We had a great Christmas. El Jefe got loads of presents and while he didn't care much for opening them, but has really enjoyed playing with them.
I made prime rib for Christmas dinner and although it took a lot longer to cook than I anticipated and I wasn't happy with the rub nor the au jus, everyone else seemed quite pleased with the way it turned out. Oh, and El Jefe slept through the night on Christmas night. We were planning on repeating the gift opening the next day so he would sleep well again, but then I realized that I had actually had a couple of glasses of wine with Christmas dinner, and that was probably the reason he slept so well.
This year the husband and I gave each other an "experience" gift and we went out on a date! It was fun. We had a sushi lunch and saw Avatar in Imax 3D. The movie was good. I would definitely recommend it. It had some great themes and messages in it and it definitely made me think about the environment and our impact on it. I hope we manage to keep the earth habitable for at least my son's lifetime.
I had a great 2009 with it's ups and downs. But in the big picture, my ups were definitely a lot more plentiful than the downs, so I am blessed in that regard. I hope 2010 turns out just as great, or better!!
Pictures coming in 2010!
Thursday, December 31, 2009
Wednesday, December 2, 2009
Musings
I haven't posted in forever. That seems to be the general theme of my blog. Whatever. Been busy. Life is pretty good. El Jefe still doesn't sleep through the night. We don't want to do a "cry it out" sleep training method, but everything else requires more time and patience, and it's hard to stick to a plan in the middle of the night, when you are up for the 4th time. It's much easier to stick him on the breast and fall asleep next to him. When we wean El Jefe from breastmilk to cow's milk, it will probably be easier, because he'll be waking up to a sippy cup instead of the breast.
At the same time, I kind of enjoy cuddling next to El Jefe. It's like our quiet, peaceful bonding time.
Someone asked me what was surprising about becoming a parent. My first response was the time it takes. Wow. I'm mourning the loss of most of my hobbies (have kind of been playing soccer), but I'll always have time for scrapbooking and cardmaking. My time with an infant at home is limited. And most of the mom's I meet who are scrapbooking are already grandma's or have children who sleep through the night or have family nearby to care for the little ones while they indulge in crafts.
The second most shocking thing about becoming a parent was the love you feel for your child. Amazing. And for us it wasn't an instant love, it took time. In the beginning, we were more in provider mode, meeting the baby's needs. Now, it's just amazing. I've had glimpses of these profound love...towards my husband, towards my parents in their unconditional love. But the love you have for your child is really beyond description.
Being sane when you have a baby can be hard. I'll blame mommy-brain on the fact that all week I thought the freezing temperature was 42 degrees F, not 32. The husband and I sometimes have trouble seeing the big picture and we get caught up in the little things over which we disagree. But over the weekend, the husband said something profound to keep things in perspective: we have our health and a beautiful son, let's not get caught up in the little things and be grateful for what we have; hings could be a lot worse and this will probably be the easiest we'll have it.
Maybe from now on I'll stop commenting on how I never post and just blog when I can. And hopefully you guys will just keep coming back when you can.
At the same time, I kind of enjoy cuddling next to El Jefe. It's like our quiet, peaceful bonding time.
Someone asked me what was surprising about becoming a parent. My first response was the time it takes. Wow. I'm mourning the loss of most of my hobbies (have kind of been playing soccer), but I'll always have time for scrapbooking and cardmaking. My time with an infant at home is limited. And most of the mom's I meet who are scrapbooking are already grandma's or have children who sleep through the night or have family nearby to care for the little ones while they indulge in crafts.
The second most shocking thing about becoming a parent was the love you feel for your child. Amazing. And for us it wasn't an instant love, it took time. In the beginning, we were more in provider mode, meeting the baby's needs. Now, it's just amazing. I've had glimpses of these profound love...towards my husband, towards my parents in their unconditional love. But the love you have for your child is really beyond description.
Being sane when you have a baby can be hard. I'll blame mommy-brain on the fact that all week I thought the freezing temperature was 42 degrees F, not 32. The husband and I sometimes have trouble seeing the big picture and we get caught up in the little things over which we disagree. But over the weekend, the husband said something profound to keep things in perspective: we have our health and a beautiful son, let's not get caught up in the little things and be grateful for what we have; hings could be a lot worse and this will probably be the easiest we'll have it.
Maybe from now on I'll stop commenting on how I never post and just blog when I can. And hopefully you guys will just keep coming back when you can.
Monday, October 19, 2009
Had A Great Weekend
Husband's birthday. Ice cream cake. Dinner with friends. Football watching (does it snow in TN??). Soccer playing. Couch shopping. Made chili. Slept in. Picnic in the park. Only 4 more days till the next weekend!
Sunday, October 18, 2009
Dear Loyal Followers,
I am alive. Just busy. But know that I think of you guys every day. Well, not each one of you individually, but all of you, as a collection.
Anyway, just busy with work and being a mom. So you want to know what my typical day is like?
5:30 am - Husband goes to work and I typically am half awake (I'm a sensitive sleeper).
7 am - typical wake up time for El Jefe; if we're lucky, like we have been the last week, he'll either sleep through the night or only wake up 1 or 2 times.
7 - 8 am - keep him in bed with me as long as possible (usually 5-15 minutes), but this usually happens if he wakes up around 6 am, breastfeeds, and then goes back to sleep in bed with me; diaper change; clothing change (?); play with kitties; chase the El Jefe around the living room; MAYBE try to get a load of laundry going; or make the bed (a significant achievement, trust me).
8:30 am - feed the kitties, El Jefe, and me.
8:50 am - do a second attempt at feeding El Jefe, if he didn't finish his food the first time around.
9 am - shower; put El Jefe in the bassinet or in his exersaucer; get ready for work.
9:30 am - breastfeed El Jefe; sometimes he'll fall asleep.
10 am - nanny arrives, tell her what's going on; last few minutes of cuddle time if El Jefe is awake.
10:30 am - 6:30 pm - relax, eat, pump, relax, pump; OR work; actually, work has been quite hectic lately so it hasn't been relaxing.
