An Interesting Sunday

Sunday was quite the interesting day.

The shenanigans started on Saturday night; as we were getting ready for bed, Jon discovered that SOMEONE (glares in the direction of the sleeping cats) peed on his side of the bed. We think it was Boo, since we observed her earlier in the evening dragging her hind end on the carpet. What a joyous sight to behold THAT was.

So the sheets went into the washing machine, and we put the other set on. Unfortunately, we couldn't find the fitted sheet. So we had to tuck in a flat sheet. She'd peed on the comforter as well, so we each had our own set of blankets to sleep with that night.

Sunday, I laid down to take a nap when Ian went down for his. I smelled something .. interesting .. We discovered several nice logs on the bed, again on Jon's side of the bed. Apparently Boo is quite annoyed with Jon. I was exhausted, though, so after we got rid of the smelly poo, I still laid down to take my nap (gotta get the nappin' while the nappin' is good, i.e. the child is himself asleep).

About an hour later, I woke up and went about my day. A little while later, Jon started cussing in the bedroom. Apparently, while I was sleeping, Boo THREW UP on the bed. By my feet. She's darn lucky that I didn't get any on me, or that I didn't smell it, because I would have been right alongside her, puking.

Anyway, that was the first time I've ever seen Jon so mad that he was cussing and throwing things. And that's saying something. It takes quite a bit to tick my husband off.

The cats are now banned from the bedroom. We moved their climbing perch into the computer room. Three bodily excretions in 24 hours is a little much for anyone to take. We think that Boo may have been annoyed that I wasn't filling her water dish in the bedroom in a timely manner - so now she doesn't get it at all. Stupid cats.

The second interesting occurrence happened in the afternoon.

I was in the recliner, while Ian was playing in the living room, as is usual for a weekend afternoon. Jon sat down on the couch, and Ian stood up and walked over to him to say hi. I patted Ian's bottom as I tend to do, only to discover that the boy had no diaper on.

... the hell?

So I was immediately pretty embarrassed, thinking that for some odd reason, the last time I'd changed his diaper, I'd forgotten to put a new one on.

But no. Somehow, OUR CHILD, genius that he is, had managed to work his diaper down around one ankle. He was wearing footie pajamas, so he looked like he had elephantitis of the foot. Alas, the camera's battery died, so we didn't get a picture. I did get some video footage, so Jon is going to try to upload that so that I can post it here. Of course, you can hear me giggling the whole time.

What is up with that child, and how does he do these things?

Oh my GAWD y'all!

Get her off me! I don't wanna take my drops for pink eye! DAAAAARRRNNNNIIIITTTT!! Yes, I said "Darnit" y'all .. I'm really mad!

Nobody understands me :(

Anyways.

So whassuuuuup my peoples? It's been a super long time since I came here and said "what up" so Mommy said I had to. I's busy playin' yo!

I've been learnin' to walk and stuff. I can take a few steps but I have to have a really good reason. I don't walk for jus' anybody, yo! I did for Grandpa cuz he's nice. And sometimes I'll do it for Mommy if she promises me something good like a bottle.

So I had fun at Halloween .. I was Yoda!

It was so cool! And then, you know, we went to some party where there was lots of peoples dressed up as goofy things. And Mommy saw these peoples and asked if I would pose with 'em:

That would have been so super cute if I'd had my costume on. Mommy sucks! But it was fun and I really liked being at the party. But then Mommy had to keep being sucky and pose me like a doll or somethin':

Although I gotta admit, I take a good picture. Sexah! And check out mah shoes - are those the bomb or what? My Grandma got me those. Hollaaaaaa!

So then, right, my Aunt Emily came up to visit last weekend. I loves Aunt Emily! She's so awesome. She's cute too. Anyways, Aunt Emily took a whooooole buncha pictures of Yours Truly. Well, I guess she got some of Mommy and Daddy too - but I'm what counts here! I think she took like over 500 pictures. Mommy says that's a lot! Here are the best ones
:

Oh emm gee, how friggin' cute am I?!?

I know, right?

I'm so fine! Aunt Emily sure does get me to take good pictures. I think it's because she's so cute.

Yay us! We're such a pretty family :)

Anyways, we took a bunch of awesome pictures, and it's a good thing I was recov- reco- I was over my pink eye because who wants to have pink eyes in your Christmas pictures, you know? I gave it to Mommy, ha ha! I'm hilarious!

We're gonna go eat lots of food next week, and it'll be yummy nummy goodness! I can't wait to see Grandma!

Everybody have a great Thanksgiving and stay safe if you's goin' on the big plane thingie!

Ian ~ 10 months old!

I have been terribly lax in posting here - please forgive?

Ian has been running his poor Mommy & Daddy ragged. He can't quite walk on his own yet, but he can walk (and control - somewhat more important!) a walker. I'm sure I will have pics to post on that topic soon, but he moves a little too fast for our piddly digital camera to catch him!

