Happy Halloween!

The big day is here. Today Jack officially became a Jack-o'-lantern! Check him out! He participated in the costume parade today at the Y. Linda (his teacher) said he wasn't that thrilled to put on the costume. But I made her promise not to tell Stephen that... knowing how much he detests dressing up for Halloween.

We probably got about 40 trick or treaters. My favorite was the princess who refused to wear her costume so her mother was forced to yell, "she was supposed to be a princess" to all the people handing out candy.
Our one neighbor was handing out those airplane bottles of liquor (not to the kids, but to the parents). I wanted to run over and get some Bailey's for my coffee.

Jack also took another trip to the ol' pediatrician today. We were concerned because he was refusing to eat. What! My child refusing to eat? Impossible but true. Over the last two days he probably had 25 ounces where he would normally have about 65. Every time you put the bottle in his mouth he would just let it sit there. Finally this afternoon I got myself worked up enough that I got him a quick appointment. So Stephen and I pick up the Jack-meister early, head over to the doctor's office, sit and wait, and wait and wait. When the doctor examined him all was well. The diagnosis - teething! Yet again I take my son in, fork over the co-pay, only to find out he's getting teeth. So I brought him home, gave him some Tylenol and within an hour he was happily sucking away on his bottle.

The Trophy

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Originally uploaded by DEM photography

Sorry Dad, here's the trophy.

Red Sox Parade

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Originally uploaded by DEM photography

Jack was waiting his whole life to see the Red Sox win a World Series and it finally happened! Today was the big Rolling Rally through the city. I went on behalf of Jack (he wasn't allowed to skip school). It was actually pretty easy since the parade went right past my office around 12:30. It was a lot of fun to be part of it all. It figures when Big Papi's duck boat went by he was on the other side. Otherwise I got a pretty good look at everyone. Here in the picture is Jonathan Papelbon, the crazy, Irish-dancing closer. Just as he passed us he stopped and did his much anticipated jig at Copley.

Revving Up

Jack now gets up on his hands and knees and rocks back and forth...
We're in trouble now.

A Fall Day

A great Fall day here today in Foxboro. Stephen spent a fair amount of time outside raking leaves while I ran out to the outlets to get Jack his winter coat. I just couldn't resist putting him in a pile of leaves... check it out:

Halloween is Coming...

And Jack is getting ready. Right now he chews on his pumpkin costume every chance he can get. And every chance I get, I put at least one part of the costume on him, whether it's the little stemmed hat, the plump body or the bright orange slippers. Stephen is just mortified by the whole ordeal. He obviously had some "issues" with Halloween in his childhood.
On Wednesday, at school, they are going to have the Halloween parade. I'm hoping it's early enough that Stephen and I can figure out how to be there, I know it's important to Jack :) Actually I really just want to get a picture of the kiddie parade so I can post it here on the blog.
I bought about six bags of candy today. Hopefully there will be some left on Wednesday. I plan on answering the door with my little Jack 'O Lantern on my hip.

Good Morning!

Got Baby Man all dressed in his fleece today... chilly here in Foxboro. Notice he's sitting with no hands! Very talented..
I've got a lot on my plate today, hopefully he will cooperate. I think he's still feeling the effects of the flu shot.

Success!

Yes, it's true. Baby Man slept through the night without so much as a whimper! I of course got up a handful of times to make sure he was okay. Ever since he had his flu shot the other day, he'd been acting funny. He was fussy, not very hungry and just downright different. Plus he had a bit of a temperature. Now he's back to normal. Phew!
This morning was a bit rough. I had to be on a conference call at 8:30 am so Stephen and I were going to bring Jack to "school" after that. Well the call went a bit longer than expected and then when we got there, I realized I left his food in the fridge at home! So we quickly went to the CVS in town, I bought more food and then did the drop off. But of course on the way to the drugstore we were held up by a wide load trying to make a sharp turn. I normally don't mind waiting for construction vehicles to do their thing. But when you're in a rush, with a million and one things on your desk waiting to be done, it's exasperating! So then I get to the train station and miss the train by about 30 seconds. The next train? Yeah, not for a half hour. It felt like the never-ending trip into work today.
We've completed our remodel of the downstairs bathroom. Between Stephen and myself I think we did a pretty fine job. Stephen did all the hard work, I provided all the color commentary (not all of it was appreciated). Here are some pictures:

Now Stephen is down in NJ for the night, he'll be back tomorrow, so I'm on my own with Baby Man 'til then. I just hope he'll sleep through the night again... and I hope the Red Sox win again tonight!!!

