Eat, Sleep, and Roll!

I have been so busy with work and trying to spend my non-working time with E. I have found that being a working mom is hard and I can see that being a stay at home mom is hard too. What I really have noticed is that when we both were home this parenting thing was so much easier. Oh where is my long lost trust fund when I need it. I am going to try and blog every day this month. I found that I got into a good grove in November when we blogged every day I would love to get that grove back. Another reason to blog more in March is that it is such a long month. I have no days off from school and the weather in March is always crappy which makes it seem to last forever. Maybe blogging will make March less of a drag.

Since I haven't blogged in a while I thought I would cover the basics.

Eat
After our fail on our first try with rice cereal we took a month off from solids. When E turned 7 months old a few weeks ago we decided to start again. This time we started with sweet potatoes. They were a huge success as were carrots.

Since the orange veggies were such a success I decided to try Ella's first green veggie, peas. To my surprise E really loved them and ate about and ounce. She then got a little cranky and I noticed a red patch on her neck. I decided to stop the peas and check to see if there was any other spots on her body. When I took her top off her poor little tummy chest and back. I called the doctor and by the time I got a call back about 30 minutes later the hives were gone. She told us to have benedryl on hand and not to eat peas until at least 9 months if not 1 year. It seems the little bumble bee is allergic to peas. What really sucks about this is that peas are legumes and that a pea allergy could indicate an allergy to other legumes. Namely peanuts! We are really hoping that she grows out of this and that E is not sitting at the peanut free table alone at school. The girl has two mommies she doesn't need to be the peanut girl too!

After our pea adventure we tried bananas, pears and oatmeal. She is a fan of all three but is a big fan of the pears and wouldn't eat the oatmeal until we mixed in bananas. The stuff smelled like cardboard so I don't really blame her. After our four days of oatmeal I think we will be moving onto squash and then avocado. E is really getting the hang of eating her solids and is enjoying sitting in her high chair. She started to have 2 solids per day yesterday and is doing really well.

Sleep
Oh how I wish E was doing as well at sleeping as she is at eating. We have gotten her to go down very easily at about 8-8:30 every night. The past few nights I have just put her in her pack-n-play in our bedroom and she went right to sleep. Her trend has been to wake at about 12-1 and I had been nursing her. Early intervention wanted us to try to wean her off of this feeding session because actually she doesn't need it. She has slept through the night before and really it's just for comfort. So last night we didn't feed her during the night but she was still up at 1, 3 and 5. Each time needing to be picked up and put back to sleep. I finally ended up putting her in bed with me at 5 as I just needed to sleep and knew she would sleep if she was with me. I am reading ferber's new book on my kindle right now and I think some sleep training is in E's future. I really need her to sleep through the night as it is very hard to teach 13 year olds on a couple of hours of sleep. I'll keep you posted on this one.

Roll
Since I hit the other major baby topics I thought I would touch on E's physical development. E is a roller. She loves to roll from her back to her tummy and will play for a good amount of time on her belly. She does a good deal of kicking and reaching and spins all the way around on her belly. She really wants to move and sticks her little bum in the air and tries to inchworm/snowplow her way across the floor. I would say she moves a little bit but is getting frustrated in her lack of mobility. She seems to have all the pieces but can't seem to do them all at the same time. We will see if that changes in the next few weeks. E is not sitting up on her own yet but we are working on it and can sit for short periods of time independently. She also loves to stand with help and her new trick is bouncing. She seems to be hitting all her milestones at about her adjusted age but I think she is closing the gap and is getting closer to her actual age.

Well this working mom needs to go to sleep so she can get up and tend to the little bumblebee in the wee hours of the morning.

mommy and me

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Goodbye Old Friend

I found out today that one of my closest friends had to put down their 12 year old yellow lab, Dino, yesterday for health reasons. I met Dino about 7-8 years ago I believe and even if one wasn't a dog person, I guarantee they would instantly fall in love with him just as I did. He was no ordinary lab. He was a mammoth lab and weighed around 120 pounds. Seriously. He may have been huge but he was a gentle boy and just wanted to love everyone he came in contact with. When I first met him he was much more yellow and I watched him turn white over the years. He also used to go for like 10 mile runs with his owner which I think is quite the feat considering he was over 100 pounds. I watched him slow down and take longer to get up off the ground as time passed. What never faded was Dino's spirit. He clearly was in pain when I saw him just this past Saturday but when I walked in the house there he was, thumping his big tail on the ground, and with all the effort he could muster he got up to greet me. It took him a while but there he was. I was lucky to have met Dino, spend time with him, and lucky to have a proper goodbye this past weekend. Goodbye Dino doggie. I love you and you will be greatly missed.

