LJ's new do

After washing LJ's hair this week, some of his longer hairs in the front fell out. The rest curled back. Jeff calls it the "too cool for school" look. Its been like this for a few days.

It's Time

I sat in the car and prayed for two things: that this medicine has the power to protect and not hurt LJ and that I have the ability and know how to help him cope with the pain.

Today LJ had his first set of vaccinations.

I have always been for vaccinations for myself and everyone around. I felt that people who didn't vaccinate their children put them at great risk for silly unfounded fables.

However

When I was pregnant and I realized I was signing up to be the caretaker of a new life and every decision I made with my body in pregnancy and nursing and then with the child in the future, could potentially hurt or help it....my ideas on lots of things changed.

Working closely with the H1N1 influenza epidemic meant I knew it had relatively low chances of killing or hurting the average person BUT that it could potentially kill a pregnant woman, her fetus, and a newborn. So I did some of my own research and decided the benefits of the medicine outweighed the potential ramifications. So I went ahead and received both flu vaccinations when I was pregnant.

Many people think vaccinations are linked to Autism and other disease/disorders. There are people who had thriving infants who were cooing and almost crawling then ended up with Autism (for example) later on. Parents say they noticed a difference after the vaccinations. There was also a study which (later was rebuked) supported the link.

But nothing is proven 100%. And I have seen people with polio and there was an outbreak of whooping cough in a nearby state. Plus with my career, he is bound to come across some diseases. So I can only act on what I know.

LJ's first vaccinations went well, I guess. They would not let me breastfeed him throughout (I thought this would work). I held his little arms as he stared at the lights. The two techs jammed needles into his thighs at the same time. He screamed like I've never heard, turned red, and kept his mouth open with his body arched in pain. After they finished scooped him up and nursed him. He fell asleep and seemed to forget about it when he woke up later.

Co-Sleeping (sorry this is long)

I have to admit that LJ and have been co-sleeping. I have been sleeping with my newborn. Which with many is a no-no. Yet, there is a small movement in the Western world to sleep with your children. They call it co-sleeping and its part of the attachment parenting strategy. Leave it to the West to give a fancy name to something that happens all over the world.

I hadn’t planned on sleeping with my son. I also don’t plan on having a family bed (another new term) forever.

When we first came home from the hospital our nighttime routine included breastfeeding, holding, diaper changing, and repeat. In all that LJ would sleep then wake up and cry. I didn’t sleep at all the first couple of days. Then as the days went on I was able to sleep 30 mins here and an hour there and nights were the hardest. Nights are when you expect to sleep.

Anyone who knows me knows I like to sleep. I’ve always needed 8-9 hours EVERY night.

So nights were VERY hard.

After awhile our routine included me feeding and rocking him to sleep. Then I would crawl into bed after putting him in his bassinet. It seemed as if the moment I would stretch out and close my eyes, he would cry.

So one sleepless night I was feeding him and fell asleep. We both slept in the guest bed. In the morning Jeff (looking for us) woke ME up and I screamed as if I was being murdered. I quickly searched for LJ and there he was still sleeping right beside me. I hadn't rolled over him and he hadn't wedged himself between the wall or been smothered by pillows.

It felt great to sleep but I felt so guilty!

Anyways two weeks later I deliberately bring LJ with me to bed and we both get 3 to 4 hours of sleep wake up for a quick feeding and then repeat. When I put him down (to sleep) he cries.

I definitely plan to have him in his crib before he rolls over and crawls. Everyday I try different things to get LJ to prefer his crib over sleeping beside me. So far no he prefers sleeping with me.

Does anyone have any suggestions???

It's getting better!

It's amazing! I'm eating real meals, drinking tea, and even sleeping 2 and 3 hour blocks at night. I think I slept for four hours (in a row) on one or two nights. LJ is becoming more independent. He doesn't need to be held 24-7. He still likes to sleep near me. But he can spend time "playing" with toys, sitting in his car seat, swing, or vibration chair, or just on a plain blanket while he tries to get his hand in his mouth. It's like he's graduating. I'm excited for his Independence and growth but there's the part of you that wishes he was still a little boy. LOL!

Check out his video of my big baby playing (mostly) alone:

Eye Color

Is it just me or are LJ's eyes going from blue to gray?

Sometimes they look blue esp outside like in this picture but sometimes they look grey. Caucasian babies (per the books) are generally born with blue eyes that can change to brown, grey, or stay blue (but that's the least likely) by the time they are 6 months. African-American babies are generally born with shades of brown and by 6 months the color is usually dark brown. I'm told African-American babies have a super low chance of having blue eyes. Dad's eyes and many of his family members are blue. Mine are dark-brown (was told in Elementary school that only the visually impaired have black eyes...not sure if that's true) and my dad and a few others in the extended family have hazel-green eyes.

We'll see what happens with LJ!

