Lil' Monkey's first big trip

The day after Christmas, we travelled to my MIL's house which is about 5 hours away (that's with one bathroom break and no traffic). Prior to this trip, I have been making a conscious effort to put Monkey in the car everyday for a ride (or two) since he HATES being confined in the car seat. Sometimes he'll cry the whole way to the store, to the mall, to my office, etc. So DH and I were prepared for the most miserable ride of our lives to DH mother's house.

We devised a plan to leave at his bedtime -- equiped with new diaper and warm sleeper and after pumping him full of milk. But as anyone knows, even the perfect plan sometimes strays when executed. And for anyone who knows DH and I, they know we ALWAYS leave late. So the 6:30 departure turned into a 7:15 departure and for the first 15 minutes, Monkey was very fussy. However, he suddenly just fell asleep and stayed asleep for 2 hours! And for each stop we made (2 each on the way down and the way back), he would wake up, get a new diaper and pretty much go back to sleep within a half hour! And during that half hour of wakefulness, he would just sit in his car seat making cute little noises! Such a GOOD BOY!

Pictured to the right is a photo of him getting an impromptu bath in Grandmom's kitchen sink. We had a little difficulty getting him to sleep in the playpen while at Grandmom's house, however, he did well considering. I'm just so proud of him and majorly relieved that this trip wasn't the complete nightmare I expected.

Apple Customer Service -- FANTASTIC!

Just before the Holidays, I had the unfortunate incident of my trackpad acting up and the button locking on my MacBook Pro. After some personal investigation of the computer and finding a post about battery "swelling" causing odd issues on MacBooks, I realized that I too had an ailing Mac suffering from just this problem (my battery pictured below ... sorry photo is a little blurry).

I performed a search within the support section of Apple's web site and found a knowledge base record with the suggestion to make a reservation at an Apple Store "Genius Bar". There were plenty of reservation spots and I made the reservation for the next afternoon.

So the next day, Mom and I packed up Monkey and headed to the Apple Store (which is in a very popular mall near here, so I prepared mentally for the crowded stores and general stress-making nature of this adventure). We went into the store and as I approached the Genius Bar, I noticed that it truly was a "bar", complete with stools for customers to sit on while waiting. When I got there, all of the stools were taken but within 3 minutes, a person's iPod issue was resolved and I had a stool!

At the Genius Bar, they place the first name and last initial of each person with a reservation onto a screen behind the bar showing who is next. When I arrived, I was third in line with a Tony S. behind me. Okay here the story goes into a tangent ... the Tony S. was Tony Snow! When I first came up to the bar, I saw him and said to myself, "Is that ...?" but after reading the screen I realized I was correct! Now the folks at the Genius Bar DID take Tony S. prior to me but I figured that's okay, since he's a bit of celebrity for those who have ever paid attention to White House press conferences.

Anyway, back to the real story ... shortly after they had worked on Tony S.'s laptop, they called my name. The lady who helped me (I wish I remembered her name) was very nice, knowledgeable and didn't give me any sales pitch or anything! She simply tried out the laptop for herself, immediately recognized the issue, found a new battery in their stock supply and popped it in (that took approximately 4 minutes total)! No fooling around! She even tested the new battery to make sure that it was indeed charging correctly. All of this wonderfull service and the new battery was free! Nevermind that the battery should have been free since this was a known issue. I've just had such BAD customer service elsewhere recently that I figured this might go horribly as well. However, I'm so happy with the experience that 9 days later I just had to post about it!

How Christmas went ... Update to Baby's First Christmas

It was fun and lil' Monkey was very tired after Granny, Pop and Great-Grandmom left. He was so wound up because of all of the festivities. Opening gifts, sitting at the dining room table in his high chair for the first time, plenty of people to hold him and play with him. How can a baby be expected to nap with such interesting things going on?! (Fingers crossed he'll stick to his bedtime routine since his afternoon nap was about 2 hours late.)

It was definitely a little odd to be the one opening all of the gifts I had wrapped for him only a few days earlier. He did get to pull stuff out of one gift bag which was a new and exciting experience for him. I'm sure next year he'll have the hang of ripping the paper off of the gifts. This year he was interested in eating it mostly. :)

Per the images in this post, Monkey did pretty well this year in the gift department. And we haven't even been to Grandmom K's house yet!

Trogg's Nog -- Egg Nog gets a makeover!

We did not have a Christmas party this year and will probably not have another one until lil' Monkey is a bit older. We had ONE party two years ago and I had wanted it to be a tradition. But being in my first trimester last year, I just didn't have the energy. This year we have Monkey which makes partying a bit hard so I think we'll hold off on continuing that tradition for a few years. Er, STARTING that tradition really.

