That's all I could muster for a title after a conversation I had with one of my many co-workers with a new baby. As you may recall, there were four of us pregnant at once, plus one guy whose wife was pregnant. Jacob was born on June 20, and the rest were born within the next six weeks or so, with the exception of the one who's still pregnant. She just told me she feels "like a cow" and has 29 days to go...and is feeling crappy enough today that she's now off to the doctor. Earlier I spoke with the guy whose baby was born August 8th, and he asked me how Jacob was sleeping. I probably should have been a little less boisterous in my response, but when I respond to that question with most people they're more than ready to celebrate with me, and let's face it, I'm pretty darn psyched that Jacob has figured this whole thing out (for now--no guarantees from everything I read). However, this guy hasn't been so lucky, with either of his kids. The first one took six months to sleep through, and this one isn't much better so far. He admitted that he slept with his older son last night just to get some peace and quiet. He was detailing all of the frustrations they went through with their older son, the crying fits and how he wold never settle down for bed no matter how long you sat with him. I felt so bad for him.
Despite how things may have seemed in the midst of it (lack of sleep makes things so much worse), I know now that Jacob was practically an angel. I try to put those wide-awake-at-2am nights and twice-a-night feedings out of my head these days, but in reality I know that they didn't last nearly as long or happen nearly as often as they could have. While the two to three month period seems to be when babies are physically able to sleep through the night, I know it doesn't always happen that way. We were pleasantly surprised when Jacob started right on target (10 weeks on the dot), and are even more pleased that he's kept it up. These days he seems to have a coughing fit around 5am, but he never cries so I don't know if he basically sleeps through it, or if he's content enough laying there awake for however long the fit lasts. It kills me to hear that, but there isn't much we can do. And if he falls back to sleep on his own, no sense going in to sit him upright and potentially waking him up more. If it starts sounding extra bad, sure, I'll get up and go in. But so far it hasn't been necessary. When we've been in the same room (hotel or at my parents'), I have gotten him up and put him in the boppy next to me, for both of our sanities...it is a strange setting, after all, so I don't mind helping him out a bit. But anyway...his consistency so far is awesome. I just keep hoping it doesn't disappear down the road, during growth spurts or when he's old enough to know better. On the bright side, at least I'll have all these weeks of good sleeping under my belt and won't just be piling exhaustion on top of already existing exhaustion.
It definitely makes me wonder, though...why us? Why is Jacob sleeping through the night and other babies don't? Are we just lucky? Is there some technique that we don't even realize we're doing? Was it that week in the special care nursery that desensitized him to noise, or did the white noise from the humidifier teach him to sleep? Is he just that stinkin' happy that he doesn't mind waking up alone in the middle of the night? My co-worker thinks his baby has colic, and that is so hard. I honestly don't know how those parents do it...Jacob was fussy most of the evening last night (though smiley and happy when I put him in bed), and we were going a little nuts passing him back and forth. But as gassy as he is, we're lucky it mostly manages to come out because I can only imagine how miserable he'd be if it didn't. I will say that I'm relieved that we put him in the crib from night #1, because I think that helped...no battle about that to worry about later on! Still, I can't help but wonder how baby #2 will be down the road. We've been very lucky with Jacob, to the point that it can almost only go downhill from here. My hope is that I will be that much more experienced as a parent by then and know how to deal with issues that pop up...so even if our next baby isn't quite as lovely as Jacob, I'll have some methods ready to compensate for the added stress. Who knows. But yeah, this whole conversation today reminded me how lucky we are to have such an amazing little boy. He's the best.
Wednesday, September 24, 2008
Tuesday, September 23, 2008
Post baby body
At risk of boring my brother, who didn't particularly enjoy my many posts about maternity clothes way back when, I figured it was about time to dedicate a post to my thoughts on how my body turned out post-pregnancy. While things haven't quite gotten back in place, I am relatively happy with the way things turned out. At first glance I probably look pretty much like my old self. Weight-wise I'm at or just below where I was pre-pregnancy, but I don't think that's entirely representative of the current state of things. I think I lost a lot of muscle tone during my months away from the gym, and my once a week class probably hasn't entirely recovered it. Muscle weighs more, so I could theoretically be fatter but weigh less because I don't have as much muscle. And to some degree, I think that's the case. Most of my body seems pretty okay (it never really got that out of control to begin with), but my stomach still hasn't quite snapped back into shape. There's definitely an extra layer of flab there. It's merely the difference between looking thin and average...meaning I don't look bad, but just not as good as I did before, and no worse than your average person out there. I just have to be extra conscious of what kind of clothes I put on...things that are fitted around the belly aren't ideal right now. While I don't enjoy looking at the belly and would love to make it disappear, it's not really that bad and I'm not sure I have the time to dedicate to working it off anyway. I suppose I could take in less calories, but I'm enjoying cheating a bit (less than pregnancy, but more than I used to) while I'm still nursing and have a few more calories to burn. I'll have many more years of perpetual dieting ahead of me, so no sense going nuts now.
