Back at work

This blows.

Soul Sisters

So, my friend Canape? We are living such parallel lives. It's a little scary.

We both miscarried in December 2006.
We both lost our babies at 9 weeks.
We both recently had baby boys.
Carter was born at 3:46 am. Bird was born at 3:45 am.
Canape's baby's name is Christopher Carter; my husband and son's names.

I think there was one more but I can't remember now.

Oh! We both have a crush on Girl.

Gripe Water

Holy crap, this stuff's amazing. I don't even have to give Carter the full dosage and his hiccups are instantly gone. Instantly. Magic, I tell you.

Crock Pot

We're considering buying a crockpot. The one we're looking at is 4 quarts...is that sufficient for the two of us or do we need a bigger one? Anyone have any great chicken or ground turkey recipes for the crock? Comment or email me with them (amylisa.anderson@gmail.com).

He's here!!

The Bird is here!! I'm so happy that I have tears in my eyes. Canape and I lost our little ones right around the same time, and it feels so complete now. We have our little boys. Life is good.

Nursing Wrap

I promised a picture, and I shall deliver. But since she takes better pics than I do, here's my nursing wrap that Girl made me. I used it today at Sbarro and it worked great! I'm a little retarded with the adjustment, but I made it work.

Isn't the fabric fabulous!

And, yes, Girl...it's EXACTLY what I wanted.

Chirp chirp!

BIRD IS COMING, BIRD IS COMING!!! Canape's water broke last night and as of 3:30 this morning, she was still laboring at home. Come on, Birdie, meet your mama...she's waited a long time for you.

10 Weeks

We're in double digits. My little man is growing up so quickly.

The first time he turned double digits was when he was ten days old. Look at those skinny little frog legs!

And two weeks ago when he turned two months...

God, I love him.

Ikea

I'd heard the rumors. Diapers? Wipes? Baby food? A breastfeeding room??? It couldn't be true.

Carter and I made our way down to Ikea yesterday and, like clockwork, he was ready to eat as soon as we got there. Now, Girl just made me a fabulous hooter hider (pics to come) but I couldn't picture sitting in one of the staged living rooms feeding my little dude, so I seeked out this rumored breastfeeding room.

It exists! It was a nice room right off the cafeteria (damn you Swedish meatballs...I haven't had red meat in over 15 years, yet you still tempt me!) with two comfy chairs and a changing station. Stocked with diapers, wipes, AND changing table covers!! Unbelievable.

Plus, they're smart. They had a cute little mobile hanging over the changing table and as soon as Carter smiled at it, I knew I had to buy it. That, my friends, is smart marketing. Thankfully, this is Ikea, and with our new money constrictions I had to be careful about how much I was spending. But, I only had to shell out $7.99 for said mobile. Sweet.

I heart Ikea.

Success!

She is one brave, amazing lady.

Tomorrow

Tomorrow is the big day. WhyMommy's having her surgery to remove the cancer from her body. Please send all the positive thoughts you can muster her way so the doctors get every little bit of it out of her body.

Good luck, WhyMommy...we're rootin' for ya!

Part Time Daycare

Some of you have asked about part time daycare, and whether that would help with the finances since I'm only working 3 days a week. It will only be saving us $60 a month to fall into the 26-30 hours/week bracket. So, I'm going to have to work something out where we fall into the 21-25 hours/week bracket, and that would save us another $100. Should be pretty easy to do. All I'd need to do is have him there 9:00 to 5:00 rather than 8:30 to 5:30. I think my job will be flexible enough to allow that. I work just minutes from the daycare provider, so I'd be just a few minutes late and have to leave a few minutes early. I don't think that'll be a big deal.

I feel bad for my daycare provider, though. She was looking for someone full time, and was happy that I'd need her for 40 hours/week. Now I've basically cut that in half, and she may need to take on another child to make up the difference. I'm grateful that she'll still take Carter, but I like her a lot and hate to have to make these changes when she was expecting something different.

Although...so was I.

Tears!

Carter shed his first tear today! My baby's growing up.

Work changes

I called my boss yesterday to talk to him about my hours when I come back. Basically, I'd just be coming in 15 minutes late and leaving 15 minutes early so I don't go over my allotted daycare time and have to pay the extra money.

Not the scenario he had in mind.

Money's been really tight for the past year. My bosses haven't gotten a paycheck in over a year. So I understand this, but it still sucks.

He wants me to come back part time. I'd work Tues/Wed/Thurs which is nice b/c it lets me get into a work groove, and then allows me a 4 day weekend with Carter. Downside? $1000 less a month.

