A shout out to Marie

Who is a very fabulous person.

This and that

I don't know how much time I have. Gee, that sounds creepy. What I mean is that I am prettydarnbusy. Peter has been sleeping a little better. A little. Feeding him is going well. Mom is coming to visit on Labor Day and staying for a week. Cue gloomy music. She makes me pretty irritated. And she talks to Peter like he is an idiot.

The house is getting cleaner. Although I do feel like a mouse on a wheel in that I clean and it just gets thrashed again. Clean the puke and someone pukes. Clean the kitchen and it's time to cook. Dust and it gets dusty. We have been walking every day, and Peter really likes it.

My hair is getting really thin in places. I have to call the doctor, I should call today. Probably because I have not been taking my thyroid medication like I am supposed to. But now I keep the pills next to my bed and it is easier.

We went to Ye Quaint Towne on Saturday and walked around with Peter in the Bon Giorno( that's what Mister calls the Baby Bjorn) and bought Peter one of those stacking toys. We put away the PacknPlay, it was just taking up space. we bought birthday presents for Uncle Sean and Auntie Andrea.

My inlaws are still ignoring us. Which kind of feels like a WIN, but is also annoying. They have not communicated with us since Father's Day. Oh MIL, kiss a mile of my fat white ass. I am telling you one thing, they have another thing coming if they think they can ignore Peter all the time and then swoop in on holidays. Hell to the no.

Thus far Peter has had bananas, sweet potatoes, and carrots. He spits up MUCH LESS after solid food than he does after milk.

This week we are reading Skippyjon Jones 123.

What a disjointed post. Argh.

Swagbucks

I have been trying out Swagbucks for the last three weeks. I like it. It appeals to my inner gambler. How it works is, you set them as your home page and you are randomly awarded points as you search. Then you trade the points in for stuff. They have Amazon.com, Barnes and Noble, and sigh...drool... Sephora gift cards that you can buy with your points. I have enough points now, for my first Amazon.com gift card.

Am I gonna get rich? No. But I search the internet anyway, I might as well have some fun with it. Am I worried that BIG BROTHER knows how many times a day I go to Facebook? Not really, who cares? That stuff is tracked already, anyway. It does not seem any different to me than a supermarket card.

I think it is fun, like doing a scratch and win. All the coupon websites I go to were forever singing it's praises but I was suspicious. It's legit, troops.


I wanted to put up the widgit, but it insists on using my real name. I am ok with that, but the size is not right.

Restaurant WIN!

We had a great time on Sunday. Sunday morning was brunch and it was very nice, although Peter was ALL TITTEH ALL THE TIME. And then we had about an hour till everyone got to our house and we headed to Victory Brewing Company. Oh Lord do we love it there. Sadly I had to feed Peter in the car, because I am no way skilled enough to feed him in the center of a crowded restaurant at the head of a table, in a chair with no arms. Peter throws nursing covers off. My little lactivist.

We got this kickass toy that suctions to the highchair and he finds it very entertaining. We might buy a second one.

He loves cereal. No, he LOVES cereal. He gets very excited. We are going to start sweet potatoes next week. I tried the rice cereal with my breast milk in it. It tastes really sweet like rice pudding. So I figured a sweet first food makes sense.

We are still freaking co-sleeping. Now I know it is just temper because when Mister takes him to bed without me, Peter is fine for a few minutes and then starts hollering. To be honest, we are scared to try sleep training him again because it was so awful. Yes, I am scared of it. WHAT??? SKEERED TO SLEEP TRAIN YOUR BAYBEE??? Yes. You try it. His will is insane and he fights dirty.

Cleaning cleaning cleaning

Peter is doing very well, and honestly apart from his intense objection to the crib- I could not ask for a better baby. He is fine in the car, the tub, getting dressed, he now can entertain himself in the jumperoo and on the gymini for about a half hour. The past few days he has even napped without me holding him. Yesterday I was able to scrub the showers and wash the shower curtains and clean the oven and steam clean the love seat( again).

Today , I fed him and put him in the swing and he has been asleep almost an hour. So I washed the dishes and made tonight's meatloaf. Oh, he is up now. Cheers!

Tonight we are going to a variance meeting, someone wants to replace the closed car dealership behind our house with an ice cream parlor or parlour if you are feeling fancy. We are going because we want to know if it is just ice cream or if he is going to sell hot dogs, etc. I do not relish (lol) the smell of hot dogs that close to my house.

We are hoping that if the guy is allowed his variance for a bigger sign and out door seating that we will be allowed one for a six foot privacy fence. We are currently only allowed a four foot fence. I don't want to bbq in the backyard next year while umpteen people wait for their twisty cone. There is neighborliness and then there is ALL NEIGHBORS ALL THE TIME. No thanks.

So we'll see how that goes.

We totally lost our minds and double booked Sunday. We have friends coming for brunch YAY and then we are going out to dinner an hour away to a restaurant with five other people and two of them are totally freakedout by breastfeeding. Hopefully I will be able to pump enough to save their delicate sensibilities.

I am on a cleaning frenzy, partially because of Sunday and partially because I finally am getting a little time to do it. If there is one lesson I have learned, it's to nevereverever put things off with a baby because it could be a week till I get back to it.

Peter had a playdate yesterday, so cute!

Yesterday

Mother of Christ. My sister is away so Mister went to her house to do some middle of the week stuff for her. Which meant it was me and Petey for 13 hours. I got a little bit of stuff done. I tried putting Petey in his crib. FAIL. MASSIVE FAIL. Then when Mister got home I did the handoff and Peter gave me Puss in Boots sad eyes. Then he screamed. Screamed does not really cover the sound he made. Is there a bigger word than "screamed"?

I figured it was gas or teething pain, but no. As flattering as it is that Mommy and ONLY MOMMY will do, it is getting a little ridiculous. We are going to try sleep training again this weekend, though last night makes me think it will be awful.

You know, I really hope Petey of The Future does not read this and think he is anything but loved. He is my darling peanut. But for real, Mommy needs a break.

I read in someones blog or maybe a comment that their baby was wanted so much that they felt like he should never cry. I think that is part of what is going on. I am letting the struggle of getting him here affect how I parent him. Which is not fair to him. He should be allowed to be normal. Even if that means suffering. Because where in the heck is the line between comforting my crying baby and not letting him learn independence?

I really wish this was easier- or at least that I had a stronger feeling of what is the right thing to do. I wish I could stop bitching about how tired I am, but Mister said it is only normal to be obsessed by this point.

How it's going.

Well, Peter is happy as a clam. Mister and I are...less so. Mister is sleeping on the couch because he is afraid of rolling onto Peter. I am a security blanket. But at least I am not delirious. We are going to try again this weekend.

Dear Peter,

You are the apple of our eyes. The cherry on our sundae. We adore you. PLEASE SLEEP IN YOUR CRIB.

love,

Mommy and Daddy

Giving in. Good Enough Parenting.

I can't fight Peter on the sleep thing anymore. We are shelving the whole problem for at least a week. Maybe two weeks. Yesterday I was so tired that I was not only incoherent, but I was so out of it that Peter banged his head on our table. He did not get hurt, and did not even notice except to give me a WTF look. But, he could have been hurt.


So we are co-sleeping. I am not happy about it, but yesterday I was so exhausted that Peter did not even seem real. It was like I was watching him on tv. Thank God Mister was home.

Peter screams every night for two hours in his crib, and wakes screaming between five and eight times a night. Mister figures I have been getting four hours of broken sleep for almost five months straight.

I feel better today. Peter was so happy to be in our bed that when we climbed in he gave me a huge smile and snuggled in and closed his eyes. He would peek at me and then smile again. And though he was up quite frequently to eat, he stayed in bed till 8 15. An unheard of time.

Now he is very chipper and playing in his jumperoo.

We got a little crazy yesterday.

Sooo, Peter has been waking up EIGHT TIMES A NIGHT AND WAILING. It has been pretty fucking horrid. Yesterday was his pediatrician appointment and Mister had to call out of work because I was too tired to drive. I was actually too tired to walk and almost fell down the stairs. I've taken to hugging the wall on the way down like a drunk co-ed.

We saw a different doctor yesterday. I liked her the best of everyone we have seen so far, since she does not prescribe hugging it out as medical treatment. She checked out Mr. Crankypants and said he is healthy. While he was there he was happy, laughing and in general not acting like he ever even heard of crying. Not that I wanted him to be berserk but it would be nice not to look crazy.

