Dr. Seuss's ABC

Noah's Book Club: April 2012

Title: Dr. Seuss's ABC
Hooray for Dr. Seuss's first appearance on the book list!

Why Noah Picked It: Well, in April my Mom hurt herself and my great-Aunt Leslie came over to help take care of me. That is the first time I remember this book because she read it so FAST...she had it memorized. I really liked the way all the words sounded and the pictures have bright contrasting pictures. Mom says not all Dr. Seuss books are right for kids as young as me but this one holds my attention if the reader is fast and I can help flip the pages. I like to crinkle them up when no one is watching...Mom recommends the board book version if possible. Now Mom and Dad have it memorized...they recite it to me sometimes to get my attention or change my mood. "Aunt Annie's Alligator...A...A...A!"

The Very Busy Spider

Noah's Book Club: March 2012

Title: The Very Busy Spider
Love me some animal noises...

Author: Who else????

Why Noah Picked It: This is my last Eric Carle book....for now. I love the large pictures of each animal the spider comes in contact with. I really like hearing the adult reading to me make each of the animal's noises. My Mom's horse neigh is hilarious! I also like the owl page. 

5 months old and other numbers

Just a quick post to mark Noah turning 5 months old today.

5 months old!

Going to focus on some numbers. It seems as soon as you are pregnant people want to know a lot of numbers. Due date? How many weeks? How old? How big? How tall? How many? What size?

Noah was 9.5 lbs. when he was born...he is now 18.10 lbs.
He has also added 6 inches to his length.
At his last appointment he was in the 95% of weight and off the chart for his height. 
According to Daddy's baby book JJ was this same weight and an inch longer at 5 months.
Teeth Noah has: 0 Teeth Mommy had at his age: 2

Snuggle time with Daddy.

I don't believe in lucky numbers but I may believe in significant numbers.
If Noah has one it is the number 9.
Noah is the 9th great-grandchild on my Mother's side.
Noah was born at 9:11 in the morning and weighed 9 lbs and 5 oz.
Noah was born 9 years (almost to the day) after my Pop passed away - J. Roger Barber - the source of his middle name. Noah's first day in Schoharie County was the anniversary of his passing. Love.

Noah is averaging 3 short naps a day with a 12 hour stretch of sleeping at night...within that 12 hours he is up anywhere from 4 to 6 times. At least that is the schedule this week.

We have officially moved into 9 month clothing...some small 12 month things and some big 6 month things still float around in his dresser.

Noah loves his bird.

 So...those are the numbers! Planning posts soon about Noah's name, Noah's baptism, and my disastrous trip to a consignment sale. We will see if any of them happen!

The Case of the Missing Pork Loin

A tale of what grocery shopping is like for this new Mom:

Let me start by saying that grocery shopping has changed drastically for me since becoming a Mom. I used to love food shopping. I would literally spend hours in the store. Traveling up and down each aisle, blissfully throwing anything that looked good into my cart, no plan, no list...just enjoying the items piling up. I would shop whenever it seemed like I should...if I ran out of food I'd just order out. Grocery trips were a nice break from the routine. I loved it. Sounds dreamy right? It was. I was a single twenty-something with the time and money to treat grocery shopping like a trip to the mall.

Fast forward to today- add a four month old and a one income household and BAM! Grocery shopping has completely changed. It is now a hill to climb, a mission to accomplish, I count it as exercise it is so exhausting. That's right...you read that correctly...on the days I grocery shop I consider my cardio workout complete. Between the bending, lifting, carrying, and power walking I would say I am somewhat justified. (somewhat)

I am now a coupon-holding, list-toting, store-brand-shopping, budget-watching machine. I try to shop on the same day each week, I always have planed out our dinners before hand, and I must have a list. If it's not on the list- it is not coming home. I shop to feed this little family and save money and if I can get out of the store without Noah screaming his head off. I've won.

Today I loaded our little bundle of joy into the car. List - check, coupons - check, diaper bag - check, reusable shopping bags - check. Drive to the store and I am faced with the first colossal challenge of shopping with an infant...getting it all into the store. I park nearest the cart return...it took me about 3 months to figure out this is more important than being close to the door of the store. The best spot for this mommy is if I can get right next to the cart return. I get out, grab a cart, put Noah (in his infant carrier) down into the main basket of the cart.

Side note: No, I do not use those carts with the seats attached for infants. No, I do not perch him precariously across the top of the cart or try to hook his seat to the smaller pull out basket. I put him down inside. This cuts down on two things. One, my own fear that putting him across the top of the cart or in the little basket thingy is not secure and that as I am trying to round some corner he will fall off. This may be completely irrational but whatever...it makes me feel better knowing he is down inside. Two, and more importantly, people are less likely to look at/talk to/stop me/touch the baby when he is inside the cart. This only took me one shopping trip to discover. Look, ladies, I know you love babies but seriously I have about 45 minutes of good sitting-in-his seat time before it is possible that he will start screaming his darling little head off...so I have got to book it here!

