The Secret Life of the Babysitter

I can't find the tablespoon. The bib is in the wrong place. Can't she at least clean up after Harvey's trails? Why are there toys in the middle of the hallway - which I tripped on and nearly caused yet another pain in my behind? How come the crib tent wasn't zipped up? The blinds weren't drawn. I can't risk having sunlight wake up my 8 AM snoozer... Another book cover was wrinkled and destroyed - which I neglected to shelve because it JUST ARRIVED!!

Joe to Laura: "Well maybe we should put the good books away so they don't get hurt"
Laura: "Yes, but he should have access to books. He has to be trained not to hurt books. ALL books should be treated like library books. Books are sacred. The babysitters need to catch him in the act and correct the behavior! Harvey needs to learn...."
Joe: "Honey, I am hungry. Can we talk about this after dinner?"

How come none of this ever happens on my watch? I don't consider myself supermom. But at least I can remember to turn on the sleep music CD. It is bad enough that my microwave smells permanently of artificial butter from that disgusting bagged popcorn they bring through here...





Yes folks, you got it. I am getting a really hard course in letting go. In all of the parenting books they prepare you for the crabby, sick, bored, hungry, stubborn and uncoordinated toddler. I expect him to test my patience. What the books don't tell you, however, is that if you are the kind of person that likes things a certain way (e.g.: always start with vegetables and protein and then save the starches and fruit for dessert otherwise carbohydrate baby will just stuff himself with pasta and have no room for the other good stuff.) then get ready to let it go. What was that book? Don't Sweat the Small Stuff...and it's all small stuff.

Babysitters sometimes leave some cute tracks - like the scrap paper I found the other day with fancy wedding style handwriting: "Suzie and Jonathan; Rachel and Ben; Sarah and Aaron" (names have been changed to protect sitters from embarassment)

There is one cardinal sin that cannot be forgiven:

The nightly use of duct tape is NOT optional!

Last night the sitter neglected to tape up the toddler and when I went in to check on him at midnight,

(to my HORROR)

there was a poop stench in the air and a naked baby sleeping amongst dozens of little poop-lets (and a few big ones too. Sorry, I am not sparing anyone tonight). I quickly performed the necessary sugical proceedures (re-diapering, taping, de-pooping the crib, changing the sheet) and returned HS to his bed. Thankfully he slept through the whole thing. Harvey, please, please, won't you please keep your pants on???

n.b. If you are one of Harvey's beloved sitters, don't worry, we still love you. I just needed to blog this one out of my system.

Crib Tent

Click to Play

Spring Break Kick Off

Tonight was so much fun! Joe and I took Harvey to Barbara and John's house for dinner. Harvey was so funny at the table. At one point I looked over and noticed that he had his hands clasped around the bulb of my wine glass and had the edge of the glass positioned at the ready on his lips everyone at the table witnessed this simultaneously, observing the red liquid easing its way down toward his mouth. Fortunately Joe was able to fetch the glass from him just in the nick of time. Barbara served us chocolate bunnies for dessert in anticipation of Easter. We came home and put the babe to bed (the little WINE-O or should I say WHINE-O) and we have been going at it with the duet books for the last hour or so. I love playing orchestral music that is reduced for four-hands such as Mozart's Overture to the Marriage of Figaro and the Grieg Anitra's Dance from the Peer Gynt Suite. Also a ton of fun are the Brahms Hungarian Dances - such DRAMA-packed music and completely sight-readable. We will definitely have to bring these books to Berryville when we come to visit right before Easter. (!)

So Tired!

He fell asleep in mid-macaroni. It was so cute! His schedule has been a bit off lately. Having parents who stay up late and get up late is starting to get absorbed into his system. It is tempting to go along with this and adopt 9:30AM as our reveille hour. Today we went to our second mom-n-me swim class. It was much better than last week. The pool temperature was higher and so Harvey wasn't shivering and chattering. He was actually slapping his arms and getting into the "Hokey Pokey"! Unfortunately, mom forgot his swim pants and so he had to wear his diaper which blew up like a balloon under water (WOW so THAT's how much fluid it will hold....)

Harvey and Mommy Napping

Harvey and Mommy have been napping now for quite a while. I guess they're resting up for the big day tomorrow--Harvey's Birthday Party!!! He'll be ONE. It's hard to believe. They're both going to wake up hungry and cranky. I better put some lunch together.....J

Totally Tired

It was really pushing it...taking a flash photo of a sleeping baby. Takes a lot of nerve to do that! Harvey took 74 consecutive steps yesterday. Joe and I watched and counted together. It was a very sweet family moment. The other day Harvey helped me take off his onesie! He has a new game that he likes to play - crashing the melodie bells into one another. He gets such a chuckle out of it. The sound of his laughter could melt the hearts of stone.

