I really wanted to breastfeed Abel for one year. I thought if we made it till 8 months, I would really be impressed. I didn’t realize how much I would love breastfeeding. Before Abel was born it seemed like more of a chore that I would do because I knew it was the best thing for my baby. But then after that brutal first month of what felt like torture to breastfeed, it all the sudden became something I really enjoyed. It became so easy and so natural. And now that his first birthday is closing in (warning: my next few posts I’m sure will be extremely on the sappy side) I know that weening him is looming over us. I know it would be a zillion times easier if Abel wanted to stop, but that doesn’t look like it is going to be the case. Which will just make it ten times harder for me to stop him from breastfeeding. So, I need some help moms. How did you stop breastfeeding, especially if you have a child that really didn’t want to stop? I had thought at 6 months he was starting to ween himself and that it was going to be cake. He did somewhat ween himself, he doesn’t nurse during the day. It is just a morning/evening thing. I need some advice! And yes, I am a “softy” so this will be extremely hard for me if Abel is crying out for the goods.
The other week I had to babysit my niece, Victoria. Abel and her have a love/hate relationship. Victoria runs over and kisses him when she first sees him, but then it is pretty much downhill after that. When she is around him everything out of her mouth begins with “NO BABY, MINE!” Abel then gets his feelings hurt and either cries or pushes her. However, they still love to be together. What do you do when you don’t have control over 2 toddlers…put in Mickey Mouse on.
And enjoy a few snacks.
They are glued…look at them.
My brother in-law will kill me for doing this, but hey when it is free babysitting what can you do. (They are huge Yankee fans in the Hampton household and we however, are NOT!)
She obviously, is trying to tell me to get it off her head, but not without snapping one picture first.
And nothing is more fun then sitting in a laundry basket just hanging out.
I could eat them both up-they are just so lovable!
I realized we haven’t posted many videos of Abel. For those of you who don’t know him that well, he is a DELIGHT to be around. He is always happy and smiles at anyone who talks to him. He is a people person that is for sure and I couldn’t be more thrilled about that.
This first video was taken a few weeks ago (on his 11 month birthday) and he gives lots of smiles towards the end. (Ignore the white and black backdrop behind him. That isn’t usually in our living room, but I had a photo shoot the day before.)
In this next video, Abel is playing peek-a-boo with Seth. I was off shooting a wedding so daddy Seth was watching him and decided to record his cute ways. Abel is obsessed with doors (anything that opens and closes). He plays with doors and cabinets all day long, and yes he does tend to smash his little fingers constantly. I stop getting uptight about him always getting hurt and just realized….boys will be boys!
It’s Saturday morning and I have big plans to get started on my little garden, that is if the flowers can make it in the ground before Abel picks off all the petals. Seth’s off shooting a wedding in Lynchburg today with Kellan Studios so it is just me and Abe.
What an adventurous evening we had on Tuesday! It doesn’t happen every day that you discover 5 raccoons are living above your head.
As I mentioned before in an earlier post, we suspected we had ONE raccoon in our attic. It all started around 2 weeks ago. We knew some creature was up there, and after our neighbor told us he saw a raccoon running up and down our tree, we knew that was what was keeping us up at night. What we didn’t know was that our little raccoon was actually a MOMMA. I suspected babies when I heard little cries one night, but Seth still didn’t want to face the truth. The other night he went up and sure enough momma raccoon was parked in the attic corner and NOT moving. She even let us take a picture of her. Didn’t even budge. I told Seth I am almost certain she is sitting on her babies or else she would have darted when she saw Seth, but instead she gave him a look like, “Yes, I do live here. What are you doing in my house?”
Let’s just say we have some of the most awesome neighbors, Mark & Marsha. I mean, who can say they live right next to ” ‘Coon Catchers” ? They volunteered to help us capture them after we told them it was going to cost us $400 to have animal control come out (plus $50 per baby). On Monday night our ‘coon catcher neighbors popped over with their live trap stuffed with homemade blueberry cobbler. Marsha insisted our little raccoon would never refuse blueberry cobbler. I wasn’t so sure if our little ‘coon would go for it, being that she saw 2 men set the trap right in front of her face. As they were setting the trap, Seth saw one little baby raccoon pop its little head out. It’s not uncommon for raccoons to have small litters so we were thinking we were dealing with one to two babies….plus mom. As Mark told us, momma raccoon would rip our faces off if we dare get close to her babies. So, the game plan was to catch momma raccoon first and then pick the babies up with our hands.
