Growth Spurt

Ben is officially gigantic. I just put him in the swing and I think he is going to break it. It is creaking and groaning like only a 16 IBS/ 3 month old baby could do to a swing with a 15 IBS weight/8 month limit...I like this growing he is doing now though because we are in to a new set of clothes... YAAAA

A Night Out

Jon and I went on our first babyless date last night. I wrote 2 pages of "paranoid mother notes" to his grandparents who were more then capable of caring for him with only one page I'm sure. We went to Jack Astors, Jon had the steak and I had Fajitas, it was good because I didn't have to make it... I would have eaten rocks for dinner for that very reason alone! We went to Homescence after dinner to get some Christmas gifts and a new Mirror for the bathroom. Jon's gift to me this year is a mini bathroom reno. It was painted last week and this week I am picking out the fixtures. I conjured up some semi interesting, clever topics of conversation not relating to babies and or toddler growth and development. For a couple of hours I was remembering who I was again and not only "Ben's mom". Then around the time Ben would need fed and we decided to get groceries before going home (Ben had a bottle at home for him of course..) I started to get the baby brain back. I forgot who Jenn was and became "mommy" again. All I could hear in my head was "feed the baby- feed the baby-feed the baby..." A little more distantly I could hear Jon's voice getting louder and louder. "What?" I said - "DO YOU WANT THESE NUTS!" I got the impression that was not the first time he had asked me. I had been standing there in the baking isle looking at an endless variety of nuts for my fudge but couldn't make sense of any of them. "Feed the baby- feed the baby- feed the baby!!!!" I gave up on the nuts as my shirt started to get wetter and wetter. We got some milk and went home.

As first dates go I would still say it went well. I was glad to have some uninterupted time with Jon and not have to worry (too much) about Ben (who had a wonderful time with his grandparents by the way). Jon did ask when my brain would come back... I said maybe by date 7 but really I fear it never will!

Chomper

Ben is a drooly baby. He has soaked multiple bibs a day for some time now. Usually I don't mind as its an excuse to change outfits when you can ring out the one he's wearing. Two weeks ago however his drooling got ridiculas! I had to buy a plastic backed bib as I couldn't keep up with the laundry changing outfits four times a day demands! Someone suggested he is teething. Of course he is not teething- he's 2 months old! I disrigarded this comment until last week when he would not stop crying. This was a painful cry, a wail interupted with sobs and gasps complete with fat tears rolling down his bright red cheeks. This was a break your mother's heart kind of cry, and one that I had not ever heard before. I stripped off all his clothes to look at every inch of him. I could not find a thing wrong with him until he tilted his head back in order to get out the highest pitch he could. It was then I saw "chomper"! "JOOOOOOOOOOOOOOON!!!!!! IS THIS WHAT I THINK IT IS?!" It was, he agreed Ben's first tooth. We have personified this premature tooth by giving it a name so we have "someone" to blame for the nightmare that has been our first teething experiance. Ben is too young to have enouph co ordination to put his fingers in his mouth, reach and mouth a teething ring or suck on a cold wash cloth. None of the tried and true remedies apply to him sadly and so he cries and cries and his dad and I curse Chomper! Secretly when the crying ends and Ben is happy again we will remain proud at his first early achievment. For now though we dread the next 17 to come.

Christmas Traditions

Jon and I started making ginger bread houses together the first Christmas we were together.Usually we have a competition to see whose is the best.. I usually vote for mine and he usually votes for his so generally we tie, being such fans of ourselves. One year I sabotaged his icing so that is was too runny. His roof kept falling off and he has not to this day forgiven me for it! It has, nevertheless become a Christmas tradition that we look forward to and were happy to share with Ben this year. We were maybe a little too excited and made one a little early but we will make more before the season is over!

Jonapalooza

Last Saturday began Jonapalooza... 4 days of celebrating Jon's Birthday. It started with the Mandarin with my family where we ate far too much of course but it was very delicious! Sunday night I slaved all day trying to make the perfect cake... I used tiered cakes pans and bought a fancy platter- my cake however was a disaster as it cooked tilted in the oven and was lopsided. My second attempt was a fool proof Betty crocker in circular pans that I have made dozens of times. This time however I was a little sleep deprived and could not follow the simple instructions. What turned out was a crumbly, stuck to the pan mess. I displayed my pathetic efforts at Jon's "friends" birthday party that night as exhibit A and B of why we have an ice cream cake. I enjoyed most of that PCP (pop-chip-parent) party however feel asleep upstairs a couple hours into it and woke up to an empty house! Oh well, our friends understand. Monday night we went to Jon's parents for his traditional Mac and cheese, ham birthday dinner complete with his Mother's Score bar cake that as always turned out perfectly and Martha Stewart herself would envy. Today is Jon's REAL birthday....and the worse one- he and I are both home sick with the flu and a baby who is on a sleep strike. Not that much fun at all really, I don't think I will bake another cake...

Benbo in his Bumbo

A bumbo chair is a miraculous invention and the key recently to my sanity. It is a foam chair with a sunken base and high support back that hugs a baby who is no where near ready to sit up him own but only wants to sit upright. Ben will sit in his "Bumbo" very contentedly when every other contraption just will not do!- To the makers of Bumbo whoever and wherever you are... a very heartfelt THANK YOU!!!!

Adventures in Poop

Ben has had a bowel movement only every 4-7 days since birth. The Dr. assures me that this is fine while he is breast fed. It may be fine but there is not a diaper made that can hold a whole weeks worth. When I know he's due I make sure to pack an extra outfit and a whole new package of wipes in his bag. Two days ago Ben beat his own record for most poop ever when he exploded out of his diaper, up his back into his hair and down his legs touching his ankles. I put down a paper change table cover and after surveying the mess (the diaper shirt was a write off...straight into the garbage!) decided to move the clean up to the bathroom where he definitely needed a bath. I have not given Ben a bath for quite some time now. Jon just brings him in the shower in the morning and its a lot easier then hauling out his bathtub- which I quickly found out was too small for him now as all the water was pushed out as I laid him the tub. Now I am kneeling in poopy water covering the bathroom floor and as I look up from the towels I have thrown down my sweet little boy is peeing...up and over the tub onto my already filthy, flooded bathroom floor! I pick him up (still coated with poop!) and lay him (on a towel) on our bed. I look at him he looks at me "I don't know what to do!" I finally say. He stares hard at me for a moment and then begins to laugh . Ah, nothing like perspective from an eleven week old- so we lauphed and then we had a shower!

Sad Little Cough

Ben's cough is the most pathetic thing I have ever heard. It is very congested sounding and it worries his mother a great deal! I had to call Telahealth since as a new mother it is required I call over every little tiny detail of his health. I need to hear a medical professional say "there there frantic- paranoid -first- time- Mother- who- has- no -idea- what- she- is- doing, you are doing everything right." "Lisa" the Telahealth nurse did tell me just this and left me with her wise medical advise of "encourage him to cough the mucus up". Here I was thinking my baby was right on track and if anything a little advanced but so far I have yet to encourage him to do anything he responds to... How exactly am I suppose to encourage this coughing? Hang him upside down and pat his back? Clap? give him a cookie??! He's two months old for crying out loud! I am beginning to question weather or not the telehealth nurses are REAL nurses or are they just reading the computer prompts of the same sites I just Googled? But even if they are just random literate people being paid minimum wage to talk down frantic parents from taking there kids into the already over crowded emergency room over a splinter- sometimes it is just nice to hear someone say "your doing a good job."

To Cloth or not to Cloth...

I NEVER though I would want to use cloth diapers. I had visions of folding and pins and plastic pants and bow legged babies with leaky diapers until I noticed a little boy at the playgroup we go to being changed. What an adorable blue bum... these cloth diapers were alot nicer then Ben's chemical soup diapers (as the advocates for the cloth affectionately refer to the environmental outrage that is the disposable). They were like a regular diaper with velcro and all one soft colour of blue with the vinyl outside acting as an attractive leak guard. I asked this little boys mother how she liked them and was introduced over the course of the next hour to the cloth diaper and all they many colours and sizes they come in. She would never go back to disposables and I didn't see her eating granola or hug even one tree all morning! I can do this too! I was very excited about being and "earth mother" all week until Friday when I went down to the laundry room to switch over the wash to discover water all over the floor.... and a broken washing machine. That is the one thing cloth diapers do require. My earth mother excitement ends at going down to the pond to beat cloth diapers on the rocks with some biodegradable bar soap. I will revisit the issue when we get another washing machine and until then do my part in killing the planet one stinky diaper at a time.