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.