Likes:
Saying all of his new words. Over and over.
Pointing at things so you can tell him what they are.
Choosing his own books at bedtime.
Rubbing different fabrics on his cheeks to see what they feel like (probably the cutest.thing.ever.)
Running around the house and daycare with one of those push toys.
"Helping" with whatever you're doing.
Trucks.
Whatever Mom and Dad are eating.
Clinging to Mama quite often.
Opening cupboard doors and relieving them of their contents.
Swimming and sprinklers.
Walking!!
Dislikes:
When his pushtoy gets stuck somewhere.
Not getting his way.
Diaper and clothing changes.
Feeling left out.
Not being able to multi-task effectively (his brain works faster than his body).
Lotion/sunblock applied to him.
Monday, June 28, 2010
Wednesday, June 23, 2010
Sneak peek!
I'm so behind on my blog! I apologize! I've got a ton going on right now with work and life and I have a million things I need to blog about. Fear not, I'll play some catchup this week and will have a few recaps and thoughts. Stay tuned! For now, how about just a few photos of Jude at his first birthday party last weekend at Mama's Pizza with the family. It was a very informal night with grandparents, uncles, and cousins with some pizza and birthday cake. He wasn't sure about it at first.....but then a whole sugary world opened up for him! Enjoy and I'll be talking to you all again very soon!
What the....? Hmmmm...
I'm not sure about this. Not sure at all.
Here, Dad, try some first, make sure it's not poison.
Oh MAN, how come I've never had this before!
Sunday, June 13, 2010
Life Is a Ball.
Well, according to Jude at least. We're experiencing a mini-explosion of word and word associations in our household lately. Jude can say and identify Mama and Dada (although sometimes he apparently gets us confused), ball (ba!), book (gook!), hi, dog (da!), monkey (kkkey)...and there are a few others that I "think" he says, but they are too sporatic to say for certain. His favorite word and thing is "ball". The kid goes absolutely ape whenever we are at the grocery store and he sees one of those giant containers with those marble swirl bouncy balls. He starts pointing, kicking his legs excitedly and emphatically repeating over and over "Ba! Ba! Ba! BA! BA! BAAA!" We are the proud owners of three (yes, three) identical of these because Phil puts one in the cart every single time because it makes him so happy. He hasn't learned the genius move I pull out of my pocket by either a.) avoiding the aisle completely or b.) quickly get away from the display with a silly "peekaboo!" to get him to giggle and it's soon forgotten. However, this obsession with all things ball has gone beyond the scope of cheap plastic ones. Display of watermelons and cantalopes? BA! Circular wall decorations in restaurants or shops? BA! Tires? BA! Doorknobs? BA! If it's circular, then it's a ball- and Jude wants to have it.
Wednesday, June 9, 2010
Getting my boobs and my body back.
Today is the first day I've gone to work without my pump! I feel amazingly free and not sad at all. I decided to help the transition, I would slowly stop pumping all together and continue to nurse Jude in the mornings when he wakes up and in the evenings before bed. I am not setting a timeframe to stop doing this, I will do it until I am no longer producing. Judging by how fast my milk supply decreased when I shortened my pumping sessions, I'm wagering that it won't take long at all. I'm okay with that- finally. It will be nice to have the girls back all to myself. Maybe they'll drop a size. That would sure be nice. It's funny, when I was dancing, I used to lament how small and insignificant they were. Now, they could have their own zipcode. It's amazing what a little weight gain and some lactation stimulating hormone production can do.
