last night, while we were nursing, aubrey bit me for the first time. yowzah! it hurt! my reaction (gasping and immediately removing my breast from the clenches of her mighty baby jaws) shocked aubrey, who immediately burst into tears. and then i felt bad.
but then she did it again. same reaction from mummy, same response from boopers.
after some comforting (involving a trip downstairs to say goodnight to daddy and cabot one more time) we were able to give it another go, and finally we had nursing (and thereafter sleeping) success. but i have to say that i was a bit hesitant to offer her the bitten breast. ouch!
brought the electric pump home yesterday and set the alarm to wake me up at 1:30 am to pump. it sucks (hah! punny!) but i am hellbent and determined NOT to give aubrey formula.
speaking of which, i stopped at one of my local food cooperatives and bought a 13 oz. can of organic formula (juuuuust in case...) for guess how much?! $21.95!!!!! crikeys! i'll get up TWICE in the night if that's what it will take to keep aubrey exclusively breastfed....
Tuesday, January 29, 2008
Monday, January 28, 2008
tooth!
busy weekend! a brief update:
pete is back, hooray! he got in around 2:30 am sunday. (his flight from Auckand to L.A. was delayed resulting in him missing his connection to Dulles which meant that he instead flew direct to Boston and then had to rent a car to pick up our car in Manchester, NH...ack!) he is dog tired but glad to be home and we are so very happy to see him!
pete is back, hooray! he got in around 2:30 am sunday. (his flight from Auckand to L.A. was delayed resulting in him missing his connection to Dulles which meant that he instead flew direct to Boston and then had to rent a car to pick up our car in Manchester, NH...ack!) he is dog tired but glad to be home and we are so very happy to see him!
aubrey has finally cut her first tooth. actually, i think there are two coming in, but i can only feel one. needless to say, she has been a wee *cranky* this weekend with all of the teething and whatnot.
i have heaps to do at work this week, so not much time for relaxing at home with pete. and aubrey has been CHOWING on solids and breastmilk...she is outpacing my current level of production and i am down to my LAST bag of frozen milk. (gulp.) i am starting to freak out a bit. i'm hoping that this frenzy of eating is simply a combination of (1) a growth spurt and (2) teething and that her appetite will die down soon. my current plan of attack is (aside from taking the fennugreek) to start pumping around 1:00 am, to try and get an extra bottle. otherwise, i'm going to be in the market for some organic baby formula, and if i do have to give aubrey formula i'm sure i am going to cry.
Thursday, January 24, 2008
ooops!
i had a lot of things to remember for this morning. before leaving the house, i ensured that i accomplished all of my extra tasks. new supply of diapers and wipes to bring to L's? check. refill container with baby rice cereal? done. new bag of dog food emptied into bin? done. and in record time!
i dropped aubrey off and headed to work. when i got to my office, i engaged in my usual morning ritual of turning on my computer and desk lamp, and then putting my bottles and breast pump equipment in their respective places. bottles in bag? check. breast pump equipment? nope.
had to drive home before my first pump session and retrieve my forgotten (essential!) pumping gear. grrrrrr.....
i dropped aubrey off and headed to work. when i got to my office, i engaged in my usual morning ritual of turning on my computer and desk lamp, and then putting my bottles and breast pump equipment in their respective places. bottles in bag? check. breast pump equipment? nope.
had to drive home before my first pump session and retrieve my forgotten (essential!) pumping gear. grrrrrr.....
