Wednesday, October 03, 2007

tomorrow

can hardly believe that tomorrow naief will be 8 mths old! seems like only yesterday that i was in the hospital about to have him.

he's growing so fast. he's pulling up to things now... loves standing. his little legs wobble, but so far, he hasn't fallen down, and it doesn't deter him whatsoever. he laughs all the time now... it just tickles my heart. he loves it when i make animal sounds, faces or weird noises w/ my mouth... he giggles and it makes him so happy. he's also wanting to be closer to his daddy now... reaching out to him when i'm holding him and preferring to be around him in the afternoons...

he still has the sweetest breath, is cutting teeth like crazy... having cut his 7th one just yesterday or day before, and is eating lots of different foods now. he loves fruit, isn't keen on plain yogurt, and takes after mommy and daddy w/ his love for bagels and cream cheese! :)

he's having a lot of stranger anxiety now and separation anxiety. this seems to be the worst... but it's grown on me. at first i found myself getting a bit unnerved by it, but now i try to remind myself that this time will pass fast and soon enough he won't need his momma at all. when i pick him up, i love how he clings to me. he squeals usually and will pull his head back far enough to look into my eyes and then smile. i just love it.

he races around the house in his walker... i'll have to get it on video; chasing the cats and getting into whatever is within reach. when he's crawling... watch out. he's a little booger because his mind isn't easily changed. they say that all you have to do is take your child's mind away from what they want, but it isn't so easy w/ him. he gets very determined and remembers. if i move him or take him to another spot, he turns himself around and heads right back towards what he originally wanted. his latest wanting is during iftar. he has decided that he wants to handle the tea pots. refuses to do anything else but try and crawl and get them. no matter if i play w/ him... when he's had enough, he's back to crawling towards them.

i love his little voice... the way he coos. it's so precious and i just wish i could catch it on video. but usually his whole little persona changes once the video camera is taken out. it's only recently that he's started to smile when we take pictures. he's also very talkative when he's out in his walker hunting cats... even raising his arms and squealing loudly.... i only hope to capture these moments. me though... i'm bad about remembering to get the camera and catch it... but hopefully w/ time, i'll remember these things.

he's still crying w/ my MIL. my FIL can hold him and he doesn't cry... he doesn't want to be held long, but he doesn't cry. last night my MIL held him for a bit and he was okay, but it seems like after about 5 mins. he's had enough and refuses to calm down until we take him. i find myself wondering what she thinks. i wonder if he's afraid we'll leave him or something. one time we left him w/ her while he was sleeping and when he awoke, he apparently cried for 30 mins straight. i don't know if he remembers this, but there's something about her holding him that he doesn't like.

he's feeling better now. still has that stuff in his chest real bad and you can hear it when he breathes and he's still coughing, but all in all he's better. i've decided not to take him to the daycare until he's older. i just can't see exposing him to all those things while he's still a little one.

oh yeah... for someone who doesn't like to shop, i found the cutest clothes at the Baby Gap for him. since he'll be one soon enough, i bought a couple of pairs of jeans and the cutest little t-shirts. i can't wait until he can wear them... they also have the cutest little sneakers. i haven't bought shoes for him as of yet... waiting until he starts to walk... but gosh... i really wanted to get him a pair of those. i was really impressed by the selection there.... usually you don't find cute clothes for boys but they had some of the most adorable little outfits! :)

i guess the only thing that worries me right now is his weight. he's not gaining the way i expected him to. his belly should be, in my eyes, bigger than it is now... but since he doesn't eat as much as i thought he would, it seems to be rather flat. you can also feel his ribs and they were poking out pretty bad in the front (not as much now). being sick, cutting teeth and such took a little toll on his body and his ribs are still pretty visible, but it's getting better. the dr. said he should triple his weight from birth by the time he's one yr old.. he's doing fine... but since i'm big on chubby babies, i was thinking he'd be a lot fatter by now... i guess w/ time it'll come.

happy day everyone :)

11 comments:

Puppy said...

Reading your post make me want to have a baby. Hmmmmm :))

Great experience huh??

Enjoy it and all the best to you and your family.

Cheers,

Puppy.

Puppy said...

ohhh Congratulation on Naief Bday!!!!

Me said...

love his new pics! he's absolutely adorable! can't wait until ali gets to that stage. although everyone tells me to enjoy this period, that i'll miss him being so small once he starts running all around the place. lol.

Peceli and Wendy's Blog said...

Sounds an adorable little kid. I guess he will one day need a brother or sister to play with? Huh?
Our kids were spaced about 1 to 2 years apart and they were great together growing up through childhood.
w.

Just Jane said...

