Thanksgiving

"It's your first Thanksgiving! What are you thankful for? . . . Mommy's boobies?"

~ Friends

This week we headed up to Massachusetts for Thanksgiving!

Wednesday was our annual Take-Your-Dependent-To-Work Day. The past two years I've taken the dog to work so we could leave early and jump right on the train. This year, Chris got the dog and I got the baby. It was "Kids Day" at work (since our company knows we're going to bring our kids in anyway), and even though he was too little to partake in the official activities, we found some things for him to do.

Playpen made out of tape boxes

Momma's work is boring

We left the city early to beat the traffic and stopped at a random road-side BBQ place for lunch. Baby had his first pulled pork!

Thursday we were at Gramma and Grampa C's for dinner.

Turkey!

Leftovers, anyone?

On Friday, Gramma and Grampa H babysat while Mom and Dad went to their 10-year reunion!

Mom was so happy to be out at nighttime!!!

Saturday was "Small Business Saturday", and we took baby to Tom's Toys, a local toy store. Got some GREAT stuff!

We rounded out the weekend at a post-Thanksgiving potluck party, which ended up looking more like a kid's birthday, with all the little kids running around!

Time for Christmas!

Friday, November 11 . . . Seven Months!!!

Lucky number 7!!

         

Daycare was closed today for Vererans' Day, so I got to spend my guy's 7-month day working from home. Even though I was technically supposed to be working, we took a break outside to get some Fall Photos.

At 7 months, he can . . .

Sit all by himself.

Pull himself up to standing.

Army crawl all over the place!

Eat all kinds of foods. The daycare is STILL talking about how I gave him a pizza crust at the Halloween party! He loves Mum Mum crackers and Rice Cakes -- I sometimes spread hummus, pureed sweet potato, or squash on them.

Cored apple

Avocado . . . I mean Guacamole

He likes to do the spoon himself

And put EVERYTHING in his mouth!

The remote is still his favorite.

Now that he is more mobile and is constantly threatening to topple off the bed, we put the 4th side up on the crib. He starts the night in his crib around 7 and goes down pretty well these days. He wakes up around 10 for a snack and a cuddle, and after he's back asleep I put him back in his crib. He wakes up again in the middle of the night, and at the point he usually stays in bed with us -- mostly because we both fall asleep. Mornings are tricky these days, since he wakes up early and won't be satisfied until I'm up too.

And we're still nursing! GO US! He's getting grabby and squirmy, but I LOVE the sleepytime nursing, when he just wants to snuggle. And sometimes when I come home and he's a little bit tired and hungry, he'll cry and cry for me. He'll nurse without stopping for about five minutes and then look up, see me, and smile as if to say, "Oh! When did YOU get here?"

Sunday, November 6 . . . more baby-proofing

Baby is quickly becoming more and more mobile -- he does a great army crawl, usually dragging one leg while pushing off with the other (he gets up on his hands and knees each time, but then chickens out and goes back to his belly). Thank goodness we did some serious baby-proofing a few weeks ago, since he's already decided that in between the rocking chair and the couch is a great place to be, and perhaps it's time to start grabbing and pulling up on things.

So additional things we've "proofed" . . .

-- Yesterday we removed the basinette from the Pack n Play -- when we put him in there to chill out for a minute, he grabbed the side and pulled himself to kneeling.

-- I'm currently trying to figure out what to do with the laptop cords. I use the computer a lot on the couch, which is in the middle of the room. We have an extension cord behind/under the couch for the lamp (also in the middle of the room), but when I plug in the laptop, it's way too appealing to the baby. SO MANY CORDS!!! So I think I'm going to set up a "docking station" for the laptop, and just run it off the battery when I'm not over there. Either that or run it behind Chris's big chair. We'll see.

-- We shampooed the carpet!!! (And by "we", I mean "Chris", the BEST HUSBAND EVER!). Note to anyway who does NOT want to think about how dirty their carpet is -- do NOT look at the water that comes out of that machine. IT WAS BLACK!!! [shudder] But the carpet looks great, and I feel better about the baby crawling around on it.

We still have to get the rest of the locks on the kitchen cabinets and adjust the lock on the hall closet (with the change in seasons, it shifted a little and doesn't close anymore!)

Monday, October 31 . . . Happy Halloween!

"I tell you a scary story . . ."