Most of my old clothes fit me again, though I still have some issues with short tops due to my larger chest from nursing. Some of my pants, which were big before, are finally big again. Good problem to have, I know. I don't quite have the free time I used to have to go out and work on my wardrobe, but I discovered during my pregnancy (and reaffirmed when I was out shopping recently) that there was a secondary reason that I always shopped the clearance racks. Besides being cheap, it made for less decision-making. If I were to shop the entire store, there's just so many racks and so many styles to choose from. Many of them were newer shapes and I'd have no idea (and not enough patience to figure out) what styles would work best on me. Shopping for maternity clothes was nice, because it really narrowed down my options. I could do a sweep of the store and be sure I had covered everything. Now that I'm pretty much back to normal, I have two problems. First, I have to figure out how to work around my belly. Second, I feel like I'm so out of touch with current fashion and my own body that I'm not even sure where to begin when I do shop. I can once again shop the "normal" racks, and still limit myself to clearance for the most part, but I feel like I have no clue what I should be wearing at this point. Does being a mom matter? If you watch "What Not To Wear" it does. Where I used to be able to get away with it because I looked young, now with a baby in tow, I'm not so sure I want to get away with it. And again, not a lot of opportunities to figure all of this out since clothes shopping is nearly last on my to do list right now (middle of the priority list, but actually being able to get out and do it just seems to fall to the end of the practicality list). Oy.
Long story short, I'm glad I did all the work I did while I was pregnant to ensure that I had the best shot at getting back in shape. I'm not sure I could have done much more. It turned out pretty much as well as could be expected, and for that I am grateful. I have more work to do, however, and will go through these same fears the next time I get pregnant (not for a couple years, at least)...because they say the second time around it's that much harder to snap back into shape. Ugh. But at least I look normal now. Whew.
Most of my old clothes fit me again, though I still have some issues with short tops due to my larger chest from nursing. Some of my pants, which were big before, are finally big again. Good problem to have, I know. I don't quite have the free time I used to have to go out and work on my wardrobe, but I discovered during my pregnancy (and reaffirmed when I was out shopping recently) that there was a secondary reason that I always shopped the clearance racks. Besides being cheap, it made for less decision-making. If I were to shop the entire store, there's just so many racks and so many styles to choose from. Many of them were newer shapes and I'd have no idea (and not enough patience to figure out) what styles would work best on me. Shopping for maternity clothes was nice, because it really narrowed down my options. I could do a sweep of the store and be sure I had covered everything. Now that I'm pretty much back to normal, I have two problems. First, I have to figure out how to work around my belly. Second, I feel like I'm so out of touch with current fashion and my own body that I'm not even sure where to begin when I do shop. I can once again shop the "normal" racks, and still limit myself to clearance for the most part, but I feel like I have no clue what I should be wearing at this point. Does being a mom matter? If you watch "What Not To Wear" it does. Where I used to be able to get away with it because I looked young, now with a baby in tow, I'm not so sure I want to get away with it. And again, not a lot of opportunities to figure all of this out since clothes shopping is nearly last on my to do list right now (middle of the priority list, but actually being able to get out and do it just seems to fall to the end of the practicality list). Oy.
Long story short, I'm glad I did all the work I did while I was pregnant to ensure that I had the best shot at getting back in shape. I'm not sure I could have done much more. It turned out pretty much as well as could be expected, and for that I am grateful. I have more work to do, however, and will go through these same fears the next time I get pregnant (not for a couple years, at least)...because they say the second time around it's that much harder to snap back into shape. Ugh. But at least I look normal now. Whew.
Monday, September 22, 2008
Too short
The weekends are officially too short. It never ceases to amaze me how much different weekends are now than they used to be. It always used to be about sleeping in and getting things done, and while that's still the case, it's all done under such different circumstances. Sleeping in now either means that I wake up early and feed Jacob before going back to bed for a couple more hours, or just sleeping later than my usual 6:15-6:30. Running around to do errands takes a lot more coordinating than it used to, and most of the errands are baby related anyway. Yesterday we ran to Babies 'R' Us and Target, and 95% of the stuff we bought was baby-related. It's crazy but fulfilling nonetheless. Makes my old weekends seem rather self-centered. Now when I look forward to the weekend it's mostly about hanging out with Jacob. It's always nice to know that for a couple days, he's all ours...no work, no day care. And as I've said before, it's getting tougher to take him back to day care each Monday because the weekends are generally becoming more and more fun.
