Some Random Things

Would all of you do me a favor?

Could you please remove my real first name from your blog links? Many of you link to me with my first name. When referring to me, either on your blog or in my comments, please don't use real names! Please use the "Starfish" name. Also, I won't be using the boy's real name any more either. Since I frequently call him "Monkey" at home, I'll now refer to him as Seamonkey. My husband will be Big Tuna (yes, a nod to my other love, Jim Halpert).

Nothing happened, I just would feel more comfortable if I was a little less obvious.

Did I tell you that The Fish had her baby? When I saw his full name, I realized that it is something you want to say with your teeth clenched, your lower jaw thrust out while wearing plaid pants at a polo match (think Thurston Howell the Third). It was bad enough that she sent an email out to all the executives when he was born. Worse yet when she sent pictures. But the icing on the cake was when she brought him in yesterday, in the rain/snow at only 5 weeks old. This is me rolling my eyes. I would never presume that people want to goo and gah over my new son. He is a big deal to me right now, but to my co-workers, not so much, and I get that. I'm not the only person on the planet who's ever had a baby. And I don't need to shove him down the throats of the Good Old Boys who run this place. Makes you look like a silly woman. Save the squeaky voices for when you're with your own family and friends. So I didn't get to see him (oh well), but I was told he was dragged around "like a sack of flour" while he cried the whole time. Wow, that sounds pretty heartless of me, huh?

Anyway.


Nothing new to report...trying to get through the day so I can spend two whole days gooing and gahing over my boy. Have a great weekend everyone. I leave you with a book meme; I've been tagged by Julie.

1) Find the nearest book
2) Open to page 123
3) Type lines 6-8 of said book
4) Tag three others


That wakes her up most of the way, because it scares her. What is he
Saying? That he wants to break up?
"Scott?" She fumbles on the floor, comes up with her Timex, squints


Stephen K1ng, "L1sey's Story". Play along if you'd like.

Starfish Out.

Babies don't give you brain cells

Why is it that when you become a mother, you suddenly think you are the wisest person who ever lived?

So I'm in Target this weekend, standing shoulder to shoulder with my husband as we stare up at the massive shelving of Pampers. There's apparently a sale. We're trying to figure out exactly which ones are on sale, and where they are located. It would be nice if the little SALE! tags sticking out of the shelves actually matched up with the contents sitting upon them, but we realize this is too much to ask. We are also trying to decide how many, and which size to get, as the boy will surely grow out of size 2's by the time we finish the massive crate of diapers we already have. We stare. We grimace. We blink. We scratch our chins as we contemplate.

What to do.

But LO! We are saved. Along comes Miss I-must-talk-to-complete-strangers-and-impart-my-useless-knowledge-upon-them. She insists on getting in the middle of our debate to tell us exactly what we should do. But first, she must get a good look at the boy and assess. Then she must ask us many important questions, including "How wide are his hips?" HUH? How do you even answer that question?? How wide, as in inches? Was I supposed to measure them? Compare them to other 4 month olds? Is there a chart of hip width somewhere that I don't know about?? And anyway Lady I WASN'T EVEN TALKING TO YOU. So I kind of blink at her and say something like I don't know, they're normal hips I guess...but if you compare his weight to the weight written on the packa--

"THAT MEANS ABSOLUTELY NOTHING".

"Excuse me?", I say with my eyebrows raised; wondering why this total stranger just (1) totally cut me off midsentence (2) in a raised voice (3) while intimating I am an idiot. And then she said something that made me want to punch her lights out.

"Is this your first?"

Translation: This must be your first child because you obviously have no clue what you are talking about or you wouldn't have uttered such a stupid thing. Silly child, I must now be condecending to you and impart all of my wonderous knowledge to you so that you will no longer flounder in the darkness.

Seriously, I wanted to hit her. After all the crap I've had to figure out to even get to the point of standing in the diaper aisle of Target, I THINK I can evenutally figure out which ones to buy. For goodness sakes lady, you only have TWO kids, it's not like you diaper kids for a living. Oh and by the way - the genius said she can tell just by looking at him that he's going to be tall like me. My husband snorted out loud at that one.


But to be fair, I have already found myself thinking that I know better than some other moms out there. Our friend has a 6 month old that won't sleep through the night and is really fat. I mean fat, not chubby...FAT. In my professional opinion, they feed her too often and pick her up if she makes the slightest noise at night. My cousin has twin boys who have bad sleeping habits, and since I am an expert, I know all the things she should be doing. After all, MY boy sleeps through the night!

