Wow, I'm having a hard time getting anything done. I mean, anything but menial chores. Part of it probably has to do with being pregnant, but mostly I think it has to do with having a very active toddler. When I'm not interacting with him or out with him somewhere, I spend most of my time cleaning and picking up the house, washing clothes and dishes. Order is important to me, and yet I often feel like I have nothing to show for my efforts. I get to enjoy a tidy room or a clean kitchen for a fraction of a second before it's all undone and the cycle starts again. Over and over. I feel like a hamster in a wheel, running and running but not getting anywhere. I'm sure this is the lament of many a mom. You'll have to cut me some slack, because TJ was out of town all week and I'm pretty burned out.
I took E for his 18-month well check yesterday (a month late). He got the dreaded MMR shot, which I've been fearing and avoiding for a year. I would've waited until his two-year checkup, but that's right around when the baby is due, so I decided to go ahead and do it now. And you know what? It was no big deal. I mean, he cried (he got two shots), but he was fine shortly afterward, and he was his usual energetic, happy self the rest of the day. We went to play at the Central Market playscape afterward and he had a freaking blast. He has taken monster naps yesterday and today, and this morning he was very difficult to deal with, but that seems to be more from his bottom canines. So, whew, glad the MMR is over.
By the way, he weighed in at 27 pounds, 11 ounces (75th percentile) and he's 32.5 inches tall (60th percentile). His head circumference is in the 90th percentile.
One thing that jumped out at me from the info sheet they gave us about this age: Don't expect them to share yet. Case in point: E's friend Jonas came over yesterday afternoon and there were many tears shed over the miniature Dirt Devil vacuum cleaner we have. Learning to share is hard.
Last Saturday I drove up to Ft. Worth to help throw a bachelorette party for a high school friend. Several of the girls were staying out all night with the bride, but I rode up and back with a friend of mine who's also pregnant (just two weeks apart!) and mama to a toddler. Partying all night and being away from our families the whole weekend wasn't something we felt comfortable with, so we drove up that morning and then back after a late dinner. I got home at 3 a.m. Groan. TJ left that day (though not until the afternoon).
I have to say that the best part of the day on Saturday was talking to my friend in the car. We talked for a total of around seven hours at least. Non-stop. And I felt like we could've talked longer. It was such a treat. No interruptions, no one else to take care of, and endless subjects to talk about. I love this friend, and I wish we got to see each other more often.
Well, E's up now. More soon, hopefully.
Showing posts with label friends. Show all posts
Showing posts with label friends. Show all posts
Friday, May 1, 2009
Thursday, December 18, 2008
Lists
My friend Keltie emailed a couple of days ago and said (she's so great), "Are you panicked about flying and the holidays and TJ's family and Christ, just getting ready for it all with Eamon? I would be. I would be making lists in my head for days and days."
Yes! That's what I'm doing! Last night I went out and bought toys for the plane trips. Lots of toys. They'll be E's Christmas presents, way more than he would get if we weren't traveling. He'll get some on the way there and some on the way back, and then he'll have presents from relatives on Christmas Day (not that it will matter to him since he doesn't understand Christmas yet).
We're staying with Keltie in Philly on Monday night since our flight gets in late and our hotel (near TJ's sister's house) is two hours away. I'm so excited to see Kel and for her to meet E, but I'm bummed that we won't get to meet her baby girl, Ellie, who is four weeks older than E. She'll already be in the DC area with her dad, maximizing time with grandparents.
We're also spending our last night in PA at Keltie's house, but she won't be there at that point. It's wonderful to not have to stay in a hotel for two of the nights, and to be somewhere that's set up for a baby.
There are so many details to think about, and I haven't thought them through completely yet because I've had my hands full being sick, taking care of E, and trying to finish Christmas shopping (which is actually a much easier task this year since we're only doing gifts for TJ's six nieces and nephews and my five [counting my sister-in-law] siblings). I felt horrible earlier today but am feeling better now. It's too boring to get into. I'm bored of being sick and talking about being sick and I'd like it to be over soon. I'm missing a co-op meeting tonight because of it, and I really needed to be there.
Time to get the pizza out of the oven.
Yes! That's what I'm doing! Last night I went out and bought toys for the plane trips. Lots of toys. They'll be E's Christmas presents, way more than he would get if we weren't traveling. He'll get some on the way there and some on the way back, and then he'll have presents from relatives on Christmas Day (not that it will matter to him since he doesn't understand Christmas yet).
