slip-n-slide

We spent the 4th of July at a picnic at my friend Amy's house. You probably wouldn't expect a bunch of sober 30-somethings to entertain themselves like this...

floor time

floor time with Daddy, originally uploaded by brungrrl.

JT loves floor time. I think I mentioned that. But here is proof. And I love reading to him. He just looks fascinated. Of course, it could just be gas, too. :-)

Some of our favorite books: Sheep in a Jeep, a Baby Einstein shapes book, My Many Colored Days (Seuss), and Things That Go.

I also read him random things like magazines and catalogs that I like to read for me. He's just as fascinated with that stuff.

Gotta go, the boss is about to wake up from a nap. He let me have a 2 hour break this afternoon, can you believe it?!

simpsonized

Here are John and Stacy Simpsonized...

Looks very much like us, huh?! And while JT looks much like Maggie from the Simpsons when he sucks away at his binky, I couldn't get him simpsonized with the photos I had.

Days at home are long... can you tell?!

what's new

photo by Carol Miller

JT and I had some great floor time today. He was awake and not screaming for about 30 minutes. He let me read about 5 baby books to him and part of an article from Wondertime. How fun! (He usually throws a fit of hunger before I can get to page 2 of any book.)

We also went on an outing to the grocery store. Not much, but he was good the whole time and I got out of the house.

The trip to the store was to get him some medicine for gas. He's making poo now, but he sure struggles with it. He had a bowel movement this afternoon that he worked really hard for. I bawled my eyes out to see him strain so much. The medical assistant at the pediatrician's office said the anti-gas medicine should help with the straining. If it doesn't, we'll switch to a non-dairy formula for a while. The poor little guy should really be able to get through a day without pain.

Well... I sure digressed on this post. I really do obsess over my son's eating and pooping all day long, so there isn't much interesting to discuss.

Here is a story from this morning... At 5am, JT got us up to eat. John gave him a bottle and I pumped breast milk to store for another time. I grabbed the bottles from the counter that I washed last night. I dried them out, put the thing together and started pumping. Well, halfway through, I notice the one bottle has a SPIDER in it. UGH. I was SO freakin' angry. SO angry. Ruined an ounce and a half of precious breast milk... and let's not even talk about the skeeve-me-out factor of having a spider in the bottle. (No cracks on the ounce and a half... production is low, but it is what it is and I am hell-bent on keeping it up.)

Have I mentioned lately what GREAT people we have in our lives? That is a whole story for another blog post though. We have had blessings like crazy for months now. Folks have brought us food and presents for JT and all kinds of nice things. Makes us feel like we brought our son into a wonderful world!

He's falling asleep in his swing right now... have I mentioned how sweet he is when he's asleep? Love him...

I have to laugh or I will go crazy

Baby stress is killing me. I thought I would never go back to school for an MBA... but now I am thinking it would be easier than taking care of a baby!

So I just watched 20 minutes of an Ellen re-run. She showed this panda video on her show. I am still laughing over it. As she said, you just don't think of big scary animals like panda bears being frightened by small things. Check it out:



And here is a photo of our son JT that shows just what wicked parents we are. I especially like the milky drool on his mouth. :-)

I used to have hobbies...

I got up at 2am, 5am, and 8am to feed the little munchkin. I'm not complaining. I'm happy when he eats. And since he went back to sleep in between feedings, even better! The first thoughts that go through my mind when I wake up these days are "how long did he sleep?" "how long since he ate last?" "did he poop yet?"

And it's not just me. John got to sleep through last night. So when he got up this morning, he wanted to know if the little guy pooped. Do you think maybe we have issues? As he walked out the door, John said, "give him some more prune juice today."

JT has been a little constipated. From what I've read, it's normal if he doesn't have a bowel movement for a couple days. But we sure hate seeing him grunt and strain when he does finally have one. The doctor recommended giving him a teaspoon of prune juice. We gave him a dropper full yesterday, but it doesn't seem to have had any effect yet.

You know what's worse than forsaking your interests and hobbies to obsess over your baby's health? Writing about it on your blog... :-)

a birthday every week

JT is 4 weeks old today. We celebrate his birthday every week on Monday. Of course, today is my birthday... but it's not so much to celebrate as being ONE MONTH OLD!

On Saturday we drove 2 hours north for JT to meet his great grandparents. I think he really likes his great grandma. They spent a lot of time together! We had such a great visit. JT is lucky to have 3 great grandparents in his life. Tomorrow he will meet his other great grandma and his Aunt Joan.

