Anyone?

Anyone else's house look like this after a full day of taking care of baby, AND cleaning. (At least it feels like I clean all day.)

And he doesn't even crawl yet...

Charlie - 8 Months

BABY STATS:
Weight: Around 18 pounds. He went to the doctor 2 weeks ago and weighed 17 lbs, 15 oz. I know that's still not huge for his age, but suddenly people keep telling me he looks huge for an 8 month old, which I find strange. I'm so used to him being small for his age. 

Sleep: Bedtime is between 7:30 and 8, waking up around 4 am to eat, then going back down until 6:30. He'll take 2-3 naps during the day at daycare, but does not nap nearly as well for us. I plan on working on that when I'm home with him soon.

Feeding: Still takes about 6 bottles a day, but I think I'm going to try to cut it back. The kid is packing on pounds, and I dont think he really needs to eat every 3 hours anymore. I need to do some research. He does baby food solids twice a day now, and then usually a little bit of real solids. He will eat scrambled eggs, banana, cheese, black beans, and little pieces of baby puffs. 

Diaper Size: Size 3. I think we only bought 1 or 2 boxes of Size 2.

Clothes Size: A few 3-6 month sleepers. I think they ran really big.  He's mostly in 6 month and some 9 month clothes. I bought a few cheap 9 month sleepers at Meijer and when I washed them they were too small. You get what you pay for!

Hair: Brown, and he grew a whole lot more of it this month. It's wispy. It's nice to have something to wash in the bath.

Milestones: I feel like he does something new every single day lately. First tooth! (Popped through on May 23...Praise the Lord.) First epic diaper rash (boo). Eating more real solids, including puffs. Clapping hands (so stinkin' cute). Sort of over the paci. Sleeping in his own room for naps AND nighttime (this is major). Sitting up in shopping cart. Moved the car seat straps up a notch. 

New Nicknames: Char (I've started calling him this all the time. Original, I know.)

Crap. I've only got one more month to lose this baby weight... 

Disgusting AND Hilarious

I have mixed feelings about our dog licking Charlie. To think about where her mouth has been really, really disgusts me.

On the other hand, I think it's impossible to always prevent it, living in a household with a dog. I wash his face and hands a lot.

Charlie has a new interest in Bessie licking his face. I try to stop it, but we had to get this on video once.

Charlie - 7 Months

Since I've only been blogging for a month, this is my first update about Charlie. Better late than never!

BABY STATS:
Weight: 16 pounds, 3 ounces (as of a week ago)

Sleep: Bedtime is between 7:30 and 8, waking up around 4 am to eat, then going back down until 6:30. He'll take 2-3 naps during the day at daycare, but does not nap nearly as well for us. I plan on working on that when I'm home with him soon.

Feeding: Eating 6 times a day and around 5 oz per feeding, and solids around 6 pm. Going to increase solids to twice a day, now that we've done once a day for a month. Kid loves apples and bananas, but hates all vegetables, like his father. I will change that. We currently mix applesauce with veggies.

Diaper Size: Just moved to size 2, but we won't be in those for long! Kid is growing some thighs.

Clothes Size: 3-6 months, mostly. He just finally grew out of all of his 0-3 month, and almost immediately, the 3-6 are almost too small. Overnight.

Hair Color: The tiny amount of hair he has is brown. He's just starting to grow hair. We joke that switching to formula put some hair on him.

Eye Color: Brown

Milestones: Sitting up, eating solids, bouncing really, really hard and fast in his exercauser and laughing, 'reading' books, yelling at his parents when he's upset (usually dada or mama, but I know he doesnt know what those mean yet), first tantrum when I took something away from him (quite comical), cracking up at the dog.

Nicknames: Baby Boy, Charlie Beluga (remember the Raffi song 'Baby Beluga'?), Mister, Buddy Boy, Baby, Honey (Sidenote: I've never called a significant other 'Baby' or 'Honey'. These have always been reserved for babies in my book.)

One Year Ago

One year ago today I was having surgery while 14 weeks pregnant.

The beginning of my pregnancy seemed to be full of drama. The first drama being that we were NOT planning on having kids for several more years. Surprise!

At my first doctor's appointment at 8 weeks, a 15 cm cyst was discovered on my ovary. The doctor gave it a month to shrink, and then decided to remove it. Having surgery is never ideal. Having surgery while pregnant is downright terrifying.They assured me it was safe, but good grief. As if morning sickness wasn't enough.