7 - 10 pm - arrive home; breastfeed El Jefe; (make?) eat dinner; wash pump dishes; play with El Jefe; breastfeed El Jefe, bathe him, feed him, he sacks, maybe watch a little bit of a movie or try to do some stuff on the computer; go to sleep.
On days I'm lucky or work is slow, then I go home around 6 pm and get a little bit more time to do other stuff, like meet up with a friend, go for a walk, go to the store with El Jefe. But generally, that's it. That's life right now. And we are loving it.
Anyway, just busy with work and being a mom. So you want to know what my typical day is like?
5:30 am - Husband goes to work and I typically am half awake (I'm a sensitive sleeper).
7 am - typical wake up time for El Jefe; if we're lucky, like we have been the last week, he'll either sleep through the night or only wake up 1 or 2 times.
7 - 8 am - keep him in bed with me as long as possible (usually 5-15 minutes), but this usually happens if he wakes up around 6 am, breastfeeds, and then goes back to sleep in bed with me; diaper change; clothing change (?); play with kitties; chase the El Jefe around the living room; MAYBE try to get a load of laundry going; or make the bed (a significant achievement, trust me).
8:30 am - feed the kitties, El Jefe, and me.
8:50 am - do a second attempt at feeding El Jefe, if he didn't finish his food the first time around.
9 am - shower; put El Jefe in the bassinet or in his exersaucer; get ready for work.
9:30 am - breastfeed El Jefe; sometimes he'll fall asleep.
10 am - nanny arrives, tell her what's going on; last few minutes of cuddle time if El Jefe is awake.
10:30 am - 6:30 pm - relax, eat, pump, relax, pump; OR work; actually, work has been quite hectic lately so it hasn't been relaxing.
7 - 10 pm - arrive home; breastfeed El Jefe; (make?) eat dinner; wash pump dishes; play with El Jefe; breastfeed El Jefe, bathe him, feed him, he sacks, maybe watch a little bit of a movie or try to do some stuff on the computer; go to sleep.
On days I'm lucky or work is slow, then I go home around 6 pm and get a little bit more time to do other stuff, like meet up with a friend, go for a walk, go to the store with El Jefe. But generally, that's it. That's life right now. And we are loving it.
Saturday, September 5, 2009
Sunday, August 30, 2009
Thank God
For the past 6 month, my brother has been in jail on DUI charges. At 1:11 am this morning, I got the call from him that he was out. The Peanut and I are about to fly south to see him. I can't wait.
Tuesday, August 18, 2009
Yes, I am Alive
Yup, I’m still alive. I’ve just been busy. In the past month we went to Orange County, Boston, and started looking for a nanny.
Both trips were fun. We saw loads of family and friends and the Peanut had a wonderful time meeting lots of people. Highlights include:
Splashing in a kiddie pool; hanging out with big kids (the Peanut’s highlight), eating lots of ice cream at Cabot’s in Newton, seeing lots of friends (thank you to those who traveled long distances to see us), going to the Boston aquarium, getting lost trying to drive through the Boston suburbs (fortunately the Peanut slept right through it).
At his 6 month birth anniversary we decided we could no longer call our son Peanut. He was too old. Not only did he no longer look like a Peanut (big head, poufy diaper), but we didn’t want the name to stick. So we’ve been trying out other names that include Calabazita (pumpkin) and El Jefe (the boss). Unfortunately we still tend to call him Peanut or the Fuss.
The nanny interviewing process has been going pretty well. We were happy with our pool of nannies until we realized that we don’t really know any of these people. And how well can you really get to know anyone in less than 1 month? So we are kind of stressed out right now, trying to figure all this out. Before the Peanut was born, I figured I would have no trouble sending him to daycare. And I think the husband felt exactly the same way, until he stayed at home with the Peanut for 10 weeks. My husband fears the nanny will be careless or abandon our child and my fear is that the nanny will kidnap him. We’ve decided to offset our work schedules so that the Peanut is only with a nanny for 6 hours a day, 4 days a week. Most likely nothing will happen, and the nanny will become an integral part of our family and the Peanut’s life. What more could we ask for than a nanny that the Peanut is happy to see? Wish us luck!
Other highlights from the past month include:
First food – rice cereal with breastmilk! We didn’t get any of the funny faces. On the contrary, the Peanut really seemed to enjoy the food. We have gotten some classic faces with pureed carrots, but we don’t have any pictures of that.
We got a backpack carrier which the Peanut really seems to love.
We checked out some horses!
We used the potty (but I’ll only show the Peanut’s picture). Ok, so we are not one of those families that is crazy about one parenting theory over another. For a while there, the Peanut tended to leak his diaper every morning. So instead of waiting for a leak, or trying to do a change midway through the deed, we decided to sit him on the potty. And it worked! Was that too much info? We’ve actually only tried this once. But it was a cute picture!
The Peanut got his first drug rug!
And these baseball hat pictures are adorable!
And of course, priceless.
Since I haven’t posted in a long time, I’m going to make this a long one.
My birthday was last week! This was actually a pretty bad birthday of all the birthday’s I’ve had. It got better as the day neared an end. In the past I have always loved my birthday and I was really looking forward to this birthday. But this birthday all I really wanted to do was go home and sit on the couch and stare at the wall. However, I was stuck at work, with a lot of stressful things going on, until much later than I wanted to. When I finally left work, my parents helped me organize the garage. That actually made me happy. Am I old or just domesticated? We finally ended up going downtown, to partake in the once a month summer festivities (band, farmer’s market, etc.), and had dinner at The Tied House, our local brewpub. Thanks to Will and Christine who joined us. But then, as we were heading home, I felt really sick. It must have been something I ate? Who knows. Fortunately the ill feelings passed quickly.
Oh, 3 weekends ago I went to a soccer camp put on the by the local women’s professional team. It was my first time playing soccer in about 1 year and it was fun. I did roll my ankle but it only took a couple of minutes to get over the pain and back onto the field. There were about 18 women at the camp coached by Tiffeny Millbret and Christine Sinclair. I was probably the most skilled player on the field. But it was a great way for me to get back into the soccer mood. I’ve signed up for a women’s league starting in 1 month. I can’t wait.