"supermom"

I can't believe I have a 3 week old baby. Where does the time go? And why do I feel like it's only the start of time flying by?!

I'm not a fan of the young baby days. I need more interaction. I need to be less stressed about basic stuff - like eating. I'm going batty worrying about how much he's getting to eat, if it's enough, if he's growing, etc. So the whole supermom thing, definitely not feeling it.

JT's an awfully sweet baby though - very tolerant of his inexperienced parents. Here is a picture of him on Sunday when he discovered his reflection in the mirror end of a toy. Pretty cool to see his face light up when he caught sight of his face.

John got a hot tip that baby swings are THE thing for happy babies. So we went last night and got a swing. I think JT must like it because he's been sleeping in it for the past hour... and we don't even have batteries for it yet to make it swing on its own.

What a little precious... I just wanna give him kisses all day long... :-)

nicknames

JT has acquired quite a few nicknames in his 2 weeks with us...

Hiccup. Because he has the hiccups a few times a day. He has since he was in the womb.
Little Baby Sunshine. Because I like to call him this.
Pumpkin. Among my girlfriends, we call everyone pumpkin.
Precious. Because his dad and I think he's just so precious.
Sweet-as-jam. I don't know if it's actually a nickname, but his dad always says, "Make me some toast. I am going to put the baby on it and eat him, because he's sweet as jam."

updated to add some I forgot...
Senor Poopy-Pants. He usually gets called this when he farts or gets his diaper changed.
Mr. Fussybutt. There is a song for this one. Wouldn't you know?!
Chief Milk Belly. Because Native Americans name their babies after they get to know their personality. Well, our little one loves his milk. And he runs our house now, so he must be chief. :-)

chillin' at home

JT's first photo shoot, originally uploaded by brungrrl.

We have been working on getting into a routine. Unfortunately, blogging is not much near the top of JT's list of fun things to do. Eating, pooping, and sleeping are really his favorites.

Stroller rides are another favorite (or at least an activity that leads to good napping). His mom is getting better and more able to take longer walks, so that really works in his favor.

More pics are posted at Flickr.

home, again

We are home from the hospital... again. We came home from the hospital on Wednesday. Wednesday night went pretty well. Thursday night took a turn for the worse though. JT got really upset at bedtime and ended up being completely inconsolable for hours. At 2am he had a temperature of 99.1 and within another hour it was 100.6. So off we went to the hospital.

By 7am he was admitted to Children's Hospital to figure out the source of the fever. We were just released today after the last of the blood culture results came back. Not sure what caused the fever... he was totally fine in the hospital. They did find he was a bit dehydrated and jaundiced. The jaundice is clearing up now. The dehydration was a combination of waiting for real breast milk to start and a mother who wasn't very skilled at how to feed him.

So it was really like being sent away to parenting boot camp. We got some training on breast feeding and spent two days tracking what he ate and weighing diapers. Poor little guy... his parents are better trained now though. The nurse weighed him this morning and came back to do it again because it "just didn't seem possible that he gained that much weight in that amount of time." Yahoo! He went from 6 lbs 13 oz at admission to 7.05 lbs at discharge.

This picture was taken this morning after he ate. He was wide awake and the sun was shining on him. Is he just the picture of sweetness or what?! (The yellow around his eyes was dye from a test they did looking for corneal scratches... just in case he had given himself an infection by scratching his eyes with his dagger-sharp fingernails!)

Ok, he's asleep and in bed now... so I must be also! Have a lovely week all.

he's here!

Gotta feed the baby... but here's a quick pic and some stats:

John Thomas... aka JT
born 7.9.07 at 9:18am
6 lbs 15 oz
20.25 inches long

summer weekends are the best

Oh, I love slow summer weekends! Today is just great - running some errands, doing some chores, and crafting a little... all on an as-I-feel-like-it basis. And it is so beautiful outside, even if it's warming up a bit much.

Blogging has fallen in priority the past week. But to catch you up, it's been kind of a busy week. Worked this week, had plans all day on 4th of July, got a haircut on Monday, goofed off Tuesday, Thursday, and Friday evenings.

