Phone Friday 7/27

I'm thinking I may need to change these to Phone Monday posts, but for now I'll just try to resolve to get back on track.

Last weekend we had tickets to see The Lion King, so Jason's parents came in to visit & watch Cooper.  They arrived with a new toy for Cooper & he spent the weekend flying around the house.

One of Cooper's favorite afternoon activities is to get the mail.  It is something I understand.  I remember being home on maternity leave and waiting for the mail carrier to drive by so that I could make a quick run outside to see what was there. It isn't that I really look forward to what is IN the mail, it was more the idea of getting up & going outside to do something.  I felt the same way when I started working from home.  It takes a lot of discipline to wait on Cooper before getting the mail!

He hops in his car and we take off toward the mailbox.  The trip there is spent with me asking him to stay off of our neighbors grass, turn left or right, and to slow down.  We grab the mail & head back to park McQueen in the garage.

 Cooper has started asking to wear his sunglasses when we're in the car.  I'm not sure why - I'm pretty well convinced that he can't see out of them or that they don't fit right, but either way I let it go.  Mostly because when he slides them up on his head the way we do I get a kick out of it.

Cooper is doing great with the potty training.  Last weekend was a challenge.  He had a bit of an upset stomach and spent a lot of time familiarizing himself with the bathroom.  Sorry for the TMI.  I was very proud of him for telling us he needed to go, even if he did tell us 5+ times per day and he announced loudly during the sermon Sunday that he needed to go poop.  We had one accident when he asked to go in Kroger & we were on the other side of the store.

That said, I also had my most embarrassing parent moment to date.  I arrived Thursday to pick Cooper up from school & found him not in what I sent him in.  Assuming he'd had an accident, I asked him what happened.  The teachers started laughing and chimed in telling him that he needed to tell me what happened. I could tell Cooper was embarrassed & reluctant to share so I sat down next to him & asked the teachers for more information.  Apparently all of the kids were on the playground on the other side of the playscape and when the teacher when to see why they were gathered around she was shocked to find Cooper - pants down, relieving himself.

At that moment, I started to laugh.  I felt bad, but that wasn't what I expected to hear! Cooper was still mortified, which made it a little funnier and then they added that when they started to fuss at him he looked at the teachers as if they were crazy.  After I composed myself, I apologized.  15 times.  And explained that he's allowed to do that at home if we're in the backyard.  I'd rather him do that than track dirty & mud across the house.  I quickly added that we'd have a good talk about where he could pee in the future & headed home, making sure to add that if the other parents wondered why their kids suddenly wanted to use the bathroom outside, they could blame it on Cooper's mom.  I mean, he has an Aunt Sassy & a horse - it is pretty obvious where to place the blame.

Too fast

Monday night Jason picked Cooper up from school.  The evening teacher has been with Cooper since the first classroom and he loves her.  Probably not as much as he loves Peanut & Libby, but some days he may prefer Ina (Ee-na) over Momma.  I've not-so-secretly been dreading the day he was going to move up to the 2's and leave Ina.  He cried for a month when he moved to this classroom and Ina was moving with him!  And she loves him just as much.  But I figured he'd be a little old and one of his buddies would move with him, so I didn't panic.

Until Monday.  Ina was a little pained to tell Jason that "they" wanted to ask us about moving him early.  He seems to be a little advanced and they feel like he'll benefit more from being in an older class.

So you're telling me he's a bully?  Ok, that wasn't said, but I did think it.  Cooper usually gets great reports in the evening.  I sort of think Ina is a little biased and may water things down, but she also does have to follow the rules.  He has been bit quite a few times, but I also think (and know) that sometimes he causes it.  Not that biting is ok, but I feel like that is the first reaction kids learn and it is their defense mechanism.  Plus, he's easily the biggest kid in class.  (shocked, aren't you?)  