School Vacation and Stuff

Last week SSG had her February vacation and we both were looking forward to it. It was really nice to have her home. It was nice to be able to spend time with her and quite frankly was nice to have a helping hand with Little E. I needed a break as much as she did. We pretty much just hung out during the week. SSG met a co-worker one day for breakfast and did some shopping at some outlet stores. She of course came home with clothes for Little E from Car.ter's and Osh.kosh. I even got a few items for working out which I desperate need.

The highlight of the week came on Friday when we went to the Boston Museum of Fine Arts. We thought it would be a nice outing with Little E and thought she would enjoy looking at the art. She's a pretty inquisitive little girl. We has a great morning looking at the art and E did great. She quietly sat in her stroller and looked around. We even went to lunch, sipped mimosas, and there was no major baby meltdowns! The only issue is that I think I left my credit card there but can't get lost and found to answer the freakin phone. It's still a mystery but the good news is that there hasn't been any activity on it. Anyway here are a couple of shots from the MFA!

Overall is was a great week and we finished it off with a family gathering with my family up in NH. Always a fun time and we celebrated a couple of birthdays because we have 4 within 4 weeks of each other so it's just easier.

Tonight SSG and I are going to the Boston Celtics game and having a night out! It's an early birthday present for me and while we are both exhausted from E not sleeping all that great, we are looking forward to it. I foresee a beer and a hotdog in my future...and I will feel guilty about it but it will be worth every calorie!

Now the Waiting Game Begins

It's official. I am all done with my grad school applications. I am more than happy as is SSG I'm sure. I wouldn't have been able to do it with her and without my super-editor friend Snick. Now I get to anxiously wait for the mail 6 days a week to see if I got into Boston College and Boston University. Even more stressful is I have to wait to see what my financial packages look like to see how much deep financial shit we are in. I'm hoping some school takes pity on the unemployed, lesbian, who had a preemie, and is changing careers at 34 (soon to be 35..gulp). I'm not afraid to play any of those cards at this point. Quick frankly I feel like SSG and I deserve to catch a break about right now. I know that's not how the world works but I'm kind of sick and tired of people who appear to have shit loads of endless luck, people who catch all the breaks, the freaking 25 year olds that are able to buy houses, or even worse adults who still have everything handed to them. I would just like a little financial assistance so we don't go further into the poor house and so I can have a meaningful career. Hell, I'm trying to be a social worker! Throw me a freakin' bone!

On a different subject Little E turned 7 months yesterday. Wh-wh-what?? Crazy. She turned 7 months and instantly started a horrible habit...turning over in her sleep to a face down position. I mean face smooshed into the mattress. I think SSG is ready to have nervous breakdown over this so chances are after I do my little part-time nanny gig this evening I will be going out to by a sleep positioner so she doesn't do this anymore.

A piece of good news...at least for us..SSG is on vacation next week! We are both looking forward to this. We have plans to go see my grandparents (Little E's namesake) up in NH which we are are excited about. It will be nice to have a visit that doesn't involve a huge family gathering. I just hope that Little E isn't in a horrible mood. She's been particularly challenging lately and we suspect she's teething. Holy crabby baby. I think we may make a trip to the Museum of Fine Arts in Boston as well.

Lastly, I just realized Valentine's Day is coming up. SSG and I share a similar feeling about the day.....it's stupid. It's really a made up so called "holiday" that puts pressure on people in relationships to buy something and makes people feel like shit who aren't in relationships. I consider myself a romantic person but I don't get it. Thanks goodness SSG doesn't either.

I Swear I'm Still Here!

Yup. It's Shazam. I'm still here! I've been silent but I'm here...buried in diapers, laundry, baby drool, and grad school essays. Little E is napping so I though I'd give a shout out and give some updates on what is going on in our household.

