Wednesday, April 30, 2008

Rice Cereal

Today Jon decided to give Logan a little rice cereal to see if he'd sleep any better. This isn't technically his first try of "solids" since I've given him a little bit of banana a few times this past week, just smooshed all over my fingers. I can't say he was in love with the banana, but he did keep sucking on my fingers and playing with it in his mouth. I figure the new texture was cool to him. :)

At any rate, he seemed to take the rice cereal today just fine - altho Jon gave it to him in a bottle vs. with a spoon.... so it was probably just like drinking a milkshake to him. ;-) He had a long nap after that which was a good sign, and wasn't as grumpy when I got home tonight.

We'll see how long he sleeps tonight. Last night we had another rough night - Logan woke up twice in the middle of the night, downing milk like crazy each time. Jon was a wreck because he had to get up every few hours which he isn't used to. I actually didn't sleep well either since I could hear the two of them in the other room, both pretty unhappy. :( So, neither of us were happy campers this morning when Logan finally woke up bright eyed and bushy tailed. I'm getting really concerned that if this pattern keeps up once Jon returns to work, we'll be screwed. I suppose we'll just have to take turns each night to tend to Logan and be zombies the next day - but it's going to really suck. *sigh* Here's to hoping the transition to solids will keep him asleep longer at night!

One thing I will really be looking forward to, once Logan starts child care, is using the carpool lane on my way home after I pick him up. My commute is generally about 30 min., but for some strange reason, today it took an entire hour just to get home. Painful. Lookout carpool lane, here I come!!! :)

Tuesday, April 29, 2008

2nd Day Back at Work

Jenn posted up the pics of our night out this past weekend. After several attempts at capturing the two boys sitting together on the couch, we FINALLY got one that was semi-decent I think. See how smiley these guys are!?! Total hams if you ask me.... Click on the pic below to see the rest of Jenn's pics from that night:

Logan (4.5 mths) and Robert (8.5 mths)


I came home from work today and Jon had about had it with Mr. Logan. He had spent the last couple of hours just bawling his eyes out. Jon thought perhaps he just missed me - and he did calm down, for the most part, when he was with me, but I think he was just needing some serious TLC. We changed him, fed him, played with him, walked around with him, I nursed him, etc. Just when you thought it was safe to set him down for a minute (so I could feed the dogs or make dinner) his upper lip jutted out real huge and he started wailing again. He was most content as long as one of us just held him. *sigh*

It's definitely more exhausting after a long day at work! I finally got him to sleep around 8pm, watched a little TV while he slept on my chest, and am now going to hit the hay. It'll be interesting to see if this is another "phase" or just a bad day. As Jon said, we survived another day - and that's pretty much how we're operating these days: one day at a time.

ps. Happy Anniversary Jon! I love you.

Monday, April 28, 2008

The Working Mom's Secret Cult

Back to the grind.

*sigh*

My first day back to work was bittersweet. It was nice to get a "break" and do adult things all day long. The day went by surprisingly fast and I didn't get too misty eyed about being away from Logan all day. I think I choked up once or maybe twice but nothing major and it was gone in a flash. I kept really busy which helped.... nothing like hitting the ground running to make the day whiz right by! I had a ton of work to take care of (I got assigned a new account which, of course, had several burning issues to attend to right when I walked in the front door). And then all of a sudden I noticed "shit, it's 5 o'clock! I'm outta here!" ;-)

The difference of today vs. any previous work day for me has been coming home - I left at 5pm - totally unusual for me. And, my laptop is still sitting in my backpack by the front door. The minute I got home, I slipped right back into Mommy Zone like I had never left (of which Daddy was relieved, I think... taking care of Logan all night last night and today was a bit of a wake up call for him. hehe) I suppose work will just have to get used to me working less hours than before!

I was amazed at how all my female co-workers immediately sought me out and flocked around my desk to see how Logan was, how I was doing, etc. Many are new moms themselves, so I'm sure we looked like a flock of clucking hens, comparing notes about how many hours each of our babies is sleeping, how many ounces they are eating, how much they weigh, etc. I can only imagine what the many men around us were thinking. Probably rolling their eyes at us. ;-) My team also bought me a beautiful vase of spring flowers to welcome me back -- a pleasant surprise!

Besides comparing notes and sharing pics with the other mothers, another new experience was visiting the "Mother's Room" in our building, of which I now have keys to.... when I entered, there were actually RULES listed on the white board and I felt like I was somehow just initiated into a secret cult that you always wonder about, but never get to participate in.

