Reconnection, Middle School Style

Remember how hard it used to be to keep in touch with people before you could just pop them an email or add them as a friend on facebook? I didn’t have the Internet until high school and I went to a different school then everyone I went to elementary/middle school with so I lost touch with everyone.

While I was pregnant I reconnected on-line with a really good friend from middle school, she happened to be pregnant and due right around when I was. It is really nice to have people to talk to who understand the craziness of your life as a pregnant person and then a mom. Well she happened to give birth the day before me so with each milestone we have each other to come to and discuss what is going on and what we as moms can do to help our little ones.

She sadly lives in TX so we hadn’t actually gotten to see each other, just phone calls and emails. She came to visit her family in NC and we finally got to meet up with our little ones! Check out some of the pictures, I have another picture I will post soon where Ryan is trying to grab Ava’s hand and Ava is desperately trying to roll away… poor Ryan, he will have time to grow on her though.

It was crazy being back in the house where I spent so many great childhood memories. Last time I had been there I must have been 12? Now here we were with our own babies.

Ava is looking very skeptically at Ryan

Moms and babies... moms met 19 years ago

Why are Ryan and I shiny you may ask, sadly there isn't a good story or explanation :)

Ryan wants to figure Ava out, he was staring at her and reaching for her

A few pictures (16 weeks)

New Toy! Ryan is a huge fan of this saucer, it is exciting for him because everytime he gets tired of playing with one of the things, he just moves over a little and ah ha! there is something new to grab. His neck is strong enough now to play with no problem.

Loving the Baby Bjorn, we are off to take a walk yay!

Ok mom seriously, you have taken 12 pictures of me, let's just go on the walk already.

Stranger Danger.

Ryan is starting to develop stranger anxiety. I didn’t think that these things started until like 7 months, but apparently it is just not true in our case. He is fine while someone he knows is holding him, but if he is picked up by someone else he looks freaked out and if not given back to someone he knows he will start to cry. I have mixed feelings about it. I feel bad that he cries when people I know hold him, he is generally so “talkative” and happy and they miss it. On the other hand I am glad that he feels safe around the people he does know, and honestly if a stranger gets too close (which for some reason a lot of people do when we are out in public) I’m glad he doesn’t want them to be in his face (germs, kidnapping and other mommy paranoia). I have a feeling this is going to get worse before it gets better, so if Ryan cries in your presence he means nothing by it, it is just how he rolls these days.

Working Mom

Lately I have been going through what a lot of new moms go through. I am wondering what my future holds. Should I go to work? Is there any way that I can do that and keep Ryan out of daycare? What sort of job should I get? If I do go back to work, when should I do so? Can we give Ryan all we want to if I don’t go back to work? On the flip side, is it fair to put him in daycare if we can afford not to? But honestly, can we survive once my student loans become due?
These questions have been all consuming since I had a conversation with my loan company last week. The panic grows stronger every time I think about it. At some point I will have to make a decision. Don tells me that we will be fine, that I shouldn’t worry so much and that everything will work out. He tells me on a daily basis to chill out.

I will soon have a law degree that I worked entirely too hard to get, shouldn't I at least try to use it?
Last night I had a dream that I was in the car on the way to a job interview. I was almost there with about 10 minutes to spare when I realized I was in sweatpants and a ratty t-shirt! I had totally forgotten to change into presentable attire for my interview. Read into that what you will, but I am not taking it as a good sign.

VOTE

I'm not going to hide the fact that I am not a huge fan of the republican candidate and his running mate. I have been watching the convention this week and have been less then thrilled that they even have the possibility of being in the oval office in the near future. Enjoy this little clip... oh I just love the media.

http://www.thedailyshow.com/video/index.jhtml?videoId=184086

Everyone should go out and vote... you can find voter registration forms online, you just have to send it in and then go out to vote.

Go Patriots!

WHAT!!! the NFL season starts this week?? I haven't even learned the rules yet!

Dad has a lot of teaching to do.

Who Does Ryan Look Like?

Since Ryan was born we have received countless comments about how much Ryan looks like Don. Now I admit there are times I look at him and I see Don Jr. (Actually Don III as the case may be). But I have proof that Ryan has a little bit of me in him too :) I haven't seen any baby pictures of Don before, if I get my hands on some I will post them. Until then you can check out mine.

Me at 5 months
Ryan at 3 months

I'm not sure how old I am here but I do recognize that I am with my Uncle Bill

So do you see any similarities?

Making up for Lost Sleep

Ryan heard my pleas for sleep! Yesterday he took 3 naps totaling about 5 hours; he did that after waking up at 8:00am instead of 6:30. Today he woke up at 8:30am and went right back to sleep after eating and right now is napping which he has been doing over an hour! Apparently he was as tired as I was! Well the family is more rested and I am feeling super amounts better. He is all full of smiles. Good start to a long weekend.

No Sleep for the Weary

Dude where’s my brain? For any of you that have noticed that I am a little off this week I apologize. If I don’t get a chance to catch up on sleep on weekends (like last weekend) the next week is really hard unless I somehow can have a chance to recover (at least 8 hours of sleep in a 24 hour period). Last weekend was rough and Ryan has decided that naps during the day should not be longer then 40 minutes (some in fact should be only 10 minutes). The result is that I am spacey, irritable and I find myself repeating myself. But, tomorrow is Friday and we have nothing planned for Saturday so sanity is on the horizon.
*Also, we are having a BBQ Sunday so if you want to come by, email me and I will give you directions if you don’t know them.

