Category Archives: Babies ‘n Stuff

5 months

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Cate’s 5-month birthday was on Wednesday, and I meant to do one of my milestone recap posts on that day, but this week has been a kitchen painting frenzy (more on that later), and when I’ve had time to write at night, I’ve been opting instead to collapse in absolute exhaustion. So, a couple of days late, here it is:

* Catie-girl can now roll over from her back to her tummy whenever she wants, and she loves to do it. A lot. She’s rolled from her tummy to her back a couple of times, but it’s not entirely consistent. And sometimes she seems to roll herself over by accident, and boy, she is not happy when that happens.

* Along the same lines: now that she’s able to roll herself, she seems to prefer sleeping on her side. It doesn’t matter if I put her in her crib when she’s already asleep, the second that her head touches the mattress, she shifts around so that she’s on her left side. Which is funny, since probably 90% of the time, I have to be on my left side to be able to fall asleep too.

* This isn’t a milestone because she’s done it for ages, I just think it’s hilarious and I don’t think I’ve ever mentioned it before: every time Dave sneezes, she screams her head off. I guess it’s the loud, sudden noise that scares her, but I’m not a quiet sneezer either, and she never freaks out when I sneeze. Maybe it’s because she felt my sneezes for 9 months when I was pregnant with her? I can’t imagine. But every time Dave sneezes, there’s about a two-second delay where we’re both like “oh here we go,” and then the scream starts.

* She loves it when we blow in her hair. I don’t know why, but it always makes her laugh and kick. Or jump, if she’s in the jumperoo. Oh, and the love affair with the jumperoo has not ended. It’s one of her favorite places to be, she can bounce happily for over half an hour sometimes. And if we have one of the Baby Einstein DVD’s is playing on the TV at the same time? Pure baby bliss.

* We’re still working on the rice cereal, and if any of you know how to spoon-feed a child who always has her tongue stuck out, please give me some pointers. I’m not worried about it, we started her on solids relatively early and I know that she’ll figure it out in her own time, and lord knows it isn’t like she’s wasting away. But so far we haven’t had much luck. I get the spoon in her mouth, I make little “mmmm” noises with my lips shut to see if she gets the idea, she thinks my “mmmm” noise is funny, so she laughs, which mean the tongue comes all the way out, and the rice cereal ends up on her chin rather than in her mouth. Yeah. I’m at a loss.

* She used to hate it when the cats accidentally brushed against her, but she’s recently started noticing them and trying to reach for them when they pass her. The cats are generally still a little unsure about her, except Cleo. Poor Cleo is such an attention whore that she’s all, “Want to twist my ear? Make a fist around my whiskers and yank as hard as you can? Ok, that’s cool. Just pet me, pet me, loooove me. Purrrrrrrrrrrrr.” I’m trying to guide her hand to show her how to gently pet the kitties, but I don’t know how much good it does for a tiny person with very little motor control.

* The sleeping is going well. She averages about 7 hours straight, then we’re up for an hour or two – we have a bottle, a diaper change, and we play for a while – and then we go back to sleep for a couple of hours (our mid-morning nap). It’s enough sleep that I feel human again for the most part. Which is pretty amazing, since it wasn’t that long ago that I could’ve sworn that I was so sleep-deprived that I would never recover.

And even though it’s probably not true, I’ve managed to convince myself that she’s sleeping so well because we have our evening routine of going for a walk and then having a bath. I’ve been religious about this routine too; we walk every. single. night. Even when it’s raining, I put a hat on her and button my raincoat around both of us, so the only thing that might possibly get damp is her face. And even though this week has kicked my butt with all the kitchen painting, we’ve still been going for our usual walk, despite the fact that sometimes it feels like my lower back is going to explode. (I used the backpack carrier a few times this week, hoping that it might use different muscles than the Baby Bjorn and not hurt my back as much. And yes, it does use different muscles, but no, it wasn’t any less painful.)

And I’ve noticed that since we’ve been walking every day, I have less cellulite on my butt and thighs. Which, ok, that’s not a part of my body that I typically obsess about. I have very specific body part neuroses, and the butt/thigh area just doesn’t rank as high on my freak-meter as some other places (like my boobs, for example). But still, I’m pretty darn happy about the lack of cellulite. Not that I’m going to be breaking out the short-shorts anytime in the foreseeable future, but hey, I’ll take what I can get.