This weekend was no exception...lots of smiles and a little playing, though he's still trying to figure out how toys work. We keep trying to help him along by putting things into his hands. He'll get it soon...after all, he can pull hair and necklaces like crazy. Let's see...other highlights of the weekend...two very good dinners with my college roommate Mary...we'd have hardly known he was there, except that we stared at his immense cuteness the whole time. We read a couple books at bedtime, which he sat patiently through. After a week of waiting we got a big BM yesterday...no blowout, thankfully. This stuff was VERY stinky...darn formula. I know this is probably nothing compared to what's in store for us come solid foods, but still, it was pretty nasty after all these months of less stinky breastmilk poo. He did well with all of his bottles this weekend. I'm hoping he's still interested in breastfeeding come Wednesday morning, because he's becoming quite the bottle pro. I will say that it was nice to not always be the go-to-girl every time he got hungry. Craig and I switched off quite a bit with the feeding, which I think was good for both of us...good bonding time, a little bit of freedom, and good practice with bottlefeeding in general.
On our big shopping trip yesterday we got some new sleepwear for Jacob. He's pretty much over the swaddle thing at night...he manages to get his arms out every night now. That wasn't such a good thing when he was sleeping in onesies, because his arms would end up chilly in the morning, but now I have him in long sleeved onesies so it's not so bad. However, heading into the winter I wanted something more substantial that kept him cozy but gave him the freedom to move a little...apparently important for his motor skills as well as for safety once he can turn himself over. I found these great sleep blanket things from Carter's that are basically like a sleeper up top and a sleeping bag on the bottom. And thankfully, Babies 'R' Us had their Carter's stuff Buy One Get One 50% off...and gift cards are truly great things to keep handy. Anyway, the SwaddleMe folks have a similar product with no sleeves, just armholes, but I wanted sleeves so I could put him in a onesie inside it, until the house gets colder come winter. Then, once he's in sleepers inside it, if it appears he's getting too hot I'll have to check out the other ones without sleeves. We'll see. I'm still trying to figure out winter outerwear right now, too, so we have a lot of learning to do in the coming months.
But anyway, it was a great weekend. Next weekend will be considerably busier, with a couple trips down to Geneseo for this big reunion weekend, but it will be a LOT of fun. I always like showing Jacob off, and going to Geneseo is always great...and I haven't done that in a while. Mama Mia's, here I come! Or maybe Aunt Cookie's...hmmm....maybe both! But I still have a long work week to get through before I can look forward to that. Ugh.
This weekend was no exception...lots of smiles and a little playing, though he's still trying to figure out how toys work. We keep trying to help him along by putting things into his hands. He'll get it soon...after all, he can pull hair and necklaces like crazy. Let's see...other highlights of the weekend...two very good dinners with my college roommate Mary...we'd have hardly known he was there, except that we stared at his immense cuteness the whole time. We read a couple books at bedtime, which he sat patiently through. After a week of waiting we got a big BM yesterday...no blowout, thankfully. This stuff was VERY stinky...darn formula. I know this is probably nothing compared to what's in store for us come solid foods, but still, it was pretty nasty after all these months of less stinky breastmilk poo. He did well with all of his bottles this weekend. I'm hoping he's still interested in breastfeeding come Wednesday morning, because he's becoming quite the bottle pro. I will say that it was nice to not always be the go-to-girl every time he got hungry. Craig and I switched off quite a bit with the feeding, which I think was good for both of us...good bonding time, a little bit of freedom, and good practice with bottlefeeding in general.
On our big shopping trip yesterday we got some new sleepwear for Jacob. He's pretty much over the swaddle thing at night...he manages to get his arms out every night now. That wasn't such a good thing when he was sleeping in onesies, because his arms would end up chilly in the morning, but now I have him in long sleeved onesies so it's not so bad. However, heading into the winter I wanted something more substantial that kept him cozy but gave him the freedom to move a little...apparently important for his motor skills as well as for safety once he can turn himself over. I found these great sleep blanket things from Carter's that are basically like a sleeper up top and a sleeping bag on the bottom. And thankfully, Babies 'R' Us had their Carter's stuff Buy One Get One 50% off...and gift cards are truly great things to keep handy. Anyway, the SwaddleMe folks have a similar product with no sleeves, just armholes, but I wanted sleeves so I could put him in a onesie inside it, until the house gets colder come winter. Then, once he's in sleepers inside it, if it appears he's getting too hot I'll have to check out the other ones without sleeves. We'll see. I'm still trying to figure out winter outerwear right now, too, so we have a lot of learning to do in the coming months.