Speaking of rolling my ankle...I’ve always been worried about what would happen if we tripped as we were carrying the Peanut. Would we throw the Peanut in the air so that we could free our hands to break our fall? Would we do a move defying the laws of physics and somehow end up under the Peanut to break his fall? Well, the other day I was carrying the Peanut when my foot found a hole in the ground and I rolled my ankle. I heard lots of popping noises. And it hurt. But the Peanut barely moved in my arms. And I watched the husband do a similar thing. He was sitting on the ground and tried to stand up while holding the Peanut, lost his balance, but somehow managed to land back on the ground, in a completely different position, but the Peanut barely moved in space. I guess when you are holding such precious cargo, your body is aware of that and it reacts accordingly.
Well, I had planned on making this post A LOT longer, but to get it finished and published, I'll stop here. At least I got the pics up and that's all anyone cares about anyway.
Both trips were fun. We saw loads of family and friends and the Peanut had a wonderful time meeting lots of people. Highlights include:
Splashing in a kiddie pool; hanging out with big kids (the Peanut’s highlight), eating lots of ice cream at Cabot’s in Newton, seeing lots of friends (thank you to those who traveled long distances to see us), going to the Boston aquarium, getting lost trying to drive through the Boston suburbs (fortunately the Peanut slept right through it).
At his 6 month birth anniversary we decided we could no longer call our son Peanut. He was too old. Not only did he no longer look like a Peanut (big head, poufy diaper), but we didn’t want the name to stick. So we’ve been trying out other names that include Calabazita (pumpkin) and El Jefe (the boss). Unfortunately we still tend to call him Peanut or the Fuss.
The nanny interviewing process has been going pretty well. We were happy with our pool of nannies until we realized that we don’t really know any of these people. And how well can you really get to know anyone in less than 1 month? So we are kind of stressed out right now, trying to figure all this out. Before the Peanut was born, I figured I would have no trouble sending him to daycare. And I think the husband felt exactly the same way, until he stayed at home with the Peanut for 10 weeks. My husband fears the nanny will be careless or abandon our child and my fear is that the nanny will kidnap him. We’ve decided to offset our work schedules so that the Peanut is only with a nanny for 6 hours a day, 4 days a week. Most likely nothing will happen, and the nanny will become an integral part of our family and the Peanut’s life. What more could we ask for than a nanny that the Peanut is happy to see? Wish us luck!
Other highlights from the past month include:
First food – rice cereal with breastmilk! We didn’t get any of the funny faces. On the contrary, the Peanut really seemed to enjoy the food. We have gotten some classic faces with pureed carrots, but we don’t have any pictures of that.
We got a backpack carrier which the Peanut really seems to love.
We checked out some horses!
We used the potty (but I’ll only show the Peanut’s picture). Ok, so we are not one of those families that is crazy about one parenting theory over another. For a while there, the Peanut tended to leak his diaper every morning. So instead of waiting for a leak, or trying to do a change midway through the deed, we decided to sit him on the potty. And it worked! Was that too much info? We’ve actually only tried this once. But it was a cute picture!
The Peanut got his first drug rug!
And these baseball hat pictures are adorable!
And of course, priceless.
Since I haven’t posted in a long time, I’m going to make this a long one.
My birthday was last week! This was actually a pretty bad birthday of all the birthday’s I’ve had. It got better as the day neared an end. In the past I have always loved my birthday and I was really looking forward to this birthday. But this birthday all I really wanted to do was go home and sit on the couch and stare at the wall. However, I was stuck at work, with a lot of stressful things going on, until much later than I wanted to. When I finally left work, my parents helped me organize the garage. That actually made me happy. Am I old or just domesticated? We finally ended up going downtown, to partake in the once a month summer festivities (band, farmer’s market, etc.), and had dinner at The Tied House, our local brewpub. Thanks to Will and Christine who joined us. But then, as we were heading home, I felt really sick. It must have been something I ate? Who knows. Fortunately the ill feelings passed quickly.
Oh, 3 weekends ago I went to a soccer camp put on the by the local women’s professional team. It was my first time playing soccer in about 1 year and it was fun. I did roll my ankle but it only took a couple of minutes to get over the pain and back onto the field. There were about 18 women at the camp coached by Tiffeny Millbret and Christine Sinclair. I was probably the most skilled player on the field. But it was a great way for me to get back into the soccer mood. I’ve signed up for a women’s league starting in 1 month. I can’t wait.
Speaking of rolling my ankle...I’ve always been worried about what would happen if we tripped as we were carrying the Peanut. Would we throw the Peanut in the air so that we could free our hands to break our fall? Would we do a move defying the laws of physics and somehow end up under the Peanut to break his fall? Well, the other day I was carrying the Peanut when my foot found a hole in the ground and I rolled my ankle. I heard lots of popping noises. And it hurt. But the Peanut barely moved in my arms. And I watched the husband do a similar thing. He was sitting on the ground and tried to stand up while holding the Peanut, lost his balance, but somehow managed to land back on the ground, in a completely different position, but the Peanut barely moved in space. I guess when you are holding such precious cargo, your body is aware of that and it reacts accordingly.
Well, I had planned on making this post A LOT longer, but to get it finished and published, I'll stop here. At least I got the pics up and that's all anyone cares about anyway.
Thursday, June 25, 2009
Link Roundup
"I want these two hypocrites to apologize to all of my gay and lesbian friends who want to be able to marry the one they love, rather than being scapegoated as threatening traditional marriage. Seriously."
Amen!
I am so glad I was born in a country with good healthcare. And I am fortunate to have access to the healthcare I needed while I was pregnant. There's so much I can say but it's easier for you to just think for yourself:
"Childbirth in Tanzania." (no gory pictures)
"It’s not easy to hear the truth, that your child is indeed different. Some parents do not even hear the doctor’s words: “Your child has superpowers.” It is natural to feel afraid, and even to seek a second opinion. But it is within every parent’s power to handle such an occurrence. Indeed, you will likely come to find your life with a superpowered child an enriching one, in addition to never fearing street toughs again."
