Hot blooded

Being sick is never fun but when it's just you there is only one thing you have to worry about - you. I'm the first to admit that I'm a big baby that whines to my Mommy whenever I'm sick. I want to curl up in my jammies and have someone bring me drinks and make me soup or toast. Usually I can convince my Mom to drive over and do those things but not always. Being sick and having to still worry about taking care of a baby is extra not fun. I felt like I got hit by a fast moving truck yesterday and was left a feverish puddle that could barely get out of bed. Lucky for me I started to feel icky around nap time so it was easy to convince Mr. O to chill out on the bed and go to sleep. Unlucky for me that my Mom was at my sister's house for the day so there wasn't going to be anyone to bring me anything or more importantly there wasn't going to be anyone else around to help take care of Mr. O. Once nap time was over the little guy needed to be changed and the diapers were all the way on the other side of the room. They might as well have been miles away because I could barely lift my head and had to crawl over to the changing table and back. Now that the baby was awake I had to stay semi conscious so that he didn't crawl off the bed or make friends with any electrical outlets. It was the longest 4 hours of my life. My Mom got home later that night and rescued the baby from having to hang out next to me in bed. Thank you, Mom! I know I'm lucky that I even had the option of having my Mom help out because so many of us don't have any back up. Doing this parenting thing solo is hard enough when we're feeling 100% and feels almost impossible when we're not. The only thing that gets me through is trying to stay a few steps ahead of disaster. I failed this crisis because once I started feeling sick it was already too late to rush out to the store and get fever reducers and juice. I should have had that stuff stocked up so that I could stay on top of the fever before it got too bad. Feeling better today and tomorrow I'm heading out to the store so I can refill the emergency sick supplies.

Sometimes you have to go home

It's been busy around here the last few weeks! I moved back home to my Mom's so that I can save some money and it will also give me more time to find a job that gives me the flexibility I'm looking for so that I can spend most of Mr. O's awake time with him. There is very little that I hate more than moving and good golly moving with a baby is HARD! I hated having to keep him out of the way in his swing, play yard or someone else's arms just so I could get everything done. We both missed our routine and playtime. We're still in the middle of settling in and most of my stuff is sitting in a storage unit parked in the driveway until I can figure out where to put everything.

Mr. O is doing great! I still find it hard to believe that I grew this tiny human. He's really liking food but his true love is drinking out of a cup. The boy goes crazy for cups! We're taking it slow but having a great time trying out new foods. This week spinach got two thumbs up but oatmeal cereal was not a big hit. I'm working on a post with more details on how baby led weaning is working out for us. The boy is working hard on getting around and is pretty quick with the belly crawl. I think he'll be full on crawling any day now.

Baby gear I didn't know that I needed until I did

Emery boards- baby fingers are so little and their tiny fingernails are really thin. I was so nervous about using nail clippers in the beginning! I stuck with baby emery boards for the first few weeks until I was brave enough to use the nail clippers. I wish I had packed some in the hospital bag because Mr. O was born with long nails and he scratched that perfect little face before the end of his first day. I still keep an emery board in the diaper bag just in case I have to file down a nail that snuck past inspection.



Mirror for the car seat - I hated not being able to see the baby while I was driving and holding up a compact make-up mirror only worked if I was the passenger. I started out with the kind of mirror that attaches to the car but that wasn't too helpful when we were in someone else's car. I returned the fancy expensive one that I had and bought the kind that attaches to the bucket for $10 and it is by far the best baby gear purchase I have made so far! It allows me to see the baby while I'm driving and interact with him via our mirrors, it entertains him while he's stuck in the bucket at the grocery store and now that he's older he likes to play with the spinning balls and talk to the baby in the mirror. I can only imagine what people are saying about that strange lady making goofy faces and bug eyes in her rear view mirror!

Night light - Before baby I would sleep in total darkness and even had to turn my alarm clock away from me because the lighted numbers were too bright. Once baby arrived I just couldn't relax unless I could see him clear enough to tell if he was breathing. The first few weeks I slept with my bedroom light on but it was too bright so I stepped down to a 25 watt table lamp and now I'm surviving with a tiny plug-in night light.

Night light part 2 - Driving at night was rough for both of us. He doesn't like the dark and is very vocal about letting everyone in a 5 mile radius know and I don't like not being able to see him. I tried using one of those tap lights but the light was distracting to me and it wasn't too baby friendly. I ended up finding the perfect light for us - a TykeLight Jr. LED light. It's safe for Mr. O to handle because it doesn't get hot and he likes to stick the arms in his mouth (because everything goes in his mouth these days!) and it gives off enough of a glow that he's calmer about the dark and I can see what he's up to but it isn't so bright that I'm distracted while driving.

Keeping baby out of the sun while out for walks - We went to Florida to visit my sister and the Mouse and I was worried about keeping the baby out of sun while we were walking around the parks. I used a clip-on umbrella and strategically placed receiving blankets and it did the job but it required constant vigilance to make sure that the make-shift contraption was positioned just right as the sun's rays shifted through out the day. It was after I got home that I discovered the perfect sun shade with bonus bug protection. Uppa baby makes a pop up bubble screen that fits over most car seat buckets. That combined with the clip-on umbrella (hey! It has a sock monkey print how could I not keep using it?!) kept Mr. O shaded and bug bite free all summer. I also like that it's easy to fold flat and doesn't take up a lot of room when not in use.

Anyone else have a few favorite baby gear finds that they didn't know they would need and/or love?

