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August 30, 2006

Dry Run Week - Ah Forget It

When you feel like uber crap, you really don't care how long it takes to get to daycare, and what next week will be like. All you care about is a little extra sleep.

Last feeding last night: 9:30 pm
Up and feeding this morning: 5:55 am
Dylan ready: 6:45 am
At 7-Eleven for coffee: 7:15 am
Back home and both napping: 7:40 am

So yeah, I feel like uber crap. I'm all drippy down the back of my throat. When I woke up this morning, it felt like there were knives sticking there. Luckily, with the nasal saline spray it feels slightly better and Darren fed Dylan this morning, giving me an extra 1/2 hour and the 35 minute nap at 7:40 helped too. Now I just feel like I got hit by a pickup instead of a tractor trailer.

I get it. It takes 10 minutes to get to daycare. I don't need to drive there every morning.

This sucks. Mommies can't get sick. And of course, Dylan is having a fussy day. He doesn't want to be in his crib; he doesn't want to be in his jumpee; he doesn't want to be on his playmat; he doesn't want to be in my arms. I can't say I don't understand it. He's totally thrown off. I thought about going to the mall and walking around in the stroller so he got his "walk" this morning, but I couldn't bring myself to do it. I knew he would nap and I wanted to nap too. So we came home and napped. All I was thinking about this morning was I totally wish I could drop him off at daycare today so I could just sleep.

Hopefullly tomorrow will be better. Two more days (after I make it through today) until the weekend. And two more days as a stay-at-home mom. Seriously. Hats off to those of you that do that permanently.

Posted by Terri at 08:29 AM | Comments (1)

August 29, 2006

Dry Run Week - Day 2

Random thought of the day: If you say you open at 9:00 and you have 4 people waiting in front of your door - one of whom is a 3 month old - the least you could do after not opening your doors til 9:03 is say "good morning."

Last feeding last night: 9:15 pm
Up and feeding this morning: 6:05 am
Mommy & Dylan ready: 7:05 am
Left Dylan's room: 7:40 am
Pulled out of driveway: 7:43 am
At daycare: 7:53 am

Much better... I figure it will take me 2 minutes to park the car and get out and bring him in, so that brings us to 7:55. Which is close enough to 8:00 by the time I check in and stuff. We'll have to see whether their clocks are slower or faster than mine. But I'll tell you - I'm thinking about the extra $140 a month when I go back full time. I"d be at work before 8:00 which lets me leave around 4 instead of 5 and beat a lot of traffic. We'll see what the budget looks like then. I mean, it kills me to play here for 40 minutes just to kill time. Especially when he fell asleep two minutes into the car ride and didn't wake up til 8:15.

I figured out the feeding schedule. We'd start at 5:30 am and go every 3 hours until 5:30 pm and then go 3 1/2 hours til 9:00. Of course, I didn't run this by Dylan, so his plans were different. He slept til 6:00 again today, even though we fed him at 9:15. But I think this will work. We can eat at 6:00 then 10, 1:30, 5 and then 9. He made it til 10 today and yesterday eating at 6. We'll see how this plays out the rest of the week. At least we have two plans. Of course, tomorrow he'll wake up at 5:00 and throw everything completely off.

Well, we have to go to StrollerFit now. (It's inside today because of the rain and so they hold it at 11:00). I feel bad because Dylan is completely happy right now on his play mat. But I guess it's ok because it's almost nap time, so he's probably about to crank any minute now.

I keep telling myself that it is onlly for a limited time that I have to worry about "feeding schedules" and having 5 mini-power-naps a day. Because it is seriously the feeding and the napping that are driving me crazy. Just when I figure both out, it changes.

Posted by Terri at 09:54 AM | Comments (2)

August 28, 2006

Dry Run Week - Day 1

Random thought of the day: It is a sad commentary on the world when you get uber excited about $2.75 for a gallon of gasoline and are willing to stop and fill up even though 1) there is a screaming baby in the back of the car and 2) it is in Dover.

