Lights On, Lights Off

We were getting ready to go on a walk and I laid Weston down under the light in the hallway. I wonder how long he would have laid there transfixed as I turned the lights on and off...

A Drinking Problem

Weston's practicing using a cup at dinner time. Note the stream of water pouring down the front of his shirt as he figures out how to get the spout in his mouth.

R.I.P. Microwave

I have the solid food thing down.  I steam a batch of finger foods on the weekends (carrots, sweet potato chunks, green beans, apples, etc.), freeze them, and then pull them out on an as needed basis.  Throw them in a little dish with water, pop them in the zapper for about 20 seconds, and then serve them up to my little man.  It works well, it's convenient, and it's fast.  We are doing well on solid foods!

That is, until three days ago when the microwave died.  Done.  There were occasional flickers of hope as the indicator lit up to 88:88 every couple of hours, but it was nothing more than just a last breath.  We tried banging on the door, jiggling the side, and adjusting the power cord in a vain attempt to resuscitate it, but it now sits on the kitchen floor as a giant drum for Weston to bang on as it awaits trash day next week.

"Go buy another one," you say.  I would, except that we're moving into a house within the next month and the kitchen is brand-spankin' new, complete with all appliances, including a microwave.  So, we're sucking it up and figuring out how to live life B.M.O...Before Microwave Ovens.  

At first, I panicked when all the times we use the microwave flashed through my brain.  Oatmeal in the morning, making tea, warming up water for Weston's bottles, reheating leftovers, defrosting meat because we forgot to take it out of the freezer the night before...  How are we ever going to pull this off for a month???  It was like me thinking of life without the Internet.  How would I ever find the lyrics to a song?  Directions to the nearest Target?  Movie times?  Recipes for twice-baked potatoes?

Then I remembered my dear friend Vanessa in Milwaukee.  She doesn't have a microwave, and she's actually had people over to her house for dinner on multiple occasions.  There was hope!

Steaming basket thingie

The reality is that I've been washing a lot more pots lately, but it's okay.  I'm grateful for the steaming basket thingie that we have because that's how I heat up baby's little finger foods.  Nate said making tea is a lot faster on the stove top.  Oatmeal made on the stove is way better than how it turns out in the microwave.  Sure, it takes more time to do all these things, but that's okay.  It'll make the return of the microwave next month that much more enjoyable.

Weston the Geek, Part Deux

A day at Dad's shop...

Very seriously measuring conduit whilst perched atop the CNC machine

Almost unable to contain his excitement

Two geeks, geeked out about tools and machines

Excellent explanation

After Winter Break Bummers

Yuck.  I had to go back to work last Monday after almost two weeks of 100% baby time.  It was absolutely wonderful to spend all day with Weston.  I was also very excited about not having to pump and looking forward to just breastfeeding.  Like I've said before, I am glad that I am able to continue to breastfeed Weston while I work, but pumping has certainly worn out its welcome.  It's a pain in the ass sometimes.

Anyway, as I packed my Medela Freestyle on Sunday night, I packed all four bottles thinking that after exclusively breastfeeding for 12 days, I would have copious amounts of milk to express during my first pumping session at work on Monday morning.  Since going back to work in August, I've usually been able to bring home about 10-12 ounces of expressed milk from two pumping sessions at work.  However, to my utter horror on Monday at 8:30 am, I sat looking at less than an ounce after pumping.  What??!?  What the hell had happened?  I quickly searched for other moms relating the same story on the Internet, but couldn't really find anything other than a few women talking on a forum about low milk production after taking vacation.  Fortunately, they said that their bodies regulated and once again got used to the pumping schedule.  I pumped again in the afternoon and then squeezed in one more pumping session about an hour later, but was only able to take home a bit less than 5 ounces.  Yikes!

Good news though...I've seen an increase this week, with each day yielding a little bit more, but I only brought home 7 ounces today.  Thank goodness for freezer stashes.

Happy Eight Months!

