Work at Home Day and Emerson Updates

I got to work from home last Friday.  So at lunch time we went to get our Christmas Tree!

Emerson is intrigued by this tree.  Okay, we'll get this one.

Hooray!

After getting the tree, Mommy had to get back to work so Daddy and Emerson went for a walk:

Tyra would love Emerson, she totally knows how to "Smize" (smile with her eyes). 

BTW, this is the Moby wrap tucked under my husband's coat...

After the walk, Emerson worked on standing and cruising while Mommy typed on the laptop:

Check out her woolie pants - aren't they too cute?  She has a Goodmama underneath.  I got these crocheted pants from Spots Corner for like $15 which is a real steal.  I am really heading towards the wool/fitted diaper route, especially now that it's winter and I want her in warm pants. 

I love how she was all in shades of pink and red all day, and yet when we went to get the tree the guy there called her "Sonny" and "Little Man."  She had her hood up the whole time so her bald head wasn't that obvious.  Really, does she REALLY look that much like a boy?

Baby Gear Update:
We have also bought our two new "Big Girl" car seats.  We chose to have the Graco Infant SafeSeat Car seat as our infant seat because it runs big and usually fits until the baby's first birthday.  Well it's true, E has just gotten to the height max.  My husband will be installing the one for his car today and the one for my mom's car this weekend.  We got The First Years True Fit Convertible Car Seat for my husband's car and the Cosco Scenera Convertible Car Seat for my mom's car.

We chose the True Fit because it is known to work well for a tall baby and for smaller car backseats.  Also, the True Fit's cover comes off without having to dismantle the whole car seat - you can pull it off, launder it and pop it back on no problem.  Finally, I was able to get it for less than $150 which was my pricepoint max.

We got the Cosco Scenera because it is known to be easy to take in and out of a car - this carseat will mainly be in my mom's car but I may use it from time to time in my car.  Also, it is known as not being super big and my mom would need to be able to still carry two adults in her backseat when this is installed.  I got it for only $35 on Overstock.com (and $1 shipping) in a pink floral print, and I really don't care the pattern.  This isn't the cushiest car seat, but is known as a great car seat for grandparents and daycare providers because it's safe and works fine for jetting around town.

Christmas:
We have decided to not really buy Emerson anything for Christmas.  We just spent almost $200 on car seats, and she really doesn't need anything.  I did get her those little wooden animals from Mamabargains - I plan to wrap them in tissue paper so she can play with the paper.  But that's it.  I think my mom and sister have bought her a couple things, but I don't think they are getting her a lot either which I am happy about.  Emerson has enough toys - in fact right now her favorite toy is an empty tub for raisins.  On her list I put socks and soft-soled shoes and maybe some warm sweaters and fleeces, but that's all she really needs.

Birthday:
Emerson's first birthday is exactly a month from today and I haven't planned ANYTHING.  All I know is it will take place on Sunday, the 10th because my company holiday party is on the 9th and I am "strongly encouraged" to attend.  I have toyed with having a book-themed party and then if people do feel the need to bring a gift, they can bring a book to add to Emerson's library.  But I don't want a bunch of random stuff for her - she doesn't need a lot of clothes (and lots of clothes don't fit great over cloth diapers), she doesn't need toys (see above), and I don't want her to have lots of bright plastic things that sing and bing and whizz.  I really am happy that she likes to play with raisin and oatmeal canisters.

But I know people want to attend a party for her so we will plan SOMETHING.  It's just hard because we have a lot of family in the area and lots of dear friends who are like family.  If we just invited close family and even closer of friends, we would have 18 adults and four kids under the age of 5.  Not too much fun - I would love to have less than 10 people, something really low key.  My sister suggested making it a potluck - that people bring food instead of presents and make everything Emerson-friendly food so she can enjoy.  I like that idea because trying to feed 20 folks is not cheap and if I will be in Alexandria, VA until the wee hours the night prior the last thing I will want to do is make food and hang decorations with a champagne headache! 

But I like the idea of potluck, it will make it a more laid-back and cozy affair.  We're not the rented moonbounce and pony rides sort of family, we don't want lots of giant gifts and I want to make that clear from the get-go.  I want E to enjoy birthdays because it's a day where it's all about her and she gets to play and be surrounded by her favorite people who love her, not because she gets stuff.  And really, our house is too small for lots of toys! :)

Emerson Updates:
As you can see from the photos above, Emerson is LOVING to stand.  She pulls herself up, will cruise down the coffee table, grab a knee of someone sitting nearby and move to cuising the couch.  She is good at slowly going down to a seated position as well.  She still isn't crawling much - just to get to a toy or closer to a person, not really to travel and have an adventure.  She still hasn't investigated the stairs - she is far more interested in cabinets and drawers.  We currently have the SuperYard around the TV/media stuff, but still sometimes use it to separate the living and dining room areas so she can have dog-free play time.  It's tempting to get a second one... maybe in the New Year.

Emerson is talking a LOT.  Not real words, but really cute 'liggle liggle oooshp" sort of babble in her sweet girly baby voice.  She also has started dancing and singing.  If you bang out or sing a rhythm she will repeat it.  She also loves it when you clap for her and say "yay!"  She will smile, coo, and then start saying "aaayyyy!" and clapping or slapping a surface nearby.

We are still doing Baby-led Weaning but occasionally spoonfeed Emerson.  She seems to like the variety.  Last night I made her a blend of avocado, plain yogurt and a touch of vanilla extract and she LOVED it.  When I would feed her a spoonful she would say "Mmmmm!" and smile and close her eyes and rock from side to side as though it was the best food in the world.  Too cute!

Thanksgiving was great for BLW and got us a lot of ideas.  Now on Sundays we are pre-cooking some food for her - sweet potato chunks, steam up some great beans or Brussels sprouts, etc.  It makes dinner time a ton easier.  Still for breakfast and lunch we do feed her, but it's not as much that is consumed.  Breakfast is usually cereal and maybe some fruit, lunch is often steamed baby carrots or pears and leftover pasta or rice from dinner or else a bit of oatmeal.  Dinner is when she gets really creative and tries all sorts of spices and flavors and textures.  Tonight my husband is making artichokes... we'll have to see how we can have her try some!

Good News!

I'm not pregnant!

I swear, this erratic cycle and the use of condoms is a bit stressful.  However just when I get to the point of thinking I should pick up a pregnancy test at CVS on the way to the Metro I get my period.

Thank God.

Seriously, I know way too many pregnant women right now, and they are all due between March and July.  Half are happy accidents, half are happy women who have been trying and trying and finally succeeded.  I adore Emerson, gosh I love her so much but I have absolutely, positively, completely no desire to get pregnant any time soon...