We're staying with Keltie in Philly on Monday night since our flight gets in late and our hotel (near TJ's sister's house) is two hours away. I'm so excited to see Kel and for her to meet E, but I'm bummed that we won't get to meet her baby girl, Ellie, who is four weeks older than E. She'll already be in the DC area with her dad, maximizing time with grandparents.
We're also spending our last night in PA at Keltie's house, but she won't be there at that point. It's wonderful to not have to stay in a hotel for two of the nights, and to be somewhere that's set up for a baby.
There are so many details to think about, and I haven't thought them through completely yet because I've had my hands full being sick, taking care of E, and trying to finish Christmas shopping (which is actually a much easier task this year since we're only doing gifts for TJ's six nieces and nephews and my five [counting my sister-in-law] siblings). I felt horrible earlier today but am feeling better now. It's too boring to get into. I'm bored of being sick and talking about being sick and I'd like it to be over soon. I'm missing a co-op meeting tonight because of it, and I really needed to be there.
Time to get the pizza out of the oven.
Thursday, October 16, 2008
Status Report: Twelve Months
It's amazing that twelve months ago, give or take, E looked like this.
And here he is today, a big standing guy.
I took him to his twelve-month check-up this morning (he turned one on September 30). He weighed 24 pounds 11 ounces and measured 30 inches tall. Those measurements apparently fall in the 60th to 75th percentile range, and his head circumference landed around the 80th percentile.
In the waiting room, I noticed something in his hair that I thought was dried food or snot at first, only to discover that he has cradle cap on the top of his head. For some reason, uncovering the peeling, flaky, orangey expanse of dry scalp hidden under his sweet blond locks gave me the willies. The timing of the discovery couldn't have been more perfect, though. The doc told us some stuff to do, so we'll see if it works.
I only had a couple of questions going in. The first had to do with whether I might be raising a Motrin addict. I just feel like I'm constantly doling out the Motrin. The doc said once a day is okay when it's needed, and giving it a break every now and then is a good thing. Our Motrin use runs in spurts, so I was relieved to hear this. E's fifth tooth is in as of yesterday or the day before, so that was cool to see.
My other question had to do with food (surprise, surprise, toddlerhood). I haven't had a chance to post about it, but I just don't feel like we've got the food thing down. It seems like Eamon eats the same four meals (actually more like two now) over and over again, and in the meantime he's getting pickier and pickier. (So predictable, I know.) He flat-out refuses to feed himself fruits or vegetables. He won't touch them; the texture freaks him out. We're still able to feed him some veggies and fruit out of jars in between bites of regular food, but I don't expect that to last much longer. Right now, the main meals he eats are peanut butter & jelly sandwiches with Pirate's Booty and black bean & cheese quesadillas (and this week we thought to add spinach--and he ate it!). He used to eat tortilla with hummus, but now he won't touch hummus. Last night I couldn't bear to give him another quesadilla, so I tried heating up leftovers from our dinner the night before: baked pesto chicken and rice and peas. He surprised me by going nuts over the chicken, and he spit the rice and peas out. (He used to just refuse things; now he spits them out.) I was ecstatic over the chicken. Up until now he wouldn't eat chicken. He's also stopped eating avocado and bananas. He loves cubed cheese and cottage cheese; he's a dairy man in general. Frozen veggie burgers used to be popular: no mas. We've gotta find some other things that he'll eat, although the doc said not to worry about this stuff. He said E's sensitivity to texture is completely normal and that on average toddlers only eat one spoonful of food per meal, and then every seventh meal or so they eat a ton. Worrying about it will just make you neurotic, he said. I didn't tell him I already had that covered.
It would probably be best to all eat together, and to feed him whatever we're eating, but I just don't see that happening right now. He eats at 5:30 or 6:00, and there's just no way we can have dinner ready by then. Maybe at some point.
While I'm at it, here's a (hopefully quick) rundown on life with E as of late. On average, he goes down at 7 p.m. and wakes up at 6 a.m. (today it was 5:00, woohoo). We haven't had any night wakings in awhile, not since we cut out that one feeding. Actually, that's not completely true. He often wakes up once or twice between 7:00 and 11:00. Frequently, he puts himself back to sleep without us having to go in, but if he wakes up more than twice, it's usually because he's teething, and at that point I give him Motrin and rock him for a song or two. He goes down for his nap between noon and 1:00 and is usually up by 2:00. He often sleeps for an hour and a half, sometimes an hour or less, and sometimes (more rarely) for two hours.
