Why are you torturing me this way?!!

Why are you torturing me this way?!!
Originally uploaded by our "nut" house

After Doctor T gave us the okay at the 4 month checkup, John Michael had his first solids the other night. I'm not sure if it was the fact that I bought the super healthy whole grain organic rice cereal (yuck!), or what, but he pretty much thought we were torturing him (legs straight out, arms flailing), but eventually came a little more around to the idea. He's had a few meals since then and is still a little unsure of what to think. He is such a big boy!

ACL 2008

I am recovering from ACL Fest. Seriously recovering. JM was with nana and poppa for 24 hours. I was really really sad at first dropping him off, but returned home to a welcome of mimosas and bloody marys in the driveway, so the pain wore away quickly.

The fest was great. Other than the fact that I forgot a part to my pump and had close to an hour of panic that my supply was going to be messed up. I had a few ugly minutes of dissatisfaction with the situation, but I was determined to have fun and with some pep talks from Kim and my mom, pressed on. Overall, I was in a state of festival bliss, much aided by my flask of raspberry vodka and mint and honey sweet leaf tea, which I drank in a manner not of someone who has had very little liquor in the past year and probably should be taking it easy, rather someone quite enjoying their college years.

We got a great parking spot off of Lake Austin Blvd. It was hot, 91, but breezy and not as menacing as past years. I really enjoyed the Dap Kings, John Fogerty, Robert Earl Keen and Beck. Alison Krauss and Robert Plant, CSS, The Fratellis and Black Keys were okay. Krauss and Plant sounded great, but were SO mellow. It was sort of a buzz kill, so we left and walked down to Beck. I randomly ran into my friend Annie from grade school in Iowa amidst the masses. Festival Joe was there in full effect. I forgot how much fun we have making fun of everyone and everything on the walk back to the car. For some reason we were singing a new version of "Stuck on You" by Lionel Richie called "Stuck on the Fence" about these people that tried to take a short cut. It was hilarious. To us. Only. I'm sure.

We got home and decided we needed to eat. So we went to Trudys, for some really healthy late night Mexican dining. I woke up this morning and my skin and lips felt dry and raw....my eyes hazy and my first thought was of calling to see when we could be reunited with JM. It was great to be relieved of my parental duties for a day, but I missed him a lot. Apparently, he was an "angel" for nana and poppa and ehem, even slept from 7-2:30. Is it just us he won't sleep for? We'll see if he does it tonight.

I feel pretty damn good for consuming almost an entire flask of vodka, a few beers and a dot rita. :) Festivus! I wish we were back there today, but am happy to return to normalcy with the babe.

4 month check-up

Although we are technically at 4 months and a week today, JM had his wellness visit this morning.

Our pediatrician thinks he looks great. He remains a generally happy baby and is very active. He can roll over from tummy to back, puts everything in his mouth (including hands and feet) and is generally very interested in the world. He is still waking every 3-4 hours to eat all night long. Whatever happened to the STTN thing, we don't know, but we were told to just go with it and follow JM's lead and worry about breaking bad habits when he is overweight. I agree with Dr. T. on this one. He is 25" long (50th percentile) and his head is also 50th percentile... and drum roll, he is almost 12 pounds, down from 10th percentile at his 3 month check-in on weight to 3rd percentile (wa wa wahhhh :(). Damn! Dr. T. says that considering I have been exclusively BFing the past month, that the fact that he is growing is good and he isn't worried, but wants us to come back in at 5 months for another weigh-in.

I was a little unsure about starting solids with JM until closer to 6 months, but knowing that he is still on the scrawny side, we are going to introduce some rice cereal tonight. The grandmas on both sides will be thrilled. Looks like a trip to Babies R Us will be happening for the little guy and I midday since we don't have any "food supplies"! He also got his 2nd set of shots today, so I think I am going to try to buy his love with a fun new rattle or toy, and some bigger sleep sacks, as well since we've been trying to stuff him into his newborn ones for a while now.

4 months also marks an exciting time in that we are cancelling our diaper service and investing in some of our own real cloth diapers. I know I am a dork because I am embarassingly excited about this. I've done a lot of research on what I want to try and found a site that is having a 5% off sale on Fuzzibunz, a primo wick away brand that is a little on the pricey side, but considering we can use them overnight and will be able to use them with more than one child, I think it's worth it. We have two pair now and I really like them.

So, hence I am off to buy some Fuzzibunz for JM's bunz... and to begin the mental preparation for ACL! I am SO excited! I don't even know who we are going to see, but it will be SO nice to have a little break!

AC: Blank angel (Hi, Daddy!)

Another year... meh

I am now 32. For some reason every year since i can remember, my birthday has played out like a 'polish wedding' as my grandpa would say (apparently polish weddings go on and on). this year is no exception, however what has changed is that i am no longer excited about getting older. I look in the mirror and see lots of little lines around my eyes and i don't like it. I guess all those years lifeguarding wearing hawaiian tropic spf 0 oil were probably not the best idea. despite the fact that i notice these marks of "life experience" visually played out, i will say that it feels good to be in such a secure place in my life. God has blessed me with everything i ever wanted in Mike and JM and being able to stay home with the baby. All I really wanted for my birthday was a margarita dance party. It seems like there aren't enough opportunities to dance in this world. In a perfect existence, I would dance for at least 5 minutes every day like on the Ellen Degeneres show. Anyway, I spent hours crafting the perfect iPod playlist with cheesy club remixes of 80s music, chris brown and madonna and we had a somewhat succesful party on Saturday. I say somewhat, because we made the mistake of gulp, having the party on a UT game night. Fun, nonetheless though. To make a long story longer, Mike and I wound up dancing by ourselves after everyone left on Saturday night. Not to Marvin Gaye, mind you, but to dance songs from my playlist! What can I say, the man is made for me! I got my dance party!