...possibly ever.

I never ever EVER thought I would be the parent of an only child.  Seriously, I was thinking something like four kids.  Well, growing up I always wanted two because my sister and I were so close and friends and it was nice.  Then I hit college and wondered... maybe I didn't want spawn.  Maybe I wanted to travel the world and write and be a really kick-ass aunt with tattoos.  And then I married a man who was a cancer survivor with a whole helluvalot of chemo and only one testicle and I read Lance Armstrong's autobiography and decided then and there I would NOT do IVF.  If we couldn't procreate naturally, I was going to adopt a whole soccer team worth of kids.

And then we had Emerson.

And we both think... this is a pretty nice setup.  Emerson is cool, we are cool, our house is the right size for us three... maybe we'll just stay that way.

So maybe my feelings will change later on, but my feelings haven't changed in almost a year.  There won't be a planned Two Under Two in my household, and there's no plans to have the Dr. Spock recommended three years between children. 

And again, I am thankful that I am not pregnant, but that I have a happy healthy little Toadie McBoadie.

Oh, speaking of birth control, I just got a bill from Baby Factory for $10 that insurance did not cover.  Can you believe that appointment cost $580.42?  $210 for "New Patient  - Level 3," $240 for two DNA probes, and $12 to handle my specimen (I guess of my DNA).  AND they never let me know the results of those DNA probes.  For all I know I could be pregnant and with gonorrhea at this very moment!

Well not pregnant, since I got AF this morning.  And am rocking my Diva Cup...

Emerson Takes Inventory of Her Bookcase

Books and toys and stuffed animals, oh my! At least she knows what she is saying...

The Cloth Diapering Accessories

The other day my friend asked me about our setup for cloth wipes.  Figured it may be helpful to some of you as well:

So here is my changing table - what I have of it.  Have I mentioned that I acquired a changing table from Craigslist for $40?  Well this is it.  We got it unassembled and once I started assembling it I realized some pieces to hold the shelves together were missing.  I now need to figure out some time to meet with the seller and pick up the pieces.  Argh.  But anyway you can see that below is a basket that holds dirty clothes, to the left is the diaper pail (plain plastic kick-bottom from Target, Wahmies wet bag liner).  On top of the dresser is the stuff for cloth wipes etc.

Once we get the shelves for the changing table, I will be flipping the dresser and changing table and then storing the cloth wipes stuff on a shelf under the dresser.

And here is the setup for her cloth wipes and other stuff.  The pink terry-lined basket was part of a Welcome Baby basket my job sent me, the yellow basket part of a shower gift.  The pink basket holds all of the cloth wipes, and as you can see I have a real varied assortment - terry, minky, jersey, flannel.  The yellow basket holds the basics that are needed near the changing table - spray bottle of cloth wipes solution, diaper cream, saline drops, nose aspirator, and a shaker of Diaper Dust.

So while I am at it, here's some current pics of her nursery.  I am feeling a bit better about it:

The bookcase has now been moved back to be between the closet and door.  As you see, there is something hanging on the wall!  I had this white frame and it was the wrong size for what I bought it for, but perfect for showing off a sonogram photo.

And here is Toady hanging out in her crib.  That pink floral pad is soemthing my mom got as a baby gift with me.  I don't know it's true purpose, but it's nice to have in there in case of pee-pee smell through her wool cover (happens from time to time if she sleeps in late).  Easier to pull out than the sheet.  The red ring usually holds a baby's mirror which she loves, and you see her Fisher Price dog that her grandfather purchased before she was born/he passed.  The afghan near her we let her sleep under now that it's cold, the other one to the left is her lovey.

Nice shelves for the changing table leaning against the wall...  UPDATE!  Changing table lady is stopping by tomorrow afternoon and dropping off the four missing pieces!  Hurrah!!!

At Least Let the Other Woman Have a Sense of Style...

This weekend I was rooting through my utterly pitiful lingerie drawer looking for a matched pair of socks. Seriously, the biggest part of my wardrobe that has suffered since getting knocked up is my lingerie drawer.

My pre-pregnancy undies that still fit are in a sad state, I still have in there all the Victoria's Secret low-rise briefs from later in the pregnancy (yep, those that got bleached from my crazy pregnancy discharge and even they are all stretched out, faded and ugly), I have a couple Hanky Panky briefs that do terribly unflattering things to my gut and butt, some really cute mesh lace hipsters from Gillian and O'Malley that... well they were cute when they were new but now they look like cheap undies from Target. Also in there are three non-nursing bras that I still wear but are all jacked up from being stretched around to accomodate an exposed nipple, four nursing bras - two which have the wires poking out, two classic nursing bras that look more like sports bras and I hated to wear even the weeks after E was born, a couple random pairs of boyshorts and briefs that I pick up at Marshall's for a couple bucks when I get the chance to shop in a real store, and a bunch of random socks.

So I am digging around trying to find two socks that match that aren't knee socks (because even though I have lost 90% of my pre-pregnancy weight, I haven't lost it in my legs) and I find three different black-background Christmas socks.

Each Christmas, my mom sister and I get Christmas socks all in the same pattern. So it makes sense to have this many Christmas socks in my drawer. One is of Santas on sleighs, one is of reindeer, one is of moons with Santa hats.

I don't recognize the reindeer sock. Seriously, I have never seen it before in my life, and it seems to be newer than the rest. I keep digging in the drawer, I find the match for the Santa moons and the Santa on the sleigh, but not for the reindeers.

I mention it to my husband. He gets all upset, "what do you think I am cheating on you? Why would I do that, and WHEN would I have the time to do that"

HUH?

I didn't even THINK of that. I was thinking more that my baby brain is in overdrive and that he would say, "those are the ones from the year when you got your iPod" or something of that sort (he has a weird memory like that). So I tell him, "well I hope that if you were having an affiar you would do it with a woman with a bit more of a sense of style!" Luckily he found that funny and calmed down. "Do you think the match was the one Ruckus ate that Christmas when he had to have surgery to remove it from his intestines?"

I told you he has a really weird memory. And I think he was correct.

The State of the Mama

I am tired.

Like seriously fucking tired in every sense of the word.

Last night I nursed Emerson around 5:30 when I got home. Then she ate a hearty dinner of toast with cream cheese, cold green beans, the last bit of Thanksgiving squash and a bit of crust from the homemade pizza my husband made for dinner. Delish. Hubby left to teach yoga around 6:40. Then around 6:45 (more about E changing her bedtime hour later…) she starts the eye rubbing and the “meh meh meh” sounds that mean, “I am tired and am on the verge of crankiness and if I am not in my fleece sleep sack and sucking on a teat in 30 minutes I will be a mess all night.”