Last week was Germ Fest 2010 here and just to make it interesting it was all different kinds of germs. SSG and I often brag that we don't get sick and boy did that bite us in the ass. E was still fighting her cold at the beginning of last week which was pleasant. On Tuesday SSG came home from work feeling horrible and had a fever. She basically spent the afternoon in bed and then took Wednesday off. It was great to have her home but so she wouldn't spread germs she was completely hands-off so it was a bit of a tease to have her there. On Tuesday and Wednesday night I slept on the couch with E in her pack and play next to me. Those were two looong nights. SSG got better from the fever but then developed a sore throat and a runny nose. I think she's feeling much better though. Friday night I went to bed and at 12:30am I woke up with a horrible stomach ache. I knew I was going to barf and knowing that gave me an anxiety attack. So there I was stumbling down the hall trying to get to the bathroom. I almost took a complete header. I made it to outside the bathroom...barely but couldn't move any more. My lovely wife actually had time to get me a bowl, tie my hair back and get me a damp washcloth before all hell broke loose. I'll spare the details but it was horrible. I'm surprised I didn't pull something I barfed so hard. I then of course spend the rest of the night on the couch and Saturday too. I was hurting and actually think I got a bit of food poisoning but who knows. All I know is I wasn't hungry all weekend and lost a couple of pounds which makes sense considering I basically ate 6 saltines and half a banana. I'm feeling better but I'm still not ready to dig in to a big meal. It's really not appealing.

The other thing going on as our readers know is I've been working hard on getting in grad school applications. I have 2 out of 3 in and trying to finish up the third this week. I did get notice this weekend that I got in to Simm.ons College in Boston. It's a great small college where SSG actually got her undergraduate degree. I'm anxiously awaiting on a Bos.ton College reply which is ironic on multiple levels. Long story short I didn't originally want to consider BC because I already did the private Catholic school thing for undergrad and didn't want to go there again. I wanted something different. That was until I realized how close it is (like 15 minutes), how good the program is, and how much I liked it when I went to an info session. I find it rather comical that the non-catholic lesbian has a chance of once again going to a catholic school. Seriously funny. I did some research and they do have a couple GLTB groups at BC so I am somewhat comforted there is some diversity and I won't be surrounded by "god squaders". Thanks but no thanks.

I guess the only other thing with me is I've still been consistently going to my personal training gym 3 days a week and I still love it. I've lost 13.2 pounds but that is a little skewed because of my non-eating this weekend. Realistically it's around 10. I'm feeling better for sure and think I look a little better. It's nice to have my clothes fitting better. The important thing is I'm healthier for my family.

That's it from here! E is doing great and honestly you would never know she was a preemie as she approaches 7 months old this week. She's working on sitting up but very wobbly and needs someone there to help.

Rolling Machine and First Cold

Ella got her first real cold last week. She has been a drippy snotty mess but seems to be on the mend. We took her to the doctor just to be sure that she didn't have anything serious like RSV or an ear infection. Her lungs and ears were clear and she seems to just have a plain old cold. She has been a trooper through it and is still mostly her happy self. She had a fabulous day yesterday but last night was terrible. She isn't eating well as she get frustrated by not being able to breath and eat (she is soooo picky) so she has not been finishing some of her bottles. Also she coughed so hard Saturday morning that she barfed pretty much her whole bottle on my pillow! Last night she gagged herself on her own hand and barfed a ton on my lap (yuck). Needless to say her eating was all off last night and she nursed at 12 am, 1:30 am, took 3 oz from a bottle at 3 am and I think she ate again at 5:30 am. She was up for the day bright eyed and bushy tailed at 6:30 am. The mommies however were not feeling so perky. I hope that she went down for a nap soon after I left, as Shazam certainly needed it. I am dragging today but I have kind of a low key day as I am giving a quick quiz, explaining a project and passing back papers. Let's hope she gets back to a semi normal schedule tonight.

In other news Ella has become a rolling machine. She figured out early last week how to roll from her back to her belly. She couldn't do it on Tuesday for early intervention but by Wednesday she was rolling away. She had been rolling from her belly to her back every once in a while but not on a regular basis. Throughout the the week she would roll from her back to her belly every time she was put on her back. Once there she was stuck as she seemed to have forgotten that she could roll back. After a few minutes on her belly she would get frustrated and start to fuss to be rolled back. Well last night she put all the pieces together and started rolling all the way over back to her back. She also figured out that this is a mighty great way to move towards an object. So now she is a rolling machine and boy is she quick. I left her for a minute to grab a snack in the kitchen and when I came back she was off her play mat, the rug and on the hardwood floor heading towards Shazam who was in our office nook. We need to make some kind of containment system and also start baby proofing the apartment.

Shazam has now finished two of her three grad school applications and I hope we hear soon that she is in one of these programs since they are her top choices. We would appreciate any positive vibes sent to B.C. and Simmons to help her application along. She did a great job in her applications and I think they are stupid if they don't let my awesome wife in. A wonderful financial aid package would be wonderful as well.