Goodbye, Summer

Posted on August 29, 2010 by admin

I’ve been absent lately.  I guess I’ve been a little preoccupied with making the transition to going back to work.

Friday was my first official day back at work.  It went well.  Better than well, actually.  You see, when I was younger I wanted to be a lawyer.  But I also wanted to have a family, and I knew I didn’t want to be the kind of mom that picked up my kid at 7Pm and only really got to see them on weekends.  So I became I teacher.  You can’t beat a teacher’s schedule and having kids. 

So, we started “practice” runs on Wednesday and Thursday, giving Butterball and myself the chance to acclimate to this huge transition we were making.  I highly recommend using a few days to get used to the arrangement.  It lets you work out the kinks and resolve any invisible threads that pop up. 

As much as I hate not being with my Butterball 24/7, it is kind of nice to use both hands during the day, as opposed to holding him in one hand and trying to do some housework in the other. 

And of course I plastered my classroom with his pictures.  I used to say I’d never be one of “those” moms who had their kid’s face everywhere.  Well, as these things happen in life I’ve become “that” mom.  But it’s good.  Everything is good.  We’re moving forward…starting a new chapter…

Posted in blog | Leave a comment

Baby Food Adventures

Posted on August 12, 2010 by admin

I belong to a breastfeeding community online.  We’re talking the kind of community that has rules against supplementing.  I’m pretty pro-breastfeeding.  I was planning to wait until six months to introduce solids, which is a WHO recommendation as well as the AAP.  I waited for the tell-tale signs of development that would indicate that my baby was ready. 

At our six month appointment (baby was 4 months adjusted—he was born early), our pediatrician said it was fine to give him solids.  I questioned him about the AAP and six months thing, but he said there was new research out that said otherwise.  I should have asked him for his source.  While I trust our pediatrician completely, I continued to do my own research.  And I waited.  And waited.  Just before my little babe turned 7 months old (5 months adjusted), I decided to go ahead.  He seemed interested. 

And he was interested.  The kid doesn’t turn any food down.  I started with avocados, even though everyone and their mothers seem to think rice cereal is the way to go.  I did the research and felt confident that I wasn’t going to introduce a filler for his first taste.  We went on to try bananas, and then sweet potatoes.  He loved both.  Today we started with peas, and he was mildly interested in it.  By mildly I should note that he didn’t turn down any of it, just didn’t seem as enthusiastic about tasting the food.  We also tasted a bit of rice cereal, which was not a hit.  I tried some too, and ew!  Tasted like dog food…not that I know what dog food tastes like…but still!

I’m making all of my food.  This entails trips to Whole Foods and buying expensive organic veggies and fruit for the little guy.  I’m preparing them, pureeing it, and putting the food in icecube trays.  Once frozen, I put them in a Ziploc bag and label them.  My understanding is that the frozen food is good for about a month. 

A website I highly recommend (and use like my baby food bible!) is www.wholesomebabyfood.com.  It’s thorough, practical, and just overall amazing for new moms like myself.  Definitely check it out.  They tell you about the foods to introduce, how to prepare the food, different recipes you could use, and more! 

Anyway, I’m afraid to mention anything about my baby food adventures for fear that I will get flogged in the breastfeeding community for not waiting until my baby was exactly 6 months old.  But…what does that mean anyway?  Do preemies count for that?  I mean, he’s been getting food for quite some time (before a full-term baby would have gotten it), so does that matter?  I don’t know.  I shouldn’t afraid, but I am.  Parenting is so stressful.

Okay, gotta go.  My peas are almost done.  I have to go puree them now!

Posted in baby food | Leave a comment

Going Back to Work

Posted on August 9, 2010 by admin

Well…in exactly 14 work days I will be back to work after an almost 8-month hiatus after the birth of my son.  It is a feeling I can’t quite pinpoint, made up of part curiosity and part nervousness of leaving my precious babe.  I know I can do it.  I know it’s overall good for the family for me to keep working (great benefits, the money, etc), but part of me fears leaving my baby with a babysitter and missing out on time with him. 

But I’m trying to be positive.  I don’t want to be the stereotypical crying mother who gets herself all bent out of shape.  I’m going to try, anyway.

I’ve been doing a few things to get ready for the big change.  First, I’ve started one pump session a day (although I’ve slacked the last few days).  I’m getting good output and I’m starting to save the milk for the baby.  We’ve also tried practicing with the bottle.  He hates the bottle but will so far tolerate the Tommee Tippee.  I may try using the bottle again since I think he has shifted his attitude at least a little bit about having plastic things in his mouth.  We’ve secured an extra playpen to use at the sitter’s, and have been working on a morning schedule which we will practice at least a week in advance. 