Cranks

Ryan is an amazingly great baby MOST of the time. When he is tired Don and I have a nickname for him, it’s “Cranks.” I am probably to blame for this; I am certainly not considered a peach when tired.
His sleep schedule is approximately: naps at 9, 1 and 4… this is still approximate- he is the dictator of this schedule. We are getting closer to the point where I am somewhat in charge of deciding when he naps. He then sleeps from about 8:00pm until 7:00am (waking up for an hour to eat in there).
When he sticks to the schedule he is in a great mood all day- laughing and playing and smiling at everyone. When he doesn’t- he melts down, you can see him losing his cool until he is so worked up he can’t get to sleep. This probably did not pop up until he was about 2.5 months old- I think he plays so hard now that he gets worn out fast (he is rolling over, propping his head up and starting to slide on his belly).
There are a few tricks to distract him long enough for him to fall asleep- trust me if you were in my shoes you would do whatever it took to get him to sleep. So I have found that the iTunes visualizer is amazing at distraction, it calms him and he just stares until he falls asleep, music videos do the same thing. I know, I know some people might have a problem with my approach but until your child has a total melt down with tears streaming down their face as they are screaming don’t judge too harshly.

UHAULin' and single parenthood

Since becoming a mother I have realized how difficult it would be to be a single parent. Most days I have Don to take over if I really need help, even if I don’t accept it, it is nice to know. Last weekend I felt like a single parent, so here’s the story: My brother decided to transfer to Duke Law from University of Chicago. I am really glad he decided to do this however there was a downside. He had to bring his furniture from there to here the cheapest way possible. So he decided to drive it back in a UHaul overnight… not a safe thing to do on your own obviously. My husband being the good guy that he is agreed to accompany him. He flew out at 11:00am Saturday and made it back to NC about 1:00pm Sunday (he didn’t actually make it home until about 2:30 because of a dryer fire but that is a whole other story). When he did make it home he needed a nap until 5:45 (he hadn’t slept on the drive) and then he went to bed at 8:00pm and couldn’t help on the “night shift.”
I am tired. So very tired. Having responsibility 100% of the time for days on end is a lot to deal with. My mom helped when she could but it was hard not having Don here. So to all you single moms my hat is off to you, I honestly don’t know how you do it. Don is taking the baby for an hour while I blog and shower. Okay I’m really tired, I don’t know that this blog makes any sense but hey I thought I should write a little somethin’ somethin’.

Back from the Beach

NEW ADDITION: Jays Pictures

Our week at the Outer Banks (where Don and I got married last year) is over and we made it home (Ryan slept almost the whole ride!) I am posting a few pictures now. If I get a chance this week I will try to post some stories.

Ryan was not a big fan of the pool. He loves his baths but this just wasn't as warm.. find me a pool that is 97+ degrees and he will be all over that.

After the pool experience, he was substantially happier wrapped in the towel.

Jay and Brian the adventurers of the bunch (This was the one picture I have of them where one of them is not on a computer... I will post the link to Jays pictures once I get it. He will have pictures of them Kayaking etc and maybe a few more of Ryan)

The partiers of the bunch: David and Dan (I had to put a picture of David in here or I would have heard about it- even if he only reads the blog every two weeks but I'm sure one of his friends would have told him)

Standing in the water! Strong little legs.

Ryan got to wear his super cool hat when he was at the beach. I don't think he is a huge fan of it but he let it go.

Dan hadn't figured out exactly how to hold Ryan.. he decided that Ryan was roughly the shape of a football and therefore should be cradled as such.. Ryan was a very good sport about it.
Don really liked this picture, he thinks Ryan looks like a pirate :)

Hanging out with Grandma, one of the highlights of the week for everyone. Mom got a break, grandma got to hangout with her favorite person, and Ryan is a huge fan of grandma (he is a big fan of being spoiled and she is a rock star at spoiling)

Ryan played hard and then he slept hard. Good times.

Leaving it Behind

I just finished law school. No joke, today was my last day of law school and it is done. I am in shock, in all honesty I thought this day would never come. I am heading to the beach tomorrow to celebrate for the week!
Oh glorious freedom.

Headache

You know when you have one of those headaches that last through the day making you both exhausted and irritable? Well imagine how it is while taking care of a baby…. Not good. That was my day yesterday, by the end of it I was just about out of commission. I was thinking that I would have to call my mom this morning and have her come over today to help me recover, and then I come to find out that she is sick, cross that off the list. So instead Don insists we go to bed early…. You know who didn’t insist? Ryan. He in fact insisted that he not be left alone, if we did leave him alone he would wake up 20 minutes later. This is very abnormal behavior for him; I am still not sure what was going on. Don being the wonderful husband that he is finally took the baby downstairs to sleep in the living room with him. I have a feeling I am still going to be a mess tomorrow.
My friend Nicki got sick a week and a half ago and it was really bad (like going to the doctor’s a few times) but she still had to take care of her daughter. She has inspired me to suck it up, if she can do that I can certainly get through a day like I am in for. That and I am leaving for a beach vacation for a week on Saturday. Yay beach!