IHouse

Kevin bought an IPad this past Monday and ironically felt overwhelmed on Tuesday.  With all of the technology in the house, what is the best way to efficiently use it all?  We have four IPods and now an IPad.  Kevin has Spotify (another music service) on his phone.  Both Kevin and I have different ITunes accounts and user accounts on our Laptop.  Should we consolidate everything just to make life easier? What are we going to do when we have three, four, or even five "accounts?"

Given that kids these days learn how to work a DVD player before they can even say "Disney," we need to figure out soon how we are going to manage all of our technological toys in our house.  I read an article in Parenting Magazine about "Screen Time" and how we can't just apply it to TV anymore.  When I was little, we just had the TV and the stereo system (which I am proud to say I learned to work at a young age so I could listen to Michael Jackson over and over and over and over).  However, CJ will have a TV (with one hooked up to a Wii), a DVD player (which can connect to the Internet including Neflix) an IPad, IPods, a laptop, a Kindle, our phones, and whatever other fun toys everyone just HAS to have.  We haven't even entered the world of Leap Frog yet.  However, we did get something at a shower that is for babies 6 months and up- it looks cute, but sheesh! 

I will have to admit, I am guilty of having the TV on the background or checking Facebook on my phone while sitting with CJ as he kicks and bats on his playmat.  He actually was sitting in his bouncer as I started this blog post.  At some point, we will be going out more to story times, play dates, and the playground (if it EVER stops raining!)  Soon he will actually pay attention and look at the pictures when we read to him.  Hopefully next summer he will not cry when his foot touches the water in a pool.  I know that there will be some days where I will just have to give him the IPad to amuse himself so I can get something done around the house.  At least you there are many educational aspects to it!  There will be no addictions to Angry Birds!

So, I guess for the next few months we need to buy a charging station (all of those cords hanging from random outlets around the house are a strangulation risk anyway), work on not checking our phones so much (at least we don't during meals), and figure out how to best use all of the technology with a baby/toddler without relying on it too much.  I'm telling you though, as I look out the window only to see that it is pouring again, that for rainy days a toddler boy might just have to be happy with a little Pixar. 

Weight Woes

This morning between heavy downpours I was able to get in a short jog.  Many mornings, especially if I want to take a run, Kevin and I work it out so we'll both get to exercise.  We just have to plan ahead of time.  He will run while I give CJ his first feeding of the day, and then we'll switch.  I haven't been able to exercise nearly as much as before getting pregnant- but I'm glad that I have found time to fit in some jogging or yoga.  After my run this morning, I weighed myself and  "furthered" my lack of progress in the past month.  At my 6 week check-up, I had lost 30 lbs since CJ was born.  Since then, not much.  I know it's going to take awhile to lose all of the baby weight, but no progress in a month?  What about all of the weight I am supposed to lose because of breastfeeding?  What about the exercising and eating fairly healthy?  We are not going out to eat nearly as much as we did before the baby, and we have rarely gotten take out.  I am probably even eating just as good if not better being at home than at work- there is no chocolate covered popcorn being passed around at lunch to accompany my healthy soup, and I am not coming home at the end of the day ravenous.  I really do not have time during the day to even snack.  Ugh!!! As Kevin said, I think our bodies just want to gain weight.  So, unfortunately, I am going to only bake when there are more than two people that will enjoy the food.  I will just focus my cooking on healthy meals.  I will try to add some more time onto my run.   Today I made  minestrone for lunch- a recipe from Cooking Light-http://www.healthdiscovery.net/forums/showthread.php?105565-Minestrone-with-Chickpeas

More on the weight issue as the year progresses- hopefully I will be able to fit into more than just my prepregnancy workout pants soon!

More Rainy Day Antics

Today and yesterday have both been washouts- in other words, I have had no motivation to take CJ out anywhere.  However, these have been great days to work on getting CJ on somewhat of a schedule.  As most everyone knows, I am pretty Type A.  Being spontaneous sounds great- but it's just not for me.  There have been afternoons where Kevin will call me up and suggest going out in the evening; but probably 8 times out of 10 I will say no because it was not in the day's plan.  I know, it's pretty ridiculous and I wish I wasn't so anal. 

Anyway, we have been pretty lucky because CJ has been a great night sleeper.  Since bringing him home from the hospital, there have only been a handful of nights where we have had to get up more than once.  Now he is fairly consistently sleeping through the night.  On the other hand, the days have not been so consistent.  There have been days when I could get a good 3 hour afternoon nap from him, others where he was just catnap throughout the day.  It's very hard to plan your day when you can't predict when he will sleep.  Some friends of ours as well as our pediatrician recommended a book called "On Becoming Babywise." 

