will probably work and might be interesting to him, but it's still a pretty small list. Here are the other problems:

1. He will put anything and everything in his mouth.
2. He's starting to get super possessive of things (namely anything I don't want him to have) and will cry if I take it away. 
3. He gets bored and distracted really easily (for example: I made him a quick sensory bag this morning with edible paints we made him for easter and he only cared about it for approx. 30 seconds and then just went back to climbing up on the ottoman). 
4. He only wants to pull toys out of the drawer, never play with them. So there's just a pile of toys around the drawer and he's off banging on the table he's pulled himself up on. 
5. I don't want to spend a ton of money on stuff he's likely not going to care about being engaged in for less than 2 minutes, which is all of his current toys. 

He loves eating and feeding himself, so all I have to do is throw some stuff on his tray and we're good for the next half hour. But after that when it's actual play-time, I'm at a loss and we just end up doing the same things. 

So what I'm saying is... Help? Does anyone have any ideas? Should I really get like a jungle gym for him? I have no idea. 

Besides all that, we're doing great. Milo sleeps through the night nearly every night so now I can wake up and get the day started at relatively the same time every day! And maybe you'd like to see a bunch of pictures of Milo. That's what you came here for anyway, right? I thought so.

 His hair is getting so long!

He's been sleeping with his butt up a lot lately. 

 Yay! Happy Easter!

 Family Easter Picture (yes, he was crying. He'd just woken up... haha)

 Grocery shopping with mom!

He crawled his pants off. Literally. 

We got a new island for our kitchen! It's so nice! 

Milo loved "dying eggs" (with the edible paint I was talking about earlier) and his basket.

He's a keeper.

Love, Miss Ellen

Homemade Eczema Cream

Milo has really sensitive skin. He's struggled with dry skin and eczema for a long time plus he's sensitive to certain soaps and creams, so it's definitely been a challenge to keep his skin soft and not rashy. And on top of that, he's a squirmy boy so it's hard to really put a thick cream or emolient on well. 

So recently, I came up with a concoction that has worked wonders and is the perfect consistency and I thought I would share it! 

Ingredients:

 Equal parts Aquaphor (or vaseline), Eucerin cream (or other thick, medicated cream), and coconut oil.

Start out with a big gob of Aquaphor (or vaseline) in a tub, then add eucerin, and coconut oil (melted). Mix to your desired consistency.

We only apply it at night after his bath, but I'm sure you could use it more often. It has seriously made a huge difference for Milo.

I hope this helps!

Miss Ellen

The Tale of Wail

Listen up all ye noobs

or moms still yet to be,

for I have a tale that is told so oft

by so many moms like me.

Once upon a year ago

or maybe 2 or 3

I said "My child will not scream"

Well, I just had to wait and see.

Months went by after Milo's birth

where he'd only moan or cry,

then eventually he learned a trait

that brought tears to my own eyes.

It wasn't the cooing or giggles so cute

that made this mommy weep,

but the bloodcurdling screams every day and/or night

when he shouldn't have made a peep.

And he didn't just scream during times he was mad

or hurt or hungry or tired,

but even the times when he was just playing around

that seemed to set off screams of fire.

Oh, how I wish I could retract that statement

I'd made so many moons ago.

I bet it's karma, or some kind of voodoo

that makes me write of this woe.

A word of warning to all of you

still holding to some sort of plan:

Babies don't follow the orders you give.

They don't even understand.

The best advice I can give you now

is only to go with the flow,

because I don't want you to regret what you'd said

however many moons ago.

Love, Miss Ellen

P.S. I still love him even though he screams. Even ask him. See? Still all toothy smiles. 

Stick a Fork In Me - I'm Well Overdone.

Is there a word that means more than exhausted? If so, we may be the definition of that word. It's 6:42 am and Sean is already off to court after a brief visit home last night to watch some tv, bathe Milo, walk the dog, and sleep. That's how it's been every night for the past 4 weeks besides that most nights he's not home early enough to help put Milo down. And how it's going to be for 4 more weeks, possibly.

And, on top of this, I'm still sleep-training Milo and for some reason it only worked one fluke night again. I've been up since 6 and then before that from about 2:40 until 4. And it feels like all I ever hear anymore are tired whine-cries. Every time I think there's progress, I get booted right back to square one.

What was I thinking doing so many chores yesterday? It's not like they're getting noticed. There's already garbage everywhere, dishes in the sink, and another load of laundry to go in before I've even folded the last one and it just makes me tired to think about it.

I do try to get out. We have some playdates scheduled and I go shopping fairly regularly, but at this point it's just more draining sometimes. That doesn't mean I don't still enjoy it or that the people I see are tiring, it's just like when you take too much of one medication and it stops doing its job.

It really could be worse, but that doesn't mean it doesn't suck hardcore right now. Our bodies hurt, we're all so tired, and the light at the end of the tunnel is still so dim. We're hoping to go on a little getaway when he's done, so at least there's a little something to look forward to in probably April.

Someone save us.
Miss Ellen

Hump Day

I am for real praying that this is the hump days of hump days because it might be the dead middle of this trial (meaning, of course, the judicial trial Sean is a part of, not a trial of life. Although you could probably call it that.) and it can all be downhill from here. But that's of course entirely possibly going to change. Unfortunately. As far as I know about this, it will likely go another week.

And so, I'm missing Sean a lot. And so is Milo. We're all more than ready for this to be over. Last weekend was a rough one because it wasn't exactly relaxing because Sean was still gone all of Sunday and was in the garage working on the car a lot on Saturday. And we're - hopefully - at the end of a long sleep-training period. He slept through the night on Monday night and then only woke up once for 22 minutes last night, which is a huge improvement.

Anyway, needless to say, there have been plenty of tears shed. Largely by Milo (seeing as he's a baby. (What a baby!)) but still. It's rough. Tonight he is projected to get home "before 9". L

However! Milo is a rocking crawler. He's now capable of exiting rooms on his own - hello baby gates. He also just loves waving his arms all over, so watch your faces because he definitely might punch them inadvertently.

Other than that, we're just pulling through.

OH. And I started a twitter account. Mostly it's just condensed mom-rants, but you're welcome to follow! @donnermom

Love,
Miss Ellen