Thursday, December 24, 2009

We're getting ready for Little M's second Christmas

but it's the first one where he'll actually know what's going on. He was only two months old last christmas, so he wasn't really aware that anything different was going on. So I'm excited for him!

He's walking, and talking, well, burbling, and we play along. He's such a social baby, I can't wait for him to get to play with the new cousins. His cousin coming from Aunt K is due in Feb. And the cousins from Aunt S are just a could of months younger than him, so they should be fun to see together this weekend.

If the weather doesn't thwart all our plans. I'm annoyed that we don't even know what we'll be doing when tomorrow until we wake up and see how back things are outside.

Oh, well, wish us luck, it's the last celebration At Gigi and Papa's where Little M is the baby. Next year Sushi will be the baby! And Merry Christmas to you and yours wherever you all are!

Friday, December 4, 2009

I know it's been while...

and I do apologize, but we've had a lot going on!

First of all, Little M is a walking man! The day after he turned 13 months he took his first step. That was two weeks ago. He's gotten up to about 9 steps in a row, and he does try a little each day, but he's doing a lot more "walking" on his knees so he can still hold things in both hands, but get there without having to stand up. Kinda cheating, but creative!

He's eating grown-up foods, but mostly meats. He is not so crazy about the grown up veggies. So we'll try to expose him to more and see if he'll start to get interested. He is definitely interested in WHATEVER I have if I'm eating with him at mealtime, so it looks like my days of fast food and pizza are over. Which is better for both of us anyway. And my waistline is already showing the lack of crap in my diet, I'm down about 5 pounds so far (probably more, but I'm trying to NOT get on the scale every day, it easily become an obsession.

Also, I got a job! Well, I got an offer for a job to start in February. But it's on the project I've been interested in for awhile, they have a great location, good benefits, fabulous policy on work schedule, and are very family-friendly. Not to mention that if we need Shady Grove Fertility again I can look out the building and see them from where I'll be working. Just three contingencies with this job. The position has to open (the person who is leaving has to actually leave), the client has to approve me, and another one that I can't say anything about. I could tell you, but then I'd have to kill you. Just kidding! Ah, IT humor.

I actually had a great time at the interview for this position, some of it was intimidating because I feel like it's been sooooo long since my mind was in work mode. But one of the technical guys gave me a problem to work out and I did so, but it was weird working it out in front of people. The process was ugly, but I came up with a partial answer on the spot. Of course on the ride home I had a better idea, so here's what it was:

The problem: Say you're running a swim club and you have to assign people to a section of your swim class. You have some number of students that you have to distribute evenly over however many classes are available. The number of students are passed into your method, as is an array with the section numbers of the available classes.

Here's what I came up with on the ride home. For those not familiar with Java and wanting to know what the heck this says, well, you're just out of luck. Sorry, but I can't imagine anyone who isn't a Java Programmer would care. But see below and I'll explain what happens when the code is run. And if you are a Java Programmer, I don't want to hear how stupid my solution is and how I could have done it better, faster, with less code, whatever. No critiques accepted. Just stop reading now.

(I put it great spacing to make everything readable, but this stupid editor takes it ALL out. Whatever.)

1 public void assignSections (int numStudents, ArrayList[String] sections){
2
3 int numClasses = sections.size();
4 while (numStudents!= 0){
5 for (int i = 0; i < numClasses; i++;){
6 String section = sections.get(i);
7 Student student = getStudent(numStudents);
8 addStudentToSection(student,section);
9 numStudents--;
10 }
11 }
12}

WHAT HAPPENS:
So say I pass in that there are 13 students and 3 sections:123A, 124B, and 125C, so the call would look like this: assignSections(13,sections[123A, 124B, 125C]; . My numClasses would be 3 (Line3), and I'll hit the while loop (Line4) because my numStudentsis 13. I hit the for loop which creates an int i which is 0, and Line6 creates a string with "123A". Line6 creates a Student object by retrieving the student by number (13). So line8's variables, student and section would be (Student13,"123A"). And that student has been assigned. We subtract one from numStudents and now we have 12.
Back through the for loop and i is now 1, so it's still less than 3. section is 124B, student is Student12, that student is assigned on line8, and numStudents is now 11.
Back through the for loop and i is now 2, so it's still less than 3. section = 125C, student is now Student11, that student is assigned, and numStudents is 10.
Back through the for loop, but i is now 3, so we kick back out to the while loop, and since numStudents is 10 we start the for loop over again, which means we get the following pairings, Student10 in section 123A (because the list of sections starts over again)

So running this from the beginning goes through the following sequence of variables:
(AGAIN with the spacing CRAPOLA!)
numStudents numClasses i section student numStudents
-----------------------------------------------------
13 3 0 123A Student13 12
12 3 1 124B Student12 11
11 3 2 125C Student11 10
10 3 0 123A Student10 9
9 3 1 124B Student9 8
8 3 2 125C Student8 7
7 3 0 123A Student7 6
6 3 1 124B Student6 5
5 3 2 125C Student5 4
4 3 0 123A Student4 3
3 3 1 124B Student3 2
2 3 2 125C Student2 1
1 3 0 123A Student1 0

We're out of students and now we have 5 students assigned to section 123A, 4 to 124B, and 4 to 125C, which is what the question asked. Aren't you glad you read this far? Isn't your life better for trudging through some geek logic??? Does it look like I'm actually excited to go back to work?

If you've read this far, I PROMISE to NEVER do this again to you. But thanks for actually reading this far anyway!

Friday, October 16, 2009

Fear of abandonment issues?

For some reason, lately when Big M's parents come to visit, Little M has been very clingy and cries when they try to hold him.

When they came for Labor Day weekend, Grandma could hold Little M just fine, but when she tried to hand him off to Grandpa, Little M just broke out the crocodile tears and was bawling!

Same thing this visit when I tried to hand him off to Grandma! I am wondering if he thinks we're going to give him to them and leave? I usually do turn around to go do something else (while my hands are actually free!), so maybe not having mommy in sight is what makes him scared.

Poor little guy. It was a little before his nap, so I think he was already a little tired, but he's been quite the champ today. And tomorrow will be more people, more babies, and cake! So hopefully he won't melt down at his own birthday party.

We can't wait to see the whole family for the party!

Love to all the mommies and daddies whose babies are turning 1!

Saturday, October 10, 2009

Distract, distract, distract!

That is the key these days to getting ANYTHING done where Little M is concerned. Whether it's dressing, changing, bathing, or feeding, he wants to be doing anything else at that time.

So for dressing and changing it's the tube of aquaphor (which is still between the wall and the changing table for those of you who ready my last entry).

For bathing it's a cup with holes in it. I use the cup to get his hair wet, then give it to him and he tries to drink out of it. But the bathwater drains out the holes, so really he's just chewing on it.

For feeding I've discovered that if I just put a little food on the high chair tray, he puts his hand in that and swirls it around a bit, while I put the spoon up to his face and shovel it in. Probably not the best way to teach my child to eat, but while he's sick (and has been coughing to the point of vomiting up most of his meal) I'm doing it.

He still takes "No" pretty hard, no matter how gently you say it. But if he bursts into tears for something like not being allowed to chew on a cardboard box, that's just the sign of a tired baby, so off we go for a nap.

And if all else fails with the crying, sometimes tickling works. Anything to get that happy baby laugh back! Ahh, happy times.

Thursday, October 8, 2009

Tonight was so NOT the normal bedtime routine...

I think it may have been because poor Little M is sick, or because I was waiting for a call from a recruiter about an interview, but the bedtime routine was shot to hell tonight.

Little M is also on 4 different medications, one of which is dispensed in a nebulizer. The first try with the nebulizer was constant crying (him, not me). The second try was better, I used the brain-sucking (thanks, Grampy) Nasalclear to entertain him since it has little songs on it (and bravo to whomever thought of that!)

So here's how bedtime went after Little M climbed the stairs...

I locked the gate at the top of the stairs then put him down to explore while I set things up. I knew I needed to refill the humidifier with distilled water, so I opened a fresh gallon (which fits in there with room to spare) and poured it in. There was more water in there than usual when I started, so I quickly ran out of room and spilled on the carpet in Little M's room. Oh, well, I can clean it up with his bath towel after the bath, since just about every other towel in the house is currently in the laundry room. On to getting the baby to the bath.

I put him on the changing table to undress him, and I notice that we have a stowaway in the room. Little A is using one of her nine lives to explore the room while I am otherwise occupied, so I make a mental note to kick her out later. While I'm distracted Little M takes my go-to toy for distracting him so that I can undress him and starts running it along the wall. My mind tells me this is probably not a good thing...and yep! It falls between the changing table and the wall. But I have a naked child, so off we go to the bath.

It occurs to me as I'm in the hall on the way to the bathroom that I have not actually run any water in the bath yet. Oops.

So I put naked Little M in the big tub (this is our third time in the big tub, the others have gone fine) and turn the water on. Big.....mistake. The loud faucet coupled with bathroom acoustics scares Little M, who tries to climb up the side of the tub and then me. I pick up my poor baby and apologize profusely as I let the water run, check the temp, and finally turn it off.

I put naked Little M back in the tub. He is still not convinced that the loud water monster is not in there waiting for him, so the climbing begins again. I decide to try getting in there with him to show him it's not scary.

I take naked Little M back out of the tub and put him on the floor. I get halfway through undressing when I hear a grunt from Little M. When I look over, there is a light yellow puddle in front of him. He has managed to get BOTH bathmats by peeing between them.

So I have to open the linen closet to find the ONE remaining clean towel that is not in the aforementioned laundry room, and put it down to soak up the lake of pee. I finish getting undressed, pick up Little M, and we get in the tub.

I put him down, then start to sit down myself and by the time I'm down he's standing, trying to once again climb up me. I try to reassure him, but he just lays the little head down on my shoulder, so I just wash around this and get him clean and rinsed.

Now I have to get him out. I have put his towel on the toilet, so I put the hood on his head and try to wrap the rest around him without letting it hit the water in the tub, and with reasonable success he ends up sitting outside the tub.

