My 6 month "Mommy" report card

It's been six months since Tristan was born.  I have to admit, I had many ideas prior to his birth about how I was going to do things "right" this time around.  I was viewing him as my second chance at being a good mom, and giving him the family that I couldn't give my other three kids.  You know, a mom and dad who are happy being together?

Along with that, I also wanted to invest as much time into him as I could.  I had grand ideas that I would only cloth diaper him.  I kind of gave up on the idea of ONLY cloth diapering, when I realized just how messy some of his blowouts could be and realizing that is NOT something I wanted to deal with while traveling, or at the grocery store, or even at my in-law's while visiting.  So, I gave myself a permission slip to use disposable diapers anytime I leave the house.

[caption id="attachment_214" align="alignright" width="300" caption="Cloth diapers...a great idea I don't use 100% of the time"][/caption]

This worked out great for a while.  Lately, this has come to be more of an obstacle because some days I'm REALLY not feeling the whole wash/rinse routine with the diapers and will make up excuses like, "Well, after he has his big blowout of the day, I'll put him in a cloth diaper".  Truth be told, I am definitely not a poster child for cloth diaper advocacy.  I'm just too lazy to do it all the time.  I know there are moms out there that would NEVER put their child in a disposable diaper.  I'm just not one of them.

Another thing I decided I was going to do "right" this time around was nurse exclusively for at least six months, and not let the doctors pressure me into giving him cereal and/or baby food too early.  There is absolutely NO reason to feed your baby cereal or baby food until they are even 8 or 9 months so long as they are nursing well and mom's diet is sufficient to support baby's nourishment.  I feel my diet is more than sufficient, and I really think I do a great job of restricting my diet to mostly good clean foods so that Tristan gets the benefit of those nutrients as opposed to sodium and sugar overload.  I was successful in this task, and Tristan has just started to try baby food.  We skipped the cereal altogether, as white rice cereal has no real nutritional value.  The multigrain cereals have a bit more texture to them, so we'll be waiting for a bit for him to try those.  So far, his favorites are carrots.  He's working on the green veggies, like spinach, but hasn't really taken a liking to those just yet.  I still haven't started him on any juice and don't plan to.  I think juice is full of sugar and empty calories, so we'll be sticking to breastmilk for now.

[caption id="attachment_216" align="alignleft" width="300" caption="Look at my happy boy"][/caption]

Co-sleeping is another thing I've managed to do right.  I can't imagine having to get up in the middle of the night, every 2-3 hours, to the sound of him crying from across this house.  When he wakes up hungry, all I have to do is roll over to nurse him.  He doesn't cry when he wakes usually, because I'm so close that I can respond to him waking up quickly.  I think this is what has helped to make him such an agreeable baby.  He's always happy and smiling (most of the time!).  I will continue to co-sleep with him until he is ready to transition to that beautiful crib we bought him.

[caption id="attachment_213" align="aligncenter" width="300" caption="Too pretty to sleep in? Nah....Mommy just likes to snuggle him!"][/caption]

All in all, I think I'm doing pretty good.  I've had lots of practice at being a mom, and I will say that I am really enjoying having a baby around again.  Since it's been so long since Jacob was a baby, it's almost like the first time all over again.