One Handed Feats

Me with Garrett (blonde) and Emeth’s son, Zuri

The following are things (many of them unpleasant or dangerous) that I now know are possible to do with only one hand. The other hand, of course, is busy holding a baby. Feel free to add your own one handed feats in the comments.

P.S. If you don’t own one all ready slings, wraps and backpack style carriers like Ergo’s are heaven-sent. My little guy just wants up and down constantly so sometimes it’s easier just to hold him.

The List

-Wash and chop potatoes.

-Use the bathroom.

-Wipe older child’s bottom while holding younger one at an unnatural angle so as to prevent younger one from pulling older ones hair.

-Wash my hands with soap and water. You’ve got to switch hips and wash them one at a time.

-Put things in and out of the oven.

-Wash, dry, fold and put away laundry.

-Pre-wash and load and empty the dishwasher. I’ve also done this while on the phone AND holding a baby. I don’t recommend. It leaves a kink in your neck.

-vacuum.

-Throw up. Not that throwing up is ever pleasant but to do so while holding a child is even more so.

-Clean the bathroom.

-Eat within 3 bites any meal that I would care to partake of while simultaneously defending my meal from my child.

-Sign receipts or any other nonsense. At least most of the women are thoughtful enough to hold the paper still for you so that the signature is more than garbledygook.

-Lock the front door with keys. For us this is tough because you have to pull the handle while simultaneously turning the key.

-Carry as many as six grocery bags plus three books under your arm up a flight of stairs. Ok, I cheated on this one. Two grocery bags were in my hand that was carrying the baby but I’m still pretty impressed with this one.

-Put my hair up in a pony tail. This is a lot harder than it sounds.

-Drive. I admit it. I have driven with Garrett on my lap (through a parking lot).

-Type an email/blog post or Facebook entry using my cat like reflexes to thwart unwanted additions.

-Sleep. Everyone should try this one, it’s worth it.

-Brush my teeth.

-Blowdry my hair.

-Shop and push the shopping cart.

-Shower. This is hard and precarious.

-Prepared countless breakfasts/lunches/dinners.

-Push an empty stroller. Oh, the irony.

-Console an older sibling, who erupts into further crying while younger child (once again) pulls hair.

-Take pictures. Retake the picture. Clean lens. Retake the picture.

-Try to balance in the squatting position. Fall over and attempt again.

-Put on shoes while standing. Like above, fall over and attempt again.

-Mail packages

-And my personal favorite? Cut your own fingernails.

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One Week Old

Garrett is a week old today. I cannot believe how fast this week has gone by. It is hard to put into words how wonderful it feels to become a mother again. It is hard to understand the love and the power that resides within it and how consuming and overpowering it is. Hard to understand how it is possible to love someone so much that you’ve just only met. How it is possible for my heart to open so wide and have enough room and love for both Camden and Garrett is beyond me. I suppose it is just one of those mysteries of Motherhood.

This week has gone by in a blur but it has been great. I am still on that “high” and I keep waiting to come down from it. There’s that constant bit of tiredness that accompanies a new baby but it is hard for me to get any extra sleep because I still sleep in such a light state because every little peep has me popping my eyes open.

There are so many things that are better this time around because I am more relaxed. I think my favorite is co-sleeping. With Camden I never intended to co-sleep. In fact, I swore to myself that I would never co-sleep when I was pregnant with her but wound up co-sleeping out of necessity because my little girl refused to sleep unless she was in my arms and she never slept for more than an hour and a half at a time and usually it was more like an hour. With Garrett I knew that I wanted to co-sleep again and it has been so wonderful, relaxing and natural. He sleeps so peacefully snuggled up against me and the best time of the day is in the early morning waking up to each other and just staring at one another and enjoying one another’s company. Garrett also loves skin to skin contact (Camden hated it) and this has been just another precious thing to enjoy with him.

I feel like a broken record but I love my little guy so much. He has funny little quirks (like hair on his earlobes and silly pinky toes that overlap his other toes) but he is just an absolute ball of perfection. For the first few days he didn’t like to open his eyes much and when he did he mostly just opened the right one. He still does that sometimes and I like to refer to it as his “pirate eye.” He also has the squeaky girlish squeal that is both hilarious and annoying. We keep joking with him that he better stop doing that before he meets his Uncle Dave or he’ll never live it down.

