I never know what to write anymore...

...but I'll give it a try. It has been another month since last I wrote, and I feel like such a bad blogger. But I know that a number of us out there who have crossed over from IF-land into motherhood don't always know what to do with ourselves on our blogs anymore. So I guess I'll just ramble a bit, if you care to follow along.

I am done with work again for the school year, actually have been done for a few weeks already. So I'm back into the swing of doing the mommy thing every day. While I am mostly happy about that, I do need to find more structure to our days. The weather has been rainy and dreary for a while, but I'd like to get into more of a regular schedule of outings for power-walks and blanket time in the park. The J-dog gets both frustrated and frustrating when we spend too much time cooped up in the house. He just wants to get into anything and everything. He will not let me play with either my iPhone or computer in his presence - he just wants to grab them and gets very angry when he can't have them. I actually gave him my old flip phone, which is no longer active but still turns on and has pictures and stuff on it. He manages to get it open and punch buttons, sometimes even "making calls". I don't know if it is bad to let him play with it, but he doesn't love his toy phones nearly as much. I figure it is not getting a signal, so it shouldn't be too bad. I do need to get all my photos off of it though - I have photos on there that I have nowhere else, like the picture of the J-dog as an embryo (along with that of the ill-fated Baby B) that the nurse took during my transfer. And a video of the J-dog on my chest after my C-section, in the recovery room. The two of us were all alone for the very first time (J had gone out across the street to a diner for some pancakes!) and I remembered that my phone had a video camera that I rarely used, so I shot some footage. Anyway, I'll feel a little better about letting him play with the phone once I've gotten all that stuff off of there.

So, we definitely have a little toddler on our hands. He is still not walking, but getting close. He is very opinionated and strong-willed. He wants to feed himself a lot, so I'm trying to get creative about finger foods for him. Any suggestions are welcome. He is still not really good about drinking from sippy cups. He has milk during his meals in a little spout cup that he doesn't have to suck on - it just pours out the little holes in the spout, so I have to monitor him. He is getting pretty good at that one. But I still give him water in a sippy cup that he has to bite down on a bit in order to suck. I'm not sure that he gets much from it. I tried a straw cup the other day and he seemed to have no idea what to do with it. I am still breastfeeding him twice a day and am loathe to stop until I know he can drink better from a cup, but maybe if I were to stop breastfeeding, he would feel more motivation to drink from the cup. Again, thoughts are welcome.

Since he doesn't drink much milk (maybe 1/2 cup a day), I still feed him formula with baby cereal mixed in during at least 2 of his meals. I usually also mix in some fruit or veggies. He likes it, but also needs to have his finger foods on his tray so he can alternate it with feeding himself. The pediatrician said that the formula and cereal were no longer necessary, but it just makes me feel better.

I'm working on teaching him some signs, and he knows how to do "more" and "milk" at this point. Sometimes he gets the two mixed up, but for the most part he is really good at both of them, especially "more". That is really fun. I want him to learn some other ones too. He still has not said any actual words verbally, though he makes the "dada" and "mama" sounds a lot, but just as babbles. I guess he will be talking and running all over the place soon enough.

The three of us are going to have a picnic in the park this afternoon, if we don't get hit with more rain. So I'm off to make us some food before the J-dog wakes up from his nap.

Thanks for following along with my random ramblings, if anyone is still out there!