All Geared Up!

Evan has a new carrier! We are all geared up and ready to walk for the American Heart Association. The walk is Saturday, May 3rd. This was a spur of the moment decision so we don't have a lot of time to raise support. If you would like to support our team and make a donation visit my AHA page! We'll post pictures from the event!!


In other news, Evan is now 8 months old! He is around 21 pounds. Quite a chunky monkey!! He is still rolling to get where he wants to go. I now call him "Mr. Independent Sitter" as he is doing very well sitting on his own. His new trick is "High Five." He loves for people to put up their hand so he can give them high fives! It's so funny and he gets a charge out of it, too! Today he has also been experimenting with his vocal volume. This time instead of screaming and sqealing, he was whispering to himself. It was cracking me up! Evan starts with a new sitter, Ms. Debbie, on Monday. His previous sitter was licensed for day care and could only have 2 infants at time. We are hoping that he likes his new playmates, he already likes the cat, Gabby, that lives there!

Cabin Fever: Times Two!

On Sunday, Evan didn't seem well and felt kind of warm to me. So, following the mama instinct, I took his temperature (the accurate way, which he tolerated quite well). Good thing that I did, the poor baby had a fever of 103! I was a little freaked, but considered the facts that he was nursing well, wasn't overly congested and wasn't having difficulty breathing, I decided to treat at home and not run to the e.r. Some Motrin followed a few hours later by some Tylenol and his temp was down to 99.6 by bedtime.

Monday had to be a sick day for me as Evan's sitter doesn't take kids that have had a fever in the past 24 hours. I wholly agree with that policy. Evan had a temp most of the day around 100 anyway. He was only happy if he could lay in Mama's big bed and nurse and sleep, which he did most of the day. Thankfully he was agreeable to also do this on the futon so I could watch Oprah and the 5 o'clock news and not go completely crazy!

Tuesday was better. No fever and he went to the doctor for his 6 month check-up. He received his shots as well. By the way, he is now 26 and 3/4 inches long and 19 lbs 2 oz. I told the doctor about the fevers and she confirmed that he likely had a virus and she saw inflammation in his left ear. She told me to give her a call if the fever came back and she would call in a script for antibiotics. No fever before bed last night.

This morning I got up and got showered for work. I could hear Evan fussing in his crib so I got dressed and went to get him ready for the day. I put him on the changing table to dress him and he totally freaked out! He is usually the happiest first thing in the morning. Okay, I thought, he's probably just really hungry. I nursed him, but when I put him back on the changing table he started screaming again. Today his temp was102.2. So we made calls to the doctor, the sitter and my work, then I took Evan to sleep in the big bed.

Our only outing today has been to the Shop N Save to get Evan's amoxicillan and to the Starbuck's to get me a skinny sugar-free latte. What a day to start South Beach again! How long till my Laughing Cow cheese wedge and celery? Hopefully Evan will be feeling better tomorrow and we can go walk the track at the Y. For now, I'll close as my right hand is tired from typing and my left arm has fallen asleep from holding Evan! Why did I have to make this such a long post?!

Send More Milk!

The request of my babysitter on Monday, relayed through Robert, was send extra clothes and send more milk. Send more milk?! I usually send along 3 full bottles of breast milk with Evan totaling somewhere between 15 and 18 oz. So, as of Wednesday, I'm now sending 4 full bottles, 20-24 oz. And I spend a lot more time with my trusty breast pump.


Here it is in its "at home" location on the end of the futon. Then I can pump and watch Leno and not be driven as crazy by the sucking, whooshing sound! It travels with me to work so that I can spend half of my lunch hour with it as well. I never thought that my breastpump would be the most-used baby shower gift, ever!

Pumping more to get more milk also makes more dishes. Here's my kitchen counter complete with bottles, lids, etc that are air-drying.


And because I cannot and am not willing to breastfeed forever, we have started giving Evan "tastes" of rice cereal and banana.


Of course, it will take a little while until Evan is proficient at eating solids. So, in the meantime, I'm spending extra time with my pump and sipping more nursing mom tea!

Savoring Every Moment

I have been thinking a lot since Evan has been born about how I view time. I had a habit for most of my life of "wishing time away." What I mean by that is I would always be looking to the next event rather than focusing on the present. When I was 9 I wanted to be 10, when I was 12 I wanted to be 13, when I was in high school I wanted to be in college, when I was in college I wanted to be in a real job, when I was dating I wanted to be married, etc.

I think you get the point.

I was never satisfied with my life as it currently was. When I reached 29, I began to see that I wasn't going to make all of those "some days" happen. I was not able to keep reaching for everything that I didn't have without missing out on what I had already been blessed with.

The potential for whiling time away grew exponentially with Evan's birth. Not only could I wish away my own life, I could also wish away the life of my child. If only he could talk, walk, use the bathroom on his own, bath himself, drive.

I could wake up one day and not only have missed out on my entire life, but also on the life of my family.

Now I hardly like to think much past today and definitely not past this week. It scares me how fast time has already gone in my life and in Evan's short life thus far. I don't want to miss a single precious moment wishing for "some day". I don't want to miss a single opportunity to teach Evan, to comfort him when he's upset, to snuggle him and love him. I don't want to miss a single "first time" or sweet smile.

I don't want to miss my life.

Celebrity Cribs

Okay, so maybe not celebrity cribs, but definately a crib! Evan and I embarked on our first mother/son project this week when we assembled his crib! I told him that this is the first of many "big boy" beds he will get to sleep in. We will begin the transition from bassinet to crib in a couple of weeks. First he needs to get adjusted to me going back to work two days a week. One change at a time...