April? May? What month is it?

I knew the month of May would get away from me and so far it has. Let’s see if we can catch up on all of Devon’s recent adventures.He had his 4 month doctor visit last week and did very well. 14 pounds, 25 inches and 2 shots later we were out of there. Last time we had a nurse who was super slow with the poking so I asked for someone else and ended up with two nurses who gave both shots at once – thus minimizing the painful time. After a little nursing all was well and I promised him we wouldn’t do that again for at least 2 months…

Over the last three weeks Devon has started to consistently pull items (EVERY and ANYTHING) towards his mouth and start gumming it. Like Pearl's fingers:

Rags, toys, fingers, his shirt. Whatever he can get his strong little fingers on.

He LOVES to stand up and look at the world around him. If he is fussing, pull him up by the armpits and let him stand and he goes silent and bobbles about. Unless of course it is time to

SCREEEEEECH

That’s also his new favorite trick. Your ears start ringing after a few good ones. Tiny little vocal cords. There's a good video on facebook of this if you haven't seen it yet.

We’ve thrown all schedules to the wind this week trying to figure out what his sleep schedule needs to be at the moment. We moved bedtime (bath, book routine) up to 730 and then about 1030 we wake him up for a quiet bottle before back to bed until 6am. He‘s still consistently sleeping (with only 1 wake up) until 6. Now if we can just figure out the optimal daytime nap schedule we’ll be back on track. At least for a week.


The big news is that he finally got to meet his Auntie Anna. She flew in from NY for a long weekend and he loved watching her play her drum and exploring the St. Paul Art Crawl – Devon didn’t crawl however, he hung out on Russ’s front in the Bjorn. We wish Auntie Anna was closer but the world of Skype is wonderful in the interim.

Auntie Becca then came up this last weekend for a quick visit. Luckily she made it through the ridiculous traffic coming up to see us for more than an hour before having to head home. We laughed, giggled, took some walks and stayed warm inside. She made me a delightful mother’s day breakfast – which we ate after Devon passed whatever gas he had that was causing a LOT of pain. Mothers Day didn’t start off well for us but breakfast was delish!

A milestone of sorts was passed this past week as well. One year ago on April 29th we lost our dear Aunt Barb. It still doesn’t really seem like I’ll never see her again and she won’t get to meet Devon. We miss you lots. I’m putting together a garden plan for the space near her grave that we’ll be installing on June 4th. She wanted to be near the rose garden so we’re going to give her a rose garden. If anyone is interested in helping us dig stuff into the ground that day, just let me know. We only have 136 plants to get in that day :)

In the last few weeks I have gone back to work, started my gardens, planned a few upcoming events for people, starting bike training and joined the Board of a nonprofit that works on raingarden education and advocating. I’m nuts. Everything else is a big N-O. Nope, can’t help you I’m booked through July. If I make it that long.
The one thing I will add on my plate is removing all of the items in the drawers and on top of our cabinets in the kitchen because we are getting COUNTERS NEXT WEEK. That’s right – no more plywood topped cabinets for us! Real counters! It will be ALMOST like a real kitchen! Someday we’ll add doors to those cabinets but having a real sink and a dishwasher is going to be pure heaven. A lot less boiling water to sterilize things! Woohoo!

So in general Devon is doing really well and continues to be quite photogenic – especially while sleeping. I’m struggling a bit these days finding energy and the bright side of things but I hope once I can get outside a bit more consistently and we get this bedtime business figured out that I will start feeling better.

Hope everyone had a lovely Mothers Day and bring on the real summer weather!

Week what?

We are at the point now where I have to look at the calendar to know how many weeks old Devon is. It’s a strange transition. You go from knowing EXACTLY how long the baby has been in your life to ‘Oh, about 14 weeks I think’. Now I find myself saying he is 3 ½ months old instead of counting by weeks.

Since Devon’s first visit with Russ’s coworkers was less than a success, we decided to try again. Perhaps Devon didn’t enjoy the office environment, so we opted to try for a bar instead. He was MUCH happier. I hope this is not indicative of the future. His first smell of Guinness and fish and chips.