I would tell you the rules. But, then I'd have to kill you. mwahahahahahahahahahhaa

Sunday, April 27, 2008

My Last Day

Today was my last day of maternity leave (you may also notice the blog polls are now closed). And so the fun ends. :( I had a couple nice moments with Logan today but I don't think he quite understood that it was Mommy's last day to hang out with him. :( I'm a little nervous about going back to work - oh who am I kidding - I'm a lot nervous!! ;-) But, we gotta do what we gotta do. I just hope I'm not too much of an emotional wreck at work and can actually focus on a few things this week....

Jon, Logan and I had a nice relaxing weekend - Friday night Jon was kind enough to do the midnight/1am feeding and let me sleep a full 8 hrs. So, I was feeling really good Saturday morning and actually got in a muay thai class which felt great! We hung out with Jenn, Jarrod, their 8.5 mth old son Robert and Julie, Jeff and their 1 week old daughter Jessie (their other daughter Jamie was at her grandparent's) that night and had a really great time.

Today was another lazy day -- we didn't really do much in particular. Jon got tickets to the Sharks-Stars playoff game tonight, so we went to the game while my parents babysat Logan. He charmed all their neighbors and was a good little kid. They took some great pics of him (some of him standing on his own!!) that I will have to post later on once they send them to me. Jon and I had a nice time at the game - even tho the Sharks lost. *sniff sniff* All in all, it was a nice ending to my maternity leave. :)

More tomorrow -- I gotta get to bed now so I can get up at a decent hour to nurse, pack up all my stuff, and hit the traffic with all the other moms and dads out there. Oi vay!

Wednesday, April 23, 2008

I'm a Big Kid Now!

My parents came over with Chinese takeout for dinner tonight. We set Logan up in his booster seat for the first time which was entertaining since he was at the same height as us. He liked it for about - oh - 10 minutes before he was over the novelty of it all and just wanted out. ;-)


I'll have to try it again later when it's not so late and he's not so tired.

Pimp My Ride

When do we get a side car Daddy? ;-)


Jon just left for another business trip this morning so Logan and I are on our own for another couple of days. Luckily it's a quick trip so we'll see him again tomorrow night! :)

Tuesday, April 22, 2008

Diaper Date Night

Another good movie (Smart People) knocked out the little one. :)

Yes. We. Can.

We believe in change.

Dermatologist Visit

Yesterday I took Logan in to see my dermatologist and we got great news! He doesn't think Logan has eczema! :) He said Logan was way too smiley and happy to be a baby with eczema. hehehee :) Apparently he'd be itching and scratching a lot and wouldn't be eating or sleeping well. He'd definitely be upset and angry all the time.... That's not to say Logan doesn't have sensitive skin though. The Dr definitely thinks he has a skin issue - it doesn't hold onto moisture very well and is unusually dry, which leads to the red blotchy scaly rashes that I've been seeing. So, he prescribed us some lotion that will help his skin maintain the moisture and also gave us some cream to use if the red rashes DO flare up again. All in all, great news! :) They gave me some samples to use while we wait for the prescription and I can already see a difference in how his skin is reacting to the lotion - absorbing and taking to it much better than the other lotions and creams we've been using. :)

After the dr's, we met up with Kim and Molly at the mall and spent a few hours strolling around. I got a cute little bathing suit for Loganito for the summertime which I can't wait to try out! Logan was a champ - slept for about 3 hrs after the dr's and then was just content and happy to hang out with me and the girls at Kim's house until Daddy and Nathan got home.....

Daddy had a great day yesterday as well - since he finally bought a new motorcycle! He's been talking about getting another bike ever since he sold his last one. ;-) It feels a little odd timing-wise....since we now have a baby to care for. And, I don't know if I'll get to ride with Jon as much as I used to, but we'll see. Maybe the grandparents will just have to babysit more often once summertime hits ;-)

Saturday, April 19, 2008

Welcome Jessie!

Our friends Julie and Jeff just had their second baby girl, Jessie, this past Thursday. So today I twisted my parents' arms to babysit Logan for a bit while Jon and I got to visit.

Here are some pics of Jessie and her parents (the glowing green light is actually a little device attached to her inside her blanket, to help with the little bit of jaundice she has right now).









