It's been a while...

I didn't realize it's been so long since I've posted. Wow. We've had a busy couple of weeks. Now that it's sunnier and the Peanut is bigger, we are going out a lot more. It's great to be out and about. I can't help but have a huge grin on my face as I push the stroller around. The Peanut doesn't have any friends yet but hopefully we'll get some by default soon enough. We just joined a new mothers support group. We meet once a week with a facilitator that basically has all the answers to the questions we may have (how do we get the babies to sleep through the night?, etc.). There are about 8 of us, and the Peanut is the only boy. He'll be popular one day.

This week we also start a baby massage class. I know it sounds stupid, but I want to do everything I can with the Peanut before I have to go back to work. I never thought I would feel like this, but I would love to be a stay-at-home mom. At least until the Peanut goes on to school. But in this area we can't afford it. Oh well.

Here's a video of the baby hanging out with Major:



Oh, and here's a little cartoon strip our friend made for us:



What else is new...my parents were in town over the weekend. The husband and I went out on a date on Saturday night. We went out for desert and a drink. And we ran into my boss and his wife who were doing the same thing. I had a beer. It was good. But maybe not worth it. When I got home, I had to pump and dump. I have more than enough milk, but I still felt bad about throwing it away.

Our days are starting to get some structure. We have consistently (last 2 days) gotten 4.5 hours between feedings. Which means I get 3 hours of sleep in a row. So he'll usually feed around 8:30 pm and then again at 1 am. Then 4 am, and then again around 7 am. So we only have 2 night feedings. But in the late afternoons, early evenings, we start cluster feeding, and he'll eat every 1.5 - 2 hours, getting himself ready for the long stretch. It's worth it. Feeding often helps me wind down (it's peaceful to feed). Sometimes the husband does a bottle feeding in the evening, which gives me extra time to do whatever.

In the mornings, he is often awake from 6 or 7 am until 11 am or 1 pm. And during that time it's mostly constant attention. He likes to get bounced (which means I bounce too) and he loves looking at stuff (windows, picture frames, mirror).

Being a mommy is soo much fun!

More cute pictures:

The brothers take a nap!


Noodles looks over the baby (in the polka dot sleep sack).


Check out my bald spot.


Go Red Sox!

Another Week

Tomorrow is Friday. I am glad. But at the same time it means another week has gone by and I am one week closer to having to go back to work. I think I will add an extra couple of weeks to my 12 week leave. In CA you get a total of 18 weeks, 12 of those paid (at 55% of your salary). When I go back the husband will take 6-12 weeks off. He gets a total of 12 but only 6 of those are paid. Towards the end of the summer I will probably take another month off. Despite the long, intense days and nights the Peanut and I have together, I can't believe I am going to have to give that all up. But I guess that's life.

As I write this, the Peanut is sleeping on the husband's chest. It's a cute sight. I should be sleeping but I need the break to do something different.

So, when I feed the baby, I sometimes watch DVD's. I've been watching Showtime's The Tudors, which is basically a porno with great costumes (when they wear clothes). I got into the Henry VIII saga when I read The Other Boleyn Girl and watched the movie (book is better). I also watched Goal! The Dream Begins, which is a soccer movie about an illegal Mexican from LA making it big with Newcastle. It's a good movie for a sports movie. That movie actually required more concentration than The Tudors (because of all the soccer moves), so I ended up watching half the movie while the baby slept. Nursing does take some concentration so I need to watch something that I can sometimes tune out without missing anything that major. I was thinking of Lost or Grey's Anatomy, but both of those seem like they will require concentration. Any recommendations? Anyone seen Coupling?

Lesson Learned

We learned an important lesson on Friday night:

NEVER wake a sleeping baby. NEVER.

If the baby is not in his crib, well, then you sit there until he wakes up. If you are holding the baby and your arm is asleep, too bad. And you have to go to the bathroom? Even worse for you.

NEVER wake a sleeping baby.

The baby is napping. I better sleep...but first I'll check email...

