I never normally wake him for anything, but mom’s group is a different story. His eyes were already about at half-mast having started waking up on his own, so I don’t really consider it me waking him up!
Year: 2009
PJ feet!
Tuna Salad
So I just made tuna salad and, as usual, was reminded of the very first time I made it back in college.
Noodles? Check.
Tuna? Check.
Mayo? Check.
Eggs? Check.
But it wasn’t right. So I called my mom and the conversation went something like this:
Me: I made tuna salad but it didn’t taste like yours!
Mom: Did you use relish?
Me: No.
Mom: Did you use vinegar?
Me: No.
Mom: Did you use celery salt?
Me: No.
Mom: Well then that’s why it didn’t taste like mine.
So…lesson learned—and for the 15 years since then, mine has tasted [pretty much] like hers every time!!
Maggie vs. the Squirrel
I was out grocery shopping today when Tom texted me to say Maggie got bit by a squirrel!
WHAT?!?!
Yes, she actually CAUGHT a squirrel in our back yard! Tom said she actually had it in her mouth whipping it around! The squirrel eventually was able to fight back and bit her twice—once on the nose and once on the lip! Tom said it bled like crazy!
She’s current on her shots, so there’s nothing to worry about (just have to keep it clean and watch for an infection).
I still can’t believe she caught one!
More food pics!
We’ve been feeding Owen veggies every night for dinner, but we’ve stopped taking pics each night (how many do we really need?). That said, here are few of the recent good ones!
Baggers. Again. Ugh.
I seriously wonder how all the Kroger baggers can have NO common sense?
I bring bags, so I obviously don’t want theirs. All my items easily fit into the bag(s) I brought (I have taken to filling my bag as I shop, thinking it would help the issue)…yet they STILL end up giving me a bag for something small.
Today it was relish. Yes, they couldn’t fit a small jar of relish in my bag (where, of course, there was PLENTY of room) so they put it in its own bag. Even after I said “It will all fit in one bag!” And TWO guys were bagging! So both were morons!!
I don’t know why this irritates me so, but it does.
Kohl’s Expedition
So I innocently went to Kohl’s today. I had a $15 credit and thought I would pick up a new outfit for the boy. I hoped I could get something on sale.
Little did I know.
Every section had sale racks. Anything from 40 to 80% off!! The women’s section was first, so I picked out a few things (that I hoped would work—it’s too hard to try them on when schlepping the boy around). Then it was off to the baby section where—OH MY—I went a little crazy. But everything was 60-70-80% off! How could you not? It was funny because that section was filled with grandmas, and I could overhear some of them saying “This kid doesn’t need any more clothes! But it’s all so cheap! And so cute! I have GOT to get out of here!” 😀
On the way to the check-out I passed through the men’s section and quickly grabbed a few things for Tom, too. I could have EASILY spent another hour or so there looking at everything else (not just clothes). I may just have to go back!
I did opt to open a Kohl’s charge card to save an additional 20% on top of all my sale stuff—so I really did get some good deals! Plus they gave me a coupon for 15%, which I might take advantage of this weekend (so Tom can get a few more things).
So now I have to actually, seriously sit down and look at it all to make sure the ages/sizes/fits will be right. But the boy will surely be well-clothed for at least the next six months (it’s all summer-type stuff).
Yuck!
So Tom, wonderful husband that he is, tries to take morning duty when he can, to let me sleep.
Even, surprisingly, with his painful back issues this week.
So this morning about 4:30 the boy wanted to eat, and I was going to get up, but Tom said he would. I asked if he was SURE and he said yes—and, well, I’m not going to look a gift horse in the mouth, so I rolled over and didn’t think twice about it.
I heard Tom come back to bed, and then I fell asleep and the next thing I know it’s 7:15! Unfortunately, I woke up with a headache (as I did throughout the night—no idea why) and I checked the monitor and the boy was up but not squawking, so I took a few minutes to wake up, then went in there.
Of course, I got the wonderfully heart-melting morning smiles, picked him up, and went downstairs. I noticed that his onesie wasn’t quite snapped all the way (which is fine) and that his diaper seemed to be a bit askew—so I looked closer and—OH MY GOD.
