Saturday, January 30, 2010

Don't get sick!



Or really just don't get sick. I got sick and now my milk is drying up. I am in a bit of a panic in hopes of it will come back with constant water intake and baby stimulation. I don't know if it was the sudafed or if it's just because I am sick but it's sad. I don't want little man to have to suffer! He will have to take the bottle!!! He is getting so fussy at the breast!

Oh I just can't wait to be better. Think positive, think positive. It seems to me from what I have read that the milk will return once the illness is gone. So keep thinking positive!

The kiddo seems to be feeling a heck of a lot better though. He has some mild congestion and from some readings, kids never get it as bad as you do as long as they are breastfeeders. Neat stuff. I guess all those great antibodies my body is making to fight them off are being passed. Yum!

So my ear is still clogged, and everything sounds to me as if I was sitting in a box or something. Makes it difficult to carry on any conversation or watch TV. Fun stuff.

On the good note, mom is here for the weekend and is hanging out and made us some soup yesterday (Neil is sick too) which was super nice. Oh and she made some muffins. mmm. Not that I can taste, but I can imagine tastes. Not being able to smell put a kink in my taste reception. It stinks... or actually it doesn't.. hehe.. pun intended!

Sunday, January 24, 2010

Lint, cheese, wax, gross!



Lint is out of control, it dominates all the little folds of my son's skin! It feels like every time I turn around there is a new ball of dark lint between his fingers or toes. It's humorous really and makes for some extra maintenance, and we laugh about it. It's amazing how he collects it.

Now there is something much grosser than lint, and all moms can back me on this one... the cheese. The cheese behind his knees, the cheese behind his ear, in his ear, and especially under his chin after a good spit up day. I know this is gross, but it's wild how all these little folds collect "stuff". We went to the doctor last week (18 pounds... a bit sickly) and his toes were covered in lint when I realized it (he had been wearing dark socks. But before I lost my sense of smell with this cold, I was able to also realize that his little feet smelled like feet! Hehe. Sock lint must be one reason!

Oh and ears! This kid makes more ear wax in a day than I do in a week! Thank goodness for those little baby Qtips, we have to use them religiously! And on the days I miss out, it seems to form little balls and falls out, so I occasionally find little balls of wax lying next to him, that no doubt had fallen out of his ear! Funky!!!

Babies are awesome! It's wild how over the top anal we moms can be. So in cave man days I suppose you would probably have just left all the gunk there, jeeze, I have no idea how a human baby would survive outside of life with it's modern conveniences and nuances. I mean really, there are tribes that still live in the bush in other countries - how do they do it. If you have a crying baby wouldn't that attract the beasts that would love to have him/her as a snack? We are not exactly quiet as babies... I don't think we would survive. I guess that's what makes the society we live in today so unique when comparing and contrasting with previous eras.

Ok enough with my deep thoughts.. have a wonderful Sunday! Hoping for those eyes to stay blue!

Friday, January 22, 2010

Another Friday!


Mean people muted, work week completed somewhat, and some paint on our walls.. that sums the week up! I love Friday, and I only worked three days this week! I took Tuesday off and Wed I was at a conference, Thursday I proctored the CPO Advancement exam, and today, well today I left work at noon... I don't feel well and I am waiting on Eric to come and finish painting parts of the house - finally making more progress in the house. Got rid of that 'Home depot' orange color! Yeah!

So Gus and I are still completely sick, stuffy, coughing, achy yucky. He has been sleeping a lot and loosing some weight. I think he has been loosing weight since he started day care though, I dunno, we will see, but he's happy and the doc gave me some tylenol in case his fever gets too high. But all in all it's the boogers that are getting us down.. not being able to breath at night sucks!

SO funny story, has of my breastfeeding moms squirted themselves in the eye yet? I don't know what I was doing but I was trying to get little man latched, and surely... I moved the wrong way, flinched and all of a sudden, and I saw it coming, a stream of milk aimed at my cornea... eeek... it got me! I was laughing so hard! It was funny...

I need to go lay down though and catch some zzzzz's while I can.. Gus is napping from the car still (in his car seat too still.. is that bad?). But I am going to grab him and snuggle with him. sigh.. working for the weekends... I understand the song much better now.