While I'm getting out of the tub, he takes the opportunity to start pulling things out of the linen closet, whose door I've managed to forget to close, what with all the peeing.

So I have to get out, get the door closed, get dry, and put on enough clothes to get across the hall (which was about half of what I started with) and we're back at the changing table.

Little M has spotted the cat. She has made her way to the top of his dresser, so with Little M in one arm, I grab Little A by her scruff and throw her out of the room. Not literally, of course, though she would beg to differ.

So we're back to the changing table, but Little M is so wound up by all the excitement that I can't get him to sit still for anything, and we no longer have the go-to toy. By the time he's dressed and ready for the last feeding of the night, he's twisted up in the sleepsack.

I finally get him out of the cocoon, with room to kick the little legs around, he's calmed down and we're nursing, and my phone rings. It's the recruiter I talked to last night, telling me I'm all set for my phone interview later with the hiring manager.

When I finally left Little M in bed (still chatting and coughing), and used his towel to clean up the humidifier water, I felt like I'd been through the ringer, and decided that come hell or high water, we're doing the bedtime routine the old way (in the baby tub, pre-filled) tomorrow.

Wednesday, October 7, 2009

Remembering the first two weeks of motherhood by myself (or "The Horror Film" Period)

I cannot believe that in a few weeks my baby will be one year old! It seems like we brought him home from the hospital just yesterday.

We were exhausted, had no idea how we were going to take care of this little person, thought the people who let us leave the hospital with him were clinically insane to thing we could do this. Then spent another exhausting week just trying everything under the sun to keep him happy.

Then came...the end of Daddy's time off. I was going to have to do it all ALONE! And when I finally had those stretches of time alone with our little bundle of joy, I started seeing whey they say that about babies!

I got to really listed to the noises he made, and saw that, YES! They were actual words (we'll, not in English, but words nonetheless), and he was TELLING ME that he was hungry. Or sleepy. Or uncomfortable (wet diaper, too hot, too cold, something's pinching me!) Or had gas. Or had to burp. Once I finally could hear those magic five words of baby language, it's like a light bulb went off. I finally had read the right instruction manual for my baby!

Now it's been 50 weeks later, and the noises don't sound the same, and now they come with gestures too, but we're still communicating. And we're all getting more sleep. Thank God for small miracles, especially ones like Little M.

Tuesday, October 6, 2009

Cold Case # 2

That's Little M's second case of a cold. Or allergy. Or something else that is not responding to anything we've thrown at it.

Anyway...we noticed that Little M was drippy and sneezing last Thursday, so we went in on Friday to see Little M's regular doctor. He said it was probably allergies and to go with the children's Benadryl (I know, it says it's not supposed to be used by children under 2 years, but I made sure he knew that and gave me a lower dose to give Little M). NO CHANGE.

By Sunday, it was coughing and head shaking and ear pulling which is all new for him and went along nicely with the other symptoms that were STILL AROUND. So we got a prescription for a stronger antihistamine, antitussive, and decongestant, and started giving that to Little M. NO CHANGE.

From Sunday night till now, we've added on coughing so hard at night that he VOMITS ALL OVER THE CRIB. So I've been changing the sheets at least once a day. At least I was semi-smart about making his bed in the first place. I put at least 7 sheets on the mattress every time I remake the bed so that if something happens to the first one, I just peel it off and the next one is ready.

So I called the Pediatrician back today and they gave us samples of Singulair, a new version for children that is chewable. So Little M gets 1/2 pill per day, and it gets mashed and put in his fruit. So far I'm still hearing coughing. And he's been in bed for two hours. YIKES!

Anyone care to try to solve this Cold Case???????

Saturday, September 26, 2009

NoVa Traffic

OK, maybe I have been a bit of a homebody since Little M was born. And maybe I have been staying close to home lately, and just going somewhere in town when we do venture out. But I grew up outside of DC, learned to drive there, and even went to graduate school IN DC, so I know from crazy drivers.

The ones on I-66 West on Friday night were way beyond crazy! I thought I was lucky that all the traffic on my way in to Fairfax was on the Westbound side of 66, so going East was pretty clear, and the traffic was moving and a nice pace.

On the way home, however, it was a VERY different story. A song from the 80s comes to mind..."The Freaks Come Out at Night". I was using my cruise control, travelling along at about 5 miles over the speed limit in the RIGHT lane, and three different cars took issue with my speed.

The first one came up on me really fast, then switched to the left lane, then cut back into my lane with just inches to spare between my bumper and his. Then another did the same thing! There were NO OTHER CARS on the road. What's the deal? The last one came up behind me in the left lane, and did the cut into my lane thing, but by that time I was a little less terrified that I was going to be in an accident. I just turned off the cruise control so I could then take my foot off the gas when he came around.

I think this is such a shock to me because in our town the traffic is slower, more courteous, and generally safer. We're just not in as much of a hurry here. And I think it's made me relax a little, and taken the anxiety out of driving. The trip on the highway Friday night put it all back. What's happened to me? I used to be driving in crazy traffic like that with crazy people like that all the time?!?! Heck, I used to be one of the crazy drivers, knowing my own skill level will keep me from getting in any trouble, and I'd make record time getting where I wanted to go.

But most times when I drive today, I have precious cargo with me, and there is no reason to take even the slightest risk with my precious son in the car. And now that I'm a Mom, I have him counting on me to provide him with milk, and comfort, and love, and kisses, and hugs. So even when he's not with me, I'm still a necessary part of his life, so I have to be careful with me too.

So, crazy drivers out there, I hope I don't encounter you anymore, but since I probably will, please don't try out your Jeff Gordon moves on my car, I'll gladly stay in the right lane with my cruise control set between the speed limit and 5 over. Hopefully out of your way. I have a child entrusted to me and his daddy to raise, and it's my first priority to be around for my kid.

Love to the parents out there!

Sunday, September 13, 2009

My child, the beaver

How can FOUR teeth chew up SO MUCH STUFF?????

Little M has his two top front teeth, and his two bottom front teeth, and boy is he using them! So far I've had to put up gummy rails on the front and sides of his crib (the back is tall enough that he can't reach it...yet).

And he's been chewing on the remote control, which is covered in a rubber sleeve, but that's apparently coming off because of all the chewing. Which means, much to his dismay, that the remote is no longer a Little M toy. There will be much crying, and even though I'll try distraction, I'm pretty sure no other toy will measure up.

And we're not moving on to the cell phone, so he can get over that idea at the same time.

There are marks on the plastic toys from Tupperware, and his highchair tray table, which means those have to be scrubbed especially hard when washing because things can hide in the no-longer-smooth surfaces. And the pacifiers will have to be scrutinized more when washing because they're really meant for sucking, not chewing. So some of them may be retired before their time.

But Little M has been using his teeth for chewing actual food, so that's some progress. He's been pinching and eating the puffs, which means he's mastered the pincer grasp and he can aim for and hit his mouth. So table food (and a better use for the teeth) is not far off.

I knew I couldn't keep him little forever, it just seems like it's still coming way too fast...

Wednesday, September 9, 2009

Baby Tag (or How to Exhaust Your Crawler)

So the most fun I had all yesterday was when Little M decided his new game was to try to get away from me (crawling) as fast as he could so as not to be caught by the foot and dragged back into the room. And he does it. Every time now.

So I gave in to the game and started chasing him around the house. If he was getting too close to an area he's not allowed to go in I would pass him and stand in front of it. He was crawling with such determination and speed that he'd have his head down and arms and legs just a-pumping as fast as they can. But about two feet from me he'd see my feet and squeal/giggle to a stop, then execute a three-quarter turn, and off he'd go in another direction.

He's decided to play after his bath as well, once I get him wrapped in the towel and turn to empty the water out of the baby bathtub he rolls over and starts crawling out the bathroom away from Mommy. I always lock the gate at the top of the stairs just in case, but he's never gotten past his bedroom door. And how adorable is a little naked baby crawling away from you with a towel (flaring out behind him like a cape) stuck on his head. I just about laughed myself silly. And the squealing laughter when I pick him up is just priceless.

I found today when we were playing tag that if I got close enough behind him to touch his feet as he was crawling it would spur him on to crawl faster, so I used that to get him going when it looked like he was running out of gas. That child was so tired today that he went to bed at 6:30pm. And that was after climbing the stairs (which he took in two sections, stopping to play at the window on the landing).

He really has a lot of fun with this game, and so does Mommy.

Monday, September 7, 2009

Visit from Grandma and Grandpa

On Saturday Big M's parents came to visit us. They were so thrilled to get to spend time with Little M, and we were too, it's been awhile.

Poor Little M was still a bit tired, he didn't really want to go down for a nap before they got here, so when Big M tried to do the handoff to Grandpa, Little M wasn't quite up to it yet, and he cried.

But he's since recovered, and gives the big smiles to both Grandma and Grandpa, and there have been so many pictures taken of Little M that I'm surprised he can still see for the flash going off so often.

Little M has just changed so much from the last time they saw him, in May at his cousins' baptism. He wasn't yet crawling, he wasn't yet babbling, and he still looked so much more like a baby. Now he's got the look of a little boy, and it's just so different.

I still want to stop time and freeze the moments (and I haven't yet heard from any of you on how the progress is going on that!) but I also feel so proud of my little guy for each new thing he learns, and so excited for him about all the other new things he's going to learn.

And I'm wishing that all Little M's Grandparents lived closer to us so they could see him more often. Little M has three cousins in PA and a brand new cousin coming in February, and I wish they were all closer too so they could all be playmates and grow up together.

When I was little we'd go to Florida to see all the relatives at Thanksgiving and Christmas. We loved seeing our cousins, since we were all around the same age. We'd play and laugh, and just have a great time. I know Little M will have that too, and I'm so glad. Family is important, and I'm glad ours is growing.

Grandma and Grandpa will be leaving us in the morning, and I know that Little M will miss them, just like Big M and I will. But we'll all be together in a few weeks celebrating Little M's first birthday. So we'll be looking forward to that (and not really believing it's time for that already!)