Eight months by the numbers:

• What I can't believe: that it's 2012
• Weston's percentage of the way to 1 year old: 66.7% 
• Height: ~29 inches
• Weight: 19 1/2 lbs.
• Diapers used: 1,344 diapers (can that really be true??  ~6 diapers a day x 7 days a week x 32 weeks)
• Diaper size: Holding steady at a size 3 Pampers
• Plants eaten: 0
• Plant leaves torn off and ready for mouth: at least 10
• Times slept through the night (no waking up from bedtime to wake up the following morning): 2
• Average number of times he wakes up in the night: 1.2
• Favorite time of the day: 6:00 pm--BATH TIME!
• Boxes of Cheerios consumed: still working on his 1st box
• Pajama size: 12 months
• Hours spent Skype-ing with family members: at least 4
• Top 2 Skype-ers: the Grandmas
• Average time occupied with the vacuum cleaner: about 10 minutes
• Time interested in his other toys: < 1 minute
• Interest level (1-10) with the dishwasher, cords, plants, an open refrigerator, lights, and toilet paper: 11
• Time I've spent winding toilet paper back on the roll: enough to permanently relocate it OFF of the dispenser
• Naps taken per day: 2 (very rarely will take 3)
• Teeth: 6
• Times I've been bitten while he's nursing: 2
• Eyes: 2 beautiful baby blues
• Nose: 1 Polish button
• Smiles: too many to count

Testing out blueberries (and loving his mommy)

Telling me how much he loves me!

Baby Hawk

A little bit of Nate's product makes for a spectacular hair-do

Six teeth and waiting for more!

Here's what I love about having a baby--he is an endless source of laughter for Nate and me. My current favorite is his excitement for bath time every night as he crawls completely naked as fast as he can to the bathroom, but without having his knees touch the floor.  I'd post a video, but it's a little too personal...

Happy New Year!!

No Internet

No, I haven't fallen off the face of the Earth.  Actually, I think I have.  Our undisclosed Internet source put a password on their account a couple of weeks ago, and we no longer have the Internets here at our apartment.  I feel like I'm dying.  It's been good on some level because it's forced Weston and me to get out of the house on my winter break and go to the public library.  They have a nice toddler area in the children's section, so he can get into all sorts of messes while I catch up on the world, pay bills, send email, etc.

We're moving soon to a house (!) so we'll be getting Internets for sure then.  It's going to be a rough couple of weeks without it, but I'll make it through...

Quick update: Christmas was a blast.  Weston loved all the new toys and books, which couldn't have come a better time since he was bored with everything that he currently has.  I can't upload any pictures quite yet, but I'll get there.  Weston must have been good this year, because he got lots of love from Santa.  Grandma and Grandpa came in from Iowa and spent Christmas with us this year.  Nate and I slept in Weston's room on the futon, and that worked out okay until the last night when he finally realized that we were in there with him.  I think I slept about 2 hours that night...

Date Nights, continued

"Your life will completely change after having a baby."  I would say on some level, that's totally true.  It also doesn't change in a lot of ways.  For one, Nate and I still love going out to see a movie--we just have to be creative about how to make it happen.  My mom was in town last week (or was it two weeks ago?), so we hit her up BIG time babysit.  I think we went on three dates in the week that she was here.  We had to pick an early movie time or else I would have fallen asleep.  I also put Weston to bed a bit earlier those nights that we went out so that I didn't have to pump.

**As an aside, I love the fact that I'm still able to breastfeed Weston while I work full-time.  But, there is nothing more relieving than hanging up the breast pump bag Friday when I get home from work.  Needless to say, I loathe pumping on the weekends or anytime when I'm not at work, so I avoid it at all costs.**

I would love to be able to find a way to do date night every Saturday night with just Nate, but the reality is that a babysitter costs about $8-10 an hour (!) and having just recently moved to the area, I haven't made an effort to find a babysitter.  So, we've made Thursday afternoons Family Nights.  When I get home from work, the three of us go out somewhere--a coffee shop, for a walk, to a park, out to dinner--and just spend time as a family.  It's a good compromise for right now.

