Play & Learn Challenge

So...it's summer time and guess who is home with the babe? Me! Since daycare has ended we'll be together a little over a month. I love that the daycare has a curriculum, program, fun and no access to TV. I on the other hand have none of those things at home for Royce. Yes, I know-- but I don't teach 13 month olds. The students I teach come to me reading, writing, walking and you know--speaking. There are many blogs out there that list activities that you can do with your little ones. They are great! But I am a research head and I just get bogged down sometimes clicking through link after link after link. I was in Ross one day when a book caught my eye: Play and Learn 1001 fun activities for your baby and child. It was developed by Gymboree and literally covers activities from birth to 5 years old. The activities are numbered all the way to 1001. Without going on Amazon or Google to look at all the reviews and see how many stars, and who said this or that, I decided to go this "old school" and purchased the book. Besides at $6 or so dollars what did I have to loose? Royce and I will complete at least one of the activities together every day. When I was standing in the store looking through the book I had a lot of "Oh yeah" moments. There were many activities that I have done or are aware of but don't put into practice very often. I'm hoping that my challenge will change that and maybe even inspire me. Yesterday we completed task #402 read together. We read two of his board books I Love You through and Through and Shades of Black. I was only going to read one but when I was done reading he requested I read another book he spied near by. We also walked to the neighborhood park and took his Iron Man Ball with us that he received at a party. We handed it back and forth #410 have a ball and even completed #360 share the social niceties by saying please, and thank you while we were doing it. I think a lot of kids now days don't have the same old school manners we use to and I'd like him to have them. Today we completed #339 finger paint bags. Instead of finger paint we used dot-art and I used an old Trader Joe bag for the paper. All in all I think we are off to a great start.


The teeth marks in the spine just means he reallllllly enjoys the book.


Taken by his dad--hehe. At least he caught his famous smile :)

I'm just a mom

So today I attended R's open house for school aka daycare. It was very surreal. I know I have to go back to work--eventually ...and I know that work provides for Royce's home, food, and clothing, but-- I'm his mama!!! I feel like I'm letting him down,like I owe it to him to be with him. I chose to have him, not the other way around. I calculated it and he will actually be there more waking hours then with me. I shouldn't have calculated it :-o.


I'm grateful that I've had all this time off with him. When I do go back to work I will have been home with him a total of 3 months. In fact, I should be back at work now because my maternity leave has ended. After scrambling around trying to find childcare for the two weeks my provider would be closed I decided to extend my leave. I knew it would mean hard work for me prepping from home for the beginning of the year, but I also knew it would be worth getting R to the three month mark. Mr. Blog supported it and said that he was sure R would love more time with me too.

In total it will have been 4 months since I have worked ( minus sub plans and setting up my room). I realize that some people don't even get that. They get six weeks and that's it. *Sigh* I would have too if his birth hadn't coincided with summer vacation. In some European countries moms get 3 years off for child rearing--3 years! In a perfect world I would have been able to stay with him for six months at the very least.

So back to open house. As we walked up to the door I whispered to him that this was his new school, and he would be starting soon. I met his teachers and toured the room. I thought of all the milestones he would accomplish there and then I thought selfishly that I didn't want him to accomplish anything there. I want him to do it all in my presence. He just started sitting up when you hold him about 2 weeks ago and he just started gripping last week. He is so, so, proud of himself when he picks up a toy or grabs your necklace, his blanket, or your hair! He'll be teething, sitting up, crawling, walking---all for the first time, possibly without me. It's a hard thought to wrap my head around.

As I stood there listening to the smiling teachers I watched my son. One of the teachers asked if she could hold him and he was just smiling and cheesing away. He looked so comfortable. Meanwhile my head was spinning. I was glad he seemed at ease because it made me feel a bit better. I will take him to daycare a few days next week so that we can both feel more comfortable with it.

One Month/Two Months

I thought I would update with R's monthly pictures. Every month I'm trying to take his picture next to the Pooh Bear so I can track his growth. Notice how he tries to copy Pooh in both. Genius!


one month


two months

Milkface

That’s what I call the look that R gives me when he finishes a meal. His cheeks are full like a little chipmunk. His eyes are closed and all you see are these long lashes that extend for miles. It reminds me of these cherub faced angels I’ve seen on a Hallmark card. If he is particularly satisfied with his meal he’ll even bust out a smile or two. At least I like to think that’s why he is smiling. I’m exclusively breastfeeding and it’s hard, so maybe my thoughts are a way to pat myself on the back.