He loves to cruise around the living room, holding onto the furniture. Many bumps and bruises have occurred - poor Ian! He tends to just blink and keep on truckin' though, thankfully. We get the occasional temper tantrum or whining session, but they're few and far between.

The poops are getting more interesting (come ON - you know I had to talk about poop!) Once he pooped out a whole corn kernel. He POOPED a CORN! Seriously! Jon does not understand why this freaks me out. Jon also manages to make himself scarce whenever Ian starts grunting and looking serious, like he's writing his acceptance speech for the Nobel Peace Prize (although, to my knowledge, they do not award said prize to Best Loaf Pinching ... not yet, anyway). Yesterday, Ian started grunting and serious-face when we were on the highway, still 20 minutes from home! Haha! You must share in the stink, Daddy! Ahh, finally, we're home! Let's get this baby in and the diaper off and ... where are you going?!? Get back here?!? Argh!!!

Daddy go poof.

Jon and I celebrated our 2nd anniversary last week (who'd a thunk it?!) We stayed in the Heart's Delight room at the hotel that we like. It was cheesy as hell, but we liked it anyway :) Ian stayed with Grandma & Grandpa and somehow managed to hold in his poop until Mommy was there. Uh, thanks, son. Nice to know you care.

Ian now has FOUR (count 'em!) teeth, two on top and two on the bottom. Observe:

This was taken during a rousing game of "Mommy, no!" This is his favorite game. It's right up there with "Poop on You" and "Naked Goes the Baby."

Ian is also taking baths in the Big Boy Tub. Here he is:

He's just pissed because Mommy got soap in his eyes - how incompetent!! Usually he is smiling and laughing in the tub because Splashing Mommy Is Fun! Huzzah!

That's about all that's been going on with us. Yesterday we went to the Garden Center where they were having Fall Fun Days. Ian posed with the gang from Star Wars, much to his Daddy's delight. I have a pic that I will be uploading soon, and will post it when I can. It would have been super cute if he'd been in his Yoda costume, but alas. I am dumb.

Ian is 9 months old!

Wow, I haven't blogged in a while. Sorry about that.

Ian is up to quite a bit these days. He's crawling with his belly off the ground (watch out Caz!)

He's quite the zippy little guy.

Ian can also stand up easily using the couch or a chair. We've gotten him to take steps with someone holding his hands, or with his scootie walker, but he hasn't walked on his own yet. He's so close! My little man is growing up *sniff*

We had a rough patch with him a couple of weeks ago. We lowered the crib mattress and took out the little puppy that was hung on the side. That night, he woke up several times, screaming and crying to be held. Definitely not his usual behavior. Over the next week, he continued to wake up and scream bloody murder about an hour after he went to bed. It was a little stressful for Mom and Dad!

We finally figured out that because we'd taken the puppy out of the crib, he didn't have anything to soothe or entertain himself when he woke up naturally at night. We put his stuffed hippo in the crib, and re-hung the puppy, and now he's sleeping through the night again. He still fusses when he goes down, though, and that's hard on Mommy. I don't like to hear him cry for me. Luckily it only lasts for five minutes or so - I don't think I could take more.

He's still our happy little guy, of course. Every day I look at him and thank the powers that be for this beautiful little boy. And I love Jon more for giving him to me. Life is good :)

Ian - 8 months

Hello all! Behold Ian's 8 month pictures, taken by our good friend Emily. (Thanks, Aunt Emily!) We took these at Noelridge Park on 8-17, Ian's 8 month birthday.

Ian's Poo Day

Today we went to the Honda dealer to buy a new car (08 Honda Odyssey - love it!!)

While we were waiting for the financing numbers, I took Ian into the women's restroom because I smelled poo and knew he was needing a change.

They had a Koala Kare on the wall, and I pulled it down. There was a strap for strapping him in, however the strap was bolted down on both ends (???) There was no way I could strap him on there, so I was trying to hold him.

For some reason, and this was VERY out of character for him, as those of you who know him know, he started screaming bloody murder while he was on the KK. I don't know if it was just uncomfortable with the strap underneath him, or what. He was arching his back and screaming and trying to flip over. He DID flip over, several times, smearing poo all over the KK and me.

The poo had squirted up the back of his outfit, so I had to change him totally. It was ALL OVER!! I looked in the diaper bag to get out the wipes and ... there were no wipes. The day care lady had apparently used them all and didn't mention it to me. My bad for not checking the bag before I left the house! (Lesson learned!)

Luckily, I had a couple of disposable washcloths with built-in body wash, and so I was standing over the sink, holding a screaming naked baby, washing poo off of his backside. A girl walked in, and I apologized for the smell, and she said "Oh no problem!" She went in and used the facilities, Ian screaming the whole time, and then she came out, washed her hands, and left. Uh, thanks for the assist, lady. May karma bite you on the butt someday.

