November Update
Still catching up...
11/1 - 11/6
So, with Halloween over, I had the week off, as Jenn was finally facing her last week of leave. There was a significant part of me that was happy about her impending return to work, since it was harder to relate with Jenn-as-stay-at-home-mom than Jenn-as-work-a-day-stiff-like-me. But I did feel for her. Especially on that week off with her. It's tough enough for me to return to work after a week's vacation, and she was out for nearly twelve. On top of that, she was finally feeling (and looking) comfortable as a stay-at-home mom, having picked up some tricks for staying sane, and she was also dreading having to start leaving Josh at daycare. We were also getting somewhat more sleep, which was also undoubtedly helping--as was the additional coherent conversation we could have as a result of that sleep. I learned what stupid things I was doing, and how to better support each other in our new parental roles. All of this, and the rules were about to change again.
On the 1st, we assembled the high chair, and Josh joined us at the table for dinner. He really enjoyed that, even though he was still a bottle-only baby. Something about being with us at meal time--plus all the new toys on the high chair! On the 2nd, my parents showed up! I was expecting them on the 3rd, but Jenn had arranged for them to show up a day early so we could go out for our anniversary. Dinner, out, together, sans baby. It was glorious! The 3rd was a beautiful, warm day, so Jenn and I did a ton of yardwork while the parents watched Josh. For the first time since Josh was born, we were outside and doing more than just a quick mow. The parents had a good time, Jenn and I had a good time, and it was warm! In November!! In Michigan!!! But I digress.
The 4th was a Friday, and we decided to put Josh into daycare as a dry-run for the next week. Josh positively lit up there! Being a happy, trusting three-month-old, he was immediately at home. Between the ceiling fan and the toys, he barely watched us go. Didn't make it any easier for us at first, but we had both pretty much recovered by the time we got back home. We knew he was probably having a good time, so we didn't have to worry about him--much. We spent most of the day shopping at a relaxed pace. Life was good.
On Saturday, the 5th, we had a family picture taken at church. Up at an early hour (or so we thought at the time), dress everyone in nice clothes, and get Josh to church before he spit-up all over himself and/or us. We were mostly successful, though we looked a little frazzled once we got in front of the camera. Josh was in a weird mood, but we got him to smile a few times, and we got some good pictures. Ordered a bigger picture package than expected, which included Christmas card photos, making Christmas cards easier for us. (If you didn't get one, that picture will be posted when I get to posting pictures.) Then, the rest of the weekend was spent getting the house ready for Jenn's return to work. The house wasn't messy exactly, but it needed some work. We mostly succeeded.
11/7 - 11/14
Jenn returned to work on Monday the 7th, and quickly felt out of the loop. Somewhat expected after nearly three months off, but still disconcerting. But, ultimately, she enjoyed the break from Josh--to a point. I came home, expecting to watch Josh until bedtime (as usual), when Jenn made it quite clear that things had changed. She needed Josh-time! The 8th was our 2nd anniversary, and I cooked dinner. Nothing overly fancy, but Jenn appreciated it, though it was wolfed down so we could tend to Josh. Hard to believe it was only two years.
It didn't take long before Jenn and I were both looking for as much Josh-time as possible. That week, Jenn pointed out how less total-time with Josh actually made for more quality-time, since there was less crankiness from being cooped up together. I couldn't agree more. We also quickly concluded that our daycare was phenomenal, and that Josh would learn more and enjoy himself more there than he could possibly do at home. And we still got a lot of quality-time with him. We started alternating drop-off/pick-up duties early on, and things began to re-approach "normal" fairly quickly. There just didn't seem to be much time to get anything done, outside of taking care of ourselves and Josh.
On the 14th, we pulled the first babysitting duty of our own, watching a friend's five-month-old girl (Z) along with Josh. Z cried non-stop, although it was obviously because we weren't her parents. She even started playing, and took a bit of a bottle. But unless her mouth was full, she was crying. It ended up being quite amusing, watching her play energetically with Josh's toys while crying just as energetically. Thankfully, Josh couldn't have cared less. Z stopped crying the instant her parents walked in the door. Jenn and I realized two things that night-- (1)Josh was a good kid, and (2)we were parents, because the crying only bothered us so much.
