Tuesday, August 30, 2005

Time with G'ma and G'pa Wisconsin







Dennis had been describing Eddie as an easy going, smiley, happy baby. Apparently G'ma and G'pa Wisconsin thought no baby could be as easy as Den professed--but they soon found how easy going he was. Posted a couple pictures...

Sunday, August 28, 2005

How many people can we see in a week's time?




I thought we were pushing it to visit da Aunt, Uncle (Den's brother), and cousins, as well as G'ma and G'pa Wisconsin, but then we couldn't trek all-the-way out there and not see my side of da Cousins. So pictured above are some of Eddie's 2nd cousins at a BBQ held, I like to believe, in his honor (Phil, Kara's husband took the picture).

Then, a friend Joan, whom I know from my days in the land of the Mouse (that was an 'internship' at Walt Disney World during college), has 2 kids we've never met, as we haven't seen each other since her wedding, a few short months after ours. da Aunt and Uncle were kind enough to allow us to gather at their abode on Sunday morning. Pictures of Joan, me and our brood are above--I just love how Eddie and her daughter are trading smiles.

Eddie is really meeting other kids and seems to be interacting well with them.

Oh and if you thought in 2 days we could see no one else, we met up with Kim and kids (a college buddy of Denny's--that's what she calls him)--in Mauston, Wisc. I determined what time we planned to leave Denny's brother's house and what time Kim planned to leave her dad's lake house, and where on the road we might meet. It couldn't have worked out better. If youa re ever in Wisconsin, try the Culver's custard. It's a chain, albeit relatively small, but yummy custard and perfectly good food.

And we hadn't even gotten to G'ma and G'pa Wisconsin's, where I swear Eddie met half the town. Not hard to do, as there are only 3200 residents, but they know at least half the town between them. Eddie took it all in stride, smiling all along.

Saturday, August 27, 2005

Chicagoland--Mustang Eddie?



We are loyal Delta flyers--but at the moment, love American. The woman who checked us in said there were vacant seats and so blocked a row of seats so that we could take our car seat on the plane. What heaven! Word to the wise, while we had one less bag to carry on because we didn't have Den's computer, DO NOT attempt to bring a car seat onto a plane with a cup of hot 'Joe' in one's hand. I finally had to abandon Den's beverage at seat 18 and come back for it (He was lugging Eddie and our 2 carry on bags).

Avis tried to upgrade us to a Mustang (have to get some benie for all the trips Den has to make). While ordinarily this would be a fun upgrade--not so much with 1200 miles to put on the car and a child to pull in and out. So we got upgraded to a Buick Rendevous (spelling??). What a nice ride! A bit huge, but man, can easily see why people like the bigger cars for long trips.

Anyway, crazy busy visit to Chicagoland to visit da Bears, da Aunt, Uncle and cousin Chicago, pictured above with Eddie. Our 2 additional kids are da cousins with us a the Chicago Botantical Garden--a beautiful park.

Monday, August 22, 2005

MONTHLY--Eddie’s 6 mos.






Six months old—time for the jog stroller! Eddie had his long awaited spin in the jog stroller today. Dad feels like it went fine, mom worries about him bouncing too much over the cracks in the sidewalk. Eddie’s a little tired from want of sleep and teething, but he had no complaints—and he didn’t look like a turtle on his back as he did at 4 months.

We can’t believe Eddie is 6 months old. On the one hand, it seems like just yesterday we were bringing him home from the hospital, and on the other like one of those milestone birthdays that you think will never come—and then it does. It doesn’t feel different exactly, but now he is “appropriate” for all the 6 months and up toys, activities, and it would seem, so much more.

Advanced child that he is, he’s been sitting up for almost a month now, can roll both directions, talks constantly, and smiles even more often. He enjoys staring at himself in the mirror, playing in his exersaucers, swimming, playing in the sand, and of course putting everything in his mouth.