Monday, January 18, 2010



I have to get this off my chest. People are mean. They always say kids are mean, but really, those kids just grow up to be mean adults! The poking fun, the bullies, the gossipers, and evil doers. They all grow up and it seems I always have one or two in my life that I just can't get rid of. It must be some sort of karma or the balance of good and evil ever present. At work there is one man that just has it out for me. He's not even in the Navy but he has made it his job from the minute I returned to work (actually it started back in August) to make my life miserable and make sure I have a worse shot at promotion. He even thinks I am only "in it for me" and my promotion. The guy is a piece of work. I am one of the most altruistic people I know, and somehow I was called caustic by this guy's buddy - to my face! It's amazing, I can't wait until I am not in a line of work where you have to step over one another to be in the good graces with the people above you. I don't kiss butt and I take care of all those I work with... hmm... I know I am doing good and practicing good leadership, I don't need some unhappy unmarried childless old airman that can't retire because he institutionalized to tell me who he thinks I am. OK, I feel better, I will stick to what I know and avoid this tyrant from here out, as long as I don't have to work for him again... sigh. I truly believe the world works in mysterious ways, because I was overlooked for the position that would have had me working for him, and that's probably a good thing, it will keep me sane, and hopefully off this guy's radar in time.

On to more fun things... ever seen this link? http://www.peeandpoo.com
I feel I have now seen it all.. you can make a stuffed animal out of anything... it's no longer limited to "animals". LOL!

I feel better already! I took Tuesday off and the federal government took Monday off (MLK Day!), so I have a nice long four day weekend with my little man! I love spending time with him and seeing those smiles. We went to the mall yesterday and I bought my first pair of non-pregnancy jeans. It was scary... I ended up in the Gap, they have some cute long sleeves I bought a couple weeks ago. SO I stopped in again, their jeans are so soft. I mean they are pricey but they were well made. I have to stop buying crap. I cheap out and my clothes always fall apart. Soooo I tried on the 10 short and viola, I fit, I tried on the 12 and it was just slightly too big but they would have been more comfortable. I convinced myself to purchase the size 10 - and remind myself that I am still loosing some more of this weight if I ever get back in the gym! It's hard to believe a year ago I was wearing a size 6, ((sigh)) but I guess a little extra effort will help me get back there! So there you have it! I am going to wear them today, with my new green stripped shirt and a normal bra. I also stopped in to Victoria's Secret and treated myself to a couple new bras. So get this, I measured in at a 36D! I have never been much of a bra wearer because I was so small. I went from sub-A cup to a D! Amazing! And the girls weren't even full (of milk) at the time of measure! So she had me try a few on and they were great! So I bought two, it was a splurge. VS is super expensive, but it was fun and it made me feel so good about myself.

Mall strolling. Walking the mall can be bad for the wallet but great for my mind and body. I get moving. I walked the mall yesterday for about 4 hours. I had to have burned some calories! Maybe I should go for another walk earlier today with the babe, avoiding the crowds. Hmm.. Tomorrow I have my walking group from meetup.com. It's fun the gal that runs it is a trainer and she has us do all sort of calisthenics.

MORE POOP! If you can stand another poop story here goes: We were sleeping away, all three of us in the family bed and Gus was stirring. He was a bit hungry and I rolled over and provided him his usual late night buffet and then he starts fidgeting, and whining. I figured maybe gas and sure enough he starts letting them go. I giggle. He had not pooped in a day and a half and it sounded like here it was going to come, at 2 in the morning. Yup... I heard him sigh in relief. And then more, and more. I knew I had to change his drawers. But of course, all that back up... it was everywhere. No sooner did I undo his Pajamas did I find poop. It was all the way up his back. I had to give him a wet wipe bath, I was trying not to wake Neil, but I was laughing. Thank goodness he let us know at least, it would have been a nightmare to clean him if he had been sitting in it all night.. eww.. Well it took us a bit to get back to sleep so we actually hung out in his room in the rocker.. that rocker was so worth it! I can actually sleep on it with him when we need to. He is so cute but I wish he could fall asleep better. He's just a wakeful little guy sometimes. Like last night. He was all awake for a short while, but slept most of the evening so when it came time to go up and we stretched it a little late to like 11pm he had been out a while! But in moving him he woke up, and didn't go back to sleep till around 1230. I tried to put him down and he wasn't having it. We found him his favorite pacifier (the Soothie) and he went to town but not to sleep. So finally I had to pick him up and walk him around the room. Neil wanted to bring him down stairs but I try to discourage it. He will get into a bad habit and TV is not the answer, he needs to learn to bore himself to sleep. So I gave in and brought him to bed and finally we all passed out. I am exhausted though, it's been a few nights that I have not quiet slept right. He wakes me up all the time, so I get broken sleep normally but the other night the couple hours we spent awake killed me. So here I am avoiding going back to bed because I know it's such a struggle. And my eyes hurt. I hear Neil stirring upstairs. Something tells me little man is awake.

