Life gets in the way

I'm ashamed about how long it has been since I've blogged anything.
I know that it is a poor excuse to say that I've been busy... but that's the truth.
We had Dominic's 1st Christmas and two days later his 1st birthday. I can't believe my little furry blob of a baby is 1.... and even worse; He's 14 months now.
He currently has 7 teeth, with one more making our lives miserable at the moment. He has had his first haircut- even though I held out as long as I could. He is my love and I'm his for now.
He says so many things, Mom, Dad, Dog, Woof, No, This, That.... and one that Grandma gets credit for, Oh Shit! It's hard not to laugh at him while saying "Yep, OH SHOOT!" Please Lord, don't let my kid be that kid. 
He has been crawling like a mofo, he even has different modes. Straight up regular crawling for carpet and this hybrid crawl/kneel for the hardwood or tile. He looks like a drunk peg-legged pirate but he does it so he doesn't faceplant it on the slippery surface.
He eats everything, not a picky one at all, Thank you Jesus!
Went through a rough sleeping phase but luckily a $20 white noise machine with a projector has made the bedtime routine a fun one now.
This kid is a music lover, fo sho. His favorite songs right now are The Big Bang Theory theme song, Mony Mony and Uptown Funk. Anything with a strong bass line, accordion or horns will also bring out the boogie in him. He dances solo, keeping the beat with his butt/arms. He dances with mom/dad and laughs. He plays all of his toy instruments and also all of dads- his new favorite is the keyboard and goes a little Stevie Wonder on it, eyes closed- fingers a dancin' away. I love his enthusiasm for life in general and still can't believe how lucky I am to be his mama.
The time change threw him off, but he's handling it like a champ, even though he is grumpy from a cold and #8 tooth coming in. I love him more than chocolate and he loves chocolate slightly less than me :)

Time Marches On

Holy cow.
Dominic is almost 10 months old. This kid is amazing. He is crawling, like a little peg-legged pirate. If he wants that toy- He will get that toy. He will follow me to the kitchen, bedroom and anywhere else I might want to go.
He copy-cats everything that you do- definitely time to clean up the ol' vocabulary. Kissy noises, clicking his tongue and especially sticking his out at you... adorable.
We have regular dance parties in this house- while doing dishes, cleaning house or doing laundry. So this kid loves music fo sho. Everytime he hears some tune that catches his fancy- he starts dancing. His version of dancing is bouncing up and down on his booty... If he is really feeling the music he will throw his hands up in the air and do his own little hippie dance- I almost died the first time I seen it.
Another big-kids thing he is doing is weaning himself :,(
I cried when he started pushing himself away from me while trying to nurse, only wanting to nurse in the morning and evening. Worried that he wasn't getting enough milk I started giving him bottles with pumped milk.... depleting my work-hours stash that I send to my mom's with him. Even trying to pump more in between work/life couldn't keep my supply up. So I broke down and got some formula...
Am I a horrible person that I was happy when he didn't want it right away? It took a few days of half mommy milk and half formula for him to get used to the stuff and now he is fine with it... breaks my heart a little but I am not selfish enough that I would keep him from getting his nutrition because I wanted to exclusively breast feed... It was time I guess.
I am excited to wear a real bra though- no more nursing bra ugliness for this mama... I can also have a drink now and then if I would like... I guess there are good things that will come along with a formula eatin' little one.
As long as he continues to grow and thrive I will be happy with any decision we make to get him there.

Ookie Mouth

So we went camping... that's another post for another day... and everyone in the world wanted to hold my sweet boy. I'm not that paranoid of a mom- but God I wish I would have been. Someone, somewhere along the line this last week got my boy sick. It started out simple enough... runny nose, grumpy little man wanting to cuddle. Later that night it was full blown misery, 100+ fever and worried mama. Dom is a pretty good little sleeper but while he was sick he was waking up every hour or so and just whimpering/crying until I could get him to go back to sleep. To make matters worse- this was a week that Armando was out of town....
Oh wait, you didn't know about that?! Well with his new job Mondo has to be training in other states... Monday through Friday for the last two months. Lame as hell, I know.
... So I'm doing all this on my own. Yes, I know I have family close by; Yes, I know that they offer help all of the time- It just takes so much time and effort. I have to pack up mine and my son's stuff, haul it over to someone's house and then pack it all back up to go home. If there was a nice way to say, "Don't really want to hang out, but feel free to drop off some food!" I would have done it in a second- alas, there is no way to say that without sounding like a D bag so I was on my own for three days. I watched a lot of Netflix with a hot, doped up little guy on my chest and ate a lot of Campbells and spaghetti.
Some good things did come out of my stay with a sick little guy, I got lots and lots of snuggles. He learned to lounge- he has always either been sitting straight up or lying down- when he was feeling crummy he would just sag into whatever he was next to- now he does it and looks like a chill little dude. He also hasn't slept on my chest since he was a newborn- but for some reason all he wanted to do while sick was put his little head on my chest and snooze the day away- I wasn't complaining, it's one of the best feelings ever.
Lot's of Tylenol later, my poor boy is feeling much better and everyone is healthy in the Solis household.