On the topic of weight gain, I've come to a decision. I'm done being this weight. Hear me? FINISHED. Before I got pregnant, I was well on my way back to ballerina weight. I gained 25 pounds during my pregnancy. Four months post partum, I was eating right and going to the gym and almost back to my pre- pregnancy weight. Now? Let's just say that I'm almost back to the heaviest I've ever been. It's disgusting and there is no excuse, especially when I used to take such wonderful care of my body. I used to spend hours dancing and cross training at the gym and fueling it with (mostly) wholesome foods. I don't eat awful these days, I really don't. Sure, I may have a little too much ice cream with my husband now and then. The big difference is the lack of working out. When I stopped dancing due to an injury and some other personal factors, the 6 hour a day workouts ceased. I enjoyed the new freedom I had to actually do "normal" things like watch TV or shop or go grab drinks with friends. Unfortunately, these things do anything to promote physical activity and the only thing that accompanies those things are empty calories from foods that go with those things. I'm tired of feeling so insecure all the time and the paranoia of running into someone who hasn't seen me since I quit dancing and knowing they are thinking what the hell happened to her?? So, I'm done complaining about it and actually getting off my ass and doing something. I may not be a ballerina with a company anymore, but I don't have to live like this. I can still get back my ballerina body even if I don't have a grueling rehearsal schedule and performing onstage nightly. So that's what I'm doing. I've started going to the gym and working out HARD every single day. I'm going to take up running in the evenings with an eventual goal of running a marathon within the next year. I'm taking yoga two days a week with a friend. I've quit putting complete crap in my body. I have a health screening scheduled for this week: cholesterol, blood sugar, body mass index- a complete workup. I'm sure I won't like the results, but I think it's the slap in the face that I needed to get awhile ago.
How can I show Jude what it is to be healthy and take pride in his body if I don't live it? So, I'm taking a stand and never looking back.
On the topic of weight gain, I've come to a decision. I'm done being this weight. Hear me? FINISHED. Before I got pregnant, I was well on my way back to ballerina weight. I gained 25 pounds during my pregnancy. Four months post partum, I was eating right and going to the gym and almost back to my pre- pregnancy weight. Now? Let's just say that I'm almost back to the heaviest I've ever been. It's disgusting and there is no excuse, especially when I used to take such wonderful care of my body. I used to spend hours dancing and cross training at the gym and fueling it with (mostly) wholesome foods. I don't eat awful these days, I really don't. Sure, I may have a little too much ice cream with my husband now and then. The big difference is the lack of working out. When I stopped dancing due to an injury and some other personal factors, the 6 hour a day workouts ceased. I enjoyed the new freedom I had to actually do "normal" things like watch TV or shop or go grab drinks with friends. Unfortunately, these things do anything to promote physical activity and the only thing that accompanies those things are empty calories from foods that go with those things. I'm tired of feeling so insecure all the time and the paranoia of running into someone who hasn't seen me since I quit dancing and knowing they are thinking what the hell happened to her?? So, I'm done complaining about it and actually getting off my ass and doing something. I may not be a ballerina with a company anymore, but I don't have to live like this. I can still get back my ballerina body even if I don't have a grueling rehearsal schedule and performing onstage nightly. So that's what I'm doing. I've started going to the gym and working out HARD every single day. I'm going to take up running in the evenings with an eventual goal of running a marathon within the next year. I'm taking yoga two days a week with a friend. I've quit putting complete crap in my body. I have a health screening scheduled for this week: cholesterol, blood sugar, body mass index- a complete workup. I'm sure I won't like the results, but I think it's the slap in the face that I needed to get awhile ago.
How can I show Jude what it is to be healthy and take pride in his body if I don't live it? So, I'm taking a stand and never looking back.
Wednesday, June 2, 2010
Thoughts on weaning
Well, we've started the process. Jude will be one year old in less than two weeks and as much as I hate to admit this, it is time. I always planned on breastfeeding until it was no longer mutually beneficial. I was hoping to go 18 months, but it looks like Jude, my body, and my breasts have other plans. He has been dropping feedings and my supply has plummeted. I still produce enough, but just barely. I am no longer responding to the pump and only get about two ounces a day at work. I'm so tired of pumping and pumping and pumping and not getting much. It's exhausting. I thought long and hard about it and stopping at one year is the right thing to do. I'm sick of spending 1-2 hours a day attached to the pump. I'm tired of taking 5 pills of fenugreek and blessed thistle 3 times a day. I'm tired of drinking gallons and gallons of water. I'm tired from having spent approximately 100 hours in my work's lactation room listening to the whir whir whir of the pump. I'm tired of constantly analyzing how much is left in my freezer stash versus my output for the day and doing the math in my head. With all of these reasons, plus a few more I won't bore you with.....we're weaning. I guess I always looked forward to the day I would start to stop breastfeeding and now I'm dreading it. It's the pumping that I loathe, not the breastfeeding. Another crappy thing about being a working mom- all of the stresses above are in addition to trying to maintain a good performance at work. No wonder moms have supply issues when it comes to breastmilk just from the stress of it all!