Yesterday R had his 2 month checkup and shots. It only cost me 10 bucks. Gotta love insurance. It was my first solo doc visit with R. When the doc came in he just stared—she called him serious, and said he looked mature and acted like a much older baby. He finally smiled at her. She held him while I put all the paperwork away and she talked to me about the next milestones I should look for. I really like her bedside manner. It puts me at ease and I don’t feel like I have to yell out questions as she backs out of the room. We’ll see her in two months for more vaccinations and his 4 month checkup.

This was the office visit game plan:
1. Ask the nurse to give R Tylenol as soon as we check in the room.
2. Ask if it would be okay to give R a bottle during the shots.
3. Ask for some time in the room so that I could finish bottle feeding/and or comfort breast feed if need be.

It didn’t go according to plan because for one, we had to wait over an hour for the appt. By the time R went into the room he was hungry,so I had to feed him in there while we waited for the doc. I was so frazzled getting the milk together that I forgot to ask for the Tylenol right away (the nurse gave it to him after his shots). After the shot the only comfort R really wanted was to be held by me while I told him how brave he was and how proud I was of him. He did get the Tylenol after the shots. While I was putting his onesie back on he made the weirdest cooing sound I had ever heard him make. It was a cross between a yelp and a slur. I think it was the drugs finally hitting him. I Guess he is going to be a lightweight like his mama.

Milestones to look for until 4 month appt- rolling over, tracking items across the room , better head control, enormous amount of weight and height growth.




He received 2 Bugs Bunny Bandaids. His onesie said "Little Tough Guy"

2 Month Eve

On the eve of Royce's 2 months he sits in his swing full, happy, and cooing away, busily kicking off his Ellen show abajam blanket. Meanwhile Mr. Blog is out picking up our Thai take-out from one of our favorite restaurants. When he returns we'll be dining on cashew nut chicken, pad see aew and a sampler of appetizers. Today was a lazy family Sunday of sleeping in , a mama cooked pancake breakfast, and family naps . I loved it. Family life is beginning to fit more and more.

The events of his birth still play in my mind like clock work. What I did on his birthday, how I reacted, how I asked his dad to rub my back in the evening thinking I was just dealing with pregnancy pains... only to find out later that I had been in the early stages of labor all along. What I thought before would be an unrepeatable event, ME giving birth and being pregnant, has actually become a sea of what ifs and we'll sees. What would his life be with a brother or sister? How would our lives be with another baby? Could I do it all again? Don't get me wrong. I do remember the trauma and the pain I went through but the wonderfulness of this thing called parent hood is melting my hesitation away. To go through all of that was horrible but to be rewarded with my beautiful and ever changing baby boy is priceless.

I can officially say that I no longer feel like I'm on the outside looking in. Instead of empathizing with parents I understand where they are coming from. That's a switch. I replay various parent/child scenarios from the past in my mind and can realize how they reacted that way. I even remember the big to-do people were making about Tom Cruise and Katie Holmes when they had Suri. People questioned them and asked if the baby was even real, just because they chose to keep her inside awhile. Now, as a new parent, I completely understand. Can we say germs anyone? Coughing, sneezing, and hovering paparazzi around a new baby. No thanks. We've even kept our own baby looked in his castle so to speak. So far The most people he has been around at once has been at the doctor's office. That is by choice. We are waiting for his first round of shots before we acquaint him with the outside world. His 2 month appt. will be Wed. so we'll see what happens then. I'm dreading the shots as much as if I were getting them myself.

The Many Faces of Royce

I've just been told that I don't update this blog nearly enough with pics of the baby so here goes:


The Thinker



The Scream (reminiscent of some painter)




I call it--Look into my eyes, you'll want to give me milk




Just Happy



Royce as the Hulk!



An image we don't like to see too often-The Meltdown.

Time flies when you're in heaven

The cutest angel turned one month old yesterday. He also had his first outing at grandma and grandpas. We ate hotwings and watched Ghost Rider. He did really good. He slept most of the time and then my mom fed him with a bottle. He did pretty good with the bottle but then he was off looking for me again. They were surprised at how much he has grown and they had just seen him Tuesday! All in all we had a pretty good day.

