It doesn't leave me much free time. Preschool started for Malcolm last week which should definitely help establish a routine in our household. This year, he's going 3 days a week and for the first 8 weeks, I'm on maternity leave and do not begin working in the classroom until November. I'm looking forward to having some solo time with Ian but I have a feeling he's going to be taking a long nap in the mornings when Malcolm's not around. During Malcolm's first day last week, he slept the whole time Mal was away. The poor baby typically doesn't get a long stretch of sleep during the day but it does mean he sleeps better at night.
Life has been good with two kids even though it's a struggle to get much done around the house. Malcolm loves being a big brother. The only time he has a 'hard' time is when he wants me to do something with him and I need to feed Ian. Ian is such a laid-back baby; we feel very fortunate.
Speaking of babies, Stephanie, Tony's youngest sister, is pregnant with another boy! This family is filled with boys on both sides of the family.
I'd love to continue to ramble on, but I can't stop thinking of all of the things I need to do around the house :)
Showing posts with label parenthood. Show all posts
Showing posts with label parenthood. Show all posts
Sunday, September 19, 2010
Sunday, August 01, 2010
9 Days Later
Why yes, I really was in labor. After sleeping for a couple of hours, I woke up at 3 AM and the contractions started becoming painful and close together. We made it to the hospital around 4:30 AM and Ian was born at 6:20 AM. I think it's safe to say that my body is very efficient at this labor/birthing business. Everything went smoothly and we didn't even stay at the hospital overnight. My recovery has been surprisingly quick and Ian is so healthy. He's a great eater and sleeper so far.
Sherry & Casey flew into Seattle last Saturday so I haven't had much time on the computer. I've uploaded a few photos from Tony's phone to my Flickr account. The ones from our camera were taken in a very large format so I have to adjust the size of all of them before I can upload them. It will take time that I do not have right now, but I'll work at it when I can.
I'm home alone with Ian while the rest of the family is at Snoqualmie Falls. Sherry & Casey leave tomorrow and I'm on my own during the day until next Saturday when the next wave of family comes in. Sherry has been a huge help and I'm not sure how I'm going to get dinner made with her not around to help. I guess I'll need to figure it out somehow.
Tuesday, May 18, 2010
Progress
After multiple successes at using the toilet while out in public last week, I decided to take away the diapers on Sunday. After a couple of accidents at first, he figured out that he can't just pee wherever and used the potty like a champ ALL DAY LONG! He had one more accident after he put his jammies on that night. On Monday, we were out all day in underwear with no accidents. I put him in a pull-up for his nap but it was totally unnecessary. Last night, we put him in a pull-up for bedtime (we call them nighttime underwear). When I checked on him before I went to bed, he had taken his pajama pants off. When I asked him why this morning, he thought he had gotten them wet when he peed in the pull-up. So who knows...maybe he won't need 'nighttime underwear' for very long. He hasn't pooped on the potty yet. I'm still trying to figure out how to work that out. Right now, he's at preschool in underwear and I'm hoping he does really well there. This whole potty-training thing is going so much better than expected. My guess is because I waiting so long.
I've been having a lot of physical pain with this pregnancy to where it hurts to stand and walk. I finally bought a maternity belt to help support my growing belly and can already tell the difference. The pain has really hindered packing progress. Speaking of, I need to use the rest of my free time this morning getting some packing done!
I've been having a lot of physical pain with this pregnancy to where it hurts to stand and walk. I finally bought a maternity belt to help support my growing belly and can already tell the difference. The pain has really hindered packing progress. Speaking of, I need to use the rest of my free time this morning getting some packing done!
Monday, May 10, 2010
In the Potty Training Trenches
After reading 3 (and working on the 4th) potty training books, I decided that it was time to get down to business. Malcolm is doing surprisingly well so far (knock on wood) and even insisted on using the public toilet 3 times today while we were out. In the morning, I give him the option to wear underwear or a diaper. This morning, he insisted on a diaper but has yet to pee in it. We're so proud of our little guy! Let's hope this keeps up. I think he'll get peeing on the potty down quickly. It's the pooping that worries me...a lot.
Wednesday, March 03, 2010
New Babies
I started leading a new PEPS group this week. Last night was the first meeting. I had 16 new parents and 8 new babies (10 days to 3 months old) in my living room for two hours. First, I do not have enough seating for that many people, so there were a couple on the floor. Second, it gets rather warm in our house when we pack that many bodies into a smallish room. Third, I get so nervous about doing a good job. This nervousness kept me up last night after the fact. I wonder, "Will any of the families drop out because I did something wrong? How can I do things better?" Of course, I want to give all of the new parents a perfect experience, but, I have learned that it is impossible. In fact, PEPS tells you in the training that there may be a few families in your group that will not be completely satisfied. I can only do my best, right?
