Tuesday, December 29, 2009
X-mas 2009 Photos
Wrapping paper is amazing!...and a choking hazard...
Grandma Kim and Thurston:
Ethan, Thurston & Auntie Hailey:
Our goofy reindeer:
Ethan showing Thurston his toys:
Uncle Mike getting attacked by the Thurston bug:
Chatting with Auntie Trish:
Gumming apples:
Ethan and Thurston:
My lovely niece Lilly and I:
Thurston with Great Grandpa Jim:
Thurston and Auntie Hailey:
Grandma Kim and Thurston:
Ethan, Thurston & Auntie Hailey:
Our goofy reindeer:
Ethan showing Thurston his toys:
Uncle Mike getting attacked by the Thurston bug:
Chatting with Auntie Trish:
Gumming apples:
Ethan and Thurston:
My lovely niece Lilly and I:
Thurston with Great Grandpa Jim:
Thurston and Auntie Hailey:
Saturday, December 5, 2009
Zoom zoom zoom
This kid has only been crawling for just over a week and now he's in serious turbo mode. I set him down and turn away for a moment and he's pulled half the books off the shelf and started munching on some Voltaire:
He absolutely loves this lamp and the cords that surround it! It's almost as awesome as plastic bags and butter knives! Seriously though, how does one keep your kid away from lamps??!! I do like having lighted areas. I do. Last night he kept scuttling over to it to grab the cords and try and climb on the base. As soon as I'd pull him away and try and interest him in his AMAZING baby toys, he'd scream his head off and find his way back to the lamp.
Des was over for some Thurston time last night and we hardly could get him still long enough to photograph the two of them. This is the only shot where he's not a blur!
I met up with Violet and little (big) Declan to the neighborhood park for some swing times. Thurston thought it was AMAZING!
He absolutely loves this lamp and the cords that surround it! It's almost as awesome as plastic bags and butter knives! Seriously though, how does one keep your kid away from lamps??!! I do like having lighted areas. I do. Last night he kept scuttling over to it to grab the cords and try and climb on the base. As soon as I'd pull him away and try and interest him in his AMAZING baby toys, he'd scream his head off and find his way back to the lamp.
Des was over for some Thurston time last night and we hardly could get him still long enough to photograph the two of them. This is the only shot where he's not a blur!
I met up with Violet and little (big) Declan to the neighborhood park for some swing times. Thurston thought it was AMAZING!
Wednesday, December 2, 2009
To Cry or Not to Cry
First off: To each his/her own. If there's any piece of advice that I can guarantee as tried and true to the new mom/dad, it's the basic fact that each parent must find their own style of parenting that works for them. Well unless that parent's a negligent drug-addict.....but for the most part, there is no one 'perfect method'. Perhaps I'm preaching to the choir....
Anyway, for the most part, the "cry it out" method has worked for us. Now don't get me wrong, I was adamantly opposed to it at first. When we transitioned Thurston to his own crib, I couldn't let him cry for more than three minutes or I was in tears as well. Dave and I had a few heated discussions over what was better for our son: letting him cry, or preventing sleep? Now both of us work full time and we are the sole care providers (no outside childcare) of our son. We therefore had little time (or energy) to spare for even getting Thurston to sleep at night. The stress of the night time routine is overwhelming when it stems from whether or not your child is going to scream his head off every evening. Even our pediatrician assured us it was a good thing to let him cry it out. Now, when I finally relaxed and realized it was actually ok for him to cry, if it meant he slept better, I was able to not dread the approaching evening routine.
At first, he would cry and cry and cry and cry and I thought this would never work. I felt intense guilt and it took every will of mine not to go into his room and pick him up to soothe him. Doing this, I learned, only made the matter worse and prolonged sleep. Go Figure??! Over time, he cried less and less when we put him down to bed. Now, he usually just whimpers for a little bit before drifting off. When he wakes up to nurse in the night, I can usually set him back into his crib with hardly a protest. Our evenings have returned these days. After he goes down (sometime between 8-9), I can work-out, clean, read, write a blog, cook, or just veg out and relax. I have my own time again and it's blissful. He still has a bad night from time to time, but overall, I am comfortable with our routine. It works for us.