!!!

Royce is almost a month old! He'll actually be one month old next week. I can't believe it. Where did the time go? Stupid mom (me), I actually thought he was one month old this week. I thought once he hit 4 weeks he was considered one month. I guess it's at the 5 week mark. It will be so weird to refer to him in months and not so much weeks. There is so much he can do now, I can't wait to see what the future holds. One thing he has been doing since oh about day 3, is trying to hold his head up on his own. His dad, me, and the rest of the family were amazed with his range of movement. I almost cried, but not tears of joy. I thought- he's trying to leave me and grow up too fast and he just got here. He's not supposed to be doing that yet! On a side note, when you pick him up he also tries to push off on you and jump up and down. Today we let him try tummy time on his Boppy and he did a pretty good job. He didn't cry and neither did I ;)



Starting out



Okay, what do I do next?



*This is kinda fun*



I'm outta here!



Foiled again...

For all who dare...

This was Royce's first time in a swing. Notice the clasped feet!



Its taken me 3 weeks to post my birth story. I've started and stopped writing my story numerous times over the last several weeks. I recently wrote to a co-worker about my experience and decided to use that as my post so here goes:

My labor and delivery was not what I expected. I ended up having rolling contractions so they did not stop, just one after the other. By the time I reached the hospital I was already 4 or 5 cm dilated so they admitted me that was at 1:30 am. I ended up delivering Royce at 8:33 a.m. When I was about 7 Cm's I couldn't take the pain any more, plus it was hard to ignore the suggestions of an epidural. I even tried sitting on the bouncing ball but that did not work . I went in with an open mind and just wanted to see what my body was capable of. Plus, side note I am a big baby when it comes to needles . I got an epidural. It did not work. I had to be re shot! I was hunched over a table for 45 minutes getting poked in the back, being told to keep still, and my contractions never stopped the whole time. I was in so much pain. I even called out for my mom. I guess it was bad b/c they allowed her to be in the delivery room even though there was a limit to how many were allowed in. I had planned on just having myself and my husband in the room :). By the time I was fully dilated the epidural started working. This was when I needed to feel to push, but instead I was numb. They had to bring out a bar I could place my legs on and a sheet I could pull on (almost like I was doing sitting crunches) for me to push the baby out. I did it though! After he was out I cried and cried. They cleaned him up and placed him on me.

The next day I started to get a mind searing headache. It felt like a combination of a hangover or migraine that I've heard about (I've never had one before). I told my nurse about it in passing but I didn't think anything of it. I thought it was just the after effects of giving birth. Plus, I was having painful lower back muscle spasms. I had a great nurse!! She was so concerned she called the anesthesiology department and arranged for them to come speak with me. I thought she was making a big deal out of nothing, but I was still grateful.

It turns out I developed what is known as a spinal headache. The hospital tried to correct it by hooking me up to an IV with caffeine and a salt solution for 24hrs but that did not work. They said I could try another option which is known as a blood patch and requires a third shot. It is very much like an epidural except some of your blood is taken out and pumped back into your spine. The after affects were that I could not hold anything heavier then the baby for 48-72 hours after and I had to spend the majority of my time lying on my back or else there was a chance it would not work. It was hard to do this with a baby but my husband, parents, and mother in law pitched in to help. I'm so glad the blood patch worked because I was given an example of someone who had to have the procedure done 4 times before the pain went away. I'm just starting to feel like myself. Whew that is a long story!

Guess who's here?

I couldn't wait to go to Bob's just for this photo! Hehe!



Okay, now for the blog world debut of Royce:

I guess he takes after me...

My first Mother's Day (as a momma to be) was awesome. I didn't really expect much, but I woke up to a sweet card from Mr. Blog thanking me for all I've done so far to make sure our son is healthy and happy and these:

A dozen beautiful red roses!


Then Mr. Blog proceeded to make me a breakfast of hash browns, waffles, and sausage.

After breakfast, Mr. Blog and I went to Babiesrus to get some last minute things and use our completion certificate and gift cards. We were able to get over $100 of stuff for $30. That was nice. Next, we went to my parents for a bbq. I love my dad's bbq. I've already put in a request for it once the baby is born :P. Well my family surprised me too. Check it out:


They bought me the bath, lamp for the nursery, baby book (I've been stressing about this b/c I wanted to take it to the hospital to get the baby's foot and hand prints ), and a Coach purse and wallet!

