Favorite Moments Friday

Man I have been really bad at this whole Favorite Moments Friday lately.  In fact, my last Favorite Moments post? November 7th.  Yeah, I am bad.

So let's start with November: 

• Superman stayed with his first real babysitter so hubby and I could go to a movie.  It was fabulous! Then a couple weeks later the babysitter came back and hubby and I went to the Blazer's game.  It is so nice to have a babysitter that we can count on.
• I found out that I am pregnant with baby #2 and Superman is going to be a big brother!
• Superman started to teeth his molars this month.  They wouldn't come in till the end of next month, but the pain lasted all month long.
• We ditched the bucket seat and Superman is now in a convertible seat.  He is a growing boy!
• We headed to Kansas City for Thanksgiving.  It was so much fun to see Superman play with his cousins.  We also went and got family pictures taken...they turned out great!  The only downside to the trip was having to fly with a little one that really just wanted to get down and play and not stay seated in our laps.  Thank goodness for direct flights.

December 

•  Teething is driving me insane and causing Superman so.much.pain!  
• We started two new traditions...going to the Oregon Zoo's Zoo Lights and Portland International Raceway lights.  The Zoo Lights was super cold, but a whole lot of fun.  Superman liked the lights more than I thought he would, thus making the experience that much more enjoyable for us.   The lights at the raceway were also a lot of fun.  We tried taking Superman out of his car seat so he could see them better, but he just wanted to play with the door.  So I put him back in his car seat and angled his mirror so he could see them.  It worked out great.  Next year he will be big enough that I can flip his car seat around to be forward facing just for the trip around the track. 
• Christmas time was so much fun! We went and cut down our own tree.  It was so blistery cold, but it is a tradition that I love.  Decorating the house confused Superman at first.  He wasn't sure what to make of it all.   Christmas day was also a lot of fun. He loved all the paper and the boxes....oh the boxes!  He loves his new toys, but for a while he just wanted to play with the wrapping.  We also went over to my husband's aunt and uncle's home for Christmas dinner and he got to play with his cousins.  I find it fascinating how much he wants to play with the big kids (although he did have some love for his cousin that is 4 months younger).  
• He has begun to throw everything!  He throws things out of his crib, out of his play area, and food onto the floor.  We are trying to ignore the behaviors that we don't like, but it is so hard when he throws food onto the floor with two hungry (they would say starving) dogs in the house.  We started putting the dogs upstairs while he was eating, but that is a big pain.  The thing that seems to work the best is just taking the rest of the food away and saying "all done".  If he isn't done? He reaches for the food and we help him eat by giving him one piece at a time.  Hopefully he will give this fun new game up soon!
• Superman has 2 new teeth! The two top molars have poked their way through...finally!  The one on the right poked through on Christmas eve and the one of the left on Christmas day. 
• Superman is SO.CLOSE to walking independently.  Prior to Christmas he had taken a couple steps independently, but not without a lot of encouragement.  On Christmas morning he was leaning on a box on blocks and all of a sudden just let go and stood on his own.  He fell when I started to freak out, but since then has stood independently many, many times. 
• S is beginning to feed himself with a spoon.  We have to put the food on the spoon, but he takes over from there.  Needless to say meals have gotten a bit more messy, but I love that he is becoming independent!
• He helped me put his toys away!  Tuesday night my husband was about to bring him up for his bath and I asked him to help me put the blocks in the bucket.  After watching me, he began to throw some of the blocks in too.  Once we were done, he took a couple out and threw it back in, probably because we made such a big stink every time he threw one in.  

Superman turns 1 on Sunday.  I can't believe it!  This year has gone by so quickly.  I have changed so much in that time, I hardly feel like the same person.   I am going to take some time this weekend and write Superman a letter for his first birthday.  Check back on Sunday to see it!

Baby #2- 10 weeks

December 11, 2010
How far along: 10 weeks 

Baby's size: prune

Symptoms: nausea, nausea, and more nausea

Sleep:  Yes please!  :) Sleeping pretty good at night and have been more tired during the day too.

Total Weight Gain:  total down 4 pounds

Maternity clothes: I wore some of my maternity shirts this week when I was feeling super bloated and icky.  I also threw on some maternity pants one of the days as well.  I think I am probably getting close to having to make the switch, but not quite there yet.

Best moment this week: Had a quick ultrasound at the doctor's office to make sure there is still a heartbeat and it was there beating away.

Movement: too early

Food cravings: nothing really sounds good

Gender:  ?????

Labor signs: none

What I miss: feeling better

What I'm looking forward to: being able to tell people- although as I mentioned last week there are a bunch of people that I see regularly that now know.

Weekly Wisdom (aka what I learned this week): Feeling dumb this week.

Milestones: nothing

Emotions: still riding the emotional roller coaster

Tandem Nursing:  
Supply: about the same
Pain: not really anymore
Nausea while nursing: I had a horrible bout of nausea on Sunday.  I thought I was going to throw up for sure, but was saved by the nausea goddess.    
Positions for nursing: cradle hold
 
 
Till next week!

Baby #2 - 9 Weeks

December 4, 2010
How far along: 9 weeks 

Baby's size: green olive

Symptoms: Went to the doctor because of the pain.  They did an ultrasound and didn't find any reason for it.  I am still getting it, but the nausea with it is diminishing.  Unfortunately, the nausea in general is getting worse.  I am also getting more hormonal. :(

Sleep:  Pretty good minus the one night that I spent on the floor in Superman's room because he was teething and had what I would consider insomnia.

Total Weight Gain:  lost another 2 pounds this week...total down 4 pounds

Maternity clothes: I bought a bella band because I can't find my one from Superman.  Even though my pants seem to have plenty of room in them, when I am sitting I prefer the button to be undone...kind of like I just had a huge meal.  I feel huge!