I talked to the assistant director Tuesday morning just to see what was discussed.  Cooper is bored.  He doesn't sit long during circle time and they think he will benefit from being challenged more.  They go outside twice (score!), still nap (hallelujah) and have a bigger educational plan.  Plus, they'll start potty training him.  I was fully prepared to wait until next summer (or longer if needed) because I know boys are usually behind on this. And I know pushing him can cause it to fail.  But I do think he's ready.  He runs to the bathroom if Jason is going, and Sunday he asked me to sit on the potty.  I asked him if he knew what was supposed to happen on the potty, but he didn't answer.  I've also been informed that once we start this, I get the pleasure of being clapped for every time I go to the bathroom!  I've been waiting my whole life for someone to clap for me when I pee!!  Not really, but it did make me laugh.

Still, this is all going too fast.  I feel like just last year I was pregnant.  And now when I realize I need to work out and drop some weight, I also realize that I almost have a 2 year old.  It is all going too fast.

I may have learned my lesson this time.

Warning - this post might be a little gross.  If you don't like gross things, just stop right now.

I got pretty lucky when Cooper was a baby.  He didn't spit up much and most of the time, whatever was going on stayed in his diaper.  So a few weeks ago, when he threw up on my bed and pooped out of his diaper for two days, I said it was "the grossest thing ever."

Then, a week later he ate dinner.  Got down to play with Eileen.  Gave me a look that said oh, crap.  And threw up his dinner.  I jumped down, tried to calm him down and clean it up, saw the look again and caught the next round of vomit with my hand.  It was warm and I declared that was "the grossest thing ever."  Jason agreed.

Until Saturday.  Saturday we got home from the grocery store and I changed his diaper and put him down for a nap without shorts on.  I do that all the time.  Two hours later, we hear talking from his room and Jason goes to get him up.  Then I hear yelling.  This wasn't the usual Jason yelling - the kind he does when he needs an extra hand changing a diaper, but I'm pretty sure he could do it himself since I managed alone the day before with an equally nasty diaper.  This was bad.  In my head, I figured Cooper was sick and had pooped out of his diaper. 

I was wrong.  He took his diaper off.  And then decided to poop in the crib.  Washing him and everything in his crib wasn't really on the agenda for the afternoon, but we went with it.  And I laughed.  Hard.  Jason didn't quite get why I laughed, but some situations only call for two things - laugh or cry.  He should be glad I didn't cry.

I won't say it was "the grossest thing ever" because I'm afraid if I do Cooper will find some way to prove me wrong.

Can someone call the CDC?

It's been a rough week around our house.  Last week we noticed that Cooper's ear was draining.  They told us that once he had tubes the ears would drain, though he could still get an ear infection.  After hemming and hawing over it, I called the pedi and Jason took him in Thursday night.  They gave us an oral antibiotic and some ear drops and sent us on our way.

Friday when I picked him up from school Miss Sabrina was pretty worried about him.  See, Miss Sabrina has been with Cooper since the beginning.  She's the "floater."  She goes wherever she's needed and in the evening she hangs out with the kids who have parents that abandon them work late.  Since day one, it's been her and Cooper alone for the last hour or so of the day.  Meaning she spoils him, but that's ok with me.  Anyway, she was worried because he'd thrown up.  Once we talked, I figured out it was all phlegm and really wasn't worried.  He does that pretty well with every ear infection, however she did mention another kid in school was sick Thursday & Friday.

Saturday Cooper felt ok, but he wasn't himself.  He sure wasn't eating what he usually does!

Then Sunday came.  Sunday.  A day that will live in infamy.  (until I get to Monday & Tuesday)  Coop woke up about 6:15.  I could tell on the monitor that he'd peed out of his diaper (again) so I couldn't count on him going back to sleep.  I got up, changed him, realized he blew out of his diaper, cleaned him up and brought him to my bed.  Thankfully he went back to sleep until 7:30.  He started playing with Bridget and suddenly sat up and gave me this look of horror.  I somehow knew what was coming.  I pulled him off of Bridget and close to me and he proceeded to vomit all over my bed.  Saturday's breakfast at that.  Poor Cooper had this look of "what the what???" on his face, I screamed "Oh my god" and Bridget jumped up.  Then Cooper cried.  I owe Bridget.  A lot.  She grabbed him, I cleaned up the vomit and we gave Cooper his first bath of the day.