I'm excited to meet my son but I am nervous at the same time. I am truly blessed to have the love and support of family and friends and that strength has been pulling me through. I'm really scarred at the thought of delivery. I cry when I get a shot! Haha. But, all the support and excitement has got me caught up too. I don't think it will be a piece of cake, but I am coming to peace with everything. I better right? I only have 12 days until D day.

One Spoiled Baby

A backwards tale.

Wow, today was the 3rd baby shower for the baby. I can't believe it. On Tuesday I was asked by the social committee if it would be okay for them to throw a shower for me on Friday after work. It was fine by me. Usually the shower consists of cake and punch and we all sit around talking. That was what I was expecting. Well it turned out to be a joint shower with a co-worker who is one month behind me. I was glad about that b/c I hate sitting around getting stared at. I'd much rather share the love. What surprised me though was people actually brought gifts. Gift cards, outfits, accessories,even a check so I can get what I need. I am truly touched. Wow. When I asked a coworker how I looked he remarked "pleasantly pregnant". I'll take that.


Cake from the work shower.


On Sunday April 19th was my women only shower. This shower was hosted by my bestie with help from my mom. It was thrown at my clubhouse which ended up to be a really nice spot for a shower. If you can believe it I'd never been in the clubhouse until the day of the shower. It had a little kitchen and ample seating. Plus AC, for the weirdly hot April day. We played games like guess the baby lyric, word scramble, diaper raffle, and my personal favorite "string around the mommy" :p.I loved that my childhood friend and her mom came out from OC and SD to celebrate with me. I also loved that some people didn't RSVP so they could surprise me at the shower. The baby received a lot of cozy homemade blankets, diapers, wipes, bibs, outfits and $$.


A cozy blanket shot.


A blurred gift shot.

March 21st was my mother in law hosted shower. She wanted to throw one for her side of the family. My parents and brother came along too.This was a co-ed shower with Mr. Blog and myself opening gifts together. Mr. Blog even invited some of his friends,one of which brought his cute one year old son. It was nice seeing him toddle around, I was able to get an idea of what I have to look forward to.Its been so long since I have been around a little one. This shower also had games such as:
guess the cotton ball, and don't say baby.


Cake and pretty flowers from the shower. I was able to take the flowers home. Sadly they no longer look as good as they did in this photo :(.





This baby is loved, spoiled, anticipated. I think everyone (including his parents) is just very excited and can't wait to meet him. To think he will make his debut in less than 30 days! And.......there is still one more shower to go. Ellen. Ellen DeGeneres.I wrote a letter to Ellen and received tickets to her annual baby shower show. I've been telling the baby to hold off until then ;).

I'm in my 3rd Trimester today!

Yay! I can't believe how fast my pregnancy is going with less then 100 days to go. Its seems like I just took a test! In other news, I saw the baby move my stomach about 3 days ago. I was sitting on the couch and felt him, and happened to look down,the whole left side of my belly was moving like jello. I blinked a couple times in disbelief and looked back down, but no, what I saw was definitely movement. He is making his presence known. I called G down so he could see it too. The baby will even respond to voices and start kicking me if there is too much noise ,as he did last night when we went to dinner at Lucille's.

More Nursery News

The crib is up and the mattress is ordered and on its way. The baby's room is coming along! We need to work on the decoration end of it, but as far as the furniture goes I'm very satisfied. The crib has sort of a chemically smell so I'm glad that it has time to air out.



As you can see, I picked up a few more outfits for the baby ;)

In other news, I strained my calf muscle getting out of bed the other day. How embarrassing! Everyone has said its normal and that it's happening b/c my ligaments are stretching, but I feel so funny limping arond and looking like a war hero, only to say it happened b/c I stretched my legs before I got out of bed. I'm so glad we had a 3-day weekend b/c I spent Sunday mostly up stairs, not walking on it, and with a heating pad. :/

May 23rd is Around the Corner

WE HAVE PROGRESS! The nursery building has finally begun. Yahoo! I'm estatic. My nesting instinct has been in overdrive and we've purchased most of the furniture that we need for the nursery, we just haven't taken it out of the box/ put it together. The boxes have been calling to me, and then I start calling to G. He finally answered the call and put the dresser together yesterday while I was out registering with my mom. I love how it turned out, and it is the perfect height for diaper changing (it's going to be used for that as well). I saw it in the store, but it was up on a display shelf so I wasn't sure if it was going to be the right height or not(dang spacial distance issues). I can't stop admiring it.


