Hello Out There

Abbie, Mary, Julie, Amy, and Heather…if you haven’t already e-mailed me your addresses, please do so.  You lucky ladies were the winners of the What to Expect When You’re Expecting giveaway that ended yesterday.  Congratulations!

In other news, I have been absent lately.  We had a family reunion, appointments, and lots of other summer to-dos going on. 

Butterball had a developmental appointment because he was a preemie.  They did all these tests and then gave us where he was at.  It was nail-biting, I’ll admit.  No mother wants to hear that their child is behind.  And mine, as it turns out, didn’t have any red flags.  He’s right where he should be in cognition and language skills.  However, they said he’s 26% behind in motor skills, mainly because he’s not rolling over yet.  So they told us he needs to do a lot more tummy time…like 6 times a day.  We have to go back in six months.  It’s all mostly preventative, but I can’t help but feel like they’re looking for something that my sweet boy doesn’t have. 

Another big deal was leaving him with my parents this evening for a few hours while me and the hubby went to see Inception (good movie, by the way).  It was only the second time I’ve left him EVER (the only other time was our anniversary in May).  He seemed to do okay, but apparently refused the bottle.  Guess we better work on that before I go back to work at the end of August.  I also need to work on leaving him more often (with my husband, parents, etc) to get him used to not being with me 24/7.  He had a bit of a crying fit with my mom.  As much as it pains me to be separated from my baby, it’s going to hurt him a lot more if I throw him into a situation of being with somebody new for hours at a time without having ever practiced that separation.  So, we’ve got a bit of homework to do this summer to get ready.

I’ll leave you with my Butterball…sweetest little guy I know.

What to Expect When You’re Expecting Giveaway

Today we are giving away free “What to Expect When You’re Expecting” books, 4th edition, to 5 lucky people!

As the number one bestselling pregnancy book on the market, What to Expect When You’re Expecting is a great comprehensive book that covers everything from pre-conception, pregnancy month-by-month, diet, complications, labor and delivery, breastfeeding, postpartum, and more!  It literally covers pretty much every topic you can think of related to pregnancy, making it a great reference tool even before you get pregnant.

What I like about the book is that it is pretty balanced in that it offers different approaches to pregnancy, birth, and beyond without being judgmental.  I’ve read a lot of pregnancy books that were definitely bias toward a specific approach, but this one presents the information and lets you decide without slanting the evidence.

Nicknamed “America’s Pregnancy Bible,” the book answers hundreds of pregnancy questions and provides a ton of valuable content for expectant mothers. 

My Review of What to Expect When You’re Expecting:

• The “before you conceive” information.  It has a lot of practical advice that I think a lot of woman overlook when embarking on the journey of motherhood.  A little advance planning can help you make sure your health is in tip-top shape.  For example, the book recommends going to the dentist and taking care of everything in your mouth.  A lot of women forget to do this.  I had to get a filling taken care of while pregnant without the medication…and let me tell you…it wasn’t pleasant!  Do it beforehand, including any X-Rays you may need.  Did you know your dental health could impact the health of your pregnancy? 
• Section on eating well while pregnant.  This is another area of pregnancy that a lot of women tend to ignore, and it is so important not only to your unborn child, but also for your own body.  What to Expect When You’re Expecting gives food recommendations and even tells you about the foods to stay away from.  What I like is that it seems pretty current with the latest information.  For example, it tells you that spicy food poses no risk to your baby, which a lot of people mistakenly believe.  The book breaks it down to the different food groups you should be eating from, how many serving of each you should consume, and gives examples of foods for each category.  It even has information for vegetarians and vegans. 
• The Labor and Delivery Section, where different options are explored, including information about natural birth.  For example, I was happy to see that the book says that laboring on your back isn’t an efficient way to birth a baby, and that routine episiotomies aren’t recommended.  There is information about where to birth, how to birth, what to expect at hospitals, the three phases of labor, and more.  I tend to lean on the natural birth side of the spectrum, and I found this book to give an accurate and fair presentation of information for women on either side of the spectrum.  It’s so important as a pregnant woman to arm yourself with information before you give birth.   
•  Pretty decent breastfeeding section, including a picture tutorial of the different holds (and although I’ve been nursing for 6 mths now, the pictures informed me that I wasn’t holding Butterball correctly in the side-lying hold, which explains why my arm kept going numb…duh!), information about a breastfeeding diet, and even a little blurb about breastfeeding when your baby is in the NICU.  There is a ton of other information related to breastfeeding too…even something on tandem nursing.
• Pregnancy month-by-month.  There is a chapter for every month of pregnancy, including a picture of what the baby would look like, information about the baby’s current development for that month broken down week-by-week, and lots of really relevant information, including: pregnancy exercise, weight gain, what to do with unwanted advice, sex and pregnancy, taking a childbirth class, information for 2^nd time parents, what to expect during monthly check-ups, the baby’s position, what you may be feeling during different stages of your pregnancy, and many more great stuff that pops up throughout pregnancy.  You’re going to have so many moments of “Is this normal?” or “what do I do about that?” that can be answered quickly by the book.  I really view the book as an encyclopedia of sorts for pregnancy. 
• Postpartum up to six weeks.  A comprehensive overview of what to expect 24 hours after delivery, three days after delivery, and after your postpartum check-up .  The information includes issues with postpartum depression, getting back into shape, breastfeeding diet, dealing with the after-birth pain, engorgement, leaking, the first bowel movement (nobody ever told me about this worry until after I gave birth!), recovering from a c-section, bleeding, and more.  This is all of the nitty gritty they don’t show you on TV and the seasoned mamas aren’t telling you until it’s too late!  It’s a great overview of what to expect and how to deal with it. 
• Sections on more specific issues, like alternative medicine, preterm pregnancy, pregnancy with STDs, multiples, complicated pregnancies, coping with pregnancy loss, staying healthy if you have a chronic condition, what to do if you get sick during pregnancy, and even a section on fathers and pregnancy. 

