Pierre the Bear

I thought I'd write about one of my son's favorite toys. His name is Pierre the Bear and he hails from Paris, France. My family picked him up on our trip there last summer unbeknownst to me and gave him to us at one of our showers. He's a little lovey (mini-blanket with a head, hands, and feet) and rattles when you shake him.

One of the great things about Pierre, is that his feet are rubber and are meant for teething and general chewing delight. That being said, my son will chew/suck on any part of Pierre if he gets the chance. And when his hair is all crusty and matted from saliva, I just throw him in the washing machine and he comes out good as new! Fantastic!

Pierre is made by a French company called Noukie's (http://www.noukies.com/). He isn't one of their current toys, but they have a wonderful program that if something were to happen to Pierre, I could buy a new identical toy from them so my son's heart wouldn't be broken.

(Of course, when looking for Pierre on their website, I found out that he is, in fact, a cat. He looks like a bear to me, though, so we'll keep on referring to him as such.)

Sunkist Breaks the Rules

So yeah, I didn't know this, but Sunkist pop has caffine in it! Uh hello? I thought all orange pops were caffine free. I feel horrible for drinking it while nursing, but I honestly didn't know.

That being said, I should really be drinking healthier things, like water or juice.

Ravenous

Yeah, so Monday night we had dinner at my in-laws' house and decided to forgo the barley dinner for my son. BIG mistake. That night he woke up about three times, each time just ravenous for food.

Lesson learned.

Speaking of which, he had two barley meals yesterday! He's growing up so fast.

Another Weird Dream

I don't remember nearly as much of this one, but I do know one thing ...

I kicked Sydney Pollack's ass! (Only he wasn't Sydney Pollack in my dream.)

Seriously, I wiped the floor clean with him. Sooooo weird.

Have to say, though, I feel kinda bad ... I think he died last year. (Not that I have any control over my dreams, but still I feel bad.)

Weird Dream

So I had a weird dream this morning (sometime between 7:00 a.m. and 8:40 a.m.).

My husband, son, and I were on a vacation with Tom Cruise, Katie Holmes, one of the Pussycat Dolls (not the lead singer), Suri, and some other baby at what seemed to be a wild west theme park. I thought the Pussycat Doll girl was a nanny, but it turned out later that she was another wife for Tom ... didn't know Scientologists did that, but oh well.

We were all walking down this dusty dirt road, my husband pushing my son in the stroller, when a "flash flood" came rolling down the street past a covered wagon that was just ahead of us. I got swept up in it and lost sight of my boys (and the rest of our party). Somehow I ended up going through one of the windows in the covered wagon and as the water (which was actually more the consistency of KY Jelly) lowered I saw that I was floating in the wagon with one of the theme park employees. He confirmed that it was a man-made flash flood that the park was trying out as one of its attractions, which I had long suspected. I then realized that my husband and infant son weren't with me and started to cry. The employee said that the park was trying to be conscientious of the fact that small children might be in the crowd and that hopefully he had been diverted.

Just then, another wave came up and again I was under "water", tumbling head over heels in the covered wagon. Suddenly all the "water" drained out and I was left sittting, soaking wet, on the floor of what seemed to be the basement of a shopping mall with Katie. She seemed to be less than thrilled that all this had happened, but then I realized that she was more stoic (almost robotic) than merely pissed off. We got on an elevator going up, and when the doors opened my husband and son were standing there, safe and sound! Whew.

They got on the elevator with us and we all went back down a couple floors to the food court area where Tom and the Doll were feeding Suri and the baby. Tom looked at us and I could tell from his expression, though robotic, that he was not happy with Katie for disappearing for so long (even though she had no control over it). As it turns out, Suri is very, very articulate for her age, but she seems to have no joy in her demeanor. She walked around and also seemed very robotic. I should mention, though, that they weren't actually robots ... it all just seemed very Stepford and cold.