We have the pediatrician’s appointment after we get back from Wisconsin, so we’ll know his particulars then, but he’s pushing 18 pounds and is definitely over 26 inches long.

Sunday, August 21, 2005

It’s Wisconsin month



We had some Wisconsin cousins out this weekend and went touring in the 92+ degree heat. Eddie and little Sophia were troppers, each taking good naps—probably passed out because of the heat. We got off at the Foggy Bottom METRO stop, walked down 23rd to the Vietnam Memorial, past the Lincoln (too many steps in the heat), the Korean Memorial, the WWII memorial and finally up to both sides of the White House, before boarding METRO at McPherson Square.

The day they left we had Dennis’ college roommate and his family over for dinner. In town for a week’s vacation from Wisconsin, they enjoyed playing with Eddie –making him laugh so hard, he was practically breathless and we enjoyed catching up.

Then next week its to Chicago and Barron to visit cousins, aunts, uncles and g’ma and g’pa Wisconsin. We’re getting our ya der hey, yous guys and you betcha in this month (oh yeah, and da Bears).

Saturday, August 20, 2005

CIO for DS--Crying it Out for Dear Son

NOTE: I changed the date of this post to the 20th, from the 23rd bc it's such a downer compared with the rest of the posts, but I wanted it up there. I'll put it in its proper place once I have some more posts.

Poor husband had basically no sleep last night, as it was his night with Eddie and it turns out my husband wasn’t feeling well. I was too busy catching zzz’s to notice the later. I told him that was how I felt the night before he came home last week. So there we were at 5AM, listening to Eddie howl. Every so often he would almost have himself calmed down. After nearly an hour, I could stand it no more—and we were both so bleary eyed. Clearly this was not a wise decision (but I did try it at 9PM last week the night Dennis was coming home and that had even worse results, Eddie was up for 3 hours, he was so hysterical—and after nearly an hour of crying, wasn’t able to fall asleep--even with driving all the way to Dulles and back). I recognize I’m not “doing it right”, and that whatever we decide, we need to be consistent, but as someone with so little sleep at the moment (and I got 3+ more than Eddie’s dad)…I have the following musings.

I am so torn on the CIO theory, which while it has several variations, the basic idea is to let your child cry him/herself to sleep with the idea that they learn to fall asleep by themselves and can then get themselves back to sleep when they wake by themselves without having to call out for you. It can take as little as 3 nights or as many as a week. Crying can last upwards of 2 hours. Oh, and going on vacation or getting sick can really screw up any progress you’ve made.

The screwy thing is that we went through a period of about 6 weeks of heaven where Eddie would sleep from 7:30 till 3 or so, get fed and then go back to sleep until 6:30 or so. Then he started waking. We thought because of teething, but are afraid it has now become a pattern.

I’ve read a couple books and countless affirmations of the merits of letting your child CIO. I’ve now recently read some not so glowing reviews. Newsweek had an article in its Aug. 11, 2005 edition on baby’s brains, saying there are emerging studies that show babies are capable of so much more than initially thought at a younger age than thought. Not related to CIO necessarily, but interesting read. I’m sure he won’t remember a thing, but I’ll be permanently scared.

Anyway, I’ve always held I wouldn’t be able to CIO with Eddie. However, he is increasingly waking at night. He goes to sleep at 7:30 with no problem. But wakes somewhere in the 8, 9, and sometimes 10PM hour (the other night, he got up 4 times in one hour—that was my night). He then wakes around midnight and again around 2 or 3. If we are lucky, he sleeps through til 7ish at that point, or wakes at 5AM before sleeping more. Some of this depends on whether one of us has taken him to bed with us. I am not able to get a restful nights sleep with all 3 of us in the bed. We set Eddie parallel to us, but he very quickly turns himself perpendicular and kicks at each end. Maybe we should start him out perpendicular and see if he turns parallel?

The thing is, many of the books on the subject say that part of what you had to do is ensure a regular sleep pattern during the day, which we have. Wakes around 7/7:30, naps around 9/9:30 for 1-2 hours, then naps around 1 or 2 pm for an hour or 2. He has about as much routine as I can muster, yet can’t seem to stay asleep at night. This is one of those issues where those in support of CIO believe there isn’t another way and those who don’t feel there must be another way. At 5AM, I support CIO, at 9PM, I don’t. Ugh. Obviously I want to do what is best for my child, and his parents, but the problem is, that is not even clear.

Thursday, August 18, 2005

Dad's update--how much longer until you are home?


Den gets home in 3 hours and 18 min., or maybe sooner if his flight continues to be ahead of schedule. As single parent stints go, this one went pretty well—especially because the night before Dennis’ 6:45am flight and the following night, Eddie slept really well. I was in good spirits, Eddie was in good spirits. Then there was last night.

I’m not even sure how many times he woke—and I’m not talking his usual little wimpers of I’m awake; I’m talking, ‘something is wrong, get in here’ waking. Ugh. We’ve been told by friends and family that we need to let him ‘cry it out’ or CIO. I’m just not ready for that—he’s such an easy baby. Yet last night, I’d had my fill. So there I was at 5am, listening to Eddie scream, rolled over onto his stomach, head up, tears streaming down his face. I know this because after 20 min. I could no longer take it and went in. UGH. This is my absolute hands down least favorite part of being a parent.

Tonight, daddy can deal with him at 5am. Yipee!!! Well, actually I hope there isn’t anything to deal with until 6 or greedily, 7am.

Wednesday, August 17, 2005

Update for dad


I've decided 'solids', a term I use losely, because they as yet are still pretty liquified, have lost their intrique--for me anyway. What a mess!! Eddie gets it everywhere and even after I wipe him down, he is still all sticky and then I'm sticky. Ugh. I'm told it gets worse. I can't wait for carrots.

Busy day today, got my haircut--it's short--as the picture shows, had mom's group over, serving green peppers and tomatos from the garden (as well as other stuff), and then went to our friend's for dinner--probably the best I'll eat while Den is in Salt Lake City.

So I think I'm becoming addicted to blogging. I love this. Sorry to all you spellers out there, but it's not my strong suit.

Tuesday, August 16, 2005

Solids, Day 3


Eddie’s dad is in SLC for work--just as things are getting going on the solids front. All that bottle holding his dad is teaching him is coming in handy. Eddie basically takes the spoon and holds it in his mouth himself, sucking the food off the spoon and then gives you back the spoon for a refill. It’s pretty funny to watch, yet I hope does not portend future control/feeding issues.

Monday, August 15, 2005

Beach with Baby: 45 min. spent getting to the beach, 60 min. spent AT the beach


We ventured to the Outer Banks of North Carolina—Duck, to be specific with our neighbors and their child the 2nd week of August. To our horror, Eddie initially cried when we took him to the ocean and stood watching the waves. By the 3rd exposure, he was enjoying himself as he frolicked in the foamy 2 inches of ocean water we exposed him to.

He played in the sand a bit more than the ocean—and he got it pretty much everywhere he could, except miraculously into his mouth. The pool where we rented our house helped tucker him out each day. We had brought a float and he loved splashing in the water. [we had been teaching him to splash during bath time—whose idea was that anyway?] Half the time we introduced him to something new he had a look as if to say “I don’t know about this”, but was game anyway.
I'll update with an actual beach or pool photo from our waterproof/sandproof camera when the pictues come back...

Sunday, August 14, 2005

Filet Mignon anyone?


Eddie seemed more than ready for solids and the dr. okayed it one week before he turned 6 mos, which *gasp* is now. So tonight after returning from the beach, we tried a bit of rice flakes on Eddie. That’s literately what they were. It was like potato buds only finer bits of flakes—like a super dry snow. They come shooting out of the box, which makes preparation a joy. Needless to say, we have plenty of video and still photos to document.