Wes is 2 months old!

It's been a wild 2 months with the little dude. More on this later (it's 1am).

The real pregnancy

Being pregnant, I loved taking cute pictures of my bump ... but I was organizing some photos and found this one that Matt took (when I wasn't looking).  The middle of July (10 days before Wes was born), hot as Hades, feet swollen, reading a baby book...  Very glamorous!

"It's a beaut, Clark."

So we finally got a new furnace.

I know, exciting blog-worthy news. But when you're furnace looked like this - running at 80% efficiency, rusted out in the inside, and overheating so that the nameplate melts down -- it can be pretty exciting stuff to get a new one.

OLD Janitrol Furnace (5 years ago - looked better)

New Trane XV95

2010 is the last year for the tax credit, and our city is offering rebates up to $1000 per household for any energy changes made to your house (we had the audit a month ago). So all in all, we got a good deal on this Trane XV95. Already our house is cooling much better.

Look like?

Matt

+ Rosemarie

= Wes

First walk on the Prairie Path

We usually do our daily walks around town , this time we needed a change of scenery.

Baby formula recall

It took a while to get on the Similac website, but the formula that we had been feeding Wes is on the list of recalled products. (if you had not heard, beetles & larvae were found in several containers so the product has been recalled).

I'm upset not only because this is something that I was feeding my infant, but because I wanted to exclusively breastfeed my baby and circumstances led me to supplement with formula which led my overall milk supply to decrease. I can still and do still breastfeed daily, but not exclusively. It was a catch-22 for sure. And you can be assured my breastmilk doesn't contain larvae... Caffeine and high amount of chocolate superchunk ice-cream maybe, but pretty sure no beetles!
My only consolation was that just 1 week ago, after another bout of gas pains and screaming, we changed the baby to Enfamil GentleEase on the advice of our pediatrician (which so far is working). So could Wes's problem be because of the larvae? I'm not willing to dig into the canister of formula to find out!

Making a Bears fan

My grandpa came over with a football for Wes. This is funny because I come from a very un-sporty family, but all of a sudden they are all very excited about this new boy in our family and with that is all sports stuff!
I already bought Wes his first Cubs outfit to wear next spring. We like the Cubs, the rest of my family are all Sox fans but the Sox outfit at the store was more expensive :) I wonder why??

Shhh the baby's sleeping!

Honestly, the other day I told someone that I felt like the Baby Whisperer trying to figure out what Wes wants when he's fussy (it's not always food, contrary to popular belief).  Then over the weekend I found this article in the tribune labeled Baby Whisperer.

Link to article

It looks like people -- mostly "high-performing professionals" -- get sleep consultants to help them put their babies to sleep (unlike us low-performing professionals who just grin and bear it and do it ourselves.) This is somewhere along the lines of all those crazy animal psychics who move to LA because the stars will pay anything to find out why Mitzi is pooing on the rug ("She's telling me that she'd like you to take her outside so she can poo in the grass instead.")

And seriously, the more money you make the more likely you're totally disconnected to reality and will listen to someone who tells you this (from the article):

"For those parents who can't stand to hear a baby cry, some consultants might recommend the "sleep shuffle," an elaborate system in which a parent spends a few nights sleeping on the floor next to the crib and then gradually moves farther away until he or she is sleeping in the hall outside the nursery door and eventually in his or her own bed."

When I read that to Matt, he laughed out loud, "Sleep on the floor? That is insane!"  If you want to be close to your baby so that you can attend to their needs, put a bassinet next to your bed. That way you're all sleeping in a bed. Duh!  That's what we did and just 2 weeks ago ( @ 6 weeks old), Wes has started sleeping in his own crib in his room.  We started slowly -- the 1st shift in there and the 2nd in our room, and now he's in there all night.

If you're a "high-performing professional" sleeping on the floor next to a crib (or in a hall outside the nursery), then you're an idiot, and you get paid too much.  One of the skills employers look for is problem solving, thinking outside the box, creative solutions -- hiring a person to tell you to sleep on the floor and actually doing it means you don't have any of those skills.

I do.  And I am sorely underpaid. And I sleep in my own bed.

Only $130

My mom and I found this stuffed alligator when we were out shopping today. Here I am in a furniture store and this is what I find. Looks like my priorities have changed, a little. Pricey, but Anything oversized is way cool.

Toothless Joe

Poor Mini Cooper had to have 3 teeth removed this morning. That cat has some serious dental disease not caused by deadbeat parents but by genetics. She got her two big canines removed -- the ones that make a cat look like a cat. I haven't seen the damage yet, she's hiding somewhere, but good thing she has her boyfriend Guinness because her single's ad reading " overweight and toothless" wouldn't get that many responses!

