"Me" Time

My sister-in-law, Coleen, and her husband have a rule when they go on a no-kids-allowed vacation. The first 5 hours or so, nobody talks. That's right - no talking between husband and wife. Just relaxing, doing your thing, and enjoying the peace and quiet.

So as Chris and I boarded the plane for our 2.5 hour flight to Florida, I decided I was going to try this out. I had 3 magazines and my ipod ready. Two and a half hours of me time. Just reading and listening to music that didn't start with "the wheels on the bus go..."

So I sit in my middle seat, Chris on my left, and a woman engrossed in her journal writing to my right. Perfect. The plane takes off, I turn on my ipod, open my first magazine - and it starts.

The woman next to me says (in her foreign accent that makes it hard to understand what she's saying without listening really closely) "Hi. It's nice to meet you." I smile, say hi and go back to my magazine.

A few articles in, she starts talking again. So I take out one earphone, listen to her comments. Smile - give a fake laugh, and quickly return to what I was doing.

This goes on for the next hour. She'll talk. I'll give a quick answer. I'll go back to reading and listening. Then she'll talk again.

I wanted to say to her "Check out all the signals! Earphones in ears, reading a magazine, giving short answers! I DON'T WANT TO CHIT CHAT!!!!"

Finally, after starting my favorite song over and over again I gave up and turned off the ipod. I actually decided that I may as well engage in a little conversation - since I had no choice - and then maybe she would leave me alone.

So we chatted for about 20 minutes and then it happened. She said "Well, it was nice talking to you. I'll let you go back to listening to your music now."

HALLELUJAH!!

I settled into an article and got halfway through when Chris got bored. "Hey babe, I wonder how many cameras are on this plane?"

"I don't know." I quickly reply. I start reading a sentence.

"Look, there's 3 right up there by the front."

"Mmmm Hmmm." I say. Read the same sentence again.

"Man, a lot has changed since 911." Chris responds.

So I say to him - "I don't want to be rude, but I really want to just read my magazine."

"Okay." I Read the same sentence for a 3rd time.

"I wonder if it will be warm when we get there?" Chris says.

Ughhhhh!!!! So after reading the exact same sentence LITERALLY 11 times (I counted) I gave up again.

Then, as soon as Chris stopped talking and I put my ipod back on, the lady next to me tapped my arm for the 27th time and started talking again!!!

So much for the peace and quiet!! Better luck next time!

Leaving Las Vegas

Well, Yardley anyway! Chris and I are going to Florida tomorrow for an entire week's vacation! Thanks to my in-laws for the great place to stay AND for watching Joey for the week! I just finished typing out all the notes on Joey's every move during the day! I do this every time they watch him. I don't know why! They are MORE than capable of taking care of him, and they have watched him numerous times - but there's something about me that always worries that he won't be able to tell them what he needs, or that they'll put him to bed differently then me and then he'll be confused! As much as I love and NEED the break - at the last minute I always freak out and don't want to leave him. I worry about him the whole time I'm gone. Each time I go somewhere without him a think "Next time we go I won't worry as much because he'll be older." But it never happens. It's got me wondering - when he's all grown up and has his own family -will I STILL think about him every second and hope he's okay?

Here's the notes, just so I can look back and remember what a nut I am!

Little Joe Boo

Daily Schedule:
• 7-8 am: Wakes Up
• Breakfast
• 12:30 – Lunch
• 1:00 – Nap (Sleeps between 2 and 3 hours)
• Upon Wake Up – Snack while watching High Five
• 5:30 – Dinner
• 7:30 – Bed