Best moment this week: Had my first ultrasound of the pregnancy!  The baby is in gummy bear shape now and has a heart rate of 178 bpm!!

Movement: too early

Food cravings: peach yogurt has been yummy....and I have been living on goldfish crackers.  I have my first real food aversion- granola bars....makes me gag just thinking about it.  It is a super weird one for me to not like since I lived on them since Superman was born.

Gender:  ?????

Labor signs: none

What I miss: feeling better

What I'm looking forward to: being able to tell people  (although I have let it slip with a few people and then the instructor at my boot camp asked me when I was due in front of everyone so they know now (I told her because I was supposed to)). 

Weekly Wisdom (aka what I learned this week): I am a wimp when it comes to nausea.

Milestones: seeing the baby for the first time on the ultrasound

Emotions: riding the emotional roller coaster

Tandem Nursing:  
Supply: dipping... :(
Pain: Yes and No...sometimes I get lucky and it doesn't hurt when he latches on
Nausea while nursing: not every time, but on my particularly more nauseous days nursing made it worse.
Positions for nursing: cradle hold
See my post here about how I am so over breastfeeding right now. 
 
Till next week!

Breastfeeding Blues Part #2

If you didn't read the first part of Breastfeeding Blues, please go read that first here. 

December 6, 2010
So I saw Nancy and (like always) she made me feel so much better!  She said to keep nursing morning and night, give him a bottle of breastmilk/whole milk before each nap and forget that the feeding after the naps ever existed.  She said if Superman continues to hurt me when I am feeding him, to "vote him off the island" and give him a bottle.

She said it all so matter-of-factly that it was hard to add the "but I want to breastfeed till he wanted to stop", but I did.  Her response was that he is going to get breastmilk till he is 1 or almost 1 and that is good enough...that if I had to stop today that it would be great, that he will be just fine.  I don't know why hearing it from her made such a difference, but it did.

Update on December 30, 2010: Since I haven't posted this post yet and I really don't want a 3rd post of all this, I am going to just update what is going on here.

Superman was all good for a few days and then decided that he didn't want the bottle before naps.  I would then spend the time from when he woke up till it was time to nap again, trying to get milk in him.  So not the way I want things to go.  I tried dropping snacks and that didn't really help at first.  Finally I started giving him the bottle downstairs, letting him drink a few ounces and then bringing him up for his nap.  My sister suggested giving it to him while we read stories and that worked pretty well too.  What I have learned is that he will take the milk downstairs, while getting his diaper changed, and while reading books, but as soon as I start the real bedtime procedures like closing the blinds or turning on the white noise...he wants nothing to do with the bottle.  At first I was frustrated by this, but now I love that cuddle time. He settles in with his head on my chest and we rock as I sing his "night, night" song.   Occasionally he doesn't drink all the milk so when I get him up from his nap I usually bring the bottle back up with me and sometimes he wants and sometimes he doesn't...either way not a big deal.  He is getting plenty of milk now and I am much less worried about this whole transition.

Breastfeeding Blues - Part 1

December 3, 2010

I am beginning to hate breastfeeding. No, wait. Actually, I think I actually hate it right now. I hate the pain that comes with Superman latching on. I hate the feeling that I being completely drained each time. I hate that I am once again worrying about supply and weight gain.

So what to do? What to do? Give up completely? Try and push through with some of the feedings and supplement with others? Just keep plugging along and deal with it all later.

Fortunately, I have about 60 3oz. bags of pumped milk in the freezer. I am currently breastfeeding 6 times a day. So enough milk to last about a week if I completely give up.  There is a problem though...I feel really strongly about breastfeeding for at least 1 year and really wanted to breastfeed till Superman wanted to wean (not when I wanted to). So even though I am really, really close to that year, I feel like I am failing, like I am letting Superman and myself down.

This all makes me want to try and stick it out, but that doesn't help the fact that I cringe every time Superman goes to latch on. So I wonder what it would be like to just nurse less. Maybe I could take those 60 something bags, drop two nursing sessions a day and make it the month easy peasy? (I say hopefully).

I guess this decision is better than some of the alternatives and I shouldn't do anything drastic anyway. Stay tuned to find out what happened!

Update: After I wrote this I decided that my husband's plea recommendation that I go see the lactation consultant was a good one and made an appointment for Monday.  I will write another post with an update after the appointment.

Baby #2 - 8 weeks

November 27, 2010
How far along: 8 weeks 

Baby's size: raspberry

Symptoms: Still having some pain near my ovary..seems to be coming and going and doesn't hurt too badly. Since we were on vacation I figured if it didn't get any worse, I wouldn't worry about it.   Think I will probably call tomorrow.  Oh and I have been more nauseous this week than I have been so far.

Sleep:  My sleep got better as the week went on.  I think I was having trouble because I was napping for too long in the afternoon. :)

Total Weight Gain:  still about 2 pounds down. 

Maternity clothes:Not even close.

Best moment this week: Nothing really pregnancy related.  I had a lot of fun with my husband's feeling though.

Movement: too early

Food cravings: nope...too nauseous...although a turkey sandwich sounds yummy!

Gender:  ?????

Labor signs: none

What I miss: nothing

What I'm looking forward to: my first doctor's appointment

Weekly Wisdom (aka what I learned this week):  When I was first pregnant with Superman, we were so worried about me lifting things and doing so much.  This time?  HA! There is no way we could be worried about that with an almost 20 pound baby that needs to be carried around and the 10 bazillion pounds of baby gear that comes with him.  While we were traveling this was especially difficult.  I guess what they say about the second baby is true...you just don't have time or the ability to be as worried.

