Christmas

Boy oh boy... I feel like its been forever since I sat down to blog.

The most recent excitement in our home is Milo's first tooth! Milo was chewing on my knuckle last night and I just felt something sharp... I knew it was a tooth. I scrambled to get him in a position to see it and move his tongue out of the way... and there it was. I think the biggest thing that surprised me was that he hasn't really been fussy or anything. Drooling like crazy... but not irritable or anything.

I had also been dreading that first tooth. I've been worried for a while... about its impact on our nursing. I know many mom's successfully nurse a baby with teeth. But while Milo is nursing fine... its not exactly correct. However, we're doing ok so far. I've certainly been praying we can continue to nurse. I think the biggest test will be over next couple weeks as that tooth comes in even more. I am definitely optimistic.

What else? I know I have been saying it for weeks now... but Milo is SO close to crawling. He gets on his hands and knees and rocks. And he knows what to do with his legs... he'll take a step forward but end up with his face on the carpet because he doesn't know to move his arms. But he is close!

Its so hard to believe Milo is almost six months old. He'll officially be six months old on the 15th... but he's actually like 25 weeks. Half a year? He's just growing up so fast. And in one sense I'm so proud and excited for this little baby who is growing into a boy. But its bittersweet.

He's in the swing right now, beside me... dozing. And my hearts just melts over and over and over again every time he looks at me. He is such a happy, loving, easy going boy. Nathan and I are truly looking forward to the next 74.5 years with our son...

Nathan is still staying busy at work... another thing that's hard to believe is that Nathan has been in his new position for about 3/4 a year already. Its certainly different from being a photographer. In some ways he likes it more, some ways less. He is really enjoying the layout and design work he gets to do on a daily basis. Everyday he lays out and designs the front page... as well as other pages in the paper. His boss recently made a comment about how surprised he was at Nathan's design skills. So all in all work is fine. And of course we are thoroughly enjoying his normal work hours. No more of that 2-10 stuff!

I will be having a repeat CT scan this month, following up on the lung nodules. Not worried about it... but if we don't get a definitive answer that it is OK, or not OK... I think I'll be finding a second opinion. And this will be my last scan for a while. The next step will be biopsy so we know what these things are.

And the newest issue is that we believe either things healed oddly after my c section or else there's some significant scar tissue that has formed. I'm waiting on a call from my midwife after she talks to the OBGYN that delivered Milo. It sounded like they can go in and repair things during the next c section. 1. There's an incentive to have another baby. 2. But I also read that it can cause fertility problems. Seriously?! We'll see what my doctor says.

I'm trying to think what else is knew...

This is the first Christmas we will be spending as a family of three. Nathan and I have never even had a Christmas just the two of us. Nathan is warming up about the idea, but I am excited about it. This is Milo's first Christmas... I want to focus on our family of three. It'll give us a chance to start new traditions and make a special holiday memory with our son.

I've had a few friends recently post about tradition and Christmas. And the theme that sticks out is intentional parenting. Whatever you choose, however you choose to celebrate... as long as you are intentional... you're making the right choice. We are intentionally playing the Santa game with Milo. We're doing stockings, Christmas tree, decorations... Nathan and I just think back to our childhood and we remember the joy it brought us. How can we not give Milo the same opportunity to use his imagination and have that same joy. And in the Christian community, that's controversial. But somehow Nathan and I were given the chance to be children and believe in Santa... but still grow up to understand the difference between the story of Santa and the story of Jesus. When I found out that Santa, Easter bunny, and the Tooth Fairy were make believe... it first happened when I found a pouch of my baby teeth. I went... "OH... guess there's no Tooth Fairy. If there's no Tooth Fairy, there's probably not an Easter Bunny, if there's no Easter Bunny there's probably no Santa." But never in my mind did I associate Jesus with those other characters. And even within the Christmas season... there was the true reason for celebration, Jesus' birth, and then there was the other stuff. I think it is possible to do both. And if we see the two are blurring for Milo... we'll address the issue then. But until we see that... Milo will have a couple presents under the Christmas tree from Santa.

And since we won't have all the family excitement back home... we have a Christmas To Do list to help us enjoy the holiday season. On our list... make a gingerbread house, bake cookies, make an ornament with Milo, visit a nursing home (with Milo), visit the Santa house, find a live nativity, look at Christmas lights...

That's one thing we definitely want to instill in Milo throughout the year... volunteering. And after seeing how much joy Milo brought to Nathan's grandma... we thought visiting a nursing home would be a great thing to do this Christmas with Milo. Now I will have him in the Moby or Ergo so that his exposure to germs is as little as possible... but we'd love to give the elderly residents a chance to see his smile. Who doesn't love a baby? And visiting nursing homes was one of my favorite girl scout activities in elementary school.

OK. So much more to do while Milo's napping. Enjoy your Wednesday.