So upstairs we went where we took a lovely bath together where she still finds the empty bottle of Aveeno Baby Wash far more exciting than any bath toy (and standing up to pull the full bottles into the tub from the edge of the tub). She loved the water running from the spout to fill the tub, and actually stuck part of her face into it so she could drink some of the water. She also loves me pouring water on her head – she closes her eyes and makes this “ohhh!” face and it looks like she’s freaked out but when the water stops she grabs my hand and pushes me to fill it up and do it again.

I have learned that when I take a bath with Emerson, I need to use my upper arms to cover my nipples because she will try to nurse. This girl is all about nursing any time she sees me. If I am lying on the floor playing with her she will try to climb “Mount Mommy” to practice standing up and cruising, and then she will try to pull up my shirt in an attempt to nurse, and this can be 10 minutes after a feeding. If she is facing me in the tub and I reach to grab say the baby wash, she will grab my breast and pop it into her mouth. When I take her out of the bath and dry her off, she will fumble around to try to get near my breast. I think this is because she is old enough to realize that I am gone all day. So this makes me feel like a craptastic mom for being away from her for such long hours. Sigh.

So she reaches to me which lets me know she is finished with the bath, I go to try her off and she is able to navigate toward a nipple so at least she is chill while I properly dry her off. Carry her to our bed where I dress her for bed and then lie down with her to nurse her. She pops off when she is finished, grabs her pacifier, sticks it in her mouth and reaches out so I can pick her up and carry her to bed. Sleep Sheep and the music box from the mobile (mobile is no longer up, but we have the music part hooked to the edge of the crib because the sound reminds her of bedtime) and she’s out like a light befor e7:30.

She wakes at 11. This is her normal time. I have lately been dreamfeeding when I go to bed (between 10 and 11) but last night I went to bed at 9:30 and figured it was too early for her.

She wakes at 1:45. Again, pretty normal. Usually she wakes around 11 and then between 2-3 or so. A bit early, but no biggie.

She wakes at 3:15. Not normal. And I KNOW she isn’t hungry since she just nursed an hour and a half ago. I listen, and at first she is just making “meh meh” sounds so I figure she will soothe herself to sleep. Nope, her “meh meh” turns to “Maaaaah! Maaaaah!” and then full out crying. So I go in and try to calm her and pop in her pacifier. She isn’t having it. She just gets more upset. I pick her up and hold her close and murmur in her ear. She bucks away from me and tries to root down to my boob. I pull her back up and try to comfort her, she roots down and starts trying to suck through my tee shirt. Pull her back up, she calms down but it seems as though she was just trying to get a second wind because she again starts wailing and bucking. I put her down for a second and she starts gasping and flailing her arms all over the place, nose stuffed up from crying, so I pick her up and she is FREAKING. I decide to lie down on the rug with her, hold her close and she is freaking, pawing at me. So I sit up, hold her close and nurse her. Fuck it, I can’t do this to her. So we nurse, she pops off and moves like she wants the other breast. So I give her the other breast, she nurses for like a minute, pops off and sighs. So I go to put her back in bed and she is not wanting it. Again she starts crying and screaming and flailing herself all over the place. So I pick her up and take her to the rocking chair (our regular nursing spot at night) and nurse her. She nurses like 4 minutes each side, pops off the second boob, grabs the pacifier from my hand, nestles into my arm crook and boob, signs and her body FINALLY goes lax. I carry her to her bed, she curls up with her afghan and is out like Shout.

I go to bed and cry. I feel like such a shittastic mom. She obviously is nursing for comfort, and she needs her routine. I can’t let her cry, it makes me feel terrible. But I can’t function at work when I have more than 2 night wakings. My husband rubs my back and says, “maybe she is going through a growth spurt.” The thing is she has been erratic for the past 5-6 months. She will go weeks with 2 wakings, maybe even 1. Then she will go for even more weeks with 3, 4, 5 wakings. And I can’t function with that little sleep, that much interrupted sleep and then a long commute and a day stuck behind two computer screens trying to solve the world’s Web communication problems. I miss details, I trip over my words, I am only at like 80%. And I KNOW my husband is a great parent and she adores her days with him, but I feel bad that I am gone. She is starting to refuse bottles occasionally, which I think contributes to her bouts of constipation. I get home and find out she has maybe only consumes 3 ounces of breast milk while I was away (though of course he had warmed up two different bottles so 8 ounces are down the drain) and then she is latched to my boob pretty much for the next 12 hours. She won’t take a sippy cup, she occasionally will take water or breast milk if my husband pipettes it to her via a straw. But she cries when I do her morning nurse then pass her to my husband. She cries when I get home, say hello but then dash to the bathroom to pee and wash my hands before our “welcome home” nursing. She cries if my husband tries to soothe her at night. She wants her Mommy, and I don’t blame her. I want my baby.

So I am running on little sleep, and my life is all about either work or figuring out how to be a decent mom to Emerson. I don’t know what’s going on in the news, I have a hard time maintaining an interesting conversation with anyone, my blogs have been utterly neglected, I feel stupid and boring and lost as a human being and really really tired physically, mentally and spiritually. I try to meditate, to get some grounding and centeredness, and I can’t focus. I have trouble sleeping when I actually do get a couple hours of uninterrupted night time, and my brain races. I have songs like “Big Wave” from Pearl Jam playing like a soundtrack, and I have dreams of trying to find a bathroom at a crowded nightclub or racing through a grocery store to find a specific ingredient for a dish. I wake in a sweat, an arm asleep because it is wrapped around my body as though I am trying to hold onto myself for dear life.

This past Sunday, my husband and I went for a walk with Emerson. I caught myself just babbling about nothingness when I knew my husband just wanted to enjoy the weather and the moment. I tried to be silent, focus on my breathing, trying to do a bit of a walking meditation but I just couldn’t… it was like I was looking at myself being a ninny and I couldn’t stop it. Randomly commenting and babbling and talking and eyes darting around. We went to our friends’ house and the husband was setting up a ritual fire for a sweat lodge. He was doing all the prayers and we were allowed to participate by bringing positive energy, praying on some sticks, etc. I could feel this nervous energy in me and I kept trying to calm it. I looked at the sky, watched a large bird (vulture? Eagle?) soar in wide, lazy circles in the sky. Instead of focusing I go to see if my husband is looking and tug at his sleeve to see it. I point to it to Emerson. I can’t leave enough alone. I am antsy, getting bored even though the usual Alison would love being a part of such a thing. I am given a stick and asked to pray on it, to bring ancestors to the fire. I think of my father and I can’t even form a coherent sentence in my mind. I am so tired, but my mind is racing. I just repeat his name several times in my head and place the stick in the fire and hope I don’t fuck up the sweat lodge. We are invited to return that evening and I am secretly glad I cannot because of Emerson, and I happily say my husband can attend because I think maybe I can have a night where I can be alone, focus on myself, relax. We leave their house and I feel very lame, very square, very suburban, very boring, very stupid, very unappealing to myself.

