It's Been A Long Time

I haven’t written in so long and so much has gone on. First, our baby boy is wonderful, healthy and still teething. Currently he has 4 teeth but more are popping up and boy are they giving him problems. He’s teething like never before. On a good note pooter has been sleeping through the night or sleeping 7 – 8 hour stretches which means he’s waking up between 4am – 5am and going back to sleep until 7am. Thank goodness for those small favors of 7 hours of sleep for mommy and daddy right? J

On another note hubby and I have been discussing baby #2. We always said we wanted another after pooter turned 1 but before he was 2. As tired as we both are we know we want another and this stage of non-sleep won’t last forever. There’s a lot to think about with baby #2, would I stay home, who would keep baby #2. Either way, I’m looking forward to the future and God willing we will be blessed and expecting by this fall!

What exciting things have happened to you lately?

Part-Time Day Care and Sleepless Nights

It’s been a hectic almost 2 weeks now. We’re in the process of trying to find part time care for pooter and this has truly been a challenge. I had no idea how overwhelming this task would be. Between myself, my mom, and husband, we’ve contacted well over 50 providers in our area for in-home day care services. The answer for the most part have all been the same.

1. We left a message and received no call back
2. No part-time openings
3. We might have an opening but check back with me at the end of the summer

You have no idea how frustrating this has been. On top of that, there were about 7 providers we visited – and out of the 7 – this is what we thought:

1. We didn’t care for the layout of the home (to small of a crawl space for pooter or to large)
2. The provider didn’t have a true curriculum or program (which we would like some type of structure even if it’s free play for 3 hours something)
3. The provider just didn’t stick out as the right person.

And then after all of these interviews we finally met a provider that didn’t have everything we wanted (at least 3 other kids, been in business for some time, etc) there was something about her demeanor that I think pooter will get one on one care and she just left me feeling at ease that pooter will be well taken care of.

These days pooter is crawling all over the place (he started crawling this past weekend) and we thought it would be a good idea for pooter to go somewhere part time for his social interaction with other kids. Pooter is very active, extremely sociable, and loves to play – so we figured now was an ideal time to welcome these positive traits and not hinder him. The other days our family watches him.

Now onto a more CHALLENGING topic we’re facing – pooter doesn’t sleep through the night! I can write pages and pages on this and the thought of how little sleep my husband and I have gotten the past few nights makes me tired just thinking about it. During pooters well visit, the pediatrician said at 9 months he should be sleeping through the night, let him cry it out a little. I don’t know what hurts more, having pooter wake up at midnight and 3am for about an hour or having him just cry when he awakes waiting for mommy and daddy to pick him up.

Parenthood has is many things – beautiful, wonderful, love, tired at times J, just a pure blessing. But one thing parenthood isn’t is TEXTBOOK. My little one will sleep through the night eventually, and until that day comes….oh wellJ

Pooters Swing

What a great weekend – my husband and I had so much fun with pooter! We found out recently that pooter loves the park, and even more then the park he loves the swing. My task this weekend was to find a swing for pooter and we did. My husband put the swing p and we put pooter in it. At first, he just kind of looked around like ”what is this” but after a while he started making faces and I knew he was having a good time. Pooter is so funny, he makes this face like “I’m not going to smile –even thought I want to” and then out of nowhere he will release the biggest smile ever. It’s wonderful. We pushed pooter on the swing for a long time and he enjoyed it as did weJ

This was truly the highlight of my week!

Wonderful Weekend

How was you’re week? My week was hectic, I’m in the middle of trying to find child care for pooter and that’s no easy task as I'm sure you all know.

On a positive note, it was raining in the DC area on Saturday so I was trying to decide where to take pooter to get him out a little bit. We decided to go to Rollie Pollie which is this kids gym in the area. Boy did he or should I say we (parent's have fun too:) have a good time. We put him on the slide, he got on the balance beem, moon bounce, you name it we went on it. Pooter was drooling and bouncing all over the place, he was thrilled. I can’t believe how fast he’s growing up. Most of the kids were toddlers walking and running around and we were holding pooter as he can’t walk yet. I kept thinking I need to cherish these moments because time just goes by. Take a look at the photos with pooter and his dad.

How was your weekend?

Happy Mothers Day

I had a wonderful first mothers day and I hope you did too. My day started with breakfast being made which was wonderful followed by my gift which I loved. My gift was a digital camera! I lost my previous camera and haven’t been able to take pictures of pooter so you know that was devastating. The pictures I’ve been posting are a few weeks old but now I’m back in business so I’m happy.

