My two weeks of play SAHM feel like a super distant memory by now (it was only a week and a half ago). The thought of returning to work was hard, but once I was back at work I fell back into the same work routine. I guess it helps that most of the people on my team are moms with small children. Most of the water cooler talk, which can draw out to being 1 hour long as passing by moms continue to aggregate, revolves around children.
So what's my verdict?
My house was cleaner, my chores done more promptly (like handwashing some dishes in the sink as they get dirty). In other words, things I late at night before going to bed, I got to do during the day.
But I didn't get any special projects done (ie personal projects that are no longer even on the back burner but have fallen off the stove).
I didn't miss work. I even didn't check my email the second week I was home. The initial email withdrawal was hard as I went cold Turkey. But then I couldn't have cared less about work.....
The pace to the day was really nice. Obviously spending all that time with Ivan was priceless.
The ideal situation would be if I could work part time, like 3-4 days a week.
The scenario would also be nice if I could make work (earn money) from some of my "fallen of the stove" projects...(write my books and scripts, photography,.....)
I guess the idea of working at my own pace for myself really appeals to me. If I weren't a big chicken at even a thought of leaving my corporate golden chains, maybe I'd consider it....
One thing I didn't get it is all the brouhaha that being a mom is hard and frazzling and that being a stay at home mom is particularly hard. Magazines always seem to give advice to SAHM for making their live less hectic. I didn't get what was so hectic about being a SAHM. Being a working mom is much more taxing.
Tuesday, May 13, 2008
Mr. Meh got large
Last Thursday evening my parents took Ivan to stay with them for two days. I next saw him on Saturday morning. He seemed noticably bigger and definitely heavier. It's amazing that babies can change so much. Literally overnight.
He's been a finicky eater for the last few months. He doesn't seem to be eating a lot. But since he consistanly poops between 1 and 3 times a day, something is going in and is being digested.
That said, on Saturday he ate like a champ. He had the usual cereal in the morning. For lunch, he had "grandfather soup," a ymmmy soup (sans water) my dad makes for him (cooked veal with potatoes, celery, carrots, onions. It's actually really good.) and which he often doesn't want to eat. (Even at this young age, he seems to have discovered a preference for sweets)
Then, in the afternoon, we made an impromptu trip to York for Andy's father's birthday. It had been a while that we had done any spur of the moment decisions like that one. At first I feared it would be a big hassle, but it actually turned really nice.
We went to a steak restaurant with the other set of grandparents (Andy's parents) and Andy's grandfather. Ivan ate so much that I feared he would explode.
Following some "appeasement" Cheerios, he had 1/2 slice of bread, shredded cheese from the salad, finely diced tomatoes (ate all the tomato that came on the salad), 1/2 cup of rice and a whole baked sweet potato. During the evening he then drank some 8 oz of milk.
I really thought the boy would explode. He didn't. He just pooped a lot of Sunday. (Including the sweet potato....the poop color and consistency revealed that fact).
Since this eating binge, he's been back to eating normal, i.e. being finicky and on the run (too busy to sit down and eat).
He still continues being large. He really sprouted and pudged out over the weekend.
On Friday, we are going for his 15 month appointement. I'm so curious how much he weights and whether he's moved up from being in the 25th percentile. I would thinks so. But then again I thought so before his 12 month appointement as well (he went through a noticable spur when he was about 10-11 months old). Yet, when they measured him at 1 year old, he was still in the 25th percentile.
He's been a finicky eater for the last few months. He doesn't seem to be eating a lot. But since he consistanly poops between 1 and 3 times a day, something is going in and is being digested.
That said, on Saturday he ate like a champ. He had the usual cereal in the morning. For lunch, he had "grandfather soup," a ymmmy soup (sans water) my dad makes for him (cooked veal with potatoes, celery, carrots, onions. It's actually really good.) and which he often doesn't want to eat. (Even at this young age, he seems to have discovered a preference for sweets)
Then, in the afternoon, we made an impromptu trip to York for Andy's father's birthday. It had been a while that we had done any spur of the moment decisions like that one. At first I feared it would be a big hassle, but it actually turned really nice.
We went to a steak restaurant with the other set of grandparents (Andy's parents) and Andy's grandfather. Ivan ate so much that I feared he would explode.