Love to all the babies out there!

Thursday, August 27, 2009

General thoughts (it's long, I was thinking a bunch!)

My baby is going to be a year old in less than 8 weeks! I find that VERY hard to believe. He's so much fun right now, I just want to freeze this time and keep it going for a little while longer.

Of course, I felt that way last month too. I feel like taking pictures of all the moments doesn't capture the essence of the moment. I know the memories of all he's done so far will fade with time, and I'll really want to recall them when he's a teenager and getting on my last nerve. But right now he's just my little boy, my baby. He doesn't have an agenda for anything he does, he's just innocently curious.

I called his name at one point today and he seemed startled. It made me feel bad that I'd scared him, and it made me feel bad that just saying his name has that effect, like maybe I've been scolding him too often. But when I look at what we allow him to do versus his safety, I know that no matter how many times he tries (and no matter how much he wants it) there are certain things that are always going to be off limits. Cuteness never trumps electricity.

But there's a grey area too. A friend told me of how she let her child eat sand when they went to the beach. Now some might argue that there are all kinds of bacteria in sand that might not be a great idea to have baby injest, but after hearing the whole story, I have to say, I think she's brilliant.

The first day her child ate 5 handfuls of sand before he decided that it just did not taste good. The second day he ate 1 handful. The third day on he ate no sand at all. He had learned that it just did not taste good and he wanted nothing to do with it. How much easier was that lesson that saying "No, we don't eat sand." all week long??? Like I said, brilliant.

When I was bleary-eyed from lack of sleep I would wish that I knew the magic formula for getting Little M to go to bed. But there have been just as many nights that I'll be in bed trying to get to sleep that I'll think about how much I love him and sort of wish he'd wake up needing to nurse so I can spend time with him. Then I think about how happy a kid he is and reconsider messing with the Gods of Baby Sleep. They are vengeful indeed.

We put up the baby gates a few weeks ago. One out of three cats is able to get to all the same places she used to go before the gates were installed. The other two probably haven't seen the upstairs hallway in a few weeks. One of the cats was stuck in kitty jail (the stairway between the two gates) and wouldn't even come out when I gave the other cats treats just on the other side of the gate. They can jump up to the back of the sofa and loveseat, which are at least 50% higher than the gates, so I know they CAN jump it, THEY just don't know they can. They'll survive, though, as long as they don't get stuck in there for several hours. There's no food, water or litter box in kitty jail. It's definitly worse than regular jail. Not that I'd know firsthand...

Anyway, if you stuck it out this long, thanks, I am usually a little bit more organized, but tonight I'm just rambling. Love to all the mommies and daddies out there, and if you find that way to slow the growing up process, PLEASE let me know!

Monday, August 24, 2009

The Most Wonderful Sound

Not to get too dripy and mushy, but the best sound in all the world has to be a baby laughing.

To me, it's Little M's laughter. It sounds like he's saying, "Hee, hee, hee", but with a sort of bell-like quality and just a little tinge of dorkiness thrown in there. It's just magical.

I don't remember the date when I first heard him laugh, but I remember what circumstances brought it about. I had Little M on the changing table in his room getting ready to go take a bath and I needed to distract him from trying to turn over so I could get his clothes off.

I used "Here comes Ookie, giddy, giddy, giddy!" (Grampy and other family should appreciate that!) and tickled his tummy and he just belted out that laughter! And it got him all wound up, which was probably not the wisest move before putting him in water, but the bathroom will survive.

Now I use that tickling and laughter to keep him entertained every day, and I probably spend about half my time with him trying to make him laugh. He laughs at funny faces, surprised faces, peek-a-boo, the cats, and lots of other things we haven't even discovered yet. He's even been trying to blow raspberries on my arm like I do on his tummy. He's one of the happiest kids I've ever seen.

And that makes me one of the luckiest Moms ever, and I thank God every day for entrusting me (and Big M) with raising this wonderful child.

Saturday, August 22, 2009

No, Mommy is not a teething toy...

So Little M has these four teeth. Two on top, two on the bottom, and they are the sharpest fangs I have ever seen in my life! (OK, really they are his four central incisors, but they're like little baby kitten claws, so cute until they sink into your skin and you realize how SHARP they are!)

And he wants to bite down on EVERYTHING. There are teeth marks on pretty much ALL of his toys, and probably on the crib too (which reminds me, I need to look into getting a plastic cover for the crib rails, I don't think oak has a high nutritional value...)

OK, back from my shopping trip, (and the phone call from the family, here's my shout out to Auntie Em, Grampy, and Little M's Uncle J, thanks for the call!) and it looks like I could make something that would match better with the baby decor if I just order some sheets or valances or something from Babies 'R Us. Or I might just look through the 20 or so crib sheets we ALREADY HAVE. OK, really, I mean it this time, tangent over.

Now, back to the biting Mommy problem...

The problem really is that if Little M is too wound up to settle in and get his milk on, he ends up playing. And for him it is LOADS of fun! He starts out nursing, then he uses those sharp frontal fangs to bite down HARD, then Mommy says either "NO!" or "OUCH!" or both and makes a face. Which he thinks is HILARIOUS! So he's smiling and giggling, and my only recourse is to put him back in the crib and leave the room. Which makes him cry.

Which I feel bad about for about 1/2 a second, until I'm keenly away of the pain I am now in, and I'm back to knowing this is the way to get him to stop. I wait until the crying STOPS, then go back into the room. Usually this is only a minute or two, but he's worked off a little energy, and sometimes he's ready to settle down and actually nurse.

Other nights we go through this two or three times, and on the nights when he is just clearly not going to settle down at all, I have to go downstairs and listen on the baby monitor for the, "MUM-MUM-MUM" cries. Those mean he's serious about being hungry now. Sometimes I go downstairs and he plays in the crib for 20 minutes before the "MUM-MUM-MUM", but he ends up there eventually.

I just wish I knew a way to tire him out more during the going upstairs and getting ready for bed part of the routine. I already make him climb up all 16 steps to get upstairs, then he crawls around the hallway the whole time I'm running the bath, is a baby treadmill my next step???

I guess playing until I see either yawning or the rubbing the eyes is just what we'll have to do in his room if I want to be able to breastfeed the next child. Or maybe that's Little M's plan to remain an only child...

Friday, August 21, 2009

The Crawlin' Man

Boy, is Little M ever tireless when it comes to mobility! Now that he's up and about on hands and knees, he cannot get enough of chasing around the cats, or playing with Mommy.

My favorite game is to call out "Where's Little M?" from around a corner, and he'll crawl over to find me. I especially like it that he doesn't just come to where he can see me, but to where I can see him, too. That way I can get him to come all the way back into a room, and sometimes I can even convince him to take a break and play with the toys there!

The crawling phase was one I expected to just be exhausting for me, knowing I'd have to be going everywhere he goes, and carrying extra weight with me. But it has turned out to be a great blessing in disguise. I have been forced to be active with Little M EVERY DAY! My back hasn't felt better since before I was in the car accident where it got hurt. I'm able to talk Little M for walks in his stroller (now I just have to build up my stamina!), and I can carry him around better too.

We've been battling various illnesses (it's a virus! No, it's a bacteria! No, it's a virus! But we don't know which one!) for the last month, and it's made us miss our Mommy and Baby Friends a lot. Next week is another Mommies Group, and we're hopeing we'll be able to make it this time, since we only have a few left before we graduate from the group (at age 1 year).

Now we have a bunch of stuff to work on, drinking from a cup (sippy or not, we'll see), eating table food with hands, walking. So we'll be pretty busy for a few months. But I'll still keep you posted here, you never know what he'll crawl into next!

Friday, August 14, 2009

Ahh, food for the soul.

So today Little M and I went on a playdate of sorts. It was supposed to be with an old friend from college and her child of around the same age. Instead it was with her oldest child, but Little M didn't mind at all, he is not ageist in the least when it comes to playmates. I'm so proud.

I wasn't sure how it was going to go, since I hadn't seen this friend, lets call her Alyssa(not her real name), in about 13 years. There was a falling out years ago between me and another friend, and Alyssa was awarded to the other side in the separation agreement. My side had a crappy lawyer. But I was finally free of the dead weight in my life.

And I learned something very valuable from the experience... Just because there's a separation agreement in place, it doesn't mean the other side won't eventually want to hear my side of what happened. And Alyssa was kind enough to hear me out and we both agreed that it was a godawful mess at the time, but water under the bridge now. It was really cathartic.

Then I let her in on one of the most fabulous secrets they never tell you in all the teen magazines or self help books for girls. There will come a point in your life where you DO NOT have to be friends with people you don't like!

Let me give you an example. There's a girl, let's call her Sherri (not her real name) who I always got bad vibes from. Sometimes I could point to exactly what I didn't like about her ("Oh, your ex-boyfriend and I are so happy, he said he's in love with me and he hasn't been in love for three years, weren't you dating him last fall?") Other times I'd just get off the phone with Sherri and I'd say to myself, "I genuinely hate this person, why am I friends with her?" And the answer would always be, because my friends were friends with her.

When you enter the grown up world where you have to make an effort to keep in touch, it's easy to just let these "friendships" slide. A new telephone number here, a restraining order there, you get the idea. Or just move to another state after graduation. There's no guarantee they won't follow, but it's worth a shot sometimes!

The gain in health and vitality you'll get from having that negative energy out of your life is sooooo worth the moving expense or whatever the phone company charges to change the number.

Now...you will still have to have relatives you may not like (nobody said you could get rid of those), and you'll have to deal with bosses and coworkers and spouses friends, and kids' friends' mothers that you will swear are giving you grey hair just from talking on the phone, but when you get to chose your friends, eliminate all the deadwood, and choose wisely. The people you chose as your friends are the ones who help you be a better you.

SO Alyssa, if you're out there, congrats on making your life more positive, and keep the faith that the good people around you will appreciate the "truth they don't want to hear".

Thursday, August 13, 2009

And he's back!