Congrats guys! Logan can't wait to meet another baby girl to practice his charms on! ;-)







Friday, April 18, 2008

Mac Fanboy

Just caught up with our good friend Matt who's visiting from out of town which was cool.

Thought I'd take a quick snapshot of Logan and his cool Apple outfit, courtesy of Kimmy. Thanks! Our Mac kid loves it, as you can see from all the drool marks ;)

Thursday, April 17, 2008

My boy loves paper

Buy him hundreds of dollars worth of toys, yet this white crinkly stuff is waaaaay more interesting!

Wednesday, April 16, 2008

Out for a walk

We're out for a walk, grabbing dinner at a local restaurant. Decided to put Logan in his big boy stroller without the car seat.... He seems to be drowning in it since he's still so small, but is enjoying his new view regardless. :)

Monday, April 14, 2008

2 Weeks Left :(

Today marks my maternity leave two week countdown - I'm trying not to think about it too much since it's so depressing! :( I have really settled into home life with Logan quite nicely and can't imagine what it's going to be like not seeing him all day long. *sigh* The good news is, Jon will get to spend some quality Father/Son time with Logan before he starts childcare (the child care center we finally decided to go with didn't have a spot open until mid-May, so Jon is using a couple weeks of paternity leave to bridge the gap). I'm hoping it'll be less traumatic for me and Logan too, since he'll still be with someone he knows for a couple more weeks, and I won't be *as* stressed at work from leaving him at a child care center for the first time. :)

Logan seems to have returned to wake up calls at night this past week. We thought it might have something to do with getting his brace off since he's a lot more mobile and fidgety without it on. But, I also wonder if he might be going through another growth spurt? He's eating like crazy again -- he's up every couple of hours and is super fussy and hungry. Two nights ago he polished off about 25 oz in a 12 hr period. Yikes!! I want to wait as long as possible before we move to solids, esp. given his digestive issues, but if he keeps this eating frenzy up, we may need to start sooner than I had wanted (one of the signs that it's time to start solids, so I've read, is when they start eating a lot more, never seeming to be satiated, and stop sleeping well thru the night). We'll see.

The weather finally cooled off today with a nice breeze so I spent some time sitting out reading on our backyard patio for the first time while Logan napped. A recent development of his is touching, playing with and sticking out his tongue. I stick mine out back at him and he smiles, but I'm not sure he gets the connection just yet. :)

Alicia and Sarah stopped by for the afternoon to visit with Logan one last time before their flight home this evening -- he is definitely a charmer with all the ladies, and his Abuelita and Tia are no exception! ;-)

Click on the pics to see more snapshots of their visit this past weekend.....

Sunday, April 13, 2008

Mr. Popular

Our little monkey, just content to hang out with mom. ;-)

Grandma Riedy and Aunt Sarah came in Friday night to visit Logan for a few days. We've been having a really nice visit, despite the crazy heat. Jon and I even got away yesterday for a little bit to run a few errands while they babysat - yeah! :)

I'll post up all the pics from their visit later on, but here's one of my favorites. Loganito's abuela spent the afternoon singing to him in Spanish which I think he really enjoyed....

Friday, April 11, 2008

Muay Thai

well I finally did it. I went back to my first Muay Thai workout last night. It's been a little over a year since I've been - so I was nervous it would kick my ass. It was a hard workout and I struggled during parts (jumping rope and skip knees - both cardio so apparently my body is having issues with the extra weight?) ;-) but overall I was pleasantly surprised at how well I did! I was tired afterwards, but so far, haven't been sore or achy like I thought I might be. And, it's amazing how much comes back to you as far as punches and kicks go, even after a year of not touching a bag or gloves! :) Now I've just gotta keep it up!!

Yesterday I also visited the dermatologist (needed to get a spot checked out - not cancerous) and asked them about my stretch marks....of which lovely Logan left me plenty. Apparently there are a couple things they can do to remove them. A topical solution containing retin-A works wonders, but isn't recommended for nursing moms. Of course, the other solution is much more expensive - laser treatment. It's going to cost $7500 big ones if I want to get them removed! No thank you. I'll just work on getting the weight off and consider the stretch marks a special gift from Loganito. ;-)

This morning I went to the dentist's office and Logan behaved great! He sat on my lap during the entire cleaning - most interested in the tool they use to polish my teeth. I guess it was a different neat sound for him. :) Unfortunately, Mommy has another cavity (the first one in 10 yrs), which is ironic since I've been flossing more since I got pregnant, than I've ever flossed in my life. Go figure.

