new center

Long story short: After a series of worries and a botched pick up at daycare yesterday, Aiden will start at his new center on Monday. We thought that the in home we had set up was ideal because we had such strong referrals. All of our indirect evidence was good, but our direct evidence was not so hot. I am happy with our decision to take him to a center that we had looked at and liked earlier in the fall. I don't think you really know what style you'll appreciate or need until those needs aren't met. My mom understands and she said it best... he just needs to be safe as an infant. Safety will give him a sense of security which will make him feel loved.

I don't want to really remember the details, so I'm not going to get into why we made the switch... Let's just say that at a certain point I really thought I was being punked (or I was on a really cruel edition of candid camera). Then my sense of humor disappeared and I was just traumatized. The ingredients of my pick up nightmare included seven toddlers (!, no helpers to be found), two big dogs, a leftover bottle intended for my hungry baby, a blanket full of spit up wrapped around the side of sleeping Aiden's neck, lit candles and a gigantic wooden toy box around unattended two year olds, and to top the awful cake, a bloody diaper rash (on another kid that wasn't given any comfort). I tried to call and resolve what I thought had to be an out of the ordinary situation, but I was told it was typical. Oh well, that won't be typical for us. I learned what is important to us and I am glad that J and I took action to make the switch immediately. We visited the center again this afternoon and we were really comforted by the orderly, professional atmosphere. I'm so grateful that they had space for us to start almost immediately. Eek, now the awkward part of telling the other daycare we won't be coming back needs to happen before tomorrow.

calming

Calming a Baby 101 with Granny and PopPop: Buy gum that no one likes, eat just enough that it makes a rackety rattle sound, wave back and forth evenly to lull the baby to sleep. Exhibit A:
Aiden isn't a particularly fussy baby, but he can really go from 0 to 90 on the scream scale quickly (I blame his gas pains, because I've heard the bumbo rumble and been startled out of my sleep by those explosions). Granny would snag him whenever he fussed and affectionately say "if you're talkin, we're walkin" as she started in circles from our living room through the kitchen and dining room and back. He got a new nickname, Archie, after breaking Granny's back by arching his back until he calmed down. Then around the same time J started calling him Thor, the thunder pooper. I won't get into the details, but let's just say that if we hear a rumble we immediately put him on the changing table to wait out the storm. Baby Thor is never a bore.
As I write this, here is J's rhyming -
"Look at you stand like a big man,
trying to stand as long as you can,
as you try to formulate a plan,
to get some milk from the milk wo-man."
gotta run to take care of baby...

family fun

see ya soon

My folks just left after helping us with my transition back to work. They came to town a little over two weeks ago and that time flew by. My parents were so incredibly helpful and I cannot thank them enough for every, every, everything! When they first arrived my sister and future brother in law were here, that time with all of us together was a big warm fuzzy, full of trips to friendly's to get peanut butter sauce, new kitchen tiles (thanks!!), and baby cuddling. I wish I could smash all the states together so that all of our family was closer. I look forward to seeing everyone again soon...

flex schedule

Four bottles a day, max five ounces each. That's the plan after my folks helped take care of Aiden during my first week back. He was slurping it down quickly and even though we tried to cut him back he was determined to eat that much. We think we have better slow flow nipples than the other slow flow we started using initially. You can't "set your clock" by this kid's schedule like my friend can with her kid, but he had some trends. He will eat between 7:30-8:30am (with dad), 10:30-11:30am, 1-2pm, and 3:30-4:30pm just like the breast fed baby charts suggest. It's a relief to have some inkling of what to expect and how to prepare for Aiden's day care, but I'm sure things will change... I know that every kid is different, but anybody with kiddos have input on how much their kid was eating at three months? I'm thinking that we will just try to be as flexible as possible with this growth spurt prone kid.

