Mono tooth

What a funny day! The finest crest of the wee’s tooth has arrived and all day I watch him tongue it… he know’s its there but not really sure what’s happening with it. He nursed so much more today and I just let him. What can a mom do but offer comfort in this unsettling and new time. I guess we can’t call him toothless any more.

All the best laid plans. AND the only local yoga studio offering Mommy and me classes is moving studios this week. Yet another week of no yoga. At least I was really going to try to go this week and now can’t. The universe conspires.

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Break on through

It’s happened! The moment we’ve been waiting for. Preluded to by sleeplessness, cranky and crying more than ever before complete with jaw rubbing, ear pulling, head rubbing and fist chewing – the wee one’s first tooth has broken through the surface of his lower gums. “Erupt” isn’t really the right term. Its been more like a painful push to the surface.

Baby & Me Yoga – getting back to it!

I feel like every week I look into and “would like”to head to a yoga class or a breastfeeding group but some how mange to derail. It’s Sunday and I am looking at this coming weeks class schedule. It seems like my only options this week are Tuesday in Denver at 11am or Wednesday at 12:30 in Boulder. Not great options but what can you do. There seems to be only one studio in Boulder that offers Baby and Mom yoga classes… and that’s YoMama. They also have a sister spot in Denver that offers classes. But other than these guys dr google isn’t turning up too many options. Where do new moms go to connect with other moms?! I looked at the Stroller strides website but it was all wonky without really listing Boulder classes. Then there’s the Colorado Mountain Mamas http://www.comountainmamas.com where lovely ladies get together to hike but again this isn’t really Boulder County more Jeffco and Denver. So whats a new mom to do?! I guess just get out on our own.

But maybe Yoga is the first stop this week and maybe by putting it out to the universe and making it a priority I will actually make it to it!!!

Housing Saga – the decision

Since coming back to Colorado we have been trying to figure out what we want to do. Not even really what we would have to do. As a friend termed it I have “itchy feet”. Ready for new adventures. In SoCal we were at a spot where we could just put the wee in a stroller and head out the door. Its a habit I’ve kept with for the last 6 months. Luckily we are staying with family where they have nothing but paved trails and we can continue (for now) to head out the door when needed. We are strolling fools 3-4 times a day depending. I also love the mountains but the huzz’s new job is more East/Central Boulder and anything in the foothills is at least a 25-30 minute drive. I’d love for him to be able to come home for lunch. Even if it’s just a short one. There really is only one factor these days and that’s the wee one. Where will we be happiest hanging out together for the next 3 years? I won’t get into how “hot” the sellers market is here with it’s lack of inventory and bidding wars. For us it’s a lot like Cali all over again. Just still lower in price.

I must admit that I did look into schools and that lead to kindergarten and preschools. I didn’t realize that kids went to school at 3 or 4. The realization made me cry. Lame I know but it feels so young. We made the choice to have me home and I think it’s important to find a home that offers adventures. Schools are secondary because who knows what these are going to be like in 4 or 5 years. I was surprised to find the new date cutoff was Sept 1st a child must be 5 for Kindergarten. But that’s something to deal with another day. More dependent on how he’s doing at the time. But I am getting off track.

Flash forward to finally finding a new development that backs to open space, is near trails that I love, trails that I hiked for 2 years while dealing with IVF. This is where we signed a contract yesterday. There are both pros and cons for this house but for now in at least 9 months we know where we are going to be. So at least after 2 months back we have a direction that comes with hurry up and wait.

Reading while nursing – Mothering your nursing toddler

Another week down and no yoga or breast feeding group. Best intentions but again didn’t manage to find the time. Where does the time go? I did manage to spend some time reading Mothering Your Nursing Toddler by Norma Jane Bumgarner. With the wee being on the “larger size” I wanted to find out about feeding bigger kids – the challenges and whatnot. I don’t know what I don’t know and this book kind’ve answers some of it. But the rest is more of the mother earth knitting crap. Do women really knit while nursing? Is this a nursing “thing” because there’s nothing else to do while nursing? If nothing else this book is worth checking out for the funny cartoons and mom stories. I think maybe I was looking for a book that gave more strategic advice. Like try this position and what to do when breastling becomes a war… useful stuff.