Ok, so Noah is inside in his seat, now add my reusable shopping bags, and his diaper bag to the cart. Can you picture that? Bingo...very little room for food. But I have gotten good at packing the food around my sweet baby and utilizing that little tray underneath the cart.

So...here we go...into the fray with barely any room for food before we've begun. Noah has already spent a good 20 minutes in his car seat due to travel time alone. Mommy...start your engine.

And I'm off...trying to balance moving as quickly as possible with getting the best deals as possible. Comparing prices, checking my coupons, checking the list, dodging people who want to stop and talk about the baby (sorry!), trying not to go down unnecessary aisles. I stack cans and boxes around the outskirts of the cart and place any and everything it can handle on the rack underneath.

Exhibit A 

Now, today, we needed a light bulb. We also happened to be shopping at my least favorite place in the whole entire world to shop...I won't name names. Let's just call it, Ballmart. Ok, so we are at Ballmart due to their incredible low yogurt prices (I told you- budget is king). I am forced to go there once a month and buy enough yogurt to last for weeks. This is solely so that I do not have to shop there again for as long as possible.

Anyway, I am searching through the aisle right next to the grocery section- paper products, cleaning supplies, home office stuff- no light bulbs - finally, I ask a nice Ballmart employee who informs me that light bulbs are in hardware on the other side of the store.

Side tirade: WHAT?!??! Are you kidding me Ballmart? Since when did light bulbs become something banished to the other side of the store. Aren't light bulbs the kinds of things people are always buying and go right along with toilet paper and hand soap. Not only were they on the other side of the store they were buried five or six aisles in- behind paint. PAINT! You are telling me that light bulbs have become something we want to make people search for behind things like paint and dehumidifiers! Is this because they have fancy light bulbs now (that last about four years) and so now the little people who still buy normal light bulbs have to fight our way past the Easter section and cosmetics to get this basic need for our home. *deep breath*

Ok...so I look down at my lovely who by this point is starting to make those "mommy-I've had-about-enough-of-this-I-want-out-of-this-seat" noises. I grab the cart and start power walk/running toward the other end of this super store in search of one darn light bulb. About 10 steps into my walk/run I hear "uh...mam...you dropped your yogurt." Sure enough, I look back and the precious yogurt that brought us to this horrible place in the first place is on the ground about 10 ten feet behind me....I run back, grab it, throw it back in the cart and dash off again. About 5 steps later...*thunk*...this time oatmeal has fallen off that lower rack...stop...grab...throw...push...run. (I told you exercise! I am now breaking a sweat.) I finally get to Siberia (where we keep light bulbs now) and head back to find a (please God) short line as now the baby child IS making very upset sounds...not crying yet. *Old lady incoming on the left hand side*...ack...after a lovely exchange of "yes, thank you, he is so cute"...and "oh, yes, he does sound like he wants to talk"...we are in the checkout line.

Now, this is like my finish line...I feel like pouring a cup of water over my head, like someone should wrap a flag around me, I have a "where's my Gatorade?" kind of feeling. The baby is not crying yet, the list is done, and I think it is all going to come in on budget. Why do the checkout clerks not get this? Instead of being greeted with a "you did it!" or "nice job." I get an unhappy face or someone who is upset I brought my own bags and doesn't want to deal with my coupons or my soon-to-be crying baby.

Anyway, I load the belt. And as I am unpacking my purchases from around Noah I notice something is missing. My peppercorn pork loin. Somewhere between the meat section and light bulbs my Sunday meal went AWOL. For a moment, I think about going back for it. Flashes of, "leave no man behind", type speeches go through my head. Then a *squawk* from the boy and a puzzled and not-to-please look from the lady behind me snaps me out of it. Sorry peppercorn pork loin...I have this needs-a-nap baby and two more errands to run.

On the way home I picture my poor pork loin...did it roll under the bargain bins as I flew across the store? Drop out near the frozen vegetables? Did someone see it and decide to take it home for supper or has it been left to be found by some night cleaner?
This is life...it's not perfect...all my planning and lists and effort to make it as perfect as possible doesn't mean that pork loins won't jump ship.  And that's ok...I'll make mac-n-cheese instead of pork loin. And we'll try again next week.

I have to laugh at how my life has changed. Wonderfully, beautifully changed. Do I miss my leisurely trips to the store and my cart filled to the brim with whatever I wanted? No, not really.

Because my cart is so much fuller now.

Oh, did I say cart? I meant heart. My heart is so much fuller now.  

My Advice for Moms-to-Be

There is an abundance of advice for moms-to-be out there. I am honestly hesitant to even add to the pile. With that said, here are just a few things that (even if no mom-to-be ever reads) I don't want to forget.

1.) I will start off with an easy one. Sometime before the baby comes I highly recommend going through your closet (yes, the clothes you haven't worn in six months or longer because you are expecting) and taking everything that is dry clean only or hand wash only and hiding it. Say goodbye to these items for now. I didn't do this and as we speak I have a pile of things that need to be hand washed and a pile of things I dropped off at the dry cleaners (expensive!). This was especially a problem with sweaters. This many seem silly but trust me...when Junior gets here you are tired and running out the door and you grab a sweater or pair of pants and BAM. Spit up or some other special gift from your lovely. And the LAST things you want to be doing with an infant to take care of is hand washing laundry or making an expensive trip to the dry cleaners. (Live and learn for me...I hope this post can spare someone else the trouble.)