Meals:
• Breakfast – Cheerios and fruit, Waffle and fruit, or Pancakes and fruit; milk
• Lunch – good luck; this is his worst meal of the day – yogurt and fruit, mac n’ cheese and fruit, cheese with crackers and fruit, anything you think he might eat is fine.
• Afternoon Snack – depending on how much/what he ate for lunch I usually give him fruit, cheese, and crackers or some type of combination of this. If he ate almost no lunch then I give him a bigger snack and sometimes will give him a yogurt too.
• Dinner – I try to do a meat, grain, and fruit/vegetable. He really doesn’t eat any veggies though. Ideas of things he likes are: scrambled eggs with cheese, pasta with sauce, meatballs, chicken nuggets, hot dogs, pizza (with a pile of parmesan cheese to dip it in), meatloaf, fish mixed with rice. Grains he likes are tough because there are not many, but he loves rice pilaf. I also will give him a slice of bread, mashed potatoes, whole wheat crackers – whatever you think!

Other Food things:
• Joey loves cereal bars. I try to limit him to one per day. He can either have it as a morning snack or any other snack or sometimes I give it to him with his lunch.
• He also loves the Gerber fruit twists and fruit sticks. They have almost no calories, so I give him these when he is asking for a snack but it’s really close to a meal. Orange slices are another good snack when it’s close to a meal because he really just sucks the juice out of them.
• Cookies – if he eats a decent dinner I give him a couple of cookies for dessert.
• Fruit – Joey is a fruit nut! He loves it all. He eats grapes (cut in half), blueberries, strawberries (cut in at least quarters), watermelon, apple slices (no skin and sliced very thin), orange slices (you can either cut it like a lemon or in thin slices and then in half), applesauce, and those little fruit cups.
• Hot dogs – MUST be cut in quarters. Hot dogs are a huge chocking hazard and they make me nervous! ☺ (Same with grapes but he can do those in halves just fine)
• Drinks: He always has milk for breakfast and then he finishes the milk throughout the morning. After that I give him either water or water mixed with a little bit of orange juice or lemonade. Sometimes, if he has not eaten well that day I give him milk with dinner too.
• Cracker snacks – he likes all types of goldfish, cheese its, pretzels, plain crackers, animal cookies, really almost anything!

Bedtime and Nap Routine:
• I brush Joey’s teeth when I put on his PJ’s at night. I actually brush them and then let him have a turn. He doesn’t like me to brush them so I do a once over really fast, but I try to at least get in there for a few seconds. He’ll ask you to put toothpaste on his brush 800 times. I usually let him re-toothpaste twice and then tell him he’s all done with the toothpaste. When he finishes “brushing,” I hold him up at the sink and let him rinse his toothbrush and put it back in his mouth. This is his favorite part. He’ll do it as many times as you let him! His toothbrush and toothpaste is in the second drawer down in our bathroom.
• After I change his diaper we read one or a lot of stories (whatever you feel like). I always ask for a kiss right before I put him in the crib. He sleeps with his 3 binkies, a bunch of blankets, Doggy, and Blanket Bear (that blue blanket attached to a bear rattle). Lately he has wanted to bring other toys in his crib – if he asks it’s okay. I do not put a drink in his crib.
• At night, after we read stories we also say his prayers. Sometimes he pays attention and does the motions with me, sometimes not, but I always say them for him. He imitates the sign of the cross and sometimes keeps his hands folded while I say the prayers. You can say any prayers you like or here is the prayer we say each night:
o Sign of the Cross, then: “Now I lay me, Down to Sleep, I pray the Lord, My soul to keep. God bless Mommy, Daddy, and my Baby Sister. Noni and Popi. Gramma and Papa. Aunt Coleen, Uncle Phil, Aunt Beth, Uncle John, and Uncle Billy. My cousins Frank, Julia, John, and Andrew. My dog Charlie, my cat Bill, and all my friends. Thank you for today and I love you.” Sign of the Cross, then: “Night night, sleep tight, I love you, see you in the morning, bye bye”
• Before we go to bed at night, Chris or I sneak in and put toys at the end of his crib for the morning. Sometimes he has been waking up but if you just tell him to lie down he does and goes right back to sleep. I also usually pull his blanket back over him.