He is such a mild and calm little baby but for the first few days it was tough because he was having problems with his digestion and would scream at the top of his lungs when he had to have a bowel movement. It was so hard to witness because he would be peacefully sleeping and then just begin screaming and thrashing about and I knew something had to be wrong. I was so thankful that the chiropractic adjustment solved his digestive issues and he no longer wakes from sleeping and screams and the whole house is able to sleep much better now.

He does not have a very high frustration tolerance though and does not always give much warning that he is getting mad – all though this does seem to have gotten better since his adjustment yesterday. He seems pickier about what position he wants to be held in and if he starts to cry you have to be very quick or it will turn into a scream.

Yesterday, his umbilical cord fell off and so we were able to start using cloth diapers. Hooray! I love using cloth diapers which must seem so silly to some people. I have also started practicing EC with him part time and so far it is going really well. I’ll post more about the details of this later but so far today I caught quite a few of his bowel movements and a couple of his pees.

Garrett is also very strong. He almost rolled himself over yesterday when he got angry. He can also hold his head up really high and for quite a long time. I’m going to try to get a picture of it because Camden could hold her head up really well as a newborn too but he can hold his head up higher than she could at nearly 3 weeks old.

Garrett sleeps like a dream. I’m not counting on it staying this way and assume it is because he is just a very tired newborn but he will sleep for 3-5 hour stretches at night which is absolutely wonderful. He is nursing well now too. At first it took a bit of work because he was so tired the first few days and he also struggles a bit with a lazy latch and doesn’t like to open his mouth wide enough but he is getting the hang of it now. Engorgement is finally gone and I am very thankful for that.

Camden loves being a big sister. She is all ready getting protective over Garrett and made sure to tell Lisa when she visited that Lisa could not take Garrett home with her because it was “her” brother. So cute. She comes over to me periodically throughout the day to say hi to him and talk about how cute he is or give him hugs and kisses. First thing in the morning she comes into the room and every day this week she has said “where is my brother?” and I have to show him to her. I think she is afraid he’ll leave or disappear. Unfortunately, when he becomes mobile and can terrorize her possessions I think it will be less of a fear and more of a plea. LOL. I am surprised at how much Camden does not hover around and mess with him too much. It has been really nice for her to love on him and enjoy him but for her to still go about her regular activities.

So far Garrett seems to enjoy the car. He’s only been on two car rides but he’s handled it pretty well. Today we went out to dinner with the girls and took them to Sonic. I wore Garrett in the moby wrap and he slept the whole time. I cannot overemphasize enough what a lifesaver it is to have a wrap and to wear your baby.

I’m sure I could drone on and on and on about this little guy forever. I just can’t believe that Mike and I have a son. We feel so blessed and so overjoyed.

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Life’s Little Developments

Keeping it Clean:

So somehow I’ve been busy without being all that busy. Not sure how that works but it does. Mostly I’ve been keeping the house A LOT cleaner and it is amazing how good that makes me feel. I’ve been making myself make the bed every day and that small task does wonders for me. I’m normally not so obsessed with a spick-n-span house but these days I don’t feel complete unless it’s clean. Maybe it’s that whole nesting thing getting started? Who knows.

New Camera:

A few weeks ago I was able to get a new camera!! I can not tell you how excited I was about this. It is such a great camera. I bought a used Canon XT from my friends husband for a great price who wanted to exchange his camera for the same camera but for one that was only black instead of black and silver. Apparently camera snobs find this important. Maybe someday I will be cool enough to be able to be that picky. I was able to afford the camera by selling our Kodak one on Craigslist and selling a few things on eBay. I’m so happy to have a camera that will take non-blurry pictures and has a faster shutter speed so I won’t miss all those great shots. I still need to learn to use this thing though. My friends husband also gave me a photo editing software called Bibble that is on the professional level but I have NO IDEA how to use it. Need to learn that as well. I would post pictures but our computer is not cooperating. See below.