Milestones: none

Emotions: still riding the emotional roller coaster

Tandem Nursing:  
Supply: worried that it is dipping again.Urgh!
Pain: yuppers---still when he latches on and then it tapers off as he continues to nurse.
Nausea while nursing: not really at all
Positions for nursing: We are home and I have the nursing pillow again!  
 
Till next week!

Baby #2 - 7 weeks

November 20, 2010
How far along: 7 weeks 

Baby's size:  blue berry

Symptoms: Still nauseous and tired.  I also have been having some pain around the left ovary.  If it continues I think I may have to call the dr. :(

Sleep: OK - We just traveled to Kansas City to visit my husband's family and I am having a heck of a time falling to sleep.

Total Weight Gain:  same as last week (-2#)

Maternity clothes:Not even close.

Best moment this week: Telling my in-laws that we are pregnant.

Movement: too early

Food cravings: nope...too nauseous.

Gender:  ?????

Labor signs: none

What I miss: nothing really

What I'm looking forward to: my first doctor's appointment (December 6th)

Weekly Wisdom (aka what I learned this week):  I am lacking wisdom this week.

Milestones: none

Emotions: I am living every single emotion under the sun. 

Tandem Nursing:
Supply: seems to be doing ok
Pain:YES! Especially when he latches on. 
Nausea while nursing: minimal this week
Positions for nursing: With the nursing pillow in the cradle hold, but now that I am at my in-laws I don't have a nursing pillow.  Still using the cradle hold and he seems to be doing ok. 

Till next week!

Baby #2 - 6 weeks

November 13, 2010 

How far along: 6 weeks 

Baby's size: sweet pea or blue berry

Symptoms: Exhausted!  I am also still nauseous, but it is tolerable.  TMI, but my boobs hurt off and on.  Definitely while breastfeeding (see tandem nursing at the bottom)

Sleep: fine...thank goodness for a baby that sleeps through the night.

Total Weight Gain:  down about 2 pounds. 

Maternity clothes:Not even close.

Best moment this week: Getting the shirt in the mail that we are going to put Superman in when we get to Kansas City next weekend.  It is how we are going to tell my husband's parents.

Movement: too early

Food cravings: nope...too nauseous.

Gender:  ?????

Labor signs: none

What I miss: maybe wine a little, but not really. The only reason I even mention it is because we went to get our wine shipments from the wineries we belong to and I obviously couldn't try it.  I did sniff though...I love to sniff the wine. :)

What I'm looking forward to: telling my in-laws and my first doctor's appointment

Weekly Wisdom (aka what I learned this week):  I definitely feel pregnant when I work out.  I don't have the same stamina and since I have to be careful about my heart rate, I can't run as much.  I think I am going to have to give up the C25K stuff because of it. :(

Milestones: none

Emotions: I am so emotional this week!  I have been crying about everything.  I think I even started to cry during The Office.  My husband thought it was cute, I think it is annoying. 

Tandem Nursing: I thought I would add this piece beginning this week.  It is killing me that I can't write (and publish) posts about this right now so this will have to do for now.  
    I am still nursing Superman.  When you are pregnant and still nursing your other child, you are "tandem nursing" (you are also tandem nursing if you are nursing two or more children).  Therefore, I am a tandem nurser!  
     Before I knew I was pregnant I noticed that my supply was dipping.  As you know from my posts in April, my supply occasionally dips when I am about to get my period so I was convinced I wasn't pregnant, but in fact getting my period.  About a week later I found out I was actually pregnant.
     So here is how I noticed the decrease: I had been pumping once every morning for many months now and instead of getting my usual 3+ ounces, I was lucky to get two.  Then it moved to barely one.  Then Superman started needing to nurse on both sides sometimes.  Then Superman needed to nurse both sides every time.  Then I got smart and started eating oatmeal again (had stopped because the idea of it makes me nauseous, but it turns out I don't mind it when I am eating it).  Now Superman will nurse both sides most of the time, but he will occasionally only need one side (yeah!).  When those times are in the morning, I pump.  Otherwise I just do a happy dance and move on.  
     I bought a book called, "The Adventures in Tandem Nursing" that KellyMom.com recommends.  Initially I felt like the book just told me all the reasons why this wasn't going to work.  However, it did give me some good tips on how to feed him as I get larger and what the experience will be like.  The one thing they didn't really touch on was tips for boosting supply which was disappointing.
     Three of the four things they touched on have really been my main issues.  Supply (as I already mentioned), nausea and pain.  The pain is the normal pregnancy tender breasts pain with added sharp pains every time Superman nurses.  It hurts the most when he first latches, but seems to get better as he continues.  His latch has also been off, but I don't think that is pregnancy related.  The nausea is intermittent and isn't too bad.  The book talks about women throwing up while nursing....I am not that bad.  I just feel super queasy and my jaw hurts (weird right?).  The other symptom they mention is that my milk can change flavor.  This may have actually happened, but since Superman can't talk he can't tell me.  However, he hasn't turned me down to nurse and they said that can happen when the taste changes. 
    I feel like there are a couple areas that people might want specific information as I go week by week.  So I will update these specifics each week, along with any additional information that I learn. 
Supply: holding steady. (made lactation cookies to help)
Pain:YES! As I mentioned above, it gets better as he nurses though.
Nausea while nursing: minimal this week
Positions for nursing: With the nursing pillow in the cradle hold. 

Till next week! 

Baby #2 - 4.5 weeks

Today, November 3, 2010, I learned that I am pregnant with my second child!  I am over the moon happy and want to shout it from the roof tops. Only problem? We aren't telling anyone.  I am only 4.5 weeks along and think the rule of waiting 12 weeks is a good one in theory.  My husband knows me too well and did agree that I could tell my parents, my sister, and my cousin.  We will tell his parents when we go to their home in Kansas this Thanksgiving. 

