September round up

Clearly keeping my blog updated has fallen by the wayside :-) But with baby on board, I must say, it's one of those things that doesn't even make the to-do list anymore. In fact feeding the cats is now one of the things that I have to remind myself to do, save the times when the poor kitties meow and lead me to the kitchen where they sit patiently in front of their food bowl. Aww.

Life with E is good! We are definitely getting into a rhythm of feed, sleep, change and change again. I'm now able to work out with more consistency, with the great support of M who doesn't go to the gym so I can. I'm constantly amazed at what a wonderful Dad M is. I mean, I knew he'd be great, but I had no idea he'd be so intuitive and tuned-in to E. He's probably more tuned-in than I am in many ways. While I can tell when E is on the verge of spitting up or about to come off his latch, he has an uncanny sense of when E is still hungry (despite eating an insane amount of food and seeming to be sleepy). He knows exactly what will comfort E most of the time (there is always the time when E is inconsolable). He's just an amazing Dad. I love it, it's so sweet to witness.

Another positive effect E has had on our family is my relationship with my parents. We have seen them every single weekend for the past 4 weeks and will see them this weekend and then be spending a week in Hawaii with my mom. Amazingly we have all gotten along perfectly. They are turning out to be the perfect grandparents (so far). They come down and help with the mundane house stuff (laundry, dishes, running errands, bringing us food) so we can take care of E. They also love to take care of E whether it's feedings, preparing bottles, holding and comforting, changing diapers--they (mostly my mom to be accurate) do it all. They dont crowd us, they encourage us to leave the house so we can do stuff for ourselves and they do it all with no consequence. It's the most amazing transformation I've ever witnessed. I wouldn't even believe it if I wasn't living it!

On the calendar for October? M and I are going to Big Crush again this year, yeah! We are heading up the moment it opens this year to hopefully avoid the frat boys and girls who came and acted all crazy in the afternoon. And our babysitters? My parents of course. In fact my mom asked me if we wanted to go to Big Crush this year and they would babysit. They offered it before I even thought about asking them!

Then we are leaving for Oahu for a week with my Mom for a good friend's wedding. Granted, the wedding is over the weekend, but we are taking full advantage of the airline downtime (Oct and early Nov are slow for the airlines, so M got a whole week off no problem) and my maternity leave to enjoy a week away. Yay!

I do hope I can keep the blog more up to date... but of course if you're on phanfare, you can always see what we're up to there.

Cheers!

A big step forward

For those not too keen on baby-centric posts, you may want to check back later.

In addition to the WONDERFUL change in weather starting today (woo hoo!), we are experiencing another cool phenomenon in our house. E has finally started breastfeeding. After weeks of trying (and mostly failing), E finally took a turn in the right direction. It's like he woke up yesterday and just got it. Amazing! At a family birthday party yesterday (in private of course), he did an entire feeding from me with no bottle supplement. If you don't have experience with babies or have had a newborn who took to the breast soon after delivery, this is a *very* big deal. It's extremely frustrating to keep trying to get E to latch and stay on and continually watch him be unable to do so and get very very upset. I started to feel like he was never going to get it and that we had missed our opportunity to get him on the boob. It's also exhausting doing the "triple feed" (breast attempt, bottle feed, pump for the next feed) 7-9 times a day. Seriously.

For the past two days, E has been so cooperative and is doing so great! I'm so thrilled and feel like a huge weight has been lifted off me. Now I can leave the house with a bit more freedom and not have to be so concerned about how long we are gone.

Another interesting factoid: This Friday marks the day E was supposed to be due. Wierd! I cant believe he's been in our lives (outside the womb) for 5 weeks now, soon to be 6. Wow.

The other good news? I'll officially be 6 weeks soon and can officially start working out. But I must admit I've not stuck to the doc's advice. I have been walking 3-ish miles per day (as many days per week as I can) and have started integrated a slow jog into the mileage. This week I'm going to try spin and maybe yoga in addition to my run/walks. So I'm not exactly sticking to the plan. But next week I'm starting my whole new workout regime and am totally looking forward to it! (and hoping to see some results). woo hoo!

I love Fall . . . so where are you Fall? And of course, life with baby E

Even though the weather here is trying to trick us into believing it's not Fall yet, I am hoping it will catch up with my mentality soon. I am DONE with summer, done with being hot and sweaty inside my house. Done watching my poor infant son sweat his tiny balls off in a diaper and no clothes. Done trying to escape the heat. Even my tomato and zuccini plants realize that summer is close coming to an end. We haven't had a zuccini on the vine in a few weeks. Maybe even a month. And after our last crop of tomatoes, those too are dwindling. So, come on weather! Change already!

One of the reasons I love Fall-- college football season. That's the first indicator of Fall for me. Yay Bears!! I remain cautiously optimistic after last season's disappointing end. But I have renewed hope and a new little bear to share the fun with, yay!

I am also looking forward to soup season. While I love barbequeing, with E, we barely have time to get the grill up and running in between feedings. Whereas with soups, I can make them on my feeding breaks and we can enjoy them for at least 2-3 days with no effort. Perfect!

As for an E update: He is doing wonderfully! Although he had a VERY VERY VERY difficult Sunday (he was circumcised, a decision I still regret and probably always will). He didn't exactly love getting his Hep-B shot on Tuesday morning either. But it paled in comparison to the excruciating pain he (and therefore I) experienced on Sunday.

E has gained over 2 lbs since birth, he's now 6 lbs 14.5 oz (almost 7 lbs!) As my Dad says, now he can hold him without fearing he'll "break" him :-) We are finally getting into a more comfortable routine too. Now, when M goes on overnights, I don't freak and worry how I'll get through the next 24 hours on my own. Sure, I get less sleep because I'm doing every feeding. But I can manage that and even throw in a couple other things--the grocery store, our walk on the Bayshore Trail, a doctor's appointment, errands in downtown.

See, when you have a newborn, your life becomes all about the "chunks." By that I mean the 3-hour chunks from the start of one feeding to the start of another. After he actually finishes eating, burping and goes down for the count, I'm really left with 2 hours with which to accomplish a "thing." This thing is typically: sleep, eat or do something outside the house that can be accomplished in 1 hour or less.

Right now, I'm eating my breakfast (12noon is my first meal of the day if I choose to nap after the morning feeding) and blogging. If I'm lucky I'll get to that next load of laundry and tidy up the house, maybe even do some online banking before the next feeding in an hour. After the next feeding I'm hoping to get to TJ's and get a nap in. We'll see about that one. After the late afternoon feeding, M will be home and I'm going to race to the gym for the first time since my water broke. (i hope!!) And so on.

Such is life with a newborn. It's amazing how many things I once thought were "must do's" fall to the wayside now that my life is all about the chunks. It really does re-adjust your perspective :-)

Happy short week to everyone who's working!

Here are some recent shots from E's first trip to the beach last weekend:

My future's so bright, I gotta wear shades!

Enjoying the sunset with Dad