For date night this month Russ and I dropped Devon off with his friends Erica, Ben and Finn and went to Big Bowl for some big bowls of food. I am pretty much STARVING at every meal these days (I know, Mom, big surprise) so this was an excellent fit. We were at the Galleria (kind of like shopping in Mequon or Bayshore) and saw this ridiculous stroller. I had seen it in an ad somewhere priced at $999. Which is why I remembered it. $999? It’s a stroller, not a nanny! Well, someone was convinced it was a good investment and they had it rolling around the Galleria. It was all I could do to not stare with my mouth open. The night we babysat for Finn we had to put him down for the night for the first time. . We did his usual routine of washing teeth (sort of, I wasn’t about to lose a digit), books, jammies. It was hilarious watching him walk around in his sleepsack. Time to turn out the lights and said good night and he was having nothing to do with that. I went back in to comfort him and no luck. Russ went in and told him “Finn, your mom and dad are out having a nice time and will be back in about an hour. Why don’t you lay down and go to sleep and when you wake up they will be here. Good night.” And guess what. He did. Not a peep after that.

We are working on our daycare routine. There are little triumphs each day. Last week I had to ask the director to tell his teachers that yes, he does need a bottle at 445. Going from 200 until after 530 when we get home is a recipe for disaster. She did and we had a MUCH better Tuesday night. My challenge at work is how to schedule my days to be in 3 ½ hour blocks at the MOST so I can pump. I am so used to just going going going and only needing to take a break when my stomach or bladder starts yelling at me. It is a good lesson in patience.

Devon had his first lunch at the Woman’s Club and did ‘pretty’ well. Some yelps at the beginning and then fell asleep in my lap. This was a good test for me – how do I manage my baby in a public place where his crying outright isn’t the best choice (aka, fancy shmancy place). Luckily he didn’t get super mad so we called it a success.

My big accomplishment this week was the first bike ride of the season! Of course I chose a SUPER windy day, but I did 10 miles in about 45 minutes and was quite pleased. Now I just need one more rest day so I can sit on the bike again and we’ll return to the road!

Currently, there are 3 cabinets sitting in our backyard awaiting installation TONIGHT! Russ is finishing up the toe kick and then he and I will put them in place! Hopefully then this week we will schedule measurements for counters and get the dishwasher hooked up!!! Fancy party is on the horizon…

This week Devon has started to really enjoy the game ‘airplane’. He looks around, holds his arms and legs out and laughs.

I also put him in the exersaucer for the first time. About 2 minutes in he was DONE but the next day he tolerated it for about 10 minutes and actually started interacting which was really fun to watch.

We can also tell that Devon has Russ's proportions - long torso, short legs. Poor kid is tall enough overall for the exersaucer but has a few more inches to go before he can bounce up and down in it himself...


He has started to really gnaw on more things. Well, really anything that he can get into his mouth – burp rags, toys, fingers. He is getting a little more coordinated at bringing things to his mouth but there is still a lot of refinement to go!

This week when I put him down for a nap he has started to fuss more. I’m not sure if he is starting to realize I am leaving him alone or that he doesn’t know what to do or what is going on. I leave him alone for about 10 minutes (unless he is all out upset) and he usually calms down and falls asleep. Not sure what is going on in that little brain. But he is super quiet if he is falling asleep in his baby bjorn. If you haven't seen that video on facebook, let me know and I will send it to you (videos take a LONG time on this site).

Next weekend Devon gets to meet his Auntie Anna for the first time! Looking forward to some new adventures with her.

Into Month Three

Many people have told me that time simply flys by when our kids are very little. I had not felt that way until about three weeks ago – right about when I wrote the last blog post. Since then we have had so many new experiences and adventures with Devon the time has really felt like it soaring by.However I had two of the LONGEST days of my life this week. Monday and Tuesday = first days back at work and Devon’s first days at daycare. I am job-sharing now so I only work 2 days a week, 10 hours each day. It’s really odd to go back to a job after 3 months of being off. Really odd. You know what to do but lots of little changes have happened while you were gone that you discover. I’m learning how to communicate in amazing detail so that this job share works well and our folks get the best service they can. The real trick is getting used to pumping 4 times a day in between other tasks at work. I think that may be the trickiest thing to get adjusted to. I tend to like to just work on a project and focus until I am done with it and I really can’t do that anymore. But man, I will get a lot of reading done!

