Refrigerate after opening, part deux

It also turns out that Pedialyte needs to be refrigerated after opening. Duh. I haven't been doing that and I hope that it hasn't led to additional stomach troubles when I'm giving it to him due to stomach troubles. Because that would really suck.

Today we went out to run a couple of errands along with the rest of Northern Virginia. Andy was sporting his awesome new Texas Longhorns sweatsuit and got lots of comments. Who knew there were so many Texas fans in Fairfax?

Refrigerate after opening

For the past couple of months I've been trying to stock apple juice in the house to try to convince Andy that sippy cups are a good idea. The weird thing is that after about a week, the juice got little bits floating on the top. I immediately blamed the boys for drinking out of the top, to which the first time they confessed (I know, ick) and from then on they swore not to have touched it. Turns out, juice is pasturized and needs to be refrigerated. Duh. In my defense, Bjorn didn't catch on either so it couldn't be THAT obvious. Right?

Christmas outfit

Here's a picture of Andy in the adorable Christmas outfit my cousin got him. He never really got to wear it on Christmas so my mother is going to be kind enough to see if the store has an Easter outfit instead. It was a beautiful little suit though and it gave me a chance to get Andy and my dad together for a photo.

Another sweater vest

Here's a picture from the annual Christmas party. What sucked was it started about his regular bedtime eastern time so by the time folks starting arriving, I had already gone to put him to bed. He slept off and on despite all the noise, but I couldn't hear over the crowd and kept checking in. Once I found him crying, which about broke my heart thinking he was scared to wake up in a strange place where it was dark and noisy. It also stunk that he wasn't up so I could show him and his awesome sweater vest off.

Go Texas

Andy sporting the top of his new Texas Longhorns outfit. He's psyched for the game next week.

Standing

We were trying to get a picture of the cousins standing next to each other, but they refused to stand at the same time. We did catch Megan standing on her own though. She's not yet walking, but she's minutes away from it.

I think we're all still recovering. Andy slept until 8 am (a record in this house) and then took a solid hour nap this morning. I managed to sleep from about 11 pm to 7 am and didn't even wake up when Bjorn was repairing our toilet handle that cleverly broke just as we were packing up to leave for Dallas.

More pictures

Megan driving away with Andy's toy

Blackmail photos for the year 2020

Close encounters of the Megan kind

Merry Christmas, Part Deux - Travel

Merry Christmas, ya'll

We have hit a milestone with this trip, and not necessarily a good one. I think Andy is officially too old and wiggly to not get his own seat on the airplane. We held him there and back and it was a lot of work. He managed to go to sleep after much fighting both ways, but then that involved holding a sleeping almost toddler, which was hot and uncomfortable. And, of course, just before getting on the flight this morning he managed to spit up all over me and himself - a full two hours after getting his first bottle. Apparently some kids outgrow spit up by six months, but not mine.

Fortunately, my mom has an extra car seat so we didn't have to lug that around which made it easier to justify not getting an extra seat, but seeing the other babies on the flight (and there were probably 6-8 kids under 2), the ones snug in their car seats in a seat seemed to complain the least. And having an extra seat would mean an extra two bags and for all the goodies Santa brought, that might have come in handy.

We're back

We back from our seven day adventure to Dallas. I took tons of random pictures that I'm downloading today and will post more later. It was stressful getting ourselves there and back, but it was great to see everyone and get to celebrate together. We got more good presents and toys that need to be unpacked and played with and have lots of thank you notes to write, but for now we're just going to unwind, in our own beds.

The cats seemed to survive without us just fine. I was too busy to worry much about them, but got in a panic last night when I worried it was cold and one had gotten out and was freezing to death. Fortunately, everyone seems alive and well. That goes for us, too.

Wave bye bye

So after months of trying to get him to wave, he finally did it. Turns out he can only wave with his right hand for now, but it's a wave nonetheless.

Christmas vest

Here's a picture of Andy in his Christmas vest. I'm totally digging the sweater vests. I figure I've only got a couple of years when he has to wear what I think he looks cute in so I'm going to enjoy it.

