Merry Christmas- Pass the Nog!

Hoodie from Uncle Justin and Aunt Sara! Thanks guys! He is wearing while practicing his Shakespeare in his picture.

Great gears toy from Grandma and Grandpa Robak in New Mexico. Easy on the ears and lots of fun!

Jacket from Grandma and Grandpa Robak in New Mexico. Comic characters from Andy. Nice pants Andrew!

This is our first Christmas with Bright! What a sweetie! Looking forward to so many more to come.

He must have some sort of sixth sense for knowing when his parents want to take him out and do something special. For times like those, he refuses to go down easy for a nap. Last night he sleep soooo terribly, which means that we all slept bad. Even the cat was having a more classic freakout than normal during the night. So we decided to call it quits to trying to get the little rascal to sleep at 6:30 this morning and went to open presents! Bright was clearly more enthralled with the boxes and paper than many of the things he found inside but we did have some real winners this year- all selected by the Robak men. Uncle Justin and Aunt Sara sent a sweet hoodie from Brooklyn. Thanks a bunch- he is the only infant Brooklyn hipster here in town! Then Grandpa and Grandma Robak sent him a great jacket, shirt and jean combo that fits great- always a challenge these days. And they sent a motorized, musical gears toy that is the first of such noise making toys that actually has very pleasant sounds to it! For that we cannot say Thank You enough!! Then Andy, in true Andy fashion, had picked out some wooden comic book figures of Wolverine, Spiderman, Captain America and the Hulk. They are MegaBlocks sized and great for chomping on. Another fave this year. Soon we will go to Grammy and Grampy's up the road and see Tess and Robert and their two dogs, Dave and Gale, and Matt and Marilu and his dog Margo. Should be fun! Here are some pictures from today. Merry Christmas to you all.

A few more days to go

Here are some pictures from the past few weeks. With all the cookie baking/eating, bread baking/eating, cinnamon bun baking/eating... Lord help us..., I haven't been uploading anything lately, except FAT !!!

There are some things in life that make you smile. This picture of Bright is one of them.

Grammy and Grampy bought this vest for Bright in Oregon when they were visiting Kyle, Pam and Shay. I took several pictures of him in it, but none of them had him smiling...

This Hungry Hippo scooter is a new fave of Bright's. It eats up toys as you roll over them. Why not buy toys that clean up after themselves?

We got some snow last week. It is starting to melt though. There is no joy in trying to cram a 20 lb. babe into a snug snow suit, so for this outing we bundled him in sweaters and wrapped him in a blanket. Sweet hat, huh?

Yes, I do have wet hair. Not smart.

The Bag

Here is a clip of Bright doing what he loves...
This gives me time to get a few things done around the house.

The Scoop

So for the past four nights our little boy has been sleeping soooo much better I can hardly believe it. Starting on Sunday night we were able to put him down in his crib when he was so very tired and he put himself to sleep- without crying. He had been putting me through the ringer that night. I had him in the sling, listening to music, pacing around- our normal routine (a tiring one at that) and he just wasn't having any of it. He was grabbing my hair, my glasses, etc and was really miserable. This went on until way past his normal bedtime. So, having had enough of that I put him in his crib- on his belly (gasp, I know..). He immediately popped up, like always and I put him back down. We did that, he and I, for about 10 minutes until I had had enough. I walked out, shut the door and sat on the couch. Both Andy I listened, expecting him to cry. But he didn't. Not for 10 minutes, not for 15. Andy went to check on him and he was totally knocked out. He slept for 5 hours straight then I fed him and he slept until 8:30am. Wow!

what have we been doing differently? Feeding him has changed. I give him a whole jar of baby food around 4:30. Then a bowl of cereal at 6:00 and nurse him around 7:00. Then he has quieter play time and we put him down at 8:30 instead of trying at 7:30. The only downside is that this makes my day with him even longer. But he is also napping longer too. Today his morning nap was 2 and a half hours long.

We are all breathing a little lighter this week and hoping that this is a trend that will continue. I can't see any teeth coming on the horizon. The 6 that he has now will have to do for a bit. He has his 9 month appointment on Monday. I am expecting that he will be well over 21 pounds. we'll see.