That night my husband leaves with his friend for the sweat lodge. I put Emerson to sleep, pour myself a glass of wine, put on some music. But the dogs are pacing and fighting for the rights to be near me. I put them outside, they bark. Their barking makes Emerson chirp in her sleep. Their being outside turns on the motion lights. I let them in. They finally calm down on their respective parts of the couch. I lie down on my yoga mat and try to center myself. I do all the techniques that always work for me – visualizing my breath going in my abdomen and out my hands, tapping my feet together 100 times to surge the energy, focusing on a color, etc. to no avail. I go take a shower, thinking the water and warmth may help me relax. I am now clean, but still frazzled. I end up going back downstairs, sew together Emerson’s Sleepsack (she kicked through the seam below the zipper), eat a bowl of vanilla ice cream with a can of crushed pineapple with a glass of wine and watch Tough Love 2. Not too Zen…

But this is my life. I don’t really know what to do about it, and I hope it gets better. My husband and I have decided we don’t want to do anything for New Years – we want to be at home as a family. We will cook ourselves a really kick-ass meal, splurge on a nice bottle of bubbly, bond with Emerson, put her to bed and then enjoy snuggly loving time together. Maybe a bubble bath, maybe we’ll just watch Dick Clark’s Rockin’ New Year, maybe we’ll even pass out before the ball drops but we have decided we are both so all over the place, we would like to start off the New Year doing what we enjoy the most - being together and together as a family.

I know this too shall pass, but it sucks being such a mess. This isn’t me… but then I don’t really know who me is any more. I am changing – my priorities are different, my interests are different, my energy level is different, my life is so freaking different. I know I should go with the flow, ride the wave and see where it takes me but I feel as though I am floating farther and farther from shore and I don’t like it. Walking home on Sunday, the sun was just beginning to set and I made a pact with myself to not speak until I get to the gate of our front yard. I let my mind go wherever it wanted to. And I thought… I can see how people find alcohol or drugs as a crutch, because I could see how a couple hits from a bong or three glasses of wine would really chill me out right about now. And in turn, I could see how perfectly “normal” people can go insane – if you allow your mind to take control and focus too much on your inward conversations, they could overtake everything else.

God doesn’t give me more than I can handle and neither does Emerson so I feel that I should be getting some STTN very soon. If not… well I may be the crazy on the corner drinking white zin from a paper bag quite soon.

Real Men Wear Babies

My husband and I went for a long walk on yesterday with Emerson.  He decided to use the Moby, saying that the Ergo sometimes hurts his back with a front carry.  We walked to my sister's house which is a half a mile away.  She wasn't there but her neighbor Joey was there.  He was prepping for a sweat lodge in his back yard for that night so we helped with the ritual in building the wood pile for the fire.  We then walked down the town center where we got some groceries and we bumped into another baby-wearing dad!  We introduced ourselves and said we hope to see one another soon at the town's Mamas and Papas group.

Emerson and Daddy before our walk:

Thanksgiving

Aunt Debbie got Emerson her first fancy party dress.  Silk shantung with a pink chiffon bow and pink crinoline.  She looked like a little doll!

Because the dress was so pretty, we added not one byut TWO bibs before she went to chow down.  And really, how cute is the top one (under the squash it says, "Everyone is Thankful for Me."

And BTW check out my sleeve.  Every time she ate something she liked she would pull on my sleeve to "tell" me about it.

Squash, sweet poato, a bit of cranberries, green bean casserole and mashed potatoes!

Chomping down on a whole dinner roll.  Nom nom nom!

Someone is Slowly Growing Hair...

Thinking she will be a brunette with auburn undertones...

Movie: Away We Go

Last night we watched Away We Go, a movie starring Maya Rudolph and John Krasinski. I heard many reviews of this movie from fellow moms saying it was a cute lighthearted movie, poked fun at different types of parents, had a great part played by Maggie Gyllenhall who was an overzealous Attachment Parent.

Well my husband fell asleep right around the time that they met up with Gyllenhall’s character; I stuck it through to the end.

Not impressed.

Call me superficial, but my biggest problem was with the character of Bert, which was played by John Krazinski. He worked in insurance futures and was interviewing for a new job, yet he had a scruffy, unkempt, unshaved face, thick black glasses and shaggy longer hair that looked as though it hadn’t been properly cut in months. When he had an interview it seemed that he greased back his hair with Brill Cream, and wore a faded khaki blazer, slim navy trousers and tan suede desert boots. When he went out to lunch at a nice hotel, he wore a blue plaid long-sleeved shirt with green plaid shorts and flip flops. He constantly looked a mess – not necessarily in the hipster sort of way, but in a clueless to the point of wondering about his mental stability. Come on now, if you work in insurance futures and are pretending to care about sports to impress your middle-aged coworkers, I would think you would know enough to wear a proper shirt and tie and maybe have a shave.

Maya Rudolph’s character of Verona was utterly charming, but I can’t think of a time where I haven’t found her adorable and loveable (she even made a hooker adorable in Idiocracy). I loved the characters of Bert’s parents, Verona’s sister, their college friends in Montreal, even Bert’s brother. And yes, Maggie Gyllenhall’s character was utterly ridiculous to the point that no one would consider her mothering to be Attachment Parenting. Best quote of the movie was after Verona and Bert give her a stroller (hello Maclaren) as a gift, “I love my children, why would I want to push them away from me?”

So anyway, I had other major issues with the movie. First, I felt that it dragged on and on. The premise was good, but it didn’t seem fully formed. We didn’t get to know Bert and Verona well enough to fully understand their relationship, their ideas on parenting, etc. They were trying to figure out where to live, but were judging cities off of one family, and choosing cities purely based upon knowing that one family who lived there. And speaking of which, what was so wrong with Tuscon?