Phew! Questions answered. via The Morrissey Chronicles.
"here isn't enough money to go around, and to try to help everyone a little bit—to observe the principle of universality—isn't as cost-effective as helping a few people a lot."
Sometimes the solution isn't fair. via Alkaline Earth.
"And then we dismantled the most ancient of human laws, the law against usury, which had existed in some form in every civilization from the time of the Babylonian Empire to the end of Jimmy Carter's term, and which had been so taken for granted that no one ever even mentioned it to us in law school. That's when we found out what happens when an advanced industrial economy tries to function with no cap at all on interest rates."
Good read on the current economic crisis. via Alkaline Earth.
And finally, here are some pictures. The Peanut absolutely loves his exersaucer. We call it his office since he always looks as if he's working pretty hard and having way too much fun.
Amen!
I am so glad I was born in a country with good healthcare. And I am fortunate to have access to the healthcare I needed while I was pregnant. There's so much I can say but it's easier for you to just think for yourself:
"Childbirth in Tanzania." (no gory pictures)
"It’s not easy to hear the truth, that your child is indeed different. Some parents do not even hear the doctor’s words: “Your child has superpowers.” It is natural to feel afraid, and even to seek a second opinion. But it is within every parent’s power to handle such an occurrence. Indeed, you will likely come to find your life with a superpowered child an enriching one, in addition to never fearing street toughs again."
Phew! Questions answered. via The Morrissey Chronicles.
"here isn't enough money to go around, and to try to help everyone a little bit—to observe the principle of universality—isn't as cost-effective as helping a few people a lot."
Sometimes the solution isn't fair. via Alkaline Earth.
"And then we dismantled the most ancient of human laws, the law against usury, which had existed in some form in every civilization from the time of the Babylonian Empire to the end of Jimmy Carter's term, and which had been so taken for granted that no one ever even mentioned it to us in law school. That's when we found out what happens when an advanced industrial economy tries to function with no cap at all on interest rates."
Good read on the current economic crisis. via Alkaline Earth.
And finally, here are some pictures. The Peanut absolutely loves his exersaucer. We call it his office since he always looks as if he's working pretty hard and having way too much fun.
Monday, June 22, 2009
Some Insights
I finally have made time to read. And now it's my second favorite thing to do. I have read a couple of books already, a couple of mystery thrillers: Coffin Dancer by Jefferey Deaver and Fatal Voyage by Kathy Reichs. They were both great books and I often stayed up too late to read a few more pages. Now I'm reading a Skeleton Crew by Steven King. I've read The Mist - great story but I didn't like the ending. But as the husband said, there's no better way to end that story. Now I am reading The Monkey, and I'm surprised I haven't had nightmares. Stories about children's toys gone bad really scare me. Always have.
I installed Quicken on my laptop and have started to track our finances beginning in June. I am super excited about this it's almost scary. Maybe I should have been an accountant. I want to track every single penny we spend. Hopefully I won't drive my husband crazy. On the plus side, this will help us decide whether we're financially stable enough to have one of us become a stay-at-home parent.
I'm on Facebook, but not on Twitter. I checked out the twitter page today for the first time, and it really stressed me out. It took me a while to get on Facebook, and now I love it. I'm always thinking of new people to look up. However, I don't think I can handle another online social network application/website/whatever you call it.
The Peanut has woken up only once during the night for 4 of the last 5 nights. Wow! We are excited. I, on the other hand, wake up a lot more, for various reasons. We finally stopped bedsharing and put him back in the bassinet in our room and the first night, much to our surprise, he only woke up once. I woke up 3 times, because I was used to it and I really needed to nurse. But I waited it out and only had to feed once. Monkey was really annoying last night, scratching at the door, and whining to come into our room. We've been kicking the cats out of our room because Monkey and Fattie keep jumping into the Peanut's crib. Monkey is bi-polar and she could easily scratch the Peanut and Fattie is, well, he's almost 30 lbs. So if my body is not waking me up, it's the kitties. But at least it's not the Peanut and that's a good thing.
The husband survived his first day back at work. He's quite bummed that his paternity leave is over. He did an awesome job taking care of the Peanut and I'm so glad that he got to stay at home. I think all daddies should stay at home for a few weeks. And if you live in CA, you can even get paid for some of the leave. I had my concerns when I first went back to work and left the boys alone. I was mostly worried about the Peanut missing me and the husband not knowing how to soothe him. The Peanut did miss me but the husband found his own way to soothe the Peanut and everything worked out. Now I see my husband going through the same emotions that I did when I went back to work.
I installed Quicken on my laptop and have started to track our finances beginning in June. I am super excited about this it's almost scary. Maybe I should have been an accountant. I want to track every single penny we spend. Hopefully I won't drive my husband crazy. On the plus side, this will help us decide whether we're financially stable enough to have one of us become a stay-at-home parent.
I'm on Facebook, but not on Twitter. I checked out the twitter page today for the first time, and it really stressed me out. It took me a while to get on Facebook, and now I love it. I'm always thinking of new people to look up. However, I don't think I can handle another online social network application/website/whatever you call it.
The Peanut has woken up only once during the night for 4 of the last 5 nights. Wow! We are excited. I, on the other hand, wake up a lot more, for various reasons. We finally stopped bedsharing and put him back in the bassinet in our room and the first night, much to our surprise, he only woke up once. I woke up 3 times, because I was used to it and I really needed to nurse. But I waited it out and only had to feed once. Monkey was really annoying last night, scratching at the door, and whining to come into our room. We've been kicking the cats out of our room because Monkey and Fattie keep jumping into the Peanut's crib. Monkey is bi-polar and she could easily scratch the Peanut and Fattie is, well, he's almost 30 lbs. So if my body is not waking me up, it's the kitties. But at least it's not the Peanut and that's a good thing.
