The New Hartman

Finding New Day Care

2012-02-09T18:00:00.000-05:00

So, it is official. February 17th will be EH's last day at his current day care, and February 20th starts his new - but sadly temporary - care set-up.

It's been a tumultuous past couple of weeks. After the sad realization that he is just not thriving at his current day care, DH took the lead on finding new day care providers. He posted a listing on Craigslist and weeding through the responses. I contacted a few other larger day care centers, but DH was convinced that a different day care center wasn't going to be that much different than his current center.

So after many emails and meetings, we found a woman who lives not to far from EH's current day care, who is willing to watch him for the next couple of months for about the same price that we're paying right now. Sadly, she's only going to be able to watch him until the first week of June, until her kids are out of school for the summer, so we are still on the search for an amazing, somewhat permanent care person, but we're excited to know that he'll be getting much, MUCH more attention in his new situation.

EH is very excited!

It will just be her and EH until 11:30 when her five-year old comes home from school, and then for the rest of the day it will just be the two of them. One of our biggest complaints about our current day care is that they aren't able to take the time to help him fall asleep at nap time, and he's simply not a just-lay-him-in-his-crib-and-let-him-fall-asleep sort of baby. On top of that, the cribs are in the main room where all of the kids play and right under these bright florescent lights, and with EH's penchant for staring at lights it's just not a good set-up. So in his new care setting she will be able to take some time to help him fall asleep, and he'll be in a quiet, somewhat dark room where he can rest without distractions. We did a trial day and we could not have been more pleased with how things went. EH took 3 amazing naps, came home happy and well rested, and the woman thought he was the best baby ever. (We made sure to let her know that he's not always this good.)

So we're excited, and hoping for the best. But it's also a little sad, because we spent a lot of time and research trying to find the perfect yet affordable day care set up for EH. We made sure to only consider centers that were accredited by the NAEYC (National Association for the Education of Young Children) because we wanted a center that had a real focus on early childhood education since we thought EH would be there for the first few years of his life.

Now we realize that NAEYC accreditation - while important - is not as critical for infants. Although I still think that the care workers in EH's day care room did the best that they could, the fact is that 4 infants to each adult is still way too many to allow for much quality education time to occur. The employees are spending most of their time giving bottles and changing diapers. There just isn't a whole lot of time for one-on-one interaction, and that is something that we were really hoping for.

On top of that, EH has been incredibly sick ever sick he stepped foot (or rather, car seat) into day care. He's had five ear infections in three months, the flu, and now a cold (although fortunately not an ear infection yet.) Everyone keeps telling us that it will be great when he's older because his immune system will be so strong, and I believe that to some degree, but right now having a chronically sick infant is not only exhausting but it's sad. No one likes to be sick.

Our hope is that we will be able to find in-home day care for EH until he turns 2, at which time we will re-enroll him in a center-style day care so that he can develop his social skills and start learning things like sharing and all of that fun stuff that they do in the toddler and preschool rooms at day rooms. In the meantime, we will continue to socialize him with other kids whenever we have the opportunity, and we'll just keep our fingers crossed that we'll be able to get him a spot in a good, accredited center whenever he is ready to go back.

Of course, who knows how all of this will change if we decide to have a second child. But that is a conversation for another day!

Why I Will Be Rooting for the Patriots Today

2012-02-05T17:12:00.001-05:00

When you live in Pittsburgh, if you aren't a Steeler's fan, then you've immediately lost at least a few friends. People here like to say that they "bleed black and gold," and I believe that to be largely true for a significant portion of the population. While we aren't the biggest footballs fans in the world, the Steeler's are definitely the team that we root for, and we studiously dress in our black and gold jerseys each and every Sunday during football season.

Picture from the one and only Steeler's game I've ever attended in person

But alas, the Steeler's did not make it to the Super Bowl this year. In fact, they barely made it to the playoffs, and then they blew that in huge ways during the first 10 seconds of the overtime when they played the Denver Broncos. After that game I was ready to root for the Broncos since I was impressed by Tim Tebow and his teammates during that game which I feel they definitely deserved to win despite the close score. But then of course they were knocked out of the playoffs by the Patriots (or was in Baltimore? That's how much I follow teams other than the Steelers...) and ultimately we were left with the Patriots representing the AFC. Again.

Steeler's fans hate the Patriots. In fact, I don't many people who admit to being Patriots fans. I don't know enough about the history of the team to understand why, but the Patriots seem to be one of the most hated teams in the NFL.

This year though, I will be rooting for them in the Super Bowl.

It's not something that I feel totally comfortable admitting openly. But this year there is a personal connection to the Super Bowl - other than the Steelers - that has me interested in the game.

The son of one of my coworkers was picked up by the Patriots just a few weeks ago, and he has been playing with them ever since, in all of their playoff games. This man probably disliked the Patriots more than most people prior to this development, but he has been proudly wearing his Patriots hat around the office for the past few weeks, taking all of the verbal jabs in stride. You would too if your kid was going to the Super Bowl. He's told us amazing stories of hanging out with the team, and the coach, stories from spending time in the locker room, and getting early access to the "family room" before games. It all sounds amazing and I (we) are so excited for him.

So tonight we will be watching the Super Bowl and rooting for the Patriots (or at least until bedtime, which is usually no later than 9 p.m.) We will be looking for number 36 and trying to spot my coworker in the stands, down near the field in the family section. This is probably one of the most exciting and proudest moments of his time as a father, and so even though it means rooting for the Steeler's arch-nemesis and cheering for the Patriots, I'm going to do it. And hope that they come home with a Super Bowl ring, and some great stories from my coworker.

Go Patriots!

(I can't believe I just wrote that.)

Random Updates

2012-02-03T17:00:00.000-05:00

Because there's not enough time to write it all out thoughtfully, here's what's going on right now!

1. It's my birthday. I'm 31. 30 didn't phase me at all, but 31 has me feeling just the sliiiightest bit "old." I'm sure I'll get over it though.

2. Day care is still frustrating. EH still cries a lot. He's still not sleeping.

3. We have a meeting set up tomorrow with a potential at-home caregiver. We know little about her, but we have high hopes that something might work out. There are a lot of things to think about when considering switching from a center to an at home situation. No other leads though, other than this one.

4. Care.com sucks. It's a website for finding caregivers. I find it to be sneaky and manipulative. I hope to write a whole post about how I hate care.com. I'm sorry in advance if you've used the site and love it.

That's all. More soon, but for now I am going to Mad Mex for my birthday burrito (and probably a birthday drink! I deserve it.)

Day Care Concerns

2012-01-31T13:29:00.000-05:00

EH has been having a hard time at day care lately. He's not napping. At all.