11/15 - 11/23
The weather had turned by this point, and Josh still had a cough from his cold around Halloween, so we got him a humidifier to avoid "the croup". Seemed to work, which surprised me greatly. On the 16th, at Jenn's urging, I started playing basketball again. After several months of no sports, I figured I would collapse about 10 minutes in, and that would be that. However, handling a 98th percentile infant seemed to have helped keep me in shape. Not only did I play well, but I sucked less wind than BEFORE Josh, when I was exercising more. Who knew?
That weekend, my parents were out again, and my Dad and I finally installed the microwave that went un-installed when Josh was born. And the house suddenly looked 50% less cluttered. And we had a microwave that not only worked, but worked well! Amazing. Jenn got the Christmas tree up too (which Josh was mezmerised by), and we were beginning to impress ourselves. Apparentally, with good reason--we were finally accomplishing things!! The day before Thanksgiving, we finally declared the infant carrier "too small for Josh", and the new super-duper car seat went in. In truth, the infant carrier had been too small for a few weeks, but it was tough to give it up. We kept the carrier in the car for restaurants, but our boy was getting very big.
11/24 - 12/3
Unfortunately, we couldn't tell exactly how big Josh was, since our scale isn't very sensitive. So, we couldn't answer definitively when people kept asking at Thanksgiving, but we guessed about 18 lbs. Turkey Day was spent at my parents, and was more enjoyable than expected. I always enjoy being at my parents, but we weren't sure what to expect with Josh and the extended family. But the nephews were (surprisingly) well-behaved, Josh was a good sport in the non-reclining high chair, and conversation was mostly unoffensive! Not that there weren't a few moments, but it was actually less tense than previous years.
The rest of the weekend was spent with Josh or doing chores, though we also found some time to just relax. We sat and talked some, we cleaned some... I got a couple much-needed shelves up in the garage and laundry room, and I took advantage of a small break from the biting cold to put Christmas lights up on the house. Josh still wasn't sleeping the nights, but he was on enough of a schedule that we could usually work around it without issue. For a while it seemed that he only cried on my nights to check on him, but Jenn got her fair share too. The cold returned with a vengence, and it was back to work. But we were feeling refreshed. That Friday (Dec 2), we had a relaxing dinner at home. Could life finally be settling down? In short: no.
Tune in next time to see what happens, in "December Update"!!
11/1 - 11/6
So, with Halloween over, I had the week off, as Jenn was finally facing her last week of leave. There was a significant part of me that was happy about her impending return to work, since it was harder to relate with Jenn-as-stay-at-home-mom than Jenn-as-work-a-day-stiff-like-me. But I did feel for her. Especially on that week off with her. It's tough enough for me to return to work after a week's vacation, and she was out for nearly twelve. On top of that, she was finally feeling (and looking) comfortable as a stay-at-home mom, having picked up some tricks for staying sane, and she was also dreading having to start leaving Josh at daycare. We were also getting somewhat more sleep, which was also undoubtedly helping--as was the additional coherent conversation we could have as a result of that sleep. I learned what stupid things I was doing, and how to better support each other in our new parental roles. All of this, and the rules were about to change again.
On the 1st, we assembled the high chair, and Josh joined us at the table for dinner. He really enjoyed that, even though he was still a bottle-only baby. Something about being with us at meal time--plus all the new toys on the high chair! On the 2nd, my parents showed up! I was expecting them on the 3rd, but Jenn had arranged for them to show up a day early so we could go out for our anniversary. Dinner, out, together, sans baby. It was glorious! The 3rd was a beautiful, warm day, so Jenn and I did a ton of yardwork while the parents watched Josh. For the first time since Josh was born, we were outside and doing more than just a quick mow. The parents had a good time, Jenn and I had a good time, and it was warm! In November!! In Michigan!!! But I digress.
The 4th was a Friday, and we decided to put Josh into daycare as a dry-run for the next week. Josh positively lit up there! Being a happy, trusting three-month-old, he was immediately at home. Between the ceiling fan and the toys, he barely watched us go. Didn't make it any easier for us at first, but we had both pretty much recovered by the time we got back home. We knew he was probably having a good time, so we didn't have to worry about him--much. We spent most of the day shopping at a relaxed pace. Life was good.