Following some "appeasement" Cheerios, he had 1/2 slice of bread, shredded cheese from the salad, finely diced tomatoes (ate all the tomato that came on the salad), 1/2 cup of rice and a whole baked sweet potato. During the evening he then drank some 8 oz of milk.
I really thought the boy would explode. He didn't. He just pooped a lot of Sunday. (Including the sweet potato....the poop color and consistency revealed that fact).
Since this eating binge, he's been back to eating normal, i.e. being finicky and on the run (too busy to sit down and eat).
He still continues being large. He really sprouted and pudged out over the weekend.
On Friday, we are going for his 15 month appointement. I'm so curious how much he weights and whether he's moved up from being in the 25th percentile. I would thinks so. But then again I thought so before his 12 month appointement as well (he went through a noticable spur when he was about 10-11 months old). Yet, when they measured him at 1 year old, he was still in the 25th percentile.
Monday, May 5, 2008
Crayons
Last weekend, Ivan got his first set of 64 Crayola crayons. I think I'm more excited that he is. I've had quite a fun time doodling around, trying to show him how to draw. But he's not interested yet in drawing. He's tried but it hasn't really capture his attention. However, he really likes to take the crayons out of the box and stack them back in (he's been stacking a lot of things lately, for example, taking oranges one by one out of the fruit bowl and taking them to the porch. It's a phase. It's cute).
He also immediately located the "hole" ie the sharpener on the crayola box, and has stuck each crayon into the hole. Again, it's a phase. He finds random holes in the house and sticks his fingers in, or mine, if I'm near by (like the hole in the mortar on the brick house wall on the porch).
He also likes to take a crayon, or two or three (ie he takes one so I take another so I can draw, which he promptly takes from me, so I take a third one, which he promptly takes away from me, ....)
He's tried to put the crayons in the mouth, once or twice, but it really hasn't been a problem.
Mariposa, on the other hand, managed to find a loose crayon on the floor and eat it. She ate the crayon but left the paper wrapper. That's how I found out that she ate it. It's quite deft of her to be able to do that -- eat the crayon but leave the wrapper. We were all quite impressed. The crayon color, of course, was gold. Nothing less for our baby basset girl. I haven't scooped her poop since, but I assume it's been speckled with gold.
He also immediately located the "hole" ie the sharpener on the crayola box, and has stuck each crayon into the hole. Again, it's a phase. He finds random holes in the house and sticks his fingers in, or mine, if I'm near by (like the hole in the mortar on the brick house wall on the porch).
He also likes to take a crayon, or two or three (ie he takes one so I take another so I can draw, which he promptly takes from me, so I take a third one, which he promptly takes away from me, ....)
He's tried to put the crayons in the mouth, once or twice, but it really hasn't been a problem.
Mariposa, on the other hand, managed to find a loose crayon on the floor and eat it. She ate the crayon but left the paper wrapper. That's how I found out that she ate it. It's quite deft of her to be able to do that -- eat the crayon but leave the wrapper. We were all quite impressed. The crayon color, of course, was gold. Nothing less for our baby basset girl. I haven't scooped her poop since, but I assume it's been speckled with gold.
Food
Mr. Meh has become quite a picky eater. He likes what he likes and will eat what he wants to eat, not what we want him to eat. His menue currently consists of bananas, yo baby yogurt, cereal with apples and yogurt of milk, cheese, pears, toast and Cheerios.
He refuses to eat meat, sweet potatoes, or any other finger food I tried to give him (such as peas, corn, chick peas, etc..). Yet, he will gladly try what I'm eating, especially if it's cookies, chocolate, or something sweet.... I guess I should start to randomly eat meat like that, maybe he'd come over for a bite.
Cheerios is what gets me. He's crazy about them. And they taste like crap, cardboard crap. There has to be some secret kid-addictive ingredient in them because it's insane how crazy Mr. Meh is for Cheerios. Just like all other kids. A while back, Andy and I had promised ourselves that we wouldn't become the Cheerios ziplock bag-totting parents. Little does he know that over the last few weeks, I've succumbed to it and have started to dutifully carry a ziplock bag of cheerios on my outings with me.
Cheerios have also become a bribing tool to make Mr. Meh sit in his high chair (which we adamantly refuses as of late. He's good for breakast to sit in the chair, but that's it. He won't sit in it for lunch, and especially not for dinner. He also tends to eat most in the morning, becomes more picky for lunch and basically won't eat dinner)
It used to be that he'd eat finger foods, ie anything we could put on his tray and he could eat himself. Or throw on the floor to feed mariposa (which I must say has been a good strategy on his part to befriend her). She on the other hand had profited the most from this by now symbiotic eating arrangement.
