Date Night Out

A few weeks ago, I looked down at myself in the same sweatshirt I wear every night and the same leggings I wear every night and my ratty slippers I wear every night. I then looked over at my husband sitting across from me on the couch staring at the TV in the same sweatpants he wears every night in the usual t-shirt he wears every night. And then I said to myself, "Self....you need to get OUT. And so does that hot hubby of yours." So I dragged my ratty-slipper-covered foot over and rubbed it against my husband's toes to get his attention. I know, I'm a pro in the romance department.

Once I had his attention, I brought up the idea that we needed to get out of the house for a night. Time to get all razzle dazzle and hit the town, without our beloved daughter in tow. He jumped at the mention of a date night and we immediately texted our trusty sitter to lock in a Saturday night out.

Back in the day, pre-child, one of our favorite date night out traditions was to go to a quaint little greek restaurant by our house that is BYOB. It's one of those places where the tables are all too close together but that usually leads to meeting fun random people as you guzzle your respectable bottles of wine and eat your delicious food. From there, we would always bar crawl our way up and down the street by our house and then stumble home. We haven't done that in ages and for whatever reason, we were both itching to get out and just get drunk...just the two of us.

Of course, these days, neither of us have the tolerance we used to, so we knew it would likely be an early night. Our sitter came and we headed out. The night was fantastic and just what we needed. We ate, drank, and wandered the streets in the falling snow holding hands. I miss "dating" my husband and it was a nice reminder that we can't forget to take time out for us too.

Even if these days, our stamina only keeps us going until oh, I don't know.....10pm.

Sicky Baby

Auto correct immediately tried to change the title of this post from "sicky" to "sucky". Well played, auto-correct, well played.

Having a sick infant is the worst. Thankfully, we haven't had to deal with this beast until 7 months. For a while I thought it was because she was born with our rock-solid immune systems. That might be part of it, but I think it's mostly because she hasn't been exposed to very many sick babies. Unfortunately, getting sick is a necessary evil for her to build up the amazing immunity that her parents both have.

As we're working our way out of the woods from this first cold, I thought I'd compile a list of some things I learned. Turns out, treating infant sicklings is much different than treating yourself. Shocking, I know. 

-Psssh! That's no fever! That is literally exactly what my pediatrician said to me when I called the emergency phone number at 6:30am Monday morning in a panic over my daughters 100.5 degree temperature. Ok, maybe not what she said exactly, but in so many words. Mind you, this call was placed after the thermometer nearly blew up from flashing a bright red and beeping non-stop at me after taking her temp. What's a new mommy to do but panic!? That's why this list is so important. Turns out, 100.5 is nothing in terms of fever when it comes to newbies. In fact, it's barely a fever. You're only really entering into the realm of a "fever" when that child's temperature reaches around 104-105 degrees. I KNOW. Right?? Is your jaw on the floor? Because mine was. And it continued to be as my veteran mommy friends all agreed with my doctors response. Crazy. But, now I know, I guess.

-Said fever has a purpose. To put your panicky new mommy mind at ease while your taking your child's temperature over and over again and it's still flashing red, beeping, and showing a temp of over 100, try this mantra: it's helping her to get better. The fever is the body taking assault on the virus and making it go away. I can't tell you how many times I've had to remind myself of that in the last few days.

-Boogie Wipes. That kitschy baby shower gift you got that you were all like, "aww, what a cute idea!" even though you weren't really sure you'd ever use it? Well, I'm so thankful a certain girlfriend threw Boogie Wipes into my gift. Because those little wipes have officially won me over as a customer this week. They smell fantastic, are extra soft, and don't seem to irritate the skin above the lips like normal tissues do. And anything that will make my life easier with a less fussy baby is key in my book.

-Steaming is the bomb. To help your little sicky get some relief, give them a day at the spa. Turn that shower on as hot as it will go and let the steam envelope their lungs. Make sure to bring some toys along to keep that little one distracted and dress lightly, as you will be sweating your buns off. We've been doing steam showers over and over and over again. 