I also thought about how we thought we were going to have a baby that would have been in the age group that these babies are in and it made me a little sad.
I also thought about how we thought we were going to have a baby that would have been in the age group that these babies are in and it made me a little sad.
Tuesday, February 09, 2010
A First Time for Everything
Today was our first parent-teacher conference. I appreciate so much that the teachers at Malcolm's preschool do this. We got to ask questions and she asked us questions. One that struck me as funny was Malcolm's eating habits. At snack time at school, Malcolm is always the first kid to finish eating (if he eats at all). Who wants to eat when there is so much fun stuff to do?! He also has a gross habit of chewing up food and spitting it out. He does this all the time but it was something that she had never encountered before. It started when he was younger and would shove way too much food into his mouth and couldn't chew it. The habit of overstuffing his mouth has stopped, but not the spitting out of food. It occurs most often with cheese and apples.
Another first for me - I was bitten by a dog yesterday. Malcolm loves dogs and always wants to go say, "Hi". I always ask the owner if the dog is friendly before we approach the dog and I always let the dog smell my hand before I let Malcolm near it.
A mom had her two dogs, on leash, in the play area of the playground. We went over to the dogs and I asked her if they were friendly and she said yes. As I reached my hand out to the Boxer, it bit me hard enough for me to have a deep gouge in my thumb. The owner was shocked; she said it had never done that before. I was too flustered and also bleeding to get her contact information before heading to wash up and get a bandage.
As we were walking home, Malcolm and his friend, Han, were climbing a set of stairs when the same dog came running up and lunged at Han. It was off-leash and obviously in front of its house. The owner called out to it to come inside. I am incredibly relieved that neither of the boys were bitten or attacked by this dog. I've got a call into my doctor to see if I need to go in for a tetanus shot and antibiotics.
I'm still undecided if I should search out the owner and talk about the situation. I understand that dogs can be unpredictable and I hope that she is more cautious with her Boxer. She had both of her dogs in the play area of the playground which is illegal in the city of Seattle. Can I count on her to keep the dog a safe distance from other people, most importantly children?
Another first for me - I was bitten by a dog yesterday. Malcolm loves dogs and always wants to go say, "Hi". I always ask the owner if the dog is friendly before we approach the dog and I always let the dog smell my hand before I let Malcolm near it.
A mom had her two dogs, on leash, in the play area of the playground. We went over to the dogs and I asked her if they were friendly and she said yes. As I reached my hand out to the Boxer, it bit me hard enough for me to have a deep gouge in my thumb. The owner was shocked; she said it had never done that before. I was too flustered and also bleeding to get her contact information before heading to wash up and get a bandage.
As we were walking home, Malcolm and his friend, Han, were climbing a set of stairs when the same dog came running up and lunged at Han. It was off-leash and obviously in front of its house. The owner called out to it to come inside. I am incredibly relieved that neither of the boys were bitten or attacked by this dog. I've got a call into my doctor to see if I need to go in for a tetanus shot and antibiotics.
I'm still undecided if I should search out the owner and talk about the situation. I understand that dogs can be unpredictable and I hope that she is more cautious with her Boxer. She had both of her dogs in the play area of the playground which is illegal in the city of Seattle. Can I count on her to keep the dog a safe distance from other people, most importantly children?
Saturday, October 31, 2009
Oh Wait...
Did you want a real update? Well, OK.
Malcolm is loving preschool. At first, he was a little apprehensive, but now he asks to go every day. I love the teachers and the other parents are really nice. We've noticed a huge increase in Malcolm's pretend play; I'm not sure if school is the influence or if it's just developmental.
We've been staying busy as usual. Yesterday afternoon, I took Malcolm to a Halloween party at Ari's house. The kids were so cute. Here's a picture of Malcolm the Monkey:
This afternoon, we're going down to the neighborhood shops for their Halloween Festivities. Malcolm is very excited to go trick-or-treating for the first time. We've been having a lot of cloudy & rainy days lately but today it's sunny and gorgeous. Perfect weather for being outside!
Malcolm is loving preschool. At first, he was a little apprehensive, but now he asks to go every day. I love the teachers and the other parents are really nice. We've noticed a huge increase in Malcolm's pretend play; I'm not sure if school is the influence or if it's just developmental.
We've been staying busy as usual. Yesterday afternoon, I took Malcolm to a Halloween party at Ari's house. The kids were so cute. Here's a picture of Malcolm the Monkey:
This afternoon, we're going down to the neighborhood shops for their Halloween Festivities. Malcolm is very excited to go trick-or-treating for the first time. We've been having a lot of cloudy & rainy days lately but today it's sunny and gorgeous. Perfect weather for being outside!