But as of Friday, he's no longer into finger foods (unless it's Cheerios or cheese). Now he wants to feed himself -- wield the spoon (create a big mess around himself) and feed himself. Over the last three days he's gotten a lot better. But this is basically my toddler nightmare -- messy eating.
So far he's eaten avocado, yogurt, cereal/yogurt and mashed sweet potatoes. He eats a bit, then pokes his food, the wields the spoon around and in the process manages to get completely messy. It's a two-person cleaning process -- one person for him and the other one for the high chair.
But it's really exicting to see him try to eat by himself. It's a major milestone, and seeing him clumsily wield the spoon with both left and right hand it really makes me realize how difficult and what a fine motor skill eating with a utensil really is.
He refuses to eat meat, sweet potatoes, or any other finger food I tried to give him (such as peas, corn, chick peas, etc..). Yet, he will gladly try what I'm eating, especially if it's cookies, chocolate, or something sweet.... I guess I should start to randomly eat meat like that, maybe he'd come over for a bite.
Cheerios is what gets me. He's crazy about them. And they taste like crap, cardboard crap. There has to be some secret kid-addictive ingredient in them because it's insane how crazy Mr. Meh is for Cheerios. Just like all other kids. A while back, Andy and I had promised ourselves that we wouldn't become the Cheerios ziplock bag-totting parents. Little does he know that over the last few weeks, I've succumbed to it and have started to dutifully carry a ziplock bag of cheerios on my outings with me.
Cheerios have also become a bribing tool to make Mr. Meh sit in his high chair (which we adamantly refuses as of late. He's good for breakast to sit in the chair, but that's it. He won't sit in it for lunch, and especially not for dinner. He also tends to eat most in the morning, becomes more picky for lunch and basically won't eat dinner)
It used to be that he'd eat finger foods, ie anything we could put on his tray and he could eat himself. Or throw on the floor to feed mariposa (which I must say has been a good strategy on his part to befriend her). She on the other hand had profited the most from this by now symbiotic eating arrangement.
But as of Friday, he's no longer into finger foods (unless it's Cheerios or cheese). Now he wants to feed himself -- wield the spoon (create a big mess around himself) and feed himself. Over the last three days he's gotten a lot better. But this is basically my toddler nightmare -- messy eating.
So far he's eaten avocado, yogurt, cereal/yogurt and mashed sweet potatoes. He eats a bit, then pokes his food, the wields the spoon around and in the process manages to get completely messy. It's a two-person cleaning process -- one person for him and the other one for the high chair.
But it's really exicting to see him try to eat by himself. It's a major milestone, and seeing him clumsily wield the spoon with both left and right hand it really makes me realize how difficult and what a fine motor skill eating with a utensil really is.
Thursday, May 1, 2008
First molar
I caught a glimpe of one of his molars coming out when he was laughing today. So far, we have six teeth. Two lower ones and 4 upper ones.
Bedtime routine
Back in the day when Mr. Meh was nursing (which was less than 3 months ago), I'd nurse him after his bath and put him to bed, still half away but ready to roll over and sleep. I could actually tell whether he would fall asleep: If he was beginning to roll over onto his side as I was laying him down in his crib, I knew he'd fall asleep. If he would lay flat on this back and start kicking out his arms and legs, I knew that I crying/screaming would ensue.
Well, at some point during the day, my dad introduced the bottle to help Mr. Meh fall asleep. Then the few nights when I wasn't around to nurse Ivan to sleep, the night bottle was introduced.
So fast forward to the last three months: Mr. Meh is so addicted and used to his bottle that he can't go to sleep without it. He fusses and cries and screams. He has become a milk addict. If he wakes up during the night, or early in the morning, he gets his bottle and falls back asleep (he's usually awake around 6 am when we give him a bottle and he continues sleeping for another hour.) And it has to be the bottle. He won't drink milk from a sippy cup. I've tried 3 different kinds and introduced them at different milk drinking times - during the day, before nap, in the middle of the night, at the 6 am milk time,.....he always promptly rejects it and continues to scream until the bottle arrives.