They told us we would know right away when she goes into the trap because she will go crazy. Things were quiet up there the rest of the night, minus the cute little noises they would make with an occasional scratching here and there. Then the next day, around 3ish, I had just tried to put Abel down for a nap. My friend Lindsay was here and we started hearing a loud bang. I thought it was Abel. I walked into his room and he is just hanging out crying and then I realize that it was the raccoon. I started freaking out and screaming….”we caught the raccoon…we caught the raccoon!” All we could do was wait till Seth and our neighbors got home.
Mark heads up first to the attic and carefully grabs the trap.
Momma raccoon was going crazy. Sure enough she devoured the blueberry cobbler – licked the bowl clean and even ate part of the bowl.
But boy was she cute!
Now it was time to tackle the babies. Before I go any further let’s just call my Hot Hubby – the ‘Coon Cub Catcher from now on. There is something really sexy about seeing your husband being extremely brave and doing something that he wouldn’t usually do. Marsha called him one of the bravest men she has ever met! Seth was absolutely amazing! I never imagined he would get on his belly with one hand (the other hand holding a flash light) and reach in and grab the babies who were piled into a tiny, little corner. They are wild little buggers. Marsha stood behind him and coached him on how to handle the baby ‘coons without getting hurt. Once he caught them they were then placed into another cage (separate from momma-Momma was in the front yard as half the neighborhood was standing over her in amazement.) At first Seth just saw one. As soon as he grabbed the first baby ‘coon, we all hear “wait, there is two”.
Marsha: “Ok, Seth you can do it again.” Seth was slowly getting beat up by the nails sticking out of the roof and the scratchy insulation. Seth grabs baby ‘coon #2. Just as he did, we all hear “nope there are 3″. Now all of us are coaching Seth on (Marsha, Lindsay, Mark and I) are shouting “Go Seth!” Seth grabs baby #3 and then we here, “oh no, there are FOUR!!!” Seth grabs baby #4 and we are all shouting with Joy! Battered and bruised, “Coon Cub Catcher Seth walks down the ladder with blood dripping all down his face. I freaked out, and hurried and cleaned him up. Thankfully, they are just little cuts. No worries Seth is going to check on his tetanus shot status tomorrow. After quickly cleaning Seth up, I scurried off to take some pictures of the most adorable little creatures you will ever see. Baby raccoons are almost as cute as puppies and kittens. After seeing them, I couldn’t be that mad! I know momma raccoon was just trying to protect her babies by making her nest in our attic. If they paid rent we might actually consider letting them stay …. kidding … kidding.
But look how cute they are:
Mark showing them off to the neighbors.
Once we placed the babies’ cage right next to their momma’s cage it was the most precious little raccoon reunion you will ever see. And just for you, I recorded our little Nickerson adventure. You animal lovers will be happy to know that Mark & Marsha went into our community woods and released them while Seth covered up the hole that they got in through in the first place. Momma raccoon checked out each baby and made sure they were each OK and then one by one she picked them up like a cat picks up her kittens and found a new home for her family in the woods.
Watch the Raccoon Reunion.
So excited to see their momma!
She would reach in and touch their heads and pet them. It was so precious!
The good news: The raccoons are gone. No more noise. We can sleep in peace.
The bad news: Our attic is destroyed. It smells like raccoon droppings. We are going to have dish out some some cash to fix up the attic.
Can someone remind me of the Joys of being a homeowner in today’s market?
Mark & Marsha taking them off into the “wild”.
Bye, bye little raccoons…you were cute, but I hope to NEVER see you again in my house!
What gorgeous weather we have had! (minus the last few days of rain and minus the fact that Seth and I were mopping up our FLOODED basement floor AGAIN at 1AM after the torrential downpour of rain) Abel and I have been enjoying playing outside. He LOVES the outdoors. What kid doesn’t?
I say this often, but I feel SO BLESSED that I am allowed to stay home with Abel. What a JOY he is! I just can’t get enough of him and now that he has turned into a GREAT NAPPER, he is even more fun! I think his great napping is now due to the fact that he never stops moving when he is up. He is SO ACTIVE! I’m apologizing now for any blog readers who watch him in the church nursery and have to change his diaper. It is next to IMPOSSIBLE to change his diaper. I usually have to do it when he is standing up and I am chasing his cute naked behind around! Last week at church they told me it took all 3 of them to change him. So Sorry!!!
Back to our play dates outside. This first picture looks like he is trying to model for some men’s magazine. If you are a modeling agency reading this and would like to hire my son, you can email me directly.
Here he is waving to his most favorite thing…not his mom, but CARS!
Keeping his eyes on the cars driving by…
“Mom, get out of the way, you are blocking my view of the cars!”
There is that gorgeous smile!
Telling you he is going to be ONE YEAR OLD very soon!!!
AND who doesn’t like to munch on a stick every once in awhile.