There are so many different theories about parenting, it's overwhelming.  Some say that you should always feed on demand and to not put the babies on a schedule until at least 6 months.  Letting a child "cry it out" at 2 months could possibly cause the baby to feel abandoned.  Some follow a very strict schedule that allows for no flexibility.  I may be anal, but not that anal.  The Babywise schedule is basically a cycle of feeding, waketime, and naptime.  The length of the cycle depends on the baby.  Also, it states that a baby will not end up on therapist's couch if he is let to cry himself to sleep.  It also allows for some flexibility- there are days when his schedule will just not match mine, but that is okay.  This schedule I think is the best fit for our family.

So here's his schedule right now.  I have him on a 3 hour cycle.

~7 AM- Feed (so far he has not had a super consistent morning wake time, so the schedule sometimes is adjusted)
8:30-Nap
10:00-Feed then play
11:30-Nap
1:00-Feed/play
2:30-Nap
4:00-Feed/play
5:30-Nap
7:00-Feed/play
9:00-Feed/bedtime

According to the book, we aren't supposed to feed right before bedtime, but at this point we are not using nursing to get him to go to sleep.  We end up putting him in his crib awake, so CJ still needs to fall asleep on his own.  In the future though we will take away this feeding. 

So far, this schedule seems to be working pretty well, and has allowed me some predictable time during the day to get stuff (like blogging!) done.  He does not necessarily sleep during his whole naptime so I have to let him cry a little.  This is not easy, but it will make things easier for us in the long run.  I know everyone has their opinion, but I am of the mind that children thrive when they are on schedules.  Even high school freshmen do better when each class has a routine.  Throw in a fire drill?  All goes to Hell.  :)

Here's the little man sleeping.  The night vision kind of reminds me of Paranormal Activity...

Rainy Days...

Okay- 2 pictures in one post.  I am sure this is not the last time this is going to happen.  The first picture was taken on Sunday of a cool-looking mushroom in our backyard.  It's been raining and/or been humid so the conditions have been perfect.  Today's picture is of CJ in the laundry basket.  I can remember being so excited to "ride" in the laundry basket when I was little, and I also remember being disappointed when I got too big to fit.  I know CJ is not going to remember today's ride- but hey, he needed to go up for a nap and I had laundry to put away.  No need for two trips up and down the stairs!

Haunted House

Today's picture is of a house in Falls Church that Kevin and I think really looks like a haunted house.  It was on the same street as the location of a VA Pep Band alumni picnic- funny enough the house we went to was gorgeous.  I should have taken the picture while there was still daylight, but I think you can get the idea of the creepiness of the house even though the picture is a bit dark. 

Baking

I love to cook and bake.  I really did not start to cook meals other than mac and cheese and Hamburger Helper until after Kevin and I started dating.  We both gained a good amount of weight since we were going out to eat a lot so something needed to be done.  I bought a Cooking Light cookbook, and now I can cook a lot more than just entrees from a box.  Today I decided to bake zuchinni not bread cookie sandwiches, a recipe I got out of Martha Stewart Living.  They have zuchinni, walnuts, and oats- so of course they are healthy!  I started making them during CJ's afternoon nap, and of course as luck would have it I was not finished by the time he woke up.  I finally finished them around 8PM- after mixing/baking a little bit here and there when I was not holding CJ or making dinner. Considering CJ also only let me do 10 minutes of yoga this morning, I am really looking forward to putting CJ on a schedule.  I am too Type A to not have one.  At least the cookies (and the Pumpking Beer) were good once I finally got to try one!

Old Friends and New Friends

Today I decided to go visit Westfield and cause mass unproductivity.  There were many coworkers who had not met CJ yet so I was glad to go and show him off!  It was so nice to see everyone and it made me miss the social aspect of work quite a lot.  I wish it would not be super ridiculous to even have someone Skype me at lunch so I can participate in all of the shenanigans.  However, I do not miss all of the meetings and other logistics that the beginning of the school year entails. 

My one coworker Ephraim also just became a new parent.  His son, Malachi, was born exactly two weeks before CJ.  Today they got to meet for the first time- after sleeping for a few hours (I think yesterday's shots wore him out) he did finally wake up and perhaps they had a baby "conversation."