Random
Lots of random thoughts running through my head these past few weeks. I finally took a few moments to jot a few of them down.
Impaled! Last week, SoMi impaled herself on a sharp stick. It was during our morning walk when she playfully pounced on a stick. It impaled her in the back of her mouth, near her tonsils. Sweets and I took a number of visual exams before we finally found it … stuck in her mouth. A day-long visit to the vet, sedation and a $500 donation to our favorite canine doctor meant SoMi could come home, stick removed. After an evening of wooziness and generally looking pathetic, SoMi is back to her old self! And yes, the vet did save the stick to send home with SoMi.
Diapers! The night I went into the hospital before Gavin was born was a Thursday night. Earlier in the evening, Sweets and I purchased 42 cloth diapers from a friend. Yeah, they were used. But, when you’re offered 42 cloth diapers for $5 each (instead of the going rate of $20 per diaper), you jump on the opportunity! Gavin was too small when we brought him home to begin using the diapers. We tried the diapers a few weeks ago with disposable liners (to make clean-up easier), however the liners were like sandpaper and gave Gavin a rash. So, we took a break until last week, when we began to run low on our supply of disposable diapers. We started using the cloth diapers again. The diapers clean more easily than I was expecting, but Gavin doesn’t seem to like the elastic around his legs and he still might be too thin for them as they leak a bit around the waist. I’m still not sure what to do – I really want to use the cloth diapers, but not at the expense of Gavin’s comfort. To be continued…
Wipes. Part of the reason Sweets and I were interested cloth diapers is we’re a bit skeptical about the chemicals used in traditional disposable diapers. Along those same lines, we were also a bit concerned about the chemicals used in over the counter baby wipes. Sweets did some research and found a simple solution for baby wipes (the recipe calls for water, baby wash, olive oil and tea tree oil). We purchased disposable washcloths and have been using this solution on Gavin since we brought him home from the hospital. His butt loves them and we love that each time we use them, we’re cleaning his butt (with the baby wash) and then moisturizing it (with the olive oil) – all with one quick swipe of the butt!
Amazon! A friend alerted me to an offering from Amazon. It’s called Amazon Mom. Moms, dads, family members and caretakers can all sign up for the program. The one-year program provides 3 free months of Amazon Prime (free shipping!!!) and then the program continues to provide a additional free month of Amazon Prime for each $25 qualifying purchase (qualifying purchases are Prime eligible items from the Baby department). Amazon also reserves the right to extend the program beyond a year if they choose (yes, please!). The idea of being able to purchase diapers, formula, clothes, gifts for other kids, nursery supplies and so on … all with free shipping and no membership fee? Sign me up – that’ll certainly make a loyal customer out of me!
Leave! If Gavin was born on his due date, my maternity leave would’ve been in 2011 and would’ve meant taking 6 weeks short-term disability plus 4 weeks of vacation time (all my 2011 vacation time). Since he was born early, my leave was in 2010, a combination of short-term disability, some vacation time and some unpaid time off. I decided to only take off through the end of the year (even though Gavin was home for only a month of that time) for a few reasons. First, financially, it would’ve been tight to take more time off. Second, my company has a very busy start to the year and I was aware of a number of ways I could help ease the craziness. And third, my company was willing to work with my transition coming back to work. What does all that mean? It means I started working full time again last week. However, I’m working from home and still taking care of Gavin until he begins daycare in early April.
Networking. In college, I started hearing (from very smart people) about the importance of networking. It helps you get jobs, make friends, discover things you never would’ve known about otherwise. When I found out I was pregnant, I joined one local parenting network to find out about daycare options in my hood. And though it was a painful process (high demand, low supply), we finally found a daycare provider that fits our needs. More recently, I joined another local moms network that is a little more grassroots than the first (they title themselves a collective, not a network). Through this network, I have provided other local mothers the name of our dog walker and financial planner. I’ve learned about some great play dates (that we’ll definitely participate in once Gavin is socially enabled). And I’ve been handed down some great used boys clothes (and trust me, I’m already working on paying it forward). I see both of these groups as being invaluable as Dan and I continue to navigate the new parenthood waters. And let’s not fail to mention the powers of social networking. Through this lovely blog, I’ve found others who are pregnant at the same time as me as well as others going through the same issues of premature babies and formula feeding. Through Facebook, I’ve received support from friends I never knew experienced some similar parenting issues as I have. It’s pretty remarkable.
Fail! Last week, Sweets celebrated a sort of important birthday. It was one of those birthdays that ends with a zero or five. A mutual friend wished him happy birthday on Facebook and suggested that I might be home baking him a cake, which I most definitely was not. I did, however, encourage him to let his co-workers take him out for a celebratory beer after work. We exchanged a few texts, where I might have mentioned my guilt regarding not having a cake for him. So, you know what he did? He went to a bakery on his way home and picked up himself a cake.
Win! Over the weekend, one of Sweets’ co-workers invited people over to celebrate her birthday. Sweets wanted to go and wanted me to join him. We decided it’d be the perfect mini-date to leave Gavin behind. So, we asked one of his aunts to watch after him and we took off for a few hours. It was great to get out together, great to socialize with our peers and great to know Gavin is just fine when we’re not around. (Let it be noted, my mother watched after him a few times while she was in town, but it wasn’t nearly as exciting, since I was merely running errands while I was away).
I’m sure there’s more I could discuss … like how we found our daycare provider and the expense of formula and our slightly longer plan to stay in our condo and a bunch of other things that are always floating around my head. But, well, this is a blog post and I like my lovely readers and I certainly wouldn’t want to scare you away with my entirely too long and rambling post (that’s assuming this one hasn’t already achieved that status – ha!). Thanks for humoring me!
