it's one of THOSE times

I have so much to write about but the one thing that sticks out foremost in my mind is how irritable my little baby man has been over the last few days.

{JC looking not so stoked to be visiting the Mendocino Botanical Gardens}

I think it's a combination of a few things that have manifested themselves in such a way that JC, who normally is a very mellow, happy-go-lucky baby, has undertaken this tantrum-throwing, pissed off at the world mentality.

One: We have been completely booby free for about three days now. Monday morning was the last time I nursed. He has seemed generally not-quite-right since we started the weaning process a couple weeks ago. I really thought that he was ready. I could barely hold his attention long enough to finish eating most of the time. He just wanted to play. But now that it's gone, he definitely notices. To be honest, I'm a little sad too. I thought I was completely, 100% ready. And I am ready but I could totally see why mommy's continue nursing past one year. It didn't help that as we got towards the end of nursing, he was being extra cuddly and sweet. Like he knew that his nursing days were numbered.

Two: Teething. We officially have THREE teeth! Maybe even four. Last time I checked the fourth one was barely hanging in there. His right top front tooth and his two front bottom teeth are officially making an appearance.

Three: We took a road trip to Fort Bragg this past weekend with a four hour drive there on Sunday and four hour drive back on Monday. JC generally does not like being on car rides this long. Even if we stop, he is just ready to be done with it. Which I can respect, because that's how I feel. I still need to write about our trip and the wedding venues that we checked out but one milestone of the trip was that we had our first meltdown in a restaurant. He's usually really good in restaurants, eats whatever, or just plays and has a good time. At breakfast on Monday we had to take shifts. I had to walk around on the street while Charles tried to scarf down his breakfast and then we switched. He was fine once we got outside and looked around but he wanted nothing to do with sitting in a highchair or being in the restaurant.

Four: He didn't sleep very well on the trip either so the last couple of days we've been laying low at the house, letting him catch up on his sleep (three hour naps y'all).

Five: I think a lot of it too is that we are both new at this whole only eating solid foods thing. Before we stopped nursing, I'm pretty sure JC was never hungry. He ate every 2 hours, whether it was nursing or solid food. Now, I'm not sure if he's hungry or just cranky or bored or teething or God knows what else. I try feeding him and he straight refuses everything I offer, throwing it on the floor, screaming and crying. I have to pick him up and calm him down before we even try another option. I did read in Baby 411, my baby bible, that it is very common for babies to become very picky eaters as they approach their first birthdays. It said basically that they will adopt a toddler diet where they will eat well once every three days or eat one good meal within a 24 hour period. It had some good advice like offering three options to eat and if he doesn't want it then don't make something else. He will eat when he's hungry. I know this probably sounds like common sense to most people but I need instructions like this. This was reassuring after we both had a meltdown during lunch today. I made sure that I made his beloved veggie pasta while he was napping so it was ready to go as soon as we woke up. He wanted nothing to do with it and was mad about it. Ok, let's try some spaghetti, you love spaghetti. Throws it on the floor, slamming his hands on the high chair tray, tears rolling down his cheeks. At this point, I was in tears too. This was exactly how breakfast went and I was frustrated. I grabbed some bread and he ate two pieces of plain bread. While he ate that, I managed to make a quesadilla and he wolfed that thing down. But it was a rough thirty minutes of crying, appeased, crying, happy, crying, ok I'll eat this and now I'm full and content.

Luckily, throughout all this, JC still finds ways to be the most adorable being on this planet. He just recently has started playing peek-a-boo with him being the initiator. After his bath today, he was pulling the towel up over his head and I'll say "JC where'd you go?" and he'll wait the perfect amount of time and pull the towel down super fast with a big grin on his face. And I'll yell "Peek-a-boo!" and he'll laugh and flail. So cute. After both of his naps today, he just wanted to snuggle for about fifteen minutes before we did anything else. When he rests his little head on my shoulder I will stop whatever I'm doing and relish in that moment.

Well, tomorrow is a new day so hopefully I will wake up to a happy baby. Wish me luck!

{Please pray that this drooly mess is what I see tomorrow!}