Another thing was money – Bert and Verona lived in a little dump of a house where fuses always blew and they had cardboard over a window. However they seemed to be able to easily afford flights and train trips all over North America at a moment’s notice. They did stay in cheap motels or with friends, but the flights had to total in the thousands. Bert had a job where he was taking calls from coworkers and clients all the time, Verona’s job as an artist seemed to be one where she could live most anywhere. It was hard to tell whether they were poor or just hipsters who liked to play poor.

There was a lack of detail that I think would have drawn the audience in deeper into the story. Why did they move from Chicago to be near his parents? Why did Bert not graduate from college, yet seemed to have gone to college with Verona and the couple in Montreal? If Verona’s parents passed when she was in college, how much younger is her younger sister in that she can’t remember them well? She surely looked to be at least in her mid-20s. Verona seemed so casual about her pregnancy, yet was traveling with a Doppler monitor to check on the baby and was NOT traveling with a letter from her doctor?

Anyway, I understand new moms and pregnant people wanting to gobble up anything that reminds them of themselves. I just didn’t find Away We Go to be too full of anything. It felt like a cheap copy of movies like Garden State that celebrate normal people and acoustic music. And it didn’t make the cut.

Woolie Photo Shoot

Emerson the Rastafarian in her wool longies and matching cap. No worries mon, everything irie!

She is wearing a Goodmama fitted diaper under this, and on top is wearing one of her beloved Old Navy long-sleeved tees.  I buy these when they send me a 30% off coupon and they are always on sale for $6.00 or less.  Tee shirts are so great when you are cloth diapering because you don't have to worry about a onesie fitting over the fluffy butt, compressing the PUL and possible causing wicking/leaks, and they work great with wool bottoms!  Gap and Old Navy both have great tee shirts and they are always on sale!

Speaking of Gap and Old Navy sales, we got this xylophone through the Gap Friends & Family 30% off deal this past week.  Gap carries some amazing toys from respected brands like Haba and they are usually able to be purchased with any Gap coupons.  Sweet, eh?

Emerson Won't Give You More Than You Can Handle

Emerson hasn’t been sleeping well. She did cut another tooth the other week and usually after that she sleeps better, but not this time. She will go down around 7:30 – 8:00 and will wake at 11-12, another at 2-3, another at 4-7. She used to handle the waking after midnight with a quick nursing – like 5 minutes total on one side. But lately she wants to nurse forever, and it’s not productive nursing, just comfort sucking. If I pull away (even if I do the No Cry Sleep Solution idea where you press the jaw closed or even if I succumb to a pacifier) she screams hysterically until I again give her the boob.

I have been trying dream feeding. When we come up to bed (around 10-10:30) I will gently pick her up and nurse her. Sometimes it will keep her asleep until like 3am… sometimes she is still up like clockwork at midnight.

I have tried having my husband go to soothe her if it is less than three hours since her last nursing. That works maybe one out of 20 times. Usually she screams bloody murder and I have to get up and nurse her back to sleep.

Anyway, it is so often that the wake-ups are painful and they are affecting me at work. I am sleeping on the Metro, easily distracted, tripping over my words. Not as bad as it was the first month back to work, but it’s still not good when I am in a very busy season at my job.

I have been reading the No Cry Sleep Solution and Dr. Sears’ Baby Sleep Book. The Dr. Sears book annoys me because it is NOT geared toward a working mother. Going on no sleep, reading that book at 3am in the bathroom so my husband isn’t woken (no point in us both being up), I want to throat punch the Sears folks because I find their suggestions near impossible unless you have only one child and are a stay at home mother who has all the breast milk her baby could ever desire and said baby never has constipation, a stuffed up nose, and well… a baby who misses her mom and is old enough to now realize that she can get as much Mommy time as she desires in the middle of the night since she is gone all day.

Yeah, Emerson sleeps FAR better on weekend nights. She knows what’s up.

And how can I refuse such a need?

So the past two days I have had to get up like 4:30am to get to work. I have been dreading this because it’s even LESS sleep that I will get.

And like that… Toadie McBoadie chills out and sleeps. Wednesday night I put her down and dream feed her again at 10:30 and she sleeps until 4:40am. Seriously. She sleeps long enough for me to turn off the alarm, pee, put in my contacts, put on my robe. It was perfect.

Last night we were off our schedule. She spent the later part of the day at my mom’s house and it’s always hard to get out of her house on time. By time we got home it was 7:45 and Toadie was passed out in her carseat. I didn’t want to rewake her with nighttime routine, so I left her in the little dress she was wearing, and by the light of the Twilight Turtle I changed her into her nighttime diaper and a wool soaker and slipped on her sleepsack, nursed her and put her to bed.

At 1:30am she woke, I nursed her and after like 5 minutes she passed out again. She didn’t wake again until after I had finished my shower. Again she timed it perfectly – gave me time to towel off, moisturize and apply my hair product and even scrunch before she woke. I nursed her the standard amount of time, she sighed contentedly, fell asleep in my arms and I gently put her back in her crib.

Tonight I have plans. I will get home from work, put her down for bed and immediately leave. I will be home around midnight. I wonder if she will wake up while I am gone, and if she realizes I am not available and only a bottle is, if she will freak… or if she will think there is no point in waking up for Mommy Time.

Whatever she does… I am very thankful for the past two nights. It’s like she knows… she pushes us to just the edge… and then she gives us a rest. God won’t give you more than you can handle and it seems as though the same holds true for a baby.

Mamabargains.com

Do you parents know about this site?  I did, but I forgot about it until yesterday when someone posted a bargain on one of my message boards.

Mamabargains.com is like Woot and other sites where they have one bargain and a limited amount in stock - they sell out and have a new bargain. 

Well yesterday they had wooden animal toys from the company ANAMALZ. 

ANAMALZ wooden toys are made from sustainable maple wood and textile products and can bend in different poses.  They are colored with azo dye and water-based paint and they are super highly rated and adorable.  Well these animals usually go for up to $9 each and yesterday Mamabargains.com had them for $3.50 each.  Um yeah, I bought four for Emerson...

Today's Mamabargain is the Easy Walker SKY Stroller.  This stroller gets rave reviews and is usually sold for $500 but is being offered for only $229.37.  Pretty fab!

There are a couple other sites like these out there - all of these you can subscribe to their newsletter so deals come straight to your inbox:
Green Baby Bargains:  Eco-friendly products for baby and mom, usually 50% off their retail price
Kid Steals: Same deal, but for older kids (though sometimes they have things for babies and toddlers)
Baby Steals: Same thing for babies.  I have seen great toys from brands like Haba, popular brands of clothing, DVDs and products for mom as well!

