Monday, July 25, 2011

Hahaaaaaa I suck.

The weeks are kind of blurring together, anyways.

The most significant things about last week were:

The HEAT. Ugh. We went outside for maybe a total of half an hour (besides going to and from the car) the whole week, playing on the new swingset that M set up for A. And that was at like 8:30am and it was already over 80 degrees. EW. Luckily this week is shaping up to be quite a bit cooler :-)

Bubba learned to CLIMB!!! At baby gym on Thursday, he climbed on some gym-mat-type stairs and onto two different risers--always with my phone as an incentive, lol. I was SO PROUD!

In other news, one of their dogs is sick. And even though he annoys me all the time, I still feel bad for him! Poor thing is hardly eating, and when he's let outside he eats grass, which for dogs equals he feels like shit. :-/ Vet says he'll be fine, but it's worrisome. and I had to clean up his puke, which sucked.

Oh, also, Weds we met a really nice lady who has a 2 year old and is pregnant with what was and could become again a high-risk pregnancy. She was originally put on bed rest, and so was looking for someone to take care of her little girl a few hours a week. Now she's off of bed rest, but we still met up in case she ends up back on it! She also has been running an in-home daycare for a few years, and was a nanny before that, so it was really awesome to talk to her and get her perspective. And her little girl, whom I'll call Bell, was adorable. I think it would be really good for A to have regular, prolonged exposure to an older child--versus an hour here and there at playgroup, this would be like 9 hours a week. And, oh yeah, extra money would be nice too :-P

That's about it for last week!

Monday, July 18, 2011

Crazy weekend=late post!

Let's see. It was so great being back with A after vacation! He's just...so BIG now! We will get a definite weight after his doctor's appt on Friday, but he's gotta be at least 20 pounds...and he's pulling up on anything he can get his hands on, and trying SO hard to stand on his own but mostly he just goes *plop*.

Last week...we went to lunch with my mom before playgroup on Monday. it was fun, he was really good although he acted completely confused when my mom tried to interact with him. He was like, who on earth is this person and why does she act like she knows me?! Hehe. We discovered a new cafe that had a sandwich that is now one of my favorites EVER. Roasted turkey, vermont cheddar cheese, and mayo on cranberry bread. so sweet and good!

Tuesday...I honestly can't remember. I know we went to the beach one day...not tuesday. Tuesday it was too hot. now i remember. It was seriously like 94 degrees...ICK. Pretty sure we just lazed about inside all day.

Weds, story time on the lawn at the library. This time we actually got there on time, and A actually paid attention! Then we played on the playground for a little while.

Thursday was baby gym! I really like baby gym, the people there are really nice. A showed off his crawling and worked on it some. Not much else to report that i remember.

Friday was the beach! It was fun! The water there is like a bath, it's so warm, yet it's still enough to make it better than the air. We "swam" around, investigated the splash pad--too cold!--talked to a few people...A ate the most in one sitting as he's done in a long time...then we had to get back home, he napped really well, then his Early Intervention lady came. I like her! She was very impressed with A's speed, but told us that we really need to *keep* him crawling as long as possible. We are not supposed to encourage him to walk or stand or anything, because he really needs to get the upper-body strength that he is still missing as a preemie. She showed us how to make an obstacle course of sorts for him, basically putting pillows in his way and making him crawl over them. Apparently this makes him use his arms a lot more...it's also really fun for me, lol. Of course, the best things to put as incentive are electronics--cell phone, ipod, nothing will stop him from getting to them!

A's sleeping is still effed up. L says no matter when they put him down he doesn't fall asleep until 9:45pm--REALLY late for a baby. and then he doesn't sleep late or anything, and his naps are still hit-or-miss. two days last week he took 2-hr morning naps...the others it was maybe 45 min. it's insane. kid completely pwns us, we live by his schedule. Sigh. Luckily he doesn't seem to be suffering too much...just some occasional crankypants. He's still my angel-baby :-D

K that's all for last week! Hopefully I'll get to this week's while everything is still fresh :-)

Saturday, July 2, 2011

Do I *really* have to take a vacation??