Dumb, Ancient Computer:

The upgrade of our camera has very poignantly highlighted the need for a new computer. Our computer is about 8 years old. This dinosaur bohemeth runs more slowly than I am able to waddle these days. And now EVERY time I try to upload a picture to the blog it FREEZES my computer. Grrr. It makes me so mad. I have been attempting to write this blog post for a few days now but kept getting frustrated and giving up because I hate not posting pictures with the blog. So, um imagine things I guess. Until further notice I don’t think there will be any pictures posted. Must get this fixed before baby arrives. On a funny note my friend Emeth joked with her husband that she was going to give his computer to me since I needed one and he believed her. He gave her a deer in the headlights, shocked look and paced a little but didn’t say anything. Yes, she definitely wears the pants in their family and no, I would never let her actually do that. But very funny.

A Close Call & First Lies:

So I had a midwife appointment on Monday in Hermiston, Oregon which is about a half hour drive from here. During the appointment Camden was playing outside with one of the midwifes sons (it was his 8th Birthday) and they were playing with a new baby goat that they just got. Innocent enough, right? They’re outside so I don’t worry about anything and just relax and chat and enjoy my appointment. As we are leaving and I am buckling Camden into her carseat she asks me an odd question.

“Mommy?”

“Yes?”

“Do cupcakes have nuts in them?”

What a weird question. “Well, sometimes. Sometimes even though the cupcake doesn’t have nuts they are made in a kitchen that has nuts so you can’t eat them…” As I’m saying this my voice trails off because I notice a light yellow crust all around her lips. “Camden, what is on your face? Were you playing with the Dandelions?” It really looked like she’d been rubbing dandelions on her lips. Then before she could answer the “duh” light went off. “Did you eat a cupcake?”

“No.”

“Then what is on your face?”

“I don’t know. Nothing.”

“There is yellow all around your mouth. Is that yellow frosting? Did you eat a cupcake?”

“No.”

“Then what is on your face?”

“I don’t know.”

She’s totally lying. My heart is a little heavy and worried and I’m really ticked at myself. “Camden, it is more important to tell the truth to mommy. You will be in more trouble if you don’t tell me the truth. It’s very important that we’re honest with each other. What did you eat?”

She sighs. “I ate a cupcake.”

I then proceeded to lecture her for about 10 minutes about why it is so important that she NEVER eat food unless her dad or I give it to her or unless we say it is OK. We talked about what would have happened if there were nuts in the cupcake (she is severely allergic to them) and how we’d have to go to the hospital, etc, etc. On an annoying note the cupcake was also bright yellow otherwise known as containing food dye. I am happy to report that I did not notice ANY behavioral side effects afterwards (she has a dye sensitivity) which is promising. She is mostly sensitive to red but I was happy to see that she tolerated the yellow cupcake. Doesn’t mean I want dyed concoctions in our house but it is nice to know she may be able to have them on occasion. Mike was really, really mad at me. I’m only somewhat mad at me. Really, there is only so much you can watch your child. They were outside playing and there was no food outside. The little boy had snuck inside during our appointment and snuck cupcakes for them. I just need to drill it into her head that she can’t eat food from other people since realistically I can not always know what she is doing.

So that was her second “lie” if you want to call it that. Not sure what constitutes an active lie by a child and at what age they are capable of lying. But it used to be that if you asked her a question no matter if she was going to get in trouble, she’d be honest. For example if Camden was standing next to a small crying child looking suspicious I could ask “Camden, what happened?” and she’d say “I pushed her” or “I took her toy.” Looks like those days are gone.

Her first “lie” was last weekend. I was on the computer working on her scrapbook and Mike was showering and she was supposed to be watching a movie. Mike came out into the living room and I hear him getting mad at her. He comes into the office and told me she was out there painting her fingernail. Big no, no. He goes to wipe off her thumb and notices her whole other hand is painted. “Did you paint those?” he asks. “No,” she says. “Then who painted them?” “Mommy did,” she says. They both come into the office and he asks if I painted them. Nope, I didn’t. She is sent to her room. Once she is in her room we both laugh. She did a really, really good job painting her nails but she knew she wasn’t allowed to do paint by herself and she was painting them on the couch. But it was also the first time she lied to us. After she came out of her room we talked about honesty. Sigh, this is only going to get more complicated. I can tell.

