Based on Beth’s post from yesterday, I thought I’d direct you to a couple of fun versions of this page. All are translations from the “Dialectizer”
So I’m all in a tizzy about Blogger Pro. Tim has okayed the purchase, but I feel like I need to justify it in some way before spending the $35. (How frickin’ sad is it that I’m making myself work daily in order to spend $35, when last week I spent $200 on a bike trailer without thinking twice? OK, thrice.) Anyway, the deal is that I have to blog seven days in a row before I sign up for Blogger Pro.
This is all a part of my goal to be a Blog of Note. Is it wrong that this goal is now on my Top 10 Things To Do Before Death List? *scratches head and frowns*
In other developments, one of my friends emailed me last week that if my “cycle” continues to occur in this same 28-day pattern, I will be “cycle-buddies” (my horrible phrase, not hers) with her and another friend. I think I might cry… It sounds like a bad pop ballad, ‘Even though we’re miles away, we still can share this bloating today…’ Where’s Celine Dion when you need her?
Tim and I took the bike trailer on its first official trail ride Saturday morning. Auggie woke up God-awful early and we actually made it out before it got too sweltering. We went down to this new bike trail that starts at Laclede’s Landing and follows the river up to the Chain of Rocks bridge, 11 miles away. Me being the big out-of-shape wimp-o that I am at this point, we only made it 5 miles up the trail. But hey, that’s 10 whole miles! I was completely fried by the time we got back to the car. I could tell that Auggie was impressed, however.
That evening, we hit the official Dave and Shannon are Getting Married Barbeque and had a delightful time meeting up with some long-lost buddies from college. Tim went along for the subsequent bachelor party and spent the rest of the night getting to know some of Brooklyn, Illinois’ more “discriminating” strip clubs. Why am I so fine with this? Because my husband admitted that he spent a lot more time ogling SportsCenter on the TVs instead of the ladies. I know this is completely true, as we do not have cable. Poor Tim.
Robourbon, you have to ask Tim about what happened with Slice… Unbelievable.
Anyway, pressure continues to build inside my skull as I contemplate Auggie’s impending birthday party. Did I mention that we’re having two parties — one for the playgroup on Friday, then family on Saturday? Did I mention that the guest list for Saturday has swelled to 24 people? And that’s close friends and family? Who knew we had that many close friends and family? Que horror!
And I’ve managed to get absolutely no work done this weekend. I’m a louse.
Oh! I happened onto a link to this incredible site called babelfish that will translate anything from English into, like, eight different languages. It reminded me of one of the first Web sites I remember from my early days on the Internet, which was the Swedish Chef translator. Remember the Swedish Chef from the Muppet Show? He was totally my favorite! That memory led to another great memory of the ill-fated (and foul-tasting) Swedish Chef “Croonchy Stars” cereal that my brother and I eagerly purchased as youngsters. (Well, my mom actually did the purchasing, but my brother and I did our part by bugging the crap out of her until she did.) Ah, croonchy stars. We kept that box forever. It’s probably still in the pantry at my dad’s house…
Dang. I forgot what I was going to say.
Oh! Now I remember!
As Tim put it, “Your two-year ovary odyssey is over.” That’s a tasteful way of say that I am a member of the Tampax club again. Boo… I was pretty surprised by the whole thing this evening. I mean, the last time was back in October of 2000. October of 2000! Of course, the four weeks of postpartum bleeding help to make up for the lost periods…
I think Tim was thinking that I would be more emotional about it. You know, the whole lamenting another sign that Auggie is getting older thing, etc. I guess I thought I’d be more upset as well. But I’m not. It was almost like the return of an old friend. That just kinda sounds wrong, but, hey, I can’t help what I feel.
I’ll move on…
Auggie has infected his play group! I was bombarded with e-mails today about how everyone’s babies have been sick over the weekend with 102 degree fevers! Egads! Luckily, they have kindly decided to not ostracize us (for Auggie’s sake only, I’m sure). Actually, it seems that a virus is going around with these symptoms and everyone seems to be getting it. I’m still not totally convinced that he was sick, since he was totally fine the next day. The drooling has tapered off, though, with no evidence of new teeth.
So Auggie and I ran around all day (read, I drug him around all day) and ended up selling a load of baby clothes and such at Kangaroo Kids and using the proceeds to help offset the cost of a new bike trailer for Auggie’s birthday! This is actually more of a gift for Tim, so he can get back to riding his bike regularly and not feel guilty about not spending time with the boy. Auggie seemed nonplussed during his inaugural ride, but here’s hoping that he grows to love it.