Ok, well that's not totally true, but for the past week he's been sleeping an average of 1 hour per day in naps. That is clearly not enough. When he gets home he is absolutely miserable from exhaustion. That is, if he actually makes it home awake. Most of the time he passes out as soon as he hits the car. On those days, I'm pretty sure that he thinks he should be asleep for the night when he falls asleep at 4:30 p.m. If he let him stay asleep then he wakes up at 2:30 a.m. ready to start the day (which is understandable from his perspective - he's been asleep for 10 hours after all.) If we wake him up, he's miserable and cranky. He wants nothing but a bottle and to go back to bed.

This, coupled with the fact that he's been non-stop sick for weeks and day care's penchant for losing articles of clothing, blankets, and bottles that we send has left with a bad taste in our mouth.

And lately, when DH has been arriving at day care to pick him, EH is usually laying by himself, in a swing or on the floor, crying his heart out with huge tears streaming down his face. It's heartbreaking for DH and devastating for me to hear and perhaps the most difficult part of this whole mess.

We also don't want to be "those parents" who complain about and hate on day care, because I'm not sure that anywhere else will necessarily be any better, but until we try something else, we can't know for sure.

This morning I talked to one of the women in the infant room, asking her if everything has been ok with EH because we noticed that he hasn't been napping very well. She said that they noticed that too but since a lot of kids don't sleep well there, they just figured it was normal. I explained how miserable he is when he gets home in the afternoon and stressed that he really does need to get better naps.

She also said that he was really "curious" and that he seems to have a hard time falling asleep with all of the noises and lights. This I can believe. The cribs at day care are all in the same room as the play area where all of the awake children are playing, and right next to the kitchen area where all of the kids in highchairs are eating. It is a crazy, chaotic and noisy place. Which I would be fine with if I felt that EH was getting some decent one-on-one time, but I'm not convinced that he is. They are going to keep a closer eye on his sleep schedule, and particularly focus on getting him to fall back asleep if he wakes up after only 20 or 30 minutes of napping.

What are other day care set-ups like? Is this normal at a "center" day care? Are our expectations simply too high?

We have casually started looking into other options. DH has listed a "childcare wanted" ad on Craigslist, but the responses so far haven't been too promising. Best case scenario would be that my parents decide to move to Pittsburgh to watch EH in their retirement - we've even offered to buy them a house. (By the way, that offer still stands, Mom and Dad!) But it's highly unlikely that will happen. We could also look into other center-style day cares, but are things really going to be any different at a different center?

This we know for certain - when EH is well rested who is an amazingly happy, charming, loveable baby. We want to keep it that way.

Does anyone have any suggestions for what we can do??? Pittsburgh people - do you know of any good childcare providers in the Franklin Park/Wexford/North Hills area that you can recommend (individual person or center)???

When They're Sick

2012-01-25T20:26:00.004-05:00

We have a lot of experience with sick infants by now, so I thought I'd pass along some of the tips that the doctor's have recommended to us during our many, many visits to the pediatrician's office. Since cold and cough medications are not an option for infants, we were desperate to try anything that might give him some relief.

Here are a few things that helped:

Run a cool mist humidifier - This helps to keep their throats and nasal passages moist.

Walgreens Humidifier

We got this one from Walgreens after the vaporizer that we registered for didn't seem to add enough moisture to the air. This one uses nearly a gallon of water a night, and believe it or not, we can barely notice the added moisture in the room - that's how dry our air is.
Saline nasal spray and a nasal aspirator - Although saline is non-medicated, I've found that squirting it up their nose, sucking out with the nasal aspirator (or the "booger snotter" as I like to call it), and repeating that over and over for at least 3 or 4 times helps to clear nasal congestion.

From Kohl's

Also, go with the battery operated booger snotter - the manual bulb-like ones are more trouble than their worth.
Acetaminophen - Every 4 hours, particularly if they are running a fever. It also helps with alleviating the pain from ear infections, sore throats, and can help with coughing as well.
Smaller feedings supplemented with Pedialyte - Instead of 4 ounce bottles we were giving EH 2 ounce bottles of formula with 1 ounce of Pedialyte, every 1.5 to 2 hours. The smaller amounts are easier to digest and the Pedialyte helps with dehydration.

And most importantly...
Give lots of love and be flexible - Don't try to enforce your just recently establish sleeping and eating schedule when your little one is sick. When he's spending most of the night coughing himself awake, obviously his sleep schedule is going to be messed up. And even though I don't normally let EH fall asleep in my arms at bedtime, the entire week he was sick I would hold him, rock him, sing to him, and sway with him until he was asleep.

After all, he's too young to understand why he suddenly feels so crappy, and if being in my arms helps him relax for even just a few minutes, I'm going to give him that as much as he needs it. That's what moms are for, right?

Sick - AGAIN

2012-01-20T15:44:00.001-05:00

My poor baby - he's sick again. It seems unbelievable, really, just how often he's been sick since I went back to work and he started day care.

How can something so cute be so sick???

This time was worse than ever before. He was sooo sick. A horrible cough that sounded painful, a nose so stuffy he couldn't breathe when he ate, horrible diarrhea for multiple days, and 48 hours of terrifying vomiting. And of course a double ear infection. All of those other times when I thought he was really sick... I had no idea. He was SO. SICK. this time.

It started about two weeks ago with a annoying but not particularly horrible dry cough. It would wake him up at night, but he was usually able to fall back asleep on his own. When DH picked EH up from daycare on the 13th, they mentioned that he had been coughing all day. Saturday the cough started to get worse, and we noticed that he was getting a stuffy nose. Sunday the cough got so much worse, he was super fussy, and started running a fever. This is also when the diarrhea started (oh so fun, let me tell you.)

Monday I already had off of work because day care was closed to an in-service day, and after a long and horrible night full of cough, cry, cough, cry, cough, cough, cough, cry, and a fever of 102.4 I called the pediatrician's office. Then the fun really began, because it was shortly after this that he started vomiting. It started with a cough, followed by him unable to catch his breath from all of the coughing. As he started to turn a weird red/purple color I sat him up and whacked him on the back, trying to get him to breathe. After an unknown number of terrifying seconds, he exploded with projectile vomit, everywhere. EVERY. WHERE. It was awful. Repeat that episode two other times and that was my morning.

At the doctors office they confirmed the fever and also confirmed that his ears - both of them - were once again infected Hello antibiotics! We missed you!!! (At this point he had only been off of antibiotics from the last ear infection for 11 days.) He was ultimately diagnosed with the flu and a double ear infection, but of course, there's very little they can do for baby flu, so I was instructed to start the antibiotics, give him smaller feedings supplemented with Pedialyte to help with the dehydration and to give him all of the love and hugs that he needed/wanted.

I left the doctor's office with the recommendation to not send EH to day care until his fever was gone for at least 24 to 48 hours. The doctor said that based on similar cases that she's seen this year, the flu viruses have been hanging on for an average of 5 days, instead of the more common 24 hour flu.

Great. With four more work days still left in the week and neither DH or I particularly able to take off that kind of time right now, I called in the big guns - my mom.