Seven Months!

"Seven months, really?  How did that happen?  We kept him alive for seven months?  Really?"

This was Nate in reference to our joint disbelief at the fact that our little man has somehow made it through this long.

He's about 18.5 pounds and pushing 29 inches (or perhaps taller--it's ridiculously difficult to measure an infant).  Six teeth, tons of hair, pulling himself up on everything, beginning to cruise on furniture, eating plants and power cords, getting about 90% of Cheerios in his mouth, a growing fascination with lights and their switches, and so much more.

Grandma came to visit!

Look at those teeth (and chubby cheeks)

About to eat my shoelaces

Classic--morning coffee while trying to control the baby

Surrounded by all his toys 

My little conductor

Thanksgiving

Oops.  Thanksgiving's been over for two weeks.  It was a great holiday because we went back to Wisco to spend it with my mom, aunt, uncle, cousins, and their kids.  The traveling actually wasn't so bad--I get ridiculously worked up before going on car trips with Weston.  I just feel terribly guilty about having him confined to the car seat, and the drive from Cinci to my mom's is about 7 hours.  But, we left at 5pm on Tuesday and he conked out soon after we left for about an hour.  We then stopped to get Nate some coffee, and we played at the Starbucks and changed into pajamas.  He nursed, and then promptly fell back asleep for the rest of the night until we rolled into Grandma's at midnight.  He woke up, nursed again, and went back to bed.

Checking out Great Uncle Peter (and his beard)

The center of attention

Baby did have some real turkey and baked sweet potatoes for dinner and loved it!

He spent the rest of Thanksgiving teething.  He now has 6 teeth total--four on the top and two on the bottom.  I think the other two bottom teeth are coming in...  And then I hope we get a break.

Baby on a Mission

 Yup. Found him in his crib last night standing up, holding on to the rails and crying. Next task: learn how to get down.

Just Give Me a Second

I can't say that I've really felt like a mom the past six months--I mean the frantic, 20 things going on at once, trying to get dinner on the table, baby's crying, kind of mom that I have a great stereotype of in my head.

I haven't felt this way, that is, until this past Wednesday...
------------------

It's 5 o'clock, right around that time when I feed Weston his dinner.  There was a staff meeting after work today, so I didn't get home until after 4, which means that I am just now getting to washing the dozens of parts from the Medela Freestyle Breastpump and the two bottles that Weston used during the day.  As I wash, I'm thinking about what to make for dinner, or at least what I can scavenge from the cabinets before I actually get to making dinner.

Bingo. Macaroni and cheese with broccoli and a can of tuna.  Easy, quick, and--

My cell phone rings.  It's Mom.  With a soapy rubber glove, I answer.

"Sure, let's Skype.  Just give me a second to finish up.  About 5 minutes, okay?"

This gives me enough time to finish my daily dish washing routine, get the water boiling and chop up some broccoli.  Weston's getting antsy for dinner.  Do I feed him first?  My stomach reminds me that I need to eat something soon.  Oh yeah--Skype--get the computer started.

I quickly chop up broccoli, and add it to the noodles in the pot, all while briefly entertaining thoughts about what would happen if I chopped my finger off because Nate's at work with the car, so I don't have a way to get to the hospital, let alone where the closest hospital is--

Weston lets out a squawk from the other room, yet again reminding me that I need to get his dinner warmed up.

I run in to check on him and the computer's up, so I open up Skype and get Grandma on the line.

"I got these super cute pajamas, and when you come next week for Thanksgiving, I'll have a high chair...Oh and check out this super cute toy I got him--"

The sizzle from the kitchen is the sound of the pot boiling over.  Shit.  I run in while yelling back, "Thanks, Mom, it's super cute!"  I turn the heat down, stir the noodles, and look around for my phone because now that's ringing.  It's Nate.

"Do you have Greg's phone number?" he asks.

"Maybe--just give me a second."