Last feeding last night: 10:00 pm
Up and feeding this morning: 6:00 am
Mommy & Dylan ready: 7:00 am
Left Dylan's room: 7:20 am
Pulled out of driveway: 7:25 am
At daycare: 7:35 am

Since he's not supposed to get dropped off until 8:00 (or we have to pay an extra $140 a month), I think we can play for a little longer in the morning before we leave. Maybe Dylan can jump in his jumpee while Mommy empties the dishwasher or something.

The only downside is that he fell asleep in the car shortly after 7:45 (which is when we would be leaving to get to daycare at 8:00). Sure, today I got to go to Target and go shopping while he slept - since it's raining and that's the closest we'll get to a walk - but he's going to show up at daycare asleep. That's not good. He fell asleep and Mommy was there and then he wakes up in a strange place and no Mommy? Why did I think that maybe this was going to work?

And we're still trying to figure out his eating schedule, now that he's really sleeping through the night now (from 9:00 pm - 5:30 am or 10:00 pm - 6:00 am). But it threw everything off because when he was getting up at 3:30 he wouldn't eat til 7:00 and now we're off by an hour or so. And since some meals include rice cereal now, it varies how long he can go between meals. Just when I think I've got this Mommy thing down pat, it all changes and I don't know what I'm doing again. I know, I know. Get used to it.

He's changing so fast! How instead of swatting at toys, he's grabbing them. Both on his playmat and in his jumpee. There is an arched bar on the front of his playmat with these big beads on it, and he was trying to move the beads over the arch to the other side. You should have seen the look of concentration on his face - it was priceless!

Got to go. He's grown tired of grabbing his keys (hanging from his playmat) and trying to pull the thing down on top of him. I think he may be getting hungry, but who knows anymore.

Posted by Terri at 09:46 AM | Comments (2)

August 25, 2006

Separation Anxiety

Before I had Dylan, I stated, quite emphatically, that I would love to be a stay-at-home mom and raise my own children. If I didn't need to work, I wasn't going to. Then Dylan came. Now don't get my wrong, I adore my son, and I cherish most of the time we spend together. But after about 4 weeks of staying home with him I was ready to go back to work. Yes, it kept getting easier, and he kept becoming more fun to hang with - those giggles are just awesome - but oh for the luxury of sitting for an hour and eating lunch with two hands while talking with adults. Or even the luxury of just sitting for an hour. It really took me by surprise how much I was looking forward to going back to work.

Then September peeked its ugly head around the corner.

I don't know if it's because Dylan is totally cool now and we can hang out and do fun stuff like bat at toys and jump in our jumpee and go for wallks and exercise and go shopping, or if it's because there is only 1 more week of staying home with him, but work is looking less and less like the wonderful thing it looked like in June. Or even July. Or even the beginning of August.

To try to make myself feel better about the whole thing, and to start to get him acclimated to that which is to come, we went to Dylan's "school" yesterday. We met his two teachers - who are both very nice - and looked around the classroom. It wasn't so bad. I mean, I had seen the classrooms before, but that was when I was pregnant, before I knew Dylan. Before I knew that he hates being swaddled, but he needs to be swaddled in order to sleep. Before I knew that you can make a "po po po po po" noise or tell him he is cute to get him to giggle. Before he batted his big blue eyes up at me. Before I knew of his undying love of trees. Before he fussed and fussed and fussed and then came to me and sighed contentedly while snuggling into me. Oh, I could go on all day, but I think you get the picture. So even with my perfect little angel in my arms, it wasn't so bad. We sat in a few of the toys and he seemed to be a happy little camper.

Then the teacher suggested I put him down and go next door to get a look at the older infant room (6 to 12 months). What? You mean LEAVE him???

Oh. My. God.