He nurses three times a day: morning, before nap, and before bed. He's had a runny nose for the past week and has sometimes been too congested to nurse before nap, so on those days he's nursed after nap, and hasn't had a problem going down for his nap without nursing. I'm toying with the idea of cutting out the midday nursing, or rather seeing what happens if I don't offer it. There are days he wants to nurse for comfort, and I oblige. This happens maybe once a week. It happened last week in the middle of our playdate with Kay and Jonas. He came over to me and asked to nurse by moaning and leaning into me and grabbing at my shirt and biting/sucking on my arm. He nursed for a few minutes and then pulled off and resumed playing with Jonas, as though all was right in the world again.
He's starting to take steps but isn't walking yet. He spends a lot of time going from sitting to standing without holding on to anything, and then he stands and balances and grins and bounces and squeals and claps. We've noticed that he understands certain things we say: "Are you ready to go?" "Where's Squeaky?" That kind of thing. It's an amazing feeling to see him start to comprehend language.
In the past week he's learned how to hold his sippy cup by himself, and he seems to be enjoying the independence this offers. We now put his cup on his highchair tray during meals, and he stops eating very frequently to drink, which I find hilarious.
He loves social outings and is no shrinking violet. This is a constant source of wonder and discovery for me--watching him with other people, seeing the energy and happiness he gets from connecting with adults, bigger kids, and to a lesser (or different) extent, other babies. He thrives on it. He feels such joy, he could just burst.
This past Tuesday was my first time working at the co-op, and it was fascinating for a variety of reasons, not the least of which was seeing E's response to my taking care of other babies. One baby had a hard time when his mama left, and he needed to be held for a while. Eamon did not like that one bit. In fact, the other mom on duty had to comfort him while I was holding the other baby. It cracked me up because it seemed so unlike E (at least to date; then again we've never been in this situation before). A similar thing happened when I changed another boy's poopy diaper. E crawled over and clung to my leg, moaning dramatically the whole time. It was pretty funny.
It's amazing how intense and exhausting two hours with a group of little ones can be. I had a good time getting to know the other five babes better. They are all so different (natch), and so funny and sweet. The ages range from 12 months (E) to 17 months. This whole co-op thing rocks, I must say.
Well, I started this post during naptime today, and now it's evening and time to wind things down. Maybe I'll add a few more things tomorrow (as if this post weren't long enough).
And here he is today, a big standing guy.
I took him to his twelve-month check-up this morning (he turned one on September 30). He weighed 24 pounds 11 ounces and measured 30 inches tall. Those measurements apparently fall in the 60th to 75th percentile range, and his head circumference landed around the 80th percentile.
In the waiting room, I noticed something in his hair that I thought was dried food or snot at first, only to discover that he has cradle cap on the top of his head. For some reason, uncovering the peeling, flaky, orangey expanse of dry scalp hidden under his sweet blond locks gave me the willies. The timing of the discovery couldn't have been more perfect, though. The doc told us some stuff to do, so we'll see if it works.
I only had a couple of questions going in. The first had to do with whether I might be raising a Motrin addict. I just feel like I'm constantly doling out the Motrin. The doc said once a day is okay when it's needed, and giving it a break every now and then is a good thing. Our Motrin use runs in spurts, so I was relieved to hear this. E's fifth tooth is in as of yesterday or the day before, so that was cool to see.
My other question had to do with food (surprise, surprise, toddlerhood). I haven't had a chance to post about it, but I just don't feel like we've got the food thing down. It seems like Eamon eats the same four meals (actually more like two now) over and over again, and in the meantime he's getting pickier and pickier. (So predictable, I know.) He flat-out refuses to feed himself fruits or vegetables. He won't touch them; the texture freaks him out. We're still able to feed him some veggies and fruit out of jars in between bites of regular food, but I don't expect that to last much longer. Right now, the main meals he eats are peanut butter & jelly sandwiches with Pirate's Booty and black bean & cheese quesadillas (and this week we thought to add spinach--and he ate it!). He used to eat tortilla with hummus, but now he won't touch hummus. Last night I couldn't bear to give him another quesadilla, so I tried heating up leftovers from our dinner the night before: baked pesto chicken and rice and peas. He surprised me by going nuts over the chicken, and he spit the rice and peas out. (He used to just refuse things; now he spits them out.) I was ecstatic over the chicken. Up until now he wouldn't eat chicken. He's also stopped eating avocado and bananas. He loves cubed cheese and cottage cheese; he's a dairy man in general. Frozen veggie burgers used to be popular: no mas. We've gotta find some other things that he'll eat, although the doc said not to worry about this stuff. He said E's sensitivity to texture is completely normal and that on average toddlers only eat one spoonful of food per meal, and then every seventh meal or so they eat a ton. Worrying about it will just make you neurotic, he said. I didn't tell him I already had that covered.