So within two hours I was driving up interstate 79 to pick up my mom somewhere in the middle-of-nowhere interstate 80. She came down that afternoon and has been watching EH this entire. I don't know what we would have done otherwise - thank goodness for retirement!

It was still a tough week though. EH's cough has not gotten any better and he still wakes himself multiple times throughout the night coughing and crying. Last night I was with him for well over an hour, trying to get him to go back to sleep. DH and I are so deliriously tired that sometimes in the morning we can't even remember what happened the night before and we try to piece it together with our combined hazy memories. During the day though, we at least knew he was in good hands, with plenty of one-on-one attention and love.

But "Nana-care" ends tomorrow, as she is returning home. EH will have to go back to day care on Monday whether he's totally better or not - I just don't think there's any other option.

Everyone keeps telling us how the first year is "the worst," and how them being sick now means that they'll have immune systems of steel in the future. That's all fine and dandy, but it doesn't help with the now. For our sick little 5 month old and these two parents who catch every disease that he gets AND are totally sleep deprived from life with a sick infant and working full-time, we just want to be healthy. Is that so much to ask?

Dinner - New Parent Style

2012-01-12T13:00:00.000-05:00

A few years ago we made some fairly significant changes to the way and things that we ate. We started buying more fresh vegetables (instead of frozen) and steaming them, and ate a lot of fresh vegetables straight from our garden, particularly tomatoes, potatoes, green beans, and chard, just to name a few. We also made every effort to eliminate partially hydrogenated oils from our food. I started experimenting with recipes and tried to make healthier, more natural versions of everything. It was usually more work, but I was frequently so impressed by what I could make!

For example, we always used to buy these frozen bags of pasta and vegetables that had some sort of cream sauce of them. I found a great recipe for a garlic butter cream sauce, made it myself, and loved the result! We also used to make creamy pesto sauces from seasoning packets, but then I started making my own pesto and easily converted that to a cream sauce. I also found fabulous recipes for some of our favorite asian dishes, such as sesame chicken and chicken lo mein. They took a lot of time and effort, but they were so delicious.

But now we have EH, and everything has changed. Time is of the essence. There is no time for experimenting with cooking. And as for fresh vegetables from the garden? Well do you remember any posts about my summer 2011 garden? Me either. That's because my garden was a big fat fail.

We moved on from fancy dishes like the wonderful "Sausage Pasta with Diablo Sauce" and have simplified our eating in major ways. Instead of experimenting we get by on the same thing pretty much every day.

For DH - An apple or bagel and coffee for breakfast, granola and yogurt for lunch, an apple or salad for a snack and whatever I make for dinner.

For me - A granola bar for breakfast one, coffee and oatmeal for breakfast two (yes, I usually eat two breakfasts, both really small though), a turkey sandwich or Lean Cuisine meal for lunch, and then whatever I make for dinner.

So what are we eating for dinner? Again, simple is the key, and here are some changes that we've made since EH arrived into our lives.

- Frozen vegetables (in the steamer bags)
- More meat-free dishes (meat takes too much time)
- Pasta, pasta, pasta
- Sauces from jars or made from packets instead of homemade
- Sandwiches or tacos for meals when we need to be really quick
- Slow-cooker meals IF I can find the time to do the prep
- Chipotle burritos (when cooking just isn't going to happen)

In some ways we're eating considerably less healthy because really good, healthy food takes time. But in other ways I think we're actually consuming less calories because our focus isn't on creating gourmet meals, it's about eating for function so that we can move on to the next thing that we need to do. And from what I've what, frozen vegetables are nearly as healthy - if not just as healthy - as fresh ones.

Oh, and I also feel like I should mention that take-out isn't really an option for us. Many new parents told us about how they relied on take-out from restaurants to survive those early days of parenthood. But when you live in the suburban wilderness and the closest restaurant that has a take-out menu is a 15 drive, there's little chance that I'm going to make that kind of drive.

It's probably for the better anyway. Our simpler eating habits mean we're spending less money on food, wasting less, and we have more quality time to spend with EH, which is really important to me, given how little time I get to spend with him during the work week. Once we start him on solid foods we plan on making our own baby food, so our cooking habits might change once again. I also recognize that as EH gets older, he'll get into a more predictable routine which may give me some additional time in my evening to put towards cooking. But for now this new, simpler system works for us, and for that I am thankful.

Bumbo Fun

2012-01-10T13:00:00.000-05:00

A few weeks ago we finally broke out EH's Bumbo. If you're not familiar with what a Bumbo is, don't worry - you'll see one in the pictures below. They're designed to help your infant "sit up" on their own when they're really not yet able to sit up. As long as they have control of their neck/head though, this little seat usually does a good job of keeping EH propped up.

Apparently on this particular day we thought it was really funny to put this toy on his head.

The Bumbo works by basically squeezing them into this soft foam seat, with enough back and leg support to keep them upright.

Oh, those baby blue eyes!

Reading his book at his "desk" with Murph

Sadly I can already tell that he's going to outgrow this thing faster than I'd like him to, but I'm pretty sure that's how the story goes for all things baby. I love that we can put him it and walk away for a short period of time (never far, never long) and know that he's in a good safe place. It's also nice to get him off of the floor, in a position other than laying on his back. (Now that his hair is starting to grow, it's soon going to be really obvious that he has an enormous bald spot on the back of his head.)

Our First Family Photo

2012-01-09T12:30:00.000-05:00

The day after Christmas we had a session with Picture People to have a family portrait taken. We chose the day after Christmas because we didn't want to be overwhelmed by all of the people there for holiday portraits, and thus we also chose the first appointment in the morning that we thought we could handle.

Of course, this was following Christmas day, which was one of EH's fussiest days ever, due to a particularly nasty double ear infection. We debated cancelling the appointment, but he seemed manageable that morning so we got him dressed, timed his naps and feedings perfectly, and got him to sleep in his car seat half an hour before we needed to head out the door. Baby who just woke up from his nap is generally the happiest type of baby in our household.

I had reservations about what kind of pictures we would get from this session. My sister gifted us a Living Social deal which was basically $10 for 3 sheets of photos (one pose.) I was ok with purchasing additional photos as long as they were good, but knowing that they only spend about 10 minutes with you for pictures, and knowing that EH was really hurting, I definitely had my doubts.

My favorite of the family

But a few of the pictures turned out great, and for just over $50 we ended up walking away with two family shots and two portraits of EH by himself. Sure the session was pretty standard, the backdrops were boring, and the photographer wasn't very creative with poses or getting something more natural than "smile at the camera" but in the end, I'm glad we did this. EH is so adorable how could these NOT turn out good, right?