To not appear completely neurotic and clingy, I smiled and said, "ok." (Instead of listening to my gut and going, "No way, man. I don't have to part with him for another week.") I put him down in a little seat that had a toy bar with a mirror strapped over it. He smiled up at me and then looked at himself in the mirror and giggled. "Ok, Dylan," I said. "Mommy's just going to go next door." He looked up at me and giggled then turned back to the mirror and took a swipe at it. "Ok," I continued, backing away slowly. He turned his head to watch me, since I was now moving and apparently more interesting than the mirror. He looked at me, not smiling or frowning, the whole time I backed out of the room. I stood in the doorway - outside of the room but still in his line of vision - and he maintained eye contact with me. I took a deep breath. I stepped to the side, out of his sight. I waited... and waited... and... no screaming.

I went next door, but was antsy the whole time. As I walked out of the other infant room, I heard a baby screaming from Dylan's room. I ran to the door and saw... Dylan still sitting in his chair, giggling at himself in the mirror and swatting at the toys. And then giggling at the girl sitting in the swing across from him and swatting at the toys. One of the other teachers walked up right then and I turned to her and said, "Would you take a look at him! He didn't even notice I was gone!"

I am relieved. My worst fear was that he would just scream and be miserable all day but then talking to my mom I remembered the little girls in the dance classes I used to teach. They would cry and cry while their moms were there, but if you could get the moms out of the rooms, the girls would stop crying in less than a minute. It's easier to deal with as a teacher than as the parent who has to leave the room while your kid is crying but my kid wasn't even crying! I mean, I'm sure I will be, but I have a half an hour drive to work to straighten myself out. I never imagined it would be so hard to walk away from him. To go to work and constantly be wondering if he's ok, or what he's doing, or if he's happy.

I know they said it would be a two week adjustment, but now I wonder if they don't mean for me...

Posted by Terri at 10:07 PM | Comments (3)

August 24, 2006

Dylan's Playdate From Hell

Well, I thought it was going well. We were on a mat, looking at trees and life was wonderful. Then we had to eat. Dylan had a fit because the formula was like 2 degrees cooler than it usually is. (No bottle warmer at the field). We had to go home and warm his bottle up to the exact right temperature. Who said babies under 6 months can't be spoiled?

I did learn that East Hanover movie theater has "Real Mom" movies every Tuesday, that you bring your babies (under one year old) and watch a movie. And I learned that if your kids "love TV and could watch it for hours" then they do alright watching the movies too. Yeah, well, not to sound all high and mighty, but Dylan does not watch TV and will not watch TV until he is at least 2. And even then it is going to be limited. I'm not having him sit and zone out to Baby Einstein, especially since when they name the planets they leave out Uranus.

Oh well. I suppose it would be easier to plop him in front of a TV, but I'm sorry. I just can't do that. I'd rather put him in the stroller and walk into town.

No wonder the majority of kids are obese today.

Posted by Terri at 12:07 PM | Comments (1)

August 22, 2006

StrollerFat

Everyone keeps telling me I look good and that I lost weight. Trouble is, I haven't. The instructor today told me I looked like I lost weight. I said thank you, but no I didn't. So I must be toning. Then we did Rockette kicks and I impressed the pants off everyone. Yet I'm still fat. And still a half an inch too short and about 10 sizes too big to be a Rockette.

/narcisism

Anyway, there is a 6 month old girl in class who is going to the same daycare as Dylan is. Yeah. She's a pound heavier than him.

Dylan's doing pretty well with his rice cereal. He eats a tablespoon with an ounce of formula every night for dinner. Of course, he's still waking up in the middle of the night. We'll go a week and then I'll increase the cereal and we'll see if we can't get him to sleep at least till 6.

Man...he just loves lying on his play mat, lifting up his shirt and batting at toys.

So, Dylan's Aunt Alecia is leaving for college in two days. It's amazing to think that when she comes back for Thanksgiving he may be sitting and crawling and stuff. What's even more amazing to me is I remember when she was Dylan's size and I couldn't wait for her to sit up and stuff. Where does time go?

Yesterday we went to the library (walked) to get a library card. I love libraries. And Dylan was nice and quiet in the library. (He was sleeping). Before I know it, he'll be going to story time.