I wouldn't worry much about his weight as long as he is so active and still eating. My son was always on the lower end of the weight charts. When he was nine months a nurse lectured me on proper nutrition, despite my claim that he ate constantly and well.
All the while my son was crawling from one side of the room to the other, climbing on whatever he could--he never sat still for a moment. After five minutes in the same room she conceeded that he was extremely active and was probably just burning off the calories as fast as he could take them in. She never really apologized for implying that I wasn't feeding my child but maybe it made her think twice before doling out another lecture. Naief is fine--beautiful and active. Just like a boy.

Christopher said...

Reading of your joys and excitement at motherhood is so heartwarming to read...Watching the video of babyboy playing with the kittydish and his big smile, is just too cute for words. I really miss when I worked for my friend in the salon and taking care of her infant son, and playing with him...his mother was VERY understanding and allowed me to pretend that he was mine...the baby made a GREAT accessory when I would go and visit my friends at work who were straight men, and I'd cause a scene at their work saying things like "What am I supposed to tell OUR son when he starts asking where his other father is, Derek?"

Children are wonderful. I'm very much enjoying being the "aunt" or "uncle" to several friends who have recently had children in the past couple of years. Le sigh..the joys of Auntiehood.

Now that I know you have animals of the feline persuasion, reminds me of when I was very small and my family owned an international grocery and deli, and I was very blessed to be around muslims from many countries, and how they were very curious and wanted to play with our dogs, but because of religious reasons and the Koran, of course they weren't allowed to touch them. How is it in the place where you live, when it comes to canines? Do people have dogs as pets or are they used as animals for farming, etc...?

Keep posting pictures of your beautiful child, it's been such a treat watching him grow up and read all of your wonders of motherhood.

sending love and kisses...

Kissy

Jahooni said...

8 months... wow!!!! Seems like almost 6.5 years ago Katleyn was that little.

These are the best of times, aren't they.

Very glad and proud that you are now a Mother...

Anonymous said...

I just loved this little boy, he is so sweet and funny in all what he is doing around.

Well, I can say that Naief is the star and he is being loved far beyond from his home.

Congradulations on his 8 months bday. Next step for him is to become bigger than your cat!:)

Um Naief said...

kissy, you have the most amazing and wonderful stories. how i wish we were closer... i'd love to sit w/ you and have coffee... you're a light in a dark tunnel!

muslims, most, don't like dogs and believe they're devilish, but many forward thinking muslims have them. a lot have cats and many love animals, but you'll find more closed minded ppl believing they are bad and shouldn't be in the house or the family shouldn't have them, period. my husband's older sister beleives this way. when my husband was small, they had a dog, and she insisted that the family get rid of it, which they did. it broke hashim's heart and to this day it bothers him.

i haven't been to your blog in ages and i'm sorry for that. i hope in the coming days that that'll change... hoping at least. ;)


and to everyone else.. thanks for all of your words. and jane, if a nurse goes off on me about his bones... i think i might lose it right there. but so far, nothing. i've noticed that many drs. here don't even pay attention to this stuff. the nurse weighs him and all he does is write it down. altho, when thinking about it now, i remember one dr. who did pay attention to it... maybe i should revisit him. i'm starting to think that i'm not feeding him enough, so i'll try giving him snacks as my sister suggested and see if it puts a little weight on him. i was keeping away from sweets and w/ snacks like pudding and such, it's usually filled w/ sugar.

reem, i love your baby pic on your blog! ali is soooo cute. bless you, him and your family. and you're right... it does fly by, but i am the same as you. i can't wait until he gets bigger... it just thrills me to see that he's starting to pull up and such for i know soon enough he'll be walking.

and wendy, thank you, thank you... you've made me feel so good about my parenting skills! i think you're right about adding another... if we decide to have another baby, i think we'll do it next year. many of my friends did what you did and had them close and they say that it's tough but worth it. i'd love to have a little brother for him to grow up w/... or even a sister. :)

anon, thank you for your thoughts and words. i'm glad he's loved all over the world... it's good to have good wishes sent your way and love.... :) smiles to you.

Anonymous said...

Um Naief,

I also want to say that the life stories of Naief made this blog very interesting. It has become like a daily check for me to read through those sweet stories.

I just imagined to myself reading your last post how it would look like Naief hunting the cats around:). If you can catch that video, then it most probably would become the favourite for many of the readers of this blog:)

Anon

Um Naief said...

anon, i'm so glad you enjoy my blog. i love to write about him and our lives... and worry that i bore ppl w/ it... i'm glad that i don't though :)

i've caught a few of his times in the walker chasing them... but nothing good yet. i'll try again during our Eid holiday and see if i can get some good footage... if so, i'll post it here :)