The afternoon was filled with more excitement, we took pooter to the animal farm and nature park and he had a blast. This was his first time experiencing this and it was a joy to see. Pooter was amazed at the animal farm – but he was not happy when he saw the peacocks, otherwise he was okay. (see the pictures below)

The funny thing was that although today was “Mothers Day”, my joy was in seeing my child have  fun at the park. I took a moment to reflect on my most proudest moment as a mom thus far and there isn’t one moment that I can pinpoint. Being a mom is or the most rewarding job I’ve ever had. There isn’t a day that goes by that I don’t think of pooter and how I can do better as a parent or be a better person for him.  I realized that my proudest moment is all the time. Just knowing that I want to be the best person I can for pooter is a great thing. I’m proud when I look at his precious face and I see his smile, my proudest moment is when he’s bothered by something and I’m able to comfort him. My proudest moment is to be pooters mom.

I love being a mom and everything that comes with it, pooter is a genuine blessing. So, how was your mother's day and what has been your proudest moment thus far as a mom?

Reminisenct Wednesday

On my drive into work today, there was a commercial on about the nurses at a local hospital and how they do such good work. Hearing this commercial made me quite reminiscent of the day pooter was born and an experience I had with one incredible nurse. Pooter was unexpectedly born via C-section which was a surprise to both my husband and I so our 3 day hospital stay (or so we thought) turned into a 1 week hospital stay. This experience was something neither my husband nor I was prepared for. We were utterly exhausted from our lack of sleep and I was physically exhausted from having a c-section. To make matters worse, my husband was catching a cold this week, I was trying to breastfeed and even with the help of a lactation consultant I was frustrated. Looking back, this week was just nothing like we thought it would be. Round the clock nurses would come in and check both my vitals along with pooters and we were both recovering well but mommy was still exhausted.  

Like I mentioned, there were nurses popping in and out of our room every 3 – 5 hours checking on us even throughout the night to make sure we were both recovering as expected. One day I was just emotionally overwhelmed and didn’t know what to do. There was one nurse in particular by the name of Laura who honestly helped my husband and I both beyond belief. On that one day that I was just overwhelmed, I don’t know how she knew but Laura said “you’re going to be a great mom, don’t you worry.” She continued checking in on my throughout my stay even when she wasn’t on her shift. She gave my husband and I a few new parent pointers that I will share with you. To this day we still remember her advice.

1. Don’t let  the baby fall asleep with the bottle in their mouth
2. When the baby falls asleep in the car seat and you’ve reached your destination, let the baby sleep your destination can wait. (My husband and I have sat in the driveway many days while pooter is in the back sleeping. We take out the ipad and play scrabble – this is considered to be our NEW normalJ)
3. Have date nights, make sure you make yourselves a priority as a couple
4. Just remember “you won’t break them.” The first few days my husband held pooter in the hospital he would chant to himself like a crazy person – I won’t break you. I guess he and I were both scared Laura new she needed to calm us both.

These 4 pointers may not seem like much but Laura’s advice really saved us. She was gracious, reassuring, went above and beyond to make sure I knew I was doing a good job and would be okay. In that brief 1 week stay, I considered her a friend. I’ve reached out to Laura several times after we left the hospital to just let her know how much the 3 of us appreciated her help! I’m sure everyone has that 1 special person that made their delivery much smoother (not including our family of course) and Laura was it for me.

Here’s to all the Laura’s out there that make our deliveries smoother and reassure us new moms and dads.

To Crawl or Not to Crawl

This crawl/walk thing is becoming the most talked about topic in my household. Pooter is almost 8 ½ months and by this age a lot of babies are crawling if not attempting to crawl. Well pooter kind of scoots and then wants to pull up. I think he’s officially decided that he needs to walk first and there’s no need to crawl. He will pull up on your knee, your thigh, anything he can possible use to pull up he will. Here’s pooters pattern, he will scoot, pull up, at this point pooter wants you to hold his hands so he can walk. Once he takes a few steps with your assistance he will bounce up and down and giggle to his hearts delight.

I can see the determination in his eyes that he’s ready to crawl/walk and take over the house. Sometimes I get so excited as I’m ready for pooter to take this next step in babyhood, but other times I feel like time is going by so fast and I want it to slow down.

