Grandpa's Magic Touch

My parents came up this past weekend specifically so they could see Eddie. It had been five whole weeks since they'd last seen him and he had many new skills to show off (eating, sitting, almost crawling, saying "d" sounds, and a new tooth).

On Saturday my dad took Eddie on a walk around the neighborhood to look at all the plants while I got breakfast ready. These little walks are something Eddie and I do together on the mornings that I'm home with him, or any time he's being fussy. He likes to be outside and he LOVES touching all the plants while I explain what they are (or what color, texture, scent they are).

I got a few pictures when they were headed back home:
Apparently the walk was so calming that Eddie fell asleep halfway through the neighborhood:
Isn't that precious?
...And then Eddie heard my voice, woke up, and started fussing when he realized he wasn't in my arms:

Pants?

Eddie's rump has had a minor rash that comes and goes for a while, probably due to friction (since he's so dang squirmy now). I am paranoid that it will get worse so I've been keeping him diaperless as much as possible. When we're inside the house I keep him in the kitchen (where there is linoleum) or on a waterproof mattress cover thing to soak up the inevitable pee. Cassie has also kept his tush uncovered when he plays outside at her house.

Fresh air really seems to work wonders (and probably just not having the diaper on there to rub on his skin helps, too). Lucky for us, the weather has been ah-mazing the last couple of weeks so we've hung out on the patio a lot.
It is clear that Eddie loves being nekid.

Stuck in Reverse

Eddie is this close to crawling. Right now he can only push himself backward, which is frustrating for him but funny for us.

You never know what nook or cranny you'll find him wedged into when you come into the room after a brief absence. Being the wonderful mother that I am, I usually don't rescue him right away and instead I take a picture first. (He'll thank me someday.)

The Big Two-Eight

Happy birthday to me! Friday was my 28th birthday and lucky for me Dave and I got to go out to celebrate. Alone. Sans baby. Got to eat with BOTH hands and have REAL conversations that did not include phrases such as, "Can you eat a little faster so I can give you the baby so I can eat?" It was heavenly.

After school that day we played on the patio until it was time for Eddie's bedtime routine. He was out like a light by 8pm and our friends Brian and Melissa agreed to come hang out at the house while we went out for all-you-can-eat sushi (free on your birthday). Brian, bless his heart, came over at 8pm even though Melissa (who has all the baby-watching experience) couldn't get there until 8:30pm. We made sure to put Eddie in a disposable diaper just in case Brian had to change him. But Eddie's such a good boy and he didn't wake up so they didn't have to do anything (he's been sleeping through the night reliably since January so I wasn't worried).

After sushi we walked to Baskin Robbins to get me an ice cream cake ($3 off coupon and a free scoop when you join the birthday club!). Brian and Melissa stayed to enjoy the delicious mint chip cake with us. It was a great birthday!

Since 28 is a boring number and a boring birthday, all I could think to write on the cake was 7 times 4...next year will be cooler (okay, okay, dorkier) because 29 is a prime number!

My birthday present from Dave was a new kitchen faucet, which I've been wanting forever. There was nothing wrong with our old one...it was just ghetto. And I wanted something a lot taller so washing big pots (like the canner) wouldn't be so difficult.

Eddie was such a good helper for Dave while he was working under the sink. (Am I a terrible mom for letting my 7 month old chew on a grubby metal wrench? Eh...)Before (nasty):After (beautiful):

Relationships

There is an inverse relationship between my blogging frequency and how nice the weather is: less blogging happens when the weather is good. I spend all my time outside gardening or hanging clothes on the line when the weather is nice instead of sitting at the computer during Eddie's naps.

Of course, there is also a relationship between the weather and the number of pictures I take. Over the last week Eddie and I have spent nearly all of his wakeful hours outside on the patio and I've taken roughly a million pictures of him. But I can't post any right now...

My laptop's hard drive fried and during Dave's last attempt to recover some of the data last Friday, it completely died (won't even power up anymore). So I'm still using a temporary laptop, which has no pictures stored on it, and therefore can't even post an old picture for your viewing pleasure.

So stay tuned! I'll try to post some pictures tonight and put into words just how wonderful this past weekend was (I really wish it would never have ended).

On the Mend

Wow--this time last week everything started to go wrong. Eddie was getting fussier by the day from cutting teeth, my infection started getting REALLY bad, my hard drive fried, and eventually my back went out.