Tuesday, January 22, 2008
must.make.more.milk.
well, the title pretty much sums things up. i'm back on the fennugreek today.
aubrey was up a few times last night, ravenous. AND she was up at 5:00 am this morning. i held her off until about 5:30, then went up to fetch her and bring her down to bed for an early morning feed. she dozed off after she fed on the second breast, but, as soon as i tried to sneak away she woke up and wanted to play. so it was an early morning for all of us!
of course, did i manage to get out the door early? naw. and, when i got out of the shower (a little before 7:00), the construction crew was in my driveway. nothing like being completely buck naked when a crew of big burly dudes shows up at your house. i *hope* they didn't catch a glimpse of me (through one of our many uncurtained windows) before i got a glimpse of them! (note to self: gotta purchase window treatments, stat!)
i feel like my milk production has gone down a bit over the last few weeks, much to the frustration of my growing little gal. plus, boopers is on the verge of getting a tooth...i can feel a little tooth getting ready to poke through on her lower gum. wouldn't it be great if babies just sprouted all of their teeth at once? that way all of the pain and misery would be over and done with!
so, back to work. oh, before i forget...i got an email from pete this morning. (he's having a great time down on the ice...getting heaps of work done, and having fun too.) he was excited to report his first penguin siting: two emperor penguins hanging out near one of the ice runways! i hope the pictures turn out ok!
aubrey was up a few times last night, ravenous. AND she was up at 5:00 am this morning. i held her off until about 5:30, then went up to fetch her and bring her down to bed for an early morning feed. she dozed off after she fed on the second breast, but, as soon as i tried to sneak away she woke up and wanted to play. so it was an early morning for all of us!
of course, did i manage to get out the door early? naw. and, when i got out of the shower (a little before 7:00), the construction crew was in my driveway. nothing like being completely buck naked when a crew of big burly dudes shows up at your house. i *hope* they didn't catch a glimpse of me (through one of our many uncurtained windows) before i got a glimpse of them! (note to self: gotta purchase window treatments, stat!)
i feel like my milk production has gone down a bit over the last few weeks, much to the frustration of my growing little gal. plus, boopers is on the verge of getting a tooth...i can feel a little tooth getting ready to poke through on her lower gum. wouldn't it be great if babies just sprouted all of their teeth at once? that way all of the pain and misery would be over and done with!
so, back to work. oh, before i forget...i got an email from pete this morning. (he's having a great time down on the ice...getting heaps of work done, and having fun too.) he was excited to report his first penguin siting: two emperor penguins hanging out near one of the ice runways! i hope the pictures turn out ok!
Saturday, January 19, 2008
weekend!
it's sunday nite, boopers is finally off to sleep (i think i hope) and i am trying to relax a bit before the ratrace begins anew.
on the whole, we had a nice, quiet weekend. saturday morning boopers didn't wake up until 6:30ish, so i got to sleep in a bit. wheee! we treked down the street to the village store to buy a little breakfast, took cabot for a short stroll, and then packed up and took off for montpelier, to visit a good friend of mine from my law school days. she has an almost two-year-old who is cute as a button. we had a lovely afternoon with them.
sunday boopers was up pretty early. she started squaking around 5:30 and was out and out wailing a little after six. she was very hungry - she practically gave me a hickey as i was carrying her downstairs.
even though she got up early, she fought napping all day. my three attempts to put her down for a nap in the morning were pretty much failures. so by lunchtime i had a serious crankpot on my hands. i waited around until 1:00 for pete to call but no dice, so, time to get in the car and go! we headed to the next town north so i could poke around in the local yarn shop (i founds lots of good things) and go to the grocery store. then we visited one of my favorite high school mentors who i haven't seen in ages. so i got lots of good visiting done this weekend.
tomorrow i am going to attempt to bring aubrey to work with me for the morning. daycare is closed, owing to the fact that it is MLK Jr. day, and L has to bring all three of her kids to the dentist. so...my plan is to bring lots of toys and the boppy with me and have aubrey camp out behind my desk. hopefully she'll be content and maybe - just maybe - i'll be able to bill a few hours. Am i being optimistic? we'll see what tomorrow brings....
and here's another picture of boopers for pete...tubby in the sink at grammies!
on the whole, we had a nice, quiet weekend. saturday morning boopers didn't wake up until 6:30ish, so i got to sleep in a bit. wheee! we treked down the street to the village store to buy a little breakfast, took cabot for a short stroll, and then packed up and took off for montpelier, to visit a good friend of mine from my law school days. she has an almost two-year-old who is cute as a button. we had a lovely afternoon with them.