Thursday, August 27, 2009
The Reality of HLHS
When we first received the news that baby-to-be had Hypoplastic Left Heart Syndrome, I was in an exam room with a screaming toddler. Tony had left to go to work and I was there to have my monthly check-up. A doctor (not my own) came in and gave me the news. I was taken off-guard and had no clue what to ask. So, like every person who has access to the internet, I went home and started to do my own research.
The information out there only gave us an idea of what HLHS entailed. The scientific papers & studies were, well, really scientific. The 'personal stories' were vague. We wanted details. It wasn't until we met with the pediatric cardiologist that we received realistic statistics. A lot of what I had read on the internet had given me false hope.
In most of the scientific papers that discussed the surgeries, they gave a survival rate of 75-80%. The cardiologist let us know that those statistics only take into account the babies that have the first surgery and are released from the hospital. Those numbers do not take into account the newborns who die before surgery and those who pass away before the second surgery. When you look at it that way, the survival rate is more like 50%. And then, 10% of those children do not survive the second surgery and then many do not make it to the 'final' surgery.
A child with HLHS is put through 3 open-heart surgeries in the first few years of their lives - at a minimum. The possibility of complications is high. Since this is considered such a new procedure, cardiologists aren't really sure how long the rewired two-chambered heart will last. Many of these children will need a heart transplant sometime in their teens; some might make it to their early twenties.
I think it's pretty amazing that doctors have figured out how to make a 2-chambered heart work well enough to keep a person alive. But, it's really important to take into consideration how having half of a heart will effect the rest of the body's organs.
I wanted to write about what we were told by the pediatric cardiologist (and there was lots more) in hopes that it would help other parents who have just found out that their baby-in-utero has HLHS. For a week, we thought Baby Bee had a better chance of survival and had no idea the kind of pain he would go through once he was born. We had to make the most difficult and painful decision once we had all of this new information.
The information out there only gave us an idea of what HLHS entailed. The scientific papers & studies were, well, really scientific. The 'personal stories' were vague. We wanted details. It wasn't until we met with the pediatric cardiologist that we received realistic statistics. A lot of what I had read on the internet had given me false hope.
In most of the scientific papers that discussed the surgeries, they gave a survival rate of 75-80%. The cardiologist let us know that those statistics only take into account the babies that have the first surgery and are released from the hospital. Those numbers do not take into account the newborns who die before surgery and those who pass away before the second surgery. When you look at it that way, the survival rate is more like 50%. And then, 10% of those children do not survive the second surgery and then many do not make it to the 'final' surgery.
A child with HLHS is put through 3 open-heart surgeries in the first few years of their lives - at a minimum. The possibility of complications is high. Since this is considered such a new procedure, cardiologists aren't really sure how long the rewired two-chambered heart will last. Many of these children will need a heart transplant sometime in their teens; some might make it to their early twenties.
I think it's pretty amazing that doctors have figured out how to make a 2-chambered heart work well enough to keep a person alive. But, it's really important to take into consideration how having half of a heart will effect the rest of the body's organs.
I wanted to write about what we were told by the pediatric cardiologist (and there was lots more) in hopes that it would help other parents who have just found out that their baby-in-utero has HLHS. For a week, we thought Baby Bee had a better chance of survival and had no idea the kind of pain he would go through once he was born. We had to make the most difficult and painful decision once we had all of this new information.
Thursday, August 13, 2009
Our Current Reality
This is not going to be an uplifting post. Far from it. Consider yourself warned.
On Monday, we had our 20-week ultrasound. We found out that Baby Bee is a boy. We also found out that he has Hypoplastic Left Heart Syndrome (HLHS). Essentially, the left side of his heart is not developing and is not functioning. You can get more details by doing a Google search.
I will be going in for further testing in the very near future to see if there are more birth defects. If Baby Bee only has HLHS, the hope is he will be able to have open heart surgery shortly after he is born. He will either have a series of 3 surgeries to allow his 2-chamber heart to function or he will have a heart transplant. There is a 25% chance that he will not survive his first surgery.
We were completely taken off-guard by this news. The last thing we expected to hear was that our baby-to-be has a very serious and rare heart defect. We are filled with a deep sadness. This has been the hardest thing either of us has ever been through and it's only going to get harder.
On Monday, we had our 20-week ultrasound. We found out that Baby Bee is a boy. We also found out that he has Hypoplastic Left Heart Syndrome (HLHS). Essentially, the left side of his heart is not developing and is not functioning. You can get more details by doing a Google search.
I will be going in for further testing in the very near future to see if there are more birth defects. If Baby Bee only has HLHS, the hope is he will be able to have open heart surgery shortly after he is born. He will either have a series of 3 surgeries to allow his 2-chamber heart to function or he will have a heart transplant. There is a 25% chance that he will not survive his first surgery.