The husband survived his first day back at work. He's quite bummed that his paternity leave is over. He did an awesome job taking care of the Peanut and I'm so glad that he got to stay at home. I think all daddies should stay at home for a few weeks. And if you live in CA, you can even get paid for some of the leave. I had my concerns when I first went back to work and left the boys alone. I was mostly worried about the Peanut missing me and the husband not knowing how to soothe him. The Peanut did miss me but the husband found his own way to soothe the Peanut and everything worked out. Now I see my husband going through the same emotions that I did when I went back to work.
Friday, June 19, 2009
Bits and Pieces
For the second time in his life, the Peanut only woke up 1 time last night and slept 7 hours straight. I, on the other hand, woke up about 4 times, wondering why the Peanut had not yet awoken and to check on him. The funny thing is that we had been bedsharing once again for the past week (we enjoy bedsharing so much we can't stop), and last night was the first time we put the Peanut back in his bassinet. We'll probably have him sleep in his bassinet again, and we'll see what happens tonight.
As I was leaving for work one morning last week, I noticed the husband was setting up the xBox and projector to watch a movie:
Me: Oh, what movie are you guys going to watch?
The Husband: Jackass.
Me: Ummm, I don't think that's a good movie.
The Husband: No, it's a good one, it has good music.
Me: Ok. (and I walked out the door)
When I returned that evening, it turned out that Jackass was in fact not a good choice. Oh well. Live and learn. But the Peanut had been watching a lot of Cosmos. Whenever Carl Sagan is on the screen, the Peanut starts talking back. It's soo cute.
My mom and the husband teamed up to care for the Peanut last week. I think it was a good week for everyone. The husband goes back to work on Monday and he's already missing the Peanut. The transition is hard but it does get easier as time goes by. My mom will be flying back and forth every week to take care of the Peanut this summer. Then we'll have to figure out what we do...daycare, nanny, stay at home mom/dad...decisions, decisions.
Well, that's it for now. I'm so glad it's Friday. I'll try to get more pictures up soon.
As I was leaving for work one morning last week, I noticed the husband was setting up the xBox and projector to watch a movie:
Me: Oh, what movie are you guys going to watch?
The Husband: Jackass.
Me: Ummm, I don't think that's a good movie.
The Husband: No, it's a good one, it has good music.
Me: Ok. (and I walked out the door)
When I returned that evening, it turned out that Jackass was in fact not a good choice. Oh well. Live and learn. But the Peanut had been watching a lot of Cosmos. Whenever Carl Sagan is on the screen, the Peanut starts talking back. It's soo cute.
My mom and the husband teamed up to care for the Peanut last week. I think it was a good week for everyone. The husband goes back to work on Monday and he's already missing the Peanut. The transition is hard but it does get easier as time goes by. My mom will be flying back and forth every week to take care of the Peanut this summer. Then we'll have to figure out what we do...daycare, nanny, stay at home mom/dad...decisions, decisions.
Well, that's it for now. I'm so glad it's Friday. I'll try to get more pictures up soon.
Saturday, June 6, 2009
Monday, June 1, 2009
We Haven't Laughed This Hard Ever
Sorry for the poor video quality. We have a high-def camera but can't figure out how to make better quality, but smaller sized videos. This one is about 2.5 minutes long and the image gets better when we turn on the light about 30 seconds into the video. Be sure to have the sound on. Enjoy!
Sunday, May 31, 2009
It's Been a Great Month
Lots of playing. Lots of walks. Lots of fun. Even some swimming! I can't wait for the days to come.
Tuesday, May 19, 2009
Weird
On my way in to work this morning, I was driving behind an old, teal sedan. While we waited at a stoplight, the driver threw her cigarette butt out the window. Bad. We continued driving, I was listening to NPR (note to self, time to pledge) and had the windows rolled down because it was nice outside. I started smelling gas fumes. The smell continued for a few blocks and I started watching my gas gauge, to make sure it wasn't me. I then realized it was the car in front of me. The car wasn't dripping gas, it was spewing gas. It was really gross. I switched lanes to try to pull up next to the driver and let her know she was leaking gas, but traffic prevented me from pulling up beside her. We finally reached the street where I had to make a right turn and the leaky car got in the lane to make a left turn. Even though we were a couple of lanes apart, I noticed that not only was the car spewing gas, it was also smoking. I looked up to see if the driver was looking in my direction, and I saw her roll down the window and reach for a cigarette. I started honking to get her attention and when I did, I signaled and mouthed that she was leaking gas. She nodded her head and mouthed "I know." I made my right turn and drove away as fast as I could. What was she doing throwing her cigarette butt out the window if she knew she was leaking gas??!!
Sunday, May 17, 2009
Oh No!
What happens when I leave the boys alone??? The Peanut gets a new outfit.
That's right, that's an old pair of Hanes, with arm holes.
This is a great sight to come home to.
Friday, May 8, 2009
Working Mom
I've been back at work for 2 weeks now. The first couple of days were easy. The next few were hard. Being at work isn't so hard, it's when I go home and I see what I'm missing that I sometimes feel sad. I tend to only get 2-3 hours with the Peanut of play time before it's time to go to bed. So now my weeknights and weekends have a whole new meaning. I used to have a long list of things of stuff I wanted to do on the weekends, but now all I want to do is hangout with the Peanut. And not getting enough rest at night just adds to the emotional stress. But we're managing.
By the second week, stuff at work got a lot more stressful. I went from hanging out with my son 24/7 to working on developing a numerical model of a bullet for new and improved armor designs. So work is challenging. My boss was in my office a few days ago, and we were trying to figure out how a material model was working and he said: "blah, blah, blah, that's right, because what is the log of 1...?" Huh, the log of 1? Uhhhhhhh?? What's a log? I blanked. The only logs I had been thinking of for 3 months were pooppy and nursing logs. And my boss was referring to something completely different. And I've had more than a few similar incidents. Hopefully my boss doesn't think I'm a total idiot now.
The husband is doing great at home. And the Peanut and husband are developing a great relationship. The husband is now becoming the Peanut expert. But fortunately I still have the boobs so the Peanut still enjoys seeing me come home.