sunday boopers was up pretty early. she started squaking around 5:30 and was out and out wailing a little after six. she was very hungry - she practically gave me a hickey as i was carrying her downstairs.
even though she got up early, she fought napping all day. my three attempts to put her down for a nap in the morning were pretty much failures. so by lunchtime i had a serious crankpot on my hands. i waited around until 1:00 for pete to call but no dice, so, time to get in the car and go! we headed to the next town north so i could poke around in the local yarn shop (i founds lots of good things) and go to the grocery store. then we visited one of my favorite high school mentors who i haven't seen in ages. so i got lots of good visiting done this weekend.
tomorrow i am going to attempt to bring aubrey to work with me for the morning. daycare is closed, owing to the fact that it is MLK Jr. day, and L has to bring all three of her kids to the dentist. so...my plan is to bring lots of toys and the boppy with me and have aubrey camp out behind my desk. hopefully she'll be content and maybe - just maybe - i'll be able to bill a few hours. Am i being optimistic? we'll see what tomorrow brings....
and here's another picture of boopers for pete...tubby in the sink at grammies!
Thursday, January 17, 2008
sippy cups
just yesterday i received our long-awaited order of BPA-free sippy cups from Born Free (we ordered them almost a month ago...). i have tried to give aubrey water out of her bottles and she takes one sip and gives me this look like i've sprouted a second head. so i figured that maybe trying to introduce water in a sippy cup would be a good strategy.
well, boopers isn't warming up to the sippy cup. or drinking water, other than a spoonful here and there. maybe i just need to give it to her at a time of day when she's not completely overtired and cranky. i wonder why she's so nonplussed about water....
well, boopers isn't warming up to the sippy cup. or drinking water, other than a spoonful here and there. maybe i just need to give it to her at a time of day when she's not completely overtired and cranky. i wonder why she's so nonplussed about water....
Tuesday, January 15, 2008
may i never be a single mom
dang, it sure is tough not having pete around! the past few days have been completely hairbrained.
yesterday morning aubrey was up before six. ack! and cabot had puked on the floor during the night. double ack! and then aubrey had a runny poop explosion. sweet. and to boot i felt terrible...achy, sour stomach, the runs, just plain ole yuck. but, i pulled it together and managed to get aubrey off to her alternate daycare arrangements (i.e., my very dear friend L who lives five minutes up the road) and arrive at work at a respectable time.
by the time i left work to pick aubrey up, i really felt awful, like i had been run over by a steamroller. i picked up aubrey and came home. after getting through the evening dog/baby feeding, baby bathing and putting to bed, i packed up aubrey's things for the next day and took my temp. 100 degrees. i ate a few crackers, finished up a load of laundry (aubrey went through three outfits today due to runny poop explosions), and put my sorry self to bed early.
thankfully, today i feel much better. which was good, because i had a deposition to attend. i dropped aubrey off and made it half way to the depo when i realized that i had left the bottles i was supposed to pump in on the kitchen table. noooooooo! luckily, my partner had some ziplock bags that i used in lieu of bottles. not a pretty situation, but better than nothing. at least i remembered the PUMP. it would have been a bad, bad situation without it.
unfortunately, all three of L's kids have come down with the same stomach bug that we've had. i feel terrible! sigh. i keep telling myself that this builds character and stamina. but i am so so so glad that i am NOT a single mom. i don't know how they do it.
on a brighter note, boopers is sitting up really well now! check her out:
Sunday, January 13, 2008
back from the cape
aubrey and i are back in vt after a nice visit with the grandparents, great grandparents, and the aunties and uncles. we are officially pete-less at the moment, but are managing ok.
as per my last posting, boopers was pretty sick thursday evening. she threw up about five times and was totally out of it when i got home. but luckily, she managed to nurse and keep down some breast milk that night. and she slept like a log...no night wakings, which was great. (i had visions of cleaning up pukey crib bedding and pajamas at 3 am....)