I want to keep a log of my pregnancy and thought that maybe down the line I could publish this if people wanted to look back at it.  I have followed Alysha's pregnancy over at The Tarr Pit and love how she does the weekly updates.  I emailed her and asked if I could copy her idea and she said it was fine by her.  In fact she took the idea from The Bump.  So every Saturday I am going update how things are going.  The next update will be at 6 weeks. 

******************************

How I told my husband: I messaged him and asked him to come home for lunch instead of meeting Superman and I out at a restaurant (Wednesdays we do lunch together).  We hadn't been feeling well so he didn't think anything of it.  Superman normally naps till about 1, but woke up early today.  I rushed upstairs and grabbed a white onesie out of the drawer and wrote "Big Brother" on it.  When my husband came home I was still nursing Superman so when we got downstairs hubby was in the kitchen putting dishes away.  He stopped doing the dishes and I handed him Superman (with the shirt on).  At first he didn't notice at all and then he was like, "what is written on this?" and he read "big" and then "brother" and then got the most excited expression on his face.  It was priceless!!

How far along: 4.5 weeks.  

Baby's size: poppy sead

Symptoms: nauseous.  I had the stomach flu this past weekend and just haven't fully recovered...or so I thought.  Hubby got the stomach flu on Monday and is fine now.  I suppose this little poppy seed could be the reason for my nausea (I had nausea pretty bad with Superman.  I lost 15 pounds in my first trimester.) 

Sleep: fine...thank goodness for a baby that sleeps through the night.

Total Weight Gain:  none- first week

Maternity clothes:Not even close.

Best moment this week: Finding out that I am pregnant.

Movement: too early

Food cravings: nope...too nauseous.

Gender:  ?????

Labor signs: none 
What I miss: nothing yet

What I'm looking forward to:  my first doctor's appointment

Weekly Wisdom (aka what I learned this week):  Digital pregnancy tests are awesome.  I love when it popped up: PREGNANT!

Milestones: finding out that I am pregnant.

Emotions: a bit overwhelmed.  We wanted our kids close together.  In fact we decided 18 months would be a great age difference since they will be into relatively the same things as they grow up.  The reality though? 2 kids under 2 won't be easy.  I guess we have 8 months to start preparing ourselves for the extra work. 

Drum roll please....

I have been pretty quiet on this blog and on Twitter lately.  I have had this secret and it has been inundating every aspect of my life...so writing about what was going on in my life has been tough.  How could I write about my milk supply diminishing and not tell you the reason?  How do I tell you that I don't feel good without explaining that I am not actually sick?  How could I tell you that I have been napping during my normal blogging time and still have you come back to read more the next time I do actually sit down and write? I hope you all understand what I am trying to say, but in case you haven't figured it out yet....

I AM PREGNANT!!!

I am so giddy to be able to finally share this news I can hardly contain myself.  We considered spilling the beans on Christmas day after we told our local family members, but I had an ultrasound scheduled for today and wanted to be able to share the latest pictures. So let me introduce you to Baby #2 due July 9, 2011!

Profile

The baby was a wiggly worm...here s/he is waving at us!

Hopefully as I enter the second trimester I will get my energy back and get rid of this darn nausea.  I will try and get back into a routine of writing each week, although I doubt it will be daily.  Please stick with me though...I love your comments and your insights and would be lost without you all.

 Over the next couple of days I will be sharing my weekly posts that I have been writing about my pregnancy (and not posting).  I also have a couple of other posts that were pregnancy related that I couldn't post until I told you all.  

I hope you all had a very Merry Christmas!  

Thrown

Yesterday I posted on Facebook that during his nap, Superman was not actually sleeping, but rather crying because he had thrown his two stuffed animals and his blanket to the floor.  I wanted reassurance that I shouldn't go in and retrieve them.  Actually I really only wanted to retrieve the blanket, but that is neither here nor there.  Of course, everyone told me to hold strong and that going in would merely reinforce the throwing of items out of the crib.  

The problem is that the throwing of items isn't isolated to his crib.

When I put him in his "baby corral"  to play for about 30 minutes every morning, he throws his toys out.  He doesn't cry when they are out of the corral, unless he throws his blanket.  Then he tries to reach for it and cries.  I don't usually put the toys back in, but will hand him his blanket again (and he doesn't throw it again during that duration). 

Then when he is in his high chair...watch out!  He will be eating away and the moment he decides he is done with a food, he starts dropping it off the side of his tray.  This is a real issue considering we have two dogs that are ready to pounce on any piece of food that hits the floor.  We have tried telling him no, but he doesn't seem to understand or doesn't care since there isn't anything that happens if we say no and he does it again.  Do almost one year olds even understand "no"?  In the end we end up taking the food away and if he reaches for it, we give him it to him piece by piece, but sometimes he eats it and sometimes he takes it out of his mouth and tries to throw it on the floor.  It is really frustrating. 

So...HELP!!  What do I do?  Are these situations even connected or are there different things going on?  What would you do?

Thanks!

The Adventures of Toddler Bumps and Bruises

It seems I no longer have a baby in my house, but rather a toddler.  He isn't walking independently yet, but will use anything he can to walk from one place to another.  He rarely crawls anymore.  I keep waiting for the day where he will let go of what he is holding onto and take a step, but that hasn't happened yet.  We did have a brief step or two as he walked from my husband to me one night, but we aren't counting it since he had momentum and we aren't really sure one of us weren't providing support.  Anyway.....

All of the toddling means that there is also a lot of falling.  Falling on the ground.  Falling on to a toy. Falling into a chair.  Falling into a cabinet nob. Falling into the high chair.  Falling. Falling. Falling.   And with all of this falling?  Comes lots and lots of bruises. 

I am so tired of the bruises and don't feel like I have an adequate method for dealing with them.  I usually throw some ice into a baggy, wrap it in a paper towel, and plop ourselves in front of "Super Why" or "Sesame Street" for 10 minutes while I ice the spot on his face that is turning several different shades of red and purple. 