I finally (barely) got a diaper onto Ian, but he was freaking out after she flushed (the noise made him scream harder) so I just took him out into the dealership to get him dressed. As soon as we were out of the bathroom, he calmed right down. I have no idea what the deal was, but I was soaked with sweat, covered in poo all over my arms, and quite annoyed that there wasn't a strap available on the dang Koala Kare!

I wound up throwing away his outfit, the rag I'd had in the diaper bag, all of the hand towels I used in the bathroom, all of it. I took the trash bag out of the bathroom with me and gave it to the receptionist to throw away. Turns out, it was the same lady who'd not helped me in the bathroom. Haha, go throw away my kid's poop!

But then I had to hand Ian over to Daddy and go wash my own hands/arms, and scrub the KK because I couldn't bear to leave it all poop smeared like it was.

I dunno what was up with that kid today. Note to all possible caregivers for Ian: he does not liketh the Koala Kare!

The New Jammies, a story

Last weekend, we went to Target and bought Ian some adorable new jammies in size 9 months. Alas, gone are the days when we can just buy 3 pack for $9.99. Oh, no. Now they're $8+ each. Yay.

So tonight, after his dinner, we were cuddling in the recliner. Ian is all about the standing - it's his thing. He looooves to stand. Of course, he can't do it on his own, so he needs me to hold him up. We stand him up, and we sing the standing song while he does a little dance ("Staaaaanding .. look I'm staaaaanding yeeeeeah!")

He was being very cute (well of course, 'tis his nature!) and making his cute quacking noises that pass for laughing in his silly little brain. I asked Jon to take pictures from behind the recliner. Everything was going along swimmingly:

Then, apparently the beef and macaroni he had for lunch started to back up on him. I swear, I thought a barge was passing under the bridge outside. He got a very serious look on his face. Much concentration was had. Unfortunately, we didn't get a picture of the "I'm poopin'!" face, which was priceless. We did, however, get several pictures of the hilarity that ensued:

I'm pretty sure that by this point, I was crying, I was laughing so hard.

So off we went to change the diaper; I was hoping and praying that the jammies could be saved. Alas, 'twas not so. Avert your eyes if the sight of poo bothers you:

Yes, folks, he POOPED THE DIAPER OFF. It ran down his leg and pooled around his foot. Yes, it is (and was) quite gross. We had to take a picture. You can't appreciate the true neon yellowy-green that was the color of this poop. It should have been in a museum.

So after that, of course, here is where we ended up:

And so, after all that, he is tucked into clean jammies (unfortunately not new ones, because those were THE LAST PAIR OF NEW JAMMIES THAT WE HAD. I'm not bitter.

And that's the story of the new jammies.

Isn't it odd how 99% of my stories involve poo of some kind?

Also, on Tuesday of last week, Ian crawled for the first time. Yay? I mean, Yay!! *\o/* Right now he's doing army crawling, but it's crawling by god. He also discovered the joy that is a good stuffed animal. His current favorite is a hippo named Herbie that we bought in Vegas last year. Here he is crawling in the living room; Herbie is at the top of the pic:

And finally, here's Ian on his new scootie that we bought for him:

Unfortunately, right after I snapped the pic, he fell off and hit his head and cried. But he's ok.

Scootie is hilarious! Crawling is hilarious! Herbie is hilarious! Poo is hilarious! Everything is so hilarious! Mommy's going to go have a hilarious glass of wine now.

Ya know...

If there's one thing that I wish people had told me before I had a baby, I wish people had told me exactly how much and how often he would smack his head into stuff.

Seriously, this kid is a walking .. er, crawling .. er, scooting accident waiting to happen.

The other day, he whacked his head into the changing table while I was changing him. And then, of course, he looks up at you with this look of horror like "Oh Mommmmmmmy! Owwwwww!" and then what are you supposed to do? You can't really say "I told you not to do that!" to a 7 month old. Well, you CAN, but he'll just look at you funny.

He's had at least four bruises on his face or head in the last two months. I keep waiting for CPS to show up at my door. I swear, he's a little boy, they do that! Don't take me away!!

The most recent development is that Ian now has a tooth! Observe:

Well, you can't see it all that well. It's right there in the middle. (And yes, the bib is apropos, as well.)

Ian wants to add that he likes kiwifruit.

So today we had the Blowout of All That Is Evil and Unholy. Apparently it occurred in the carseat, and we somehow didn't get a whiff. I don't know why not - I think the part of our brains that uses rational thought has been taking a siesta for about, oh, 32 weeks. We brought him in from our shopping trip and I put him in the pack and play. After a short while, he whined to be picked up, so I brought him to me on the recliner. At that point I caught a smelly tendril of the cheesy Evil Blowout. You think I'm kidding about the "cheesy" part - it seriously smelt like swiss cheese. Sorry, but there it is.