Santa

So Santa came to our block tonight. Interestingly, Mr. and Mrs. Clause are tromping around Fairfax on a firetruck. I had just gotten Andy out of the tub and was looking out the window to see what was up only to see them. Since we were upstairs with the lights on, they actually paused and waved to us for a bit. Andy sort of got it, but I did and thought it was really sweet. A good use of my taxpayer dollars? Probably not, but I enjoyed it nonetheless.

We leave for Dallas day after tomorrow and I have a killer cold and sore throat. I've started packing our stuff, but the bulk is just going to have to wait.

Birthday photos

Someone sent pictures from the December birthday party. These are some cute ones of Andy.

Stairs

So Andy's new trick is he can sort of go down stairs. I didn't teach him this, he just sort of figured out how to scoot backwards on his stomach down the stairs. It's rather funny to watch. He still has to be supervised since he could wipe out easily still, but it's huge to see the progress he's made.

I just thought this one was funny.

Merry Christmas

We had Christmas at my mother-in-law's today. I was apprehensive about nap times, etc., but it ended up working out very nicely. I was expecting Andy to only be interested in the wrapping paper, but he really dug a couple of the cool toys his cousins gave him.

Here is the present the grandchildren gave Fafa. Check out Andy's "handprint" in yellow. It's more of a smudge, which is too bad, but the sentiment was there.

Grody

Apparently crapping outside the diaper is a theme this week. I was drying Andy off after a bath tonight when he promptly pooped - on the floor. I normally dry him off on his changing table so it was just lucky that I happened to get doing it on the floor tonight. Lovely. So I spent a good 15 minutes on a Friday night cleaning excrement out of the carpet. I was never much of a partier per se, but this isn't something I envisioned. We have hardwood floors under the carpet and although I got the carpet seemingly clean, we may need to rip it up and throw it away pretty soon. Ick.

Haircut

It's almost time for Andy to get a haircut. It's a little straggley in spots and long in others, but even knowing that, I can't bring myself to take him in. It's weird, but I don't feel quite ready for him to be a big boy yet.

Munchies

So Andy woke up about 4 this morning and wouldn't be settled back down. Bjorn tried first, but Andy wasn't having it. Then I tried. Then I changed him, which wasn't the problem. Then I tried to give him water, which he wasn't having. After that, I tried 4 ounces of formula and he gobbled that right up and was mad when it was done so I made another 4 ounces and he ate all of that, too. Mind you, he usually doesn't get 8 ounces at a sitting currently so he must have been really hungry. After that, he settled back down until about 7:30, which was good because I was tired.

It's snowing here and looks really amazing. They're calling for 1-2 inches during the day and then sleet and freezing rain tonight.

Chompers

This is a terrible picture of Bjorn, but you can really make out Andy's teeth in this one. They're definitely coming in. He bit another mother at playgroup last week (I secretly think he has a crush on her due to her phat English accent) and he bit my shoulder tonight. It's weird that he's doing it now that they're almost all the way in. I would have thought earlier when they were just popping through would be more painful.


Here's a better picture of the two boys that is great. This was before bath time. I used to let him roam around naked for a bit, but after the great bedroom bowel movement incident, I'm rather reticent.

I have a new online addiction at work -- www.popsugar.com. Good times.

Busy, Busy

The relatives are in town from California for the week. I haven't seen my nephew, Zane, in over a year. It's amazing how he's changed. They also came loaded down with a suitcase full of 18-24 month and 2T clothes, a lot of which are summer-ish and will be perfect for spring. It was nice seeing Andy and Zane, who is 3, see each other although when they finally got to my house last night it was a little past 7 and Andy turns into a pumpkin at bedtime and isn't particularly friendly. Between work and bedtime, it's hard to entertain during the week!

I just thought this was a cute picture. It also makes his hand look gianormous.

Merry Christmukkah

Hey look - we can dress up and actually leave the house once in a while to go out - together.

I was attempting to organize a couple of nights ago and found several 12-18 and 18-24 month one piece pajamas that my cousin donated to the cause. I'm sorry I didn't find them earlier as the 12-18 month ones are a little snug. This is the bigger size and it's still a little long in the feet, which looks pretty funny.

Phew

After such a rough Saturday night, I was really nervous about last night, especially after he woke up about 9. Fortunately, he went back to bed and slept all night. Phew. He had been perfect all day Sunday although he was great Saturday, too, so it's hard to tell what got him going.

We're expecting more snow later in the week. I'm psyched.