Two Month Check-up

LJ had his two month check up yesterday. We couldn't get the vaccinations as he is technically a few days shy of two months old. I am very pleased with his check up results. He weighs 11 pounds and 2 ounces. He was 7 pounds 11 ounces at birth. His heart beat, oxygen rate, and body temp were all great. It was weird to see his percentile. According to some standard he is 24% for his length (21.6 inches) but his weight is 63 and his head size (at 16 inches) is 82 %. He was bound to have great head size with our heads. :) I didn't think he was short. They say these are just percentiles and should not be used to compare your child. etc etc Well then why do they do it? His eyes and all other body parts and limbs passed inspection.

I wanted to give a big thanks to Ivy who went with me to the appointment! It was really helpful to have someone there to help out when I had to fill out paper work or stand in line at the pharmacy.

thanks Ivy!!!

Getting Back in Shape! Part 1

These three pictures are quite telling. The first was my last fitness competition before I became pregnant. Quite literally right before as this day started my 40 weeks (ok I kept the TMI to myself but some of you should be able to read between the lines). The second picture was a week after I delivered. I know, my hair is a hot mess. I don't think I combed my hair for the first two weeks or so after delivery. I did wash it! But no time to dry, comb, twist etc. The top picture was just taken, almost eight weeks after birth.


I gained 50 pounds and as of earlier this week I had lost 26 pounds.

It's not my goal to go back to pre-baby weight. But to regain my muscular strength (and in so a more toned look) and posture.

I'll give updates every 3 months.

Is that YOUR Baby?

I knew having a baby of mixed race might bring some challenges. I also knew at some point there might be someone who would think he was not my baby. Didn't realize it would happen so soon!

Today someone said, "If I saw you in the street I would assume you were the baby sitter!" Ok, now that could be a comment on how exceptionally good I look for 30 plus (:)). But then she followed that statement with, "you know because he's so light." Someone else that I know said, "People are going to think you are the nanny! He doesn't look black."

Call me colorblind, but I really don't see how awfully noticeable it is. :) I guess it's because I love the little tyke more than anything (ok cept maybe God and my husband, and I say husband because we learned in marriage class that we should put our relationship before the kids and that would make them happier etc) and from the moment he came out I focused on everything else besides his light skin and blue eyes (which I adore!).

I know I will have to deal with a lot more in the future. Especially if we end up moving to where we might be moving. Still I would offer these thoughts to anyone who plans on having a relationship with a mother whose bi-racial/multi-racial child may appear to take on more characteristics of the other race....DON"T SAY ANYTHING ABOUT IT!

I would advise you not to make comments like, "He doesn't look like you." "You look like her nanny." "No one will know he is your son." "You look like you stole that child." Etc

Besides...wait till this child starts to dance, we'll then who has the last laugh! :) ((lol, just kidding his dad dances well too))

Rock him to Sleep

So I've been excited about the Moby wrap since I saw a woman wearing her infant when I was 7 months pregnant. Unfortunately, LJ was not as excited about it when he was first born. But now, at almost 8 weeks he seems to like it. Today I wore him for more than an hour while I ate lunch and I rocked him to sleep during chores.

In addition to the Moby wrap we have an Infantino front carrier, a Baby Bjorn, and just received an Ergo Baby Front-Side-Backpack!

Updates on the rest shortly...

Our first family trip

We just returned from our first family trip; we went to Williamsburg. I think I breast feed in every nook and cranny (and out in the open when I needed to) in the Williamsburng/Jamestown/Yorktown area. I of course remember that the most because that took up most of my time during the outings. But I did get to see family and it was nice to spend the majority of the day with my hubbie (he was on paternity leave for 10 days and really only took these 5).

LJ did well in his new climate. I was afraid of heat issues, bugs, random germs (not because of the area but because he was away from "home base" for an entire week). But LJ came out ok.

We even took him to the movies. Ok, I felt very ghetto doing that. It was my idea but as soon as I got there I felt like I was saying (please visualize me with one hand on my hip and my neck and eyes roiling) "I-own-care it's my baby, I can take him to the movies if-I want to. What ch-you lookin at?" But I was reassured by family and friends that I wasn't ghetto since he never cried in the actually movies. I'm uber sensitive to LJ so I had him in the bathroom before he started crying (he was pretty much latched on the whole movie but at one point he had an extremely messy diaper). We spent 85% of the movie in the hallway. The part that allows you to hear it all and see at least half of the screen. I did this while rocking him and occasionally reattaching him and looking around (again) to make sure people really couldn't see me.

Tub Bath!

Last night I took a bath in the tub! It was the first time since my pregnancy was confirmed a little over nine months ago! I was scared to take one before because I like my water HOT and you're not supposed to sit in HOT water when pregnant. Why would any one soak in luke warm water? Then after my son was born I was not able to put him down long enough to prepare the water or sit in and enjoy it. But we have turned a page! Last week he slept for multiple 3 hours in a row between feedings at night and this week I'm soaking in a bath of HOT water with him watching me from his vibration chair.

This moment reminds me of the first time I washed and twisted my hair after he was born. My hair takes hours to do so I usually just wash it and let it air dry. But luckily my friend Ivy stopped by for a couple of hours so I could wash, condition, comb, separate (feed LJ), and twist my hair.

I can't wait for the next adventure! Maybe a pedicure????