Since he's almost 15 months now, it's apparently due time to:
a) get rid of the bottle and replace with a sippy cup;
b) stop going to bed with milk, but drink it before hand and then brush his teeth. Otherwise, he's teeth will rot and fall out, baby advice of du jour says today.
These are obviously two separate battles to fight. Over the last week or so, I've tried fighting them simultaneously, but without any luck.
He adamantly refuses to drink milk from a sippy cup. I've decided to introduce a moratorium on the sippy cup front. So fight A has been temporarily shelved. I'm fully focused on fight B.
Fight B: Changing the bedtime routine, ie trying to revert back to the nursing time routine -- have him drink his milk while he's cuddling with me, then lay him to bed still awake with the empty bottle. And then add brushing the teeth. He likes to brush his teeth and gladly brushes them in the morning and during bath time, so that's not the issue. (I actually have to fight to take the toothbrush away.)
The problem has been that since Mr. Meh has started walking (about a month ago) he's too busy to calm down and cuddle with me. I can barely put a diaper on him, before he wants to slide off the bed and run around the upstairs, make faces at this mirror, play with his toys, take his shoes around......It's impossible to have him calm down. I try to cuddle him and read to him, but it lasts half a second, before he's off running around again. (But as soon as I put him to bed with his bottle, he calms down and eventually falls asleep).
It's also been partially my fault, because sometimes when I come home from work, I'm too tired and exhausted to play with him too long, or try to calm him and cuddle him. After 1/2 hour I give up. Laying him down in his crib with his milk is easier. Also, I thought that was a way to do it -- put him to bed awake, so he doesn't get used to falling asleep on me, which would them make him dependent on me.
But this evening, a miracle happened. I put his jammies on and gave him his milk. And instead of scurrying off the bed, he picked up one of his books (A Bright Baby Book, first words), which we've looked at over the last few months, and proceeded to drink all of his milk while flipping throught the book. I was shocked and amazed. Still no cuddling with mommy (which I miss so much), but at least he was calm.
Then I put him to bed with his milk, brought the toothbrush and quickly brushed the teeth, and laid him to sleep. He cried for about 10 minutes or so and then silence....he fell asleep.
I hope that this is the beginning of this modified bedtime routine. If I succeded in this fight B, then at least I'll stave off some cavities.
Eventually I'll tackle Fight A -- getting rid of the bottle.
Well, at some point during the day, my dad introduced the bottle to help Mr. Meh fall asleep. Then the few nights when I wasn't around to nurse Ivan to sleep, the night bottle was introduced.
So fast forward to the last three months: Mr. Meh is so addicted and used to his bottle that he can't go to sleep without it. He fusses and cries and screams. He has become a milk addict. If he wakes up during the night, or early in the morning, he gets his bottle and falls back asleep (he's usually awake around 6 am when we give him a bottle and he continues sleeping for another hour.) And it has to be the bottle. He won't drink milk from a sippy cup. I've tried 3 different kinds and introduced them at different milk drinking times - during the day, before nap, in the middle of the night, at the 6 am milk time,.....he always promptly rejects it and continues to scream until the bottle arrives.
Since he's almost 15 months now, it's apparently due time to:
a) get rid of the bottle and replace with a sippy cup;
b) stop going to bed with milk, but drink it before hand and then brush his teeth. Otherwise, he's teeth will rot and fall out, baby advice of du jour says today.
These are obviously two separate battles to fight. Over the last week or so, I've tried fighting them simultaneously, but without any luck.
He adamantly refuses to drink milk from a sippy cup. I've decided to introduce a moratorium on the sippy cup front. So fight A has been temporarily shelved. I'm fully focused on fight B.
Fight B: Changing the bedtime routine, ie trying to revert back to the nursing time routine -- have him drink his milk while he's cuddling with me, then lay him to bed still awake with the empty bottle. And then add brushing the teeth. He likes to brush his teeth and gladly brushes them in the morning and during bath time, so that's not the issue. (I actually have to fight to take the toothbrush away.)
The problem has been that since Mr. Meh has started walking (about a month ago) he's too busy to calm down and cuddle with me. I can barely put a diaper on him, before he wants to slide off the bed and run around the upstairs, make faces at this mirror, play with his toys, take his shoes around......It's impossible to have him calm down. I try to cuddle him and read to him, but it lasts half a second, before he's off running around again. (But as soon as I put him to bed with his bottle, he calms down and eventually falls asleep).
