Sunday, May 29, 2011

Finally!

A B-E-A-utiful week! Weather was just about perfect. We went outside a lot. I walked and jogged and sweated enough that i realized I need to bring a bunch of t-shirts to work JUST for when we go outside, haha.

L worked from home a few days this week. That is always fun! Especially because it means I get Starbucks in the morning...she'll text me around 7am and be like...Starbucks? Please? So I stop, get her whatever and then I get to get ME whatever I want too :-D

A is *so* close to crawling, it's probably as frustrating for us as it is for him! He'll hang out on his hands and knees and rock, or he'll lie on his tummy and streeeeeeeeetch for things, but he hasn't quite gotten the idea of forward motion. However, he HAS learned to clap, and ZOMG is it ever cute. Like, seriously, adorable. He also has a tooth, a very sharp little tooth, which I'm still getting used to feeling on the spoon when I feed him! Also this week we discovered that this kid LOVES the swing at the playground. Like, laughs so hard he gets hiccups. Insanely, insanely cute. It hurts how cute he is.

Hmm...found a food he didn't really like this week, for the first time. Up 'til now he pretty much has eaten anything we have given him, no problem. Until Friday I gave him something called "Beef, Carrots and Corn" which also had things like Kamut flour and roasted onions in it. He had a hard time with the texture, I think, and I eventually gave up on it. Baby food is so weird. I know every mom-to-be says this, but I mean it--I'm going to make my baby's food as much as I possibly can. Because it's not cool that something that is called one thing has five other things in it. Plus random vitamins and chemicals added. Hopefully by the time I get around to having my kids they'll have even niftier, cheaper systems for making baby food!

Other exciting news...Oh, A has really started discovering his voice lately. He doesn't make many consonants yet, except when he's hanging out in his crib before or after sleep. However, he sure as heck knows how to make NOISE! He just loves to be squealing at the top of his lungs while I'm out and about...luckily it's pretty obvious that it's happy noise, otherwise people might think I'm torturing the kid, lol. It's mostly cute. Only a little annoying :-P

Oh, last thing. Just this week he's started napping on his stomach! Generally, we'd go in and turn him over a few times until he fell asleep on his back. This week, a few times I gave him a little time to play on his stomach before I went in, and what do you know? He rubbed his face on his blanky a little bit, and then just fell asleep just like that! It's a little nerve-wracking because it's harder to tell if he's breathing that way, but he's happy so woo!

This weekend M and L took him up to their place by a lake in New Hampshire. He'll be sleeping away from home for the first time, going out on a boat and in the water for the first time...I hope he's doing well and sleeping! Otherwise, the three days I'm working next week (holiday Monday, and then I'm taking Friday off because my brother is getting married Sunday) will be very interesting...

Sunday, May 22, 2011

Rain, rain, go away...

Ugh. New England. SERIOUSLY? We've had maybe two nice days in two weeks. And it's driving. me. insane.

So last Sunday I was able to go to the Christening, which was awesome. Even though I had to kind of sneak into the church and sit far away from what was actually going on, it felt right that I was there. And then at the party afterwards, A kept leaning out of his mom's (or whoever's) arms towards me, and it was awesome. And then he was falling asleep in my arms, so I put him down for a nap, and he slept for like an hour and a half...which of course prompted M and L to tease me again about giving him drugs, lol. M's like, it's only because you're here that he's sleeping this long! What do you do?! But anyways. I like being an authority on A, second only to his parents pretty much. And it was also gratifying to hear some of L's friends tell me that they've heard a lot about me, and that it is all positive! Seriously, did I luck out or what with this job???

The week was pretty uneventful, mostly because of the @#@$&(*! rain. We had playgroup on Monday, which was fun and a little less stressful than usual because L has given in and said that I don't have to try so hard to keep him on his own blankets any more. WHEW. It is getting pretty much impossible to do that, even at home on the rug, because he's rolling and he pulls at whatever he's on...Yeah. So it was nice to be able to just let him play on the big quilt with his buddies.

A's got a new favorite toy this week...an old Verizon remote, with the batteries taken out of it. For serious. He'll ignore everything else to get to a remote...it's good to have one to give him that won't change my channel!

Other than that, it was a pretty boring week of just playing inside, trying to stay sane, fiddling around with what he eats (L decided to try to go back to a full jar of food each time, but he then didn't eat enough formula, so we're back to half...). We did go to the mall on Friday with my friend Jill, because I just needed to get OUT. And buy shorts. lol. Got lots of compliments on "my" cute baby, lol. Sometimes I let comments like that slide, but mostly I am just like, I'm actually his nanny but thanks, he is super-cute isn't he! :-D

L texted me this morning that A learned how to clap and got a tooth for real this weekend! I'm very excited for tomorrow to see these new develoments :-)

Sunday, May 15, 2011

Freaking phases...

A is going through some sort of phase again. And it was driving me UP A WALL. The sleep schedule...it was just so incomprehensible. One day he took three naps, 40-40-25 (minutes). The next, he took three naps, 50-80-45.  Jeez. And then yesterday (Saturday) L texted me after 9am that he had woken up at 6 but hadn't yet taken a nap--she was like, where do you keep the magic nap powder? Man, I hope he napped at some point!

