Autumn Afternoon

I stayed home with both boys today. The new daycare has a policy that a child must stay home for the first 24 hours on an antibiotic, so since Seth is on Amoxicilan for his ear infection, home we stayed. We had a good day, despite that fact that William wouldn't nap. I missed the window of opportunity because we went to Old Navy to look for a hat and mittens for William. So that's life. Hopefully he'll sleep well tonight. (If we don't get him into his room and in his bed between 12:30 and 1:00 p.m., he gets a second wind and then he won't fall asleep.)

Fortunately, Seth took great naps today, so in the afternoon, we went outside to burn up some energy. It was a beautiful day, if a bit nippy, so I got out the camera.








We also carved the pumpkin today, but I'll save those pictures for tomorrow or Saturday.

Blogging Funk

Clearly, I've been in a blogging funk lately. None of the thoughts swirling about in my mind seem to last until the end of the day when it's time for me to blog. I'm too tired to write anything coherent. Things are good though. Well, at least things aren't bad. William is still doing great at school. He's happy to go in the morning and he's starting to tell me about things that happen during the day. He might tell me what he ate, or he might tell me what he played with outside, or he might talk about something he did inside. One week they talked about camping and set up a tent in their classroom, so he told me about the tent when he got home. One day they had chicken noodle soup for their snack and William told me that he didn't eat the soup but it had noodles. I like hearing about his day from his perspective.

He's been pretty good about eating lately. He still never eats a lot, but he is always willing to try new things. He's also eating some things that he has refused before. Tonight we had lasagna and garlic bread, and he ate both with gusto. It was the first night in a long time that we've all sat down and eaten together. He really likes it when we all sit down together and eat the same thing. He checks out Ed's and my plates and compares it to what's on his plate. Maybe there is hope for him! Seth is looking like he is going to be a great eater. But that can all change at the drop of a hat.

Speaking of Seth, we had his six-month appointment today. He weighs 15 lbs, 7 oz., and is 26 inches long. He's heavier and a bit shorter than William was at the same age. I actually thought he was going to weigh more than that, but he's right on his curve and he's right on target with his development. But the bad news is Seth has an ear infection. I feel like such a terrible mom because I didn't even know it! He's been fighting a cold for more than three weeks now--with a snotty nose and lots of phlegm. And he's been sleeping terribly. (Except for two nights ago, when he had a really good night.) So I probably should have considered the possibility. But there have been so many times that I've taken William in thinking he has ear infections or something else, and they've sent me home with "he's fine--just a cold." And since Seth never ran a temperature or seemed excessively crabby (or even a little crabby!), I just figured it's just a cold. Poor Seth! So he's on antibiotics and we have to go back to the doctor in two weeks for follow-up, and to get his immunizations and flu shot. There's a glimmer of hope, though, that maybe he'll sleep better once the EI clears up!

What else, what else. Work is kicking my butt right now, which is probably why I haven't had enough energy to post. My job is not usually very stressful, but I have multiple projects going on, all seemingly urgent, and the elections are also coming up, which means a lot of work updating statistical lists that I maintain. I actually pulled two all-nighters last week, where I stayed up until 3 a.m. for my job. It felt like college all over again. Ugh. Suffice it to say that I will be glad to see the end of the year when it comes to my work!

I do not, however, want the end of the year to come as quickly as the first ten months of the year have gone by. Time seems to be passing with lightening speed, the boys are growing up so quickly. With the holidays approaching, I guess it's a bad time to wish for things to slow down. But I really need to figure out how to savor my days and make the most of all the joy that holidays represent. I don't want the next two months to pass in a blur of stress and angst and rushing from one thing to the next. I don't want to feel like things are out of control. So I will be pushing the pause button as much as possible! Wish me luck.

Seth is Six Months Old!

Holy cannoli--how is my baby already six months old? Seth continues to be a delight to everyone around him. He's sitting up like a champ, passing objects from one hand to the other, dropping things and looking for them, and rolling in every direction. He eats like a champ and hasn't met a babyfood that he hasn't liked. He's still not sleeping through the night, and I'm still swaddling him (if I want him to sleep for any length of time at all), but we'll be talking to his pediatrician about that at his six-month appointment next week. He's a very happy and social baby. He likes to be around people and does not like to be left alone. He especially loves his big brother.

We also made it to six months with exclusive breastfeeding! With William, I was only able to pump 2 bottles a day, so I started supplementing with formula as soon as he started daycare. I also never built a freezer supply with William. I've been more successful with Seth and haven't yet had to supplement with formula--until now. In fact, just today I used up the very last of my frozen stash. Since Seth had a growth spurt at 4 months, he's been drinking 4 5-oz. bottles a day at daycare. And I'm only pumping about 15 ounces a day. Now that I have no more freezer stash to make up the difference, we'll have to start supplementing with formula. I'm pretty happy that we lasted as long as we did, though.

