Thursday, June 30, 2011

23 Weeks!



Yesterday's photo session did not go very well.  I had a hard time getting Kolton to look at the camera.  Usually he is quite the ham.  Well, when I went to pick him up I discovered why.  Poop everywhere!  Hey, what would a mommy blog be without a little poop discussion every once in a while.  Baby poop is devilishly tricky.  It shoots out the side for no reason at all.  You think there is going to be a load in there but no, sometimes even just a little decides it has no room for containment.  I know I'm stooping kind of low discussing this but this week I have had to change my clothes at least once a day, EVERY DAY!  Mike pointed out that I should be putting pants on him instead of these short outfits because it allows for the escape out the leg.  But it's summer....and shorts are so cute:-)



We had a big day out.  It was absolutely gorgeous outside; not a cloud in the sky.  First we met friends out for lunch at the Wine Market my absolute favorite Baltimore restaurant.  It is just down the street from my house with plenty of parking at outdoor seating.  We had a great lunch just lounging outside.  Then we went to the pool at our gym.  I didn't take Kolton into the water because I'm not quite sure about the rules regarding babies.  However, there were babies younger than Kolton at both places.  I'm always surprised by younger babies.  I think it's because I feel like time has stood still and I am a new mom yet.  But seeing a younger baby reminds me of all we've been through and everything we've figured out a long the way.  It's crazy to think I might actually have useful advice on motherhood!  Me, and experienced Mom?  OMG, that rocks my world!

Tuesday, June 28, 2011

Comfort Zone


I know I have a lot to catch up on.  Let me start out by saying the wedding of Meghan Fannin and Greg Vogt was simply fantastic!  I am so happy for them.  If you've never been to the Peabody Library you absolutely have to go.  It was breathtaking!  And I love the fact that wearing a bridesmaid dress gives you license to act like a dancing fool:-)

Kolton got his first cold, and it was completely my fault!  Earlier last week I had dinner plans and my friend's boyfriend, Alec, agreed to babysit.  Mostly because I told him he wouldn't have to do anything but hang out at my house.  Usually I put Kolton to bed at 7 and then that's it.  So when Alec informed me that he had a cold I thought it would be no big deal since they wouldn't have any contact.  Well wouldn't you know it was the one day things fell out of step.  For some reason Kolton fell asleep at 6:00 or so as he was taking his last bottle before he finished it.  So one hour into dinner Alec called to say the little guy was up and crying.  Although Alec said he could handle it I headed back to the house. It was slightly hilarious to discover them both on the couch with Kolton drenched from half the bottle leaking on him.  I use the Avent bottles which have a small ring that goes into the bottle first to prevent too much air consumption.  I'm well aware that baby stuff can be quite confusing.  After all that was me less than 6 months ago! Well whatever he managed to get down worked because he went right back to sleep.  But the damage was done and Kolton came down with a runny nose a couple days later.  Now both Mike and I have it.  It's a little miserable taking care of a baby when you don't feel so good yourself.  I am so glad that we're not sharing the germs of a daycare center!

So, I've been thinking a lot lately about my comfort zone and how I'll be leaving it soon.  I'm wondering if it's not so much the four walls but the collection of the things in my home that I love so much.  Will I be able to recreate this awesome feeling of home someplace new?  Speaking of which, I know I said I was taking a break but we may have found our house this weekend!  More details on that soon.  Mike is out of his comfort zone too working for a new company in a new territory and selling new products.  It's no wonder we're both slightly tense these days.

Do you ever wonder why you find certain things comforting?  Take that ugly quilt in the picture.  It's Mike's and I know someone made it with a lot of love.  But the thing is not pretty.  However, I love it and have been sleeping with it lately while Mike's gone.  My mom's tuna casserole, clean bathrooms, and freshly washed sheets are other things I find comfort in.  I wonder what things Kolton will find comforting?  Unless something drastic happens it will never be home cooking that's for sure!

Thursday, June 23, 2011

22 Weeks!


I made the mistake of feeding him right before this picture was taken.  His shirt is just drenched in spit up!  Oh well, that's life with a baby:-)

Kolton's big developments this week are the voice thing and sleeping on his side.  He even moves from side to side through out the night so hopefully his head will round out a little.  I've decided to stop swaddling him because I fear he will flip over but be too restricted to flip back.  There I go with that fear factor again.  Tummy time is still not his favorite thing in the world but he is able to hold his head up for a longer period of time.  Plus he looks so stinkin cute!

