Trouble follows wherever we go

Our house is falling in on us. We've been tempting fate with a 25 year old ac unit and last week we decided to really press our luck. Randomly, the unit would start blowing hot air. An ac buddy of Derek's came out and fixed it with the flip of a switch (and amazingly charged nothing for this lesson at 11pm).

The fix lasted 3 days. Then 2. Then 12 hours... You get the idea. Thursday D got up in the middle of the night to fix it. in his underwear. (Crazy that parents of a 3 month old wake for home repairs and not for the baby). Friday evening, Derek tried to flip the switch and... nothing. Thankfully Derek had spent a ton of time researching units and the new one was already ordered. It will be installed Tuesday!

Our friends Jill and Jeff have an awesome guest house where our family can stay for the next few days. Have I mentioned how great my friends are? However there isn't room for Lola (and Lo doesn't get along with Jills cat Bella... maybe bc we trained her to attack cats?). Thankfully Gaumy has agreed to look after her the next few days. Otherwise she would have stayed in the hot house. Seriously. She's a dog.

Packing for the next few days didn't take long but it did take a lot of space. My SUV was packed high with a pack and play, stroller, pump, dog crate, clothes, kid and a dog. I meant to take a pic.

On the way to Hotel Prudes, I got a text from Jill about a leaky toilet in the guest house. Trouble really does follow wherever we go. Just not the good kind.

In other news, we are now sleeping without the baby monitor at home. When he needs us, he makes it KNOWN so it is pointless to use the monitor.

Grant is 3 months!! (plus some)

Although I DID manage to snap a monthly shot of Grant when he was EXACTLY 3 months old, I haven't blogged it yet (Grant was very tired and wanted to show how big he can stretch out). Here are his 3 month stats:

• Weight: 14.1 lbs (according to the Wii)

*Note - the Wii now says he is 14.3 lbs, but these are 3 month stats*

• Diaper - Size 2

I have no idea why I thought we'd be in smaller diapers for a long time. The mega-pack of Size 1-2 was just perfect though because Grant can really go through diapers! We'll be going up a size in diapers in no time.

• Teeth - 1 cutting through on top. We've started experiencing the joys of teething.
  
• Now able to sit in the Bumbo, even though he doesn't really like to
  
• Now able to face front in the baby carrier


• Still insists on being changed at the first sign of moisture in his diaper (interestingly, I don't think poopy diapers bother him as much)
  
• Insists on being carried around the house facing forward - He hates to be held cradled like a baby or over your shoulder looking backward. Because of this, I thought he'd love the Bumbo - but he only enjoys that for about 3 minutes.
  
  Making lots of owl noises - he's not too keen on consonant sounds yet, but I tell him "Mamama" all the time!
  
• I have now switched out his clothing to get rid of all the newborn sizes. It's amazing how long mama's favorites can fit! He's mostly wearing 3-6 months.

Because I didn't divide up clothing based on actual size (I divided them based on the size stated on the tag), several of the tiny 0-3 and 3-6 month onesies will never be worn. Now I need to sort through the 2 huge bags of clothes my favorite sister gave me to prep for winter (and avoid having the same tragedy of unworn clothes)!!

I have held true to my pledge NOT to buy him any clothing. It's not easy, though. Instead of buying this at Target, I made this:
At the same time, I made a Dallas Cowboys onesie for football season. Love the iron-ons!!
This past weekend when we were in St. Louis, I contemplated making an exception for souvenir clothing - how can you resist a Cardinals onesie?! Common sense kicked in though, and we got a postcard instead.

St Louis Trip

Grant went on his first plane ride over Labor Day weekend. We spent the long weekend in St Louis with Derek's family. The plane ride there went really well. Grant slept most of the way and if he was wet, he didn't tell us (shocker)! The only event of note on the plane is the army guy that threw up THE WHOLE TIME on the window seat across the aisle from us. Allegedly an allergic reaction. The plane ride home was more of a challenge because it didn't fall at his nap time. He was a little fussy and demanded 2 diaper changes. I think we'll stick with morning flights in the future to take advantage of our sleepy boy.

