Why, oh why, won't you sleep?

It has been at least 3.5 weeks (except one crazy night) since Cullen slept through the night. Yes, he is ten months old. Yes, I am an enabler. But mostly I blame it on David. I am still nursing, so when Cullen wakes up in the night, David tries to get him back to sleep. If Cullen senses I am around, all he can think about is warm milk! (This does something to your self esteem, I swear). So if that goes on too long, David gives up, and I end up feeding him. OK, maybe we are both enablers. Cullen had some terrible virus for several weeks, and you can't just let your baby cry when he is so sick that he can barely breathe! And then he was teething... So now we have created this MONSTER! OK, just a sweet baby who wants to snack all night. This would be one thing if I could sleep when the baby sleeps. But no, I am a non-so-lean, mean, hourly billing machine. Or so I am trying to be. Caffeine no longer works. Sugar no longer works. My body has officially declared war, and if I don't give in, who knows what is going to happen. I NEED SLEEP. Maybe it is my thyroid again (have I told you about my rare combination of Graves Disease AND Hashimotos that makes my thyroid a roller coaster that is never fun?). All I know is mama needs a break. So I'm taking one. Yes, it is 2:20 in the afternoon. Yes, I will have to work extra hard for a few days to make up for this. But yes, I am going home to take a nap. Case closed.

9 months

Since I last posted so much has happened! Cullen is crawling! He started right after he turned 9 months, and now he is all over the place. Of course, he is no conformist. He has his own, adorable little crawl. See for yourself!

He got his first tooth around the same time, and now he has three coming in. My little guy is growing up too fast! I'm just not ready for him not to be a baby anymore. But on the other hand, he is SO FUN right now. He has become so interactive, and we have this amazing bond. The past few weekends with him have been so amazing.

Since my last post, Cullen also had his first plane flight. I was really dreading the flight, but Cullen did remarkably well. We went to visit our friends in Atlanta and had such a great time (thanks, Sean and Camila!). Love that Southern hospitality! Cullen had so much fun meeting new friends, and I think that his time in the pool was the most fun he has ever had. A few pictures:

Yay for a two day weekend

After weekend after weekend with not near enough time with my little sweet pea, I just declared this Cullen weekend. It is all about you, baby. You are just the cutest and most fun thing ever. Cutest. Ever. You have become so popular that the daycare teachers who relieve your normal teachers for breaks come to visit you in the morning! So mama needs to get in on this and enjoy more Cullen time. So even though I "should" have worked this weekend, I'm taking time to enjoy baby boy.

At 8 months, here's what you're up to. You LOVE to throw things. Anything that goes in those hands is getting thrown. Your favorite toy is Ozarka water bottles. Ozarka is the best because it's extra squishy and makes lots of noise when you bite down on it. You are almost crawling. You get on all fours, but then you realize this is much too close to being on your stomach, which you still hate. So you drop to your tummy and roll over. But you love to stand. You will pull up on anything. You LOVE the dogs. There is nothing that makes you laugh like those dogs. You seem to like veggies more than fruit, so I'm hoping this means you didn't inherit your mama's sweet tooth. You have TONS of energy, and you love to grab things. When we take you to restaurants we have to make sure we keep you a safe distance from the table. There have already been a few accidents, but we do the best we can. So far they haven't kicked us out yet, though I am very sensitive to the dirty looks from the people who don't have kids. You are SO inquisitive. You are constantly leaning over to get a good look at something that interests you. Your teacher says you are the most curious baby in your class. You are also very affectionate with the baby girls. Well, one in particular. You love Charlie, and no matter where you start out at the beginning of the day, it doesn't take long before you and Charlie are next to each other. You are very sweet to her. You make friends everywhere you go. You have a smile for everyone, and make everyone feel special. You're a big flirt! You are very squirmy, but you still let mom rock you to sleep every night. And that is still the best part of my day. You are such a joy.

How do you do this?!

Let me begin by saying I should be working. But I need to take a break to ask HOW DO PEOPLE DO THIS?! Working full time and being a mom is HARD! And especially when you have a job that is as demanding as being a lawyer. I have NO TIME to do anything but work and spend an hour or so with Cullen each day of the week. To say this is overwhelming is an understatement.

Don't get me wrong. I feel unbelievably blessed that I have both of my dream jobs--attorney and mom. Really, I am living the dream, quite literally. But one of friends was so right when she said these first few years will be incredibly difficult because you will always feel guilty--guilty when you are with your baby because you aren't working and guilty when you're working because you're not with your baby. SO. TRUE.

And don't even get me started about how woefully behind I am in every other aspect of my life. Take for example thank you cards. Because of some other issues one of my baby showers was right about the time I started back to work. I have had NO TIME for thank you cards and I am terribly embarrassed. AND I just discovered a STACK of thank you cards that I never sent out from even before that. Oh goodness. And I can't send them now because they won't make sense. I literally get sick to my stomach when I think about it. Every time I walk by the office I feel sick. I can't even go in there now.

And I can't remember the last time I made it to the gym...

OK, enough griping. Back to work...

Six month pictures

Wendi has done it again! I absolutely LOVE Cullen's 6 month pictures!

Camila saves the day!

Camila, thank you thank you thank you. Thanks to your comment, I finally figured out the video issue! Now if I can figure out why my background isn't working. But who cares about the background when CULLEN'S VIDEOS ARE WORKING!

Did I mention that Cullen napped in his crib for the first time this weekend?! OK, maybe not the FIRST time. He napped in his crib twice when he was a few months old. It is such a relief to have a little time to do some work around the house while he is napping instead of holding him the entire time! And before you think, wow, what an indulgent mother, you should know that the daycare workers (who obviously deal with LOTS of babies) couldn't get him to sleep in his crib either until last week. It's amazing what just a few hours of free time can do!

Cullen also started pulling up last Thursday in his crib, and now he want to stand ALL THE TIME. Our little dude is growing up! And thanks to Camila I can show off his cute little videos!

The strike ends

No, I am not talking about football or basketball. I am talking about my strike from Blogger. I was beyond frustrated because my cute videos (that take forever to load) keep disappearing, so I just quit blogging. Every time I THINK about blogging I get angry. But this blog is about Cullen, so I need to just get over myself. Because you need to see Cullen and his cuteness.

Cullen and his cuteness loving the pool...

And his race driver toy...

And his jumper...

This kid is so cute that people will come all the way from London to see him...

See? How could I stay on strike?