muffin man

This baby is getting bigger by the minute. When I was in the hospital they warned us that exclusively breastfed babies will have big growth spurts and become chubby bunnies for their first year, but after that they are a lot less likely to be obese. They are building some seriously strong antibodies for their overall immunity but they are especially building a very efficient digestive system from the breastmilk that meets their needs exactly. Even since my folks arrived he has grown! We buy our pampers in bulk and we had to move up to the next size because the stretchy bands on the smaller ones were making him look like he had a muffin top. My mom and I have now taken to singing him the "do you know the muffin man" song, which he loves... probably because we're laughing under our breath as we sing it ;) I can't believe my little guy is moving up the diaper size chart from swaddler to cruiser soon!

hippo kisses

Time in the big chair with daddy and hippo. Still a little camera shy, but at least he looks right at the camera:

breezy day

Phew, the first day back to work was breezy. I woke up at 6am, fed and changed my little snug bug, and he promptly fell back to sleep in his swing like he is used to doing in unison with mommy. He snoozed while I got ready to go. I dug out the curling iron I hadn't used in over three months and put on some earrings even though I thought my holes were closing up (yeah, I was pretty low key for the holidays). I said goodbye to my little sleepyhead, kissed him in his sleep, and got teary when I turned to grab my bags to go this morning. My parents were there with hugs that boosted me up just enough to keep my chin up to run out the door into the rain. It was a crappy, rainy, ucky day and J and I jumped in the car. I whimpered a bit more to him in the car..."It isn't that I can't handle going back to work, I don't WANT to handle going back..." I think in the scheme of things I want to BE back at work I just didn't know HOW to go back. If I could just fast forward a couple weeks when we have everything figured out, I would be set. I again don't know what I don't know (an icky feeling that accompanies change that always ends up good in the end). I want to have Aiden's "schedule" all figured out. I felt like I was pumping all day (five times! every two hours starting right when I got in at 8am), but somehow this kid is into champion bottle eating now and beat me by a couple ounces (I pumped a bit over 19 ounces and he ate 23!!) We are going to get him on some slow flow nipples just to get some extra sucking in to be sure he really needs that much. Pumping in my office was a very strange feeling, but I didn't have any trouble. I had my digital photo frame clicking away so I wouldn't miss my little sweet lips too much. I called home around lunch and Granny put Aiden on the phone with me to say hi, which kept me going. It was easier to deal with feeling tired than I expected, but I definitely hit a 3pm slump harder than I used to. I rushed out of my office when it was time to go home and it seemed like the day just breezed by. Since I've been home he only had a little 5 minute snack, so I think he decided to power feed while I was away today. I can't thank my parents enough for making this transition as easy as possible for me, J and especially Aiden.

meeting miss lynn

Yesterday we arranged to touch base with Miss Lynn, Aiden's care mommy starting Jan 28th. We are really lucky (and extremely grateful) to have my folks here to take him for my first week back so we can figure out his schedule better and get him used to taking the bottle at least three times a day. He hasn't needed his night bottle and will sleep at least three or four hours at the beginning of the night, then he's back to 2-3 hours for the rest of the night. My fingers are crossed that he'll be ok with the bottle. Lynn had most of her kids napping and her two youngest ones eating when we arrived. Aiden was sleepy from the car when he squirmed out of his car seat to meet Lynn. He cuddled on my shoulder and woke up all wide eyed. He looked around and seemed sleepy. He fussed when Lynn was holding him, but he seemed to warm up a little bit. We talked a bit about what to expect and what we should bring for him, etc. Overall, I think Miss Lynn will be really easy going and I hope that rubs off on Aiden. I was glad that my folks got to meet Miss Lynn and she could get their stamp of approval too.

baby pictures

Aiden saw his first movie in a real theater today - Juno! Tuesday mornings at 10am there is a new movie shown as part of the Showcase Cinemas' "Baby Pictures". They leave the lights up a bit, provide a changing area in the theater, and turn the sound down (to protect sensitive baby hearing). My mom and I headed to the theater expecting just a few stragglers at this early movie. Turns out it's the hot ticket in town for new moms. There were at least 50 people there, some with itty bittie babes that just slept and others with active three year olds that just wandered around the big theater. There were only a few moments when some baby was fussing making it a little hard to hear. Aiden seemed to like the big flashy lights on the screen when he wasn't eating. I liked the movie and it actually made me miss being pregnant. It was the first movie I'd seen in the theater in a long time and it was a good one.

