Random thoughts

• Summer has gone from non-existent to horribly persistent in a matter of days. I hate when the air is heavy and hot, makes me feel sticky, and the only solution is a pool.
• I love swimming. I think Owey is going to love it as well. We were at a barbecue for Memorial Day, and he took it upon himself to climb into the kiddie pool. With his shoes on.
• Clint is thinking about taking coal-mining classes. Yes the job market is that bad. He has had a couple of mental health positions he's been interested in, but they pay next to nothing. Is it worth it?
• I have been looking for houses online. At first it's exciting, but then it just gets depressing.
• In order for us to buy a house, things need to happen in this order: Clint needs to get a job, we need to get a realtor, we need to sell this house, and find the house we want to buy. Ugh. Can we fast forward to the last step?
• I really really really want to buy a house in Woodsdale, but I don't think it's going to happen.
• My darling Natalie K. has been making me many mix CDs, and they help me get through long nights of QC at work. Natalie, you continue to improve my life every week. I love our 15 minutes on Sundays.
• YOU, (yes you) should be listening to Emily Haines (with or without the Soft Skeleton and other various accompaniments). Crowd Surf off a Cliff and Bottom of the World are two of my new favorite songs.
• Owen will now willingly wear sandals, sunglasses and/or a hat. He has a little baseball-like hat, and it's slightly too big, so I turn it to the side and he looks like a little gangster.
• My darling Laura's bun is nearly cooked. We must have one more night out for crab legs before you become a mother of two.
• I recently reconnected (through Facebook!) with a little girl I used to babysit all through college. I started watching her when she was 5 or 6, I think. She is now nearly 15. Wow. The first time I watched her, she made me stay on a swing by her garage while she rode her bike up the street, making sure to keep in contact via walkie-talkie. I have so many good memories of that little lady. I hope we get together soon.
• I really really really want a new car. I refuse to make a new mix CD until I can make one for MY car, and I'm getting impatient.
• Owen has started running. It's more like a fast, exaggerated waddle, but it's adorable.
• My good friend Annie from high school is visiting while her husband is doing some training in the military. It's so good to see friends from your past, who after all the time are in the exact same place in their lives as you are. So good to see you and little Alex!
• Clint and I watched the entire first two seasons of True Blood in two weeks. It's scandalous. There is a lot of cussing, effing, biting and killing. Good stuff.
• Owen still doesn't say many words, but he talks all the time in little baby-talk sentences. He uses a lot of inflection and various different sounds. I'm convinced one day he is just going to start talking in sentences. He says, "dada, mama (very rarely), hi, kitty, yeah, mmmmm (when he likes something to eat), what's that, uh oh," and he makes exaggerated kissing sounds when he kisses things. He also kisses everything that he loves. I also saw him hugging a little Shrek doll today.
• Yesterday, my mama turned 64!!!! Happy Birthday Jude.

Ok, my little list turned into a long list.

All in a day's work.

So I'm worried about sleep. I guess it started last night, when Owen woke up around midnight, before I had gone to bed, but after I had taken two Tylenol PMs (they are necessary when switching a sleep schedule every week and weekend). Fortunately, this time wasn't as bad as the last time, and the Darling Downstairs Neighbors did not call.

I don't know how I retained my sanity with a newborn. Lack of sleep really does something to your noggin. He woke up earlier than he had been the past few days, so I felt sluggish all morning. Still, I did two loads of laundry, changed two diapers, made four kinds of muffins and prepared two meals before 1pm. After that, my motivation died down.

Owen was really funny today. It's amazing how fast he picks up on things. I was just saying how he learned to say, "all done!" when he is done getting changed. Well, I noticed that he has started saying "all done!" when he WANTS to be done with something. Getting changed, eating, sitting in the tub... The other day, I was in the kitchen making dinner, and Clint walks out and says, "Our kid is so smart." I had to agree. We are your typical proud parents.

He's also a creature of habit. He will inevitably go for the ONE THING in the room that I don't want him to mess with. Today, it was the lamp on the end table. I have removed basically everything from the living room except for furniture and toys. But the lamps have to stay, and they were the object of his interest today. He kept wedging himself between the table and the wall and trying to pull the lamp off. It was frustrating. I had to push the table against the wall so he couldn't get behind it and put the lamp at the far corner. Having a small child does not jive with my organizational anal retentiveness. The lamps are staying though. I will NOT resort to using overhead light, lol. I despise overhead light!!