My favorite of EH

DH's favorite of EH

DH's favorite family photo

I think this is probably something that we should try to do once a year. I'm sure it will be amazing to see how much he changes from year to year, and usually since either DH or I are taking the pictures, we rarely get a picture of all three of us. Of course, with our fancy camera, new tripod that we got for Christmas, and a little effort, we might even be able to produce some family pictures of this quality ourselves!

Were Sick, Are Sick, Going to be Sick

2012-01-06T13:00:00.000-05:00

At first I thought it was me. I blamed it on the baby, passing illnesses on to us. But every day I look at Facebook and it's all people are talking about. Every morning I come into work and there's yet another email announcing that someone it out sick.

This winter has been the WORST when it comes to cold and flu symptoms. I think it's pretty safe to say that if you are reading this you either:
1. Were sick,
2. Are currently sick, or
3. Are going to go be sick by the time you finish reading this

I'm on my third illness now since November 1st. First was a sinus infection, followed by the flu (and I even got a flu shot!), and now I just have a nasty cold, and probably another sinus infection given the greenish/yellowish/brownish color of the nasty stuff coming out of my nose and throat. I wake up in the middle of the night gasping for breath, with my throat so parched I can barely swallow to even moisture it bit. My sinuses are so clogged that my face is swollen around my nose and if you push on the swollen areas you can hear a really intriguing and also nasty "squish squish squish" sound.

Pseudoephedrine only sorts of works. Hot showers don't work at all. Sneezing - if I can make myself to do it - has actually been the most effective method of clearing my nasal passages, and for that reason if you were with me in my kitchen last night you might have seen me sprinkling cayenne pepper powder over the sink and trying to sniff it into my nose in an effort to try to make myself sneeze. The only problem with that was that my nose was so clogged on both sides I couldn't even "sniff" to get anything up there.

When we tell people we're (still) sick, most of them say things like, "oh yeah, I remember the time that I had newborn in daycare....". But I honestly don't think it's just EH. I think that sickness is just in the air. And even one of EH's pediatricians - during one of our nearly dozen visits in the past two and a half months - said there were some "really nasty viruses" going around this year.

So if you're sick, consider yourself to be one of the lucky few. But don't go around bragging yet - Winter has just begun and there's a lot of cold and flu season left to get through.

2012 - How Did We Get Here?

2012-01-05T12:30:00.000-05:00

2011 was a crazy year, full of incredible highs and some of the saddest times I've ever experienced. For better or for worse, 2011 will certainly never be a year that I forget anytime soon. I spent most of 2011 pregnant, and the rest of it was spent with a newborn. When I look at this serious of photos I can scarcely believe that so much change happened in one single calendar year.

Seriously, how did we go from this? To this?

From this, to this?

From this?

And now to this???

It's 2012, and although I have no idea what this year is going to have in store for us, I know it's going to be a wild ride, full of twists, turns, surprises, and most of all... baby smiles.

Minus the wonky eye, I hope

First Christmas Gift Ever

2012-01-04T20:06:00.001-05:00

Although we definitely kept things simple with EH's first Christmas this year, we also wanted to make it special for him by documenting it. We first made a video that hasn't been edited, but basically makes fun of my childhood videos where we were videotaped running down the hall to the Christmas tree. We put Evan on his stomach in the hallway and taped him squirming for a few seconds, then I helped him down the hall and we opened his presents. If we ever get that video off of the camera and edited into a clip I'll be sure to post it here, but since that may never happen, I figured I would just spoil the ending.

Anyway, for Christmas EH got a pair of blue jeans (that you can see there to the right), about 12 Berenstain Bears books, and an ornament with the year on it. We're going to get him an ornament each year with the year and then when he's older he can have them if he wants them (which we hope he will.) The picture above is of him opening his first Christmas gift ever. A momentous occasion if you ask me!

These pictures aren't too exciting, but I love the look on his face in that second one. "What is this, daddy??" he seems to be asking quizzical. When actually he's just really slouched over. Sometimes he's not so good on the sitting up straight part....

Sadly there really aren't many more pictures than these. You might recall me mentioning several other times that EH was really sick on Christmas day, and oh so fussy. Shortly after opening his presents, he went down for a nap, and slept for hours. When he wasn't sleeping he was fussing. But even though it was a tough day, I wouldn't trade it for anything. He's already made our holidays more interesting and enjoyable and I know it's only going to get better from here!

And Then They Were Over

2012-01-03T13:17:00.001-05:00

The holidays flew by in the blink of an eye. I don't even know where the past week went. We were traveling for most of it, and I made a conscious decision to not worry about blogging. It's easier to enjoy life when I'm not worried about documenting it.

The holiday was great, and we thoroughly enjoyed EH's first Christmas with us. I can already tell that he is going to open up a whole new perspective on how I look at Christmas, and I think it's going to be really fun. We kept things simple this year, since he's not going to remember is anyway, but we made a cute little video of him opening his first Christmas gift to show him when he's older. We did lots of traveling yet again (even though we SWORE we were going to stop doing so much traveling once we had kids) and he got to spend a lot of time with his grandparents, aunts, uncles, great-aunts, cousins, second cousins, etc. Everyone loved him.

Of course, the whirlwind event that traveling and staying with others is, EH's schedule was thrown completely off whack. (Oh, and he also had yet another double ear infection, which peaked on Christmas day until we could take him to the doctor on the 26th, so that was fun.) His sleep schedule was completely messed up and we ended up giving way more late-night feedings that we ever wanted to. All of that has meant that since we've been home, he's not been a good sleeper AT ALL. Let the re-training begin.

And we still haven't "taken down Christmas." Yes, our Christmas lights are still illuminated outside, and although some people might find that to be trashy, I secretly love it. Christmas lights make me smile.

Thanks for checking in!

Christmas Card Reveal

2011-12-20T15:00:00.000-05:00

It's time! The cards are out, they've been received. It's time to reveal the cuteness to the world.

I present to you, EH's Christmas card debut!

We Tell It Like It Is

2011-12-15T15:30:00.000-05:00

There are a lot of extremes in parenthood, full of incredible highs and depressing lows. The swings between positive and negative make it hard - I think - for a person to give a totally impartial perspective.

It's easy to dwell on the negative - the lack of sleep, the screaming, the crying, the poop (oh my, the poop), and the exhausting, repetitive tasks of child-rearing. Parents who only talk about the negative aspects of having kids can quickly convince those who are child-free that they should keep things that exact way forever.

Then there are the parents who focus only on the positives. They make having a baby sound like FUN! and RAINBOWS! and PUPPIES! and OMG ONLY GOOD AMAZING WONDERFUL THINGS ALWAYS! It's not that these parents have lost touch with reality, but they do wear rose colored glasses, and they try their hardest to not come off as sounding negative or to scare other potential-parents-to-be from having kids of their own. After all, if there's one thing that new parents want, it's for their friends to have babies as soon as humanly possible. I appreciate the positive attitudes of these chipper parents, but man, they can be annoying too. Nothing is perfect and wonderful all the time, no matter how cute your kid is.