For your pregnancy book collection, What to Expect When You’re Expecting is a wise addition, and something you can refer to even with your subsequent pregnancies.  I plan on using it when we work on our second baby.  You can check out their website here:

Pregnancy Questions Answered

The website offers a day-by-day personalized pregnancy guide, message boards and blogs, your own pregnancy scrapbook, and lots of other online tools. 

5 of you are going to get a copy of the What to Expect When You’re Expecting for FREE.  I’m even going to pay for your shipping!

To enter the free giveaway:

• Leave me a comment for 1 entry into the drawing.  It can be about how far along you are in your pregnancy, how many kids you have…whatever!
• For an extra entry, tell somebody (e-mail, blog, twitter, Facebook, in person, whatever!) about my blog and let me know in a separate comment that you did.
• For an extra entry, add me on Twitter (prepforbaby) and let me know in a separate comment on this post that you have done so.
• For three extra entries, blog about this giveaway or another one of my posts and let me know in three separate comments that you have done so with a link.

I’ll announce the randomly selected winners in a week on July 26, 2010.  Good luck!

**when you leave a comment, you are prompted for an e-mail address.  This is neither made public or shared, but rather for verification purposes.

Family Budget…and Corn!

My husband and I sat down and made a list of all of our monthly expenses.  We then went down that list and figured out where we could make cuts.  Since I gave birth prematurely at 29 1/2 weeks and had to be out of work a few extra months, our finances took a hit, and we’ve had to adjust accordingly.  I’ve been thankful that I was able to stay home with Butterball since his birth (and while he was in the NICU, I was able to go several times a day and pump for him).  But we paid a hefty price for that luxury.  With that said, it is extremely important to go through your expenses and pinpoint exactly what you’re spending your money on.  It will really open your eyes and help you plan your spending better.  By the way–we did all of this on a family walk this afternoon.  L.P. rode on his scooter and Butterball was snuggled against me in the Ergo.  Perfect ending to a busy day.

I wrote about our family garden a few weeks ago.  One of the things we’re growing is corn.  I took an empty apple container (from Costco) and planted my seeds in it.  The corn began to sprout almost immediately, and they’re getting to be a pretty good size to transplant into the garden any day now.

It’s been a lot of fun for everyone to watch our seeds turn into something we can eventually eat!

2 more days until the giveaway for pregnant or thinking-about-getting pregnant moms!  Check back with me on Monday!

Summer Time Fun

Yesterday was a real summer day.  I say “real,” because we’ve spent the first half of our summer with marine layer ruining our beach plans.  So, as you would on a real summer day, we went to the beach.

And then we managed to come home in time to take showers, even Butterball!  It was his first shower and he loved it.  I was a bit apprehensive of things like slipping, but we took it slow and were totally cautious and he had a blast, even when water splashed in his face.  We got all cleaned up and headed out to our weekly Municipal Band festivities…complete with a rainbow.  The ambiance reminds me of San Francisco on a warm day, when everyone heads out to their favorite parks and set up a blanket for some sun bathing and a nice picnic. 

We ended the evening with a nail-biting family Uno match and leftover peach cobbler.  We’re in the process of teaching L.P. good sportsmanship.  Fun times!

Next Week Giveaway

Pregnant mamas, hoping to conceive mamas, or anyone interested in pregnancy, next Monday I’m doing a giveaway especially for you.  Check back to enter to win the free giveaway!