Time to go up... it's almost 7 am.. I only pumped 2 ounces which means the little guy ate more than I thought before I came down.

Have a great week everyone!!

Sunday, January 10, 2010

Poop Everywhere!



Gustave is now 13 weeks! Tomorrow he will be three months and he is such a little peach. He still has schedule issues but he's enjoying life and growing like a weed... actually maybe faster than a weed, it's wild. He has to be almost 20 pounds now, and he has outgrown about all his 3 month clothes. I started buying 12 months clothes so it will last him a bit longer.

This week's top story.
I decided yesterday would be a great day to go for a short stroll in Annapolis and get a bite to eat. It was chilly so we all got very very bundled up and went. Gus got to wear one of his cutie outer layers... he was warm warm warm, I wanted to be him. Well we went to Treaty of Paris, a little restaurant in one of the Inns of Maryland - very very old hotels in the heart of Annapolis. They had two fireplaces and one was crackling and smelling lovely. We had popovers as an app and then lovely breakfasts (traditional eggs, waffles etc). It was yum. Gus was also using his new seat and sat at the table with us.. he was so cute until he decided to start fussing. He had not pooped the day prior and it was bound (no pun intended. . . heehe) to come at the most inconvienent of times. Sure enough I fed him a little and there it came... we were the only ones in the restaurant thank goodness, because it was rather inappropriate, the sounds were icky.. we were laughing and glad to hear him feeling better. But now he was uncomfortable, I went to go change him in this historic building, so of course there was no change table. On top of the sink counter here's my naked babe... and he had pooped everywhere, it blew out the back of the diaper, yellow stuff everywhere... all the way up his back all over his under shirt onsie... omg, it was just everywhere, so I pull the diaper away, and trying to avoid collateral damage... oh yeah I just threw the onsie away too, after dissecting it way from his little body. The stuff was so nuclear it glowed on my skin! He's now crying, and naked in the bathroom. A lady that walked through giggled with me a little, I think she knew my pain. The outfit is toast too, I can't rationally put it back on him... it's totally gross! I am not sure it will recover, it was one of those fuzzy velour outfits. Ug, so I put the spit up cloth on him and hustle down stairs so that I can get back to the table where I left the diaper bag with his new chnage of clothes. Poor little man... he was upset, and he nursed a few more minutes and we go on our way. The cool air was appealing to him, he seems to like it. Well he went to sleep within minutes and enjoyed the rest of our outing (we got hot cocoas!).

The fun... after that we actually went to Toys R Us, the kid is outgrowing his infant car seat fast, in another week or two he will have to switch as he will not fit the darn thing. LOL.. I just can't believe how fast he grows!

Wednesday, January 6, 2010

Ear Wax and Spit up

Things I seem to have forgotten to discuss... yeah so the amount of ear wax this guy produces is amazing! Do all babes do that? And to boot this kid spits up plenty and when he nurses milk goes everywhere.. and ends up behind his ears, under the chin in skin folds and if I don't catch it, omg it stinks like funky cheese!! UGH!! Just more interesting facts about little Gus that you never wanted to know!

As for Spit up... wow, he has some days that are just like exorcist spit up... but cheesy instead of bloody... ewww

Twenty Ten!



It's yet again another year, and I have so much to be grateful for. I sit here in my dining room watching Gustave sleep on his video monitor (I left him in our bed after his 5 am nursing) and he sounds like he may be stirring.. nope.. still sleeping. I eat my coffee flavored oatmeal (I forgot to take a coffee cup out of my keurig-) thinking all the wonderful things I am grateful for.

