In which Ian sleeps through the night! (Almost...)

Things are very exciting in the Spain household.

For the past two nights, Ian has slept from 10 pm until 3 am. Mommy is so happy she's giddy! Of course, Mommy has been suffering from severe sleep withdrawal so Mommy gets giddy when she sees a Charmin commercial, but I digress! Everyone, please cross your fingers that Ian will continue this wonderful trend of making Mommy yelp with happiness.

Also, he slept for 2.5 hours in his crib today. That's 2 hours longer than he's spent in the crib since, oh, he was BORN. Not that I'm bitter. I got to play some WoW and veg out, it was niiiice.

And now to share some recent pictures since I have found the digital camera where Trusty Sidekick known as Daddy hid it:

This would be the first picture of him after a bath where he's not screaming bloody murder.

Ian with his Grandma

A boy and his daddy

Being unimpressed with the aquarium playmat

This is one of my favorite pictures of him so far. He was asleep in his swing and it was just so precious. Turned out really nice.

And a quick picture of Supermommy's archnemesis, the Wee Beastie.

Feeling a little sad...

On Monday, I sent out an email to friends & family with the Sears pictures of Ian. On my side of the friends/family sphere, only my Dad emailed me back to say anything about the pictures. Sure, people on Jon's side emailed/called to say they were great or whatnot, but only my Dad. Out of how many people I emailed?

I guess maybe people are sick of me sending pictures of my kid. That makes me really sad. I guess I won't do it any more.

When he was born, I emailed pictures and some basic details about the birth to friends/family. Some people who never responded:

1.) An aunt/uncle

2.) Close (I thought?) friends of ours whom we have done a lot of stuff with, dinner parties and the like

3.) Someone I once considered a best friend, long ago in another country

4.) A friend who had gone through a really rough time last year who I bent over backwards (while greatly pregnant) to help out.

I had people from my workplace, who barely knew me, coming to visit me in the hospital. And some family members and "friends" never bothered to say "Congrats!" I mean, is it so hard to hit "reply" on an email and say that? I saw the aunt/uncle in person and they said "Oh the pictures were great!" That lessened the hurt somewhat, but they still never responded to the email and that was painful for me.

It is very hard for me to not have any friends here. I thought that I had made some, but I would have thought that a friend is someone who at least says "Congrats" when you have a baby. Ian and I have been home for a month now, and no one besides the grandparents have come to visit us. That hurts, a lot. Some of Jon's D&D friends came for game night, and I would have thought they would have at least wanted to get a look at Bug, but they were just like "oh, a baby..." and that hurt, too. I realize that menfolk don't make a fuss over babies. I know that I'm being whiny and awful, but it's still hard to admit to yourself that, gosh, people just don't like you that much.

Ah well. I'm fairly maudlin right now, I'll get over it.

Ian and I went to the Mommy Group at Mercy today. I had a great time, there were a lot of women and babies/kids there and I am hopeful to make at least one friend. Ian was great and was the only kid that didn't cry - he's such a genius!

He weighed in at 10 lbs 3.5 oz today. My big boy is growing up! *sniff*

In which Ian gets some professional pictures taken!

This week, Ian and I went to Sears and had his picture taken! He was a little angel because there were girls there and they were fawning all over him. He had a rep to protect, ya know. Here's the URL for the pictures:

http://hijstudios.com/Ian.html/

I think they came out very well :) Our favorites are the full-length one because it shows off his awesomely cute preppie outfit, and the swaddled one with the spit bubble. Of course, I'm partial to the footie picture, as well.

The teaching thing won't work out for me, I don't think. The only program I could find would be about $15,000 and, heh, that's a little bit much to add onto my already substantial college debt. Ah well! Jon and I have decided that I'll do the stay-at-home mommy thing for a while and see how that goes. He's going to keep an eye on the finances and if we can work it out, great. If not, then I'll find a job then.

I did get a lead on an online tutoring gig for English papers. A friend at EHell told me about it. It pays decently and the hours are negotiable, and it would be work-from-home doing what I love - well, not writing the papers myself, which would be the be-all end-all, but the next best thing which is helping kids write them. They said they don't have any openings right now for me, but perhaps soon. My EHell friend says that they told her that too and then called her up a week or so later. So I am optimistic! It would be great to be able to stay home with Buggles and bring some money in too.