It went downhill after that because I'm pretty sure he had 3 more baths and I changed his pants 6 times.  Once after I stripped him down in the front yard and rinsed his legs with the water hose.  Don't worry, I checked the water temperature first.

Monday I stayed home with Cooper.  If I had sent him to daycare, they would have sent him home.  We managed the day with only 3 clothes changes, but I did have to spot clean the carpet.  Then I started feeling bad.  It was at that point I realized he wasn't having a reaction to the antibiotic.  It was a virus. 

Tuesday morning I woke up with 101.5 fever.  I don't think I've had fever in 10 years.  Honestly.  I couldn't figure out why I was so clammy and achy.  I felt like death.  And we had to wash Cooper's bedsheets again, if you get my drift.  By 2pm Jason was sick.  We were both on the sofa and Cooper was finally feeling better.  I wanted to pay someone to come get him, but I remembered I like my friends too much.  I felt so bad for him.  He wanted to play and go outside and we couldn't move.  It was probably the worst parenting day ever.  Combined with lots of toys and a few episodes of Mickey Mouse Clubhouse.

Hard to believe that one little kid at school could manage to take down another toddler and 4 adults.  Yeah, because both my mom and sister, who were over Sunday, have been sick.  How Bridget managed to avoid it, I don't know.  But I'd like to bottle her immune system and keep it on hand for future invasions.

I did tell Cooper that if he wanted to push the kid who gave us this sickness, I'd be ok with it.  Don't worry, though, he's a lover not a fighter.

Parenting

Last night Cooper finished his milk about 8pm.  He crawled off of the sofa and started playing with some toys.  Then we caught him putting his head on a pillow and figured that since he was tired, we'd put him to bed a little earlier than normal.

So at 8:15 I picked him up, carried him to his room, said his prayers and put him in the crib.  He grabbed the monkey and his blanket and I walked out after kissing him good night.  I watched him play for a few minutes on the monitor and then he flipped over and went to sleep.  Just like that.

Later Jason asked how he did going to bed and I responded that I'm not sure we're actually parenting.  I think we just got lucky.  Somewhere in the last few months we've gone from a baby who needed to fall asleep drinking his milk on our laps to a little boy who will put himself to bed in his own crib.  I guess its ok that I never actually read any of those parenting books.  Winging it actually seems to be working.*

*I fully admit that I may eat my words on something else in the future.
**I also don't suggest "winging it" as a tried and true parenting strategy.

All of those pesky eggs

I feel like a walking GNC.  When it comes to increasing your milk supply I feel like I've tried and right now I'm trying it all.  And it is stressing me out.  That bothers me because I realized I've fallen prey to the opinions of other people.

I always had a 6 month goal for nursing.  Then 6 months came and since things were so easy, I decided to just keep it up as long as I could.  That lasted through the weekend and we went on vacation.  I had a great time on our trip to NOLA and had a hard time pumping as much as I should have.  I was also pretty naive to the fact that my supply wouldn't come back as easily as I hoped. 

We used almost every bag in the freezer to send enough to daycare for Cooper and he wasn't really helping out by hitting his 6 month growth spurt.  I finally realized that I couldn't keep up and even if I got back to pumping the 18oz he needed, I really wasn't holding out hope to increase that to make up for the extra he wanted during the growth spurt.

So we moved into the world of formula.  And I was sad.  I'm not against formula by any means.  I understand that some people can't or don't want to breastfeed.  I have no problem with that.  If it wouldn't have worked for us, I would have bought the cans of formula and moved forward.  But I also feel like I've failed.  It's stupid, I know.  I've done better than I ever expected to.  And I'm glad...but I'm also a little sad that things just aren't working as well anymore.  In my opinion, I feel a little worse about this than I would if nursing had never worked.