Anyways, I dropped my pumping sessions at work from 3-4 a day to one. I thought that when I did this, the engorgement would be unbearable and I would spend the day in extreme discomfort. Nope. If I didn't know any better, I would've thought I had been pumping all day. It was like my body was just waiting for any excuse to stop. I'm actually very sad writing this and I know I'm doing a poor job of forming my thoughts into words. It's amazing what you find most important once you're a mother. I'm going to miss that bond so much. I'm so glad we stuck with it for as long as we did. I know that we are ready to do this and Jude seems to be perfectly fine with it. It's me who is having the difficult time. I know that with weaning comes a crazy hormone drop which can cause the blues, so I'm thinking quite a bit of the sadness may have to do with this. We had a good run and the only regret that I do have is not investing in a deep freezer. By the time I went back to work, I had around 300 oz of breastmilk frozen and pretty much stopped any extra pumping because I didn't have room for it. In retrospect, I should've invested the $200 in a deep freeze and kept on pumping. I will keep this in mind for the next baby for sure, if we are so lucky.
Here we go, the beginning of the end of this chapter....
Anyways, I dropped my pumping sessions at work from 3-4 a day to one. I thought that when I did this, the engorgement would be unbearable and I would spend the day in extreme discomfort. Nope. If I didn't know any better, I would've thought I had been pumping all day. It was like my body was just waiting for any excuse to stop. I'm actually very sad writing this and I know I'm doing a poor job of forming my thoughts into words. It's amazing what you find most important once you're a mother. I'm going to miss that bond so much. I'm so glad we stuck with it for as long as we did. I know that we are ready to do this and Jude seems to be perfectly fine with it. It's me who is having the difficult time. I know that with weaning comes a crazy hormone drop which can cause the blues, so I'm thinking quite a bit of the sadness may have to do with this. We had a good run and the only regret that I do have is not investing in a deep freezer. By the time I went back to work, I had around 300 oz of breastmilk frozen and pretty much stopped any extra pumping because I didn't have room for it. In retrospect, I should've invested the $200 in a deep freeze and kept on pumping. I will keep this in mind for the next baby for sure, if we are so lucky.
Here we go, the beginning of the end of this chapter....
Wednesday, May 26, 2010
If I were to be graded in Juggling, I would get an F.
Gosh, I'm usually pretty good about keeping this blog updated, but I've gone a week without a post! No, I haven't been lost in a pile of dirty cloth diapers (it's going REALLY well, by the way). Things have just been insane. I have a feeling this post is going to be a bit raw. It's been so hard for me to juggle everything. Lately I've been fantasizing about being a stay at home mom. I love my job, truly. It pays really well and I enjoy what I do. But a full time career plus being a mother seriously leaves me no time to do anything else. Nothing. It's near impossible to keep up with the housework for some reason. Yet, I see that other moms who work have no problems. It makes me start to feel like there is something wrong with me. I rarely cook, thank goodness my husband LOVES to cook and prefers it, because I don't have time to do it. By the time I get home, 100% of my attention is on Jude for 2 or 3 hours before he goes to bed between 7:30 and 8. Then, I do just the basic things like loading the dishwasher from dinner, doing some laundry, etc. at which point I am exhausted. Then I usually have some sort of project that needs to be worked on (like this week, writing and addressing invitations to 150 people for my in-laws 25th anniversary party). Okay, so what about the weekends? Excellent question. Phil is usually doing something for his 80+ hour a week career (which I wouldn't change- he is SO awesome at his job and LOVES it), so having him watch Jude while I do something like scrub the floors is impossible on most weekends, especially in the summertime when his industry goes insane. My son will MAYBE take a 45-60 minute nap in the mornings and a 30 minute nap in the afternoons. I guess I just don't know how to do the deep cleaning stuff like washing windows, shampooing carpets, scrubbing floors, organizing closets, cleaning out basement storage, gardening....and the list goes on and on. How do working moms DO all this stuff??? I guess the only option I have is to use vacation time from work while Jude is at daycare. But then that is more time I will not get with my little boy. I'm left wondering if I'm too attached to get things done when Jude is with me. Have a created the baby who refuses to be left in an exersaucer to watch while I'm doing things? I know I have a bright, inquisitive baby who wants to be a part of everything, but sometimes I feel like it's because I wore him nonstop and coslept with him and allowed him to be a part of all mundane tasks that now it has to be that way forever.