mobile lover

Baby AB loves his mobile. We'll lay him down after his diapy change or while he's in a fussy wussy fit and he will immediately light up and start watching the floating animals. He'll laugh, kick and sometimes squeal. We upped the ante the other day when I found a toy that projects and rotates lighted scenes of baby birdies onto the ceiling. It plays soothing music and the projector has a little scene of robotic birdies playing and moving. He loves it and will lay on his back drooling over it for quite a while. He likes the bright red colors in the animal mobile over his changing pad. Anything bright that is slightly over his head (preferably with a face) seems to make him happy. We visited Ikea that other day and my mom tied a stuffed rat by its tail on the shopping cart in front of him and our little rat lover smiled at it while we cruised through the crowded store. Between his love of things way up high and bright lights, I think he might be an astronomer in the making. My little star gazer.

bottle strike

I went to sleep last night thinking, oh darn I forgot to blog that Aiden is over his bottle strike. We had figured out that if you take him to an area where I don't spend much time he doesn't get distracted by my "smell" and he takes the bottle without as much trouble. The night before last he was good to go. Daddy brought him up at the normal 3amish and I was feeling more rested than I had been since before the holiday. Well, I would've spoken too soon, since last night he had the same fussy bottle blues. We thought he was going to be back on track just in time for my return to work a week from today.

I have such mixed feelings about returning to work. In a lot of respects, I can't imagine not spending all of my time with my baby. I haven't spent more than 5 hours at a time without holding him or feeding him in the last 70 days. We're really lucky and grateful to have my parents here to take care of him while I transition back to work. They will take him for my first week back as we figure out how much he will eat during the day and how he'll react to not being with his mom. And probably more importantly to give me a chance to get used to being away without having to think too much about whether he is happy with a bunch of strangers. I can't wait until Miss Lynn (his new caregiver after the end of the month) feels more like she is part of our family.

surprise!

Since my work life will resume on Jan 18th (yep, the Friday right before the long weekend - nice slow transition), I will be coming out of my baby haze and bringing back my snapshots blog soon. In the mean time, I'm cheating and posting a non baby related video. My future brother in law is officially the best person to have sitting around bored in your house. HUGE thanks! Also, thanks to my folks for the new faucet.
Here is our surprise:

Or go here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rMLYoABQlHs

hey doc

With the new year and J's trip to Arizona, we had Aiden's two month appointment today just a few days late. Our big boy is now 12 lbs. 10 ozs. and 23.5 inches right in the 75% percentile. Lucky for him he has nice padded chubby thighs for the three big 2 month shots, one on one side and two on the other. He wasn't sure what was going on when they laid him down and asked me to stand in front of him and hold his hands. The nurses came up from both sides, and he quickly looked back and forth at them with his wide eyes. Then all of a sudden they gave him the shots all at the same time. I've never seen his little face get so red, but he didn't let out the scream that you'd expect. He cried, but after I scooped him up he calmed right down like a little champ. He's been pretty sleepy and fussy wussy in between, but I think the baby tylenol will keep him happy.

Before the shots, we brought up with the doctor that it's been over a week since this baby went on a bottle strike. The back story is that J's been giving a night bottle of expressed milk since Aiden was 3 weeks old without any trouble and right after the New Year he stopped taking it without crying and fussing. The doctor says it must be that he's just developed "a preference" for me and if he gets hungry enough he will take the bottle. Uh ok, not a solution! I will be going back to work soon where bottles will be a necessity during the day and almost as important for that night time feeding J's been giving him to give me a block of sleep. We've tried different types of bottle nipples. My sister tried the bottle and was just as unsuccessful as J is. We are out of tricks, and I'm tired just thinking about it. I'm sure it will sort itself out, but now I'm really wishing and hoping he starts sleeping through the night.