Baby's first Halloween, and what a way to spend it!

I guess I had always imagined baby's first halloween with a little trick or treating, maybe a Halloween party with my friends. Instead . . .

Baby's first Halloween started with Baby's first snow. A freak storm hit the Northeast on Saturday Oct 29, resulting in some last-minute schedule changes to our weekend. We were up in Massachusetts for my friend's (legendary) annual Halloween party, and had stopped at Chris's parents' house on the way.

A little Uncle Matthew time . . .

A little Auntie Jess time . . .

A little Gramma time (and the Christmas catalog) . . .

and a little Grampa and Baby Luke time!

However, the snow started falling . . . and didn't stop all day . . . and didn't stop all night. The party was canceled and we ended up spending the night in Auntie Jess's room!

The next morning we headed back to my parents', got some great shots of the Fall Foliage surrounded by snow, and met Grampy on the tractor plowing the driveway so we could get up. Unfortunately, our little rental car didn't couldn't even make it up the driveway!

Baby got his first sled ride, and Mommy realized she was not really prepared for winter, adding "snow suit" and "mittens" to her shopping list.

(Those are socks on his hands)

Eventually we got back to the city ok, with a lovely "sailor's delight" sunset.

By the time Halloween actually rolled around, we were able to get the costumes on and celebrate properly!

Party at daycare

Party at the dogpark!

The Quarterback, the Referee, the Coach, and the Game Ball

Holding!

I'm tired too baby. What a weekend.

Friday October 28 . . . The Croup

Sounds like he should be wearing a bonnet and a frilly christening dress, right?

It is also called laryngotracheobronchitis. That makes him sound like a dinosaur, so I'll use Croup.

Tuesday evening, I picked up baby from daycare after a phone call from the director about him being "a little fussy" and probably having a sore throat. I thought to myself, "How can you tell if a 6-month old has a sore throat, anyway?" I soon figured it out.

I got him home and took his temperature. 101.0. Uh oh. Then he started coughing, and it sounded like a sharp, cutting cough, almost like a bark. Also, after he coughed, he would look at me like "Oh my god why did that HURT?!?!" So THAT'S how to can tell if baby has a sore throat.

I called my mom to see if it sounded like something bad, and she said to call the doctor, just to be safe. I called the doctor, and while explaining his symptoms, baby coughed into the phone.

Dr: "Ahh, yes, that's what we call a 'coupy' cough. You should bring him in right now."

So we gathered our things calmly and headed to the bus stop . . . "wait, that doesn't sound like you, Mollie," you must be thinking.

Ok, I'll be honest -- I scooped him up, took 5 seconds to decide that I really didn't need the diaper bag since we were headed to the pediatrician, who I already knew had diapers if we needed, and RAN to the bus stop. I think I managed to get shoes on my feet and a hat on the baby, and it's a good thing that our insurance doesn't require a co-pay, since I had no cash. I was convinced he was dying and that we had MINUTES to get the doctor.

Anyway, we got there in about 30 seconds (no, it was more like 11 minutes, but still). He took a listen and was relieved to hear that it was not bronchitis, that the swelling was limited to the larynx and the trachea. He explained that the reason he wanted us in so quickly was because in little babies, Croup can turn bad VERY quickly, especially if it has moved down into the lungs. He gave us instructions for what to do if it got worse overnight, what to listen for and what to do.

I set up the humidifier in front of the rocking chair and got cozy for the night; baby has issues going to bed by himself when he's HEALTHY, so it's a nightmare when he's sick. We eventually were able to move into the bedroom, and while he coughed a lot and his fever spiked again around midnight, the night wasn't too bad.

I worked from home the next day, which wasn't too bad since he slept a lot that day.

Chris stayed home with him Thursday, and I stayed home again Friday. By then he was mostly feeling fine, but the cough was still persistent and kept him from being pleasant, especially when trying to sleep.

"I work from home too!"

However, by Friday the strain of working remotely was getting to me.

"Seriously, you're taking my picture? I know he's super cute, but this is the first he's slept all day and I have to get this report out and the server keeps crashing. Seriously, you want me to smile? Fine, I'm smiling. Take the damn picture already."

The sweetest part? When I brought him to school on Monday, all the teachers were SO happy to see him, and they told me how much they had missed him and how worried they had been! AWWW!!!