-Humidify. Our humidifier has been kicking at high speed all week. Supposedly this helps. I would have a better answer or be singing more praises if it took care of the sick problem within a matter of days. Unfortunately, according to my mommy friends, infant colds last for weeks. Now that's a stamina I'm not fond of.

-Those snot bulbs give me the shivers. Ugh. Those things are the worst! I don't think we've figured them out still. I've watched videos, Adam's tried, I've tried... we still can't seem to succeed in getting very much mucous out. Ick. I hate that word. Anyways, that bulb thing still brings me back to my childhood and being terrified of the "foofer" as we called it. Therefore, I'm having a hard time being ok with using it on my own child despite the little voice in my head that says "it'll make her feel better" as she's screaming at the top of her lungs while I torture her. Nose Frida is another option. That makes me want to gag, but I hear it's better? Any thoughts mama's?

-Sick baby snuggles rock. Ok, out of all of this misery, there is a bright spot. My little munchkin that is all too quickly growing out of the snuggly stage has suddenly become the world's best snuggler again. The feeling of knowing you are her mommy (or daddy) and your snuggles are just what she needs to feel better is the best in the world. 

Snow Day

This winter can go bye-bye ANYTIME NOW. I am so over it!

Since I clearly have no control over mother nature, last week we chose to use it as a chance to expose our baby to the mountains of snow piles outside our apartment. Adly is fascinated by looking out the window at snowflakes falling and staring at the snow. Thanks to all the freezing temps we've been having she has been stuck inside her own prison (our apartment) for most of this winter. During the last snowstorm, with Adam and I experiencing our own feelings of being like caged animals, we decided to throw caution to the wind and send our daughter out into the wild to experience some life. And FUN.  

So we bundled her up in her snowsuit, which resembles something of that kid in The Christmas Story, took her outside and threw her in a snow bank. She sat and stared at us like we were a couple of idiots who took her hands away, put her in something she couldn't move in, and then exposed her to a bunch of cold stuff. 

These are the parenting moments I live for.

 Exactly who's idea of FUN is this?!

7 Months

At 7 months, Adly is making moves towards crawling. This happens in quick dives for objects then pulling herself back up. Girl has abs of steel. She is also occasionally ending up on all fours, but then she just sits there. I'm ok with that. I will enjoy our immobile little one as long as it lasts.

She is loving all kinds of foods. Some she tried in the last month were trout, yogurt, blueberries, strawberries, bread, leeks, parsnips, spinach, corn, Cheerios, carrots, and bananas. Many of these were in mixtures of chunky purees and she seems to enjoy them all. She is not a fan of avocado, no matter how many times I try, but that's about it. She hasn't conquered the pincer grasp yet, so usually the foods she tries to pick up end up in her fist and then on the floor, despite attempts to shove them into her mouth. For now she's perfectly happy with others doing all the work for her. 

She is a mover and a shaker...without really moving. Every time you pick her up she loves to dive, squirm, look everywhere and attempt to move anywhere but your arms. But yet she wants to be held. So indecisive.

We still have no teeth cutting through, yet the "teething" continues. Drool, drool, drool. Biting everything within reach. But still no teefers.

Babbles of the month have been da-da-da, a few ma-ma-ma's, ba-ba-ba and na-na-na. She also experiments with making "ts-ts" noises. 

She loooooves giving kisses. She's now become comfortable with giving pretty much anyone kisses, as long as there's no facial hair in the way. These kisses come in the form of a big, open mouthed, slobbery facial press. They're fantastic.

Stranger danger is for real now. It takes a bit for her to warm up to anyone outside of mom and dad. However, she can usually persuaded with Minnie, her remote control, or any electronics. As long as mom or dad are still within eyesight. 

Socks. What is it with the socks? Her latest achievement has been sitting and figuring out how to pull them off her feet. This takes a lot of effort and time, usually also a lot of grunting as her belly gets in the way. Once the sock is released from the foot, it immediately ends up in the mouth with victorious slaps on the legs and laughing like it's the greatest accomplishment since sliced bread. It's the little things in life. 

Gone are the days of the adorable, posable baby. Now it's an adorable baby that won't sit still....