I also finally realized that I'm putting all of my eggs in one basket.  And it seems to be a pretty rickety basket.  I started off by trying the power pumping.  I've only got one thing to say for it - it sucks.  I bought fenugreek and turned into an IHOP special.  And I've been drinking the tea three times daily.  ((I've also developed a new love for hot tea))  I've drank enough water to float the Titanic.  Oh, and I took one for the team and started drinking dark beer.  That was a real sacrifice.

Last week I went for the big guns.  I did the research online and decided to buy the More Milk Plus.  I call it the voodoo drug.  It's got a little of everything in it, isn't terribly cheap...and it supposed to work wonders.  I'm still waiting!!!  So far I've seen no difference.  Talk about a bummer.  Today I'm going all out.  I'm going to combine the tea, More Milk Plus, fenugreek and beer to see what happens.

Cooper, if this works I hope you are hungry.

Moo.

6 month stats

Still a big boy.  Don't look so surprised.

Last Thursday I took Cooper to the pedi for his 6 month check up.  He's doing well, of course.  I was so happy to be able to check "yes" on the 6 month questionnaire.  Especially the sitting up part.  He's gotten so good at it overnight!  I swear on Monday he'd sit up for a few minutes and now he lasts a good 5-10 minutes before falling over.  It's like a whole new world for him.  I also have a few new toys I'm going to bring out since he's sitting up.  And I'll probably pack the swing away soon...which makes me sad.

Anyway, back to the doctor. Cooper had the time of his life playing with the paper on the table and checking out that other nekkid kid in the mirror.

We talked about Cooper's cough that's been with him for a few weeks.  Dr. K doesn't seem like it's a huge concern.  He feels as if it is snot draining down the back instead of out of the nose (less fights with the snot-sucker!) and that we could just give him a little water to help out.  He also thought running the humidifier was ok.

Then we talked about food.  Cooper's favorite subject.  I've been concerned recently that he's not getting enough to eat.  He is hungry.  All.the.time.  I'm not worried I'm starving him by any means, I just think he wants more than he's been getting.  Dr. K said that we should really just follow Cooper's hunger cues.  That he won't overeat and we can feed him when he's hungry.  Honestly I wanted a little more - like "he needs Xoz per day" or something.  I didn't really get that so I left a little...confused.  I think Cooper wants more.  He hit the 6 month growth spurt and I just don't feel like my body did anything to try and keep up.  I kept sending the same 18oz that we've been sending since day one.  The problem is that I also blew through everything in the freezer while on vacation, I skipped a few pumping sessions while we were gone and that really hit me hard.

I spent quite a bit of time last week thinking about what we were going to do.  Not only was I struggling to keep up with his appetite but I also felt like I needed to find a little more.  We decided to add in a little formula to his daily intake.  For now my goal is to try to send the same 18oz plus 6oz in formula each day.  We gave him a bit this past weekend and he never really batted an eye.  Dr. K also said we could go to 3 solid food meals a day and I'm sure Cooper won't mind.

Stats:
Weight: 19lbs 7.5oz
Height: 28 3/4"

Some days you can only laugh...to keep from crying.

It's been one of those weeks, however I won't go in to detail.  Today, though, I reached the point where things have to go uphill because really...it can't get much worse.

I needed to leave early to get gas, drop Cooper off and then run back home to leave the car seat and base so that my mom could get them before picking him up this afternoon.  In the process of getting gas, I hear Cooper grunting.  The poop-grunt.  And for the record, this would have been the second one of the day!  ((I may rethink this whole sold food thing!!))  So I'm already slightly embarrassed to drop him off at daycare with a full diaper, but I'll live.  I mean - what's the protocol for this?  Change him in the car?  Go back home?  Be mom of the year and drop him off poopy? 

I went for the last one and when we get to daycare I checked him over to find no poop.  Oh, it was in the diaper - but we'd had nothing leak out.  Score!!  ((side note: he's been coming home in new clothes quite a bit recently so I'm thinking we need to go up a size in the diapers and I'm going back to the more expensive Huggies.  I'll sacrifice $0.04 per diaper to avoid washing clothes every single day.))  I walk in slightly embarrassed to hand him over full of poop...only to see it all over his legs!!!  And then I look down and it's all over my hip.  I must have squished it all out when I put him on my hip.  OMG WTF Cooper?  Seriously?