But things are looking up!

Eddie's first tooth (bottom right) appeared as a little while blister-looking thing two Saturdays ago and then popped through completely by Monday. He's drooling a lot again, spends a lot of time chewing on plastic spoons, and varies between being super clingy/fussy to being his normal happy self. So I think he's working on another tooth.

My breast infection is basically gone. It doesn't hurt to nurse him anymore and he's not sucking out any gobs of chunky milk anymore (a gross but good thing about nursing/pumping during an infection is that you can SEE the results of getting the milk flowing). Now I have peeling skin from being so swollen (not engorged with milk, but literally swollen from the infection). I'm still on antibiotics but I feel 100% better.

It took three types of antibiotics (one was a good ol' fashioned injection in the butt) to cure me. A breast milk culture showed, luckily, that it was probably just regular staph from my skin instead of something pathogenic (or resistant to drugs). On Tuesday night I had to get the babysitter to come help bathe and bed Eddie since I could hardly hold him. Eddie was NOT PLEASED AT ALL having Jacob do his bedtime routine instead of me. Oy. And I had to ask Dave to come back home, all the way from Gualala because I just couldn't take care of myself or Eddie. He arrived just in the nick of time because in the hours between Tuesday bedtime and Wednesday morning my fever spiked, I was shaking, and all my muscles tensed up. Except for going to the doctor and nursing Eddie or pumping I spent the next two days sleeping. When I walked I avoided bouncing with each step as much as possible and adjusted my posture to accommodate my swollen breast. (Hence my back going out.)

Dave has run something like 8 different data recovery programs on my hard drive but to no avail...yet. He's determined to get at least the report I wrote on Monday (but had not yet submitted) and my R files off of it. Once he's satisfied we'll mail it back to Acer since it is still under the 1 year warranty. In the meantime I'm using a temporary laptop that I don't like much, but at least it has Windows 7 instead of Vista on it.

Yesterday I got a deep tissue (read: painful but wonderful) massage from a sports medicine guy downtown. He made some great suggestions about ways that I can avoid this type of injury again--core strengthening exercises, how to "properly stand up from a seated position, paying more attention to what my body is telling me, etc. He also said I should "not stress out so much" because then I will be happier over all and will probably be able to sense when my body needs to relax. Hahahahahaha. I told him that I have very little time for exercise given that I have to work AND take care of Eddie all the time. But I will try to get a pilates or yoga DVD that I can do at home while Eddie is playing. We'll see how that goes.

My back and thighs are quite bruised and sore from the massage but the lower back muscles that I pulled on Sunday don't hurt anymore. Thank goodness. It was hard to hold Eddie to nurse, let alone carry him around the house for simple things like diaper changes.

So things are looking up! After I mix up some aphid-killer spray for my roses I'm going to go lay on my heating pad for the next hour while Eddie takes his morning nap (let's hope it is a good 2 hours). It is gorgeous outside today...and that means the aphids will soon be here.

=)

Introducing...

We just got back from the hospital after meeting our precious little niece. She's soooooooooooooo tiny and is just as beautiful as her mommy. She's going to break some hearts for sure.She is named after a lot of people in her family. Ida was Dave and Mike's grandmother's name. Rose is Bernie's middle name. And there's a Mary in the family someplace, too. Anyway, I think the name is beautiful and we all know how I feel about names with familial significance. =)

Dave's parents drove down to Davis this morning so we could all go together to visit the new family. They hadn't seen Eddie since the first week of January and he's grown so much physically, developmentally...and vocally. As long as Eddie couldn't see or hear me he was happy as a clam playing with them (he's been super clingy lately and if I'm around he ONLY wants MAMA, no substitutions). It was a great visit and we all had a good time hanging out, even if was for only a few short hours.Right before we left for the hospital, I pulled my back out. Not wanting to miss seeing baby Zennie I popped some ibuprofen and took my heating pad along (with a charger adapter) in the car. I'm beginning to think the universe is trying to tell me something since it keeps throwing all these challenges my way lately (breast infection, fried hard drive and irretrievable files, and now my back). Oy. Dave is going to stay long enough tonight to bathe and bed Eddie and with any luck my back will be better by morning so I can face the long/hectic week ahead.

Smiling Through the Pain

I took this series of pictures of precious Eddie yesterday just about the time my infection took a turn for the worse. I'm in enough pain now that it is hard to use the computer so I'm keeping this short--I'm only posting these pictures because they make me smile and forget about how crappy I feel.

Again...

Ug. I woke up at 2am from pain in my left breast...turns out I have another breast infection. All day yesterday I was really, really tired and I couldn't figure out why. Now I know: the infection was building and I didn't know it yet.

Breast Infection Symptoms: Breast infections may cause pain, redness, and warmth of the breast along with the following symptoms:

• Tenderness and swelling...check
  
• Body aches...check
• Fatigue...check
• Breast engorgement...check
• Fever and chills...check
• Rigor or shaking...nope, thank goodness

So now I'm on antibiotics again, which means Eddie is, too.

The student health center doctor couldn't answer all my questions about these types of infections, nor about the safety of the medication options while breastfeeding Eddie. Her suggestion was to "ask my gynecologist," which would be one of the randomly assigned student health center women's clinic doctors. But she said that all the student health center doctors are unaccustomed to seeing pregnant or breastfeeding women since they always refer them out to Sutter Women's Health near the hospital. Well, I had a referral there but it was canceled after my 4 week postpartum appointment. So I don't know what gyne she was telling me to talk to...

I just emailed the school to ask if they will give me another referral until I'm done breastfeeding. It is likely that I will get more of these breast infections since apparently once you get one you are likely to continue getting them. Lovely.

Hopefully the medication kicks in soon because it hurts to do anything involving my left arm, to walk, and to nurse. And I feel completely wiped out.

Holding a very squirmy baby who always flails his arms and hits things (including his Mama) is also no fun. I need a jock strap for my boob to protect it! For now I have stuffed a microwavable blue gel pack into my shirt to soothe my chest. It looks really cool...but I hope no one comes to the door today.

Hot Date & Chili

Eddie was feeling much better this morning--in fact he slept in, until 6:40am.

Early this morning Dave and I got to visit with our friend, Mari, who flew down from Alaska where she lives to take her oral qualifying exams this coming week. She borrowed my bike so she could get around for the few days she's in town. Once she left our house to study, Eddie went down for his morning nap. I gave him a few teething tablets before he went down and he slept for a full two hours. Dave and I enjoyed a leisurely pancake breakfast on the patio while listening to Car Talk on NPR. Then we got a bunch of yard work done. Man, nap training was time and agony well spent.

I randomly checked the 'free stuff' section of Craigslist this morning and saw a posting for a nice looking patio swing right here in Davis. I emailed to see if it was still available. A few minutes later the lady responded with her address and a note saying it was just sitting in the front yard so we'd better hurry. Dave hopped in the van with his tool bag and picked it up.

Because Eddie was feeling better today, we got to go on our date today!

Jacob came over while Dave was fetching the swing and I got him all sorted out with Eddie. After unloading the swing, Dave and I headed off for our "hot date." It was such a Dave-and-Julie type date...

First we went to the hardware store to buy some clear plastic tablecloth stuff to put over the cloth tablecloth on our dining room table. The saleswoman cut it for us and she accidentally gave us a whole extra yard. I'm trying to think of something clever to do with my freebie plastic...

Then we had lunch at our favorite all-you-can-eat sushi buffet before heading down the highway to Ikea. Dave said I could pick out a new kitchen faucet for my birthday!!!!!!!!!!! My special day isn't for another 2 weeks but it was fun to celebrate early. I'm sooooooooooooooo excited to have a new faucet. The one I picked is super tall so washing big pots won't be such an issue anymore. What more could a gal want for her 28th birthday?

To finish, we treated ourselves to frappacinos and Dave used a giftcard he got for Christmas to buy a new video game. (Like I said, it was a very typical date for us.)

Jacob and Eddie apparently had lots of fun together. With Eddie in the backpack they went on a walk to the Food Co-Op so Eddie could flirt with all the customers. He even took a 1.5 hour nap for Jacob!

Dave was nice enough to set up the new patio swing for me right when we got back and we were able to sit outside enjoying it before it got too dark and chilly.Speaking of chilly: I just made a double batch of my mom's chili recipe (with my modifications) to stick in the freezer. I just transferred it into jars but I'm letting it cool a bit before storing it.