Tom apparently didn’t quite get the diaper on right in the morning—one side tab was completely not latched so the diaper kind of just gravitated to one side…and of course the boy happened to poop, leaving me with poop-covered jammies, a mess in the crib, poop up my arm (from carrying him, that I hadn’t noticed until just then), and a dirty baby.
Sigh.
A questioning phone call to Tom was made, where he admitted he couldn’t see too well in the dark plus he was a little loopy on drugs. I told him he should be able to change a diaper in the dark, but I could understand the drugs thing.
Hoo boy. Our first real poop kinda-accident.
I guess I get morning duty until Tom is off the drugs. 🙂
Side sleeping!
So we checked the monitor (as we always do) before going to bed ourselves, and this is what we saw! Oh my gosh! Too cute!
We then watched him for probably 20 minutes, and his little hands moved (opened and closed), his feet wiggled, his mouth opened and closed (and it looked like he was sucking a non-existent pacifier)…but he never rolled onto his back.
Such a little gem. 🙂
Owen in his crib…trying to go to sleep!
This was taken a few nights ago, but it could realistically be ANY night. :))
It’s pretty long (about 6:20), but I just wanted to give you an idea of what he does every night. He generally always starts with kicking the musical aquarium (turning it on/off/on/off/on ad nauseum, which you can actually see in the very first seconds of the video), then he starts moving and rotating, starting the 180, he grabs the burp cloth, he wiggles, he kicks, he continues the 180, he kicks, he rolls on his side, he pauses, he sucks the burp cloth, he completes the 180 and moves on to a 360, he whips the burp cloth over his face, etc… Eventually, he passes out (although I didn’t catch that this time)—sometimes it’s in five minutes, sometimes it’s 20. But it’s always cute and fun to watch!
Six month check-up
Owen weighed in at 19 lbs 7 ounces (75th percentile) and was 28.5 inches long (95th percentile)—at least I think I have those percentiles with the right measurements (I remember the doc saying he was quite tall, so I think I do).
She wasn’t worried about his eating habits—although she was surprised that he hasn’t liked carrots or sweet potato, as those are typical baby favorites. She mentioned that this is about the time to start introducing fruit, but agreed with me that we shouldn’t do that until he’s eating more vegetables.
What surprised me, though? She was not concerned AT ALL that he can’t roll over on his own yet. I mean, I am not really that concerned—I mean, it will happen when he’s ready (and he IS close)—it’s just the physical therapist who was concerned. So at least I am glad the doc and I are on the same page about that. She even said she didn’t really see a need (at this point in time) to worry about continuing the physical therapy (which is nice, since we have to go through the insurance rigamarole to see if it’s even covered, since we found out it’s a “limited” service). The doc just said “He’s a big boy, it might take him a bit longer.” Cool. Of course, I still need to keep doing his PT exercises to help out but she told me not to freak out about it all. Now, if he’s still not rolling over in a month (or two) THEN we can worry!
Everything else is fine. He got shots (which he of course didn’t like) but two minutes later he’s smiling and happy (but maybe that was due to the Tylenol I gave him beforehand). She is glad we got the helmet and wants to see him in a month “to keep an eye on it.” Which I found ironic, since we are seeing an ORTHOPEDIC SPECIALIST every two weeks and they are monitoring it…
HE LIKES PEAS!
We briefly tried green beans again tonight and he wasn’t having any of it. So we decided to try sweet peas. And HOLY COW did he eat the heck out of them! He almost ate the entire [small] jar!!
Helmet Check-Up
So I had to take Owen in for a sorta emergency (not really EMERGENCY) helmet adjustment appointment today. Over the weekend, when we took the helmet off, we noticed that he had two huge red spots behind his ears—and one of them even had a sore starting (with what looked like a pimple on it!). 88| Poor guy, it must really have been sore and irritating—he has always kinda reaching up and trying to scratch at his face/ear, but we assumed it was just because it was something he wasn’t used to touching his face. Tom tried to use the dremel to pare it down, but of course we didn’t want to do to much in case we ruined the helmet (and had to buy another one).
