What we're up to: Pictoral Version

Hello, Mom? Hi, how ya doin'? I found this great phone...ya it just looks like a mouse. The reception is crystal clear! Listen, meet me at the toy box, pronto!

I'll wait for you by the door...we'll play some peek-a-boo!

Awe, Mom, this is my favorite "seat". But enough hugs, the toy box awaits!

Finally, time to get my play on!! Hey Mom, wanna hang in the box with me? Get Dad, we can all fit!

Alternative Baby Wipes

I was bored of the same old same old and had been meaning to revisit homemade baby wipes. Last time I was ripping select -a-size Bounty in half....great thickness, held water excellent, but I couldn't find an appropriate container so that they could be pulled out easily while elbow deep in poo. Also the unrolling, ripping in half, refolding was a bit monotonous. Diaper rash is also a consideration in my experiment.

Baby oil is an alternative to water/soapy water, for stuck poo. I don't necessarily like using strictly baby oil, and rely on traditional wipes for big messes. It does remove the poo though, FYI. Due to more frequent diaper rashes, I've been following using MY wipe to dry the traditional wipe's dampness left on Baby. It leaves behind a little oil as well, further helping the rashes.

Start with a large container able to fit a roll of toilet paper, baby oil, and a roll of toilet paper.

 

 Next gently pull the cardboard center from the roll.

 You'll use the roll from the inside out. Douse generously with oil and use. I add extra oil along the way, if it seems too dry, I flip the roll around to keep it evenly dispersed. Basically, I rub the paper on my skin and if it leaves a scent or shine, I feel like there is enough. If you use it for poo, you may need more oil.

Taa Daa, You've just Marth Stewarted some diaper wipes. Less irritating and more cost effective! 

Take that Pampers!

Stefan's First Documentary: Pepper Shaker

Not much posting these days...lots going on. We're happy to be moving toward spring (Stef was conned into taking a walk both yesterday AND today, though basically only his eyes ever visible under all the coats and hats etc). It's nice to have the bleak mid-winter moving behind us. With more nutrition/less belly ache, Stef is feeling like a new man and bopping all around the house this morning. Which means I was finally able to put him down, and make plans to do stuff ( lots of stuff, any stuff,  stuff that can be done with 2 hands). So we were sorting out some spinach (because "stuff" is hyper cooking since he loves a lot of the meals I make...over the hit or miss with jarred food) when I realized how full the camera was...memory card and internal memory packed- well also because the stupid Kodak software doesn't erase as it should...in other words, it isn't all my inaction. P.S. if it was EASTMAN- Kodak, they'd have better software which worked properly (family joke). I've been avoiding my office so long, that I haven't taken anything off of that camera in...a long time. So this is mildly outdated...with a baby I've found that a week is out dated for how much change can happen.

On this particular day, we were chillin' in the living room, and he was feeling chatty. Of course, he becomes less chatty when ever the camera comes out, but he still was interested in playing look how cute I am.

Weaned

Well, our second attempt at weaning went much better than the first, which ended after 1 day. We went cold turkey, for a variety of reasons. Basically, he was pissed. I held him and still am, a lot, a lot, a lot. Everyday he's gotten less clingy over it, every day he's become more accepting when I say there are no more "Milkies". He's stopped signing for it, or laying himself down and digging under my shirts, but I still catch him looking or patting on my chest, the precursor to the former 2 behaviors. At night, it takes a simple rocking to get him to forget he's hungry...gees, I didn't even notice that he slept through the night with out waking once last night!

I thought the physical pain would go on longer than it did. I had a convenient cold, so the decongestants helped. I was mildly hormonal, I think. It could have just been mommy guilt, but I have less of the feeling now than I did last week, so I'm thinking it was hormones. We've had an absolutely crazy week, so I think being distracted by that has helped as well. The 2nd night in, we ordered pizza, and the 3rd included fish fry, both containing dairy, so nursing was out anyway. I think if I hadn't done that, I probably would have caved, especially with the night feedings, and the early morning ones. 

I miss it to some extent, and still wish it could continue, like I said, at night or in the early mornings when it's convenient, but babies aren't conveniences;), and I have to follow his rules. The whole bonding thing I miss too, but we have other ways to accomplish that. He's growing more already, on solids, 6.5 oz. in a week! woot! 

