All the Sun For You

A mom, two boys, a husband, and a whole lot of adventure!


by 7 Comments

Glitches

Oh my g0d, we are finally home!  It only took us 8 hours in the car including a 2 hour stop for lunch and for Matthew to stretch his legs.  Ha!  EIGHT hours!  Had I realized it would take 8 hours (with a break) before we booked the trip, I may have found somewhere closer to visit.  The drive up was just fine (very little screaming from Matthew) but holy hell, poor Matthew did not enjoy the drive home.  Not.at.all.

I still stand by my assessment that 4 nights was perfect for traveling with a baby.  The problem we had was that Matthew got up an hour earlier each.and.every.morning.  By the last night, he got up at 2:00 AM and that is just insane.  The first night was 4:00, then 3:30, then 3:00, and then 2:00.  I did not sleep well on this trip, but I still had a good time.  We let him come into bed with us when he woke up because, quite honestly, that was easier than trying to coax him back to sleep – but he just does not sleep well with us so that means that I don’t sleep well.

We are re-thinking our trip out west in July.  The main issue that I see is that I would be bringing Matthew back with me by myself while B stays out in the Seattle area for a week of work.  I just cannot handle Matthew screaming in his car seat on a plane for 3-4 hours, which could realistically happen.  I also don’t think it’s fair to do that to anyone else on the plane.  Another reason we’re rethinking it is that it was really hard getting out and about with a baby because of his eating and napping schedule and I want us to relax on the trip and that’s hard to do when you’re living in 3 hour increments.  And finally, we would be in a hotel room instead of a house, like this last trip, and I just don’t see how that will work.  We’d put Matthew to sleep at 8:30 and then we’d go to bed too, or at least hang out with our laptops not making any noise because we have a sleeping baby 5 feet away.  It is just sounding like a bad idea.  Maybe the fact that we haven’t bought plane tickets yet is a sign to not go.

So this trip was a success, in my opinion, but I’m pretty good at making lemonade out of lemons.  I don’t need to be super busy on a trip to be happy.  B likes to be busy and going on adventures all the time.  You can see where there could be some incompatibility  😉  I enjoyed the views, the cottage, the pool, just being away from home.  It was nice!  We had some glitches (like the weather, the schedule, the sleeping), but all-in-all, I think it worked out well and would do it again – but somewhere closer.

We had a major glitch… and it is still not 100% resolved.  I mentioned the ER a couple posts ago.  Oh my, what I’m about to explain made for a terrible night (night 2 of the trip) and I think this ruined the entire trip for B.

As I’ve mentioned before, I am a VERY relaxed mother.  If Matthew wants to try something new, like walking, I just stand back and let him do it.  If he wants to play by the fireplace, I make sure it’s off and let him have at it.  I don’t hover.  B is not like me.  😉  On Monday night, Matthew was walking all over the cottage and I just let him do it because – hey – that’s what I do.  Yes, it was a tile floor, but so is the floor at home.  I let him explore and get content in his new surroundings in his own way.  B was very nervous about the tile floor and the new skill of walking and was right behind Matthew as he was checking things out.  At one point, Matthew started to run just a bit and B followed closely – too closely.  He tripped and landed his heavily-shod foot on Matthew’s left ankle.  He heard a pop.  Matthew screamed and screamed.  Nursing wouldn’t calm him, and he wouldn’t put weight on that leg.  So.. off the ER we went.  By the time we got there, Matthew was happy and putting some weight on his leg, but not walking on it.  The doctor didn’t do an X-ray because he believed he was fine and that they do too many X-rays these days (I agree – and it would have scared Matthew).   We headed home.

He hasn’t walked much since.  The most he can do is 4-5 steps, and he was walking almost 100% of the time  😦  We are getting an X-ray tomorrow afternoon.  Poor baby!  Poor Daddy!  B is just beside himself – and said that it’s all he has thought about since it happened.  He keeps saying he broke Matthew, and that he took walking away from him.  I know that Matthew is going to be just fine – and that he likely IS just fine – he’s just needing to learn how to trust his feet again.  But it is hard to watch when he was off and running just 3 days ago.

Even with all of this, I still consider our trip a success.  Maybe I’m just an eternal optimist – I don’t know.  But I really did have a great time!  I wish B had as well, but there’s nothing I could have done to change anything.  I do think Matthew had a great time (aside from the long car trips) – although he sure is happy to be home, with his kitty cats, and in his own bed!

This slideshow requires JavaScript.


by 1 Comment

Vacation Perfection

We’re on vacation! It’s beautiful here, but cold. Oh so cold! When we packed Matthew’s clothes, B said he wouldn’t need long pants because it would only be cold at night. I ALWAYS over pack, so I brought half of M’s 12-18 month wardrobe including pants and hoodies. That decision has paid off!

I will update more when I’m home, but it’s been an eventful trip with a trip to the ER (everyone is OK), teething, and early (insanely, swear-inducing early) mornings. BUT it’s been a great week of just family and limited technology. The only reason I’m getting away with using my phone for blogging is that B’s company is making major announcements this week and he’s keeping up with them on his slate. We agreed to limit time on phones and his slate, but the man’s got to work some and that means blogging and reading for me! I’m not complaining!

