been really busy doing things to get the company, the name of which is Designed To A Tee, in case you missed it, set up. Meetings with solicitors, seminars on taxation. All that fun stuff.
And this weekend we are heading up to Derry to celebrate my in-law’s 40th wedding anniversary. SIL and family are coming in from London so both grandkids will be there!
We are hoping Adam watches his cousin and decides to try this crawling thing!
Did I mention? He can sit up!!
and the answer? Was To Play Pen.
It will be nearly impossible to baby proof our flat. We have no storage room, all the closets are stuffed full (albeit they need to be organized, which is going to happen) and its not like we have a loft or a garage. So all breakables have to stay where they are. So we need somewhere to put a soon to be crawling little boy.
And so we bought a play pen. Its fairly large, so he’s got quite a bit of room to move around. Its got a padded bottom and very high sides, so he’s very safe.
And so far? He loves it. He’s always been fairly good about playing by himself, sitting in his bouncy seat or his disco saucer. This just gives him a another place, with less restriction of movement than those two things.
Also, those two things are only suppose to be used until he is about 1, or at least until he’s mobile and climbing. The play pen is good until he’s about 2.
So we’ve play penned. And I’m very happy about it!
I set into motion today putting Adam into daycare. Not full time, just two half days a week, but I still feel like its letting my baby go out into the wide world without me. I am not sure I am ready for that.
I know it will be good for him. And for me. But it is still scary.
You hear so many scary stories about bad day care situations, never mind what the Catholic Church is up to. I am a firm believe that the world isn’t any more dangerous than it was when I was a kid, we just hear about it more. But its different when its your little baby.
I think I would be less wary of it if he was older. He can’t communicate yet so leaving him in someone else’s hands is a true test of faith. If they hurt him he won’t be able to tell me, you know?
But I will thoroughly investigate all options. Do site visits. Do surprise visits once we’ve chosen one.
And pray a bit.
Dear Adam
My goodness, 10 months already. Not too far off a year, my son!
This past month you have been developing like crazy. You can stand, if you hold on.
You can slide backwards and will crawl soon.
You have started to clap and play peek a boo with your blue blankey.
And you have 4 teeth and possible 5, 6 and 7 coming in!
You sit up nice and tall and can twist down onto your tummy.
I forgot to mention a milestone last month; the new notebook! You see, when you came home from SCBU there were 3 of us taking care of you, Mummy, Daddy and Grandma. It was making Mummy nuts that no one could remember what time your bottle was made, and they are only good for 2 hours, or how much you had eaten. So she started a notebook and every time a bottle was made, the time was written down. And then, after 2 hours, how much of it you had eaten. Also whether or not you had pooed!! Anyway, it helped Mummy and Daddy figure out when to increase or decrease your milk. And when to throw a half full bottle away!
And last month we finished the first book. So sort of a milestone. 9 months of milk records finished. And not kept. Mummy may be starting a scrapbook for you, but she thought that was a bit over the top!
Still no word on the surgery to remove The Lump. But hopefully we will hear soon.
In a few weeks we are going to Grandma and Grandad’s house for their 40th Wedding Anniversary Party. Aunt A, Uncle J and Cousin A will be there! Its gonna be so.much.fun!
Love
Mummy
I won’t let him eat the wrapper from his nappies.
I won’t let him eat newspaper, although he is allowed to play with it with supervision.
I’m sure there will be more…
First of all, let me once again note that my son is an awesome sleeper at night. He goes down with minimal fuss and sleeps more or less through the night now, at nearly 10 months of age.
But naps. Oy! You would think he is expecting a call from President Obama the way he fights napping. Most days he eventually gets there, for 30 – 45 minutes in the morning and sometimes as long as 2 hours in the afternoon. But getting him there can take, literally, hours.
And its during those hours that I get the most frustrated. That I need a break the most. That I wish I had family closer so I could ring them and say ‘He won’t nap. Can you come look after him for 30 minutes so I can pee/shower/fold some laundry/have a full cup of coffee?’ I often IM my mum to tell her I’m putting stamps on his butt and sending him to her on days like that.
But oh, to actually have her near by! I am envious of people who have family near by.
My mum is coming to visit the first two weeks of June, so she’ll be here for Adam’s first birthday.
And for at least one morning? I’m handing him over and walking out the door!
he is ‘staying in college’ at Cambridge and his rooms are ‘dead posh’.
My day so far?
