NO!!!

So I read somewhere that once your child understands the word “no” you should use it sparingly but forcefully. Whoever wrote that did not know my child.

It’s difficult to keep everything out of baby’s reach in a sub-600-square-foot apartment. I try to keep the dangerous things completely away from him and the annoying things as far away as feasibly possible. As a result, he finds everything he should not touch and I tell him “no”, over and over again. Also, he already knows that he HATES this word and promptly throws a fit when told no or when an object is taken away from him or he is taken away from an object.

Here are some of the things that I have lovingly told my son not to do today. It is currently 2:39pm.

“No, Brady, it’s 5am it is not time to get up yet.” “No, Brady, we do not eat paper towels.” “No, Brady, don’t take the remote.” “No, Brady, please don’t flush the toilet again.” “No, Brady, do not hit the kitty.” “No, Brady, if you crawl under the chair you will hit your head.” “No, Brady, you cannot have the spoon with food on it.” “No, Brady, that is Mommy’s fork.” “No, Brady, we do not eat leaves.” “No, Brady, we do not eat dirt.” “No, Brady, please don’t crawl in the wet sand.”

Fun right? I’m trying to come up with more creative ways of saying “no” without actually using the word. This is getting tiresome. And I know it can only get worse from here.

No, Brady, don't eat that Big League Chew. (Just kidding, I was totally letting him play with that.)

TEETH!!

It's hard to get a picture of those teeth

After ten long months of waiting – the last six of which we and everyone else we know has sworn that Brady has been teething – we finally have teeth. Of course my odd child would get his top teeth first. Babies usually get the front bottom teeth first followed by the top, but not my little guy.

A week and a half ago I checked Brady’s gums as I do every morning, only to be disappointed again. But later that day he was chewing on my collarbone (unfortunately one of his favorite activities) and I felt something scratchy. I thought something was in his mouth so I tried to wipe it off, only to find a tooth!!! Who knew I would ever be so elated by normal human physical development?

Five miserable days and nights later toothy number 1 was joined by its next door neighbor. After that first tooth arrived, I think real teething began. Brady has been sleeping terribly, nursing constantly, and just a little more crabby than usual. Let’s hope those bottom two teefers get their act together and pop through soon!

Evil Mommy leaves child at gym

Gym childcare that is. And he HATES it! But it is getting better.

When Brady was around 8 months the husband and I discovered that our gym, New York Sports Club, has childcare on Saturdays for $5 an hour. We were psyched! One of our favorite pre-baby activities was working out together. Alas, our child does not like to be cared for at the gym. There is only one babysitter on Saturdays so she suggested that I bring him during the week when there are two of them to help him get used to it. Soon after we went through separation anxiety hell and this project was temporarily abandoned.

Recently he’s been better about the separation and even spent an afternoon with my sister-in-law and her boyfriend without incident. So I decided to take up the gym project again. I took him twice last week. He was screaming when I dropped him off, no matter how I or they tried to distract him, and he was screaming when I picked him up 20 minutes later. They tell me that he didn’t scream the whole time, but I don’t know if I believe it.

Today, once again, he was screaming when I dropped him off. But, to my surprise and delight, he was not screaming when I picked him. He was desperately trying to escape from the room by crawling over the barrier of strollers they had put up, but there were no tears and he even smiled when he saw me. Progress!!!

The value of vacation

Gorgeous...

I was really nervous leading up to our vacation. I was afraid that I would be in this beautiful place that should be a lot of fun and yet just living my everyday life taking care of the baby. Instead it turned out to be exactly the escape that I needed.

I’ve really struggled with becoming a mother. The feelings of loss I’ve experienced weren’t something that I expected. I’ve felt the loss of my career, my routine, my identity, and sometimes I think my self-worth. It’s been so hard for me to build up a new me that includes this new little human being, and yet somehow allows me to still be myself.

While I adore my son to no end and am constantly and utterly amazed by him I had yet to feel that feeling that my life was now fuller than it was before. That feeling that all of my parent-friends had told me would make it all worth it.

