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!

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!

Milk, milk, milk!

MILK!
I sit here at 4 am pumping in my mother's kitchen. I don't know what I did to deserve this but my milk production is up and I couldn't be happier. How lucky am I to be able to make so freaking much! I awoke to a very sore right boob, so I came out to pump a couple ounces to make the pain go away and make it easier for little one to eat. I siphoned of 5+ ounces.. what the heck! Did I over do the water last night? Or did little one let me go to bed with some milk in there... I was pretty sure they were pretty empty when we went to bed. eh?

So granted with all this milk production, I feel like i drown the little guy some times. Anyone else get that? He drinks so much, and he spits up soooo much, but he's still like in the 90th percentile for weight, I guess I shouldn't be worried unless he stops gaining weight. Ah.. the things we do for love... pump pump pump ... the lovely sound of the machine stirs up my mom's dachshunds. They bark at it... at 4 am I feel bad for the rest of the house!

Christmas.
For Gus' first Christmas we are down in Florida in the warm tropical air. He's enjoyed being in his lighter clothes and of course my mom ensured he had enough of the cutie outfits for the weather. He was able to see his uncle Stanley and his cousin Daniel so far, and hopefully we will see Aunt Cari soon enough, the days have flow by that we have been here and soon we will return to our cooler temperatures and snow covered yard. Hopefully the propane guys will have refilled our tanks too... we ran out last week and they are backed up since the great snow! Gus has missed his first and second snow of the season, but we will get to see it soon enough!

Hand in Mouth.
Gustave has made wonderful strides in exercise. He can shove his hand to his face and actually suck on it for a while. He's getting pretty good at getting his little hand in there. And his head holding capability is up, he is steadier than ever! We are so excited! He loves standing in mommy or daddy's lap and enjoys sitting up watching the rest of us around the table. It's super cute. He also has been known to carry on conversations with is grandmother lately, during a couple moments in the day he gets quiet chatty and will carry on a discussion of goos and laughter, it's amazing how we learn the two way discussion at such a young age. I can't wait to hear that first word. It's just wondrous how we have survived as a species with the slow development.. think about it. Birds have a few weeks and they are up and running on their own, dogs get a couple months and they are self sufficient, we go a few years... before we can even use the bathroom and "eat" on our own... ha. It's wild, or I should say domestic!

Well I need to get myself and my udders back to bed so I can get some rest and hopefully Gus will sleep through the rest of the night. He has been waking around 3 for the last three days fussing and getting fed, so we will see, he wouldn't take the teet this 3 am, but watch.. I will go back to bed.. and he will be ready now. Eh.. boys. Good night everyone!

2 plus months and 15 pounds!

Ahhh Florida, it's so much warmer here although it is 50 degrees this morning it beats the 20 degree weather back in Annapolis. But I am missing the snow for the second time this year.. go figure.

Gustave and I flew down Tuesday morning to be with my mother, and it has been a welcome comfort to be able to go for a run in the mornings. We also got Gustave a running stoller (that's good for all around) and a playard for here in Florida. Figure we will be back here soon enough especially as the weather gets warmer and we can come use the pool. Did I tell you how great he was on the plane? Granted flying with a child adds challenges, especially when he doesn't walk and his mother doesn't want the stroller. I took him in the baby bjorn.. I enjoy wearing him and it makes it easier to move around. But it's a chore to eat or potty with him on me. LOL!

Running

So I have ran a total of 9 miles this week, done some calesthenics, mall walking and today we did stair stepper to preserve my feet which have been hurting me for some time. I think since pregnancy they are still healing away. We will see. But it's been great running. They put a sidewalk down my mother's street so it's an easy three miles to the end of the road and back. Not bad for starting back out. Granted I am running and walking here and there but still getting about three miles in 35 minutes, and that's not too bad. I did see three hawks and one bobcat this week. The bobcat was huge. When it jumped out of a neighbor's yard I felt my heart sink and thought it was more of a gargoyle coming at me, but it looked my way turned and looked around before running across the street. It was huge, like a large doberman, and it was all cat... he was neat. I am glad he went the other way though, I don't think his teeth would have been comforable.

