Dan is a cutie

So we all know that my son David is super cute. As a matter of fact he may be one of the cutest people I know. However, with that being said, Dan Rabinovich is very close second. He is ADORABLE! Not only is he cute but god damn is he handsome. His girlfriend is clearly one of the luckiest women On earth to be able to run his belly and kiss him with tongue at any given time. Moral of the story... Dan Rabinovich is A sexy bitch!


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Time for Work

So the time has come, the time that I've been dreading...returning back to work! Whoever made the decision that mommies should return to work shortly after having a baby is crazy. And yes, 8 months IS shortly after having a baby.

When I first got pregnant I thought I would only be out for 3 months with my baby. Then when I was 4 or 5 months pregnant I knew I would need more than 3 months but I was sure I wouldn't be able to have more than that. So when my amazing work allowed me to stay out for longer I was so happy.

Fast forward to January 2012 and it was time for me to return to work. I've been out for almost 8 months with David and I consider myself very lucky. Not many people get such opportunities. So why was I so upset with returning to work? Maybe because I'm controlling and I need to monitor all of David's feedings and naps. Maybe because I enjoy being a stay at home mom. But the main reason is because I love being with David at all times. How can I be away from such an amazing person?!?!

So today when I was leaving the house for my first day back at work I had so many emotions going on. As I got to work and was occupied with various tasks I noticed that the day was almost over within minutes. Of course, the hour lunch break and 2 pumping sessions gave me some nice alone time :)

Obviously I was rushing home to see my sweet, delicious face once it was time to leave. It was amazing seeing him after so many hours away but I knew at that moment that I can be a working mommy. Now Mr. David is sleeping, dinner has been eaten, David's breakfast, lunch, and dinner are cooked for tomorrow. Now I have 15 minutes to myself!


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Time for a Change

Change is what David is an expert at. At first it took me two months to figure it out whether David was hungry, tired, or just bored. When I figured that out I thought I was able to know everything he waned from then on. Yeah right!!!!

Then came random naps, random feedings. I did as David told. When he reached 6 months we started to understand each other so well. I knew at exactly what time he was going to eat, sleep, and play. I started to feel like those moms that always say, "My baby will be napping at that time but will be awake at that time."

A little over a month passes and obviously David decides it's time for a change. My response, "uhhhh!" I've gotten so good with his schedule why does he want to change it!

So now we're back to the beginning. When should he going down for his nap, when should I feed him breastmilk versus solids. What is he thinking!


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Mickey to the Rescue

Thank god for Mickey Mouse! Walt Disney was an absolute genius. No Einstein or Benjamin Franklin compare.

David's love for Mickey Mouse Clubhouse is not like any that I have ever seen. He's very devoted and loving to Mickey. And because of this amazing love and bond that they have I am sometimes able to get some stuff done around the house or even do nothing!

Especially when it's a day like today then I am more than thankful to Mickey. I feel that I owe him everything. David decided today was a day with no sleeping but being cranky was a must. The three things that keep him happy for a few minutes is his food, me spinning, and Mickey Mouse. I've fed him, enough, I've spun around in the kitchen and living room for a decent amount of time. Now it's Mickey to the rescue.

I think I can officially call Mickey David's babysitter.


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Breastfeeding ~ The Lost Value

It's a shame that people assume that your child is formula fed and that you feed solids from Gerber's little jars. Where have the days gone when breastmilk and homemade baby food was considered the norm?

The other day we had the Verizon guy over and what else to talk about but babies. So of course his first question was what formula he eats. In my head I was thinking "You idiot, don't you know there's such a thing as breastmilk, which is actually what babies should be eating if possible." When I told him he eats breastmilk he looked at me as if I told him I feed my baby snakes. I have no problem with parents feeding their babies formula but todays society has evolved into thinking formula is THE way to feed babies. No matter what people say, breastmilk is the healthiest. I understand that some people have problems with latch, milk supply, support from family and friends, etc. But majority of people that feed formula don't have these reasons, instead they simply say "I don't want to. I'm not a cow."

When I was pregnant I was registering on random baby websites and soon after I kept receiving formula samples in the mail. Then when I was leaving the hospital with my baby they gave me a bunch a formula samples as well. Then when I was at the pediatrician's office I got formula samples to take home. I now have so much formula samples at my house. So of course people nowadays feed their babies formula rather than breastmilk. It's easy access!

Breastfeeding has been one of the hardest challenges for me, which I failed at so I turned to pumping. But since breastfeeding tends to be difficult it's easy to say "Screw it" and woop out one of the formula samples. Luckily, I had a lactation consultant at the pediatricians office who offered great advice, a cousin who went through the same situation as me, and a very supportive husband.

Now that I'm feeding solids in addition to breastmilk, I get questions such as "What brand of food are you feeding? What stage of food are you feeding?" I get so annoyed by these questions because all I want to say is, "I don't know fool. It's homemade. The brand is ZMama and the stage level is whatever the blender makes." People even think it's crazy to make baby food! There is no excuse not to be making your own baby food. You don't need to buy any fancy baby equipment. All you need is an oven and a blender. If you want it to be really easy then of course you can purchase specially designed baby blender/steamer/everything. No matter what the jar says, it's always healthier to make your own food. So what's the excuse? Oh, yea it's that you don't feel like it.