King of the couch

Work Widow

Armando got a new job- Yay!
He has to travel quite a bit for it- Boo!
Since Armando is such a good teacher/salesman he was not only promoted but also nominated to head up a new training program for Fred Meyer Jewelers managers. A requirement for that position is that he travel for a week at a time for the next few months. Until the end of September my husband will only be home for a total of three weeks and several weekends.
I don't mind being by myself- sometimes I even need it. It's a whole different story when it's you and a baby. There is no one to say, here let me hold him while you make dinner/take a shower/poop in silence. There is no one there to notice you are about to lose your shit when your adorable child is screaming because you wouldn't let him eat paper/stab himself in the eye/lick the carpet. It's hard. I know it's only going to be for short periods of time and it will go quickly but please let me have a small pity party for myself.
Yes, I miss the help that my husband is around the house and with Dom- But I just plain miss him. I miss hearing him play guitar in the other room while cooking dinner. I miss waking up in the middle of the  night to tell him to go to bed. I miss him.
If I was stay-at-home all the time it would probably be easier but since I work 3 days a week it's such a juggle to get him to my mom's, go to work, actually work, go pick him up, run errands, cook food, clean (I use that term loosely) and get everyone to bed in one piece..... just to turn around and do the same thing the next day. Thank God for fake holidays like Pioneer Day so I had a day off!
I'll be so excited to go and pick Armando up from the airport every Friday when he flies back in.
P.S. Am I a horrible person that I'm glad he hates traveling? That way he's wanting to come home just as badly as I want him home??

6 Months

This sweet boy is so big. 

You play with my cross while nursing, or my hair, or my lip. You scratch every little pattern you see. The leather on your rocking chair, the polka dots on your Boppy and especially the beauty marks on my arms. Since dad has such fun arm hair- you choose to grab that instead. You are pulling yourself up and can sit up on your own so well- until you lean too far forward and face plant it. Usually not such a problem- until we went fishing for the first time and you ate dirt- Sorry! Other than scaring yourself and getting a small scratch on your eyebrow you were just fine. Don't listen to what your dad tells you, you didn't have a black eye!

You got the ok on meats and so we pureed you some chicken and pork- Doesn't look the best but you seem to dig it, especially with pears. I was wondering if you would like your food cold- turns out you love frozen mango! Even better than a popsicle right? 

You love mirrors and I love to watch you play with your reflection. Even when it means I have to wipe little lips off of my mirrors. You LOVE tags! Who knew right?! The tags on your pillow, stuffed animals and everything else- you love them so much  I made you a 'tag' blanket with ribbons sticking out all over the place. Still not as good as the real thing, but a close second. 

Love you so much little man- It's such a joy to watch you grow. You like to blow raspberries and stick out your tongue. Bah, Bah, Bah! Momomomomomomomomom and Gahhhhhhhhhhhhhh are your favorite things to say- especially in the car or shopping cart when your voice vibrates with the bumps. I love to hear you 'talk' to me.

Didn't like the grass very much

Look who can pull himself up!

Best buddies

Five Months

Gah! Where has the time gone!! Just yesterday we were bringing you home from the hospital and now you are all over.
You sit up really well on your own in the gorilla stance, facing forward and leaning on your arms. You have perfected the fake laugh and fake cough and love to do it just so we laugh.
Deciding between crying and laughing is sometimes a hard thing for you to do- so you do both. Long gone are the 3-6 month clothes and you are getting so big every day.
You are presenting with all the weird symptoms of teething: drooling, coughing, tugging at your ear and fussiness. My happy little man has been so upset for the last few days- only lots of hugs and kisses makes him feel better... and maybe a little ice for those gums. While I am a nurse, I am not a doctor and I wanted to make sure that it wasn't an ear infection or anything to worry about- Gram took you to the Dr today and she confirmed that in fact you are JUST TEETHING. My poor babe will have to suffer a little bit longer before those chompers pull through.
You are a professional roller-over and it's not just gravity pulling that big head down.
At your four month appointment she said you could start rice cereal and move on to fruits and veggies if you were doing well. You didn't like the rice cereal at all- Yuck! You loved apple sauce- still your favorite- and have had a great time with the sweet potatoes. Peas were not such a success but you really liked the avacado that we tried! Went a little hippy and made all of your baby food so far- let's see how long this lasts :)

I love you more everyday and can't wait to see what new thing that you surprise us with next

Four The Win!

Chanch is getting so big that I can't believe that about four months ago he was in my belly still- crazy! His second round of shots went much better for everyone all around- still the random screaming about 3-4 hours later though-weird.
He is 75% for height and weight but has a big ol' head! He loves tummy time now and is aaaaalmost rolling over. With the help of gravity and a squishy bed he can do it as of two days ago but I don't really count it because it's mostly his own weight pulling him down :)
Because his head has a flat spot where he favors one side we have been doing everything to keep him upright. I got him a Baby Einstein bouncer/activity center thingy- He was terrified of it! Sat in it and cried like we punched him. I've been slowly getting him used to it every morning and he is starting to get the hang of it

That hair is starting to get out of control! Somewhere along the lines of life, my Grandma told me that you aren't supposed to cut a baby's hair until they are a year old- I don't know why and no one can tell me the real reason- Now that my Grandma is gone I can't even ask her. Several Hispanic friends of mine have heard the same thing and everytime I ask they say they waited until a year to cut their kids hair---????

Tried Google-ing some shiz to find out and people are weird about their kids hair. Some say cutting it before a year gives them 'bad hair' in a lot of South American cultures they actually shave their infants heads so that they get 'good hair' and all kinds of craziness... I guess I'll never know why but I'm going to try and stick it out for a year, We'll see how that goes.