This evening was also my first time back on a bike in, well, almost 2 years. (No, the coincidence of the two events is not lost on me.) I was pretty “wobbly” as Tim put it. However, he was gracious enough to blame it on the bike’s frame “stretching me out” too far. Thanks, honey. I’m just pretty unsteady on bicycles as a general rule. At least I didn’t fall down this time.
Thanks to Heidi’s husband Dan, who forwarded Webster’s word of the day for July 15: august! I suppose I should print it out and put it in his baby book.
Written last night (because the network was down):
Our Internet connection is down currently, and it’s storming like all get-out, so I thought I’d do a little updating to the ole blog.
Auggie is still working on getting the walking thing going. He’ll surprise us with a couple of steps here and there. Basically, there’s no telling when he’ll go for it, so I haven’t caught him on tape yet.
And for those of you who were concerned about his health last week, the fever was gone by the next morning. Then, the drooling began, so I guess he’s teething. It was a pretty big relief for me, because I was terrified that he had infected his playgroup with a terrible virus. Whew!
I’m listening to NPR’s “Talk of the Nation” where they’re discussing the benefits of breastfeeding. I was actually surprised when they said that 60% of women in the US breastfeed. I know that the statistic drops to 35% past 6 months. This is compared to 90% in European countries.
I’m glad that no one has been negative so far. I must say that I haven’t had one negative experience while I’ve been nursing Auggie thus far. (Knocking wood.) We’ve nursed all over the place, too. People are very positive. I don’t know why I expected bad things. Perhaps because people are more apt to speak of negative experiences than positive ones, maybe? I don’t know.
I love the way Neil Conan says “breastfeeding” — so perky! And it’s great that the guests have been so openly saying that formula is inferior to breastfeeding. And that it’s cheaper. And that it is a wonderful experience for both moms and babies. And that it should help you get more rest, not make you more exhausted.
My Auggie is sick today. He’s been running a fever of 102 degrees. He has no other symptoms, other than the listlessness that comes with having a fever. Poor little guy. I hate it when he’s sick. (Even if it means that he’s a little less active, he’s still 10 times as clingy.)
The only way he would nap today is in my arms. While that is fun for nostalgia’s sake — in reality, not so fun.
The really crappy thing is that we had a playgroup yesterday. (I swear he wasn’t sick then, guys!) Of course, all the young ‘uns were sharing sippy cups and eating each others’ snacks off the ground and whatnot. I just hope none of them gets it. (crosses fingers)
We even went to MoKaBe’s last night. That’s how completely surprised I was by this illness! We hung out and I drank 2 iced lattes. I was surprised that I had such a hard time sleeping last night. Guess there’s a little caffeine in those lattes. I’m such a coffee wimp.
Now I feel like a terrible mommy.
Sure, I know it’s not my fault that he’s sick, but I feel so dang helpless! I guess if he is still feverish in the morning, I’ll call the pediatrician. If we actually go into the office, that will be his 4th visit to the doctor in less than a month! BlueCross BlueShield is going to start sending me death threats! BTW, on Tuesday, the opthalmologist recommended that we set up an appointment to have Auggie’s tear duct “probed.” I’m all like, ‘did you have to use that word?’ (Not really.) This means that Auggie will have to go to the hospital, get anesthesia gas to put him to sleep, and then undergo a 5-minute procedure where the doc inserts a teeny-tiny silicon wire into his tear duct to see if there are any obstructions. If there is something, he will insert a tiny tube to help the tears drain for a month. No word on if he has to be put under again to have the tube removed. One would assume, yes, though, I suppose.
Those of you that know us are going, ‘wha..? I thought that whole blocked tear duct thing took care of itself when Auggie was, like, seven months old.’ We thought it was A-OK too. However, when he started teething early in June, his eye got crusty again. This wasn’t too surprising, because whenever Auggie has gotten a cold, the eye reverts to crustiness. However, it never went away. So, we tried the eye drops that the doc prescribed way back when his blocked tear duct was initially diagnosed when he was two months old. That didn’t work. We went into the doctor (visit #1) and were prescribed 10 days of Augmentin. This seemed to do the trick, but the day after he took his last dose, the eye was crusty again. Back to the doctor for visit #2. She prescribed a different kind of eye drop, which cut down on the yellow goo, but not the overall crustiness. It is obvious that the eye is not draining properly. So we call the opthalmologist (aren’t you impressed that I know how to spell opthalmologist, anyway?) and we go in to see him on Tuesday (visit #3). Long wait in the waiting room with a bunch of old people, but he was nice. He comes in and, bing-bang-boom, we’re discussing my little guy’s first (and hopefully only) surgery. I mean, this guy hasn’t been cut since his cord was severed. Not even down there.