I called first thing in the morning and they got us in that afternoon (unfortunately, I had to miss a mom’s group meeting) and made the necessary adjustments (they use some type of tool to grind away the foam core) and told us NO MORE DREMEL! We didn’t hurt it, but they said if there are issues like that again, just leave the helmet off until we can get in to see them. Then they made some adjustments to other parts of the helmet (above his brow line, and gluing a side piece in) and that was it.
We have our regular check-up next week, which we may be able to postpone if there are no spots that need attention and if he seems to be doing okay.
Six months old!
Emergency Room!
Tom’s back was hurting throughout the day, and by late afternoon he could barely move. He isn’t one to complain much (or admit to being in pain) so I could tell it was serious when he was wincing and gritting his teeth. (He originally hurt his back during a workout earlier in the week, and it got progressively worse.)
I told him I’d much rather go to the ER at dinnertime than having him wait and decide he wants to go at 3am…so we waited for the boy to get up from his nap (only about 15 minutes), fed him, and we were on our way shortly after 6. Of course, I had packed a crapload of stuff, assuming we’d be waiting in the ER forever (all I know from past experiences). Imagine my surprise when I dropped Tom off—and by the time I had parked (about 40′ away), loaded the baby, and walked inside, he was already being triaged!
After the entrance info was taken care of, we only had to wait about two minutes for him to be called in to see the doctor! I couldn’t go with him because I had the baby, so I waited for him. Owen did really well—I only had to push him around the waiting room a few times to keep him happy! Then Tom texted me from across the hospital, giving me status updates!
I wasn’t really watching the clock, but was amazed at how quickly everything was happening! Then he was texting the diagnosis (“Ligament injury they said it is swollen”) and then he said he was done and just waiting for drugs!
All in all, we were in and out in just about an hour. AN HOUR!! We got there about 6:15ish and were walking out about 7:20! AMAZING! (I guess that new multi-million dollar Emergency Center Expansion was worthwhile after all!) 🙂
The sad part? They can’t fill prescriptions there, so we had to find a 24-hour pharmacy (since it was 7:30 on a Sunday night)! Our normal Walgreens isn’t 24-hour, and we wanted to keep all our scripts there, so we had to drive to Royal Oak. It’s only a few extra miles, but around here that takes some time. So, it took us longer to drive there, wait, and drive home than it did for the entire ER visit!
Tom was loving the drugs (Vicodin and Percoset). He was eventually feeling REALLY good (pain, what pain?) and I made him an ice pack when we got home. I asked if he was going to stay home and of course, he wasn’t. (You know the drill, the recruiting office will go up in flames if he isn’t there, LOL.) He did promise that if the pain got unbearable he’d come home.
Ironically, it was almost six months to the day of the last time we were at the hospital—for the birth of the boy!
Outdoor photo session!
It was really nice out this afternoon, so we decided to try and take some photos outside.
Ha.
Ha ha.
HAHAHAHAHA!
It truly felt like an exercise in futility. He refused to sit up at all, he wouldn’t even sit well propping him up, the camera was giving me troubles (not focusing), he was more interesting in watching the kids next door in the pool, his eyes would close during the shot, or you couldn’t frame the shot so that Tom or I weren’t in it…so it was frustrating.
After all that, we had a whopping 203 photos (taken in about 15 minutes) and guess how many remain after the deletion round? 10. And how many good ones? Maybe two. Guess how many great ones? Zero.
Here are the two good ones (and I don’t even think they’re that good):
Oh well. Tomorrow I get to try again since it’s his 6-month birthday!
Green beans!
So for breakfast today we let Owen try green beans. At first, he had the same reaction he always does—you know the face—but then most of them stayed down. He actually ended up eating about half the small jar! We were excited! Maybe we had finally found the food that would get him to eat.
Alas, it was short-lived.
We tried more beans for lunch…and he didn’t want anything to do with them. So now we get to figure out if it’s the food or if he just doesn’t like two meals of real food or if it’s something else entirely.