This is another aspect of motherhood I underestimated.  The part of logistics…pick-up and drop-off.  Packing lunches, dinners, playing musical carseats between cars.  I know that simplicity is the key here, so that is what I’m striving for.

Posted in working moms | Leave a comment

The Stress of Motherhood

Posted on August 6, 2010 by admin

These days I’m feeling like I’m lost in an abyss of mommyhood chaos.  Seriously.  No matter how much desire and intent I have to get out of my pajamas before mid-afternoon, it isn’t happening.  I’m tired of the smell of sour milk on my clothes.  I’m tired of not being able to get three sentences typed before the baby gets tired of his bouncy chair.  I’m tired of my house always looking like a mess.

I suspect this is a lot of the same feelings every mother experiences. 

Maybe going back to work won’t be so bad.

But you see, I’ve got an extra problem.  I’m not just a mommy.  I’m a perfectionist mommy.  I’ve always been a perfectionist.  The night before I craft a long, ambitious to-do list of everything I hope to accomplish the next day.  I feel pumped and fully confident that it will happen…this time.  And the vicious cycle begins.  I can’t wake-up to my alarm clock.  I don’t get enough cleaning done, etc, etc.

And then I find that even when I do get a lot done in one domain of my life, it’s never enough for me.  I always feel like I fell short of my expectations for myself.

I think being a mommy is about letting go of everything you used to be.  It’s not only about forfeiting the date nights, time to go to the bathroom in peace, and all that good stuff.  It’s about letting go of your former expectations and learning your new boundaries for yourself. 

But I’m not at that point yet.  Until then, I will continue my uphill battle until one of us (ambition vs. reality) wins. 

I definitely underestimated this aspect of motherhood.

Posted in blog | Leave a comment

Tommee Tippee

Posted on August 5, 2010 by admin

I glared sullenly at the calendar.  Four weeks until the dreaded return to work after an eight month hiatus that began with the premature birth of my son.  I knew this meant it was time to start pumping gain—something I began to loathe when I did it exclusively for the 53 days that my son was in the NICU.  I knew that going back to work also meant that my son would have to start taking the bottle.

The last time my son took a bottle was for my anniversary in early May when my mom babysat for the first time.  He did fine.  Flash forward to now, when I left the little guy with my mom for the 2nd time to see the movie Inception (excellent movie, by the way).  I came home to the news that my son refused to have anything to do with the bottle. 

The stress of finding the perfect sitter was enough of a problem in and of itself, but now the issue of him not taking a bottle was a whole other ball of wax.

So we tried.  And tried.  My mom tried.  My husband tried.  I tried.  We tried different positions and different times of the day.  I tried different bottles (three different ones initially).  He wanted NOTHING to do with it.  He’s wail and hyperventilate until I offered him the boob, at which point he’d nestle peacefully against me and close his eyes like that was the only place he ever wanted to be.  Of course, this only added to the guilt I was feeling having to leave him at a sitter when I go back to work. 

And then we found the magic bullet.  My mom’s co-worker suggested using Tommee Tippee, something I never heard of before.  Desperate, my husband and I trekked over to Babies R Us and bought a few different types of sippy cups that were age appropriate for my little guy.  Tommee Tippee was one of them. 

I was skeptical—nothing had worked thus far.  Until I busted out the Tommee Tippee.  I pumped first thing in the morning, still feeling anxious that I was going to pump myself dry and he would once again refuse the bottle.  I carefully poured the fresh, warm milk into the Tommee Tippee sippy cup and played around a bit, trying to see how it worked.  I had to remove the plastic part inside the lid to get a fast flow (really like a cup, not like a bottle).  Deep breath in, and time to go. 

…he LOVED it!  I think he loved it because he didn’t have to suck on the bottle nipple, which requires different sucking than what he is used to on the boob.  He just had to swallow.  He was literally pulling the sippy toward him and wanting more—this is coming from a baby who screamed bloody murder for a week over the other bottles.

I’m relieved.  So very freakin’ relieved!!!

Posted in Uncategorized | Leave a comment

Update

Posted on August 5, 2010 by admin

Hey everyone,

Please excuse the “dust” around here.  I’ve been re-doing the site.  I’ve also been caught up in the tail end of summer, so hopefully soon everything will be up to speed around here.

Teresa

Posted in Uncategorized | Leave a comment

Hello Out There

Posted on July 27, 2010 by admin

Abbie, Mary, Julie, Amy, and Heather…if you haven’t already e-mailed me your addresses, please do so.  You lucky ladies were the winners of the What to Expect When You’re Expecting giveaway that ended yesterday.  Congratulations!