The only downside to these sites is that the shipping is usually not very cheap.  I only purchase from them when I can see that the discount plus shipping is still a better value than anywhere else online.  So do your homework and happy shopping!

Adding to the Nursery Mix...

Last night a very nice woman dropped off her old Jenny Lind-style oak changing table and I gave her $40.

Right now it is in pieces in the dining room.  I don't know if it will even fit in the nursery.  If it doesn't I figure I can re-sell on Craigslist.

My husband is annoyed, not because I went and bought a changing table, but because he sees it as another project for him.  It is oak, and has a varnish so it's not like I can do a quick spray-painting of it.  He feels it will be on him to sand it and paint it and all that jazz.  And yeah, it probably would be on him to do it since he is better at it and I am gone all day.

The only reason I felt it may be okay is because he said he may be building a bookcase for the bedroom and would have to paint it white, and while he was at it he was going to put a coat of glossy white on the nursery's rocking chair.  So I figured what's another piece of furniture?

Then my sister mentioned making it hot pink and I was toying with that idea.  I have four cans of hot pink spray paint from back when I was planning on painting the rocking chair pink.  I was then thinking I could just paint the changing table pink with that spray paint.  I didn't think about a varnish on the changing table.  That really complicates things.

So I will have to let you know how it goes.  Maybe my husband is right, I just need to let it go and stop obsessing over her nursery.  I just hate leaving projects half-finished.

Are Cloth Diapers Better than Disposables?

A friend recently asked me about cloth diapers - why do I use them and why do I find them to be a better choice than disposables.  I use cloth diapers because they are healthier (no chemicals and plastics near my baby), I find them to be eco-friendly (nothing added to landfills and only 2-3 more loads of laundry per week), cost-effective (cheaper than disposables and can be reused for another baby which doubles their savings), they are known to speed up the potty learning process, and they are darn-patootin' cute! 

I searched online and asked fellow cloth-diapering moms for links that they found that explain the benefits of cloth diapers.  I have posted below the ones that I felt were the most beneficial.  These links are clear, professional, backed up by facts and are great resources if you are curious about cloth diapers or require facts for a spouse or parent who needs more proof that cloth diapers are worth it.  Hope this can be helpful to another parent or parent-to-be!

Cloth Diaper Facts:
Average cost of disposables versus CDs (prefold option as well as BumGenius/pocket option): http://www.diaperco.com/store/pg/90-Cost-Savings-Cloth-Diapers-vs-Disposables.html

Active calculator that lets you see the cost of using cloth diapers and washing them in your house, and how it stacks up to using disposables: http://www.diaperpin.com/calculator/calculator.asp

A page that offers tons of links about CDs - the costs, the environmental factors as well as types and how to use etc.: http://www.pinstripesandpolkadots.com/basics.htm

Real Diaper Association - Great site that offers a ton of information and facts about why cloth diapers are better. Very technical or husband-appealing because so professional and business-like and not covered with pictures of babies, cartoons and pastel colors: http://www.realdiaperassociation.org/

Breakdown of the cost of various types of diapers (PFs, AIOs, pockets, combo): http://www.diaperdecisions.com/cost_of_cloth_diapers.htm

This article compares disposables and CDs in regard to cost, skincare and health concerns, the environment, and convienence. It really shows the benefits of cloth diapering. It is a page that is not obviously sponsored by a cloth diaper store or blog, is very matter of fact with percentages and numbers: http://www.thenewparentsguide.com/diapers.htm

This post is very very simple and calming - really shows that CDs are a great idea and also give simple steps on how to care for them and what options are out there. Not a ton of detail, but a good primer for those considering cloth diapering: http://www.eartheasy.com/live_clothdiapers.htm

Emerson on the Move

Emerson's Room

So I can't leave Emerson's room alone.  It's because it is STILL not finished and the poor baby is almost 11 months old.  Some is due to time, some is due to money, some is due to me not knowing exactly what I want in there.

The thing is, I don't want it too matchy-matchy, I don't want it too done.  My feeling is that she will be in a crib for only so long, then we will take off a side and make it a toddler bed.  Then when she gets her "big girl bed," the plan is to have her use Karl's childhood bed (which is a family piece that his dad also slept in and very nice maple - similar color to the wood floors).  Then our bedroom furniture (desk, dresser and tall chest of drawers) is the matched set for the twin bed, so we would give her our furniture and get ourselves new furniture.

So the walls are yellow with white trim because it's very basic - yellow can go with pink, with aqua, with gray, with lavender, etc.  Right now I have pink accents because I like it and I have control since she can't even say "Mommy."  But when she gets older I want her to feel as though her room is hers.

So we have white furniture - the $99 IKEA bed, the HEMNES chest and bookcase from Ikea, the antique rocker painted white.  We have white cordless shades, a white fan light.  We have the hot pink and white decal on the wall, hot pink rug, pink chandelier, pink changing pad cover (and just won a new hot pink chamois one from PBK thanks to eBay), pink sheets (have two and they are in great shape so no point in replacing) and pink breathable bumper.

My issues:
Emerson NEEDS curtains, it is just too bright and sunny in her room for good naps, and it's even too bright on a clear night with a full moon.  I am not sure what sort of curtains I want.  I feel that I would like just plain white curtains to keep the breezy cottage-like feeling and to make them versatile.  However white curtains are hard to find - they are either sheer (don't help with light), tab top (not what I want), or pricey (PBK has blackout sialcloth panels on SALE for $49/panel).

There is also a massive need for storage - the closet is very small and right now loaded with junk that needs to go into the attic or donation bin.  But even when tidy, it's not useful.  It isn't a large room so trying to figure out how to place things is tough.  I am thinking of getting a cheapo changing table from CraigsList so that I can have a place for diaper stuff separate from the dresser.  Not sure where it would go (possibly between door and closet if small enough).

Right now the bookcase is in front of the baseboard heater and that can't stay that way as it gets colder (room has central heat but not strong enough due to being in old part of house).  If we move the bookcase, we need somewhere else to hold wipes, spray, diaper cream, etc.  This would require either a new changing station that can hold this stuff as well as pad and diapers, or else a shelf somewhere near the current dresser.

There are only two electrical sockets in the room - one to the left of the dresser, and one to the left of her crib.

We hung the chandelier above the dresser since that is where the changing table is - lighting as well as distraction.  The problem is that the chandelier doesn't have a super long cord and no switch.  Right now we have it from one hook and then the chain hangs down to a surge protector that sits right now on top of the diaper pail.  We use the switch ont he surge protector to turn the chandelier on and off.  My current plan is to take a white surge protector with holes for screws (already purchased) and affix it on the wall right above or below the chair rail.  We would put a second hook in the ceiling to swag the chain and keep it away from the dresser (and little grabby hands) and then hook it into the surge protector.

