Daycare

Evan started daycare this week. He's going to an Air Force Child Development Center and as someone else put it, the military does not mess around with their child care. I'm (we're?) very happy with the center that he's going to. It's small-- just one classroom of each age group, and it's actually located just off base. He has eight kids in his classroom of 0-6 month olds and two teachers.

On his first and second day, David was traveling for work so I had to go it alone. It doesn't matter how nice the teachers are or how happy we are with the place, that first day was hard.

When I woke him up that morning, he looked at me like, "Mom, why are you waking me up? That's not how it's supposed to work!" After getting spiffed up in his first-day-of-school outfit and getting a belly full of milk, he was super cheery.

The first drop-off took forever because I had to stock his supplies and learn all the things we have to do when we drop him off. Not to mention, I was hesitant to leave him there.

It was a long day at work and I was so excited when I got to head back to pick him up. When I got there, he was sitting in a bouncy seat just looking around. And there was a baby friend sitting in another bouncy seat beside him, also looking around. And two more baby friends laying on the playmat, just looking around. Babies are so interesting. Not.

The first pick-up took a while too because I had to learn how to do all the drop-off stuff in reverse.

When we got home, well, this:

I texted David immediately. "I think our son caught rabies at daycare!"

He slept a full 8 hours that night. Whatever they do at daycare really tires him out.

The second morning (don't worry, I'm not going to chronicle every day), while still happy to be woken up with a mouthful of milk, I felt like maybe he knew what was up:

According to his daily report cards and reports from his teachers, he's had a bunch of good days this week. However, I think he's already picking up bad habits from the other kids:

Month 2

Dear Evan,

Your second month was full of smiles. You had plenty of sorta-smiles in month one, but on the very first day of your second month, it's like the smile switch was turned on! Our favorite time of the day with you, especially on weekends when we're both home to enjoy it, is mid-morning after you've been changed and have a belly full of milk. You're so smiley and chatty. It's like your whole purpose in life is to make us giggle-- and you succeed every time.

Your awake time has increased significantly this month. Luckily, it's been mostly daytime awake time. Until the last couple days of the month, you were not sleeping much at night-- average of 3 hours at a time, but Dad and I are used to Zombie Mode by now. I hope you keep up the good sleeps and don't go back to the 3-hour schedule.

I started back to work part time this month, which made me treasure every moment with you even more. Dad's been staying home with you when I'm out bringing home the bacon (that's where I tell you I'm going when I leave.) You're going to love bacon one day, Buddy. Everything is better with bacon. You boys have been bonding by baking delicious bread and cake and torturing the animals by locking them in the crate together-- which, I admit was pretty funny. Why won't they just be friends, right? I know. I've been asking that for years.

You've gained a lot more control of your body this month. You're a champion head holder-upper and might be ready for your bumbo seat soon. You turn your head toward our voices and look at us like you just might recognize us. When you're on your playmat, you swing your arms and I think you might be hitting the hanging toys on purpose. The verdict is still out on that one though. And, your crazy legs! You pump those chubby little legs like you're training for a marathon! This is all very cute until you do it while I'm trying to hold/feed you. Then, my child, I wish you'd just take a chill pill.

You met aunt Annie and cousin Michaela this month. They love you so much. Even though they live far away, I hope you'll have a great relationship with them as you grow. Grandma Janet and Papaw Mike visited too. Everyone was so happy to see you. You really don't care yet, but you will someday.

Your two month appointment went very well. You're chunking up nicely. You weighed in at 13lbs, 12oz-- the 90th percentile, and you were 23.75 inches long-- the 60th percentile. You had to get several shots which ruined your perfect mid-morning mood. I'm sorry it hurt you, Buddy, but it's for your own good. Overall though, your appointment went great and the doctor said you're doing fantastic.

We agree. You're pretty fantastic.

Love,
Mom

[Disclaimer: None of the background music in these videos is intended to be meaningful in any way. When I started looking for songs to put to the slide shows, I realized that David and I don't really listen to precious-baby-slide-show kinda music. These are still songs from bands that we love, but it's slim pickings so I can't also pick particularly meaningful songs. The best I can do is pick songs that don't have f-bombs in them.]

6 Hours

Evan slept for six hours in a row last night. That was after going five hours in a row. Eleven hours, two feedings.

We wanted to get him all settled in before the football game last night so he was fed, bathed and snuggled all before 8:00. He fell asleep on David sometime between 8:30 and 9:00. The game went off and we were amazed that he was still asleep.

He woke up and ate at 12:30 and was back asleep by 12:45. When I woke up at 5:05, I bolted from bed in a panic to make sure he was ok. When I woke up to him squirreling (making the squirrel noise, not the traditional definition) at 6:45, I almost cracked open a bottle of bubbly to celebrate his accomplishment. When I woke David up to help and told him it had been six hours, he was confused, disoriented.

Yep, that's what our life has become. More than three straight hours of sleep and we're panicked, confused and disoriented.

But now we know his secret. He can sleep for six hours straight, he just doesn't typically want to.


And because no one wants to read a baby blog without pictures of the baby...