In trying to share my story I've tried to find a balance between these two sides of things, acknowledging that for every frustrating moment there is a charming smile. For every night of crying there is one of 10 hours of straight sleep. There is an ebb and flow of happiness and frustration with babies, and while it can be utterly exhausting, in many ways it keeps things interesting.

The weekend after Thanksgiving we were talking to a group of friends. Of this group of friends, we are the only ones with a child, so they were asking us a lot of questions about what life is like now. I find it hard to answer these sorts of questions on the spot, because so much of my response is colored by the events of that day - was he good? was he fussy? did he do something super cute? - whereas DH, who normally tries to put a positive spin on things, switched characters for a moment and went straight for the negative including a statement that went something like "newborns are useless." The horrified looks on the faces of some of these friends was priceless and honestly I can't blame them - DH made it sound like he hated our baby, (which I know is absolutely not the case, so I wasn't concerned, but I can see why these friends were.) He was taking such a negative stance without presenting the other side - a side that definitely exists and creates a necessary balance.

So below is my attempt at telling both sides of the story, explaining the ups and downs, the highs and lows, and everything in between. This is - of course - just one parent's perspective, but I do believe that many other parents can or will relate to what I'm saying here...

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"How It Is" with a newborn

When your child is first born, there is nothing more amazing or exciting. Hearing your baby cry for the first time will bring tears to your eyes. You will be flooded with emotion, and it is the most amazing feeling ever. You won't be able to believe that you have a baby, and that you made him (or her, but for the purpose of this post, him.) You will spend hours upon hours upon hours for days on end just staring at your baby; this amazing little creature that is as cute a button and 100% perfect.

Then you get home. You are still sore, drugged up, and tired. You will be more tired than you ever knew possible. So tired that you're delirious and crazy things start happening to your body. You'll skip every meal for the entire day and then eat at all hours of the night. You'll feel twitchy and irritable. You'll be so tired that you say things that you regret, have thoughts you wish you could take back. You'll wonder what you were ever thinking when you decided you wanted to have a child. Humans don't function well on little to no sleep, and add to that a tiny screaming child that relies on you for it's survival and the fact that you feel like you've been mauled by a bear from the waist down and you will officially lose all sense of control over your mind, body, and emotions.

You will sob from exhaustion; you will feel like screaming at the top of your lungs. You will feel like you are literally losing your mind. You will understand with blinding clarity why they make you watch those videos that repeat over and over "never shake a baby, put your baby in his crib and walk away." You wonder for a moment if the hospital nearest you will take drop-offs. You'll feel like a horrible parent for thinking those thoughts and you would never admit out loud to thinking them.

If you're breastfeeding then all of this is magnified by at least two, because you will feel like you're the only one that can feed your baby, even though the societal expectation that a woman who just went through childbirth or cesarean surgery can handily and happily manage the demands of a newborn on her own is ridiculous. Your nipples will be chewed raw by your baby in those early day, your chest will probably be painfully swollen and since newborns eat all. the. time, you're going to literally feel like a milk machine. If you're struggling then hopefully you've realized that it's not the end of the world to give your baby a bottle or two every day, and the relief that this gives you will be overwhelming.

But even through the cloud of sheer exhaustion you still check on your baby every 5 minutes when he's napping, even though you should be sleeping yourself, because - damn! - he's just so cute and peaceful when he's sleeping. You kind of wish he would wake up so you could squeeze him. But of course when he does wake up 10 minutes later you panic and spend all of your mental energy trying to telepathically get him to go back to sleep so that you can just have a few more minutes to yourself.

During his quiet and alert moments (which are admittedly few and far between in those early weeks) he'll look up at you with his big dark eyes and you'll lose your breath for a moment when you remember that he is yours, and that you made him. You will understand why they say the eyes are the window to the soul. You will see yourself, your husband, and oh-so-much potential in those eyes, and you'll be sad when a blink or a sneeze ruins the little bonding moment you were just having with your child.

You will marvel at how quickly your little one grows, even though you know it seems so cliche to say so. You will quickly realize that your baby is the cutest baby around, and no other baby compares. You'll develop "the voice" that you talk to your child with, and you'll develop little quirks and secrets that only you and your baby share. You mentally acknowledge that if anyone else heard you saying half of things you say to your baby, they might try to have you institutionalized.

Things will slowly start to get easier, but the change will be so gradual that you won't notice it until you're suddenly startled by this weird feeling that you haven't had in a long time - relaxing. Your baby will stop feeling so much like work as he gets older and is able to play.

You will squeal with delight the first time your baby moves his lips in such a way that you're absolutely sure that he just smiled at you. The first time he reaches out to touch something that is hanging from his car seat handle you'll do a double take, watch him for five minutes hoping he does it again, and then when he doesn't you call your husband, your mom, and your sister to tell them all about the big event. The first time he makes a cooing sound back at your baby babble, you'll probably pick him up and squeeze the breath right out of him. When he laughs you squeal with delight. And when he starts making movements that look like they might be the start of rolling or crawling, you cheer him on like he's your favorite team during the Super Bowl. After weeks of give, give, giving to your baby, you'll think that these "gifts" are the greatest things you could ever receive.

Your mom and aunts and older friends and anyone else who has kids who are about 4 years or older will gladly take your kid off your hands anytime you'd like, and while they're squeezing him they'll say things like, "Oh my, there's nothing like a baby." You'll think they're even crazier than you were after 42 minutes of sleep in a 24 hour period. But then, after an hour of other people holding your baby, you realize that you want a turn now, but you won't say that because after you've bitched and moaned so much about needing a break from your baby you don't want to look stupid for admitting that you already miss him and you just want a baby hug.

Being a new parent in those early days is all about reminding yourself of the potential of your little bundle of joy. They don't give a lot back in those early days. It's all about what's to come. Those first smiles, coos, words, the first time he holds his head up on his own, the first time he sits up in the Bumbo seat. All of these little things. Every day things get a little better. And there will always be set backs, but you'll become more flexible, you'll learn to go with the flow. You'll recognize that this is your new life, and you'll notice that you've stopped clinging to your past life with desperation like you were in those early weeks.

You'll forget how hard things were in those early days, and even if you do remember, you'll tell yourself that it was all worth it to get to the point that you're at now. And after a few months or years of that, you'll be ready to turn around and do it all over again.

Because you're a parent now, and you know that's just "how it is."

Baby Literacy

2011-12-13T12:30:00.000-05:00

One of DH's favorite things to do with EH is read him books. He wants his baby boy to be smart and well read. For the first couple of weeks of EH's life, DH read him a book every single day. Although he's missed a few days here and there since then, he still reads to EH rather regularly.

Sometimes EH doesn't seem to care about the books. But other times he actually seems to be mesmerized. I thought that these pictures were just too adorable to not share.

