Good things come in small packages

My friends Lisa and Damian have much reason to celebrate. Their little boy Dylan is finally home from the hospital after 17 long days in the NICU. My mom, little man and I went to see him yesterday. He weighs 4 pounds and gaining quickly. Here he is with his mommy who is totally in love and just can't get enough of him. I don't think she's going to want to put him down the whole weekend; she's going to have to though because her baby shower is tomorrow!

Projects and experimentation

Hello again. I feel like I've been slacking on the blog front lately. What can I say? Lots of stuff going on at work, at home, in general. We're doing some home improvement stuff these days. We changed the fan in the living room and we're painting the banisters on the stairs and we're getting new kitchen cabinets in a couple of weeks and we also bought some paint for our bedroom. We also plan on changing the floor downstairs and we plan on getting some furniture for the patio. I'm also contemplating switching around the family room and the dining room since the hubster wants to see what it would look like. Lots of plans...not enough time. Ever since we got the wood floors, my house looks like an asylum (hm, perfect for this year's haunted house theme), it wasn't super neat before, but now it's really hectic. We're slowly organizing everything though.

Well, on Saturday, little man and I went to a friend's surprise birthday party. He got a chance to see his little friend Sofia again and he got to play with some new toys. I had been wanting to get him that little play table, but I couldn't find it anywhere. Fortunately, my friend Marilu has one that she wants to get rid of so I lucked out. Yay!

Another thing I have been doing for the past week or so is a little experiment of sorts. You see, I was wondering why C-man wasn't crawling and I got to thinking that perhaps it was because we weren't letting him crawl or giving him the opportunity to do so. The thing is, Christian has this NASTY habit of throwing himself backwards when he's pissed off, sooooo we can't really put him on the floor to explore cause at any moment he'll just throw himself back and hurt his head (no carpet anymore). So usually what we do is just have him on the bed, buuuuut we have to sit with him and put barriers (pillows) up so that he doesn't just roll off...aaaaand all his toys are within reach so he doesn't really have to work to get at them. Anyway I bought a floor mat for his playroom and decided that I would just let him sit there in the middle to see what he would do. Last week the nanny was on vacation and Ren stayed home with Christian every day. I told him to do the same; to take him downstairs to the playroom and just sit him on the mat to see if perhaps we can get some movement going on. So what do you think happens when you put Christian in the middle of a vast floor mat and you put the toys just slightly out of reach? It's taken a week, but what happens is this, and this and this and this and of course this mess too.

First freak-out

I took the day off from work on Wednesday to take the little man to the pediatrician. He's finally over the 50% mark. The doctor says he looks fine. Not skinny, not fat, just perfectly fine. He's 27+ inches tall and weighs 19 point something pounds (he just refuses to go over the 20 mark...I hear ya buddy). While we were there, she started giving us a lecture about not forcing him to eat because it will mess up his "I'm full" regulator and it will make him a fat adult.
He also was going to get a shot. Usually, we put a little numbing cream on his leg so that it doesn't hurt too much. The cream has to stay on for an hour though, so the nurse puts it on and covers it with Saran wrap and some tape. Well, (and here comes the scary party), while the doc was giving my mother and myself a lecture about the child's eating habits, neither of us noticed when Christian took a piece of tape off his leg and put it into his mouth. My mom noticed later on that he was producing excessive saliva and that he had a worried look on his face and was hacking at something. The doctor looked at him and told me to whack him on the back. I patted his back a couple of times, but he just kept dripping saliva all over himself and he clearly looked troubled. The doctor came over to me and took him from me and turned him up-side-down and gave him a couple of good hard whacks on his back. She turned him back up and he was still struggling to breathe. She turned him back over and whacked him some more and up came the piece of tape. She handed it to me and said "here you go". She gave the baby back to me and continued on as if nothing had happened. "If that ever happens again", she said "don't panic". Easier said than done! Christian was fine after the choking episode (not even a whimper); I on the other hand was a nervous wreck. Guess who's watching her kid like a hawk now? It's scary to think that this is only the first of many freak-outs that I have yet to encounter in the land of parenthood.

Get a life

This Is My Life, Rated
Life:	7.5
Mind:	7.3
Body:	5.5
Spirit:	6.2
Friends/Family:	7.4
Love:	5.5
Finance:	8.5
Take the Rate My Life Quiz

Apparently, when it comes to Body (the junk food is doing me in) and Love, I need to get a life. I think it should be more like bodylove though, I really need to get some more of that, well, either that or a new body. It looks like I rated ok in the Mind department (a true sign that this test must be defective). My spirit isn't doing too hot, but hey, I've got friends and family and the money situation isn't bad! Take the quiz...