"Rob?  Rob?"  I can hear my mom calling from the other room.  I quickly truck back to the living room trying to think if I have Greg's phone number, as I notice that Weston has crawled up onto the laptop in an effort to touch Grandma's face and eat the shiny Intel and Windows 7 stickers on the corner, and at the same time managed to turn the video off on the Skype call.  I peel him off, and "reset" him--meaning that I move him about 10 feet away from the computer so that he has to work a bit to get back to it.

"Do you want his number now?" I ask as I hit the button to turn the video back on Skype.

"What??"  Mom asks.

"No, hang on--Mom, hold on, I'm on the phone with Nate.  Just give me a sec--"  I quickly look through my contacts on my phone (Greg's last name...Greg's last name...wait--the list is alphabetized by first name, so it doesn't matter).  "Nope, I don't have it.  Sorry.  Gotta go, okay?  Loveyoubye."

Weston is attacking the Intel and Window 7 stickers again, I peel him off, reset, and run back into the kitchen to drain the noodles, which are either overcooked or not done, but I really don't care at this point--do we even have any butter??--and I grab his food out of the fridge and toss it in the zapper for a few seconds while I shout down the hall-- "MOM!  I can't hear you--just give me second."  I run back, with a bib, the food, no spoon, drop the food on the table, pop Weston into his high chair, adjust the computer so Grandma can still see her little man, he lets out a wail, "Where the heck is my food, Ma??" and I tell him I'm sorry and that I forgot your spoon, so just-give-me-a-second-please!  I grab the spoon, look longingly at the steaming pile of noodles and broccoli in the colander, and head back, and shovel a couple of bites of food into my son's open mouth.  He calms down, Grandma and I end the Skype call, and Weston finishes eating his squash, chicken, prunes and apples.  Phew.

Afterward, I head back into the kitchen to finish up my dinner, and discover that my steaming pile of noodles has turned into a giant sticky mess that refuses to detach from the colander.  I don't care.  This is dinner, and I don't have another second to make anything else...

Cuteness

When dads dress their sons

A Very Merry Half Birthday!

Six months down...Sometimes I remember what life was like before baby got here, but it's kind of fuzzy.

We went for his 6-month check-up yesterday morning and met his new pediatrician, Dr. Jadeed.  It's hard picking a pediatrician--we just went with whoever was available and we got lucky.  Sometimes, I think it's all about the nurse since he or she is the one who administers the shots.  If they're organized, experienced, and quick, then I think that's the best a parent can hope for.

Anyway, here are the stats:
Length: 28 inches (95th percentile)
Weight: 18 lbs. 3oz. (50-75th percentile)
Head circumference: 44 cm (75th percentile)

He's eating like a champ once a day, usually when I get home from work.  I've tried to follow this progression of foods recommended by La Leche League: sweet potatoes, avocados, apples, pork, pears, and bananas.  He's enjoyed most of them, although the apples were a bit too tart for him, so I've been mixing them in with the sweet potatoes.  I love making baby food for him, and I find it to be fairly easy.  There are lots of websites out there that give hints and suggestions for making and storing baby food--I like Wholesome Baby Food.  I try to make one or two good batches of food on the weekends, which makes it easy to have a nice variety of food during the week.

He's had a bit of a plumbing problem since the introduction of solid foods, but I've been pushing water and prune juice to help avoid that.  Unfortunately, I've also had to use glycerin suppositories, but they work like a charm.

Grandma Becca and Grandpa Brady stopped by for a visit last weekend and their way back from Florida, and Weston was super happy to see them!

Milo!

Checking out Grandpa's beard

One of several dozen possible Christmas card photos

Precious

Autumn Fun

Wow, October has been an exciting month for my little man--first tooth, almost crawling, solid foods... The other day, he experienced his first ridiculous Halloween costume.  I came home to him half-dressed in what was going to be his Halloween costume (a hand-me-down bonus):

Bat Boy

Unfortunately, like so many other clothing items that Weston has, it's too small.  He's almost outgrown his 9 months pajamas, and I'm going to have to do another round of putting clothes away and pulling bigger ones out.  It amazes me how fast babies grow.