Difference with me is, I keep my thoughts to myself.

Mostly.

What's the dumbest thing another mom has said to YOU?

Cause I'm a wo-man. W-O-M-A-N. I'll say it again.

Guess where I am.

At work.

Bleah.

I am officially back to work and our new life routine begins now. Coming back wasn't so bad. I think it was time....I mean, no time is good to leave your new baby, but now was as good a time as any. I am the kind of person who tends to procrastinate, so while I was home I was sleeping late, showering late, and doing not much more than playing with the baby and watching tv while he slept. That kind of routine can get depressing real fast for someone like me. Getting back into society and "real life" is good for my mental health. It's okay to feel that way, right?

The boy is in good hands. My husband officially quit is job last week and is now a full time stay at home Dad. He'll be great. I have no doubt he will be properly fed, clothed and entertained. Well, maybe using the word "properly" is giving him too much credit; I'm thinking of somehow coding his clothes so that daddy knows what matches what - ala Garanimals (okay fess up, who remembers those). And watching the military channel followed by a visit to the tackle store is not exactly my idea of entertainment, but whatever. But of course, I want to be with them too. I don't want to miss anything. I want to squish those cheeks and hear that giggle all day. I want to watch him sleep. But alas, someone needs to bring home the Pampers buying bacon so we can start saving for Harvard. There's big expectations for me, I hope I can meet them.

I have a new job. Did I tell you that? Right before I left I got a kinda big promotion to head a department that is in desperate need of revamping. Apparently I'm their woman. So back in November, I thought I would be starting my new position on December 1st. Then we got THE CALL. So everything was put on hold. Now I'm jumping in to my new role. It's exciting and nerve wracking at the same time. There's big expectations for me, I hope I can meet them.

Are you starting to see a theme here?

I still don't sleep well. I thought that at least for the first few months (until I start worrying about chicken pox, missing pet snakes and the like) I would fall blissfully asleep in a heap of contentment. After all, my dream has finally come true. But bad sleep continues. I have really weird dreams. I keep thinking that the cats under the covers are the baby and I'm squishing him. Then the worst.... in those awful moments between sleep and awake - that kind of hazy befuddled state, I have been feeling panic that I can't explain. Is there a problem with the baby? Is he hurt, missing? No. Is it someone else? My husband? My parents? Have I forgotten something important I need to do? No. I wake up not knowing exactly what my problem is. My brows seem to be permanently furrowed. The only thing that makes it go away is to wake up fully and see that life's okay. I guess that's normal. Have you ever experienced anything like that? Tell me I'm not nuts.

Anyway...no one knows I'm really back yet. They all think I'm coming in on Tuesday. I snuck in to clean out my mail box and go through all my emails and voicemails. We get to leave at 3 today in preparation for the long weekend. It is 2:37 right now and I'm counting the minutes until I can be back on that train home...


Editors Note: My last post was meant for my knitting blog - stupid me posted it here instead. But thanks for all your kind comments on my knitting!

Getting back in the groove

Well, I'm back from all the big adventures. Believe it or not, with three weeks waiting around in Colombia, I hardly did any knitting. Who can knit when you have this adorable little thing to play with:

Now that we are back home, I am starting to think about all the little things I want to knit him. We like to dress him in real little boy clothes, not baby stuff. I didn't think I'd be so picky about his clothes, but I am! This has really made me rethink the stuff I knit for gifts. I don't think I'll be doing any more powder blue babyish stuff anymore. Take his hat...it's the first thing I have made for him since he's been home. He has a green and gray hoodie sweater from his aunt, so I made this to match. Ain't it just the cutest? Here's the details:



Pattern: Max's first hat
Source: The yarn girls' guide to kid knits

Yarn: Bernat chunky in gray (less than 1 skein) with a little green and blue

Mods: This is not the right yarn for the pattern, so I cast on 22 stitches with size 10.5 needles (8's for the ribbing), which fits his head perfectly.
Comments: Great, easy, quick pattern. Someday I'll learn to step away from the acrylic and go with natural fibers. This would be even better with a nice cotton/wool blend.


Also, see the cute little fuzzy black cat the boy is holding? That adorable little toy was knit by the amazing Del. We had this wonderful little package waiting for us when we got home. Thank you Del, it is really great. Thank you so much for thinking of us, it is truly appreciated. And the boy thinks it's pretty good tasty too.

Now I am crocheting a new christening blanket. The one I had done previously (and almost finished too) was too lacy and stretched out of shape too much. I have a smaller, more dense pattern in the works.

