George-3 months

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Weight: He weighs 11.4 lbs now. He has more than doubled his birth weight. I don’t know where my tape measure is right now to measure his length, so maybe I will find it before 4 months. It’s hard for me to see how much he has grown sometimes since I see him every day, and then I look at pictures and think holy moly he is a big boy.

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Health:  An update on his heart scans:  they went well. He still has some holes, but the doctor seems optimistic that they are normal and will close on their own. They are getting smaller, but they aren’t on par with most kids his age so we are going to have to go in again for another scan at 6 months to just keep checking the progress of them closing. The doctor did say that George is not reacting negatively to them so that is a positive sign that he is just fine. So hopefully that is the case. Otherwise, this kid is doing super health wise. He still spits up, but we now think most of that has to do with the fact that he just eats too much so it has to come back up. And now it is not violently painful for him so that is good news. He still looks like he is in pain when he farts/poos. The gas drops made him throw up more so we stopped giving him those. So we are just working through the gas issue with rubbing and warm cloths to make him not so tight.

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Diet:  Still exclusively breastmilk. This last week he has been pretty awful during nightly feedings. He will shriek in the middle and right after the feeding all the while doing windmills and burpees on my chest. I don’t know what his deal is, but he usually calms down about 20 minutes after we barrel through the feeding. He is not doing this when he is fed through a bottle or our first feeding of the day. Who knows. I did buy formula again (our previous back up stash is in KY.) I have not been pumping as much as he is eating through the day so we depleted our frozen stash again. Plus sometimes I don’t have the time to do a full pump session at work. I had to start pumping right after he does his first feeding in the morning to make that little bit extra for him. I think it is interesting that I can’t pump enough to feed him but yet he was doing just fine when he was just breastfed. So anyway, I bought formula again to have on reserve. I plan on writing more in depth about our new feeding adventure with pumping here soon too. Funny story about feeding: George’s cousin Ava, who is 5, is around him quite a bit. She gets upset with me all the time because I don’t let her feed him since I am breastfeeding. She said to me the other day that if she had a kid she would let me feed them. Way to guilt trip me Aves. She is helping babysit him today so hopefully she will get lots of feeding time with him to hold her over for a few days.

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Clothes:  We put away all the newborn clothes a week ago. Tear. He is rocking the 0-3 month clothes and some select 3 month items. Most are still pretty roomy but he is slowly filling them out. Another note about baby clothing items, I think it should be a rule that all pants are made with built in feet/socks. Baby socks are worthless 90% of the time because 90% of the time they do not stay on.

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Sleeping:  He does so well sleeping. He is still taking several naps a day, but he is also sleeping through the night. Which makes for one happy momma. His down for the night bedtime is 10pm. Then sometimes he will start stirring about 4:30, and then we wake up officially at 5am to get ready for the day. Since we are in limbo with our living situation and currently staying with my in-laws, we don’t have a crib. We were trying to make the Rock and Play still work for him, but he outgrew it for a full night’s rest. He can still nap in it for short periods of time, but when he fully stretches he bumps his little head on the top. My sister-in-law gave us a Pack and Play to use in the meantime until we get a house and unload the crib. I was concerned about him laying flat on his back and throwing up on himself which is why he was in the inclined Rock and Play for so long. But he has been doing great in the Pack and Play! I don’t think he has thrown up on himself during sleep time once since the switch, which was not the case a couple months ago.

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Likes: Gosh this kid loves to snuggle and be held. I don’t mind that one bit! And since we are living with Grandma and Papa right now, he really is never put down for the most part. He LOVES ceiling fans. We joke that he is making love poems about them. “Oh fan of mine…” He likes to stare out windows and at Papa’s fish tank. He loves being sung to and talked to. He is pretty content when he is put in his baby swing. He still wants a pacy a lot, but it is getting less and less the more talkative he gets. He still loves the Kick and Play Piano…and by love I mean he kicks the dickens out of it.

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Dislikes:  He still hates being naked and diaper changes. The worst part of his day is lotion time. It is absolute torture for him. Just dreadful. He screams so hard that I usually have to stop halfway and hold him so he will remember to breathe. Yes it is that awful for him. He does tolerate baths now, but not the dreaded lotion. He does not like it when you stroke his spine, which is the same ticklish spot that I have and makes me quiver. So we just have to remember to pat and not rub his back. He also is still not a fan when we are actively attempting to do tummy time, but he does nap on his tummy sometimes. Weird kid…

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Milestones:  He can hold his head up on his own now. We joke that we should have made him a bobble head for Halloween because that is what he looks like when he is trying to steady himself. He will stand (with much holding assistance); he likes straightening out those legs and putting his weight on them. He smiles and responds to people now. BEST THING EVER. We can get him to imitate a howling noise, and he will go back and forth with you. I am overcome with joyful emotion when he does this (seriously I have tears sometimes), but of course he doesn’t ever do it as well when I am trying to record it. Geez George, just trying to capture the memories. Anyway, he is definitely trying to find his voice now and figure out what that mouth can do. He rolls his tongue a lot and sticks it out like a lizard. And that stinkin’ smile is just adorable. He is doing great at the babysitter’s. The other kids love him, and I know he is just loving all the attention he gets. This past weekend he rolled on to his side. I don’t think he realized what he did because he has only done it that one time. He is throwing his booty up in the air quite a bit though while he flails his little legs around on the Kick and Play. I wish I had that sort of enthusiasm when I was doing leg lifts…So I think constant rolling is in our near future. So there’s that.