In good news, we've had extra arms for cuddling since the 3rd. J left for a short four day trip to a conference and my sister and her fiance came into town that same day. Aiden loves his Auntie Liz and her cuddling is top-notch A++! She's a natural. I don't know what I would've done without her offering to snuggle and get me water while I nurse. We're very thankful that they are here for a number of reasons - some of which will remain a surprise! My folks are coming in this Thursday and we can't wait to see them too.

sunny smile

Smile for daddy wearing sunglasses on the coldest day of the year:

2 months

Dear Aiden,

You are somehow two months old today. When you started talking/gurgling at me this morning instead of asking you my usual, "Oh yeah, where did you hear that!?" I switched it up and instead asked you, "How does it feel to be two months, what have you learned?" You looked right at me with drool bubbles dangling off your lip, and gave me one of those classic open mouth smiles I managed to catch with the camera a couple weeks back. You've learned that smiling like that will get you a big squeal and a kiss from everyone around you. You've got that trick down.

Your other tricky trick is to only poo in a freshly changed diaper. Dad says you're a smarty because who would poo in a dirty toilet. If I'm goin to mention poo, I might as well also mention that for the first 50 days of your life you had the most closely monitored poo schedule. Also, if you glance at our google history you will find searches like "what should newborn poo look like AND ricey AND runny." We were thinking of continuing the foostinky chart into your teens, so that we could share it with your first date or look back at your graduation. Somehow I suppose your pooing won't be the most interesting tidbit to share.

I'm thinking that we might instead bring up how you would dance and bounce around with your strong kicky legs. We are convinced you are going to walk right out of that bouncey seat. You have just started to use your arms and hands to do more than wack yourself out of a deep sleep. You usually grab at the water stream during your bath. I think you do that because the bath hose looks like a hippo spitting at you...and if you could just get your hands around that hippo, you'd show him what he gets for spitting on you. You generally like bath time in your little sling with the warm hippo spit that daddy is in charge of, while mommy gets you all scrub-a-dub-dubbed. We have a little routine when the bath is done where daddy quickly drip dries you and then you get wrapped in the big fluffy towel in mom's arms, all snug as a bug in a rug. You like to do the classic foot clap with daddy on the changing table, which is one of your favorite places. We've considered ways to emulate the changing table for you to sleep, but I think what you like about it is the nearby bright window curtains and smiling goofball parent, both of which are unavailable at 3am.

You were born quickly, after weeks of being comfortably wedged where no little head should be wedged. Your mom was not born with the perfect little baby head mold pelvis and you had the pointy head to prove it. When I was pushing the nurse let me touch your little hairy head, and even though it felt like a slimy bird that was just born, I've never been so excited. I couldn't wait to meet you. You were happy to eat minutes after being born, and I'm not sure you've stopped having a growth spurt since that first week. Luckily, you are smack in the middle of the overall growth chart at the 50th percentile.

You've changed so much in two short months of milk drunk cuddling. You've lost most of the hair on your ears (eek! now that's an embarrassing tidbit to share with your future girlfriends) and your baby mullet is thinning out. It occasionally looks like you've used a mini hair crimper on it, so the jury is still out on the curly hair. Dad is worried that it won't be cute curls but the frizz curls he carefully coiffed through high school. In the mean time, I love to stroke your bird feather fluff hair. When I stroke it, your eyes usually get really wide and sparkly. I know you will continue to change in leaps and bounds, but try to keep those squeals of delight that your dad is good at invoking while reading you your fluffy chick book. You oughta keep that baby squeal, because it may work to help you borrow the car when you're 16...it's that darn cute.

I've learned so much from you...how to line up that diaper just right...how to get to know someone that doesn't talk...how to snap up those footie pjs with blurry tired eyes...how to make you comfy in your strappy car seat...how to love like only a parent can love. I'm so glad we've still got more to learn.

