Advice

I get all sorts of advice, especially from the women I work with. Most of the advice I get is advice I asked for. I like to hear as many people's experiences as possible before I make up my mind. I even initiated a conversation with someone this morning who I thought
was someone else. (that's what happens when you're as sleep deprived as I am!) No matter. Turns
out she breastfed and said her kids also did not sleep through the night. She said what I needed to hear right then even though I've heard it from some of you before on this blog- "hang in there, just when you think you can't take it anymore, it'll change."

Great news today- I am tenured!

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Monitors are funny

One night last week Cole was sleeping (for once!) and all of a sudden we hear this over the monitor: "Meeeeeoooooow."

It was Clem, who we had forgotten was in the room with Cole. Apparently she was done babysitting for the night.

Sent from my iPhone

Letter to Summer, et. al.

Dear July, I miss you tremendously even though you were sometimes too hot to bear.

Dear August, Why did you go so soon? You were beautiful, but you went by so quickly I didn't even have time to breathe you in.

Dear September,
Are you seriously leaving already? We didn't even get to hang out together!

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Daily cuteness: chillin in the stroller

It's finally happened- all that growing and feeding has paid off. Cole finally fits in the stroller without the car seat! A picture of Cole fitting in the Beco Gemini coming soon…

7 random facts

I'm taking a page from a fellow blogger and writing 7 random facts about parenthood and parenting Cole

1. Cole always sneezes in threes. He's been doing this since he was born.
2. Cole hates the bath. He turns his head to the side as if he's tolerating it. That's when he's not screaming bloody murder.
3. We took cole for a walk on the rail trail in the used jogging stroller we got and he loved it. He's officially graduated from the car seat stroller combo and is now able to fit in the strollers with no extra support.
4. He's getting very close to rolling over on his own. He's starting to arch his back and turn his head as if he's going to roll over.
5. We rarely get alone time and when we do we are busy with our own chores or work.
6. Cole is the cutest baby in the day care infant room. I realized this when another teacher from another room came over to my car to say goodbye to Cole. Gushing from afar was just not good enough. I don't mind this at all. The more attention and love he gets the better.
7. Cole was blessed on Sunday by the woman who married us. I'll post pictures that allison took in a few days.

Thanks to Harvestingkale.com for mentioning my blog on hers! And thanks to Randalin ( the author of that blog) for inspiring me to do this post.

Sent from my iPhone

Happy birthday

Happy 4 month old birthday to my precious baby!

Daily cuteness: Mmm, baby toes

Daily cuteness: daddy & baby

Eating a late lunch at jack and luna's. Yuuumm. The food, not the baby- although some of you may say otherwise.

Studio Outtakes

These are my favorites. I love the family portrait because of the way Cole is standing and looking straight at the camera. The other individual shots of just him are his classic adorable smile - when he raises his shoulders up and giggles. And I like the shot of him and I just because.

Daily cuteness: stuck in the pacifier

A thumb in the pacifier. How cute?!

Not connecting

Sorry for not connecting with anyone during the past week, including on this blog. At first work was slow and easy. I was able to post every day. But now things have really stepped up. I'm teaching personal writing now and we had open house last night, which meant I got home way past my bedtime. I also have been fighting a cold for the past few days and still am not sleeping longer than 2-3 hours in a row at night. I've also been fighting clogged ducts in both of my breasts, so I've had to stop all bottle feedings at home. That means more nursing time for me, which translates into even less free time (not like I had much anyway!)

As you could see from the video I posted earlier today, we got a Baby Einstein activity center for Cole. They had one just like it at his day care and he loves it. I found him in it the other day when I arrived to pick him up. He looked so precious standing and checking out the different toys around him. We found one on Craigslist for $20, Keith cleaned it up and recorded Cole in it while I was at open house last night. He emailed me the video and I showed it off to a few other teachers. He looks so cute! He is so cute! It's amazing how adorable he is and how happy he is most of the time. I love when I pick him up at day care and his eyes light up. It just melts my heart. I feel so lucky to have such an amazing son.

Sunday is the blessing and we are really excited for it. We've rented a tent and are going to serve food from Main Course. We really wanted to make it a special occasion and not just a regular party. As soon as I can, I will post those outtakes from the photo shoot the other day. I know I promised those eons ago, so I'll get on that as soon as I can. The little man awakes!

