He -is- starting to look more like me!

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It won't be like this for long

I heard the sweetest song on the radio on my way home from work today that spoke volumes to how I've felt watching Philip grow and change over the past few weeks. By Darius Rucker, of Hootie and the Blowfish fame, of all people!

Some lyrics to share:

He didn't have to wake up
He'd been up all night
Layin’ there in bed listenin’
To his new born baby cry
He makes a pot of coffee
He splashes water on his face
His wife gives him a kiss and says
It gonna be OK

It won’t be like this for long
One day soon we'll look back laughin’
At the week we brought her home
This phase is gonna fly by
So baby just hold on
‘Cause it won't be like this for long

Philip is learning how to crawl. He's actually "creeping" now. It happened overnight, I swear. I was in his room with him Sunday morning and we were playing on the floor. All of a sudden, he spotted the laundry basket on the floor across the room and began squirming towards it like an inch worm. I couldn't believe it! Now there's no stopping him.

In addition to his status as newly mobile, he's spending a lot more time playing (somewhat) independently on the floor. And so it begins. He's no longer interested in being in my lap. Well, the interest has been dwindling for months now as he's learned that almost everything else is more interesting than mom, but now trying to hold him in my lap is darn near impossible. He has the strength of a child three times his age!

While it's amazing and fun watching him grow and change every day and turn into his own little bona fide person, it's bittersweet knowing that every passing day takes me further away from "how things were" when we first brought him home, and those difficult and sleepless, but wonderful days and months that followed. I just have to remind myself, even on those days when I'm about to lose my mind after trying to put Philip back to sleep for the 3rd time in one night, that it really won't be like this for long, and to savor as many of these passing moments with my baby boy as I can.

Easter Recap

The day has come and gone but I couldn't not post these adorable pictures that Natalie took of Philip on Easter Sunday. We spent a fun day at home that day with family. Grandma "Nettie," Great Grammie, Aunt Natalie and Uncle Michael came over to have dinner and a good time was had by all. Before the last bit of sun faded away, we slipped outside to take some fun Easter pictures of Philip.



Is that the Easter Bunny I spy?

Looking kinda happy but in reality he was not at all amused. This was the best "smile" he was going to give up for us.


We even managed to dye eggs! Not bad for a first Easter effort!

Sunny Days

You gotta take advantage of them in rainy April.

Seven Months Old

What Philip's up to at 7 months old:

• Thisclose to sitting unassisted. He's got the balance down, he just hasn't figured out how to stop himself from tipping over.
• No teeth yet! Still drooling like a madman and furiously gnawing on his fingers though.
• Just starting to scoot on his tummy. He can pull his knees up underneath himself, and sometimes launch himself up into a triangle shape. He just can't figure out how to use his arms to keep himself from planting his face into the floor.
  
• His blocked tear duct finally unblocked itself in the past week! No more crusty eye in the morning and one less dreadful procedure to potentially have to endure!
• His hair is finally getting longer and I'm sure he's going to inherit his Daddy's wavy texture. So cute!
• Still loves his Jumperoo and loves to jump when we're holding him in our laps.
• His new favorite thing is playing copy cat with us. He figured out how to cough intentionally and finds it hilarious. If we cough or make a throat clearing sound he'll do it right back, over and over again. This is a new game that never gets old!
  

Spring has sprung!

I absolutely love spring and the Easter holiday in particular. There's something so life affirming about the long-awaited change of the seasons. Finally, saying goodbye to winter and welcoming in warmer weather, sunny skies, and green grass.... it's especially wonderful being able to enjoy this special time of year with Philip. Since he was born in September there was very little opportunity for us to be outside enjoying the weather before it turned cold, and winter just seemed to drag on and on this year. We're loving getting outdoors with him now and watching him experience a beautiful day. What a gift to be witness to the wonder of a new life exploring the world around him!

We ventured to Fredericksburg to have Aunt Natalie take some Easter pictures today. Philip wasn't at his smiliest, but Natalie managed to get some great shots anyway. Here's one of my favorites.

Tough Stuff

No one said motherhood would be easy but sometimes it's unreasonably hard. We took Philip to the pediatrician's office to have her look at some red rash-like spots on his stomach and some dry patches in other places on his shoulders and legs. Sure enough, it's eczema. The pediatrician said she wasn't worried about it, that it's fairly common in infants, and that in a lot of cases it goes away on its own in time. I'd like to say I'm reassured by that but I'm not. I'm bummed out that my sweet little baby is all of 7 months old and has to deal with this. Granted it doesn't seem to bother him at all but in my eyes it's only right that he be perfect in every way.

On top of that bad news, it was determined that both of Philip's big toes have ingrown toenails. No sooner was that diagnosis made that we were sent off to see a podiatrist who within minutes of looking at our poor little guy's toes was performing a less than pleasant procedure on them. He snipped away the skin and toenail around the afflicted area without so much as an "I'm sorry, kiddo." Our poor little boy cried and cried and I about lost it. The most difficult thing about motherhood so far for me has been seeing my son in pain without being able to explain to him why it's happening.

The worst part of that visit though was learning that we would most likely be bringing him back every couple of months to have it done again until Philip is old enough to have a more permanent procedure done to correct the problem. I can't put into words how much this breaks my heart.

In other news, Philip weighed 17 pounds, 11 ounces on Tuesday. He's almost tripled his birth weight at only 7 months old! He's still long and lean, but he's freakishly strong--the kid is all muscle!