But anyway, it was a great weekend. Next weekend will be considerably busier, with a couple trips down to Geneseo for this big reunion weekend, but it will be a LOT of fun. I always like showing Jacob off, and going to Geneseo is always great...and I haven't done that in a while. Mama Mia's, here I come! Or maybe Aunt Cookie's...hmmm....maybe both! But I still have a long work week to get through before I can look forward to that. Ugh.
Saturday, September 20, 2008
Three Months
Well, it's officially been three months. Three months ago today, I gave birth and Jacob came into our lives. We blissfully slept through 2:40am this time around (this sleeping through the night thing is amazing and we feel VERY lucky that Jacob's doing it. Especially when I talk to people with older babies who don't!) and woke up fairly late this morning. When we were all hanging out in bed this morning around 9am, when I realized that by that point in the day he'd already been whisked off to the special care nursery,which started one LONG week. Just thinking about that time in our lives (and the couple months or so that followed), I get tired. I just remember the sheer exhaustion at that point...from my physical recovery, breastfeeding issues and sleep deprivation to the emotional challenges of new parenthood and having a baby in the hospital, it was a rough time. It definitely took a while before I really saw the whole "children are a blessing" thing. I mean, he was amazing from the beginning, and I knew that, but sometimes it was hard to get past all of the craziness and just enjoy him. Somewhere in the last month things got a heck of a lot easier, between him sleeping through the night and eating every three hours instead of two. I'm sure the smiles we've been rewarded with have helped as well. Interestingly, my boss asked me yesterday if I wanted to have another one anytime soon. I think the way I was gushing about him and how big he's getting already, she probably figured I was wishing for another one. I'll definitely do it again, but it's going to take a couple years before I'm ready to go through any of it again--pregnancy, childbirth, or 2am feedings. I did get a little wistful when I was at the doctor this week, though. Even the smell of their soap reminded me of all of my visits there over the nine months, and the excitement building up to the end. But still, I know better.
It's amazing to think how our lives have changed in the last three months, but thankfully things seem a little more normal now. It's still a challenge to go out and do things freely, but other than Jacob's explosive BMs and the threat of a meltdown (and still little ammunition at this point to contain it), I'm way less nervous than I was about taking him out. When we are out, he gets a lot of smiles and "awwww"s, with lots of people asking how old he is and what his name is. He's a pretty darn cute kid. He's a favorite at day care because he's such a good snuggler, and pretty much every time I get there to pick him up, someone is cuddling with him. He's a really good boy and I couldn't ask for anything more.
In other news...I'm very happy it's the weekend, because I feel a heck of a lot less stressed. I have more time to get things done than I do on any given evening, and it's just nice to hang out with Jacob. The no-nursing thing is still killing me and I can't believe I have to do it for three more days. Despite some fussiness, Jacob's done well with his feedings. He's still missing breastfeeding a lot, though. Any chance he gets he'll turn toward my chest, looking for his next meal. Poor guy. I can't decide whether he'll be uninterested by the time he can do it again, or will suck the life out of me in excitement. Pumping and dumping isn't too fun (seems like such a waste!), but I had the realization I could have a drink without a problem! I haven't yet, but maybe tonight at dinner. It's been fun having my college roommate Mary here this weekend, even if it hasn't been for long. We had a nice evening last night, but she's been at a conference all day today and will stick around through dinner before going back to Syracuse tonight since she's got some stuff going on tomorrow. No worries, though, because she'll probably be back next weekend for a big InterVarsity Christian Fellowship reunion down in Geneseo. It should be a really great time and it will be nice seeing people I haven't seen in years, complete with their kids. I've gotten a preview with this whole Facebook thing, but in person will definitely be cool. Anyway, I'm off to enjoy the rest of the weekend! You do the same!
It's amazing to think how our lives have changed in the last three months, but thankfully things seem a little more normal now. It's still a challenge to go out and do things freely, but other than Jacob's explosive BMs and the threat of a meltdown (and still little ammunition at this point to contain it), I'm way less nervous than I was about taking him out. When we are out, he gets a lot of smiles and "awwww"s, with lots of people asking how old he is and what his name is. He's a pretty darn cute kid. He's a favorite at day care because he's such a good snuggler, and pretty much every time I get there to pick him up, someone is cuddling with him. He's a really good boy and I couldn't ask for anything more.