Russ and I divide and conquer in terms of picking up and dropping Devon off and so far that has worked pretty well. It was a lot harder to leave Devon on day one than I anticipated. When it was time to go I couldn’t really talk or I’d be in danger of breaking out into sobs. I held it together…until I got to my car. Cried the whole way to work and then composed myself until I stepped into the lobby and got asked if it was hard to leave my baby and started up again. Once I got distracted by the mountains of catch-up I needed to do I was ok.

Daycare appears to completely wipe Devon out. Both days we picked him up and he got home and told us put me in my bed and leave me the heck alone, I need to sleep. And he did. We had to wake up a very sleepy baby to get him to eat before ‘bedtime’. Looking at the daily report from the daycare I think next week I will ask them to try and put him down for more naps. If I am reading it correctly it looks like he only took one nap all day and for this kid that is about 4 naps too few.

Today (Wednesday) we are home together and he is right back to his usual schedule and heavy into naps. Must be catching up from Monday and Tuesday.Two weeks ago we made our first road trip with Devon to visit Grafton. Overall I think it was a big success. He did fairly well in the car for 7 hours and we stopped twice for him to eat. Of course there were points when he was DONE being in the car but we weren’t quite to our destination so that was tough. When we got home and Russ went to take the screaming baby out of the car as SOON as Devon saw him come to unhook the car seat he stopped crying and was ok. We are planning a trip to Chicago over Memorial Day weekend and are considering flying there. We’ll see…Devon got to meet a boatload of new folks on our trip. Four great-grandparents were thrilled to meet him as well as a slew of aunts, uncles and cousins, friends and most of Port Washington. Here are some photos of meeting the great grandparents Terlizzi and Egelhoff:

Grammy Jan joined us for the weekend as well
and we all celebrated Russ and my mom’s birthdays.
In other news we have 3 MORE CABINETS IN THE KITCHEN! Last weekend we had the wonderful Maggie, Nick, Mom and Dad help us get three really large pieces in the kitchen. We’re slowly finding out what we have (2 years in storage makes you forget what you have so it’s sort of like Christmas morning) and what we have that makes us go ‘Why do we have this?’ Hopefully in the next couple of weeks we will get to put the last pieces in and order the countertops and OMG install the DISHWASHER. We are having a party when it’s all in. Here is what was added to the old butler's pantry space on Saturday:

I haven’t noticed any huge milestones with Devon in the last couple days. He is still doing really well pushing up and looking around on his tummy and starting to grab and bring things to his mouth. So far his favorite is his burp rag. Yum.

Think of us next week as we try to settle down in our Daycare routine again. Have a lovely spring week! Here is a great picture of four generations we took on our visit to Grafton -

Springtime baby

What a busy and relaxing week for us! Spring appears to really be coming as we were in the 60’s for a few days this week complete with sunshine. Devon got his first couple of outside walks in the stroller in as we explored what had changed in the neighborhood over the winter. As much as we love our stroller that the carseat clips into, it appears not to be the best choice for walking on the sidewalks in our neighborhood – very bumpy. So we hope to put him in the jogging stroller with its bigger wheels soon so he has a smoother ride. First however we have to dig it out of the garage…

We started off the week with a fantastic dinner with his godparents, Maggie and Nick. Devon was social for about 20 min and then needed to take a nap on a large floor pillow. We are so glad this kid can sleep anywhere.

As my maternity leave is winding down I’m trying to do as much visiting of friends as we can before our schedule gets a bit busier. This week Devon got to meet many new friends and made his first visit to the Guthrie. I had no idea I’d given birth to such a social butterfly.

Of course this week was St. Patrick’s Day and Devon insisted on celebrating:

The down side of the week was Wednesday’s doctor visit. Devon is very healthy and growing right on schedule but it was his first set of shots. We didn’t end up with a very good nurse (or MA, not sure) giving the shots so they took longer than I had hoped. It’s simply heartbreaking to watch his face go from calm, happy baby to a look of sheer terror. I wanted to cry right along with him. When she finally finished the 3 pokes and got the bandaids on, I fed him and that calmed him down pretty quickly. I think he felt kindy yucky after that so we took a nice long walk so he could sleep and a nice dose of Tylenol 

I hate to say it too loudly but remember last week when we told you all he slept through the night? (whisper) he is still doing it. Russ and I are amazed and thankful and nervous that it could end any day now. But 11pm till 7am makes for very happy parents.
You know what else makes for happy parents? KITCHEN CABINETS. The first two went in this weekend and two weekends from now the uppers are scheduled to go in!!!! I already put something on the shelf and in the drawer.