We were completely taken off-guard by this news. The last thing we expected to hear was that our baby-to-be has a very serious and rare heart defect. We are filled with a deep sadness. This has been the hardest thing either of us has ever been through and it's only going to get harder.
Tuesday, August 04, 2009
Update on Being a Parent
And having a parent - Happy Birthday to my dad! He's 30 years older than me today!
18 week belly picture:
I started feeling Bee move around at 17 weeks. I'm now 19 weeks pregnant - almost halfway there! Next ultrasound is coming up on Monday.
This past weekend, we went over to Julie & Jeremiah's house so the kids could play. Here's one of my favorite pictures:
To see the rest, go to my Flickr page. Eliska and Malcolm play well together; she's pretty enamored by him and follows him around everywhere.
The little guy has finally started saying his name properly. We've known that he's known how for some time now because sometimes he'd slip up and say, "Malcolm" instead of, "MahMoh". He hasn't called himself MahMoh in a few days.
18 week belly picture:
I started feeling Bee move around at 17 weeks. I'm now 19 weeks pregnant - almost halfway there! Next ultrasound is coming up on Monday.
This past weekend, we went over to Julie & Jeremiah's house so the kids could play. Here's one of my favorite pictures:
To see the rest, go to my Flickr page. Eliska and Malcolm play well together; she's pretty enamored by him and follows him around everywhere.
The little guy has finally started saying his name properly. We've known that he's known how for some time now because sometimes he'd slip up and say, "Malcolm" instead of, "MahMoh". He hasn't called himself MahMoh in a few days.
Thursday, April 30, 2009
Updated Pregnancy List
One of the Ericas had her baby a couple of weeks ago, so she's off the list. Instead of just adding one more person to the list, there are two to add:
Erika
Jill
Chandra
Lisa
Kristin
Shana
Tiffany
Olga
Vaishali
ME!
For those of you that don't already know, I'm pregnant! Tony & I just started trying and it happened right away. If all goes well, we'll have a new little one shortly after Christmas. I guess we know where we'll be spending this winter holiday this year...
Erika
Jill
Chandra
Lisa
Kristin
Shana
Tiffany
Olga
Vaishali
ME!
For those of you that don't already know, I'm pregnant! Tony & I just started trying and it happened right away. If all goes well, we'll have a new little one shortly after Christmas. I guess we know where we'll be spending this winter holiday this year...
Saturday, July 19, 2008
Everyone's Vacationing
I just put Malcolm down for a nap. When I came downstairs, I thought to myself, "I should call my mom/dad/sister" and then I remembered that they are all on vacation. Jenn & Mom are on a cruise together and Dad & Carolyn are in Pennsylvania at the annual family reunion. It made me a little sad.
Speaking of sleep, I started working on teaching Malcolm to fall asleep on his own a couple of weeks ago. When he learned how to crawl, our evening routine changed a bit. He started to cry when I would put him to sleep. I thought that maybe it was a phase, but 2 months later it was still happening. I figure if he's already crying while in my arms, I might as well see if he can fall asleep in his crib. The first night, there was lots of crying, but he fell asleep in his crib and only woke up once during the night. I thought that after 2 weeks, we'd be in a routine and he'd be accustomed to me putting him down in his crib to go to sleep. Unfortunately, that's not the case. Every night is different. Some nights, I put him down in his crib and he plays for 30 minutes and falls asleep. Other nights, I put him down and he fusses for an hour and a half. I stay with him in his room until he falls asleep, so the 1.5 hour nights pretty much use up my evening hours. Anyhoo, since we started doing this, he sleeps through the night. Sometimes he'll wake up after 8.5 hours of sleep but I can usually get him back to sleep for a couple more hours. Most nights he wakes up after 10.5/11 hours of sleep. I would have no complaints if this was the only change, but it's not. His naps are really wonky now and rarely does he take 2 naps a day. I never know what to expect. This would be no big deal except that it makes planning things difficult (like a little party for him for his birthday).
Malcolm turns 1 in 3 weeks. Craziness!
Speaking of sleep, I started working on teaching Malcolm to fall asleep on his own a couple of weeks ago. When he learned how to crawl, our evening routine changed a bit. He started to cry when I would put him to sleep. I thought that maybe it was a phase, but 2 months later it was still happening. I figure if he's already crying while in my arms, I might as well see if he can fall asleep in his crib. The first night, there was lots of crying, but he fell asleep in his crib and only woke up once during the night. I thought that after 2 weeks, we'd be in a routine and he'd be accustomed to me putting him down in his crib to go to sleep. Unfortunately, that's not the case. Every night is different. Some nights, I put him down in his crib and he plays for 30 minutes and falls asleep. Other nights, I put him down and he fusses for an hour and a half. I stay with him in his room until he falls asleep, so the 1.5 hour nights pretty much use up my evening hours. Anyhoo, since we started doing this, he sleeps through the night. Sometimes he'll wake up after 8.5 hours of sleep but I can usually get him back to sleep for a couple more hours. Most nights he wakes up after 10.5/11 hours of sleep. I would have no complaints if this was the only change, but it's not. His naps are really wonky now and rarely does he take 2 naps a day. I never know what to expect. This would be no big deal except that it makes planning things difficult (like a little party for him for his birthday).