My little boy is back from the land of the sick! No more runny nose, no more sneezing, we're all out of amoxicillin, and he's crawling around after the cats at full speed again (they're thrilled, let me tell you!)

He's also climbing stairs like a pro these days. I have him climb them himself when it's time to go up for bath and bed. He sometimes needs a goal, so I have to put the timer a couple of steps above him and keep moving it. But other times, like when his cousin had gone upstairs before him and was waiting at the top, he could not have cared less about the timer, it was all about getting to Cousin D!

And he's learning a little better how to put himself back to sleep. I was sure, when he woke tonight at 10:15, that I was going to have to go up and top him off, then spend the better part of an hour getting him back to sleep. But he kept crying then stopping. Every time I was sure he was up and needed me, he'd go quiet. So I waited him out, and he was back asleep in five minutes! What a trooper!

I keep hearing little noises from the baby monitor, but that's normal. I so love that we have this time together. I'm really going to miss it when I go back to work. I keep thinking of that saying that when on their deathbed, nobody ever says, "I wish I'd spent more time at the office." And I think about things I might miss. It makes me sad.

Today he pulled up on the arm of the couch, which is over his head! I think we'll really have to keep an eye on him, he's going to take his first steps any day now. I hope both Daddy and I are around to see it.

Friday, July 31, 2009

Little M's first illness

So far we've managed to avoid all but the dreaded Thrush as far as illness, but we finally have been beaten.

Little M and I have both come down with whatever virus is running around, so he's coughing a little, sneezing a lot, and when he wakes up at night (which is much more frequent now) there's oozing stuff coming out of his nose. Very pleasant.

And he does not care for the nasal bulb to clear out his nose, in fact, that's the quickest way to wake him up COMPLETELY from a deep sleep. Never mind the fact that he can actually breathe out of both nostrils when we're done, he just doesn't want that plastic thing that mommy won't let him chew on in his nose.

I am thankful that he's still eating just fine, but he's sort of off the breastmilk during the day. He makes up for it at night, but that means Mommy is up all night with him. And I've been feeling just as terrible.

But taking care of baby comes before taking care of Mommy. And sometimes taking care of Mommy falls by the wayside. But Mommy doesn't run very well on empty, so I'm trying to remember to eat and get lots of water to flush out whatever this is.

It was just feeling tired and feverish, but I woke up with a sore throat too, so I'm trying not to kiss Little M, and I don't have the sneezing he has, but since he hasn't learned to cover his nose when he coughs or sneezes, it's only a matter of time. At least he gets some good napping in, his daytime naps have been at least an hour long for the past three days. Sometimes 2 hours, which amazes me.

I just wish I could make him well again so he could get on with being a little boy.

Sorry this one was dry and boring, but you know I'll make it up to ya when we're back to being well.

Thursday, July 16, 2009

Little M's First Trophy

So tonight Little M got to stay up past his bedtime (OK, Mommy sort of forced him to stay up because we weren't at home by bedtime). We were at the local fair, where little M was entered in the cutest baby pageant.

He was a trooper, standing in front of the judges like he's done this before (and then having fun stomping down the plastic tablecloth that the wind kept picking up.

I have no idea what kind of look he had on his face, because we didn't know that to elicit the best baby responses, you have to have crazy people behind the judges whooping and hollering at your child.

I did get compliments on Little M's outfit, which Big M affectionately calls a "man-dress". Technically, I believe it's called a romper, but it's really just a sleeveless shorts onesie thing. It did have smocking on it, but there were turtles on the smocking, and it was blue and green, so it was for a boy. But Big M still didn't not buy that it wasn't a man-dress. At least I didn't make him wear the matching hat!

So we waited for the judging to finish, and we all went up for the awards, and first they did the third place, then second, then finally, the actually trophy winners, and Little M won first place in the Wee Baby Boy category!

And I don't think that the fact that there were no other contestants in our group takes anything away from the win. We still got to stand there and get our picture taken with last year's Pre-Teen Miss winner and the trophy and sash (which Little M promptly pre-moistened). And as soon as I got the trophy near him (and right before the picture), he reached out and grabbed the top and put it right in his mouth.

According to our niece, Little M was biting the butt of the little baby on top of the trophy right as the picture was being snapped. I have got to get a copy of that picture for the girlfriend blackmail album...

Sunday, July 12, 2009

Learning the word "No"

Right after learning how to crawl and being able to get wherever he wanted, Little M learned that there are some places and things he's not allowed to go to/eat.

It started with him heading off the carpet onto the hardwood. I have no problem with that, but on the way, he stopped off at the TV tray holder, which is wooden, and tried to chew on it.

I told him "No", and he jerked his head up, then went back to chewing. I said it louder and firmer, and he jerked up again, only to resume crawling. Unfortunately for him, the holder has TWO legs on each side, so once again, temptation reared it's ugly head, and his head went down to suck on the other leg (which, technically, Mommy had not said "No" to yet...) So I said it again, slightly louder and slightly more forcefully, and Little M started to cry!

I don't know if it was because I was loud, or because I was clearly taking away something he wanted, but it appears the message got through. At almost 9 months old, Little M is now responding so that I don't have to say it as loud or as forceful as I did, which makes me feel better.

But I definitely have to say it like I mean it, or I get the response I was getting to the word "No" for the first eight and a half months of his life, a completely adorable giggle. Which just doesn't cut it for the crawling set. There's just too much trouble to get into for them.

Peace and love to all the Mommies (and Daddies!)

Wednesday, July 8, 2009

Crawling Champ

OK, so yesterday was the day Little M started really crawling! More than just two little steps at a time-crawling. We have to follow him around to pick up dust bunnies before they go in his mouth-crawling. And best of all-tires himself out-crawling!

The cats are pretty funny now that he's mobile. Princess A will let him get the closest, she knows she can get away at the last second. But Big N is pretty trusting himself. I tried distracting him so Little M could get closer, but he's onto me. Stripey A won't let Little M get within three feet of him, but that's probably for the best, he would definitely lose to the bathroom rug in a battle of wits, so he has no chance against my brilliant baby.

And he's fast. I was holding the remote sitting on the loveseat and Little M was about a foot in front of me sitting playing with a toy. I no sooner look at the TV at the next thing I feel it a little pull on the remote. Little M is on his knees in front of me trying to get the remote out of my hand! So cute.

He's just catching some Zs now, all tuckered out from an evening of exploring on hands and knees. Tommorow is another day, and another round of kitty chasing and dust bunny finding. Love to the mommies!

Monday, July 6, 2009

Diapering Olympics

It took a VERY long time to get Little M to bed tonight. I did EVERYTHING to try to get him to fall asleep. Swing, Pajanimals, YBCR, breastfeeding. Finally at 9:30 he was topped off enough to fall asleep.

Fortunately for me, we were upstairs in his room at the time, so it was a quick transition to the crib, and I was outta there!

Little M is getting to be a VERY active baby during the day. He likes to be entertained, but is also pretty good at entertaining himself. He does not care for the breaks in play to change his diaper. What he does not realize is that by making them impossible to accomplish, he's only taking time away from his playtime. And frazzling Mommy and Daddy's nerves as the Diaper Changing event went up about 5 degrees of difficulty.

* crowd cheering as announcer comes over the PA*
Now up for Team M&D, Dad! He's going to have to really be quick about it this time, as the addition of a tippy-toe to top-of-head backbend has been added to the event. And they still have the penalty of having to put the steroid cream around the penis, so lets see how they handle this attempt...

Dad goes in, he's got one tab of the old diaper off, now he's going for the other. It looks like he has the diaper disconnected, but wait! It's a POOPY one! Dad will have to use extra wipes here! He goes in with one wipe, and the wiggling begins, the wipe comes out clean. Dad goes back in, he tries, no, he misses, and he tries again. Well, we're going to go to commercial and we'll catch up with Dad when we get back.

* Singing hot dogs - "Let's all go to the lobby, let's all go to the lobby..." *

And we're back! Dad has cleaned up the bottom, and is ready for the cream. Little M is not giving anything up easy today, folks. He's twisting that bottom to the left, now the right, now he's clenching those thighs together, there's no way Dad can get in there, but wait, Dad grabs one leg and gets the cream on. Just the diaper left, but here's where the terrific gymnastic skills of baby Little M come into play.

Here's the bottom lift, and he's going for it, and he's up! Ladies and Gentlemen, we have only head and toes actually ON the changing table, everything else is in the air, so Dad heroically lifts the back of the diaper and goes right with the velcro tab. He connects with the right front of the diaper, he's halfway there! Here he goes for side number two as Little M decides to increase the challenge, by rocking from lying down to the backbend position while Dad tries to find that last velcro tab.

OK, we're still waiting on that last tab, but it was SO close that last time. Wait! I think he's done it! Dad has positioned the last velcro tab and Little M is in a clean new diaper! That he's now peed in. What a champion he is, that Little M.

Dad had the most challenging diaper change yet, but this announcer has a feeling that Little M has only just begun!

No afternoon nap today, does not bode well for bedtime...

For all our attempts, Big M and I could not get Little M to take a nap after lunch! Big M was home today for the holiday, he normally has Fridays off, so today was his "Holiday".

Little M was rubbing the eyes, he was cranky, and I kept trying to get him to drink enough milk that he'd drop off, but no such luck. He'd settle down in the swing and watch YBCR or Pajanimals, but no dosing. He had a pretty good nap this morning, so I hope that today it's enough.

We've been trying to have him practice standing and crawling in the hopes that it will tire him out and he'll sleep well at night, but we had an incident on Saturday that seems to have thrown us off for the past few days.

After he had his dinner, I gave Little M his medicine for the infection we've both been fighting, and I believe I hit his uvula when I did it. He started gagging, and threw up all down his bib. Fortunately it was one of the oilcloth bibs with a pocket, so none got on him. Unfortunately I removed it prematurely, so the second wave went all down his right side and all over the high chair. Poor baby had an empty stomach at that point.