Baby stuff I just had to have but didn't really need

Baby shoes:
Aren't those tiny little baby shoes the cutest things you've ever seen? How can you not buy them for your baby? Save your money! While I was pregnant I remember looking everywhere for just the right kind of fuzzy little booties that would keep my end of winter baby's tootsies warm. Well, he never wore them. He also never wore the dozen or so other too cute to pass up little shoes that found their way to my house. His feet were either covered up by his clothes or with socks. Once summer arrived his little toes were naked and available for quick nibbles and kisses. Shoes? Other than a photo op I never even considered putting them on him. Now that we're swing back to cooler weather and his feet are a little bigger I'm still sticking with socks. Ok, I did buy these too cute to pass up biker boots that I just had to have the other day to match his new fleece biker jacket. I need help!

Baby shorts:
I thought I would be dressing Mr. O in complete outfits everyday - even if we were staying home. Ummm, nope! Some days it was just too hot to wear anything more than a diaper and a onesie. I just packed away his summer stuff and I was a little sad to see just how many things he never wore.


Swaddling gear:
The Mir.ac.le Blanket seemed to be at the top of everyone's must have list for baby so of course I had to have them too. Those fancy swaddling contraptions with the velcro wings were all washed and ready to go before baby arrived and once he was here I used them exactly zero times. Mr. O was swaddled up nice and tight for the first few weeks and the receiving blankets we rescued from the hospital worked perfectly so I never busted out the Miracles. I wish I had waited to wash them so that I could have returned them.

1/2 Year

6 months already! I truly can't believe it's been 6 months since I first held mr. itty bitty baby O. We're now zooming our way towards him being a year old and I find myself trying to push the brakes and slow this growing up train down. I finally started sorting through his clothes and packing away the NB sizes that barely fit his head never mind his body. It was a little sad and I'm going to miss a few of those outfits.

6 months in and there a few things that I wish I could go back and do differently. Mostly I wish I had done a better job of capturing and recording those little moments.

Blog more! either here or somewhere. I had started out keeping track of O's days in a notebook so that I could transfer it to a baby book, blog or journal type thing later on. The first 3 months are well recorded but after that I started slacking.

More photos! I don't take enough pictures of the baby. I have lots but there have been some weeks that I don't take a single photo. The horror! I really try to just enjoy and really be in the moments but I need to do a better job of getting in some "cheese" too.

Monthly photos! When I was pregnant I thought a lot about the monthly baby photo. Heck I was even planning on doing a daily photo! Should it be in the same chair? Next to the same stuffed animal or other object? at the same time of day? and on and on. Once O arrived I was so overwhelmed and just never settled on what I wanted to do so it never happened. Starting with this month I'm going to do something like this:

Coming up this week: Mr. O's first taste of real food! I'm going to skip the cereals and give Baby Led Weaning (BLW) a try. I'll let you know how it goes!

Wonderful Wizard of Headers and Announcements!

I searched all over the internet for the perfect baby announcement. Wait, make that the perfect announcement that didn't cost more than a week's supply of diapers! I wasn't loving the cookie cutter photo announcement options at the usual photo sites. I took a tour around Et.sy and almost purchased some that were almost what I wanted when I remembered that there was plenty of talent right here in our own SMC backyard. Calliope from CreatingMotherhood! The wizard of awesome blog headers has mad photo skillz! I contacted her via her blog and asked if she would be willing to design my announcements and I was thrilled when she agreed (and think her talent is worth more than she charged). I told her that I was looking for something that used some of my favorite photos, had swoopy letters and was sort of Wiz.ard of O.zish. She whipped up some magic and Tah Dah they were perfect! I uploaded the file to a photo site and had them printed for less than a day's worth of diapers! My friends and family loved them and I love that I was able to support a fellow SMCer's art. If you're looking for some announcements or something similar drop her a note and see if she can help you out.

An afternoon with the grandparents

Today I visited my grandmother and she was loving on Mr. O big time! He got lots and lots of kisses and coochie coochie coos from his Nana. She's going to be 86 in a few weeks and even though she's been slowing down these last few years Mr. O's tiny toes and giggles always perk her right up. We had a lovely afternoon and after we said our goodbyes and I pulled out of her street I found myself driving to see my other grandparents.

It had been a long time since I had been to visit so I had to drive up and down the tiny little lanes a few times. There were so many new additions and the small little saplings that I had in mind as landmarks had now grown taller than me.

I was about to give up and try again another day when I spotted my grandfather's headstone. I'm glad I found him first because while our relationship wasn't particularly a close one there were never any bad feelings. He was always happy to see me and the memories I do have of him are good ones. My father's father died when I was in college and I regret that I never made more of an effort to get to know who my grandfather was as a person. I took Mr. O out of the car and introduced him to his great grandfather. I told O a few stories about my V.o.Vo and took a photo to send to my Dad of his grandson meeting his father. Some might think that's odd but my Dad will love it.

My mother's parents are in the next row over and I wasn't sure I wanted to visit until I got to their headstone. My relationship with them is complicated and painful. My grandmother was a wonderful grandmother and I only ever felt extremely loved and cherished by her. She died when I was 13 and it was devastating. Years after her death I learned some things that really made me see her in a whole new way. I struggle with my feelings for the woman I knew as my beloved Gram and how I feel about her now that I know the truth about the woman who was my mother's mother. I told her that I didn't forgive her for not protecting her babies from her husband but that I also remember how much she loved me. I told her I was there to honor that love and I introduced her to my son. Even with all of my conflicting feelings of love, loss, anger and disappointment it was a really powerful moment for me. Oh, and I cried. I cried because just for a moment I let go of the anger and hate and I just missed my Gram and I wish she was here to snuggle my baby and love on him. Poor Mr. O's head was soaked. I then promised my boy that I would always keep him safe and that no one would ever hurt him if I had a breath left in my body. I told her that is what a mother is supposed to do and said my goodbyes.