boopers seemed to be on the mend friday morning, so i decided to leave for my parents a little earlier than originally planned. aubrey slept the ENTIRE ride down...almost 3 1/2 hours! she was obviously exhausted. she seemed pretty whipped for the entire weekend, but in good spirits. we had fun hanging out with grammie, pop, auntie k and uncle b. we also got to visit with great grammie and grampie, aunti "fifi" and uncle brendan. it was nice to see family!
on saturday my sisters and i headed to hyannis to do a little shopping for the afternoon and i found a hotdog costume for boopers on super duper sale for $ 2.00. i couldn't help myself...it was just too good of a deal, so i bought it. boopers just barely fits in it, but ain't she the cutest little wiener????
as per my last posting, boopers was pretty sick thursday evening. she threw up about five times and was totally out of it when i got home. but luckily, she managed to nurse and keep down some breast milk that night. and she slept like a log...no night wakings, which was great. (i had visions of cleaning up pukey crib bedding and pajamas at 3 am....)
boopers seemed to be on the mend friday morning, so i decided to leave for my parents a little earlier than originally planned. aubrey slept the ENTIRE ride down...almost 3 1/2 hours! she was obviously exhausted. she seemed pretty whipped for the entire weekend, but in good spirits. we had fun hanging out with grammie, pop, auntie k and uncle b. we also got to visit with great grammie and grampie, aunti "fifi" and uncle brendan. it was nice to see family!
on saturday my sisters and i headed to hyannis to do a little shopping for the afternoon and i found a hotdog costume for boopers on super duper sale for $ 2.00. i couldn't help myself...it was just too good of a deal, so i bought it. boopers just barely fits in it, but ain't she the cutest little wiener????
she doesn't seem too sold on her new get-up, does she? someday she's really going to hate me for taking pictures of her in a hotdog costume.
pete is in NZ at the moment...he called earlier today and unfortunately he's sick as a dog with a stomach bug. when i talked to him he really hadn't had an opportunity to get out and explore christchurch at all. today he has a training at the antarctic center, so hopefully he'll have the energy to get out and about a bit. tomorrow he flies to mcmurdo station. i hope he feels better soon!
Thursday, January 10, 2008
sick baby
it's later. i just got a call from daycare. boopers isn't feeling well - she threw up three times this afternoon. pete just went and picked her up. daycare's policy is that sick babies can't return to daycare for at least 24 hour following their dismissal. so basically, i will not be going to my CLE tomorrow.
poor boopers...i hope she gets better soon. and i hope i don't catch whatever it is that she's got!
poor boopers...i hope she gets better soon. and i hope i don't catch whatever it is that she's got!
getting ready
so tomorrow pete leaves for antarctica. ikes! reality is beginning to set in...
yesterday i spent most of the day running around in the valley doing errands, and when i was finished i decided to bail on going to the office and "work" from home for the remainder of the afternoon.
work? hah! after checking the mail, taking cabot out, pumping with my beloved symphony handpump, and booting up our ancient laptop, i took a look around out living room. it was filthy. i did some quick mental calculations: it's wednesday, i'll be gone for the weekend, then it's back to work for the week...and when was the last time i vacuumed??? crap. gotta do some cleaning. by the time i was marginally satisfied with the cleanliness of the house, i only had about an hour to get some work done before it was time to pump again and start fixing dinner.
a prelude to hecticness of the next few weeks, i fear.
i've decided to take a spin down to my parent's for the weekend, so that i won't be sad and lonely and missing pete. travelling with baby is no small feat - last night i made aubrey's packing list and was astounded by the amount of "gear" i need to pull together. and i'm trying to think of things that i need to discuss with pete before he leaves in the morning, and things that i want him to show me (i.e., what do i do if the furnace kicks out, where is the breaker box, and happens when i flip that switch) so that i don't have a panic attack in the event of a small disaster.
on an upbeat note, i am super psyched to see my family, and i'm sure i'll have a great time with them this weekend. everyone is, of course, dying to see boopers. i can't wait for her to show them all of her new tricks! like sitting up, which she is getting really good at. and saying "ma-ma-ma," which she did last night. so cute. love that baby.