Hoo boy.
My Life According to Garth Brooks
Using only song names from ONE ARTIST, cleverly answer these questions. Try not to repeat a song title. It’s a lot harder than you think!
Pick your artist:
Garth Brooks
Are you a male or female:
Hard Luck Woman
Describe yourself:
Much Too Young (To Feel This Damn Old)
How do you feel?
I’ve Got A Good Thing Going
Describe where you currently live:
On a Prayer
If you could go anywhere, where would you go?
The Night Will Only Know
Your favorite form of transportation:
Sleigh Ride
You and your best friends are:
Friends in Low Places
What’s the weather like?
The Thunder Rolls
If your life was a TV show, what would it be called?
Unanswered Prayers
What is life to you?
The Wise Men`s Journey
Your relationship:
Two of a Kind, Working on a Full House
Your fear:
Ain’t Goin’ Down (’til The Sun Comes up)
Burning Bridges
Snow in July
What is the best advice you have to give?
Two Pina Coladas
Love Will Always Win
Thought for the day:
Santa Looked a Lot Like Daddy
How I would like to die:
Kickin’ And Screamin’
My soul’s present condition:
Do What You Gotta Do
My motto:
If Tomorrow Never Comes
One week later…
We are thrilled—we can already see a major improvement in the boy’s head shape! After just 7 days! YAY!! (But he’s still going to have to wear it for quite awhile, though—if he stops, it could just as easily go flat again.)
We didn’t take specific pictures, but these are two we had—you can sort of see the change.
High chair!
Tonight we decided to try having Owen sit in the high chair (for the first time!) while we ate dinner—then figured as long as he was there, we’d try some real food again, letting him play in it if he wanted. He had carrots (again) and broccoli (new). He definitely didn’t like the broccoli:
—and (again) wasn’t thrilled with the carrots. He didn’t really even want to play in the food much—go figure, he puts everything in his mouth except for the things we WANT him to put in his mouth! But, he still opens his mouth when he sees the spoon coming, so he wants to eat…we just have to find something he likes! He was cute playing with the spoon, though:
Of course, bath time immediately followed dinner!
William Tell Momisms
Anita Renfroe sums up all the things that a mother says to her children in a three-minute song called “Momisms” set to the William Tell Overture.
Daily Mugshot
I just found this cool new site that lets you upload or take a photo every day, and it creates a little flip-type-book that scrolls through every photo! I put my “book” in the second column. You can pause the show, or drag the little circle left to slow down the show. FUN!
Carrots for lunch!
Today for lunch we tried homemade carrot mush. It went over just as well (or not) as the avocado…but the pictures are sure cute!
A Busy Day
First we had mom’s group from 10-noon and then we had physical therapy from 3-4. I never specifically woke the boy up, but he still didn’t nap as well as he normally does…so at the moment, I’m waiting for him to fall asleep (he was out within two minutes of leaving PT, but since I moved him to the pack-and-play when we got home, he woke up).
The mom’s group topic was sleep, and surprisingly, I didn’t have much to say or ask about…since Owen really is doing pretty well. The guest’s basic philosophy on everything was “If you like it and/or it works for you, go ahead and do it” — whether that means having them sleep in a car seat or having to take them on a car ride to get them to nap. While I agree with that to a certain extent, I draw a line at using anything really odd to get him to sleep. That said, he is apparently an easy baby since he goes down without a fight (most of the time).
It makes me feed bad (and good!) to hear what some of the other moms are going through sleep-wise…babies that can’t self-soothe at all or who have to be rocked to sleep before being put in the crib. Or babies who scream for an hour first or have to be walked around to calm down. Egads. I guess we have it easy. Most of them are still getting up at night, too, for at least one feeding—so I’m not alone. Of course, there is also a mom or two with a baby that sleeps from 7-7 or 10-8.