We had lunch at Kim's and hung out with her, Molly and Julie - our friend who is expecting her little one (baby #2) next week. She's looking great and we're all really excited to meet the next little baby that's going to join our clan of generation....Z?

(speaking of the next generation - as I'm about to publish this post, I got an email from my cousins Abe and Josie down in Mexico. They just delivered their little baby boy Leonardo Lavagia Connally this afternoon. Logan now has another cousin to join him in the ranks! Congrats guys! Welcome to parenthood!)

Thursday, April 10, 2008

Sitting Up and Rolling Over

Some more firsts!

During our playtime this afternoon, Logan rolled over once on his own which surprised me since it was out of the blue - but that was just the beginning. He's been doing great these days sitting with just a little support from me for balance. I thought I'd see how he'd do on his own and he did several consecutive sessions of sitting on his own! Mind you, the most was only 10 sec long, but still! He just made me a very proud mama - can't wait till Daddy gets home so we can tell him all about it!

A little boob time and now he's conked out on my lap from all the hard work we did.... hehehehe

Crocodile Tears

Pretty much anytime Logan goes down for a nap I quickly hustle around the house to see how many chores I can get done before he wakes up. So, the comic I received in my email today (for his 4 month birthday - woot!) was very appropriate :)

We've been experiencing some minor issues with his sleep these last couple of days. As he's getting older, bigger and stronger - he's been more and more successful at wriggling himself free from his swaddle at night. Which, wouldn't be a problem if he stayed asleep! :) However, once his hands are free, he tends to wake himself up with all the movement. It might also be because his arms and hands are ICE COLD, although I'm not positive on that since it doesn't seem to bother him. *shrug*

The other (related) issue is his constant movement! Now that we got the all clear from his doc, we've put him down the last few nights sans brace. Of course, this means since his legs and hips aren't tucked up in his chest, he has the freedom to kick and squirm all night long. Which he does! Traveling across the crib in no time until his head hits the other side and he wakes up.

This has made some early (or late, depending on how you see it) wake up calls for me since he wakes up crying and usually takes some nursing and serious convincing to go back to sleep. I can only hope he grows out of this phase and learns to sleep on his own very soon! *sigh*

So while Logan was down for his afternoon nap today, I spent most of the time sorting through TWO FULL BINS of 3-6 month clothes that Jenn gave me (that Robert has outgrown). Between the ones I'm going to keep for Logan and the tons of clothes we've received as gifts, this kid may just have more clothes than his Mommy! He's still lagging behind me in the shoe department though. He has about 5-6 new pairs of shoes, in addition to the 5-6 he already has. Heh. Child's play. ;-)

After his nap Logan woke up cranky, hungry and with a wet diaper. I rescued him from his crib, changed him and fed him, yet he was still unhappy. Crying so much that, for the first time I believe, he had big ol' crocodile tears rolling down his cheeks. If that doesn't make your heart melt, I'm not sure what will.

Tuesday, April 8, 2008

Only in Miami

*whew* Now that I've got all the dr's appts out of the way today, and Logan's taking a nap after his traumatic 4 month shots, I'll try to summarize the rest of our vacation this past weekend.

It goes without saying we had a blast! And, I enjoyed our time even more than I expected because Jon and I were on East Coast time, but little Logan appeared to stay on West Coast time. So, when he started drifting to sleep about 11:30pm or so, we were able to put him down, watch a little TV before going to bed ourselves, and then get a full night's rest since we basically slept the same 8-10 hrs he did. When we're at home, I really struggle to get to bed early, and still end up going to bed by 11-11:30pm. Because he's down by about 8:30pm, he wakes up around 6-7am (if not earlier) and it just kills me not to have my full 8 hrs of sleep! :) Anyway, it was really nice and I felt like I also got a lot more time to spend with my husband on the trip.

So, I'll pick up where I left off Saturday morning. Jon and Nathan still had some work to do Saturday afternoon - so Kim and I took the babies for another stroll around Miami Beach that afternoon. The weather was super hot and muggy, so Kim and Molly retired a bit early for the air conditioned hotel rooms. I decided to stick it out a bit longer and get some snapshots of the buildings and area around us. Logan drifted in and out of sleep for most of the walk but I finally woke him to give him some milk since I was concerned he'd get dehydrated from the heat (his cheeks were flushed pink even tho I had him covered in shade the entire time!).

When the boys got back, we went out to another nice dinner - this time Cuban! Yuuummmm. It's amazing how satisfying a simple dinner like black beans, rice and plantains will do it for ya! :) After dinner, we all strolled along Ocean Street, mostly people watching since that is *the* place to be seen. Toward the end of the night, we caught an unexpected display of fireworks over the beach which was neat. Logan had been a bit fussy and seemed to be a little interested in the bursts of color in the air, but not as crazy about them as his mom. ;-)

Sunday we all trekked to Jungle Island, to see some parrots and other tropical animals.... the birds were absolutely gorgeous and I think I got some pretty good pics from our trip to the park. Logan slept on Daddy the majority of the way, a little too young to appreciate the sights. It's definitely a place where a bit older kids (say 4-6 yrs old?) would love - so I'm taking note to visit again in the future.

Because it was super hot out and the park is all outdoors, we were all pretty spent when we got back to the hotel. So, back to the pool we went! :) Logan wasn't as agreeable this time around however, so while Daddy sipped his fruity drink and floated in the pool, Mommy sat with little Logan all bundled up in a towel. Molly, unfortunately, wasn't feeling well at all (turns out she caught a head cold), so the Hicksons decided to stay in Sunday night and eat dinner in their room. I wanted to go out one last time for our last night out and, because we had such a wonderful dinner the night before, I decided we should do Cuban again. After all, we can get great Chinese, Italian, Japanese, etc. in the bay area, but you're hard put to find a good Cuban joint.

So, we set out for Lincoln Mall Road one last time - to eat at the little Cuban restaurant we visited the last time we were in Miami - about a year ago when I was pregnant with little Logan! :) We had another delicious dinner before heading back home. On our way back to the hotel, we got caught in the rain - so the last 10 or so blocks we were pretty soaked! But, it was warm out so it didn't bother us too much. And, Loganito never knew the difference, his good ol' stroller protected him from the downpour quite well! :)

Reflecting over the last few days away, I'm really glad we made the trip. The 6 hr flight was a good test to see how well Logan would hold up on the plane in case we decide to do a longer/bigger trip later this year (that is the plan!). And, altho I think I did pretty well overall, I have a better sense of what to pack and not pack for the next time around (uhhh, skip the long sleeve nursing outfits in muggy 80 degree weather!). What's best of all, the trip was really invigorating and calmed all the minor jitters I had about traveling with a baby... and has got me really excited for our next big trip, hopefully sometime soon! :)

Click on any of the pics to see the rest of our vacation! That's right, a fabulous lime-green car baby. Only in Miami.... ;-)

4 month check up

Yes, it's doctor day today! Just got done with Logan's 4 mth check up. He's looking great and right on track. He weighed in at 13 lbs, 10 oz (50%), measures 25 1/4 " long (50%), and his head is 43 cm around (75%).

He also got 4 more shots which he wasn't crazy about but got over pretty quickly thank goodness! :) He's still battling eczema flare ups so we're going to see a dermatologist and see if we can't get it fixed.

No more brace!

Just got out of Logan's ortho appt. His hips look great, so we can stop wearing the brace at night now. Yay!!

Monday, April 7, 2008

Back in Cali

We just got home from our trip to Miami and I just got Logan down for bed a few minutes ago. I'll keep this update brief since we're beat.

We had an excellent trip - it was so nice to be on vacation with Jon, Logan and the Hicksons! Miami was really fun, the weather was super hot and muggy, but pleasant at night. We ate a lot of good food, did a TON of walking and did a lot of relaxing.

Our flight home today went ok - Logan did really well again, even despite a crappy flight. The plane's A/C wasn't functioning very well, so it was hotter than hell. The turbulence was some of the worst I've been thru in a long time - so everyone's nerves were a little on edge. And the flight was absolutely packed. But, we made it home! And, that's the important part. :)

Logan also had some trouble during the descent, we can only assume due to the pressure building up in his ears, and after everything I could think of, we finally got him to calm down by laying him stomach down on the boppy, like a flying squirrel, sucking on Jon's finger. Go figure!

