Ben's First Father's Day

June also means that Ben got to celebrate his first father's day. I had to work the previous day, so I got home that morning.

I left the day to Ben to decide what he wanted to do. And what did he opt to spend his special day? He wanted to go to the movies alone.

To be honest, I was a little shocked, a day meant to celebrate being a father and he wanted to be alone (at least a few hours alone). To go see the new Fast and Furious.

But it's what he wanted, so I agreed (I was going to say, I let him do it... but I didn't let him do anything.)

But I did ask him to bring me back a movie popcorn, I haven't had one of those in forever!

So off he went for the early matinee. Then on his way home he stopped at the grocery store, picked up some steaks for dinner and then watched the NASCAR race and kept Little man entertained while I took a nap (again remember I worked the previous day).

It actually turned out to be quite the nice day, although we were caught up in the Little man, I never got a chance to actually call MY dad and wish him a happy Father's Day. I feel like a total piece of crap :-(

Oh and what did Brenden get him for Father's day? Well we decided back in May, that we would do a joint gift (Mother's and Father's day) and we bought a patio set for our deck. So excited about getting to use that hopefully this summer!

But now I really want to go to the movies alone... or maybe a movie date.

So over another month goes by...

Man, if I had any readership left, I am sure they've left me by now! I can't believe I've been so horrible about updating my blog!

We are solidly in June now, the start of summer! Little man turns 9 months on Friday! We are also leaving for North Carolina that night. We are heading down to visit Uncle Nick and Aunt Lindsay for a week. This will be little man's longest journey (car ride), to say I am a little nervous would be an understatement. Little man doesn't do car rides well, certainly not long car rides. We are hopefully leaving in the early evening. We are hoping that if we can trade off driving and sleeping, that little man will sleep thru the night like he usually does, and we can get a fair amount of miles in. Hopefully we'll be in North Carolina either mid afternoon or early evening Saturday. But we also know that anything can happen, and that he sets our schedule.

June is also my birth month. I'll be 31... wow... that's crazy. So much of my life has changed in the last 10 years. I wouldn't change anything. I love my life.

We also set the date for our housewarming party. We bought the house in March, we figured that July would be good for a party ;-) hopefully the weather is good so we can BBQ and entertain outside!

And also coming up is Little Man's first birthday. Ben and I have been talking about some themes and what we want to do for his birthday.

Setting the date for the housewarming will hopefully light the fire under our butts to get some more stuff squared away and some more unpacking done. I'd really like to try and see if we can get the pool opened up and see if it's usable. I really hope it does, I think it'll be great to have.

We have a lot of my extended family we'll be seeing this summer. And at the end of the summer, we'll be returning to Bar Harbor (better known as Bah Habah, to the locals) to visit with Ben's extended family. We haven't been the Bar Harbor in 2 years (between wedding and baby) so I am super excited about going back there!

So with the last post I reported that Little man had his first ear infection (and a double one at that!) Well he got the all clear from the doc that the infection had passed and was good for about a week before the next ear infection came on. We are just about done with the antibiotic and the doc today said the ears look good. But it looks like if this continues, little man is going to be getting some tubes. bummer... I never really had issues with ear infections, but Ben did as well as my brother. And I guess there is a heredity factor. Sigh, Little man is still a trooper and just rolls with the punches. He really is a great baby and I am so lucky he's been good. He still has his fussy moments, but all in all, I am super blessed.

On the weight front, I'm stagnate. I haven't done anything. I am 5 pounds above my pre-preggo weight. Not really using it as an excuse, but with the pumping schedule I am keeping, I just can't find the time to get to the gym. I am hoping that after I am done pumping I can utilize that time that I spent pumping, to get to the gym (and still manage to get a solid amount of sleep/rest). I am by no means slacking off, I still stay quite active with Little man and we do get out for the occasional walk, but I know that I can be doing more.

So that's about it, I hope to be updating more frequently! 

Another milestone

And one that I am not excited about. Little man was diagnosed with his first ear infection. Not to be outdone, he made it a double ear infection. He made it over 7 months and in fact he's still taking it in stride.

I am glad that Ben and I listened to our parenting instincts and took him to the doctor today. I figured the worst they could say was that we were first time parents and we overreacted. But as it turns out, we were right.

We caught it early, so the doctor seems to think that it'll clear up easily, but would like to see him back in two weeks, just to make sure it did clear out. He still wants to play and he's still being a great baby.

National Public Saftey Telecommunications Week

Today is the last day of National Public Safety Telecommunications week. I had originally wanted to post about this on Monday...

Marathon Monday.

But something caught me off guard, being that I work as an emergency dispatcher, I follow many feeds online for Police/Fire/EMS and when I saw a post come through about a bombing at the finish line of the Boston Marathon, I thought, no way... that can't be true!

The last time I felt that way, was September 11th.

And just like then, this too would turn out to be no joke.