The value of breastmilk is even more so highlighted when you read this article. This story is unlike any other you might have heard because unfortunately people don't value breastmilk as they should.

5,4,3,2,1 HAPPY NEW YEAR!!!!

New Years is the BEST holiday of the year. Ever since I was a little girl, December 31st was a huge celebration in my family. We would have a huge Christmas tree filled with presents. I always stayed up to celebrate with my parents and their friends. Right after the countdown and the hugs and the kisses we opened presents. So exciting! Now that I have David I feel that this holiday is even more special.

I want David to grow up feeling just as excited for December 31st as I did. I want our little family to have these traditions but I know that he's just a bit young for understanding and participating in NYE but I'm still excited. That's why when my mom offered to sit with David for NYE and for us to go out I declined. Most would call me crazy for this but I wanted to spend NYE with David, especially his first NYE. Whatever, I know he didn't actually celebrate NYE but he was sleeping not far from me.

Since we wanted to spend NYE with David our only option was to do something at home. So we went to the Poconos with our friends. This was David's first mini "vacation", first mini "road trip" and first not sleeping in a crib (we brought a playpen). So pretty big steps for us!

I was excited/worried to see how he was going to be in the car, how he was going to nap and sleep at night throughout the yelling, and how mommy and daddy were going to feel with lack of sleep. David proved to be amazing as usual. The ride there he decided to take an hour and a half nap...which NEVER happens! Then for all his naps he fell asleep like a big boy without being rocked. Even though we were loud during his naps and bedtime he was a trooper. Gene and  I did go up to him a few times, especially during NYE to help him fall back asleep when we were all yelling, but he was great with sleeping through most of it. In my opinion, he woke up to say Happy NYE to Mama and Papa :) One of the nights he was waking up a lot and I had to keep getting up to him, but no biggie. So worth it! He loved all the attention and I loved all the babysitters.

But now that we're home and Gene and I are running on a total of 8 hours of sleep over the past several of days, we are definitely feeling it. We've become delirious...laughing from nothing. Oh well, as long as we got to ring in the new year with our little love, Mr. David.

Grandma's House We Go

The day has finally come. The day that Gene has been asking to happen and I have been rejecting. I have finally caved and decided to let David sleep at his grandma's house.

Yes, I am attached to David. Yes, I want him to be with me 24/7. Yes, I don't care if everyone thinks I'm crazy. But Gene kept asking to have David sleep at his grandma's. I spent a lot of time thinking if I was ready, if David was ready. Of course David was ready but was I actually ready to have my little guy not be with me????

I finally caved. So this full night of sleep didn't actually happen how Gene envisioned. It was Lady A's birthday so we went out to the city. PARTY! We haven't gone out like this in....a LONG time. Dancing and drinking...woohoooo! All this fun only got us into bed at 4 AM. And of course I set my alarm for 9 AM for Gene to go pick up David to bring back home. I couldn't have him be away for any longer!

So getting a nice, long night sleep didn't occur. But now I know that I can leave David to sleep overnight. Next time we just need to go to bed a bit earlier to get a little bit more sleep.

It's the Most Wonderful Time of the Year

There's no better time of the year than the holidays...actually my birthday is pretty wonderful. I love to decorate the house, the tree, and have dinner with family and friends. We have a holiday party with friends at our house and celebrate Hanukkah like real Jews :) But this year it's a bit different with little David.

Basically, I'm exhausted! I didn't even know it was Hanukkah till the day of. I didn't plan any dinner, no latkes, no tasty dessert. Normally this would have been planned but of course for David's first Hanukkah I forgot! I felt horribly because he didn't get to celebrate his first holiday season the right way. Ok, so he's not going to remember this but I will.

To make myself feel better I did a little photoshoot with my little Jew...

Hello Growth Spurt

Our 6 month growth spurt has arrived! Yay for David growing. Nay for David being cranky.

For the past few days, David wants to eat way more often than usual, wants to cry all the time, and wants to be in mommy's arms all the time. There's only a certain amount of times that I can show him the Christmas tree in our living room before all I want to do is knock the tree down. He doesn't care for any cartoon, anything outside, basically EVERYTHING  to him is not entertaining. All that he is interested in is his milk and my arms.

They say growth spurts last a few days only and we are on day 2, so can I assume we are done? I hope so!

Stupid Immunization Shots!

So it's that time again, the time that I dread...David's immunization appointment. I hate seeing my little man cry and last time I cried with him. This time around I thought I was prepared but as we were driving to the doctor's I was having anxiety. David was sitting in his car seat enjoying the scenery and I was sitting in the front panicking.

I tried stalling the shots by asking the doctor various questions, "Can I use a bottle warmer to warm up my breastmilk? When should I stop pumping? Should David be taking Vitamin D?" Basically everything that I knew the answer to. It was a matter of time that I ran out of stupid questions.