4 am dummy cry
430 sounds of shuffling
445 come get me mummy
446 in bed with me
500 no no no I want up up up
515 MASSIVE Poo. Teething is fun!
530 back to sleep, Adam, not me, I’m awake now
615 reaching for peanut butter knock down baby rice. Baby rice is about the consistency of baby powder. Grab GTech carpet sweeper. Battery dead due to Simon not charging it all the time to save the battery.
630 baby back up. Toast cold. Coffee, however, hot.
7 Simon rings to check in. I explain new battery £20. My sanity? Worth much more, plug the fucking thing in!
705 Simon agrees
717 baby playing in bouncy chair with car attachment. Mummy drinking coffee.
Today has got to get better, right?
Right?!?!
Dear Adam
9 months today!
This month we have learned to sit up when someone puts us on our bottom: –
and cut our two top front teeth, although there is no picture because its very hard to get you to show anyone!
We have also learned that you will be having The Lump removed surgically in the next 2 months or so. At first the surgeon thought it might be treatable with Beta Blockers, but on further review of the ‘films’ (I don’t know why they still call them that, since its all digital now) it has been determined that they still don’t know what it is and its is best cut off.
In other news you have outgrown your Stage 0 car seat and Mummy and Daddy are shopping for a Stage 1. We think we’ve found it. Now we just have to buy it!
You’ve been being bathed in the big bathtub for at least the past month, and you love it:
Your favourite toy is a measuring cup, but hey! We already had that and don’t have to buy any other bath toys! Seriously, you do love that bucket, as we call it. But also like to play with your ducks!
In bad news for Mummy you seem to be dropping your morning nap most days.
And on that note I have to go get you. As you’ve just woken up. After 5 minutes.
Love
Mummy
the way my nights are going right now disproves his theory of survival of the fittest.
Let’s go back millions of years. There is a little cave family, Urg, the male, Arg, the female and Blargh, their baby. Blargh is about 9 months old and had been sleeping great. Then one night he wakes with a resounding wail!! Urg and Arg jump up to see what’s wrong and discover, Oh Joy! Oh Rapture! A tooth!!
But wait, there, in their cave, there is no Calpol. Or Nurophen. Or Children’s Tylenol. Not even Nelson’s Teetha powder. Or a ‘fridge to stick a wet cloth into to make it cold. Poor little Blargh just has to suffer through.
And suffer he does. And so do his parents as every night’s sleep is broken by poor wee Blargh crying his eyes out with the pain of the teeth coming in. And then it stops. Oh Joy! Oh Rapture…dammit here comes another one and it starts over.
And then one morning, after being up half the night with Blargh and Arg, Urg realizes there is no meat in the house. He grabs his spear and heads out. Arg realizes she must gather while he hunts.
During the hunt, Urg eyes can barely stay open and therefore he does not notice the sabertooth tiger sneaking up behind him. Poor Urg, eaten by a tiger.
During her gathering, Arg can barely keep her eyes open. She falls asleep by the river. Blargh falls out of her arms and drowns (I never said this was a happy story). When she awakens and finds him dead she goes to find Urg. She finds him dead as well. She goes off and finds a new mate. One whose previous children had no teething issues. Oh wait, there is no such thing.
My point, and I do have one, is if survival of the fittest was true, babies today would not suffer so much with teething.
Because their ancestors who have teething problem babies would have died from exhaustion.
So Adam is thisclose to being to big for his Stage 0 car seat.
We don’t, of course, have a car. Part of the reason we have the car seat we do is because it can fit into any car using the 3 point regular seat belt. This was proven very successfully while we were in the US.
But what the hell were we going to do now? Granted, the law states that car seats don’t have to be used in taxis, but that’s because the taxi lobby (or whatever they call it in the UK) is so powerful. A taxi is no safer than a regular car.
So we were in our local pram shop today, getting the ripped cover replaced on Adam’s pram, and I mentioned my concern to the lady. She said, no worries, Maxi Cosi makes a Stage 1 that’s almost as easy to move from car to car as the Stage 0 you’re using now. And she’s right. And it isn’t even all that heavy. Its not light, but it would be possible for me to hold Adam in one arm and carry the seat in the other, for short distances. Such as to the Children’s Hospital for his surgery.
And the best part? Their price is the same as online. So I can continue to give this shop with the great service my business.
So Adam’s next car seat, which I think we will order this week, will be the Maxi Cosi Pirori XP. In grey.