Category: motherhood

liam at three months

He:

>Is all recovered from his bout with RSV and just finished his antibiotic for the subsequent ear infection (with minimal side effects!)

>Has started cooing instead of grunting. That and his smiles are just the best ever. Makes it all worth it.

>Can wear 6-month sized clothes. Big boy!

>Looks so much different than Meredith, in my opinion.

>Is a champion hair-grabber.

>Has a couple balding spots on the sides of his head, but hasn’t lost any off the top.

>Sleeps through the night, in bed with me.

>May not get a lot of one-on-one attention, but he is showered with toddler affection and entertainment. :)

>Is still a generally calm, happy baby. <3

I:

>Am in a groove with work and home. All of my plans and routines are working so far.

>Miss audiobooks – my reading has gone way down – but I’d take the short commute any day.

>Am finishing up week 4 of Couch to 5k and it’s going really well. I’m also doing yoga on some of the off days. I’m enjoying exercising and when the new gym opens at work (June or July – free to employees) I want to step it up a notch. Now I really need to get my diet under control!

>Cry every single time I read a birth story or see a birth video. When I walk by the labor and delivery unit at work my stomach clenches up. I want to have another baby one day so badly, but I don’t know yet if it will be possible for us.

>Am pumping in two sessions almost the exact amount that Liam drinks during the day. The body is amazing.

>Think this post expresses so much of how I feel about daycare and being a working mom.

>Can’t stop looking at quilt inspiration on Pinterest. I’m even considering joining the Houston Modern Quilt Guild even though I’m such a newbie. Lately all I want to do is play with my sewing machine. If only I had the time!

>Look forward to being off work tomorrow for Good Friday. I think we are going to go to the zoo. :)

>Cherish my morning snuggles with Liam. I get out of bed before 6 and take him to the couch with a cup of coffee and my Bible study. He nurses or sleeps in my lap. It’s the only time of day we have for just us.

For reference:

0 months
1 month
2 months

Meredith at 3 months

April 17, 2014
meredith lately

Me: What’s your full name?
Meredith: Merma Susannah Forbes!
Me: Good! Do you want to know mommy’s full name?
Meredith: Mommy Susannah Forbes!
Me: Oh yeah? What about daddy’s?
Meredith: Daddy Susannah Forbes!

After her second Gogurt of the night…
Meredith: I want anudder one!
David: okay, but will you share it with daddy?
Meredith: yeah
David gives her the yogurt and she eats most of it…
David: can I have some now?
Meredith: no!
David: hey, you said you would share with me.
Meredith: well I not nice.

Going through the drive-through for fast food at a time of desperation…
Me: I’ll have a kids’ meal with a cheeseburger –
Meredith: I wanna cheeseburger!
Me: – and an apple juice –
Meredith: I wanna apple juice too!
Drive-through attendant: Will that be all?
Me: I’ll also have a medium iced mocha.
Meredith: I no wanna iced mocha.
Me: oh you don’t? Well that can be for mommy then.

At the doctor’s office after I put on the lovely paper gown…
Meredith: Whoa mommy, you be so cute!

In the shower…
Meredith: Wook miss mommy, you got a butt!
Me: Yup, I do.
Meredith: (laughing) I has a butt too! Evvybody has a butt!

Meredith: When I get bigger I drive.
Me: Yup!
Meredith: I get bigger I have kids.
Me: Ok, good!
Meredith: And I eat cookies and more food.
Me: Oh, and what else will you do when you get bigger?
Meredith: I don’t know…eat cake. And cereal. And Cheerios. And pickles. And cupcakes.

On our way home from school…
Me: Did you do anything fun today?
Meredith: No! I no wanna talk!
Me: Okay, fine. Baby Liam, what did you do today? Did you eat? You did? And poop? And have your diaper changed? Wow.
Meredith: No, I no have my diaper changed!
Me: I’m not talking to you, I’m talking to baby Liam because you don’t want to talk.
Meredith: I baby Wiam!
Me: Oh really? Because I thought your name was Meredith.
Meredith: No, my name Wiam! And I no poop!

