Uurgh....

We all just got over stomach flu. During the worst of it, Liftoff Boy was a great sleeper. Naps during the day and a big old stretch from 8:30 or so to 7am. Even when he's sick, he usually sleeps through the night. Last night he went to bed easily about 9pm after playing for a good hour and after eating a big dinner (his appetite seems to have returned yesterday, yay). But he woke up crying miserably at 12:30am. We don't generally feed him during the night (we generally don't get up and eat during the night either), but after an hour and a half of diaper change and holding and unsuccessful self-soothing, I got him a bottle and that sucker was slurped down fast. He fell asleep at about 2. But he was up again at 3 (another bottle) and 4:30 (no bottle, but a stuffed animal in an effort to try something else that might be soothing. He seemed delighted at the stuffed animal (Flopsy, a bright yellow bear given to LB by my mother) and spent the next half-hour talking to it until he fell asleep. I woke up to his desperate, pained cries at 6:45 and brought him another bottle. Now I'm up with a full day of work ahead of me and the crying has just recommenced.

There were two doses of Tylenol in there. We don't know what is going on. This isn't how he acts when he's teething, so my guess is ear infection or possibly massive hunger bought on by his body trying to put on the weight loss during the flu. But this is probably the worst night we've had with him since he was born! Calling the pediatrician at 9 to see what's what, but then I have to be out the door by 9:45 or so so it'll all be up to Liftoff Guy.

I'm a hypocrite

I have several blogs that I read regularly and I get so annoyed when they don't update in a timely manner - and then there's my blog. But I rationalize that hardly anyone ever reads it (only one person that I know of), so....

Anyway, this has been a wacky week in the Liftoff household. The Stomach Flu Fairy visited and we've all spent the last few days (since Sunday) engaged in various forms of spew. Being sick with an equally sick baby is not fun. Also, Liftoff Boy had a tooth break through yesterday up top and has the other top one working its way through, so he's had a lovely combination of nausea, intestinal discomfort AND teething pain. He's usually quite the adventurer, but when knocked low like this he HAS to be on someone's lap or hip at all times.

On the plus side, LB thinks it's delightful and hilarious when I use my battery-powered toothbrush. It always gets a big grin, sick or no. And he'll hold on to it for me and help me brush if he's on Liftoff Guy's lap. Brushing Mommy's teeth is a good hobby I guess.

Also on the plus side, today the diaper changes were less frequent and, wonder of wonders, LB was actually willing to eat. Anything but milk or formula has been rejected this week, or, if not rejected, the cause of much vomiting. Even Pedialyte made him throw up. So hearing from LG that LB ate a bunch of apple sauce today and some oatmeal and seemed really interested in it is great news.

Also also on the plus side, my department unanimously recommended me for tenure and promotion to associate professor (up from assistant). There are a few hoops to go through before it's official in May, but it would be really weird if the personnel committee, the dean or the provost overturned it after such approbation from my department. So yay!

The Accelerator

One of my friends jokes that we put Liftoff Boy in an accelerater. We didn't, but man is he moving along with things. First thing, he's got these superstrong, thick, tree-trunk legs (they come from me), which means he was able to support his weight on his legs at 2 months. Even the pediatrician remarked on it - usually it's 4 month thing. Because of the legs, his crawling development has been different - normally babies pull themselves by their arms until their legs get strong enough to pick up the slack. With LB, the arms had to get strong enough to partner the legs. So now he's crawling like a pro, about two months ahead of schedule, and he's figuring out that if he holds onto things, like the cushions on the couch, he can balance himself enough to remain standing. He loves holding onto someone's hands and walking around the room too.

Yesterday Liftoff Guy's mom and I took LB to the mall (malls are a blessing when it's 0 degrees outside and taking a child outdoors would be really dangerous) where he rode his first merry-go-round animal (a frog - I was holding him tight) and he got to play in the big playground thing they have set up. It looks like a forest scene with lots of rocks and tree stumps and animals, but everything is this soft rubbery plastic and the ground is foam. LB was entranced watching all of these bigger kids run around him and climb over mushrooms and such... Eventually he started to try to pull himself to standing, but the little mushrooms he had chosen didn't let him get vertical (I bet no one else has ever written that sentence!). Still, as an only child he doesn't see many other kids and when he sees what they can do, I think it makes him even more driven.

I've been watching him lately, and he makes me want to sing that old Matthew Wilder song "Never Gonna Break my Stride". I apparently walked by 10 months and I think LB will be able to do it before then. It's weird to be proud of something and dread it at the same time...

New year, etc.

I've been a bad blogger. Oh well.

1. When you stop pumping it's glorious, glorious freedom. But it's weird to get used to the idea that what you eat/drink won't go into the baby. I remember taking my first aspirin and sort of worrying that it would show up retroactively in the frozen breast milk.

