Things that make me feel old

My little sister turns 19 today. Happy Birthday Sissy!!

Being a baby is hard work!

I spent 10 minutes today watching my son discover the power of his own hands. We bought a gymini (fabric thing that hangs over his head so he can play with the hanging toys) at a yard sale for $5. Best $5 ever! There is this red and yellow rainbow thing that I set him under today. And for ten minutes today, I watched as he played beneath it. At first, it was an accident when he hit it with his tiny fist and made it swing back and forth and back and forth. He watched it move, and when it became still, he started jerking his little body around, moving his feet and fists and after a few seconds, he hit it again. Again it went still, and this time, instead of flailing about, he reached both hands over his head and moved just his fists back and forth till he hit it. He did this three or four times and each time he hit it quicker than the last. It was so cool to watch! (Oh my god, I am that mom everyone rolls their eyes at, aren't I?!) Then, the most fun part, was when his tiny fist missed the rainbow and hit the octopus hanging next to it. This guys legs are scrunchy so they can be pulled on. He made a funny "ah!" sound when he it it and got all excited. It was a whole new thing to hit at, how fun! ;-)

Then, mere minutes later it was all over. He yawned once or twice, and then fussed a bit and I knew he was done. I scooped him up off the floor and he fell asleep almost instantly. As his grandma says, "Being a baby is hard work!"

Why I love my son

Despite the sleepless nights full of crying for no apparent reason. Despite the smell emanating from his dirty diapers. Despite the arm cramps and leg cramps and back pain from holding him non-stop. My son is my world. Work called this week in a vain attempt to snap me back to a non-baby centric reality. Good luck! I spent the next several days scheming how to squeeze every last dime out of our budget so that I don't have to leave this precious boy at home. It's not even that he would be in daycare, cuz he wouldn't. We are blessed that Hubby has the work schedule he does, and can stay home with the baby while I work. I am still scheming, and will keep you posted. So far, the plan involves a crappy but sufficient health ins plan from Blue cross blue shield and a job with GE money answering customer service phone calls from the privacy of my own home (Poor Hubby, can't keep his office to himself to save his life, cuz I would hafta take over it to have a quiet place to do this work. Poor man.) Or, any other stupid part time job that makes up for the money we'd be spending on the insurance and takes me away from my baby boy as little as possible. I just have to crunch the numbers a little more.

But really, truly, here is the real reason I love my son...



He makes me laugh and smile every single day. ;-)

One Month Musings

My little one has been around a whole month! (Okay, he was four weeks old Tuesday, but today is the 4th, and coincidentally also exactly four weeks after we brought him home from the hospital, so we will just let him have two birthdays this week. ;-)

I can't believe how fast it has gone by! It feels like it has been forever and no time at all all at the same time. I am just starting to regain some control over my life and his. We are working on establishing sleeping at night (he will sleep for five hour stretches after a good feeding, but only during the day. This is great for me getting stuff done around the house and napping, but nighttime sleep would be greatly appreciated.) We are also working on playtime. About 15 minutes at a time a few times a day, we play "So big!" and Bicycle Legs and we play with our plastic keys that were in his easter basket this year and we make silly faces at each other. Whenever he will let me put him down without crying, I try to lay him on his Boppy lily pad on the floor (on top of an extra thick blanket, so it is not too hard since we have no carpet in the living room.) We spend some time on our tummy every day too and are working on developing those neck muscles. He also kicks like a champ, and kicked and punched daddy in the face a few times today while playing (hehehe). Daddy time is getting more frequent and oh so cute! I will try to upload pics soon. I have some great ones of Baby laying on Daddy's tummy on the couch and laying next to him in bed. They look so alike when you put them next to each other!

We are still working on finding the right formula. Baby has had some gassy issues and his number of bowel movements has decreased from nearly every feeding to every other day or so. The pediatrician says this is normal, but changing from normal formula to sensitive helped a little, and changing to the soy stuff (we got large free samples in the mail) has made a great improvement in both his gassiness and how long he sleeps, so we think we will stick with this one.

It is incredible how your priorities and life change. I am already dreading that I have to go back to work, and I am SO thankful to my husband that he works as hard as he does so that I only have to go back two days a week. I try to think of it as Daddy time and not as "Mommy has to go to work" time. But, I still have four more weeks, and I plan to enjoy them. Plus, Daddy took off the whole weekend after my first week back, so I can adjust slowly to going back to work and having him alone all weekend while Daddy works, so I know we will be just fine. I'm thinking the second weekend I'll have my family visit to sneak in that extra sleeping time while they are here ad make the transition even easier. Slow and steady changes.

There are times when he is crying so loud and we just can't figure out why and even holding and rocking him won't quiet him. Every parent knows how frustrating that can be, and no non-parent could possibly understand how piercing your on child's cry can be to your heart. But, a few minutes or hours later, there is this spectacular smile on my little boy's face, and every frustration just melts away. It's like an instant amnesia pill, and you know you can make it through another sleepless night if you can get just one more smile the next day. And the way he clings to my body as I hold him or lay him on my chest to nap is so amazing. I love those little hugs. ;-)

Summary of month one: Mommy lives for baby hugs and baby smiles. ;-)