Yesterday, after Bright hurt his hand a bit after sticking it into the VCR, I went to the lumber store and bought some plexiglass and heavy magnets, thinking I had a great plan to keep Bright out of the entertainment center. Andy cut the plexi down to size and glued the magnets to it and the corners of the stand (this is a Target stand, not something great by any means). Bright went over to it and immediately pulled it off. He's a strong guy. Plan #1 failed. Plan #2 was me going to the hardware store and buying super velcro and velcroing a strip all the way across the top of the plexiglass and along the edge of the entertainment center and on the bottom corners. This so far has worked. Lil' Brighty bear is not quite strong enough to rip the velcro since it is so long. All he does now is bang against it like little kids do on the glass of the monkey exhibit at a zoo. So stereo, etc are safe for another day.

In light of all of his recent developments and skills, we have decided to go easy on the Christmas decorations and just put up a table top tree and some other decorations well out of reach. We set up our Playmobile Nativity Scene the other day. We have several Playmobile scenes- they are really great and quite detailed. When we moved we put them all together in one box and now we have the nativity pieces, the haz-mat team and the butcher shop pieces all mixed with each other. As Andy was pulling them out to set up the nativity scene, he said to me- "Is this the Jesus basket, or the meat basket?" Ugh- the religious education for Bright will have to come from me and my mom because as I recall there was no basket in the nativity scene.

Well, that's a long post- time for dinner!

Update

Things have shown an improvement here. I don't want to describe it for fear of jinxing things though. Let's just say we are all getting more sleep. Hooray!

writer's strike

well, it's 1:03am and bright is awake again. i have decided to go on hiatus with this blog until his sleep issues are under control and to take a break from the other blogs i read until after the holidays at least. folks that want to know how he is or we are can get in touch the old fashioned way-by phone.

What's New?

The mastitis seems to have cleared. What a miserable thing though! Felt like I was kicked by a mule, and caught the flu without really having the flu. Missed a party, but still entertained Andy's family here at our place. Takes a lot of work to put on a happy face when you feel lousy but I know he was so happy to have them visit. There are some pictures here of his mom and grandma with Andy and Bright. That would be four generations of their family. Let's see what else have we been up to... Thanksgiving was great. I ate turkey for the first time in probably ten years. It was just as tasty as I remembered it. Then we went shopping on Friday after Thanksgiving. I was sure that the KB toys was open in Canadaigua, but after driving out there in 20 degree weather for 30 minutes, we found it replaced by some Great Clips hair salon- ugh. Saturday- Andy went grocery shopping and Bright and I played on our own. Then on to visit Bright's godparents at their new place in Canadaigua today. This morning as I was changing Bright I happened to notice that he was two more teeth that have popped through up top. So much for us being really on top of this new set- but to be fair, he had been fussy for a few days but nothing as bad as when the other two on the top came through. Our little guy has quite a cute gap tooth smile. Andy goes back to work tomorrow and I go back to our usual routine. He teaches for just a few more weeks before the school goes on extended break from Mid December until the beginning of February. With Pay-Yahoo!! We are trying to work a trip to New Zealand for January 2009- just before Bright turns 2, so he would fly for free. There are some great deals to be had on packages that include airfare and 7 or 12 day camper van rentals You fly in and drive around to where you want to be, and sleep in the camper van that has a kitchenette and bathroom. We have been wanting to do this for a long time. Our winter is their summer so the timing would be perfect. I just need to get past how much I hate flying, especially a long trip like that. Japan was bad enough, now this would add another 12 hours or so. Yuck! Planes are not my favorite mode of transportation. Maybe I could just get tranquilized like that guy on the A-team??

Holy Mastitis!

Ouch! That about sums it up. Fever of 102, throbbing pain, general aches and nausea, and unable to carry baby around. Doctor says mastitis. Dang! Most people who get this get it soon after baby is born. I can see why you might give up on the breastfeeding after having a run with this. I don't know that I have felt this cruddy in a long time. I am not sure what brings this infection on- I had been sick with a cold and may have gotten dehydrated, Bright has been sleeping better at night so I might have gotten an angry plugged duct from not feeding him as much, he may have kicked me when I was changing him and irritated things. Who knows? I just want to feel better. I feel pretty helpless. I can feed him, but cannot carry him around or let him crawl all over me like he likes when we play. It seems as though someone in our house has been sick since Halloween. I am ready to be done with it.