It would probably be best to all eat together, and to feed him whatever we're eating, but I just don't see that happening right now. He eats at 5:30 or 6:00, and there's just no way we can have dinner ready by then. Maybe at some point.
While I'm at it, here's a (hopefully quick) rundown on life with E as of late. On average, he goes down at 7 p.m. and wakes up at 6 a.m. (today it was 5:00, woohoo). We haven't had any night wakings in awhile, not since we cut out that one feeding. Actually, that's not completely true. He often wakes up once or twice between 7:00 and 11:00. Frequently, he puts himself back to sleep without us having to go in, but if he wakes up more than twice, it's usually because he's teething, and at that point I give him Motrin and rock him for a song or two. He goes down for his nap between noon and 1:00 and is usually up by 2:00. He often sleeps for an hour and a half, sometimes an hour or less, and sometimes (more rarely) for two hours.
He nurses three times a day: morning, before nap, and before bed. He's had a runny nose for the past week and has sometimes been too congested to nurse before nap, so on those days he's nursed after nap, and hasn't had a problem going down for his nap without nursing. I'm toying with the idea of cutting out the midday nursing, or rather seeing what happens if I don't offer it. There are days he wants to nurse for comfort, and I oblige. This happens maybe once a week. It happened last week in the middle of our playdate with Kay and Jonas. He came over to me and asked to nurse by moaning and leaning into me and grabbing at my shirt and biting/sucking on my arm. He nursed for a few minutes and then pulled off and resumed playing with Jonas, as though all was right in the world again.
He's starting to take steps but isn't walking yet. He spends a lot of time going from sitting to standing without holding on to anything, and then he stands and balances and grins and bounces and squeals and claps. We've noticed that he understands certain things we say: "Are you ready to go?" "Where's Squeaky?" That kind of thing. It's an amazing feeling to see him start to comprehend language.
In the past week he's learned how to hold his sippy cup by himself, and he seems to be enjoying the independence this offers. We now put his cup on his highchair tray during meals, and he stops eating very frequently to drink, which I find hilarious.
He loves social outings and is no shrinking violet. This is a constant source of wonder and discovery for me--watching him with other people, seeing the energy and happiness he gets from connecting with adults, bigger kids, and to a lesser (or different) extent, other babies. He thrives on it. He feels such joy, he could just burst.
This past Tuesday was my first time working at the co-op, and it was fascinating for a variety of reasons, not the least of which was seeing E's response to my taking care of other babies. One baby had a hard time when his mama left, and he needed to be held for a while. Eamon did not like that one bit. In fact, the other mom on duty had to comfort him while I was holding the other baby. It cracked me up because it seemed so unlike E (at least to date; then again we've never been in this situation before). A similar thing happened when I changed another boy's poopy diaper. E crawled over and clung to my leg, moaning dramatically the whole time. It was pretty funny.
It's amazing how intense and exhausting two hours with a group of little ones can be. I had a good time getting to know the other five babes better. They are all so different (natch), and so funny and sweet. The ages range from 12 months (E) to 17 months. This whole co-op thing rocks, I must say.
Well, I started this post during naptime today, and now it's evening and time to wind things down. Maybe I'll add a few more things tomorrow (as if this post weren't long enough).