In other news...I'm very happy it's the weekend, because I feel a heck of a lot less stressed. I have more time to get things done than I do on any given evening, and it's just nice to hang out with Jacob. The no-nursing thing is still killing me and I can't believe I have to do it for three more days. Despite some fussiness, Jacob's done well with his feedings. He's still missing breastfeeding a lot, though. Any chance he gets he'll turn toward my chest, looking for his next meal. Poor guy. I can't decide whether he'll be uninterested by the time he can do it again, or will suck the life out of me in excitement. Pumping and dumping isn't too fun (seems like such a waste!), but I had the realization I could have a drink without a problem! I haven't yet, but maybe tonight at dinner. It's been fun having my college roommate Mary here this weekend, even if it hasn't been for long. We had a nice evening last night, but she's been at a conference all day today and will stick around through dinner before going back to Syracuse tonight since she's got some stuff going on tomorrow. No worries, though, because she'll probably be back next weekend for a big InterVarsity Christian Fellowship reunion down in Geneseo. It should be a really great time and it will be nice seeing people I haven't seen in years, complete with their kids. I've gotten a preview with this whole Facebook thing, but in person will definitely be cool. Anyway, I'm off to enjoy the rest of the weekend! You do the same!
Friday, September 19, 2008
Who knew?
Apparently I've come to like breastfeeding. Not that I hated it before, but early on it was really demanding and all along there are these moments where it's like, "Is it really worth it?" But this morning I realized how much I enjoy it and how hard it will be to stop down the road. Here's a quick round-up of my last 18 hours or so, and how I'm feeling sort of sub-par as a mom right now. I know it's nothing to really worry about, but still...it's a blog...I'm sharing my feelings at this moment.
I picked up Jacob from day care yesterday because Craig had a work function. We went right to Wegmans to do some shopping and pick up a couple prescriptions. More on that in a bit. Anyway, Jacob was great until we had to wait for the prescriptions, at which point he started crying. I picked him up and held him while we waited, which worked for about 10 minutes. By the time we got to the register he was screaming and crying louder than I'd ever heard him. He kept going all the way through checkout, out to the car, the drive home, and me putting away the cold groceries once we got home. I finally got to feed him but felt horribly guilty he'd cried for that long...and that hard. I had to finish cleaning the house last night because we have company this weekend (it sorely needed it, company or not) and Craig's event went way longer than he thought, so I was trying to alternate between playing with Jacob and vacuuming the whole house. I felt horrible that I couldn't just hang out with him, particularly after the crying fit.
Now back to the prescription story...I went to the doctor the other day for a little checkup because I had a couple minor lingering issues from pregnancy/childbirth/breastfeeding. I got a prescription to help with one, and then I got a call yesterday that I have some sort of infection. It's just an overpopulation of normal bacteria, but still...another medication. In both cases I wasn't exactly given a vote of confidence that the meds were breastfeeding-friendly. The one is prescribed to nursing moms quite a bit, apparently, and after some convincing I decided to take them at their word. The one for the infection, however, just had really iffy wording about nursing mothers using it, and after a lot of tossing and turning overnight and a quick internet seach this morning, I decided to stop breastfeeding for the five days I'm taking it. I have a supply of frozen breastmilk that will help, and we may have to do formula a bit as well. I can't breastfeed again until Tuesday night, so it's going to be a pump-and-dump weekend. I need to keep my supply up but ditch whatever I pump. How unfulfilling. It's safest for Jacob, but I couldn't help but feel awful this morning when I got him up (he was so smiley and making happy noises) and then had to give him a bottle. He fussed a lot and finally I had to pass him off to Craig, since he's used to bottlefeeding with him. So not only was Jacob unhappy, but so was I. I desperately wanted to breastfeed him, both for his comfort and for my sanity. It's a nice bonding thing and I guess it's nice to know he enjoys it too. It's going to be a tough weekend and I'm just hoping Jacob doesn't forget how to breastfeed or decide he's done with it when we get back on track on Tuesday. The thought of not being able to do it all weekend is making me a little nuts, which just proves how much I've come to enjoy the experience now that it's not painful or so demanding. I'll still get to hold Jacob and play with him, so I should be fine...but I guess that's one bonding thing that just can't be equaled by any other experience. Who knew?