8 weeks old today

Cat stroller

Not really, but maybe he's giving us a hint that he also want to go for daily walks! This is the first that Guinness has napped in the stroller and it's been out since before the babe was home. He did go to the vet that day so maybe he just needed someplace to snuggle...

Baby on schedule?

Ever since the little tyke was born, everyone has been telling me that I need to get him on a schedule.

I was clueless how to go about doing this, and I felt like I was too busy trying to get to know my son (and vice versa) to concentrate on scheduling ... I just fed him when he got hungry and prayed he would nap during the day. My 2 problems is that I have a hard time getting him to nap, and that I don't know how much to feed him.

After 7 weeks, I will finally start working on putting the baby on a schedule.  My goal?  1) To get him to take 2 naps a day. 2) Work in some tummy time. 3) Get a handle on his feeding (how much and when).

Napping:  So far, I was able to put him down for an 11AM nap in his crib wrapped in him woombie. I realize (after 7 weeks and on the advice of my new pediatrician) that the kid HAS to be swaddled. The woombie is our swaddler. And it's ok to put him to nap when he's still "awake," and not have him fall asleep in my arms.  Now it's 3PM and he fell asleep on my chest after his feeding, so I took advtange of it by putting him back in his crib/woombie to nap. He's little fussy in there, but not crying YET.

Feeding:  Today, I'm trying to track feeding sessions -- not just everytime/length of his feeds. So in some sessions he'll get bo.ob and bottle, other times just bottle. It looks like he's hungry for 4-5oz of bottle at least. This will take more time to master, I'm hoping to feed him at certain times of the day too.

I feel like progress is being made.  I hope he'll get on some schedule before I have to go back to work (5 more weeks!)

Bears vs Lions

The view from Matt's season ticket seats! How cool is that? He bought them off a friend from work who's had them forever, so this was Matt's 2010 splurge-- like a male equivalent of a Birkin bag :)

Wes & the kids

This morning we hung out at our friend L's house for breakfast and her kids had fun with Wes -- and vice versa, I think Wes loved being around the kids! They were so cute and kind with him.

Anniversary

Our anniversary was Sunday and we had a celebratory breakfast at Simple, a new place in Lake Geneva. So tonight I made Matt our anniversary dinner -- sweet potato quesidillas with grapefruit margaritas.
Happy 7th love!

Labor day weekend

For labor day weekend, we're in Lake Geneva with all the family. Saturday we went to the Walworth county fair where Wes got to see his first cows. We ate corn, fried cheese, and cream puffs, saw all the farm animals, the rides of the midway ( where matt refused to do his Joe dirt impersonation by the tilt-a-whirl!), and harness horse racing. It's a miniature Wisconsin state fair and really fun.

Today we hung out at my uncle's pier and then dinner at my mom's. We numbered 18 and it was super fun. Wes was the hit of the party!

New car ??

I'm 1/2 way through my maternity leave and they go ahead and change the Metra schedules for my train up north-- for the worse. My morning commute will now be almost 2hrs, my train won't get into town until 915am, and my return commute shortens my connection that I HAVE to catch to pick up baby from daycare... Yep. No good all the way around.
Matt and I talked and agreed I may have to start driving. Not my 1st choice, but my only choice. Instead of sleeping, reading, and decompressing on the train before I turn into "mommy", I will be stressing in traffic on the tri-state.
We agreed that my 70mile commute needs a new fuel efficient car (our BMW is not that fuel efficient and the Honda is old 2 doors, and can't fit a car seat). So my trusty Honda Civic that I bought at 23 when I got my first job in '98 will get sold. Snif.
It stinks that we're forced to get a new car for this reason. I wish I lived closer toy job but that's life. Right now we're looking into a Jetta Sportwagon TDI-- clean diesel auto that gets great has mileage and I love wagons for some reason. We'll see what we end up with...

Just call him "stretch"

Matt and I started joking that Wes's nickname should be stretch because he's always stretching and he's a long kid.

So today we went for our 1 month check up at our new pediatrician (yes we've already switched practices). Wes has gained almost 2 lbs since his visit on the 20th (13 days) He's now 10lbs 12oz!!!

Then they measured him ... He was 21" @ birth and now measured 23-1/4". The nurse wanted to redo it because she said he couldn't have gained that much. Her 2nd measure came out as 23-1/2"! That puts him at the 91% in height-- 68% in weight.

Not bad... Now he can officially be called Stretch!