I may be one of the few people on Earth who is not 100% happy about a week's vacation. I'm gonna miss my Bubba! And even though I didn't have to, my body STILL woke me up at 6 today so I can't even look forward to sleeping in that much. Roar.

This week was overall good. Watching A becoming more confident in his crawling was *awesome*.  Slash, life is going to get INTERESTING now, because he will *not* stay where you put him! L and M are planning to get their carpets cleaned ASAP and keep the dogs off of the main living room and hallway floors, because L is all grossed out by the fact that they step in poop and then come inside. And then A touches that. EW. I now have to be extra-vigilant to make sure that he is not putting anything bad into his mouth, and that I wipe his hands regularly after he's been playing on the floor. I mean, he's gotta get some germs sometime to build up his immunities, but we don't want him getting the really BAD ones.

We had three new activities this week. One: playgroup set up by Early Intervention folks. There were only three other babies there, and they were all a bit older than A, but it was still fun.
Two: playing in the kiddie pool. On I think Tuesday or Wednesday I filled up the baby pool in the front yard. Got us all sunscreened up, bub into his swim diaper and a shirt and hat, and out we went! I sat on a low retaining wall they have in their front garden, and stuck my feet in to the deliciously cold water. Well, I thought it was delicious--A did not like it at ALL at first. Once he got used to it, though, he really enjoyed splashing around, grabbing at my feet and trying to catch my sunblock bottle...oh yeah--I forgot the water toys. So I put my sunblock bottle in the water...hey, whatever works!
Three: Storytime on the lawn at the library. We *barely* made it to this because he was napping, but it was kind of fun...mostly because we saw a few people we knew and met some others. A wasn't really interested in the ladies talking and singing, although when there was playing with the parachute he definitely watched!

Oh! Almost forgot--another milestone was reached on Friday...A pulled himself to stand. Uh-oh. L joked that by the time I next see him, he might be running around! Eek.

Yup, life is getting verrrrrrry interesting.

Monday, June 27, 2011

Wheeeeeee

A IS CRAWLING!!!!!!!!! HOLY CRAP!

Last week was fun. We went to the park on Tuesday and went swimming, and it was great! He *loved* being "dunked" in the water, and it wasn't insanely cold so I really enjoyed it too. However, it would be a *lot* easier with someone else along to help, so hopefully Jill can come sometime this week.

Last week, A was not crawling. He was doing this insane thing where he'd lean forwards, move his hands like he was going forwards, but then turn his body and sit right back down on his bum. Somehow, he got across rooms like this, but it was not very efficient! Over the weekend he put it all together, though! It seriously brought tears of pride to my eyes watching him crawl across the room today. *LOVE*

Last week was also our last playgroup with the same people we've been with forever...but today we started a new one that seems pretty good, with other babies who get Early Intervention services.

Last week was also the beginning of SLEEP HELL. Aka A crying/screaming every night in his crib instead of going down to sleep like he has for the last 9 months. We have no idea what is going on with him. His naps are also completely unpredictable and weird. It is driving us nutso. And by us I mean mostly his parents, because *they* have to deal with him at bedtime! I feel really bad for them though. And seriously, dude, I really would appreciate being able to plan a day knowing when he would nap! It's so hard to know if we'll make it to *anything* because who knows if/when he'll sleep. Bah.

Oh, the last major awesomeness is that he can now effectively feed himself puffs/yogurt drops/whatever. Well, mostly effectively. A lot still gets stuck to his face/hands/bib, but a good deal gets in his mouth! Yay progress!

:-D

Saturday, June 18, 2011

Failshaina

Sorry, all five of you who read this! If there's even five...

So. Two short weeks...I swear, I haven't worked a full week all month! Crazy.

