Really?

Nate's transition to daycare has been a huge adjustment for him.  I gave him two weeks of "sameness" to start out with.  We used the centers bottles, the centers blankets, diapers etc.  At the end of two weeks he still wasn't eating much, or sleeping well and had two really bad cases of diaper rash.  The diaper rash has already resolved itself.  Vaseline fixes anything. 

After two weeks we started to make minor adjustments, the first change was we brought in a set of our bottles.  When Nate was born, we had to supplement and getting him back on the boob was really important to me.  He came out as a great latcher but after a week of primarily formula he would refuse to latch.  A friend told us to try to Tommee Tippee anti-colic bottles because a) they were shaped more like a boob and it might help him get his latch back and b) my boy is a ninja when it comes to spitting up and I was very quickly running out of clean shirts.

These bottles are AMAZING.  Seriously - we love them.  They have only one draw back.  They are expensive.  Like, $10 a bottle expensive.  My dad bought us the "newborn gift set" which had two 4 oz bottles and four 9 oz. bottles.  We were happy, Nate was happy.  His latching got better, his gas disappeared and the spit-ups got less intense.  We really, really didn't want to have to spend $40 for 4 bottles.  But we did, and we noticed an immediate improvement.

So, eating is taken off the list of concerns.  Now we're dealing with sleeping.

Nate comes home from daycare exhausted.  He takes two short naps, instead of the three or four hour long naps he'd take at home in the same time period. Nate is still swaddled, he loves it, he sleeps, I sleep, it's awesome.  I've told his teacher he needs it, but it sounds like she's not very good at it.

I brought in a swaddleme for her to use - that and a receiving blanket and this kid will sleep for hours.  I showed her how to use it on Wednesday and she was really happy to have it and told me they'd start using it for his next nap.  I really hope that helps solve this problem.

All of that leads me into what has me getting all mama bear.

Nate slept great last night.  He got up at 5:30, was happy, we played, we ate, we got dressed and by the time we got to daycare he was ready for a nap.  The teacher that's handling drop offs this week isn't in his room, which is the only reason I'm not completely freaking out.

I swaddled Nate in the swaddleme and showed her how we use it in combination with the receiving blanket.  I give Nate his binky and get him all nice and calm and relaxed - drowsy, but awake, which is how we put him down at home. I put Nate down, tell him I love him, and go to put on my shoes and coat.  Nate's awake, his eyes are open, but he's just happily sucking on his binky and looking around.  The teacher walks over to him, says "He's not sleepy" picks him up and walks away from us.

Really?  I'm his mother - do you REALLY think that I don't know when he's ready to go down?  He wasn't crying, or fussing.  He was laying there and if he had been left alone he would have fallen asleep.  If he hadn't, fine, pick him up. But god damn, give him a chance to fall asleep.

Anyway, rant over.  She's not his teacher so this isn't going to be a continuing problem, I just get mad thinking about it.

Blerg

Snowpocalypse!!!!

There's half an inch of snow on the ground so everything has SHUT DOWN. Thank god! Today was going to be a marathon. Nate is now waking up at 4 a.m. and I probably wouldn't have gotten home till after 7.

I love living in a city that loses it's shit at the slightest hint of snow/ice. Jason is less so. He has a big presentation on Tuesday for class and his group was going to work on it today. Not anymore 'cause it's a SNOW DAY!!

ETA: Looks like I spoke too soon.  The University didn't close so Jason had to go in.  But, Nate's daycare did close so I still got to stay home.  ITS A SNOW DAY BITCHES!

He Won't Sleep!

This weekend... sucked.

Nate's been going through some stuff.  A cold, major mental developments, introductions to rice cereal, and the net effect has been that he's basically stopped sleeping through the night.  Jason and I were completely unprepared for this kind of sleep deprivation.  We're talking, up every 2-3 hours, newborn kind of sleep deprivation.  But unlike a newborn, Nate isn't content to eat then go back to sleep.  No, he wants to PLAY.

We're really hoping this is a short phase.  From the get go Nate's been an awesome sleeper.  He doesn't fight it, he's content to ride the sleep train for over eight hours straight.  Jason and I are trying to form an equitable plan to handle these middle of the night wakings.

We'd talked about switching off every other night - but figured our little kidlet would then only wake up when it was my turn, so we settled on a evening shift and a morning shift and then switching every other day.

The problem with this plan is this: we live in a small house.  EVERY noise this kid makes wakes me up and has me laying in bed wondering if he'll put himself back to sleep or if someone needs to get up to soothe him.  So, when it's Jason's turn to get up with the baby, I'm the one pushing on his shoulder mumbling "honey... baby...."

And it's not like Jason's intentionally sleeping through the squeaks and cries.  He genuinely doesn't hear it.  Biology in action I guess.

Anyway, the net result of this current phase is that we got nothing done this weekend and we're both starting the week pooped.

I say again - knowing you're going to be sleep deprived for 6 months and then BEING sleep deprived for six months are two very different things.

4 Months

Way back when, while I was pregnant someone told me that I should get a big stuffed animal and then take a picture of Nate next to it each month so we could see how he's growing in relation to a fixed object. Naturally I completely forgot to do this when he was born, but we've been pretty good about keeping it up since.

So - I present you with four months of Nate, next to Mort the Monkey. You'll notice that the picture quality increases as he's gained the ability to sit still



We took him to the doctor for his four month well child check yesterday. We now know that our boy is becoming more and more average.