Malcolm turns 1 in 3 weeks. Craziness!
Wednesday, July 16, 2008
Friday, June 06, 2008
And then I said 'Ouch'
A couple of days ago, I was walking. I do that. And then, for some reason, I decided to kick a hard thing. It wasn't on purpose. We all do it. It hurt. It still does. It is quite likely that I broke my toe. See?
This picture does not do justice to the actual color of my toe. I noticed today that the bruising has extended to the top of my foot.
Wednesdays is Farmer's Market day. There was no way I was going to miss it this week since I didn't go last week. I taped my toes together and walked to the market. This was at the point where I thought I probably just stubbed my toe. It actually didn't start feeling worse until Wednesday night. I'm sure all of the walking didn't help. But, I scored some great stuff at the market, consignment store and used book store!
Mal's been sleeping much better the past couple of nights. His bottom left tooth has broken through the gums and he's drooling up a storm. We had a rough day yesterday because he refused to take his morning nap and then fought me a long time when I went to put him down for his afternoon nap. Fortunately, he has not repeated this behavior today.
One week until our trip to Florida! There is much we want to get done around the house this weekend since Dad & Carolyn will be arriving a couple of days after our return from our trip. We need to convert the office into the guest bedroom since Mal is sleeping in his room now and we'd have to take apart the crib in order to move it into our bedroom.
This picture does not do justice to the actual color of my toe. I noticed today that the bruising has extended to the top of my foot.
Wednesdays is Farmer's Market day. There was no way I was going to miss it this week since I didn't go last week. I taped my toes together and walked to the market. This was at the point where I thought I probably just stubbed my toe. It actually didn't start feeling worse until Wednesday night. I'm sure all of the walking didn't help. But, I scored some great stuff at the market, consignment store and used book store!
Mal's been sleeping much better the past couple of nights. His bottom left tooth has broken through the gums and he's drooling up a storm. We had a rough day yesterday because he refused to take his morning nap and then fought me a long time when I went to put him down for his afternoon nap. Fortunately, he has not repeated this behavior today.
One week until our trip to Florida! There is much we want to get done around the house this weekend since Dad & Carolyn will be arriving a couple of days after our return from our trip. We need to convert the office into the guest bedroom since Mal is sleeping in his room now and we'd have to take apart the crib in order to move it into our bedroom.
Tuesday, June 03, 2008
Drainbrainnotfunction
I love my son. I do. But two nights of waking up ever 1.5 hours (and then some) is KILLING ME. The joys of teething. I gave him teething tablets all last night and they did nuffin. Baby Tylenol = nuffin. I know this will pass soon so I just need to whine about it for right now.
I asked Tony to get up with Malcolm at 7 this morning so I could get a little bit of sleep. Tony likes to give Mal a bottle of watered-down juice in the mornings. Since we were all out of juice, Tony gave him SODA. Granted, it was caffeine free, no HFCS stuff, but still! I really wanted to put off giving the kid junk food for several more years.
I asked Tony to get up with Malcolm at 7 this morning so I could get a little bit of sleep. Tony likes to give Mal a bottle of watered-down juice in the mornings. Since we were all out of juice, Tony gave him SODA. Granted, it was caffeine free, no HFCS stuff, but still! I really wanted to put off giving the kid junk food for several more years.
Monday, June 02, 2008
Happy June!
Wait? Is it really June already? Where did May go? Seriously!
Tony got a new job about a month ago and it's going well so far. He's working for a small publishing company doing web development and random IT stuff. He's in L.A. today for a business meeting - it was so odd not having him here last night.
Several months ago, I planned a trip to Florida and made it a long trip because it takes a day to fly there and a day to fly back. The plan was to have Tony come out for part of the time. It has become apparent that he won't be able to come out at all because (1) the cost of the plane ticket has doubled (that's conservative) since I bought my ticket, and (2) his boss is going to be out of town the whole time so he can't take any time off. Now I feel bad for taking such a long trip (11 days) because I hate to think of Tony and Malcolm being apart for so long :( What can you do?