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Quirks:  He can raise one eyebrow. It is hilarious that he knows he is giving you the stink eye. He curls his toes, which is something that I do as well.

We parents are: doing fairly well. This month has been a little rough because we are apart and doing A LOT of transitioning. Tom is officially out of the Army on December 5th, and we are in search of a new home. So there is still a lot of things in a state of flux right now on top of the new job situation. We are making it work though. I have been trying to figure out a new workout routine because I have definitely been feeling like sludge since starting my new job. Also I am hungry 100% of the time. Breastfeeding can also be coined the suckage of all calories out of my body. Tom has been super bored by himself in KY, so it will be nice to be back together so we can be homebodies again.

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The dogs are: freaking out with the move process. They obviously aren’t with George right now, but they are definitely not acting themselves with us gone. Tom is in the midst of packing our home in KY, and they do not like living amongst all the boxes. They do move permanently back this weekend though, so we are happy about that reunion. They can be a big drooly mess together.

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This kid is just the best. Happy 3 months little man! Thanks for letting me be your mom!

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Talks with Tom #31

Tom hasn’t seen George for two weeks now. There is so much change that occurs in a 3 month old. I try to update him about all the little changes while we are apart.

This was a conversation last night.

Me-He is getting really good at talking. He will go back and forth with you.

Tom-Does he say words?

Me-No he doesn’t say words. He gurgles. (and I made the noise George does.)

Tom-What kind of teacher are you if you can’t teach a 3 month old words. And you call yourself an academic advisor.

Me- I know I have failed him, but in my defense my students should already know words by the time I get them.

Tom- Just saying, no child left behind.

Grr…he knows that NCLB is a big thorn for me and a huge reason why I left teaching in the traditional sense.

This weekend he can have a crack at it and teach him all the words.

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The Long and the Short of It

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That was me in 2013, which was the last time I donated my hair.

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I have donated my hair I think 4 times now since high school. It might be 5, but I can’t remember.

I go through cycles of growing it out to donate and then whacking it off. There are times though that I get frustrated with that “in between” phase and whack it off before I can donate it. Grad school made me impatient with it so I kept it short for those two years. Two years of growth lost…

Usually it takes me about two years of growing to get to the point of donations, hence the reason I get impatient.

Right now I am in that itching phase of doing something drastic with it. I hate the middle part. I love the way I look with short hair, and I love having long hair. This middle business is stupid.

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And I have never dyed my hair. I am too in love with my natural color, so that is not a solution to my bored dilemma.

I am glad to report though that I am past the dreaded shoulder phase. I really hate the phase that is between being short and being past my shoulders. I have thickish hair so it seems almost afroey when it is before the shoulders but past actually being short. It just doesn’t want to lay flat so it does a flare on it’s on with wreckless abandon before getting to the shoulders. See above picture. And there is NOTHING to fix it. This girl can’t do layers so it has to all stay at the same length so afro carefree blob thing it is. Can I get a halleluiah for making it past that part?

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I have had so many hair lengths over the years and ways of coping with the growing process.

Bangs…

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Perm…

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Layers…(see bad idea)

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Braids…

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Braids and bangs…

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Curls and bangs, which is different from perm and bangs.

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And tons of headbands and hairclipys.

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So you can see that I have had a variety of lengths and ways of styling it.

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But now I am in that phase that I am tired of it and am just annoyed with it.

I am annoyed that it gets caught in coats and shoulder bag handles.

It has become a handle for George to pull. And he pulls hard like he is holding on for dear life.

It takes so many minutes to dry. So many.

And there is hair EVERYWHERE. Seriously, I could donate what falls out of my head and have the same amount as the momentous cut. I find it on everything. I have at least one moment a day where I think, “how the heck did that get there?”

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I will say that as far as maintenance goes, I actually love having long hair more than short hair. I just have to remind myself that there are so many more possibilities to creating different looks with long hair. I love the versatility of it, but I just need to make myself do it. I love that I don’t have to actually wash/dry/straighten every day. For me with short hair I just have one option, so it is nice to have that flexibility. And when all else fails it can go in a braid or ponytail. Long hair don’t care. Short hair is drama and needs constant attention.

So we’ll see what happens when I get my hairs cut this weekend. I might get impulsey…

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What are you thoughts on hair length? Have you ever grown yours out to donate?

