if there is one thing i've learned during the first few weeks of motherhood, it is that crossing things off of the to-do list rarely happens. one of my friends told me that when making a to do list, put "nurse" and "diaper" on the list 10 times between every other goal. nurse, diaper, nurse, diaper, nurse, diaper, nurse, diaper, laundry!, nurse, diaper, etc. it's vital not to beat yourself up for not getting everything or anything you intended to do throughout the day done. if the baby is happy, healthy, and fed, then count it a success. that is my excuse for deviating from the blog agenda (although thank you all for the excitement of upcoming entries). by the time i write about elizabeth edwards, everyone will have forgotten about her interview with oprah, oh well.so random thoughts from tonight:
1. went golfing for the first time since i had parker. yay for golf season!
2. i've secretly wanted a set of new callaway irons for over 4 years. they are expensive, but i plan on using them my whole life, so it's a justified investment. the big bertha driver dramatically improved my game, so i'm hoping that new irons and a few hybrids help even more.
3. we just put gutters on our house, which were about the same price as a set of irons. i guess gutters were a more urgent need with all of the rain, but still.
4. when parker's ss card arrives in the mail, we're taking a chunk of money and setting up his college savings fund. somehow this trumps my desire for new irons as well.
5. james wants to put up a rod iron fence in our yard. this is where i draw the line. the fence serves no purpose other than keeping up with the neighbors who all have fences (we have no dog = no need for a fence). new irons > new fence, end of debate.
6. i hope parker thinks his parents are cool and will include mom in his boyish activities like golf, poker, watching football, etc.
7. today we enjoyed the sand and sunshine at lake michigan.
8. i am dreading driving 12 hours home on sunday even though the trip up here went surprisingly well (thank you car adapter that makes pumping on the road possible).
9. since i pumped nearly every bottle on our trip, i kept track of how much parker eats in 24 hours (32 ounces!). he is a growing boy!
10. i love thinking about nature vs. nuture in relation to child development and plan to read more about it.
11. it's easy to get cocky when you have an "easy" baby and think that something you did caused the infant to behave well. at the same time, it's hard to believe that our actions do not have any affect on our infants. for instance, sometimes i pridefully think that the reason that parker has not goten sick (yet) is because i nursed and exposed him to many people, environments, etc. early on. however, i know that there are many breastfed babies who get sick despite the transfer of antibodies, so i need to be thankful for parker's health and not give myself too much credit.
12. parker never had any trouble taking a bottle of pumped milk, formula, going back to the breast, using a pacifier, etc. again, i wonder if this is mere luck or if my actions somehow helped (like waiting two weeks to give him a pacifier, which i don't think was really necessary).
13. it's my mother-in-law's 50th birthday.
14. i went out to lunch with her and her 3 best friends and someone randomly brought up the cosleeping deaths in the milwaukee area. i wanted so badly to state my full opinion about cosleeping, but it didn't seem like the right place or day. i overheard two of the women sheepishly mutter to each other that they coslept with their infants, so the one thing i said is that i read one of the deaths was from alcohol abuse, and then the woman who brought the subject up said another death was from cosleeping while overdosing on drugs. why do people always fail to leave out these parts of the stories?
15. we are cosleeping with parker at my in-laws, and i'm pretty sure they know. not a word has been spoken about it although i'm waiting for it. we will see.
16. a new season of the bachelorette starts monday (yay jillian)!
16. i know one of the bachelors. an old friend from high school called today. i picked up because i thought she was going to tell me she got engaged, but instead she said, "you'll never guess who is one of the bachelors--caleb kuhl!" one random night of high school caleb and i stayed up talking to him until 3am at his parents' house in kc, but i haven't seen him since then, ha! not really that cool, but it's the closest i've come to knowing someone famous since lisa was on elimidate.
17. parker's been asleep for an hour and a half and if i want any sleep i should probably call it a night.
love!!
5 comments:
Love your blog!
Yay for updates! I'm so glad you're doing well!
I definitely think you can credit yourself with Parks taking breast/bottle/paci well. Maybe because I like to credit myself when Caleb does the same :). Hehe. Caleb had to take a bottle the first week since he lost so much weight and has taken one really well ever since. I think early introduction is great. He took the paci until he was eight weeks old and then he spit it out. Little buddy.
And good for you for getting Parker out there! That was a huge goal of mine, too, and I do think Parker will benefit from it. Caleb has chronic ear infections :) but other than that, he's been good (and the ear infections have nothing to do with germs). I think we'll both see the fruits of that later in life, when other sheltered kids are sick and home from school and our boys are beating them at, well, golf. :) And school attendance!
Keep the updates coming!!
CUTE family picture! I'm excited about Jillian as well!
Just so you know, I secretly hate people who have easy babies. Just kidding! :) I definitely think it is an absolute blessing when you have an easy baby and really believe it has to do a lot with temperament and not so much on what you do as a parent (although I do believe that comes in to play some too). Aidan was an incredibly difficult newborn and I HATED a lot of the first 4 months of his life. I tried everything, read everything, and worked so hard to make him content, but it was so hard. He screamed A LOT and was altogether unhappy, he didn't nurse well so I pumped instead, he wouldn't sleep unless lying on his tummy in his own bed, he hated being in the car and screamed bloody murder from the time we put him in his car seat until we reached our destination, he cried inconsolably every evening from about 5-7, and was just downright demanding, etc... I am not saying this because I want sympathy at all, but just to say that from the other side of things...it is hard not feeling some sort of guilt when your child is an unhappy one. I think if he was easy going, I would have happily taken the credit for it, but I definitely didn't want to take the blame for his discontent. It's funny how circumstances change our perspective.
Altogether, I am happy that Parker is so good for you. Now that I am through that really tough time with Aidan and on to strong-willed toddler antics, I can let go of any jealousy I felt towards mother's of happy newborns. :)
I hope he continues in his contented patterns and I pray that my next child will enter this world and take a similar approach to life.
Caleb Kuhl... blast from the past.
Post a Comment