One Year Ago...

One year ago today, Stephen and I signed our name a million times. Yes, you know what that means. On October 21st last year we closed on our house. I came to this realization this afternoon and it turned in the favorite part of my day. I love my house.
We've just started doing the home improvements we thought we'd get to as soon as we moved in. Little did we know how time would fly and then how whatever time we did have... would be completely sucked up by none other than Baby Man.
First on our list was the downstairs half bathroom. That's just about done and looks great. Next we're ripping out the the guest bathroom. And we may just end up with some professional help. A Boston-area cable tv station has asked for people to submit their requests for one day of help from an expert as part of one of their programs. The producer called me back to ask some questions, so Stephen and I are really hoping they send an expert down here to help us out. I'm hoping we just assist in the re-tiling of the bathroom. It looks easy, but I'm sure it's harderthan it looks. I'll let you know...
Tomorrow Jack is having his 6 month check-up. That means more shots. I hate when he gets shots, but I know they are for the best. I just hate to see him cry. I think he might also get the flu shot. He should be a real peach to deal with tomorrow.

My Little Pumpkin

I couldn't wait any longer, I just HAD to put Jack's Halloween costume on him.
Take a look:Now doesn't he look thrilled!
By the way I saved Chatiemac's life tonight. He started choking on piece of his food during dinner. So I reached down his throat, couldn't fix it... so I started to give him the Heimlich (sort of), that sort of worked, but what finally fixed him was me reaching back down his throat and dislodging the stuck food. He owes me.

The Working Mother

I'm a working mom. Three days a week I take the commuter rail into Boston and head to my office and enjoy a nice trip to Starbucks and adult conversation and uninterrupted conference calls. Two days a week I work from home, while my six month old son Jack watches my every move. I worry that Jack is going to cry during a conference call, I don't go to Starbucks and I sometimes don't even get dressed.
I do this for two reasons. One: I don't want my son in daycare five days a week, I just don't want to be away from him for that long. Two: it saves me enough money in commuting and daycare costs that I don't have to feel guilty about going to Starbucks and getting a mani/pedi at lunchtime.
There are positives and negatives to my situation and right now I'm trying to put into words the inner conflict I have with my current situation. In fact, I'm not really ready to talk about what they are right now, but I will as this blog goes on...

Bath Time

I gave Jack a bath tonight. But instead of leaning over the tub and washing his little buddha belly, I decided to make it a two-fer. I got in with him. At first I considered putting on a bathing suit, but then I thought, "heck I gave birth to this kid, he's only 6 months old, he won't remember seeing his fat mom nude in the tub with him." Or will he? Have I forever scarred my young fella?
Regardless we had a good time. I floated him on his back and he really liked it. I think he thought it was like being back in the womb.
The toughest part was getting out of the tub with the slippery little man and not falling! But we had success... he's clean, he's happy, he's fed... and he's now sleeping. Let's just hope he stays that way for at least a few hours...

Tomorrow is a big day for Jack

Tomorrow is school picture day! It's 9:15 and I still haven't decided what he will wear yet. I hope they take them before he eats the pureed carrots or that's one picture I don't think I'll want to pay for. I'll let you know tomorrow what he ends up wearing. I know you're all tingly with excitement.

The Red Sox are losing 0 to 4 right now in the top of the 6th inning against the Cleveland Indians. 2 men on, 1 out, Manny at the plate, full count.

Update:
Blogger was down. I wrote this post on Monday. Jack wore his cute navy rollneck sweater that says Jack. The Sox stink. They're down three games to one.