Some of our favorite mispronunciations…
Strawberry is strawbeedas
Sandwich is finjer (was pretty proud when I figured out what she meant by that)
“I don’t know” is oh no
Diaper is bider
Blue is billow
Backpack is packpack
Her cousin Lucas is Reekoo
Chick-fil-a is Chick-er-a
Scary is scaredy
And my favorite, when singing ABC’s “W” is ducklebucks (I am doing everything I can to perpetuate this one. When she started singing it correctly I nipped that in the bud. Now she says, “when I get bigger I say dubyoo.” Sure kid. But for now let’s keep saying ducklebucks, k? See the following video for cuteness proof.)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2l2XoAY3Nks&feature=em-upload_owner

And expressions…
When we eat everything off a plate (or bowl or cup or wrapper) it’s a “happy plate” (or bowl or cup or trash)
“I wanna hold you” when she wants me to pick her up (I hear this phrase a hundred times a day)
“I’m talkin-a you!” while grabbing my face
“Imma be so shy” before we get somewhere or see new people

Lately…
>She is WAY into nursery rhymes and songs. We sing them all day, every day, and these weird YouTube videos will entertain her for longer than anything else.

>When we watch anything else on TV she requests Barbie. We came upon it on Netflix by chance and now she doesn’t want anything else, no matter how much I try to get her to watch Jessie again, or SuperWhy. Barbie is surprisingly funny, but there are only four episodes on Netflix, so it’s killing me a little bit.

>She has tons of little random toys, which I’m sure is common. At first they bothered me, but then I realized I can just dump them all in her many purses and going through the purse can keep her occupied for quite awhile.

>Asks me to hold her “wike a big baby” aka with both arms, head in one arm, legs slung over the other. It’s cute for a few seconds and then I’m tired and my arms are incapacitated.

>She has Opinions about what she wants to wear (as evidenced by the three photos at the top of this post). Getting dressed is a struggle as she would prefer to wear only a diaper at all times and doesn’t want anything to do with the clothes that I think are cute. She also won’t let me touch her hair even though I’m dying to play with it.

>When she gives attention to Liam she usually starts by rubbing his ear. She also likes to hold his hands and kiss him. She gets way jealous when I hold him or nurse him, though.

>Every day when we pick her up from school she runs up to us with a huge smile and says, “Mommy I be good!!” (She went through a phase where she was biting at school so we would give her a pep talk in the mornings and now she loves to brag on herself.)

>Her favorite color is purple, but she also likes pink and blue. She loves reading books, blocks, riding on shoulders, going places, being carried, legos, bugs (in theory; she is scared of real bugs), Spiderman, listing all of her friends and family by name, jumping on couches, and trying to keep up with her older cousins.

That’s Meredith summed up at the moment, but she is also so much more than that. She’s not even really a toddler anymore but a little girl. My heart. Gosh I love her.

April 16, 2014
around here // momming up

As a mother I have moments like everyone where I feel completely underwater, where I can’t keep up, can’t manage all that I have to do, make a wrong decision, lose my cool, etc. But then there are days where I totally rise to the demands of my family, my household, and myself. When I know that things are just going to be crazy for awhile I tell myself to “mom up.” Things have to be done and there isn’t any use dwelling on it, so I do what I need to do.

Recovering from Liam’s hospital visit was one of those crazy times. Our routine was totally off. Meredith was needy and cranky after two days hardly seeing me. Liam needed breathing treatments, antibiotics (how annoying is it to give babies medicine, by the way?), to nurse and be held and changed. Our dog continues to have nightly panic attacks and needs twice daily medication as well as behavioral attention. I had to coordinate doctor’s visits and daycare and work.

One day at bedtime I took a minute to reflect on all that I accomplished that day and I was proud. I had done my daily Bible study. I packed lunches for David and myself. I had given all medications and breathing treatments. I had gotten Meredith to daycare and Liam to my mom’s house and made it to work on time. I treated my patients with no problems and so far have a 100% success rate with IV starts at my new job. I blogged. I did yoga. I cooked dinner (with Meredith’s “help”) and we all sat down and ate as a family. David and I cleaned the kitchen and gave the kids baths. Exhausted, I went to bed with my two littles around 9 p.m.

The thing about “momming up” is that there usually isn’t a break after you get through whatever crazy thing it is. Life keeps happening and no one is going to give you a raise or a promotion. Right after that super productive day I described, I had a sleepless night because of coughing and a panicking dog. I got barfed on by the baby at 2:30 a.m. and then had to clean up what seemed like a gallon’s worth of dog puke before going to work. That evening both kids cried nearly constantly until they were asleep. I almost cried myself a couple times during all that, but I was able to get it together and do one thing at a time until everything got done. I made it. And I’m going to keep making it.

p.s. I’m writing this from my perspective but I’m sure dads go through something similar, and I know it would be extremely difficult for me to do all that I do without the loving support of my husband!

April 11, 2014
to the hospital and back

Hey, so what started out at the beginning of this week as what I thought was a mild cold or allergies in Liam turned into a full-blown case of RSV & bronchiolitis that required him to be hospitalized for two days.