Love and learn, Mommy

tricks and tips

Some practical tips mainly so I don't forget for the next possible baby we may have... here are tips from the first two months:
1. Tykelight! This is a brilliant solution to the night light that lets out the perfect amount of tinted light. We actually put it in the bassinet (which is next to the swing Aiden will actually sleep in) and it illuminates just enough to not disrupt sleep but you can see what's causing the baby whimpers (babies are loud when they sleep!). It's like a night light that you can easily carry with you or shine under your hand pump at night to make sure it is lined up.
2. Bigger trash in the bathroom - Mom is technically wearing three diapers while baby only wears one. I think I need my own diaper champ to lock away the musty milk smell of those shields.
3. Be sure that the diaper lining is folded out and lined up, especially important before putting baby in the car seat to go to the doctor.
4. Have at least two robes and be sure that one of them isn't too warm and fuzzy, because you will have some serious night sweats.
5. Don't be shy about the lansinoh cream and be sure it's the real deal (no alcohol or too many chemicals which can be hard on the baby) Use it right after the baby is finished.
6. Get some sort of set up for easy meals - Look to get some variety in the mix for the easy meals like breakfast and lunch. Try to think about whether you can prepare it with one hand.
7. You'll want a good hand pump to go along with a good dual pump if you plan to pump... plan to pump if you want more than an hour away from the baby to go to the dentist.
8. Buy handy freezer boxes for the bags of milk that you can store. The bags will expand when they freeze and you have to be careful they don't leak (and in the bins they stay in order by the date)
9. Have some light antibac lotion handy for right after diaper changes. Be sure your soap isn't too rough on your hands because you will wash your hands a lot.
10. Tissues everywhere baby eats. And paper towels as back up everywhere you need wipes.
11. Keep cameras out in the open to easily grab. Baby won't be as smiley if you have to leave and come back for the shot. Don't be shy about shooting away, but it will take a while to sort through to share your favorites (easy to do with one hand while feeding though).
12. It's totally worth having a sterilizer. Some say that the dishwasher gets too hot and the plastics can be affected. Also, it's nice that the sterilizer is also a good place to store the stuff sterile and let it dry. It's especially helpful to clean your delicate pump parts.
13. Buy twice as many thank you notes as you might expect you'll need.
14. Disposable breast shields are a must for the first month or so (don't go cheap - medela were my favorite). Then the reusable, washable mesh ones work pretty well because you will leak less.
15. Take some practical advice from friends - encourage them to give you advice in fact. Most won't really give it unsolicited. You don't have to take all advice, but usually it will clue you into something you weren't familiar with before.

J's bonus tips:
1. Have everything out of the box and ready to grab. Have diapers out of the box and wipes popping up in the box. Do not wait to assemble anything. You will be too tired to deal.
2. Take a baby moon if you can to spend time as a family.
3. Pull outfit up as far as possible during diaper changes or he will pee on it. The cuter mom thinks that outfit is the more likely he will leak on it somehow.

night night

We almost slept through the New Year. We had a nice invitation to our friends' house and we lasted until 10:30 even though J was drinking red wine and I have a cold. When we got home, we thought maybe we'd just go with our normal bed time routine and skip watching the ball drop. Well, it turns out Aiden wanted to eat around 11:00 just after I'd hit the sheets, so J brought him up. After he finished snacking, we were all dozing off and I barely realized they were counting down until I heard 8-7-6-... J bolted up in bed and Aiden looked us with wide eyes as we smooched him. I think he was trying to figure out how he can get us to go from quiet to excited mode in the middle of the night like that. This kid has tried a lot of tricks to try to get us to play with him in the middle of the night.

At the party, they were calling Aiden a night owl because he was so awake and alert. I kept thinking how can you tell if something is a night owl if it sleeps every couple of hours. This kid doesn't have a bed time yet, but I dream of the day! My friend's almost two year old little girl was fascinated with babies, and they easily convinced her to "go night night, just like the baby"... but I'm not sure they really mean juuust like the baby. Night night with this baby isn't terrible, but it isn't fun either. We have a pretty good routine to give me a block of sleep where J keeps him downstairs with a pumped bottle (thank goodness this kid is good at taking a bottle!). He usually brings him up around 3 or 4am, he feeds and if I'm lucky, sleeps another two hours before he wants to eat again. Although lately he's wanted to power eat which means I'm just about awake the rest of the night. I go to sleep every night thinking maybe tonight is the big night - he'll sleep through the night for the first time?! I swear we're having a breakfast bonanza party that morning! Let's just hope it's before I go back to work...eek.

happy new year!

I wonder what the new year will bring...hmmm....

go pats

Phew, go pats! Mommy and I were asleep, but dad tells us that the pats pulled it through ;) I was worried: