Naturally Optimistic

It's hard to believe it's already been one month since August joined our family!!

So August (aka Mr. Fussypants) has gone from being a totally mellow baby (first two weeks) to someone who's....not so mellow. Someone who's fussy & who toots (a lot); someone who isn't content to be held, rocked, swaddled, left alone, bounced, driven around in the car, etc. Yesterday he screamed, for several hours, until I nearly lost my head. Luckily I'm friends with my pediatrician & she'll answer my barrage of questions over Facebook. She suggested that perhaps he has a sensitivity to dairy. Argh! So, I'm trying to be dairy free (or WAAAAY less dairy) & we've switched him to some soy formula for when we supplement him. I *think* it might be helping - at least today he didn't scream the whole time I was driving to the grocery store, he was mellow IN the store & is currently napping. This is a HUGE HUGE HUGE improvement to yesterday's situation. So we'll see. Sadly, I love cheese. All I can think about is how I can't EAT chee...

This is my 2nd spring in a house with no rhubarb plants. I am starting to think that I should plant one (or dig one up from my Step MIL's) so that I can make my single rhubarb recipe each year. I love rhubarb, but in moderation. Last night said Step-MIL cut me a bunch of her rhubarb (so early for Duluth! We've had a heck of a spring!) and today I'm going to make something..... pie? Martha's Rhubarb Upside Down cake ? Muffins? Crisp? Mmmmm, the possibilities are endless....

I've been doing a lot of laundry lately....

Last night August slept from about 9:30 til 1 or so. I went to bed shortly after he did & actually had time to dream - yay! At 1 I heard him making some noises, so to avoid a screaming baby - got right up, scooped him up & prepared to feed him....then realized that he was not awake. AT ALL. Instead of being SMART & laying him immediately back down in his crib, I sat in the glider thinking he would awaken & be starving at any moment. He slept. I waited. Surely, any minute. Any minute. I fell asleep in the chair & woke up after 2am! Argh! I robbed myself of a DANG HOUR of sleep! I laid him in his crib & he started fussing (of course) so I stood there. And stood there. Finally laid on the floor because I knew as soon as I went back to my bed he would wake up. Luckily I only had to lay on the floor for about 20 minutes (oh I remember the days of floor laying in Dahlia's infancy too - UGH!)...he woke up, I fed him & we both went back to bed. Tonight I am lett...

I've been blessed with some awesome friends & family lately -helping out with the new wee on + toddler; bestowing upon us awesome gifts (for both!); loading us up with borrowed boy clothes & hand me downs which are ridiculously appreciated & of course lots of fabulous comments, texts & chats about how adorable my offspring are. :) My friend Julie visited the other day - she is an expert baby snuggler as evidenced by the fact that August slept for nearly 3 hours in her arms! She also was gracious enough to stay while I went through the ungodly naptime routine with Miss Dahlia which was a hUGE help. AND the week before she loaded me up with clothes for both kids from her garage sale! THANK YOU! And she brought us gifts.... August got some super-soft bamboo washcloths & a maple teether; Dahlia got a hexagon ball & I got snacks! Whohooo! Kashi cookies & cereal bars, almonds, tea, jolly ranchers, trail mix & dried fruit. Thank you SO MUCH Julie. Julie cam...

Dahlia gave me this little plant that she planted at daycare for Mother's Day (I think it's marigolds...not 100% sure). It has a photo of her inside the card too. Oh the sweet gift's from your child. Steve, Dahlia & August gave me a gift certificate for a hair cut at my salon & a fabulous bottle of wine. :) We also went to Grizzly's for dinner - thankfully (I needed to get out of the house at that point). And our first outside-the-hospital family photo...self portrait taken in our backyard. If I didn't have so many wrinkles I would say this is quite a nice photos...*sigh*

So I've been corresponding quite a bit with Steve's cousin's wife Michelle (hi Michelle!) via Facebook lately. We have children of similar ages & she's about to have her 2nd baby in June...so we have a fair amount in common right there. Plus I think she's smart & funny & cool & I enjoy getting to know her more (okay, now I sound like a complete weirdo but, ah well...most of you probably knew that already). Anyway -a couple weeks ago she said that she & David would like to have dinner brought in for us so our sleep-deprived brains could take a night off - at least from cooking! What they delivered was amazing! First of all, they managed to find one of our favorite local restaurants - At Sara's Table/Chester Creek Cafe. The menu was incredible... We had: Some delicious garlicky mushrooms & smoked salmon with veggies as an appetizer. Two entrees - a lamb/bison burger with sweet potato fries (super yum)... ...Roaster duck with some shredded...