Boots

We've had a bit of snow over the past couple of weeks, but I've been hestitant to plop Andy in the sled and pull him along because I didn't have any shoes for him really. I thought his little leather mocassins would be too easily soaked and I was afraid to venture out without proper footwear, you know, since he can't walk. I went to Target today and found some cute rain boots. I bought a bigger size than he can probably wear in six months even, but they're big enough to pull on over a couple of pairs of socks and keep his legs dry at the same time. They just look adorable on him (partly because they come all the way to his knee) and they're even Swedish colors.

Charmed, I'm sure

So with all the drama last night, I forgot the real gem of yesterday that still cracks me up. I had made a bath and was letting him crawl around naked as I got things set up only to come into my bedroom and find that he had, er, crapped on the floor and then crawled over it. Blech. Fortunately, I had the bath ready to plop him into. Still, gross, gross, gross. We wiped down the floor pretty good (fortunately, it was on the hardwoods so it was easy to clean up).

After the late night, he had two really good naps today and is hopefully on the mend. No crying jags so that's a good sign and he seems to be eating and drinking normally. I'm ready for him to be able to tell me what hurts.

It's a gas, gas, gas

So last night Andy decided not to sleep really, at all. It was miserable. From about 11 to 3:30, he wailed off and on and was just inconsolable. I finally called the doctor at about 3:30 who said to take him to the emergency room. Although by the time I got off the phone, he had finally fallen asleep. The nurse said when he woke up (assuming he wouldn't stay asleep again) to take him in, but that's when he decided to stay asleep until 7:30. Looking back, I think he had gas pains that took a while (a long while) to work out. Poor baby. Poor parents.

Christmas shopping

We're off to do a bit of Christmas shopping, which may prove to be a terrible idea. We just have a few more to check off for Christmas with the Virginia folks. I'll have to do some shopping in Dallas once we get there for the things that are too big/bulky to carry. So much pressure! I'll be relieved when it's over.

A date, sort of

My office Christmas party was tonight. My neighbors, Ernie and Doris, who are perhaps the nicest people out there, graciously offered to babysit. It was nice to get out and weird all the same.

This is from my ill-fated "art project" idea. Turns out he's not ready for finger painting and neither am I. This was in the beginning before it ended up everywhere. He didn't seem to have my interest at all and didn't like his hands messy.

Here is the picture of the blueberry incident. I love how it looks like he has a cut above his eye when really it's just baby food.

Blueberries are messy

Ages ago I bought a Beachnut apples and blueberries stage 2 mixture. Wow, is it ever messy. Andy has decided he likes to streal the spoon from me while I try to feed him. That little sucker is surprisingly strong when he decides he wants something so I usually give in (if I can) or else the spoon and its contents often go flying. Turns out blueberries are not a good food to give to a kid at this age. By the end, it looked like he'd been in a fight - it was all over his hands, face, forehead.

Dang it - it's not letting my upload any of the pictures. Blogger has been acting quite odd the past couple of days. I apologize for the inconvenience. Feel free to send me snacks to help pass the time.

Rebel yell

So lately Andy has decided that he likes to yell. He doesn't have anything to say, yet, so every once in a while he just looks at me and screams. Not upset, just making a statement. It always makes me laugh so he gets my attention and keeps doing it. I'm sure it will be annoying shortly, but right now it's pretty darn cute.

The snowman

Andy has a new favorite book - the Snowman by Raymond Briggs. The story isn't that great (frankly, most of these have really short, lame stories), but the flaps and pictures are very interesting for him.

The marketing part of the book is what really gets me "Over 35 flaps inside." Can't they just say it has 37 flaps or whatever? Why try to make it sound more grand? Do people really decide not to buy if it's got 36 flaps, but if they see the over 35 then they won't? Of course, what's really at issue is the use of "over" rather than "more than." My mother always said, if you can count it, it's more than or fewer than, if you can't, it's over or less than. I got this lesson every time we went to the grocery store and they had the short line. Some of the newer grocery stores use proper grammer and I always consider it a moral victory for Mom.

Choking is bad

I cut up some apples last night for Andy to feed himself during dinner and apparely cut up apples need to be really cut up in order to make it down without getting stuck. He doesn't chew at all (of course, although I didn't put that together) so Bjorn was watching as he proceeded to start to cough because he couldn't get a piece up or down. It wasn't stopping Andy from trying to keep putting more in his mouth. Bjorn smacked in on the back and he was fine moments later, but it was pretty scary for us.