Here he is earlier in the day, rocking a few downward dogs and babbling about ma-ma and ba-ba:


Today we went to Devou Park in Covington and snapped a bunch of pictures of our baby boy.

First swing ride at the park

Ready for a nap after the fresh air

Like father, like son

Overlooking Cincinnati

Adios, Breast Milk Poo

Hello, sweet potatoes, bananas, and avocados!  We started Weston on solids a few days ago and, wow...it really was nice changing simple diapers for the past 5 and 1/2 months.  Now they're a lot more--shall we say--complicated?  And stinkier?

He absolutely loved the sweet potatoes I gave him (and that I made!).  It wasn't that difficult to feed him from a spoon, either.  He opened up, made a few "What the *@$# is this?" faces, and then swallowed like a champ.  Then he promptly opened up for more.

Steaming Honeycrisp apples

Puree on!

Ready to go in the freezer

Loving the sweet potatoes, but a bit confused about the food source 

Such a big boy!

Why do they always grab at the spoon?

I was really, really hoping that feeding him solid foods would help him sleep through the night, but, nope.  No such luck.  He's still waking up at least once to be fed.  He sometimes wakes up twice, but I've been letting him cry himself back to sleep.  Two weekends ago he slept from 7pm to 5am, woke up, fed, and then went back to bed until 7:30am.  That's the longest stretch we've ever had.

Dear Tooth Fairy...

Somebody cut his first tooth today!!  I noticed the bud on Tuesday after what was a unusually difficult day--weird naps, diaper rash, crabbiness.  And 48 hours later--viola!--we have our first tooth.  It's the lower left one.  I hope the rest of his teeth are as easy as this first one was.

Can you see it?

Can you see it now?

Rocking the sippy cup

HappyBabyJumpingTimes

Our little spaz loves his bouncy seat, a gift from his "aunties" back in Milwaukee.  We're training Weston to capitalize on his nearly off-the-charts height percentile by working on his vertical jump, complete with a little Adidas warm up outfit from Grandma.  Doesn't he look like Ari and Uzi from The Royal Tenenbaums?

My Dirty Belly Button

My body has changed in ways that I couldn't really have predicted a year ago.  Yes, one of them has to do with my belly button.  However, none of the changes are so horrid that I can't come to grips with my body post-baby.  Here they are, in no particular order:

1. I never did get the full-on outie belly button, but it was definitely stretched out.  It's got a bigger diameter and I think it's slightly deeper.  That's why I mentioned my dirty belly button.  I never really had issues with things in my belly button before because it wasn't big enough to collect anything.  Now, it seems as though I have to pay special attention to cleaning this "new" body part.
2. Hair, hair everywhere...  I think my hair loss has finally calmed down--just in enough time for Weston to rip the remaining locks out of my head with his hands.  Some report that their hair gets thicker, curlier, straighter, or thinner.  I think mine is pretty much the same--there's just less of it right now.
3. Baby's got back...and hips!  I am within 5 pounds of my pre-preggo weight (can I get an AMEN for breastfeeding?).  However, I don't think that my weight is distributed in the same way that it was before baby.  Most of my pants fit, but they just fit differently.  A round of applause for my son's 95th percentile head circumference that shifted ligaments in my pelvis and altered my anatomy.
4. I'm not one to wear make up, but I think I need to invest in something that will lighten up the ever-darkening circles under my sleep-deprived eyes.
5. The muffin top that feels like a bowl of Jello...  This is the one that bothers me the most.  It's shrunk a little bit, but it's still there, like an artifact left over from a previous civilization.
6. Boobs...I am simply amazed at what the female body is capable of.  I've been the sole provider of food for my little man for over five months now and he's just about doubled his weight.  That's a lot of breast milk that's been produced, but at a price to the "factories."  It's okay--I wouldn't change the bond that he and I have for anything.  In fact, the only time that I think everything's okay with the world is when I'm nursing.