On a more positive note- I went back to the dentist yesterday- trip number 4- and I think he finally fixed the problem that was caused by the first person there messing up the original fillings. Ugh- what a pain, but happy to be done with it and them. Bring on the Thanksgiving feast!

Andy's mom and grandma are coming today for a visit. It will be nice to see them and show off the little one. Bright was up at 5am this morning and it took a while to get him back down to sleep- hopefully it won't mess up his schedule too much and we will have a good visit with them.

My Christmas Wishlist

This is a pretty common scene at our place-Bright is a champ at going through laundry piles. If I ever need 20 minutes of free time, I just get out the sock and underwear drawer and put it out in the living room. He will pick up each item, hold it up and then put it "carefully" into a pile next to the drawer. In the background you may be able to see the pile of pillows and cushions in front of the entertainment center. Every day it is a challenge to keep him away from the stereo, dvd player, cable box, etc. He is either lunging head first into the pile of pillows set up to keep his fingers out, or he is picking them up and moving them away on his own. We have found a more secure cabinet that we will be purchasing this weekend. I think both Andy and I are tired of pulling him away from there.

Getting back to my Christmas Wishlist- last night during the internet searching I do when Bright goes to bed, between reading up on the battle between Lauren and Heidi on The Hills, and checking out various food blogs, I actually tried to read some news. Last night's topic was how 25% of children in Somolia never make it to age 5. This just hit me in a really profound way last night- maybe I was emotional because of my cold, or maybe it is me being a mom for the first time, but the thought of so many children never making it because of war, famine, or natural disaster just is so sad. I know my baby has everything he needs to thrive physically, socially and spiritually but so many others do not. This year at Christmas time, when we are all trying to figure out what toys to get for babies and ourselves, which Tickle Me Elmo won't make us crazy, or how to make this First Christmas memorable, maybe we can think about the other children out there and make a donation to the Red Cross or UNICEF in support of their efforts to help these children.

Doh!

Some of you may wonder what is the hardest part of being a Stay At Home Mom- is it the daily routine that tends to become mind numbing at times? Is it the lack of adult conversation? Is it the endless task of trying to make the house look neat and tidy, while still letting a baby revel in toy chaos? No, none of these things. The hardest part has got to be when you are sick and baby is sick too. There is no one to help out until the other half of the parenting duo comes home from work. And then they are usually wiped out from their day too. Yesterday was rough! I was/am sick with super cold 2007 and Bright has been bravely fighting off his first ever bout of the sick as well. All I wanted to do was sleep and all he wanted to do was cry. Ugh! Plus daddy had a late meeting after work. Last night was just as bad, as baby did not sleep well and mommy was all feverish and not wanting to be a mom at that point in time. Let's hope for better things to come today. A word to the wise- wash your hands, that rhinovirus is out to get you!

A real good nappy

Here is a picture of Bright fresh from a three hour nap. A new record- possibly due to the junior sized cold he has had this weekend, and which I have just caught.

Did somebody say snow?!

So this morning it said on the weather report that snow was coming this week. Yahoo?! So I dressed Bright up in his snowman outfit, another terrific hand-me-down from Portland. Thanks a million! You can see in the pictures a glimpse of his top teeth that are there now. Those are the lil' buggers that have been causing us all fits lately. I have been putting a damp washcloth in the freezer lately for him to gnaw on. It works wonders for him. I have also put damp bibs in there too and he likes chewing on those as well. He never got into teething rings so I had to get creative. Tonight we had to get tires for the car, which meant a 40 minute drive to the dealer because we needed to get special tires that the place here in town could not get. Apparently our car is considered a "high performance" car, meaning it is meant for going real fast and taking tight turns nicely at high speeds. This means it has special tires that apparently are softer and therefore get used up faster than regular ones. Our car is two years old and has only 21,000 miles on it. We figured we would have been good for tires for a while. Ha! So new high performance tires cost about 600 bucks and don't come with a mileage warranty like regular ones do. Another lesson learned here. Who says the learning ends when you leave school.