But since this post isn’t supposed to be about me and I’m now thoroughly off the subject of baby milestones, I think that’s a sign that it’s time to call it a night and go to sleep. Stay tuned for pictures of my pretty kitchen cabinets. Even though the walls are still four different colors.

oh no they di-n't

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It’s been hours, and I am still so angry about this that I could spit.

This afternoon, I went to the grocery store and brought Cate along with me. I’m going to start painting tomorrow, so I want to make sure that we have all of our essentials (diet coke, bread, etc.) so I don’t have to run to the store covered in primer.

So, grocery store, blah blah. We finish shopping and head out to the parking lot. There’s a white sedan with four teenage boys who are just hanging out. They see me with the baby, one of the boys jumps out of the car, and throws one of those firecrackers on the ground that explodes when it hits the pavement. He jumped back into the car, and they all laughed and watched me to see my reaction.

Are you freaking kidding me? These little punks throw a firecracker to see if they can scare my baby? For the record, Cate was sound asleep in her car seat and didn’t even flinch at the explosion, but that’s so not the point.

I glared at them and reigned in my initial impulse, which was to either give them the finger or shout some obscenity across the parking lot. (Good mommies don’t scream profanity in public, do they?) I gave them the hairy eyeball while I was loading the groceries into my car. Meanwhile they moved on to their next target. Some guy had a souped-up restored antique car (don’t ask me what it was, I don’t know; it was purple, does that help?), and as he was driving away, they shouted “faggot!” at him. Note that they yelled this as the guy was driving away. Yeah. Scaring babies and yelling slurs at people who can’t hear you. Clearly these are some big, bad-ass, brave characters we’re dealing with.

But you know, I was so pissed about the firecracker that that little bit of hate speech just sent me over the edge. I was about to put Cate back in the car, but then that happened, and I was all, “oh heeeell no!” I put Cate back in the cart and stomped back inside.

Now, the woman at the customer service desk… how do I explain this woman? I think she’s in her 40’s, but she could just as well be 70 and I would have no idea. She has dyed jet-black hair that is permed within an inch of its life, a big wall o’ crispy bangs, she wears about a pound of black eyeliner on each eye, and she’s got some severe smoker’s teeth. Every time I have ever been to our local sports bar, I have seen her there, and she is always drunk. Right on.

So, I tell her about the boys in the parking lot, and when I get to the part about the firecracker, she’s all, “They tried to scare the baby?!?! Where are they?!” And off she stomps out the door. I was glad it was her and not one of the nice customer service ladies, because this woman honestly would’ve scared the crap out of me if she’d gotten angry at me, so I can’t imagine what she’d do to a bunch of spineless teenage boys.

I guess the kids figured out when they saw me head back into the store that I was going to rat them out, so they were gone by the time Scary Lady got there. Oh well. I gave her a description of the car and she said she’d keep an (heavily lined) eye out for them.

I just can’t believe that anyone would intentionally try to frighten a baby. I know they’re just teenage boys, which automatically means that they’re stupid and inconsiderate. It’s just… wow. That’s a whole level of stupid that I was not expecting.

If this ever happens again, I am totally going to go over there and tell them to go home to their mamas. And I might throw in some profanity for good measure. I just hope I don’t haul off and smack them, because while good mommies might occasionally curse, they definitely do not get arrested.

First Father's Day

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In honor of Dave’s first Father’s Day, last night we had our first official Date Night. Dave and I haven’t had an evening that was just the two of us since Cate was born, so it sounded like a good idea. Kris came over to baby-sit, while we went to dinner and a movie. It was so nice. We went to this great little Italian place for dinner, and then we went to see “Ocean’s Thirteen”. (Which was surprisingly entertaining. And hello, two hours of Clooney. No complaints here.)

I had called Kris to check in between dinner and the movie, just to see how things were going. She said she was in the middle of giving Cate a bottle, and everything was fine so far. I set my cell phone to vibrate in case Kris needed anything during the movie, and we sat close to the aisle so I could easily jump out of the theater to answer the phone if necessary.