There has to be a better way to get them to sit still and get iced.  I know it isn't the worst thing for him to watch 10 minutes of television now and then and I feel like I try to make it interactive with me talking to him about it and moving his body the way they tell him to on the show, but I guess I thought that maybe one of you have a better solution. 

I would love to be able to read books, but haven't figured out how to do it with one hand (since the other is holding the ice).  Frankly I am lucky if I have one hand because many times I am holding his head steady with the other.   I tried singing, but that didn't work.  It seems like he needs something more distracting.

So what do you do when your child get a bump or bruise that needs to be iced?  HELP!

Teething sucks

Superman has taken to flailing his body about when he is in pain from teething.  He arches his back, waves his arms, pushes off of me with all of his might and screams.  If I put him down?  He screams louder and usually throws his body in such a way that he ends up hitting his head....which just makes him scream louder.  So I hold on to him with both of my arms- tight, especially if I am walking because he has even flung himself into a wall when I wasn't careful enough.  Fun times.

So I went to the doctor today to make sure that he is in fact "just" teething.  Doctor says that it is in fact his teeth and to hang in there.  We had a short discussion about orajel...one of his nurses had told me to not use it unless I really needed to because it can swell the gums and delay the teeth from breaking through.  The doctor had not heard this before and said that it sounded like we needed to throw everything at the molars at this point.   I agreed. 

We used it when we got home...that and ibuprofen and a couple Humphrey's teething tablets.  I was totally going to throw everything at it.  I guess I could have used gripe water too, but didn't think about it till now.   So all the meds are in him and we head to bed.  For the first time in 3 days he actually drinks from his bottle (only a few ounces, but I will take it).  Then he goes to bed and sleeps really well for an hour (not the 2 hours that I am used to, but I will take it).  Then I go in to get him and he doesn't scream!! In fact despite a little bit of "I'm just waking up" fussiness, he was delightful! 

I am thrilled that we have found something that helped (fingers crossed it continues to work)...I just wish I knew which of the things that we gave him did the trick or if all of it was needed.  I guess that is the down-side with throwing everything you got a problem. 

A New Kind of Uniform

 A fellow mom (of adorable twin boys) sent me the following message recently:

If you need a blog topic can you ask your readers about Mommy wear?  I've found that since I've become a mom I live in sweats and t-shirts or those soft track suits, stuff that is easy to wash and wear and hides stains well. I hardly ever wear pants that have buttons or zippers.  (My Husband) calls it my uniform. I wonder if there are other moms out there that find themselves in the boat or if I'm just weird?

My gut reaction was to give her some advice on what I do, but then I realized I am the last person that should give advice about this and frankly, could benefit from some other people's advice as well.

According to the Fly Lady we should be getting dressed and ready for the day every morning.  In fact day 2 of her BabySteps tells you:

Today I want you get up and get dressed to lace up shoes when you first get up in the morning. This means fix your hair and face too.

So when I was a new mom trying to figure out this whole "stay-at-home mom" thing I jumped at this idea.  I made a little alteration to it since the first thing I do in the morning is feed Superman and then workout.  But as soon as I am done working out, Superman goes down for a nap and I shower and get dressed.  Sounds like I am great at this right? Okay, not so much.  Let me be honest with you for a moment.

1. Up until 2 months ago, my hair went into a pony tail every.single.day.
2. I do not wear make-up.  I hardly wore any before I had a baby, I'm not going to start wearing it now.
3. Getting dressed included shorts or jeans and a solid color t-shirt every.single.day.

So you can see I need help too!  Do you have any tips on great "mom clothes" that are easy to care for, hide stains well, and are comfortable, but still look like we are somewhat put together?  I will admit that I am secretly hoping you all tell me that you all are struggling with this too.  It won't help any of us look better, but I will feel a little less like a disheveled mom and a little more like a normal mom just hanging in there. Thanks!

To sleep like a baby...

When Superman was younger I was totally confused about the saying, "sleep like a baby".  My baby was a fairly loud sleeper and he certainly wasn't sleeping for long periods of time.  Why would I want to sleep like a baby if that is what a baby sleeps like?

Well now I get it.  When I place Superman into the crib it goes one of two ways.

1. He cries for 30 seconds to 1 minute, rolls over and falls asleep.*

2. He rolls over and falls asleep.* 

Do you know what I would give to be able to fall asleep that fast?  Maybe it's because he doesn't have any worries to ponder over or plans to consider or items to complete that weren't written down so he doesn't have to consider getting up to write them down or focusing really hard on not forgetting them.   

Whatever it is, I would like some of what he has got.

*I know that he is asleep because I can see him on the monitor.  Also, although this is almost every time he falls asleep, there are the occasional times where he takes a little bit longer...but they are few and far between.

Insomnia...but not mine.

Superman is teething his top molars. I hate molars. They have managed to turn my perfectly sweet, happy almost all the time kid and turn him into a cranky, nothing will please me, let me scream and kick and flail my body about kid. Seriously, I need to take stock on my dealing with teething strategies because clearly the Tylenol/ibuprofen and here have something to chew on combo we are doing just isn't enough. But that is for me to deal with after this post. First? I need to tell you about last night.

It started out okay. My husband did the usual night time routine, I went up to nurse him and put him to bed and although he stirred for a little bit, he fell fairly quickly into a nice sleep. Then 9:45 hit and he woke up. We let him fuss for a while and just when it looked like he was going to go back to sleep, he woke up and started screaming again. My husband went in with some gripe water and tried to soothe him. After that didn't work, I got called in.

I got him to drink the gripe water and he even was quite content just cuddling in the rocking chair with me. I switched the way I was holding him so I could see his face and at that point realized that although he is quite content and calm...he is wide.freakin'.awake. Ugh!