Sleep is a precious, rare thing around here lately. Malcolm has another tooth coming in - his top right one. Isn't that odd? I thought his bottom left one would be next. We're going to have a little snaggled-tooth boy running around here! His teeth are slow to come in and wouldn't be obvious in photos yet. Once they are, I'll be sure to post some.
We think he's really close to walking. He's able to stand up w/o support for quite a long time and he can walk around with the support of just one hand. I've been meaning to take a little video but keep forgetting.
Speaking of videos, here's a couple of Malcolm & Screech "playing":
Screech is an incredibly tolerant kitty to say the least.
Tony got a new job about a month ago and it's going well so far. He's working for a small publishing company doing web development and random IT stuff. He's in L.A. today for a business meeting - it was so odd not having him here last night.
Several months ago, I planned a trip to Florida and made it a long trip because it takes a day to fly there and a day to fly back. The plan was to have Tony come out for part of the time. It has become apparent that he won't be able to come out at all because (1) the cost of the plane ticket has doubled (that's conservative) since I bought my ticket, and (2) his boss is going to be out of town the whole time so he can't take any time off. Now I feel bad for taking such a long trip (11 days) because I hate to think of Tony and Malcolm being apart for so long :( What can you do?
Sleep is a precious, rare thing around here lately. Malcolm has another tooth coming in - his top right one. Isn't that odd? I thought his bottom left one would be next. We're going to have a little snaggled-tooth boy running around here! His teeth are slow to come in and wouldn't be obvious in photos yet. Once they are, I'll be sure to post some.
We think he's really close to walking. He's able to stand up w/o support for quite a long time and he can walk around with the support of just one hand. I've been meaning to take a little video but keep forgetting.
Speaking of videos, here's a couple of Malcolm & Screech "playing":
Screech is an incredibly tolerant kitty to say the least.
Sunday, April 13, 2008
The Dreaded Thump
There are things that you never want to hear as a parent. One of them is a very loud THUMP which usually means your child has fallen hard onto something. This morning, as I was flushing Mal's diaper, there was a THUMP. I had placed Mal in his usual spot - the crib. I've always felt it was a safe place to put him when I wasn't in the room. (you know where this is going) I really didn't expect to have to worry about him getting out of his crib at 8 months because he hasn't figured out how to lift up his leg to climb things. Needless to say, I was very surprised to hear the THUMP and then find my poor baby laying face down on the floor, screaming his little head off. The trauma! He's fine - no blood, no broken bones, no concussion. I can only figure that he was reaching for something outside of his crib and he flipped over the side. Poor little guy! I feel like a bad mommy, but I know that these things happen. The mattress will be lowered today and if he's able to fall out after that, his nickname will be Houdini.
In less traumatic news, I turned 34 last Wednesday. Tony and I went out to dinner Wed. night to 22 Doors thanks to Mom & Paul (Christmas gift) while Manda babysat for us. Yesterday, Julie had a bbq at her new house so we could celebrate my birthday with friends. We had an unusual summer-like day in Seattle - it was very sunny and 77 degrees. Seriously! Julie and Jeremiah have a fabulous deck and yard - perfect for bbq's with friends. It was great fun to hang out with everyone.
Speaking of Julie, Mal and I spent Friday afternoon with her at the hospital. She was experiencing pain in her lower abdomen and back. Although it wasn't labor, the doc told her to go to the hospital so they could check it out. It was determined that she had a kidney stone. Poor thing! We went there to keep her company and make sure everything was OK. She's officially full-term tomorrow so we were all happy that nothing was wrong with the little one and that she hadn't gone into labor.
In less traumatic news, I turned 34 last Wednesday. Tony and I went out to dinner Wed. night to 22 Doors thanks to Mom & Paul (Christmas gift) while Manda babysat for us. Yesterday, Julie had a bbq at her new house so we could celebrate my birthday with friends. We had an unusual summer-like day in Seattle - it was very sunny and 77 degrees. Seriously! Julie and Jeremiah have a fabulous deck and yard - perfect for bbq's with friends. It was great fun to hang out with everyone.
Speaking of Julie, Mal and I spent Friday afternoon with her at the hospital. She was experiencing pain in her lower abdomen and back. Although it wasn't labor, the doc told her to go to the hospital so they could check it out. It was determined that she had a kidney stone. Poor thing! We went there to keep her company and make sure everything was OK. She's officially full-term tomorrow so we were all happy that nothing was wrong with the little one and that she hadn't gone into labor.
Saturday, March 22, 2008
So Unpredictable
Thursday night: up every two hours and then up for the day around 6 AM. Ugh. Yes, I was sleep deprived yesterday.