This week also marks my first real workout on a stationary bike. I’m back! Now all I need is a tuned up bike, some sun and a babysitter and I can hit the road.
This week we’re getting ready for our first road trip – to Grafton. Stay tuned for our adventures later next week.

10 weeks and on to spring

I’m going to start at the end of the week and work backwards this time because Devon hit a large milestone last night. He slept 8 HOURS. Straight. Without one wake-up-and-help-me-back-to-sleep session. When I looked at the clock and it said 7am the only reason I didn’t bolt up to see if he was alive was because I heard him cough. I feel like a million bucks today and hope to use all this energy to get a few things on my list done. If only I could figure out what caused such a wonderful night and duplicate it ALL THE TIME. And to think I was a little worried about daylight savings time messing him up. Ha! Let’s jump forward every night if it means he sleeps that long!

Saturday Devon came with me to the Volunteer Appreciation Party at my work. He did a really good job of being social for about an hour and then took a snooze in his baby bjorn. My coworkers and the volunteers loved meeting him and once he got cranky we were out of there which was not something I’ll be able to do in the future! This was also Devon’s first day wearing overalls. Big milestone. He has about 16 other pairs in various sizes so it’s just the first of many days in the future.

One of my former coworkers has a little guy who is about a year and a half and we have decided to try to swap babysitting services about every month so we can all go on date night. Russ and I got first crack at that Friday night. This was Devon’s first time away from the house with someone else watching him and he did great. Mom and Dad also did great and didn’t call to check in once. We had a lovely dinner together at a fancy smancy Italian restaurant called I Nonni. Gotta love those internet deals!

Other big firsts this week include waiting for his first oil change and visiting Menards and Home Depot. Stick with me kid and the fun will just get better and better. However the trip to Home Depot was to get a quote for our kitchen countertops!! We are getting closer and closer…

I’ve noticed Devon has started pulling easy things towards his mouth – such as his blanket if he is covered up and his clothing and of course his own hands. He is still doing stellar on the tummy time when he is in his birthday suit and when he is looking around propped up on a boppy.

Today we also noticed for the first time that he seems to be starting to 'reach' for toys in his jungle gym. Here is a video of him sort of playing with the bird:



The weather has very much turned towards the spring feeling and tonight we plan to take our first walk outside with Devon and get him used to being outside – he’s going to be spending quite a lot of it outside between our biking, camping and gardening this summer! Have a good week!

9 Weeks and still smiling

This has been the best week so far for Devon in many ways. He is becoming very consistent with his sleeping and eating patterns (even though that could change at the drop of a hat) and is a smiley, happy boy when he is awake. Unless he is thinking hard and then he puts on serious face or furrows his eyebrows. We believe we have entered the Winston Churchill phase. Russ has a theory that all babies at some point look like Winston Churchill for awhile. Here is photographic evidence and a photo we're sure he'll hate us for later:

Devon is also very good at letting us know when he’s had enough and is ready for a nap. He looks away, gives up sleepy eyes or starts to get cranky. Bundle him up, lay him in his crib with a nuk and bam, out like a light. We are so thankful since this means we get more rest.

This week we had a few fun outings and even ts. Devon went to meet my coworkers at Vision Loss Resources and it looks like he may be bound more for a career in the nonprofit sector as he was a super happy kid during this visit – unlike his US Bank adventure. We played Pass the Baby and he smiled a bit and then fell asleep. I’m sure some staff members wouldn’t have minded falling asleep during the meeting too, but well, less socially acceptable for them I guess.
Devon and I also met with the staff at the church where my aunt Barb is buried to finalize plans for redoing the rose garden near her. It’s a go! My Uncle Tom helped me come up with a plan and the church is on board and even willing to foot the bill of whatever we can’t cover so we can get it all done this year. I’m now working on the details of when and where to get plants and am really looking forward to this project. In a few years that garden will actually LOOK like a rose garden instead of a bunch of dead twigs and red woodchips.