So we tried the bedtime routine, and brought him downstairs once we were ready for bed, and I gave him more cereal to put something solid in his tummy. He went to bed at 9 that night. And this is a child who is usually asleep by 7:15. The past two nights I've had to bring him down to the swing and it's taken till 8 for him to drop off. And the grumpiness during the day started about then too, so I know he's just not getting enough sleep.

We'll just have to try to get back on schedule, that's all. Hopefully it won't be too painful for us, but we'll see. If you've hung in there for this long boring diatribe, I thank you, and promise more humor (or at least less boredom) next time!

Thursday, July 2, 2009

Standing Man!

Tonight I knew that the first time I put Little M to bed would not be the last. But when I went in to get him up at the first sound of crying over the baby monitor, I was shocked when I opened the door to the nursery.

Little M was standing at the side of the crib. STANDING! Like arms and head above the side railing, feet on the mattress, pulled himself up like a big boy, STANDING!

So I woke Big M up to see this and to help lower the crib mattress. It was not a quick stress free endeavor. But Little M thought it was hilarious and laughed at Big M who was getting frustrated and throwing tools all over the room. He finally got things done, and I attempted to put Little M down for the night.

He's still not down as I write this, but how cute is it that he stood up in his crib for the first time??????

Tuesday, June 30, 2009

Am I training him, or is he training me?

Sooooo..... lately Little M has been sitting and playing on the floor, with a tiny smattering of trying to crawl thrown in there for good measure. When I sit on the floor with him, he sometimes gets it into his head that my knee looks really tasty.

When he leans over to start sucking on it, I usually laugh and shriek pretty loud, because I'm really ticklish there. So today, he was just sitting on the floor playing and we were laughing, so I laughed the loud shrieky laugh just to see what he'd do, and Little M then leans over and starts sucking on my knee! So cute. And weird.

Saturday, June 27, 2009

Baby Pageants

OK, so I've seen the "Toddlers and Tiaras" show on whatever channel it was, and I too laughed at the mom who said, "We'll stop doing it when she wants to stop" to then show the little girl going, "I don't want to do it anymore!" When they went right on getting her ready and she appeared on stage, was anyone really surprised?

Well, I know my Little M is adorable, and I just wanted to see what they're like in person rather than on TV, so we'll see.

I am sure Little M will be a perfect little angel until we get to where something would be the most mortifyingly effective, then he'll have a diaper blowout or something equally disgusting. Well, fun will be had by all, then.

Oh, well, I will have Big M bring the video camera, maybe we can make some money from the embarrassment.

Wednesday, June 24, 2009

The Food Trials

We've finally moved up from the Stage 1 foods to the Stage 2 foods of the Gerber line. I was buying mostly from their Organic foods, but I may stop doing that, they're twice as much, and I'm not convinced that they are twice as good for him.

Stage 2 offers a slightly coarser texture (so closer to real versions of the foods, but a difference not necessarily discernable to the human eye) and a lot more variety. We had bananas in Stage 1. We had pears in Stage 1. Stage 2 has Bananas with Pears and Oranges! Very exciting. I can hardly contain myself.

What this means to me, as a mom, is that I'm still not done with the Food Testing Trials. So for every new exciting Fruit Medley thing, I have to see if more than one of the ingredients is new to Little M, and if so, I have to find ANOTHER fruit dish that contains only ONE new ingredient and test the ingredients of the fruit medley one by one making sure I don't hit one that causes an allergic reaction in Little M. By the time I finally get to offer him the Fruit Medley, he'll probably be so sick of all of the fruits it contains. I know I would be.

But it's a necessary evil so as to not cause him tummy distress, or to cause mommy and daddy to be running to the emergency room one night when we accidentally gave him that Banana Grape Plum dessert that had TWO new fruits in it and one of them makes him cough funny!

So to try to keep track, and make light of the situation a little, I did come up with a list of all the fruits we have tried, or that we actually have in the house after my big fruit-buying trip to Giant today, and as we try the new fruits they'll go on the acceptable list and we can be ever so slightly more adventurous the next meal.

This is one of those things that my child will never appreciate that I did for him, until he has a child of his own. That's OK, though, because I still get to go in his room at night and watch him sleep, and that's been more than enough reward for me for any of the things I do for him.

Long-Term Visitor

OK, we have a visitor coming on July 10th. It's my husband's sister's husband's sister's daughter. We'll call her Dee. Dee is about 20, I want to say, and going to college. On her summer break this year she'll be interning for a small newspaper in the southern part of the large metropolitan area to our east. Her internship will be about 43 miles away from us.

We're happy to have her, I'm really looking forward to having her, actually, because if nothing else it'll force us to keep the house clean for the six weeks she'll be here. And we also have to do some moving and cleaning that we just hadn't gotten to in a LONG time.

But I'm not sure there's a lot for a 20 year old to do here in slightly more populated small town America. But if she wants to go hang out with any friends she makes, that's fine, but we need to set up some ground rule beforehand so she doesn't feel like she can't do anything, and we don't feel like we should be reporting things back to her mother. Maybe I'll see if some of the older kids in the neighborhood will be around to keep her out of trouble.

I think Little M will love having another female to flirt with all the time. I think he gets tired on only Mommy. The cats will just adore her. A human that isn't ALL ABOUT THE BABY ALL THE TIME! They'll be so happy they won't know what to do!

Oh well, I hope Dee has a great trip here and really enjoyes her stay.

Sunday, June 21, 2009

To TV or not to TV, that is the question...

OK, so I know of some mommies who are anti-TV when it comes to their babies, so the child gets no exposure whatsoever. Which is fine for them.

But in our household, we are very pro-TV as a form of relaxation, entertainment, white noise while I'm doing dishes, etc. Sometimes I have even caught myself watching on TV a movie that we OWN THE DVD OF, just because it's on. And I can even tell which scenes were edited for TV, so yes, we, as a household, probably watch too much.

But we're not monsters. We are attempting to put our child on a different path. We found a learning system that we like, the Your Baby Can Read DVDs (thank you much, Grampy and Nana), and we let him watch one other program from PBS Sprout, called the Pajanimals.

We chose the Pajanimals because we were children reared on the Muppet Show and Fraggle Rock, and the Pajanimals are another Jim Henson production that is focused on the preschooler and getting them to go to sleep, and we are very pro-sleep in this house.

The YBCR DVDs are supposed to teach Little M patterns in words, and although he is not showing signs of reading just yet, he is mesmerized by the kids on the show, and even whips his head around to the TV when the theme music starts.

However, from a young age Little M has shown a fondness for watching the TV, even when his shows are not on. Even when NO shows are on. There have been many times I have been trying to breastfeed and he's got his head bent around to he can see the TV screen, even though the TV is off.

But there is good news...his interest in the cats has overtaken the interest in the black screen of the TV. Well, it's not good news for the cats, because he's also close to crawling, so they'll have to redouble their efforts to avoid his chubby little hands, otherwise they're looking at lots of bald spots.

So while we don't park Little M in front of the TV for hours, we do let him spend about 1/2 hour, twice a day, learning to read, and watching puppets sing about going to sleep. And that is how we're answering the question.

Saturday, June 20, 2009

Breastfeeding vs. Bottlefeeding the debate rages on...

Here's a little background on the Breastfeeding VS Bottle feeding for those of you not familiar:

When looking into options for feeding a baby (especially before solid foods are introduced) you can feed the baby formula (which will always be by bottle, since breasts do not make formula), or you can feed the baby breast milk (which can be either by breastfeeding or by pumping and using bottles). When someone says they are exclusively breastfeeding, that can mean they are feeding the baby ONLY breast milk, or it can mean they are feeding the baby only breast milk and it only comes straight from the breast. (I always want to say straight from the cow, but that's just a flashback to girl scout camp from LONG ago)

So we have been exclusively breastfeeding (straight from the cow, if you will) for many months now, and ran into a little snag. Since the mastitis hasn't gotten any better, my doctor put me on an antibiotic (for what he thinks is a bacterial infection) and wanted me to pump and give Little M the bottle.

Getting Little M to take a bottle is just a monumental task, and neither I nor Big M are up to it, so I'm just hoping that the antibiotic will kick in and make feeding Little M less painful than it has been. So I'll freely admit that I'm too lazy to pump and store and wash bottles and sterilize everything, but mostly it's that I'm too lazy to fight with my child when I know that if I just pop the boob in his mouth, he'll stop crying about it!

So yes, I'm coddling my child, but I don't feel badly about it, it was for the purpose of letting me heal, and if the antibiotic is making that happen (and I think it is) then I think it's not going to cause my son to start robbing banks or other criminal tendencies.

So we put away the pump, and just make sure the breasts are in the vicinity of the baby when he wants to eat, and we're good to go. Hopefully we'll both be cured of any problems before too long and this will all be a bad memory.

Friday, June 19, 2009

My poor, poor husband...

***heavily sarcastic ranting on*** how he has it bad. He goes to work all week (well, 4 days) and has the long weekend to recover, and I have the nerve to ask him to help out more with the baby! Who do I think I am????

Well, I'll tell you who I am. I am an overstressed mother of an eight-month-old who is now teething and trying to learn to crawl, which makes for not very much sleep at night. I'm also PMS-ing like crazy, so rational thought is not always high on the list. But I have worked out the numbers.

He does help out with the baby on the three weekend mornings he's home (that's Friday, Saturday and Sunday), by taking the baby after I've breastfed him around 7am. He then feeds and changes him as needed until I get up around 10 or 11. So that's 3 hours times 3 days a week, which is 9 hours out of ONE HUNDRED AND SIXTY EIGHT hours in a week. That's 5.35% of the week. Even if I say 11 and give him credit for the extra hour, that's still only 7.14%.

I did tell him that unless he starts making an effort to make the weekends closer to 50/50, I'm not even going to be thinking about going back to work. Because there is no way I can work 40 hours a week, then be picking up the slack for the other 128 hours (oh, wait, minus his 12, so 116 hours) without help.

So when someone complains about not having gotten any sleep last night to the one person in the house who hasn't gotten sleep in three nights (and whose first sleep in a week before that was 4 days ago), it pretty much goes in one ear and out the other.