Since we stopped giving him a bottle, our new bedtime routine consists of tickle-time, bath time, lotion and pajamas, a kiss from Daddy, and then reading and snuggle time with Mama. We have a little stack of books on a stool next to the rocking chair, including "Goodnight Moon," (Goodnight Stars, Goodnight Air, Goodnight Noises everywhere), "Guess How Much I Love You," (I love you as I high as I can reach), and a couple of other various bedtime books. Recently, I added this Baby Einstein's "Windows to Color" book into the mix. That was a mistake. We have had the book for a while, and he's always liked it, but now... geez... Ever since I gave him that option, he pushes all the other books away. He will only relax and let me read this color book. It's really neat though. It has a classic painting, with a little window looking through to the next page, displaying objects in the most dominant color for the painting. For example, on one page, there is a Georgia O'Keefe flower that is mostly red. On the opposite page, there is a heart cut-out and the words, "hot, rich, exciting." Then you turn the page, and it says, "RED!" and has a rose, a fire truck and some other red things. He adores this book. I always point out all the pictures and tell him what they are, and tell him the name of the painter and picture. I am pretty sure he understands "blueberries, Owey loves blueberries" better than "Edgar Degas, 'Dancers Coming Upstairs'." But tonight, when we were on the yellow page, I pointed out the ducklings, and said, "Owey look at the duckies! Do you see the duckies?" and he actually said, "Duckies!"

I think one of these nights I'm going to experiment and just show him a collection of Georgia O'Keefe paintings that I have.

While I was making muffins today, I wanted to keep Owen busy in the dining room, so I opened the lid of the piano and showed him that when you press the keys, a noise comes out. So I got to listen to music while making muffins. I'm going to try to get this on video.

I love being a mom.

AND. The Wellness Bridge is having a contest of sorts (I think to get everyone out of their winter weight loss funk). We renewed our gym memberships, and I paid for two months of the Wellness Bridge. I have to keep a record of what I eat, get my exercise in, and set a goal for the next eight weeks. I set a goal of 8lbs. I think I can lose 8lbs in 8 weeks. Good luck to me.

Six-month Appointment

So, Owey had his six-month appointment today. All in all, it went really well. He weighs 17lbs, 5.1oz and is 25.5 inches long. I thought he weighed more, because it feels like he weighs a ton as we lug him up three flights of stairs.

The questions the nurses asked were a little different this time - more developmental stuff. They didn't ask exactly how much he eats or sleeps. They asked if he rolls (yes, but only if he starts out on his back. He can roll from back to front, and then to back again, but not if he starts out on his belly.) They asked if he tries to stand (no. Yet, he kicks his legs all over the place, and pushes his legs down in his stationary bouncer, but does not attempt to put his legs down if you are holding him up). They asked if he shows anxiety around strangers, and I said sometimes, and then explained the pout face. Other times, he smiles at everybody. Maybe he is a really good judge of character? Is it a bad sign that he makes the pout face when he sees his pediatrician? I don't know.

The doctor came in and listened to his heartbeat and checked his ears, eyes, belly and boy parts. He was all smiles, until she busted out the needles. It's so heartbreaking to see your baby get shots! He's smiling one second, and then they are stabbing a needle into his leg and he just instantly starts crying and screaming. Crying big tears. Ugh. I cried too. Once it was over, he curled up on Clint's shoulder and started sucking his thumb.

She said we could start moving up with baby food too. He can now have Stage 2 foods - including meat! Wow! Also, we have been feeding him solid food twice a day, and now she said we can move up to three or four times a day. The amount of his bottles should not change, just increase the solid food. I don't know how we would manage four times a day, between his bottles and naps, if we fed him four times, all he would be doing is sleeping and eating? He usually wakes up around 7am. I figured out that we could feed him at 9am, before his mid-morning nap, then again around 12, before his big mid-day nap, and then around 7pm as usual before his bedtime routine. She said we could also start putting those little Gerber puffs or cheerios on his high chair tray and let him pick them up and put them in his mouth. She also said that giving a baby juice is basically like giving them a pepsi. She said we could start putting water or very diluted juice in a sippy cup, so he can start getting out of the habit of having a bottle, so by the time he is a year old he can stop the bottle.

