Just because....

A few recent pics... Ari and Miks, "the cutest pumpkin in the patch," and a couple others. :)

I have been back at work for three weeks now, only three weeks left! November 13th is my last day. I am so glad to only have nine more days at this job. Ari will be happier, too - he loves his Nana Alexis and his Aunt Mandy, but he hates that mama has to wake him up early and then put him in the dreaded car first thing in the morning! And he lets me know how he feels the only way he can: by screaming and crying all the way to our destination. Poor little guy. I am still trying to figure out what I might be able to do part time (10-15 hrs a week) on our side of town... ideas? I have thought about things like after school tutoring, or working in a daycare, or babysitting... I have lots of clerical experience too. Hmmmm....

Although I won't have to drive him around nearly as much after I'm not working this current job, I still need to drive him around sometimes, and he continues to HATE the car and/or his carseat. I think it might be combination of both - he fusses as soon as the straps are completely tightened - but he also seems to fuss less in the truck. Maybe this is just because Sean mostly drives him around in the truck during this afternoon naptime...? I am thinking of buying one of those mobile toy things that attach to the carseat, but the ones I've found have gotten crummy reviews. A much more expensive option would be to try a different seat - I have known babies that hated one seat and were fine in another, but seriously how do you figure that out without spending way too much money?? Other people have suggested that he might like the car better once he can face forward, but that is many months off still. I have tried rolling windows down to create white noise, playing all different sorts of music, singing and talking to him, giving him the pacifier, etc. I also usually sit in the back with him when Sean is with us, although it doesn't seem to help much - just drives me crazier because the screaming is even louder back there. I would be happy to spend $150 on a new seat if I knew it would cut down the screaming by at least 50%. But since there is no way of knowing that we will first experiment with some cheaper options of installing some sort of toys first.

Other than not liking to get up with me for work three days a week and not liking the car, little man is doing GREAT. :-) He smiles all day and all night and he is getting seriously chubby! He is still a wiggler and likes to be sitting up and looking around a lot more now. And although he hated the sling and the front carrier, he loves his Moby-style wrap that his Nana Alexis made! It is like baby Valium, he takes 3-4 hour naps in this thing. He is also sleeping 7-8 hours most nights, which is awesome. His next doc appt is on November 9th, I will be interested to see how much he weighs - he has grown so much, he is close to catching up with his cousin Everett. :)

I have been nervous lately about taking him out and about because of flu season. Sean has already gotten his flu shot and I will be getting mine soon, so hopefully we can avoid too much illness in our house this season. I think I will also try to get the H1N1 shot, if my doctor's office gets it in soon. Sean's company is switching health insurance, so if I can't get the vaccine by the end of this month, the new insurance (BCBS) that we will have as of Nov 1 isn't going to cover it and I'm not sure how much it would cost out of pocket.

I am looking forward to the holiday season! Ari's first Halloween, Thanksgiving, Christmas - I love it!! I am also looking forward to getting his photos taken with his cousins in a few weeks, especially since these will be his first professional photos. :)

Three Months

Ari is three months old today! I can’t even believe it. I guess this is how quickly time will go by from now on, now that we are parents. ;) He is such a cute little man! He is smiley and I’ve heard a couple giggles so far. He is definitely ticklish. He is super strong and has great head control. He usually sleeps 5-7 hours in a row at night now. He is somewhere around 12+lbs now and about 23.5-24 inches long. He still likes his swing, bath time, being outside, and the ceiling fan. He has been discovering his hands and spends a lot of time trying to get his fingers or his thumb into his mouth, sometimes successfully. He is “talking” a lot more now.

 

Unfortunately, he is still not a fan of his carseat / being in the car and spends much of the time during car rides fussing and crying. This is kind of a bummer since we don’t live close to anything so going anywhere usually requires at minimum a 15-20 minute car ride. He also doesn’t want to be put down for naps during the day – I always have to hold him for him to stay asleep and if I put him down he wakes up anywhere from 5 seconds to 15 minutes later. However we think the solution to this may be to put black out shades in his room so we have a nice dark space for nap time, so we are looking into that. Don’t get me wrong, I like to snuggle him, but he takes at least a couple naps during the day and it makes it difficult for me to do things like eat, go to the bathroom etc, let alone get anything done around the house.

 

I went back to work on Monday and am working three days a week. I’m planning to work about six weeks and then hopefully find something closer to home and work fewer hours. Today was my third day back at work. Ari goes to my mom’s one day a week and to his aunt Mandy’s two days a week. Sean picks him up in the afternoon when he gets off work. So far he seems to be doing ok with it; fortunately we never had any trouble getting him to take a bottle or anything. I am pumping while I’m at work and seem to be producing plenty during the day for him to eat during the next work day so that is going fine. I miss him like crazy and it is really hard to leave him, but I am so grateful that I don’t have to leave him with strangers!! I don’t know if I could. I don’t want to be working right now but there are some silver linings: a paycheck (yay!), some time to myself (even if it’s just a couple hours a week in the car), and I appreciate the hours I DO get to spend with him even more! Plus I like my boss and have some really great coworkers. My friend and coworker Katie is dying to babysit for us, and I think mom and dad are pretty ready to have a little quality time without the baby very soon.

The first three pics are from this evening, the rest were taken within the last couple weeks.

tummy time

I don't do tummy time with Ari very often because a, he doesn't like it, and b, he just rolls over after a minute or two and has been doing that since maybe week 2 or 3. I know we need to keep doing it though so I am going to keep trying. He is pretty strong already. This is how tummy time goes...