Wednesday, May 30, 2012

Morning workout


3:54 a.m. -- Awake
3:55 a.m. -- Diaper change
4:05 a.m. -- Swing
4:15 a.m. -- Gym

Can't really blame him since he did go to sleep (hard) at 6:00 p.m. last night. But I didn't. I mean obviously. Even I don't go to sleep that early. Looking forward to the first nap of the day...

Monday, May 28, 2012

Six Months


There is this thing people say when they have a baby. They all seem to say it. About how they cannot remember life before little baby so-and-so. Before I had a baby I thought this sounded utterly insane. I mean, sure, you don't want to go back to life without your baby, but you cannot remember it? Were you struck in the head? What happened to your memories that sounds so creepy!

I figured maybe when I had a baby, I would understand this common refrain. Heck, I'd probably even say it. And, six months in? Nope. I still completely remember life before Baby Grady. I mean, why wouldn't I? I love life with Baby Grady and he certainly belongs in our lives, of course. But I can still remember what came before! It was just six months ago! What are these people talking about??!!!

So, yes, six months. Half a year, an un-birthday, and all that. And no, we did not have a party.


It's been rather a big month, to be honest. Baby Grady started daycare and I returned to work. He got his first two teeth. He got two rounds of the sniffles. (thanks, daycare!) (Does this mean we won't have to go through constant illness when he starts preschool?) He started eating real food. He perfected his back-to-tummy roll. (That's probably overstating things a bit.) He started some backwards scooting that appears to be a nascent crawl. He went for his first runs in the jogging stroller. He "slept through the night" for the second time ever. ("Sleeping through the night" is just five hours when you're a baby. So, he slept from 8:00 until 1:00. Which was lovely, but not, you know, like sleeping all night or anything.)

It's all a dramatic switch from those early days when we could barely do anything but nurse and sleep. We actually have the time to be busy!


How much Baby Grady weighs: 20 lbs. 3 oz.
How tall Baby Grady is: 27.7 inches
(again with the non-clinical setting in which these measurements were taken... his well-baby-visit isn't until next week)

Size of Baby Grady's clothes: 6-12 months, with a few straight 12 months for one-pieces

Number of teeth Baby Grady has: 2 (the two bottom middles)

Baby Grady's eye color: muddy blue
Baby Grady's hair color: blond

Baby Grady's favorite: his jumperoo (oh, how he loves that jumperoo!), steak, morning, Reese
Baby Grady's least favorite: wind, waking up in the jogging stroller when the run isn't over yet


Sunday, May 27, 2012

Food, glorious food


Yes, that is a baby gleefully gnawing at a strip of steak.

About a week shy of his six-month unbirthday, Baby Grady started solids. We just couldn't wait and decided that those last few days before the six-month threshold (that the flyer from his pediatrician recommended) were developmentally insignificant. Because we are akin to baby-development experts.


The first foods we offered to Grady were apricot and avocado, but he didn't appear to eat anything. He certainly tasted, though, and that's really all we expected. We're trying something called baby-led weaning, which really isn't about weaning at all. Well, it is if you're British, where weaning means starting solids, not stopping breast milk. Those crazy Brits. Don't you just love them?

Anyway, the basic idea is that Grady feeds himself. For now, that means that not a whole lot goes down the hatch, but he's developing greater dexterity and whatnot as he learns to pick food up, connect it with his mouth, and suck or nibble at it. It's great fun and he seems to be enjoying the experience too, which is what we were mostly going for in choosing this approach. Also, have you heard how lazy I am? So lazy. And this way, I make the same food for everyone, and Grady is offered pieces that are appropriate for him. For now, that means cooked vegetables and meat in finger-length pieces.



In related news, we joined a CSA and I am so excited. I've considered it for years, and finally the timing just worked out perfectly. With Baby Grady about to start solids, I was thinking a lot about the sources of our food. We buy a lot of organic, but I wanted that percentage higher. Also, I wanted fresh, seasonal food that would taste how it's supposed to. And grocery store produce just doesn't. Then my friend Katy set up a CSA delivery site at my office, so I can get a huge haul of fresh, organic, local produce each week, without making an extra stop. Since Baby Grady finds farmer's markets overwhelming anyway, this just makes sense.

We got our first box from Blue House Farm in Pescadero on Thursday. At first it looked like a comical amount of food, but, as it turns out, I don't think we'll have any trouble getting through it.

Our first box, which I should have photographed, contained strawberries, sugar snap peas, artichokes, leeks, spring red onions, beets, turnips, butter lettuce, red lettuce, radishes, and rainbow chard. So far, it's all been delicious. If you've only eaten a grocery store radish recently, you really need to get your hands on a farm-fresh one. So spicy! I ate half the beets within a few hours of cooking them, and the rest will go on my lunch salads this week. Jasper hates beets, so I never buy them, but I just cannot get enough of their sweet. earthy flavor.

From the farm, Grady has tried artichoke (my first time making them at home!) and chard, beet greens, and turnips are on tonight's menu. He's also enjoyed zucchini, purple potatoes, and steak, all from the farmer's market. It's so fun to watch him figure it all out.



Tuesday, May 22, 2012

Morning people


I like mornings. Even being awake, during them. I love the coffee, and the quiet, and the possibilities. The whole day is still ahead! So much potential for greatness!

Even for a morning person, 4:00 a.m. is pushing it. Particularly after not falling asleep until 11:00, then being awake at 1:00 and 3:00, and maybe some other times too, because who was really keeping track? It all starts to blend together at that point into something that is not quite like being awake, but also not at all like sleeping.

But isn't that baby handsome?

And also, I posted this little blog for you FROM THE BAY BRIDGE. Yeah, on the bridge! In a bus! Transbay bus with Wifi is rocking my world a little.


With Dad #9


Sometimes Baby Grady enjoys having a sit on daddy's lap beside a koi pond, where he can get some peace and quiet for contemplating.

Sunday, May 20, 2012

Chapter next


I returned to work a couple weeks ago. Which is part of my excuse for the lack of blogginess. Or maybe it's my whole excuse. As the end of my maternity leave approached, I found myself feeling selfish. Wanting to soak up every second with Baby Grady, without sharing with anyone. Once I was back at work, well, you know, the usual. Time, no time, so busy, and etc.

So, work! Not as bad as I thought it would be. For a month or so before I went back, I would cry every time I thought about it. The thought of being away from Grady gave me one of those deep, dark aches where emotional pain becomes physical and the whole idea just filled me with NO.

After discussing it with Grady's daddy, we agreed that my job was a good thing to hold onto. Low stress, good pay, fantastic benefits, job security, and they were letting me go part-time. But we also agreed that if I sobbed every day, I would quit. I returned to work not really knowing whether I would indeed sob every day. It seemed entirely possible.

Then, I didn't. The first day was HARD. I could feel the tears building heavily right behind my eyeballs for much of the day. And one poor co-worker -- I could not talk to her without getting melty. She was just so kind and understanding that she made me fall apart. But then I had a day off. And the second day was less hard. On the third day, Baby Grady was just home with Jasper, and that really wasn't hard at all. And thus I survived my first week.

Astonishingly, my brain enjoyed spending time in the grown-up world. And I could go the whole day without changing my shirt. And I could use both my arms any old time I wanted. And I meet my neighbors at the bus stop in the morning. (I really like meeting my neighbors and somehow it seems harder than it should be to pull it off.) I found that in reasonable doses, all of these things were appealing to me. And I was as shocked as you are.

And because it would be rude not to include baby pictures in my first post since forever, here you go. (And yes, those are teeth!)