Sleep is for chumps

I'm starting to think that Hulk is either going through a growth spurt, dealing with teeth issues, or needs to start solids - because my main man is now sleeping at the most 5 - 6 hours before needing to be soothed. We usually put him to bed at around 9 or 10, after a bath and a bottle. The last few nights, he has been getting up after 5 hours, sometimes as few as 3, just crying. I am able to go in, and give him a binkie, maybe rub his belly, and he goes back to sleep... but his sleeping is unsettled. During the day at daycare yesterday? He slept an hour. Total. Sigh. I know I shouldn't complain, because I know others with major sleep issues - but it's weird for him.

Last weekend was great! And super busy. Friday night, there is a small chance that I imbibed a bit too much Grown Up Formula (aka red wine), so waking up on Saturday was rough. I kept telling Aaron that he was the 'responsible' parent for the evening, and he just kept rolling his eyes at me. Saturday, we had wonderful weather and spent a huge chunk outside... and Sunday we were rained in. It was kind of nice to just stay in the house and relax.

We have Hulk's 4 month appointment on the 6th, and I'm working on my list of questions.

1. He has a 'stork bite' birthmark - I just want them to check it again. It kind of looks like a blood blister... last time she assured me it was normal... but really?
2. Swimming. I can't wait to take the little man swimming - but the gym I go to says that they like to wait until 6 months. I want to take a class first - to see what we should do in the water (like should I dunk him? Once he is old enough to really swim, I totally know how to teach him, but I really don't know what to do with a baby).
3. On the whole swimming topic - a baby wetsuit? Weird? Necessary?
4. The whole food thing. Tobacco Brunette is having a minor freak out on this same topic. Hulk easily eats 36 ozs of formula a day. Everyone I ask say it will be pretty obvious when he is ready for solids - he will watch me eat and lunge for the spoon - he just isn't doing that.
5. Want to ask about the teeth too - like how do you know they are teething?

I have more to report, but need to get back to work!

Planning ahead

I'm a planner. Seems like a lot of us in the IF world are, and our little minds are BLOWN when our planning is at the whim of follicle growth or whatever. But now. Now I can sit here and plan vacations! and days off! and tickets to shows! without worrying about where I'll be in my cycle, or, as I got later in pregnancy, my due date.

So, I'm thinking of going to a sort of 'adult camp' place in July, where there is going to be Fiber Fanatics Festival. Dorky, but totally up my alley. Yarn, wool and people knitting and spinning with yarn and wool. My idea of heaven, truth be told, because it's also right on the coast of Maine. Like the cabins are On. The. Beach. It really isn't feasible to leave Hulk home with Aaron for the week (with his commute he wouldn't be able to do both drop off and pick up at day care) but I wasn't sure if the camp would be happy about a baby in a pack and play. Well. Today, I called and ironed out all the details (they love babies there).... and Hulk and I are going to the beach the last week in July! I'm super excited!!! And, it's only a 2 hour drive - so if things go horribly wrong - we can retreat back home.

Hulk will be 7 months old... wonder if I'll be chasing around a crawling baby?

Wordless Wednesday - Yum

Other things you can do with Guinness:

My life is one big To Do list

After spending about an hour today just dealing with silly little things (someone please explain to me why they make it SO HARD to actually use a health care spending account!?!?!), I've come to realize that I only have a limited amount of brain space. Before Hulk arrived, this brain space was full. Add in the day to day things that I have to remember now that I have a child? It's a miracle anything gets done on time.

I need to come up with a better way to make it through the day other than my current "Gee, I need to remember to call xyz at some point this week" - because that isn't going to cut it for much longer.

Big Boy

Well, Friday night - we made the big move. Hulk spent his first full night in his crib! Look how little he looked (don't know if you can see, but his dork of a Mumma put him in PJs that match the crib bedding):

The Amby Baby bed was SUCH an awesome place for him to sleep, I was really really afraid to give it up. When he was tiny, I would watch him wake up, and see the rocking of the bed put him right back to sleep. But - what has been happening for that last few weeks, is that when he wakes up, he kind of skooshes himself down to the bottom of the bed - and is all scrunched up down there. I thought about switching him to his crib last weekend, but I wimped out. We did it this weekend, and he did great!

