Sickness

Welcome to the germ-infested world of daycare. Where viruses have no mercy and bacteria cling to every imaginable surface like fleas to a dog.
I started feeling sick on Thursday, April 17, but have trying to suffer through it. Strike One.
Then Payton spent her first entire week at daycare last week. Strike two.
I don't know if there was Strike Three but she & I are both pretty down and out with this cold. It's so heartbreaking to hear how congested she is and then she gags and coughs because that snot is running down her throat. We've tried it all - humidifier, vaporizer, sitting in steam-filled bathroom, saline spray, bulb syringe, etc. A visit to the pediatrician yesterday resulted in a little peace of mind but not much in the way of how to help her. Basically, a thanks for coming and give me your $20 copay.
We're not getting ANY sleep either. So much for the sleeping through the night. We're lucky to get 2 hours and that's because we propped Payton upright in pillows and placed her between us in our bed.
Oh, the glory days of parenthood. The snotty, crusty, runny, snorty glory days!

Attitude

The look explains it all. This was taken while Grandma Kathy was visiting (that's her hand) and the day after Payton got her shots. It was a bit bright outside and she wasn't feeling all that great.

Despite that look of

"Mom, you really need to leave me alone and get that damn camera away from me,"

I absolutely love this picture.

I'm sure this won't be the last time we see this look.

Piggies

I don't know why, but I'm apparently obsessed with feet. You already know that I LOVE shoes. My Dad often called me Imelda Marcos, who was widely known for her vast shoe collection.

And now Payton already has inherited that trait. She has probably 15 pairs of shoes of various sizes, including Ugg-like boots, sneakers, dressy shoes and sandals.

But my favorite thing is nibbling on Payton's toes and playing with her bare feet. I swear this child was born with huge feet. That was something many people noticed about her - long fingers and big feet.

I can only assume that she'll grow into those big feet someday and be tall. She's already taking after me with the shoes, so she'll hopefully inherit my height too!

Sleeping

There's nothing sweeter than cuddling with your baby when she falls asleep on you, except possibly putting her down in her crib for the night, kissing her and quietly exiting only to not return until 6 AM the next morning.

Payton started sleeping through the night (STTN) the same week she started daycare. Coincidence? I think not. She isn't taking very good naps at school (that's what we call daycare), but she is making up for it at night. We'll put her down around 8 PM and she STTN until 6 AM. Halleluah!! Just in time for me to return to work.

Her day goes a bit like this:
6 AM: Wake, change diaper and clothes, eat
6:30: Leave for school with Daddy
6:45-3:30ish: Play with school friends, go on walks, nap, learn new things
4: Go home with Daddy, play & snooze until Mommy comes home
5:30: Mommy gets home, playtime
7-8: Bath (if needed), eat, jammies and bedtime

Seriously. I'm scared to jinx us, but she is so perfect!!

And as I was often advised when Payton was first born, when the baby sleeps, so should you. GOOD NIGHT!

Sitting

Payton is getting the urge to sit up. When propped up on the couch in her Boppy pillow, she always lifts her head and shoulders and lunges forward like she wants to sit. She likes to grab onto your fingers and pull herself up. Sometimes she even pulls herself up and pumps her leg to stand up. It's crazy how much she likes to stand too for how young she is.

She is a very good "supported sitter" already. Here, she is pictured in one of those Bumbo seats. It's made of foamy cushiony plastic and has a high back to help support her neck. It even comes with a detachable tray, but we don't use that yet.

Fishy

It's a beautiful day out - a lovely 71 degrees and sunny - but I elected to stay in at lunch today. There's plenty for me to do to get caught up, but I've nearly got my voicemail, email and snailmail all sorted and cleaned up.

I usually enjoy going out to lunch but dwindling finances and an expanding waistline were encouragement enough to not. I quickly lost all the baby weight while nursing, but since we've stopped it seems to be finding me again.

So I pop a Lean Cuisine into the microwave for lunch and while reading the box, made a frightening discovery. My grilled chicken caesar bowl, with only 7g fat and 240 calories, has a list of ingredients on the side, two of which are fish. What?
Yes, in bold under the list of ingredients I see:

CONTAINS: MILK, SOY, PERCH, TALAPIA, WHEAT INGREDIENTS

Apparently radiatore, fancy name for the spiral pasta they use, is flavored with the gelatin of fish. First I didn't know what radiatore was now I learn it is made with fish jello? Gross. There is no mention of this anywhere on the top/front of the box. I wonder what would happen if someone had a fish allergy?
I should've just went out to lunch.

Work

Because we're not independtly wealthy or related to Donald Trump, Oprah Winfrey, or any of 'dem dere Wal-Mart folks, I had to go back to work.

Yesterday was my first day back at Starr, and really everything went pretty well. I of course cried the night before and the morning of, but I made it through the day without sitting under my desk sobbing. Scott emailed me to tell me he checked on Payton, said she hadn't ate much, then the worrying began. I even thought about telling Scott to take the digital camera to work so that he could email me pictures of her everyday. I know, right? Separation anxiety, I guess, and despite all my worries, Payton seems to be doing just fine at daycare.

I guess my concern really lies in the fear that I won't be able to balance everything I want to be - an awesome Mom, a devoted wife, a great friend, driven professional, douting daughter, supportive sister, etc. etc. I may be just a bit OCD in wanting everything to be in order, including my life.

