Many, many apologies for the prolonged, unintended absence. I've had many blog posts in my head but MAKING the time to sit down and write them out hasn't been a priority for me. We've been busy enjoying our family, working and just doing the things that make life happen (grocery shopping, lawn mowing). One thing I try to focus on is being present with Henry when I'm with him. As a full-time-working-mom, my time with him is limited and I truly want to savor it! I'm hoping to do better as I've got lots to share but let's start with these 9 month old photos of Henry by the oh-so-talented Stephanie from Stephanie's Creations.
August already! Summer has been short here in Cleveland as we've only had about 2 weeks of really hot weather (not that I'm complaining) and LOTS of rain. Our tomatoes are still green but C's mom was able to give us some from her crop so we will be having lots of fresh-from-the-garden tomato dishes this week.
Sunday-Lunch was steak and corn on the cob on the grill. Dinner was sausage/pasta/tomato/basil dish garnished with balsamic/olive oil/garlic/cheese
Monday-BLT wraps and grilled summer squash
Tuesday-Chicken and sweet potatoes in the crock pot with salad
Thursday-Brucshetta pizza
Now that Henry is starting to enjoy food, I have the following planned for him:
We are adding a new food every 4-7 days so on Wednesday, I'll add something else into his diet. I'm thinking bananas as they would easily mash in his mesh feeder.
What's on your meal plan for this week? Any great fresh tomato recipes?
Here we are at 6 months old already, how did that happen????
We've had an eventful month and the biggest news is starting food! Henry is a fan of the mesh feeder (I think he likes that he can do it himself) and he has tried avocado and sweet potato. His sleep schedule is starting to regulate a bit into 2-3 naps per day but we are still working on getting them at a consistent time each day. Each time we make progress, life gets in the way :). He's increasingly vocal and enjoys talking and shrieking. When he gets upset about something, boy he lets us know it. This afternoon Chris tried to put him down for a nap and Henry certainly didn't think it was necessary. Henry screamed for about 10 minutes and then when Chris brought him downstairs to to me, Henry spent a few minutes "complaining" about it. Henry loves music and having us sing to him. He also loves his interactive toys and is always on the go.
We've noticed that he's developed a bit of a temper (see above nap example) and is very clear about his likes and dislikes. We do enjoy seeing his personality develop! H continues to got to PT and we do his exercises every day to strengthen his upper body. Henry has his 6 month well-check in a week and I'm excited to see his stats!
Without going into all the details, we've recently had a change in nanny's for Henry. The past few weeks have been incredibly stressful as we interviewed, hired and transitioned from our old nanny to the new one. We've had lots of questions as to why (after only 2 months), we were searching for someone new to watch H and I think it all boils down to the first nanny wasn't a good fit. Honestly, when we interviewed the first time around, we found someone we really, really liked. We made her an offer but she was also interviewing with another family and choose to work for them instead. So feeling rushed to get someone before I went back to work, we hired our second choice. We called references, ran a background check, did a monthly review-all the "right" things to do. Things were fine for a while and then they weren't. I felt like I was constantly having to deal with things not being done as we asked and C was starting to dread my phone calls during the work day as they usually had some sort of nanny related issue. Our parents have listened to me worry over our nanny situation for some time...sorry guys! It wasn't anything one thing and honestly, the feeling was mutual (and she even brought it up!) so we parted ways last week and thankfully, she stayed until we found someone new. It's been a new experience for us to have a household employee and learn how to set expectations that were clear (yet trying to be flexible and understanding as she was taking care of our most precious thing, Henry, in our home. Um, I didn't want to totally peeve her as she could steal our baby and rob us blind).
So now that we've got 4 days under our belt with our new nanny, I can say that things are SO much better already! The energy in our home is better and I think it's a much better fit. The new nanny came prepared with crafts (Yes, crafts for a 5.5 month old. The fridge is covered with baby paintings already) and has all sorts of daily developmental activities they do together. As we can only learn from our past, I've been thinking about our last experience and this is what I've learned:
1. Trust my instinct. We know what's best for our family and need to make sure that comes first.
2. It has to be a good fit and if it's not (see #1) cut our losses and move on. I spent a lot of time and energy trying to make our last relationship work and bottom line was it didn't. Next time, I'll call it sooner and take steps to move on.
3. Don't be afraid to speak up about instructions and expectations up front. I've created a "House Rules" list that we now use for everyone that watches H. At the end of the day, Henry (and the dogs and our home) our OUR responsibility and we, as parents, should fully be able to expect our rules and guidelines to be followed.
I'm sure this is just the first of many challenges of being a working mom :). To those of you who have great help, be thankful and show appreciation!