Thank you to all of my knitting friends who have followed my adoption story. It has been great sharing the experience with all of you! I'm sorry that I haven't been keeping up with your blogs as much as I should have. I promise to get caught up and to start commenting regularly again!

Monthly Update - Four Months Old

Dear Little Monkey:

We have had you home for a little over 2 weeks now. It's hard to believe that you turned 4 months old on New Year's Day. Well, actually I guess it's not, since every time we get you out of your crib in the morning you look like you've gained another pound and grown another inch. You've changed so much in just a short amount of time.

The biggest difference (besides how much bigger you are) is that you seem to have much better control of your hands. When we first met you, you could barely hold something in your hand. Now you can reach for things, grab them, and (of course) stick them in your mouth. You seem to have a fondness for the hair at the back of mommy's neck too, OUCH. We are trying to find you some good toys for you to hold - many are too big and heavy for you now. Right now you play with some plastic chain links and a little bunny blanket toy that you suck on so much it gets soaked! You have a Sesame Street Excersaucer thing, but you only last about 15 minutes in there before you want to come out.

You are a constant source of entertainment, and crack us up on a daily basis. You make the funniest faces, especially when you are trying to concentrate on something. You are still your smiley self and still very talkative. When you are alone you like to amuse yourself by having a conversation with no one. We have a feeling that once you start with real words we won't be able to get you to stop. You do a great job of pulling your self up to a sitting position while holding our hands. You can even pull yourself up to a standing position and seem to like that best. I think this might mean you will be walking sooner than later! We have been placing you on your stomach more often so that you can get stronger and learn to roll over. You do alot of grunting and moving around, but you don't really get anywhere yet. After a few minutes you'll put your head down and suck your thumb to rest a bit, and then pop up again for another round of activity.

You LOVE the bathtub. You kick your legs and arms around so much that the tub gets filled with bubbles. You don't even mind when you splash yourself in the face, which is very often. You don't like getting dressed too much though...especially putting your shirt on. No matter how quick or gentle we are, you just don't like having to put your arms through the holes. Double crankiness if we have to take your thumb out of your mouth to do it.

You nap an average of twice a day...once in the morning and again in the early afternoon. You like to sit in the bouncy chair or bumbo seat and hang out with us while we watch tv or clean. We were thinking of changing your name to Linus because you really love your blankets when you are hanging out in your chair. You don't seem to be attached to any particular one, but you like to have them on you. You try to suck your thumb and hold the edge of the blanket with the remaining fingers. Sometimes you get frustrated when you can't get it positioned exactly how you like it. Your other hand holds the blanket close to your face just like Linus does. We know this will probably cause us grief later on when you can't live without a blanket, but it makes you happy and you look so darn cute, so what can we do?

We've taken you out a few times in the stroller, and you like it just as much as you did in Colombia, although you seemed to be a little taken aback by the cold. You don't mind a bit when we put a blanket over your face to block the wind. You do well in stores, you seem fascinated by all the interesting things to look at. The other day in the bookstore, you were talking so loud that Daddy heard you all the way from the other end. You were cracking us up!

Yesterday we took you for your first pediatrician appointment at Dr. Jetter's office. You were very smiley and active. You loved being half naked on the examining table...your arms and legs were going a mile a minute and you were laughing alot. You had a good check up and only cried for a little bit when you got two immunizations in your little chubby legs. At this visit you weighed 14 pounds 12 ounces and you were 24 and half inches long. She also gave us the green light to start you on solid foods!

We've started giving you rice cereal twice a day and it is quite the funny sight to see. At first you cried, angry that we decided to put some pasty gruel in your mouth. We learned to give you the bottle first to fill you up some. In the beginning you pushed most of it right back out onto your chin and chest, but now you are slowly getting used to the spoon. Now you look like a little baby bird...opening up your little mouth really wide for the next bite. You make quite a mess too. Especially when you decide to put your hand in your mouth in the middle of the feeding. Cereal everywhere.

You still sleep very well. We only feed you four times a day and skip your two night feedings because you sleep through them. We put you down at about 9 at night and you get up anywhere between 7:30 and 8:30 am. You move around quite a bit during the night, sometimes when we go to get you, you are facing the opposite direction of where you started. And most times you've kicked your blanket off too. But almost every morning when we say "Good Morning" to you, you smile really big, which certainly starts our day off right!

We are very much enjoying our time with you these last few weeks. It is very hard to put you down because we love to hug and kiss you all day long. Good thing you don't seem to mind. We can't wait to see what new changes await us in the coming weeks.

We love you very much.