However, there's one item we served at the party which I believe will become a tradition in the meantime: Trogg's nog. (I don't think the drink was named after Trogdor but the image fits IMO.)

I might just have one this Christmas Eve after Monkey goes to bed. If anyone is interested, here's the recipe (from Drink Swap):

Ice cubes
1 oz. Grand Marnier
1/2 oz. Creme de Cacao
Fill to top with Egg Nog

Enjoy!

Baby's First Christmas -- thoughts or stories?

Ever since I found out I was pregnant with lil' Monkey, I have wondered what his first Christmas would be like. I really like Christmas. Not so much for the gifts and definitely not the shopping for the gifts (I used to like these things but now they're just not that important anymore), but rather for the festive lights, food and seeing people you generally don't see that often. And even though I have tried to dream about what his first Christmas would be like, I am having a hard time thinking of how it's supposed to go.

He loves our tree (shown to the right) in all it's bright blue glory (he's at that age where blue is a big hit)! And for family and friends on our mailing list, you'll be receiving a photo card of him in front of it (might still be in the mail -- as usual I procrastinated). So that's one part of the dream that I expected to come true and it has.

However, he's just a little guy and isn't really at an age where he can open or even appreciate the gifts given to him. But you've got to have the obligatory photo ops, right? Afterall, it's "Baby's First Christmas"!

So I wanted to ask the seasoned parents reading this post, to tell us your suggestions and/or stories about your baby's first Christmas.

Blogs as Journals and Litmus Tests

I used to think blogging was for megalomaniacs who think the world is interested in what they have to say (please, read the rest and save the hate mail), but now I realize that it's a journal for most people and way of creating a community of people with common interests. It can also be a cathartic means of dealing with today's rat race and bouncing your thoughts around as a litmus test for sanity. Or at least it will be for me.

According to Merriam-Webster, journal is defined as:

Main Entry: jour·nal Pronunciation: 'j&r-n&l
Function: noun
Etymology: Middle English, service book containing the day hours, from Anglo-French jurnal,jurnal, adjective, daily, from Latin diurnalis, from diurnus of the day, from dies day -- more at DEITY
1 a : a record of current transactions; especially : a book of original entry in double-entry bookkeeping b : an account of day-to-day events c : a record of experiences, ideas, or reflections kept regularly for private use d : a record of transactions kept by a deliberative or legislative body e : LOG 3 f : LOG 4
2 a : a daily newspaper b : a periodical dealing especially with matters of current interest
3 : the part of a rotating shaft, axle, roll, or spindle that turns in a bearing

So although a personal journal is private (see dictionary entry "1c" above), written on paper, perhaps in a book-like format, a blog is none of these. And since this blog will be primarily used to keep family and friends updated on our lil' monkey and mommy's sanity pH levels, we'll say this blog fits definition 2b ("of current interest" to myself and perhaps those wanting to know those little baby details). I hate actually writing with pen and paper now (my handwriting has deteriorated since college into scrawl) and I can attach pictures to this thing to illustrate points (something I can't say I'd do in a written journal). So why keep a traditional journal? This will hopefully be much more fun.

Okay enough self-reflection for the day. Take care everyone.

Reality checks, tidbits and observations

I've come to realize there are just little things that you will not know as a non-parent until you actually have children.  I was sitting in bed this morning at 4:45, trying desperately to go back to sleep and began to make a mental list.  This list is comprised of reality checks, tidbits and general observations.  Some list items people probably didn't want to tell you because you would have thought them crazy.  Some are so interwoven into the minutia of everyday parent life that you probably don't really stop to think about them.  Some are really just a "DUH".  It's sort of a "You know you're a parent if ... " type of list.

• The "schedule" you so methodically planned prior to baby's arrival is sure to fail ("l'll feed him at 6 and be to yoga by 8 and then ... ")


• A little pee in your face, on your shirt or down your pajama pants isn't the end of the world


• Getting a little poop on your hand isn't so gross


• Going to the store with a little spit-up residue on your shoulder is OK


• No doubt that when you start breastfeeding you will suddenly develop an itch where you cannot reach


• Always take off baby's socks prior to feeding him/her baby food (green bean toes!)


• If pretending to feed Mr. Octopus makes the food disappear, then Mr. Octopus gets "fed"


• The trick or game that worked this morning or five minutes ago, might not be the fun-filled activity of the moment


• The song stuck in your head is probably from one of baby's toys now (not from the radio)


• Just because you are a parent, doesn't mean you will automatically bond with other parents, in fact, it might be a point of tension


• Some things are just not so important anymore, like showering everyday


• You have no concept of what the word SACRIFICE means until you are a parent

I know I had more of these earlier this morning.  I will probably update this post again in the future.  But in the meantime, feel free to comment!  I know there's probably a lot more of these tidbits and reality checks that I have yet to experience!