Onward we went to the changing table, where I discovered that the Blowout of Armageddon had gone up the back of his outfit (sadly, I fear the Baby Bronto onesie is no more, moment of silence please). So we had to take a bath as well.

And to end the story... somehow, Ian managed to get the poopie about halfway up on the mesh side of the pack and play, but not the mat on the bottom that he was laying on. Explain that one to me, people.

What's up my peoples?

Whassup mah homies?!?

Yo yo! Hope you be' havin' a totally diggin' fourth of July!

I been workin' on my rappin' yo - check me out:

I gots milk in mah belly

Baby Einstein on the telly

An' my tushie be gettin' squooshy

An' it gettin' kinda smelly

Hollllaaaaaaa!

Ha ha! I'm hilar- hila- funny! Ok, so I'm workin' on it still, yo. Gimme a break, I is just a little guy! I don't have lots of stuff to rap about yet.

So Moms has been trying to feed me lots of stuff. I likes zucchinis and apricots, and I don't really likes the sweet potatos or the peaches. I'm jus' like my Daddy! Moms made me some melon and squash this week - I thinks I will like the melon but the squash sounds gross.

Last weekend I went up to see Grandpa and Nana and my cousins Amber and Sydney. Girls! I likes them. I not so sure about the kiddie pool though - that water be cold, yo! Maybe in a coupla months or somethin'

Anyways, I'm seven months old now, I is a big boy! Moms says I'll be crawling any day now - I's not sure what that means but it sounds like fun. Moms says that Daddy has to "babyproof" the house, whatever that is.

Here's some super cute pictures of my favorite person - ME! Blow up mah cellie and holla!

Oy vey

So the only thing preventing me from begging someone to come and help us is the fact that, knowing our child, he'll be a perfect angel the instant someone who is not his parent walks through the door. And then that someone will believe us to be certifiably insane for ever thinking that such a delightful child could ever conceivably do anything even remotely inconvenient to another living soul.

Since Thursday, I've been deathly sick. Comin' out both ends (if you know what I mean and I think you do). Thursday afternoon, Jon hauled my barfin' persona to the doctor, and she promptly diagnosed me with the stomach flu, told me to take drugs that I already had in the medicine cabinet, and go back by Monday if I wasn't feeling better. Huge help, she is.

Yesterday was better - no irregular emissions, anyway - but today has just stunk to high heaven. Jon pulled his back muscle yesterday doing some stupid grunt work for his boss, and so he's been walking around all hunched over, moaning and groaning. I'd almost rather have what he's got than what I've got. Very grumbly in the tumbly, I is.

So we got Ian to take a nice long nap this afternoon, and we were wondering if he'd be sleepy at his regular bedtime of 8 pm. Silly mommy and daddy! Whether he is sleepy or not is the least of our worries, I'm afraid. Around 8, I was feeding him his last bottle, and he downed about 5 oz. Suddenly he started hurking and spewed the 5 oz back up all over me. Joyous.

Off we went to bathe the baby, who is apparently learning how to kick - I think he's going to be a Rockette when he grows up. Seriously, the more active this baby gets, the more we realize just how old we really are.

Now it's 8:35 and Daddy is consoling the baby, who's bathed and dressed in a fresh outfit, while Mommy makes him some more food, in between bouts of running to the bathroom herself.

'Tis a glorious day, for sure.

Crazy Picture

This is our office building. That's the entrance door. Holy Cabooses!!

Surviving the Flood

Where's the ark?!?

Despite some news reports to the contrary, we're not all under water up here :) The Des Moines news is making it sound like all of Cedar Rapids is submerged, but most of us are ok.

Downtown is underwater, for sure. Our office building is in the thick of it - we may not get into our offices for another week. Luckily, I can work from home, but Jon and his colleagues are out of luck.

The city has decreed a water-only-for-drinking rule, so I went out this morning and bought a lot of bottled water, some new baby bottles (which I was planning to do anyway) so that I don't have to wash the old ones, and some junk food (lol). We're hunkered down and riding out the storm.

Unfortunately, one of my coworkers lost her house and all of her belongings. Her family and pets are all safe, thank god. It's just so scary to think about losing everything - I feel really badly for her. I wish I could do more.

Anyway - don't worry about us, we'll be fine. We're on a hill and the water's not going to come this far. The river's supposed to crest this afternoon (around 31.8 feet!) and then hopefully it will subside. We're making do, as only Iowans can!

Ian's 6 month pictures!

Ian had his 6 month pictures taken today at Sears. He's 24 weeks on Monday, but not "officially" 6 months old until the 17th. It's so hard to believe that he's 6 months old already!

He was a doll at the portrait studio, as usual. The girls there love him to pieces. He always loves attention from the ladies.

Here's his pics!

