Wednesday, March 30, 2011

I have the maturity of a 13-year-old.

Intrigue ...
We bought Abby a bunch of Berenstain Bears books awhile back and I'm having so much fun reading them to her.

At some point between my childhood and Abby's, though, Mr. and Mrs. Berenstain decided to become activists and have quoted the Bible and fought against racism (apparently Pandas moved next door? I missed this.).

Anyway, I am totally intrigued with "The Birds, The Bees and the Berenstain Bears."

I went as far as to look up the book on Barnes and Noble's website to see if they would give me a preview. They did ... until the good parts.

I will be 29 in two months, yet I'm still giggling like a school girl when I hear the word ::whispers:: sex.

Sunday, March 27, 2011

We made it this far ... but our streak has ended.

Abby is sick.

She has a throat ulcer. I feel awful for her. She obviously is having pain when swallowing, so nursing, laying on her back, using a pacifier are all painful for her. We'll see how tonight goes.

I did learn one very important thing, though. Trust my "Mommy instincts."

They actually talk about that in all the classes you take before giving birth. If you feel something tugging at that instinct, act on it.

Well, I initially thought she was teething. She was drooling like crazy, tugging at her ear, struggling to nurse, and refusing the pacifier. But when there were no teeth four to five days later, we thought it might be an ear infection.

She hasn't had a fever, though, so there was no tangible proof that something was wrong. I just felt something was wrong.

As terrified as I was of getting to the after-hours care office and be wrong ("She's in perfect health ... you're just an idiot!"), we went ... Tom gave me a pep talk and told me I was an awesome mom and needed to go with it. He was awesome.

The doctor checked both her ears. "That one looks good! So does that one!"

I wasn't sure if I wanted something to be wrong. If there wasn't anything wrong, our child was simply unruly. I think I'd rather nothing be wrong.

She has a throat ulcer, which means she is struggling to swallow (hence her struggles nursing, using a pacifier and sleeping). The worst part is that it is a virus ... the only thing we can do is treat the pain.

Tom and I are hunkering down for what could be a tough night. We've already put her to bed four times and she didn't have an afternoon nap.

Happy Parenting to us!

Tuesday, March 22, 2011

Late-Night Eating

I didn't even do this while I was pregnant.

The dreaded growth spurt has me ravenous.

I was in bed, ready to fall asleep when my stomach growled.

Me to Tom: "What can I eat?"

Tom: "A cliff bar."

Me: "I already had one."

Tom: "Go eat a meatball."

A meatball.

Got to the fridge.

Deli meat? Nah. Yogurt? Not enough. Leftover pizza. Nice.

Tuesday, March 15, 2011

Cliches that turn out to be true

Darn it.

There are so many phrases/cliches/sayings uttered pre- and post-baby. It's so difficult to stomach them and -- I will admit -- it's difficult not to say them sometimes, too. There is something about certain phrases and questions -- they just roll off the tongue. I can't count the number of times I had to stop myself from asking a brand-new mom how her baby was sleeping because I remember how much that question drove me nuts.

Unfortunately, one of these is proving to be true right now. It actually isn't a phrase that bothered me, but it is one that I hoped wouldn't be true of my baby.

The phrase of: "As soon as you get into a routine, it changes."

Well, phooey on that.

Yes, my sleeping-through-the-night baby has slowly regressed to the point of getting up 2-3 times a night. She was sleeping up to 11 hours! Not anymore!

I do think that her current behavior is coupled with a growth spurt, but my zombie state doesn't really care the reasoning behind it. I just want some sleep. These nights were one thing when I was on maternity leave and didn't have to function (or drive) throughout the day. Housework suffered, but I have the greatest husband in the world, so it was okay.

Now I have to drive to work (and actually work). I was so close to slapping myself across the face this morning after what seemed like my hundredth painful yawn while driving down I-94.

At least Abby looked perky (and well-fed) in the back seat.

Thursday, March 3, 2011

We All Survived

Yes, we all made it through unscathed.

I managed to get through Pumpfest 2011 (thank you to the Westin Indianapolis for my mini-fridge), Abby managed amidst four shift-changes (Daddy to Aunt and Uncle to Grandma and Grandpa back to Daddy) and Daddy managed to get through two nights on baby duty.

All in all, it was a good time had by all and a lesson to all you moms out there (including myself) that taking a moment to chill out is good for everyone.

That being said, all seems to be back to normal in our household. I have had two photo shoots over the last two days. This morning's included the inauguration of a new outfit (six months, Carters).

Not only did Abby ham it up, she managed to Hail the Victors.

Then, fitting for this blog, Luke struck a pose because he did not want to be left out.