Let's see...in the past two weeks, A and I have discovered the library. Oh man. He loves it! There is this toy, it's a big cube that sits on the floor with different activities on each side. Gears on one, an abacus type thing on another, and those awesome bead-wire things on top! Like this: http://platinumgalleria.com/anatex-deluxe-mini-play-cube2.jpg. He LOVES it. He will sit and play with it forever. And then there are books, which are always good. Except he likes to just play with them closed, and if I try to open them, he'll close them before I can read them! Strange child. It's also really fun for him to watch the other (mostly bigger) kids that are there, and it's fun for *me* talking to the other moms/nannies. *Especially* since I haven't been to playgroup in like three weeks for one reason or another!

Still no crawling. He can get from sitting to his hands and knees, and from tummy to sitting. However, he just doesn't get the pulling idea, or the moving his legs idea. Hopefully with some coaching he'll catch on soon! Although I know it's going to make my life a bit more difficult, it'll still be fun!

We got our passes for the park this week, and went down and checked it out. It is really nice--a big lake with plenty of shade, and a wonderful playground with baby swings as well! And a splash pad too, though I haven't seen that on. We went on Wednesday, and I so wish I'd realized how nice it was out--I would have loved to at least wade in the water if not actually go all the way in with A. Instead we played on the swings, ate lunch, and i dipped his toes in the water before we left. Hopefully this coming week we'll have a nice day or two and Jill will come and we'll go swimming :-)

We also have been signed up for a baby gym thing. Between that and all the meet-up things that L is signing us up for, and the park, and the library story time, I think we're going to have a jam-packed summer. Woo!

In personal news, I'm moving in TWO WEEKS. A and I might make a trip to the hardware store this week to pick up paint so I can paint my room next weekend. Eek! On top of that my parents are renovating our kitchen at home, and work on that is starting this week. It's going to be insane...

Saturday, June 4, 2011

Short week

I only worked three days this past week, because Monday was a holiday and Friday I took the day off to start preparing for my brother's wedding tomorrow!

Tuesday was INSANE with the naps. M and L must have really worn A out over the weekend, because his morning nap was two hours and his afternoon nap was two hours twenty minutes. Which is all but UNHEARD of in the last few months! It was crazy. But good for me, because, well, I needed naps too! Haha.

Wednesday we had some cuh-raaazy weather here in MA. if you haven't heard--western MA had freaking tornados, and out by me we had hail and thunder and stuff. Luckily, the middle part of the day was pretty good, and A and I ventured out to the grocery store! It was pretty fun, he was really well behaved, and we ran into a mom and kids that we met on the playground last week! Small world. So that was good. Oh, and the cleaning ladies came in the afternoon. Normally A really likes them, especially Katia, the one who speaks English (they're Brazilian). However, he's really starting to get into the stranger anxiety thing, and he pretty much clung to me for about fifteen minutes after he got up from his nap and saw them. Especially because Maria (the non-English speaker) tried to take him from me--OMG he did NOT WANT. I love him clinging to me...it's the cutest thing in the world. Hopefully it does not make our lives difficult in the future though...like if he didn't like his extended family members or something.

Thursday my friend Jill came over and we baked! L and M are having a yard sale today (like, right this minute) and wanted to have a bake sale too to get as much money as possible. Not for them--for the Pan-Mass Challenge, a big bike ride that supports cancer research that L is doing in August. She has to raise a lot of money, so everything from the sale is going to that. I made brownies, m&m cookies, and chocolate chip cookies. I hope people buy them! A was pretty good although a little antsy. He's generally pretty happy sitting in his highchair watching us, and he gave us just enough time to do what we needed to. We had a bit of a snafu with the chocolate chip cookies because Jill accidentally measured 1 cup less flour than we needed, but they were still delicious!

And that's it. Next week I might have to work extra hours, since M has to go out to Springfield for the week to help with the tornado stuff. Crazy times we live in...

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...