If you have child-care, what are some things that work for your family? Any "House Rules" we should add to the list?
How time flies-our little guy is 5 months old! He is growing and changing more every day! Some of his recent developments are pinching (fine motor skills), talking/having conversations with us/shrieking (verbalizing), pulling toys and his pacifier toward him/putting them in his mouth and touching faces-he LOVES faces. He likes to go on walks in the stroller and he enjoys watching Max and Lila romp around. He doesn't like getting dressed or waiting to eat. When he's hungry, he wants to eat NOW :)
A few weeks ago, Henry had his first chiropractic appointment! The chiropractor also specializes in NAET testing and we learned that Henry was deficient in fatty acids (no surprise there since his weight gain has been slow). I'm now taking supplements and changing my diet a bit to increase the amount of fatty acids in my breast milk. One of my nursing mom's group friends suggested reading Mother Food and it has been very helpful. I'm (very slowly) starting to introduce diary and a few other foods back into my diet and it doesn't seem to be affecting Henry. I will be very interested to see where he is at his 6 month well-check in August!
Henry has also had a couple more PT sessions with his PT Cathy. We are working on sitting and pushing up on his hands and knees! Crawling will be here before we know it, Chris and I are already talking about baby-proofing the house :)
Henry's bedtime is around 7pm and he still gets up a couple times each night to eat. At night he sleeps about 6-7 hours before his first wake up and then every three or so hours after that. During the day he takes several naps still and usually we get a nice 2 hour nap and then 2-3 shorter ones. For the most part, Henry self-soothes to sleep but we do occasionally need to rock him.
Some recent adventures include going to a family reunion where Henry got to meet his newest baby cousin, Catherine. He also spent the day at Grandma's house with his cousin Luke. Last Sunday, I took him to the grocery store in the Baby Bjorn and he really liked looking around at all the bright lights, colors and shapes.
Here are a few photos over the past month of Henry:
Helping Mommy fold laundry (otherwise known as eating
Daddy's sock)
Chris "playing" with Henry at Grandma's house
Concentrating REALLY hard on one of his toys
Bath time! He loves to splash and kick in the tub!
Serious boy hanging out at Oma and Opa's house
And a video showcasing his new verbalization skills:
Chris, H and I spent a few days out of town visiting family (family reunion for me and H and moving family for C). We got back late Saturday night so we could get ready for the next week-Monday always comes around so fast! Mac and Lila also had an obedience lesson or shall I say Chris and I had a lesson in being better pack leaders.
Is it hot where you are? We are supposed to see 90 every day this week! I doubt we will be turning on the stove or oven. I'm certainly going to miss having central air as we only have window air conditioners. They do the job but some rooms are hotter, like my office, than others.
Sunday-Greek festival! We picked up food from the drive-thru after running errands.
Monday-spinach salad with chicken, goat cheese, strawberries and a strawberry vinaigrette
Chris and I rarely made it out to happy hour before we had Henry and now it never happens. Yesterday, we did our own "happy hour at home" with some fresh guacamole and some Summer Shandy....so refreshing!
Guacamole Recipe:
4 Avocados (I used organic Haas), removed from the peal and smashed
1/2 lime, juice and zest
1 teaspoon cilantro, fresh and chopped
1 tablespoon salsa
1/4 teaspoon seasoning salt
Smash avocados in a bowl, add remaining ingredients and stir. Serve with chips, veggie slices or on top of burgers or chicken. Store left-over guac in the fridge. I press plastic wrap right on the surface of the guac to keep it from turning brown.
For Father's Day, Henry and I treated Chris to brunch out at our favorite local restaurant, Sweet Melissa. Here's a few photos of our outing. Happy Father's Day to all the Daddy's out there!
Wearing his "Happy First Father's Day Daddy" shirt from our Nanny.
Henry and Daddy. H is enthralled with all the noise and people.
Tired baby but he wouldn't give in and take a nap- too much to look at.
