Houston, We Have Lift Off!

(Oh wait, the space shuttle program no longer exists.)

My little man rolled over today!!  Sadly, I didn't witness it.  I missed it by about 45 minutes because he did it after I left for work this morning, so Grandma was Weston's audience while she was home watching him.  She said he rolled over about 15 times today, and of course, when I got home, he was a bit shy and didn't want to do it right away.  But he caved into the pressure and rolled over like a champ.  He's growing up so fast!!

Going Back to Work

I don't wanna.
I really don't wanna.
I am less than enthused about going back to work full time on Monday.  If teaching were truly a 40-hour work week, then it might be easier to swallow.  The reality of it is, though, is that teaching isn't just 40 hours a week.  It's coming in early, staying late and taking work home at night.  Yeah, yeah, we get about 2 and 1/2 months off in the summer, which could make up for it.  But I don't think it does.

Yes, I'm whining.

I'm hoping that if I whine enough, Nate will tell me, "It's okay, honey.  Don't go back to work full-time.  I'll figure it all out."

By the way, we'll really see how this blogging thing goes after working next week.  This could be the last post on the West Allis Baby Project...  I've thought of starting another blog, something along the lines of being a Midwesterner in the South...Corn Fed in the Blue Grass State.   I don't know.  I just hope that Weston doesn't end up with a twang or drawl when he starts talking.

Off to See Kentucky

We're hitting the road today--my mom, Weston and I.  It's going to be a crazy


We've arrived in Cincinnati, just north of Kentucky,


I've tried to post on the blog several times now, and I'm hoping that this time I'll actually get to finish!

As you can see, my mom, Weston and I have left Wisconsin, and are now staying in Cinci with Uncle JeffD, Nate's business partner.  I officially start work tomorrow, but we can't move into our apartment in Covington until August 31, so that's why we're here in Cinci.  Nate's back in Wisco and will be coming next week with the moving truck.

Happy in the car seat (a semi-rare occurrence)

This is the wackiest start to a school year yet.  My mom came with Weston and me because I have no childcare for him until Nate gets here.  She gets to be full-time grandma this week and next and watch him while I go back to work.  I'm very, very conflicted about going back to work.  This is a new job, new district, new age group, and new curriculum (and not to mention new accents).  Oh yeah, and I'm a new mom.  I keep wondering how in the hell this is all going to work out, especially the sleep thing.  He's been sleeping better at night, but with all the moving, driving, changing of time zones, and sleeping in unfamiliar places, Weston still isn't sleeping much longer than 5 hours straight at night.  He'll sleep for about 11 or 12 hours total, but that first stretch of sleep needs to get longer!!  I'm hoping that once we're in our apartment and in a quiet place, he'll be sleeping for 7 or 8 hours straight every night.

Note the car seat covered with a blanket in the bathtub
This is Weston's bedroom when we visit Uncle JeffD

Napping site when no one is in the apartment
(on top of Uncle JeffD's bed)

Weird.

I just remembered that I'm a mom.  I have a son.  And he's so friggin' cute.

Moving On...

I accepted a job in Covington, Kentucky yesterday afternoon as their ESL teacher in the middle and high school!  I'm a whole range of emotions--happy to be finally getting out of Wisconsin and on with the next phase of our lives.  Sad to know that I have to go back to work and leave my baby boy with a complete wacko--Nate.  Angry that I don't have the luxury of staying home full time with Weston.  Scared to start a completely new job with people that speak with a twang and refer to me as "ma'am."

But, with all the other adventures I've tackled in my life, I know I'll be able to get through it.  I have to say, though, that the challenge of being a mom is really overwhelming at times.  I think with all my other challenges (studying abroad in Spain, doing the bike trip last summer, traveling in India...to name a few) there was always a reasonable and manageable amount of time before it was over.  I've discovered with being a mom that there isn't an end in sight.  That's daunting.  On top of that, Weston is so unpredictable.  I never know how much he's going to sleep or if he's going to nurse really well.  Or what mood he'll be in when he wakes up.