Time to crash now, but more to follow with picture updates and detailed stories of our trip later this week.... It's good to be home! :)

Saturday, April 5, 2008

Lookout Michael Phelps

We had a nice and relaxing day in South Beach yesterday. While the boys went to the data center to get some work done, Kim and I and the kiddos took off for a leisurely stroll around our hotel's neighborhood. I needed to get something cooler to wear like tank tops (silly me - I only really brought my nursing tops which are not only double layered but long sleeve and simply won't work in this muggy weather!!), so we went shopping at The Gap and a few other stores. It was pretty hot out but the kiddos did ok. Here's Logan all ready to go with his cool sun hat! :)

After a few hours, we came back to the hotel to relax and let the babies nap. Once our hubbys got home, we decided to take a dip in the pool - another "first" for Logan! :) I can't say he really *enjoyed* it - he only giggled a couple of times. Mostly, he was very tentative and not sure what to make of this humongous bath tub! :) I don't give him a lot of baths because of his eczema, so I think part of it is he's just not really used to being in the water that much. But, we're going to try again today so we'll see! I still have time to make him into an Olympic swimmer yet ;-)

We had another nice evening strolling Lincoln Mall. We ate an awesome meal at Sushi Samba (a hip and happening sushi spot) and had gelato again for dessert. Logan did great - he slept about 3 hours - the entire time out (which was nice for me since I got to enjoy dinner with everyone for once!) - woke up once we got back to the hotel which was fine since we needed to change and feed him again before putting him down anyway, and then he slept another 8 hrs before waking this morning. Yay!

iPhone Updates

Testing a blog post from my mobile phone... Now I can post "on the go"! mwahaahahaaaahahaha

Friday, April 4, 2008

Hello Miami!

Logan and I took on a big trip yesterday with Kim and Molly, her 5 1/2 mth old. Both of our husbands have been in Miami these last few days for work and we decided to join them for the weekend.... here is a little recount of the last 24 or so hours.....

Wednesday night, after my friend Jenn picked up the dogs, I loaded up the car and took off with Logan to Kim's house. Since our car was going to pick us up at 4:30am Thurs morning, we decided it'd be best if we spent the night at Kim's house. I didn't get much sleep though - I think I was nervous about the trip, and Logan was too fidgety sleeping next to me on the futon. I finally wrapped him up and put him in Molly's crib (she was sleeping in Kim's room) around 1am so that I could get a couple hours of sleep. We woke about 3:30am to get the kiddos ready and load up the towne car (we just BARELY fit all of our stuff and I was a bit cramped in the backseat with two babies/carseats and a stroller!) and took off for SFO about 4:30am. Our flight didn't leave until 7am but we wanted some extra time for the security checks since we had the babies with us.

Our check in and security checks were a breeze. The line to check in was pretty long but we got thru just fine (as it happened, our flight was delayed anyway) and once the security gal saw us both with a shit ton of stuff and babies, she let us pass the enormous security line to get up to the front. Score 1 for traveling with babies! ;-)

Molly now fits in a convertible car seat so Kim got some wheels to snap on the seat and she checked everything else. Logan still rides in his infant car seat so we had a bit more crap to carry (his car seat, the base for the car, the stroller, bags for the stroller and car seat so they wouldn't get ruined in gate check, and other randoms like a diaper bag and boppy.) Let's just say I felt like I was a traveling Sherpa about to embark on a huge expedition!

Here's a pic I took with my iPhone while waiting to check in: Logan's stroller loaded up with all our stuff. Yes, Logan is asleep in there somewhere!! ;-) (I'll post all the pics from our trip in a few days when we are back home)

Our flight was uneventful - which was great! We were able to get seats in the same row so we were near each other. Kim had two seats, one for her and one for Molly/her car seat which was handy. Logan got stuck with me on my lap the entire time. :) Both babies did wonderfully without a peep throughout the entire flight! Molly slept for about the first half of the flight while Logan slept for the last half, but otherwise kept themselves fairly entertained. Kim and I were very proud mamas afterwards.... A pic of Logan sleeping on my lap:

Jon's only been away from us for a few days but he immediately noticed a difference in Logan - much more aware and mostly a lot more skilled at his hand-eye coordination, since he now regularly grabs for and plays with his little car seat toy. I see him every day and sort of forget about these small developments from time to time but I guess he IS changing pretty rapidly even day to day! :)

We were pretty exhausted when we landed, but it was Nathan's birthday yesterday (the big 3-0! Happy Birthday N!), so we all went to our rooms, showered and fed the kiddos and relaxed a bit, before walking down to Lincoln Mall for a yummy dinner and delicious gelato. I ALMOST felt like I was back in Italy, strolling the kids with all of the other night owls in South Beach. :)

Logan had a rough time sleeping last night but is now finally falling back to sleep as I end this post. Which is my cue to join him and catch a few more zzz's myself before we start the day.