In the past, he's slept in his papasan seat inside the crib. Unfortunately, he's starting to outgrow that. We've been dreading trying to lay him down without it, because if you try, he cries and cries. Daddy has a harder time with the crying than I do, surprisingly.

But last night, Ian went to bed like a champ! We were waiting for the weekend in case he kept us up all night. He cried for the first 5 minutes, and then we went in there and soothed him. Daddy had the good idea to try the sleep positioner that I bought months ago; it worked like a charm! He fell asleep and stayed asleep all night. He didn't wake up until 7 am!

We're hoping that he'll transition easily to sleeping flat. So far, so good!

What's up my peoples?

So like check it out, guys. Moms got me a new hooptie:

It's really cool and stuff and it makes lots of noises and is really loud. Woot! I is gonna go drivin' down the strip with the top down, checkin' out the ladiez. I saw one chica at the Walmart yesterday, she had her some big ol' blue eyes. She was def checking me out, yo. I gave her my digits - the little puppy on the cell phone calls me, I tol' her. So if she push the puppy button then she get me. I be waitin' for her call. Any minute now she's gonna be callin' me.

So Moms took me to the doctor and he said that I had to start eating real food. I dunno what he's talkin' about, yo, cuz I drink real food all the time. Daddy says he drinks his lunch too, I dunno what that means. So Moms tried the cereal and that was hella bleh - oops, I mean hecka bleh. I didn't like it at ALL, yo.

So then Moms tried some green stuff and some pink stuff and some orange stuff. It was all like, gross. See, here:

Do not want, yo!!

And here's the fruity stuff she tried to make me eat:

That was all sorts of bleh. Mommy said she's tired of wearing my dinner. Well, ya know, if she didn't try to make me eat it, she wouldn't wind up wearin' it! Jeez! Moms is dumb.

So I'm talkin' all the time now but I won't say the stupid stuff that they want me to say, like "Mama" and "Dada" and whatever. I say what I wanna say! Like "aydah" which they don't know what it means but it means "You guys are dumb." Also it can mean "Bring me my milk, minion!" but it depends on the inflection, yo.

Anyways, Mommy said she's going to post some video soon of me eating something called a-vo-ca-dos (or NOT eating it, ha ha I rule!) but she's having trouble getting it right (cuz she's dumb). So there be video soon. You should be comin' back to check and see what's new with me all the time anyway, yo.

I is cute! Holla!

What a weekend!

My first Mother's Day ever was ... interesting ... It began on Friday when I picked Ian up at day care. Abby, our day care lady, had the kids make cute little flower bouquets for their mommies, complete with handprints. So sweet!

When I got home, I took Ian's picture with it:

Then, I was distracted and turned away for a second. The following ensued:

My son.

(Ian would like to interject at this point that "Momz is all wiggin' 'bout the flowers, yo. She so crazy.")

Then on Saturday, Ian woke up very cranky. He was coughing and snotting all over the place. By Sunday, he was miserable. He couldn't keep anything down. When he woke up, I got 5 oz into him. Then I got 5 oz over ME when he puked it all up. I then got another couple of oz into him, only to wind up wearing that as well (after my shower, of course - before my shower would be too easy!) Mmm, baby puke is so warm and runny.

We hemmed and hawed and looked in horror at the rectal thermometer, and tried to take his temperature underneath his arm and call it good. Then we called the pediatrician and they laughed at the n00b parents. They said, "No, seriously - rectal." We cringed and cried and finally did it. 101.4. Erm, yay.

I then spent a couple of hours of my Mother's Day in the waiting room of the Emergency Care clinic, trying desperately to appease a sick baby who wanted to eat and didn't understand what "no, you'll puke on me" meant.

The doctor (when we finally got in to see her) said that he has a sinus infection. Which is great - it means it's not something more serious. She gave us a prescription for antibiotics, so he's been taking those since about 2 pm on Sunday.

His fever broke around 8 last night, and we finally got him to bed.

Unfortunately for me, I came down with a fever as well yesterday. So in addition to watching a sick baby, I got to be sick myself. Joy!

I'm feeling a little bit better today, but not 100%. My fever must have broken during the night. I'm sure the Nyquil helped with that a bit. Sadly, I couldn't take the day off of work due to obligations. Trust me, I would have dearly loved to have stayed home and slept!

We're going to celebrate Mother's Day next Sunday instead.

Happy Birthday to Amber Rose who is 15 on Wednesday!

Yet more pictures!

Emily came to visit us and took some more amazing pictures over the weekend:

Ian's First Scrapbook

I finally finished the first pages of my scrapbooking project. Here they are:

Pictures from Jon's 40th Birthday

Here's some pictures from Jon's 40th birthday party. All taken by our friend Emily again (as evidenced in the fact that they're much, much better than I could take!)

I'm selfish.

I wish my family read my blog.

I think only Mom reads my blog.