We need a CD player in there so we can play continuous music or white noise.  Our neighborhood is not quiet during the day and leaf blowers, barking dogs, playing kids seem to wake her up.  I also think us going to bed, the dogs walking the stairs, etc. sometimes wake her at night.  She has a Sleep Sheep but it turns itself off after 45 minutes.  A CD player requires a plug, and currently the two plugs are no where near a place where we could house a little CD player/clock radio jammy.

So here are current pictures of her room:

To help you with the size of this room, that rug is 4x6'.  The room is probably something like 9x11' in size at most.  This is the view from the door.  The closet door is behind the rocking chair.

This picture shows the bookcase a bit better, whichis covering the old basebard heater.  You can also see how our current shades do not block much light at all.  This picture was taken on a cloudy day around 4pm so you get the drift of how bright this room can be.

And this picture shows the crib, the other window.

You can see we haven't even hung anything on her walls.  I jsut don't know exactly what I want and again don't want a bunch of cutesy pointless stuff.  I have a quote from Emerson that I would like framed, have a poster version of her baby announcement, would like a framed pic of her sonogram photo that showed her ankles crossed a la lying in a hammock.  But that's it and I haven't had the time to go to Michael's to get all these randomly-sized things matted and framed.

Am I the only bad mom out there who hasn't finished her child's nursery and she is almost a year old?

Baby Likes Corn on the Cob!

Nom nom nom!!!

My Wool Stash

Thought I would take some pictures of it all together...  this is what fits her now (yes the newest longies are still a little big...)

Two longies, four soakers.

Top left: Aristocrats soaker after a good 5 months of wear.  Stains are lanolin stains because I haven't always been super careful with lanolizing each month. 

Top right and Bottom Left: Homemade crocheted soakers made by my mom and her friend.

Bottom Right: Soaker by Monkey Snuggles.  it also has had a good 5 months of wear, you can see how it has gotten a bit stretched out, yet it still works amazingly well.

Wool longies, both purchased used on Spots Corner.

Left: These fit her perfectly right now.  They came with a matching beanie that is so cute, she looks like a little Rastafarian.

Right: These will fit in a couple of months - they work now but are a teeny bit long on her (rise doesn't matter too much - just ends up a bit looser of a fit).  The longer ones work fine for nighttime when she's not trying to stand and such.

My mom is currently working on a pair of cobalt crocheted longies - so the texture will be like the soaker she and Carol made, but will have full-length legs.  She brought them over on Saturday and I matched them up to the yellow longies and they are looking to be about the same size but with not quite so wide of legs.  Good first try at longies - I can't wait to try them on Emerson!

I totally see now how people find wool more addictive than cloth diapers!!  I have recently acquired four Goodmama diapers for great prices via Spots Corner to wear under the longies during the day time.

Baby Bath Time

Woah dude, what is going on Ruckus-Man?  Want to join me in the tub?  Don't eat my hippo!

Wah, I am a sad Bubble Marie Antoinette!

Now I am a happy Bubble Marie Antoinette!

Elimination Communication

I have been reading up on this a bit.  I have been wanting to do this but it's hard because I am not home during the day.  But today I saw Toadie was doing a bit of straining/poop face so I scooped her up, pulled down her pants and diaper and sat on the toilet really far back near the tank and she in front of me.

And she pooped in the toilet!  It was just one little bit, and it could have been coincidental... but she did it.  I am totally going to try this once in a while when I can tell she is wanting to go to the bathroom.  I am thinking of getting a Baby Bjorn Little Potty and to put her on it after nursing and make "ssss" sounds and get her used to it.  It was a very inspiring experience... and hell the less dirty diapers the better!

Has anyone else tried Elimination Communication?

More Wool!

Omigoodness, how freaking cute are THESE???

These adorable wool pants can be worn over a fitted or prefold diaper and work just as well as PUL or plastic in keeping baby's bum dry. 

We already have one pair of "longies" (wool pants) that are a red and yellow stripe and they are so cute with her red long-sleeved tee.  She sometimes wears them to bed because they stretch great over a big stuffed nighttime diaper yet ensure the bed will be dry come the morning.  Wool is awesome because it doesn't harbor bacteria, so if you lay the pants out during the day, by next wearing they are not only dry, they don't smell like pee.  You only need to wash wool covers when they get poo on them (never encountered that due to using well-shaped fitted diapers) or once a month to clean them and re-lanolize them.

Anyway, I can't wait to have Emerson sport these adorable wool pants with her berry colored long-sleeve tee shirt or her purple turtleneck and some socks. 

Wool pants like these usually sell for $60 - $80, but I found these for $30 on Spots Corner.  I stalk that site, looking for reasonably priced diapers and wool covers.  That's where I got her other longies - they came with a matching hat and the set was only $24!

Baby Loves Disco

So I thought we had plans this Saturday but the plans are in fact NEXT Saturday. 

That means we may be able to attend Baby Loves Disco!

What is Baby Loves Disco? 

Well it's when hip places (like DC's Rock & Roll Hotel) host an event for parents and kids.  Music, prizes, goodie bags and little tykes boogying all over the place for three hours.  My friend Martha (hi Martha!) told me about Baby Loves Disco and I think the idea is too cool!

If you are in the DC area, consider going!  It's from 1-4 this Saturday the 14th of November, at the Rock & Roll Hotel in DC.

Everyone is encouraged to come dressed in their best bedtime apparel. There will be a birthday cake, party favors from Faber Castell, face painting from Moms Like Me and prizes provided by Small Paul for the best kiddie dancers. Parents Magazine will be giving out goodie bags too!

Click here to purchase tickets ($12 per walking person - crawlers get in free).

My OB Said WHAT?

Great blog, especially if you have had experiences with OB/GYNs like I have!

My OB Said What?

I Would Do the Same if Her Name Were Harvard...

Wardrobe from the Emerson College Bookstore...

Emerson and Her Car

This is Emerson's car/walker. I know many people find walkers to be dangerous and bad and the devil, but we received one as a hand-me-down from a friend and E loves it. She motors all over the main floor in it, and is quite skilled in turning, going backwards and getting around tight corners. This isn't the best example of Emerson's car skills, but what I captured this morning. She does a bit of a three-point turn...

Yoga Baby

Emerson and Daddy in the Lotus position.. and a curious Cindy wants to participate!