The hardest part of the group for me is seeing all the other babies rolling over or stretching themselves up on their arms or sitting up well on their own…since Owen is not quite there yet. Yeah yeah yeah I know all babies are different but it still stinks to see most of them ahead of him. A lot of the babies are also eating a lot of real food—like an entire baby jar at a time! They were surprised when I told them that Owen doesn’t really want anything to do with food—or that we just haven’t found the right food yet. He seems to want to eat (he opens his mouth when he sees the spoon) but he hasn’t liked any of his options yet. I happened to mention it to the physical therapist and she said by six months (which is next week!) he really should be eating some amount of solid foods…and said if he doesn’t start soon, she might recommend I talk to a specialist! Egads. Of course, I need to ask the pediatrician about it next week at his six-month appointment.
So, the physical therapy. She said he’s doing better. He rolls to one side much better than the other, so we have to keep working on that (he still doesn’t roll over on his own, except for a happy accident now and again). He has good neck and leg strength and his arm strength is getting better. We had thought today might be the last appointment for awhile, but after seeing him today, she said still wants to continue to see him. At least we have moved the appointment time to 3pm instead of 7am (although, honestly, I might like the 7am better because it’s MUCH quieter and cooler in there).
Burp Cloth Sleep Mask
Silly boy! He constantly pulls his burp cloth over his face when he sleeps. It used to worry me, but now I say if it helps him sleep—GREAT!!
Edited to say: Here I thought this was something funny and new, but it turns out that a few of the other moms in my group say their babies do the same thing!
Pouts, Part 2
After more contemplation, we think he just happened to learn how to pout so is consequently doing it all the time. Babies learn to smile, right? That’s a milestone. We like to think that you can learn to pout as well…because he’s been doing it ALL day off and on, regardless if he’s wearing the helmet (or not) at the time. And the pout is usually preceded and followed by smiles and/or laughter…so he’s just being a little stinker. 🙂
Pouty Lip
Soooooo cute, but soooooo sad. He NEVER had this frowny face until he started wearing the helmet. It might not be related at all, but of course we can’t help but make the comparison.
At the very least, we know he’s my kid—that’s definitely my infamous pout.
Avocado!
P.S. See the wet, mussed hair? That’s because we just took the helmet off before feeding him!
Spaghetti Squash
I bought my very first spaghetti squash ever today. I know, WHOA! 😛
I am not a huge squash fan, unless it’s Thanksgiving and the dish is full of sugar and topped with marshmallows…but my mom recently made spaghetti squash for us and it wasn’t too bad! Granted, it did have gobs of butter and parmesan in it, but I actually enjoyed it.
So I will be tempting fate and trying my hand at it sometime soon. Wish me luck!
What missing two naps did…
So, he finally fell asleep for his nap about 6pm. I had put him in his crib, thinking maybe there were just too many distractions downstairs (it wasn’t any different from any other day when he naps downstairs, but you never know).
Turns out it was LUCKY I put him in his crib…because he didn’t just nap for a few hours like we thought he would. Noooo, he slept straight through until…4am! 10 HOURS! Holy wah! Tom and I had stayed up until about 10, hoping that he would wake up so he could wear his helmet again for a bit…but alas, it wasn’t meant to be.
At 4 after I fed him (after he sucked down his 6oz bottle in a matter of minutes), he was NOT his normal tired self. Crap. But I guess it should have been expected since he had just slept 10 hours! But he needed to go back to bed—he can’t start learning that the day starts that early!! So I turned on his mobile and left. I watched him for a few minutes on the monitor, and he was just chatting with himself and making not-tired noises and moving around. I turned off the monitor and shut our bedroom door so I didn’t hear anything…and I was able to fall back asleep. I checked around 6am when Tom was up and getting ready for work, and Owen was out. So, I’m not sure when he finally fell back to sleep, but he did.
Tom got him up around 6:30 and put his helmet on (by himself!) so by the time I got downstairs at 6:45 Owen was watching Sesame Street and jumping like normal. He still looks cute in the helmet, but he also looks so pathetic… Poor kid. I think it’s still cut too low above his eyes (they trimmed it some, but I think they can do more) because it looks like it covers his eyes and I constantly want to adjust it so he can see better. We’ll see what they say at our next appointment.