So there I am having gone from slight embarrassment to full on mortification.  I mean, what the heck is the protocol for THIS?  He's got poop everywhere.  I have poop everywhere.  Runny, bright yellow/green poop.  Fortunately his teacher passed him off to the other teacher and handed me a wet rag.  She felt really bad for me, but I was able to wipe most of it off.  I, on the other hand, felt horrible for leaving him covered in poop...but Cooper didn't seem to mind.  He kept laughing.  Thanks kid.

I finally walk out and check the car seat (which is poop-free) and head home to change and drop off the car seat...only to get flustered in the process and forget the car seat!  Fortunately I was on the phone with my mom so I turned around again, dropped it off and then drove through the dry cleaners with my poop covered shirt in a bag, a quick "I'll get it at 6" and a prayer that the stain comes out.  And that they don't ban me for life for dropping off a shirt that really smelled of baby poop.

I really did laugh about the whole thing.  Right after I died from embarrassment.  Mom actually suggested I just drop the car seat at the daycare since it's right next to the dry cleaners.  She caught herself right as I screamed "I cannot step foot in there!"

Guess who is dropping Cooper off tomorrow...his daddy!

We're running late!

Seriously, some days I feel like the White Rabbit.  Ok, I'll be honest.  Most days, like 5 out of 7, I feel like the White Rabbit.  Wait - 6 out of 7.  We're usually running late for church.

((Warning - this post discusses some of the bodily functions of babies.  Don't blame me if you keep reading and get grossed out))

I remember telling my mom when I was pregnant that Cooper's first words will probably be "running late."  I mean, if repetition is key he heard it 350 times before he was born (40 weeks pregnant, 7 days a week...plus a few extra for good measure).  I'll admit that I did ok at getting out the door on time while on maternity leave, but I gave myself extra time.  Meaning I never planned to be anywhere before 10am.  But now that I'm back at work I've still not come to the realization that there is an X-Factor in getting out the door each day.

Yes, I know - I'm an intelligent person.  I've been responsible for getting myself somewhere on time since the age of 16.  (before that, my mom was driving so really I didn't have as much control over when we left the house)  You'd think I'd have this down.  And I do.  I have a good idea of how much time I need to feed Cooper, get him dressed, get myself dressed, eat breakfast and pump before we walk out the door.  I even have contingency plans.  I'd ideally like to be able to pump while I play with him on the floor and get him dressed, but if I'm running out of time I can pump while I put on makeup and fix my hair.  And to give myself a little credit I've only been late to work twice since coming back!!  The first day back (I was emotional) and once when I had to deal with a wreck on the road.  This is Houston - people are nosey!

Yesterday, though, I thought we were going to be "running late" for other reasons.  The X-Factor.  First, I cannot send my kid out in public with boogers in his nose.  It's my pet peeve.  It grosses me out to see kids in the store with snot on their nose.  So every morning Cooper and I fight over the boogers.  He squirms and kicks and flails his arms.  I chase his nose with my hands and the aspirator (which, by the way is almost useless, but I won't go into details).  I worry that I'm going to be attacking him with trying to use the aspirator and he's going to go left while I go right and we're going to end up with it much further up his nose than it's made to go.  The whole thing is a race against the clock so that I can successfully get the boogers out before he goes into full meltdown mode. 

Yesterday I lost that race.  I was already pushing my time limit and having to pump while drying my hair.  The boogers are being stubborn and the whole process ends with Cooper in full meltdown mode and me having to take a few minutes to comfort him.  Instead of leaving him on the floor to play, I then decide to get the bouncer and put him in the bathroom with me for a little extra comfort.  As I'm finishing my hair and makeup I hear noises.  The grunting and groaning noises that accompany a red face that's working hard on something.  Crap.  Literally.  I swore I heard it!  I finish up getting dressed, unhook from the pump and grab him.  Note, at this point, he is fully dressed for school.  We go to the changing pad and remove the socks (learned that lesson) and I unsnap the romper.  There I am with baby wipe in hand, armed and ready for a poop crises...only to find nothing.  Really?  Really?  Thanks Cooper.  NOW we're running late!  I push the two of us so close to the limit that I didn't have time for the 3 minutes it took to find nothing in his diaper.

