Send in the broccoli

Isaac slept soundly last night from 7 until just after midnight. Right when I was getting ready to head to bed, he woke up. I fed him, he went back to sleep (very briefly), woke up again, cycle continued until 5 am. He seemed hungry but wasn't desparate, and didn't cry when I tried to put him back to bed..just talked and grunted. He kept smiling at me when I would go back and check on him. He finally went back to sleep at 5 once Tim gave him a small bottle of formula, so I got maybe an hour and a half of good sleep last night.

 

I had worked until 9, so I think he was just pleasantly surprised to see me and wanted to hang out :) 

A friend told me that she once read something about babies waking up in the middle of the night, and the advice was to send in the broccoli (dad) instead of the cookies (mom). Because why would a baby want broccoli when they know they could have cookies? Not that Isaac doesn't love Tim, but when he knows I'm there -- especially when I wasn't there before bed -- he justs want to hang out and snuggle. Very sweet, but boy am I sleepy today.

 

But, Isaac has been sleeping in a Pack N Play in our room, so its sort of hard to convince him that Dad is the only one around when he can clearly see that I'm in the room. The only thing that has been preventing me from moving him to his own room at night, is the lack of shades. So, I took some time over my lunch hour today to buy a roller shade for the large window in his nursery. We will put those up tonight or tomorrow and start transitioning him to his crib instead of sleeping in our room. Hopefully that will help him sleep better and longer at night.

 

And then, when he wakes up in the middle of the night, I can send in the broccoli in order to bore him back to sleep ;)

Smoothies@Graeters

Pup for Sale

I'm sure you've all heard various tales of frustration related to our bloodhound, Payton. She really is a sweet dog, but she is just too much work and needs too much attention for us at this point. It has always been a struggle living with her, but now that Isaac has arrived, it has become much more stressful. She is not adjusting well, and is always getting into trouble just to get attention. She needs somewhere she can run and play, and not have to be alone for much of the day like she is now.

 

So, even though we love her, I think the best thing for everyone is if she finds a new home. We are asking a small adoption fee of $100 (this discourages people looking for free dogs for the purposes of research or dog fighting), although we will waive that for someone we know will give her a good home. This includes all her stuff -- large crate, bowls, first months food, remaining medications, toys, favorite blankets, etc.

 

She would do best in a home where someone is home much of the time. A fenced in yard would be great, but lots of walks and/or dog daycare would suffice. Invisible fences are a non-option because bloodhounds will disregard the shock and just keep tracking the scents. She hasn't had much exposure to cats, but she loves other dogs. Older kids that could run and play with her would be great, but a home with young children would probably end up with the same issues we're having now.

 

If you know of anyone who might be looking for a sweet adult dog, please let me know, or pass along our phone/email.

Zzzzzzz.....

Peas!

Just finished his first meal of peas. Success! He loved them!

Seafood

Oatmeal time

Commit to be Fit!

Local TV station WBNS is sponsoring a community-wide weight loss challenge. I need to lose baby weight, so I'm jumping at the chance for some external motivation

Commit to be Fit details...there are minimal restrictions. Basically our team goes and weighs in as a group one day this weekend, and then weighs in again 10 weeks later. The what and how are up to us. We should be weighing in on Sunday. Myself and friends Katie (whose baby is 1 day younger than Isaac), Jenn, Jessica (Anna's sister) and possibly Marisa too.

(In preparation, I decided to artificially inflate my starting weight by eating a big bowl of chocolate ice cream after work tonight....should get me off to a good start)

Izzy the Inquisitive

holding on to everything now....look at those fat fingers!

splish splash he was taking a bath

Isaac gets a bath the old fashioned way, in Grandma and Grandpa's kitchen sink

What happened to my weekend?

Short weekend, since I worked yesterday. Sweet pal spent the day with grandma, while I spent the day telling people that the internet was down and fielding complaints. You'd think the library was just a giant internet cafe or something...


Nice lunch at Wholly Joe's today with Brian. We brought Isaac with us and he did quite well. He didn't really fuss at all, even though he was very sleepy. After returning home for a 2+ hour nap, we left again to go visit Grandma and Grandpa All for dinner. 

Time to pump, then head for bed. Isaac has been sleeping for over 5 hours already, so I need to catch some shuteye before he wakes up and wants to eat again in a few hours. Luckily I don't have to work until 1, so I can sleep in tomorrow if he'll let me.

Sweet pal, corner pocket

No more 'nanas?

But....I love bananas!

Sorry pal, they're making you puke. I think you love them a little *too* much. No more nanners for a week or two. Let's try something boring next. How about oatmeal?





Sent from my iPhone

Yes, we have no bananas

Or at least, we will run out soon, because Isaac loves them. He wasn't too crazy about the rice cereal, but we couldn't feed him bananas fast enough. What a big boy he's becoming...

(The cute froggy outfit is courtesy of my Aunt Carol. Isn't it perfect for the spring-like weather we've been having?)

♫ when you put your arms around me... ♫

♪ I give you fever that's so hard to bear ♪

No, seriously, you should probably stay away right now.

I've had a fever off and on for 2 days. Came home from work at 9:30 tonight to find it was 100.6°. I curled up on the couch in a blanket and slept for 2 hours, and its now 100.8°. I really need to be at work tomorrow if at all possible, due to a busy day filled with lots of job-related programs being held.

But then again, they don't want me if I'm sick. Hoping I just wake up in the morning feeling better, and I don't have to leave any coworkers up a creek...



(One unexpected annoyance of being sick with Isaac around....even if I have someone else take over feeding him until I feel better, I still have to pump every few hours, or I will wake up in a puddle of milk. Sigh.)

Doctor's visit

I took Isaac to his 4-month checkup this morning. He had to get two vaccines, but luckily only one was an injection. He has officially doubled his birth weight now...he is 14lbs, 0.5oz, and 24.5" long. That is roughly the 25th percentile for height, but 50% for weight (and 50% for head circumference too, 16" around)

While we were waiting for the doctor to come in, he was having fun looking in the mirror above the exam table. I wish we had a similar setup somewhere at home. He really loved seeing "the other baby" in the mirror.

Somebody Wants What You Have

I think my patience has been wearing thin recently, in part due to the lingering winter weather. I'm certain that spring will relax me a bit, but this post reminded me that even having messes to clean up and errands to run can be a blessing...

Somebody Wants What You Have

Surprise! Isaac turned 4 months old yesterday :)

february fail

So February was pretty chaotic, and blogging fell by the wayside. Did you know that having a baby is hard work? Even harder when you're working full time, AND its winter and all you want to do is curl up with a book, a blanket, and the baby and snuggle.

We had sort of a hard winter here. (And I'm saying "had", like its over. We generally seem to have one last snow that catches everyone off guard, so I'm not optimistic that winter has run its course). Or maybe it seemed extra hard because we had a sweet pal to cart around in the snow, but we did get quite a bit of snow. And OSU even closed for a day. You know there is a lot of snow when OSU closes....

Things seem to be getting more routine though. Our house is still a crazy mess, but the basement remodel is finished, and we are at least doing enough laundry to keep Isaac dressed and diapered. We're even managing to make dinner at least 70% of the time instead of eating fast food. (Tonight we had Brown Sugar Meatloaf and cheesy broccoli. Yum!)