Me-time

I had my eyebrows waxed the other afternoon. It was only 10 minutes but it was so nice to be able to put my head back and have someone else take care of me. I didn't even
notice the pain. It actually felt good.
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Cole and his new toy

Daily cuteness: Keith's take

Are there words?

Yesterday's output

This is from one pumping session! I figured out that my problem was that I was so stressed or anxious when I was pumping that it was causing me to pump less. So I've been actively practicing relaxing ( very hard to do in the middle of a work day!) and it has been working, as you can see.

The other space

This is actually a room, albeit a small room. But it's cozier than the 'closet'.

My closet

Keith thinks of this more as a walk- in closet. The mirror is a nice touch, don't you think?

A Plea

Dear god of Infant Sleep,

What did we do wrong? And what can we do to make it up to you?

Yours truly,
Mama

Miss Pumps a Lot

My output so far this week:
13 oz Monday (2 cups of Mother's Milk tea did the trick! Either that or I was just full from a nursing marathon the 2 days prior)
8 oz Tuesday (stress)
9 oz today (not bad, since that is what Cole has at day care)

Because I did not nurse enough monday night, I started to develop a clogged duct. We now have a new routine that remedies that situation. I learned my lesson and will nurse instead of Keith giving a bottle - at least until I can replenish my frozen supply (only 5 bags left - two of which are at day care!!!). And if he gives a bottle I must remember to pump!

At work, I pump either in a storage closet or a little room off of the health office. It's not too bad, except that when I'm pumping in the storage closet, and the bell rings I hear EVERYONE. The students are right outside the door and I'm petrified someone's going to just open the door and everyone's going to see me in my pumping apparatus. I would be mortified. But I should not fear because I am the only one (besides a secretary) with the key to the closet. And she has no need to go in there and knows I pump in there.
Also, when I pump after school I hear the whispered conversations of teachers in the hallway. They have no idea I'm in that room. It's pretty amusing.

Last night

Last night was the absolute worst night for sleeping. And I still have to go to work today. Cole was up every hour wanting to nurse and screaming and giving me this pathetic look if I didn't nurse him right away. I realized around 9:30 that he was teething, so we gave him Infant Tylenol and that worked for a little while but then he kept waking up after that anyway. The thing is, each time he nursed, he really drank! So maybe it's a growth spurt? I still am not sure.
I'm writing now because you will not hear from me tonight. As soon as I am able, I will be going to sleep. No blogging for me.

Photos and other stuff

So, at my request, Keith posted two more photos of Cole from our photo shoot. Check out his blog to see the newer photos. Cole looks simply adorable.  Once Keith gives me copies of the photos, I will post a few others in the coming days. We even did a family portrait using a self timer. Even though none of them are worth framing, I'll still post one or two from that series as well.

Cole update: He's discovered that his voice has a higher octave and he has been using that ever since last night. He shrieks for no reason in particular and it's quite funny at times. Although, it's cute because it's obvious he's experimenting with his voice, it can get frustrating when he uses that same high octave to scream and cry from overtiredness or hunger.

Visitors: Also, Allison, Shawn and Junie came over last night for dinner and what is the one thing we forget to do? Take pictures, of course.

Pumping: Lately, I've been getting less milk than I'd like during my two pumps at work and it's making me nervous, especially since Cole is starting to eat more at day care. Note: he's not eating more often, just eating more during each feeding. I'm trying not to be anxious when I'm pumping and I'm also trying not to look at what is coming out, but that is next to impossible with my personality. Anyway, I've been drinking more cups of Mother's Milk and I'm making a concerted effort to pump on the weekends to replenish my frozen supply with milk that does not have antibiotics in it. Yesterday, we were out all day, so I did not get to pump. Today, however, I've already pumped twice - once after a feeding and another time during a long nap Cole took (well, still is taking.) If the tea does not help, I may take Fenugreek. It can't hurt!

Family outing

Today we had a fun day. We saw some friends at monkey joe's. We went to the studio for the first time in 2 months, and then we went to bread alone for lunch. You can check keith's blog for the one photo he liked best , but be sure to check back here in a few days for some of my favorites of that shoot.

Daily Cuteness: My serious boy

This is Cole's serious side. Tomorrow, I'll show you his cute, goofy side (as if you haven't seen it already!)