That’s $45 in copayments over the past month! Sheesh. Pesky tear duct.
What I’ve learned from my baby:
* Every baby is different. What worked for me may not work for you. So take all advice/anecdotes/wisdom (not just mine) with a grain of salt. Learning for yourself is half the fun, right?
* Not only can I put my baby in a sling, but the pouch of the sling can be used to stow a burp cloth, wallet, keys or any other small item. So I don’t have to tote that diaper bag into the bank with me.
* If I have any questions at all about breastfeeding, whether it’s if the baby’s latching on, why my nipples hurt like all get out, how much the baby should be wetting/pooping, etc., I am not afraid to call a lactation consultant or a La Leche League leader. They are there to help and no question is too stupid!
As someone who “felt” that something wasn’t right with her baby’s latch and didn’t ask and then reaped the consequences, I can’t stress this enough. I’m all for trusting my body and all, but without an integrated support system of family members and friends who are breastfeeding experts (as it was in the past), I wish that I had utilized these modern-day experts better early on.
* Pay attention to the baby’s diapers. Keep track of how many wet and poopy diapers he has every day until he is a couple of weeks old and he’s got a pattern established. If he is not wetting enough, this is a problem. I learned this the hard way. Pooping is important, but this seems to vary a lot from baby to baby. Auggie never pooped as much as every other bf baby, it seemed. Those babies all seemed to poop after every feeding as newborns. Sometimes Auggie would go every-other day — lots. We’re talking major blow-outs here.
* Nothing contains newborn bf baby poo. Pretreat those adorable little outfits before throwing them into the hamper, or they’ll be trashed.
* Sing what I know. Don’t worry about the nursery rhymes and other lullabies. He has no idea what I’m saying anyway. For the first few months of Auggie’s life, Tim sang every Guided By Voices song that he knew to calm the baby.
* For us, and I want to stress FOR US, sleeping with us for the first seven or eight months of his life was a bad idea. It was great the first few months, since he needed to nurse at night, but I’ve come to believe the advice: at three months, have the baby sleeping where you want them to be sleeping at one year. Now that I have a very kicky 11 month-old, trust me, I want him sleeping in his own bed.
I loved the idea of having a “family bed” — I did! But it became clear early on that he was using nursing as a crutch to fall asleep. Now, when babies are newborns, they sleep all the time, so nursing to sleep is a natural cycle. However, we came to believe that it was important that Auggie learn to fall asleep on his own. This was extremely hard to do at seven months. He liked sleeping with us. He liked nursing all night long. It took weeks of crying (his and ours) to get him comfortable with the concept. Now, he is much more comfortable sleeping in his bed than ours. When I bring him into bed to nurse when he wakes up at 6 in the morning, he doesn’t go back to sleep. He’s ready to get up and start the day with daddy. Mommy and daddy wish he would nap…
* Auggie took at least one bottle a day everyday from 2 weeks to 8 weeks, and when I stopped giving them to him at 8 weeks, he had totally forgotten what to do with them by 11 weeks. He never took a bottle again. We started him on a sippy cup at 4 months, but he still didn’t really get the hang of that until 6 months or so. So we didn’t really go out for longer than an hour or two for a long time. It was tragic. We missed the Dismemberment Plan.
* Cloth diapers are a beautiful thing.
* Used baby clothes are God’s gift to budgets.
* Nursing was not only the best choice for my baby, it was a great choice for me. After having him naturally, I was ready to jump tall buildings in a single bound once I got home. Not wise, when you’ve got a placenta-sized open wound inside yourself. Nursing him around the clock kept me off of my feet. The awesome hormone prolactin kept me relaxed. It still does. We dozed together while he nursed, which helped me get that much-needed rest. Now, nursing has evolved into not only a means of providing nurishment and security for August. It is comfort for a bumped noggin, an instant chill-pill for a fussy, cranky boy, a time-out for a frazzled mommy. We reconnect, literally and emotionally.