Two hours later, we got home, and the first thing I noticed was that Kris had pulled her hair back into a ponytail (it was down when we left) and she wasn’t wearing the same shirt she had on earlier. She also had that sort of wild-eyed, crazed look that I imagine people have after they’ve just emerged from some sort of battle. Uh-oh.

She was so apologetic, all “oh my god, I hope I didn’t traumatize her for life, she didn’t stop crying for TWO SOLID HOURS, and I didn’t know what to do, but I didn’t call you because I didn’t want to ruin your date night.” There was apparently also a rather huge barf incident, which explained the wardrobe change. (Cate was also in a different outfit, but she was asleep in the swing when we got home, so I didn’t notice that right away.)

I felt so bad. I knew Kris was kind of nervous about being alone with the baby for the first time, and I was really hoping that Cate would go easy on her, but no such luck. And all of my little tips that I gave her – all of the things that I do to calm Cate down when she gets fussy – failed miserably.

As for Kris’s fear that she traumatized Cate, I think we don’t have to worry too much about that. She seemed to have recovered completely by this morning.

I don’t know if I can say the same for Kris, but hopefully she’s ok and will be willing to baby-sit for us again. Even if it isn’t until Cate is in kindergarten.

thanks, Mimi

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My mom sews for a living. She has her own little alterations business that she runs out of my parents’ house. (If you live in central Mississippi and need an article of clothing fixed, email me and I’ll get you her info. She rocks.) Growing up, she made a lot of our clothes. She doesn’t do custom sewing anymore, because she has scoliosis and it hurts her back to lean over the table to cut out a pattern. However, baby clothes appear to be the exception, because she was absolutely delighted when I asked her to make some baby clothes for Cate.

Which Cate can’t wear, because my mom is apparently under the mistaken impression that her four month-old grandbaby is actually a toddler.

Holy mother of God, those are some big pajamas! Don’t get me wrong, I think they’ll be adorable when she’s older. But I also think they’re going in a drawer for the next several months.

Dave says she looks like a faun in this picture, and he’s been calling her Mister Tumnus ever since. Scary but true.

More on the interview stuff later.

to work or not to work?

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I have a job interview tomorrow. It’s for a part-time, six month contract at the Giant Software Company, and I’m really not sure how I feel about it.

Pros:
1. I’m qualified for it, and it’s certainly up my alley.
2. They want someone 5 days a week, but it’d only be four to five hours a day, which sounds pretty manageable.
3. The money would be nice.

Cons:
1. As completely un-enlightened as this might sound, I don’t like the idea of leaving Cate. What do you know, apparently I’m a 1950’s housewife. So much for my feminist upbringing. The thing is, I know Cate would be fine, but I would miss her. I realize that’s selfish, but that’s how it is.
2. Most of the time I feel like I’m barely keeping my head above water with all of the day-to-day stuff around here. The house is almost always a mess, I can never seem stay on top of dishes and laundry, I feel like I’m constantly washing bottles, mixing formula, etc. How would I squeeze in a part-time work schedule with all of that? The thought is totally daunting and makes me feel like I want to cry. I know tons of women have babies and work full-time, and hats off to you because I can’t imagine it.
3. Today is the first time I’ve tried calling daycare centers to see about availability. Most of them have insane wait lists – the first one said they have no openings for infants until June 2008. No kidding. And even if I found a daycare center, most of them don’t have a part-time option. It makes sense in a “childcare provider to infant ratio” kind of way, but it means that you end up paying for full-time daycare regardless of whether or not you use it that much. And then it becomes a question of whether or not the money I’d be bringing home would really be worth it in the long run.

And yeah, Dave works from home, so we could theoretically work out some sort of shift schedule. Say, he could work for a few hours before I leave, and finish his work day after I get back. The problem is, Dave and I have very different methods of taking care of Cate. (Example: I pick her up at the first whimper. He thinks there’s nothing wrong with letting her scream for a few minutes to see if she’ll settle herself down. The thing is, she never does settle herself down, so it takes five times longer to calm her down when he waits until she’s in a full-blown tizzy. That drives me nuts.) I know that we’re allowed to have different parenting styles, but since I’m an obsessive first-time mom, I tend to view his way as wrong. So even though it sounds totally horrible to say that I don’t want to leave our child alone with my husband for extended amounts of time, sue me, it’s the truth.