I know I'm just rambling at this point and I am not blaming the way we parent exactly. I'm just envious of all my mom friends both in real life and in the blogosphere that seem to be perfect. Moms who bring home a great salary, cook, clean, and entertain while maintaining the perfect body, wearing makeup, always looking beautiful, and giving their husbands just as much attention as their children. I feel like the only part of that I even come close to is the great job and nothing else. I feel frumpy, chubby, disorganized, unkempt and frazzled. I need to stop complaining and just try harder, but that's easier said than done- especially when I don't even know where to begin.
Part of why I just don't feel good enough has to do with the fact that I can honestly say my mother is damn near perfect. Growing up raising two kids two years apart, she did it all: crazy fulltime career with insane hours and a husband who traveled two weeks out of every month on average, a perfect house- PERFECT, running us kids around to all of our extra curricular activities (if you knew me in gradeschool and highschool, I seriously danced for 6 hours a day, 6 days a week, nuts), and never forgot one single permission slip, dress down day at school, soccer practice, lunch money, nada. Most days, I'm lucky if I don't forget my breastpump or purse, let alone remember anything else.
I know I'll figure it out and maybe just try to convince myself that perception isn't always reality (but this is hard when I SEE my other mom friends doing it all). I can do this. I can.
Right?
I know I'm just rambling at this point and I am not blaming the way we parent exactly. I'm just envious of all my mom friends both in real life and in the blogosphere that seem to be perfect. Moms who bring home a great salary, cook, clean, and entertain while maintaining the perfect body, wearing makeup, always looking beautiful, and giving their husbands just as much attention as their children. I feel like the only part of that I even come close to is the great job and nothing else. I feel frumpy, chubby, disorganized, unkempt and frazzled. I need to stop complaining and just try harder, but that's easier said than done- especially when I don't even know where to begin.
Part of why I just don't feel good enough has to do with the fact that I can honestly say my mother is damn near perfect. Growing up raising two kids two years apart, she did it all: crazy fulltime career with insane hours and a husband who traveled two weeks out of every month on average, a perfect house- PERFECT, running us kids around to all of our extra curricular activities (if you knew me in gradeschool and highschool, I seriously danced for 6 hours a day, 6 days a week, nuts), and never forgot one single permission slip, dress down day at school, soccer practice, lunch money, nada. Most days, I'm lucky if I don't forget my breastpump or purse, let alone remember anything else.
I know I'll figure it out and maybe just try to convince myself that perception isn't always reality (but this is hard when I SEE my other mom friends doing it all). I can do this. I can.
Right?
Tuesday, May 18, 2010
11 months
My sweet baby boy is eleven months today. This time is going by way too fast. He is starting to look and act less and less like a baby and more and more like a toddler.
Likes:
Avocado eggrolls from Kona Grill
Snugglepuppy book
When Mommy dances for him
Playing "This Little Piggy" with his toes
Pulling all the toys out of the daycare toyboxes
Walking while someone holds his hands
Exploring every nook and cranny
Yogurt, yogurt, yogurt (if you offer it to him at a meal, he can't see it and it has to be given last otherwise he refuses to eat any other food)
Puppies
Having a bite of whatever someone is eating
Brushing his teeth (well, more like sucking the baby toothpaste out of the bristles)
Dislikes
Diaper and clothing changes
When Mommy leaves the room
Someone new taking him out of our arms before he is acclimated to them
Exersaucer
Telling him he can't do something
Likes:
Avocado eggrolls from Kona Grill
Snugglepuppy book
When Mommy dances for him
Playing "This Little Piggy" with his toes
Pulling all the toys out of the daycare toyboxes
Walking while someone holds his hands
Exploring every nook and cranny
Yogurt, yogurt, yogurt (if you offer it to him at a meal, he can't see it and it has to be given last otherwise he refuses to eat any other food)
Puppies
Having a bite of whatever someone is eating
Brushing his teeth (well, more like sucking the baby toothpaste out of the bristles)
Dislikes
Diaper and clothing changes
When Mommy leaves the room
Someone new taking him out of our arms before he is acclimated to them
Exersaucer
Telling him he can't do something
Monday, May 17, 2010
We survived!