Catching up

Things have been busy here- we had Andy's birthday on Halloween, then Andy got sick, then we had company over, then the Supper Club (a colossal bust) and now I am sick. The biggest news is that Bright has officially moved out of our room and into his own room. For the first time in almost eight months he stayed the whole night in his crib, in his room. Granted he did not sleep the whole night through but I only fed him twice, which is a huge improvement from where we had been. His top teeth have poked through which has been making life hard for him and us and we are looking forward to more peaceful nights ahead. I will never regret having him stay in our room and co-sleeping either, but it is nice to know that I have my room back and can turn on the light to get ready for bed. Here are pictures from the past few days. The car is from cousin Shay- Bright likes all the spinning things on it. Thanks for all the hand me downs. The picture of Bright and the files shows an every day scene at our house. Bright is very curious and always has to be redirected from this spot- until today when I finally moved it. The rest of the pictures are from Halloween.

Lesson Learned

We had a nice relaxing Saturday of sorts here. I had invited one of Andy's friends from U of O, now living in Pittsburgh, to come for a surprise visit for Andy's birthday. He was a Halloween baby. Can you imagine anything better than always being able to dress up and eat candy on your birthday?! Anyhow, I had been trying to get caught up on cleaning, getting the guest room all set, etc, without letting on that we were going to have company. But as anyone with a baby knows, it takes forever to get the simplest things done sometimes and I realized he would be happy knowing that his friend was coming, and I could get some help with the chores if I just told him. So, in true Rachael fashion, I cracked and told him the secret. So, we got the house ready and then his friend called to say he was sick so he would not be coming after all. That's okay. The house is clean which always makes me feel happy and more relaxed.

Back to the lesson learned part- we had let Bright eat Cheerios, cut in halves lately. He barely chews them and we have found that out by seeing them in his poo diapers the next day. Ick. We also let him eat a cracker, as recommended by the nurse at the dr.'s office. Today, we did Cherrios and cracker again. Same barely chewing of the Cheerios. This time he ate the cracker with more force instead of gumming it. He was able to break it in half and choke on a chunk in no time. Like really choke, sweep the mouth with finger kind of choke. I thought my heart would not stop pounding. He was all right after I got it out, but no more crackers for him for a while. Lesson learned? Take a First Aid/CPR class if you have not already. You will probably need to use it at some point, even if you think you never will.

Cheerios, Crackers, Bananas? Oh My!

Tonight we had some fun! Bright has been crawling around the apartment making chewing faces for a while now and tonight we decided it was time to let him give his chompers a whirl. I called the pediatrician's office to check and see what was okay to try and then we headed to the store. Bright had some cheerios- in halves and slightly moist- given to him. Normally he will take just about anything and put it in his mouth, but not this time. So, I fed it to him and he, thankfully, chewed it. ( I have this fear of him choking on something ) We gave him a couple of more and then moved on to try saltines- sans the salt on top ( I did not know that you can buy them that way or that it was possible for that cracker to be even blander than they regularly are ). He held on to it and sucked and gummed it for a while. Then he used his bottom teeth to scrape off some of it. He made a fun face when he got that into his mouth. Nice job for a first timer. Then we tried some mashed but not pureed banana- a huge hit!

Overall a pretty good day. It has been just fabulous weather here lately so we have spent lots of time outside by the lake. Today we sat outside and chatted with the neighbors for quite a while. I think that Bright's newfound independence/mobility has added to his already junky napping habits. He really does not want to quit even when he is pooped.

On other news, for the first time since Bright was born, Andy and I had some time to ourselves! My mom and dad came and stayed with Bright while we went for a walk and spent some time working with Uncle Dave's GPS. We are hoping to try some geocaching soon and you need to use a GPS for it. We had a great time, but it was hard to leave Bright at first. He seemed to do just fine, and mom and dad were still jolly when we came back.

Back to the stinkin' dentist tomorrow night for round 3. At what point do you just ask for your money back?! Jeez. Any way- here are pictures for the last two days. Enjoy!

Who says toys have to be expensive?

Andy took this picture while I was away at the dentist for Round Two. I think that there will have to be a Round Three because my chompers still hurt... Ugh.
Today's big fun around the house has been playing with boxes- cereal boxes and packages from UPS. When I knocked out the box of Marshmallow Treasures this morning, I gave Bright the box to play with to see what he would do. He played with this for about 10 minutes. Then the UPS man delivered some comic books and we gave Bright that box. He was thrilled, especially when Andy put him in the box and pushed him around the house.