Thursday and Friday I was attending classes at the NH Fire Academy. As I was getting ready Friday morning, I had the news on to hear about the shootout and the officials placing Watertown, MA and surrounding communities on lock down. Driving up to the Fire Academy, there were signs on the highway, saying to avoid Boston area, check media.

All through the class, I kept my phone on and checked periodically at breaks for updates, hoping that they would find the suspect and this chapter would be over. But they wouldn't find the suspect until Friday evening, Ben and I were glued to the news broadcast. I was hoping that no other lives would be lost to this tragedy.

Well the subject has been apprehended, and I think Boston and most of New England breathed a sigh of relief. I had several friends in the lockdown area (as well as several who participated in the Boston Marathon) and I was so thankful that none of my friends were impacted (at least physically).

On top of all this, a fertilizer plant in West, Texas caught fire and exploded, decimating neighborhoods, and killing several people, mostly first responders.

A week were we are supposed to acknowledge dispatchers/call takers/telecommunicators for all the hard work they do, is marred by several tragedies.

I don't do this job for the recognition, I do this job, because I wanted to help people. This profession is not for all, it takes someone with the right mix.

I am thankful for the first responders who worked quickly to identify and apprehend the suspects. I can only imagine how stressful and tense those situations must have been. I mourn for the loss of the innocents, and the MIT police officer. May they rest in peace knowing that the first responders worked diligently to get the job done.

We are Boston Strong.

I would also like to take a moment to say thank you to my dispatcher friends for the jobs that you do. It's not easy work, you don't get paid nearly enough for the amount of stuff (crap) you have to deal with, but you do make a difference, and know that no matter what, you are the calm voice in the dark.

6 month update

I've been such a neglectful blogger. But with all the changes in my life, mostly baby and house, something had to give, and it seems like this blog was it. I am hoping that I can started updating on a more regular basis, than say once in 5 months!

Brenden is doing super, at his 6 month well baby check-up, he weighed in at 18 pounds 5 ounces (he was 8 pounds 12 ounces at birth). And continues to meet all of his milestones.

It's amazing to see how much changes in such a little amount of time. First it was this:

And now it's this:

I love chubby baby legs!

He's really developing his own personality and it's funny to be with him. I love that I have a job that enables me to spend most of my time with him - oh but how I miss him when I do have to work.

Brenden started solids about a month ago, he seems to really be enjoying trying new foods. Pretty much the only things he really is fussy about is food and napping. I guess he really is my kid then!

On Monday, I discovered that he is cutting his first tooth! Poor little man, he was in so much pain with it. It's hard to hear that painful cry of your baby. 

My little guy has a sensitive side, he sympathetic cries. Which I discovered while we were attending a mommy group, and there were other little babies there that were fussy, he was playing with his toys, heard the other babies crying and immediately started crying too. It was hilarious, I couldn't stop laughing. He also cried, when I injured myself, and I was crying/yelling out in pain.... again it made me laugh.

Brenden has been sleeping thru the night since about 2.5 months... (knocking on every wood source I can find!) with only a few nights since that he wakes up. Mostly it's due to an environment change, like when we moved into the new house, or some other big change (cutting teeth).

He is really a great baby.

At his 6 month well baby check, the doctor asked me how long I planned to continue pumping, she was thrilled that I made it 6 months. I said that I have good days and bad (when it comes to pumping) but that ideally my goal is to pump for a year and have enough frozen to get him through cold/flu season next year. But that I make mini-goals of 3 months at a time.

Although exclusively pumping is working for us, it's not for everyone, it's a lot of hard work and dedication. I wouldn't be able to do as much as I've done if it wasn't for my husband's love and support. He's been amazing through all of this. But I know it was important for both of us, that our baby have breast milk.

I had a full supply of milk come in, so much that we had to go out and buy a deep freezer at Thanksgiving time. Sadly a local mother passed away in December, she had twin boys who were born a week after Brenden and the twins were not doing well on formula. So her family put out a call for donor milk, by some reason, I found out about this and was able to donate milk to the twins. It came at a perfect time, because my freezer was full and I had no clue what I was going to do with all of the milk. I have since donated to the boys one other time, easily totaling over 2000 ounces of milk to them. I am extremely happy that I was able to do this especially given the fact that Brenden never took to nursing.

I've also become a resource for other moms, both in person and online for mom's who are looking for information about exclusively pumping. I am so grateful to the moms who helped me, it's nice to be able to share information and give back to others.

Also, several of my friends are now pregnant. So it looks like Brenden is going to always have some friends to play with (and LOTS of potential girlfriends!)

My life seems perfect right now. I am so content.

Oh I have a blog?

A while back my brother mentioned that I hadn't blogged in quite a while... I didn't even realize till just now it had been since OCTOBER! Seesh... it's overused, but where does the time go?

Oh that's right, I have a 6 month old, and a new house.

You heard that right my bloggy friends, not only did we just have a baby, we decided that buying our first home was a good idea as well! In all honesty, we would have liked to have purchased our house before Brenden was born, but it just wasn't in the cards, we are so thankful that we waited, as the house we did purchase is just perfect for us and our family!