Without further ado, here are the chair pictures!


Happy six months Seth! You are pure sunshine and while I can't wait to see how you develop and grow in the next six months, can't we just slow time down a little? These first six months have passed in such a blur, and yet I can hardly remember what life was like before you were around. We love you and are so happy to have you as part of our family!

I've Been Tagged

Julie at My Life with Roundface tagged me, so here goes!

1. I love cereal and my all-time favorite is Frosted Mini Wheats. Whenever we end up scrounging for dinner, cereal is usually my choice. I will sometimes eat a bowl right before bed, too. Other favorites are Smart Start Healthy Heart, Apple Jacks, Fruit Loops, Cocoa Pebbles, and Cap'n'Crunch with crunch berries. (I don't like the all crunch berries, though. There has to be the right ratio of crunch berries to the Cap'n'Crunch part.

2. I wash and blow-dry my hair every morning before work. There's no way I can make myself presentable with bed head. That doesn't mean I've never gone out and about without showering and blow-drying my hair. It just doesn't happen often.

3. I love sleeping next to my kids, although this is not something I want to do every night.

4. I learned the facts of life by reading books that my parents got for us. I learned the interesting facts of life by reading The Joy of Sex that was hidden in my parents' closet.

5. Of all the household chores, laundry is the one I like to do the most. There's something very satisfying and finite about it.

6. Of all the household chores, ironing is the one I like to do the least. It's a pain in the ass and takes me forever.

7. Even though I'm an editor by profession, I hate writing. It takes me a very long time to write something, but I tend to write only one draft.

Thanks for tagging me Julie! I tag the following people, but if you've already done this meme, no worries.
Laura
MJ
LJ
Megan
Cathy
Joanna
Lindsay

"I Be Funny, Mommy!"

Whenever I get onto William about doing something that he shouldn't, like drinking the bath water, or throwing cheerios in the car, or throwing things inside the house, or waking up Seth in the car, he earnestly implores, "I be funny, Mommy!" I try very hard not to laugh, but how can you not? This is the precursor to, "I'm just joking. Geesh! Where's your sense of humor?" I guess Ed's not the only one who thinks my sense of humor has disappeared. Nice try, kid!

Unintended Blogging Break

As you can see, I've taken a bit of a blogging break over the last week. I wish I could say we've had lots of fun and exciting things going on, but it's more mundane than that. Life just seems to be getting in the way of my blogging habit. Well, life and sleep deprivation. Hopefully I'll get back on track shortly.

I did want to note a few things:

• Both boys have colds, but I'm encouraged by the fact that so far, they've just had goopy noses. No coughing or respiratory infections, so I'm thankful for that. (Of course, I've just completely doomed myself by saying that OUT LOUD, but I'm feeling crazy.)
• Seth is sitting up on his own for extended periods of time now. Yay Seth! He also seems to be teething like crazy (so is William, for that matter--with his two-year-old molars), but so far, I can't or feel the teeth coming in. Yesterday, when I picked Seth up from daycare, he was sitting on the floor and one of the teachers was dancing around the room and Seth was absolutely cracking up. It was the cutest thing ever.
  
• My mom visited this past weekend and William and Seth loved having her here. We went to another pumpkin carnival and William did much better, although he would not ride the ponies this time, and he did not want to go down the big slides. He mostly played in a big pile of dirt and on a wooden monster truck. I got some cute pictures, but haven't downloaded them yet.

I've had many more thoughts swirling around my head recently, but I'm in no position to write them coherently, so I'll end for now. Keep sending sleep dust our way. We're bound to catch some of it sooner or later.

"Sef's School"

I keep forgetting to give an update about how William is transitioning to the new daycare, or as he refers to it, "Sef's school." He loves it! At this point, of course, it's still a bit of a novelty, so I'm waiting for the other shoe to drop. But so far, he has not shed one tear about it.

As we're driving there in the mornings, he usually says, "Wanna go to Sef's school, Mommy." And when we get there, he almost runs into his classroom to find his new teacher, Ms. Janet. When I tell him I have to leave, he gives me a kiss and a hug and hugs Seth and says, "Bye Mommy!" It's pretty unbelievable. On Friday, Ms. Janet wasn't there, so I was a bit worried about leaving him with Ms. Sara, but he was fine with that, too. But like I said, we're only on day 5. I fully expect the old routine to rear its ugly head soon (where he cries and has a fit when I have to leave). But the fact that he hasn't had any weepiness about leaving his old school and hasn't had any problems adjusting to the new school is a very pleasant surprise. We'll see what happens as time wears on.

I also keep meaning to blog about how my post-work/dinner routine has been shot to hell by Seth's transition to solid foods. William usually eats at 6:30 p.m., but that is too late for Seth. So I've been trying to feed Seth no later than 6:00 p.m. But we don't usually get home until 5:30 at the earliest, and William immediately wants to play outside. Since the weather has been nice, I've been trying to keep an eye on William in the back yard while I make Seth's dinner (just cereal and/or veggies), and then I'll feed Seth in the back yard. But that can be tricky because at some point, William usually wants to go to the garage and either play in Mommy's car, or play with sidewalk chalk, or play with Daddy's tools. And William knows how to open the gate. And he doesn't get the concept of waiting for Mommy before opening said gate and going to the garage. (He doesn't understand the concept of waiting, period, but that's another post.)

Soooo, for now, there are days that Seth doesn't get dinner (he also eats cereal and fruit and/or veggies during the day at daycare, so I don't worry too much about it), and there are days when I feed both boys outside, and days when William might not eat until 7:00 p.m., and there are days when I don't even get a chance to change my clothes or go to the bathroom until after the boys have gone to bed. But I'm sure as Seth gets older and the time changes, things will change yet again. So I'm trying to worry too much about it. Of course, I feel completely and totally spent by the time both boys are in bed, but again, that's another post all together.

We're surviving, although I feel like just barely at this point. It seems like everything has suddenly escalated--work has gotten stressful, William is, um, challenging, routines are out the window, and I'm not getting any sleep. But I keep repeating the mantra, "It's just a phase. This too, shall pass." Say it with me, now. "This, too, shall pass." I guess this is what my Blog title is all about--Working It Out.

Missing My Sense of Humor

That's missing, as in, my sense of humor is missing, and also as in, I miss it.

Ed says that ever since I've had kids, my sense of humor has been gone. I think it comes and goes, but for the most part, I have to agree with him. I think that sleep deprivation is responsible. Whatever the cause, today was one of those days where I really could have used it. William was a terrible two, and I'm afraid I didn't handle it very well.

I'm not sure if he was just tired, or hungry, or if he's starting to get a cold and wasn't feeling well or maybe it was his two-year-old molars that were bothering him. Or maybe it was just his day to act like a two-year-old. Who knows. At any rate, William, Seth, and I went to a pumpkin festival with Ed's parents today. There were hayrides, pony rides, slides, farm animals, a big hayloft, a pumpkin patch, mazes, and lots more. When we walked in, we got in line for the hayride, and William seemed excited. When the tractor pulled up with the wagon, we started to walk up the steps to get in, and William freaked out. So we started to walk away, and he freaked out. So we started to walk back towards the wagon, and he freaked out. Here's how the conversation went:

William (crying hysterically): "No no no I don't wanna go de wagon!"

Me: "Okay sweetie, we don't have to go. Let's go do something else."

William (crying even more hysterically): "No no no! I wanna ride de wagon."

Me: "Okay, let's get in line so we can get on the hayride."

William (crying hysterically at the top of his lungs now): "NO NO NO Wagon NO Wagon!"

I was mortified. And I know that other parents understood. And I know they felt bad for me and for William. And I felt bad for William, because clearly he was torn. He really wanted to ride the wagon, but he was also afraid. But I was still that parent who had the kid who was pitching a total and complete fit and I was powerless. So here's where my sense of humor would have come in handy. But it was nowhere to be found. Instead, I ended up pissed and stressed out and embarrassed. And I certainly didn't make the situation any better. Not my shining moment as a parent. And all in front of my in-laws, no less.

We finally walked away from the hay rides with William crying. But we managed to salvage the day somewhat. William was still cranky and whiny the rest of the day, but I think he had a good time. He rode a pony and then saw some farm animals that he liked (chickens, rabbits, pigs, sheep, goats). He loved jumping around in the hay loft, and he rode on the pedal tractors and went through the mazes. At the end of the day, we decided to try the hay ride one more time. As we were about to get in the wagon, he started to freak out, but I just picked him up and put him in. I figured that once he was in and the tractor started driving, he would like it. Fortunately, I was right. The hayride took us to the pumpkin patch where we got out and picked our pumpkins. So the day ended on a good note.

You may be wondering where Seth was during all of this. He just hung out in the stroller the whole time. He got a little fussy at one point, and we took him out. I nursed him briefly at one point, too. But otherwise, he was just happy to take it all in.

Here are some pictures to end with.

This is from Saturday afternoon, at the grandparents' house. These bulldozers were parked in a field down the street from their house, so we had to go check them out.


When we finally moved on from the initial hayride fiasco, William took a pony ride. Note the expression. He wore this expression during the whole pony ride.

Here's a better look at the expression

Seth got to enjoy the hay, too.

Finally, some smiles!




And of course, picking pumpkins

If you happen to find my sense of humor, could you send it back to me?