I'm giving myself a little time out from worrying about finding a place to live in Richmond.  I'm in a wedding this weekend and I want to be free to have fun and celebrate without the weight of this move bearing down on my shoulders!

Tuesday, June 21, 2011

The Voice


Kolton spent the day working his pipes.  Maybe some day he will be on The Voice...love that show!

So I ultimately decided not to drive to Richmond.  I tossed and turned all night thinking about getting down there and seeing a place listed on Craig's List by myself with my infant son.  Then having to stay in a hotel by myself as well.  It just didn't sit well with me.  Some of my mommy friends have been discussing their change in attitude since becoming mothers.  I know I have become way more paranoid!  My mind sometimes goes to dark places it probably shouldn't.  I think it's a protective instinct that I've never experienced before.  Basically thinking about situations and worse possible scenarios so that I can protect my offspring.  

The other reason I decided not to go is Kolton is still waking up crying hysterically.  I miss the nights we put him down at 7pm and didn't hear a peep until 6am.  I'm not quite sure what is wrong.  I really try not to pick him up because I feel like it just opens a flood gate.  However, when the kid cries that hard I can't help myself.  He is instantly comforted and stops, falling back asleep within seconds.  So, I figure he can't be hungry and if he was in any teething pain wouldn't he continue to cry?  The good news is the number of times he has gotten up has reduced to only once last night.

On a random note I recently read a post on BabyCenter about C section scars and the feelings women have about their own.  I honestly haven't given mine much thought.  But it is kind of crazy to have a forever physical reminder of the events of the day Kolton was born.  And it's still a little itchy and numb which is slightly weird!

Monday, June 20, 2011

Richmond Recap


 Hi!  Sorry for the lack of posts lately.  We went to Richmond for the weekend to start the home search.  Mike's parents flew in from Minneapolis to help us with Kolton.  Thank God they did because we ended up on a whirl wind 8 hour tour on Saturday that we couldn't have done if we had to attend to the baby.

The weekend was frustrating to say the least.  Oy, we just could not find anything we liked.  We are the first to admit that we are extremely spoiled.  We built our town house new in 2007 with all of the space and features that we wanted.  We've become accustomed to a certain standard of living.   Now to back track and look at rental is such a harsh slap of reality.  We found a couple of places that would work space wise but neither were in communities that we liked.  The one community that we felt the most comfortable in didn't have the space that we need.  Ideally we would like a 3BR + den:  1 BR for us, one for Kolton, Mike's office, then a guest room.  It just does not exist in apartment world.  So now we are looking at private single family or town home rentals.  Basically, someone just like us who bought their home at the wrong time and can't sell.

The other thing we are struggling with is the realization that the suburbs are probably a better fit for us than the city.  Don't get me wrong the Short Pump area is very, very, nice but wholly suburbia!  I actually broke out in a fit of giggles.  But the fact remains that even though we love our urban lifestyle I find myself having to drive 20 minutes to Target a couple of times a week.  It will be nice to have all of that stuff within a few miles.  It also sounds like the Richmond neighborhoods attract a lot of college kids (VCU is there) that ultimately move out shortly after school.  So while we could probably make it work if we really wanted to; I'm not sure how many young families live there.

Kolton was a diabolical disaster!  I made the mistake of not bringing our pack n play because the hotel could provide one.  Well the thing was a piece of sh*t!  He cried through out the night, both nights.  Then he repeated the same pattern last night even though we were home.  I hope and pray that things return to normal tonight.  He is starting to roll a lot at night and sleep on his side.



I feel bad that Father's Day was a little uneventful.  Although I think it was nice for Mike to be with both Kolton and his dad that day.  We all went out for breakfast before we hit the road leaving Mike behind in Richmond.  We maybe should have stayed the extra night but I'm so glad Mike was able to get some sleep before his first meeting today.



I know I'm playing with fire but I'm going to drive down to Richmond again tomorrow night to check out a couple of houses.  Mike is busy with work and not in the area and I don't want to miss out on something that might really work for us.  Kolton did really well on both the drive down and the drive back so fingers crossed he can do it again.  Although I'll probably be spending the night; I'm definitely bringing our pack n play.