Anyway, for the most part, the "cry it out" method has worked for us. Now don't get me wrong, I was adamantly opposed to it at first. When we transitioned Thurston to his own crib, I couldn't let him cry for more than three minutes or I was in tears as well. Dave and I had a few heated discussions over what was better for our son: letting him cry, or preventing sleep? Now both of us work full time and we are the sole care providers (no outside childcare) of our son. We therefore had little time (or energy) to spare for even getting Thurston to sleep at night. The stress of the night time routine is overwhelming when it stems from whether or not your child is going to scream his head off every evening. Even our pediatrician assured us it was a good thing to let him cry it out. Now, when I finally relaxed and realized it was actually ok for him to cry, if it meant he slept better, I was able to not dread the approaching evening routine.
At first, he would cry and cry and cry and cry and I thought this would never work. I felt intense guilt and it took every will of mine not to go into his room and pick him up to soothe him. Doing this, I learned, only made the matter worse and prolonged sleep. Go Figure??! Over time, he cried less and less when we put him down to bed. Now, he usually just whimpers for a little bit before drifting off. When he wakes up to nurse in the night, I can usually set him back into his crib with hardly a protest. Our evenings have returned these days. After he goes down (sometime between 8-9), I can work-out, clean, read, write a blog, cook, or just veg out and relax. I have my own time again and it's blissful. He still has a bad night from time to time, but overall, I am comfortable with our routine. It works for us.
Saturday, November 28, 2009
Rolling on into 7 months
I had a plugged milk duct last night. I didn't realize it until I went to bed but I thought I was unusually full on my right side after nursing Thurston to sleep. Funny thing is, my right side is my bumb side. I get about half the production on it compared to the left. So getting full on the right side-- to the point of painful should have stamped a warning into my head.
Over the night I nursed and nursed on that one side, massaging the hard lumps and trying to tickle Thurston awake so he'd put more effort into nursing. But by 4 am, it was still clogged and super painful. I even tried hand-expressing to release it and nothing! OUCH!!! Finally, by the 4:30 or so in the morning, I tried nursing Thurston while lying on my left side and applying pressure and it finally released. I heard Thurston gulping to try and keep up and the pressure and pain finally receded. I was afraid it would progress to something worse - like mastitis... *shudder*. Poor Krista had that on my wedding day! I don't know how she made it through, poor thing. It seriously had me a bit panicked and whimpering in pain. Not fun. Not fun at all.
But I made it and I'm happy to say everything is quite functional as of this morning.
On another topic of late, Thanksgiving was hosted a chez Grandpa. Thurston was charming...for the most part. Had I been able to get him down for a nap for any longer than 20 minutes, he would not have progressed to the little monster that he became later in the evening. Poor little guy. In addition, he had a running nose and seemed downright miserable. I'm not sure if he has a little cold or if he's teething. Of all times for the poor guy to be miserable, it had to be one of the few periods where my family can actually delight in his presence.
Regardless of certain grumpy little men, fun was had by all (I hope) as we combated at a daring game of Scattergories Junior, feasted on heaping mounds of potatoes, salads, stuffing, turkey, pies, and cookies, and washed it all down with wine, beer, diet dr. pepper (family staple, here) and just regular h20. We joined up again yesterday for heaping mounds of leftovers, a daring game of Tripoly (family tradition), followed by an even more daring game of trivial pursuit, and more baby holding and conversation had by all. My cousin Ben and his girlfriend, Val, came over last night to wait it out before their 6 am flight (sans beds to sleep) and we got to a pretty intense match of mario kart on our new Wii. They're currently amid a three-hour drive back to San Louis Obispo on probably two hours of sleep-- combined. Sigh....young kids....
Oh and did I mention that the little bean is crawling now? As of Wednesday, it's official. He's quite the little scooter-bug.
Over the night I nursed and nursed on that one side, massaging the hard lumps and trying to tickle Thurston awake so he'd put more effort into nursing. But by 4 am, it was still clogged and super painful. I even tried hand-expressing to release it and nothing! OUCH!!! Finally, by the 4:30 or so in the morning, I tried nursing Thurston while lying on my left side and applying pressure and it finally released. I heard Thurston gulping to try and keep up and the pressure and pain finally receded. I was afraid it would progress to something worse - like mastitis... *shudder*. Poor Krista had that on my wedding day! I don't know how she made it through, poor thing. It seriously had me a bit panicked and whimpering in pain. Not fun. Not fun at all.
But I made it and I'm happy to say everything is quite functional as of this morning.
On another topic of late, Thanksgiving was hosted a chez Grandpa. Thurston was charming...for the most part. Had I been able to get him down for a nap for any longer than 20 minutes, he would not have progressed to the little monster that he became later in the evening. Poor little guy. In addition, he had a running nose and seemed downright miserable. I'm not sure if he has a little cold or if he's teething. Of all times for the poor guy to be miserable, it had to be one of the few periods where my family can actually delight in his presence.