My husband looked pissed at having to hang around these people without me, so I gave him a look of apology as he heated up some ravioli in a microwave for our son (who still had no teeth in my dream ... I don't quite know what my husband was thinking). Just then ...

my alarm clock went off.

If Tom Cruise and his two wives are anything like they were in my dream, I don't think I want to be friends with them.

Barley and Me

My son has been eating barley (mixed with breastmilk) for about a week and a half now, and so far it has been going pretty well.

Last night, however ...

Nap: 1 Mom: 1!

Yeah, he took three naps yesterday! Oh, and each was at least 40 minutes long ... the last one was about 1 hour and 10 minutes long! Yay! I am so proud of my little guy!

And to top it all off HE SLEPT THROUGH THE NIGHT!! Yup, that's right. In fact, he's still sleeping. Awesome.

That being said, we learned a valuable lesson last night: when a baby is on a schedule, it is best not to stray from the schedule if possible. We decided to try putting him to bed an hour early last night because he seemed awfully tired, and he ended up crying for about an hour. In our arms, yes, but still crying for an hour. He was just soooo awake. Every time I tried putting him in bed, he woke up crying.

Lesson learned.

Glamourmom Nursing Top

For anyone who is nursing, pregnant and planning on nursing, or knows someone who is or will be nursing soon, I have a tip on a great product. It is a nursing tank top made by Glamourmom. Basically it is a tank top with a shelf nursing bra built right in. I'm not sure if I would wear this during the day, as the nursing clasps are quite evident, but it is FANTASTIC for nighttime. You can find it at Motherhood Maternity, or if you live in the Grand Rapids area you can check out Baby Beloved Inc. for a whole line of Glamourmom products. This is the only one I have tried so I can't vouch for the other ones, but I LOVE this one!

Nap: 1 Mom: 0

Wow, yesterday was rough! I had so many things I wanted to get done around the house (and didn't), and my son only took about three 15 minute naps ... not enough for him at all. By the end of the day, his little eyes were rimmed in red and were all puffy from exhaustion. And yes, it broke my heart to see him that way.

It's not like I didn't try to get him to nap. I did. We tried so hard. But whether it was gas or being overtired or something else entirely, something kept him from getting to sleep. I'd put him down in his nice dark room, pretty close to sleep after a nice feeding, then BAM ... about ten seconds later he'd be awake and crying. Not just the moaning he does sometimes to get himself to sleep. Full on crying. At one point, I'll admit, I ended up crying. It broke my heart to see him so tired and yet so completely unable to sleep. I'll also admit that I was exhausted myself and just needed a minute not to be holding or trying to entertain an 18 pound baby.

Being a mom is hard work, a lot harder than anyone gives mothers credit for. But even on days like yesterday, I still love it; seeing him smile at me and getting to help him become the man he'll eventually be is a hugely rewarding job.

Mommy vs. The Nap

Yeah, we're having trouble with naps. (Incidentally, it's also probably why we're having trouble sleeping through the night ... apparently sleep begets more sleep.) My son appears to be a cat-napper - stealing half-an-hour to hour-long naps throughout the day whenever he can. Problem is, at least in terms of napping, the little guy is as curious as they come. He can't stop looking around, checking out what is going on with everything and everyone, and in the end it keeps him from basically getting bored enough to fall asleep. Sadly, then, we come back to the "crying it out" scenario in his crib ... and quite frankly it pains me to let him do it.

So, on days like today when he has fallen asleep in his car seat, I find myself staring at him in the living room, sleeping ever-so-soundly in his car seat. Yes, he's probably sweating buckets (the fabric doesn't breathe overly well) and he's not lying flat, but at least he's sleeping, right?

Right?

(sigh)

Well, either way, I doubt it will harm him irreparably or scar him for life if he takes a few naps in his car seat. He is able to sleep in his crib at night, and it's good for him to be able to sleep in different places with varying degrees of light and noise around. He won't always be guaranteed a pitch black nursery, soothing white noise (from his ceiling fan), and comfortable crib.