Well, I'm kind of just rambling so I'm going to stop.

Posted by Terri at 11:22 AM | Comments (1)

August 21, 2006

Dylan's Very Busy Day

Yesterday was a Very Busy Day for Dylan. First, in the morning, he went to church for the second time (the first time being his baptism). It was great at first - he fell asleep in the car, so we just left him in his seat and he slept next to us in the pew. Of course, after exactly a half hour of sleeping - I swear the kid has a timer hidden somewhere - he woke up. Now, he is a good baby, and a happy baby, as long as he is doing something. Sitting on Mommy's lap constitutes doing something for about 5 minutes. Then the screaming started. I felt so bad. There was a baby getting baptized and someone *looks at Dylan* was making more noise than her. We had to go walk around, and then he was fine. We looked at the pretty windows; we looked at the usher standing in the back of the church. We looked at the square lights in the ceiling of the vestibule. We're going to keep trying though. Eventually, I figure, he will get used to it.

Then, after we came home and ate, we went to the mall to go get our pictures taken. We got a family portrait and a bunch of Dylan. I know you all may think I'm biased, but he really is the cutest baby ever. The proofs would be ready for an hour, so we walked around the mall - which was VERY exciting for Dylan, looking at everything - and then ate in the food court. Dylan passed out about then, so Mommy and Daddy were able to sit and eat their first meal out together since Dylan was born. When it was time to go back and get the pictures, Dylan woke up (one half hour after he fell asleep) and decided he had just about had it with the mall. There was much screaming and Mommy lost her cool because of a little bathroom incident, but we managed to order pictures.

We came home and ate, and then Dylan was allowed to sleep on Mommy while Mommy vegged out and watched a movie because it was a really rough day for her him.

Posted by Terri at 03:14 PM | Comments (1)

August 18, 2006

Random Because I'm Tired

HAPPY THREE MONTHS DYLAN!!

I'm exhausted, so forgive me any dangling participles or other grammar or continuity/train of thought faux pas I may commit in this entry.

Dylan's first play date

Dylan has a playdate next week after StrollerFit on Thursday with a boy who will be three months on the 23rd and twin boys who were three months on the 16th. The twins were premies, so they are smaller than Dylan, but the boy who will be three months next week is a little peanut compared to my gigantor child. They are developmentally about the same, except the other boy doesn't swat at things yet. I told the mom that Dylan did it on accident the first time and now can do it on purpose. But all four babies are drooling and sucking on their hands and the other mom read that they can start teeting around now. Super fun. But it will be nice for the babies to play (or stare at each other) and for us moms to compare notes and chat. I do have to say, the twins just sat in their carriers while we talked today and the other boy just lay next to his Mom. Dylan. on the other hand, needed to be sitting on me or he would fuss. He was just so much more active. The other moms were like, well that's a good smart baby. And yes, it is. But he is also very demanding. I keep telling myself that in two weeks he will be giving the daycare people a run for their money instead of me and I can catch a break.

Ding dong. Hello Officer.

We got a new screen door - the kind that is all glass or screen - so now we can leave the front door open and just have the screen door closed. Brandy loves being able to see out. We also cleared out the mess of undergrowth next to the driveway up to our property line, planted new bushes and fixed the mailbox (now that the ground is not frozen and we can dig into it). And I put a mirror on my backseat - which the cops advised against - so I can see Dylan wen we're in the car. So yesterday at around 5:30 I was feeding Dylan and I heard Brandy bark (which she does now that she can see out the front door). The doorbell rang so I picked up Dylan and we went downstairs to see who was at the door. To both of our surprise - maybe mine more than Dylan's) there was a cop standing there. What went through my mind? Basically, what kind of trouble am I in? Did our neighbors complain that we cut too much of their ivy that was coming across onto our property? Did the cop see the mirror on my car and come to tell me to take it off? Is my car parked illegally? (It's amazing how the "I'm in trouble" mentality doesn't go away). So, already long story shorter, someone tried to break into the school down the street (right across from the police station) and he wanted to know if I had heard any weird noises the night before. I hadn't, and he apologized for bothering me. So much for being safe living down the street from Fort PoPo.

