The Nilla Wafer Diaries

Ace turns 7 months today. A delightfully chubby baby with big apple cheeks which I so love to smother in kisses every day. Let's reminisce over the last month, shall we? It was all going so well. He was sleeping peacefully, awaking only once to nurse and then going straight back to sleep. We started solids and he enjoyed a wide array of foods...squash, peas, carrots, sweet potato, pears, peaches, rice cereal. I was amazed at his sophisticated palate, his complete pleasure in eating. He actually chewed the baby food like he was eating a tender fillet and cooed happy little sounds all the while.

Then he got sick...his first sickness. I thought this was the perfect photo to show how pitiful he was. That's a cool washcloth on his head, in case you can't tell. Anyway, I've heard a baby starts to lose the immunities gained from nursing at around 6 months and after experiencing all of this, I have to believe it's true. Night after night I ran up and down the stairs comforting, nursing, putting the binky back in, re-swaddling, until finally I surrendered and started sleeping in the bed next to his crib. Dare I admit I still swaddle him (I guess I already did) and he won't sleep without wearing the Velcro-closure, fleece straitjacket? Now he's strong enough to bust out, but like a prisoner finally set free, he can't make it on the outside and wants to return to what he knows. Swinging his free arms madly he starts his "Hey Mommy-lady, this is serious and you better listen to me and get up here and put my arms back in this straitjacket and I mean now!" cry. Turns out that anything you start that has to do with baby's sleep usually become a habit and then a curse if you ever want to stop it, i.e. binky, swaddle, nightlight and so on, especially with babies like Ace. He is showing himself to be not quite as adaptable as I once thought.

After finally getting over the cold, he got an ear infection, got better for a few days and then ran a fever for about a week. And so now we find ourselves a month later and peas and rice cereal are the only foods he will eat. He purses his lips tightly shut if offered any other food, even something super yummy like banana plum with rice (yummy, right?). Also, the act of actually feeding him has become trying in itself. This high-chair charade started after all the sickness...bobbing all around, trying to chew on the table, pulling the food-covered bib up over his face, putting his hands in his mouth while full of food and then spreading it all over his clothes.

He is waking up about 5 times a night crying until he is either nursed or given his pacifier. His two daytime naps are 45 minutes each. So you can only imagine the mess of a child he becomes around dinnertime. And the mess of a mom I dissolve into. Sure, we will get back on track. I know this without a doubt. I understand this shall pass and that he will only be a baby once and all the enjoy the moment sentiments, but nevertheless, these are hair-pulling, running-on-empty, eat a whole box of Nilla wafers and pass out kind of days for this mama.