Cooking

I am not a huge fan of celery but I saw some celery root in the store the other day and swore that AB (alton brown) had made a puree with some. So I grabbed two roots, two turnips and a couple small potatoes and viola made a puree. I unfortunately stunk the house up with celery, my mother opened the whole place up.. she was a bit over taken, and in the end it was a much lighter fare than regular mash potatoes, but I will use less celery root next time and more turnip and potatoe.. but My brother and mom agreed last night it went well with the lamb chops and some naan bread.. can't complain there. I think I am creating some form of veggie lasagna tonight.. joy! I need to go out and get mozzeralla though. We also need xmas lights so either way I am going to make a trip out today. I think I can get it all in one shopping center if I work quick though during Gustave's nap times.

Shopping

Speaking of shopping, we took Gustave to see Santa in his new wheels. It was the first time Gustave rode in a forward facing stroller but he seemed to like it, if not overwhelmed really. He loved seeing people and everyone loved seeing him. He laughed with every new face he saw. It was totally cute! I think he's still a bit small for the stroller but he was very comfortable in it from what we could tell. But when he can't see anyone he got bothered I must say. So yes, I did say we braved the mall in the end and santa was fun even though Gustave was all awake while we were in line, as soon as it was our turn Gustave was tired, sleepy and just not cooperative for the photo.. oh well.. we still got a cute shot in the end.

What else did we do this week... I have such a fuzzy memory since he has come along.. he is just so precious and takes up all my attention, time and effort. It's difficult even carving out time to write this blog and shower! But we will prevail!

Great Aunt and Uncle Klenk

So we also made a car trip up to Fort Pierce to visit his great aunt and uncle! The rains were horrible but we braved the trip and drove the hour north to meet them at a small restaurant (Mangrove Maddy's) and enjoyed some lunch. It was great having them meet us half way because anything over an hour needs diaper changes and feedings. I don't know how we are going to make it up and back from Orlando later this week to see his cousin... well it will just be super difficult for me and him... I am not looking forward to the travel to say the least. Maybe I can invite them down for a day... if they are willing.

GUSTAVE

So it's another day and I invite you to check out his youtube site later. www.youtube.com/littlegustave I am putting more video out of him just being generally cute~! i love him so much, watching new developments is fun.. he can now grab a bit and holds onto clothes and hair, and he tried to sit up yesterday while he was in my lap! Yes sit up is what I said.. not spit up.... although he does that a loootttt... icky! I can just sit and watch him for hours. enjoy!

It's 3:30 a.m.

It's early and I am pumping. I must have drank too much water before bed. Instead of getting up to pee a million times, I have to get up to pump or risk leaking everywhere and achy boobs.

Gustave wasn't hungry so I had to take care of business. The risk here is that if he gets hungry I have just drained his supply, doh. So now the decision is do I freeze it or just drop it in the fridge for now? I think I will freeze it. I have about 5 ounces of milk left over from yesterday still (had to pump yesterday too). So let's hope he sleeps. He ate at 2 a.m. last, and 10 pm before that (he's been sleeping in between, and he's sleeping soundly besides Neil right now... ok well he was fussing a little here and there with gas, I gave him drops though). So now I have to drink a ton of water before going back to bed. I wonder how much goes to pee and how much goes to milk. I feel like I make more milk than pee... haha.

OK, well enough of my milk adventure. I am going back to bed.

More learning experiences.

Thanksgiving came and went and all of a sudden I feel like the world is counting down to the largest hallmark holiday of the year (which I think is actually Valentines, but roll with me). We ran through the mall today picking up a couple things and realized we about two weeks away from the big day! It's just amazing how times flies. Gus is getting bigger by the minute. Yup, as I click on the monitor (he's actually in bed before 10! - it's only 8:30pm), I can see him growing.