GUS
Gus is amazing, and weighing in about 17+ pounds by now and nearly 3 months old (11 Jan he will be 3 months) he can roll over (when he feels like it), he is trying to sit up (which looks like a very awkward sit up), and he loves to be "standing" in our laps. I had no idea how "big" he was for a baby his age until people brought it to our attention, so I looked up some baby growth charts.. and sure enough he's in the 90thish percentile... so yessire.. he's a big'un!

He has started to laugh, he smiles at everyone... and I mean everyone.. in the mall he's a flirt. He's starting to see further away and it's wonderful to watch all the developments. He's begining to really grab at stuff... it's so cute to watch his daddy put things into his hands and watch him wave them around and then try to eat them. Soooo cute.. I am so in love with the little bug, I can't imagine him not being in my life.

Work.. poo
Work has not changed, office politics, frownie people, negative energy... eh... I find myself surprised at my lack of interest in the office. I was so "gung-ho" and now.. eh.. I would rather be home taking care of Gus in his early years. But we don't have that option. The Navy has a pilot program to let people take a long vacation (up to 2 years) but with no pay... and unfortunately we can't do that right now until we get rid of the house in Texas... yes.. we still own a house in Texas... and it's finally on the market after my lousy tenants destroyed it. We had to put so much money into it (about 10K) to get it back in order... ugh... glad that negative stuff is behind me. My tenant was a mother of three and her hubby was an invalid. My previous neighbor and myself truly think she was a crack addict... and man she used to say some nasty things to me. Oh well... took her to court.. and she owes me forever now... I doubt we will ever see that money back.

Back to happy thoughts.. I took the day off! LOL! Yup.. I went back for two days, took today off and am back to work tomorrow again. I will slowly take on responsibility again but I want to make sure if I need a day with Gus during the week that I will take it damn it! I miss all our day time nursing sessions.. so quiet, so cozy, just gazing at him while he does the most natural thing.

His eyes so far are still blue too... and they are so deep.. I love just looking at them. Even now as he sleeps, I can't wait until he wakes up so we can play, he's almost due for some more mother's milk too. I have been so fortunate with the milk too. I have so much I am able to save about 5 ounces a day in the freezer that he never gets too. I guess all the extra pumping has paid off and I have an extra supply. I found a place to donate to once I am in abundance (I think I have about 100+ ounces... they had to move to the deep freeze, just took too much space in the freezer..!!!).

Do any of you mommies still have terrible gas? I seem to just have some horrible things coming from my rear. Might be the veg diet, but... oh well... I guess after birth the body changes so much! Oh I have to get on my Wii to see how much I weigh. We dont' have a scale... so I use the Wii. I wish I could be running again, but I can't give myself the time away from Gus. I guess I will work it back in to my schedule soon enough. Awww... I can see Gus dreaming of nursing.. he is making the movements with his little chin ... I can see his dream now... suck suck suck... breath... suck suck suck... breath... so cute. I can't wait to wake him up... ok I know.. new mother here.. give me time!

sigh... if only we could have it all. I mean the respect of being mother and having a job. As women we worked so hard to get "equal rights" etc, but right I just want the right to be a mother and well... I can't. In places like Sweden and Canada they give their new moms at least a year from what I have heard.... paid! Too bad our society is still disgruntle from the feminist movement I suppose. I mean.. I am all about power to the woman, but why sacrifice one of the most natural and meaningful things you will ever do with your life? And we don't get these moments back either. He will start walking and not want to spend all the time in mommy's arms.. hehe.. call me selfish! I don't want to miss a thing and having to leave him 8 hours in Day care.. is poo.. actually it's 9 hours in daycare... ugh. I hate it. Makes me feel icky. But on the same token, I felt pretty free at work.. but I was always wondering what the little guy was up to. Did he roll over today? Did he have a conversation? Do the ladies there even try to converse with him? I love when I get Gus going.. he gaaass and makes all sorts of cute noises and converses with me. It's so cute! They say it helps build his grasp of how we communicate. Eh.. I can hear him breathing on the monitor.. awww.. Ok, well time for me to get a bit organized, catch up on some dishes... I just can't believe how much time the house demanded from me... I just had no idea that it would be like this.

I love it.

To all the mothers out there... we rock!