January 11th, 2011 at 8:41 am
Yikes! Poor Somi and that stick. Ouch :S
I’m glad that you and Sweets got to go on a little date :) That must have been nice!
January 11th, 2011 at 8:58 am
I’m glad that you were able to work something out with your company that was agreeable to both of you. I’m glad that you’ve found such an awesome network of people around you, thats so amazing. Hooray for a mini-date with Sweets!
January 11th, 2011 at 9:30 am
Poor SoMi… Ouch!!
That’s great that you & Dan got out for a bit. It’s nice to have family in the area that can pitch in like that.
And you didn’t bore me one bit. I miss your posts so much, you could have kept going and going I would have kept reading. :)
January 11th, 2011 at 10:02 am
Poor Somi! Goodness gracious! That hurts!!
I’ve not really researched it a lot, but that Amazon Mom program sounds like it may be worthwhile. . . I just don’t know that I typically spend enough monthly for it to pay for itself. Hmmmm….
January 11th, 2011 at 10:34 am
Aw, happy birthday to Sweets! Glad he ended up with a cake, even if it wasn’t home-baked.
January 11th, 2011 at 12:45 pm
Happy birthday to Sweets and so glad Somi is well. Owwee!
If you ever need cloth diaper help, I am here for ya. We cloth diapered our little Ladybug and will certainly be cloth diapering the one on the way. We also used reusable cloth wipes.
January 11th, 2011 at 1:28 pm
cake is cake -- whether homemade or store bought :)
January 11th, 2011 at 1:35 pm
To the diapers thing--we weren’t able to use the pocket or AIO diapers w/Jackson until he was probably around 4 months--and he was always a bigger kid!--because they didn’t fit well around the waist and legs. He eventually grew into them, but in the early days we did prefolds & covers & fitteds and covers and they worked MUCH MUCH better for his shape. Anyway, don’t be surprised if it takes a little bit for him to grow into the diapers you’ve got.
January 11th, 2011 at 1:38 pm
I’m so glad you’re writing, even if it isn’t as often as you used to, pre-Gavin. Glad to know everyone is doing well and that you’re successfully figuring out this whole parenting thing. And yes, I could not agree more on the importance of networking!
January 11th, 2011 at 2:26 pm
I’m so glad SoMi is ok after the stick incident! Poor girl.
I loved this post and all the updates; I’m so intrigued by cloth diapers and the ongoing debate about them. And the made at home baby wipe formula? That sounds awesome. I am a huge fan of all things olive oil; I have olive oil facewash and etc. It’s pretty fantastic.
Also, seeing your name pop in my reader makes me incredibly happy. Glad to hear all things are going well for you and the gang.
Oh, and happy belated birthday to Sweets! I love that he got himself his own cake. Something I would do ;-)
January 11th, 2011 at 3:21 pm
Ouch! Poor Somi. Glad she’s doing better though.
You are one awesome lady. I can’t believe you went back to work so soon after, but I can definitely understand why. So glad you work in a place that is willing to work with you ease back into things. It’s so important that a workplace understand such things (and sadly not all do).
Always glad to hear little Gavin is doing so well!
January 11th, 2011 at 3:50 pm
Happy Birthday Sweets! And poor SoMi, I’m glad she’s OK!
And now…I really want cake.
January 11th, 2011 at 3:54 pm
Nilsa — If you have a moment, could you send me the link to the diaper wipe recipe?
Happy belated birthday to your handsome husband. :)
January 11th, 2011 at 6:12 pm
Fuzzy Britches impaled her tongue with a stick when she was a puppy. CP had to take her to the vet too. Glad Somi survived!
Happy birthday to Sweets!
January 11th, 2011 at 10:07 pm
Love the update!! Happy birthday to Sweets :)
January 12th, 2011 at 11:38 am
Glad SoMi is ok!
Sounds like you’re doing good and for that I am glad. :-)
January 12th, 2011 at 12:18 pm
I love these catch up posts of yours. It’s like we just had a quick but highly productive and still somehow enlightening chat over wine or tea. :)
January 12th, 2011 at 9:56 pm
Missed these updates! (and I owe you an update of my own -- to follow soon…!)
January 13th, 2011 at 1:32 am
Thank you for such a detailed update on all (or some) of the happenings in your life. I’m so happy to hear that things are going well for all of you (other than SoMi’s mishap, poor thing!) and that Gavin is a healthy, growing, beautiful boy!
It sounds like your work situation is perfect right now, and I’m glad you’ve found a wonderful network of mothers. Even though I’m still a few years away from trying to start a family, I most definitely take note of any good tips and ideas for motherhood. I love your baby wipes solution. I’ll have to pass that along to the many mothers in my life.
Happy birthday to Sweets!
January 13th, 2011 at 9:29 am
Networking is such a critical tool on so many levels. I like how it calls itself a collective, it reminds me of the saying “It takes a village to raise a child” except it takes moms to help moms.
And whew I am glad that Somi is doing okay, that was such a freak occurrence but she is back and doing well and that is all that matters!
January 16th, 2011 at 2:14 pm
Glad SoMi is all healed and back to normal. Pets that need medical/vet attention can be rough. Our 17 yr old cat had to have some infected teeth removed last year, and it took a few weeks for him to learn how to eat with less teeth. On a related note, I really despise canned cat food (dry is much less stinky and no where near as messy)
A night out with your hubby is nice, leaving the newborn with a trusted family member.