Hangin' With the Tree Frog

So, Micah here again venting my father's frustration at our daycare again...

As the daddy, it's been my joy (sarcasm) to drive Ben 30 minutes up to daycare everyday and drop him off and often times pick him up as well.  It's been hard, all the driving, but it makes me feel good that at least I get to spend that time with my son and although it is always painful to disconnect from him when I drop him off,  it's always nice to know that when he sees me in the afternoon, he knows he is going home.

Although we have had very few problems with the folks in Edgewater, one of those problems has been with the feeding schedule.  Jen has a very defined view of what she wants them to do for him with the breast milk that she pumps.  She knows that Ben gets a lot of nutrition from that milk and has not been eager to replace it with formula.  She has done remarkably well with all the pumping and breast feeding and night time feedings.  I couldn't have done it and would have given up on it ages ago.  Now that Ben is on some solids, it supplements what he gets at daycare...So, there haven't been any problems with him being underfed and being hungry when I pick him up.  That is until last week when we noticed that his 3rd bottle and container of solid food was being given to him at 2:30p.  This means that when we pick him up at 4:45-5:30 he is ready to eat again. The problem is that when I pick him up, I want to get him home and I have no food to offer him.  If Jen happens to be with me, then she can feed him, and we have to stay there for another 30 minutes.  Ultimately, it would be best if Ben were fed later in the day (around 4:00) and then when we get there, we could just go home. When I questioned one of the daycare ladies (let's call her Julie).

Julie

She told me that it was because Ben was being transitioned to a schedule befitting a child who was getting ready to go the one year old classroom.  He's only 9.5 mos old.  So, I don't know why their getting ready to put him the 1 year old classroom.  So, I related this information to Jennifer.

Frustrated

Jen was not pleased to hear that they were once again futzing with his feeding schedule.  She works very hard to pump the milk for Ben and every time they change his schedule, it can change his demand for sustinance, it can affect her pumping schedule, milk supply and the amount that she has to pump or feed him at night.  So, Jen spoke to Julie's supervisor in the office.  She asked for clarification on the issue of transition to the new classroom and remarked that she wasn't dissatisfied or angry with any of the workers in the room.   But she was concerned because we need to make sure that we are communicating Ben's needs and our needs to the staff and they need to communicate what is working and what is not working as far as their schedule because they're dealing with up to 17 babies on any given day.

Yelling

So, as Jen's plenipotentiary for all things breastmilk related, I took the issue in hand by modifying our suggested feeding schedule.  When Julie saw it, she was confused and concerned and was not happy about it.  I mentioned that we had spoken with the office and she got really upset.  She thought we were going over her head to change what they were doing.  There was no real yelling or anything, but it was clear that things were getting heated.  The last thing I wanted was for Ben to get the short end of the stick because his daycare provider is mad at mommy and daddy. 

In the end, it looks like we are going to let them set the schedule for Ben...and hopefully this will not impact him adversely.  We will monitor his weight and his hunger levels over the next week or so and hopefully Julie's zeal to get him on a schedule will not prove to be a problem for him.  I guess I felt the need to document all this because I am kinda caught in the middle.  I don't pump the milk and I don't feed him at the daycare.  I am caught in the middle delivering messages back and forth between to opposing view points.  Frustrating.

Over on the cute side of things, Jen and I have noticed a marked increase in Ben's babbling and singing.  He likes to sing little gurgly songs.  He gurgles and changes his pitch.  He sounds like Gizmo from the movie Gremlins.

55-21523-a-gizmo_gremlins

Then on top of all of that, the other day on the way home from daycare Ben was doing a lot of vocalizing.  He looked over at Jen.  He stopped his normal babbling.  And then he cautiously and tentatively let out what we believe to be his first word: "mama" 

It was extremely cute.  And such a nice moment.  I'll always remember it.

Yesterday Ben was very tired and yawned these cute little yawns that ended with sweet sighs. He took lots of little cat naps and ate a lot. He was so tired that he didn't play much and I'm hoping he's not sick.

Other than that we went to Target for some items we needed. I have to say it is fun to have a new car. Ben was very calm during the trip and didn't cry once. He did sleep for a LONG time when we got home & I let him. It was a good thing because I needed a nap, but a bad thing because he was up and not ready for sleep yet at bedtime and really did not fully go down until 10. He was up again 40 minutes later. Aye.