On Saturday, the 5th, we had a family picture taken at church. Up at an early hour (or so we thought at the time), dress everyone in nice clothes, and get Josh to church before he spit-up all over himself and/or us. We were mostly successful, though we looked a little frazzled once we got in front of the camera. Josh was in a weird mood, but we got him to smile a few times, and we got some good pictures. Ordered a bigger picture package than expected, which included Christmas card photos, making Christmas cards easier for us. (If you didn't get one, that picture will be posted when I get to posting pictures.) Then, the rest of the weekend was spent getting the house ready for Jenn's return to work. The house wasn't messy exactly, but it needed some work. We mostly succeeded.
11/7 - 11/14
Jenn returned to work on Monday the 7th, and quickly felt out of the loop. Somewhat expected after nearly three months off, but still disconcerting. But, ultimately, she enjoyed the break from Josh--to a point. I came home, expecting to watch Josh until bedtime (as usual), when Jenn made it quite clear that things had changed. She needed Josh-time! The 8th was our 2nd anniversary, and I cooked dinner. Nothing overly fancy, but Jenn appreciated it, though it was wolfed down so we could tend to Josh. Hard to believe it was only two years.
It didn't take long before Jenn and I were both looking for as much Josh-time as possible. That week, Jenn pointed out how less total-time with Josh actually made for more quality-time, since there was less crankiness from being cooped up together. I couldn't agree more. We also quickly concluded that our daycare was phenomenal, and that Josh would learn more and enjoy himself more there than he could possibly do at home. And we still got a lot of quality-time with him. We started alternating drop-off/pick-up duties early on, and things began to re-approach "normal" fairly quickly. There just didn't seem to be much time to get anything done, outside of taking care of ourselves and Josh.
On the 14th, we pulled the first babysitting duty of our own, watching a friend's five-month-old girl (Z) along with Josh. Z cried non-stop, although it was obviously because we weren't her parents. She even started playing, and took a bit of a bottle. But unless her mouth was full, she was crying. It ended up being quite amusing, watching her play energetically with Josh's toys while crying just as energetically. Thankfully, Josh couldn't have cared less. Z stopped crying the instant her parents walked in the door. Jenn and I realized two things that night-- (1)Josh was a good kid, and (2)we were parents, because the crying only bothered us so much.
11/15 - 11/23
The weather had turned by this point, and Josh still had a cough from his cold around Halloween, so we got him a humidifier to avoid "the croup". Seemed to work, which surprised me greatly. On the 16th, at Jenn's urging, I started playing basketball again. After several months of no sports, I figured I would collapse about 10 minutes in, and that would be that. However, handling a 98th percentile infant seemed to have helped keep me in shape. Not only did I play well, but I sucked less wind than BEFORE Josh, when I was exercising more. Who knew?
That weekend, my parents were out again, and my Dad and I finally installed the microwave that went un-installed when Josh was born. And the house suddenly looked 50% less cluttered. And we had a microwave that not only worked, but worked well! Amazing. Jenn got the Christmas tree up too (which Josh was mezmerised by), and we were beginning to impress ourselves. Apparentally, with good reason--we were finally accomplishing things!! The day before Thanksgiving, we finally declared the infant carrier "too small for Josh", and the new super-duper car seat went in. In truth, the infant carrier had been too small for a few weeks, but it was tough to give it up. We kept the carrier in the car for restaurants, but our boy was getting very big.
11/24 - 12/3
Unfortunately, we couldn't tell exactly how big Josh was, since our scale isn't very sensitive. So, we couldn't answer definitively when people kept asking at Thanksgiving, but we guessed about 18 lbs. Turkey Day was spent at my parents, and was more enjoyable than expected. I always enjoy being at my parents, but we weren't sure what to expect with Josh and the extended family. But the nephews were (surprisingly) well-behaved, Josh was a good sport in the non-reclining high chair, and conversation was mostly unoffensive! Not that there weren't a few moments, but it was actually less tense than previous years.
The rest of the weekend was spent with Josh or doing chores, though we also found some time to just relax. We sat and talked some, we cleaned some... I got a couple much-needed shelves up in the garage and laundry room, and I took advantage of a small break from the biting cold to put Christmas lights up on the house. Josh still wasn't sleeping the nights, but he was on enough of a schedule that we could usually work around it without issue. For a while it seemed that he only cried on my nights to check on him, but Jenn got her fair share too. The cold returned with a vengence, and it was back to work. But we were feeling refreshed. That Friday (Dec 2), we had a relaxing dinner at home. Could life finally be settling down? In short: no.
Tune in next time to see what happens, in "December Update"!!