a (not so white) christmas in vermont

I can't write for long, but i'm longing to blog (very sad, I know). We've been hanging out in a small Vermont "town" called Hardwick, about a half-hour east of Montpelier, the state capitol. This is my second Christmas in Hardwick and I'm sad to report that this has not been a very white Christmas! There's talk of snow later tonight, but I have my doubts.

I'm curious to know how your boys' first Christmas went. Aidan's being showered with love and smiles, and I also think he's sometimes a bit overwhelmed by it all. Is it just me or is it a bit scary when you see eight people hovering over your baby's portable crib, ogling and cooing in unison while he stares curiously from below? Of course, I can't complain about all the new clothes he's receiving -- and I love that he's surrounded by so much family.

Great news about the teaching offer, LizzieP. I enjoyed teaching for the IWP (and I think interdisciplinary writing experience looks good on the CV). I can't help you with the childcare question. when i went back to teaching, my schedule was only two days per week for three hours max. simon is able to stay home (and not work) to help, and my younger brother is also living with us right now and that truly helps. we haven't yet needed childcare. one recommendation (which you probably already thought about): we purchased a parking permit so i could drive to and fro campus and park next to my office. that way, i didn't spend extra time either on the bus or walking to and fro the montlake parking lot, which makes a difference when you want to get home to catch the next feeding! good thing you invested in a good pump -- mine was so handy on those days I wanted to stay on campus an extra hour or two. I returned the hospital-grade rental (medela classic) and found a barely-used medium-grade electric one (medela pump in style) on craigslist. It's all enclosed in a leather bag and comes with an insulated storage pouch for bottles and dry-ice backs. fond memory: pumping and prepping for class at 7:00AM. I hate to get all Martha Stewart on you, but I truly love this pump and can't stop promoting it to new mums. It works better than the expensive rental, and it's so light I don't even realize I'm carrying it sometimes.

Since it seems like the three of us are likely to be on campus next quarter, we should meet up and brainstorm creative ideas for childcare. I'd be more than happy to help out in any way I can. Sacha: you mentioned something about 'office sharing,' and I'm still very curious about what you meant by that.

As nice as it is to be with family and friends, I find myself longing for our home in Seattle. I wonder if Aidan, like me, misses the comfortable familiarity of home right now.

SO looking forward to life after the holidays, traveling, and, of course, the much-dreaded MLA.

back in civilization and child care question

Hi all,

Haven't had internet access for a week and just got power back a couple of days ago -- didn't have that for five days. Was a little tougher to take care of Ethan! He is seriously mixed up about day and night now. We had a generator for much of the time which ran our heat and one outlet in the kitche so we weren't as bad off as some in our neighborhood. Got pretty good at diaper changing by candle light and headlamps.

Lysa, projectile poo? projectile? dear god.

So I've been offered a last minute gig teaching 197 and need to figure out child care options before I can take the job. Because it is IWP and because it is linked to Mark Patterson's class, I'll have to attend the linked lecture. That means at least 5 hours of child care per day, three days a week, not including office hours somewhere in there. What do you think I can expect to pay for this? Any ideas where to go? Ethan will only be 7 weeks old on Jan 1! but Uniform is a much better health insurance than the one we havve through Kevin's work, believe it or not. Definately better for alternative medicine such as our naturopathic pediatrician who is not covered by Kevin's insurance. What to do what to do?

Good luck at MLA Lysa if I don't talk to you before you go!

professing mama

as i wrap up another quarter of teaching, and as i prepare for my first (and hopefully last) trek to the MLA, i recall a post from several years ago (courtesy of bitch, ph.d.).

following up with the previous post: aidan's all better now. dr. tully suggested prune juice, which worked wonders. he's back on track and seems more content than ever (well, duh, who wouldn't be after going almost two weeks without a BM?). for the scatalogically-sensitive, stop reading now. what i'm about to describe is seriously gross.

three hours after i gave him the prune juice, aidan decides to poop. but this isn't your typical 'explosive bm.' it's explosive, but it's also projectile. yes, that's right, projectile. he literally shat three to four feet in the air. and said fecal matter would've gotten further were it not for the wall, window, and dresser blocking its way. my brother and i were dumbfounded, in shock, frozen. aidan was fine (he was, in fact, smiling the whole time). i've never seen even an animal do this, let alone my four month old son. i kept thinking of linda blair in the exorcist. (seriously, my little bundle of love, my sweet angelic aidan became, for a few minutes, demon baby from hell). once shock gave way to reason, i proceded to clean up both baby and bedroom. dear brother and i are still talking about it with a sense of utter amazement. (an aside: my brother used to work at a kennel for exotic animals and not even he had seen anything quite like this.)

i guess one thing is for certain: prune juice is certainly my 'drug of choice' for constipation. now all we need to buy is a tarp for the bedroom wall next to the changing table. a big, heavy, washable tarp.

tight squeeze

hey ladies (and maybe lurkers),

argh...this might be too much information, but i think aidan is constipated. he hasn't had a BM in eleven days. his diapers are always very wet, but nothing brown has gone down! he's eating the same he always has: all breast save one bottle feeding at night so i can sleep. (yes, he *still* wakes up once during the night, usually between 3-4AM). we called the pediatrician, who said this is more common than we might imagine. he doesn't appear distressed, although he will occasionally grunt as if he were trying to poop (we're not sure). we're going to take him in tomorrow. even though he seems happy (all smiles and giggles save the usual night-time fussiness which lasts only a few minutes and is easily handled with nursing) i still hate thinking he's gone this long without movement.