Looking at the bright colored pictures

Admiring his daddy's excellent reading voice

When he's into it, he's sooo into it, and it's just adorable it's another one of the many things that makes me melt with love for these two.

And although we definitely want to instill in him a love of books and reading, we're going to do our best to get him more interested in science and math, since as these two English majors will attest, English is not where the money is. I'm thinking engineer, maybe? Or perhaps a scientist or doctor?

It's always something, right!?!

2011-12-12T20:48:00.002-05:00

Life can be complicated at times, but when there's a baby involved it seems like everything becomes just that much more complicated. There are new factors to consider, the biggest being that you can't leave a a baby. Ever.

Take this morning for example. DH was all ready to leave this morning. He goes down to the garage, gets in his car and tries to start it. But it won't start. It's not the battery because you can hear it trying to start. DH came inside to let me know about the car. "What are we going to do?" was the primary question. We no longer have a third vehicle, since the brakes on DH's truck died a couple of months ago. So we're down to one car, and DH do not work anywhere near each other. Add on top of that the fact that we had EH's four month check-up appointment this afternoon that DH was scheduled to take EH to. DH tried the car again, and it started for a moment - enough so to get it out of the garage and into the driveway - but then it died again. He suspected the alternator.

What in the world were we supposed to do? I couldn't take DH to school because he needed the car in the afternoon to go to the doctor. And DH couldn't take me in to work because he was already running late.

My only hope was a co-worker of mine, who has given me rides to work on occasion in the past. So DH left, taking my car and leaving his car seat base behind. I called my supervisor to let him know that I would either be late or not in at all. About 20 minutes later my co-worker called me back. She agreed to not only pick me up, but to take Evan to day care as well! I'm not sure that things could have possibly worked out better than they did. We got to work about 40 minutes later - she was already running late and then add on the extra pick-up and day care drop off - but we got there, and I didn't have to waste a vacation day.

I can't help but thinking, "It's always something, right?" Yesterday, I had a migraine, today the car died. Neither were the baby's fault at all, but when there's a baby involved, everything becomes more complicated. In the past when I had a migraine I would just sleep the day away without a second thought. But you can't do that when you have a baby. When the car died, it was definitely a complicated situation but with a baby? Twice as much to think about. Not only do I need to figure out how to get to work, but how will we get the baby to day care? You need a car seat base to transport a baby. It takes an extra 15 minutes out of the way to go to day care. When DH picked the car up from the dealership instead of just running in to get the keys, he had to park get the baby out, carry him in, get the keys and then load the baby back up in the car. So many more steps than life without a baby.

And the car? Well, that's a funny story. They called DH to tell him that they couldn't find anything wrong with his car. It wasn't the alternator. It wasn't the battery. They said that "maybe" it was bad fuel in the line. So hopefully that's actually the case. Because I am not looking forward to the prospect of another day with only one vehicle!

Recovering

2011-12-08T18:55:00.001-05:00

I am finally starting to feel better. On Tuesday I woke up and no longer had a fever, but I still had a horrible sore throat. The doctor's office called me back that day to tell me that I didn't have strep or rhumatic fever, and thus it was probably "just the flu." There's nothing "just" about the flu. The flu sucks. It sucked the life out of me for nearly 5 days.

So now that the sore throat is gone I'm left to deal with this awful, thick, nearly impossible to swallow sinus drainage in the back of my throat. I choke on it multiple times a day it's that bad. I have to stop whatever I'm doing and make a conscious effort to funnel all of my energy into swallowing as hard as I can to get that crap to go down. It's nasty. And no drugs seem to be helping (at least the ones that I'm allowed to take.) Today I had a major headache, which was a migraine for a very short period of time, but the migraine aspect of it went away fairly quickly. The headache in general really ruined my day though and made it very hard to concentrate at work.

But it's progress in the right direction, so I'm going to be thankful. What I am NOT thankful for though, is the fella who was responsible for deciding which strains of the flu went into this years' vaccine. FAIL, FELLA. Major fail.

One of our only family photos!

In other news, our holiday stamps arrive today, so Christmas cards go out tomorrow!!! That means that on Monday of next week I will unveil the card here for everyone to see. I absolutely adore it and am actually excited to send out Christmas cards this year, something that I have not felt in a long, long time. I can't wait!

The other thing I can't wait for? This week to be over. It's been one of the worst weeks for me in recent memory... I know it's cliche, but I am sooo glad it's Friday tomorrow. I need a reset.

Fantastically Sick

2011-12-05T12:52:00.001-05:00

When I was pregnant I was almost never sick. I had heard that pregnant women have weakened immune systems and are thus more likely to get sick. On top of that, you're not really allowed to medicate your symptoms when you're pregnant because most drugs can affect the baby (or there's not enough evidence to prove that they're safe.)

But that was not the case for me. I actually feel like my immune system was stronger when I was pregnant. I never had a single full-blown illness during my pregnancy. I would start feeling symptoms coming on, and then within a day or two they were gone. I had a couple of horrible migraines during my pregnancy but they were SO much fewer than before I was pregnant. Fortunately - knock on wood - I haven't had a migraine since EH was born. A good thing, since I'm not allowed to take my prescription migraine medicine while breastfeeding.

In any case, all of that luck - since that is what I believe it was - is over. I am sick. Sooooo sick. So sick that I cannot remember a time when my throat and ears hurt as bad as they do right now. It feels like I'm swallowing thumb tacks every single time I swallow. In addition to that pain, but ears give a painful pop with every swallow and I haven't been able to hear well out of my right ear since Saturday.

I went to the doctor yesterday and while she thought for sure that I had strep throat based on looking at it, the "fast results" test came back negative. They're sending it "the lab" for confirmation on that. I could have the flu or perhaps rhumatic fever (not even sure what that is) but whatever I have, there's not much they can do for it. I was sent home with instructions to get plenty of rest, stay hydrated, and take ibuprofen for my throat pain. Stupid ibuprofen doesn't even make the tiniest notch in my throat pain - I have been taking 3 every 4 hours and I swear it's doing absolutely not good. (So, I guess I should probably stop taking them.) They're supposed to call me tomorrow.

Anyway, I left work at noon today, using a 1/2 vacation day as a sick day because I just couldn't continue to function. It hurts to talk and talking is a big part of my job. I don't want to take off again tomorrow though, so I might so in and see what I can do about eliminating most - if not all - of my need to talk for most of the day, and work on other things, like some of my reports and budgets. We'll see.

I really hope that EH and DH do not get whatever I have. I am miserable. More miserable than I have been in a long time. Sometimes the mere act of swallowing makes me want to cry, the pain is that bad. I can't imagine a baby having to deal with this level of throat pain. He's still on antibiotics until tomorrow, so hopefully those are helping to ward off anything that might be floating around and contagious.

I just hope I start feeling better soon. I was definitely taking my health for granted, and I am now reminded that being sick sucks.