Once we got fixed up (which took some time to figure out the rental car infant car seat), we picked up Great Grandma Joyce (Grant's great-great) and met up with Derek's great uncle Daryl for lunch. We spent some time playing cribbage in the hotel lobby area (Mike and I won 2 out of 3). It was a little tough juggling Grant at the same time but we managed!
In the evening, we took advantage of the cocktail hour at the hotel. This is our 2nd stay at the hotel, and I'm so impressed with it. Drury Plaza Hotel. They have cocktail hour from 5:30-7 where each adult guest can get 3 free cocktails (beer, wine OR liquor). And they have food too! That night, the food was hot dogs & chili - they didn't look great so we passed. They also have some standard snack fare.

At cocktail hour, we met a man who was there with his wife and SEVEN kids. We let him hold Grant (I think that's the first stranger to hold him). He is definitely a pro - he made a pacifier appear out of nowhere!

Sunday morning we had a delicious brunch with Grandma Joyce and Daryl. Daryl's wife is still in the hospital recovering from hip replacement, so we didn't get to see her. We were glad that Daryl could get away for the little bit of time we got to spend with him! We ran a few errands, played more cribbage (the boys beat the girls), and generally took it easy. We also got to try Ted Drewes Frozen Custard. It lived up to the hype! All in all, a pretty relaxing weekend!

Ten things I'm grateful for...

Following the lead of Tessa and Rachel, I want to post about the little things - the simple blessings that make me happy!

1. Driving past cows, horses and bales of hay on my way to work. Even though the electrical lines and defunct power station kinda ruin the country feel, it's nice to day dream about a horse's life in the midst of a hectic day.

2. The sounds Grant makes when he's waking up... before the crying starts!

3. Football season

4. The license plate game that me and Derek play.

5. Seeing an old man in a suit & hat at the courthouse.

6. Having a great boss. We've been in trial all week, working long hours, yet he still thought to tell me (on more than 1 occassion) that he realizes how hard this week is on me - juggling work and baby.

7. Margaritas on a hot summer evening (or any evening)

8. Hand-me-downs from my favorite sister! Actually, I could easily come up with 10 things I'm grateful for out of the tons of gear that she's passed on to me.

9. Friends that are patient enough to endure long photo shoots with Grant or put up with harassment from my family!

10. Gooey Butter Cake!! (Thanks, Gaumy)

Pumping at work

Pumping at work is NOT FUN (to put it mildly). I did get to share an awkward moment with my boss yesterday. My "udders" were on my desk drying out before the next use. He saw them and asked if I was having breathing trouble. I had to tell him they were for my breast pump. What do you think? Does this look like an inhaler?

Giggles

Grant laughed for the first time earlier this week. I was singing "Safety Dance" and he just loved it! Now that song is on repeat at our house. :) I've also figured out how to get good shots of him smiling - I cover his face with the soft blanket while the camera flashes red, then move the blanket just in time for the flash.

We've been battling Grant's eyes since he was about 2 weeks old. He has blocked tear ducts, and sometimes they get infected so he gets gunk in his eyes. It comes and goes, but it's been pretty bad the past week. You can see there is a little redness under his left eye. Derek took him to the doc (twice) to get him fixed up, and I think we're on the way to getting pretty eyes back! The last trip, Derek left the paci at the house - I don't think that will happen again anytime soon.

Grandma Rose visited us yesterday so that Derek (who is still on full-time Grant duty) could take advantage of Restaurant Week. I was so glad she could help out so my awesome hubby could have some fun. She decided to be super-grandma - she dusted, vacuumed and straightened up the house! I'm soooo grateful. Here she is working her magic on Grant:

Happy Birthday to me!!

Last weekend, I celebrated my birthday by having and recovering from shoulder surgery. Derek was kind enough to take my picture once we got home on Friday.
I was only in the sling for 1 day. My bandage was removed Monday & I started physical therapy on Tuesday. I took a few shots of my shoulder last night:
The bruise on the front of my arm is the "ugliest" part. That doesn't hurt at all and will heal very quickly. Other than that, there are 5 small incisions. My physical therapy is going well, but I'm still limited to lifting 2-5 pounds with my left arm. This means Derek is on full-time Grant duty. I must say he's doing an AMAZING job!