Snow daze

It snowed yesterday. A lot. Well, a lot for us, in that it was about 3 inches or so and snowed most of the day. Andy didn't seem that interested generally, but I haven't gotten the sled down to pull him around in it yet. Part of my problem is he doesn't have a good winter coat nor any boot type things that are warmer than his little slippers. I need to get out to get that stuff, but I just haven't had time.

Sharing is caring

His new trick it to try to put something in my mouth. Usually it's his fingers checking out my lips or teeth, but the last day or so he's decided he can put bath toys there. He did share Cherrios with his dad this morning. Better yet, he would suck on them, pull them out and then share. Tasty.

What am I, a fire hydrant?

So we're getting ready to the bath and Andy is standing up in the bathroom naked as I get things ready. Then I look down to notice he's holding onto my jeans and peeing on my leg. Charming.

Now everyone's happy

See, we're not ALWAYS abusing him by trying to take a picture of his teeth. Here he's very happy. Later on, Bjorn took him to a football game where Andy actually cheered along with the crowd. Good thing, too, he's definitely going to have to be a sports fan to survive in this house.

Here's one

He's not particularly happy about it, but I did get a shot complete with teeth. While I'm excited to the milestone, I'm surprised how sad I am that his smile will be forever altered.

Waaah

I've been trying to get pictures of his new smile, complete with four teeth on top, but someone is failing to cooperate.

Another daycare

I scoped out another possible daycare today. The lady was nice although the woman that scheduled my tour clearly didn't write it down. That has happened at two of the three I've looked at. It was nice although I wasn't crazy that starting at 2 years, there is 10-1 ratio of students to teachers. That seems pretty high for younger kids. There are positives in that starting age 2, they start working on potty training, which would be cool. I liked that they turn the lights down for naps and it has a huge playground, two actually, one for infants and one for kids 2 and older. Actually, three playgrounds, one for the babies, one for 2 year olds and one for 3-5 year olds. They don't have any openings until next December so I might put my name on the list so I have options next year. So far, everything has really be just fine, but I haven't found anything I'm just in love with. Yet. Hopefully.

Look, Ma, I can feed myself

He's experimenting with feeding himself, to somewhat mixed results (although the one result that is certain is the mess that comes with it). Here he's using the cool spoon-type thing my mom got him.

Top 5 Tips

Someone asked me my top five tips for new mothers. I'm no expert except in my own personal experience (and then sometimes not since my memory is ALREADY a little fuzzy), but here goes.

5. Find other new mothers. If you've been working up until Junior was born, chances are you don't have a lot of friends who are stay at home moms. Find a group. It will help with your mental health. A lot of hospitals and pediatrician's offices have groups for new moms or breastfeeding support. Join Gymboree or find a walking group. Whatever. Taking care of a baby is overwhelming - period so finding others in your same shoes helps you realize you're not a failure and your kid is progressing nicely.
4. Get out of the house every day. The first couple of weeks, baby naps well and so can you. But at about a month, they don't usually take a long nap so do what you can to get out of the house. You'll feel better talking to adults and baby will sleep better getting some outside exposure. If it's cold or hot, you can always hit the mall for a stroll. Some big department stores even have mother's rooms where you can meet other new moms.
3. If your mother wants to visit, let her. Even if you have the best relationship with your mother, you're probably worried about letting her come visit for two weeks. Let her. You'll be exhausted and scared about what the heck to do and it's nice to get a refreshed person you trust in the house. It will also bring you closer to your mother and give you a new appreciation of her.
2. Tag team sleeping. I now understand why sleep deprivation is a form of torture. Try to alternate sleeping with your husband so you can each try to get 5-6 hours solid sleep. If you're breast feeding, pump a bottle to let daddy get a shot at feeding. This will also stave off babies who refuse to take a bottle.
1. Borrow, borrow, borrow. If people offer stuff to borrow, say yes. Alot of the infant stuff -- baby carriers, car seat bases, infant clothes -- are only good for a few months so borrow what you can. Save your money for stuff you do need long-term like a high chair or a convertible car seat.