Friday night: we met up with a few of the other PEPS families at a kid-friendly bar in Madrona (what? yes - you heard me right) for dinner and beer. They have toys and a play area in the place along with a wall of sippy cups behind the bar. Since we got home shortly before 8, I skipped giving Malcolm a bath. He didn't go to bed until 10 PM. The boy is set in his routine! He woke up around 10:45 and we were able to get him back to sleep pretty quickly. He woke up around 2:30 and then around 6. I brought him to bed with me at 6 because I wanted to avoid a repeat of Friday morning and it worked. He didn't wake up for the day until around 8:30.
Tonight is a dinner party at Chris' house so it will be another night out of his routine. I'm looking forward to hanging out with our friends - both Tony and I miss them a lot. I'm hoping that the little guy will fall asleep around his normal time (8pm) and that he'll sleep happily in his car seat until we get home.
I finally got around to filing our taxes and we actually get a refund this year which is nice. We're going to use a bit of it as 'fun money' but the majority of it is going into our savings account to replace the $$ we took out while Tony was out of work. The money that we'll be receiving in May from the government will be going back into the economy. We're going to do as this administration wishes and buy stuff with it. There is a long list of things for the house that we'd like including proper window treatments. We've been in this house for almost a year and a half and still have the temporary window treatments up on many of the windows. I hate it! It's going to be so nice to have quality window treatments; it's really going to help finish off the look of many of the rooms.
My book is calling out to me - I have to take advantage of Mal's naptime while I can!
Friday night: we met up with a few of the other PEPS families at a kid-friendly bar in Madrona (what? yes - you heard me right) for dinner and beer. They have toys and a play area in the place along with a wall of sippy cups behind the bar. Since we got home shortly before 8, I skipped giving Malcolm a bath. He didn't go to bed until 10 PM. The boy is set in his routine! He woke up around 10:45 and we were able to get him back to sleep pretty quickly. He woke up around 2:30 and then around 6. I brought him to bed with me at 6 because I wanted to avoid a repeat of Friday morning and it worked. He didn't wake up for the day until around 8:30.
Tonight is a dinner party at Chris' house so it will be another night out of his routine. I'm looking forward to hanging out with our friends - both Tony and I miss them a lot. I'm hoping that the little guy will fall asleep around his normal time (8pm) and that he'll sleep happily in his car seat until we get home.
I finally got around to filing our taxes and we actually get a refund this year which is nice. We're going to use a bit of it as 'fun money' but the majority of it is going into our savings account to replace the $$ we took out while Tony was out of work. The money that we'll be receiving in May from the government will be going back into the economy. We're going to do as this administration wishes and buy stuff with it. There is a long list of things for the house that we'd like including proper window treatments. We've been in this house for almost a year and a half and still have the temporary window treatments up on many of the windows. I hate it! It's going to be so nice to have quality window treatments; it's really going to help finish off the look of many of the rooms.
My book is calling out to me - I have to take advantage of Mal's naptime while I can!
Wednesday, March 19, 2008
Transition
After another episode of being awake for 2 hours in the middle of the night, we came to the conclusion that Malcolm may be ready to move out of the family bed and into his crib. I tried having him in his co-sleeper, but he never liked it. The sleep deprivation has been wearing on all of us and I just couldn't let it continue without trying something new.
So, last night, I put him to bed in his crib. I made up the hide-away bed in his room so I could be close by. I put him to bed at 8, he woke up around 9 - 9:30 and wouldn't go back to sleep until around 10:30 (this isn't uncommon), he woke up again a bit before midnight and I was able to get him back to sleep within 15 minutes and then he woke up again around 4. A 4 hour stretch of sleep for him is pretty good - especially when he wasn't sleeping next to me! I tried putting him back down in his crib for the next hour but then gave up around 5 and brought him to bed with me. It was during that time that I realized that I didn't dress him warm enough for sleeping by himself. We then slept until 8. The night went much better than expected. I was sure he'd be waking more frequently, but he didn't. Let's see how things go from here!
When Mal started the new pattern of staying awake for a period of time in the middle of the night, Tony and I talked about the need to move him to his crib. We were resistant because we both really like the practice of bed sharing. But, we always said that we'd move him to his crib when he was ready. In all honesty, we didn't expect him to be ready before we were.
So, last night, I put him to bed in his crib. I made up the hide-away bed in his room so I could be close by. I put him to bed at 8, he woke up around 9 - 9:30 and wouldn't go back to sleep until around 10:30 (this isn't uncommon), he woke up again a bit before midnight and I was able to get him back to sleep within 15 minutes and then he woke up again around 4. A 4 hour stretch of sleep for him is pretty good - especially when he wasn't sleeping next to me! I tried putting him back down in his crib for the next hour but then gave up around 5 and brought him to bed with me. It was during that time that I realized that I didn't dress him warm enough for sleeping by himself. We then slept until 8. The night went much better than expected. I was sure he'd be waking more frequently, but he didn't. Let's see how things go from here!