Ciao!

Wednesday, April 2, 2008

Stroller Power

Last night was another tough night alone. Don't I sound like the whiny baby?? Well, who gives a shit. I'm going to share my woes with you anyway. ;-)

I went to bed way too late (taking care of chores after I put Logan down), and woke up a few hours later to three short shrieks bursting from Logan's room. I've never heard him scream like that before (usually it's a long wail that he takes some time to work up to)....so you can imagine how quickly I jumped out of bed only to find him pouting at me, apparently done with sleeping and not happy to be in his crib. So, I fed him and let him hang out with me on the bed while I secretly tried to catch a few more zzzzz's, but he didn't like that idea and pretty much kept me up until the sun rose. Heh. I finally put him down in his crib about 6:30am so he could fall asleep on his own and so I could too!

He woke me up about 8:30am - I stumbled in the bedroom to check on him. He was still sleeping but annoyed about his blanket on his head again (I guess) because when I moved it, he stopped fussing and went back to sleep. soooo, I fed the dogs and got dressed, ready to go to Stroller Power!! :) My friend Katrine and her 5 mth old Emily have been going 3x a week (yes, hard core gals). I've heard about programs like this but never knew anyone who went, so I decided to try it out with Katrine today. Class was at 9:30am, around the corner from our house. It's a whole running, circuit-training, outdoors class with your babies/strollers, for 1.5 hrs. I haven't been as lucky at losing the pregnancy weight very quickly and I've really been noticing a lot more aches and pains in my joints (particularly my bum foot - sports injury from many moons ago) after just a simple walk around the neighborhood. Totally annoying. I KNOW it's because of the extra weight I'm carrying that my body is not used to - so I really need to be more proactive and get it off fast.

At any rate, poor little Logan was sound asleep and mean mommy woke him up about 9:10am to get to the class. The class was really great - running is not really my thing but it was a good workout. I didn't stay the entire class, left about an hour later, because it had started raining pretty good and Logan was an unhappy camper the entire time (probably something about me waking him up and not feeding him immediately like he's used to!) But that's ok. I still got a great work out, met a lot of cool moms, and hope to go back again next week! :)

Afterwards, I met up with Kim for lunch and another Diaper Day at the movies. This time we saw La Misma Luna - I wasn't really that interested in seeing the movie, it was more just an excuse to get out of the house. But, it was actually a really great flick (a tear jerker!) and I'm glad we caught it. :)

Gotta go pack for our trip tomorrow while Logan's snoozing. It's amazing how much more crap I need to load up in the car and suitcases, now that I'll be traveling with a baby. Yikes!

I'll leave you with one pic that I snagged this morning just before waking him up from his peaceful slumber.... yes, there IS a baby underneath those blankets. When I put him down, the white blanket was around his legs. He manages to kick it up over his head EVERY time. You'll also notice a little arm sticking out - he managed to wiggle both arms out of the swaddle while sleeping. No, he's not really an active guy. Not at all. *sigh*

Tuesday, April 1, 2008

Single Parenting

For all you single parents out there - BRAVO! (or virtually single like my old high school friend Amy who, incidentally, visited us from Washington today) It's pretty damn exhausting doing this all by your lonesome and I'm just thankful we're separated from Jon for only a few days! *sigh*

The daytime isn't as bad - I've filled it up with running errands, walks, bathtime, playtime, visits, you name it. And, Logan isn't the wiser. But, once night time hits, it's a whole 'nother story! Last night was pretty rough on me. :( Logan kept waking or fussing every 2-3 hrs and by morning I was just plain exhausted. I didn't have Jon to turn to and ask to take a turn - it was just 24x7 non-stop all me! wooowhee!!

Tonight hasn't been much better - partly because I messed with his bedtime. I had to pick up my parents at the airport at 8:30pm, which is just about when Logan goes to bed. He conked out about 8pm, but then I had to load him up into the car seat, get on the road, go pick up my parents, and then we went to grab a bite to eat for dinner..... all the moving and jostling around woke him up and he wasn't very happy about that. I finally put him down in his crib around 11:30pm because I had to still get some chores done tonight (tomorrow is trash day) and get to bed myself! He's gone to sleep now so I'm hoping he sleeps through the night so I can get a few hours of rest on my own. We'll see!! ;-)