Last week, Henry attended his 4 month well-check with CNP Allyson. She was his practitioner at his 2 month well check too. Due to scheduling conflicts, Chris took him to the appointment and brought back lots of notes for me since I couldn't attend. Don't worry, it all evens out since I took H to PT later in the week :)
Here are the basic stats:
Height- 24 inches (16th percentile)
Weight- 11 lbs 13 oz (3rd percentile)
Head circumference- 39.9 cm (2nd percentile)
So we have a peanut on our hands...no surprise there if you know us. Chris and I are both on the short side :). Our little guy is thriving developmentally (holding head up well, rolling all ways, being very alert) but the CNP is concerned with his size and is suggesting we start to introduce rice cereal and oatmeal. To be quite honest, I was taken by surprise by this and probably a little defensive since I'm Henry's primary supply of nutrition AND I wasn't there to discuss my concerns with starting him on cereal/food so early. We were told that if we don't start feeding him soon, he will "fall behind even more". I have a bit of an issue with that, especially considering his gene pool. After all, everything I've read states that solids should wait until six months (or close to it) because the digestive system is not ready yet and it can increase food sensitivities and allergies. We already suspect that H has some food sensitivities, that's the whole reason I'm not eating dairy or bananas or spicy foods or broccoli...you get the idea. So I decided to do some more research before making a decision. I first started talking to other moms: my Mom, C's Mom, my Mom's group moms, co-workers who are moms. Basically, it came out to we need to do what we feel is best for Henry. Next, I checked out some online resources that are well-respected (KellyMom and Science of Mom). I still want to call the office and ask a few questions (WHO growth charts vs. CDC growth charts) but after much thought about it, we are going to wait until closer to 6 months and follow his cues. We have been including Henry in family meals in his infant swing for a while and just recently started sitting him in his high chair at the table with us (and a tray full of toys).
Chris also asked her about sleep (and the fact that this guy gets up a lot at night). Thanks to her advice, we are transitioning to self-soothing. This means no more rocking H to sleep, which is sad for me, but we are working on teaching him to go to sleep on his own to encourage healthy sleep habits.
And a video in the high chair:
Please know that we do not come from a place of judgement on those who choose to give cereal at any age, this is what we've chosen for Henry right now based on what we feel is best for him.
Just a quick post this week as its Friday night before 8pm and I'm already in bed due to combo of early mornings for work and getting up 5+ times the past few nights with H. I'm physically and mentally exhausted. So so happy we've got nothing planned this weekend other than the regular gym/grocery shopping/cooking/cleaning schedule. I'm sure we'll do a few special things for Father's Day but I know Chris is just as tired as I am (he had a few late nights due to work functions). I wanted to share my latest creation/baby gift for a soon-to-arrive Florida baby! No batting and a nice soft flannel backing and silky binding. I quilted along the horizontal stripes to keep it together. Love making gifts for our friends!
When I'm looking for a quick, summery side dish I always think of this salad. We love the crunchy texture and the flavor combo! I can (and do) eat it right out of the serving bowl if I'm really hungry. I recently had a friend request the recipe so here it is:
In a large salad bowl, combine:
1 package shredded cabbage/coleslaw mix
1 package of ramen noodles, broken into small pieces (I use chicken flavored)
1/2 cup sliced almonds, toasted
1 Tablespoon toasted sesame seeds
1-2 Tablespoons green onions/chives, chopped
To make the dressing, whisk to combine:
1/2 cup vegetable oil
2 Tablespoons white vinegar
2 Tablespoons sugar
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 flavor packet from ramen noodles
Pour dressing over salad and toss to incorporate. Salad will wilt down after 1/2 hour or so. I try to make it an hour or two ahead of time to allow time for the flavors to meld but not too far in advance because the ramen will soften. Enjoy!
Although I haven't been posting it here, we've still been meal planning, shopping and cooking. Meals that come together fast are preferred and we do a lot of grilling! I try to prep as much on the weekends as possible, it makes our weeknight s go more smoothly.
Sunday-chicken, quinoa and spinach bowls
Monday-turkey, bacon and spinach wraps with Asian coleslaw
A few weeks ago, Chris and I ran our first race as parents! The training went decently...until I went back to work and then I was only running 1 day a week and going to body pump 1 day a week. Certainly not ideal race prep but work with what you have :).
I started running 6 weeks after Henry was born (after being cleared by my midwife). The first few weeks were a little rough and very slow. I could certainly still feel the looseness in my hips, lost my cardiovascular endurance and I was achy after running but things steadily improved! Another challenge I faced were "the girls"-I have to invest in larger and more supportive sports bras and had to pump directly before the race.
Most of C's family ran the race too, which made it really fun! I ended up the same pace as my mom and we ran together for most of the race and finishing just over an hour with a 10:30/mile pace....not my best but certainly not bad.
I love that health, wellness and fitness are family activities! Can't wait until H is old enough to ride with us in the jogging stroller-only a few more months!
Where has time gone? Henry is 4 months old today! In the grand scheme of life, 4 months is a short period but it seems like he's been with us forever. He celebrated the milestone by breaking free from his swaddle blanket rolling from his back to his front twice in the middle of the night and crying for someone to help him. Stats are unknown as his next appt. to see CNP Allyson is next week. I'm looking forward to hearing about his progress-I've got a work meeting I can't miss so C is taking the afternoon off to go to the appointment.
