Nursery/pre/school/expensive daycare

Whatever you want to call it, I call it "school" and it's where Angus
will go 2x/week starting tomorrow! Tomorrow and the next day are
actually half days, but it's a good way to transition to having new
people around you. It's going to be weird to see him with a dozen
other kids and 3 teachers. I hope it goes well. I'm quite nervous!

How is he going to sit and eat his meal at a table without being
buckled in? What are they going to do when he screams "done, done,
DONE!!!!" when he's done? How is he going to take a nap? What happens
when he crumbles and cries because he doesn't get his sippy cup handed
to him immediately? Oh man. So many questions. I wish I could send a
tape recorder with him so I could listen to what happened. I think
it's only hitting me now that I will have no idea what is happening
there all day. I don't even want to think about that.

I bought him a blanket this weekend since it's on the supply list - I
bought 2 of the same. He seems excited to have it and I hope it helps
him feel comforted. He doesn't really have a lovey or anything, so I
guess we will just pick something and deem it that since it's also on
the list! At least I took the day off so I can be there with him. It's
only a few hours and I will try to lay low, so t's easier. Wish us luck!

catch up

Wow- it's been months. Sometimes I write stuff on the subway, but then it sits and languishes in my notepad on my iPhone. I am determined to post this one today -8/14.

Angus is amazing. He's almost 19 months and he talks up a storm- as long as there are no strangers around. It takes him a while to warm up. He'll be starting nursery school in a few weeks, just 2 days a week, but I am so excited for him to have the socialization. It's going to be so weird to drop him off and say goodbye those mornings. Our little baby is growing up. We just got him a play kitchen and he loves it, spending quite a bit of time playing with all the play fruit and veggies and saying "make" as he puts stuff in one of the plastic pots it came with. Although yesterday he tried to cook his blocks on the real stove, which he tried to do a couple of weeks ago and was the impetus for the purchase. I had to remind him that he had his own stove to use.

He is still nursing at night and in the morning, and on weekends it seems like all the time. He doesn't seem interested in stopping, and I don't see much reason to force him. I only wish the bedtime feeding was smoother. He nurses a bit and them gets up and runs around and comes back and on and on and on. The other night I was sitting in the chair in his room and he ran at me from the other end of the room and he lost his footing and slammed into the chair, and there was blood. It's these kinds of things that happen during the bedtime process and I'm not sure how to make it less painful (ha!) for both of us. I am going to try to get to a La Leche League meeting this week to talk about it. I'm really excited- I've never been before! Ok- more soon I hope. I need to find the email address that allows me to post right to the blog by sending an email. I set it up, but then lost it. Oops!

NO sleep in Brooklyn

I wonder if my lack of blogging is due to Angus' sleep schedule. I think I feel that my writing would continually be focused on the same thing over and over again - which is his continual waking up at night. Lately, he goes to be at 8, wakes up around 12:30am and then refuses to go back to sleep in his crib. He prefers to sleep in my arms. Monday night we were pretty much awake for 3 hours, and then finally I got him back down in his crib. Last night I took him to the couch and we slept there after multiple attempts at putting him back down in his crib. I've tried to let him cry, and I would try harder if I didn't have upstairs neighbors and if my heart didn't break after 15 minutes. I HOPE he's teething - and my husband has been instructed to get a good look in his mouth, but it's really a mystery. I think he maybe just likes to be cosy in my arms instead of alone in his crib, but man - it's making us so cranky and tired. Let's hope this "phase" is over soon!

Spring organization

It is so hard to maintain the nitty gritty details of life these days. Things like paying bills, detailed cleaning, keeping up with friends etc. It really takes a lot of extra organization and mental note taking to get stuff like this done! There really aren't enough hours in the day.

I get home from work by 7, and by then, Angus is SO ready to be asleep. The feeding/bed process with him takes about an hour, which brings me usually closer to 815/830 and then by the time I ear
T dinner it's suddenly 9/915 and then it's bedtime if I'm smart ie: in bed by 11- which is actually rare :(

I recently purchased a rice cooker in order to save time and $ since Johnny and I order in wayyyy tooooo much and inevitably it leads to unhealthy choices. I think now that I'm finished with a bunch of big work events/obligations, it should be a little easier to maintain life basics, healthy eating and better communication with friends. Here's to spring organization!

Is the end near?

Are my breastfeeding days coming to an end? I dunno...ask Angus! Last
week we added cows milk into his diet for A pre-nap meal. It has gone
just fine...no adverse effects. I feel like he eats more food at meals
these days- except for when he's about to sprout a tooth, then it
seems to be more milk, maybe for the comfort it provides.

I am down to pumping at work twice a day, and I don't pump at home at
all, unless it's a weekend and he's missed a feeding for some reason.
I'd like him to decide when to stop, but I have a 5 day trip to Texas
coming up in about a month, and to meet his bf needs I would need
almost 20 bottles of milk, ie: 120oz. I only pump about 6-7oz per day,
which is used the next day, so it's kind of impossible for me to build
up a stash like that in such a short period of time!

So...I have one feeding frozen now, and will hope to put another 1 or
2 away this weekend. I want to have at least 10. That way he doesn't
need to go 100% cow whil I am gone. I will have to pump and dump
there too which always bums me out:(

On another note, Angus can now climb on furniture. This morning he
climbed up on te couch, and yesterday he climbed up onto a lounge
chair. He can almost reach the stove knobs now too. Yikes! Babies are
scary when they get bigger! So much more childproofing to do. I don't
think there is much stopping him. He even tried to climb into the
dishwasher the other day!

A fruit a day

I realized the other day that I had no recollection of when I might
have last eaten a piece of fruit. If I can't remember when this was, I
am
clearly not eating enough fruit.

Lest I get scurvy, I am working on fixing this and today had an apple,
yesterday an orange, and Wednesday a banana. I am going to keep this
up as part of the bigger picture of eating healthy and turning things
around so that maybe I can wear a bikini when I am 40. Wouldn't that
be a sight? Let's hope it is a pretty sight.

Age and weight

My husband kindly reminded me that I would be turning 40 next year.
Um, thanks. However, it did give me a little wake up call about my
health and my body and it's shape. Simply stated, I am "thick in the
middle". It's true. No two ways about it, and I blame my genes and
some bad eating habits that came my way when I was a lot younger and
very sporty and didn't have to worry about such things. Oh those were
the days. Now, I am older and supposedly wiser and I should know
better, right? Actually, I really don't think I eat too badly. I eat a
lot of salads with minimal dressing, I don't eat fast food, I don't
drink soda, I don't eat crap. I guess I just eat too much. I do like
sugar and butter a whole lot.

A few years back, I lost 30 pounds via weight watchers, which was
great. I have slowly gained about 10-15 of that back depending on the
day. It did NOT melt off while breastfeeding. Nope, not at all. Total
bummer! I found a nutritionist, and I'm going to work with her to see
what is triggering this overeating. It will be interesting to see what
happens. I think I eat best during the day, but when I get home, my
husband and I tend to order in, and usually that food is melty and
cheesy and fatty. I have also become a little more aware if my carb
intake, and I think it's a little high. So- wish me luck, since before
I know it, I am going to have to chase after Angus and I need to be
able to catch up with!