2. Speaking of frozen breast milk, Liftoff Boy is still getting that every day, although we're giving him bottles of formula too. He had formula only during our week in California last month, but the real stuff is still in pretty good supply. Maybe a month's worth left?

3. Speaking of California, traveling cross country with LB and WITHOUT Liftoff Guy is a challenge I probably won't repeat. Everything would have been easier with one more parent around. Two arms aren't enough. Especially when LB is TEETHING. Yes. He was. He got his lower incisors just before Christmas, one before he turned 6 months and one just after.

4. He'll be 7 months old on the last day of Bush's presidency. Go away, Bush! LB has really got the crawling thing down - he occasionally ends up on his tummy, but it's mostly the alternating knee/hand thing. His poor knees are very pink right now, but he doesn't seem to mind the soreness. It's full speed ahead!

5. I got my tenure portfolio done on time and after receiving a few comments this week I'm allowed to make revisions. No one seems to think I need any - just a little fiddling with my CV. This is a good sign, I think. I would like to be tenured. And to be promoted to Associate Professor. I would like those things a lot.

6. Back to LB - he can say "Mom mom mom mom mom!" now, but I don't think he has any idea that the fun sounds he's making connect to an actual person. I have a student this semester who was raised by deaf parents and he thinks he's going to sign for sure with any children he has. He was also a late talker though. Like 2 years old. I'm not sure whether I want to do signing with LB to have earlier communication if it means that verbal communication would be delayed. I just have to keep thinking about it.

That's it for now. Yawn.

California bound

It's late. Just finished grading the last final exam and posting the grades. Have gone 25 hours without pumping, and am surviving. I fly to California tomorrow (today!) with an almost six-month old on my lap. Oy. It's a good thing I work well under pressure.

I'm going to need to update the photo soon. Everything here is actually covered with snow.

Autumn

Hello, long time no post.

Liftoff Boy is doing brilliantly. He had his 4 month appointment last Wednesday and has now been through two rounds of immunizations. I'm amazed at the anti-vax stuff on the internet. The way some people approach studies that indicate no link between vaccinations and autism reminds me of the way some people keep insisting Barack Obama is secretly Muslim, or a terrorist, or a Black Panther or whatever. They look at the evidence and given that it disagrees with the fears they hold, they decide that the people providing the evidence are in on the conspiracy.

I didn't like seeing LB get four shots. He wasn't happy. But it was okay, it happened fast, and I want him to be protected from hepatitis and meningitis and a host of other illnesses that are, indeed, preventable through immunizations.

LB is still our giant baby. He weighed 17 pounds, 5 ounces (98th percentile) and was 27 inches long (100th percentile). His head is 97th percentile. So overall he's a big old guy.

I am still amazingly grateful and happy that his birth turned out to be a cesarean. Thank you, my little big guy, for refusing to turn upside down. The procedure itself went very well, was safe, and assured that LB and I both survived the process of getting him out. I'm in a snit right now because I occasionally search the internet for information about cesareans that is positive, and it's just not out there. I signed a petition stating my support for prophylactic cesarean deliveries as a legitimate birth choice after receiving an invitation, but there's so little out there. Mostly c-sections are made out to be a horrible, frightening attack on the body by evil doctors who want to endanger you and your baby to make money, but it's just the same old stuff all over again.

I agree that unnecessary surgery is often a bad idea. But anyone who seriously thinks that I should have endangered LB and myself by trying to get him out bottom-first with that big head of his stuck above the birth canal can jump in a lake. And even if he hd turned head-down, his birth would still have been dangerous. I'm glad we had the c/s, and I wish there were some pro-Cesarean group out there that I could join. The birth experience can be wonderful when it's fast, efficient and artificial and if I ever get pregnant again, it's what I'll be planning to do.

In other news, we've been meaning to start LB on solids soon (since he is gigantic) but other things intervened. We'll maybe try it this morning...

So sleepy...

I don't know the last time I wrote, but we're back in school now, and have even passed midterm week!

Liftoff Guy has a Tuesday/Thursday schedule and I've got a Monday/Wednesday/Friday schedule, so we take turns with Liftoff Boy. LB is 16 weeks old today and is really getting the hang of this whole body thing. He can turn on one side, lift his head and shoulders up when he's on his stomach, and his head is totally steady when he sits. His eyes seems to be turning brown, and hair is starting to grow in more on his head. His eyebrows are getting darker. He smiles a LOT and laughs occasionally. Sometimes when he hears music he makes singing sounds. He can be exhausting, but he's such a sweet guy and so amazing.

But I have spent the whole day with him (he slept enough for me to be able to grade midterms, yay), and now I'm barely holding on. Zzzzzz....