So this is where I have to admit to a mom fail. On Monday he was already getting sick and had a wet cough, but I sent him to daycare anyway because he didn’t have a fever. Tuesday I realized it was more serious than allergies so I kept him home. By the end of that day his breathing was very labored and wheezy and I diagnosed him myself with bronchiolitis. I knew there wasn’t any treatment for it specifically because it’s a virus, and he still wasn’t having much of a fever and was having wet diapers. So on Wednesday, even though he had cried literally all night long, I dropped him off with my mother-in-law (who generously volunteered to stay home with him) and I went to work.

After a couple of hours she told me that she just had to call the doctor. When she was speaking to the nurse on the phone she heard Liam breathe and told my MIL to take him to Texas Children’s emergency center immediately. He ended up getting on high flow oxygen, being suctioned many times, had breathing treatments to open his airways, and had fluids over the course of the two days we were there.

I had been hoping to ride out the illness at home, and in my defense, Meredith had the same thing when she was about three months old. In her case I did take her to the doctor, her breathing (to my memory) was very similar to Liam’s, and the doctor said to just keep her comfortable at home and watch for signs of dehydration. So that’s what I was doing with him, and I wasn’t too worried. I guess sometimes being a nurse makes me overconfident.

Being in the hospital wasn’t that bad. Liam hated the suctioning but barely cried when they started his IV’s. His first one went bad after a day and turned his whole hand and arm purple and puffy. I was a little nervous about that, but the next morning it was back to normal. Since he wasn’t able to tolerated feeding very well for awhile, he sucked away on his manly pink hand-me-down pacifier, which he normally spits out right away. He slept a lot and I was able to finish a book and start another one. I also slept better at night than I had for weeks at home because of our crazy dog, but I still can’t say that I’m feeling extremely rested.

We were released a little while ago because he met all his milestones, and it is nice to be home again. He isn’t totally well, but he is over the hump of the illness. I’m looking forward to hanging out with Meredith again (thanks to my parents for keeping her the past two nights) and getting back to normal. I’m grateful for a good job with an understanding director who isn’t upset that I had to call in during my second week there.

A lot of stressful stuff has been happening to our family lately, some I’ve shared here and some I haven’t. At the same time I’ve been consistently doing this Bible study on the fruits of the spirit, and what I’ve been reading about lately is peace and patience. I am seeing all over again that if I take the time to prioritize my relationship with God, he will speak to me. He always takes care of me, but there is a difference that I can feel when I am actively seeking him. Because even though there are several areas of my life right now that are a struggle, I still feel content and optimistic and hopeful.

So! Here is to a restful, healthy, uneventful weekend and a return to normalcy!

April 4, 2014
back to work observations

>First of all, this is good. Aside from orientation being super boring for me since it’s just a review and involves a lot of sitting, I really like the new hospital and I LOVE the commute, which is about 15-20 minutes in the morning and half that in the afternoon. This is literally life-changing.

>Liam has been a champ at daycare. He sleeps, he chugs his bottles (about 16 oz a day so far), he takes a pacifier if needed, he only fusses when he wakes up, and they haven’t had any trouble with his cloth diapers.

>Pumping. Ugh. Apart from leaving my baby, it’s the worst part of being a working mom for me. I totally forgot all the ins and outs of it and my first day back I was a bit unprepared. But now I’m bringing all the things I need, and as a bonus there is a really nice lactation room to use.

>I need to bring snacks. A nursing mama is a hungry mama.

>Right now getting all the stuff ready to go in the mornings is the most stressful part of my day. I know I’ll get my routines down and it will get better though. I need to do as much as I can in the evenings.

>Also waking Meredith up in the morning now is like waking up a teenager. She moans and groans and eventually I just start undressing her in the bed.

>I’m adding three routines to my days that I was never really able to do before: daily Bible study (mornings before anyone else is up), exercise (first thing when I get home from work – although I’m soooo tempted to just go pick up the kids at this time, but this is something I need to do for me), and cooking dinner (as soon as I’m done exercising, and David will help with the kids). It is all totally doable, so now it’s up to me to have the discipline to follow through.

>The sad part is that after only two days I already feel a lot less connected to Liam. When I dropped him off today it was a lot harder than the first two days because I really miss him. The evenings so far are hectic with getting dinner on the table, entertaining a toddler, and trying to get to bed on time, so there isn’t time for me to just enjoy him. I hope the weekends fill my cup of baby time.

March 26, 2014