Both nights he did wake up and need a little help getting his binkie back - but all in all - all three nights he slept at least 7 hours. And - the funny thing? We would start him up with his head by the "Rainforest TV", and by the morning he would have moved himself down to the other end of the bed. Saturday morning, I heard him wake up at 7:30, but he just stayed there talking to himself for about 30 minutes before he really wanted me to come in.

I'm excited for this switch - because now we can use the Amby Bed as a jumperoo sort of thing. Once he is big enough - I know he is going to LOVE to bounce.

TGIF

Wow! This is the first Friday I've worked in a looooong time. And I'm glad it's here. This week has been a little stressful, now that I'm finally back in the swing of things at work. The family drama is also continuing here - so that makes things fun. I figure the easiest way is to bullet point the random bits:

• The truck that we bought from Aaron's father (but really from Aaron's older brother who is the power of attorney) left our house with his brother to get appraised in CT with no issues. In that 150 mile drive, somehow, the left side valve cover cracked and the rear axle needs work.
• Thankfully, that is all covered by warranty
• But since the dealership is near my work - I'm the one driving it around and dropping it off
• Yesterday, after I dropped off the truck, they call me back at 3 to tell me that they have the wrong part.
• I get a rental MINI VAN (shudder) but had left the car seat in the truck - so they need to bring it to me at work so I can rush to get Hulk on time.
• When I got to daycare, Hulk was just ready for a bottle. I was ALL FIRED UP about the truck BS, and sitting there feeding him made everything better. Behold, the power of babies.
• I went onto Snapfish and ordered 133 prints of Hulk. We have loads of digital pictures, but none have been printed out and put in frames or in an album. I did that last night and it was so much fun! I also mailed pictures to the grandparents to make them smile (I almost wrote 'to shut them up', lol)
• I really feel for my brother, who is going through a major marital crisis right now. He is out of work, they had to move from a 4 bedroom house to a 2 bedroom condo, he and his wife are fighting constantly, and she tried to kick him out of the house on Tuesday. He keeps saying that he doesn't want to leave because of his daughters, but seriously? They are 12. I think it's worse to have the parents fighting all them time than to have them together - but what do I know? I feel like once you throw around the threat of divorce enough times, there just really isn't a way to go back to 'normal'.
• I want to scream with the stupid drawn out drama that has become the splitting up of my FILs belongings. There are things in his house that he will clearly not be able to use anymore. The brothers all agreed that they should be sold so my FIL could have the money for his care. Aaron mentioned to his brother (the one that is the POA) that we would like a few things (exercise equipment, a table saw). His brother is totally dragging his feet on giving us 'permission' to take them and also making a huge deal on the price we should have to pay. Frustrating. Especially when soccer season is approaching - when Aaron coaches and I become a 'soccer widow', with 3 practices a week and a game at 1 PM each Saturday for 8 weeks (right in the middle of the day so you can't really do anything else on that day). Making the 1.5 hour drive to pick up the stuff will become exponentially harder starting next weekend. Awesome.

Sigh. It's just life! But pair it all up with 5 hours of sleep a night, and it's tiring! I wish I had a wand that I could wave and fix everything the way I want it. Anyone know where to get one of those?

Life is different

People keep on asking me if I'm sad to be done with maternity leave, or how it's going juggling everything.... and I am kind of at a loss for what to say sometimes. Hulk has brought a HUGE amount of joy to our life. Is life 'harder' with a baby in the mix? I wouldn't say that... I would just say that it is different.