Regardless of certain grumpy little men, fun was had by all (I hope) as we combated at a daring game of Scattergories Junior, feasted on heaping mounds of potatoes, salads, stuffing, turkey, pies, and cookies, and washed it all down with wine, beer, diet dr. pepper (family staple, here) and just regular h20. We joined up again yesterday for heaping mounds of leftovers, a daring game of Tripoly (family tradition), followed by an even more daring game of trivial pursuit, and more baby holding and conversation had by all. My cousin Ben and his girlfriend, Val, came over last night to wait it out before their 6 am flight (sans beds to sleep) and we got to a pretty intense match of mario kart on our new Wii. They're currently amid a three-hour drive back to San Louis Obispo on probably two hours of sleep-- combined. Sigh....young kids....
Oh and did I mention that the little bean is crawling now? As of Wednesday, it's official. He's quite the little scooter-bug.
Thursday, November 26, 2009
Friday, November 20, 2009
Sunday, November 1, 2009
Friday, October 30, 2009
I wish there was an 'easy' button...
Our family time is so limited these days. Dave and I both work full time and often see each other for less than ten minutes in the day. Only a fluke opportunity presents us with a day off together. Those days are like pudding to me.
We have a luxury of being able to provide about 98% of the care to our little one. However, for the most part, I wish we could afford some sort of child care. We make too much money for any assistance but we don't make enough to afford it on our own. And neither of us would be able to sustain our family on one income. Our choices are limited. It's struggle every day when I have to get up hours before the sun rises and then rush home in the afternoon so that Dave can rush to work. He comes home usually after I've gone to bed. When we lived closer to Dave's work, I used to walk him to his job every day so we could have ten precious minutes together as a family.
Getting anything done around the house is impossible with Thurston unless he's asleep. That time is also shared with bathing, cooking, eating, dressing, reading, typing blogs on the computer (except he's in my lap nursing right now), or any other "me" time, etc. I've recruited friends to come over and entertain the bug just so I can unpack a box of books or put away the wedding gifts (trying really hard not to think about my really late thank you notes - they are coming at some point). Dave and I don't want to sacrifice the few hours a week we have together to get things done.
There are days when I want to throw in the towel at my job, not because I dislike it (quite the opposite really) but because I hate that it takes so much from our family. I've tried to request a reduced schedule, working from home, etc and none of which is available. I sadly had to make the decision to quit school because it would be taking so much from my family to pursue. This has left me feeling very frustrated. Dave is afraid of pursuing any advancement at his job because it might make him subject to working on-call or schedule changes that we wouldn't be able to accomodate.
It just seems like Dave and I are stuck between two solid walls with little room to stretch out.
We have a luxury of being able to provide about 98% of the care to our little one. However, for the most part, I wish we could afford some sort of child care. We make too much money for any assistance but we don't make enough to afford it on our own. And neither of us would be able to sustain our family on one income. Our choices are limited. It's struggle every day when I have to get up hours before the sun rises and then rush home in the afternoon so that Dave can rush to work. He comes home usually after I've gone to bed. When we lived closer to Dave's work, I used to walk him to his job every day so we could have ten precious minutes together as a family.
Getting anything done around the house is impossible with Thurston unless he's asleep. That time is also shared with bathing, cooking, eating, dressing, reading, typing blogs on the computer (except he's in my lap nursing right now), or any other "me" time, etc. I've recruited friends to come over and entertain the bug just so I can unpack a box of books or put away the wedding gifts (trying really hard not to think about my really late thank you notes - they are coming at some point). Dave and I don't want to sacrifice the few hours a week we have together to get things done.
There are days when I want to throw in the towel at my job, not because I dislike it (quite the opposite really) but because I hate that it takes so much from our family. I've tried to request a reduced schedule, working from home, etc and none of which is available. I sadly had to make the decision to quit school because it would be taking so much from my family to pursue. This has left me feeling very frustrated. Dave is afraid of pursuing any advancement at his job because it might make him subject to working on-call or schedule changes that we wouldn't be able to accomodate.
It just seems like Dave and I are stuck between two solid walls with little room to stretch out.
We are 6 months now - Just an update
Our 6 month appointment on Tuesday revealed that Thurston has climbed into the 11th percentile, weighing in at 15 pounds, 2 ounces and stretching out to 26 3/4 inches. Thurston bug is healthy and thriving.
We've begun to experiment with solids, which I plan to explain in detail (with photos) in another blog at another time. He's tried butternut squash and apples - neither of which really get him going but we'll keep working on it.
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