The VERY least he could do is turn on the baby monitor and at least listen for Little M when he's upstairs and I'm busy pumping milk for the baby to drink. Or he could turn on the monitor and listen for the baby when he gets up and goes downstairs at early o'clock in the morning so that I can sleep in till late o'clock.

Waiting for me to get up and bring the baby down to force him to spend time with his son doesn't even really count as far as I'm concerned, because I shouldn't have to force him, he should want to be able to spend time with his son.

OK, while we're on complaining, why is it that the very same baby who sits there only wanting to eat 1/3 of the dinner (of baby food) that I've nuked and none of the dessert (1/2 container of banana baby food) will scarf it all down AND an additional 1/2 container of peaches when Mommy is feeding him. Mommy must have the magical quality needed to feed the baby. I believe in the non-magical world it is called "patience".

All right, that's enough off my chest for now.
***heavily sarcastic ranting off***

You may all now feel tremendously sorry for the man who had the misfortune to marry the mess that is me.

Thursday, June 18, 2009

The Waiting Game...

OK, so it's almost 10pm, Little M is freshly fed and crying his little heart out to get me to hold and rock him all night long, but I have to keep reminding myself that one day his wife will thank me that she didn't have to put up with a thirty year old man that still wants his mommy to rock him to sleep.

Maybe it's not THAT drastic, but still, the other boys at sleepaway camp would make fun if I was there rocking him every night, right? So I'm just doing this for him. And after about 10 minutes (which in crying time feels like TWO HOURS!) he's asleep. For two minutes of actual time. And the symphony begins again.

I'm not sure why it's gotten this bad. He used to be able to fall asleep feeding, and sleep just fine all night long. Yes, sometimes he'd wake up to be fed, but nothing like this every hour thing that's been happening the last two nights.

Have I really angered the Baby Sleep Gods this much? Please let me now repent and tell me what the penance will be, oh those who control my sleep by association.

Or is this it? Having to listen to my child cry for what feels like hours???? Because that's clearly working on me, I promise to NEVER again brag about my child sleeping for 12 hours.

If it ever happens again.

Please let it happen again!

Wednesday, June 17, 2009

Never mess with the Gods of Baby Sleep...

I should have known that the Gods of Baby Sleep do not take kindly to bragging about how long the baby slept.

Just like you never taunt the traffic Gods by bragging about how fast you were able to make any trip, they'll kick your butt the next time you're on the road.

And so for my punishment, I had to feed Little M at 10pm last night, but then we were good the rest of the night. However, for my punishment tonight, Little M will not go back down now after the 10 o'clock feeding. He just keeps crying with that "Mum-mum-mum-mum" sound that's just so sad. You'd think I was starving the poor child instead of just having spent 40 minutes of quite frankly PAINFUL breastfeeding because we just can't shake this infection.

And I know part of it is just that he's now old enough that he's figured out that if he cries enough, he can get what he wants, which is me holding and rocking him all night long. But I know that's not good for him, and he needs to know that he can put himself back to sleep.

So we are at an impasse. I can't go to bed with my poor child wailing, and he can't seem to get himself to sleep this time, even though his tummy is full and his diaper is dry. (And he's exhausted, he didn't open his eyes at ALL during the 40 minutes.)

Well, we've now exhausted the batteries in this baby monitor, I'm off to get the other one off the charger. Here's hopeing you're all having easier nights with the Baby Sleep Gods on your side.

Tuesday, June 16, 2009

A Day in the Life of FormerGeekGirl and Little M

Another mommy asked what a typical day was like for some of us with older babies (Little M will be 8 months next week), so I decided to post that here:

7am: Little M usually wants to have his early morning breastfeeding at this point. I usually have him either go back to sleep for an hour, or he just plays in his crib.

8-8:30am: We get up, get Little M dressed and wander downstairs for breakfast, usually some cereal and fruit for him. Then playtime or "Your Baby Can Read" video for 30 minutes of getting things done around the house. Sometimes he naps, sometimes he doesn't.

11am: Second breakfast (or pre-lunch) breastfeeding. More playing or we run errands and he flirts with anyone who catches his eye.

1:30pm: Lunch, these days it's 1/3 jar of meat, and 1/3 each of two vegetables. He has also been taking another 1/2 container of fruit, so we're switching to the 2nd Foods since they have more in a package.

3-3:30pm: Second lunch (or pre-dinner) breastfeeding. Since Big M gets home just before lunch, he gets to play with Daddy some of the time between lunch and bedtime, which lets Mommy get some more things done around the house.

5pm: Dinner, pretty much the same as lunch.

5:30- 6pm: If he hasn't already watched YBCR, we do that, otherwise I try to keep him entertained until I see the eye-rubbing, which means yawning is not far behind so I hustle him upstairs for the bath.

Bathtime: Bathtime is the one ritual that doesn't change on the schedule, we always try to be home in time to do this.

  • First I put him in his crib with the special Pooh toy that he only gets before the bath. Then I go run the bath. When I come back in to get him I put him on the changing table to take off his clothes, and which point he starts to get really worked up because he knows that I'm going to tickle him until he squeals.
  • Once he's all excited, I give him a bath, then wrap him up in the towel and back to the changing table. I put on the diaper, get the water out of his ears with the baby Q-tip, put some Aquaphor on his cheeks and nose (and anything else that feels dry), brush his hair, and give him a massage with baby oil or lotion (For some reason this always makes me think of The Adams Family, where Wednesday and Pugsley are trying to sell lemonade and the Girl Scout asks if it's made with real lemons, then tries to make them buy a box of her cookies. Wednesday asks, "Are they made from real Girls Scouts?", so I always tell Little M that the baby oil is made from real babies. I know, it's silly, but I laugh every night.)
  • Then it's pajama time (usually a sleep sac). I take him to the glider for the last feeding before bed, and he usually falls asleep feeding, but some nights I just leave him playing quietly in the crib and he's out by around 7pm.

7pm - 7am: Little M actually slept this whole time for the first time EVER last night. I was in heaven (see the last entry for how this was accomplished!) But before then I was just listening to the baby monitor and getting up with him whenever I heard the "I'm really serious!" cry. Sometimes every two or three hours, during a growth spurt every hour. But tonight we're into hour three already and I'm hoping for a repeat performance of the 12 hours.

That's a typical day, if we have things to do or places to be we take baby food with us. The only day that really throws a monkey wrench into the schedule is Sunday, when church is from 10:15am to 12pm. We may end up going to the earlier service, but we'll see.

My despondent fuzzy "child" is getting a little better


Little A is our little girl kitty. She's been the baby of the family ever since we brought her home with her sister, and she's been feeling a bit displaced ever since Little M came home. Her sister passed away at the end of March 2008, about a month after we found out we were pregnant with Little M.

The dynamics of the kitty heirarchy in the house changed a bit, but we were actually surprised to see that our Alpha Girl was still represented in spirit, as each cat seemed to take over some of her traits.

Little A took over the leadership role, as well as her usual diplomatic duties (she naps with everyone and makes sure there is no fighting in the group without some making up afterward. She also makes sure to include the staff (Big M and me) in the nap schedule, but since Little M came home, we've both had to beg off on our naptime lap provider roles. So Little A has been napping alone some of the time.

She mopes on whatever floor Little M is NOT on, and stays there sleeping until she can try to claim the affection that is rightly hers.

It used to be that we chased her down to lavish attention on her, and now she waits until the baby is in bed before she races to an unoccupied lap to soak up the loving.

Ever since Little M began to work on the crawling, she does little drive-by surveillance missions of the baby, getting just close enough to check him out, but not close enough that he could reach out and touch her. If I pick her up, I usually take her to the baby to let him pet her, but lately he is ignoring my request to pet her gently and is just coming up with a fistful of fur. We're going to have to work on the "gently" concept.

Big M uses Little M as a punishment for Tubby Tabby, the youngest cat. If he does something wrong, Big M will pick him up and make him endure the not-so-gentle petting technique that we're working on. Yet another fistful of fur to pick off of Little M before it ends up in the mouth.

The most adorable thing to come out of all this baby/feline interaction is that Little M is just enthralled by the cats. He's even hears us making the clicking noise to call the cats, and whenever he wants to see the cats, he makes his own little version of the noise. What a smart kid! Not a single cat falls for it, but he keeps trying!

My friend KD is a genius!!!!!!!!!

So it was my friend, KD, who bucked current baby-raising wisdom and decided to put the bumpers back in the crib. She reasoned that her baby, TRex, is past the age where he might stop breathing, so the risk of SIDS is minimal. And poor TRex kept waking up in the middle of the night after he'd hit his head on the crib.

Since I too had been seeing red spots on Little M's forehead (ouch!) when I went in to get him in the middle of the night, I thought I might try putting back in the cute Winnie the Pooh bumpers that came with the bed set and see how we got on. Of course I was still planning on using the motion detector monitor JUST IN CASE Little M had issues.

I heard maybe 10 seconds of baby crying noises the ENTIRE night, the motion detector never went off, and Little M slept for 12 (Yes, that's TWELVE) hours!!!!!!!!!!!

So thanks to the brilliant KD, I am now a bumper convert! Well, after the baby is 4 months old and the risk of SIDS has passed, that is. I'm not a complete lunatic...

Wednesday, June 3, 2009

My Child Lost in the Great Skin Lotto

Poor Little M. He has me for a mom, with my blue eyes, and pale, freckled, never tans, only burns kind of skin. Then he has Big M for a dad, who is blue-eyed and 75% Irish, so no hope there.

So for the first almost 6 months we were having to try to put him in the sun for 30 minutes a day (without sunscreen!) to make sure he got enough Vitamin D since I was breastfeeding exclusively.

Now that he's eating solids (and getting his Vitamin D in the baby cereals) I am going to have to slather on the sunscreen and keep a hat and sunglasses (he's stuck with the blue eyes too, which are super sensitive to the light) on him for the rest of his natural life so he won't burn that precious baby skin!

At least the pool is indoors for swim class!