And Just Like That

And just like that, I am a working mom.

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I am well into week two of being back on the working circuit. (Not that type of working girl, goodness.)

Last week was rough. It was my first full week at a job since the beginning of August. It was my first full week full time in about a year and half.

It was my first time leaving George for more than an hour at a time.

With a stranger.

Rough and exhausting.

But it was good at the same time. We really did have a great first week.

I was truly fortunate to find a sitter for George relatively easily. The timing just really worked out for us here. And to find in-home care was just awesome.

She is a woman who watches 4-5 kids depending on the day. She was about half the price of any daycare in the area. And her house is just over 5 minutes away from my office.

Win, win, win.

I met with the sitter for about an hour and watched her interact with the other kids. The two little girls fell in love with George right away. (Literally, one girl exclaimed within minutes of meeting him, “I just love Baby George, and I can’t wait till he is here all the time.”)

Let’s just say this woman is a Godsend. She really makes these kids her whole world. I knew practically instantly that George would be in good hands with her.

She is so kind and warm-hearted. Pretty much perfect.

This past week she put up Christmas decorations, and George now has a stocking of his very own there. (I don’t even know where our Christmas boxes are right now, let alone having bought anything for G-man.)

She is very patient with his acid reflux and need to be held all the time. Although the first two days I thought George liked her more than me because he didn’t poop or throw up on her at all. Then when he got home he would work out EVERYTHING he had saved up from the whole day all down my shirt. On day three though, he initiated her into the clean-up George’s functions club.

She handles my new mom questions like a pro when I pick him up each night to get a progress report.

Leaving him that first day was hard. I had to fight back tears as I left him in her arms. Luckily last week I was in training meetings for most of the day, so I could keep my mind off the fact that I wasn’t singing songs or attempting to like tummy time with him.

There is so much trust you have to have to leave your kid with anyone, let alone someone you have only had a ONE hour encounter with. You have to let go of a lot of control. One of the many lessons of parenthood…

Every morning, I am a little awkward dropping him off because I try to do it as quickly as possible so I don’t get myself in a tizzy by leaving him. Other times, I realize I am lingering and just staring at this sweet face…

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Move on and make some money Mom.

I feel really fortunate as well that my office is full of babies. My boss just had his first kid two weeks before I started. The other woman in the office has a two and four year old. They have been super supportive knowing what it’s like being a parent and working. This has made for an easy transition because they both understand. Plus, we are gushing over baby pictures practically every chance we get. And who doesn’t mind looking at baby pictures? We also win for the office with the least amount of sleep. How we are accomplishing anything is beyond me.

It is hard leaving him and knowing that I spend a good chunk of time without him now. But as some friends mentioned recently, he will be getting the best of me because I will be fulfilled with my job professionally. I know I am meant to be a mom and an educator. I know that having both will make me better at both. (And my job is AWESOME, but that is a discussion for another day.)

I have to remind myself that it is good for both of us. I truly cherish the time we get together because it is limited now more than before. Like this morning, I got a ready with 10 minutes to spare so I just snuggled him a little extra before bundling him in the car. George benefits by interacting with other kids, but also by seeing his mom and dad work and being excited about their careers. I hope that he will see Tom and I loving our jobs and be motivated in his own career path to feel the way that we do. It is also good knowing that he has a community of people who are going to love and support him, and I don’t have to feel the pressure to be his whole and only world. (Even though selfishly at times, I want to be just that.)

This little man deserves the best, so his dad and I are doing what we can to make that for him.

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I don’t really have a lot of advice when trying to find childcare. We went totally off recommendations, so if you know someone in the area with kids I would start with their suggestions. The rest was a gut feeling. Sometimes you just know who you can trust and who you can’t.

While it is not easy leaving him in the care of someone else, it is getting easier as we adjust.

And you really can’t beat coming home to that face everyday!

Book Review: Medal of Honor

I received this book from Zenith Press as compensation for my review. All these thoughts are my own.

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I was really excited to be contacted to review this book. Military history? Count me in.

The Medal of Honor is the highest award one in the military can receive. This book, The Medal of Honor:  A History of Service Above and Beyond, is a beautiful book depicting the medal’s story.

Each chapter is about a different war time period in our country’s history. They have gorgeous photos, personal stories, and a detailed history on the medal.

I really enjoy it because it does put things in perspective of the time you are looking at and how the medal was perceived then. I really enjoy looking at it chronologically and how it has evolved. And I just love looking at the photos throughout too.

I wish that more of my history books were written and developed as this book was. History books get a bad rap for being dull and boring, but I think if more were displayed like this, we would think differently. (I am biased because I loved history so I didn’t find them all boring.)

I can definitely see this being a “coffee table” type of book that can be easily picked up and perused with very little time or you could spend a lot of time looking at it all and delving into the details.

You can find the book at Barnes and Noble and Amazon, or you can go here.