Weather permitting, we plan to go to Newton on Sunday and I'm sure Ian will be making a trip to Walmart so that his Grandma can gloat over how gorgeous he is :)

The Amazing Tales of Supermommy

Tis I, the Amazing Supermommy, here to regale you with tales of my exploits in parenting!

This eve I was almost foiled by the wee beastie, but as you shall soon see, neither pee nor poop nor spit-up milk shall overcome me!

Our story begins when the little bugger defecated in his containment device, otherwise known as "did a doodle." Smiling fiendishly, he dared me to challenge his poo. Somehow, my trusty sidekick known as Daddy had mysteriously disappeared as soon as said doodle hit the diapers, so it was up to Supermommy to combat the dastardly poops.

I had wrestled the nasty diaper with its demonic pooh-bear pictures on the outside and orange-creamsicle-with-bonus-chunks filling its inside into the miraculous Diaper Genie. I turned to fish a wet wipe from my utility belt when - horrors! - the beastie pulled another trick out of his bag and peed in a great glowing arc of urine! Oh no!

I, however, am Supermommy, and was not fazed. I looked at his face, prepared to spout a hilarious quip, when the Ian beastie turned his head to the side and - YARK - spewed forth a vitriolic mass of such disgusting magnitude that the very ground shook in terror. Twas the previous feeding of milk, with bonus chunks in it as well, and it shortly ran down his cheek and covered the back of his head before I could say "Holy Lactation, Batman!" Beastie then, chuckling demonically, added yet more baby pee to the mix, managing to get some of it on Supermommy, but only because I was distracted by gagging and saying "ew!" really loudly.

Supermommy to the rescue! Off I dashed to where I had stashed my bowl in the bathroom, for fetching warm water to bathe He Who Shall Not Be Diapered. Little did I know, but my trusty sidekick otherwise known as Daddy had hidden my bowl! Egads!

So there I was, with a squalling beast in my arms, his head covered in white goopy substance and his butt covered in orangey-yellow goopy substance, dripping pee off of his cute little footies -- uh, I mean his dastardly footies -- flying madly through the house to the kitchen whenceforth I could draw a new bowl with which to clean the hellish mess. At that time did I learn that trusty sidekick known as Daddy had chosen the most inopportune time to go downstairs, and as such he had not heard my cry for assistance. A pox on you, trusty sidekick known as Daddy! A pox, I say!

Nevertheless, I perservered and managed to bathe the beastie and wrestle him into a new wrapping (it was really cute and had little smiley ducks on it and a zipper). Ha ha! The demon was contained! Huzzah!

Kindly, trusty sidekick known as Daddy allowed me to take another shower. I am also well versed in the use of the Supermommy Laser Eyes of Doom, but somehow they always seem to get used on trusty sidekick known as Daddy rather than on any fiendish foes. Hmm.

"Breastfed babies don't spit up," my freshly scrubbed heinie!

It seems I'm out of a job

Today I talked to my boss and he informed me that our parent company has declared Chapter 7 Bankruptcy. What that means is that everyone in my office is out of a job as of today.

I spent the day crying and wondering what's going to happen. I look at Ian's face and wonder if we're going to be able to take care of him. Jon says that I can stay home and we'll be fine, but do I really want to do that? Do I want to always be worrying and arguing about money? I don't think that I do. So that means I need to find another job.

I don't WANT another job - I want the job I had! I loved that job! It was the first job I ever had that I got along with everyone and no one hated me or talked about me behind my back. I loved carpooling with Jon every morning and not having to worry about driving in the snow. I loved having a laptop and working from home if I felt sick or on Friday afternoons. Working with customers was on email, not face-to-face or on the phone. I did a great job and got lots of good reviews from customers and coworkers - I rocked that job! That it's gone is such a blow to me. I never had a job that I loved, and when I finally found one, I got to have it for 8 short months and then it was gone.

Bernie says that there's a small chance that someone will buy our company from the parent company, and we'll get to keep our jobs. The parent company is selling off its holdings to pay creditors, I guess, according to what Jon found by Googling it. I'm not too hopeful but maybe it will be ok. We're going to give it a month and see if that happens, and if not, I'm going to look into something else.