I'm happy to report that our first day of cloth diapering went extremely well! In fact, it went so well that I'm angry that I didn't try this sooner and let fear get the better of me. Granted, we used pockets and fitteds for the entire day as I wanted to send the prefolds through one more wash and dry cycle. I'm still a little intimidated by prefolds with snappis, but I'm sure it will be just like the others. The only mistake I did make was forget that a fitted diaper wasn't a pocket (I was distracted by the striped skulls on the front) and forgot to put a cover over it. Luckily, I noticed some dampness on the front of Jude's onesie before any huge mishaps occurred.
Daycare will be the next hurdle. If you are thinking of cloth diapering and you send your child to daycare fulltime, you will have to check with the daycare provider to ensure they will be on board. Oh, a tip I learned in regards to that: make sure to talk to them in person with a pocket or AIO diaper in hand. Most people when they hear the word "cloth diaper", the image of complicated cloth folding and big bulky diaper pins comes to mind (myself included before I knew better!). Once they see that cloth diapering can be just as easy as disposables, most will go along with it with no complaints. I didn't have an issue since the director of our daycare center said that many parents over the years had cloth diapered. The only thing we needed to do was bring in a diaper pail to leave there and also a new wetbag everyday. Then we would just transport the dipes to and from daycare in that. We still have some disposables to use up at daycare, but will probably start with the cloth this week there as well! We won't mess around with sending the prefolds there, only pockets and AIOs. So far, so good!
In other news that is un-cloth diaper related, we are in the midst of trying to plan Jude's 1st birthday party which is occurring in a month. My baby will be one year old in ONE MONTH?? It seems impossible. It makes me sad and happy all at the same time. I know it is stated over and over, time and again, but it really does go by so fast. That's why I love to keep this blog- if only to remember the little things.
Daycare will be the next hurdle. If you are thinking of cloth diapering and you send your child to daycare fulltime, you will have to check with the daycare provider to ensure they will be on board. Oh, a tip I learned in regards to that: make sure to talk to them in person with a pocket or AIO diaper in hand. Most people when they hear the word "cloth diaper", the image of complicated cloth folding and big bulky diaper pins comes to mind (myself included before I knew better!). Once they see that cloth diapering can be just as easy as disposables, most will go along with it with no complaints. I didn't have an issue since the director of our daycare center said that many parents over the years had cloth diapered. The only thing we needed to do was bring in a diaper pail to leave there and also a new wetbag everyday. Then we would just transport the dipes to and from daycare in that. We still have some disposables to use up at daycare, but will probably start with the cloth this week there as well! We won't mess around with sending the prefolds there, only pockets and AIOs. So far, so good!
In other news that is un-cloth diaper related, we are in the midst of trying to plan Jude's 1st birthday party which is occurring in a month. My baby will be one year old in ONE MONTH?? It seems impossible. It makes me sad and happy all at the same time. I know it is stated over and over, time and again, but it really does go by so fast. That's why I love to keep this blog- if only to remember the little things.
Saturday, May 15, 2010
Here we go!
My first cloth diaper purchases are all ready to go! I currently have about one day's worth of dipes. So far, I have an assortment since we're not sure what diaper(s) is going to work best for Jude. Another amazing bonus of cloth diapering is the resale value. Anything that doesn't work out for us we can always resell at a diaper swap or Craigslist. Score!
Here is what we have so far: Bumgenius 3.0 (light blue), Fuzzi Bunz pocket (red), Happy Heinys pocket (butter), Thirsties Duo (mango), Thirsties cover (green), a Rumparooz G2 pocket (monsters), Monkey Snuggles fitted (skull stripe), and a Monkey Snuggles overnight (chocolate chip cookies).