Other developments include "talking". H likes to carry on full conversations with us, especially while being rocked and at the end of nursing sessions.
Henry is eating every 3 hours during the day abs every 2 hours in the evening in an attempt to "stock up" for nighttime. He still gets up between 2-5 times a night-sometimes to eat and sometimes we just comfort him. Clearly, he isn't self-soothing yet :) We start bedtime between 6:30 and 7:30, with a goal of 7pm pjs, story, rocking and last feeding...sometimes it works and sometimes it doesn't.
We love our little guy and can't wait to see how he continues to develop!
I've finally figured out how to get video's to the blog-upload them to YouTube first :). I've been taking one or two short videos on my iPhone every week to document Henry's progress and development. Here's Henry at 6 weeks old:
Here we go, my first week back to work and our first with with our nanny (in order to protect her privacy, I'll just refer to her as Nanny or the nanny on here). Today, our nanny starts and tomorrow I'm back to work. I hear a shortened work week is the way to go and it's best to ease back into things, we will see! Meal planning is even more important now that my time is limited so I spent a few hours planning and prepping this weekend, thanks to a 3 hour nap, to ensure success during the week.
Prep work:
Paleo fudge-added toasted coconut as inspired by Danielle and these things are amazing now!
No bake energy bites
Paleo blueberry muffins
Meal Plan:
Sunday-Burgers on the grill with guac and bacon, green beans, strawberries
Monday-Roasted Chicken in tomatillo sauce (crock-pot) and butternut squash risotto (carry over from last week)
Tuesday-quesadillas with left-over chicken
Wednesday-Bratwurst on the grill, spinach salad
Thursday-left overs
Friday-Out to dinner/take-out?
I'm a little nervous about returning to work so let's see how thing week goes!
Meal planning has been tough lately, I'm working with limited ingredients (due to dietary restrictions for H) and limited time ( um, I've got a baby and we were out of town over the weekend). I'm traveling again at the end of this week so here's what we've done so far:
Next week I return to work so meal planning/ prep will be even more important! I'm going to stock up at the farmers market/grocery store and hope to get some prep work done this weekend!
Any tips/tricks tidy I should know for speedy meals?
Time has been going sooo fast! I can't believe that Henry is 11 weeks old today, it seems like just yesterday we were bringing him home from the hospital on a cold, snowy January day. Henry has been advancing and growing every single day! Just yesterday, he learned to roll from his belly to his back. He also is becoming more vocal and will "talk" and "sing" to us. Henry smiles as well and we think he's getting close to laughing! He's enjoying baths more and is kicking the water in his little tub. He is starting to reach for toys and other objects in front of him. We get so much joy in watching him grow and change.
I did a full 7 days of strict elimination and then started adding foods back into my diet. I started with fruits and veggies (except broccoli, cauliflower, cabbage, Brussels sprouts, onions), then peanuts, dark chocolate (no dairy) and a little bit of wheat products (graham crackers, pretzels, wraps). I haven't added beans, eggs or dairy yet. We think it's been helpful but since we started probiotics at the same time (and he grows and develops every day), it's really hard to stay what is working and what isn't. I'm considering getting him NAET or muscle tested for allergies so we can speed up the process of identifying what (if any) food sensitives he has or if it's just colic as he still has fussy periods. I thought maybe it was just normal but my Mom said none of us ever cried like Henry does, like he's in pain sometimes. As our CNP Allyson said, he will continue to get more rugged and durable every day.
Shortly, I'll be returning to work and we've decided to have a full-time (40 hours per week) nanny come to take care of Henry. We chose to have someone come to our home to care for Henry because on the days I'm working from home I'll still be able to breastfeed, he will get individualized care and there is less chance that he will get sick because of less exposure to other little ones. In a couple of years, I want to transition him to a day care setting for socialization, possibly a Montessori school. Finding the right person to care for him has been a process! I found someone I really liked but she decided to work for another family instead...bummer. I've been reminding myself that the right person is out there and they will come to us. We have more interviews scheduled for this week and I'm hopeful to find a good fit for our family. After all, they will be caring for our most precious asset!
Now that I'm following the (very boring) elimination diet, I don't have much desire to meal plan but here's what we have going on for the week:
Monday- left overs (chicken and rice, sweet potato fries)
Tuesday- roasted chicken and vegan butternut squash risotto (bn squash, chicken stock and rice)
Wednesday-chicken
Thursday-chicken
Friday-out to dinner with the family (probably chicken)
As you can see, I'm eating A LOT of plain chicken, sweet potatoes, squash and rice. I also eat almonds and smoothies with almond butter, almond milk and banana. We are hesitant to say this is making a huge difference at this point but I'm going to stick it out for the 10 days and then evaluate. Chris isn't following the diet so he is adding spices and condiments and extra veggies to his meals-lucky guy!