Devon had another play date with his neighborhood friend Benjamin on Friday. While they don’t actually interact with each other yet, they did hand out near each other while Jody and I had lunch. And Devon lucked out and got some hand me down outfits that don’t fit Benji anymore. My kind of shopping! Now we have more than 4 outfits that fit him until he grows a bit more.
Today marks my return to water aerobics at the Y! And no, I am not bringing him to sit on the side of the pool with me. That just sounds like a horrible idea for the Y. Today also is the day we are getting a bike trailer!! I found a used Chariot on Craigslist and Russ is headed out to pick it up today.

And get this – it comes with the attachments like the jogging stroller, infant sling and wait for it….SKI attachment. That’s right, I can go skiing and pull Devon along behind me next year! Russ says that way maybe he can keep up with me…

I have been rather surprise d at how many people think that now that we have a baby our lives are basically going to stop. Of course it will be different and adjustments will be made but for goodness sakes, yes, I can sign my name and hold Devon in the other arm. Yes, I can spend 4 hours a month working on a volunteer project, yes I can go back to work, yes I can train for a bike ride and yes, I can garden. Not all at once of course but my goodness, Devon is a baby not a soufflé!

This week we're in for a bunch of shots and more field trips. Send soothing thoughts tomorrow afternoon to Devon!

2 Months already!

It’s getting harder to tolerate this continued winter as we get more and more used to life with Devon – I want to go outside for walks, ride a bike, show him the gardens etc! Come on spring, we welcome you with open arms this year. However, the weather man today said we could be in for a foot of snow next week. Oy. Devon is practicing for when he can ride a motorcycle:

This last week Devon met his first group of Computer Programmers. Sadly it doesn’t seem like he will grow up to be one – he spent most of the visit rather upset. Normally a car ride and a stroller walk will put him out like a light but not last Tuesday. We hope Russ’s coworkers didn’t take it personally.

Miss April came over to spend some time ‘snoogling’ with Devon while I went to the chiropractor and a few errands. They had a delightful time together and Devon tells me he can’t wait to see his April again.

I am exploring local places that are easy to take Devon out to eat at. Such as – places that have a good safe spot for his carseat and that won’t mind if he starts to get a little fussy. So far we have conquered the Longfellow Grill, Town Talk Diner this week (with his new friend Aubrey who is 2 weeks older) and then this weekend we went out for dinner at the Chatterbox. This place was ideal because it’s a) dark b) usually fairly loud with conversations and games being played and c) full of kids of all ages anyways. Plus the food is awesome. Grilled cheese and tomato soup ahoy!

The big excitement this week however was that Grammy Jan came up to meet and get to know Devon. Wednesday night she arrived for introductions. As expected, Devon loves her.

Colbie however isn’t convinced yet about him (the dog). We think she was a bit jealous of Jan holding another little being. Grammy spent lots of time with Devon while Russ and I got out of the house a bit. On Friday I had the BEST half hour massage of my life. Lifting and nursing Devon seems to have made my upper back rather tight and this massage made me feel a lot lighter. And after that I went into the hot tub at the Y for the first time since last March – divine.

The other great escape of the weekend was Russ and I had date night on Sunday. We went to Broders Pasta Bar which we’ve wanted to try for a long time. The food was fantastic and a big THANK YOU to Grammy Jan for such a nice evening.

Devon has had several nights of awesome sleep – 11pm until 530am – and some nights where he wakes up a few times, not necessarily hungry even. These nights I noticed Houdini had worked his arms out of his swaddle blanket. So we started using the Miracle Blanket which is a special swaddle blanket that has extra flaps to REALLY hold his arms down. I would say the nights we have used this so far he has stayed asleep until he is actually hungry! Yea for sleep!

The other good discovery this week was we tried doing Tummy Time like usual but minus any clothing. Point the little heater at the naked baby on his tummy and he is MUCH happier to work his back muscles. This kid will love summer.

Devon seems to have hit his stride. He’s discovered his hands and that they *sort* of fit in his mouth. He’s working on that skill as often as he can. He is eating well, putting himself to sleep more often than not and much less fussy in general. Now we actually have some smiling, playing time when he is awake instead of just trying to keep him from crying. This is a huge difference and makes it much more fun to get to know him plus it means I can get some other things done when he is awake other than entertaining him. One night he woke up about 3am and started talking and flirting with his mobile. Not sure how it responded but he fell back asleep after awhile on his own.

We said goodbye to Grammy Jan and Colbie on Monday morning and look forward to a fun week of smiles and naps.