I can't believe I'm a working mom now. So much has changed in the last 4 months. I honestly can't remember what we did with our time before the Peanut was born. And my little joys in life are different now. I am happy to see mustard yellow poops in my son's diaper (the best color to have). I cheer when I can pull a booger out of the Peanut's nose. Before the Peanut I was indifferent to baby clothes and didn't care too much about other babies, especially if they didn't belong to friends or family. Now I love baby clothes and all things babies. And when I see another baby I either reminisce about when the Peanut was that young or imagine what the Peanut will be like when he's older.
Well, it's Friday and I can't wait for the weekend to start. Pictures later.
By the second week, stuff at work got a lot more stressful. I went from hanging out with my son 24/7 to working on developing a numerical model of a bullet for new and improved armor designs. So work is challenging. My boss was in my office a few days ago, and we were trying to figure out how a material model was working and he said: "blah, blah, blah, that's right, because what is the log of 1...?" Huh, the log of 1? Uhhhhhhh?? What's a log? I blanked. The only logs I had been thinking of for 3 months were pooppy and nursing logs. And my boss was referring to something completely different. And I've had more than a few similar incidents. Hopefully my boss doesn't think I'm a total idiot now.
The husband is doing great at home. And the Peanut and husband are developing a great relationship. The husband is now becoming the Peanut expert. But fortunately I still have the boobs so the Peanut still enjoys seeing me come home.
I can't believe I'm a working mom now. So much has changed in the last 4 months. I honestly can't remember what we did with our time before the Peanut was born. And my little joys in life are different now. I am happy to see mustard yellow poops in my son's diaper (the best color to have). I cheer when I can pull a booger out of the Peanut's nose. Before the Peanut I was indifferent to baby clothes and didn't care too much about other babies, especially if they didn't belong to friends or family. Now I love baby clothes and all things babies. And when I see another baby I either reminisce about when the Peanut was that young or imagine what the Peanut will be like when he's older.
Well, it's Friday and I can't wait for the weekend to start. Pictures later.
Monday, April 20, 2009
What We Have Been Up To
This is my last week on maternity leave. I am sad. I can't believe I am going to have to leave the Peanut. The good thing is that he'll stay with someone that loves him as much as I do, his daddy. I'm sure the two boys will have lots of fun together. The Peanut will have a much easier time parting than I will - as long as he gets fed when he wants it and his diaper changed when he needs it.
Over Easter weekend we went to the OC to visit my family. The Peanut was great on the flight. He ate, slept, sucked on his pacifier, and looked around. And of course he charmed a few people. A lady sitting behind us commented to her travel mate that the Peanut was a cute baby. :) The Peanut got lots of love from the family and friends. One of my aunties nicknamed him the blender since he loves to get bounced and swayed.
The husband's brother met up with us in the OC and we all flew back together. During his visit, we went to the new California Academy of Sciences at Golden Gate Park. It was awesome. We didn't get to see a lot because we got there late and it was crowded, but the Peanut loved the fish. However, after about 30 minutes of fish he got a little over stimulated and needed to take a nap. But we had so much fun showing him the fish at the aquarium that today we took him to the pet store to check out more fish. But the store fish weren't as cool.
The Peanut is now 3 months. He's able to mostly support his head, but he doesn't have much control with it and he still often bangs his head against our shoulder or head. So we still try to support it. The Peanut has also started holding on to things, like a rattle. He doesn't yet reach for anything, but I expect that is a couple weeks away. We've also started teaching the Peanut some sign language. We are keeping it simple with words like mommy, daddy, baby, nurse, milk, happy, love. We are using signs from a baby sign language book we got, but I don't think they are appropriate American Sign Language signs (at least not all of them). Hopefully the three languages we are using won't be too much for the Peanut.
And now, for more exciting stuff...PICTURES!!!
Puppy Kiss!!!
Close-up
Hanging out with some oranges in the OC.
What the???
Family Easter picture.
Yummy fist.
Artistic bath picture.
Check out the fish!
Over Easter weekend we went to the OC to visit my family. The Peanut was great on the flight. He ate, slept, sucked on his pacifier, and looked around. And of course he charmed a few people. A lady sitting behind us commented to her travel mate that the Peanut was a cute baby. :) The Peanut got lots of love from the family and friends. One of my aunties nicknamed him the blender since he loves to get bounced and swayed.
The husband's brother met up with us in the OC and we all flew back together. During his visit, we went to the new California Academy of Sciences at Golden Gate Park. It was awesome. We didn't get to see a lot because we got there late and it was crowded, but the Peanut loved the fish. However, after about 30 minutes of fish he got a little over stimulated and needed to take a nap. But we had so much fun showing him the fish at the aquarium that today we took him to the pet store to check out more fish. But the store fish weren't as cool.
The Peanut is now 3 months. He's able to mostly support his head, but he doesn't have much control with it and he still often bangs his head against our shoulder or head. So we still try to support it. The Peanut has also started holding on to things, like a rattle. He doesn't yet reach for anything, but I expect that is a couple weeks away. We've also started teaching the Peanut some sign language. We are keeping it simple with words like mommy, daddy, baby, nurse, milk, happy, love. We are using signs from a baby sign language book we got, but I don't think they are appropriate American Sign Language signs (at least not all of them). Hopefully the three languages we are using won't be too much for the Peanut.
And now, for more exciting stuff...PICTURES!!!
Thursday, April 9, 2009
Co-Sleeping
A few weekends ago we decided to co-sleep with the Peanut. He gave us 6 hours between feedings which was awesome. But, we were so worried about squishing the baby that we barely slept. The following weekend, we tried it again. The second time around we loved it and were hooked. We've been co-sleeping since. It's so much fun. It's like a little slumber party every night. The only thing is that since we are not planning on co-sleeping in the long term, we probably need to go back to having the Peanut sleep in his crib. But maybe we'll enjoy it for another few weeks.
This weekend we are going to OC to visit family. It's the Peanut's first trip. We are quite excited. We were thinking of visiting the in-laws in Italy later this month (but decided it would have been too logistically difficult), so the Peanut already has his passport. He is set!