Aaron and I lead a really active life. We aren't the kind of people who just go to work and come home. Aaron coaches a soccer team and plays in an adult soccer league. I am big on taking long walks with the dogs and going to the gym, and about 2 nights a week I'll be out with different groups of friends. Now that Hulk is here, we are trying to find a balance. Many times, he just comes with us. He loves watching Aaron play soccer! Going for walks in the woods with the dogs?! Heaven for the little man (who knew watching the trees go by was so exciting?) But, there are times, now that I'm juggling work and a new baby, that I've realized I can't can't make a quick stop on the way home to grab milk. I would be late to pick up Hulk. Or I'll be on a conference call that starts to run late at work, and realize I need to drop or I'm going to be late. Before, 'late' meant that dogs would maybe be crossing their legs when I got home. If I'm late now? I've got a little guy waiting to see his mommy.

Life is less about me, and more about 'we'. I depend on Aaron to be home in time for me to be able to go to the gym. Aaron depends on me to get Hulk to daycare in the morning when he has 6 AM meetings at work. We were a team before, but now we need to be a tighter team, if that makes sense. The reward? Big gummy baby smiles (usually - but the sad faces are pretty damn cute too). Totally worth it.

Mommy's Lucky Charm

Remember what I was doing last year on St Patrick's Day? Yep, my embryo transfer was on St Patrick's Day. I was never big on celebrating St Patrick's day - but now? That silly drinking holiday is forever changed for me.

We thank our lucky stars every day that you are here!

Dreams

Hulk and I are getting better from our colds - thanks for all the nice words the other day. Mine was so bad that even a snort of Afrin wasn't helping! And poor little Hulk was sneezing and coughing... I just felt so bad that he can't have anything to take the cold symptoms away. Although, the only thing that seemed to happen was that he was waking up in the night (which he hasn't been doing for a while). He's been back on his 'normal' 8 hours for the past 2 nights - so fingers crossed we are back to normal. Yesterday, I felt well enough to go to the gym, and that made me feel even better.

But. I want to know if any of you other new parents out there are having whacked out dreams? Pretty much, ever since Hulk was born, I'm either dreaming that I'm sleeping hugging him (he doesn't sleep in bed with us - I wake up and I'm hugging a pillow) or I'm dreaming that someone has stolen him. The hugging dream is nice - even though I wake up in a panic that I'm crushing him... but the stolen baby dream? I hate it! Most nights, it's some different variation of someone taking my baby. I finally told Aaron that I was having these crazy dreams - and he said - well, you know I'd never let that happen in real life, right!

Wordless Wednesday - Walking with Dad

Babies and colds

Hulk and I have a cold. It sucks. It sucks in a million ways.

So Weird

I usually work from home on Mondays and Wednesdays. For the next three weeks, on Mondays, my aunt is coming over and taking care of Hulk in the house while I work. But today - I drove my little man to daycare, and then came back home. I'm sitting here, in my house, BY MYSELF. It's a little crazy. That hasn't happened for 3 months.

Aaron has been working crazy hours this week - hasn't come home before 10 PM yet. Yesterday is the day that we've been working towards him meeting me on his way home from work to take Hulk so I can go to the gym. I really look forward to it... and we were really planning on it last night. He ended up not being able to meet me last minute (I was almost at the gym) and my friend really saved my sanity by watching him for me! It really does take a village, huh? Anyway - since Aaron has missed his baby fix at night, he has been getting up with Hulk in the morning. This morning, he got up with him at 6 AM, and I totally missed that event. I haven't been setting an alarm for work, because Hulk has religiously been getting up at 7 AM since he was born (hungry or no - I think it's the sun). Well. This morning? It was 8 am.

Damn kid isn't reliable.

I was running around the house like a madwoman trying to get him and I dressed so I could get him to daycare! I like to be logged in by 8 AM at the latest... so I was scrambling. Turns out, I can get out of the house in 20 minutes if necessary. I'm so glad we have such a great day care place only 3 miles from the house!

I play!

Today, we have a huge snowstorm going on. I was already planning on working from home - but my Aunt was going to come over and watch Hulk. She called and said she was snowed in and would be late. So Hulk and I were playing on the mat - and look at what he can do now:

He is grabbing at things and hitting them! My boy is playing!

Mary is here now - so back to work for me.