It's also been partially my fault, because sometimes when I come home from work, I'm too tired and exhausted to play with him too long, or try to calm him and cuddle him. After 1/2 hour I give up. Laying him down in his crib with his milk is easier. Also, I thought that was a way to do it -- put him to bed awake, so he doesn't get used to falling asleep on me, which would them make him dependent on me.
But this evening, a miracle happened. I put his jammies on and gave him his milk. And instead of scurrying off the bed, he picked up one of his books (A Bright Baby Book, first words), which we've looked at over the last few months, and proceeded to drink all of his milk while flipping throught the book. I was shocked and amazed. Still no cuddling with mommy (which I miss so much), but at least he was calm.
Then I put him to bed with his milk, brought the toothbrush and quickly brushed the teeth, and laid him to sleep. He cried for about 10 minutes or so and then silence....he fell asleep.
I hope that this is the beginning of this modified bedtime routine. If I succeded in this fight B, then at least I'll stave off some cavities.
Eventually I'll tackle Fight A -- getting rid of the bottle.
End of an era
...happened earlier this evening when I unsubscribed myself from Weight Watchers Online. I don't know why I'm upset about it. Maybe it the fear of gaining the weight back. Maybe it's just the fact that I don't like to let go of things, finalize things, make decisions that have no return option (in this case, it's not like I can't re-subscribe, so I don't know what the problem is).
I joined WW last summer, July 1, to be exact after I saw coworker who had a baby two weeks before I did and was skinny as a toothpick. Much skinnier that she had been for as long as I had known her (and to this day, she's kept the weight off). And at that point I still had 15lbs pregnancy to loose and well as another 10lbs of pre-pregnancy "I just got fat" weight. Well, I'll lost most of that weight. I fit into my old clothes that I couldn't fit into a few months before I got pregnant.
So in other words, I feel like I've accomplished my goal (well most of it). I should feel victorious. Last spring/summer (maybe some four months after I delivered) I remember feeling really down and hopeless -- I wasn't loosing the weight and loosing 20 lbs seemed like an impossible task. I even asked women for advice on the DC Urban Mom message board. They advised to hang in there and some actually suggested to try WWs.
On Monday, when I return to work, I'll rejoin the work gym to start working out regularly and try to get rid of the big butt, cellulite, back fat and the post-baby giggly stomach that still remain. And those are working out fixes, not so much weight loss fixes.
I must say that for $16/month, WW was amazing. I have been sounding like a walking promo for them, I've liked it so much. But it really works. It was really easy to keep track of the points and record what I ate. (In the pre-computer era, when people relied on those charts and what-nots, it would've been a nightmare). And I got to eat what I usually would it (with minor modifications) so it's really a sustainable weight loss program. And the fact that everyone has been commenting how great I look, ie the weight loss is noticable, has just been the icing on the cake.
I joined WW last summer, July 1, to be exact after I saw coworker who had a baby two weeks before I did and was skinny as a toothpick. Much skinnier that she had been for as long as I had known her (and to this day, she's kept the weight off). And at that point I still had 15lbs pregnancy to loose and well as another 10lbs of pre-pregnancy "I just got fat" weight. Well, I'll lost most of that weight. I fit into my old clothes that I couldn't fit into a few months before I got pregnant.
So in other words, I feel like I've accomplished my goal (well most of it). I should feel victorious. Last spring/summer (maybe some four months after I delivered) I remember feeling really down and hopeless -- I wasn't loosing the weight and loosing 20 lbs seemed like an impossible task. I even asked women for advice on the DC Urban Mom message board. They advised to hang in there and some actually suggested to try WWs.
On Monday, when I return to work, I'll rejoin the work gym to start working out regularly and try to get rid of the big butt, cellulite, back fat and the post-baby giggly stomach that still remain. And those are working out fixes, not so much weight loss fixes.
I must say that for $16/month, WW was amazing. I have been sounding like a walking promo for them, I've liked it so much. But it really works. It was really easy to keep track of the points and record what I ate. (In the pre-computer era, when people relied on those charts and what-nots, it would've been a nightmare). And I got to eat what I usually would it (with minor modifications) so it's really a sustainable weight loss program. And the fact that everyone has been commenting how great I look, ie the weight loss is noticable, has just been the icing on the cake.
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