Sunday, October 31, 2010

Happy Halloween

Since Halloween fell on a Sunday, and since Chris is working anyway, he had our Halloween festivities yesterday. We spent the day shopping for things for our church’s Trunk or  Treat because I was in charge (yippee), so Miles needed to have some Halloween spirit all day. The hat and socks were bought last year from Target’s Dollar Spot, which Chris found amusing because I was pregnant at the time.

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Then it was off to the Trunk or Treat as a Tiger family. Chris and I made our costumes on Friday night—please notice that my stripes are so much more neat than Chris’s. He got a little carried away. And then the cat walked across them as they were drying, so there are a few paw prints to make it more authentic. The paw prints on the floor were not so cool, though.

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Everything was just too much fun for Miles.

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Sunday, October 17, 2010

Pickin’ Pumpkins

 

Chris had yet another Saturday off, so this time we went to a local farm to pick some pumpkins that we may or may not carve for Halloween. The farm had a wide variety of farms animals, a hay ride (one where the driver smoked a cigarette the whole time), and an actual pumpkin patch. You could tell that some of the pumpkins had been strategically placed, but there were pumpkins that you could literally pick.

The first stop was to the pig pen with the following sign:

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So what did Chris do as soon as he had Miles in his arms? Holds his fingers up to a pig’s snout.

After looking at some goats, some horses, and some chickens, we made our way to the pumpkin patch to pick our pumpkins, but mostly for some pictures. So, here you go:

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The best picture, of course, had a farmer in the background. Well, I’m not positive he was a farmer, but doesn’t he look like one?

Tuesday, October 12, 2010

Metaphorically

 

I’ve really painted myself into a corner. Except that I don’t like that analogy—who paints floors anymore? You only hear really old people tell stories of how they painted themselves into a corner in their youth. It’s more like I mopped myself into a corner. Except that I don’t mop. It’s more like I Swiffer Wet-Jetted myself into a corner.  And here’s how:

I opened my big, fat mouth and told everyone that I was going to run the Amica Insurance Half Marathon in December to get rid of my big, fat, post-pregnancy bum.

As you may remember, I was able to procure a rather fancy jogging stroller several weeks ago with some amazing store credit, and yes, I love it, but I didn’t plan for Miles not loving it. Or the fact that when you haven’t run, I mean really run, for over a year, it kinda sucks.

My original plan was to get into running shape in September when Chris had a regular schedule that would allow me to run in the mornings after feeding Miles. Except that sometimes I still needed to pump. Sometimes I really needed to eat breakfast. Sometimes it was too hot. Sometimes it was too humid. Sometimes I just wanted to sit on the couch and watch the Today show followed by The West Wing.

So then Plan B was to just hit the ground running (literally) once the jogging stroller came in and the weather finally cooled off. I have tried, really tried. But when your training program tells you to run 5 miles on your third day of training, it’s not pretty. Miles is usually good for about 30 minutes. Yesterday he was fantastic. Today, we only made it a mile.

And I didn’t account for the SNAKES! Today I finally got Miles calmed down by walking really slowly so that he could stare at the trees, and we were about a quarter mile from the car when I spotted a snake in the middle of the path. I stopped (far enough away to be completely safe) to assess the situation. It wasn’t terribly huge, but I’m not sure that really matters. I HATE snakes! I thought perhaps it was dead, smushed by some heroic biker, because it wasn’t moving, but there was no way I was going to test that theory by walking past it. I backed up a little bit more and contemplated throwing something in it’s direction to see if it moved. But what if it started moving? I would be forced to turn around and go back the way I came, the opposite direction of the car. So I just stared at it. And then I saw it’s tongue move. I froze. I waited for it to slither across the trail. And then I sprinted away. I may have even looked back to make sure it wasn’t following us.

And then I decided that if I can sprint with that stroller, then maybe this half-marathon thing is do-able. Maybe.

If I pay for registration, then won’t I be forced to do it?

Monday, October 11, 2010

Zoo

Chris had last Saturday off, which isn’t always the case during residency, so we actually went somewhere. We are always disappointed when we end up spending his days off running errands, cleaning the house, or just sitting at home. So late Friday night we decided we would drive down to the Columbia Zoo in the morning. Our original plan was to take the dog on a family hike, but we discovered that she has a sore on one of her paws, so she needed to stay home.