It sucks to be going through such a hard time and people who I'm related to don't read it. I guess if I knew that someone I'm related to blogged, I'd make sure to bookmark it and read it. I put it in my signature of my emails, I don't know what else I can do.

Or maybe people are reading it, but have too much other stuff going on, so they don't care or don't have time to send a kind word?

I don't know.

It bums me out.

Thank you for your kind words when I post that I'm going through a hard patch, Mom. It means a lot.

Health update

So my OB prescribed Zoloft for PPD. Yay, right? I was finally going to get some assistance for feeling so sad and tired and down all the time. That same day, she drew some blood to check my thyroid. I've been diagnosed hypothyroid since Jan 06 but have been on medication to control it since then.

So normal range for thyroid hormones is .03 to 3; mine was 9.67. Three times the normal range. No wonder I've been so frickin' tired all the time!

On Friday last week, they doubled my levothyroxine (medication) and it's supposed to help. Unfortunately, it takes about 2 weeks for it to kick in. In the meantime, I'm stuck with the exhaustion - so deep it's like my bones ache.

So I stopped taking the Zoloft before it even kicked in. I don't know if that was the right thing to do or not. I don't know anything any more. My doctor's office only returns calls about 25% of the time. Jon told me to stop the Zoloft so I did. The nightmares continue and I don't get much sleep.

I'm sorry that I haven't posted more. I've been so tired that it's all I can do to feed the husband and the child and then drag off to bed myself. I'm hoping that it'll get better soon.

I am struggling.

I'm not posting this because I want sympathy, or because I want people to call me and tell me that everything will be ok. I know that it will - I just need to vent and wallow.

I think I may have some mild PPD going on.

A couple of weeks ago, I had a bad chest cold. Ian had it too and it was a rough couple of weeks. I haven't felt rested since then. I sleep and sleep, and I'm still tired.

Tuesday night/Wednesday morning, Ian woke me up at 3:30 am. Because he's been taking antibiotics, the pooping has been out. of. control. So I had to get up and change him; then he decided that he needed to be fed OMGZ RIGHT NAO!!!1! I gave him 2 oz of formula and got him back to bed. I went back to bed myself, only to lie awake for at least an hour before finally falling back asleep - to be woken up by the alarm an hour later.

Then when I got home, I was trying to make dinner while Jon entertained the D&D gang. Ian wouldn't stop crying, and I needed to pump and shower. The "30 Minute Meal" (my ass!) wasn't going like it should, and I jumped in the shower really quick while it was baking. I got out and it still wasn't finished. So an hour after I'd started cooking, I'd finally finished the "30 Minute Meal" (Rachael Ray, you can kiss my big fat butt). I delivered Jon's dinner to him and then sat down and tried to eat mine, but Ian would. not. shut. up. He just cried and cried. I finally just picked him up, sat down, and bawled right along with him. I'd had it.

Finally Jon came and took Ian so that I could go pump. Then he let me eat my dinner (which was not good - again with the butt-kissing, if you please, Ms. Rachael). The crisis was averted, and Ian and I both crashed by 9 pm.

So I slept from 9 pm until 6 am and I am still a zombie today. I just can't get any rest.

When I do sleep, I have these horrible nightmares. About Jon leaving me for some other chippie who cleans his house and cooks good dinners, or someone's keeping me from my baby. Or, much much worse, are the nightmares about someone hurting or killing my baby. There's lots of blood and it's just the most awful thing. I wake up crying a lot of the time.

Because I've been so tired, my milk supply is starting to go down. Last weekend, I pumped every 2 hours to try to get it to kick back into overdrive, but it didn't work. I'm taking these nasty Fenugreek pills that taste like maple syrup. They don't help.

And then when I try to talk about it to other BFing or pumping women, I get the lecture about how I could do X or take Y supplement and get my supply back up. Listen, people! If I thought those things would work, I would do them! I've reluctantly decided to start supplementing with formula, and it was a difficult decision because I wanted to exclusively BF until at least 6 months. It kills me that I can't.

And the final topper is my horrid coworker who's being a huge butt. She runs hot and cold and one minute she's talking to me and laughing, and the next minute she's glaring at me, slamming her keyboard around and throwing papers, and ignoring me when I speak. She complained that I didn't have enough to do (I'm not sure why that's her business) and told me I'd better ask the manager for more work. Which I did (again), to keep her happy. Then the manager took one of her things to give to me, and she pitched a hairy cat fit about that. You can't win with this woman. Jon thinks she's menopausal. Hmm a PPD new mother and a menopausal witch in the same small office? Recipe for disaster, if you ask me (hopefully not a 30 Minute Meal. God, I hate Rachael Ray).

Ian's 3 month Pictures

Here is a slideshow that contains the pictures we took of Ian on his 3 month birthday. The first dozen or so - the really good ones - were taken by our good friend Emily. Thanks, Aunt Emily! The rest were taken by us.

http://s274.photobucket.com/albums/jj257/Spainey/?action=view&current=aa2980dd.pbw

We got some really good ones!

Developmental milestones as Ian approaches 4 months old: he is rolling over quite often now, although Jon has yet to see it. He hasn't laughed yet, but we think he'll be doing it any day now. We can't wait! He can be pulled up by his arms, and supports himself well on his elbows, as you'll see in some of the pics. He can swat and grab toys in front of him, too.

Our little man is growing up! *sniff*

How much I love my kid

Here's a scrapbook page that I recently did:

I really need to get back on the ball with my digital scrapbooking.

Anyway, I was thinking about what to write in this blog. I couldn't think of anything except what a fabulous kiddo Ian is.

Seriously. I mean, there's problem babies out there. Last night, I was at Mommy group and there was a poor lady with twins, about Ian's age. She'd put one down in order to pick up the other, and the one on the floor would immediately start crying. The poor thing didn't even know how long it had been since they last ate - she'd lost all track of time whatsoever.

So I'm counting my blessings.

Ian started sleeping for 5-6 hours a night at 5 1/2 weeks. He started sleeping 8-9 hours at 7 weeks. That's really remarkable for a baby his age. He consistently sleeps from 8 pm until 6-6:30 am every single day. I can't remember the last time he woke up during the night and needed me - must have been between 5 1/2 weeks and 7 weeks.

He also hasn't had a mess in his diapers during the night since the 7 week mark. He hardly ever poops while he's sleeping (maybe he thinks it's uncivilized? ;P) He never pees too much for the diaper to handle. I wake him up and he kept it all contained throughout the night; we just change the didie and go.

What a great kid I have! And yes, I know that if we have another, the chances of him/her being such a good sleeper are slim to none.

He's still feeling poorly today - the coughing continues. I took him to see the doctor
on Tuesday because of the coughing. He listened to Ian's chest and said everything sounds "perfect." So we think he's got sinus drainage down the back of his throat, because I've got it too. Poor little guy - he coughs and sneezes all night long. We're giving him some Benadryl at night to help him sleep.

Funny story about the Benadryl - the doctor told me "half a teaspoon" of Benadryl. Then I asked about teething pain, and he said "point eight mL of Tylenol" for that. Well, I got the explanations mixed up in my head, and gave Ian point eight mL of Benadryl. When I realized, I freaked the heck out. Crying, hysterics, the works. I called the doctor's office in a panic, and the nurse said I gave him "a little too much." But she said all that would happen is that he'd sleep really well, which he did.

But then when we got home, Jon did a test with an actual half-teaspoon measuring spoon, and we realized that a half a teaspoon is more like 2.5 mL. So I didn't overdose him at all! WTF was that nurse thinking?!? She's smoking something (and not sharing).

So that was a bit of a relief to realize I didn't almost kill my kid.

Mommyhood = fabulousness one minute, hysterics the next.

What's up my peoples?

My Aunt Emily who's not really my Aunt but Mommy and Daddy say that she is so I guess she is... anyway, she took my picture on Friday! She's really nice, I like her. Mostly because she says I'm cute. She's so right!

She took lots of pictures of me and one of me and Mommy:

Aw my mommy loves me!

But I am sad today because Mommy & Daddy took me to my Grandpa and Nana's house. I think I am allergic to something there because I'm all snuffly and sneezy now. Mommy gave me a vapor bath and sucked the boogers out of my nose - well, you did, Mommy! - and now I'm in bed snuffling and snorking. Poor me! But I bet it will be ok and we will figure it out so that I can still go and visit Grandpa and Nana because I sure likes them.

I has a infec- a infarc- a BOOBOO on my heinie and Mommy freaked the heck out and rushed me off to the doc. Jeez, Mommy, it's just a little booboo! But the doc says it is a yeast infect- a whatever - and that they has to put cream on it like four times a day and I don't know how many that is but it's a LOT. Mommy felt better after she went to see the doctor lady but I could have told her it was a booboo.

So I don't feels good and my heinie is itchy from the darn cream. But I am cute and that is what matters!

The Boo Brain

Someone suggested that I should write a story from the perspective of my cats. I think that someone is a glutton for punishment, but here goes...

Today we're discussing the Brain of Boo. This would be she:

Isn't she cute :)

Boo's original "vet name" is Rogue, because of the black-and-white face. But as I always do with my cats, I started calling her Boo, and it stuck like glue. She's also known as BooBear, which I think is rather dignified, don't you?

So the annoying thing about Boo is that she doesn't eat food. She eats treats. If you put food in her bowl, she will sniff it condescendingly and then look at you like, "WE will not be eating this today, take it away slave!" and walk away. Note the use of the royal "we." And yet it never stopped her from checking the bowl just for curiosity's sake, to see what we'd put in there. She knew she wasn't going to eat it; she just had to check it out, though. That's a cat. Dog owners are missing out.