Transitions

It's been over a month since I've returned to work, so I thought I'd update on the progress. In the beginning, I have to admit, it was awful. It was definitely much more difficult than I expected, but in ways that I wasn't necessarily expecting.

On one hand, a perk to my job is the fact that I don't stop moving or thinking from the time I set foot into my classroom. Therefore, I never had time to sit down and dwell over the fact that I was no longer spending my days watching my little one grow. I'm thankful for that.

On the other hand, my job (like most jobs) is mentally draining and exhausting. So my transition back to work as a mom has been harder in ways that I wasn't expecting. Yes, I miss Adly constantly while I'm at work. But she's in great hands at home with her daddy. The hardest part of the transition for me has actually been figuring out how to balance work and home life.

Prior to having Adly, I had no problem staying for hours after work to toil away organizing and planning on a regular basis. I also used to get to work a mere 30 minutes before they day began. These days, I find myself waking up at 5:30am to begin my day and get ready before 6. Around that time, Adly tends to wake up and then she nurses and I pump at the same time. Multi-tasking at it's finest. 

We usually have time for about 10 minutes of mommy and Adly play time before we wake Adam up so I can finish with running around packing up for the day. Then I'm out the door to get to work by 7 and I don't stop going until the bell rings at 3:15pm. Soon after school is over, I head home with any paperwork, grading, or planning items I may need to work on that night. When I get home, Adam and Adly are usually awaiting my return. I'm so lucky Adly loves giving big, slobbery kisses because that is by far my favorite part of every day.

We usually get a little more play time in before she's down for a one-hour power nap, then it's up to eat, play, and then bath time. Once Adly is down at 7, it's time to cook, eat, and then relax/work/talk to my husband before I pass out usually around 9:30.

Sure, my schedule is just like so many working mommy's schedules out there. My hat is off to all of them. I will say that I'm slowly but surely getting into the swing of things, but it is not easy by any means. I'm mentally and physically zapped at the end of the day. But, I know it gets easier. It has to. I have so many friends with two and three kids...and they do it! So as I'm entering into the middle of February and six weeks into being a working mommy, I'm trying to remember that it will only continue to get better. That I'll one day begin to feel a normal balance again....even if that day seems light years away at this point.

But at the very least, this little sock eating monkey certainly makes it all worthwhile.

Close Call

I read a post a while back that a busy mom of two kids had written. She spoke of watching her little one in the bathtub, distractedly checking her emails on her phone, while intermittently splashing water with her baby. Present, but not present. Within seconds her baby went underwater. Seconds. And in that time the baby managed to inhale water and choked pretty badly. I don't remember the exact details, but the baby was okay. The post was written as a reflection and a reminder that things happen in an instant with these squirmy, curious little babes.

That post was one that stuck with me. Last Thursday, just like any other night, I found myself sitting next to the tub with my own little one splashing away in her baby bathtub. She sits up now on her own in the tub and has some toys she loves to play with while she's in there.

My hands were in the tub, my body was right next to her. I wasn't on my phone or busy doing other things, because you know, I had read that post. I had learned from her mistakes. But my mind was elsewhere. Thinking about packing for the weekend, work, and anything else but my baby in the tub. And in that very moment she dove for a toy, and in she went, face first under the water.

It happened in an instant and lasted for a split second before I yanked her out. She couldn't breathe from all the water she inhaled. My mind froze and all I could think to do was to slap her on the back and mentally scream, "breathe, breathe, BREATHE!!!".

I yelled for Adam and within what was about 30 seconds she began to clear her airway on her own.

It felt like an eternity.

She was fine after coughing up some water and within minutes was back to her usual self. These things happen, and with curious babies, they happen more often than we'd like. Instead of beating myself up for not being a good parent, not paying enough attention, I've chosen to use it as a learning experience. I've since asked a lot of other moms what they would do or have done. They've all listened to the story like, "oh yeah...something like that has happened to me too" and then passed on their sage advice that will hopefully stick with me the next time something frightening happens.

Until then, I'm just relieved to know that this sweet bath time face is going to keep on smiling up at me from her little pink tub.