* I think the thing that kept me nursing, even at the darkest hours of the night when the baby slept, yet I had to wake up and pump to build my supply back up, was thinking about how much I would regret quitting. Looking at the nursing shirts I had bought while still pregnant and thinking about how I would never get to use them. Thinking about the bottles, the nipples, the cans and cans of nasty-smelling formula. I decided to stop the pumping and just nurse until my supply was totally gone. Here I am, 11 months later, and nothing’s dried up yet!
That’s all I can think of right now.
Auggie is slowly, slowly working up to walking. Yesterday, he officially took a step. Towards the record player. Yes, he is his parents’ son! Today, two steps. Tomorrow, who knows?
At the doctor yesterday, he weighed 22 pounds, 15 ounces. No wonder my neck, arms and back are killing me! Must find time/money to get back to wonderful massage therapist Angie, who rocked my world after Mother’s Day…
My mother thinks I’m crazy for using cloth diapers with Auggie. I think it’s crazy how much disposable diapers cost, and how much of a given it is that everyone will use them. (See also near-daily rants about formula and the poor, circa October 2001.) My friend Heidi makes these totally beautiful, incredibly functional cloth diapers and sells them to me at a discount! You can visit her web site at Sugarbums. It’s not that big of a deal for me. Just an extra load of laundry every couple of days. Yes, cleaning out the poo is disgusting, but you get over any poo-squeamishness very quickly once you have a baby. I guess her main objection is the initial cost of the diapers (between $10-12 per diaper, a little more per cover). For example, I just got 10 diapers for $100. But I also just shelled out $25 for 136 disposables (we still use them at night and when we travel) at Sam’s for the cheap-o Smiles brand (so old-school, they have Muppet Babies on them!). If we were using disposables full-time, those would last between 2 and 3 weeks. The 10 cloth diapers I bought will last at least a year, if not longer. So that’s $100 (+$100 for diapers I already own + $25 for the used diaper covers I already own) for a total of $225 for a year’s worth of cloth diapering. Disposables, at a case every three weeks ($25 x 17 cases per year) would cost $425. Plus, I can feel good that we’re not filling an entire landfill with my son’s poopy diapers.
Whoa! That’s enough math for one night. I’m probably going to have that nightmare about missing my Calculus final again. Does anyone else do this? Occasionally, I’ll have an extremely vivid nightmare that I’m in college and I remember that I’m missing a test or a final on a course that I forgot that I had or never went to all semester. It’s very stressful, and I’m completely relieved when I wake up and realize that I graduated five years ago.
Auggie thinks it’s pretty neat to feed us now. He likes to pick up Cheerios and hold them up to us. Sometimes he lets us eat them, sometimes he pulls his hand away just in time and eats the Cheerio himself. It’s very entertaining. Especially when he holds the Cheerio in his fist and there’s no possible way to extract it. Another funny sight in the morning is Auggie holding court in his throne/high chair, bestowing Cheerios upon his loyal subjects below (the dogs).
And when did we get to be so dang social? We have some sort of gathering every single weekend this month! We are going to be sick of barbecue by the end of July…
I am so embarassed that it has been nearly three whole months since I’ve updated here. As usual, the same lame excuses come to mind about life being crazy, the baby being crazy, me being crazy. But I know that you don’t care. You’ve probably deleted your bookmark of the page, don’t even check up here anymore…
The sad part is that I can’t even promise to do better! It’s summer and goodness knows when I’ll have a moment to be back again. Just try to check back in every now and again when you think about it. Who knows? Maybe you’ll get lucky.
So, some major Auggie milestone updates for those of you who haven’t seen or heard from us lately:
* He’s been crawling since we went to the Derby in early May. Funny story: It took a hotel room with carpeting to finally give hime enough traction so he could get the crawling thing down. Guess the hardwood floors here at home were just to slippery.
* He says “dadadadada” and “mamamamama” but doesn’t really know what they mean. His laugh is the cutest, funniest thing ever.
* He weighs 22 pounds, 9 ounces, which is just about average, believe it or not. Seems huge to me, but I’m no doctor.
* He’s working on standing unsupported. This is pretty much the last thing to conquer before the walking begins. As yet, no steps.
* He’s still pretty bald, but he’s getting more hair all the time! It’s blonde, though, so you still don’t see it much. Check out the Pictures section for some recent shots.
* He eats like a madman now. He’s gradually moving away from the baby food, as he is way more interested in what we’re eating now. He loves guacamole!