30 Weeks:

At my last appointment the hearbeat ranged from 132-146 bpm. I was measuring 33 weeks and the baby was head down in the posterior position. I will be 31 weeks on Friday.

Busier:

So I started this blog post earlier in the week and now I am busier because we are having a garage sale at our house on Friday and Saturday. Some other families are combining their stuff with ours so we’ll have enough stuff. I was going to put this off for a few more weeks but it is only going to get hotter and I am only going to get bigger so I am scrambling to get it done. Originally I was hoping that the money we made could go towards something fun like a new computer but like always it looks like the extra money will go towards bills. We are hoping the garage sale traffic will spur some interest in our house. I am going to have flyers ready. Cross your fingers for us.

I am also taking care of my friends little girl because she has been put on bedrest for the next week. She is not due until July 16th but is having a ton of contractions. They are wanting to try and hold off birth until at least next Wed when she will be 37 weeks that way she can have her baby at home, as planned. Otherwise she’ll need to deliver at a local hospital.

Weird Things I’m Looking Forward To:

So I’m really excited to mother a newborn again. It still hasn’t sunk in that there will be a new little person in our lives but I’m slowly starting to wrap my mind around it. Some of the things I am really looking forward to (yes I’m weird) are:

-Cloth Diapering: I didn’t start cloth diapering Camden until she was 13 months old but I am really looking forward to using cloth with a newborn. I received some very cute fitted’s from Nanipoo Diapers today and they are absolutely adorable. I’d post a pic if I could but they are just too cute. I also received some diaper covers today. We also have an assortment of pockets, prefolds and a few AIO’s. I’ll have to post pictures later. It is a wide variety of boy and girl prints since we don’t know what we’re having. I’ll just have to sell the ones we don’t wind up needing.

- EC: We will be practicing Elimination Communication with this baby. I’ve all ready had a little practice with this on a baby I used to watch and it is really amazing plus all the mothers that I hang out with on a regular basis practice this with their children so I’m totally over the “weirdness” factor. I think it’s awesome when a small baby can tell you when they have to go potty, and then do. I was amazed that it actually worked with he baby I used to watch who was only 2 months old.

-Happy Hangup: When I first became pregnant I found an awesome deal on a used Happy Hangup that I found on craigslist and was able to sell some stuff to get it. It hangs from the ceiling and is an infant hammock bed. I need to get Mike to install the ceiling hook and I just can’t wait to see our little bub sleep in it for the first time.

-Parenting Minus the Nervousness: I don’t consider myself a very nervous type person but I am looking forward to parenting this newborn without the all the second guessing. I loved parenting Camden as a newborn and am really looking forward to doing it again.

-Baby Wearing: I wore Camden when she was a baby too but I only had a Baby Bjorn and that thing was super uncomfortable. I am looking forward to using a wrap with this baby and a sling as well. I am loving knowing that I will be able to carry baby around and get everything else done that needs to be done.

-Birth: Yes, I really am looking forward to birth. Which seems fairly odd since I had quite a long, knock down drag out first experience. For those who don’t know I labored for over 56 hours with Camden. Not ideal, to say the least. There are many factors that contributed to that and I feel that this time things will go much different. We are having this baby at home and my friends are planning on attending the birth which will make this a really different and fun experience. I am really looking forward to it. Mike is thrilled with this idea because it takes the pressure off him. I thought he wouldn’t like the idea but he loves it. And I love the idea of being surrounded by women who have all given birth naturally and who are all funny and upbeat. I think we will all have a lot of fun and what a wonderful atmosphere for a baby to be born into.

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Win a Free Ergo Baby Carrier

Below is a link for a contest to win a free Ergo Baby Carrier via a random drawing. You only need to answer a simple question about what your favorite parenting website or forum is and why. I loved my Ergo and can’t wait to use it with my next baby.

Win a Free Ergo Baby Carrier from Along for the Ride

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