Has anyone else noticed/had this in a newborn? Every other day (it seems) August is starving. Eating every 40-60 minutes. Not giving me much of a break & being fairly fussy & not sleeping well during the 20 minutes he's not eating. Every other day he is sleeeeeeeeeeeeepy. Eating every 2-3 hours, sleeping like a peaceful beautiful calm baby (which he is, really). Allowing me to do things like laundry! eat! shower! (there was NO shower yesterday - ay yi yi). I'm assuming this is a natural growing/eating cycle and since he did gain is 7.5 oz in 6 days this past week it's probably right on track, but I was just curious if anyone else has noticed this trend. Ahhhh, is there anything better than a sleeping baby??

We get to the clinic this morning & I was checking August in. They told me that the appointment with our doctor had been cancelled. Hmm, that's weird. I had confirmed using their automated service on Friday. And obviously I didn't want to cancel as 1) I was there and 2) I'm a paranoid mother of a newborn & want to make sure he's getting enough to eat. So, I headed over to the pediatric department to get things sorted out. They told me there that "I" had called at 8:42am this morning to cancel the appointment - and I needed to reschedule, a morning appt for later in the week. WTF? Then they proceeded to tell me that my Doctor's schedule was full & I could *maybe* see someone else. Um, no. I love my pediatrician & am friends with her & most DEFINITELY wanted to see HER. Well, after some finagling they worked us in. I'm still a bit troubled by this. Some people have suggested identity theft or insurance fraud - but that still seems wei...

"Mama!" "I need to go potty." "I need a drink of water." "I need a kleenex." "I need to see August." "I need to sing." "I need my blanket." "I need to snuggle." "My diaper hurts." "My eye hurts." "I need a new diaper!!" "Mooooooooommmmmmmy" My newborn is sleeping awesomely at night. Usually a couple 3-4 hour stints (early in the night), and then not as well after 4/5am (but okay). My 2 year old, however, has been waking up around 4am & giving me an hour's worth of nonsense every night. Ay yi yi! Luckily it hasn't corresponded with when I'm actually feeding August (yet) but it is so annoying to be woken up by a 2 year old every 20 minutes when I know the clock is already ticking on the newborn!!!! Hopefully this phase will pass soon....

He looks like a cozy old man, doesn't he?

August just had a visit from the public health nurse (why didn't one of these fabulous people come to visit me after Dahlia was born? Hmmmm). She brought her scale & weighed him, measured him, looked at his umbilical cord (the stump fell off on MONDAY -ack!); assured me that his dry skin & the bumps on his leg were no big deal & chatted extensively about breastfeeding, sleeping, etc etc. August now weighs 7lbs 4oz. That's up 3oz from last Friday - but it means he *probably* won't make his weight goal of birth weight (7lbs 11.5oz) on Tuesday. He'll probably be a bit shy. Is it because I don't have enough milk? Is it because he's not *that good* at eating (although better than some babies I've raised...)? She said he's on the right track & to keep doing what I'm doing & it'll all work out okay. I shouldn't really even need to supplement him because really that just stresses me out (okay, a little) & that in turn affects ...

Lansinoh before a shower is just about the best thing I've done for myself today. That is all.

Last Monday we checked into the hospital at about 6pm. Arrived at the ER (which feels weird) & they wheeled me right up. Funny - with Dahlia I walked up myself while in active labor - no one gave me a second glance. This time, nothing happening & we get the special treatment. Weird. Got to our room, I donned my beautiful gown & we waited. We chatted, took some video, waited, wondered, Steve went to get dinner, I was very hungry (they wouldn't let me eat...yet), etc. There was a near full moon & the maternity floor was BUSY! 6 admissions that night which is a lot for them. Finally at 10pm the Resident came in to chat & check on me. He was nice & apologetic for it taking so long. Still we waited. At l1pm they came in & gave me the Cytotec. A small pill that they put on the cervix to soften it. I asked numerous times if this could jump start labor (asked my doc earlier that day too)...they said...unlikely. Very rare. I was at MAYBE 2.5cm & -2, I don...

Born 5:32am on Tuesday, April 27th, 2010 7lbs 11.5oz 21 inches long He came before the pitocin which made Mama very happy & he's 100% all natural. It was tough, but I admit I'm proud of myself for doing it! Labor story to come, but first I must eat a cinnamon roll....