No, Boo likes her treats. Funny story about the treats. She used to eat these Purina brand treats in a purple bottle. They were shaped like little fishies and smelled foul. She loved them, ate them like candy. She'd sit on the coffee table and lean forward, all four pawsful of toes lined up on the edge, staring at Jon until he gave her a treat. I think he held out for 17 minutes once, but that was it. Every now and then she'd blink.

And then one day we ran out of the Boo treats. Oh, the horror! I think she lost 3 pounds in a week. For a 10 pound cat, that's serious. We'd walk through the living room, past her emaciated (not really) frame lying akimbo on the floor, and her soulful hollow eyes would follow us as if to say, how can you do this to me, you horrible, horrible people. It was very stressful.

I hauled my pregnant butt all over town for a new bottle of treats. Apparently, Purina in their infinite wisdom decided to refurbish the treat recipe. It was now in a blue bottle, and it was no longer princess-worthy. She wouldn't touch it.

I took to the interwebs to find my princess some treats. My first stop was Petsmart online. Huzzah, they had the treats in the purple bottle! I ordered a case - I was not going to run out ever again, by all that is holy! The case of treats arrived, but - horrors! - they had sent the blue bottled treats. Apparently, Purina (again, being infinitely wise) had changed the recipe somehow so that Boo wouldn't touch the treats, but they were using the same product code and SKU.

We returned the treats forthwith - for shame, Petsmart!

I then googled the things, and found an entry at another pet food website for the treats in the purple bottle. No more fool I, I called the customer service line and asked them, "Is the picture correct, are these the treats in the purple bottle?" The wise customer service person smartly said, "Yes, I see that there is a picture and the bottle is, indeed, purple." Stellar! I ordered a case.

You see where this is going, don't you?

The case of treats arrived and the bottles were blue. By the gods, people, DO YOU NOT KNOW?!?!? My cat, she starves! The eyes looked up at me: why, mommy, why? I cried.

But then, Jon and I had an epiphany. She doesn't care about the color of the bottle! No, our cat is much more intelligent than she looks! She wants FISH SHAPED TREATS!

Luckily for us, for she was about to perish, or so she said every five minutes or so, Pounce makes a fish-shaped treat. So, after two orders and returns of nasty foul blue-bottled cases of treats, we finally found a treat that Boo will abide. The crisis was finally averted and our little kitty lives.

Then there is the matter of cuddlez. Cuddlez are to occur every evening at 9:27 pm and are to last for exactly 4 minutes and 58 seconds, no more and no less. You think I'm joking. And they will only take place on the fuzzy (fleece blanket) in the bedroom that lays upon the bed. I must - MUST! - get into bed and pull up the fuzzy, and she will then - and only then - deign to sit with me for cuddlez. I shall not grab her or restrain her in any way.

Such is a cat. Dog owners, eat your hearts out!

Happy Easter!

We hope everyone had a lovely holiday, should you celebrate it. If you don't, we hope everyone had a lovely Sunday :)

We spent the weekend in the Newton/Des Moines area. Ian spent Saturday night at Grandma and Grandpa's house, while Trusty Sidekick Known As Daddy and I went to Des Moines and stayed overnight at a hotel for some mommy-and-daddy-time. We stayed at the Suites at 800 Locust hotel. Here's some pics of the hotel room (sorry, it's a little messy. I ran around and took pics right before we checked out, and we weren't about to make the bed just for pics).

Yes, that's seriously a sprinkler head IN the shower. WTF??

Double whirlpool tub. Ahh, heaven!

Floor-to-ceiling curtains.

Gas fireplace with leather seating area.

It really was a wonderful stay, except for some very minor cleaning issues (the gunk in the whirlpool jets that came into the water because no one had flushed the pipes, a very small amount of mold in the shower). The room service was way overpriced ~ we spent about $70 for 2 dinners. But the lounge was great, and the bartender was awesome; I just wish there'd been some live jazz like they advertised. Unfortunately, it being Easter weekend, it was pretty dead. But that was sort of nice - it was like we lived in the hotel and were the only ones there.

So Ian loved being with Grandma and Grandpa. I had a little trouble leaving him, it was my first night away from him. I thought I'd be ok, since he's been going to day care after all. And I *was* OK... until we were on our way from Des Moines back to Newton. Trusty Sidekick Known As Daddy drove WAY too slow! If you ask him, he'll say he was following the speed limit, but I needed my baba! I told him to step on it, but he wouldn't, and then everyone made fun of me! I can't help it that I was crying a little when I finally got to him. He's my baby and I make no apology for loving him and missing him when I was away!

Anyway, here's some pictures from this weekend:

http://s274.photobucket.com/albums/jj257/Spainey/?action=view&current=4e87de61.pbw