Of course me being the super awesome person (blogger) that I am, I do not have a single picture of my house. (fail!) What is nice is that it's located only 12 minutes from my old apartment - which made moving SO easy.

We moved St. Patrick's Day weekend, and we are still trying to unpack and get settled.

We've found that everything is twice as difficult with a baby. It seems as though once you get into a good groove the baby knows it. I swear, he's out to get us!

Ben and I couldn't be more happier with our house, we are closer to my work, closer to daycare, closer to my friends. It's a win/win for everyone! We've been told that we live in a really nice neighborhood, which after walking around, I would tend to agree! And we've seen many little ones around.

The space! I love how much space we have! Although in a few years I am sure I will be complaining that it's not enough. But we went from a 2 bedroom apartment to a 3 bedroom oversized ranch. It has a beautiful deck off the back of the house, overlooking the river, we have a neat little fire pit and what I envision will be a great evening hang out spot (fire pit with some Adirondack chairs) down by the river.

It's a house that needs a little work, but it's work that we can do while we live there, which is what we wanted.

Hopefully once we get a little bit more settled we'll be able to have some sort of open house where our friends can come and see our new place.

So where have I been?

Well, as I am sure you know if you know me at all (either online or in person) I just had a cute baby 3 weeks ago! And wow... life sure is crazy and hectic trying to adjust to life with a newborn. I knew it was going to be crazy, I just didn't think it would be THIS crazy!

The road has been bumpy, we've run into several issues with getting breast feeding established, and we still continue to do so. We've tried many different tricks and tips to get him to be successful at the breast, but he continues to have trouble. We've met with with lactation consultants, we go to a weekly support group, we've met with the pediatrician, an ear, nose and throat doctor and a chiropractor. I've also sought out my friends/family recommendations as well as reading some online community boards.

We've had to transition to bottles and a pacifier a lot sooner than we anticipated, but Baby L is thriving. He's eating and gaining weight like a champ. Our situation is what is called as exclusively pumping. He's still getting breast milk, I just have to pump it out for him and bottle feed it to him. The situation has it's pluses and minuses, Ben can help with the feedings which no only gives him time with baby L, but also gives me a break from having to do all the feedings. However, the situation means being almost "married" to the pump. Which some women have a hard time wrapping their head around. For me it doesn't seem to be a problem. For me, the bigger problem is that I felt like a huge failure as a mother when I couldn't succeed at breastfeeding. I know now, that I'm doing all I can for my child and he's thriving because of it.

I would say that being successful at pumping means having some good tools at my disposal. My Medela freestyle pump is a necessity. This is a game changer for me, being able to still move around while pumping is huge. And being able to pump anywhere. My concern with this is the hands free device for this, it didn't work for me, it was very cumbersome to attach - especially for me being a large chested woman.

That is where my Pump Ease hands free bra came into play. This bra was much easier to use and accommodates my plus sized boobs perfectly. I actually liked it so much, I ordered another one so that I can have two - JUST in case. Having to pump without it is terrible. I can't say enough good things about this product. It is a MUST for any woman who plans on pumping.

 

I also reached out to the community, I remembered that awhile back Roni had done a post on storing/freezing breast milk and since that is going to be something I need to do, I sought out her post on it so I could develop a system. I LOVE her idea, it's genius, I am honestly surprised that the baby companies haven't come out with something like it.

So things didn't go according to plan... I didn't get the birth I wanted, I didn't get the breast feeding experience I wanted. I've realized that I can only hope things will go according to plan, but I learned to be flexible and adjust.

I saw this on Medela's facebook page this morning, how true! And how I wanted to be part of that 32%.

We are getting out and about and enjoying being a family of 3! This past weekend we met up with some of my college friends and went through a corn maze! It was so much fun and we really had a great time. Baby L slept through the whole thing, and we paid dearly that night when he was up most of the night. Which sparked us to put this shirt on him....

This coming weekend, Baby L is getting baptized. It'll be a great opportunity for some friends and family to meet Baby L. My brother and my sister in law are coming up from North Carolina, as well as some other friends who haven't met him yet.

It's been great having some company. It's nice that our friends love us so much and are so excited for us. But we've also been limiting our company, not knowing what our schedule would be, we didn't want to overwhelm ourselves with a revolving door of company. So we try to space it out, it has worked for the most part. Also it's been partly selfish reasons, Baby L is only so little for so long, and Ben and I want to enjoy him and our time together. Ben also only has a month off from work, I have 3 months. So I wanted Ben to do and enjoy his son while he could, before he had to go back to work. It's scary to think that this is the last week before Ben goes back to work and Baby L and I are on our own (for the most part).

So that is why I haven't been blogging, or even reading blogs - I don't even want to look at my google reader... I've been enjoying my family. And it's been lovely.

And today I start a new weight loss challenge. I want to lose this baby weight and never see 370 on the scale again!

Time to get back in the saddle.