Wednesday, June 15, 2011

21 Weeks!



We had Kolton's surgery follow up appointment this morning.  The surgeon examined him for approx 30 seconds and everything looks good!  But let me just tell you how much work had to go into getting those 30 seconds.  I ended up having to wake the little man from a nap.  Load him into his carrier.  Take him and Sophie out for a walk with the stroller so Sophie could do her business.  Take carrier out of the stroller and into the car then load stroller into the trunk.  Drive to the appt (thankfully that took less than 15 min).  Find parking, unload the stroller out of the trunk, take carrier out of the car and into the stroller.  Walk two blocks to the appointment.  Check in and confirm info.  Get called in.  Unload Kolton and get him undressed.  See doctor for 30 seconds.  Then do everything in reverse!  Jeez!  I know it's just a lot of loading and unloading but he is getting HEAVY!  Oh and Pratt St was a disaster coming back home and Kolton  was wailing the entire time because he was hungry.  I'm so lucky that the kid doesn't cry like that too often:-)

Tuesday, June 14, 2011

3rd Time's the Charm



I'm learning when it comes to babies if at first you don't succeed try, try, again.  It takes Kolton roughly 3 times to get used to a new activity.  Take the Baby Bjorn for example.  This week I put him forward facing for the first time.  He cried for a little while, settled down a bit, then got fussy again.  The second walk went a little better but we still didn't make it out very long before we had to come back.  Today, he chilled for the entire circuit I usually take Sophie on.  Not a peep from him.  Even when our neighbor greeted us.  This week he has also been experiencing the stranger danger feeling.  Tonight I tried feeding him rice cereal for the first time in 2 months.  I experimented with it before we had him sleeping through the night.  He actually did much better then than he did tonight.  He ended up sucking on his fingers as a way to remedy the confusion over swallowing without a nipple in his mouth.  But I have high hopes that 3 days from now he'll get it figured out.

Monday, June 13, 2011

Dramatic





This is how Kolton takes his bottles now.  Always hands over the eyes.  I think he's being overly dramatic, don't you?  

This weekend end up being really fun.  Friday night I rented Just Go With It, which was incredibly cheesy and probably got horrible reviews.  But I found myself both laughing and crying so in my book it was alright.  Saturday we met some friends out for a fund raiser, hung out at another friend's house for a bit, then I went out to Boordy Vinards for their Saturday night concert series followed by dancing in Federal Hill!  Um, yeah I didn't really think that day through.  It was a lot, but I want to soak up everything I love about living in Baltimore while I can:-)  Then we went out to breakfast on Sunday before just relaxing for the rest of the day.

So the search is on for a new home/apartment.  We are going to Richmond this weekend to check things out.  It's going to be really hard to go from a new home that we built to a rental.  Ugh! 


Thursday, June 9, 2011

Better Day




Last night Kolton woke up at 2:30 am.  Against my better judgement I picked him up and oh boy did the flood gates open.  He screamed and I eventually had to give him a bottle.  I'm crossing my fingers that it was just a fluke!

Today was a better day.  He took 2 long naps and 1 really short one.  It makes such a difference to get a couple of long stretches to myself.  I did receive my 1st rude comment however.  After the multiple comments from strangers on how HUGE I got during my pregnancy I guess I am a little used to it but it pissed me off all the same.  Mike has been in Minneapolis training all week (he gets back tonight!) so I've been on my own morning, noon, and night.  This means I had to manage getting Sophie out for potty breaks with Kolton.  It gets kind of tricky at night because I put him down around 7:00 which means I have to take them both out around 6:30.  That's a little earlier than I would like to take her especially since its been so hot here.  Well today the heat was oppressive!  As I'm walking down the sidewalk (in the shade BTW) a couple of women passed me and said, "A baby and a dog!  What are you thinking?"  "Well my husband is out of town so I have no choice" I replied.  "What was HE thinking?!?"they said.  I hope they were just trying to comment on how tough it must be to juggle both but it came off kind of snide all the same.

So I'm finding it kind of tough to stay away from having the TV on all day.  Especially on days like today where I spent all of it in the house.  I managed to keep it off until around 1:00pm.  Anybody have any suggestions?

Wednesday, June 8, 2011

Redo, Baby Lesson #2



Have I mentioned what a good boy Kolton is?  Well besides being ridiculously cute he is also a ridiculously good baby.  Of course there is the occasional crying when he is tired or hungry but for the most part he is super chill.  There is no way I will have another like him so if I want more kids in my future I know I am doomed.  Today was a little out of the ordinary.  He was definitely more fussy than usual but you know what?  All I had to do was put him on my lap facing me and he was all smiles again.  He just wanted to chat and play.  It's really that simple with him!  I will say that it was a little exhausting for me but I can't complain too much.  What I've learned is that sometimes he needs a redo; to basically start the day over.  Did you ever redo you school pictures as a kid?  I really don't like myself in pictures so every year I would opt for the redo.  Change my outfit, change my hairstyle, and just start over.  The redo is my baby lesson #2.  If I can't figure out why Kolton is crying I take him upstairs strip him down, change his diaper and his outfit.  This has worked for me a few times and takes only minutes!