I find myself doubting this motherhood gig quite frequently as of late.  I wonder why in the hell I got myself into this thing.  Why didn't I listen to other people say how hard this is and just have a child-free life?

Needless to say, I've been a little blue lately...  Perhaps it's just all the stuff that's going on besides having a baby.  My sister sent me this article to cheer me up a bit and to help me to keep remembering that I'm not the only mom who thinks that this is "too hard."  And when he's super cute like this, I cheer up instantly:

Grabbing the tootsies

So big!

By the way, I don't think this motherhood gig is not all it's cracked up to be everyday.  It's actually very infrequently that I think this.  I think it's been surfacing because in addition to all the craziness in my life as of late, Weston suddenly developed "baby ADD" these past few days while breastfeeding AND it seemed as though he forgot how to sleep more than 3 hours at night.  He would absolutely not nurse, or if he started to, he would pull off after a few seconds.  It was like all of a sudden he could see and hear every single thing that was going on around him.  This was incredibly frustrating (and painful!), and I didn't know what was wrong or what to do.  But, like any other breastfeeding problem we've come to, we've been able to push past it and figure out how to continue to make it work.

Happy Three Months!

Weston celebrated three months yesterday by sleeping, eating, laughing, and pooping.  It was great... and very typical.  He's "unofficially" 15 1/2 pounds and 26 inches tall.  He is still working on rolling over, but he's laughed out loud many times.  He also is trying to reach out to grab things (with a pretty low success rate, but we're getting better).  We've also let him watch a few Baby Einstein videos, and let me tell you, he gets SUPER excited watching them.  He's very vocal during the videos, wiggling and stomping his feet.

I cannot believe how fast he's growing up.  I still can't believe I'm a mom sometimes, either!  I'm responsible for this little mammal and will be for the next eighteen years.  He's such a good baby, and I'm thankful that parenthood is going so well.  I've adapted to the sleep deprivation, breastfeeding is pretty easy, and Nate and I have lots of fun laughing at (and with) Weston.  I am a little shocked at how much hair I'm losing, though.  I knew that it would happen, but wow, if it doesn't let up soon (it's been going on for about a week now), I'm going to have some problems!

So happy to be 3 months old!

Story time with Dad

Pretty soon this onesie from Auntie Mary and Uncle Shad won't fit anymore... :(

"I didn't do that when you were a baby..."

Last week, Nate and I went out on a Super Date--we left Weston at home with my mom at 3pm and didn't get home until 9pm.  It was wonderful!!!  We did a Super Date because we haven't been very consistent about doing our weekly date night since we moved.  I had a follow up IUD appointment in Milwaukee at 4:30 (how un-romantic), and after that was done, we went to Boswell's Books on the East Side and ordered some iced Chai teas and perused the bookstore.  I was feeling ambitious and bought a book, even though I still haven't finished The Fountainhead by Ayn Rand.  Nate bought three.  Afterward, we headed over to Roots, one of our favorite restaurants in Milwaukee and had a couple of sandwiches.

When we got back home, my mom had Weston in bed already, which was good.  However, she didn't turn on the radio to Weston's favorite station: STATIC.  We let the little man have white noise when he's sleeping to help block out all the other sounds that occur in the house.  It was especially great in our apartment in 'Stallis because every step made the floor squeak and creak uncontrollably.

She said to me, "I didn't turn the radio on because I didn't do that when you were a baby.  It's silly."

I said, "Okay, that's fine.  But it helps keep outside noises from waking him up.  That's why we do it."

There are all sorts of things that our parents did with us that we would never dream of doing to our own children, and yet, somehow, we've managed to make it into adulthood.  I'm sure we'll laugh at Weston's parenting decisions, and he'll think it's a miracle that he made it out of childhood.

Baby was 12 weeks old last Thursday--I can't believe it.  Here are some recent shots of the little man:

Nate can make him laugh almost all of the time

This little boy is trying on a bunch of hats that used to be super huge on him a couple of months ago

This little hat's a bit snug...

But this little hat will accommodate his growing noggin...

First shoulder ride

His favorite activity?  Chewing on his fingers