Over the next 3 hours I try everything I know to get him to fall asleep. We laid on the floor together...he tried to play and climb all over me. We went downstairs for some milk...I realize he is hungry and he downs 2 containers of fruit puree and plays independently for about 30 minutes while I whine on Facebook. I defrost some milk and we head up stairs...he drinks the milk, goes to bed, cries for a little bit and does fall asleep, but then I get up to turn the monitor on and leave...and he wakes up again to scream his head off. I leave him in his crib to cry, but finally decide to lay down on the floor to try and get some rest.

He ended up falling asleep at around 3:00-3:30...and then woke up at 6:30. The 3 or so hours in between? Oh I was still on the floor, sleeping, for fear that he would wake up again if I stood up to turn on the monitor and leave. Yeah, I was sticking to my sleeping bag on the floor, it didn't matter if my back was screaming at me or not. It would still be better than Superman screaming.

So there you have it. My 11 month old kid had insomnia. At least that is what I am calling it because really, I have no idea if his teeth played a part in this or not. He only cried when he was in the crib and come on, you and I both know that was more about being pissed that he was in there than the teeth. Whatever caused this night from hell, I hope it is done with our family and will never been seen from again.

Get your GROUPON On!!

Have I got a deal for you!  I have joined the GROUPON affiliate program and with that brings awesome super secret deals for you! If you click this GROUPON link it will bring you to the very secret hidden deal page just for Black Friday and Cyber Monday (I believe it ends at midnight tomorrow, but am not positive).  There are deals on chocolate, coffee, wine, snacks, and books! 

If you happen to be new to the whole GROUPON thing, click on the picture below and find the deals for your city!

PS For full disclosure, by clicking on the link and then buying the deal, I do earn a small amount of money...a very small amount of money.   Really I just want to be able to give you all these really cool deals.  I may have a small crush on Groupon...yes, I am strange. What can I say? I love a good deal.

Happy Thanksgiving Vacation!

My husband is taking some time off, so I am too.  I hope you all have a fabulous holiday.  I will see you in just over a week!

Baby Love

He looks at me...and I melt.

He reaches for me...and I melt.

He scrunches up his nose and giggles...and I melt.

He bobs his head to the music...and I melt.

He stops himself in the middle of his play to throw himself at me...and I melt.

He takes a step away, but turns around to make sure that I am still there...and I melt.

He cries out in pain or tiredness or simple sadness...and I melt.

I will never be able to describe this feeling adequately.  It isn't like I have never felt love before....I have felt it from my family and friends...and obviously from my husband.  But this is different. 

This is a love that stops me in my tracks 100+ times a day. 

This is a love that changes my mood in an instant.  

This is a love that seems so pure and perfect while feeling so unbelievably strong and unwavering.

This is a love that surprises me.

And ready to go!

Yesterday I posted about the realization that Superman had outgrown his infant car seat.  Today I am going to talk a little bit about what I did to find Superman's new seat.

Unless your child is over a year, the next car seat after the infant seat must be a convertible one.  Most state laws dictate that children must be at least 20 pounds and one year before they are allowed to be forward facing.  However, according to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA),

"For the best possible protection keep infants in the back seat, in rear-facing child safety seats, as long as possible up to the height or weight limit of the particular seat."

With this in mind, I knew that I wanted to not only get a convertible seat, but one that would allow Superman to stay rear-facing as long as possible. 

So the first thing I do whenever I need to buy something new is go to Consumer Reports.  Sadly, this time they dropped the ball for me initially.  I didn't feel like their reviews on car seats helped me much and they were recommending some seats that had really low scores.  Frankly, I just didn't understand it all.

The next thing I did was post on my personal Facebook page that we were looking for a new seat and wanted recommendations.  I thought that I might at least get some leads and maybe some car seats to stay away from.  Of the 21 responses, all but one person recommended the Britax and that person had a Combi and an Evenflo.  The three main Britax car seats people had were the Roundabout, Marathon, and Boulevard.

At this point I did go back to Consumer Reports and found that the Roundabout was the highest rated of the three, but had the lowest limits for weight (35 lbs rear facing & 50 lbs forward facing) and shoulder height  (max 16.25 for both rear and forward facing).  All three have a max height of 49 inches.

Since I want Superman to be rear facing for as long as possible, I felt like the Roundabout was out of the mix for me.   When I looked at the Marathon 70 and Boulevard 70 the only differences was the side impact protection.  The Boulevard has extra head support in case of a side impact collision.  According to Consumer Reports, the Boulevard also had a feature that allowed for adjusting the harness height without having to re-thread it.   Consumer Reports also rated the Boulevard higher than the Marathon.

I went back and forth over which of these two to get.  Amazon had them both on sale and the difference in price was about $20.   Finally my husband told me to get the one that was rated higher.  So we got the Boulevard 70.

I will be honest, when I saw how big the car seat I was a little worried that I went a bit overboard.  We could have gotten away with the Marathon...but it turned out we couldn't install it in the middle seat (and wouldn't have been able to install the Marathon in the middle either).  Now I am grateful to have the extra side impact protection.

Resources:
National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA)

• Ease of Use Ratings (descriptions) 
• Ease of Use Ratings (actual ratings)

Child Restraint Laws (by state)
Seat Check.org
Car Seat Recall List

**Disclaimer- I am not an expert on car seats.  I have no certifications or documents saying I should be giving advice. Therefore, take what I say as one mom's experience and do you own research.  Thank you.***

All buckled in...

A few days ago I wrote about safety on the internet...or rather I wrote about reading about safety on the internet. Today I am going to talk about safety in your car.  I know that many of you have little ones around the same age as my Superman.  Many of you probably are still using your infant car seat, aren't you?  It is okay to admit it, I was up until this week.