Saturday, August 2, 2008
In Summary
I had big plans to blog about Chris and Sharon's visit in more detail. I planned to write about hearing the whole story of Chris breaking his neck diving into the Mississippi River in 1992 (his C-6 vertebra was crushed), and learning more about Sharon's involvement with the Socialist Party in NYC in the early to mid nineties (she was super active and it was cracking us up), and talking about their life in Quito and their future plans, and sitting out in the backyard till late, reminiscing about when we all lived together in DC in the apartment at Columbia and 18th, and listening to TJ and Chris reminisce about even earlier times (oh the drinking, oh the pot smoking), and seeing them with Eamon. . . . I was also going to say something about how funny they are and how funny we become when we're with them. Do you know what I mean? I think it's what happens when you're with people you have a history with, and they understand your sense of humor completely, and suddenly everything you say is hilarious, and everything they say is too. That's TJ's role when we're with Chris and Sharon. He cracks us all up. They get him, and I love that. There's a mutual "getting" all around. I've found that to be pretty rare between couples--when things click with all four people, individually and as a group--and not just on a superficial level.
I was then going to write about them heading back to Ecuador and TJ departing for NY, and E and I going to my parents' new house in San Antonio the next night (after I had an appointment with a new obgyn--more about that some other time, maybe), and about my psycho stepbrother's wedding in two weeks and what a freakshow it promises to be, and how hard my parents have been working on it day in and day out while my brother sits at his apartment doing nothing but being the narcissistic, controlling, selfish person that he is. His psychiatrist (who is also my stepmom's) says that we should all just be grateful he's not in a hospital right now, and Gwen is thankful since that has always been her worst fear, but I have a hard time feeling thankful for that. There's the mental illness on the one hand, but being mentally ill doesn't give you a free pass to walk all over your family. It breaks my heart to see Gwen manipulated by him. She loves him so much. He treats her like shit, and she just keeps giving and loving. Thinking of Eamon, I understand this better now than in the past, but it's classic co-dependency, and it scares me when I think of what the future holds for them. I just want my parents to be able to retire at some point and at long last have only themselves to take care of.
In any case, TJ is home now, and it's wonderful to be back to our routine. He had a fun and productive time in NYC, and spent an evening with one of my closest friends, Trish, and her new (relatively speaking, in that I haven't met him) partner, Michael. I would've given pretty much anything to be there. Trish and I saw each other every day in DC, and oh, how I miss that three o'clock latte, not to mention the six o'clock beer(s).
Well, I was going to write about some developmental stuff that's happened with E, but he just woke up, so I'll save that for another post.
I was then going to write about them heading back to Ecuador and TJ departing for NY, and E and I going to my parents' new house in San Antonio the next night (after I had an appointment with a new obgyn--more about that some other time, maybe), and about my psycho stepbrother's wedding in two weeks and what a freakshow it promises to be, and how hard my parents have been working on it day in and day out while my brother sits at his apartment doing nothing but being the narcissistic, controlling, selfish person that he is. His psychiatrist (who is also my stepmom's) says that we should all just be grateful he's not in a hospital right now, and Gwen is thankful since that has always been her worst fear, but I have a hard time feeling thankful for that. There's the mental illness on the one hand, but being mentally ill doesn't give you a free pass to walk all over your family. It breaks my heart to see Gwen manipulated by him. She loves him so much. He treats her like shit, and she just keeps giving and loving. Thinking of Eamon, I understand this better now than in the past, but it's classic co-dependency, and it scares me when I think of what the future holds for them. I just want my parents to be able to retire at some point and at long last have only themselves to take care of.
In any case, TJ is home now, and it's wonderful to be back to our routine. He had a fun and productive time in NYC, and spent an evening with one of my closest friends, Trish, and her new (relatively speaking, in that I haven't met him) partner, Michael. I would've given pretty much anything to be there. Trish and I saw each other every day in DC, and oh, how I miss that three o'clock latte, not to mention the six o'clock beer(s).
Well, I was going to write about some developmental stuff that's happened with E, but he just woke up, so I'll save that for another post.
Tuesday, July 29, 2008
Chris and Sharon
We've had a busy few days, and I haven't been tired in this way in quite awhile. I have to go to bed now, but I at least wanted to post my favorite pictures from this weekend of our friends Chris and Sharon, who live in Ecuador. We hardly ever get to see them and we miss them terribly. Four days wasn't enough time, but it was wonderful. They left this afternoon, and TJ left early this morning for a two-night trip to NYC for work. Wouldn't you know that E woke up for the day at 5:30 this morning, and only napped a half hour this afternoon, and has already woken up three times since I put him down tonight. We're spending tomorrow night at my parents' new house in San Antonio, so that's a relief.
More soon . . .
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