Matthew naps like a champ here! Why wont he sleep alone past 3 or 4 in the morning? I am one tired woman. He doesn’t sleep well in bed with us and I nurse him almost the whole time he’s in bed with us, so I don’t sleep well either and my girls need a freaking break! Ouch!

We come home tomorrow. I think 4 nights is the perfect time away with a baby. 5 nights is actually my own shelf-life for vacations so this one worked out great! The cottage is so comfortable! It feels like we’re home but on the lake. I think our accommodations have made the trip super easy! A regular hotel room would not have worked…. And that has me a bit edgy about our trip next month.

I’m not ready to go home just yet, but I will be tomorrow. Vacation perfection was achieved this time!


by 6 Comments

Try Again

We’re on our way to the cottage on Lake Superior. Matthew handled the first 3.5 hours like a champ. We stopped at Whole Foods, bought some essentials, ate some lunch, tried to explain my t-shirt to a random guy (“guns don’t kill people. People from Texas kill people”)* and packed back up for the remaining 2.5 hour drive. At that point, Matthew had been out of the car for an hour and a half, chatting it up with everyone in site (and there was a festival going on in the parking lot so there was a lot of chatting to do!), and had no interest in getting back in the car.

Cue the screaming!

He was ready for a nap but was so upset about being back in the car, that he refused to sleep. It was deafening, and my heart ached for him. He was just so sad.

So we stopped to get gas and I made room for myself in the backseat with him. While making room, I found one of the pacifiers we’d tried when we were working on his sleep habits. I figured, “why the hell not? Try it!” And….

He took it and did what he was supposed to do with it (versus play with it and chew it like he’s always done before)! It calmed him instantly! I was stunned and didn’t expect it to last. But it did! And he fell asleep! I cannot believe this! And before you say it, yes I know that I may have caused a new habit to rid him of later, but I’ll deal with that later. I think I may use this when I start weaning Matthew later this month (cue the tears).

* So the shirt… I should not have worn it to Whole Foods, of all places. Bad decision. I wasn’t thinking. But I like the shirt. I like the message… Or what I thought the message was (I figured it was just making fun of Texans for wielding their guns all over the place). After pondering for about 5 minutes, the guy who asked about it piped up and said he thought it had to do with Texas killing so many people with their death penalty. Hmmm… Yes… That makes much more sense. And I now like this shirt even more!!!! I don’t find it as funny as I did, but I am totally against the death penalty so I’m perfectly comfortable making this statement.


by 8 Comments

A Confession

I am putting this out there – because it needs to be said – and then released forever.

I used to be a runner – I ran a LOT.  If there was a 5K, 10K, 20K, or half marathon in my vicinity, you were sure to see me there.  Hell, we’d travel for the right race.  We also got really into adventure racing which B and I agree were the best days of our lives before Matthew was born.  You would expect an avid runner to have a decent amount of running clothes.  I mean – I ran almost every.single.day.

I am embarrassed.  Truly, truly embarrassed.  I went down to the basement to dig out my old fitness clothes since I’ve shrunk a bit lately and I was horrified at what I found.  Piles of running shorts and shirts.  Those things are thin and compact, so when I opened up a tub labelled “Courtney summer fitness,” I expected to find all sorts of things (like camping and hiking gear, for example).  No – the entire tub was full of running shorts and shirts.

How is that even possible?  I had an obsession back then, and I bought running gear like it was going out of style.  I won’t reveal quantities because it’s that embarrassing (and I didn’t count them because that would have upset me even more) – but it’s appalling.  I remember waiting with great anticipation to see what the latest Ad.id.as Sup.er.nova shirts and shorts would look like each season because I thought I needed new stuff each season. I was the Ad.id.as marketing machine’s dream come true.

The only good thing about today’s finding is that I will not buy running shorts or shirts for a long time – and maybe forever.  I have shorts and shirts for every “version of Courtney” and as I change shape and sizes over the years, I’ll just go shopping in the closet of “that’s too small” or “that’s too big” to get the latest running fashions (well… the latest fashions as of 2010!).


by 3 Comments

24 Hours

Matthew has been walking for 24 hours.  He is becoming much better at it as the hours minutes tick by.  I thought that maybe he’d revert back to crawling once we got home, but no – he is insistent on perfecting his new skill!

I have been crying for 24 hours.  The sobbing comes and goes – it comes while I’m nursing him, or when a lullaby that sounds like the music in his birth video comes on, or while B is taking photos of him eating table food, or when he’s enthusiastically turning the pages of his books and giggling at the pictures.  I am a wreck.  I don’t want my baby to grow up.

Last night in the hotel, after Matthew fell asleep, B and I whispered to each other how amazing this all is – how fun it is to watch his eyes as he figures out how to move his body, how he has a new giggle that came out of nowhere, how big he’s getting so fast.  B mentioned that we’ll just have to have another baby soon.  I asked if we could have two more.  He said that we should start with the next one and go from there  😉

But I told B tonight that it’s not that I want another baby.  I want Matthew to stay the wonderful baby that he is.  I just want more time with my baby  😦

This slideshow requires JavaScript.


by 2 Comments

Milestones Make Me Sad

There have been tears tonight. Matthew is no longer a baby – he is walking. Not taking steps… But walking. We’re in a hotel and he took to exploring the room via just his feet. I am really sad 😦

He is also clearly understanding, “no,” and that makes me happy! He now stops what he’s doing about 80% of the time when you tell him to stop. Oh, so very happy!!!! 🙂

And he also went bowling for the first time, which made him sad. Too noisy! He scored a 7… In just one frame. Not too bad. I scored 55 after 7 frames. I’m a bad bowler! 😦

And finally, tomorrow is our 5th anniversary. This makes me very, VERY happy 🙂


by 15 Comments

Yeah – It Doesn’t Work That Way

It hit me today that I will NOT be doing our FET in August like I thought.  When my friend was over today with her daughter, we talked through my cycle and I realized that I won’t get my first post-nursing period until August, at which time my RE wants to do a mock transfer.  They will put me on BCP on day 1 of that first cycle and then the FET will be about 45 days later.  We’re looking at September or early October, which is when we did the transfer for Matthew.  I am totally cool with this – but it did surprise me that I hadn’t thought through this earlier than now.

The good news of all of this is that I’m obviously not obsessed with TTC/IVF like I was when we were trying so hard to get Matthew.  When we were working on getting him, I would build spreadsheets to figure out when I may cycle if this one, or that one, didn’t work and if I had a chemical pregnancy, etc.  I was a crazy woman.  This time?  My RE said we’d do the cycle in August and I just figured, “oh, a  transfer in August.”  No – it does not work that way  😉  So late September it will be if I get my period when I expect it.

Again – totally cool with it!  It means I have even more time with just Matthew, which is ultimately what I want.  The idea of another baby makes me a little sad because Matthew is my bestie and I don’t want that to change.  But I do want him to have a bestie that is closer to his age than his dear old mom – and that is why we’re doing this when we are.  He LOVES other kids and really needs to have one of his own at home  😉


by 4 Comments

Splish Splash!

I think we have a swimmer on our hands!  I took Matthew to the pool for the first time today – and he loved it!  I wasn’t sure how he would take to it because he likes his baby pool I got for the yard, but he likes to be OUTSIDE it and leaning over the edge and splashing his toys around.  He loves his baths, so I was hopeful that with the pool being indoors, that it would be similar.

I went with a friend and she brought a floaty thing for him – and he liked that quite a bit.  But once he got comfortable, he wanted out of that thing and in the water!  My friend’s little girl will be 2 in August, so she’s a big kid compared to Matthew.  Everything she did – he wanted to do – including going down the slide.  I was very hesitant but my friend said that the gal who teaches the baby swimming class will put 6-month old babies down the slide – so we did it.  He loved it – but I didn’t like not having him in my arms so he only did it once  😉

We went to the deep end (of the kiddie pool – so my shoulders were still exposed) and he tried to get away from me several times.  He let me put him on his back, dunk him completely in the water (loved that!!!), put his face in so he could blow bubbles, splash him, and the big thing that he did was jump off the edge of the pool into my arms.  Holy smokes – everyone – this kid has nerves of steel!  I am not even elaborating here – my friend was shocked by his nerves.  He would stand there on the edge holding my hands, then put his hands above his head (“so big” style), and then grab my fingers and jump to me!  And if I put him on the wall seated, he would jump to me without holding onto my fingers.

It was a success!  There was not a single moment of tears, panic, etc.  When we started, he hung on pretty tight and nibbled my shoulder (I’m realizing that that’s his soothing mechanism which I should stop before it gets to be a problem – but it’s so darned cute!) but that was very short-lived.

We will do this weekly.  I had a ball!  We were in the water for an hour and a half.  And can I just say – I LOVED hanging out with my friend and her daughter!  They are going to join us each week which is very exciting for us.  I really needed the adult interaction!

We head up north in a couple days and they have an indoor pool, so I’m off to buy a new bathing suit on Friday.  The one I have is pinned up on the sides and the bottoms almost fall off when I get out of the water.  It does the job when we’re in the hot tub, but it’s not good for moving around in a real pool.  I HATE spending money on bathing suits (they are so expensive and I’m not secure in my shape and size) but I will do this for the boy.

The one problem we had was getting ready at the beginning and then redressing at the end.  There is no place to put your baby, so I had to literally put him in my duffel bag with stuff all around him to keep him in one spot while I changed.  We made it work, but it was concerning given that the entire dressing area was concrete.  After yesterday’s big event, I’m a little cautious.

Matthew had an unexpected play date then when he woke up from his afternoon nap.  His very first friend, Hailey, came over and they played like crazy!  They hugged, chased, and pummeled each other for well over an hour.  Matthew was exhausted after she left, and that was just an hour and a half after waking up from his nap.  Good times!

B asked if I took photos at the pool.  My response?  “Are you freaking crazy?!  There was no way I could take photos!”  He will get to see Matthew in his pool action come Sunday or Monday.  YAY!  He’s going to LOVE it!