On top of the dresser are two pictures that I had in my room as a child. I'm glad I kept them and the baby gets to use them too. I'll be hanging them up somewhere in the room. I also hung some of the clothes he has received on the handles.





Still don't know where this bike is going to go. I'm afraid if it's too far out of sight I won't ride it anymore :/.


*Update* G just finished putting the bassinet together!! I guess I'll be posting more pics soon.

He's been spotted!

Well, by a stranger. Take that-- I can't see, you are huge, you are small people. I never noticed just how much people noticed bodies until I became pregnant and mine became a public free for all. Anyway, out shopping with my Mom at The Mills the cashier said goodnight to me and then she waved toward my belly and said it again. I repeated myself before I realized who she was waving to, and what she was waving at. I just said oh.....he says bye and kind of laughed. Then a few minutes later a store clerk said that it was no problem helping to put the bassinet in the car b/c of "my condition". Granted the comments happened while I was buying a bassinet and some things for the nursery, but they still did. On the way out of The Mills we ran into someone we knew and they were surprised to see me and asked how far along I was. Today around the house I was wearing some pre-pregnancy clothes and Mr. Blog kindly asked me to tuck my belly in --yeah, pretty impossible at this point.

Holiday Q&A

Thanks to the original poster of this Q&A

1. Wrapping paper or gift bags? Gift bags! My wrapping skills leave much to be desired. If you see anything wrapped it was from Mr. Blog--he is our resident wrapper.

2. Real tree or Artificial? Can't smell pine over here.

3. When do you put up the tree? The day after Thanksgiving.

4. When do you take the tree down? When I get tired of looking at it.

5. Do you like eggnog? Yes, and Lactaid brand makes an especially good one for all of the other lactose free folks.

6. Favorite gift received as a child? Most memorable? Barbie dream house-age 6. Santa really worked hard putting that one together. It was too stories and even had a fridge with pullout items.

7. Hardest person to buy for? Everyone! I like to make my gifts really personal.

8. Easiest person to buy for? Myself---yes, I get myself something :P

9. Do you have a nativity scene? No, we're still working on the decoration thing.

10. Mail or email Christmas cards? I'm not doing Christmas cards.

11. Worst Christmas gift you ever received? A Baby Skates doll that never skated. My parents returned it one or two times only to bring another home that wouldn't skate. Baby Skates! Hmph!

12. Favorite Christmas Movie? The Sound of Music

13. When do you start shopping for Christmas? The last minute.

14. Have you ever recycled a Christmas present? Maybe.

15. Favorite thing to eat at Christmas? Cookies and Eggnog

16. Lights on the tree? Yes, always. We conserve energy and only have them on when we're in the living room with the tree.

17. Favorite Christmas song? The complete Steve Lawerence and Edie Gorme record. It's a classic.

18. Travel at Christmas or stay home? I've never traveled just go to my mom's house.

19. Can you name all of Santa's reindeer? Let's see--Donner, Dasher, Blitzen, Rudolph, Prancer....that's all I've got.

20. Angel on the treetop, star or…? Right now I have an angel on top that one of my childhood friends made in a middle school activity class and gave to my mom who gave it to me.

21. Open presents on Christmas Eve or morning? Lately it's been Christmas Eve at Midnight (so technically Christmas morning) b/c my dad has to work on Chirstmas.

22. Most annoying thing about this time of the year? Mean shoppers who like to walk into pregnant ladies!

23. Favorite ornament theme or color? One year I will do a theme this year it's just a rainbow of colors and ornaments.

24. What do you want for Christmas this year? Uggs and I bought them for myself last week. Merry Christmas to me! They are like walking around in slippers all day. I think they have become my official weekend shoe.