We started the day an hour later than usual because Miles tried to wake up an hour earlier than usual, so I brought him into bed with us (even though Chris always reminds me that it isn’t safe). The only thing rushing us out the door was that McDonald’s stops serving breakfast at 10:30; Chris even gave me a time reminder while I was getting ready. The man loves his egg biscuits.

The drive took about two hours; during which time Miles slept. I found a nice shady spot when we first arrived to nurse, and after a quick diaper change (being careful not to touch anything around us), we were off to see the animals.

I’m not the biggest fan of zoos, what with the smell and the sad animals in their little habitats that you can never see because they are always sleeping, but I knew that once I had children I would have to make some concessions. But really, watching Chris at a zoo is almost as exciting as watching a child. I had to remind him several times not to take so many pictures of the animals because we don’t need 50 pictures of giraffes.

Miles seemed pretty indifferent to the whole experience, which seemed to disappoint Chris. The only time Miles really showed interest was in the aquarium where he actually talked to the fish. We didn’t, however, spend much time in there because it was a little crowded, but I guess that’s to be expected when the weather is warm on an October Saturday.

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I wish I had taken video because Miles was talking pretty loudly at those fish. If only I had let Chris bring his fish tank with him when we moved.

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Don’t you love his safari hat? And you can’t tell, but his shirt has a monkey on it. Our outfits must always be appropriate for the occasion.

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Isn’t he cute??

After we walked most of the zoo, we walked to the botanical garden where Chris kept expressing his desire to have one in our next backyard. He apparently needs a paved path where he can pace while on the phone. He needs a shade garden. He needs a water feature. He needs a forest path. He needs a lot of land.

After the garden, we finished the day with a few more animals and then got back in our car where Miles slept the whole time again. What a great baby.

What a great day.

I only wish I had taken a picture of our lunch. Going to the zoo, I anticipate spending more money than necessary on food, but I also expect the food to fill me. While I was trying to secure us a shady table, Chris went into get our food. I told him to get me the Italian Sub without seeing one. When he came out, we both had to laugh at their poor excuse for a sandwich. I couldn't even see the meat.

Friday, October 1, 2010

Miles: 5 months

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This past month was all about sleeping, and then not sleeping, and then sleeping. We were given the green light from our pediatrician to let Miles cry it out to help him develop his sleep schedule, so that’s what we did. This time, I subscribed to the book recommended by the doctor (not the one I’m married to), Healthy Sleep Habits, Happy Child. In this book, the doctor says that I need to let him cry for an hour for naptimes and indefinitely at night to help Miles establish good sleep habits.

The first couple of days were really hard and pretty much meant that I went in there at the end of an hour to soothe him to sleep after an hour of screaming. At first I would go about doing something really involved during the crying session (i.e. working out, showering, or cleaning). But after a couple of days, he would be asleep after only a few minutes of crying and sometimes without any crying at all.

But we never had the courage to let him cry at night. We’ll get there.

In the pat month he has also really discovered his voice. So much so that I noticed that we are keeping the TV volume much higher now because we can’t hear it over Miles. Isn’t that pathetic? It’s not like we are trying to drown him out; we just want to hear the dialogue from the TV. At first he was just cooing, but now he is screeching. And yes, once he did squeal when Oprah came on.

At the 4 month appointment, my doctor said it was probably time to start solids because he had dropped a little in his weight percentile. I wasn’t planning on starting solids until 6 months, but she made me really worried that he was hungry because he had started sleeping 10-12 hours straight at night and was only eating every three or four hours during the day. So when my mom was here, we decided to start rice cereal.

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It didn’t go well the first time. But then my mom remembered her trick: the pacifier. Spoonful of cereal, suck on pacifier. It worked pretty well for two more nights, but then I decided to stop because it didn’t seem to be sitting well with I'm at night. He was waking up four or more times at night. As soon as I stopped, he slept again. Maybe I’ll start giving it to him during the day instead.

But the biggest development happened just yesterday when he smiled at the dog. That’s a big deal around here.

Also, after reading this post, Chris and I have decided that we have become “those people” because all we do it talk about the baby. But he is pretty dang cute; how can we not?