This was a really full day! Bright was up at 6:00 and then back down for a nap at 6:45. We went to the story time at the Library, but first stopped to drop off some flyers for the Supper Club. Then we went home for lunch, napped and went to town to drop off more flyers, saw Grandma, went back home, and played with one of the downstairs girls. Now that Bright is so much bigger, we put him into the baby backpack for walks. He loves it! He must not feel like hi is strapped into yet another seat when he is in it. So tonight we took him for a walk by the lake and he crashed out in it. He is in his crib and it's 6:45pm. Wow!

Pictures Updated

Well we never made it to the La Leche League meeting. The Sandman paid us a nice visit and we slept right though it. I did go back to the dentist and after trying to even up my bite, my chompers seem to be on the mend. Bright did more action crawling/pulling up/falling down today. His Godmama Katie popped in at lunch time for a quick visit- great to see you Katie. We jammed on some pots and pans in the afternoon and he fell asleep in the crib with some back pats and sweet words of encouragement. Another nice full day.

Here are some pictures from the past few days. Bright is now a champ at unsupported sitting and has placed in the junior division for pulling self up in dangerous locations.

Another milestone

Today Bright pulled himself up to standing in the crib. I did not get to see it. I was in the shower but Andy caught him in the act! I figured that was a fluke and did not give it much thought, other than WOW, what are we in for now?! Then later on in the day he did it again on the dining room chair and tried again on the set of shelves in the living room (note to self- must baby proof house). He is pretty fast now when he moves around, whether it's by crawling backwards, which he has mastered, or by this modified crawl-scoot-slide that he does to go forward. His top teeth are totally coming in- his gums are sooo red and puffy and you can see the outline of the teeth now. Poor guy! He has been eating cereal and pureed fruits and veggies for a while now. I think I am going to try and make more homemade baby food again. He really loves bananas and peaches and applesauce- not such a fan of the peas though. His cousin, a month older than him, is eating cheerios (in half) and all kinds of mixed foods.

Tomorrow we are off to a La Leche League Meeting and then I have another dentist appointment to see why my tooth that I had filled last week still hurts. I loathe going to the dentist so you can imagine my delight in having to go back to have them look at what should have been done right the first time.

I am working on a special project here at home. Andy and I are trying to set up a vegetarian supper club of sorts. There are no vegetarian places to eat out here and apparently the places that do have a vegetarian option only serve Gardenburgers, or Grilled Cheese. So our hope is to try to draw out the reclusive vegetarians here in town and have a potluck dinner where we can get together, share food and recipes and maybe meet some like minded folks. May be a pipe dream that we will find any but I will keep you posted!

Now Bright is asleep and I am off duty....

Who Needs Sleep

Right now Bright is asleep. It has been only an hour since I was finally able to get him to sleep by nursing him. The past few nights have been such a struggle at bedtime. It seems like something is always throwing off our schedule for putting him down- either it's us with company over or a change in routine, or it's him- teething, crawling, etc. I would say that it has become a backwards sliding slope at bed time but that would sound really negative and it is not all doom and gloom. Last night and the night before that he has been doing around 5 hours in the crib before waking up a bit and that is progress.

Now we can all breathe

Bright did just great for his baptism on Sunday. I had been sweating about that day since we first made contact with the Deacon to set it up. Bright continues to be a poor sleeper and we continue to be unwilling and unable to let him cry it out at night, thus we are all sleepy most of the time and somewhat irritable. I am beginning to think this is just my personality now... Anyhow, Bright woke up on Sunday at 5;45 am and I got him up and ready for the day. I figured that the disastrous picture that had been formed in my head of that day was truly going to come true since he was up so early and wouldn't be able to take him nap because we would be in church. We played and yawned together in the living room for an hour, Andy got up and watched him while I showered and then I fed him. We like to call it a "Drink Nap"- feeding him laying down totally puts him out, if he is in the right frame of mind, and this past Sunday he was! We napped together for an hour and then off to church. He seemed to really enjoy being the center of attention and did not make a peep, even when the water was trickled over him and the oil was placed on him. His poor eyes got all red from the scent of the oil and Andy popped him into the restroom to discretely wash it off while church went on. Bright only cried once at the end while we were waiting to process out and then he was fine. We went to my Mom and Dad's for a great brunch with lots of family and friends and Brighty fell asleep in the car on the way home!

My mom has ordered a play pen for us- Bright is making great progress with crawling- backwards- and yesterday got himself wedged under the desk in the living room. Today he made it over to the other desk with several rows of dvds before I even realized it. Here is some video and a picture from today and one from Sunday's brunch with our cousin's baby. She is a month older than Bright.