Oh, and in case you are wondering, I'm still pregnant. Still have the rash. Friday evening one pharmacy wouldn't fill my prescription for cream because it wasn't specific enough. They needed clarification from the doctor and the office was closed for the weekend. So I say ok, take my prescription with me and walk away. I had another thing to pick up at the store, so as I was walking around I was thinking, "2 more days with only over-the-counter treatments?" The more I thought about it the more it itched. And pretty soon I thought, "oh no, I'm going to cry over this... I need to get out of here." So I checked out and then boo-hooed all the way home over my lack of itch cream. I probably should have had the meltdown right at the pharmacy window. It probably would have saved me the second trip to urgent care to get another prescription. So that is my weekend, soaking in oatmeal baths and lathering on itch cream. Seriously, carrying the baby is nothing. Itching ALL OVER - awful. Just awful.

Oh, and my mom was here on Friday when I came home in that state of distress. I think I've had three hormone-induced meltdowns the whole pregnancy and she had to be here for one - gRReat.

Mom (or Nana, as JT knows her) came up on Thursday afternoon and we spent the evening doing some shopping and eating Chipotle. She helped me with painting some of those fun yard sale finds for JT's room. Friday she spent the day cleaning the whole house (it's so clean... I'm loving it) and making dinner for us. Watch for photos of the craft projects. I have some more details to work on this afternoon, but then I should be able to get stuff hung on the wall already!

And to top it off... Dad is coming from Wooster this afternoon with the crib! It's all coming together nicely. I'm so excited to see it all put together. It might actually be the only room in the house that is completely done and decorated!

In photos this week, there is another post forthcoming about the 4th of July. We had an awesome day and there are some wild and crazy photos to post. But for now, I will leave you with an in-car shot of me in a headband. (I had some issues angling the camera properly for a self-portrait.) What do you think, can I do headbands? I think I'm into them (if I can get some that stay on my small head and fine, slippery hair). I'm also thinking of growing my hair out some more, post-baby. Just for something to do... we'll see how it goes.

Gypsy chic, eh? :-)

39 weeks

Last thing I craved: I don't know about craving it, but I'm eating ice cream like it's my job.
Weight gained so far: 37 lbs. Ok, I surpassed my goal. Just going to make the next goal even harder - to lose those same pounds by December.
Baby's weight: 6.5 lbs.
Last time the baby moved: Going at it right now. He likes to get lodged in there sideways. He must pinch a vein or something when he does that because I get a weird, light-headed feeling.
Latest annoying pregnancy symptom: The belly rash. Oh, don't worry, they say it will go away about a week before delivery. Uh, hello, due in 7 days and still have the rash!
Progress on the nursery: 80%. Can you believe it? We made progress! We moved all our stuff out of the nursery and got all the baby stuff put away and organized. The crib is finished and should arrive soon. Mom and I are going to do some decorative painting this weekend. I have yard sale treasures of picture frames and shelves to paint for the room. It should be pretty cute!

Fannie called...

Fannie called from the pay phone... our crib is finished! Now we'll just need to arrange to pick it up! And then get a mattress and some bedding for it. And a baby.

Went to the doctor today. No sign of having a baby this week. Guess that means I keep going to work. Ugh. Is it the weekend yet?

John rented a good movie last night, Peaceful Warrior. It's thoughtful, powerful, moving, inspirational. One of the best movies we've seen in a while. We watched some of the dvd features about how the movie was made, too. It gave us perspective on what went into making the movie. We kind of understood better how we could be so touched by what we saw.

Tonight I'm in feet-propped-up mode. I read a little more of my book: Lucia, Lucia. It's very light reading. I'm glad I am making time for reading, I really do like reading. The cool thing about this book is that it takes place in the 1950s. Lucia works as a seamstress in the custom department at a major NYC department store. So much of the atmosphere is about the fashion of that time - which I love. I have quite the collection of vintage costume jewelry, much of it from the 1950s. So it's cool to read a story related to that period.

I watched Sunrise Earth from Monday, sunrise over the Penobscot River in Maine. I got chills thinking about putting in on a whitewater river early in the morning. I'm pretty sure I'm going to need to raise my kids to love river rafting... or kayaking. We haven't been rafting in 2 years. I miss it.

Now I'm catching up on some episodes of Breakfast with the Arts. I know, I have very strange television interests.

room with a view

We finished the basement and my husband immediately set to work on getting the new tv. I wasn't thrilled... it didn't really seem like a necessity.