Good night!

T.V. -- how much do you watch?

I thought that once lil' monkey was born that I'd have less time to watch t.v. and in a way I do. But thanks to DVR, I don't necessarily need to be in front of the tube at any particular time. This means I can catch up on "my shows" (no, not soaps) while breastfeeding, folding laundry, etc.

Most of you reading this will be either a friend or family member and while I probably know a good bit of what each of you chooses to watch on television, I thought it might be interesting make a post out of it where everyone can comment. Here are my favorites to watch (in no particular order) with the ones I record designated with an asterisk. As you can see, our DVR is close to being maxed out all of the time.

• The Office *


• Colbert Report *


• Daily Show *


• Dancing with the Stars *


• Heroes *


• Dexter


• Hotel Babylon *


• Dirty Jobs *


• The Wire


• Lost *


• Iron Chef America (and Next Iron Chef while it lasted)


• Good Eats


• Men in Trees

Okay, you're it! Go ahead, list your shows and if you choose, indicate which ones you are so fond of that you actually DVR them!

Worrying too much or not enough?

So as some of you may know, lil' Monkey is already a whopping 15 lbs, 2 ounces.  He's been steadily gaining about half a pound a week.  According to all of the books I read, he's supposed to be gaining about 1 - 1 1/2 pounds. per month at this point.  So this means he's gaining a half pound more than the greater end of those numbers.

Also, as some of you may know, being the daughter of my mother (whom some of you know) , I am inheritly a worry-wart.  I've tried to dampen those impulses as to not cause undue stress on DH, Monkey and myself but it's hard.  Having a child lends itself to this impulse to worry about everything.  "He has a stuffy nose ... is it just the usual baby snottiness or a cold?"  "Okay, he's latched-on, he's eating well ... is he eating too well?"  "He's stopped grunting in his crib ... is he still alive?"  You get the picture.

Now I'm worried about him eating too much.  My cues of when he needs to eat have been messed up lately by the fact that he's started to suck on his fist.  (BTW, his new name is "Slobbers on Fist". )  So during the day, it seems like I'm feeding him everytime he begins to hanker down on his fist like it's best thing since sliced bread. 

Then we started with a routine about a month ago which includes a bottle of half and half.  Half breastmilk and half formula, with the expectation that the formula will help him go the extra mile and let us sleep in a little longer.  And it's worked!  He falls asleep by 9 pm usually and I have until 3 am, maybe if I'm lucky 5 am, to sleep or do work or write in this blog!  We fill the bottle up with 7 ounces and expect him to finish at least 5 of that.  If he doesn't, we're paranoid he'll be up by midnight and we try to feed him some more.

I just read doing that is bad.  It leads to obesity later in life because they're already eating to satiate themselves to that extended point. GREAT.  Now what?  So I've taken to letting him eat as much as he wants, then putting him to bed. Giving him a little time and sometimes he wakes back up ready to eat within a half hour (snacking is the term I believe).  If he doesn't wake up for that second dose of food within a half hour, we wake him up.  I KNOW, I KNOW.  I can hear some of you shrieking in horror at that one.  But now that I'm working from home, I've got to A) get some work done, B) have some ME time to do things like this and C) most importantly, get some rest.

You know what would solve this?  Winning the lottery.  Then neither of us would have to work and Monkey could feed anytime he wanted.  Oh who am I kidding?!  I'd still need a routine to be sane.

Okay, good people!  I've got to pump then hit the hay!

Baby's new routine

We've decided that lil' Monkey needs a routine.  A co-worker of DH's gave us the basic plan and I was hesitant at first (since she has four kids and in general has a stricter, more aggressive view on things because of that).  But we've modified the plan to suit us and be a little more gentle.  I just can't bring myself to turn the monitor off and shut the door but I can say that with each passing night, the volume on the monitor gets lower and lower.

You see, he still does his grunts, especially at night, especially after feeding.  So if I feed him at 2:30 am, he grunts, LOUDLY, until 3:30 sometimes straight through until his next feeding at 4:30 - 5:00.  I can't sleep through that so hence the monitor volume has been turned down a little more each night.

In the mommy group I attended on Wednesday, a member brought in a video by Dr. Harvery Karp (the Happiest Baby on the Block guy).  He has a five "S's" theory.  I can't remember all of the S's (Monkey was fussing through most of the video) -- but the one he kept suggesting was swaddling. 