There's a program at Kaplan University in Davenport that is 12 curriculum hours, and if I take that and then do 50 hours in a classroom as an intern, I can get a year's teaching license in a local high school. I did always want to teach but I thought you had to have a masters (which I don't, of course). If Chimes doesn't come back, I will look into that - I've already emailed the guy to get more information. Davenport is an hour and a half away, so driving down there every day, or even twice a week, would be a pain in my butt, but I'd do it if I had do. I just don't know if we could afford for me to attend the program. I'll find out how much it costs soon.

I hate that everything's up in the air and that I don't know what's going to happen. I want to give Ian everything in the world, and a good life where he doesn't see his parents worrying about money. I also want to like my job so that I am happy when I come home and am not always stressed out, like I was when I worked at AEGON. I had the perfect job and now it's gone. It really sucks.

I'm trying not to cry about it any more, but there's a lot of stress right now.

Doing much better now!

Hi everyone!

We're all doing much better today. We took Ian to the pediatrician on Wednesday and he took a look at the blister (Jon thinks it's more of a boil, actually). By that time, it had popped and drained. The doc took a sample and said that they'd call us and let us know what kind of germ it was, but he wasn't concerned about it at all. We're going to call on Monday to check, since we haven't heard from them yet.

The doc also says that Ian looks great (he said "perfect" actually, but I don't want to brag :þ) He weighed in at 8 lbs 12 oz. So either the ER's scale was off, or he gained 9 oz in 2 days. We're thinking the ER's scale is off.

We told the doc about Ian's fussiness and not wanting to eat sometimes, and he said that's normal. Greeeeat.

For the last couple of days, Ian has been doing much better as far as feedings go. He's up to eating 2-3 oz and then sleeping for 2 hours or so, which is MUCH better than eating 0.5 oz and sleeping for a half hour then waking up screaming. He still does that from time to time, but it's less frequent.

We bought a recliner so that I can sleep in the living room with him more comfortably. I can't wait - we'll have it set up tomorrow.

I still have an infection of some kind - my Dr's office said it was a UTI but I think it's a bladder infection. Yesterday I had "bladder spasms" and was in a lot of pain. I thought about going to the ER but I laid down and slept instead, and when I woke up the pain was gone. I called the doc and they said to see how it goes over the weekend, but that if it happens again I can go to the ER. And then I have an appt on Monday for them to test me again. Fun times.

Mom & Dad Spain are coming up on Sunday to give us a break - yay! I can't wait! I think we're going to go see "National Treasure" and then go to Outback for dinner. I've been missing their blue cheese chopped salad something fierce. I think Mom Spain just wants to cuddle her grandbaby without having to give him back, for a few hours :)

Happy New Year! A trip to the Emergency Room...

Awwww!

This afternoon, while changing Ian's diaper, Jon noticed a blister behind baby's knee on his right leg. It looks painful but doesn't seem to bother him that badly. I called the pediatrician, but they said he needed to be examined, so they sent us to the hospital (it was after hours).

When we got to the ER at Mercy, the doc said he wanted to check with Ian's primary care doc before he stuck a needle into it (um, good idea there, dude). He called our doc but couldn't get ahold of him, so he spoke to one of the other pediatricians at our practice, who said to start Ian on some antibiotics and use a warm compress on it for a couple of days, and see how that goes.

So we are doing that, and will be seeing the pediatrician on Wednesday. The ER doc didn't think it was anything serious, so we're not too terribly worried (just a little worry, because we're parents and that's what we do).

A little more worrying is Ian's feeding issues. We think he might have GER, also known as reflux, which is like acid reflux in adults. He used to eat 2 oz every 2-3 hours and we thought THAT was tiring (ha!). Now, if we're lucky, he eats 1/2 an ounce every hour. He's down .3 oz from when he was weighed at the pediatrician on 12/27 (they weighed him today at the hospital) so that is a little troubling to me. I am still pumping exclusively and feeding him in bottles. The way he is feeding sounds a lot like GER from what we've read, so I am going to bring that up to the pediatrician on Wednesday also.

Anyway, he's doing ok - better than me, anyway. I'm still pretty tired. I'm hoping to make it in to Chimes on Wednesday after our dr's appt so that he can visit with everyone there. It will be a big outing for me, but hopefully I can pull it off. Maybe I can catch a nap while he's being passed around.

Here's some new pictures of our beautiful boy, including his 2 week footie picture: