Gratuitious Photos

Wow, was the last time I posted pics really back in February? That's a shame. A real shame. Here are some more for you to enjoy. They are in order of newest to oldest and they are all courtesy our lovely babysitter Andrea who sends me a couple pictures each week while I'm at work. And, since I'm blogging at work, these are the only pics I have to upload.

My boy just yesterday, sitting up on his own.

Playing outside with Andrea's son.

"Talking" in his Exersaucer.

In the cutest little star bunting.

Sleeping like an angel.

Crying It Out

I never thought I was the cry it out type of mom, but it turns out I am. When he slept through the night for the first time at the young age of 10 weeks, I thought I was lucky. He continued his good, 9-hour straight sleep pattern for a solid six weeks. It was during my return to work, so it was perfect timing. But, he suddenly started waking up once or twice a night and hasn't stopped since then.

Things came to a breaking point over the past two weeks. Not only was he not sleeping well at night, he was also on nap strike, leaving him horribly tired. Considering how little sleep he got, he was in a pretty good mood, but he just seemed tired all the time. Brett and I decided that we were worried about his health and development because he was so sleepy and tired all the time.

On Friday night, my sister-in-law watched James while we went to a concert. I mentioned to her that we were considering letting him cry it out because his sleep was so off kilter. She took it upon herself to let him cry it out (pretty presumptuous, but it worked out) and he only cried for 7 minutes. He cried again for less than 5 minutes around midnight, ate at 3:30 and slept until 8:30.

Last night, he cried for about 30 minutes total (we checked in every 10 minutes) and then slept for 9 hours straight. Tonight it took only 7 minutes. Not too bad. I never thought I was the cry it out type and I'm still not 100% sure that I am. I wouldn't have done it for my own convenience, but when it became clear that he was really suffering from lack of sleep, I decided to get serious.

We are also moving to a 2-3-4 nap pattern where we are aiming for a nap two hours after waking up, then a nap three hours after that, then bedtime four hours after that. So far, it seems to be working well.

I just feel good to have a plan in place.

Short Posts = Posts

I've somehow convinced myself that I need to be providing long, interesting, witty posts. As a result, I have barely posted anything. I have a new strategy -- I'll post more, but they'll be much shorter. Maybe people will like that. I always feel somewhat exhausted when I get to a blog and there's a huge update that I don't really have time to read.

So, today's topic will be James' weird skin. It all started when he was about 2 months old and my mother-in-law found some dry patches on his legs. My friend who's a family practice doctor happened to be in town and said that it was eczema. We treated it with OTC hydrocortisone for a couple weeks and switched to mild Aveeno lotion.

Around 4 months he got a rash in his neck, which our pediatrician said was a yeast infection. We used an antifungal cream on that, but it never seemed to go away. We went back to the pedi who then thought that it was eczema and gave us a prescription hydrocotizone. She told us not to use steroid any longer than necessary because it can thin his skin. The problem is that every time we stop using the steroid cream, the rash comes back.

Poor little guy. There's some chance it's an allergic reaction to something I'm eating, so I've stopped eating cow's milk. I just hope this isn't a precursor to bad allergies or lifelong skin troubles. Anyone else's baby had skin issues?

Simplify

Yes, simplify, simplify.

My coworker once told me that her biggest motherhood regret was that her house was too clean. That really stuck with me.

There are so many demands on my time right now. I have a job that I love but it consumes so much of my time! 40 hours a week of actual work time, 5 hours a week for my lunch break, 10 hours a week commuting, and 5 hours a week getting spiffy-ed up to look presentable. That's right, I spend about 60 hours a week on work. Ugh.

I have an amazing husband and we have both committed to weekly date nights and weekly, ahem, playdates. I, of course, do everything in my power to spend every spare second with magnificent little James. I try to to exercise a few times a week and still like to spend a little time doing things just for me -- a night out with the girls, a stolen episode of Real Housewives, reading a little before bed.

The stuff I hate doing is the rest -- the laundry, the cooking, the cleaning, etc. I simply don't have the time. So, where do I find it? The simple answer is that oftentimes I don't. My floors are dirty and there are most definitely water spots on the bathroom mirror. Someone comes once a month to clean for us, so I at least know that it gets cleaned sometimes, but it's not immaculate.

I only do laundry when it's really time to, meaning that I'm out of clean bras and undies or that James no longer has sleepers in his size. And the cooking, oh the cooking. If there's one thing that I feel guilty about, it's the cooking. I can't tell you the last time I cooked a real, fresh meal. Instead, we're living off gracious leftovers from parents, a crockpot soup here and there, and an occasional good day when we brown up a few pounds of taco meat.

I'd like to say that I'm resolving to do a better job of cooking for my family, but the truth is that I don't know where that time would come from. I just wish there were some little fairy that could come to my house every day around 5 and cook us a healthful scrumptious meal.

Hello, Blog

Long time no see, but I've been a wee tad busy, what with raising an amazing little boy during the nights and weekends and obsessing over the new health reform bill during the day. I feel so sad that so much has slipped by the wayside -- this blog, the gym, my ability to remember to take a multivitamin once a day. But, I have found the key to successfully balancing work and home -- you simply have to cut out the things that are not necessary.

The hour-long workouts four times a week that I faithfully did until mid-way through my pregnancy ? Those were nice and kept me looking svelte (even if I didn't realize it at the time). But, that's four whole hours a week I'd need to be away from my boy in addition to the 40+ hours when I'm working. You know what'll work instead? A nice long evening walk a few times a week, with a whopping 16 pounds of bouncing baby boy strapped to the front of me.

Scrumptious home-cooked meals for the hubby and I? Those simply aren't happening. James can't eat, so I am satisfied by frozen pizza or cereal.

This blog? Just not a priority right now. In fact, this post is coming to a quicker stop than expected because my boy keeps looking up at me from his Exersaucer with eyes that say, "Play with me." His single tooth is glinting in his gum line and he keeps doing his fake cough that always attracts my attention. Off I go to play and take a nap with my son. See you in a couple months.