And then I had a baby...

I never used to be much of a coffee drinker... and then I had a baby.
I used to laugh at people that went to bed before 10pm... and then I had a baby.
I never understood why my parents were so overprotective and worrying all the time... and then I had a baby.
I didn't know what it felt like to be overwhelmed, excited, terrified, and over the moon happy... and then I had a baby.
I never had someone puke down my shirt... and then I had a baby.
I thought poop was disgusting and never got how parents could discuss poop so much... and then I had a baby.
I never knew absolute, unconditional love... and then I had a baby.

Am I crazy to be taking Dominic on a plane all by myself?

I used to travel quite a bit for work. Lots of plane rides. I used to be one of those people that when I heard a crying baby on the plane I would think to myself why on earth would anyone bring a baby on a plane. Like having over-active kids on a plane wasn't bad enough kicking your chair... A baby was so unpredictable and the non-stop crying was excruciating to listen to. I would see a couple with babies and kids and think that must be so much work. Seeing a single person alone with kids looked impossible to me and I swore I would never be crazy enough to bring a baby on a plane... and definitely not by myself.

And now here I am having just booked my flight to Florida for Dominic and I. My parents are driving down there and will be gone for a few weeks and they were kind enough to invite us down. All we had to do was pay for a flight and everything else would already be covered since they would already be there. I have a lot of points with my credit card so I didn't even have to pay for the flight. Dave would have come with me, but that's another story. So now in about a month I will be flying to Florida alone with Dominic who will be 7 months by then. I'm terrified. All I can picture is him screaming for 3 hours (luckily I managed to get a flight with no layovers). Even knowing he's a great baby and doesn't make too much of a fuss at any time. He only really cries when he's tired. But what if he can't get to sleep on the plane?! 

Logistically I don't even know how it will work getting everything I need onto the plane including Dominic and myself. My parents luckily are driving down so at least will be able to take some stuff down there with them, but a baby still requires a lot of stuff for the trip down there. 

Any tips on travelling with babies would be much appreciated!

The Mom contract - cell phones

1. It is my phone. I bought it. I pay for it. I am loaning it to you. Aren't I the greatest?
2. I will always know the password.3. If it rings, answer it. It is a phone. Say hello, use your manners. Do not ever ignore a phone call if the screen reads "Mom" or "Dad". Not ever.4. Hand the phone to one of your parents promptly at 7:30pm every school night & every weekend night at 9:00pm. It will be shut off for the night and turned on again at 7:30am. If you would not make a call to someone's land line, wherein their parents may answer first, then do not call or text. Listen to those instincts and respect other families like we would like to be respected.5. It does not go to school with you. Have a conversation with the people you text in person. It's a life skill.6. If it falls into the toilet, smashes on the ground, or vanishes into thin air, you are responsible for the replacement costs or repairs.7. Do not use this technology to lie, fool, or deceive another human being. Do not involve yourself in conversations that are hurtful to others. Be a good friend first or stay the hell out of the crossfire.8-9. Do not text, email, or say anything through this device you would not say in person.10. No porn.11. Turn it off, silence it, put it away in public. Especially in a restaurant, at the movies, or while speaking with another human being. You are not a rude person; do not allow the iPhone to change that.
12. Do not send or receive pictures of your private parts or anyone else's private parts. Don't laugh. Someday you will be tempted to do this despite your high intelligence. It is risky and could ruin your teenage/college/adult life. It is always a bad idea. Cyberspace is vast and more powerful than you. And it is hard to make anything of this magnitude disappear -- including a bad reputation.
13. Don't take a zillion pictures and videos. There is no need to document everything. Live your experiences. They will be stored in your memory for eternity.
14. Leave your phone home sometimes and feel safe and secure in that decision. It is not alive or an extension of you. Learn to live without it. Be bigger and more powerful than FOMO -- fear of missing out.
15. Download music that is new or classic or different than the millions of your peers that listen to the same exact stuff. Your generation has access to music like never before in history. Take advantage of that gift. Expand your horizons.
16. Play a game with words or puzzles or brain teasers every now and then.
17. Keep your eyes up. See the world happening around you. Stare out a window. Listen to the birds. Take a walk. Talk to a stranger. Wonder without googling.
18. You will mess up. I will take away your phone. We will sit down and talk about it. We will start over again. You & I, we are always learning. I am on your team. We are in this together.

I think I'm a breastfeeding snob.....