Jack Gone Wild

Well, we've reached that point: Jack now wants to feed himself. When I am busy spooning the various cereals, veggies and fruits into his mouth, he now grabs the spoon and wants to feed himself. The past few days I haven't been letting him actually feed himself, I've been fighting the inevitable. Tonight I gave him and let him take charge of the spoon. You'll see it was a messy affair:


But I must say he was a very voracious eater and jabbed that spoon into his mouth with a lot of gusto. Please note the rice cereal on his right eyebrow...

I'm A Half!

Today Jack is 6 months old, or as I like to say... he's a half! Check out the jammies, a little tight in the feet area. Figures they are sized for a 6 month old... yet he's already grown out of them! This would be a better picture if I didn't chop his head off... but he moves so much when I take out the camera that I can't get a good one. But I liked his smile in this one... so this is the one I'm posting :)

Where was I 6 months ago tonight?

I was home eating a dinner that I will regret forever: egg salad. It wasn't a good scene the next morning in labor & delivery!
Tomorrow Jack will be a "half."
Hopefully he won't be a "hand-full."

Another Day, Another Poll

Okay, the votes are in. I guess you blog readers feel I should keep my mouth shut next time a big man sitting really close to me on the train starts picking his nose. Really? I disagree. But whatever, I asked.

Deal or No Deal

I'm watching Deal or No Deal. This show drives me nuts. This woman with like 8 kids just turned down $73,000. Is she stupid? I'll let you know. She has to open one case out of the six left on the stage. She has the million dollars still in play. But everything else is wicked low.
Case #25... eliminated the $10. So far so good. One of the people she brought is her ex-husband. He's just being nice hoping she gets the big money. Now the banker is offering her $93,000. She says, "no deal." Oh lord.
Now she has to pick one more case, only four are left. The big reveal: $300. Wow, she's picking well. So now we have the case she chose initially and 3 other cases left: $50, $200, $25,000 and $1,000,000. The new offer is $133,000. What would you do? I wouldn't have even made it this far. I would have taken one of their first offers, but I'm a wimp like that. This lady again rejected this latest offer. Oh no.
Her ex-husband is saying take the money and run. Oh boy. No deal again. I might get an ulcer watching this show. The next case: #19... knocked out the million. You idiot. I told you to stop. Now she's going to end up with 25k if she's lucky. Nope, not even that. Now she's going to go home with $100.
She looks mad. I would be too. She just took the $100 deal and her case actually had $200 in it. So again she made another bad deal.
I could never be on this show.

Good Baby Man

He's back on track! Sleeping like the little log that he is. Last night he slept from 7pm to 6am with nary a whimper. Tonight, since Baby Daddy is out of town again, I hope he'll do it again. So far so good. He went down around 7 again... right now it's 8:54 and he's barely moved. I'll let you know how it goes.

Sleep Question

Here's the situation. Right now Jack basically goes to bed at 7:30 and generally gets up around 5:30 or 6 in the morning ready to rock and roll.
My question is: when we "fall" back on November 4th, will Jack want to go to sleep at 6:30 and get up at 4:30? If the answer is yes, how the heck do we get him acclimated to the new time? Is he going to have jet lag? Are we going to survive getting up that early? I think I know the answer to that one...

I'm losing all my hair

My hair started falling out in clumps a few weeks ago and it hasn't stopped. I'm starting to get nervous.. I'm not sure how much more hair I can lose. I seriously must lose 100 hairs a day. When will this stop?

Sleep Strike

Jack used to only sleep in forty-five minute spurts. Just enough to get you settled down and ready to take a nap and rest up. Then he started sleeping for about two hours at a time, which gave us a little more time to get some shut eye.
Then he started spoiling us. He'd sleep from 7pm to 3:30am or so, and then fall back to sleep for another two hours or so. Now, he's taken it all back. Either he no longer likes to sleep or he's not feeling so hot or that darned tooth is still trying to break through. Yesterday his naps were no longer than an hour long. By the time 7pm rolled around, he was rubbing his eyes and looking very sleepy. So Stephen put him down like usual. What wasn't usual is that he then woke up crying at 11, 2, 3:30 and 6:00. What a night. Finally at 6 I brought him down stairs and tried to entertain him for 2 hours. Right now he's been asleep for about 25 minutes. I hope he starts getting the rest he needs (so that his parents don't go insane!). I did give him Motrin at 3:30, but it didn't seem to help all that much.
He goes to the doctor on Tuesday for his six month check-up, I plan on peppering her with a billion questions. Such as: why is he always congested, is the "lip sucking" thing he does normal, why does he give out little coughs every once in a while, does he have allergies, is it too early to test him for allergies, when can I give him Stage 2 foods, how much should he be drinking each day, is his weight okay, does he need the flu shot, etc?