In other news, I have been absent lately.  We had a family reunion, appointments, and lots of other summer to-dos going on. 

Butterball had a developmental appointment because he was a preemie.  They did all these tests and then gave us where he was at.  It was nail-biting, I’ll admit.  No mother wants to hear that their child is behind.  And mine, as it turns out, didn’t have any red flags.  He’s right where he should be in cognition and language skills.  However, they said he’s 26% behind in motor skills, mainly because he’s not rolling over yet.  So they told us he needs to do a lot more tummy time…like 6 times a day.  We have to go back in six months.  It’s all mostly preventative, but I can’t help but feel like they’re looking for something that my sweet boy doesn’t have. 

Another big deal was leaving him with my parents this evening for a few hours while me and the hubby went to see Inception (good movie, by the way).  It was only the second time I’ve left him EVER (the only other time was our anniversary in May).  He seemed to do okay, but apparently refused the bottle.  Guess we better work on that before I go back to work at the end of August.  I also need to work on leaving him more often (with my husband, parents, etc) to get him used to not being with me 24/7.  He had a bit of a crying fit with my mom.  As much as it pains me to be separated from my baby, it’s going to hurt him a lot more if I throw him into a situation of being with somebody new for hours at a time without having ever practiced that separation.  So, we’ve got a bit of homework to do this summer to get ready.

I’ll leave you with my Butterball…sweetest little guy I know.

Posted in preemie, working moms | Tagged , , | Leave a comment

What to Expect When You're Expecting Giveaway

Posted on July 19, 2010 by admin

Today we are giving away free “What to Expect When You’re Expecting” books, 4th edition, to 5 lucky people!

As the number one bestselling pregnancy book on the market, What to Expect When You’re Expecting is a great comprehensive book that covers everything from pre-conception, pregnancy month-by-month, diet, complications, labor and delivery, breastfeeding, postpartum, and more!  It literally covers pretty much every topic you can think of related to pregnancy, making it a great reference tool even before you get pregnant.

What I like about the book is that it is pretty balanced in that it offers different approaches to pregnancy, birth, and beyond without being judgmental.  I’ve read a lot of pregnancy books that were definitely bias toward a specific approach, but this one presents the information and lets you decide without slanting the evidence.

Nicknamed “America’s Pregnancy Bible,” the book answers hundreds of pregnancy questions and provides a ton of valuable content for expectant mothers. 

My Review of What to Expect When You’re Expecting:

  • The “before you conceive” information.  It has a lot of practical advice that I think a lot of woman overlook when embarking on the journey of motherhood.  A little advance planning can help you make sure your health is in tip-top shape.  For example, the book recommends going to the dentist and taking care of everything in your mouth.  A lot of women forget to do this.  I had to get a filling taken care of while pregnant without the medication…and let me tell you…it wasn’t pleasant!  Do it beforehand, including any X-Rays you may need.  Did you know your dental health could impact the health of your pregnancy? 
  • Section on eating well while pregnant.  This is another area of pregnancy that a lot of women tend to ignore, and it is so important not only to your unborn child, but also for your own body.  What to Expect When You’re Expecting gives food recommendations and even tells you about the foods to stay away from.  What I like is that it seems pretty current with the latest information.  For example, it tells you that spicy food poses no risk to your baby, which a lot of people mistakenly believe.  The book breaks it down to the different food groups you should be eating from, how many serving of each you should consume, and gives examples of foods for each category.  It even has information for vegetarians and vegans. 
  • The Labor and Delivery Section, where different options are explored, including information about natural birth.  For example, I was happy to see that the book says that laboring on your back isn’t an efficient way to birth a baby, and that routine episiotomies aren’t recommended.  There is information about where to birth, how to birth, what to expect at hospitals, the three phases of labor, and more.  I tend to lean on the natural birth side of the spectrum, and I found this book to give an accurate and fair presentation of information for women on either side of the spectrum.  It’s so important as a pregnant woman to arm yourself with information before you give birth.   
  •  Pretty decent breastfeeding section, including a picture tutorial of the different holds (and although I’ve been nursing for 6 mths now, the pictures informed me that I wasn’t holding Butterball correctly in the side-lying hold, which explains why my arm kept going numb…duh!), information about a breastfeeding diet, and even a little blurb about breastfeeding when your baby is in the NICU.  There is a ton of other information related to breastfeeding too…even something on tandem nursing.
  • Pregnancy month-by-month.  There is a chapter for every month of pregnancy, including a picture of what the baby would look like, information about the baby’s current development for that month broken down week-by-week, and lots of really relevant information, including: pregnancy exercise, weight gain, what to do with unwanted advice, sex and pregnancy, taking a childbirth class, information for 2nd time parents, what to expect during monthly check-ups, the baby’s position, what you may be feeling during different stages of your pregnancy, and many more great stuff that pops up throughout pregnancy.  You’re going to have so many moments of “Is this normal?” or “what do I do about that?” that can be answered quickly by the book.  I really view the book as an encyclopedia of sorts for pregnancy. 
  • Postpartum up to six weeks.  A comprehensive overview of what to expect 24 hours after delivery, three days after delivery, and after your postpartum check-up .  The information includes issues with postpartum depression, getting back into shape, breastfeeding diet, dealing with the after-birth pain, engorgement, leaking, the first bowel movement (nobody ever told me about this worry until after I gave birth!), recovering from a c-section, bleeding, and more.  This is all of the nitty gritty they don’t show you on TV and the seasoned mamas aren’t telling you until it’s too late!  It’s a great overview of what to expect and how to deal with it. 
  • Sections on more specific issues, like alternative medicine, preterm pregnancy, pregnancy with STDs, multiples, complicated pregnancies, coping with pregnancy loss, staying healthy if you have a chronic condition, what to do if you get sick during pregnancy, and even a section on fathers and pregnancy. 