25. Most favorite Christmas Tradition? The cookie baking.

RaNdOmness

We have a heart beat! Well one that we can hear anyway. Mr. B and I got to hear it on Thursday. He said it sounded like a techno song. We are relieved that it sounds nice and strong. Next up is the bigggggg ultra sound. We get to schedule that in 2-5 weeks. I want to wait as close to 20 weeks as I can so the baby will be all nice and big. We actually get a 4-D at the hospital. If I wasn't getting one of those from the hospital I wouldn't be getting one. My reasoning for this is I want to find out the sex and I want to be surprised about something...about looks. My other reason is from what I've seen of the 4D the pictures come out to reveal some kind of stay puff marshmallow baby. The features appear very distorted. I'm thinking seeing a distorted pic of my baby will freak me out even more then I am already freaked out now. I guess we will see. I was very surprised that a 4d is given through the hospital in the first place b/c I've heard that most people go to off site centers for that. I am looking forward to seeing the baby again though. Plus they are going to be doing a scan of the heart,and brain along with the anatomy. The Dr. said 4D is the best for that.

Another thing that has me going is childcare. Wowwww! As my friend so eloquently said it is the equivilant to rent, plus you have to supply your own food and diapers. Yikes! Our baby is gonna be out of diapers by the age of 1!!! Maybe even sooner (this is according to its father) :). I'm already having attatchment issues I'm not even sure if I want to leave my baby with someone, at some school, or a home.....or anywhere. I've been reading that the first 3years are crucial for development and my baby will be somewhere-- all day-- without me. I want to be there when they say their first word, crawl, take their first step. I'm really not sure what I'm going to do at this point. I'm already having seperation anxiety. Crazy huh? I wonder if other mothers go through this?

She's having a baby!

I'm pregnant! How many times do you get to post that? So I'm going to get the most out of it. I was on a website and someone posted about taking the time to enjoy your pregnancy even when you are not feeling your best because this will be the only time that you will ever be pregnant with this child and have these kind of connections. I guess that is true. I try to remember that and take moments out of my day to just reflect with the baby and hopefully it can feel how much I love and care for it already. I try to send as many vibes as I can.

Oh man. Keeping this kind of secret has been so, so, hard. I can't believe I went 11 weeks without telling anyone. I didn't even tell my mom whom I practically speak to every day. The cool thing about not telling was Mr. Blog and I had something that just he and I shared. The bad thing about not sharing was there was a point where I was driving Mr. Blog crazy with all of my uh, knowledge :).

So here's a recap of how I broke it to the 'rents:

Mr. Blog's parents came up to take us out to Market Broiler(dope fish restaurant based in the IE) as a belated birthday gift. Actually, the part that it was so belated was partly my doing. I had her push back the date they were coming to visit until after my first ultrasound. I told my parents that they should stop by and visit and go out with us. I didn't tell the inlaws my parents were coming b/c I didn't want them to get suspicious-whew. The plans almost fell through at one point when my mom informed me that she was not going to be able to make it at the scheduled time and would just meet us at the restaraunt (this would have seriously derailed the plans as you will see in a moment). One hormonal meltdown/tantrum and she and my dad arrived as scheduled :). Yes, I'm a brat at heart! While all of the parents were milling around chatting I used my teacher skills to get their attention. I told them that Mr. Blog had bought me a cake to celebrate my birthday and asked if everyone could have a piece before we left. The grumbling started (as I knew it would). No one wants cake before they go out to dinner? Who knew? I suggested that they just take a look at the design b/c Mr. Blog worked really hard at picking it out. They didn't have a problem with that. I flipped the lid of the bakery box and this is what they saw:



The cake: white, with butter cream and strawberry filling. Von's Pavillions at the Plaza did such a good job on the design. All I told them was the lettering, to use pink and blue, and to decorate it like a baby shower cake. I love their cakes and have been looking for an excuse to get one made. This was perfect. Both moms leaned over the cake. MIL read it slowly at first, then my mom read it, and then it sunk in. MIL said later at first she questioned the color choice and was thinking that her son had picked me up a discount cake. The u/s pics came out of hiding (they were turned backwards on the fridge) and after much screaming and crying we left for the restarant. Both moms said they were glad we told them together and my MIL said that she has never been surprised that she usually has an idea of something going on but had none at all. Go me!! The dad's were there and gave us love too.

I'll leave you with a joke from my adorable six year old niece:

Knock, Knock
Who's there?
Tameka!
Tameka who?
Tameka's having a baby!

Rainbows

One reason why I love the rain.