Today we went to the San Jose Museum of Art and checked out an Andy Warhol exhibit. The Peanut was awake and observant the whole time. There were certain paintings he liked and would stare and smile and others that made him fuss. He's already an art critic.
In non-baby news, over the weekend I went to the openning game of the new Women's Professional Soccer (WPS) league. It was a fun game and it was awesome to see some of the veterans like Brandi Chastain and Tiffany Milbrett still playing so late in their careers. Chastain turns 41 this year. Wow! Before the game, a friend of ours had a tailgating party at her house. Now, since most of my readers are not from the mid-west, let me tell you a little something about mid-west cuisine (my friend is from the mid-west). If you live in the mid-west, on special occasions, next to your meat and potatoes, you might find a jello dish. My friend had talked about these dishes before and I never quite believed her. She described dishes that included ingredients like jello, fruits, pistachios, carrots, and other stuff you would probably not use in the same sentence with jello. Well, this particular jello dish had baked pretzels layered with a whipped cream, cream cheese, and sugar filling, and then topped with jello with strawberry chunks. It was actually quite good. Sweet and tart at the same time. So not that bad. UNTIL I realized that the dish is a side dish and NOT a desert. I had some leftovers but I ate my jello dish for desert.
Happy Easter everyone!!
This weekend we are going to OC to visit family. It's the Peanut's first trip. We are quite excited. We were thinking of visiting the in-laws in Italy later this month (but decided it would have been too logistically difficult), so the Peanut already has his passport. He is set!
Today we went to the San Jose Museum of Art and checked out an Andy Warhol exhibit. The Peanut was awake and observant the whole time. There were certain paintings he liked and would stare and smile and others that made him fuss. He's already an art critic.
In non-baby news, over the weekend I went to the openning game of the new Women's Professional Soccer (WPS) league. It was a fun game and it was awesome to see some of the veterans like Brandi Chastain and Tiffany Milbrett still playing so late in their careers. Chastain turns 41 this year. Wow! Before the game, a friend of ours had a tailgating party at her house. Now, since most of my readers are not from the mid-west, let me tell you a little something about mid-west cuisine (my friend is from the mid-west). If you live in the mid-west, on special occasions, next to your meat and potatoes, you might find a jello dish. My friend had talked about these dishes before and I never quite believed her. She described dishes that included ingredients like jello, fruits, pistachios, carrots, and other stuff you would probably not use in the same sentence with jello. Well, this particular jello dish had baked pretzels layered with a whipped cream, cream cheese, and sugar filling, and then topped with jello with strawberry chunks. It was actually quite good. Sweet and tart at the same time. So not that bad. UNTIL I realized that the dish is a side dish and NOT a desert. I had some leftovers but I ate my jello dish for desert.
Happy Easter everyone!!
Friday, April 3, 2009
Bits and Pieces
I walked into our bedroom last night to find Monkey sitting on the husbands laptop. She had Googled "]67" and there was drool on the laptop.
A few nights ago, around 3:30 am, I had fed the Peanut and had changed his diaper. I was sleepily putting his clothes back on with all the lights off except the nightlight. As I was finishing, I glanced up at his face and realized he was staring at me with a very concerned look on his face. He looked really cute and I smiled. He smiled back at me with his big, toothless grin. My heart melted.
I am getting better and faster with the one handed typing.
There's a "big sale" at the trailer park near our house. Hmmm.
Oh, did anyone participate in Earth Hour last weekend? We did. The husband bottle fed the Peanut by candlelight while I read Walt Whitman out loud. It was fun, except for the Whitman part. His poetry is kind of depressing.
I was pretty sure I had a lot more stuff but I can't seem to remember any of it right now. So instead, I present and Ode to Brady Part II (Part I is here).
Brady???
Brady!!!
Daddy and son.
A few nights ago, around 3:30 am, I had fed the Peanut and had changed his diaper. I was sleepily putting his clothes back on with all the lights off except the nightlight. As I was finishing, I glanced up at his face and realized he was staring at me with a very concerned look on his face. He looked really cute and I smiled. He smiled back at me with his big, toothless grin. My heart melted.
I am getting better and faster with the one handed typing.
There's a "big sale" at the trailer park near our house. Hmmm.
Oh, did anyone participate in Earth Hour last weekend? We did. The husband bottle fed the Peanut by candlelight while I read Walt Whitman out loud. It was fun, except for the Whitman part. His poetry is kind of depressing.
I was pretty sure I had a lot more stuff but I can't seem to remember any of it right now. So instead, I present and Ode to Brady Part II (Part I is here).
Wednesday, March 25, 2009
Tuesday, March 24, 2009
2 Months!
2 months already! Wow! As someone in our new mom's group said, "the days are long, but the years are short." So true. The days are long and not. Sometimes I'll look up at the clock and be amazed that it's already 3 pm (didn't we just get up an hour ago??). By 7 or 8 pm I'm exhausted, but feel as if I didn't accomplish anything. I guess the diapering and feeding is all part of my routine now (like brushing my teeth), so it's not something that's on my list of to-do's from day to day.
Baby massage is going well. During the first class the peanut was quite fussy, as were most of the babies. That's not really what you would expect at a massage class. Last week's class was great. We got a lot of massage done and the Peanut LOVED it.
We finally narrowed our cloth diaper options to pocket diapers. They are pretty easy. So here's a quick tutorial on cloth diapers - there are 4 basic kinds: flatfolds (a big rectangular piece of fabric that you fold/wrap around a baby, secure, and then put a "waterproof" cover on), prefolds (already folded/contoured and also require a cover), pockets (a cover with a pocket so you can vary your stuffing/absorbency), and all-in-ones (these are most like disposables). We went with pocket diapers, mostly because the layer that touches the baby's bum is made of a material that wicks moisture away so it feels dry. Since we struggle with diaper rash on the Peanut, we need that area to stay as dry as possible. There are a ton of different manufacturers of pocket diapers, but I narrowed it down to a few and bought a couple of each brand to try out - Happy Heinys, Fuzzi Bunz, BumGenius, and TinyTush. With names like that, why wouldn't you want to use cloth diapers? After that, you have a few more, simpler choices...snaps vs. velcro, color, etc.