Baths/Showers:
• Joey’s skin has been getting really dry, so I am trying to give him showers instead of baths. If he has a shower he will take it with either Chris or I. I turn the jets on in our shower (low) and he plays in the jet water while I shower and then I clean him. You can do however you want or rotate between a bath and a shower.
• After his bath or shower he gets fully lotioned with the Aveeno lotion in his diaper drawer.
• Also, on the back of his right leg by his diaper are a few spots with a red eczema rash. I put cortisone on these spots at least once a day – twice if I remember. The cortisone is with the lotion.

Binkies:
• Joey is only allowed to have his binky upstairs and in the car now. He really does not ask for it other times anymore.
• Before you come downstairs, he puts the binkies up on his dresser. Sometimes he will tell me no and I have to take them, but usually he does it willingly.
• In the car there is a binky attached to his car seat.

Activities:
• Monday: Tumbles Class from 9:15-10:00. They know you will be bringing him. His teacher is Miss Maryanne and the assistant is Miss Tracy. He doesn’t like Miss Tracy – he always cries when she tries to play with him!
• Tuesday: Story time at the Library from 11:30-12. If you decide to go then I let him bring a snack of goldfish or something and a drink because all the other kids will have one too. He does not sit great for this but it is okay if he wanders around. Only go if you feel like getting out!
• Wednesday: Open Gym at Tumbles from 3:00 – 4:00. This is not class so he does not have to go. You can just go and play for the hour. If he gets up from his nap in time then we usually go, but again it’s optional.
• If you are looking for other things to do with him, he also like going to Target and the Grocery Store when I need things, and he likes to go to Barnes and Noble and play in the back with the kids books.
• House things that he likes to do besides his regular toys are play-doh at the counter, pushing his red car outside (if it is warm enough – it’s in the shed – he asks for it every time we walk out the door!), stickers (these are in the closet in the baby’s room in a drawer labeled stickers)…..

High Five:
• He ALWAYS watches this while eating his snack after his nap. He’ll ask for it usually in the morning too, or sometimes at night. I try to only let him watch it twice a day.
• It comes on channel 130 at 9:37 every morning if you want to watch it while it’s actually on, otherwise there are several episodes DVR’ed.
• To watch it on DVR, once the TV is on:
o Hit “menu”
o Select “DVR”
o Select “My Recordings”
o Select “High 5”
o Then scroll through and choose an episode.
o When it comes on you have to fast forward it to 7 minutes.
o Make sure when it’s over that you choose “don’t delete”

Snow Days

This has been a crazy winter so far! Two big snow storms in one week! It's about time I see some real snow! Up until now, I thought this snow in the north thing was just a myth!

As much fun as it was having all the snow (over 70 inches this year for Philadelphia!!), I know it was a big pain for a lot of people. Our neighbors across the street didn't have power for 3 days and everyone had to leave their houses. Trees and large branches are down everywhere too! You should see the pile of branches Chris collected from our backyard - there are so many that you could build a Tepee for an entire village of Indians!! At the end of all the streets everyone's grass is completely torn up from the snow plows. Every time I see a person's yard destroyed I think about how mad my dad and Chris' dad would be if that was their yard!

Joey had a great time though! By round 3 he was having a blast! He had to play in the street after it was plowed because the snow came up so high that his short little legs couldn't walk around in the yard! He loved throwing snow at Charlie and watching her run away, getting pulled in the sled, sitting by the windows and doors watching the snow fall, and helping Chris shovel the snow from the driveway!

Here are some pictures of Joey from the past few storms!

Yum Yum

Every night at dinner it is the same routine. Joey comes over to me and rubs his belly while saying "Yum Yum." That means - hey mom, I'm hungry.

So I tell him that I'll make dinner.

He then goes over to the pantry and opens it up.



"Yum Yum." He says.

Tonight I told him, "I'm going to make you chicken nuggets."

So he goes over and opens the fridge.



