After the good news that the critter is growing, we had a rough morning.
We’ve gotten pretty good with getting the critter to bed. We started a bedtime ritual and using the crib a few weeks ago. He can usually fall asleep on his own. On a good night, he’ll sleep from 8:30 PM until 3 or 4 AM. Last night was not one of those nights.
He woke up at 12:45 AM. Generally I’ve been just taking him to bed if he wakes up. It doesn’t help us get any closer to having him sleep through the night, but with trying to adjust to going back to work it is nice to be able to just latch him onto a breast and go back to sleep while he does what he needs to do. Last night, I tried to be “good.” I got up and fed him in the nursery. Then he put him back down in the crib. He was crying about 20 minutes later. Hubby brought him to me in bed. I cuddled the critter until he fell back asleep and, eventually, I did too.
He woke up again at 5 AM. That’s actually worse than getting up earlier since it means I don’t get to go back to sleep before 6 AM, which is when I need to get up nowadays (an hour before my pre-critter waking time). As a result, I was moving pretty slowly when I did get up. Hubby did his usual portion of the critter prep and left for work. I proceeded as usual, but after I did the final breast feed on the critter he spit up. A lot. Granted, he didn’t get me like he got his dad a few days ago. I managed to be prepared with a burp cloth. Still, he covered his face, arm and chest pretty well. As I was trying to clean him off he was leaning back a little when he spit up again. It spurted up like a sour milk fountain.
The drooling sort of spit up doesn’t distress him, but he seemed quite uncomfortable during all this. I held him until he became calm. Apparently, I was successful because he fell back asleep. This is actually a good thing because he needs his sleep, but I was disappointed for two reasons. (1) He looks like such an angel when he is sleeping that I just want to stay and hold him forever; and (2) I wanted to be able to go back to sleep, too!
He woke up a bit when I changed him into clean clothes but fell back to sleep when I strapped him into the car seat. He was still asleep when we got to daycare.
Momma has to cope with coffee.
Thursday, June 11, 2009
3 Months: My Big Guy
We had 3 month critter weigh in yesterday. He is 24 inches long/tall and 13 lbs and 2 oz. That's actually a normal weight! Right around the 50% percentile. Yay for growing critter!
Wednesday, June 10, 2009
Want: Spray pancakes
We've been eating a lot more prepared foods since the arrival of the critter. Part of this is because hubby, previously not very experienced with cooking, has been doing most of the meal prep in order to help me out. He's recently started branching out into actual cooking, but it was nice to discover that there are many good prepared food options out there (particularly from Trader Joe's).
Although it's not going to help me lose the baby weight, I can't help but be tempted by pancakes from a spray can. Perhaps a treat...
Although it's not going to help me lose the baby weight, I can't help but be tempted by pancakes from a spray can. Perhaps a treat...
Monday, June 8, 2009
Messy Morning
So, I knew something like this would happen some morning, but I thought it would happen to me. The critter spit up his breakfast. All over dad.
Dad is in charge of feeding critter formula, changing the diaper, and getting the baby dressed while mommy starts getting ready. (Normally we do formula AFTER breastfeeding, but in the morning this made more sense since hubby leaves before I do.) This has worked fine, but this morning while critter spit up most of his formula all over dad. Unfortunately, it is a rainy day; otherwise, hubby would have been in a tshirt and shorts ready to bike to work. Instead, he was actually in one of his nice, custom-fit, dress shirts and khakis. Spit up formula was all over his shirt, his pants, and the kitchen floor. I took care of the floor while hubby changed.
After all that, critter had very little interest in feeding off the breast. He wanted to play instead. I'll be interested in the report from daycare. It's definitely a different sort of day.
Dad is in charge of feeding critter formula, changing the diaper, and getting the baby dressed while mommy starts getting ready. (Normally we do formula AFTER breastfeeding, but in the morning this made more sense since hubby leaves before I do.) This has worked fine, but this morning while critter spit up most of his formula all over dad. Unfortunately, it is a rainy day; otherwise, hubby would have been in a tshirt and shorts ready to bike to work. Instead, he was actually in one of his nice, custom-fit, dress shirts and khakis. Spit up formula was all over his shirt, his pants, and the kitchen floor. I took care of the floor while hubby changed.
After all that, critter had very little interest in feeding off the breast. He wanted to play instead. I'll be interested in the report from daycare. It's definitely a different sort of day.
Thursday, June 4, 2009
Coffee Pants
In an effort to continuously improve my my morning routine I decided to bring my coffee in a thermos today. Well, I decided this after already pouring half of it into a travel mug, so I wasn't giving myself a free hand. But that wasn't the problem. I hadn't used the thermos for a while, so I forgot that it leaks if it falls on its side. Which is what it did in the shopping bag with the milk and my lunch as I slowly made my way down the stairs. When I got to the garage I noticed that the side of my pants had some wet spots.