Height: 26" (84th percentile, down from 93rd)
Weight: 15.2 lbs (50th percentile, down from 75th)

The kiddo is lean... I predict having a difficult time finding pants!

Bad Day

Man what a week!

Yesterday was just... insane.  Nate woke up at 4, so by the time we left for daycare/work he had already had a nap.  One of the guys I work with has a baby that's about a month younger then Nate.  He didn't have child care yesterday and brought his daughter in.  We had a long meeting and they they were at, and I swear my milk let down three times - to the point that I had to go to the bathroom and express some.  Try doing that when you're not wearing a nursing bra!

I got to roll right from that into a meeting where I found out I'm losing so much budget that I won't have enough to pay staff.  I'm still not sure how I'm going to work that one out.  I see FTE reductions in our future.  I have such amazing people working for me, I don't know how we'll continue to operate if I have to replace staff.  Of course this didn't come out till the last ten minutes of an hour and a half long meeting. 

By the time the day is finally over I'm so ready to leave.  I pack my stuff, head to the train, find a comfy seat and I'm immediately surrounded by asshole teenagers.  Normally, this wouldn't be that big of a deal expect there was an accident and the trains stopped running.  It was going to take a while for busses to be set up and we were all told to find a different way of getting home.

I live in a different state from where I work.  There are two ways for me to get home using public transportation.  I can take a train to a bus and cross the river, or, I can take a Premium Express bus all the way home.  The Premium Express bus costs $3.50.  Guess who had $1?

Yeah.  Me.

It really did end up working out.  I called a girlfriend and met her at a bar, another friend joined us.  We drank, we laughed, I got a ride home.

New Toys

We decided that Sunday was going to be a day of rest.  And not the exhausted I've been sick and just need sleep rest, actual rest.  We bought a canon T1i digital SLR last week and then got so sick we couldn't figure out how to use it.  So, on Sunday we played with it until the battery died, charged the battery then played with it some more.
I'm not going to lie, this sucker wasn't cheap, especially since neither Jason or I are that into photography.  We had a little powershot that did what it was supposed to do, but none of the pictures it took was that great, and they always seemed somewhat flat to me.

We started talking about getting an SLR over Christmas.  Everyone had been very generous with us, and while we do have a fair share of bills to pay, we wanted something fun, that wasn't necessarily for the baby.  We went back and forth for a while.  Was it worth it, would I even be able to use it given how bad my vision is, yada, yada, etc.

I did some research online and we went to a local camera store to play with the real thing.  I'm SO glad we bought this camera!  First of all, Nate is just a cute kid.  I know he's ours and all parents think there kid is the cutest, but I've seriously had people come up to me and tell me that when they have kids, they hope they're as cute as Nate, so the fact that we now have a camera that can capture his expressions is awesome.  Secondly, full auto mode rocks.  I don't need to be able to see what I'm trying to take a picture of, the camera can see it and that's all that really matters.

So, prepared to be inundated with pictures of a baby - as soon as I'm not at work.

We Survived!

My little family has passed another major milestone - sickness.

I don't know what happened.  I woke up yesterday feeling awful and that quickly progressed to wanting to die.  I called Jason at 10 and asked him to come home - there was no way I was going to be able to watch a baby and be as sick as I was.

When Jason got home (feeling fine) he decided to take Nate out and run some errands so I could rest.  By the time he got back home, he'd been struck down too.

So now you have both Jason and I feeling horrible, having to put Nate down so we could tend to our business and wondering just how we'd make it through the night.  Luckily Jason's mom was free and she brought over supplies and took care of Nate while Jason and I moaned and groaned.

We both felt pretty bad this morning, but as the day progressed its upgraded to achey and headachey which is a huge step up from death bed.  Still lame, but at least we're able to take care of Nate.

Me and My Toilet

I survived 9 months of pregnancy, 22 hours of labor and 4 hours of pushing without throwing up.

3 days back in the office and I am hugging the toilet with the flu.

LAME.

I Did It

Yesterday was a Terrible Horrible No Good Very Bad Day.  Nate woke up at 4 a.m. which means, so did I.  We ate, we played, we cleaned up an exploding coffee pot.  It turns out that when the carafe isn't in all the way, the water backs up and goes everywhere.  Fun times!

We got to daycare right at 7, filled out some more forms and then gave our baby away.  It sucked.  This is the first time I've handed my baby to someone that he wasn't related too and then left.  I held it together until we were outside then I promptly started to cry.

Work was... work.  It was a strange combination of the familiar and the new.  I was gone for four months but everyone else went on, business as usual.  The temp we hired to help out while I was gone is going to stay on until June, other people have left for other opportunities.  My boss is still my boss, handing out vague edicts and then getting upset when the task isn't done to his specification.

Overall, I did ok.  I held it together and didn't call to check up on him.  I didn't lose it at all - until we got home.  Then I just had a regular old sob fest.  I have no idea what happened to me, but as soon as I got Nate out of his carseat I could not stop crying.  It's the oddest reaction.  I expected that kind of break down when I dropped him off, not when I picked him up!

I did eventually get myself back together.  Nate had a bit of a rough afternoon.  They didn't have his formula, or his bottles at the daycare and his tummy was hurting.  Some gas drops and a two hour nap later he was back to normal.

Now it's day two.  I barely slept last night (my minds fault, not Nate's) so we'll see how long I last.

Today is the Day

I don't want to go.

But I will put my big girl pants on and go.

And if I have to go I'm going to do something I haven't done since May.

Eat a damn bagel.

Now I'm going back to bed.