yesterday i spent most of the day running around in the valley doing errands, and when i was finished i decided to bail on going to the office and "work" from home for the remainder of the afternoon.
work? hah! after checking the mail, taking cabot out, pumping with my beloved symphony handpump, and booting up our ancient laptop, i took a look around out living room. it was filthy. i did some quick mental calculations: it's wednesday, i'll be gone for the weekend, then it's back to work for the week...and when was the last time i vacuumed??? crap. gotta do some cleaning. by the time i was marginally satisfied with the cleanliness of the house, i only had about an hour to get some work done before it was time to pump again and start fixing dinner.
a prelude to hecticness of the next few weeks, i fear.
i've decided to take a spin down to my parent's for the weekend, so that i won't be sad and lonely and missing pete. travelling with baby is no small feat - last night i made aubrey's packing list and was astounded by the amount of "gear" i need to pull together. and i'm trying to think of things that i need to discuss with pete before he leaves in the morning, and things that i want him to show me (i.e., what do i do if the furnace kicks out, where is the breaker box, and happens when i flip that switch) so that i don't have a panic attack in the event of a small disaster.
on an upbeat note, i am super psyched to see my family, and i'm sure i'll have a great time with them this weekend. everyone is, of course, dying to see boopers. i can't wait for her to show them all of her new tricks! like sitting up, which she is getting really good at. and saying "ma-ma-ma," which she did last night. so cute. love that baby.
Tuesday, January 8, 2008
leaving soon
i am slowly becoming cognizant of the fact that pete is leaving THIS FRIDAY for antarctica. yes, that would be the continent on the bottom of the world. his flight schedule goes something like this: friday morning fly from manchester, nh to chicago. then from chicago to los angeles. then he has a 12 + hour flight from L.A. to auckland, NZ. then a short flight from auckland to christchurch, where he spends a day (or two) before he hops a military cargo jet for mcmurdo station. i'm exhausted just writing the description!
he is scheduled to fly back on 22 january (the same flights described above but in reverse), but this is dependent on what the weather is like down there. so i am keeping my fingers crossed that there will be beautiful antarctic summer weather at mcmurdo around that time.
so it will be just me, boopers and cabot while pete is gone. luckily, my good friend who lives about five miles away has agreed to watch aubrey for me during that time so that i don't have to schlep her all the way up to her usual daycare, which is about 45 minutes away (where pete works). pete has gone away on short trips before, so i know i can hack it on my own, but i also know that not having an extra set of hands around is exhausting.
we've been busy finishing little projects around the house over the past few days. pete installed shelving in my closet, hooray! we've been splitting wood for the woodstove, cooking food to freeze, and otherwise cleaning. work is progressing on the kitchen and i am HOPING that this week the countertops will get installed and the dishwasher will be hooked up. ah, dishwasher....
and i'm making a new sweater for aubrey. i'm kind of sort of following a pattern (unusual of me). actually, it's just a formula for knitting a top-down raglan pullover. i'm using leftover bits of purplish yarn from old projects and so far it's super cute. i'll post a picture soon.
he is scheduled to fly back on 22 january (the same flights described above but in reverse), but this is dependent on what the weather is like down there. so i am keeping my fingers crossed that there will be beautiful antarctic summer weather at mcmurdo around that time.
so it will be just me, boopers and cabot while pete is gone. luckily, my good friend who lives about five miles away has agreed to watch aubrey for me during that time so that i don't have to schlep her all the way up to her usual daycare, which is about 45 minutes away (where pete works). pete has gone away on short trips before, so i know i can hack it on my own, but i also know that not having an extra set of hands around is exhausting.
we've been busy finishing little projects around the house over the past few days. pete installed shelving in my closet, hooray! we've been splitting wood for the woodstove, cooking food to freeze, and otherwise cleaning. work is progressing on the kitchen and i am HOPING that this week the countertops will get installed and the dishwasher will be hooked up. ah, dishwasher....
and i'm making a new sweater for aubrey. i'm kind of sort of following a pattern (unusual of me). actually, it's just a formula for knitting a top-down raglan pullover. i'm using leftover bits of purplish yarn from old projects and so far it's super cute. i'll post a picture soon.