So scratch that. When I first started writing this post last week, I was all excited about cloth diapers. We had already been using them for a while in conjunction with disposables since I had not yet purchased enough to use them all the time (and we were still deciding on a brand). But, since we are always battling diaper rash, we need to keep the Peanut's bum lathered with diaper rash cream, which is terrible for cloth diapers. Diaper rash cream creates a water proof barrier on the baby's bum...and so any that gets on the diaper will create a water proof barrier on the diaper itself. That's bad. Some of the organic creams will wash out of the diaper, but not the heavy duty stuff we need. So we stopped using cloth diapers and also switched up the disposable diaper brand. We've tried the popular brands like Huggies and Pampers and were using the Whole Foods brand (no chemicals). But over the weekend we switched it up to the Seventh Generation brand (also no chemicals), and the rash is almost all gone. Yay! We still need to keep using the diaper rash cream, even if the rash is gone, just to add a layer of protection (as the pediatrician recommended). Cloth diapers are supposed to prevent diaper rash better than disposables, and we would still love to use cloth vs. disposable, but I think we'll need to wait a little while, to see if the baby's bum "toughens up".
So parents don't talk in high-pitched baby talk because they like to, but because it works. If I try to explain to the Peanut that I need to put his socks on before I feed him, "I need to put your socks on" doesn't work. Now if I say "I need to put on your little sockies on your little toesies that are soo cutie" in a high-pitched voice with lots of animation (think smiling like crazy, waving the socks around), then I'll get an extra few seconds to put the socks on before he starts screaming. The only problem is that after talking in such a manner for 10+ hours, it's hard to turn off when I talk to an adult (aka, the husband).
I recently learned I can stuff 7 tortellinis in my mouth at once. The Peanut was hungry but so was I.
The Peanut has been awake and playful a lot more. He's generally very happy in the mornings or after naps. He's even started to wake up during walks (he tends to sleep as soon as he's rocked in the car or stroller). Last night I took him to meet my indoor team and watch the game and he was alert and watching the whole time. It's a lot more work now that he's awake a lot more but it's also a lot more fun.
I finally got back into pilates. My back was starting to bother me and after a couple of pilates and physical therapy sessions, I feel so much better. Pilates is a lot harder now that I am not pregnant. I no longer have a wedge to lie on which makes the ab work a lot easier. And when I do push ups, I have a lot further down to go so those are harder too. The only thing that is easier is the balance.
Here's a couple more pictures: Superbaby and cute hands
Baby massage is going well. During the first class the peanut was quite fussy, as were most of the babies. That's not really what you would expect at a massage class. Last week's class was great. We got a lot of massage done and the Peanut LOVED it.
We finally narrowed our cloth diaper options to pocket diapers. They are pretty easy. So here's a quick tutorial on cloth diapers - there are 4 basic kinds: flatfolds (a big rectangular piece of fabric that you fold/wrap around a baby, secure, and then put a "waterproof" cover on), prefolds (already folded/contoured and also require a cover), pockets (a cover with a pocket so you can vary your stuffing/absorbency), and all-in-ones (these are most like disposables). We went with pocket diapers, mostly because the layer that touches the baby's bum is made of a material that wicks moisture away so it feels dry. Since we struggle with diaper rash on the Peanut, we need that area to stay as dry as possible. There are a ton of different manufacturers of pocket diapers, but I narrowed it down to a few and bought a couple of each brand to try out - Happy Heinys, Fuzzi Bunz, BumGenius, and TinyTush. With names like that, why wouldn't you want to use cloth diapers? After that, you have a few more, simpler choices...snaps vs. velcro, color, etc.
So scratch that. When I first started writing this post last week, I was all excited about cloth diapers. We had already been using them for a while in conjunction with disposables since I had not yet purchased enough to use them all the time (and we were still deciding on a brand). But, since we are always battling diaper rash, we need to keep the Peanut's bum lathered with diaper rash cream, which is terrible for cloth diapers. Diaper rash cream creates a water proof barrier on the baby's bum...and so any that gets on the diaper will create a water proof barrier on the diaper itself. That's bad. Some of the organic creams will wash out of the diaper, but not the heavy duty stuff we need. So we stopped using cloth diapers and also switched up the disposable diaper brand. We've tried the popular brands like Huggies and Pampers and were using the Whole Foods brand (no chemicals). But over the weekend we switched it up to the Seventh Generation brand (also no chemicals), and the rash is almost all gone. Yay! We still need to keep using the diaper rash cream, even if the rash is gone, just to add a layer of protection (as the pediatrician recommended). Cloth diapers are supposed to prevent diaper rash better than disposables, and we would still love to use cloth vs. disposable, but I think we'll need to wait a little while, to see if the baby's bum "toughens up".
So parents don't talk in high-pitched baby talk because they like to, but because it works. If I try to explain to the Peanut that I need to put his socks on before I feed him, "I need to put your socks on" doesn't work. Now if I say "I need to put on your little sockies on your little toesies that are soo cutie" in a high-pitched voice with lots of animation (think smiling like crazy, waving the socks around), then I'll get an extra few seconds to put the socks on before he starts screaming. The only problem is that after talking in such a manner for 10+ hours, it's hard to turn off when I talk to an adult (aka, the husband).
I recently learned I can stuff 7 tortellinis in my mouth at once. The Peanut was hungry but so was I.
The Peanut has been awake and playful a lot more. He's generally very happy in the mornings or after naps. He's even started to wake up during walks (he tends to sleep as soon as he's rocked in the car or stroller). Last night I took him to meet my indoor team and watch the game and he was alert and watching the whole time. It's a lot more work now that he's awake a lot more but it's also a lot more fun.
I finally got back into pilates. My back was starting to bother me and after a couple of pilates and physical therapy sessions, I feel so much better. Pilates is a lot harder now that I am not pregnant. I no longer have a wedge to lie on which makes the ab work a lot easier. And when I do push ups, I have a lot further down to go so those are harder too. The only thing that is easier is the balance.
Here's a couple more pictures: Superbaby and cute hands