Now we haven't swaddled lil' Monkey much since he was 3 weeks old.  He would always break out of it and if we tried to use the hardcore velcro kind, he'd pitch a fit until we took him out of it.  However, tonight, he was battling the bedtime and I decided to try again.  The nurse who monitors the mommy group meetings suggested just swaddling from the waist down so his arms were free.  And that's what I did.  So far, it's worked!  I'm completely amazed!

Of course, now my SIDS radar has kicked in and I'm petrified that he'll wiggle out of it and suffocate himself.

Manic Monday

Wow.  So glad today is a new day.  Yesterday was not very good.

It started out well.  Lil' Monkey and I went to Dick's to get a sports bra (since none of mommy's pre-pregnancy sports bras fit her breastfeeding boobs! -- see "Feeling really white" post).  Got the bra and headed home.

About 10 minutes away from home, I hear Monkey in the back in his car seat grunting.  They sounded like his usual "poop grunts" so I thought "he'll need a new diaper when we get home".  WELL, about 5 minutes later he starts screaming and crying.  We're close to home, so I pick up the speed and finally pull into our neighborhood.

When I go to get him out of the car, I realize why he had been screaming.  He pooped OUT THE SIDE OF HIS DIAPER AND ONESIE, ALL OVER THE CAR SEAT.  Not only that but he had put his hand in it and had smeared it all over his face, his body and the straps of the car seat.

Now I was truly surprised by my actions.  I suppose I had slept enough the night before because instead of being upset, I just kept laughing.  Unfortunately, Monkey did not find it so funny.  But he was a happy camper after I gave him a bath and a new clean diaper and clothes.

So Monday nights, as I mentioned in my previous post, are "raid" nights for DH.  So Monkey and I are pretty much on our own except for an hour or so around dinner.  Monkey decided to go into his "cycle" of being upset at about 8:30 (15 minutes into DH's WoW raid).  I had fed Monkey, burped him, and DH had just changed his diaper before the raid.  I checked his diaper again and nothing.  I walked him around for several minutes in the two different ways he likes to be held when he's upset like that. 

NADA, still upset.  So I decided to open a new toy that he received on Sunday. He's screaming in his crib and I'm trying my darnest to get this thing out of it's bullet-proof/child-proof packaging.  And then it happens.  The scissors slipped and I gouged my hand.  At first, I thought, "Okay, it's just a minor cut".  But then when I went into the bathroom, I realized otherwise.  Blood was gushing out really fast and I just started crying.  Partly because it hurt, but partly because I knew this meant I'd have to get DH off the game, we'd have to go to the emergency room with Monkey in tow and that would take forever.  And then I'd have to watch Monkey with sore hand for a week or more.

Honestly, our local hospital hasn't been that bad with the two emergency visits we've had in the past 45 days.  Last night, we were in at 8:45 and out by 10:00.  I got two stitches in my hand. 

It hurts still and I think it would hurt less if it weren't right in the area where you bend your hand to pick up things.  So changing Monkey and doing other minor everyday chores have been really challenging today.

I just hope it's all healed soon.  They said I could have the stitches out in 5-7 days.  So that was our Manic Monday.

Life is getting better

Life with Monkey is getting better.  The Zantac seems to be helping.  He still has his moments when he'll curl up in a little red ball after feeding and act like he's in pain.  I call him my 'little kidney bean' during those times.

I dropped my basket a bit last evening when he did the 'cycle' as I call it now.  On Sundays, Mondays and Wednesdays, DH has 'raid' nights where he is semi-obligated to participate in his World of Warcraft game.  We've been trying to make it so he can continue that but it's been hard for me to take care of Monkey for that long of a stretch by myself. 

When Monkey's having an acid reflux moment, he'll feed for a long time, then be upset until the next feeding and possibly until the following feeding.  So it's an endless cycle of feeding, changing diapers, walking and rocking -- all the while Monkey is screaming, grunting or making milk gurgling noises loud enough that I can' nd it possible to take a nap.  After about 4-6 hours of this, I tend to have hard time dealing.  Last night, I just broke down and cried while sitting on our bed rocking Monkey.  DH stopped playing and took him over for a bit which helped.  At the next feeding, he finally went down and slept for about 3 hours giving me a much needed break.

He's becoming a little more alert during the day and early evenings.  Which is both good and bad.  It's good because I like to see his little eyes open and his little brain working as he examines everything around him.  Plus, his 'smiles' seem to be turning into real smiles (or as the books call it, a social smile).  Even his eyes seem to 'smile' a bit.  It's bad because he definitely wants attention and I want to give him attention, however, if he's caused me to be up all night, it's hard to muster up the energy and be happy about it.