* He’s nursing less and less. This is pretty bittersweet for me because it is just another reminder of how quickly he is growing up! Plus, we worked so hard at this nursing thing. I can’t believe it’s almost over. But who knows? He may continue with nursing a couple of times a day for a while. Which is fine with me. It’s amazing how a little mommy time turns his mood around, calms him down, makes him smile.
As for me, I’m having a great summer. Auggie and I have been hitting the pools, walking the dogs every morning, chilling with the SLPlaygroup and working harder than ever. Humana has been giving me tons of work and I just try to keep up. As a matter of fact, I’m procrastinating right now…
We bought a blow-up pool today and the whole family (dogs and all — yes, we’re total hoosiers) got in to cool off on this hot, humid afternoon. The dogs weren’t thrilled, but Auggie had the time of his life. My boy is getting TAN too! The SPF 30 has prevented any sunburns, but he is quite the bronze man.
Oh, and I got an iBook. It rocks. So hard. Tim hooked me up with an Air Base Station, so I’ve got DSL anywhere within 150 feet of the thing. Now, all I need is Microsoft Office and I’m in business! Oh, and Adobe Font Folio, Photoshop, Illustrator, another 40 gigs of hard drive…
I made my first movie. It’s called “Jillian’s First Birthday Party.” Ironically, but not surprisingly, Auggie is the star.
So, that’s what’s up with us. What’s up with you?
I just wanted to post to everybody that we’ve got a whole bunch of new pictures up in our picture section. I found a tool that I could pop onto the website that makes resizing pictures soooo much easier, so there’s a lot less time intensive work that we have to do editing pictures. Also, it had been forever since we’d put any pictures up. So the easiest way to see everything would be to enter 1/20/02 into the pictures taken from date and hit the go button.
Apologies, apologies for not updating in so long. No good excuse, really, just life going by so fast that I do all I can to keep up. Whine”¦
Plus, we’ve got big news! Auggie got his first tooth last night! It’s so weird — nothing yesterday, but a rough patch on his gums today! Plus, he pulled himself up to standing for the first time last night. I’m like, whoa, slow down! You’re growing too fast, little boy!
He’s going to be eight months old tomorrow. I can’t believe it. Heck, four more weeks and he’ll officially be outside of me for longer than he was inside. Crazy.
So, what’s been going on, you ask? Well, let me tell you, not a whole lot. We’ve been hanging out, waiting for spring. Since it seems like spring is finally here, we’re totally excited to get out of this house. Auggie has a tree swing that I bought for him back in February, so we’ve been taking advantage of that lately. He thinks it’s pretty cool.
August also loves the dogs now. He thinks that Kirby is the funniest thing ever. I mean, Kirby can be asleep on the back of the chair with his head on my shoulder and August just cracks up. Who knows why? Auggie also loves cats. We’ve visited friends that have cats and he is totally riveted whenever they’re around. He tried to grab them, like he does the dogs, but the cats are too fast.
A funny moment: August trying to catch Coco’s tail, which is wagging too quickly for him to grasp. He doesn’t seem to understand.
Tim and I are trying to teach August some sign language, which is fun. It seems that when you teach a baby sign language, they will be able to sign something like 75 words, even though they can’t say a single one yet. So far, we’re working on eat, more, milk and all done. I can’t wait until he makes his first sign! Especially since the only word he says right now is “dadadadadada.” Not that he realizes what it means”¦
August is eating everything in sight now. He loves Cheerios, bread and chicken. He’s still nursing great, just really spacing out his feedings now.
I’m feeling pretty nostalgic already. I just got home from a La Leche League meeting and seeing the mommies there with their tiny little ones makes it all the more poignant that my little baby is getting closer and closer to being a little boy. Since this is the only one that Tim and I want to have, each moment is that much more precious. I want to take every day and put it in a little box in my mind, so I can go back and open it and remember how wonderful he was on Day 160 or Day 201. Sniff.
I went to an old high school friend’s baby shower yesterday who informed me that she was only going to nurse for 3 or 4 months, until she goes back to work. I just smiled a little smile and thanked goodness that at least she was going to nurse, knowing full well that if she nurses for 3 or 4 months, there’s no way she’s going to want to stop just because she’s going back to work! It’s hard to imagine that nursing him would be such a wonderful part of mothering my baby, but it really is. It’s so much more than just a meal. It’s a dose of happiness when he’s sad, instant relief when he’s hurting, a potent sleep aid when he’s not wanting to close his eyes and a quiet moment for me in our increasingly hectic days.
Sigh.