I picked up Jacob from day care yesterday because Craig had a work function. We went right to Wegmans to do some shopping and pick up a couple prescriptions. More on that in a bit. Anyway, Jacob was great until we had to wait for the prescriptions, at which point he started crying. I picked him up and held him while we waited, which worked for about 10 minutes. By the time we got to the register he was screaming and crying louder than I'd ever heard him. He kept going all the way through checkout, out to the car, the drive home, and me putting away the cold groceries once we got home. I finally got to feed him but felt horribly guilty he'd cried for that long...and that hard. I had to finish cleaning the house last night because we have company this weekend (it sorely needed it, company or not) and Craig's event went way longer than he thought, so I was trying to alternate between playing with Jacob and vacuuming the whole house. I felt horrible that I couldn't just hang out with him, particularly after the crying fit.
Now back to the prescription story...I went to the doctor the other day for a little checkup because I had a couple minor lingering issues from pregnancy/childbirth/breastfeeding. I got a prescription to help with one, and then I got a call yesterday that I have some sort of infection. It's just an overpopulation of normal bacteria, but still...another medication. In both cases I wasn't exactly given a vote of confidence that the meds were breastfeeding-friendly. The one is prescribed to nursing moms quite a bit, apparently, and after some convincing I decided to take them at their word. The one for the infection, however, just had really iffy wording about nursing mothers using it, and after a lot of tossing and turning overnight and a quick internet seach this morning, I decided to stop breastfeeding for the five days I'm taking it. I have a supply of frozen breastmilk that will help, and we may have to do formula a bit as well. I can't breastfeed again until Tuesday night, so it's going to be a pump-and-dump weekend. I need to keep my supply up but ditch whatever I pump. How unfulfilling. It's safest for Jacob, but I couldn't help but feel awful this morning when I got him up (he was so smiley and making happy noises) and then had to give him a bottle. He fussed a lot and finally I had to pass him off to Craig, since he's used to bottlefeeding with him. So not only was Jacob unhappy, but so was I. I desperately wanted to breastfeed him, both for his comfort and for my sanity. It's a nice bonding thing and I guess it's nice to know he enjoys it too. It's going to be a tough weekend and I'm just hoping Jacob doesn't forget how to breastfeed or decide he's done with it when we get back on track on Tuesday. The thought of not being able to do it all weekend is making me a little nuts, which just proves how much I've come to enjoy the experience now that it's not painful or so demanding. I'll still get to hold Jacob and play with him, so I should be fine...but I guess that's one bonding thing that just can't be equaled by any other experience. Who knew?
Wednesday, September 17, 2008
Sky's the Limit
It's amazing to look at Jacob and think of all the things he's going to learn and experience in the years to come. Knowing that you were there from his first moment of life, when his knowledge of the world was at zero, and having the opportunity to build up that knowledge, is such a huge responsibility. Even just in the next few months he's going to pick up so many new things, from rolling over to playing with toys. Beyond that I can't wait to have him experience the world, like opening up gifts at Christmas or petting his first animal or enjoying the changing seasons. I hope he likes thrill rides like his mommy and finds out he's got athletic ability like his daddy, because both will bring him a lot of joy as he grows older. I want him to grow into a loving, intelligent person who has the drive and ability to do amazing things in this world. I want him to be a strong Christian.
Now that he's smiling a little more and slowly but surely figuring some things out, I'm starting to see the potential his little life holds. It also helps that I'm getting more sleep these days and am not so distracted by the massive demands that come with a newborn--my brain has more ability to think about stuff like this, rather than how I just need a nap! In any event, I see Jacob's wide-eyed curiosity and can't wait to encourage it with all that life has to offer.
Of course, there's always the paranoia that you're not going to teach them right, or give them enough stimulation. As a parent you theoretically know best, but there's a whole big world out there and even you only know part of it. Communicating all you know and have experienced is a daunting task. You want to make sure that you give your child a well-rounded, rich life experience, and you still don't want things like expense or parental hang-ups to get in the way of that...but despite your best intentions, they probably will. Maybe you won't get to take your child on some amazing culture-rich vacation, or maybe they just won't try a certain food because it's something you don't eat. I'm still trying to figure out when it makes sense to start bedtime prayers or eating at the kitchen table, to make sure Jacob gets in good habits right away. I know, no time like the present...
Sometimes when I'm in the midst of thinking about all he can accomplish, I hear a story about someone else's baby that tears my heart out...mostly because I can't even fathom what I would do if that child was Jacob. Whether it's a kid with cancer or autism, or those poor little babies with kidney stones (or worse) in China after consuming bad formula...I just can't stand the thought of anything preventing Jacob from reaching his potential. When a good kid goes bad (or worse, never even has the chance to because their life was cut short) I always wonder if the parents think back to their perfect baby and just wonder what happened. I pray I never have to do that with Jacob. He's just so amazing and each day I look forward to him learning and developing more and more. I feel so blessed to have him.