And then to top off this crazy sleep week, on Friday he pulled a bottle strike JUST for me. He'd drink one ounce, then refuse the rest until I gave up and fed it to him on a spoon. Like, seriously? he'd act like I was poisoning him if I tried to get him to drink the rest from the bottle. W.T.F. little dude. I did absolutely nothing different from any other day! He drank for his parents that night and yesterday though, so hopefully on Monday THAT will be back to normal at least.

Other news from the week is just a lot more progress with the rolling. It's going to be impossible soon to keep him on a quilt in front of the tv, which we have done thus far to keep him from getting doggy germs all over him. I know I should take him in the playroom more, but it's hard because we feed him in front of the TV (that's where the rocking chair is) and so I get hooked on whatever show is on, and then I want to keep him there so I can keep watching! I'm going to have to break my habits. But as long as I can just watch my 3.5 hours in the morning (Today, Ellen, Nate Berkus) I think I might be okay.

We didn't get out a lot this week except for playgroup, because it was just yucky out. It's MAY but it's acting like late March! Lame. We finally got out on Friday--I was tired of having the same old same old for lunch so I took A into their town center and went to a deli and then we walked around a little bit. It was pretty fun, and I def want to explore that area a little more. A woman I met said that there is a playground not too far from the center, and once A is more mobile I'll definitely want to check that out! We'll also be going to a park with a lake this summer, L and M are going to get us a pass. I'm both excited and nervous to go to the beach with him...just thinking about everything I'd need to BRING is a little overwhelming. Plus, will he nap outside? Who knows! Maybe if I'm lucky L will be able to come with us the first time to help me figure out how to do everything.

I just can't wait to be outside!

Today is A's Christening. I really want to go, but I might have another commitment...unless it gets rained out. I'm really hoping it does!

See ya next week...

Saturday, May 7, 2011

A mixed-up kind of week

A's sleep patterns just got WEIRD this week. Monday through Wednesday I just could *NOT* get him down for a second nap unless he was in a moving vehicle of some sort. And even those naps were short. Thursday was good, finally. And then Friday L and the cleaning ladies accidentally woke him from his morning nap after only 25 minutes, and he didn't go down again for a few hours, and then the phone woke him up after only 30. The "Sleep Lady" book we got once would call those disaster naps...and yeah, cranky baby was cranky. Poor thing.

The odd thing is, L and M say no matter how much he naps or doesn't during the day, it doesn't seem to impact his nighttime sleep. Which seems weird to me. But whatever works for him...

Big progress this week with the rolling--meaning, holy crap the kid won't stay on his back! Especially when putting him down for a nap...We have a video monitor, and so i dump him in the crib (not literally) and then go out of the room and watch him on the monitor. Almost every day this past week, within a few minutes the kid was on his stomach. I learned that if I left him there until he started whining (as opposed to going and turning him over immediately) he was much more likely to go down for good. We'll see if that keeps up.

Oh, on thursday A had his evaluation from Early Intervention! He tested extremely well--with the exception of his upper body strength, he's completely at age level (and that's real age, not corrected!) and even AHEAD of it! They basically said he was brilliant, lol. Apparently the fact that he will move a blanket that's on top of a toy to get said toy, and things like that, is really advanced for his age. Awesome! So he still qualifies for services, but since it's not covered by M and L's insurance and it's pretty pricey without, I'm not sure what they're going to do. He's progressing really well, really blowing everyone's minds actually, so they'll probably end it. We'll see.

Every day is so new with this kid, it's why I love this age so much. Just this past week he's started reaching out to be picked up, and every day I discover something new that makes him laugh, and he's just such an incredible delight. I left L a mother's day card before I left on Friday, and inside of it I wrote "I am glad you're a mom, because if you weren't, I wouldn't have the best job in the world". And I mean it. I am incredibly, incredibly lucky.

Sunday, May 1, 2011

Rollin' rollin' rollin'...

Hi! This is going to be short because I am tired and blah after a very long weekend.

This week A had a bit of...something. We couldn't tell if it was a cold, allergies, or teething...but he had a cough and runny nose a bit, and while it didn't bother him, it sure worried us! Crazy baby. Other big doings...he finally has rolled from back to front enough times that we can say he *can* do it. He just doesn't, often, and when he does he sometimes gets his arm caught underneath him. But he CAN! this is huge :-) We also made progress with him holding himself on his arms; he'll stay like that for a good ten seconds if you force him into the hands-and-knees position...but he's still not doing it him self. Baby steps...(no pun intended).

We did get out of the house a lot this week, which was great. Yay for awesome weather! It made me really happy to be able to take long walks. I love walking around their neighborhood, there's so many interesting and pretty houses! And sometime in the coming months we'll try walking to L's parents' place, which is a little over a mile away. And maybe I'll explore the bike trail in their area. Or take him to a park. Who knows! The weather opens up a whole new world for us :-)

Only other big news from the week is my own--I looked at an apartment on Thursday that is AMAZING. A friend of mine lives there, and his three roommates are moving out and he's looking for three more. I've decided that I'm one...now hopefully we can find two more very soon! If all goes well, I'll be moving in there in the beginning of July. Woot. And it's got a month-by-month lease, so no matter when I part ways with L, M, and A (*sniff sniff*) I can either get another job in the area or I can leave and find a job somewhere else with very little notice on the apt. I was out at my college today and I really miss that area, so I might move back out there...we'll see!