Here are my take aways –

1. We need to now figure out what we are calling this activity – asking if he “wants a boob” or “to be topped off” aren’t phrases I am going to be ok in public hearing parroted back. But not sure if we want nay nay’s, nummies, mumpys or nonny’s – we might not be breast nickname people but the wee may have other ideas. Also he may adopt our current reference to both Monster and the Gimp. Funny now and mortifying at the park or any other public place.

2. What he’s doing with his other hand is habit forming. I better pay attention NOW because if we manage to continue breast feeding he may be doing a lot more of it and I am not sure if we really want to have to feed everytime with a stuffy or something else in hand. What if it’s not handy?!

3. I was hoping for more information on weaning and what the signs are etc. But after 249 pages there were two chapters on weaning – extreme  measures and less drastic approaches. Maybe we’ll just put researching this on the back burner.

This book ends on weaning but does have 6 pages on nursing past the age of 4. I don’t want to be a “judge-y” mom but I can not image doing that.  We made it past 6 months and now hoping to make it to a year.

On to parenting books for this weekend – The Parent Backpack and Raising Parents Raising Kids.

Our very own “Red Rider BB Gun”

We are on our 2nd Jolly Jumper. We bought a used Jolly Jumper on a Stand because we don’t have doorways convenient  where we hang out. We quickly found out just how much he loves to jump! It’s crazy to watch. We sent videos to the family and face-timed a time or two and EVERY TIME we hear “don’t leave him in it too long – he’ll go bowlegged” or some such comment! It’s crazy. This device does not take his body weight on his feet. He can barley get the ball of his foot down fit he is fitted correctly. But because he’s not small we only had a chance to use the smaller stand jumper for mere days before he ran out of settings that worked. Time to list it back in Craigslist.

Cue the new and improved Jolly Jumper with Super stand – it’s beyond amazing and there’s10-12 settings before we have to get creative on hooking it up!!! Worth every penny. The wee has learned to hit down with a heel – turn all the way around to check things out that interest him and switch feet as well as just hang down to slow down. I really have not experienced or seen anything like it. He’s adapted so quickly and is a jumping fiend!!!!!!! Strengthening those legs a little time each day.

But back to my Red Rider reference. Maybe it’s a generational thing but the bow legged myth has (to my knowledge) been put to rest. He’s learning how to both bear a little weight and find his center of gravity. He’s having fun and this activity is developmentally stimulating!

The best part is when we put the door mirror behind him and he jumps while watching the Pesky Baby jump with him! It’s awesome.

But the feedback from family has us simply sighing and thinking “he’ll put his eye out…” you got to laugh.

Summer vacation!

It took me some time to realize that it’s been over 3 years since we’ve had a “proper” vacation. For us a proper vacation is planing a trip somewhere new and exciting. A place we have been looking forward to going. This summer I managed to narrow it down to 1. within a two-day driving distance and 2. close to his family. We talked a few years ago about spending Christmas in Roche Harbor on San Juan Island. So it’s time to head to the San Juan’s with the dog and the wee! The huzz is going to drive us out the weekend before and then fly back for his work week then head back on Friday night. We’ll head to Anacortes to catch the ferry that Sunday and spend 6 nights in the islands! We are keeping this one simple with rentals on the west side of any island that we are heading to. Planing on lots of walking (they may call it hiking but it’s more flat tramping) and eating in. Simple.

I never realized until our IVF battle how important the summer getaways were to us or how much we like traveling during the holiday season (as that’s when the huzz has his huge block of time off). When we mentioned traveling this December his folks seemed stressed… really stressed. They do not like traveling during the holiday season and as much as I get it we still have to take advantage of the time when the huzz can really let down and relax. So we will stay put for the winter holidays and get some adventure in this summer. I also think we may look at a trip in early 2016 to see the Northern lights maybe in Alaska. It would be the first plane trip for the wee but it’s on our bucket list.