momo and the terrible, horrible, no good, very bad week

this has been moses' first week of daycare.  rough.  that about describes it.  the first day, he got a mysterious scratch/bruise on his cheek.  i imagine he fell off of somewhere and nobody wanted to tell us about it.  the reports said he cried and yelled nearly all day, and even had a low-grade fever at the end of the day.  when he got home, he drank 15 ounces of fluids and a huge dinner!  he must not have eaten or drank much through the day, which i learned was quite normal, what with all the crying they do when they're new to that sort of thing.  the second day (his fever was gone by morning, so he went to daycare), he still cried, but had a bit more peace and even laid quietly on the cot a while after naptime.  the third day, he still cried, but had some playtime with legos and it seems each day is getting better.  the naps have remained but an hour long, which is far too short for this tyke!  which means he is overtired and grumpy for the rest of the day and his night-time sleep is now super affected as well.  last night, after day three, he cried for 20 minutes before sleeping (that hasn't happened at home for night sleep for quite some time), and then he woke up after midnight and fussed for about an hour and a half.  i intervened somewhere in the middle of that, but when i put him down, he resumed the whining.  after shane and i couldn't handle it, we decided to bring him into bed with us (because he was sick and totally not letting up on the fussing), and so.... none of us slept a proper night's sleep, but at least the baby wasn't crying.  he woke up with a fever today, and so we kept him home from the nightmare of daycare today.

i know this is going to be good for him in the long run, and we don't even have much of a choice anyway since i have to work, but it is tearing my heart up.  when i've gone to pick him up, he has been sitting quietly at the table with a snack in front of him, looking more pitiful than i've ever seen that little guy.  when he sees me, he just bursts into the biggest, saddest, wailing tears of his life, which i take to mean, 'why have you left me here all day, momma?'

he's had meltdowns at dinner/bath time these past few days as well, which totally spoils the little time we have together.  i was planning on scooting him to bed early tonight as well, to try to catch him up on sleep, but i decided to just enjoy him instead for as long as we liked.  i read him a story, snuggled with him, tickled his little chest, and told him how much of a joy he is and how happy i am with him.  he smiled really big and seemed to really snuggle into me, which is actually a rather rare occurrence, so it was a real treasure.  i also prayed for his body, mind and spirit, and had a good apology and cry time that he wasn't phased by.  i am profoundly sad about how sad he's been this week.  anyway, after about 30 minutes of sweet baby time, i laid him down in his crib, and he has been quiet ever since.  i guess the snuggles were worth more than an early bedtime.  i wonder if he's just been wondering if we still love him after all these days apart.  what a rough time... for everyone involved.  also, being sick stinks.  also, getting up at 6 every day also stinks a little bit as well.

lovelove,
husky

15-month well-baby business

i went to our county health department this week to get immunizations for our 15-month offspring.  last time, when we got his three 12-month shots, we got them at his doctor's office, where we were charged over $600 out of pocket.  we have this insurance "not-insurance" that doesn't cover well-baby visits, but has them count toward our deductible.  it's maddening, actually.  and it's maddening how much less we were charged at the health department.  we got four shots this time, and it was $8 a shot--a total of $32.  $600 versus $32!!  ugh.  our health system is jacked up, folks.

anyway, he was really brave, cried for a little bit, and then quieted down as soon as the pants came back up.  the after-effects have been rather minimal.  so far, i think the 12 month immunizations were the worst, fyi--lots of swelling, lots of fussiness, lots of sleep disruptions.  there was none of that this time, which is great, and leads me to really be a fan of going to our health department overall.

we went to our regularly scheduled well-baby visit and got some stats:
23 lbs, 6 oz weight, 60th percentile-ish
32 1/4 in height, 80th percentile-ish
18 3/4 in head cir, 60th percentile-ish

the percentiles seem slightly less accurate, because i checked them again myself online, and there is a huge range of where Mosey's at.  all in all, healthy anyway.  also, the doctor seemed impressed that moses went to his arms with zero stranger anxiety.  he has been rather fearless this week.  it's like this walking thing has also come with supernatural bravery and a thirst for new people and experiences.

the doctor also mentioned (after i asked him whether moses is normal for not talking much at this age), that moses will be considered normal, even if he doesn't talk up until 20 months.  20 months!  that seems rather old to me.  i hope it doesn't take him that long to communicate with spoken words.

in other news, i got moses some chick-fil-a after his shots (partly for him, and honestly, partly for me--it's hard on a momma's heart to hear your baby cry!  :O)  he liked the chick-fil-a sauce the best and was generally quite tidy.

we also decided on the daycare we'll be taking moses to.  we cried.  we liked the staff.  moses enjoyed circle time and snack time.  it was a good match.  and a big week!