My Body Back

48 Hours in...he's still off the sauce. Pizza was amazing! I miss lazy mornings in bed though.

I thought this whole weaning thing was monumental because I had accomplished BFing longer than the average mother, and longer than I had initially intended. I realized last night, it's much bigger. For nearly 2 years, I haven't had my body. Pregnancy is just weird, with hormones and all the internal changes, externally visible changes, and the fact that I felt like I was incubating and alien...not literally. Monsters are different from aliens, like comparing werewolves to vampires, duh. Then with all the restrictions on caffeine, diet, and most of all BEER, once he was out, and all the ways feeding kind of forced me to stop life and sit while he ate...oye!

So the point is, I can eat, drink, and "BE" what I want, when I want, and it's not gonna hurt nobody nohow.

On a side note: I highly recommend no one goes cold turkey unless they think they really have to. It's not a very comfortable time.

Every New Beginning Comes From Some Other Beginning's End

Did you ever end your week in some other "place" than where you started it, and it was a place you never would have guessed? (I envision you, Melissa, nodding at that one, though this doesn't compare.) After a quick Dr.'s appointment on Thursday, to realize that Monster weighs the same as he did back in September (so much for running out to get the new car seat when we did, by law, we still don't need it), we discovered we needed to make some changes. It was decided that we should stop breastfeeding and we'd be doing this cold turkey. I kind of remove myself from the decision in saying it was decided for me. It's  a bitter sweet ending to an interesting practice.

BFing, started out so hard, I almost gave it up. Then it clicked and it had it's conveniences and annoyances.  No bottles to lug, however I can't just whip out a breast like I can a bottle, especially in front of my students! It's cheaper by far, and I have a lot of control over it, no recalls to deal with. But S's constant desire to feed, especially recently, had become too much. Regardless I was committed to the long haul and willing to wait for him to wean himself (within reason). It gave me more time to sleep as he just needed to lay beside me, it took away foods I loved. It was the best of times...it was the wort of times...you get it.

Monster's lack of weight gain...how the hell he got that being a member of our family, I have no clue!!... and other potential issues related to BFing and his health that are still left undiscovered, have lead me to wean. The Doc and I agreed that I probably should go for cold turkey for a few reasons I'll not go into here...though if you're BFing and want personal stories or support I'm learning from this, feel free to comment and I'll be in touch. I'll probably post the process, sorry family, it's a record to help others, hopefully. So, it has been an interesting 24 hours. He won't let go of me, like a child playing tag who is on base via "electricity". He's not happy, but he's been oddly accepting at times when I thought we weren't going to make it (like cry fest 2011, last night). Sean rocked him to sleep for the first time (yay poppa!) and I really felt good not having to be the one solving his problems. He refuses to drink anything besides juice, but for now, that's OK. I'm trying all the tricks I can come up with to get him to drink various milks. He's too savvy. If we can get him off a new born's feeding schedule for solids, I'd be much happier. That is a battle for the future though.

The Doc said things should settle after 3-4 days. We're just starting into day 2...but tonight, is pizza night!! Just like in elementary school! I can't wait. It will be a nice finish to a rather awful Friday and it seals the weaning deal, as I won't be able to BF for two weeks. Maybe I can get some real ice cream going on as well...I have so much lost dairy time to make up for.

Leaving the elimination diet behind is also kind of weird. Soon, I'll have to be hyper diligent about what is in the house and how close it can get to S, but I won't have to watch what I eat so closely. I plan on steering clear of a lot of dairy, since it's has really pulled the off with absolutely no effort.

So here's to leaving the infant Stefan behind, for the new solids only Toddler with a Mama who has the weight of elimination diets lifted. Cheers!

Success?

Rough day...I'm sitting here, finally not listening to a screaming baby after trying to get him to nap for the past hour or 2. I've lost count. After I crammed in a trip to the grocery store, the impossible destination, fed him twice, nursed him twice, rocked him twice, remade the changing table twice, and reminded him for the 4th time that it is indeed nap time...well, I'm just not feeling successful today. I did get to put in 5 minutes toward instrument repair. Woot.

This has been the story of my life for...um I can't remember. Minus the tricky naps, he's usually better. However leaving the house to do anything is becoming an activity of the past. He's hungry about every 1/2 hour, or cranky, or deciding to take a nap about when I thought we were going out the door. Between naps and feeding, I'm losing my mind. Perhaps I'll find it on Spring Cleaning weekend (gonna be a fun time out here in T-town for the next couple of days, folks!). Or maybe the general contractor I've been trying to call for the past two weeks knows where my mind has gone!

