Summer Vacation...Hooray!

We started out the summer a little earlier than expected (5:00am ouch!) because of a nasty ol burp that had Charlie spitting up and choking in his basket. We got it all fixed and Charlie had his very first play session with Edgar the Ugly(hand knit for him by his Auntie Cheryl) while I finished my morning stretches on the floor next to him. It was the first time I've seen him grab and keep a toy in his hands for any amount of time.

He especially liked the feel of the the yarn hair against his cheeks.

As you can see, he was very pleased with himself.

A little later that morning, Jonathan turned in his last final of the 08-09 school year.

Charlie and I went with him. This is me being very excited to have someone to share the Charlie responsibilities with again after being a finals week widow.

Then we all took a walk in the park together as a family to celebrate. In great form, Charlie slept through the drive and celebratory walk as if he was competing for the longest nap ever so far.

Speaking of naps, I felt it only fair to add that he is getting much better. He still takes his little cat naps, but two out of three days he gets one 1.2 -2 hour nap in. I think it is really helping his night-time sleep as he consistently goes 5 hours now after you put him down the first time. Of course after that he's back to being a three hour egg-timer, but I actually dreamed a couple nights ago for the first time that I can remember since he was born. Here is a chronicle the various ways he has slept in our living room the past month.

After a car ride, our house is too quiet for him to stay asleep for long, so we put him as close to out on the balcony as we can get him.

This just sort of happened, and then I thought it was odd to have a baby conked out on the couch. I still get amazed every once in a while that we have a Charlie!

I know this looks like he is in utero, but is the best I could do through the plastic window of the stroller shade as it was parked next to the couch.

These are for his grandmas.


Charlie's other accomplishments since turning 3 months are doubling his eyelash length,

forgetting he knows how to roll over, and sometimes grabbing a toy if his coordination is just right.

Tomorrow we head to Florida to visit his Grandma and Grandpa M. We'll let you know how his first airplane ride and swimming experience go. For now I'm off to pack...
Hmmm.......just how many diapers do you need for 9 hours of traveling with a three and a half month old?

Congratulations Judy! Welcome Nory!

My esteemed friend Judy just had her little baby girl without any medication in under 5 hours, start to finish! And, she spent 2.5 of those hours driving to the hospital (the honorable mention goes to her husband for not stopping though repeatedly begged to do so)! Since my labor was over 30 hours, and the 20 minutes I spent driving to the hospital were almost unendurable, I find myself a little jealous, impressed, and once again, full of awe that babies are possible!

Way to go Judy!

Happy Friday

Today is a good day because:
Charlie didn't wake up until 7:45am. And when he did he looked like this!

Jonathan finished his first oral exam...meaning finals have begun and the end of our first year of seminary is in sight. When he got home he brought me these...oh, I do just love my man!

There are thunderstorms and it is raining...I put all my plants outside to wash Winter off while getting thoroughly soaked in the warm rain.

I just love the sound of the rain!

Charlie's nap was long enough to let me take a shower, journal in his baby book and get this posting in too!

(p.s. and I can knit again, hooray!)

Roll, Charlie, ROLL!

Charlie started rolling over from his stomach to his back about a week and a half ago. Pretty sure its not supposed to happen this early. Though his cloth diapers slow him down a little because of their bulk, when he's in disposables we can't keep him on his stomach now for more than about half a second! The video gets off to a slow start, but it is worth persevering to the end. Hope you enjoy this little snap-shot of our lives!

Calling In My Poop Story...Limit One

I figure every new parent is entitled to at least one public poop story about their child. After that it is really in good taste for them to keep those stories to themselves and their intimate friends. We have, of course had several poop incidents before now that would have qualified as post-worthy. However I think I really hit the jackpot yesterday...and so have decided to call my poop story priviledge now. Here's to hoping it really will be the highlight of Charlie's pooping career!


We were on our way to a Doctor appointment at 2:15. I had timed it perfectly. The diaper bag was all ready, the carseat was ready, Charlie woke up from his nap hungry, just as I expected him to at at 1:15. According to plan, I fed him for 20 min, burped him and changed his diaper and then popped a happy Charlie into his carseat. We were going to be early, but that was fine. As I was putting on my right shoe, I heard him fill his pants. As I was putting on my left shoe I heard him do it again. So I took him out to change the diaper.


1:45 pm Change #1 : "Whew..." I thought, "good thing I left some extra time." As I laid him on the changing table I realized he had pooped through the cloth diaper and the wrap...even worse it had come out the side of his leg and was all over his outfit. Charlie doesn't like changing clothes.

Five minutes later a slightly grumpy but molified Charlie, in a whole new outfit and diaper ensemble,was put back in his carseat. I was thinking that we were still going to just barely make it on time. As I started to fasten his buckles I felt something sticky....and realized that he had also pooped allover the inside of his carseat! "Ackkkk!"