Spring has finally come to Cleveland! We've been enjoying lots of walks with the dogs...until yesterday when Lila was bitten by a Great Dane who wasn't leashed. I didn't notice her injury until we got home and found blood around the house....and then more blood right as our first nanny interview started. It's a small wound on her leg so we aren't taking her in to the vet unless it isn't healing properly (don't worry, I called the vet to find out what to do). Here's a photo of Henry on the walk, pre-dog bite and our injured puppy.
On Wednesday Henry went to the pediatrician for his 8 week well check visit. We met with CNP Allyson, who was awesome! She spent an hour with us answering questions about sleep schedules, vaccinations, development and gas :). I'm so so glad that Chris was able to meet me there, two sets of ears is better than one.
Here are the stats: 10lbs 8 oz and 22.5 inches long. H received two vaccinations (we are breaking them up so he doesn't have so many at once). There were a few areas of concern-both ours and Allyson's:
1. Gas. My oh my, our baby has gas! I wouldn't mind except it really bothers him (like crying in pain, wakes him up at night). H is starting on probiotics and I'm going to "food jail" (aka the elimination diet) to find out if its something I'm eating. Common causes are dairy, eggs, peanuts, soy, green veggies. Once this is under control it should help with issue #2.
2. Sleep schedules. I return to work in 3 weeks and we need to be on some sort of schedule around here. H had been getting up every three hours to eat and had gas in between so not much solid sleep for momma. I'm a light sleeper, especially when it comes to our baby so I was getting very broken sleep. We are working toward a set schedule with 2 hour naps and power feeding (feed every two hours) in the evenings to fill up the tank before bedtime. We are going in to soothe at nighttime wake ups and see if he goes back to sleep and if not, then feed. Allyson said at 10 lbs Henry should be able to go 6 hours at night between feedings. She also said the nighttime feedings were also contributing to nighttime gas (what goes in must come out).
3. Congenital Torticollis. Basically, the muscles in the left side of H's neck are really tight from his position in the womb so he favors turning his head to the right. We are going to see a PT a couple of times to get some exercises to stretch it out. (Wish our favorite PTA Brittany lived closer :)).
All in all, a very productive visit! It was do nice to have time to discuss our concerns and work through them with Allyson. Even though its only been 2 days, we think things are improving! There seems to be less gas/ fussiness and H is sleeping longer at night-he slept from 9pm to 4:30am last night! Amazing!
After spending some time in DC and being out of town for Easter (hope you had a happy Easter!), we are back at meal planning!
Monday-turkey/black bean quesadillas (thanks to C's mom for sending us home with left-overs turkey)
Tuesday-Roasted whole chicken and oven roasted squash
Wednesday-Crock pot pork loin
Thursday-left overs
Friday-out to dinner for my birthday :)
Saturday-left overs
Since I've been home for lunches, I've been stocking up on greens and trying to eat salads with lots of protein (chicken, ham, hard-boiled eggs). Chris packs his lunch almost every day and usually has left overs, so I try to plan meals with extra servings for him to take for a day or two.
I'm also whipping up some no bake energy bites for snacking (or sometimes 2 of these become my breakfast).
Here are a few photos from Easter:
Chris, Sonya and Henry (8 weeks)
"Ohh, let me touch the baby." Luke was very good with Henry!
Almost 1 year after our last DC trip, I was back but this time with my parents and Henry for spring break. The weather wasn't as nice and I missed the cherry blossoms again but we still had a great time! We stayed in Foggy Bottom (The Fairmont DC) which was a short metro ride/long, but manageable, walk from the National Mall and DC's most famous attractions...and close to Founding Farmers, yep I took my parents there...such great food! Our hotel room was spacious, which was necessary for all of the baby paraphernalia (pack n play, stroller, boppy) and very nice.
I was a little nervous being away from home with Henry, which I'm sure is completely normal, but he was a champ. Of course, it helped that there were four extra willing hands to take care of him. We stopped a couple of times each way for Henry to eat and stretch and while in the city, he either rode in his stroller (The BOB with a car seat adapter) or his carrier. I carried him for our Capitol tour, over an hour was a bit much but he slept the whole time.
We were able to meet up with Alicia twice, which was so, so nice!
Here are a few photos of our trip via Instagram (I had my hands full enough without a camera too!):
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