April 2011 ~ The Adventures of Mommyhood

Thursday, April 28, 2011

Cohen's 6 Month Photo Shoot

6:22 PM Kait Baumgartner 0

Here are some pictures that were taken by our friend Michele Arndt, owner of Chickpix Photography-- www.chickpixphotography.com. She did such an awesome job!! Thanks again Michele!

This won't be perfect to show at his high school graduation or anything...

Oh daycare, how I loathe the illnesses you carry and pass on to my child. It was as if his cold was sort of gone, but then as soon as the weather went from hot to cold (and I mean 85 to 40 within a day) he got sick again. So this was on Sunday...by Wednesday the coughing came back. By Thursday, he was coughing so hard he would throw up -- and let's just say baby food meat is NOT any better coming back up. (I am gagging as I think about it.) So Friday was his 6 month check up with the dreaded shots and all. However, the poor little monkey woke up with a 101.5 fever and just looked at me like, "Mom, help." He wouldn't nap, barely ate -- and I knew the poor baby was really sick. The doctor appointment turned into an hour long appointment with a nebulizer treatment and listening to his chest about twenty times. Sadly, he cried, and I mean CRIED, the entire hour. So instead of leaving with 4 shots and a moody baby, we left with 2 antibiotics, a new nebulizer machine and a screaming, sick baby. But a week later and the little monkey is so much better. Luckily Nana and Papa came into town and she was able to help nurse him back to health -- thank God for wonderful moms!! But we are surviving our first real illness this time and trust me, we are anxiously awaiting summer!

Nebulizing the poor little baby

Coupon Obsessed? Not Quite.

7:48 AM Kait Baumgartner 0

I finally watched the first episode of Extreme Couponing last night - and was truly amazed at how much people could save. Like thousands of dollars, really. However, I still am unclear why you need 250 boxes of pasta and 150 candy bars? To me, these people's closets full of 750 toothpaste boxes, 350 containers of salad dressing and 97 jars of pasta sauce seem on the side of OCD and actually a bit like hoarding. It would be different if you were the Duggars and had 21 mouths to feed everyday. But these people weren't and spending 70+ hours a week on couponing is nuts to me! Don't get me wrong - I am a huge fan of coupons and getting a great deal. I clip every week, buy what's on sale and see how much I can save ($26.80 worth of coupons is my best so far) but I'm not going to buy things I don't need. Will I really even get to that 56th jar of mayonnaise before it expires? Probably not, so why buy it? The only person's coupon obsession that I somewhat understood was the last guy who would buy extra food for his church's pantry. Great idea - but he still had a closet stocked with men and women's deodorant, a deep freezer with food and over $50,000 worth of product that he paid only $1,000 for in all. To me, this obsession almost seems comparable to gambling - spend that $1,000 on a great vacation or a new living room furniture set. But really people? I think a new hobby may be a better idea.

"Mom, I'll hold your coupons for you!"

How Time Flies By!

6:44 PM Kait Baumgartner 0

Six months ago, at this time, Kurtis and I were starting this whole new journey together. We laugh and talk about what we were doing at certain times of the day when this time passes each month. Literally, six months ago at this time, Kurtis was running me into the wall as I sat helplessly in the wheel chair. Good thing I really couldn't feel my legs that well. Obviously I didn't hold any grudges about that or anything...haha. I'll never forget going into the NICU and feeding my little man for the first time. It is so crazy to think that he is already half a year old. He has grown so much in the past six months - from doing nothing to almost crawling!
Cohen is turning into quite the little monkey. He loves rolling to grab things, especially the dog's fur. He is quite the Curious George - touching and reaching for everything while trying to get anything into his mouth. Co's also trying to scoot himself around to get to things, therefore proving he is only days away from crawling I'm sure. He turns into a little fish at bathtime, kicking and splashing and then laughing hysterically at himself. Basically he is sitting up by himself but he has the occasional tip overs, so we're working on those ab muscles. Kurtis and I got him a Jump-a-Roo this week and the kid is a little jumping bean. He's also loving our stroller rides, which gets me super excited for summer!
But my little baby is already half a year old now. In mommy terms, this is a huge milestone. I'm counting down the days until summer because I know that so much will happen during my time off with him. He's growing way too fast - much faster than I can keep up with! Slow down little monkey...mama wants to hold on to this time forever!