So what did we do all month, besides not blogging... shame on me!

Mom (or Grandma now), brother Marc and brother James came to Maryland to celebrate a wonderful Thanksgiving on the Annapolis water front. As usual our son was wonderful and slept the whole meal. He normally sleeps when we go out to dinner. It's rare that he's bad when we are out.. except when we are out with this one particular couple.. hm... nah.. it's a coincidence. Although I am going to keep my eye on that one... hmm. Interesting.

Travels
So Thanksgiving came and went and then my birthday popped up and I got a wild hair to take off to Long Island for a long weekend. So the night of my bday I hopped a Southwest flight for $80- and went to have pizza with my brother and Gus. It was fun! (Oh did I tell you Neil took me to Real Seafood.. and I got some neat gifts). Sure. So that was awesome, Gus got to meet Nanna, ma granahan, Roger and his fiancee, Tom and his girlfriend, Harmony and Gaving and Conner, Eddie, the Johnsons and Great uncle Mark and great aunt Karen to name a few. So it was great, we ran around like nuts and saw everyone, but for me it was wonderful to have adult company. Neil drove up on Friday night to help with this trip and to drive us down on Sunday afternoon. We did enjoy pizza and cookies and bagels - all the NY goodies we miss.

So flying with the little one.. I almost forgot to mention it since it was so unremarkable. Our flight was only 40 minutes. On the way up I nursed little Gustave and he never said a peep. He was cozy and comfy and slept or nursed the whole trip. It was wonderful and I can only hope he's such a saint when we fly Wednesday on our way to Florida. It's only a 2 hour flight so I hope that even if he's fussy.. well we will make it! We are flying in the morning when he's normally napping so hope that will help.

Spit happens.
So our son seems to be in the group of children who spit up a lot. It's cheesy a lot of the times and makes it rather yucky to hold him.. ewww... but sometimes it's straight skim milk too. I suppose other moms know these issues, but I was in child care the other day and my caretaker said that the other three babies she has don't have much spit up, but they are also two months older. More on that when we start child care which we are testing on Tuesday I think.

So yes, sometimes our little pooping machine spits up three or four times! But I must say when it's inconvenient he normally doesn't. So when we are out to eat he's normally wonderful! I guess it's all about not moving him around too much!

Sleeping in the Wet Spot.
Lactation, what a miracle of nature, but what a bummer to sleep next to. I leak! Or rather they leak! So when Gustave does not nurse at night I normally will wake around 5 or 6 am to a puddle of milk! As if waking up with spit up and a baby that takes up most of the bed isn't bad enough now a puddle of milk!

You thought I was going to talk about sex. Ok, well I can go there too. We gave it a whirl the other day- they leaked then too! But we will not be doing much of that, because as most women I have read about on babycenter.com, it's still very painful! And it's weird pain, I am not going to get into gross details, but it's totally new pain and discomfort. I don't recommend it! Tell him to take a hike for a while. That and you don't want to waste your precious milk. It just kept leaking everywhere, I was laughing, and it kept leaking... yeah very unproductive for "adult" behavior. LOL.

Baby Clothes, 0-3 don't do it!
Gustave is working himself out of most of his clothes. Now I know what the lady at the store meant when she said she bought mostly 6 month clothes when she had her son. It's almost pointless to buy newborn size and don't buy too many 0-3 either! The dryer will shrink a few items, and then they are only in them for about a month and a half. It's silly. Plus he just wears a lot of onsies with bibs. So if you are a shopaholic, buy outfits that have matching bibs. You will need them in the spit up stages. Oh and putting pants on a baby, annoying (in a sing song voice)!
Those little outfits that are all in one jumpsuits I find easier. That and you don't have to worry about socks if it has footies.

Tuesday we get shots, more on that after Tuesday. Ok, well Gustave is sleeping and I should take advantage and get my arse to bed. It's 9pm.. good enough for me!