Add another 3 times to the repetition count of hearing "we're running late."  And just laugh with me when those really are his first words, ok?

Making a list

This week Jason went back to work and he took my personal chef with him. I've thoroughly enjoyed having someone to bring me breakfast while I'm nursing in the morning. We've taken the opportunity to sleep until Cooper wakes up and when he does he's starving. So I feed him right away and Jason would fix breakfast and coffee. This week...I've still taken advantage of sleeping until C wakes up, but then I wait on him to have breakfast before I get mine. I also realized how nice it is to have someone else in the house. Don't get me wrong - I have a great kid. He is mostly content and stays chilled out, but since I spend half of the day nursing him I try to use the other 1/2 to "get stuff done" and that's not as easy with a baby.

If there is one thing Jason hates to hear me say it's that I need to "get stuff done." It drives me crazy to see stuff that needs to be done - like laundry, or dusting, or general picking up of the house. I'd rather do it all and enjoy having nothing to do later. Though, really, is there ever nothing to do? For the last few weeks I've had help getting stuff done and managed pretty well. Till Sunday. My goal for Sunday was to clip coupons and make my grocery list. Monday afternoon it still wasn't done. Why you ask...this right here:

I'd feed him, he'd fall asleep, I'd go to move him so I could get up and...15 minutes later he was awake. We did this all afternoon Sunday and Monday. Then by the evening he was cranky because he was tired. Finally Monday afternoon I decided that I needed to change my strategy. When my mom was here she said that I needed to pick one thing to do each day. At the time that made sense. But then I started feeling better and thought "one...I can do 5." Sure, when you have help! So we're back to one. Well, actually two things. I've decided that each day I'm going to make a mental list to accomplish by the end of the day.

1. take care of Cooper - and enjoy it! Don't feel guilty to just sit on the sofa with him while he sleeps. ((this will take effort for me))

2. some sort of household thing - this week...I'm working on thank you notes from gifts for Cooper and his birth announcements.

I think the instructions are in German

Or Greek. Or Russian. Or anything other than English because I don't know how to read them. This parenting thing can be a little confusing at times. Our intention was to have Cooper sleep in our room in his pack-n-play for the first few weeks. This was to make feedings easier and maximize sleep time, plus we could keep a closer eye on him.

That was the idea until we got home with a baby that talks in his sleep. We sent him to the nursery between feedings in the hospital so we had no idea what his habits were like. After 2 hours he was in the guest bedroom (I can't get off of our bed with my incision), I was on the sofa and Jason was on the floor. And the next night we moved him to his room. Just like that. He's still in the pnp because of the vibrate feature that he seems to like, but he is in his own room!

I also realized that breastfeeding makes you sleepy. I do ok for the first feeding, but the second overnight feeding is tough. I doze...he dozes...and we both wake up 20 minutes later. So on day one I decided my strategy would be that if we fall asleep...we fall asleep. He loves being held while sleeping so for now, we'll do what works.

I am also horribly impatient. Breastfeeding is going pretty good, as far as I can tell. But I want to be like - a month down the road and not 6-7 days in. I realize I have a bigger baby with a bigger appetite and I'm ready for my girls to be able to keep up. The first few days home were tough because I couldn't keep up and wasn't sure if he was getting enough to eat. It doesn't help that I'm really Type A and need to be in control. Well, in this house the control is in a pair of very tiny little hands!

After a few days (I'd say which one, but they all run together) I realized that I need to go with the flow. When he's hungry, he'll eat. When he's done, we'll sleep. I also started pumping after he eats to help increase my supply and have a little in the fridge if I can't nurse because of company. I still have a million questions and have only figured out enough to survive. But hey, we're all still alive. That's a positive thing, right?