Evan's favotire sleeping pose: Touchdown!

Brothers

Don't worry. I won't let Lars suck the breath out of Evan.

(The first paragraph of that Snopes story, by the way, is funny because Lars adores milk. He comes running at the sound of a spoon hitting the bottom of a cereal bowl and somehow knows when we're drinking a glass of milk verses a glass of water or other beverage. He's kind of a wild man when it comes to milk. As it turns out, only cows milk though. Not only has he sniffed Evan's bottle with zero interest, but we've also bought Cat's Milk for him. He turns his nose up at both. Also, I'm not really sure how they make that cat's milk. Is it really milk from cats? Just the thought of milking cats is pretty hilarious. I'm guessing it's more like formula for cats.)

Michaela Turns Two

Annie and Michaela visited this weekend to meet Evan, for Annie to run the USAF 10K, and to celebrate Michaela's second birthday. Grandma Janet and Papaw Mike visited for birthday festivities too.

Cool Kid

Flower Picking



Blowing out her Dora candle



And cleaning it off

Opening gifts with Laika's help

Evan wore a silly monkey hat to the "party"

Grandma and Papaw

And Saturday was game day. Grandma brought Evan some gear. It's a little big now, but should last through the whole football season.

Let's Goooooooo Mountaineers!

Evan and Grandma

Evan and Aunt Annie

We tried to get a picture of the cousins but a two year old plus a seven week old equals uncooperative. Oh, well. Maybe next time!

"That Baby"

I think Evan's on his way to becoming "that baby." You know, the one that people are all like,

"Oooooh! Look how cute and chubby he is!!"

But, after you leave they say,

"OMG! Did you see how fat that kid is?! What's she doing, crushing up Pop Tarts in his bottle?"

As of this weekend, he's weighing in at 12.5lbs. (That's just a guesstimate from our relatively accurate bathroom scale because he officially outweighs the capacity of the postal scale.) He's gained 5lbs in 6 weeks.

I'm sure his doctor will be excited about the healthy gain, but I fear we'll be the gossip of everyone we know. The poor kid will get nicknames like the Stay Puft Marshmallow Baby and the Michelin Baby.

There are more than a few chins hidden in there.

Back to Work

I started back to work (part time) on Friday, August 26. I intentionally chose a Friday because I knew I'd get nothing done. I wasn't worried about sitting around longing to be at home with Evan. No, I chose a Friday because I knew it would be impossible to keep my coworkers from pestering me for stories and pictures all day long. Fridays always seem more laid back so it seemed somewhat more acceptable to accomplish nothing.

Evan stayed home with David. We're both part timing for four weeks so one of us is always home with Evan. This will at least keep him out of daycare for a little longer. Knowing that Evan was with David gave me the peace of mind to focus on work and not worry about my boys.

Although, this is what David accomplished on my first day back to work (and texted to me midday): 


Laika is way more disturbed by this than Lars.

And, this is what he posted on Facebook during my second day back:

I'm glad to know that Evan is in good hands. He also made a pound cake, so I suppose I can forgive him.

People apparently can't resist asking questions like, "Are you in baby withdrawal?" and "Do you miss him?" Well, of course I missed him but I'm not going to lie, it was nice to be away for 8 solid hours. After four straight weeks on full time baby duty, I was glad to get some adult interaction. Evan is awesome, but he's also pretty demanding.

Plus, I like my job and my coworkers. It was nice to get back into work and to chat with everyone. And to feel like I'm contributing. You know, being a productive member of society rather than raising a productive member of society. Not that raising a productive member of society isn't being a productive member of society...er, whatever... the point is that I'm not cut out to be a stay-at-home mom. No way, no how. I could not do it. We'll never have to figure out how to live on one salary. That's for sure!

My first few days went well (it's only been three so far.) I was so happy to be doing something different on Friday that I was full of energy. Well, that and being able to make my usual run through Tim Horton's for a coffee. And, even though I didn't want to be bothered, I was having a good time showing off Evan pictures. Monday was far less energetic. By the time 2pm rolled around I was dragging big time. Thursday was somewhere in between.

We have a New Mom Room at work for pumping. It's sort of creepy. Well, not really, it's just an old copy room with a small fridge for milk storage, small table/desk (technically it's an old school printer stand with the slot in the back for the paper feed from the shelf below), a black desk chair with, get this, milk stains on it (eeeeeew!), and creepy pictures of the other moms' babies taped to the walls. Figuring out a pumping schedule for myself that works with the other new moms is going to be a challenge. Due to the nature of my job, I can't commit to certain times every day. I also need to learn how to walk out of meetings or whatever is necessary to make sure I get in there when I need to. Work life just got a little more complicated.

I can tell one thing already though. Once we're both back at work, scheduling/routine is going to be very important and so difficult. We're not the type to accomplish much before 9am. Getting both of us up and to work as well as getting Evan up, ready and dropped off at daycare is going to be quite a task. I think preparing the night before is going to be key. Now I know why my mom always wanted us to set out our clothes the night before.

Good Morning, Dad!