So, of course, I ran to the grocery store and bought all different new kinds of foods - mixed veggies, fruit combos - and little jars of what sounds like Thanksgiving dinner. Just kidding. But there are chicken and apples, turkey and sweet potatoes, and chicken and mixed veggies. I also bought two different kinds of puffs (sweet potatoes and peaches) and sippy cups. I fed him some mixed veggies for lunch and put a puff in his mouth. He did the same thing he did when he tried bananas for the first time. Made a disgusted face, and let it drool out of his mouth. Then when it was out of his mouth, he did kind of a little shimmy, like he had just done a shot. I tasted it, and it tastes just little cereal. I think he does that with sweet things. Real peaches didn't have that effect on him, but bananas and the peach puffs...

Oh, and this sucks. He's 25.5. inches long. By the time he's 27.5 inches long (about another month) we have to buy a new car seat. I didn't think we would have to buy another one until he was a year old. Alas, we have to spend $150 on another car seat that can be rear-facing or front-facing. This sucks for several reasons, money obviously, and also, we love his car seat and stroller set. It was a gift from Katie and her mom for my baby shower. The new car seat will stay in the car and will not be compatible with the stroller. Clint likes to take Owen for a walk with the car seat hooked into the stroller, because Owen falls asleep on the walk and always takes the best naps in his car seat. But if we take him for a walk in the stroller and he falls asleep, we will have to wake him up to get him out. (Something else that wouldn't be a problem if we didn't live in a 3rd floor walk-up.

Either way, she said he's growing well and looks great. She said the top two teeth will probably be coming in this weekend or early next week. I figured as much. He's been drool-tastic and a little more cranky than usual. But, he's still in bed by 8:30pm most nights and sleeps until 7 every morning (give or take 15 minutes). He still sucks his thumb to self-soothe. We can lay him down awake and he will fall asleep if he is tired. He started sleeping on his side too, which is the most adorable thing.

I think about how long he has been alive, and what a different little person he is going to be in another six months. I can't get over it. He's the coolest.

I'm going to wait a few more days before I do his six-month photo shoot. I have to decide on an outfit :). I also decided that once he can sit up on his own completely, and once the drooling from the top two teeth subsides a little, I'm going to take him for professional pictures. So much fun!

Introduction.

So, I decided to start a blog. Back in my college days, when Myspace and Facebook were in their infancy, there was LiveJournal. I was a dedicated blogger of sorts, then. I can't remember what I wrote about, but I know that putting down thoughts there was a little part of my day that I always enjoyed.


Part of me always thinks that blogging is a little... self righteous... or something along those lines. For now, I'm going to put those feelings aside.


I find myself now 26, a college graduate with a (sometimes) promising job, married to an incredible man, and the mother of a 5-week old. While in almost every way I am thrilled and happy, part of me freaks out a little every day, knowing that I am completely responsible for his well-being. I knew all of this going into it, but I totally underestimated how hard it would be. At least once a week, Clint comes home to find me completely frazzled, exhausted, weepy, etc... Although I unload my feelings on my husband, and he usually provides some sort of relief and understanding, I still feel the urge to vent. I don't think anyone who hasn't had a baby can relate.


Another of the reasons, among several, that I decided to start blogging is because my son has completely changed my life, and continues to make monumental changes every day. Because I am sleep deprived, and more than a little stressed, I don't want to risk forgetting the small miracles I witness every day. I'd like somewhere to go back and remember that today was the first day Owen smiled. He's 5 weeks old. He likes his lips and cheeks tickled. If I make enough sing-songy encouragement, he will turn his lips up for a second. I haven't managed to get a picture of it yet, but I will try.


Another thing I want to document is his whole birth experience. But, it's 1:33 a.m. I'm sure he will be up again before daylight, and for now he's quiet in his bassinet, so I am going back to bed. The long drawn-out birth experience postponed for another day. Or another midnight feeding.

This is my boy, at 3 days old.