lovelove,
me me me

my baby's bleeding!!!

i was in old navy the other day, and mosey was kind of whiny and unhappy, but i had just thought he was getting hungry and tired of shopping... but when i looked at him, our baby's mouth was full of blood!  he was eating cheerios, and the one he pulled out of his mouth was soaked!  his little hands quickly turned bloody because he was pushing them in and out of his mouth as he fussed and cried.  he also wiped his face and mouth on the padding of his stroller, and then i pulled out a burp cloth from my purse (i had it there because of his runny nose that day), and that got tinted pink as well.  it was a hot mess.  sheesh.  i was trying to soothe him, clean him up, and figure out where all the blood was coming from, but that all was nearly impossible.  also, i was big-time freaking out on the inside.  i asked the old navy employees whether they knew anything about babies and why ours might be bleeding like he was just in a boxing match.  one person suggested maybe he was teething.  thank God that He didn't make babies' mouths gush blood when they were teething.  it's scary.

anyway, so, i did what any mom-of-the-year would do.  i took my items to the check out and paid for them.  i mean, the sale was ending that day, and i wasn't about to come back to get these few things.  ha.

shane (ER nurse) reassured me via telephone that mo was going to be okay, and after 10 sweaty minutes, things did start to calm down.  i never did figure out what caused the bleeding, but it really did resolve on its own.  oh, and i got the blood out of the stroller using palmolive oxy clean dish soap and an old toothbrush of mine.  worked great.

love,
sweaty shopper

the daycare search is on

so, i haven't really gone public with the news yet, but this blog is hardly public, since there are only three readers, so i feel like i can share here: folks, i have a job!  woohoo!!  i'm starting on november 26th, the monday after thanksgiving.  i'm nervous, excited, humbled, grateful, thrilled... lots of things.  with regard to moses, however, i am terribly heartbroken.  i love that little guy and i'm going to miss him so much.  but feelings aside, i have to find someone to watch mosey.  it helps that i know that this is what God has for our family for this season--for shane to be in school, for me to work, and for mose to be in daycare.  and i know that God loves little mo way more than me or shane, and He has something in store for each one of us during this time.

i've visited two places so far.  one is really lovely but a little too far, and one is dreary and in a perfect location.  i will keep looking, but i am realizing that trying to find a cheap daycare that is on my way to work that is cheery and caring is a bit of a challenge.  i'll keep looking and praying, and in the meantime, i'm soaking in all these precious moments with our son.  he has been sick this week, which has made him slightly grouchy and insanely clingy, boo.  but also extra cuddly, yay!  i love that little guy.

lovelove,
smmmmmellly

puzzle

you know those wooden puzzles with the shapes and those blocks you can stack?  well, moses is starting to actually be able to do these things, and it's freaking me out a little.  what?  when did he get old enough to do puzzles?  where did my baby go?

BIG week

sometimes i guess milestones happen in big old clusters?  this past week has been a big one for Moses.  check it out:

• he looked under the table, like put his head to the floor to see under it--i've never seen him do that.  i guess that's not a milestone, but whatever.  it's a first.  
• he fished.  he has this toy that he loves, but never had actually used it for fishing until this week (it was mainly for pointing, chewing, and splashing before).  
• his first word might be "fish"!  just yesterday, i walked in the room and he was furiously pointing at his bag (that has fish on it) saying to himself "ish ish."  he also said dada, and actually uses it when he sees Daddy!  
• he stood up to walk--he's never stood up without assistance before.
• he suddenly switched to walking most of the time now.  i think it happened on Thursday.
• he hasn't been able to take a morning nap for about two weeks now, so we're not trying that anymore...
• he weaned completely!  it's the end of an era!  meh.  but it happened so anti-climatically.  we just dropped that morning feeding, no big deal, and ate breakfast.  and i hardly felt much different, just a little sore and heavy on friday (we stopped on wednesday).  so, that's weird.  it's just over now!
• he signed potty before he pooped, which made it so that we made it to the toilet on time!
• he started crawling into my lap!
• he climbed on the couch!  twice!

wow.  i love that little guy.  i really just can't get enough.

lovelove,

me

anticipation

Moses sometimes fusses when he’s waiting for his food.  I have it all prepared, but I’m just sitting by his side, blowing on it so that it’s not too hot when I put it in front of him to eat.  But Moses, he sees the yummy food, and he’s hungry, and he doesn’t understand that I’m doing something more so that he won’t get hurt when he enjoys the good thing I’ve prepared.  Whenever it happens, it makes me reflect on how often I do the same thing.  I see the good things that I think God should give me, in my own timeline, and I fuss when I have to wait.  I can’t seem to just sit and enjoy my time of anticipation.  

that's all.

love,

helen