It's not that I judge people for the choice to formula feed as opposed to breastfeeding. Some people just aren't into it. Some people want to be able to take turns sleeping through the night. Some people just thing breastfeeding is gross. Some people truly have a hard time with breastfeeding (I should know since I was one of them!). But I think when people tell me it just didn't work for them I think that they just didn't try enough and I try to offer my two sense and my experience with breastfeeding. I had a hell of a time starting out breastfeeding.

In Dominic's first 2-3 weeks I think we went to the lactation consultant 6 times. He was a sleepy eater and would just fall asleep before he was done and would take forever to eat and it seemed like he was permanently attached to my boob. On a good day its hard to get anything done with a newborn. But when there's this little person attached to your boob for 45 mins every couple of hours its nearly impossible to do anything but that. We started out with the lactation consultant because he didn't seem to be gaining enough weight. Turns out because he was falling asleep and I wasn't waking him up to finish eating. So they told me to supplement with formula for a few days with a feeding tube that attaches to the boob. Great. He gained weight like a champ but then because even though the feeding tube is slower than a bottle he was still able to eat way faster with it. So he didn't seem to be up for the work of just breastfeeding alone. So they got me to eventually try a nipple guard. Great. He started eating really great and it was less and less difficult to get him to latch on. I would say for the first month though at least once a day I wanted to give up breastfeeding and was constantly worried about him getting enough (doesn't help every time he made a sound my partner and his mother would tell me he's hungry and we should give him a bottle).

But every day I got more confident that he was doing fine and every doctors appointment when they saw how much weight he was gaining and how quick he was growing was even more assurance that I made the right choice. After a month my doubts got less and less and I only felt like giving up once a week !  And after about 3 months I think I was completely confident that we were fine. I just kept saying one more week we'll stick it out until eventually all my doubts were gone. Now we're almost at 5 and a half months and going strong and looking into introducing solids in a couple weeks. With that though comes the dilemma over what to introduce first. Rice cereal (my doctor), Oat cereal (my aunt who worked for a pediatrician), or vegetables (Naturopath)??

Mother nature really dropped the ball on this whole teething thing..

So I had been so impressed with mother nature and how amazing this whole baby thing has been working out. Breastfeeding seems to have given me this bond with my baby that I can't describe, and just watching him grow and change every day puts a smile on my face. He'd been sleeping really great and I was feeling rested and really starting to feel like I'm getting the hang of this whole mother thing. Then the teething started.

Dominic went from sleeping for around 11 hours and would only wake up once to waking up every 2-3 hours and just was awake. This went on for 4 days straight. I still think I didn't have it too bad compared to some people. He was kind of more whiny and wanted to chew on everything he could get his hands on, but it was more he just couldn't sleep. So not only was he in pain and couldn't sleep, then he was cranky because he hadn't had a good sleep, and of course he had a diaper rash that just didn't seem to want to go away. So we made it through the first tooth... and now of course the one right next to it looks like its getting ready to make an appearance. At least I managed to get 3 nights of decent sleep for this one to start!

Sleep training... continued

Alright.. So I figured since Dominic seems to fall asleep fairly easily on the couch for his nap times that I should just re-create the couch in his crib and get him used to falling asleep in there. I brought up the same blanket I have him sleep on. And the other blanket I use as a bumper so that in case he decides to roll over for the first time he won't manage to fall off the couch. This still didn't work.

Then I realized that I had been lying down next to him to sing to him to get him to fall asleep when he's on the couch. Which in his crib didn't seem to be working out so good leaning over to try to cuddle with him. I did manage to fiiiinally get him to fall asleep on his own in his crib........ I just had to climb into the crib with him to cuddle him............. But hey it worked! Baby steps!!

I suck at sleep training!

Dominic used to go to sleep so great - at night he breastfed to sleep, but it never seemed to be a problem because he would fall asleep on his own during the day. But now it seems I have to sing or talk to him to get to sleep, or breastfeed him or rock him. He can't seem to just doze off on his own (except while in the car or stroller!).

So I tried today to try to get him to fall asleep on his own in his crib for his nap (usually he just naps in the living room during the day for the most part) and it was unsuccessful. I tried just talking to him and reassuring him and then walk away. I tried vacuuming. I tried singing to him again. After all that failed after half an hour and he was still whining (wasn't crying at least) I picked him up and gave him a boob which took about 4 minutes before he passed out. I tried even stopping while he seemed sleepy to put him in his crib - but really he was already asleep! Guess it's going to be a work in progress...