Back to Life, Back to Reality

Tomorrow we're back to our regular schedule, with drop-off and pick-up at Julia's.  It means a longer commute and a shorter day at work, but those aren't terrible.  We're just praying Jayden will take a bottle from Julia. 

I did go to Babies R Us today and bought four different kinds of sippy cups.  When I got home, I washed one of them.  I put water in it and started drinking from it.  He watched me closely.  When I first offered it to him, he pushed it away.  But I kept taking small sips and then offering it to him.  Finally, he put his hands on it and let me pour a little into his mouth.  Then he took about 5 or 6 sips!  Amazing!  It's never going to work at daycare, but it was a huge success that he would at least drink something other than from me.  I'll probably send the cup with him to daycare tomorrow, just in case.  Hopefully Julia has the time and patience to get him his liquids...

We skipped the children's museum today - Carmen and I had some documents to sign for the sale of the condo and my friend cancelled on me.  I was going to go by myself, but I just ran out of time.  It worked out for the better, because it meant Jayden and I got to go to lunch with Carmen.  In related news - the condo closed today!  It's a little bittersweet for me - it's weird to think that I'll never see that place again, but wonderful to know that we now only have one mortgage payment. 

Some pictures from the weekend:

Jayden is getting really good at standing.  He still falls backwards, but he can stand up, with the couch as his prop for 10 or 15 minutes at a time.  Sometimes he even scoots his feet, but he definitely does not pick his feet up.

Jasmine was standing guard, helping me spot Jayden in case he fell (or "plopped" as I tell him). 

This weekend I had a reunion brunch for my mommy group - the two leaders of the groups invited all mommies from all of their groups to a brunch and a discussion on raising toddlers.  It was fun to see everyone and to see all the babies walking around (besides Jayden, of course!).  But it was also interesting to me because I felt like everyone there was so happy and loving being a mom.  And I just have tough moments where I have doubts about my abilities as a mom.  I know I'm not the only person who feels this way, but I feel like lots of moms are better at putting on a brave face than I am. 

The other thing I noticed that was interesting is that people had all kinds of different methods of raising their children.  For the most part, the women in these groups are financially comfortable; the class is not cheap, so not just anyone can participate.  But it was clear that people were from all over the spectrum.  There were moms feeding their children bottles of formula, there were moms nursing 4-month olds, 10-month olds (me!) and 17-month olds.   There were moms who let their children fall down and try everything on their plate and there were moms that were never more than inches from their child.  Some moms came in sweatpants and tennis shoes and some moms came in dresses and heels.  For all of our differences, we had one thing in common - we needed (and still need, in many cases) support.  We need the camraderie that comes from sitting with other moms and similarly aged babies and talking about what bothers us, what stresses us out, what makes us happy.  It was somewhat reassuring that no matter what stage the moms and their children were at on Saturday, at some point they all had their doubts, fears, concerns.  I don't know that the reunion did me much good, except for making me think - but it was interesting to see all the different stages of babies and to realize that Jayden was the same height as some of the 16-18 month olds!