Quick Update

So today is the munchkin's 1 month anniversary. I can't believe he's one month already. On the one hand it feels like time is flying, but at the same time, I can't really remember life before our son arrived.

My parents, brother, and his girlfriend were in town this week. We had a good time. My mom loves hanging out with her grandson, so apart from my feeding the peanut, she'll do everything else - burp, change the diaper, whatever. I actually managed to get some rest while she was here. But it was also great to be with family the whole weekend.

I have been talking to Capitán Cacahuete in Spanish a little more than 50% of the time. It's not 100% of the time, but it's better than I expected to do. My husband has also been using some Spanish. He hears me say stuff like "mas leche" and "no llores" and the husband will start repeating it to Capitán Cacahuete.

The Peanut has still been eating a ton of milk. And as you can see from the picture below, it's going straight to his cheeks.

Searching for surf nurse.


We were using flatfold cloth diapers but we were unhappy with them, so we canceled the service. I just ordered a trial kit of different, more sophisticated cloth diapers and we just tried the first diaper. The cloth diapers are super soft and I really hope we are happy with them (and the extra work it will entail to wash them ourselves) because I definitely want something that soft against my son's skin. We'll probably still use disposables for outings and travel.

We still try to swaddle the Peanut because his motor skills are still developing so he scares himself by flailing his arms around as he tries to sleep. A blanket swaddle won't hold him, so we have this special blanket with Velcro that is "inescapable". But as you can see, that's not really the case with the Peanut.

No swaddle can hold me.


And here's another cute picture.

Looking for nurse! Again!

Priceless

I love my husband.

"[Roethlisberger] bumbles around defenders like an old man looking for his glasses, stumbles out of the pocket like it was a dive bar at closing time, and then completes a pass to whoever while I’m off getting a beer because I can’t watch that Vaudeville crap anymore."

Be sure to watch the video, with the sound on, at the end of the post.

Sleepy Parents

So we are surviving parenthood. The lack of sleep is tough, but not as tough as some of the pregnancy changes were for me. Plus, it's hard to be overwhelmed by the lack of sleep when you have a cute little baby staring up at you. The biggest challenge is getting anything done in addition to feeding the baby. He eats every 3 hours, and a feeding session will take 1-1.5 hours. If I'm lucky and we are efficient, it might only take 45 minutes, giving me over 2 hours before the next session. A feeding session usually consists of nursing, burping, changing the diaper, nursing, burping, and sometimes another nurse and or diaper change.

Diaper changes are ok. Half the time the baby throws a tantrum on the changing table so that makes things tough. I don't mind the poopy diapers, but I do mind the water works that catches me unprepared and results in a change of clothes in addition to a change of diaper. As much as I prepare with a pee-pee teepee or a washcloth, he still manages to get something important pretty wet. Thank goodness he has lots of clothes because he often goes through four outfits a day.

Everyone says to sleep when the baby sleeps, but that's nearly impossible. First off it's really hard to just turn off when the baby falls asleep. And second, there's so much else to do...eat, shower, wash clothes, check email.

Here are some pictures from our latest photo shoot.

Check out my Hammer pants!


Brotherly love. Major is a pretty good pillow!

Michael Alexander

Our son was born on Sunday, January 18 at 11:33 pm. He weighed 5 lb. and 15 oz. and measured 20.25 in. long. He was born at week 37 plus 1 day. He was sweet enough to wait to be a term baby but not too long so that mommy wouldn't have to be on bed rest for much longer.

Here are lots of pictures.

"Hello world!" - 2 hours and 6 minutes of life.

Throwing gang signs in the nursery.

Getting checked out by Noodles. Check out the calf muscles on my son - future soccer superstar!

Baby's first dress. Actually, it's a Christening gown that was first worn by the husband's grandfather.

Tummy time!

Being a mom is quite amazing. I need to keep this entry short but I hope to continue adding pictures and blogging about parenthood in the coming weeks and months.