Christmas Card Cuteness

2011-12-03T10:30:00.000-05:00

I decorated for Christmas this past weekend and in the midst of all of that we decided to pose EH and take some pictures for a potential Christmas card that we were thinking of creating and sending out. I spent some time setting everything up, and let me tell you - they turned out SO cute.

But of course, I can't show you any of the pictures, because that would spoil the cuteness for those who are going to receive one their mailbox. I assure you though, they are super cute.

Here is one from a series of photos that did not make the cut - the lighting was bad by this time of day and none of them really turned out the way I had envisioned.

I'm not really the kind of person who sends Christmas cards most years, and in fact haven't done so in a really long time. But now we have this really cute kid, whose mug looks great in print, and who is incredibly photogenic, so although I doubt we'll do a card in future years, we've decided to do one this year for a handful of family and friends.

Don't worry though - even if you're not the recipient, I'll make sure to post the final product here so that you can see it in all of it's glory!

Baby Bonanza - Pictures

2011-12-02T12:30:00.000-05:00

We are so grateful for all of our friends and family members that came to Baby Bonanza, and I have ALL of these great pictures of people who were there, but they didn't really fit into my initial Baby Bonanza post, so I am dedicating this post to pictures of many of the people who helped make our baby shower so incredibly fun. (And just because you're not pictured doesn't mean we don't love you too!!!)

Fun friends - the other totally essential element to an incredibly success co-ed baby shower! Thank you so much to EVERYONE who was there!

Baby Bonanza! - A Co-ed Baby Shower

2011-12-01T12:30:00.000-05:00

June 11th (yes, that's right! 6 months ago!) was the first official Baby Bonanza. Just what is a Baby Bonanza? Well, I would like to explain by taking the description straight out of the program that was distributed to guests. (That's right, there was a program.)

The celebration known as "Baby Bonanza" originated in the Mighty Alleghenies, and dates to the earlier part of this month. In defiance of the more traditional gender-segregationist celebrations, the Baby Bonanza incorporated both male and female members of the community, and typically had a greater focus on jubilant revelry and celebration, and a lesser focus on sitting politely for 3 hours.

Anyway, true to form - for us at least - we decided that we wanted to do this baby shower thing our own way. First of all, it would be coed. DH is a part of this baby just as much as I am, and he should get to celebrate and be celebrated in much the same way. Additionally, although we had offers by many family members to host showers outside of Pittsburgh, we wanted a way to bring our Pittsburgh friends together as well. So, DH decided that he would throw the shower for me, although obviously we all know that I was integral in the planning as well.

So you think you want to throw a co-ed shower for yourself or a loved one? Here are the integral pieces to a successful Baby Bonanza.

1. An Awesome Custom Invite

We designed our own invites and had them printed on magnets. We went with the "Baby-Que" (bar-b-que) theme, which I enjoyed a great deal. And of course, since we think that our faces should always grace everyone's refrigerators, we put our baby pictures on the invite.

2. Decorations

There's no reason to be afraid of having a few classical baby shower touches, even at a coed shower. It's still a party after all, and it's fun to decorate! We like to do traditional with a twist, so we still had baby themed balloons, a traditional gift table, and of course, a giant baby-shower duck sign stuck into the mulch at the front of our house.

This got us quite a few horn honks from cars driving by. I loved it.

3. Food

No dainty cucumber sandwiches or petite fours here. We went with some classic party food. Hamburgers, hot dogs, chicken, baked ziti, chips and salsa, and of course cake. We also ordered an enormous tray of soft pretzels aka BEST IDEA EVER. They were amazing.

We loosely ran with the duck theme, for a number of reasons, including 1. it was the theme at my first shower, 2. we had a lot of leftover ducks, 3. the giant yard sign just happened to have a duck on it, and 4. I loved ducks as a teenager.

4. Alcohol

And lots of it. This was the hardest part of this type of shower for me. Everyone else drinking and enjoying it while I just watched...Fortunately I was so busy most of the time I didn't really notice.

Ugh. I look rather large in this photo.

We had a 1/2 keg of beer, which we put in the wheelbarrow when it started pouring 10 minutes after the part was supposed to start, and it remained there for the rest of the night. Keg in wheelbarrow is a genius idea. People don't need to bend over to fill their drinks, and the keg became highly mobile. Anyway, it was kicked in less than 6 hours (and to think we didn't even think we'd finish it!).

We also had lots of liquor for mixed drinks. I made a drink menu, but after the rain-out I forgot to do things like pick mint for the mojitos so most people either just drank beer or made their own concoctions.

5. Games

This is where tradition really went to the wayside. Traditional baby shower games are mostly no-fun. They're fine for a traditional shower, but we had a very different crowd of people. So we went with fun, all ages, skill-based outdoor games. Think tail-gating activities. Anyway, we created a full bracket, pre-matched all attendees with a partner that they didn't know, and then had rounds of games.

The bracket, stuck to the hood of a car with invite magnets

Round 1 - Bean Bags/Corn Hole

Round 2 - Ladder Golf

Round 3 - Beer Pong (beer drinking optional)

You had to win each round in order to advance, so the only game that every played was corn hole.

The partnering thing worked out way better than we had originally thought it would. Our idea was that some people were more experienced with playing one or all of these games, and we didn't want one particular power couple taking home all of the prizes. By splitting up couples and giving everyone a new, random partner, talent was spread out and it really evened the playing field. On top of that, our guests are really great about getting to know new people and no one seemed pissed to be paired up with someone other than the person they came with. Even now, our friends still refer to people from our party as "the girl that was my partner at the baby shower" or something along those lines. Love it.

5. Awesome Prizes

If you want people to have fun and be competitive at your games, you have to give them incentive to do so. My sister made amazing prizes, which were appropriately adult, coed, and barbque themed.

6. Manly Gift Opening Time

For some reason, everyone thinks that the woman should open the baby shower gifts. Umm... why??? Again, the husband/man had just as much to do with this baby as the woman. Why shouldn't they open gifts?

Want to get your man interested in opening baby shower gifts? First, give him a few drinks. This always makes them more willing to do something they might ordinarily be self-conscious about.

Second, set him up in a manly location, such as the back of your garage. Men like to be surrounded by their tools and handiwork.

Third, take turns on the gift opening, and if you want to make it really interesting, try to have him identify everything that he opens.

And if you want to make it even more interesting than that, have everyone at the party "take a drink" everytime he identifies something as a "onesie," because that's what he'll always guess, and it's almost NEVER a onesie.

Conclusion:

We love, LOVE, LOVED our Baby Bonanza co-ed shower. It was a great way to celebrate Baby Hartman, bring all of our friends together in one place, and make it gender inclusive. We've since had friends tell us that they used our baby shower as the inspiration for other showers that they were planning, or had people tell us that they want their future baby showers to be just like ours! :o) Imitation is the sincerest form of flattery, so I love it.

