365 Reminder

My posts have been lacking photos because I've been posting them all on my 365. . .until I got really busy and neglected posting the photos.

I caught up a little tonight!

Check it out!

Survived

I survived my first week back at work.

This week has been rough. Hubs has been working late nights this week, which means I've basically played the single working mother. I don't know how they do it (single moms). It is hard enough to leave your baby and go to work, but then after a busy day at work to come home and take care of the little one, do some house chores and cook dinner? Yikes.

I'm already dreading when Hubs is going to be traveling with this new job. . . . .*sigh* I am so spoiled with a husband who works and helps with the baby so much.

Anyway. . .

My first day back at work was good. It was nice getting out of the house, and it was cool seeing my patients. My first patient was actually due to see me right when my maternity leave started. He waited 12 weeks just to be my first patient on my first day back. Makes me feel like I do a pretty darn good job to wait that long!

Second day was. . . a little rough. Thank goodness Hubs dropped Bean off at the sitters house in the morning, I REALLY didn't want to do that. It's so much easier leaving in the morning when Bean is chilling with his Dad. I'd be lying if I said I didn't cry a little bit when the sitter texted me pictures of Bean. It might not have hurt that much, but the pictures were of him hitting some milestones (He was holding his head up during tummy time, for FOUR minutes! The other was of him holding a ball with both hands) He's been working on this stuff the past week or so, but it just seemed that he started nailing them on that particular day.

It hurts just a little more thinking that this might be my only chance to have my "baby experience". . . because I honestly don't know if we will have another child.

By the third day I was just exhausted.

I'm definitely standing by my theory that the perfect combo of motherhood/work would be two days of paid work a week. I think I could even do two in a row.

But I survived. . . . with the help of my wonderful mother; who works three days a week, is dealing with my ailing 93 year old grandfather, takes care of her two fur babies (miniature schnauzers Olive and Molly), cooks, cleans, and now watches her grandson two days a week. Talk about a super Mom! Oh the things we will do for our children right? I can only hope to be the kind of mother to Bean that she's been for me.

For now I'm going to forget about work.

It's spring break! I'm lucky enough that the dentist I work with takes a vacation with this family, so since he's not working that means I don't have to work next week! Yay! Now if only the crummy Chicago weather would improve. . .

Almost Official

We put Bean to bed at 7:30pm last night and he only woke up once! ONCE! until 7:30am.

Of course it was the night of Hubs's 30th birthday party and we were both up until almost 4am. . . .I definitely think those days are over. No more staying up past midnight for us. If Baby Bean wakes at 7:30 he's a bit too young to go downstairs and watch cartoons until Mommy and Daddy wake up.

My goodness we are so lucky to have such an easy baby. Soooooo lucky.

I wonder if he will repeat it tonight? He's been doing a 5-6 hour stretch at night the past week or so. After that one long stretch he always wakes up every 2-3 hours on the dot.

Oh Bean, you are such an awesome baby.

Tummy Time

The first time I heard the phrase "tummy time" I was at my friend Jenny's house. She was describing to me about how having hardwood floors is not 100% awesome because carpet is nicer for "tummy time" with her daughter.

Tummy time? What the heck is that?

I honestly thought it was a phrase that she made up, that is until I started reading baby books. Apparently this is a common phrase used by parents and doctors alike, and it's important for motor development and preventing flat heads in babies.

So being the diligent mommy that I am, I try to get Bean's tummy time in every day. There is just one huge problem. Bean HATES tummy time.

If I put him flat on his tummy, 98% of the time he will just lay there like a slug and scream. Oh how he screams. He turns bright red, tears stream down his face, he snorts. . .it's extreme. I've found that if I prop him up on the Boppy pillow he will tolerate it for maybe 2 minutes, but then he just screams again. I think I read babies should get 10-20 minutes a day of tummy time? Yeah right.

I've also tired tummy time with him laying on my stomach facing me. Again this works for about two minutes, and then he either screams or falls asleep.

I really can't imagine him even attempting to crawl when he acts this way when I put him on his stomach. I know it's important for muscle development, but I find myself skipping tummy time because I hate to see him so upset.

Is this something he will eventually grow out of? Any tips for making tummy time better?

He has seriously only been semi happy on his stomach twice. . . and it happened to be during our weekend photo sessions so I had my camera to document it. I suppose this shows that he can hold his head up like he should, so we must getting something out of tummy time. . .but he's only really done it twice.

Never a Dull Moment

So there has been lots of life stuff going on lately. I joked with Hubs that I was looking forward to finally having a year establishing our new normal. The past two years we've had so many big life things.

Two years ago we bought our house. At the same time Hubs's job was also in limbo. His profession is contract based, so every two-three years we always have that question if the customers will resign contracts and he will continue to have a job. It's not very fun. Well two years ago it was insanely stressful, but it all worked out in the end. Hubs retained his job and we got a beautiful house.