A little history: I started a new job one week before I found out I was pregnant. My new employer REALLY appreciate that. I'm sure they think I knew and didn't disclose it, but I promise I didn't. I was as surprised as they were.

Then when I found out I had to be out for surgery, things got a little dicey at the office. I was told I needed to take the time off unpaid, and if I couldnt be back to work within one week of surgery, I most likely would no longer have a job. We also weren't sure if my new insurance would cover the cost of the surgery, or if it would be considered a pre-existing condition. (Insurance DID end up covering it, because it was pregnancy related).

Stress was at an all time high. I got to the point where I actually laughed when I got more bad news.

I went in for surgery, not knowing if the the doctor would be able to do laparoscopy, or if he'd have to do a full incision. This would determine whether I could make it back to work in one week or not. I was told to remind every doctor and nurse I came in contact with the day of my surgery that I was pregnant, to make sure I wasn't given any drugs that would hurt the baby because they don't usually do surgery on pregnant women.

I remember waking up in the recovery room and asking if the baby was OK  and if the doctor was able to do laparoscopy. Yes, and yes. Huge sigh of relief. My baby was fine, and I'd be able to keep my job. The downside was, I did end up losing an ovary. It's weird to think I'm down one organ.

One of my favorite feelings in the world is when something I'm dreading is finally OVER! I think I woke up in recovery with a smile on my face. The hubs and I kept accidentally referring to the hospital as 'the hotel'. We actually enjoyed our one night stay!

I remember thinking God must have really big plans for this baby, because his arrival sure hit a lot of snags! So glad all of that is over and I have a happy and healthy Charlie!!

This April 16th is WAY better!

Weekend Recap

It's Monday again...

This weekend was filled with lots of highs and lows. I was struck by how quickly a happy go lucky day can change. Nothing dramatic, just some back and forth.

My brother in law came down from Nashville for the weekend. He and the hubs went to see Switchfoot Friday night, so it was just me and my buddies.

After feeding Charlie in his exercauser for two weeks, I broke down and got out the high chair. I've been putting it off because we are hoping to move soon, and a disassembled high chair in a box is much easier to deal with. However, trying to get food into the mouth of a bouncing 6 month old gets old after awhile! 

I love, LOVE the high chair. So does Charlie. 

He's definitely got some room to grow!

Saturday morning started at Waffle House. As any good Saturday morning does! Then we went to the Birmingham Botanical Gardens and had Paul take some family photos of us. We've realized we hardly have any pics with me, the hubs, and Charlie all together. In all honestly, I've avoided most pics because I want to lose more weight and I don't really want to remember me looking like I do right now. BUT, I don't want to miss out on having pics with Char either, so that's that.

Some of the best pics of the afternoon: 

Do you like our color coordination? :)

After pics we went to Stadium Fest down in Hoover to visit some of Josh and Paul's friends that were working the show. Then we raced home to feed Char and get to a Birmingham Baron's game on time, where we were meeting some friends. 

After eating, Charlie proceeded to throw up his ENTIRE bottle. On me, of course. It looks like so much more than 6 oz when it's dripping down every part of you. The hubs decided he probably just got overheated outside, and we took his temp. 101.5! Had no idea. He seemed fine until he threw up. Needless to say, we skipped the game. Major bummer. It would have been Charlie's first baseball game, and we were looking forward to hanging out with friends. 

Things went downhill quickly after that. Had a hard time breaking Charlie's fever and he was super fussy till about 3 am. It was a rough night. Luckily, throwing up seemed to be a one time thing, and he was just coughing and sniffling. 

Sunday was a little better, but we mostly stayed home and tried to recover. He was pretty fussy all day and refused to nap. Then refused to go to bed, which he NEVER does. I think he's teething. I check for teeth everyday and ask him where they are. 

Sunday held a lot of this: 

Overall, could have been worse!

A Breastfeeding Situation...

While I was pregnant, I decided I wanted to try breastfeeding, but knowing how hard it had been for both my mom and sister, I didn't have high expectations. I figured I would give it a try, and see if it worked. If it didn't, I'd move on with no guilt.

The first few weeks, as any breastfeeding mom knows, were HARD. It was so much more of an emotional experience than I expected. The fact that I was the only one that could feed him really weighed on me, and caused some major anxiety. What if something happened to me? Why do the 3 hours between feedings go by so fast?! I felt tied down and like my body wasn't my own. I had just spent 9 months growing a child, and  was ready to feel like myself again!