The Votes are In...

Guess I'm not getting the Bugaboo Bee. Thanks for being the voice of reason in my life. Too bad I still want it.

random thoughts

• baby man tried peaches for the first time today (see picture); loved 'em
• he went on a "sleep strike" and only napped for about 1.5 hours today instead of the regular 3 or 4
• no tooth yet, still waiting
• stephen's flying home right now
• i'm admittedly watching "kimora lee, life in the fab lane" and she's 4 hours late for the vanity fair shoot - she says she's just not good at keeping an exact schedule. what she is good at is... is keeping other people late to wait for her
• i've really been craving fruit lately, hope i'm not pregnant again (just kidding stephen!)
• hopefully we'll be able to paint the downstairs bathroom this weekend, the naked walls are wearing on me
• my grandmother had a gall stone removed today and will have the whole GB removed next week
• i got jack a halloween costume. he's going to be a pumpkin. get it: jack o'lantern
  

Stroller Envy - Boston Globe

http://www.boston.com/yourlife/home/articles/2007/10/04/coveting_thy_neighbors_stroller/

On the road again

Dad's on the road again. But before he left, I took this picture of Baby Man and Stephen together. Do you see a resemblance? I do sometimes. But others look at Jack and say he's the spitting image of his father. Kind of creepy. I gave birth to a baby Stephen! And check out the outfit. It has cars cool matching pants... and sneakers! Thanks Uncle Ed and Aunt Joanne!I know sometimes I can get a bit bold, especially with my comments. Today, on the commuter rail, a man got on the train and sat down next to me. No problem. He was a very large man and he was sitting quite close to me. That's not the problem either. The problem is that he started reading some odd-ball book and subconsciously picking his nose. Yes... picking his nose. And then he'd roll the boogie in between his fingers and drop it on the floor. Can you even believe this? I couldn't. I gave him the horse eye, trying to say, "I see you, stop doing this." But he didn't take the hint. After a few minutes of this, I couldn't take it any longer, so you know what I did? I told him to stop picking his nose! It just came out. He looked a bit embarrassed (not as much as you would think though) and did discontinue the picking. Can you even imagine a woman doing this on a train? Do you think I should have told him to stop... or just ignore him? Take the poll!

Lil' Artist

My budding artist continues to produce amazing pieces. First it was the tiny little hand prints. Then it was the adorable footprints. Now, Jack has graduated to painting with marbles. A Monet he's not. More like Pollock. I'm thinking of saving every piece of "art" and doing something crafty, like turning them into Christmas cards. But if I do this am I turning into one of those Moms? (you know what I mean...)

One more thing

Here's a picture of me and Squiggy at Camden Yards yesterday. He signed autographs for a ton of fans. Squiggy didn't think anyone would want it, but he was wrong. He's a funny guy.

I'm Home!

Finally, I got home this afternoon and all I wanted to do was smother Baby Man is kisses, and that's exactly what I did. It was pure heaven. He smelled so good. To be honest, he didn't look that thrilled to see me, but that doesn't matter, I was just happy to be home and to be able to squeeze him. I tried squeezing my pillow last night and pretending it was Jack. Umm...it didn't work. I was sad.
Mom and I then took him to the doctor thinking he had yet another ear infection. Well, we were wrong. He's getting a tooth! I took him to the doctor because he's teething. The physicians must just shake their head in the office when mothers like me come in.
He's sleeping now. He has his butt in the air. And like his father would say, "he's wavin' it around like he just don't care."