Related: My husband is not allowed to hold the baby when he comes home from work until he puts on a sweatshirt or something machine washable. This sounds harsh and right now you may be thinking...this girl is crazy is all her advice going to be so neurotic...but trust me...it takes less than a second to ruin a tie, blazer, dress shirt, or sweater. Do this especially if you are the one who does his laundry. Again...NO time for special care clothing!!

2.) Get the purple stuff!! Lansinoh brand lanolin and breast pads that is. This is very important! I saw a huge difference in the first few weeks of nursing when I threw out the hospital brand lanolin and got Lansinoh (the only brand recommended by La Leche League ). Get a tube before you deliver and bring it to the hospital. Their disposable breast pads DO NOT leak. I have put them to the test and spent hours wearing them out in public and they work wonderfully! I wear re-usable ones when I am home and wearing sweats but out in public do not mess around. All it takes is one day when you leak through your clothing and you will see what I am talking about. I live by the purple brand!

3.) Talk, talk, talk. Before you deliver find a few women you love and respect. Find some time and ask them to tell you about their delivery and recovery. There are lots of versions of any birth story from the 30 second to the hour long. I am talking about the latter... the glass-of-wine we're-here-all-night version. Ignore anyone who says stuff like "it will just come naturally...you'll know what to do" this is true to some extent. However, in our culture most women have never seen a woman in labor let alone a delivery before they go through it themselves. If we lived in another time and another place we may have attended countless births before we ourselves embarked on this experience. Since this is not how our culture works right now TALKING to those women you love and trust is the next best thing. Ask them not to leave anything out. Ask them specific questions. Realizing that all births are different and that your story will be nothing like theirs. Here's the thing, something they say will stick to your bones and help you through. I promise! You (mostly likely) will not be in a room surrounded by the experienced women you love and trust. The next best thing is to have them in your head.

PS- If you feel really comfortable...it was fun to have the husbands at some of these talks. Listening to how two different people saw and remember the same event gives you such a full picture of what it was like.

4.) Read, read, read. Related to #3. I don't suggest reading everything you can get your hands on. I suggest finding one or two books you really love and read them more than once. For us it was Dr. Sears The Birth Book. My husband and I both read it and I read it twice. We also really liked a book we had on the Bradley method. Remember those old commercials about "Knowledge is Power" or "The More That You Know".  Do not avoid learning about birth because "you can't control it anyway" or some such nonsense. Guess what you can control? Fear. Fear will make your pain and experience so. much. worse. You can control your fear and you can control how to react and work with the pain of labor. Ok, soap box away...just do some good reading, ok?

5.) Read this blog post about not putting pressure on yourself to love every moment. I found it very helpful. The truth is there are hard moments, hard days, hard weeks even...and you need to be ok with that. Just love the little moments inside of each day and hold onto those.

6.) Read this blog post which is a letter to moms with only one child.  This article helped me a lot and it should be required reading (in my opinion) for all new moms.

I will say about numbers 5 and 6 that it is funny how blogs, facebook, and the internet in general has been a blessing to me in the last few months. I can find almost any information I need on any question in a matter of moments. I belong to a mom's group on facebook where I can post a question and get a myriad of responses in a matter of minutes from moms I don't even know. Other people's blogs and having my own blog has helped to cheer and counsel me when I have been blue. All this is good and I am thankful for it. However, I am reminded of one of my favorite quotes from Charles Dickens:

"Electric communication will never be a substitute for the face of someone who with their soul encourages another person to be brave and true."

I think this is so true.
So, while I appreciate all the technology and all that it allows us to do,
I hope dear-new-mom-reader you have a few people in your life whose faces you can see regularly who with their soul will mean more to you than any blog post, baby product, or published book. 
Because to be a good momma you will need to be brave and you will need to be true. 
And I guess that is my number 7.)

Submitted for your consideration, with love.

The Very Hungry Caterpillar

Noah's Book Club: February 2012

Title: The Very Hungry Caterpillar
An interdisciplinary book (with holes in it!)

Author: Eric Carle

Why Noah Picked It: Mom says Eric Carle uses repetitive language and that is good for building my language skills. I just think it is awesome that there are holes in this book and big colorful pictures. I hear that this book contains life cycles, days of the week, good eating habits, and number knowledge all in one. I really don't care so much about that right now...I enjoy the section where the pages are all different lengths and the last page with "the beautiful butterfly". 

4 months old today!

Today at 9:11 am our little family gathered together and snuggled as we remembered that 4 months ago Noah Roger came onto the scene. He came with great gusto and has brought us much joy each day since then. To be honest the last four months have stretched me...sometimes close to my breaking point but that is when we grow the most.

Mommy and Daddy finally put together my gift from the 5th grade team.

Reading tastes good!