And speaking of Fort PoPo...

Dylan and I were walking back from StrollerFit today, through the police station parking lot like we always do, when a woman started walking towards us. She called out, "Excuse me," so I stopped. She asked, "Are you a resident of this town?" Now, I don't know about you, but that right off the bat seemed to me like a shady question. Why would you need to know if I'm a resident of this town? So hesitantly I answered, "Yes."

Her: "Can I ask you a question?"
Me: "You just did." Ha ha. No, I didn't really say that. I said, "Sure."
Her: *looking at Dylan* "Who's this?"
Me: "This is Dylan."
Her: (to Dylan) "Hi Dylan."
Dylan: *giggles*
Her: (to me) "What do you think of this municipal building/police station that they're building?
Me: "You mean 'Fort PoPo?'" Ha. Again, didn't say that. Although it would have been funny. I just kind of looked at her funny.
Her: "I'm a reporter."
Me: *thinking* "Oh hell no." *saying* "I don't know. We weren't around when they voted on it. I guess it will look nice when it's done."
Dylan: *Waaaaaaah*
Me: "He's hungry."
Her: "I'll let you go. I know how that is."

Yeah. Like I'm going to get myself quoted in the paper bitching about the police station. Because they don't know what my car looks like since I live down the block. Because I want to get pulled over and harassed.

Dylan starts Rice Cereal today

Yeah. Wish me luck with all of that.

Posted by Terri at 10:53 AM | Comments (2)

August 16, 2006

My Little Flirt

We had to make an emergency run to Mommy's work yesterday afternoon. Apparently, when your network computer has not logged into the network locally for a while it can't log on anymore. Translation: I couldn't get into my laptop - which has all my personal stuff on the hard drive (shhhhh) - unless I went to work and connected locally.

So we went to work. Dylan was a big hit. The last time he was there, he sat in his stroller and smiled tentatively at everyone. This time, he started to fuss in his stroller so I took him out and sat him on me, facing out. A bunch of women I work with came over and they were cooing at him and talking to him and he just started laughing his throaty "ah huuh huuuh huuuuuuh" laugh. At one point, we were all standing around laughing because his laugh is so catching. There was one woman there that he just loved and he was batting his eyes at her and giggling at her the most, but all the women got lots of his charm poured on them.

Of course, when a man came over, Dylan frowned at him. But when he was surrounded by women he was laughing it up and having a grand old time. Luckily, Dylan did giggle at my boss, even though he's a man. The kid's good, what can I say?

What did Darren have to say about this? "That's my boy!"

Posted by Terri at 11:51 AM | Comments (1)

August 15, 2006

Dylan can talk!!!

It's amazing. My baby can communicate. I mean, aside from screaming to let me know he is displeased.

Now before you start pulling out milestone charts and telling me it is impossible that my child is speaking, I want to point out that I did not say he can speak English. No. He speaks Dylanese. All I have to do now is figure out what he means.

I have translated a few words so far:

"Bruuuu" or "Ah Bruuuu" means "I'm tired of [whatever it is he is currently doing]. Please pick me up or I'm going to start to wail."

"Waah" - not crying, he literally says "waah" - means "You've got about 2 seconds, lady, to pick me up or I'm going to start screaming."

There are a bunch of others - "Maaaah" and "Goooo" and "Gaaah" - I haven't figured out yet, but they are happier words. He also giggles - a cute throaty giggle - when he is happy, which is very easy to understand.