Luckily, I was wearing dark brown pants. I knew that once the drips had dried the spills wouldn't be noticeable. (I know this because I was a veteran spiller of coffee well before I was a mother.) Still, it's annoying. I'm going to smell like coffee all day. Although, realistically, I was probably going to smell like coffee all day anyway. It is my helper in primary work goal of staying awake. (I'll be more ambitious in week two.)
Notes to self: buy new thermos; wash pants; create elaborate pully system for lowering my belongings to ground level.
UPDATE: The process of the thermos leaking involved coffee leaking from the sippy opening in the internal lid, into the cup lid, and out onto me. As a result, when I went to open the thermos at work all the coffee that had remained trapped in the cup lid spilled all over the carpet (which, luckily, is also brown). It's an awesome day! Is it Friday yet?
Luckily, I was wearing dark brown pants. I knew that once the drips had dried the spills wouldn't be noticeable. (I know this because I was a veteran spiller of coffee well before I was a mother.) Still, it's annoying. I'm going to smell like coffee all day. Although, realistically, I was probably going to smell like coffee all day anyway. It is my helper in primary work goal of staying awake. (I'll be more ambitious in week two.)
Notes to self: buy new thermos; wash pants; create elaborate pully system for lowering my belongings to ground level.
UPDATE: The process of the thermos leaking involved coffee leaking from the sippy opening in the internal lid, into the cup lid, and out onto me. As a result, when I went to open the thermos at work all the coffee that had remained trapped in the cup lid spilled all over the carpet (which, luckily, is also brown). It's an awesome day! Is it Friday yet?
Wednesday, June 3, 2009
The morning ritual...
...is complicated.
Hubby and I have been working to coordinate bathroom time and other preparations for the day. For example, hubby changes and dresses the critter while I'm in the shower. Lunch packing and milk/formula preparations are usually done the night before.
I still don't have a rhythm yet. Yesterday, I was almost done feeding the critter, which is usually my last thing to do, when I realized I hadn't put on make-up yet. I've made coffee at home, or I've waiting until going to work. And there is the variable of how hungry the crit is. Somedays he feeds more than others, and it seems like the daycare lady still needs to feed him within an hour of his arrival.
The biggest problem is all the stuff I have to carry down the 3 flights of stairs to the garage. (Thank goodness I decided to start driving to work. I couldn't do all this on the train.) I have my purse, my breast pump, my lunch, a cooler of bottles for the critter, a coffee mug (sometimes), and the critter in a car seat. It's a lot of stuff! I've thought about leaving the pump in the car, but sometimes I need it at night. Plus, I'd still need to bring in all the washable parts and the expressed milk.
So far, the only efficiency I've come up with is putting my lunch and the milk cooler in a reusable shopping bag, which allows me to put them over my shoulder rather than carry them in my hand. Other than that, I just pile everything on and plod down the stairs. I've been considering putting the critter in the Bjorn carrier to avoid having the heavy critter/carseat combo to carry, but having to deal with getting him in and out of the Bjorn and then strap him into the carseat seems like more trouble than it is worth.
I've typically liked living on a 3rd floor for security, privacy, and quiet (no upstairs neighbors) reasons, but I'm beginning to wish we lived a bit lower!
Hubby and I have been working to coordinate bathroom time and other preparations for the day. For example, hubby changes and dresses the critter while I'm in the shower. Lunch packing and milk/formula preparations are usually done the night before.
I still don't have a rhythm yet. Yesterday, I was almost done feeding the critter, which is usually my last thing to do, when I realized I hadn't put on make-up yet. I've made coffee at home, or I've waiting until going to work. And there is the variable of how hungry the crit is. Somedays he feeds more than others, and it seems like the daycare lady still needs to feed him within an hour of his arrival.
The biggest problem is all the stuff I have to carry down the 3 flights of stairs to the garage. (Thank goodness I decided to start driving to work. I couldn't do all this on the train.) I have my purse, my breast pump, my lunch, a cooler of bottles for the critter, a coffee mug (sometimes), and the critter in a car seat. It's a lot of stuff! I've thought about leaving the pump in the car, but sometimes I need it at night. Plus, I'd still need to bring in all the washable parts and the expressed milk.
So far, the only efficiency I've come up with is putting my lunch and the milk cooler in a reusable shopping bag, which allows me to put them over my shoulder rather than carry them in my hand. Other than that, I just pile everything on and plod down the stairs. I've been considering putting the critter in the Bjorn carrier to avoid having the heavy critter/carseat combo to carry, but having to deal with getting him in and out of the Bjorn and then strap him into the carseat seems like more trouble than it is worth.
I've typically liked living on a 3rd floor for security, privacy, and quiet (no upstairs neighbors) reasons, but I'm beginning to wish we lived a bit lower!
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