Wednesday, January 2, 2008
happy new year!
happy 2008, a little late! i've been so busy i haven't had much time to spend on the blog. quick recap of the holidays:
and here's boopers trying out the new hat i made her for christmas...
we were home - just the three of us - for christmas, and had a lovely day. aubrey enjoyed crinkling wrapping paper and chewing on boxes. we went for a nice family walk and cooked a feast for dinner. a memorable first christmas in our new house!
we had a wonderful time visiting with friends on New Year's eve and day. our friends in town came over with their little boy (who's just a few weeks younger than aubrey) and matt, mary and griffin came up from CT to visit. ate lots of food, played with the kids, stayed up late. good times. on new years day we got about eight inches of new snow...we've been getting HEAPS of the white stuff so far this winter! what a change from last year!
new boopers developments:
she can now sit unassisted for short periods of time! i think she is getting very close to full-fledged sitting! probably by the end of the month. she is still rolling like a champ.
she has learned some new sounds. she frequently practices clicking her tounge against the roof of her mouth and combining "da-da-da-da" with some other consonant/vowel combinations, like: "hi-da, hi-da, hi-da." she is going to be a chatty one, i think.
boopers has sampled quite a selection of solid foods. she likes almost everything, but especially seems to like peas and avocados. other foods she's tried are:
carrots
squash
sweet potatoes
apple sauce
pears
prunes
oatmeal
bananas
the only food she's not fond of is bananas. they are a bit gooey and strange when they're all mushed up. we'll try them again later. she really is at such a great stage right now! i'm trying to savor every day because they are slipping by so quickly.
pete is getting ready to leave for antarctica in a week. ack! i don't think the reality has sunk in yet. i am going to try to make a better effort of posting to this blog so that he can check in and see how we are doing when he is away. so very FAR away...
and now, a few holiday pictures:
here's aubrey meeting her new pal, monkey...
we had a wonderful time visiting with friends on New Year's eve and day. our friends in town came over with their little boy (who's just a few weeks younger than aubrey) and matt, mary and griffin came up from CT to visit. ate lots of food, played with the kids, stayed up late. good times. on new years day we got about eight inches of new snow...we've been getting HEAPS of the white stuff so far this winter! what a change from last year!
new boopers developments:
she can now sit unassisted for short periods of time! i think she is getting very close to full-fledged sitting! probably by the end of the month. she is still rolling like a champ.
she has learned some new sounds. she frequently practices clicking her tounge against the roof of her mouth and combining "da-da-da-da" with some other consonant/vowel combinations, like: "hi-da, hi-da, hi-da." she is going to be a chatty one, i think.
boopers has sampled quite a selection of solid foods. she likes almost everything, but especially seems to like peas and avocados. other foods she's tried are:
carrots
squash
sweet potatoes
apple sauce
pears
prunes
oatmeal
bananas
the only food she's not fond of is bananas. they are a bit gooey and strange when they're all mushed up. we'll try them again later. she really is at such a great stage right now! i'm trying to savor every day because they are slipping by so quickly.
pete is getting ready to leave for antarctica in a week. ack! i don't think the reality has sunk in yet. i am going to try to make a better effort of posting to this blog so that he can check in and see how we are doing when he is away. so very FAR away...
and now, a few holiday pictures:
here's aubrey meeting her new pal, monkey...
and here's boopers trying out the new hat i made her for christmas...
and here she is hanging out in the gymini.
i've been fiddling around a LOT with this blog...changing the name, format etc. not sure i'm happy with the current title, but for now it will do. and i'm still trying to figure out the html thing...once i'm a little more savvy i'll probably get more creative with layout. in my spare time....
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)