Bathtime Laughs

This was the scene tonight during Bright's bath. Andy was squirting him with water from a rubber duckie and Bright was just loving it!

Multi-Media Extravaganza

Here is Bright's latest trick. Chest up and buns up too! Tonight he did a little bit of rocking back and forth in this position. It was a little chilly this morning so I had a hat on him. Looks like he should be working on the deep sea fishing boats.








Here is a picture of the pie that I made. Tasty!












Here is another video of Bright. Still working on getting it to be less grainy. We have a digital video camera, but it usually is packed away and by the time we get it out and all set to go, Bright's special moment is over. But I will keep working on it. This one looks a little bit better. He's such a smart kid- when you get out the camera, he knows it's time to pose and look cute.

Baby swim class was cold again tonight. Finally one of the lifeguards admitted that yes, the water truly is getting colder with each session. Great! Ah well, two more sessions to go. Tonight I did not do such a stellar job of packing our bag to go to the pool. I forgot a towel for Bright and even more devastating, a dry diaper! We walked him back in his little fleece track suit without incident. Phew!

Pie recipe

Here is the recipe I used for the grape pie from Lisa's Kitchen at http://foodandspice.blogspot.com/2007/09/concord-grape-pie.htm

Concord Grape Pie

Concord Grape Pie

4 1/2 cups of Concord grapes (about 2 pounds)
1 cup of sugar
1/4 cup of flour
2 teaspoons of lemon juice
1/8 teaspoon of salt
1 unbaked 9 inch pastry shell

Streusel Topping

1/2 cup of oats
1/2 cup of packed brown sugar
1/4 cup of flour
1/4 cup of butter

Squeeze the end of each grape opposite the stem to separate the skins from the pulp. Set the skins aside in a medium-sized bowl. Put the pulp in a medium saucepan and bring to a boil. Boil, stirring constantly, for 1 minute. Press the boiled pulp through a strainer to remove the seeds. Add the seedless pulp to the bowl with the grape skins, along with the sugar, flour, lemon juice and salt. Stir well to combine. Transfer the mixture to the pastry shell.

To make the topping, combine the oats, brown sugar and flour. Cut in the butter with two knives or a pastry cutter until crumbly. Sprinkle the topping over the filling. Cover the edges of the crust with foil.

Bake in a preheated oven at 425 degrees for 15 minutes. Remove the foil, and continue to bake for another 20 minutes or so, or until golden brown. Cool on a wire rack before serving.

For the crust, I made a Flaky Butter Pie Crust. The key to a good pie crust is to ensure all of the ingredients are cold.

Flaky Butter Pastry Shell

1 cup of flour
1/4 teaspoon of salt
1/8 teaspoon of baking powder
1/2 cup of cold butter, cut into 8 pieces
3 - 4 tablespoons of ice water

In a medium-sized bowl, combine the flour, salt and baking powder. Cut in the butter using two knives or a pastry cutter until the butter is reduced to very small pieces. Sprinkle 3 tablespoons of ice water over the dough and combine with a fork. The dough is ready for rolling once it holds together when you squeeze it. If the dough is too dry, add more of the ice water.

On a floured surface, roll the dough out into a flat circle shape with a floured rolling pin. Gently fold the rolled dough in half and transfer to the pie plate. Trim the dough and fold to make the crust edge. Crimp the edges.

Where did the weekend go?

Well, I made the grape pie the other day- and we ate the whole thing in a day and a half. Apparently Andy has decided that grape pie is not so bad after all which meant less for me. Rats! This weekend we bought more shelves and put them up and finally unpacked our cds. I think that takes care of everything from our move. Bright has been up and down with his sleeping and has been a supreme fussypants this weekend. The top teeth are working their way down and I think that is the cause. Poor lil' guy wants to be held all the time, which is rough but we did our best to distract him when we had to put him down. He is working on getting his buns up in the air while pushing up on his arms. He was able to do this several times tonight followed by lots of grunting and squealing. This coming Sunday he will get Baptized at 9:30 mass, right smack in the middle of his usual fussy time before a nap. Wish us luck!