Seriously, though, skin cancer runs in my family, so I want to give Little M the best chance I can to get through childhood without any serious sunburns and if that means he wears enough sunscreen that I have to trowel it on, then so be it. I want him soft and pale as long as possible!

Sunday, May 31, 2009

The Frustrations of a Dirty House

OK, so I should just be proud of myself that I have a healthy child who is always clean, dry and fed, and is a very happy baby.

But I just can't help it.

I am just green with envy at my friend, Robomaiden, who has that PLUS a clean house, and she cooks and bakes, and hosts one heck of a lunch on short notice with little gifts for us each to take home! Teach me, oh Robomaiden, I am your willing pupil!

I am right now caught up on the dishes in the kitchen, in the middle of doing the laundry for myself and Little M (Big M is on his own there), and attempting to get the family room into a state where I can vacuum. This means picking up all ofthe clutter so I can actually see more than 50% of the carpet.

I also have to get out the SpotBot because someone small and black and fuzzy broke into the cat treat drawer, ate the entire bag of kitty treats (which were really dental snacks, so she'll at least have pretty teeth) and then threw it all up in various places all over the carpeted areas.

Then she felt yucky so she crept upstairs to sleep, and threw up two more times up there. I'm starting to need to be reminded of the reasons I keep the cats...

So at least I'm making progress, slow as it may be, and one day I too may be able to host a fabulous lunch with our mommy friends and babies, but right now I have to go see why my little angel baby is making noises instead of sleeping.

Hugs and kisses to all my loyal followers! XOXO

Saturday, May 30, 2009

How much is too much when it comes to scheduling?

So I'm trying to determine how much activity is just enough to make Little M sleep through the night. If we go out and are running around all day long (like we did last Thursday - Chiropractor, Physical Therapy, Swim Class, Lunch, Doctor with Daddy, phew!) he was so tired at the end of the day that I couldn't get much into him, milk-wise, at bedtime, so he was up every few hours.

Today he was home all day, Mommy did the running around by herself, and he took about an hour to calm down and get really fed, and he's already been asleep for two hours and it's looking like he may be down all night since he ate 4 times at bedtime.

I just haven't unlocked the secret formula yet for how much is ok to do with him before we get to the "too tired to eat at bedtime" level. Iguess we'll just keep experimenting. Happy weekend to all!

Wednesday, May 27, 2009

Sorry I've been away so long...

But the God's honest truth is that we changed computers and I had no idea how I was going to get back on here because the link directly to the dashboard is on the old ("infected") computer. My husband doesn't want anything coming off of it, I think he fears it will infect all the other electronics in our house. Not that I blame him, the whole reason we got a new computer is that I clicked on a phishing link accidentally, and he's convinced our identities, and credit card numbers, etc. are all now compromised. I don't want to argue, so we got a new computer.

It's actually a pretty nice one, super fast online, so maybe I meant to click on that link after all...

Anyway, Little M and I are doing great! We started swimming lessons with some other friends from the mommies group and today we went to a meeting of Baby Wearers. We finally learned how to use the Mei Tai that I got online awhile ago to put Little M on my back. It was a heck of a lot more comfortable on my back than when he's on my front, so I'm excited to be able to practice that.

It's just been a super busy week, and Little M has been sleeping like a champ. I finally got him down at at little after 8:30, so I have no excuse for still being up except that I needed to let my faithful followers know that I'm still here, and will try to be better now that I know how to log into my account here again. Oh, how the technical side of my memory is failing now that I'm at home with Little M. But I'd trade all my knowledge more just one minute with my sweet little one.

Saturday, May 2, 2009

Short, but sweet

My apologies for skipping the last couple of days, it was a long time getting Little M to bed and I just did not have it in me to stay up and do this.

And even right now Little M is down, but not "down". You mommies know what I mean, that first attempt to have him go to sleep, but he wasn't really asleep to begin with, so it may take more effort.

Just a quick word to the Daddies, please keep in mind when you get home and we want to hand off the baby, we know you have had a full day at work. We know you work hard 40 hours a week and have a b*&^% of a commute and all, but we work 168 hours a week, with no lunch hour, no 15 minute breaks, and we're on call the entire time we're asleep. That's if we get to sleep, which in the beginning, you're right there with us, but after you go back to work, we're the ones getting up and taking care of things. So if we look frazzled as we hand the baby to you and ask you for just a few minutes to go take a quick shower or grab a bite to eat, please understand that this may be the first thing we've had to eat all day and the first shower in several days.

OK, done with my rant. The Little M pager is going off, back to mommy duty. Love to all the mommies out there.

Wednesday, April 29, 2009

Sitting on his own now!

Little M was just run ragged today!

We went to my physical therapy appointment and he was really patient while V worked on my knee, but when she got to my lower back he decided that was enough attention for Mommy, it was his turn again! So we ended up with me getting ice on my knee and back while I was sitting up in a chair breastfeeding him. I have to thank my therapist, V, and the tech T for helping me get set up like that, and for not charging me for the time I spent breastfeeding, even though we were still tying up one of their rooms. You guys are so sweet. And a special thanks to P, for the warm greeting Little M and I always get when we come, you all rock! ( I didn't forget you, C (you'll become a convert to the baby loving masses eventually) and E, I just didn't see you in therapy today.

Then we went to the noon service at our church. Little M was awake and really squirmy all service until I let him sit, (yes, that's right ladies and gentlemen, he's sitting!) on the pew beside me and play with his toys. He also had a lot to say during the service, and picked an especially appropriate time, during the prayers of the people, to be nice and loud, so it sounded like he was making his own prayer request. Go Little M!

When we got home, we had a nice surprise, Daddy was already there because he got home early! So Little M got to play with Daddy, who promptly handed him off when it was poopy diaper time. I'd have to say Big M has been avoiding diaper duty in such a sneaky fashion these days that I just noticed NOW that his tally is probably in the single digits for the past few weeks. Bravo, honey, for getting that by me.

So we then all piled in the car for a trip to Big M's foot doctor, who gave him another shot, told him to suck it up and walk on the foot, and to get weight lifting gloves to avoid getting caluses from the crutches. And we have to see him again next week. So then it was off to Walmart to get the gloves.

I'm proud to say we left Walmart with ONLY the item we went in there for, that has to be a first for this family! OK, we did get some cash back at the register, but that doesn't count!

Now we're home and Little M is watching the "Your Baby Can Read" videos. No he can't quite read yet, but he's starting to recognize some words, and some sign language, so he's definitely picking things up.

I feel bad for the kitties, they're SOOOO not getting the attention they were before Little M, and Little A even got locked in the coat closet from 9am to 2pm today. That's what she gets for exploring where she isn't supposed to be, but I really should have done a kitty count before I left for all the morning excitement. Big A and Great Big N were fine, but they're not as adventurous as Little A.

We had so much fun yesterday at the Mommies group, all the babies are growing so much! We can't wait to go again!

Tuesday, April 28, 2009

Breastfeeding in all it's glory

I have a degree in Nutrition, so I know how good Breastfeeding is for baby and for Mom. I also helped teach a breastfeeding class for a job, so I know some of the tips and tricks. And before I was going to have to do it myself when Little M was born, I took the class at the local hospital.

None of these can prepare you for what it's actually like.

After I had Little M, I was in the hospital telling Big M to make sure the nurses didn't give Little M a bath before I had a chance to nurse him (the lanugo on the baby is supposed to help them find mommy). So we tried to nurse. We knew we were only dealing with Colostrum here, so TINY amounts of maple syrup consistency fluid, but it didn't seem like Little M was really getting it. It took several tries with the Lactation Consultant before we both really got how it was supposed to look and feel when he was latched on properly.

And then, two days later, my milk came in. All of a sudden I looked down and I looked like I'd been entered in the hospital's wet t-shirt contest. And it smelled like I was going a bit sour. I managed to dig out one of my nursing bras and some pads and got those on and that's when I was informed I'd have to try to nurse the baby, then pump to get my milk going. I thought they were insane, did they not SEE the soaking wet hospital gown I'd just taken off?

And then I was told I'd have to use a syringe and tube to supplement Little M's intake until my milk was keeping up with him. So there was Big M, mooing at me when I was hooked up to the hospital's breast pump. Then he'd sit next to me when I'd nurse and slip that tube in the side of Little M's mouth and we'd let Little M suck at his own pace. Which was strong and fast! That child could suck the pimentos out of a jar of olives in one breath. He had the 50ml syringes emptied one right after the other, we could hardly keep up with changing them out.

Fortunately he was able to build up my milk supply without too much pumping after a few weeks, and we've kept up with it by still doing the breastfeeding even though Little M eats some cereal now.

I just really like the quiet time I get to have with my son, it's just the two of us, and I can sing songs, and tell him stories, and just look into those sweet little eyes and thank God for giving us this little miracle. It will make me sad to have to eventually give up that connection.

Nowadays I'm pretty much a breastfeed anywhere kind of gal. I just want my son to get fed when he needs to be fed. I don't jump up onto a table and make a big announcement about it, but I also don't hide in a dirty bathroom stall to get my son a place to eat. I'm as discreet and I can be without feeling like I should be ashamed of what I'm doing. Because Breastfeeding is a beautiful thing. It's the most amazing thing you can do for your child. And if that means the Daddy has to give up the fun part of Boobies until the baby is done with them, then suck it up guys, we had to go through the pregnancy AND labor, you can live with this.

Anyway, I know that some people try and just can't, either they don't make enough milk or some other problem, but I also know of some people that can and just don't want to try. I'd love to be able to help those people.

OK, eyes closing on their own...must end here...more tomorrow.

Little M - Mommy's Little Helper

Each day I'm amazed by something my sweet little guy does. It makes me so proud to be his mommy.

Tonight at dinnertime I put him in his highchair, like I normally do. But I had a few things to do before we could get to his cereal, feed the cats, mix up the cereal, find a bib, etc. By the time I sat down with him to feed him you'd think he'd be upset and impatient, but not this kid! He was just sitting patiently waiting for me.