How old was your baby when they started to crawl?  

Multitasking Mondays

It seems like the weekends go by so quickly and there is never enough time to take care of everything. We had a yard sale on Saturday and I think pooter had a blast, take a look at his picture below and you be the judge. He's happy that he sold a few itemsJ

Monday mornings are always the same as are Tuesday – Friday mornings. Rush, rush, and even more rushing. I always pack pooters lunch and bottles the night before so there is one less thing for me to do in the morning. With that said, I still find myself rushing every morning, rushing to wake pooter up, rushing to get him changed and dressed and making sure he’s occupied long enough so I can get dressed and load the car.  It never fails that I’ll forget at least one thing and have to turn back around.  I look like a mad women getting out of the house in the mornings. The way I look at it there’s no way I can rush an infant so I don’t. I try the best I can to multitask which I do daily anyway to get everything done.

So I ask you, how are you mornings getting out the door with your little one? Better yet, if they’re hassle free then please share your secret with us all. Have a great Monday.

TGIF!

I’m sure most of you are like me and long for Fridays. My weeks seem so long and I look forward to Friday after work, picking up pooter and hanging out with him for the weekend. Our favorite thing to do on Friday’s if all goes well is having “family night”. My hubby and I will eat dinner out or order in and relax. It’s so much fun taking pooter to different restaurants and seeing his reaction to all new things.

Anyway, what’s your favorite thing to do on Fridays? Have a good weekend!

Happy Baby

Pooter had a wonderful 1^st Easter. Even if he had no clue what was going on his mommy did and I must say I had a blast taking photos. We had Easter brunch at my parents house which is a yearly tradition and stayed there most of the day. That’s when it hit me I have a happy baby. Now I’m sure most parents will say that about their kid but really, there’s something about pooter’s demeanor. This Easter he was passed around like a piece of jewelry that everyone was admiring. From “he’s so cute”, to “hi baby”, to “come here precious”. Pooter just looked at everyone with curiosity as he was passed around to be hugged, kissed, and played with. A lot of babies in this situation would get frustrated as if to say “put me down” but not pooter, he just kind of goes with the flow. As long as you wipe his drool, let him pull your hair, and snatch off your necklace or earrings he’s absolutely content. He only fusses when he wants something and is content as long as you show him some attention. Wow - it feels good to know I have a happy baby.    

Jackpot – Well Maybe!

As mentioned in my previous post, I’m on the hunt for a teething solution. My fingers can no longer take it! At last I think a solution has been found. I purchased Boiron Camilia Homeopathic Teething Relief yesterday for and I have to admit I didn’t have high expectations. As nightfall quickly approached, my husband and I decided to give this new remedy a try. The Boiron Camilia comes in tiny tubes, you just pop the top off and squeeze the liquid into your teething little one’s mouth. My inchworm looked at me quite curiously as he saw me twisting off the cap. I dropped the liquid in his mouth and he just looked at me like “now what?”

Let’s see here’s a recap of the night:

9:40 p.m.           – the inchworm fell asleep

12:00 a.m.         – inchworm wakes up –but quickly falls back asleep

4:45 a.m.           – inchworm again wakes up – but a few sips of his bottle and he’s back asleep

7:30am              – and he’s up for the morning

THAT’S IT. No more waking up. I know this might not seem like a huge deal but my little one has been waking up every other hour for the past 2 weeks. To go from that to waking up twice last night is a huge feat! I think we have a winner.

Those Irritating Pearly Whites

The first tooth is a wonderful thing right? My little inchworm (since he’s trying to inch his way around the floor) is teething in the worst way. It all started about 3 ½ weeks ago my husband and I saw the first glimpse of a pearly white. Oh so cute we both thought. He’s handling this teething thing pretty well, outside of drooling there were no issues what so ever.  I wondered what were all those parents gripping about when they said to me “wait until he starts teething”. Maybe their little one had issues but not mine I thought as a proud mom. Week 2 - a little whimper here and there but again not much – PIECE OF CAKE the teething thing, yes we have it under control. Oh what have we here, approaching the end of week 2 and here’s yet another glimpse of a pearly white. Let the games begin – oh my. The inchworm that had “no teething issues” no longer exists. Every night, my inchworm is waking up every 2 – 3 hours chomping down on his pearly whites as he displays his discomfort – and oh how I thought they were so cute. So of course, every day now I’m researching what can we do about these irritating pearly whites that has disrupted my little ones life. Different pacifiers – you name it, frozen washcloth – yep, frozen foods – check, let’s see, bottle tops – of course, blankets – check again. You name it and it has been tried. All I want to do is comfort my little inchworm so his discomfort will go away. After trying numerous tactics, my husband and I finally found something that works. You can’t buy this at the store and it can’t be purchased online. Inchworm likes….our fingers, yes he just wants to chomp down on our fingers and that sooths him like nothing else.