I get out the nuggets and start cooking. In the mean time, Joey decides I'm not cooking fast enough and that it's time to take matters into his own hands. So he gets some cheese.



As I continue to cook - he decides to pull over his high chair.



When dinner is finally ready, he takes a bite and gives me his sign of approval - a rub on the belly and another "Yum Yum!"



Then, when dinner is done. He gets down, gets all cleaned up. And decides he's still hungry! So for dessert, a banana on the go!



Thanks Mommy - you're the best!!




(P.S. The reason Joey is not wearing any pants when there is a blizzard on the way is because after 5 minutes of chasing him around the house after changing his diaper, I decided pants were not a necessity!)

Silence

Everyone with kids knows that silence is never a good thing (unless the kids are asleep). If it's too quite, then something must be wrong. Well in our house, there really isn't ever silence. Joey's a loud one. He screeches all day long. Just try to have a conversation with me on the phone and you'll see what I'm talking about!

So tonight, after Joey finished his dinner, I was doing his dishes when he wandered out of the kitchen and into the living room. Now this is also a rare occurrence, as Joey almost NEVER leaves my side. There is no such thing as him playing by himself while I am doing something around the house.

I finish his dishes and he is still in the other room, so I decide to take advantage of the rare moment alone and start cutting vegetables for the adult dinner. After I get through slicing tomatoes, I decide to move on to the onion. Only I realize that it has been quiet for almost 4 entire minutes and still no sign of Joey. So I yell toward the other room -

"Joey, are you being a good boy in there?"

No answer.

Then I hear "meeeeoooowwwww!" It's Bill - our cat.

I walk into the living room where I see Joey crouched down on the floor looking at Bill. When Joey hears me he jumps up and spins around with a guilty look on his face (he knows he's not supposed to mess with the cat).

I look at Joey and say "Remember, do nice kitty."

So he leans back down with a devilish grin and starts petting the cat. I start to turn my back and out of the corner of my eye I see him return to what he was doing before I came in. Trying to take off Bill's "hat."

What is this "hat" that I speak of? It's one of those cones that keeps an animal from licking their wound.

Why does Bill have to wear such a hat? Because he bites his tail until it bleeds.

Why does he bite his tail? Because Joey screeches and cries so loud every day that Bill gets super nervous and doesn't know what to do. So he bites his tail!!

Although Bill would rather enjoy a little silence everyone once in a while - at least for the sake of his tail - I, on the other hand, have gotten used to the sounds of Joey's squeals. So when I do hear silence, I get nervous. And after today, I know it is for good reason!

Simple Luxuries

I remember the first few months of Joey's life. Things were such a whirlwind, and there wasn't time for anything there used to be time for. I distinctly remember how the SIMPLEST luxuries - things I had never before thought of as a luxury - were suddenly so important.

Sleep, for one, was something I had always taken for granted before he came along.

A shower. And not just any shower. A shower without a baby in the room with you. A shower that lasted more than 2 minutes. A shower that you took when you woke up in the morning, not when the baby was finally asleep in the swing. A shower that happened on a daily basis.

Eating a meal when you were actually hungry rather than when the baby finally stopped crying.

Cooking dinner while listening to George Winston and enjoying a new candle. You know, a way to unwind after a day at work.

And now that Joey is nearing the year and a half mark, these things are still ones that I consider a luxury. But as I get ready for the next baby to arrive, I think there are new luxuries that I will once again be missing:

Taking a shower with JUST Joey, not two kids! :)
Spending my entire day devoting all of my attention to Joey.
The time I have to myself during Joey's nap.

As excited as I am for our family to grow - and to love another child as much as I love Joey; a part of me is a little sad that mine and Joey's relationship is going to change in so many ways. He'll still be my little buddy, my baby boy, my side kick - but now he'll have to share me with his little sister.

So as the time of having just one child winds down - I hope to spend the next 4 months really focusing on and appreciating all the wonderful things that you can only experience with your first child!