While we were away it finally clicked for me – this trip was better than any I had ever taken with my friends or with my husband alone. Not only did I get to experience a new place and do fun things and get some much needed relaxation, I got the satisfaction and awe of seeing my son experience these things too. Seeing him smiling at the feeling of the water, running his fingers through the sand, tearing through the house after the dogs so they would lick his face made me really feel like a mother. And more than that, it made me feel like part of a family…a new family…my family.

Family Vacation

Our very first family vacation was about the best that anyone could ask for. Adjusting to real life again has been a bit brutal (especially with the stomach flu and all). Here’s a quick recap:

We arrived on Thursday early afternoon to a cloudy, rainy island. We were picked up by our friend and drove (on the wrong side of the road!) back to his amazing house! They have everything you could want: a beautiful view, plenty of space, a pool, and beer on tap! We went out to lunch, grilled for dinner and basically had a great lazy day. Brady got to know the doggies and they became fast friends.

Friday we had the house to ourselves and although it was cloudy it was HOT. We spent the day at the pool which Brady absolutely loved! Our other host came home, Brady took a two hour nap entirely in the pack n play, and we went out for a fabulous dinner.

Saturday was beach day! Woohoo! We spent the morning in the pool and the afternoon at a wonderful, shallow, calm beach which Brady was a huge fan of. You could walk and walk and walk and the water was never over 4 feet deep.

Sunday we went to the most beautiful beach I’ve ever seen – Horseshoe Bay Beach. The sand is actually pink, the water is turquoise, the waves lap at your ankles and there is a gorgeous little cove where all the kids play. We spent most of our time there with Brady. Tropical fish even swam around our feet!

Monday was our last day and we spent it by the pool again. Brady was a huge fan and was even brave enough to dunk his face in by then. Our friend made us a yummy risotto for dinner and we were so sad to say goodbye since he would be off to work before we got up.

The flight back was uneventful other than some turbulence coming in which Brady thought was some type of exciting bonus. It was an amazing trip. It was great to see our friends, amazing to see Brady’s reaction to everything new (pools, and beaches, and doggies – oh my!), and just so wonderful to spend that much time together just being a family.

More on what I got from the trip later…

But mommies can’t get sick

I’m going to write a few posts about our AWESOME trip to Bermuda, but first I have to say something about what happened when we got home – we all got sick and I got it the worst!

I now know to keep this in the house.

Since Brady was born I’ve been terrified of getting sick. What would I do? How would I take care of the baby? I did eventually get a cold and that wasn’t too bad, but this was something else entirely. On Wednesday morning, Brady was having trouble sleeping and (excuse the TMI, there will be a lot of it here) was very very gassy. Later that morning he had diarrhea! He’s never had this problem before. I thought maybe it was just from the travel. I called the pediatrician who told me to give him Pedialyte and that if he was ok by the next day not to worry. But I did worry and I felt nauseous – which I thought was from the worry.

But Brady seemed fine after that – YAY for magical breastmilk!! I, however, was not fine. After dinner I just felt worse…and worse…and worse. I couldn’t sleep. And then it happened – I threw up!! I never throw up! And of course Brady decided to wake up just then and want only me and I could not hold him. My husband finally got him calmed down and I went out to the couch, where I stayed awake for the next 4 hours periodically running to the bathroom to puke. It was the worst.

Thursday I felt like death warmed over and Brady was as active as ever. Thank goodness my mother-in-law came over, otherwise I would have spent the day lying on Brady’s floor tossing toys at him hoping he would play with them.

The husband got mildly sick the next day, but nothing like what I had. Today I am finally able to almost eat like a normal person again. Wow! That was brutal. I remember thinking when I was little that mommies don’t get sick…my poor mother must have been good at hiding it!

Escape from New York

I love summer in the city, but by the end each year I get a little “citied out”. I start to long for places without concrete, and construction, and traffic, and people everywhere you look. This year the husband, the kid, and I are going on our first family vacation – to Bermuda!!!

We actually have friends who live there for business so we’re staying with them, saving us the cost of a hotel. The flight is short and we got it at the lowest fare possible. Yay! I am so excited! We get to see good friends, hang out at the pool, go to the beach, and just relax!

Brady’s never been to the beach or the pool and I can’t wait to see his reaction. Judging by his love for the bath and the kiddie pool it should be a good one.

So we’re escaping from the city for almost 6 whole days and I cannot wait!