And with this face, how could I not?
Notice his adorable Moose shirt. Yeah, Mommy & Daddy's preferences are getting pushed on the poor kid. He's not even three months old and he has two stuffed moose of his own, not to mention a couple moose-oriented articles of clothing. The thing he's cradling (he was holding it by the arm a few seconds before I got this picture) is Potato Pete, one of the pierogies from the famous Pierogi Race at the Pittsburgh Pirates games. He's a little beanie and we had a great minute or so watching Jacob wave him around by his arm. Every little Polish kid should have a stuffed pierogi.
Now that he's smiling a little more and slowly but surely figuring some things out, I'm starting to see the potential his little life holds. It also helps that I'm getting more sleep these days and am not so distracted by the massive demands that come with a newborn--my brain has more ability to think about stuff like this, rather than how I just need a nap! In any event, I see Jacob's wide-eyed curiosity and can't wait to encourage it with all that life has to offer.
Of course, there's always the paranoia that you're not going to teach them right, or give them enough stimulation. As a parent you theoretically know best, but there's a whole big world out there and even you only know part of it. Communicating all you know and have experienced is a daunting task. You want to make sure that you give your child a well-rounded, rich life experience, and you still don't want things like expense or parental hang-ups to get in the way of that...but despite your best intentions, they probably will. Maybe you won't get to take your child on some amazing culture-rich vacation, or maybe they just won't try a certain food because it's something you don't eat. I'm still trying to figure out when it makes sense to start bedtime prayers or eating at the kitchen table, to make sure Jacob gets in good habits right away. I know, no time like the present...
Sometimes when I'm in the midst of thinking about all he can accomplish, I hear a story about someone else's baby that tears my heart out...mostly because I can't even fathom what I would do if that child was Jacob. Whether it's a kid with cancer or autism, or those poor little babies with kidney stones (or worse) in China after consuming bad formula...I just can't stand the thought of anything preventing Jacob from reaching his potential. When a good kid goes bad (or worse, never even has the chance to because their life was cut short) I always wonder if the parents think back to their perfect baby and just wonder what happened. I pray I never have to do that with Jacob. He's just so amazing and each day I look forward to him learning and developing more and more. I feel so blessed to have him.
And with this face, how could I not?
Notice his adorable Moose shirt. Yeah, Mommy & Daddy's preferences are getting pushed on the poor kid. He's not even three months old and he has two stuffed moose of his own, not to mention a couple moose-oriented articles of clothing. The thing he's cradling (he was holding it by the arm a few seconds before I got this picture) is Potato Pete, one of the pierogies from the famous Pierogi Race at the Pittsburgh Pirates games. He's a little beanie and we had a great minute or so watching Jacob wave him around by his arm. Every little Polish kid should have a stuffed pierogi.Tuesday, September 16, 2008
Great weekend
We had a pretty awesome weekend. Craig was off to Pittsburgh with his dad and brother to take in some baseball, and Jacob and I headed to NT for a weekend with my parents. They're always so excited to see Jacob, and I figured it would be nice to have some support in case Jacob tired me out! It was extra fun because old friends of the family had a party on Sunday and I got to see some people I hadn't seen in a while...and show off my little boy!
Jacob really had a great couple days. He was in a great mood a lot of time, slept pretty well (other than that pesky cough--gotta be allergies, poor thing), and smiled up a storm. He's getting really good at that, as long as he's in a good mood...which happens more than you'd think. As long as he's been fed and has slept a bit, he can usually be coerced into smiling. And it is so incredibly cute. He makes me laugh half the time because the big gummy grin just cracks me up. It's a good ego boost to be able to get smiles out of him, but there are still moments where he'll just be staring off into space smiling, and who knows what is making him so happy. He's making a lot of new noises lately, getting into the cooing and squealing...it's really funny to hear him when he's just hanging out alone in his crib doing that. He loves laying on a blanket on the floor and just flailing around. He's not too coordinated yet and hasn't really figured out how to respond to toys (pretty much stuffed animals and things that make noise at this point) but you can tell he'll get there soon.
Jacob got to meet another baby, as my parents' friends' daughter who lives down the street has a five month old little girl. He should be used to other babies from daycare, but he seemed to be a little extra grumpy at that point and ignored her attempts to reach out and touch him.