On Saturday (my birthday), my awesome SIL brought me cupcakes!!! They were so yummy, and it's always great to have candles and cake on your birthday.
We also took Gaumy to Olivia's 1st birthday party. We had a great time visiting with everyone. I was still hopped up on pain meds and sporting my sling. As you can see, the dads were on pool duty.

I must brag on Derek. He is taking and picking Grant up from daycare, since I can't handle the car seat right now. He has still managed to keep everything else going, too. He took his car to be inspected (and fed Grant a bottle while he was waiting). Every day when I get home, the bottles that he used that day are washed. On Wednesday when I got home from work, he'd already gone to the grocery store and made dinner. On Thursday, he stopped by my office and brought me a DELICIOUS iced coffee from Dunkin Donuts. To top it off, he's changing all the diapers. Even when I feed Grant, Derek brings him to me, then takes him from me to burp him... and all the while, he makes sure I'm taking my meds and icing my shoulder.

Speaking of Grant, here's a shot of tummy time last night. I love his expression... and Lola playing in the background!!

2 month stats

Grant’s 2 month check up was on Tuesday. I had to wake him for the appointment, so he was a little grumpy and very hungry when we got to the doctor’s office. Thankfully, I had a bottle ready and arrived 30 minutes early to allow time to feed. Unfortunately(?), this is the one and only doctor’s office that is prompt. He only ate 3 ounces before the torture began. Here are his stats:

Weight: 12 lb, 3.2oz = 55^th percentile

Height: 23 ¼ inches = 55^th percentile

Head circumference: 41cm = 75^th percentile

As for weight, if you take away the 3 ounces he just ate, the Wii Fit Plus is pretty darn accurate!

He is eating 6 ounces now, usually 5 times a day. He eats mostly from bottles, and only gets food straight from the source once a day, the last meal of the day. It is by far the highlight of my day - getting to cuddle up with him and tell him all about my day. He gets pretty vocal when it's time to burp - the man doesn't like his milk to be taken away!

He is smiling more and more. For the most part, he smiles in response to me and Derek, and any time he gets a clean diaper. He is pooping only 1-2 times a day, but he makes those really count! He likes to watch his mobile and likes my hair across his face and belly. He's been grabbing my hair, eating his fist, and drooling all the time!!

The past 2 days that I've taken him to daycare, he has a HUGE SMILE as soon as I set the car seat down in the room. I take that to mean he loves daycare. It makes leaving him so much easier!

G man (a/k/a "Quatro" since he's my parents' 4th grandchild; a/k/a "G-Unit"; a/k/a "G-Pesos" since Derek's alias is D Money) decided to keep us on our toes last night. After 18 nights in a row of sleeping through the night, Grant woke up at 2:30 AM ready to eat. I went back to bed at 4 and Derek put him down around 4:30. We are going to have a talk when I get home today because he can't repeat that again tonight - I have to check in for surgery at 5:30 AM tomorrow!!

2 months old

Grant is now 2 months old! I really want to start taking monthly photos to update along with monthly stats. We go to the doctor on Tuesday morning, so I will update with stats and how he handled the shots then. According to the Wii, Grant is now 11 pounds, 14 ounces. We'll see how close that really is. He's still in Size 1 diapers, and I don't see that changing any time soon... especially because we bought 252 of them at Sam's today! (They are Size 1-2, so I'm sure we're safe). We spent the better part of Saturday over at the Dacuses'. The highlight of the party (besides the smores bars) was a new frisbee game. I reffed the game all night since it would be impossible to play while holding a baby, and even I had fun reffing! The game involves a beer can on a post, a frisbee, and it must be played with a drink in one hand. I really couldn't tell you anything else about it. That's how good of a referee I was! Family shot from that evening (Grant is exactly 2 months old)!And a fun "hold the camera out, take a quick pic of yourself" shot of me holding G-Unit in the backpack:

Grant decided to put us to the test on Saturday - and we passed! First, we wanted to pack everything he needed for bed, so we took his pajamas, swaddler and the baby monitor. I also knew that I would need to pump while we were out (so much faster to give him a bottle & pump... plus I wanted to drink). So we had all of that gear (to pump and clean up the parts - becoming a pro at that, though, now that I'm pumping at work).