Fact of the Millennium

In the mornings, Ren watches Chris until about 11 and then he drops him off at my mom's house. Usually in the early morning, they hang out in our bed together playing with toys and watching TV. I'm not against having the boy watch TV as long as it's sesame street or cartoons or something remotely related to children; Unfortunately, Ren likes to watch MTV sometimes. The other morning, I commented to him that I didn't think he should subject Chris to the music videos that he watches in the mornings. As usual, I think it went in one ear and out the other. Later that day, when I got to work and read my email, I found the following tidbit in one of the thousand weekly/daily/monthly parenting emails that I get. I hit the FWD button and sent it off to my hubby of course:

claudiasworkemail@companywhereclaudiaworks wrote:

FACT OF THE WEEK: Theodore Wachs, a Purdue University professor of psychological sciences, has determined that children from highly noisy or chaotic homes experience less cognitive growth, delayed language skills, increased anxiety and have difficulty mastering their environment. To tone down the level of noise in your house, don't use the TV as background noise, establish a quiet place for your child to be by herself and read to your child in a quiet place. TV-Free Ideas for Baby

Claudia : 0)

To which he replied:

Noted. I will read more and more to our son.

FACT OF THE MILLENNIUM

Renato Lastname, a husband in Miami, Florida has determined his wife does not fold the clothes after the laundry is completed. And he noted the dishes are not done on a nightly basis.

Quite the comedian I have eh?

Christian dances to the music videos now.

P U

I got a little package in the mail earlier this week. WOW. Let me just say that the package itself smelled like ass and I hadn't even opened it yet. My mailbox smelled like ass. I opened my other mail and it smelled like ass. This is one potent product. Too bad blogs aren't scratch and sniff, otherwise, I'd tell you to put your nose up the screen for a little sniff (and you would look like a fool). Heck, this shit is so strong, that you probably could smell it through the screen. In fact, it smells so foul that I haven't had the courage to open the package. It's just sitting there on my bedroom floor inside a plastic bag with a zipper on it (yes, I had to put several layers of protection).

Ren came home the night that I got and I told him that I had received a package that smelled like ass. He doesn't have the same sense of humor as I do, so he couldn't quite grasp why in the world I would want something that smelled like ass and pay for it to boot! I asked him if he wanted to smell it and he just gave me this nasty look and said "no, why would I want to smell some ass?". "Aren't you the slightest bit curious?" I asked. He said "no". Some people I tell ya...

I got a couple of bottles so I can send one to my uncle (who shares my sense of humor) and one to my friend Jen (so if you're reading this Jen, get ready for something smelly in your box...hm, that didn't quite come out right). I'm going to send her some gloves too though because I don't even want to touch it. I sure am going to have fun pranking on people with this...assuming that is, that I ever work up the nerve to open it.

New little buddy

I'm baaaack! Ok, I've been back for some days now, but it takes me a couple of days to regroup. Our trip to Busch Gardens in Tampa was great! It was partly cloudy so the sun wasn't Africa hot and beaming down on us. It did rain, but not until 5 or 6 pm, so we got to enjoy most of the day without getting wet (unless you count the water rides)! Christian was a good sport and was well behaved (including the car trip to and fro). He got to go on his first ride ever. Mind you, the merry-go-round wasn't too thrilling for him (as you can see by the look on his face), but I told him that he couldn't ride the Sheikra just yet, we have to build up to it slowly. He spent some time practicing his walking. He really likes to just take off as if he could walk by himself; he just throws himself forward without a care in the world.

In other, more exciting news, Christian has a new little buddy. My friends Damian and Lisa had their baby boy on July 10 at 10:10pm. He was born premature at 3.8 lbs, but he's doing great and breathing on his own. What a strong little boy! I went to see him at the hospital yesterday and he's already got quite a little personality on him; he didn't like having his diaper changed and made it known to everyone within earshot. What a cutie! Welcome to the world Dylan Charles!

Do the locomotion

I finally uploaded my pictures from the Fourth of July. We went to Amanda's house to do some scrapbooking and a little BBQ'ing (yum!). My friend Karen and her hubby showed up too and we got to see their little baby girl Isabella again. She is so cute! She looks just like her mommy. What a cute little family! Christian spent some time with his friend Sophie again. She was trying to teach him how to clap his hands, but he wasn't having it. Afterwards we went to my mom's house to watch the fireworks in our community. Christian stayed home with his daddy though. The fireworks were way past his bedtime and if there's anything that I've learned, it's to not mess with his bed time, or I will pay for it dearly with repetitive wakings the whole night.

Yesterday when I picked Christian up from my mom's house, my mom told me to put him in the walker so that I could see how he travels around the house. I was skeptical because I figured he can't even crawl, how is he going to be walking? Well, he proved his mama wrong. He was walking all over the place! I was like "wow, he can even turn too!". I didn't have my camera with me though, so there is no picture; you'll just have to take my word for it.

We have an "exciting" weekend planned. We're going to drive up to Tampa later today and go to Busch Gardens tomorrow. My cousin is in town from El Salvador, so we wanted to take him before he leaves. Unfortunately, I think we're going to get rained on, but this is the last weekend he will be here, so it's this weekend or bust. We'll just have to take our rain ponchos along and ride it out. I bought a nifty little rain cover for the stroller, so let's see how this goes! It won't be the first time that Christian goes to a theme park since we went to Orlando when he was three months old. I think it was more complicated then since I was still breastfeeding/pumping, so I had to lug the pump around and stuff. Although now that he's older, he has a whole new set of complications, stroller meltdowns for one. Stroller meltdowns are when he absolutely refuses to be in his stroller. He arches his back and starts screaming and won't stop till you take him out. I'd rather just take him out than hear his screams. I think I'm creating a monster...
Anyway, wish me luck!

Liquid what?

Proof positive that I have the sense of humor of an 11 year old. Ha ha ha.

I also spent way too much time giggling at the stuff on this site yesterday. I had to try really really hard to not laugh out loud at my desk at work.

I have insurance!

In the famous words of my friend Marilu, "I have insurance". Ren and I got some life insurance last week. Yay! They came to draw our blood and ask us questions. We also had to pee into a cup the size of a thimble and then pour it into a test tube the size of a needle. Yeah, that was fun.


Speaking of fun, Christian has been having lots of fun these past few weeks. Unfortunately, I haven't had the chance to update. I've got lots of pictures to share, so let me get right on it.

The little man has been thoroughly enjoying his first summer thusfar. At grandma's house, things are going well with the nanny (so far), she puts him on the swing and in the hammock. She also has him do all sorts of activities like listening to music and playing with clay. Unfortunately, I hadn't cut his nails, so the clay was wedged in underneath them and he had green little finger tips the day before his 9 month session with the photographer. Great. I managed to get most of it out though. Note to self: No clay before his nails have been cut. We did the photo session outside this time, at 7:30 in the morning. We were hoping to avoid the sun, humidity and mosquitos, but in Florida, that's kind of impossible. I hope the beads of sweat running down our faces don't come out in the pictures!

Christian also spent some time with his friend Sophie, they played with their instruments and had lots of fun; I think they want to start a band now.

Our agenda has been quite full because we also went to my friend Ellie's wedding. They looked really happy and she looked very beautiful that day. Congratulations to the happy couple! This was Christian's first formal function and he behaved very well and didn't make a peep throughout the whole ceremony. Unfortunately, he fell asleep during the reception so we had to leave early. Note to self: Christian stays with grandma next time.

Wow, so many activities and I'm not even on this past week yet. This is what happens when I neglect my blogging duties. Bad Claudia. Anyway, let me continue. Christian went to the pool with his mommy and daddy last week. He sat in the boat a little bit longer than last time, but he kept trying to dive into the pool this time.

My little man has been more vocal than usual these days. He loves to babble all the time now. Before, he used to say dadadada, but now his babble of choice has changed to mamama (especially when he wants to be picked up). He sure knows how to tug at those heart strings. He loves to be standing up all the time now. If I'm carrying him in a chair/sofa, he will wiggle himself down to the floor on to his feet and turn around as if he is going to just walk away. Someone needs to tell him that he can't walk yet because he apparently doesn't know that. Ren says that he walked into the room one day (Ren, not Christian) and found Chris standing in his crib. I have yet to see him do that again (figures). I've only seen him getting up on his knees to play peek-a-boo and to bite the crib rail.

Last, but not least, here he is showing off the t-shirt that mommy bought him in NY....sigh....I heart Christian.