1:55pm Change #2: Back to the changing table. "We are going to be late, but not too badly!" Thankfully this time I didn't have to change the diaper, just the outfit. The mobile above the table just barely got us through this change without a complete meltdown. Outfit #2 was on and I was just picking him up when he spit up all-over himself and down my entire front.

2:00pm Change #3 and #4: I stand in my dripping shirt and put his third outfit on, and quickly wrap a bib around him to preserve it. Now he is upset. And who wouldn't be after being manhandled in and out of three changes of clothes in under 10 min by a mother in a hurry! But we are beyond late, so I pop him in the swing and turn on all its bells and whistles, while I scramble into another shirt, and disasemble our carseat, to get the cover off. This involves unthreading the straps, and then re-threading them through holes that don't line up. I do it in under five minutes. Charlie has just calmed down in time to get set off by being put into the carseat again.

2:15pm: We close the front door on the several piles of dirty wipes, diapers, onsies, my shirt and the poop-filled car seat cover which are spread accross the floor.

What a fun surprise for Jonathan to come home to after class at 3pm!

Instuction Manuals...anyone?

"Um, a little privacy here, please!"

So many times a day I find myself asking why Charlie is crying. Is he hungry? Dirty diaper? Is it gas? Is he tired, overstimulated, bored? Sometimes I have a gut instinct that knows exactly what is wrong, but most often the best I can do is to rule out one or two options, and guess about the others. Usually he stops crying again a little later and I ask the same questions all over again. What worked? was it the bouncing? the singing, swaying, being outside, eating? burping, clean diaper that made it better? There are, of course, no instruction manuals that come with babies. I've started learning to be content with Charlie's contentment and accept the fact that I will probably never know.

It occurred to me the other day that in spite of all our guessing at these un-answered questions, we have managed to keep Charlie alive. . . for 10 weeks so far! Definitely something to celebrate.

Life has started falling into a rhythm. Laundry on Monday and Friday~

"That's right, Mom, Zoom Zoom! Let's see you put a little more energy into getting me and the laundry up three flights of stairs."

We eat and sleep in rough three hour cycles around the clock. Charlie is the consummate cat napper...taking 45 min naps during the day. Last week he got his immunizations and surprised us with sleeping through several meal times. He was so complacent...until I figured out that he had a fever and gave him some baby Tylenol. Half an hour later, he was back to his grumpy-in-the-evening-and-voracious self.

Here he is showing off his battle scars. He was a trouper and stopped crying while the nurse was telling me that I could pick him up to comfort him!

We've started letting Charlie hold a rattle everyonce in a while...here are a few pictures from his very first attempt.





We also took Charlie to the park for the first time this weekend. He loved the swing...though he wasn't too good at staying up in yet. Here were a few fun expressions...




He also tried out the slide, but didn't seem too impressed...yet. We will give him some more time on that.

Jonathan and Charlie hanging out.

Our family!

Maintenance

Maintaining your car means changing the oil every 2000 miles, or oiling your leather shoes every winter, or using a coaster keeps water rings from staining your coffee table. Objects require maintenance and yet this word has been rolling around in my head about Charlie every day. If he falls asleep while you are bouncing you have to maintain the sleep with bouncing. If he is being patted or swayed, this too must be continued in order to maintain his sleep. If he doesn't get enough sleep during the day, then he won't sleep at night. So even his overall sleep must be maintained.
This is, of course, not a phenomena that is unique to Charlie. All babies like rhythmic movement and/or soothing noise while they fall asleep. When I told Jonathan some people think this is because babies remember being bounced and swayed in their mother's womb, he suggested I go on bed rest for the entirety of my next pregnancy. Since we didn't have the foresight to try this during my pregnancy with Charlie, we have been experimenting with what exactly will maintain our little cherub's sleep. Here is what we have discovered:

Holding Bounce and Sway--
Pros include snuggling with sleepy baby.
Cons are aching arms, tired back, and it's unpredictable success rate.
Produces 20-45 min of sleep...if you can transfer baby to bed without waking.

Sling--
Pros are having hands free and
Cons your front sticks out as much as when I was pregnant

Bouncy Seat--

Pros screaming baby is soon reduced to sleeping baby and it only takes a toe to keep it bouncing.
Cons are that you must stay next to the bouncy seat at all times and all the songs in your head, as well as any other task you are attempting end up being done in the same rhythm as the bounce. (For example, I do not recommend brushing your teeth and bouncing a bouncy seat...gums get gouged that way. I've had limited success with chopping veggies, but only if I cut every time my right foot goes down, which makes very slow work of it. )
Produces 45 min nap maximum.

Glider Car Seat Combo is today's experiment and is winning points for both it's hands-free application and for the longevity--2 hours and 15 min so far!