And because you'll probably look, indeed I posted this while at work. On my lunch. During which I made an interesting discovery .... more on that later.

Checkup

Aside from the drama of the immunizations, Payton had a great 2-month checkup with the doctor. She weighed in at 11 lbs. 10 oz. (75th percentile) and 23.5 inches long (90th percentile). Basically the pediatrician said that she's is growing well and is a healthy, happy baby. The happy part comes from her being in a great mood and very playful during her time at the doctor's office. Payton is doing well on the formula and the doctor didn't at all make me feel the least bit guilty about weaning from breastfeeding. He also said we probably can start taking her off the Zantac as it appears that she might be outgrowing the GERD (reflux).
As Payton approaches her third month, I have to say she has been a great baby during the past few weeks, which have been filled with a lot of new things for us. She has responded very well to weaning, taken to formula well (even to the point that she appears to eat better than when nursing), gone to daycare, began sleeping through the night and overall has just been the best baby any parents could ask for. We love her so much and are truly blessed!

Relaxing

Shhh, Payton is sleeping. In fact, she's been sleeping A LOT since her shots yesterday. She did quite well, that is after she turned purple and screamed at the top of her lungs. And Mommy sobbed big fat tears. It was awful to watch her experience pain like that. But she quickly regained her composure and fell asleep in her car seat. We then went to lunch with Grandma Kathy and Charles and she was very good there too. Once home she rested for a bit but woke up and got pretty fussy. She had a fever and got her first doze of Tylenol, which helped bring the fever down and calm her nerves a bit.

Me? I had a couple Bud Lights to calm mine.

She slept through the night again (more on that later) and woke very hungry this morning, drinking up 6 ounces. But now she's right back to sleep.
It's hard knowing that she doesn't feel well.

Shots

Today is going to be hard. I'm getting ready to take Payton to the doctor for her 2-month checkup and immunizations. They're a little behind schedule as she'll already be 11 weeks this Sunday, but it's not like I'm in any hurry to have her get the shots. It's going to break my heart to see her scared and in pain. Perhaps she's got a really high pain tolerance and this won't hardly even phase her. Who knows. It's probably going to be more difficult for me than her. Daddy doesn't even want to go with since he can't hardly stand the sight of needles anyway.

She's just going to need a little of this:


And Mommy will need a little of this:

Ewok

It's been a nice week here in BC as the weather has taken a turn toward warmer. Of course, it would do this just as I'm about to return to work. Payton has been going to daycare a bit last week and more so this week to get her & I adjusted to our new reality. But I've also wanted to spend as much time with her as possible so I go pick her up and bring her home so we can do fun stuff like take walks and hang out outside. The other day we went for a walk but there was still quite a chill in the air so I had her all bundled up like a pink Ewok and we strolled around the neighborhood for a while. She enjoys her stroller and was such a good baby. She didn't really sleep, just chilled and enjoyed her peaceful, relaxing day with Mom.

Puppy

No, we didn't get a new dog. Are you kidding? Like that's wise while adjusting to life with a newborn.
Aunt "Winnie" bought Payton a ginormous stuffed dog and told us we should take pics with Payton weekly next to the puppy so that we can track and compare her growth. We began doing this with Payton on week one and every week thereafter until she hit 8 weeks. Now we'll start doing it monthly.
But I've included two "Puppy Pics" here so you can see how fast our little Payton is growing.

This is from Week 1



And this is from Week 8





Stay tuned for her 3 month Puppy Pic.

comeback

Yeah, it's been while. Too long really. But we've been a little busy.

A summary of 2007 goes like this: Dana left the Enquirer to go to work for Starr Commonwealth, a wonderful children and family services nonprofit. We found out we were expecting just months after I started this brand new career, and also just days before my 30th birthday! We celebrated our second anniversary in Minneapolis with Lockridge (Dude, are you still alive?) and his fiancee in June, camped and canoed the Pine River in late July, went to a Tigers game in August, and tried to do as much as we could handle while I was pregnant and before parenthood would change our lives, not to mention weekends, forever.

Scott enjoyed many rounds of golf up at Riverside Country Club, where were members, and he and Schlatter enjoyed many rounds of drinks while playing the Member Guest tourney in July. He also redeemed his first anniversary present and played Arcadia Bluffs up north, but the weather sucked. He's still working at the Federal Center in charge of the Helpdesk.

We also began talking seriously about moving to a new house. That's until the economy totally tanked and houses are not only losing value, but sitting on the market with little hope of selling. Two mortgages is not a risk we can take.
So we're still in our happy little home, with some updates. We finally painted the kitchen and replaced the floor, and of course, we needed a nusery so the spare bedroom became the baby's room.

Our families - My Dad moved to Florida in October. He's living just north of Tampa and seems to be enjoying it much more than here. We had an awful winter so he moved just in time. Not much new with my Mom. She just tries to keep up with my busy brothers. Matt and his football team won State again and Seth moved to his own apartment in Dekalb.

Scott's dad had a heart attack and quadruple bypass surgery in February. That was pretty scary. He's doing much better now and Scott's mom continues to care for him and everyone else.

That's pretty much it in a nutshell.