I also got 8 organic prefolds with snappis to try out. There's no turning back now!
I spent all of tonight prepping the diapers for our first official day of cloth diapering Jude tomorrow. The biggest time consumer was prepping the prefolds. I boiled them for about half an hour and then ran them through several wash and dry cycles in order to get maximum absorbency once they are on the little boy's bum.
Wish us luck!
Here is what we have so far: Bumgenius 3.0 (light blue), Fuzzi Bunz pocket (red), Happy Heinys pocket (butter), Thirsties Duo (mango), Thirsties cover (green), a Rumparooz G2 pocket (monsters), Monkey Snuggles fitted (skull stripe), and a Monkey Snuggles overnight (chocolate chip cookies).
I also got 8 organic prefolds with snappis to try out. There's no turning back now!
I spent all of tonight prepping the diapers for our first official day of cloth diapering Jude tomorrow. The biggest time consumer was prepping the prefolds. I boiled them for about half an hour and then ran them through several wash and dry cycles in order to get maximum absorbency once they are on the little boy's bum.
Wish us luck!
And the cloth diapering journey begins...
Well readers, we're doing it. We are jumping right in to cloth diapering starting this weekend. Oh, first and foremost, a HUGE thank you to my friend Hannah over at The Swoboda Family for schooling me in all my newbie questions in regards to cloth diapering. Hannah and I went to high school together ten years ago (yikes!). I was looking at pictures on facebook of her ADORABLE (no seriously, this kid is something else) daughter and saw that she loved to babywear like we did so we started talking about fun baby stuff! She is a clothdiapering guru and I'm sure I'll be bugging her for many more weeks until I get this thing down. Anyways, where was I?
Yesterday was an important day.
I received my first fluffy mail! That's right, the 'fluff' I speak of was none other than my first cloth diaper order! I've been stalking Jillian's Drawers for some time now and finally made the plunge. I ordered a three pack of different brands of pocket diapers: A Bumgenius 3.0, a Happy Heinys, and a Fuzzibunz. They are just so stinking cute.
I've been frustrated in that the only cloth diaper store that is closest to me is 60 miles away. Ugh. My city has a huge need for a cloth diapering store. Lo and behold, I found a couple who operates a cloth diapering boutique out of their home and they have an awesome selection online! So, I spent my lunch yesterday eating Whole Foods to go food and shopping on their website, Top to Bottom Baby Boutique. I know it's local so I wasn't expecing a huge selection, but oh my gosh- their selection surprised me and I, in typical Erin fashion, went nuts. A dipe with stripes and skulls on it and overnight cloth diaper with chocolate chip cookies all over it? Yes, please! I'm going to pick up my new stash later this afternoon. Expect a post tonight or this weekend that will be photo-heavy.
If you would've told me a few years ago I would be THIS excited about cloth diapers, I would've told you that you were nuts. Now it looks like I'm the one who is nuts.
Yesterday was an important day.
I received my first fluffy mail! That's right, the 'fluff' I speak of was none other than my first cloth diaper order! I've been stalking Jillian's Drawers for some time now and finally made the plunge. I ordered a three pack of different brands of pocket diapers: A Bumgenius 3.0, a Happy Heinys, and a Fuzzibunz. They are just so stinking cute.
I've been frustrated in that the only cloth diaper store that is closest to me is 60 miles away. Ugh. My city has a huge need for a cloth diapering store. Lo and behold, I found a couple who operates a cloth diapering boutique out of their home and they have an awesome selection online! So, I spent my lunch yesterday eating Whole Foods to go food and shopping on their website, Top to Bottom Baby Boutique. I know it's local so I wasn't expecing a huge selection, but oh my gosh- their selection surprised me and I, in typical Erin fashion, went nuts. A dipe with stripes and skulls on it and overnight cloth diaper with chocolate chip cookies all over it? Yes, please! I'm going to pick up my new stash later this afternoon. Expect a post tonight or this weekend that will be photo-heavy.
If you would've told me a few years ago I would be THIS excited about cloth diapers, I would've told you that you were nuts. Now it looks like I'm the one who is nuts.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)