Thank goodness for friends with children older than my own.  I was at boot camp and it came up casually.  I had it stuck in my head that my infant car seat was rated to 30 pounds.  Superman is only 19 pounds so we were good.  What these ladies pointed out to me was that it is not just weight, but height that factors into the change to a bigger seat.  When they said that I had one of those, "OMG I can't believe I didn't think about that!" moments.

So I did a little research and found that the height limit for our infant seat was 30 inches.  Superman was 29 inches at 9 months.  Fortunately, we measured him again and he is still just 29 inches.  However, the other thing the manual said was that if his head was less than an inch from the top of the seat, it was time to get a bigger seat.  Sure enough Superman's head was less than an inch from the top.

So let me recap.  You should know the following limits for your current car seat:

• weight limit (if it is a convertible seat, you should know the limit for rear facing and forward facing)
• height limit (if it is a convertible seat, you should know the limit for rear facing and forward facing)
• shoulder height limit

Unless you are absolutely positive that your child is within the limits for their current car seat, I would go check right now. Oh and if you knew this already? Good job!  I am disappointed that I didn't know all this before, but feel better knowing that I have the information now.  If your child is too big for their car seat, don't beat yourself up, just do something about it.  If you aren't sure where to start, be sure to come back tomorrow when I will share my experience with shopping for Superman's new car seat.

**Disclaimer- I am not an expert on car seats.  I have no certifications or documents saying I should be giving advice. Therefore, take what I say as one mom's experience and do you own research.  Thank you.***

Bubbles

I believe that a bad day can be made better with the simple act of blowing bubbles.  Try it some time.  I bet you can't blow bubbles when you are all tense and stuff....you will just blow bubble juice everywhere.  Blowing bubbles takes patience and slow even breaths.  It gets better if you stop and enjoy the moment. 

So yesterday, when I was frustrated that my little man was insisting on his desire to play in the dog's water bowl or the cords on the tv receiver, or anything else he isn't allowed to do, instead of getting irritated, I got bubbles.  The dogs even joined in on the fun. Clyde tried to eat them and Lola cocked her head to the side trying to figure out what was floating in the air all around her.  The whole living room was covered!  Superman was giggling and I couldn't help but chuckle along with him.

And then? The world was okay again...well, for at least a little while.

Check Out My New Digs!

Isn't it pretty???  I know I am not one of the fabulously popular blogs that I love to read, but I love having my little place on the internet where I get to share my thoughts about being a parent.  This has become one of my "things" since I decided to stay home with Superman and since every hobby has expensive splurges that go along with it; a custom blog design was going to be my splurge.  The only problem with that concept? You don't actually have to splurge to get the perfect design.  Thanks to Jessica over at The Frilly Coconut, I have a totally new look for not a whole lot of money!  If you are thinking about redesigning your blog, I highly recommend checking her out.

So let me show you around a bit.  If you notice on the top, right below my header, there is a menu bar.  You want to learn more about my family and I?  Go ahead and click on the About Us tab (it is currently a work in progress).  Next up is the Contact tab.  Here you can send me suggestions on things to blog about, tips on how to be a better mom, or just your two cents on something I wrote.  The final tab is my Blog Roll.  While this isn't a complete list of all the blogs I read, they are the ones that I read most frequently.

Speaking of Blog Rolls, I know have my very own button!! Look to the left at the top of the side bar.  Do you see it?  Isn't it perfect?  So please feel free to grab it and place it on your blog!  Then come on back and drop me a note.  I will be sure to come and visit you soon.

If we jump over to the other side bar on the right, you will also find my new social networking buttons.  I personally hate having to look all over the blog for the Facebook or Twitter link.  I think Jessica did a great job make them stand out.  I also have a whole new look for Twitter that will be updated soon.  Be sure to stop by and say hello!  By the way, Facebook is my favorite way to keep up to date on my favorite blogs.  For me it is much easier than remembering to check my Google Reader (although that is a great way for many people). So, why don't you go on over to Facebook right now and "like" me so that you can get my latest updates right on your very own wall. 

A few other things to point out.  As I mentioned at the top of this post, I know I am not one of those big blogs with hundreds of thousands of followers.  However, I would love for more people to come and check out my blog.  So if you enjoy reading it, please take a moment and vote for me over at Top Mommy Blogs each time you come and visit.  Please and thank you.  (The button to click is located on the right side.)

One last really cool feature of this new format is that DISQUS is now being used for comments.  If I understand it all correctly, I will now be able to have threaded comments, email replies to people, and a whole bunch of other cool stuff that I am just going to have to learn about as I go.   So please, leave me a comment so we can try it out!


I hope you have enjoyed this little tour.  Have a wonderful weekend!

A lot more about Mommy C

I thought that maybe I would give you all a little bit more about me.  I am more than a new mom 

Growing up in Upstate NY, I lived with my dad during the school year and my mom during vacations and the summer.  It was not an easy childhood, but it has molded me into the person that I am today.  I went off to college in 1995 and became an elementary school teacher.  I graduated early in December 1998 and my sister convinced me to try living somewhere other than the small town we grew up in.
     In January of 1999 I flew to Northern California for an interview and never left (yes, I got the job).  I taught 2nd grade in a multi-age classroom in a very tiny school (175 kids K-8) till the summer of 2001.  At that point, I transferred to a huge school district to teach 6th grade.  I hated 6th grade.  I taught it for two years only because I convinced myself that I was taking the easy way out if I transferred after one year.  I was actually about ready to make the decision to move back to NY at the end of the school year when I met my husband.
     Up to this point I had felt very unconnected with the community and had very few friends.  He not only was an amazing man that made each and everyone of my days brighter, but he had an amazing group of friends that quickly welcomed me in.
   The next year, rather than heading back to NY, I transferred to 4th grade in the same school and I loved it!  I had a fabulous team, the students were the perfect age for me, and began to find more and more opportunities to be a leader on my campus.  Over the next couple of years I would become part of a staff development team that provided in-service to the other teachers.  I loved every minute of it.
    In 2006, I married the man of my dreams and decided that another change was in order.  I applied for a job as an instructional coach and got it!