This weekend is ACL and we are going on Saturday only. My mom and Art are watching Peanut Saturday and overnight, which will be the longest we have ever left him by a long shot! I have never missed more than one feeding in a row! We are having a keyed down version of the driveway bloody mary party this year and I will actually be able to drink. I found out on Friday morning of last year's festival that I was pregnant (again), so it was a happy day, but also an anxious time as I was really freaked out that I could miscarry for a 3rd time at any point. Anyway, since I have such a low tolerance these days, I'd say there is a pretty good chance I will be "Two-can Sam" and may pass out on the grassy knoll at the festival, but at least I will be a cheap date! Since I am BFing, I am nervous about my supply and all that, so this year will seem *really* different as I will be bringing a pump and will have to pump and dump a few times during the day! Bob Dylan said it last year during the closing act of the fest (I think- he was impossible to understand!) "The times they are a changin..." indeed...

I am already sad that we have to leave the little guy, but I know it will be fun. I have always admired Mike's brother's presence at ACL and SXSW. The guy comes without his wife or kids and brings his little cooler and savours every moment of music and is the happiest guy there. I call him "Festival Joe." This year, I think I will be taking a cue from Festival Joe and trying to let my worries go, loading up my cup with another drink from the portable wet bar and relishing it all! Can't wait... oh, and we will get to sleep for 8 hours (or more) in a row uninterrupted!

ac: Inspiration

PS- I cannot post without pictures. JM is now the human pretzel and can do a literal pike position putting both feet in his mouth at the same time! Here he's halfway there...

Rolling over

Rolling over
Originally uploaded by our "nut" house

The little guy has been rolling over pretty regularly for a few weeks now, but this is the first time I've caught him on film. This is also a nice display of his current fascination with his feet!

A little preview

Have I ever told you how I have longed to have a baby to dress as a sweet pea for Halloween?

Planning to wing it

DSCN3000
Originally uploaded by our "nut" house

Something I've learned lately is that being a parent of a young child is a lot like being a kindergarten teacher. You can read every single book out there (which I pretty much have), and you can plan plan plan for what you think your day is going to be like (and there is definitely some comfort in this), but rarely do you wind up following your "lesson plan." You have to plan to wing it! Aha!

I would be a shitty kindergarten teacher. Going to school with a plan to talk about the different kinds of clouds and then getting interrupted by a little one that wants to talk about hurricanes that morning and then another one speaking up about how his grandma has a house by the beach and another one pipes in with a comment about how his grandma has a dog and on and on would drive me nuts. I love little children and i could come in for a few days and really enjoy this sort of repartee, but day after day I could not do it. My mom is a kindergarten teacher and I think she is amazing for doing this all day every day for months on end.

Relating to parenting, I have been driving myself CRAZY the past 4 months with my inability to handle the fact that we are getting off track here and there. Take this morning. JM ate at 7:15. The baby whisperer EASY method says he should Eat, have an Activity(play), Sleep and during the sleep I get in some You (me) time. So, after eating and a little play this morning, I put JM down for his nap... and sure enough, he wakes up 45 minutes later. Normally, this would put me in a tizzy. Do I feed him again? Is he going to get confused if I put A before E? Why isn't he napping for an hour or two like he's supposed to at this age? And, then I had a lightbulb moment... The kid isn't hungry 2 hours after eating, so what would happen if we go a little crazy here and get off track? So we went for a walk in the cool autumn morning. And, instead of feeling a weight of stress that I wasn't doing what I was 'supposed to,' I went with it and tried to find the joy in the moment. I felt the wind in my hair, enjoyed hearing the baby talk to himself, explored some parts of our neighborhood that i never had and just felt really thankful in general that i get to be at home. This is what it's supposed to be like, I think!

The devil is really working me with this inability to adapt thing. I want so badly to do everything right, but I have to find the joy in this experience somewhere! It has been a struggle for me thus far. I have been feeling like I'm carrying around a lot of extra baggage with this inability to just go with it and I am missing all the fun, feeling extremely old and tired and that is a sad thing!

No more! I am taking a lesson from my mom on this one! I am posting this to cyberspace, so please hold me accountable if you see me with a strained look or if i start out sentences with 'the book says....' say, "MB, do your best and leave the rest!" Amen!

"Nana" from Peter Pan

"Nana" from Peter Pan
Originally uploaded by our "nut" house

Bella is so sweet and gentle with JM... Yesterday, we were out in the yard and she kept softly licking his face and feet. Look at how happy she is in this picture. It's almost if she feels like she has a new job as baby-protector! Such a good doggie!

He did it!

OMG, John Michael can sleep through the night... JM *did* sleep through the night! All of a sudden Thursday night, he slept from 9-6:30!!!! We both woke up at 4 and checked his breathing... and then were so wound up that we couldn't go back to sleep. This is a major milestone, because he was SO far from doing this lately. You could have set your clock by him he was waking up every 3 hours and seemed in no rush to change over to even a 4 or 5 hour gap between feedings... Way to hit a homer with a 9 hour stretch, son. You completely exceeded our expectations!

We were even more excited when he did it again the next night....
And, then saddened when he was back to 3 hours on Saturday night... :(
And, then happy when last night he went from 8:30 to 3:30. 7 hours isn't too bad, although we don't want it to be a habit, we won't get picky.

We didn't do anything different, but he was in a completely different bed... in his pack and play at the lake house. Now, will it happen again tonight now that we're home in his own bed? Hmmmm.... Let's hope so! (3 1/2 months)