On the flip side of him becoming more aware and intelligent, he is starting to understand more. This is sometimes not good. He has an aversion to naps, and I think he's figured out that when I swaddle him it means I'm going to try to put him to sleep, and therefore down for a nap. He gets very angry. He does not cry. No, he screams his little baby head off. I just thank my lucky starts that we don't have a problem yet putting him down to sleep at night. *Knock on wood*

Last night, we went for a walk, and since it wasn't sunny, we were able to put the canopy on the stroller down, and Dylan was completely intruiged with the trees and the sky going past. Usually he either screams or sleeps on walks, but this one he was awake and perfectly happy watching the world go by and playing with his burp cloth. And the other day at StrollerFit when I thought he was going to start crying because I left his line of vision, I came back to instead find him batting happily away at his bugs (that hang down from the stroller bar). So the aware/intelligent thing has two sides to it, I guess.

Posted by Terri at 01:49 PM | Comments (0)

August 10, 2006

...A Giant Hippo That Moves!!!

First, let me just say that the other day after I posted, we achieved a new level of coordination. One hand could hit the fish while the other hand pulled the shirt up over the face. It was quite the sight.

Today, while he was lying on his mat hitting his fish - with two hands now - the dog wandered into the room and lay down next to the mat. Up until now, no matter what the dog did, Dylan paid no attention to her. Even when she licked his head, all he did was give me a horrified look as if to say, "What the deuce was that, Mommy???" Anyway, today was different. Today, he turned and looked at the dog and frowned. He made a grunty noise and the dog turned her face to look at him. Dylan kicked his legs, swung his arms and giggled at the dog.

The friendship begins. I've been telling Brandy for months that Dylan will be her best friend once he starts eating food and throwing it on the floor.

Uh oh. Hitting the fish has worn out its enjoyability for now. I have to go.

Posted by Terri at 09:23 AM | Comments (0)

August 08, 2006

And So It Begins...

It was brought to my attention at Dylan's baptism that I hadn't updated in a while. (Of course, this was brought to my attention by someone who doesn't have a 2 1/2 month-old). But anyway, here I am, updating. Since Uncle Mike does not want to read about something he was there for, I will just give you a quick update of the baptism.

Dylan was such a good baby! The priest (Reverend? Still not sure what to call her) held him during the sermon and he didn't cry. She held him while they poured water on his head and rubbed chrism on his forehead and he didn't cry. It was not until she walked down the aisle with him and he couldn't see Mommy that all hell broke loose. Forget it after that, he was done. Thankfully, before we went to eat, he fell asleep.

They gave him his baptismal candle and a little lamb and they gave us something for the Godparents that says they're Godparents. It was so nice. I am so happy we chose this church and that Dylan was baptized into it. They were also so kind while I was walking back and forth outside trying to calm Dylan and quiet him down.

But now I will write about something Uncle Mike has not read. Because, you know, it's all about keeping Uncle Mike happy.

Michael, you can start reading here.

I went onto the American Academy of Pediatrics website yesterday to look up something about starting solid food - since we are planning to do that next Friday - and I came across a baby development article that said that by the end of three months the baby should bat at toys above his head. Well, of course, I panicked because Dylan does not bat at toys above his head and he'll be three months next Friday. (Where did that time go?) Then I realized he never really had toys hanging above his head. So I got out the play mat Grandma gave him and stuck him on it. It has a fish (roughly the size and shape of a baseball) and a sea turtle and a mirror hanging down. He just lay there. I panicked again.

Then something wonderful happened. He found himself in the mirror. And well, this was just the funniest thing in the world. He lay there and laughed at himself in the mirror and got so excited that he waved his hands in the air. His hand hit the fish and caught his attention. Now, the fish was swinging back and forth and that was the funniest thing going. After that, he continued to swing at the fish, hit it, and giggle. (He did miss the fish about the same amount he hit the fish, but he was still batting at it).

That's when he made his amazing discovery. If you uncurl them, those fisty-things at the end of your arms can be used to manipulate your world. Now it's all over. First he tried to grab the fish, but since it is round he couldn't. Next he grabbed the mirror and managed to twist it around. Then he found his shirt. And lets just say, it's a good thing my little flasher is not a girl. Apparently pulling your shirt up and showing everyone your belly is hysterical because he does it and then looks at me and giggles.

Seriously. What is it with males and nudity?

Posted by Terri at 11:16 AM | Comments (3)