But tonight, DH is going to take over for a couple hours and I'll take a nap.  So maybe I'll have the energy to play with Monkey tomorrow!

Life with baby (a.k.a Lil' Monkey)

first let me apologize for the all lowercase and spelling mistakes.  i'm typing this entry with one hand as my other hand is busy holding the beast pump.

Life with Monkey has been both quite difficult and wonderful for all of us. 

the first week home was really hard because we couldn't get him to latch on properly since we had made the decision to give him formula in the hospital to help with his jaundice levels.

the second week, he had finally latched on well (well enough anyway -- mommy's taking one for the team in the nipple area).  however, he was so fussy after feeding and would feed endlessly.  then he would make these horrific grunting and gagging noises while spitting up milk.  i know babies grunt and make noises but these were scary noises, like choking noises.  at this point, we decided that i should cut out cow's milk from my diet.  and for those of you that know my diet well, i LOVE milk.  this missing ingredient from my diet has been hard for me.

so beginning of week three, with the grunting and scary choking noises still happening, we took him back to the doctor hoping to get an answer other than "turn the monitor down" which is what the doctor said at his two week check-up.  we were lucky to get another doctor in the office and she identified it as acid reflux and prescribed zantac for him.  it has alleviated the choking noises mostly but he still grunts loudly and makes "horsey" noises all the time after feeding.

life with baby has been challenging and some days i feel really depressed.  my life has basically become this:  feed baby, change baby, feed baby again, change baby again, pray he goes to sleep so i can catch a wink, rinse and repeat.  i knew it would be difficult and that i wouldn't be able to do much outside of taking care of the baby.  the one thing i wasn't prepared for was how monotonous and lonely it all can be. yet at times, because of the lack of a timetable for these events, it feels chaotic. 

some days i feel like i'm being held captive in my own house -- by a infant!  but i love my captor, especially when he decides to open his eyes for his feeding and looks up at me.  that makes the nipple pain, lack of sleep and general chaos worth it.

gotta run, my captor has awakened!

Yes, contractions!

Well it looks like it might not be so much the false labor.  Went to my check up appointment this morning and the doc said it's looking like it will happen wihtin 12 - 24 hours.  my husband is catching a flight home and will hopefully be here in time for the big arrival.

Contractions?

Well, we went to the hospital last night for the first time.  I was experiencing contractions every 6 minutes for 45 all during the Daily Show and the Colbert Report.  Finally called the doc after Colbert was over.

We went in and I'm still only dialated 1cm and haven't effaced very much.  They said that I'm tense and that's not helping the cervix efface (of course I'm tense, my husband is in Orlando until Saturday -- the kid needs to stay in there just a little longer)!  So they gave me some form of Ambien that's safe to take with a baby and Thank God they did.  By the time we got home, I barely had enough time to eat a PB&J with with and I was out!

Still experincing some cramping and the occassional contraction this morning.  The nurse said that to make the labor progress just do a lot of walking so I will be doing the OPPOSITE today -- a lot of laying in bed.

Everyone pray that little baby Kropp can hang on just a few more days!

Baby shower @ work

Today my work threw a wonderful baby shower for my husband and I, plus another employee named Victor whose wife Tracy is due in two weeks.  It was really great and they gave us so much stuff!  I really didn't expect that at all. 

We received 4 blankets, a diaper stacker, a rattle shaped like an elephant and a huge gift card to Babies R Us.  I love the diaper stacker.  I had started making one but never finished sewing it.  Now I don't have to!

Baby shower was wonderful

The baby shower was this past weekend and it was a lovely event.  I really appreciate everyone coming out to Reston to make the day special for my husband and I.

As soon as I have the time to crop all of the pictures, I will be putting them up in the photo section.

Thanks to everyone for the wonderful gifts (both those who could and those who could not attend) !

Looking forward to baby shower

Well our dining room is full of boxes delivered for the shower from those who couldn't make and those who are coming in from far away.

I'm looking forward to seeing everyone on Saturday and having a relaxing time with friends and family!

Preparing for baby

We ordered the crib from Great Beginnings back in early March. They said it would take 10-12 weeks to deliver so keep you're fingers crossed that the lil' monkey doesn't come early!

When we originally moved into the house, the baby room was periwinkle so we painted it right away to "pale almond". I've done some stenciling of bubbles on the wall in blue, green and brown. I've posted a picture of it in the photos section under "Baby Room".

As for the mommy preparing for the baby, I've been reading my baby books over and over again. It seems I just can't retain the massive amounts of information. Hopefully, seeing "it" in the childbirth class will "make it stick".