So yeah. Interview tomorrow. Huh. We’ll see.

tattoos for tots

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Our town has this little festival every year with live bands, and a bunch of local businesses set up booths. It’s pretty low-key, but it’s free and it’s something different to do when the weather is nice. We went this year because we thought Cate would enjoy it – and she did, but she quickly got overstimulated by all the people and noise. We didn’t stay long, but it was fun.

I’m not sure why, but a local acupuncturist was doing face painting and temporary tattoos for kids. I have no idea what that has to do with their business, but whatever. We decided to let Cate have her first tattoo experience. Behold, the ladybugs:

My dad was horrified, even though I assured him that they washed off when I gave Cate a bath only a few hours later.

Unrelated: I’ve been using the Baby Bjorn a lot lately, since the weather has been really nice and Cate can now hold her head up well enough to ride in it facing outward. I’m not sure why, but when she’s facing out, it changes her weight distribution just enough so that my lower back isn’t killing me after five minutes. Also, when she’s in the Baby Bjorn, she stays awake for the whole walk because she can look around and see everything. And lord knows it’s good exercise for me – nothing like walking up a hill with an almost-17 pound baby strapped to your chest.

So we’ve got this little routine, which we’ve been doing for about a week now: we go for a walk in the evening after dinner. When we get home, I give Cate a bath – I know daily baths aren’t at all necessary for babies, but it really does seem to mellow her out – and then after she has a bottle, she is out. She’s been sleeping anywhere from eight to ten hours every night since we started doing this, without making so much as a peep. It’s awesome. And of course, I probably just jinxed it by talking about it. (Fingers crossed – shoo, Jinx Fairy!)

My hope is that this whole “sleeping through the night” thing will become a habit so that by this winter – when the rain will mess up our daily walk routine – it won’t matter. Hoping, hoping.

P.S. I know that not everyone is the praying type, but if you are, send up a few for Shannon. Stay, baby, stay!

four months redux

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Cate’s four-month pediatrician appointment was yesterday. Our girl is now in the 95th percentile for weight at 16 pounds, 11 ounces. Holy mother of god, no wonder my back hurts all the time! It’s hard to believe that when she was born, she was in the 5th-10th percentile for weight. I think it’s safe to say that she caught up with a vengeance.

For anyone who cares about the other statistics: She’s in the 50-75% range for height (24 1/2 inches), and her head circumference is at a whopping 97th percentile – not surprising, considering the noggin size of both of her parents.

I was starting to worry that my pediatrician thinks I’m obnoxious, because every time she tells me Cate’s weight, I always get this sort of worried look on my face and I’m like, “um… is that ok?” So finally yesterday I told her that my concerns are not really about Cate, it’s about my own history, and I told her about my gastric bypass, and how I worry that there might be some kind of “fat gene” that I could pass on to her.

The pediatrician now quite possibly thinks I’m insane for babbling away about my personal issues like that, but she handled it well. She said she was glad that I told her, since of course we want to make sure that Cate is healthy, so that’s something we want to keep an eye on. But she said that for now it’s nothing to worry about, and she’ll probably burn off most of her pudge when she’s a toddler and starts getting more active.

In the meantime, I’m trying really hard not to worry about it, because the last thing I want to do is project my own neuroses onto my daughter. I think about how when I was little, my mom always complained about how fat she was, and was always on a diet (and I think she was probably a size 8 at the time, so seriously: she was not fat) and that definitely had an impact on how I think about my body. I don’t want Cate to pick up any of that from me. I know it’s practically impossible for a female to grow up in this society with no body image issues whatsoever, but I’d like to be as positive an influence on her as possible. I’m working on that now, so it hopefully won’t be an issue when she’s older.

P.S. I don’t want to get too obnoxious with the video links, but I upload lots of them for the grandparents. If you want to see yet another video of Cate in the jumperoo, or any of the videos posted so far, you can go here to check them out.