3 Bean Corn Chili

• 1lb ground beef
• 1 cup chopped onion
• 2 cloves minced garlic
• 1-2 chopped bell peppers, any color
  
• 2 T chili powder
• 1 t cumin
• 1 t coriander
• (if you don't have those last two, just use another tablespoon of chili powder)
• 1 t whole leaf oregano ("Mexican oregano")...if you have it
  
• 1 t salt
• 1 T your favorite hot sauce
• 2 cans chopped tomatoes, undrained
  
• 1 8-oz can of tomato sauce
• 1 can corn, drained
  
• 3 cans beans, drained--black, kidney, white navy, pinto, etc.
  

1. Cook beef in large pot over medium high heat. Spoon off grease.
   
2. Just when it starts to stick to the bottom of the pot and brown, add the onion.
   
3. Once the onion is getting translucent and the beef is browned, add the garlic and stir. Cook 1 minute.
4. Add bell pepper and cook for 3 minutes until soft.
5. Add everything else, except beans. Bring to a boil, then knock down to a gentle simmer.
6. Add beans and simmer for 15 minutes.
7. Eat with cheese sprinkled on top and with corn bread. (It freezes very well.)
   

Post 300

Wow...this is my 300th post!

Dave and I made plans to go on a date today, so I had arranged for Jacob to come baby sit Eddie from 12-5pm. We were going to go eat sushi buffet for lunch and then head to the mall so I could get a dress and shoulder wrap for the upcoming France wedding. (Dave was going to peruse the video game stores.) We'd budgeted enough money for paying the sitter, lunch, shopping, and a treat--either coffee or ice cream.

But we called off the date since Eddie has been out of sorts since about 4:30 this morning.

Dave got up then when Eddie started crying rather intensely, changed him, and put him back in his crib. Normally he'll fuss or cry for only about 5-10 minutes before falling back to sleep. But this time it was nearly 40 minutes of his "pissed off" crying. We finally just brought him into our room so I could nurse him and let him sleep with us. At 7:30 he nursed again and Dave took him out to play in the living room so I could get some more sleep.

The poor babe cried on and off for the next 1.5 hours, even while he was playing. It was weird. He cried for another 30 minutes before his morning nap (which lasted only an hour instead of his usual two). Realizing he was out of sorts, I called Jacob and asked if we could reschedule. We didn't think it'd be fair to Eddie or Jacob to leave when he was clearly not himself.

Over the last two days he's been eating lentils (his third food to try, after cereal and peas) and we suspect that his tummy is not happy as a result. He's taken to pooping only every other day and we're expecting a major "poo nami" (poo tsunami) today. I kept hoping he'd go before Jacob came over but it didn't happen yet. Poor little guy. I think going will make him feel a lot better.

We took him on a walk around the neighborhood at noon and I carried him the whole time. I didn't want to upset him even further by strapping him into a stroller or pack. The walking motion seemed to pacify him.

He could also be getting a tooth since his drooling has been out of control today. I see a little white dot on his bottom gum but it doesn't feel hard.

So today we're just sitting out on the patio, enjoying the warmish weather. The dogs keep walking on the blanket we spread out for Eddie to play on, leaving bits of dirt and leaves on it...oh well, he's gonna get his daily dose of antibodies I suppose! Hopefully he'll be back to normal by tomorrow so we can go on our date.

Thirty

People always say that you take the most pictures of your first child. By the second, third, etc. you've seen it all so you take fewer and fewer.

Lord help us, I hope that's the case. Dave snapped THIRTY pictures of Eddie's first attempt at eating solids (and FIVE videos). We seriously don't have the harddrive space for the next child if we keep this up.

Here's the last picture of my little man as an exclusively breastfed boy:And here's him right after ingesting a few drops of cereal. Most ended up on his chin, hands, and bib:I was so excited to feed Eddie his first bite of cereal on his 6 month birthday. Since he's such a zealous nurser I wrongly assumed he'd gobble up "real" food. Not a chance. He's much too interested in playing with the spoon to bother with the caloric goodness.We've been giving him 2-3 chances a day to try eating over the past two weeks. So far he's only had cereal and peas. I think I'll try avocado tomorrow. He doesn't seem interested in eating...he doesn't usually swallow much of the food so I doubt he's making the connection that the solids will make him feel full just like milk does. Hopefully he'll figure it out soon because I'm having trouble pumping as much as he drinks at daycare. I was hoping he'd start eating to offset some of the milk deficit.

In the meantime we just enjoy our daily feeding practices as time spent together at the dining room table.