First Time Away from Mom and Dad

I have a sleepy boy in bed tonight. It was a looong day for him. First time to be away from both mom and dad for more than an hour. And first time to be babysat by the great grandparents. It did not go smoothly.

I was happy with him because he did drink a bunch of milk out of his dippy cup (still doesn’t go for the bottle). But then he just got so tired and babysitters couldn’t get him to sleep. So when we got there he was a big sweatball screaming his lungs out. My poor boy.

All was solved when he got to be in mommy’s arms though.

But this is what happens when great grandparents push you in to have them babysit. At least we got them off our back. And as a bonus we did really enjoy our baby-free time wine tasting!

A Favorite Time

Now is one of my favorite times of the day. Baby bean is right next to me sound asleep. I can just be here next to him, cuddle him, kiss his forehead, smell his hair and admire his peaceful existence before I put him in his own crib.
Hubby is in the garage, so I have all these moments to myself. Time to wind down, breath, do nothing, just be and enjoy it before sleep grabs hold of me.

A Day In the Life of a 5 Month Old (and his Mom)

Baby bean had his 5th monthiversary yesterday. Five months! Time flies. Fast. Starting our day with the night before.

21.30 In crib sleeping
00.25 Time to nurse. And time to stay in bed with mom.
03.04. Nurse again.
05.21 Nurse again.
06.29 Daddy is about to leave, so wake up time. Diaper change.
06.50 Belly time while mommy eats breakfast.
07.00 Play time!
07.15 Nurse to nap. Nap for mommy too!
9.15 Wake up. Diaper change.
9.45 Out for a walk.
10.35 Back home. TIme for some snot sucking (poor bean has his first cold).
10.40 Quick nurse (I’m trying to keep him as hydrated as possible in this crazy hot weather)
Cuddle, play, sit by himself for a while! Mom drinks an Apple Jack smoothie, feeds the lizard and boil some beans

11.22 Nurse to sleep.
11.35 Mommy works and make lunches for next couple of days.
12.55 Bean is up. Diaper change. Hang out, play, cuddle, belly time, sing, read.
14.35 Diaper change
14.40 Nurse, semi sleep, cuddle.
15.30 Dad is home! Family time. Bean loves when dad comes home. He gets super happy and excited. Must be thinking, finally someone else to talk to! 
15.55 Nurse to sleep.
16.00 Mom workout time. A quick crossfit.
16.20 Boy up (not a napper these days…). Semi fussy, hickuppy and whiney. All signs of tiredness but will NOT fall asleep. Does not want boob. Trying to figure out why he is so fussy. Maybe teething? The teething keys from the fridge seems to calm him down. Diaper change.

19.10 Nurses to sleep.
19.30 Up again! Grandparents are upstairs visiting the cousin, so we go up and hang out. Baby bean is a trip! He is laughing up a storm and require attention as always. He loves to be the center of attention, already. Diaper change and soaker on. Ready for the night!
21.30 Nurse. Almost asleep.
21.45 Put him in crib, eyes open. Gnaws on his hand until he is fast asleep.

22.30 Bedtime for mother. Phew. Being a parent is awesome, but tiresome. Night sleep and day naps are well needed and deserved!

Smells like Love

Love is the moment baby bean takes his just-out-of-the-mouth-slobbery hands and paint my face with his saliva and gives me a contageous big smile. Mmm. Baby spit.  Smells like love to me.

Soothing a Blocked Duct

Holy Bleeping Bleep. And then some more bleeps in there. Who knew a blocked milk duct could knock you out? Well, I don’t know about ya’all but it sure knocked me out.

Two days ago mid-day my right boob started to feel as if it was bruised. And it hurt. I had no idea what was going on until my friend Google told me it probably was a blocked duct. Nothing serious I thought. But that night I woke up shaking and sweating with fever. When you don’t want to get up to pee because you’re just not sure the body will move if you try, then I’d say it’s a KO.

A couple of Ibuprofen, 12 hours of sleep-nursing and a number of warm compresses and a good night of sleep on top of that I was back to normal.

After this experience, here are my top three tips on how to sooth a blocked milk duct.

1. Nurse. A lot. Especially on the boob where the blockage is.

2. Massage. While nursing. And after warm compresses.

3. Warm Compresses. So soothing!

Blog Posts I’ve Written in my Head and need to Publish

Do you ever think about what you want to blog about then “write” the post in your head but completely fail to sit down by the computer and type it out? Yeah, me too. All the time! These are some of the topics I’ve been meaning to write about:

Newborn Stuff Checklist
Hospital Checklist

Product Reviews:
Boppy
Bella band
Baby Bjorn
Moby

Cloth Diapering

One of these days…

Only Girls Dress in Pink, Right?

People are funny about the whole “is it a boy or a girl thing”. My thought is does it really matter?

Today baby bean and I took a walk to our local Babies R Us and Trader Joe’s. I don’t really like the baby store, but we are on the hunt for a bottle that bean actually will drink from. A task that is seemingly impossible, but I will get back to it if we find a match Trader Joe’s on the other hand is one of my FAVORITE stores. Just love that place!

As I was ready to pay for my can of diced tomatoes a group of kids and their teachers (I assume) came up behind me. Some of the kids had downs syndrome, others had physical handicaps and they all had this great happy vibe about them. One little guy came up, really close, to take a look at my baby. He is so cute, he said, what’s his name. Tiberius, I replied. Here one of his teachers butted in and said, no it’s a girl.

I am assuming here, that she said so because today bean was wearing a pair of pink pants that I wore when I was his age They are very cute and comfy! And very 80s.

No, I said, he is a boy.

Oh, she replied. Oh yeah, he has footballs on his shirt!

From this I took away that kids don’t really care if a boy has pink pants on. They just saw a boy. Whereas adults seem to automatically think that pink equals a girl. And footballs equals a boy.

I think it’s funny. Babies should just be babies and enjoy all colors of the rainbow and beyond. And when they grow older, pick what they like and not what others tell them they should like depending on if they are male or female. I think we sometimes [read often] put too much value on gender. Let kids be kids. I hope I raise a son that will be a kid. And enjoy everything he loves with bright imagination and an open mind.

My most beautiful bean in his cute outfit!