He woke up in good spirits, maybe a bit congested. He played with his new mouse toy, tried some sweet potatoes and now may be about to nap.

We're wondering what's going on with his teeth. The bottom ones still are tiny and no new appearances yet but Ben sure like to chew on things. Of course not teethers, but mostly Mommy & Daddy and/or our clothing.

Some sweet things:

1. Ben likes to roll his right foot when sitting in his Bumbo.
2. He likes throwing things off his Bumbo tray.
3. When he is happy or comfy sometimes he sighs.
4. He laughs if you say," Yeah!" after nibbling his belly.
5. He rubs his feet together when he's getting his diaper changed or lying in my lap

While nursing Boo to sleep I was listening to this episode of NPR's Fresh Air about toxins in every day things. Did you know that pliable plastics have pthalates in them which can cause serious damage? I found this site which rates cosmetics/soaps by their toxicity levels. Very very scary. You should give the episode a listen and find out how the Euopean Union is banning a lot of toxic ingredients in toys and cosmetics and are using safer ingredients. Guess what the US is doing? 

This is just to say
I should remember to
Pick up the apple
that rolled
under the couch.

Forgive me,
I was holding my babe
who writhed as I was
about to bite into
it's sweet goodness.

Maybe my reward
will be not one apple
but one apple
two old socks and
a long forgotten toy.

I know this is Jen's blog and it's a bit intrusive to go about blogging in her space.  But I have something I need to get off my chest...and since I don't have my own blog, I felt it might be appropriate to "borrow" Jen's.

I have been working crazy hours lately at work.  I have a huge project that seems to drown me in problems like a pool of quicksand on a daily basis.  At times there seems to be no end to the thing.  Yesterday and today have been particularly bad because I've had to be at work from 6:00a through 7:00p and then it's back to JC where Ben and Jen are already through their bedtime routine.  I've been missing my family a lot.  I have been through the wringer, but when I get home, I realize that Jen must be going through it twice as bad.  When I trudge in from my super hard day, there's Jen fresh from her super hard day.  She may be still feeding our son, still rocking him gently to sleep, still singing to him, or still changing his diapers.  Her work day is still not over.  When he wakes up...she gets up to feed him.  She lets me sleep, because she knows I have to get up and go to the office in the morning.

Tonight I came home, and Jen had made dinner for us.  It smelled wonderful and was indeed a delicious meal.  It was a surprise, not only because I do most of the cooking, but because she actually found the time to do it.  Later this evening Ben woke up early and was full of sniffles.  Jen did one of the hardest things I know...she had to wrestle a fidgiting baby into submission so she could put saline in his lil nose and then use the bulb syringe to get the snots out.  Afterward, Ben was smiley again...and he ate a little more and then started to dose again.  I tried to make things more quiet in the room so that would encourage him to fall asleep.  But then I stupidly said something to Jen and realized when I saw the tears of frustration in her eyes that I just woken him up again.

I think that being a parent is much harder than we ever anticipated.  And yes, it is worth it.  But I have always hated to see Jen cry and it makes me question my own roles and responsibilities as a parent and husband when I see her get so upset. I guess I just have to remind her how wonderful a wife and mother she is and help her the best that I can.  Tonight I am helping her by going away and letter her put Ben to sleep the way she knows how.  When she is done, I will hold her and rock her to sleep.  It's only fair. 

- Micah  

How can we be sure that one of Ben's toys doesn't contain lead? I don't know who we can trust, but I looked at a blog that had some suggestions for safer places to get toys. Some of the toys mentioned are still made in China. Some of them are made in Turkey. I don't know what to think or how to eliminate risk. I guess I'll have to cross my fingers and maybe check out some of the online toys.

I should have known when I woke Ben up at 3 a.m. and he was smiley that that was it for him sleeping for a while. A kink in our normal routine is that we switched to a sleep sack. We did this because last night after I swaddled him, he did a 3/4 rolly. What if he rolls over and can't puh himself up because his arms are swaddled? But when he isn't swaddled his arms flail, or the contact with the cold not-mommy sheets wakes him up. Thankfully after another failed sleep attempt Micah got up and deal with him for 40 minutes so I coud get a teeny teeny tiny nap. I suppose it all`adds up.