When Mal started the new pattern of staying awake for a period of time in the middle of the night, Tony and I talked about the need to move him to his crib. We were resistant because we both really like the practice of bed sharing. But, we always said that we'd move him to his crib when he was ready. In all honesty, we didn't expect him to be ready before we were.
Thursday, March 13, 2008
Please Sleep Now
K? Thx. Bye.
Daylight Savings Time has not been kind to Malcolm's sleep schedule. He's been going to bed anywhere between 8pm and 12am. The past couple of nights, he's gone to bed between 8 and 9, but then will wake up sometime in the night and not go back to sleep for a couple of hours. This makes for a sleep deprived, very grumpy baby. I spend a good portion of my day attempting to help him get to sleep for a nap. In the past week or so, he's been resistant to naps. Who knows why!
Here's the typical day of this SAHM:
- We wake up between 7 and 8 AM and play in bed for a little while.
- We get up and and dress him.
- He then plays in his exersaucer while I get showered, dressed and make the bed.
- We head downstairs where he plays with toys on the floor while I make myself breakfast.
- If he didn't get a good night's sleep, I will then focus on trying to get him to nap. When he's tired, he wants to be held constantly.
- If he's not grumpy, I'll then make his breakfast.
- After he's eaten, he'll take his morning nap.
- Nap time = computer time for me. Nap time can range anywhere from 30 minutes to 2 hours.
- When he wakes up, we play upstairs in his room. I will often do laundry at this time.
- Then he gets breakfast if he didn't eat before his nap.
- More play time!
- I make myself lunch.
- If he's showing signs of being tired, get him down for a nap. If he's not tired, it's lunch time and then nap.
- If he doesn't go down for an early afternoon nap (this is a new thing), we'll go for a long walk if the weather permits. He'll pretty much always nap this way. If it's raining or too cold, we'll run errands with the car instead. This will also promote a nap.
- Play!
- Make dinner.
- Tony gets home and spends a bit of time playing with Malcolm while I finish preparing dinner.
- We eat. Sometimes I'll feed Malcolm at this time if he doesn't eat lunch. This often doesn't work out - he doesn't eat very much in the evenings. I've read this is quite common with infants.
- Clean up dinner dishes while Tony & Malcolm play.
- Give Malcolm a bath and do bedtime ritual of bath, stories, quiet play, bottle. He used to fall right asleep after the bottle, but things have been wonky lately.
- Baby's in bed and Tony & I hang out, talk about our day, watch a movie/tv/play Guitar Hero.
The end.
Daylight Savings Time has not been kind to Malcolm's sleep schedule. He's been going to bed anywhere between 8pm and 12am. The past couple of nights, he's gone to bed between 8 and 9, but then will wake up sometime in the night and not go back to sleep for a couple of hours. This makes for a sleep deprived, very grumpy baby. I spend a good portion of my day attempting to help him get to sleep for a nap. In the past week or so, he's been resistant to naps. Who knows why!
Here's the typical day of this SAHM:
- We wake up between 7 and 8 AM and play in bed for a little while.
- We get up and and dress him.
- He then plays in his exersaucer while I get showered, dressed and make the bed.
- We head downstairs where he plays with toys on the floor while I make myself breakfast.
- If he didn't get a good night's sleep, I will then focus on trying to get him to nap. When he's tired, he wants to be held constantly.
- If he's not grumpy, I'll then make his breakfast.
- After he's eaten, he'll take his morning nap.
- Nap time = computer time for me. Nap time can range anywhere from 30 minutes to 2 hours.
- When he wakes up, we play upstairs in his room. I will often do laundry at this time.
- Then he gets breakfast if he didn't eat before his nap.
- More play time!
- I make myself lunch.
- If he's showing signs of being tired, get him down for a nap. If he's not tired, it's lunch time and then nap.
- If he doesn't go down for an early afternoon nap (this is a new thing), we'll go for a long walk if the weather permits. He'll pretty much always nap this way. If it's raining or too cold, we'll run errands with the car instead. This will also promote a nap.
- Play!
- Make dinner.
- Tony gets home and spends a bit of time playing with Malcolm while I finish preparing dinner.
- We eat. Sometimes I'll feed Malcolm at this time if he doesn't eat lunch. This often doesn't work out - he doesn't eat very much in the evenings. I've read this is quite common with infants.
- Clean up dinner dishes while Tony & Malcolm play.
- Give Malcolm a bath and do bedtime ritual of bath, stories, quiet play, bottle. He used to fall right asleep after the bottle, but things have been wonky lately.
- Baby's in bed and Tony & I hang out, talk about our day, watch a movie/tv/play Guitar Hero.
The end.
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