The Rays of Sunshine

My baby is 9 Months Old! 1 day in and already some accomplishments and progress: Today we got our first sippy cup!   Bath time was so much fun, he got in the tub and splashed and splashed, I think I was wetter then he was!   Finally, I laid him in his crib for bedtime and this is the first he has not cried right when I laid him down on March 29th and his is in his crib, playing and talking. I am happy about that, because he isn't CRYING! Of course that was short lived, he does still cry when I lay him down, but he doesn't cry near as long as he used to, which to me that is progress! Derek's First Easter!   Derek has figured out his walker! He loves to go to the Kitchen and move the dog bowls where ever he thinks they need to do! I am so impressed of how good he does in his walker! If he wants to go somewhere he will position his walker in the right direction and go, so technically he is mobile! As for the crawling, he will scoot on his arms and he

Well it has been 1 month since we started the "letting him cry it out" stage, so I figured by now he would be ready for bed, we say our good nights, lay him in his crib and he would play with his crib soother and slowly drift off to sleep. Unfortunately for me that is not the case, here we are 1 month in and he still cries every night for maybe 15- 20 minutes before he goes to sleep, I believe from exhaustion, or from crying so much. While this is going on, I am sitting in the next room, feeling like the worst mom ever, letting my baby cry so much, but I keep reminding myself that this is the best thing for the both of us. Finally he does go to sleep, and I breath a moment of relief. It does make it better in the morning when he wakes up and smiles at me, and I know he does not hold a grudge from the night before, being that I let him cry so much! Now as for the sleeping thing, My child has never been a good sleeper. I love my son and he is a great baby, his one issue i

8 Months Old! WOW, This has been a month of accomplishments! ON March 17th, we think Derek said DaDa for the first time. We are not sure if he meant to say it, or even if he knew what he was saying, but it sounded like DaDa. So of course, you know Ricky was super excited! Now if I could get him to say MaMa. On the same day he also stretched out his arms for his Daddy, so that tells me one thing, he is going to be a daddy's boy! We moved him from the baby tub to the big tub and he loves it. He gets excited every night for bath time. However that leads to no longer needing the face monster. One of my favorite times of bath time is now gone.  Once we moved him to the seat in the tub he is more excited about playing and splashing himself,  and not in getting his face washed, he still lets me do it, but he doesn't light up and smile any more. So I will retire the face monster, with my head hung low! :{ He has also learned how to clap and wave. Clapping is his n

Since Derek was 6 weeks old I knew there would be a day I would have to tell him good night and put him in his crib and let him put himself to sleep! I was not looking forward to that day at all so every night, no matter how tired I was, I would rock, bounce, and hold my baby boy! I knew the time was coming, Ricky and I had been talking about it and we had the date set of when we were going to start letting him put himself to sleep! That whole day I had a knot in my stomach the size of my fist, but I kept tell myself it's not tonight, you don't have to do this yet.    This is how he actually woke up from his nap. He must have been sleeping good! Well Derek had a different plan.  February 22, I went to put him asleep and he wiggled so much that I had no choice but to set him down, he cried for a bit and feel asleep! When I went to check on him, he was out! I didn't know what to think, I was happy and sad at the same time!  My baby is really growing up, and I didn

WOW has another month passed already? Derek is getting so big, he is now eating baby food, and he loves it all. He will eat carrots, sweet potatoes, bananas, and squash. It is actually intimidating, trying to figure out what he needs to eat, how much he need to eat, and to know when to stop, so that is one thing I have been struggling with this month. Am I doing this right, am I giving him all the nutrients he needs?  All I can do is Hope and Pray, that I am doing the best for him!  On the other end, after eating all the fiber-enriched foods, we had some pretty interesting diapers. That lead to our first ever, POOP-EXPLOSION!  As a new mom,   I was just feeding him what sounded good, and tasted good, never thought of the aftereffects of the exit!  I guess that follows the expression, You live and learn!  LOOK I HAVE TEETH! Let me tell you, he loves to show off his teeth, and he is chewing on everything, including mommy's fingers, and his teeth are sharp! It will