Preparing to Go Back to Work after Baby

If you’re going back to work after being off with the kids, you’ll want to consider a few points before taking the plunge.  If you’re like me, you have a mortgage to pay and not enough financial freedom to stay home.  I’d love to stay home with the kids, but unfortunately I live in Southern California and have an insane mortgage.  I’m also a teacher, and in these days of cuts and economic turmoil, I simply cannot afford to lose my tenure, my schedule at school, and my spot in the district.  If things continue in this downward trajectory, I may not be able to find another job in the district for many, many years.  Also, my husband and I work at the same school, so we’d be losing that convenience too.  We all have our reasons why we have to go back to work.  Maybe you need the money like me, or maybe you have a career you really love and don’t want to give it up.  At any rate, here’s a few ideas to help you transition back to work. 

1.        Divide housework and errands with your partner.

When it’s time to go back to work, you’re going to find that it is increasingly difficult to keep up with the daily grind of life…in a different way.  I say “in a different way” in that I know how hard it is to keep up with life while staying home.  Going to work every day just adds new complexity to an already hectic life.  The best way to deal with drop-offs, pick-ups, dinner, cleaning, laundry, work, and spending quality time with your family is to divide the work between you and your partner (and your children if they are old enough).  This will not only alleviate a huge load off of your shoulders, but it will also make your household more efficient.  Make a list of everything that needs to be done in a day and literally divide it up.  Print the list and keep it somewhere handy for your household to reference on a daily basis.  You could also use your cell phone to give you and your partner reminders.

 2.       Give yourself a learning curve

It’s not going to be perfect right away.  You’re going from one routine to a totally different one—it’s not easy.  And it isn’t necessarily going to be easy on your children, either.  Take comfort in the fact that it will get better and smoother and everyone needs a learning curve.

 3.       Do a practice run.

To make your learning curve smaller, it is highly suggested to do a practice run of your routines.  So, a week or so before you go back to work, pretend like you’re going to work to get a feel of what time you need to wake up, how much time you’ll need to get prepared, how much milk to send with the baby, and any other invisible threads that may pop up.  If you do it for a week, you’ll be able to gauge what exactly needs tweaking in your routine, and you’ll be better prepared for it.

 4.       Find reliable, trustworthy childcare.

This is an extremely important component of going back to work.  You absolutely must find somebody and/or an organization that is dependable and trustworthy.  It’s hard enough going back to work and being separated from your kids, let alone having to go through that and worry if your kids are being taken care of properly.  Take the time to properly interview prospects, check references, take a tour of the place where the children will be watched, and do your homework. 

 5.       Come to terms with your decision to go back.

It’s going to feel weird.  It’s going to be stressful.  You will probably even feel guilty.  However, the more you come to terms with your decision to go back, the easier the transition will be.  See the situation as a glass half full.  For me, obviously I would rather stay home with the kids, but I try to see it from the other side of the fence.  If I give up my teaching job in this economy, I might not get it back for years.  I’ll be making more money for our family, have some time to myself to make a difference in the world, and I’ll still have a fantastic family schedule.  When I focus on the benefits I don’t feel as much guilt. 

 6.       Develop routines and structure.

The only way to run a tight ship is to implement routines and structure into your daily life.  It is particularly helpful to plot out your day and schedule on a calendar.  Literally penning in what you need to be doing at what hour of the day.  Kids thrive on routines anyway, so it will only help your family become more organized and efficient. 

Organization and pulling everyone on board to create a more efficient family is essential in your plans of going back to work.  Try to get so efficient that you’ll have a lot of time after work to spend quality time with the kids.  Who knows…you may actually start spending more quality time with them while you’re working than you did when you are at home.  I find that I get more things done when I’m busy, and when you don’t have a lot of something (time), you tend to cherish it a lot more. 

My going back to work checklist:  finalize childcare, pump and build up milk supply, and work on fine tuning the routines.

Tired

I find myself always tired.  I know it comes with the territory, or so I was warned for so many years, but it is still disappointing nevertheless.  I wish my old energy would return from my pre-pregnancy days. 

I guess it doesn’t help that I go to sleep late.  I can’t help it though, because if I didn’t, I’d never get anything done!  I have a professional cat-napper for a baby.  He sleeps through the night like an angel, going down anytime between 9-10PM and not waking up until 8AM (except for a quick nurse at 5 or 6AM).  I keep telling myself that when he wakes up at 5 or 6 AM to nurse, I should stay awake.  But it never works.  Sometimes I even let him cuddle up against me and sleep a few hours with me, and then I’m doomed.  There’s no way I’m getting out of bed and waking up when I have a cuddlebug next to me. 

I’m wondering if I’ll get more done when I go back to work.  Which, by the way, I’m trying to pump myself up about.  Going back to work.  I’ve been out of work since just before Christmas, when we went on winter break (we’re teachers).  Butterball decided to enter this world the morning of the day I was supposed to go back to work after break. I never went back.  So, that should add a new layer of complexity to our already hectic lives.