So to all the moms that said “just wait until he starts teething”, now do I get it!

Easter Egg Blues

One of the most exciting things about mommy hood is experiencing all of you little one’s first. Let’s see, the first giggle, word, birthday, tooth, I could go on for days. One of the most exciting things for me or so I thought was experiencing Easter with Pooter. His first Easter at that! All I kept thinking about is how to make this Easter different, unique, memorable (like he’s going to remember this) but I will. Plenty of pictures will tell the story when he gets older of all of Pooters first things.

In an effort to make this the most exciting first Easter I immediately stared researching on the internet for infant Easter egg hunts. I just knew I would find tons of information of where to go…boy was wrong. Many Easter egg hunts are for ages 0 – 2 years of age or 0 – 3 years of age. Well that is definitely a problem. Pooter is in the beginning stages of crawling – he kinds of moves back and fourth in a rocking motion but doesn’t actually move. I can just see it now, him mixed in with all of these crawling babies and babies that walk. That would be a disaster. I was hoping to find say 6 – 12 months Easter egg hunt but no luck on that end.

After much thought I decided to create an Easter egg hunt at our house for Pooter and maybe invite another little one to join in the fun.  No more Easter  egg blues for pooter, I mean mommyJ.

What Type of Mom am I?

My birthday is next week and I will be …..35! I have an amazing family and an adorable baby boy so life is good right? But then I started to wonder, what type of mom am I? Hmmm let's see..am I that cool hip mom that wears the latest fashion and dresses her baby the same way? Wait, maybe I’m the mom who looks like every time she steps out with her baby, she’s rushing – hair in disarray, clothes falling off, etc. Or maybe I’m the mom that all the kids in the neighborhood want to come to pooters house and play because he has the coolest mom. Wait, what if I’m a gadget mom that has to have all of the latest toys, clothes, and baby items.

Come to think of it, what would pooter think about me if he could voice his opinion? As I approach my birthday I really thought about the type of mom that I am and I realized a lot. I represent all of those moms I described depending on the day of the week and that’s okay.

The important thing is I’m a mom, a new mom at that and I want the best for pooter. So at times do I look crazy in the grocery store like I just ran a marathon – probably so. Are there times when I look well put together and pooter does too (I would like to think so). Am I that gadget mom that needs the latest baby items – I think my husband will shout from the mountain top “YES” on that one. And am I that cool mom – um…that remains to be seen.

What type of mom are you?

Viewing the World Through Your Child's Eyes

Wow, what a chilly start this morning with it being so cold and rainy out.  I started getting ready for work and as I did, I turned the classical music up which I usually do so when I wake pooter (one of the many nick names I have for my son) he can get up with something calming or so I hope. I’m scrambling around slightly opening the blinds and turning the lights on low while calling his name. Slowly pooter starts to open his eyes and greeted me with this huge smile which he normally does – and then he belts out and starts singing ooohhh…ooooooo…oooohhhh…followed by plenty of laughs, giggles, and more smiles. I just melted as we all do when we have a true mommy moment. I just paused for a moment watching with amazement. It’s incredible to me, I look at pooter and he has not a care in the world, he just wants to be loved, comforted, and cared for by his mom and dad. I look at him and just think what life must be like through his eyes and it’s a beautiful thing. Oh the joys of motherhood.

The Afternoon Nap - Let the Blogging Begin!

I've been saying I'm going to create a blog ever since I was expecting my now 7 month old son! I told my husband, friends, and family. And finally today, while the little one is down for his afternoon nap – I decided now’s the perfect time to have a little mommy time. The journey to mommy hood has been an amazing experience from pregnancy until now parenting an infant. I wanted a place to write down my thoughts and share them with other mommy's - the joy's of the first roll, the first tooth (which we're going through now), the smiles, everything.

I hope you will join me on this blogging journey of first time mommy hood and juggling all of the responsibilities that come with it..............the nap is officially over, mommy hood calls. Enjoy your day.