Grapes of Wrath

Today was full of ups and downs. I had been planning for two weeks to attend a La Leche League meeting in town and was excited about going. They are only held on the third Wednesday of the month so I knew if I missed it I would have to wait a long time for the next one to roll around. So while I was excited and trying to not look like the frazzled mom I am, Bright was fussy and just wanted to nap. Why they hold meetings at 10:00, prime napping time, is beyond me. The car ride was brutal. Bright cried and cried, I was less than patient. Enough said. We got there and were the only ones there other than the leader. Oh well, we chatted and chatted and when it was time to home Bright fell asleep in the car. He took a great nap when we got back. I did learn a few things at the meeting. A: we are not the only family here that co-sleeps (although we do it less and less), B: Bright is sleeping like a typical breastfed baby and C: if you want good children's books, go to the Branchport library. Branchport is about three miles from us and if you blink you will miss it but they have a new library there and it has better books than the one here in town. Yahoo!! We went this evening and loaded up on board books and DVDs. Bright really loves storytime at home and will sit and watch the pages for about 15 minutes. He has some definite favorites- Baby Panda Learn ABC with Me is his all time favorite and we keep it in the car for solving all meltdowns there. He also likes Runaway Bunny, Pat the Bunny, Tumble Me Tumbily, The Bear Snores On, and Goodnight Moon. We have a pretty decent collection here at home and make sure we do storytime every day.

The past week or so I have been smelling grapes in the air every night. At first I thought it was someone's laundry detergent or something they were cooking. Then I realized that it is all of the grapes in the vineyards around us. There apparently so many vineyards here that this country grows the most grapes east of the Rocky Mountains. We need to go get a grape pie- if you have never had one they taste a lot like just eating jelly with a crust thrown in for good measure. I love sweets so it's right up my alley. Andy does not.

Video Trial

I have been trying to figure out how to put video on here for our older than dirt digital camera. Here is just a trial clip. I will figure out how to make the next one less grainy. Hard to believe this guy had a mess of shots a few hours earlier...

Ouch!

Bright had his 6 month shot series today. Andy took off a little time from work to go with us- so nice to have an extra set of hands to pass him back and forth while we were waiting for them to get things set up. He was 17 pounds, 7 ounces today. I can't remember exactly how long- the sheet is in the car- but he was long for his age. No wonder his sleeper outfits don't fit him. He took his shots pretty well- lots of tears, but settled right down after he got a chance to nurse and then fell asleep in the car. Thank goodness for the boob and its calming abilities! Those shots must just send his system into overdrive and exhaust him. We seemed to have gotten an A on everything except, you guessed it, sleep. Things seem to have taken a gigantic leap backwards lately with very little sleeping happening for any extended amount of time here. All three of us are tired and I think the cat is getting annoyed that we keep getting up and down in the night too. So we have some new strategies to try... I guess and we will see if things get any better. The other thing we need to step up is how much food we are feeding him. We need to start giving him more solids and cereal, and crackers too. That sounds fun and messy. Still planning on breastfeeding him until at least a year old. The other day I was reading a breastfeeding website, looking for some kind of answer to the sleep situation. I was thinking that maybe if we caved in and gave him a bottle for formula around bedtime he would sleep better, like other babies we know. Nothing I read supports that idea so I guess we won't need to open up those sample cans we were flooded with when I was pregnant. It's interesting how the manufacturers market their products- they sent us lots of samples- 4 large containers of formula: soy, advanced, easy to digest etc, and also sent us "checks" regularly for 7-8 dollars to get reimbursed for buying the stuff. On the website I was reading, it said that if I was breastfeeding him exclusively for these past 6 months, I would have saved about 1000 dollars because we did not need to buy formula. That sounds crazy to me! Thank god we were successful with the process, I don't know how poor mothers can afford to not breastfeed. Not that it came easy- his tongue tie made it incredibly painful each time he latched on for the first week, until we had it clipped. Nothing like having bruises there to make you not want to stick with it at all. Luckily we had the most excellent midwifery group with 24/7 lactation consultation for a year that made home visits if needed. Janie was amazing and I miss her and the group terribly. We have made a promise to try to stick with it for a year and so far it is going well. Thanks again Andy for going with us.

pictures, pictures and more pictures

Here are some of our more recent pictures of Bright. He goes for his next round of shots on Monday the 17th. Wish us well. We had dinner with Grandma and Grandpa tonight before they head off for vacation in the Outer Banks. Bright sure seems to know who they are and was on his best behavior there tonight. He fell right to sleep when we got home.