But since we have it... I am WAY into Sunrise Earth on Discovery HD. He's going to have a hard time getting me to delete them from the saved shows on our DVR box. This weekend I recorded the episode filmed on a ranch in Wyoming: horses, sunshine, birds twittering, a river, mountains, rising fog, green grass, etc. It's like having a big picture window in our basement where we can watch the sun rise whenever we want from wherever we want.

I've seen the sun rise a few times. Mainly, I can only make it happen on vacation. I got up for it last summer at Huntington Beach (proof: photo). And the year before I was awake crazy early in Punta Islita, Costa Rica one morning reading a book overlooking the Pacific Ocean while the sun came up. (No proof for that one, besides some bug bites that have since faded.)

The break of day is a beautiful thing... so full of hope. I'm glad someone thought enough to record it and broadcast it in HD. :-)

our baby has a room

Brace yourselves. You'll never guess what we finally did today.

We finally made some progress on the baby's room! We got all of our stuff moved out of his room. We have a ton of junk. We got the basement finished and have been spending quite a bit of time there. Well now all the crap we moved out of the baby's room is overtaking our zen-like basement space. Doh! John is assembling a new storage shelf right now to alleviate some of the clutter. (I'm sitting with my feet propped up... I'm so helpful.)


There really isn't much to photograph at this point. But at least everything in the room is the baby's stuff. We are still waiting on the Amish folks to call and let us know the crib is ready. Kind of frustrating to not have a crib yet... even though we won't need it right away. The crib would really make the room.


But we do have lots and lots of baby clothes in which to imagine our little bundle of joy. The clothes are so tiny and cute all folded up or hanging on hangers. I'm pretty sure we have plenty of receiving and other blankets, too. I filled 3 dresser drawers with blankets today!

Then there are the books... OH THE BOOKS! We have gotten some terrific books as gifts and I have found so many at yard sales for practically nothing. Let's hope he likes stories... because he is going to hear a lot of them.

day off

I took today off from work. I call it a psychological day. Sometimes you just need to be away from work. A weekend just isn't the same thing - you're supposed to be off on the weekends. So taking a weekday to just do what I want is good for my mental health.

So here's how I spent the day...

1. Got up at the usual time and showered.
2. Went to Starbucks for a decaf java chip frappuccino.
3. Met my boss for some yard sales. (Yes, my BOSS joined me on this day off!)
4. Spent the whole morning buying nutty stuff at yard sales. I had some serious fun. I got some picture frames that I will re-craft for JT's room. Also got another shelf that I can paint for his room. AND, of course... a whole pile of books for him. Some of these books crack me up. My lovely boss handed me a book about a boy who's mommy is a working mom. In the book, mommy's a witch. lol.
5. After the yard sales I came home for a PB&J sandwich.
6. In the afternoon I went to the tire place to get new tires put on my car. Can't be driving baby around on bald tires, now can I?
   
7. They had to get the tires from another store, so I went to Target for a few things. Like a shower curtain liner. Man, is ours gross. And I had to get a children's book and flip flops to send to send out for chain letters I've gotten recently. (Watch out if I have your address... you could be getting one of these!) Actually, as long as those things don't come too often, I think they're fun.
8. So then I went back to the tire place and dropped my car off. Conveniently, the nail salon is in the same plaza. So I spent my waiting time getting my toes all prettied up with some bubble-gum pink paint.
   
9. I spent my time at the nail salon reading the book I started a few weeks ago, Lucia, Lucia. So far, it's a light and fun book. Lots about the 1950s, fashion, and NYC.
10. This evening John went out with his softball buddies and I had time to watch some tv that I like and make some cards in my scrappin' area.
    

Pretty much a perfect day, huh? (Well, it'd be better if I didn't have to buy tires... but I think I took most of the sting out of that.)

calendar contest time

Time to submit photos for my company's annual photo contest! I've compiled a set on flickr of the ones I think are my best. We're allowed to submit two. Buzz on over to flickr and let me know which ones you like.

Friday yet?

This has been an oddly and unexpectedly good day. But tiring. I think I'm going to have to start planning for shorter days the next few weeks. I am pooped!

JT and I did some tai chi this morning. I think he was mocking me as I did the moves. He was all over the place while I was working out. Oh, and you've never seen anyone breath so hard just moving around slowly! Darn all that extra blood weighing me down. I am going to feel so light and energetic after he is born...

And on a random note, have you seen flickrvision yet? It's pretty cool... check it out!