For your pregnancy book collection, What to Expect When You’re Expecting is a wise addition, and something you can refer to even with your subsequent pregnancies.  I plan on using it when we work on our second baby.  You can check out their website here:

Pregnancy Questions Answered

The website offers a day-by-day personalized pregnancy guide, message boards and blogs, your own pregnancy scrapbook, and lots of other online tools. 

5 of you are going to get a copy of the What to Expect When You’re Expecting for FREE.  I’m even going to pay for your shipping!

To enter the free giveaway:

  • Leave me a comment for 1 entry into the drawing.  It can be about how far along you are in your pregnancy, how many kids you have…whatever!
  • For an extra entry, tell somebody (e-mail, blog, twitter, Facebook, in person, whatever!) about my blog and let me know in a separate comment that you did.
  • For an extra entry, add me on Twitter (prepforbaby) and let me know in a separate comment on this post that you have done so.
  • For three extra entries, blog about this giveaway or another one of my posts and let me know in three separate comments that you have done so with a link.

I’ll announce the randomly selected winners in a week on July 26, 2010.  Good luck!

**when you leave a comment, you are prompted for an e-mail address.  This is neither made public or shared, but rather for verification purposes.
Posted in giveaway, pregnancy | Tagged , | 20 Comments

Family Budget…and Corn!

Posted on July 17, 2010 by admin

My husband and I sat down and made a list of all of our monthly expenses.  We then went down that list and figured out where we could make cuts.  Since I gave birth prematurely at 29 1/2 weeks and had to be out of work a few extra months, our finances took a hit, and we’ve had to adjust accordingly.  I’ve been thankful that I was able to stay home with Butterball since his birth (and while he was in the NICU, I was able to go several times a day and pump for him).  But we paid a hefty price for that luxury.  With that said, it is extremely important to go through your expenses and pinpoint exactly what you’re spending your money on.  It will really open your eyes and help you plan your spending better.  By the way–we did all of this on a family walk this afternoon.  L.P. rode on his scooter and Butterball was snuggled against me in the Ergo.  Perfect ending to a busy day.

I wrote about our family garden a few weeks ago.  One of the things we’re growing is corn.  I took an empty apple container (from Costco) and planted my seeds in it.  The corn began to sprout almost immediately, and they’re getting to be a pretty good size to transplant into the garden any day now.

It’s been a lot of fun for everyone to watch our seeds turn into something we can eventually eat!

2 more days until the giveaway for pregnant or thinking-about-getting pregnant moms!  Check back with me on Monday!

Posted in blog, family finances | Tagged | Leave a comment

Summer Time Fun

Posted on July 16, 2010 by admin

Yesterday was a real summer day.  I say “real,” because we’ve spent the first half of our summer with marine layer ruining our beach plans.  So, as you would on a real summer day, we went to the beach.

And then we managed to come home in time to take showers, even Butterball!  It was his first shower and he loved it.  I was a bit apprehensive of things like slipping, but we took it slow and were totally cautious and he had a blast, even when water splashed in his face.  We got all cleaned up and headed out to our weekly Municipal Band festivities…complete with a rainbow.  The ambiance reminds me of San Francisco on a warm day, when everyone heads out to their favorite parks and set up a blanket for some sun bathing and a nice picnic. 

We ended the evening with a nail-biting family Uno match and leftover peach cobbler.  We’re in the process of teaching L.P. good sportsmanship.  Fun times!

Posted in blog | Leave a comment