Peter has gained a pound in two weeks and is now 15 pounds, 14 ounces. He was 14 pounds, 11 oz at his four month appointment.

She said it was a temperament issue( secret code for Your Baby Is Gonna Kick Your ASS when he is Two.) and that he also appears to be cutting a tooth. She prescribed tylenol and oragel. She told me to have a glass of wine each night. She also confirmed what every other doctor has been saying is impossible, that our young man is having tantrums. I asked how come she was the only doctor to agree this is possible at his age and she said it was because she has a four month old son and he is exactly like Petey. In fact, she almost brought him in to the office herself that day for the same reasons. I asked her how she could even work when I was too tired to drive and she said she was not sure how she was doing it.

She said it was important for us to let him cry some.

She also said she would advise us to start solids NOW, because some babies refuse food completely if you wait too long( secret code for YOUR SON WILL ONLY WANT THE TITTY IF YOU DON'T GET STARTED) so we bought rice cereal and gave him some yesterday. It went pretty well, I figure we can just give him a little every day and not give him fruit or whatever till he is at the six month mark.

Strangely, Peter was the ideal baby yesterday. He took two huge naps and some cat naps and did not scream till... it was bedtime.

We got a ton of errands done, paid bills went to the library, Walgreens, BRU, Best Buy, and the bank to set up Peter's savings account.

While we were at Best Buy, Mister was salivating over the Macs. He found some out of box on sale for 1400. We have been discussing buying a new computer because Mister loves video games. That is an understatement right there. He loves video games like Joan Rivers likes plastic surgery.

Anyhow, for those of you not married to my husband or an equivalent model- a new Starcraft has come out after 12 years. Our very nice, perfectly respectable and still very shiny Mac will not run it. Mister was heartbroken. Crushed. For real.

So he was looking at ways to buy a new computer. I would happily use this Mac till it crumbled but I am missing some critical NEW TECHNOLOGY IS GOD gene.

Now, I have been through this with Mister before. When he gets the bug for a new tv/phone/computer he will eatsleeptalk it to death. We "happen" to stop at appliance stores just to look, and look, AND LOOK all the while Mister talking to me about gigs and ram and videocards like I have any clue (or give a crap).

But I love him. 12 years is a long time to wait for something. I don't want him to lose that part of himself just because he is a father now. Video games are part of him, just like Doctor Who and an intense love of chipped beef on toast.

Soooooo, we decided to get the new Mac. However, the sale Mac did not have a big enough graphics card. Soooooo we now have the biggest and most tricked out ( FINE, the model BELOW the biggest and most tricked out MAc. The SECOND MOST tricked out ( Mister is saying something about processing speed and a front side bus( WHATEVER))I NEED TWO PARANETHESIS FINE.

Anyhow we now have an 1800 dolla Mac. I am ok with it. I want Mister happy. And it will be paid off soon since Mister is having a gabillion ebay sales right now.

Party at my blog today!

Prop 8 is overturned!

Pass the dutchie from the left hand side

kind of. Mister and I have been so desperate to get Peter to sleep, we are discussing him taking a week off work so that all we do is try and get Peter to sleep in his crib. That way Mister won't have to worry about getting up for work.

Anyhow, I called the pediatrician today to see if they could suggest ANYTHING.
Swaddle- yes
Dark room- yes
Routine- walk, book, song, boobie, bed. YES.
Soooooo they suggested Tylenol. Part of me is I'll try anything, and part of me is DRUG MY BAYBEE???

They said the Tylenol might help him sleep for three hours at a time and get him used to his crib. I am not sure I like the idea of giving him Tylenol. They said he might be teething, and the pain could be waking him also. They said absolutely do not take him in our bed. umm I have been.

The last two days I took him in, because I was just exhausted. So are we just effed and doomed to a life of caffeine and bags under our eyes or what? My Mom said today that he will be walking before he is sleeping in his own bed.


So the doctor called back tonight around 8 30. She wanted to know if we found the info we were given earlier helpful. I said no, not so much. So we talked about Peter some more and they want to see him in the office to give him a once over and then we may be taking him to a gastroenterologist. She said that waking seven times in the night is excessive. She asked me if I thought he was in pain and I said sometimes I did, but sometimes I did not.

My poor monkey.