Yesterday after our torturous adventure to the zoo in boiling hot weather I came home to my husband finishing up the dinner I had already started.  It was seriously so good!  We had marinated tri-tip steak, baked potatos, salad, and I made homemade peach cobbler (with L.P.’s help) for dessert.  Don’t ask me where the energy came from, but I scrounged some up to finish the night with the cobbler. 

I had an aunt who was crazy busy all the time and she was like an energizer bunny at home, keeping it sparkling clean despite the interference by my slob of an uncle.  I asked her what her secret was, and she said “never lay down.  Don’t sit down.  Don’t rest period.”

And I believe her, because once you do, you’re done!

I’m Big in Japan

I’m Big In Japan Baby One-Piece, 12-18 Months

Butterball got this as a present from a cousin.  Incidentally, Butterball is 1/2 Japanese, but it’s not because of his heritage, but rather from an 80’s song.

A Summer Trip to the Zoo

Last week I was complaining about this July gloom in Southern California that was messing up my beach plans.  Unfortunately, the old saying “be careful what you wish for” has come back to bite me in the butt. 

Let me tell you folks…going to the L.A. Zoo on a hot day with two babies and a naughty 7 year old is pure exhaustion and stress.  It hasn’t been very hot lately, so my friend and I thought we were good to go.  She brought her 5-month old, I brought my 6-month ol dand 7-year old.  The sunscreen was applied generously, hats secured, lunches and drinks packed, and off we went.  We were an hour delayed thanks to an emergency bathroom run for L.P. and getting all the baby gear into one car, but we were doing okay. 

And then the drive began…the first bit of unraveling in our day.  40 minutes of two babies taking turns CRYING their heads off and L.P. throwing his hands up in the air exclaiming “I can’t take this anymore!” after he spent the entire time shaking toys in front of their faces to appease the babies.  It was pure and utter stress.

When we finally got there, it didn’t take long to figure out we were going to melt.  It didn’t matter if Butterball was in the Ergo or in the stroller, he was sweating bullets and uncomfortable.  I’m usually quite the trooper, but even I was ready to call it quits five minutes into the trip, and I had been really looking forward to the zoo. 

And to make matters worse, aside from the crying babies and oppressive heat, L.P. thought it was a good idea to be a big brat. 

Do you ever have a friend who sort of oversteps their boundaries with dealing with your kid?  Like…they’re always telling your kid what to do?  I’ve been pretty patient because my friend is a teacher and I’ve just discounted it to her putting on her teacher hat, but it got to the point where she was promising him things I wasn’t about to agree with…like buying some junk food instead of eating the lunch I packed for him.  Or going somewhere after I told him to stay next to me.  So like any smart kid, L.P. figured out he would use her to get what he wanted (or at least try) in front of me.  Sorry…not gonna happen. 

We saw a few animals and took a bunch of breaks before going home and enduring an hour long ride in traffic with a screaming baby (mine…hers fell asleep).  Needless to say, I’ve got a glass of wine next to me as we speak. 

A few highlights:

Even the kangaroo wanted to pass out from the heat!

So…moral of the story…don’t try to attempt outdoor trips in extreme heat with little babies who really don’t care what a zebra or giraffe looks like anyway.  No amount of water is going to help and you’ll be spending your entire time taking breaks.  At the very least, force your husbands to go so you won’t have to balance the baby in one arm and push the stroller that is loaded up with your “day trip” junk.

 Daddy recently tried out the Ergo for the first time.  He liked it!  For “bigger” daddies, the Ergo has an extender for the waist.  I only know this because my good friend has a “bigger” husband that needed it.  At any rate, I’m still loving the Ergo.  In fact, I was crazy protective over that thing.  You know how you have to park your stroller when you go on rides?  I made my husband hide my Ergo when I wasn’t using it because “any mother who knows what that is will know how valuable it is!”  It was useful throughout the day, even on a few rides.  It also has pockets for storage, and pockets are wonderful when you are on the go.

Butterball’s uncle who lives in San Jose sent him the Pink Floyd onesie as a present today. 

Pink Floyd prism Infant Baby black S/S onesie

Last week, his aunt gave him the Beatles onesie, AC/DC onesie, and Run DMC.  My husband isn’t too pleased to say the least.  You see, my husband is stuck in the 80’s, but a very small niche of the 80’s…like Siouxsie and the Banshees and Bauhaus.  I didn’t know who they were before I met him, seeing as how I was just a little kid when he was rocking out in the 80’s.  At any rate, Butterball’s onesies are here to stay…the hubby can DEAL! 

In the last week or so, Butterball has been able to grab objects.   I never anticipated how exciting it would be to watch your baby hit these developmental milestones.  He’s totally playing with toys and loving it.  In the above picture, he’s with his “friends,” Ralphie the puppy and Bo his doll who was his NICU “lovey.” 

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If you’re pregnant, make sure you check back this week for a giveaway!