Josh found ways to contribute, but breastfeeding means Mom gets up in the middle of the night every. single. time. I almost gave up SO many times. There were times when the only thing that kept me going was knowing it was saving us a ton of money.

Once I hit 3 months of exclusive breastfeeding, I started to feel proud. And actually enjoy it. You can't really comprehend the bonding until you've done it. It's really unique. I started to really feel determined to make it work until he was a year old, and no longer needed it. I still don't judge formula feeding moms, but it became a personal goal of mine to make it to a year. A badge of honor, of sorts.

I went back to work right before Charlie turned 3 months old. Hauling a pump back and forth between work and home is annoying. Figuring out how much he needed in a bottle was stressful, and then finding out I was only able to pump about half of what he drinks during the day caused some freak outs. I started pumping up to five times a day at work. I got up early enough each morning that I could nurse him for 30 minutes, and pump for 15. And I pumped after he went to bed. I would pump 7-8 times each day. I will be so glad when I never have to hear the sound of that pump again.

My freezer stash dwindled and a few days before he turned 5 months old, I have to give him some formula. He loved it. Didn't think twice about it. Which made me sad and relieved. I would prefer that he prefer breastmilk after all my hard work! :)

I started sending one bottle of formula to daycare, but before he turned 6 months, 1 bottle turned into 2, and sometimes 3. I've appreciated not feeling the stress to pump as often, but it's sad too. I still nursed him whenever we were home together. Usually 3 times a day/night, and then all day on the weekends.

A couple of weeks ago, he suddenly started guzzling his bottles down. We are talking, 6 oz consumed in 3-4 minutes. WAY too fast. Sometimes he would choke while drinking it, and sometimes he'd throw it all back up. I checked the nipple of his bottle one time, but didnt see anything that looked out of the ordinary.

I became convinced he was eating so fast because he was starving all the time. I felt guilty, like he wasn't getting enough. I thought maybe we should go exclusively to formula so we'd be able to know exactly how many oz he was getting each day.

And then he quit nursing. All the sudden, overnight, he just refused. I was sure it was because it was too much work, and didnt come out as fast. These days I am lucky if I can get him to nurse for 15 minutes.

Last night, after he guzzled another bottle, I took a really close look at it and saw that there was a slit near the hole. About a quarter inch long. After looking at the rest of his bottles, I realized there were 4 that had been cut. We knew this happened at daycare, because we have only ever had one babysitter outside of family. To say we were livid is an understatement. To think that someone else made a decision that made my son quit nursing is unreal. And disappointing. I wanted to make that decision.

One lady at daycare had left us a note a few weeks ago requesting faster flow nipples because Charlie was taking a long time to finish each bottle. After discussing with my husband, we decided against it because we were afraid it would make him stop breastfeeding. We had never gone back and told them we weren't going to get faster flow nipples, we just didnt bring them. We figured if it was a real issue, it would come up again and we could discuss it. And one lady took it into her own hands and made his current bottles flow faster.

We spoke to the director today and found out that lady is going to be fired for this bad judgement call. I know she never intended harm, but she made a decision that wasn't hers to make. It makes me wonder what other decisions she would make without my consent. I'm going back and forth between feeling very sorry for her, and feeling indignant about what happened.

At this point, I'm not sure if I'm going to try to re-initiate breastfeeding, or just move on. Most importantly, Charlie is happy and healthy, and that's really all that matters.

Don't Try This At Home

If you are ever looking for a pork chop recipe, I do NOT recommend this one.

It looks great, but looks can be deceiving. It led us to McAlister's at about 8:15 pm, with a cranky baby, last night.

Failed recipes are always a bummer, but it was worth it to hear the hubs hem and haw about how it 'wasn't that bad', and I 'made a good effort'. I finally told him it was just a last minute recipe I found online, and he breathed a sigh of relief and admitted it was disgusting.

Luckily, this guy enjoyed his dinner:

I'm a Mommy Blogger Now

I've decided to become a Mommy Blogger. You know, since I'm a mom now. 

I'm going to start posting pics and stories of our life with the kiddo, and of course our fur kiddo, Bessie.  Below is a taste of what life looks like lately... 

Hanging out with a bunny:
   

The dog likes the bunny too:

 

 Bunny and his Easter basket:

 

 Bunny had too much fun: