No! Sleep! Til Brooklyn!

I think I say this every month. I love my girlfriends. I love our monthly gatherings at someone's house to "watch a movie." Or to sit around a table eating good food and having good conversations with fantastic people. This month we even got our butts off the chairs and played "Guitar Hero" on the Wii. Granted, this didn't happen til about 10:30 at night, after we had chatted for a good long while. But, I think we kicked butt on Guitar Hero. And by "we" I mean "everyone but me" because my hand-eye coordination skills are so lacking that I was pretty terrible at just being the foot pedal girl for the drums. For a really pretty easy Beastie Boys song. That was then stuck in my head the entire way home...

Before we begin playing, baby belly must be molested
The band and the groupies
The look of total concentration on my face - TO PRESS A DAMN FOOT PEDAL! - is priceless. Hand-eye coordination and I do not get along well.

As all this happened at about 11:30 at night... I seriously needed a nap the next day. I have NO idea how Dexter napped on Tuesday. But me? I napped GREAT!

Off to College

Dexter is now reading. Tomorrow he is filling out his college application, and we expect to send him off to school in August. Virginia Tech, of course...

This reading thing takes deep thought and concentration

Uh-oh. Losing focus! Dexter! More reading, less playing with fingers!

My reading skills are so fantabulous that I can even read upside-down

Ah, to hell with the reading. Let's actually ENJOY this book!

Filly Power

I was back to work for two days this week. Not my real job. Just working at Pimlico for Preakness. Honestly, this whole working thing is for the birds. It's way more fun staying home.

John's always entertained by the stories I bring home from Preakness. On Friday I am the trophy bitch, so I hand trophies over to relatively famous people. At least famous in the racing world. Last year I gave a trophy to some guy who was a child acting star - maybe from the Partridge Family? I have no idea who he was, but everyone was all ga-ga over him. Whatever. He was short. His filly ran a good race, though. This year I was in the winners circle with one of the NBC anchors who hosted the Preakness show on TV. I walked in on an interview with D. Wayne Lucas and with Bob Baffert. And I gave trophies to Larry Jones and Steve Assmussen (he trained the filly who won the Preakness on Saturday). Saturday I told the local news anchors we watch on TV that they couldn't come in to my tent. The Governor of Maryland was in my tent. There were 70 people in the Mine That Bird group in my tent, dressed in their best blue jeans and cowboy hats. In that same tent? Rick Porter (Delaware car dealership owner) dressed in a red jacket and a blue bow tie. I wandered past the tent where band members from the group "Buckcherry" were eating lunch. I did not, unfortunately, see ZZ Top. Bummer!

John and Dex had a good couple days together. John is now sympathizing with my frustration at Dexter's lack of napping, which makes him cranky and fussy (Dexter, not John. Although, maybe John, too). And the lack of time to get anything substantial done. Excellent. Now I won't feel like such a slacker when I get NOTHING done all day.

Two days of being away from the baby, pumping irregularly and not nursing, seems to have brought back another bout of mastitis. Fun! So at least part of my day tomorrow will be spent at the doctor getting a prescription, and at Wal-Mart filling it.

Mom and a naked boy do tummy time. Somehow, Mom can roll over, and Dexter still can't. At least not with any regularity.
Dexter the contortionist while eating. John spends much time fending off hands and feet that threaten to hit the bottle out of Dexter's mouth.

Things I've Gotta Write Down Before I Forget

I've always been like that. I can't remember a darn thing without writing it down. In college, I'd re-write my notes to study for a test because writing things down made me remember. Now I just write stuff on the back of my hand. One day they will discover that pen ink causes cancer or something, and my left hand will fall off...

Anyway, as I am not keeping a baby book of any kind, this is kind of my baby book. So I need to write some things down before I forget. And then we'll just hope that the internets don't spontaneously explode, deleting any and all baby memories I have. Such as:

Over the weekend Dex was staying in our room, where we have a full length mirror. I was holding him and stepped in front of the mirror. And smiled. And he was so cute - smiled right back at me, in the mirror.

A few weeks ago nursing got lots better and less painful for me when I decided to stop trying to hold Dexter's head to my boob, but rather just lay him on my arm and let him figure it out. He is surprisingly good at figuring it out. It's almost like he's been nursing for three months. Or something.

Nursing, however, takes FOREVER these days. Mr. ADD Child will nurse a bit, then look up at me and grin. Nurse a little more, look up and giggle. Nurse a little more, freak out because Dad sneezed. Good lord, child. How about you just EAT?

Dexter is becoming more tolerant of tummy time. He'll go a good five minutes before screaming his head off. No more rolling over yet. But we practice, so I am sure he will do it again on his own, all in good time.

** As I am writing this post in stages today... This afternoon I gave Dex a bath, rolled him over on his tummy, and watched him roll himself right back. Woo-hoo! Two weeks later, we've figured it out again!

I tried a suggestion from my friend Michelle to try letting Dex fall asleep on his back, then roll him over to his tummy to see if that would extend his naps. The result, both times? He'd wake up at 30 minutes, pop his little head up, look around, and... immediately start screaming. Experiment failed! :-)

Yesterday's long napping was a complete fluke of nature. Today we are back to our predictable 30 minute naps. Actually, I do believe it was because he was going through a growth spurt on Tuesday and Wednesday. And all that growing tired him out. We'll see today at lactation group how much he grew.

** Insane amounts. On Tuesday he had gained 4.2 oz in 7 days. Today he had gained 3.5 oz in TWO days. He's up to 14 lbs 11 oz.

My mom said that at three months my sister and I both weighed over 15 pounds. What were you feeding us, Mom? Prime Rib?

Dex has been drooling like mad and chomping on anything he can get in his mouth. Pre-teething? Just drool? How do I know the difference?

In the "Holy Shit, That Worked?" category today - Dex just woke up after 30 minutes. I got him up, held him, sang his going to bed song (Twinkle Twinkle Little Star, as it's the only song I know the words to...) and put him back down. And... he went back to sleep. Holy Shit! Similar things happened last week, but I actually got him up, played a little, changed his diaper, read, sang, and then put him back down. If this shortened version works, too, though - I'm all over it!

I own pre-pregnancy pants that still fit me! Hooray!! Now SHIRTS. That's a different story. I currently don't have much beyond tee shirts that will fit over my ginormous rack. So Dex and I need to do some shopping today, as I need something decent to wear to Preakness on Saturday. Yes - Preakness! I am working on Friday and Saturday at the track. Go, filly power! And I like the little horse who won the Derby, too. He and his trainer seem like laid-back kind of folks.

I bought a plane ticket to California!! :-) My cute friend Cristin is getting married in June. John and Dex are invited, too, but I am going solo. A break will be nice. Plus I didn't really want Dexter's first overnight trip to be on a plane to San Francisco. He probably would be fine. I would be a bit of a mess.

Carole (John's Mom) saves the day in my grumbling about not having any pictures of Dex and I on Mother's Day. Giving Carole a new camera was a good thing, we think. We always have LOTS and LOTS of photos from family gatherings! Although we may have created a bit of a monster, with Ms. Shutterbug.

Isn't it Ironic

The car is packed. The diaper bag, water bottle, snacks, borrowed baby stuff that we are returning - all in the car. The dog has been out, peed, eaten a biscuit, and is back asleep. We are ready to go. Except for one thing. A BABY. Who is STILL SLEEPING!!! :-)

Seriously, this is the first time in about 2 1/2 months that this child has slept for more than 30 minutes for a nap, unassisted by me. And, of course, it happens on the morning that I really wanted to leave the house at 9AM so we could go see Larysa and Shari. Ah, but of course! Thanks Dex!

But, hey. I'll take it! Yay for ONE long nap! When he wakes up I will toss him in his car seat and we're outta here. Til then I shall sit here and wonder what happened different this morning that caused this miracle to occur.

I could have written this

I didn't. But I could have. Because this is TOTALLY me. What do I DO with this child all day? Besides curse under my breath "why are you NOT SLEEPING again!!"

http://www.alphamom.com/smackdown/2009/05/the_sahm_gig_what_am_i_suppose.php#comments

And, I suppose, I could clean the house...

Eight Billion Photos From This Past Weekend

Yes, I realize the past few posts seem to feature more CoCo pictures than Dexter pictures. Sorry! CoCo is cute, too, and old, and slightly neglected. So she needs to be included here, too. I shall now remedy your lack of Dexter pictures with a gazillion photos from Mother's Day weekend. What seems to be conspicuously missing? Any photos of a new MOTHER. With her SON. On her FIRST MOTHER'S DAY. BOOOOOOOO.

I suppose it's my fault. I should have picked up the camera, placed it in John's hands, and said "Here, honey. How about you take a picture of me and my son on Mother's Day? Because it's kind of a nice memento." But I didn't. So I have no pictures of Dex and I. Which makes me kind of sad. We'll have to see what Nonna took. Maybe she got a photo of us while we were at brunch on Sunday.

Anyway, enjoy! Dexter is still cute, cute, cute!

Check out my super huge muscles. I break out of swaddles.

The boy's got crazy eyes and kicky feet

This one's for you, Aunt Jeanne. Wanted to show off my frog outfit one more time because it almost DOESN'T FIT!! Size 3 - 6, too small!

OK, I know. I know it's blurry. But it is currently my only proof that CoCo might kind of like her brother. Other than the picture I have in my head of Dexter reaching up and grabbing CoCo's ear, and CoCo just looking at me like "Dude. MOM. This thing has my ear!"

I am wearing a cool motorcycle tee shirt (and some drool) for my Dad. Happy Birthday, Dad!

One should never move the Pack-n-Play. Bad idea. Icky.

Two peas in a pod, part 1

Two peas in a pod, part 2

Two peas in a pod, part 3

Happy Birthday, sweetie. Dex will try not to spit on you today.

I'm wearing my jailhouse pants. Sitting on the big boy chair. Predicting my future as a star athlete.

My bib. It is so true. Nonna is a pushover.

Fox, socks, Knox, box

Aunt Christy and I show off our devilishly good looks

Aunt Christy proves that I am Superman ALL the time - not just when I am busting out of my swaddle.

Aunt Christy's quick finger on the shutter caught just a glimpse of smile from me. On camera! Unheard of!
I am squeezable...

PS - lest you think John did NOTHING for me for Mother's Day, that's not true. Sorry if I gave that impression. He gave me flowers. And a very nice card that made me cry. So he did good work. He just needs to take a bit more control of the camera situation in the Norman house, lest Dexter think that he only had a DAD growing up, because that's all there's pictures of...