Funny thing: Yesterday the day care sent home a Scholastic catalog for books for Cole. And this is funny because I do Scholastic with my students. Today they sent home a flyer for their school photographer. Apparently, he's coming in a few weeks and they want us to choose what background we'd like Cole in front of. Also, they told us not to dress our child in green because apparently, he does everything in front of a green screen and then changes it later. We decided to do it just to see how the picture comes out. We'll get a proof either way, so I'll be sure to post the results.

Daily Cuteness: My, what big eyes you have

taken on his 3 month birthday

Day off

Today is a day off for me and for Cole. It's a Jewish holiday, and I have a Jewish friend, so shame on me for not knowing which holiday. OK, I just looked it up and it's Rosh Hashana. Happy Rosh Hashana Beth!

So today we just got two more vaccines for Cole and he took it pretty well - so far. (I am crossing my fingers for how he will take it over the next few days,) Sure, he screamed and cried, but after the infant tylenol and some nursing, he was a happy camper. He was actually smiling. I hope he doesn't get any severe side effects from either vaccines. I never realized how scary being a parent can be. It's a constant replaying of the "What if" question in your head and you just hope that you made the right decision in getting such and such a vaccine. You think that the benefits outweigh the risks and you hope that he doesn't suffer from these decisions. One of the vaccines, I actually requested because it's a common thing to catch in daycare and of course I worried about the consequences of such a decision. I guess it feels right when they recommend it but when they don't insist on it then you feel like the ball is totally in your court and it's on you if something goes wrong.

So I'm feeling like a bad mommy blogger. I have not been keeping up on milestones or updates on Cole's development like I'd like to.

So here goes. He's 15 weeks today.
His weight: As of Tuesday he weighs 13 lbs 10 oz.
His eye color: Has turned from dark blue to brown, although the rims are still a shade of blue.
His hair color: Looks to be a light brown.

This leaves no doubt:
he likes the television

His interests: He likes the television. Am I a bad mommy or what? Or is Keith a bad daddy or what? You pick. Anyway, he enjoys watching the television and will do a 180 degree turn if he is on your lap facing you and the television is on behind you. He likes books. I've been reading a book to him every day. I brought a bunch of books to The Bookworm, a used bookstore and came home with four used Dr. Seuss books. Apparently Dr. Seuss books are a hot commodity in the used bookworld. I think The Foot Book is his personal favorite. (I posted a daily cuteness picture recently of Keith reading The Foot Book I borrowed from the library). He likes to chew things. He chews and sucks on his wubbie lately and he has a fondness for grabbing our fingers and putting them in his mouth. He likes looking at green things - namely, plants.

His dislikes: Any pacifier but the Avent pacifier. He makes a yukky face and spits them out. Through trial and error the Avent pacifier is the only one he will take, even if it is for a short while. He dislikes going to sleep. Not even going to bother explaining that one, because if you are a parent, you know what THAT is like.

Reaching

Motor skills: He pet Clem yesterday. And she promptly stood up from her reclined position and said fearfully "Oh My God, it's starting. That thing can touch me!"  He reaches up and touches the toys hanging from the curved bar above his bouncy seat. He is still working on doing a full rollover. He can turn pages of books, whether they are made of cloth, plastic or paper. It's not graceful, but it's still amazing to watch! He grabs onto my hair and does NOT let go. That's a fun one. I am still not cutting my hair because I know he'd still grab it even if it was shorter.  (Although I had a crazy dream last night that my hair was short, and I didn't know how it got that way!) He can hold toys with both hands. He can lift both feet up and hold them in the air. He has even gotten one foot almost in his mouth.

Sleeping skills: As of the past week or so, he's finally showing signs of being able to fall asleep while drowsy. We used to have to wait until he was sound asleep before putting him down. Boy did that do a number on our backs. We've placed him down a number of times in his co-sleeper while still drowsy, after being rocked just a little bit, and he's fallen asleep. Last weekend I even got him to fall asleep by laying down in my bed next to his co-sleeper and closing my eyes until he closed his and fell asleep. It was very sweet. Sometimes he fights it though. Last night was a perfect example. But I won't bore you with the details. Let's just say, he wanted to be awake way more than he wanted to sleep.