Today was a HOT one. I spent most of it indoors with the shades down.  I did venture to Target though.  Before I had Kolton a trip to Target always meant I spent $100.  Now, it's upwards of $150.  I think I  need to stop going...

20 Weeks!

Monday, June 6, 2011

TLC



Kolton has been recovering quite nicely from his surgery. He's been getting a lot of TLC, Tv Laying around Cuddling. His appetite still isn't back to normal though. What stinks about it is because he consumes less during the day he is now waking up to feed. He wakes up around 10 pm to eat and then at least one more time to be comforted. I've stopped giving him pain medication because he no longer seems to really need it. I just hope he doesn't develop any bad habits and we can get back to his 11 hours of continuous sleep soon.

Sophie has also been giving a little TLC herself, as in Toe Licking Creature! Since I've been paying even MORE attention to Kolton over the past few days she has taken to licking my feet when she needs seems fit. Oh boy! I love her so much as well but I'm not quite sure how to give her what she needs. She still gets to sleep with us and maybe now that I'll be home all day everyday she won't feel left out.

Saturday, June 4, 2011

Surgi



The surgery was a great success!  It was done at the University of Maryland Pediatric Surgi Center in downtown Baltimore.  Is "surgi" just a cute way to spell surgery for the kids?  I'm not sure.  Beautiful hospital by the way.  But,  I'm not going to lie, yesterday was a rough one.  I wish doctors didn't glaze over what you'll experience either during or after a procedure.  They use words like "you'll experience pressure" or "some mild discomfort".  What they really mean is you'll experience PAIN and then some more PAIN.  Kolton was not a happy camper after we brought him home.  He just stared at us with a blank stare and then cried.  It was a "I'm hurting Mommy!" cry and it just broke my heart.  He slept in someones arms most of the day.  My mom is wonderful with babies and I don't know how we would have made it through the day without her.  Finally, around 7pm, he started to get playful.  Of course 7pm is usually his bedtime but since he had been sleeping all day I decided just to run with it.  We managed to get a couple little smiles but he still hasn't broken out into a huge grin as was his nature.  Hopefully today gets him back into his routine.  I'm so worried that he is going to break from his awesome sleeping habits!

One thing that struck both Mike and I as the surgical team introduced themselves to us was just how YOUNG everyone was.  It was slightly hilarious watching the intern introduce himself to the surgeon.  Can someone say awkward!  We grabbed a coffee in the cafeteria and I found myself thinking that maybe Grey's Anatomy isn't too far off base.  I'm so thankful to everyone that looked out for our little guy but hopefully we'll never have to go back there:-)

Thursday, June 2, 2011

Curve Ball



If the word curve ball is ever used in conversation as it applies to life and I shriek then hide under the table rocking myself in the fetal position  you'll know why...  We are not moving to Florida!  No, but we are moving to Richmond, VA!!!  For those of you who still care the relocation drama continued this week and threw us another "curve ball"!

Tuesday morning as I turned in my computer and keys I told everyone at work we were officially moving to Florida.  About 8 hours later it was Richmond!  Apparently the person they offered the VA job to didn't pan out so they gave Mike the choice of where he wanted to go.  I'm sorry but I was not too happy.  I guess I should have been but enough is enough.  I had to psych myself up each time the location of our move changed.  If you're keeping score we were first told FL, then VA, FL for sure, no wait VA if you want it.  Ugh!  Then in the middle of everything there was a position with another company that wouldn't have required us to move at all.  I'm sure you can guess what I was rooting for!  Even though Mike had a solid shot at all of the positions I think things have worked out for the best.  I'm happy to be staying in the Mid Atlantic region and I think Kolton is going to have an amazing childhood.

I hate to ask but if you think about it please say a little prayer for us tomorrow.  The surgery is early in the morning so by the time you get to work it'll probably be over.  I know it's completely routine and I've done my best to remain calm.  But I did make Mike do a dry run to the hospital just so we know exactly where we're going.  Hey, I'm a planner:)  It's an outpatient procedure so we should be home tomorrow afternoon.  I'll update as soon as I can.

19 Weeks!


Happiest Baby on the Block!