Sick With a Baby

So my husband and I have been sick with the flu. I caught it the Friday before Halloween and had it for a week. as I was healing, my husband ended up getting it. Typical "Before NyQuill" sort of flu - achy, coughy, sneezy, cranky, miserable.

Well I got home from my trip to Charleston on Monday the 2nd of November and my mom was on the couch with Emerson. I immediately scooped her up and she was quiet, looking a bit confused and felt a bit warm. It was bedtime so I took her upstairs, changed her, nursed her and put her right to bed. She woke around 1am and was very hot. Took her temperature, it was 102 so we gave her some Infant Motrin and I nursed her to sleep. When she woke at 5am she was normal temperature, but a bit fussy and grumpy.

While sick, I called the doctor and he said to take Mucinex - it was safe while nursing and would help me without making me jittery. He said if I only take it once a day it should be just fine.

Well Emerson was acting so strange, and I didn't know if it was because she was also sick with the flu. She would cry at nothing, she would rub her eyes and ears and lie down while playing and then get up and continue playing. She would have a fever and then an hour later would be cool to the touch. She would sleep for like five hours straight, and then would be up and fussy and crying for seven hours straight. We weren't sure what to do - it was as though she was hurting but couldn't tell us. Emerson had never been sick before so we thought this is what it was like when a baby had the flu and didn't understand what was happening to her body and why she didn't feel well.

So I did more research online and well the doctor was wrong - Mucinex is NOT safe when nursing. Emerson didn't have the flu, she had a reaction to Mucinex. Amazing how you find tons of sites (including the Mucinex one) saying ask a professional if nursing, but doesn't say what the side effects could be for a nursing baby. I stopped taking Mucinex, and her symptoms immediately disappeared. She went back to her sweet self, no more fevers, no more fussiness, no more crying and sadness.

I feel so utterly guilty. I am glad it only went on for two days - but still that poor vulnerable innocent baby was hurt by me. It pisses me off how little companies report on side effects with nursing - tell a professional? Why not admit side effects. Pharma companies have to admit every teensy side effect that happens to adults, but they are so darn vague with kids' effects.

I probably would be completely healthy by now if I was using some sort of medication, but after the Mucinex situation, I have survived on a bit of Motrin, tons of fluids, Vitamin C, B6, cough drops and sleep. I have hardly used a single medication the entire time I have been nursing for this very reason and the one time I break down and take a medication, it makes Emerson so uncomfortable and miserable.

Doing my Googling I found that some infants end up with respiratory issues from drugs like Mucinex.

Sigh. At least she is okay now.

Cloth Diaper Washing Routine

When you are a cloth diapering parent, you become a bit obsessive over laundry routines. What amount of detergent, which detergent, do you do a cold rinse, a pre-rinse, do you add any vinegar or other ingredients? One can feel like a chemist when laundering cloth diapers.

I feel that washing cloth diapers is similar to washing one’s hair. What works for a couple months may stop working. Your hair gets too accustomed to the shampoo’s formula, you get product build-up, and your hair starts looking limp and lackluster. It seems that our laundry routine needs to change every couple of months to keep the funky smells at bay.


So our current routine:

1. Fill washer halfway with diapers and such, but set water level for a full load.
2. Add Tide Classic – the amount for a medium-sized load
3. Hot/cold cycle
4. Then do a cold/cold cycle to ensure everything is well rinsed

Everything except the BumGenius pockets go into the dryer, and these go into the dryer every 5th or 6th laundry load to reseal the PUL.

Right now, this combo gives us sparkling clean diapers, and no funk.

We change our routine when we end up getting funk when the diapers get wet/warm. It’s the kind of funk where you think she’s taking a major poop but take off the diaper and come to find out she has only peed a bit. When the diapers come right out of the dryer smelling like poop, it means not enough detergent has been used. If they smell like ammonia or pee right out of the dryer, it usually means that too much detergent is being used. But when we get the post-funk smell, we find a switch up of our laundry routine is in order.

More Homemade Wool!

My mom's friend Carol is now into the wool soaker deal.  My mom and Carol go to Borders to have coffee, chat and crochet soakers for Emerson.  They are now progressing to longies.

This is Carol's first soaker - like my mom's soaker it is quite long in the rise and almost too snug in the legs, but it's nice and soft and thick and still gets the job done!  Here is Emerson modeling the new wool (figured pictures of her wearing it will help these women with sizing for the next pieces):

Today was a fun day for Toadie McBoadie.  My husband is now sick with the flu, but the local Mamas and Papas group had a baby stuff swap at the farmer's market.  I stuck Emerson in the Ergo carrier, filled an L.L. Bean Boat & tote with too-small clothes and some randomness (like her tummy time mat, the Dr. Brown's and Playtex bottles we have never used, some footed sleepers and dresses and a bunch of baby socks) and headed down to the town center.

We came home with a big bag of wooden blocks, two cardboard books, some teething bead thingie and a toy mirror... and some sweet potatoes for dinner!  We also got some of those foam mat tiles.  They will be far better to play on than an old comforter.  Right now when Emerson has floor time it's on our old comforter (as seen above) and it slips and slides and doesn't really cushion her when she topples over.  I also don't think it's the best for crawling.  the dogs also really like lying on the comforter, so it's nice to have mats which don't hold dog hair and can be washed.

The weather today is amazing so it was nice to have a long walk outside.  At the center we saw Danzon who is a couple months younger than Emerson, and we met Lee Ann who is a month older and also has a stay at home daddy.  There was also a little four-month old named Lyrial (sp) who went home with Emerson's old footed sleepers and socks and a 3-week old named Dexter who only lives a block away.  It was nice to meet some other parents from town, which is hard to do when I work so much and so far away.  It's crazy to think that little 3-week old Dexter will end up in the same grade as Emerson.  Right now they seem so very different in age but they are both 2009 babies. 

Joe, the SAHD seemed pretty cool and he says he is active in the DC Metro Dads group.  I told my husband who was a bit ambivalent, but it could be a good thing.  I could see these guys all wearing their babies, at a beer tasting at Franklin's or going to a Caps game together.  He's afraid they will be all dorks and way too obsessed about the group with it taking up all their free time.  Eh, I think it would be nice to have some fellow SAHDs as friends.  Anyway, this guy Joe seems eager to meet my husband and bond with him and his daughter is only a month older than E so it really is primo.

E is enjoying her new books and toys - I haven't whipped out the blocks yet but she loves admiring her reflection and chewing on the beads.  It has been nice being home all this week.  It sucked having the flu but it was awesome to be with Emerson 24/7.  I am ready to go back to work and use my brain and get out in the world again, but I will miss all this Emerson time!