So at the end of the day, when all is said and done, how do I measure success? It used to be in work accomplished, students taught, new things learned. I suppose it's much the same, but work isn't instruments repaired or lessons taught. Though I learn daily, it isn't going to earn me any new degree. My measurement success has transformed. It's loads of laundry and dishes done, groceries bought, and meals made. It is in how easily the baby ate food (ie I didn't have to prepare 8 lunches before I found something he'd actually eat more than a a taste of), took a nap, or played/cooperated while I tried to accomplish something else. Some days it is in what Stefan learned to do or how many hugs I received through the day. I hope soon it will be in hours I could practice, time spent reading, and projects around the house accomplished.

So how do you measure success? Dollars earned/saved? Time with loved ones? Tasks accomplished? Amount of education you received? The car you drive or phone you own? Lives you've touched? Something completely different?

Takin' off the kid gloves

Anyone can make a difference. I tried to embed, but couldn't..do check it 'n see, it's short.

This conjures up so many sentiments. I'm so sad that someone so young is forced to live in a place like this. I'm thankful for the life we have here. I'm so proud that a child feels courageous enough to help a cause so much bigger and older than himself. I am excited that people in his country are rising up to make a better life for themselves. I'm disgusted that people in our country think invading other countries is the way to make better lives for others...revolution happens from the inside. Invasion is not revolution. I hope Libya is more successful than Iraq etc.

And today's USA parents are afraid of germs on shopping carts. How do our children manage to live past the age of three with all the dangers over here? I wonder where our common sense has gone. Some children I've encountered here can't even put in the effort to open a juice box without adult help. C'mon people, what are we teaching our children? I guess the question is, what aren't we teaching our children?

Last night I commented to Sean that I rarely surf the net beyond a few familiar sites (FB, Abby Blog, Pregnancy Forum Friends). I surfed for about 2 seconds today, and now I'm on a rampage. It wouldn't matter except I'm supposed to be on the phone with general contractors getting estimates for removing the mold from our walls or starting the spectacular spring clean-a-thon of '2011. That's what I get for wanting to know more about what is going on out there. Better get to not procrastinating...

Outside My Box

I pride myself on thinking outside the box...between Sean and I, we can usually solve most anything. He's the voice of reason and logic, I'm the voice of trying something completely off the wall that just might work. This post isn't so outside the box, but enough away from the usual morning routine that I had some fun with it. Enough about us.

The other morning, instead of deterring Monster from the toy we seemed to have purchased unwittingly, the dishwasher, I let him have at it. I closed up the soap flippy soap door, the best part of the toy, and emptied all but his spoons. I put out the spoon holder and went on to happily do other kitchen stuff without having to locate the baby, as he's typically a free range baby most of the time. I'd say, generously, I had a whole 15 minutes to accomplish anything I wanted, in the confines of the kitchen. ...wow never thought I'd be pleased to make that statement.

 Spoons went in, spoons went out, over and under. Spoons needed a rewash, but Baby was happy and that is all I live for these days:). Regardless, I love watching him play and learn. I can't wait for him to be able to tell us what is going on in that little head of his!

Sobering Thoughts

Give Peace A Chance: J. Lennon
I usually dread much of my Tuesday, not for what I have to do, but in worrying about all that could go wrong. I need to have Stefan to a sitter, get my butt to work on time, make sure all the lessons there run smoothly, get Stef, get us fed, him napped, me prepared for afternoon lessons, get the sitter, teach and hope I don't do anything tragically wrong, some nights return the sitter, and get home close to 8 PM where Stef. is basically fed and put to bed. I have no reason to worry about any of this, it has never gone wrong. Just my silly anxieties.

After a long Tuesday last week, I had on some NPR news. I heard a story much like this one...could have even been the same man, as the Stef was wailing his head off and I was catching news in between screams.
Libyan frightened for family safety.
I don't know why every time I hear news about Libya I can't change the station. I sit and listen, mouth agape to the atrocities innocent people are suffering, imagining what life would be like if I was there. I feel "fear" of my work day not gong smoothly...a far cry from fearing that a couple of words will destroy my whole family.

Maybe it is because I remember the news from a child of all the unrest in Libya, or that they have been under their current dictator almost as long as I have been alive...gotta suck. Maybe I have a better concept of how important children are to their parents, and I get it, that they'd do anything for them.

Close Calls
Shielding a 3 month old from gun fire?
Yikes. My high school spanish teacher was on one of the last planes to leave Cuba right before it was "closed". Anthony Bourdain almost encountered tradgedy in Beirut with their civil unrest. In my sheltered American life, I can't imagine having any close calls of this nature.

It puts so much into perspective when I get my head out of CT, teaching, and the "troubles" of having to balance work and a baby. It all doesn't seem so hard when I hear their stories.