Forgetfulness

Today I left my house without essential parts to my breast pump. I realized this about 15 minutes away from home. Boy did my heart sink. I was left with little choice - if I went home, I'd be really late to work (even though I was early) and in big trouble OR risk being engorged all day and potentially get an infection. What's a girl to do? Luckily, I have a responsible and reliable husband who was already dressed 30 minutes before he was supposed to leave the house. So he rushed out the door with Cole and met me in New Paltz to deliver said parts.

OK Opening Day

The REAL opening day was decent. I think my "exciting" lesson fell a bit flat and it probably didn't help that we had fire drills practically every single period. I feel like I talked too much and didn't hold the kids accountable as much - calling on the ones who didn't raise their hands would've made things much more interesting, but sometimes that too can be awkward because most kids don't care if all they have to say is "I don't know" even if there is no right or wrong answer. So you don't know? or you don't want to think? That is not only awkward, but also frustrating. But other than that things went smoothly.

On the home front Keith stayed home with Cole. They both have colds, verified by the doctor. Cole is OK for daycare - no fever and the cold is on its way out, although we have to be on the watch for an ear infection which usually proceeds a cold and can apparently can come just when he's starting to feel better. Thursday I have off and am to take him in for his second round of immunizations. He only got two shots for three vaccines last visit, so these are the two I wanted spaced out - Polio and the Pc vaccine.  When I got home  after work today, I nursed Cole right away - he was ravenous - and then I walked around with him a bit in the Beco Gemini. Keith discovered that if you don't tighten the sides too much Cole's head can peer over the front better. He's still secure in there, he just has more room and he hangs down lower.

So many ideas, so little time...

Over the past few days I've had so many great ideas for posts but so little time to write them. Maybe I'll just try to condense them all into bullet points - but I don't want to bore my readers!

First and foremost - my little baby has a cold! He's been struggling with it since Friday night. Today his boogies have turned a slight shade of yellow. But otherwise he is a happy baby. And now hubbie is not feeling well, again, so he is contemplating a daddy and son trip to the doctor tomorrow. I am praying and praying I do not catch what either of them have. Tomorrow is my first day of teaching in 8 whole months and I can't get sick! But most of all, I hope my family gets better soon so we can enjoy this spectacular weather we've been having. I did manage to take Cole out for a walk this morning in the stroller, so at least he's getting some fresh air. Hubby is under strict orders today to do nothing but rest, watch tv or read. No computer for him! Rest only.

As far as my first two days back at work went -- the opening days last week were great. I got a good amount of work done and I felt like the "speeches" by our administrators were honest and positive and I really appreciated that. I'm looking forward to this year and the changes we are making to the curriculum. I also found out good news- I am not traveling this year between the two schools. I will be at the school I've been at for two years. On the 11th hour, literally, they added two more sections, and I got to stay there full-time. Nice! Makes life a helluva lot easier for me.

Cole and I in the Beco Gemini

On the babywearing front - we got yet another carrier. I know, I know, I'm obsessed with these carriers. But both Keith and I agreed that this carrier would be a good carrier and better for Cole's spine. Right now, we use the Baby Bjorn because Cole LOVES facing out. But the Baby Bjorn puts pressure on his spine, which is certainly not good for his development. Fortunately, Cole doesn't spend that much time in it so it's not a huge deal, but I'm always thinking about it. Plus, the Baby Bjorn pulls on my shoulders and it is not that easy to get things done with him in it. It took me 20 minutes to weigh and pack the produce at the CSA last week with Cole in the Baby Bjorn, all the while fending off mosquitoes and other various bugs. So we purchased the Beco Gemini, which is a new design and has 4 different carries: front facing out, front facing in, hip carry, and back facing in. The only problem is that Cole's head does not entirely fit over the front. His little head kind of peeks over it, as you can see. Although he can see out perfectly fine, I think he'd prefer more of his face be free from obstruction. But I will tell you this, it is SO much more secure than the Bjorn. I'm excited to take Cole hiking in it.

In other news, because of Cole's cold we had to cancel our trip down to Long Island. We had planned for Cole to meet my grandmother, to celebrate my dad's birthday and to go to a wedding all on Saturday and Saturday night. But we did not want to take the chance of making Cole sick by traveling so far. It takes at least 2.5 hours to get down to where my father lives.  We felt terrible canceling on Dad and on Dan and Julie, whose wedding we were going to attend. But we've got to put our little baby first. We are hoping to get down to LI sometime soon so that Cole can finally meet my grandmother.

