Gametes In Love

Yeah, I’ve kind of slacked on the photos thing, so I’ll be catching up over the next few days. Here’s a bunch to get ya’ started. S2’s 3m photos w/ Kelly M Photography.

I can’t say that G was being particulatly cooperative that day. You see, while we were calmly trying to sit for photos, we had a flash of toddler behind us at all times. While I’m glad to know that he’s not discriminating solely against MY lens, I now fear that we’re cursed with a period of few good family shots together. Arg!

Well our first evening wasn’t too shabby. He fell asleep without complaint in his new digs around 7:30. Woke up at 12:50, nursed, and conked back out until 4:40. At that time, as promised I brought him back in the bedroom with me, nursed him and put him in the swing for the rest of the “night”. He got up again two hours later. S was great, and just held him. The two of them napped ’till 7:45.

Ratio of crib sleep to swing sleep (in the last 24 hours)? 4:1. Not bad at all, I say. Dare I request a repeat?

It’s time. It’s time for S2 to graduate to his own room.

I’ve waited long enough. Perhaps longer than I should have, and I admit that he’s been sleeping in our room not because he’s needed it, but because I’ve been too lazy and timid to make the move.

He sleeps 4 feet away from me, which, I gotta tell you, at 3am in the morning, that’s a pretty convenient distance to sleep-walk. Much more convenient than the walk around the house to the nursery. Nursing in my bed is pretty comfy: it’s soft and I can sit up in it for hours on end. My blanket is there, so my feet stay warm. Also, if I get in one of my paranoid “Is my child still alive?” states, all I have to do is quiet down and I can hear him breathing. Much easier than walking to the nursery at 2 am in the morning and wait to see & feel his chest rise. No joke, I did this just about every night until G turned one. At 3am when your eyes are glazed over with fatigue it takes a lot longer to see an infant breathe. I will even admit to poking my poor sleeping child, just to see a response.

Despite all my comfort reasons for having S2 stay in our room, his little legs have grown to a point where they are now starting to reach the edge of the swing. His head is getting flat in the back. And he’s developing an unhealthy dependency on swing sleep.

So tonight is the night.

I had him nap in the crib all day today. 2 short naps, and one decently long nap later I think we’re cleared for a night-time trial. I’m starting easy (on myself), though. My goal is to put him down in his crib for bedtime, come to him in the middle of the night when he wakes, and put him back down in the crib. If he wakes up more than once, bring him back in our bedroom for the rest of the night. After all, I deserve sleep too 🙂

So… wish us luck.

S2’s first day at daycare: on the way

Bouncers. Apparently, good for kitties too.

Little readers: one of the cutest things ever. They just curled up to each other.

I am the moon, and G is the sun

Cupcake eating is a competitive sport around here. If you don’t eat yours fast enough, G comes after it (even though he has his own).

Helping Daddy swap the locks

A rare treat for you all. Me!

S2. Aka The Lint Collector. Aka Mr. Stinky Fist. Aka Cutie Patoot. Aka Monkey. Aka Munchkin… is now 3 months old.

Man how time flies. He’s still a very chill and cuddly kid. His smile, makes me smile, and his biggest grins come on the changing table. The kid loooves him some nekked time. Either that, or he’s enjoying knowing that he’s found a sucker to clean up his muck 🙂

I still have no idea what color his eyes are. He’s my little trickster that way. I know that eye color can remain in flux until the age of 2 for some kids, and I think he might be one of them. I mean look at this: What color would you say they are?

They could be brown, but in clear light they look gray…. ish? Then there’s a bit of green fleck too. Honestly, they look slate, but “slate” is not an option on passport applications, so I called it quits and called them hazel. Genetically though, there’s a 50% chance they’ll be brown. He likes to keep me guessing, and I don’t know why I’m so impatient to find out.

We still don’t have a formal schedule with him, and it’s actually been good. We have patterns that we stick to. He’s normally up for the day between 5:30 and 6:30, but he’s normally chill in his swing until 6:30 even if he doesn’t go back to sleep. I appreciate that SO much, because while he might be ready to call it a night, an extra hour of sleep goes a long way for mom. We do the eat/sleep routine until early afternoon. He takes two naps in the morning. One of them is short (about 30min or so) and the other a heroic 2 hour. The fun is that you don’t know which one will be the long nap. He likes to switch it up on me. What is certain though, is that if we’re out and about, THAT will be his long nap. You know… so that when we’re home we can spend more quality time together when he’s awake, and I don’t get a chance to do my chores as well 🙂 Now that he’s started daycare, I’ll be curious how his patterns change in the next few weeks. I expect the first week to be hard as he adjusts to sleeping in a louder and more exciting environment.

Weight: 12lb 8oz. He’s got little rolls on his chubby legs and it is stinkin’ cute.

Height: 22.5″

Favorite activity: Singing “The Wheels on the Bus” and “The Itsy Bitsy Spider” w/ mom. I get lots of smiles when the spider climbs up his belly.

Sweetest moment: Laughing in his sleep the other week. It was too cute.

My biggest question for him right now is what his personality will be like. I keep looking for clues every day. I hope he’s fun(ny) like his brother… or at least has a similar sense of humor.

I love every inch of this little guy.

The other day I had a follow up appointment at my OB’s office. S was at home with G, so as I waited patiently in the office I was flipping through the literature. They had this book called Baby 411. Seemed like an interesting read.

I stumbled across the “Illness” section and as I was reading about projectile, Exorcist-like vomiting I realized I’m pretty afraid of G getting sick. It had always been on the back of my mind. I mean, getting sick is inevitable, and since G is not superhuman he willl get his first cold sooner or later. Since he’s going into day care sooner might be sooner than I’d like.

I dread this! I’m worried I won’t recognize a cold and he’ll suffer because his mommy is an idiot. How do I know what hurts? What if he has a sore throat and doesn’t want to eat for pain of swallowing? What if he throws up? Crap, what if he has a high fever? How high is too high? I don’t think I’ll have enough time to finish up med school before the first Booger Man visit!

Yeah, I’m paranoid!

That book said that the average child will spend 80 days being sick between the months of October and April (prime cold/flu season). 80 days!?!? That’s 80 days that my little guy would be miserable. That just breaks my heart.

I now have an urge to douse his room with disinfectant, have everyone wear hospital gowns around the house and scrub in before they enter.

Anyone have an isolation bubble I can borrow?

Pics from our Holiday shoot with Augie. Look at me little man! He’s starting to look so grown up.

more pics here

My place of employ had a rather sizable (and public might I add) round of layoffs. It was no surprise to anyone. I consider myself as close to living under a rock as possible these days, and even I knew about it. The press has been talking and speculating about it for months. After awhile I just wanted it to be over already.

And now it is.

Good news: I still have a job.
Bad news: I still have a job.

Yep, for the first time in my professional career a round of layoffs did not bring panic attacks to my morning wake-up routine. As much as I like working, I’ve also enjoyed my time with the G-monster at home. No matter what happened I was at peace with it because one way or another I’d be getting something good out of it.

Oh, here’s some fun trivia for you: In the past 8 years of my professional career, I’ve had 3 separate employers and I have neither quit nor been fired once. Aaah, the joy of good ole’ economic bubbles.

On Sunday, we went Christmas tree hunting with our friend M. Not “find-a-tree-in-a-lot” hunting… real “stalk it, cut it, bag it” tree hunting. It was a lot of fun and I really hope we can make this an annual tradition. Oh, and I got to cut it down.

Live vicariously through pictures:
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And how does that make you feel?