Then last year. . .there was my pregnancy and arrival of Bean.

Two years of huge change/stress/worry.

Back to Hubs's work stuff.

Now it's two years later and again we are wondering our usual worry. . . will the customers resign? Hubs decided that it was time to end the worry game with his job and he got a new job! In my spoiled opinion of wanting Hubs around 24/7, the job isn't perfect. There is travel, there is a long commute, but there are upsides too, a raise, good insurance, and the best part, opportunity to grow.

Ready for the next change in the gears?

My car broke! (again. . . .sigh)

It's old, we knew it was coming, I was just hoping that it wouldn't be till next summer. The last time it broke we said that it would be the last time we sunk a hefty amount of cash into it. I called the auto guy and described the problem, he said best case 400 to fix, worst case 800. My car is worth about 1600, the back light on the trunk is cracked and there is also a mystery rattle coming from the rear end (who knows when that will blow up). We are tired of worrying about if it will run. . . especially now that we have the little guy riding with us.

So now this week we get to go out and buy a new car! I'm scared and excited at the same time. I hate the idea of draining our savings for a down payment (especially since I haven't worked in 2.5 months!!), but I'm also super excited for a new car! I suppose it's actually a good time for it to break because with me not working it's easy to only have one working car. I'm trying to see the glass as half full.

There you have it. New baby, new job for Hubs, new work schedule for me, new experience of working/being parents, new car. . . . we've had quite a bit going on.

Hopefully soon I will get my happy routine, floating down a nice lazy river, but for now life feels like a roller coaster!

p.s. Did I mention Hubs is turning 30 in two days? There's another dip on the ride. :-)

Two Month Check Up

Oh my goodness where does the time go? Baby Bean had his two month check up yesterday. Here are his stats: he is 11 lbs, 6 oz. 24.5 inches and his head is 40.5 centimeters. Both his head and weight are around the 50th percentiles, but his height is off the charts! The doctor didn't seem concerned since both Hubs and I are pretty tall (6'2 and 5'7 respectively). Guess our baby is going to be tall, dark, AND handsome, heh.

He also had his dreaded vaccines. I ended up choosing to do the traditional schedule. . .although I wasn't entirely happy about it. I really didn't like any of the options honestly. The main reasons for my choice was my career (super germ-y environment) and the fact that the friend of the family that is watching him has a 3 year old son that goes to preschool. I know one kid is not as horrible as 30 kids at a day care, but you know. . . I worry. Almost all of the diseases that vaccines prevent are life threatening ones, is that something you want to risk? In the end, I didn't. There were other reasons for my decision too, but I don't really want to get into it on the blog.

Last night he slept from 10:30-2:30, and then from about 3:30-9am!! He's been fussy today, but I still got some smiles out of him when I changed his diaper (he loves that). Other then that he's slept A TON. Almost all day really, he just wakes up, nurses, and falls right back asleep. Poor little guy, I hope he feels better tomorrow. I guess maybe his little body is working to build up those immunities.

Spoiled Sleeping

So I know in many of my latest blog posts I've talked about my pre-motherhood formed judgements of motherhood, here is another one, "spoiled sleeping."

Before I became a mother I always thought I'd be about, "tough love." The baby will not sleep in our room, the baby will never sleep in our bed, the baby will not nap in my arms, the baby will self soothe, etc etc I could go on, you get the idea.

There are two big concepts that came into play when I became a mother. One: I had no idea how desperate I would be for sleep/naps and what I would do to get them. Two: I had no idea how I wouldn't want to ever put the baby down!

Yes friends, this has lead to my baby being spoiled. I'm going to admit some things right now. Yes, he sleeps in a bassinet in our room (it's so easy to pull him into bed, nurse, and then put him back). Yes, he's slept with me in our bed (I've only done this early in the morning when I want an extra hour of sleep. If I pull him into bed with me he calms down and sleeps longer) Yes, I've napped with him sleeping on my chest (as stated before, he sleeps longer when I cuddle with him). . . . *sigh*. . . He may or may not be sleeping in the Boppy on my lap as I awkwardly type up this blog post on the laptop.

I suppose if you wanted to be really strict, this can be avoided. . . .but apparently that's not for me. I am lucky though, as long as Bean is swaddled he will pretty much sleep anywhere I put him, but I've learned that he sleeps much much longer when he's snuggled up to a warm body. It works for us. . . for now. I do worry sometimes about people judging me. Thinking those things I thought before I became a mother.

At this point though, I'm going to hold him in my arms as long as he's small enough to fit in them. Because he loves it. . .because I love it. And when the time eventually comes, we will live that potentially hellish week that will be sleep training, but for now. . . .he's a spoiled sleeper and thats ok.