My dad took this picture of Keith and I at the reservoir

A few weeks ago, right after Joann's wedding, my father came up for a visit and I totally forgot to post about it or post pictures. We went for lunch at Bread Alone in Boiceville and then went for a drive and walk by the Ashokan Reservoir, which supplies water to NYC.

Cole & I at Bread Alone

Three generations: Dad, me and Cole

   The road that once went through the Ashokan Reservoir but was closed after  9/11

Oh and to my dear readers: I am participating in the blog-a-thon posted below, so my goal is to post every day. I've only missed one day so far - but I think I have a good excuse!

The flipside

le

The side of Cole you don't often see. It's the last holdout of his newborn hair. Keith calls it The Mullet.

Birthday shout out

Happy birthday to Papa Joe!
Love, your grandson, Cole

His First Day

My friend emailed me and was wondering why I didn't write about Cole's first day in last night's post. I would have written more last night but I was on about 3-4 hours sleep and I was typing with one hand. By 9 p.m., I was so tired, I fell asleep halfway sitting up in bed. Now I'm eating breakfast with a little bit more sleep  -thanks to Keith giving Cole a bottle at 9:30 - but not much. I am going to try to stay as hydrated as possible today and hopefully I can pump more than 8 oz, so that Keith can give him another bottle tonight. Yesterday after finishing my giant water bottle I looked around for some fresh water but the water coolers were no where to be found and since the water is very questionable at the school I work at (hence the need for the coolers) I held getting a bottle of water until I became so thirsty I was actually asking people to get me water.  Now I have two water bottles filled up and ready to go in the refrigerator.

So Cole's first day. When Keith dropped him off he was asleep. Keith took a picture of him and sent it to me a few hours later. I almost cried, he looked so cute.  He had a bottle shortly after waking up, napped a bit, fussed a bit and as the director said, "took it all in." When I called around noon, she said he hadn't smiled yet but he had stopped fussing and was just really taking in his surroundings. He also had three naps and three bottles. They didn't tell me exactly how much he drank though and that's something I have to request of them next week, so I know whether I should pump before and/or after work. When I got there around 4 to pick him up he was sitting in the lap of one of his teachers. This did not surprise me, as every time I try to put Cole "in" something he can only last about 10 minutes tops before he starts to fuss. Guess where he prefers to sit? You got it. Mommy's lap. The other baby was in the swing they had there. Because of the confusion about the following day being their day off, there were a lot of questions I meant to ask but didn't. So that's really all I know. They said he had a great first day and they said they'd be honest if he didn't, so I'm guessing he did. He seemed happy to be home after he was finished nursing and we were hanging out around 5.

Time for me to get ready. Cute detail of the day - daddy and baby are still sleeping in the bedroom!

My first day

I'm sitting here nursing for the third time since we got home around 4:30 p.m. and I am more than OK with it.  I am enjoying it. I realized last night how much nursing relaxes both me AND Cole. And now that I don't get to spend all day with him, I appreciate our time together that much more.

In a nutshell, my first day was nice and welcoming, albeit disgustingly hot, sweaty and smelly. I showed Cole off with this mini album Keith made for us, pumped (I took a picture that I may post later), brought most of my 350 young adult books back into my classroom and was surprised to find two solid wood wide bookshelves in the back of the room. Score!

While picking Cole up from day care I was even more surprised to find out that guess what?! Tomorrow is a holiday for them. And to think I almost left my precious 8 ounces of breast milk in their fridge. Our solution is the only one that is possible - Keith will have to take the day or work from home if he's allowed. So tomorrow might be a little easier than today.

The last day

I'm embarking on a new chapter in my life as a mother. Tomorrow, I become a working mother. (Not as if I didn't work as a mother these past 3 months, but you get my drift). I will no longer be able to take photos like this at random times of the day. I will no longer see my baby around the clock. Someone else will be with him 10 hours out of each weekday. That leaves me with 14 hours each day. 118 hours each week (including weekends). I hate this. I hate this. I hate this. I don't know how other people do it. I already cried once tonight, and I know I'm going to be a mess tomorrow morning. But I will get through it.