Dreamy Baby

Our little Angel

Bedtime Blues

The first question everyone asks me is, "How is Harvey?" The second question is, "Is he sleeping through the night?" What puzzles me is that Harvey started sleeping 7, 8, even 9 hours a night (uninterrupted) when we first got the Aquarium Wonders Cradle Swing for him in early November (he was about 5 weeks old). The pediatrician told us that by 3 months he should be out of the swing at night and in a crib and that by 4 months he should only sleep in the crib and that the car seat, and swing should be reserved for when driving or at someone else's home. As a result, we have been valiantly trying to make the transition to crib-only sleeping throughout the month of January, which has only yeilded us 4-5 hours of uninterrupted sleep at best and usually only 3-4 hours at a stretch. Often I have had to get up after only 2-3 hours to re-binky him. Also, now that Harvey is more active, he gets overtired and resists naptime and bedtime like the plague. He will nod off to sleep at 10 PM, but then at 11 PM he's up and wanting to be held, cuddled, entertained, nursed, ANYTHING but the sandman! How can it be that just minutes earlier he was peacefully slumbering and dreaming about toyland and giant binkies (or whatever it is that babies dream about) and the next thing I know, he is squirming, tossing, breathing fitfully and whimpering. Next come the frustrated cries. If I don't intervene, then he launches into a full-blown whaling scream and at this point the record is skipping; the needle caught in the groove of baby nightmare. This cry-whale-scream-calm-down-from-soothing-back-to-crying-again cycle goes on until about 1 AM !! Then he konks out, but is back up for a feeding at 5:30 or so....

There are many schools of thought ranging from "Cry it Out" to soothe, nurse, cuddle and sleep with your baby whenever he whimpers. Tonight, Harvey went for 15 rounds with the sandman. I tried everything:
aggressive binky useage
bedtime story
rocking
singing
Shhhhing
soothing words
letting him cry a bit
picking him up
not picking him up
massaging him with "baby bedtime cream"
walking him around the apartment
nursing,burping and changing him

Everything worked temporarily.

....but the cradle swing with binky and the cheezy synthesized music ultimately won out. Well, tonight, that is. I am learing the difficult truth that once I get used to something that "works", I can be sure that that particular technique will have a limited half-life. After his arms went limp, I finally transferred the little angel to his final resting place, the blessed crib. Sweet Dreams!

Blessed Crib

No more crib quandaries! Today we picked up the crib at the Baby SuperMart thanks to Jeannie lending us her truck to pick up the enormous (and heavy) freight. I was amazed at the dexterity of the chainsmoker who helped us load the box. I don't think the cigarette ever left his mouth. We actually ordered the crib six weeks ago but we were told that the hurricaines and the "holidays" had everything backed up and that the cribs are special ordered from Brazil. Harvey doesn't care about all that. He's just happy to have his own crawl-and-drool quarters. Unfortunately we had to dismantle a 74" long bookcase and store all of the books in the basement in order to make (more) room for baby. As if we even PRETEND to read anything anymore except maybe Brown Bear, Brown Bear, What Do You See? (which happens to be ranked #239 in books today on Amazon). Oh, and by the way, the Steinway is serving as carport for the stroller, bouncer, carseat and toy bag. They warned me about this...

ZZZZ's are Us

Hooray! Harvey slept from 1:30 AM - 9:30 AM. That is an all time record. Unfortunately, we are now dealing with diaper rash and Desitin (diaper rash ointment). Ahh, the neverending joys of parenthood.

Holy Roller

Tonight was a first. Harvey rolled over from his stomach to his back. Jan, his new friend and companion was with him to witness this feat of baby prowess. Not bad for 7 weeks and 5 days. This certainly has been a week of many firsts. On Saturday night he slept through the night for the first time - Hooray!! We didn't hear a single peep from 11:30 PM until 6:30 AM. Last Wednesday, Mommy went to work out for the first time in 8 months and left this little bundle of joy with the babysitters at the gym. She only lasted 30 minutes on the treadmill but it was a start. OnThursday Jan came to take care of Harvey while Mommy went back to teaching. It was the longest she had been away from him since birth - a whopping 4.5 hours! Apparently he was a perfect baby for Jan. No crying or fussing the whole time and took his bottle like a champ. Pictured to the left is the little angel resting in his winged blanket (which by the way was a gift from our friend Shirley who knitted it for him). This upcoming Sunday will mark 8 weeks and Black Friday marks his 2 month birthday.

He's a Changed Man

This is what Joe says about Harvey after they return from their quality father-son time at the changing table AKA "Table of Torture" (see our earlier entryfrom October 3). Last night Harvey proved that he is really growing up. He slept from midnight until 6 AM without one peep! Maybe he is starting to know the difference between night and day. He is also getting quite proficient at getting his thumb and fingers into his mouth. On Monday he visited Dr. King and weighed in at 9 pounds 15 ounces and 23 inches. He is standing quite a bit with assistance and sometimes even walks on my chest. He even went up a diaper size. Actually he still fits into the smaller one, but he needs the extra absorbancy (smile). Tomorrow he will be seven weeks old. Keep it up cowboy!

Crib Quandary

Crib, cradle, bassinet, porta-crib, co-sleeper, pack-n-play... We are trying to figure out which option will work best with our limited space and resources. It is daunting. Everyone has something different to say. "Bassinets only last 3 weeks" , "Cradles were pointless for us", "Cribs are too big for a newborn", "Pack-n-plays are only for temporary situations" and so on. After a mind-numbing experience of checking 300 opinions on the Amazon/Babies-R-Us website, we decided to check with...THE PEDIATRICIAN (how novel!) He said, "A crib is best since it has firm support, but then again, you can always put the baby in a drawer".