We're gonna try it out for a few months and see how it goes financially, but I may have to look for a new job if we can't cut it. That sucks. I love my job. I love the people I work for. I'd hate to leave, but $12,000 a year pay cut is pretty darn big. I hope we can make it work and I don't have to leave.

Two Month Doctor's Appointment

Our little dude is growing, but he's still a skinny minny. He's up to 10lbs even, and 23 inches long. 10th percentile for weight, and 50th for length. He got four shots and the oral vaccine for rotavirus. The oral vaccine was great...he was smiling and cooing and licking his lips. He loved it. The shots? Not so much. My poor boy screamed bloody murder and I cried along with him. It was so hard to see him in so much pain. Thankfully it was short-lived because less than a minute later he was calm and smiling again. Ten minutes after that? Fast asleep.

Poor little muffin.

Bloomin Belly Soaps

I have failed my friends at Bloomin Belly Soaps. They sent me a bunch of samples to review while I was pregnant and, here we are at eight weeks postpartum and I've only reviewed one of them! I feel terrible that they were so kind to send me all those samples, and I didn't live up to my end of the deal.

I recently used the Silken Wise belly soap and liked it quite a bit. Aesthetically, not so pretty once it got wet. It was actually pretty gross. But the smell was nice and it left my skin smelling nice, without an overpowering aroma. It was a very natural scent. The shape is just too adorable for words...a big pregnant belly with her big pregnant boobs. Love it. It's just a good way to add a little fun to your shower. And every time I looked at that soap, and then looked at myself looking just like it, the reality would hit me that I was carrying my child and made me touch my belly and smile.

These soaps are a great gift for those pregnant ladies in your life that live the more "natural" life. I love the barrel of bellies as a midwife or labor nurse gift. So original!

Thank you!

Big thanks to my new friend, Jessica. She gave us 5 Dr. Brown's bottles! Those are pretty darn expensive, so she saved us quite a bit of dough. It was so cool to meet a fellow blogger and her cutie pie, William, who was so well-behaved he was like a Stepford Son. Very sweet little boy. And the red hair...oh my. I think Carter's getting red hair like his daddy so now I'm obsessed with little redheaded boys. :-)

Static

One of the problems of living in a major metropolitan area is that it's hard to find static on the radio. There are so many radio stations! Carter (like many babies) likes the static sound, but I'm having trouble getting a station for him. Right now I have it in between so you can sort of hear talking through the static. It's working but I'm finding it annoying. I need a CD that plays static.

Casper

I think Carter has made a new friend of the afterlife variety. He stares at our headboard or the closet and coos and smiles. I'm just happy it's a nice ghost that entertains my baby.

In other news, my little man is losing the hair on the back of his head. It's so very attractive.

Advice request

I'm probably opening a can of worms that I shouldn't be, but I'm looking for some advice from you veteran mommies out there.

Carter will NOT go to sleep unless he's either swaddled or being held by someone (or sometimes he'll fall asleep in the carseat or swing). Happiest Baby on the Block says that swaddling soothes them for 3 months or more after their born, but I feel like he's relying on it as a crutch and would like for him to sleep with his arms free. I want to be able to put him down and have him sleep like a normal person!

For now I'm trying to swaddle him with just one arm free and see how that goes and then eventually get to both arms being free. So far, he's not happy about it.

Any other things I should try?

EDITED TO ADD: It's not just about getting him to fall asleep...it's about KEEPING him asleep. He wakes himself up by flailing his arms and then it starts all over.

Introducing...

Shrago David!

Carter's baby naming was yesterday. We decided to forego a traditional bris and have him circumcised in the hospital, but I still wanted some sort of ceremony for him. So, the cantor who married us was able to travel an hour down here to perform his naming and it was so great. Carter slept through the whole thing, which I suppose is better than him screaming through it.

Carter was named Shrago after my step-grandfather (it was his hebrew name), and David after Chris' grandfather. I remember my Zaidy as such a nice, loving man. He welcomed us three kids into his family with open arms and I always felt loved by him. Chris' PopPop was strong, smart and tough. But you NEVER doubted his love for you. Again, another man who instantly welcomed me into his family. Carter is a lucky boy to have these men as his namesakes.

Thank you to everyone in our family that was able to participate. We were honored to have you there.

My skim milk has turned to cream

I took Carter to the doc to make sure his skin irritation was just baby acne and not a rash (it's just acne). They weighed him and he's now a whopping 9 lbs 6 oz! He's gained almost a pound in less than a month!

Happy New Year!

I rang in the new year watching my son give a sleepy smile after a filling meal. Perfection.