Warning: Bodily Fluid Update - He did have two rather large (one explosive) BMs on Saturday (first ones for a few days, and none since...of course). The second surprised me, since it seemed like the first one cleaned him out. If only we could get that regulated a little better. Oh, and the second one wrecked this outfit for the day...bummer. But at least I got a good picture of him in it (see below). He wore his Bills onesie on Sunday, but managed to pee on himself while I was changing him before the game was over.
It was fun showing him off to a bunch of new people, and he got rave reviews as usual. He's adorable when he's awake, and he's an angel when he's asleep. He slept through a lot--a trip to a car cruise fundraiser at church, a Sunday lunch at Taco Bell, a walk to the grocery store, and church, among other things. He slept for most of the drive each way, but had a really fussy 15 minutes or so each time. That was a little more stressful on the way home, since it was crazy windy (thanks Ike) and I was paranoid about deer. He was great at the aforementioned party, though hungry, much to the dismay of a little girl (the hosts' granddaughter) who wanted to hang out with him but couldn't when he was hiding under the blanket eating. My mom almost attempted to explain breastfeeding to her (she's 3-1/2), but stopped short...I think that would have blown her mind.
We had a great time, and Jacob was so much fun to watch and play with. It's getting better and better every day, but now we're back to the same old same old for the week, where I just want to hang out with him but have to work all day and battle a ton of things that take over my evenings. This week it's thank you notes and cleaning. I'm the queen of procrastination, so I really do have to strike a balance somehow so the procrastinating doesn't take over and months have passed since my house got a good cleaning. Oh, wait...that's already happened. Hmmm. But anyway, he's really awesome....and slowly but surely the exhaustion of those first couple months is fading and the fun is taking over. Thank goodness.
Jacob really had a great couple days. He was in a great mood a lot of time, slept pretty well (other than that pesky cough--gotta be allergies, poor thing), and smiled up a storm. He's getting really good at that, as long as he's in a good mood...which happens more than you'd think. As long as he's been fed and has slept a bit, he can usually be coerced into smiling. And it is so incredibly cute. He makes me laugh half the time because the big gummy grin just cracks me up. It's a good ego boost to be able to get smiles out of him, but there are still moments where he'll just be staring off into space smiling, and who knows what is making him so happy. He's making a lot of new noises lately, getting into the cooing and squealing...it's really funny to hear him when he's just hanging out alone in his crib doing that. He loves laying on a blanket on the floor and just flailing around. He's not too coordinated yet and hasn't really figured out how to respond to toys (pretty much stuffed animals and things that make noise at this point) but you can tell he'll get there soon.
Jacob got to meet another baby, as my parents' friends' daughter who lives down the street has a five month old little girl. He should be used to other babies from daycare, but he seemed to be a little extra grumpy at that point and ignored her attempts to reach out and touch him.
Warning: Bodily Fluid Update - He did have two rather large (one explosive) BMs on Saturday (first ones for a few days, and none since...of course). The second surprised me, since it seemed like the first one cleaned him out. If only we could get that regulated a little better. Oh, and the second one wrecked this outfit for the day...bummer. But at least I got a good picture of him in it (see below). He wore his Bills onesie on Sunday, but managed to pee on himself while I was changing him before the game was over.
It was fun showing him off to a bunch of new people, and he got rave reviews as usual. He's adorable when he's awake, and he's an angel when he's asleep. He slept through a lot--a trip to a car cruise fundraiser at church, a Sunday lunch at Taco Bell, a walk to the grocery store, and church, among other things. He slept for most of the drive each way, but had a really fussy 15 minutes or so each time. That was a little more stressful on the way home, since it was crazy windy (thanks Ike) and I was paranoid about deer. He was great at the aforementioned party, though hungry, much to the dismay of a little girl (the hosts' granddaughter) who wanted to hang out with him but couldn't when he was hiding under the blanket eating. My mom almost attempted to explain breastfeeding to her (she's 3-1/2), but stopped short...I think that would have blown her mind.
We had a great time, and Jacob was so much fun to watch and play with. It's getting better and better every day, but now we're back to the same old same old for the week, where I just want to hang out with him but have to work all day and battle a ton of things that take over my evenings. This week it's thank you notes and cleaning. I'm the queen of procrastination, so I really do have to strike a balance somehow so the procrastinating doesn't take over and months have passed since my house got a good cleaning. Oh, wait...that's already happened. Hmmm. But anyway, he's really awesome....and slowly but surely the exhaustion of those first couple months is fading and the fun is taking over. Thank goodness.
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