While I was rinsing the pump parts, Derek came rushing into the bathroom. Grant had a blowout! Chase and Clint recommended stripping him down and wiping his butt in the grass like a dog... thankfully Derek didn't listen to them. We put down a changing pad and went through LOTS of wipes and a change of clothes. Thankfully, I had listened to Mary and packed 2 changing pads because the first one got a little dirty. If we were in a bind, we could have continued to use it throughout the evening, but we were prepared and didn't have to!

Today was pretty laid back. We did make our way out to Stonebriar mall. I took a picture for some teenage girls with a young man - turns out he was JC from the Kidd Kraddick morning show. Oh - and someone named Demi Lovato?! was there. I am clearly old because I don't know either of them. Maybe I just listen to The Ticket too much.

Grant had a meltdown when we were about to leave, but thankfully we had parked at Nordstrom. I ducked into the "Mother's Lounge", changed him and fed him in privacy (on their comfy couch), and then we were good for one more stop (Sam's). After the next feeding, we tried out the pool. We will be trying that again soon - with better timing next time!

I inventoried my breastmilk over the weekend. I have 217 ounces. Grant eats about 30 ounces a day, so that's only 1 weeks' worth of milk, and yet it seems to fill our freezer. I'm pretty proud of it (clearly). I still seem to be producing more than he needs, but now I can make it until 5 or 6am before I HAVE to pump.

Catching up on firsts

I haven't blogged in awhile, so let's catch up on a few firsts:

First week back to work:

I did not experience the typical new mom break down, but I certainly did miss my little man like crazy. I think my "warm up" days the week prior really helped. Every day when I get home, I steal him from Derek and barely put him down. I got to ease back into things - Monday I left work at 3pm. I think Wednesday was the hardest day for me because I started to realize that this is our new lifestyle for years to come. Our new routine involves Derek calling me when he picks up Grant to let me know the last time he ate - that way I make sure I'm home in time to feed him dinner.

The biggest pain is pumping at work. The actual pumping is no big deal - I just shut my door and get after it! It's cleaning up afterward in the office kitchen/copy room. There is very little counter space, and I've found myself dodging co-workers trying to get their coffee. Derek said I should offer them some "creamer". mmmm.

Thursday and Friday, Grant was still asleep when I needed to leave the house. So I loaded him up and fed him a bottle when I got to daycare. I really liked this. I get to interact more with the teachers and other parents, and learn more about the kids. I want to do this at least once a week - we'll see what the boss has to say about that!

First time to rollover:

Grant has been rolling over for a few weeks now. I think it's because he hates "tummy time", so he gets angry and ends up making his way onto his back. He had rolled over a few times before, but I think it was 2 weeks ago when Derek told Lola to rollover, and both Grant and Lola rolled over at the same time!! This morning, he rolled over 3 times in a row, so I grabbed the camera hoping he'd perform again:

First time in the pool:

I thought we had a good window of opportunity earlier today to try Grant in the pool. Turns out, we didn't. I got the backyard set up with the umbrella, towels and a float, then changed my clothes. By the time I changed Grant into swim trunks, he was in meltdown mode. Nonetheless, I think the first time in the pool went pretty well... It was just VERY short.

First bath:
This is LONG overdue. A few quick clips from Grant's first bath on June 10th with Grandma Rose in the driver's seat:


But he soon calmed down:


First time I realized Grant's favorite sound:
A few weeks ago, I realized that I usually get some good smiles when I change Grant's diaper... and then I realized the smile seemed to immediately follow the velcro sound of taking off the dirty diaper and putting on the clean one.