The doctor then asked whether I wanted to give David a flu shot. My friend went with her little one to the doctor's a few days ago so she prepared me that I will be getting that question. And of course I didn't feel prepared to answer. "ANOTHER SHOT!!!!" was what I was thinking in my head. My response, "I don't know." I asked the doctor to explain to me the necessity of the shot and his opinion on it. After hearing him out, I turned to Gene for his opinion, "I don't know." Ugh, another decision I had to make. After thinking about it for a little I decided to give him the flu shot.

As the nurse was getting ready to do the shots I stepped away from David. I couldn't watch. 1,2,3,4 and done! So quick and he was such a big, brave boy! He yelled for a brief second and he was fine. As for me, I was mad at the nurse for doing the shots and I was mad at myself for bringing him to the doctor's. All in all, I was mad at everyone and everything at that moment. I couldn't wait to leave that stupid office and get home to spend some time cuddling with my little man.

Once we got home I went to my 2nd half, my pump. While pumping I just let out all my emotions and of course I started crying. I was devastated by everything and I couldn't help but cry. Why was I crying? I have no idea because David was happy and sleeping.

I can't even imagine what it's going to be like when he's older and understands the concept of shots. I still think that it's going to be harder for me and the doctors and nurses will have to be calming me down. Probably even David will be calming me down. Ugh, I'm not looking forward to those moments.

"Cry It Out" Method

I was reading an article today regarding the "cry it out" method and it reminded me when I was debating whether to do CIO or not with David. The "cry it out" method is very debatable, and of course everyone has their own opinion on this.

When David was born I knew that I will never let him cry for any reason. The thought of him crying made me devastated. From day 1 David wanted to be held, as most babies do. So of course I abided by David's demands. It got to be that David only was able to fall asleep for naps in my arms. But to make it harder I needed to be standing and walking and shaking him (don't worry not hard enough for it to be considered Shaking Syndrome). That lasted a few months with no problem.

David was born 9 lbs and when he was 4 months he had already doubled his weight. So I had toned arms from rocking him for all of his naps. I was starting to feel that this way of putting David down for his naps couldn't last much longer. It wasn't necessary the rocking that got difficult, but when he falls asleep he likes to squirm. It was a mission to keep him within my arms, let alone get him to fall asleep. I would spend 20 minutes getting him to fall asleep for his 20 minute naps.

I reached a point of when I was so stressed that I would have to put him down and walk out of his room for me to calm down. I knew this couldn't be good for me, David, and my milk supply. It was then that I turned to researching ways to put David down for naps. I tried routines, shushing, music, EVERYTHING. All Mr. David demanded was to be in my arms so that I would be sweating.

I really didn't want to try the CIO method. But I felt hopeless and I knew this couldn't go on much longer. One day I made the final decision to attempt the CIO method. Ugh, the worst! He was hysterical and as I was shushing him and petting his little body I was crying with him. I was ready to screw the stupid CIO method and give him everything he wanted. But I knew I needed to stay strong. The first nap ended with me taking him out of his crib because he basically cried the entire naptime (his naps are only 30 minutes). When it was time for the second nap I was terrified. He cried again for an hour and poor boy was so exhausted that he passed out for the night until his usual middle of the night feeding. I felt sooo guilty and horrible. All I could think was that he was going to hate me because I certainly was hating myself at that moment.

The next morning when I came to get him and he smiled I was so glad he wasn't blaming me. But once again I was terrified for his upcoming nap. It was naptime again, he cried for about a minute or so and fell asleep. OMG! I was in disbelief. I couldn't have been any happier!!!!

Those 2 naps of him crying put me through soooo much stress and anxiety but it was definitely worth it. He now knows how to fall asleep on his own, but that's not to say he sometimes does want me to rock him to sleep. And those times when he cries because he can't fall asleep on his own I do rock him. I know that later on I will be missing the times of holding him close to me and rocking him to sleep so why not have those moments sometimes.

So back to the CIO method...there are different versions of it and a mom knows herself what's best for her and the baby. One day I just felt that this was what was needed to be done for me and David. It's wrong to tell a mom she's hurting her child by doing the CIO method because you are not in the mom's shoes. Everyone has their own experience with their children so all you can give is opinions regarding naps, bedtime, when to start solids, etc.

Handy Dandy Beaba

I have just entered a whole new world of homemade baby food. One of my friends gave me her sister's Beaba Babycook. I had high expectations from this little green thing, especially for $120. So last night when I put carrots, pears, apples, and sweet potatoes into it to be steamed I was waiting for magic to appear from the Beaba.

Ok, so there obviously was no magic appearing but I certainly was impressed. Rather than baking the vegetables in the oven for an hour, like I usually do, everything was steamed in the Beaba within 10-15 minutes. This was already making me happy. I then dumped all the vegetables to get blended. I held the button probably for less than 10 seconds and it was a perfect puree blend! TADA!

This is very convenient nowadays because David started eating solids 3 times a day. Each of his meals has 2 types of food within. So that's 6 different fruits and vegetables that I baked and pureed...but now its all done within 20 minutes!

So I would like to give a big thank you to Tabaroo for getting this handy dandy Babycook from her sister...you're the best!