You Are My Sunshine

When I was 13 or so I was given this Paddington Bear that plays "You Are My Sunshine".  You may be thinking that I was a little to old for such a gift, but this wasn't just any ordinary musical bear.  This bear held onto a very special memory for me and every time I wanted to visit that memory he was there to help out.

My grandfather was a chemist who came up with the amazing idea for Super Coil. Yes, those fantastic key chains everyone uses?  My grandfather invented them.  When I was little he would give my mother the scraps and she would use them to put pigtails in my hair.  Then when I got older and jelly bracelets became the thing to have, he would make me the bracelets using the uncoiled material. You can see in my silly picture to the left I am sporting a bracelet and a coiled necklace. 

 The factory was just a few miles from their home and visiting it was one of my favorite things to do when we went there.  He would show me all the bars that had the various colors of coil wrapped around them.  He would demonstrate how the workers cut the coil and then prepare the actual key chain by putting the two ends on a hot metal plate and then sticking them together.  I don't remember interacting with him much beyond our trips to the factory (not necessarily because they didn't happen, just that I don't remember), but those trips were pretty cool.

But of all the trips we made to the factory, there was one trip that sticks out in my memory.  As usual we had gone to the factory and he showed me what they were working on.  Then we headed upstairs to the Woolworth's that was just above the factory.  There he ordered something for each of us (my memory is failing me, but I think they were ice cream sundaes).  He was clearly friendly with the man behind the counter and they talked back and forth.  Then at some point they began to sing to me.  The song they sang?  You are My Sunshine.

My mother told me at one point that he had sung that song frequently to me, but right now I only can remember that once.  I remember feeling so incredibly special at that moment. 

Last week my son had woken from his nap and we were cuddling in the rocking chair.  He started to climb up me and reach for something on the bookcase behind us.  I turned to look at what he was reaching for and saw Paddington.  So I grabbed the bear, turned the musical key on the back and began to sing to my son "You Are My Sunshine".  I have sung it several times since then and each time he lights up with the greatest smile.   I imagine he feels a lot like I did when my grandpa sang it to me.

Hugs to you all!

TTFN,

Mommy C

Safety First and other changes

Over the next couple weeks you will notice some changes on my blog.  Some good and some that are just necessary. 

First, the necessary. I am taking all my pictures of Superman off my blog.  Today Rebekah over at Mom In A Million posted a blog post by Jessica Gottlieb titled The MomBlogosphere Wants Its Photos on her Facebook fan page.  I had not read Jessica's blog before, but I am glad I read it because it got me really thinking.   In the comments she referenced a slide show she did on privacy at Bloggy Boot Camp in Austin.  I watched the almost 30 minute presentation and although I don't agree with everything she said, her theme of being careful about what you put out in the internet really resonated with me.  So no more calling it in on Wednesdays with cute pictures of Superman for Wordless Wednesdays (although I may have other subjects for those posts).  I am going to have to get back to really writing and that is a little bit scary for me (so please be kind).

The super cool thing that is going to happen in the next couple weeks is that I have a new blog design!  Jessica over at The Frilly Coconut has taken on this challenge for me and we have been working hard at making the design perfect (actually she is working hard and I am just saying things like "that is awesome" and "I love it!" in response to the changes she makes).  I have no idea where we are in the process (I should probably ask her that), but it feels like we are close to getting done.  So stay tuned for a new look around here!


TTFN,

Mommy C

Favorite Moments Friday

I think I have been working on this post since Thursday and finally finishing it. It has been an interesting week and my mind has been elsewhere.   Horrible excuse I know, but such is life sometimes.  


Hope everyone is having a wonderful weekend!

*************************************

Superman is 10 months old!! I can't believe he is so close to turning 1.  Where did the time go?

Here are some of the favorite moments from the last month.

• Superman is a full on cruiser!  He can go from laying down to cruising along the coffee table in about 2 seconds.  He loves going from one piece of furniture to another and using his little walkers.

• REI sent Superman his first credit card application.  Thanks, but I think we will pass for now.

•  As I posted earlier this month, we headed to two different pumpkin patches this year.  We first we went to Kruger Farms and tried our hand at our very first corn maze.  The second was Lake View Farms with a boat and train ride. 

•  My husband takes care of getting Superman ready for bed every night, including story time.  Hubby called me in earlier this month to show me Superman's new skill...turning the page!   Now a days he is turning pages left and right.  He especially likes the peek-a-boo books where there is something hidden under the flap.

• Superman has tried a lot of different foods in his life, but the big one this month was fish.  I got a couple small fillets of sole at Whole Foods and baked them.  Superman loved it!  Unfortunately, my house smelled like fish for a couple days.

• My husband's group at work held treat or treating and a party the Friday before Halloween.  I brought Superman in and he got to show his baby off to all his coworkers.  It was fun to see how proud my husband is of our son.

•  Superman's first Halloween was filled with crankiness, teething we suspect.  However, he put up with his mom and dad so we could get some cute pictures that I posted on Wednesday.

I suppose that is all for this month. Till next month....


TTFN,

Mommy C

Wordless Wednesday: Happy Halloween!

On Friday, my husband's work had a Halloween Party for all of the employee's kids.  Here are just a couple pictures from that.

Daddy is showing him off to all his co-workers

And here are a few from Halloween:

Much harder to get him to sit still while holding the paper.  LOL

Hope everyone had a fun Halloween!

TTFN,

Mommy C