We had two more baby showers later in the summer that also followed the Baby Bonanza theme, and I'll be sure to post about them as well! (Although you know, it will probably be another two or more months before I get around to that...)

Catching up

2011-11-30T12:30:00.000-05:00

So, I'm finally catching up on some of my blogging, including finishing up some posts from sooooo long ago. Up first - Baby Bonanza 2011! - our incredibly fun co-ed baby shower.

After that there are two other Baby Bonanza-themed co-ed showers that I'd like to showcase, followed by some final thoughts on my birthing experience and my opinions of Magee, a post on "telling it how it is," and a couple of other random catch-up posts. Plus I have a TON of EH photos that are super cute and need to be posted asap.

It's hard, keeping up with blogging while getting everything else done in life. But I'm slowly (oh so very slowly) starting to get into a routine, and working on finding (and prioritizing) a healthy work/life balance. I hope that means more thoughtful and interesting posts, and if there's anything that you'd like to hear about - anything! - just leave it in a comment below and I'll try to address it in a future post!

Poor baby!

2011-11-29T09:01:00.000-05:00

This was EH's first Thanksgiving, but he pretty much slept through it. He is (was) so. Soooo sick. It was heartbreaking and terrifying all at once.

He's had a cold ever since the weekend following his first two half days of day care - before he even started full time. Think before Halloween. That long. But he was still a relatively happy baby despite the coughing and sneezing so we didn't think much of it. Then the following week day care called because they were worried that he was running a fever. I had to leave work early to pick him and took him to the doctor. He was diagnosed with an ear infection and prescribed an antibiotic which he took for the next 10 days.

But the cold didn't go away. In fact, it only continued to get worse. He finished his antibiotics on a Thursday and that weekend he was hacking and sneezing so much that I called the doctor first thing Monday morning and DH took him that afternoon after he was done with school. He was diagnosed with another ear infection - the other ear this time - and given a different, supposedly stronger antibiotic.

He did not like this antibiotic at all, and that's when things really started going downhill.

He slept most of Thanksgiving day, and even when he was awake, he cried this super sad cry the entire time. Everyone wanted to see him and visit with him, but he took a nap that lasted nearly 4 hours and covered the length of most of our visit to at my sisters for Thanksgiving lunch. That night when we took him home I fed him and tried to get him to go to sleep but he was abnormally fussy. He was coughing and crying and it was the saddest thing. I was holding him, trying to get him to go to sleep, but he wouldn't have it.

Then all of a sudden I felt him convulsing. I was worried that he was having a seizure when all of a sudden he threw up ALL over me. So much. I startled me so much that I jerked and almost tossed him (but I didn't, don't worry.) I was soaking wet and could not believe how much he threw up. I felt like it had to be even more than he had eaten. And it smelled like antibiotic. Great - he didn't keep that down.... After that he seemed to be feeling better feel asleep, although he did wake up in the middle of night to eat again.

The next morning was basically a repeat of the night before, although he threw up multiple times. He couldn't stop coughing, which I think contributed to the vomiting, and he coughed non-stop for over an hour. At this point it was 7:30 a.m., so at 8:02 I called the pediatrician's office, hoping they would be open. they were. AND they were able to get us in at 8:30 that morning. We rushed to get dressed and took him straight there. Some people were out doing Black Friday shopping. We went to the pediatrician's office.

His temperature was 99.4 (not quite a fever according to them) and his ears were still really infected. Since he hadn't gotten his last two doses of antibiotic, they gave him an injection of antibiotic and then made us an appointment for the next morning. He was still really sick for the remainder of that day and was weirdly fussy. Same for Saturday, but on Sunday he finally started improving. He took lots of naps and was pretty fussy, but he was finally smiling again, something that he hadn't done in a while.

So now it's Tuesday, and I think he's finally started to feel better. Although I was only with him for about 20 minutes this evening, he didn't cough at all. We now give him his antibiotic in a bottle with a small amount of formula which seems to make it easier to swallow for him and he hasn't been vomiting it up. I'm crossing my fingers that he's going to sleep through the night tonight - for the past week or so he would wake up from his coughing and had to be fed to get him back to sleep.

These infant ear infections really suck. Poor EH has had ear infections and has been on antibiotics for his entire first month of day care, precisely where I am sure he contracted all of those ear infections. Everyone keeps saying "He's building up a good tolerance!" in regards to his immune system, but I'd rather he just didn't get sick at all.

I certainly hope that he gets well soon and that we can maybe get a week or two of healthy baby before he comes down with something else again. Is there anything a parent can do to help keep their babies from getting sick? Particularly if they're at day care? I think I need a miracle!

Crazy Busy

2011-11-27T19:15:00.001-05:00

Life has been crazy lately. I feel like I spend every waking minute of my week days working, cooking dinner, feeding EH, and then crashing at bedtime. Weekends are equally as hectic since it's full time baby care in addition to trying to get all of the household chore essentials (laundry, vacuuming, etc.) done, since there's no time during the week to do those things. Add on top of that there's usually some sort of social commitment that we want to attend that keeps us up past our 9 p.m. bedtime AND factor in the fact that EH has been really sick and waking up in the middle of the night again and you have one exhausted mommy.

This past four day weekend? It flew by in a flash, I feel like I accomplished almost nothing (although I actuallly DID a lot, there's just a lot left to be done) and I don't feel like I had a minute to relax, let alone blog. I'm taking some time to write this now, but know that it's stressing me out just thinking about all of the other things that I should be doing. It sucks. I feel so stressed that my chest feels tight and I'm worried that I'm going to give myself a self-stress-induced I had hoped to go out and do some Christmas shopping, but I barely even left the house, let alone accomplish anything on the shopping front. I know that we can probably do most of our shopping online, but I don't necessarily view that as a good thing, since I enjoy going out and doing Christmas shopping and it would give me some much needed time to myself.

I have dozens and dozens of pictures that I want to go through, edit, and post about, but I'm struggling to find the time. Every evening I say "Tomorrow I am going to do computer time," and yet somehow something more important always pops up that takes priority. I keep thinking that things will calm down soon, and I hope that someday I'm right about that, but so far that doesn't seem to be the case. I go go go until I crash at night, and hopefully on this particular night that crashing will happen sooner rather than later. When I do force myself to relax, it feels... well... forced. Not genuine, and not really relaxing at all.

We've actually done a lot during the past month, including taking EH on his first long (more than four hours) road trip, to Philadelphia. And so, instead of going on and on about how stressed I feel (which only makes me feel more stressed) I'm going to end this with a cute little video of EH and a promise to myself - TOMORROW I AM GOING TO SPEND THE EVENING DOING STUFF ON MY COMPUTER.

(Video is from the car ride to Philadelphia. It might be one of those things that's only funny/cute to us because we're his parents. Oh well, this is my blog. I suppose I'm allowed to post those sorts of things.)