I grabbed the bib closest to me, then noticed it was not the bib I'd taken from the pile of clean bibs in the bassinet, so I looked to see if it was at least clean, and when I looked down to put it on Little M, he was bowing his head to help me put on the bib! It was just too cute.

I love that little guy so much, he is the best thing I've ever done in my life. He's helping me to grow in so many ways.

Monday, April 27, 2009

The Story of Little M's birth (not for the squeamish) Part 1

So I'm up when I should be sleeping, so I'll tell you all the story of when Little M came into the world. By the way, this is what I remember happening, I'm told I have bunches of it wrong, but until Big M starts his own blog, this is the official story.

It was a lovely sunny day, the wind making it cooler, but a typical fall day for the area, a nice 70ish day when I waddled my way into my OB's office. It was two days before I would be 37 weeks, and I was exhausted, huge, and wanting some relief.

Like a typical office visit, my blood pressure was taken and I was weighed (always depressing, pregnancy or not). When the doctor came in I mentioned to her that I no longer was having to take insulin to keep my blood sugar normal with the gestational diabetes and she told me that if could mean that the placenta was no longer funtioning correctly, which scared the living daylights out of me. That had been going on for at least two days, what had I done to my baby??????? Between the nice gray palor on my skin, the elevated blood pressure and the non-functioning placenta, she told me to go right over to the hospital. We were going to be having this baby by the next day.

Now, she had intended to induce me a week later than that, so I probably should have been more emotionally ready for this, but I wasn't. I called Big M, who was in the middle of getting physical therapy for his back ("Do I need to come right over there????" "No, honey, finish your session and just meet me there"). Then I started to tear up (stupid hormones!) and went into my docs office. I told her I just wasn't ready for this and could she please tell me what was going to happen?

She was AWESOME! She walked me though everything, and when I got over to the hospital they were waiting for me and put me in a gown and a room, and I just had to wait for her to get there. They put several IVs in me, and started me on Magnesium Sulfate (apparently it is to make sure I don't have any blood clots before, during, or after the birth). And they put in a catheter, which I was so not happy about, but turned out not to be so bad, at least I didn't have to run to the bathroom every 20 minutes like that last month of pregnancy. And that night they let me eat dinner (hospital food that was actually good!) and put in whatever pill that was supposed to get the show going so that I'd be ready for the opening show bright and early the next morning.

The next morning comes, and they don't let me eat, except for "ice chips", which meant me feeling like the Sahara, and sneaking huge gulps of water whenever I could. I DO NOT recommend this to anyone, and I'll tell you why in a little bit.

My doctor comes in and keeps checking me, "You're dilated this much, so much effaced, blah, blah, whatever, whatever". Just tell me when I get to have the epidural, because I sure as HECK don't want to miss that window! So I get to have the epidural, they put another needle thing in my back for that, and I'm starting to feel better about the whole thing.

By the way, Big M stayed with me for all but one night in the hospital, bad back and all, he was a trooper.

So by around 2:30 in the afternoon the doctor tells me Little M is not descending into my pelvis. I could have looked down and told her that. And because of my rising BP, we have to get him out, so we'll have to do a C-section. I'm down with that, let's do it. There's a slot open at 3:30, so we'll do it then. Then the anesthesiologist (I'm just gonna call her ADoc) says we're good to go now (at 3 or so) and someone gives me something to bring down the BP. Only one nurse is in the room when all hell starts to break loose.

My BP drops too low and I start feeling faint. Then my stomach starts just churning and heaving and I tell the nurse I'm going to throw up. She gets this bag that sort of resembles that female condom and puts in next to my head then skeddadles out of the room to get someone who can help with something. I'm left alone with Big M who heroically jumps over to my shoulder and grabs the vomit condom.

I promptly heave the entire contents of last night's dinner into the condom, and he jumps at the force (or volume, I'm not sure which surprised him more) and proceeds to dump the entire bag down the left side of my face. This does not please me, and so I empty the rest of my stomach contents all over his favorite Mickey Mouse golf shirt. Well, he did get me first, I owed him.

So an attempt to clean things up is made while I'm wheeled into the operating room where everyone on the C-section team introduces themself to me. I'm still not feeling great, and I could not care less what anyone's name is, just make me feel no pain, and at the end, there had better be a baby to show for all this nastyness.

They put up a curtain between my head and my stomach and start cutting a line across my abdomen (from which they're apparently going to get the baby). I start moaning that I can feel the knife cutting me. Then as I realize no one is doing anything about this I say it louder, and finally Big M is yelling it across the room to the ADoc, who FINALLY does something about it and I'm back to being numb. I feel pressure on my abdomen as a nurse SITS on my ribs to try to get Little M to move down towards that line they've cut, but he's a stubborn one. (Uh, he's a man, they're all that way!)

So they end up using the vacuum extractor to get Little M out and bring him up to see me. I'm so exhausted and just empty, physically, emotionally, and spiritually, that I don't really make the moment count, I just make sure that Big M remembers his jobs (1. Count fingers and toes, and 2. GO EVERYWHERE WITH THE BABY!!!) He does. Baby is fine, digit-wise. And except for the giant purple bruise on his head, he's perfect.

OK, falling asleep at the keyboard is probably a sign that I need to go to bed. I'll finish this tomorrow, everyone. Thanks for hanging in there this far!

Packing for an outing

I've found that trying to go anywhere with a baby is a major undertaking. There are just SO many things to bring, I feel like I'm packing for a weekend getaway even when we'll only be out of the house for two hours!

And I'm not even having to bring food or bottles because Little M is only eating cereal at this point and that's just morning and evenings. Also, I'm breastfeeding, and he won't really take it from a bottle, so I just have to bring the girls with me, and we're good to go. And although Big M would like me to leave the girls behind for him sometimes, that's just not a possibility. And I'm hoping that it's one that science will NOT catch up with. No woman really wants detachable boobs.

Back to packing. There's the diapers, the wipes, extra clothes, burp rags, pacifiers, and toys. And no matter what size diaper bag I use, it's always full by the time I leave the house. For tomorrow's outing we'll also need a blanket for him to play on, because God only knows what's on the floor of the room. And he's at the point where he sits, but sometimes rears back and will bump his head if I don't catch him, so I have to bring extra blankets to make a really thick pad for him to play on. And all of this has to fit in the stroller with him in the car seat. I'm actually looking forward to him being out of the car seat in the stroller, because then I'll have extra storage behind him when he's sitting up.

I just love how much fun he is these days. He laughs and smiles and coos and babbles. He was baptized a couple of weeks ago and was just so good during the service. He kept watching the priest like he was mesmerized. He's really good like that in regular church services too. People are always telling me how good he was that day. I know he wasn't being good just for that service, that's just how he is all the time, but I feel like that might be bragging. We are just really lucky to have this child in our lives, and Big M and I know it.

So I have all but the most important thing (the baby) packed up and ready to go for tomorrow. I have been trying to think ahead to packing for our out of town trip in May, but my head starts to spin when I think of the pack-n-play, the bath stuff, the baby monitor, etc. I know we're supposed to try to keep him on his regular schedule when we're out of town, but that's probably easier said than done. But we'll do our best. At least he'll be on schedule tomorrow, and we'll take the rest one day at a time.

Sunday, April 26, 2009

Starting with the Background stuff

So here I find myself, up late-ish on a Sunday night, having to run for the baby monitor that I left on the charger in the kitchen - BRB!



OK, no noise is good news, the little guy is still snoozing away the night. I should mention that my son, we'll call him Little M, is 6 months old, and is just a great little guy. I knew I'd love my baby no matter what, but this child is just amazingly good! For example, I put out some toys on the high chair tray for him to play with while I mixed up the cereal for his dinner, and he didn't touch them, he spent the whole time watching me make the cereal. And feeding him has been a dream! Most times he just opens the little mouth for the next bite, and doesn't get his hand in the way at all.



So right now this is my life, being a mom, and running the house. I ran the house before I was a mom, I was just working a full time job at the time. Now I'm home, and the hubby, Big M, is out slaving away for a paycheck.



I always knew I wanted to be a mom, I just didn't know I'd want to be a stay-at-home mom so much. Sometimes I miss the rush of being under a deadline, or the challenge of figuring out the logic for some java code, but I look at that little smile, and those little toes, and I'm totally in love with my son!



It took a LONG time to get to this point. I met Big M almost 10 years ago, and we got engaged 4 years after that. We went off the birth control and after 4 years of no pregnancy we got serious about trying. We ended up using Shady Grove Fertility's IUI process to finally get a BFP (Big Fat Positive on a pregnancy test for those of you unfamiliar with the fertility world lingo).

It was a rough pregnancy. I was overweight to start off the pregnancy, so I ended up having to deal with Gestational Diabetes and Pregnancy Induced Hypertension. My OB planned to induce me at 38 weeks, but when I came for my appointment at 37 weeks she sent me right to the hospital and said we'd get things started right away.

It did NOT go at all smoothly, but that's a story for another time. We ended up having a 5# 15 oz. baby boy who was 18 inches long.

For anyone confused about the title, I just wanted to have it reflect who I was, the geekgirl who got good grades, studied when she had to, and generally was a homebody. I've always been great at making friends, but not so great at keeping in touch with them. I blame that on the Navy. My dad joined with I was 3, so I kept having to make new friends wherever we went. And you never really had to keep in touch with people because you'd see them again when you moved to where they got stationed, or they moved to where you were.

Back to the geek thing. I love doing logic puzzles, reading books (always have) and I'm just SO not into the latest hairstyle, or clothes or makeup. I use the fact that I'm a new mom as an excuse to hardly EVER wear makeup. Little M doesn't care, as long as the boobies have milk, he's happy.

Anyway, I have a lot more to say about a lot of things I've just glossed over here, but that's what I started the blog for, people! I'm hopeing I can strike a chord with anyone else who might have similar thoughts, or feelings, or a situation. Because in my attempt to grow up, I've learned a few things, and have come up with a few pearls of wisdom that might, at the very least, make someone smile.