part of me thinks he's picking up on my own stress. i'm going to the MLA and feel overwhelmed with things to do -- grading essays, preparing for the interviews, figuring out what to wear, arranging travel plans etc! we're actually staying my friend's parent's house (they'll be gone), so we're saving money, but still SO MUCH to do. we're bringing aidan -- adding more excitement and stress to the already-surreal adventure.

when we get back i'd love to get together. i have gifts for ethan and nico!

lysa

have bed WILL sleep

Wow, how great to see more team-bloggers! First off, chugar, I'm so happy to see you on board. Ladies: The lovely "lilysorion" and I have been close friends since high-school. High-school! She has two gorgeous children and she is the veteran mum among us. An ideal resource for tips of the trade to be sure. Aidan's just past 4mos. The latest development: holding up his head. Prior to this he hit a growth spurt, which of course translates into unusually frequent nursing sessions. I was literally up once every hour all through the night. This week finds me sicker than a dog. Combined with exhaustion, I think my milk supply (MS) has dwindled, so I'm relinquishing one feeding to get some rest and rebuild. Have done this in the past and it works. Okay...signing off. SO happy to hear from all of you.

Introducing Ethan Cole Tonkin

I love this picture of Ethan! He looks so goofy in it, but it isn't a very true image of him. i'll upload another one another time.

His birthday: Nov 13

An idea: maybe we should list our names, baby names and birthdays permanently in the margin of our blog? Will be useful for those of us who have never met before to keep track of who is who, especially as many of us are using pseudonums.

I'd also like to invite a couple of pregnant people I know to join in -- Kimberlee Gillis Bridges, due in April and my friend Amy due in February I think. Plus my friend Bryn who had her baby a day before you did Lysa. Will contact her about it.

First-time blogger

Hi moms! Congratulations on your beautiful babies.

Thanks for the invite to join--and as a first time blogger, I guess I didn't realize I should've created a pseudonym. Ah well. My boy Nico is just turning 6 months old and he's quite a handful. I've been off from teaching--and pretty much everything--this quarter. I really didn't know it would be quite so hard. (Nico is crying himself down to his nap right now, which always breaks my heart, despite the fact that he's completely exhausted.)

The last couple of weeks have been amazing. Nico's tearing through milestones, and I wish he would slow down a bit. I don't feel ready. I went in to get him out of his crib two weeks ago and found him up on his hands and knees (he had turned over) and having sprouted his first two bottom teeth. Now he won't stay on his back and is dying to crawl.

I had a very bad cold several weeks ago and shared it with Nico, but was encouraged by the doctor to keep breastfeeding--you do in fact share your antibodies with the baby. The other hard part about being sick with a baby is that you don't get much chance to rest and take care of yourself. For me, it was pretty important that my hubby took over most baby duties (besides breastfeeding) so I could rest and recover quickly.

Nico just started tasting solids and loves pretty much everything we've given him. Main nutrition comes from breastmilk, but he was grabbing at our food and mimicking chewing, so I figured it was time. We started with tastes of apple and banana, and now he's had carrots and sweet potato too. Since it mainly supplements breastmilk, feeding is fairly irregular, and we do it to introduce yet another new experience to Nico-man, who can't seem to get enough. Last couple of days we've tried whole grain rice cereal. Initially I was reluctant because I was afraid of constipation, esp. given his intestinal surgery when first born. But he's actually had some diarrhea. Hopefully it'll pass, but we do tend to worry when it comes to this stuff.

I'm having trouble posting pics, but when I do I'll put up Nico as a cowboy for Halloween. I had lots of fun dressing him up--I'm not sure how much he enjoyed it.

By the way, I'd love to start a support group where we physically meet--even if monthly. Any interest? I could host first before the holidays, or after if it's better. I want to talk to you guys about teaching with a little one. I may have an appointment after all for the winter and I'm not sure what to do. . . . We could invite any other new mom grad students you'd like. I'm a bit out of the loop.

first post

Ethan had an appointment yesterday and now officially weighs 12 pounds at 3 weeks old! our little chunk. he is a champion at nursing, but for the past couple of days cries when i try to nurse him on the right side. is it an ear thing? is my milk different on the right? hmmmm.

having trouble adding a picture. will try another time.

nature's remedy

turns out when a nursing mum gets a cold her body produces antibodies (well, we all do this), which transfer into the breastmilk to ensure that the suckler -- in this case aidan -- doesn't catch what mum has. this means that, although hubby and others might catch what i've got, our little bump -- so long as i keep nursing -- will stay perfectly fine. what a perfect system.

uh oh

i've got a cold. and a fourth-month-old. and i nurse. "the books" (which i stopped reading weeks ago so i could start listening to my 'mother's intuition) say to keep baby away from people with colds. so what is a new mum to do? i can't and don't want to stop nursing. i don't mind skipping a feeding or two -- i can pump -- but that's about it. any idears?

welcome

Aidan Luke McGuire (a/k/a "little bump")
b. August 3, 2006

Hello. I'm a first-time mum and I've initiated this blog per the advice of a good friend, who's also a first-time mum, so that we could connect, swap stories, and share secrets without having to leave the house, which is a feat in and of itself right now. So, here's the first of many posts. I go by "softmachine" (you can find my personal site at www.seechange.blogspot.com).

Today, bump, hubby and i went to see dr. tully. she's bump's pediatrician and i SO love her. very candid, kind, and encouraging. bump weighed in at 15lbs (tripled his birthweight) and 25 inches. we're happy to report he's as healthy as he is adorable. more soon....must run.....bump just woke from his nap.