Wednesday, March 28, 2007

That's No Rabbi, That's My Husband!

Funny thing today at the office. I have the picture of Ken, me and Kieran as my desktop image. Someone stopped by and said my little boy looked beautiful in the picture with the Rabbi. I explained that this was my husband, just wearing a Yarmulke. Pretty funny. Especially with little sleep.

Kieran went through a growth spurt yesterday. How can I tell? He did nothing but EAT all day long and all night long. Ken came down with a fever and went to bed early. Kieran decided that after going to sleep at 9 he would need to get up frequently to eat. So, for those who haven't seen him in awhile - watch out! This kid is growing like a weed.

Nothing else new to report. Just thought that Ken being mistaken for a Rabbi was pretty funny.

Monday, March 26, 2007

New Tricks

Last night the cutest thing happened... well, okay, two of the cutest things happened.

First, while on his play mat (this is a mat on the floor with a felt bar that curves over his head and has toys that hang down), Ken would hit one of the toys and Kieran would respond by hitting the same toy. It was really cool to watch Kieran figure out that he could hit it and watch as he would hit the toy in response to Ken's making it move. Both Ken and Kieran seemed to enjoy the interaction and it was really cool to see.

Then, last night, after his 3 am feeding (he slept for 6 hours WHOO HOO!) he did not want to go back to sleep. After I realized he had soaked his diaper and clothing and got him changed, I put him back down but all he wanted to do was smile and laugh. It was 4:30 in the morning. While extremely cute and fun, I was desperate to go back to bed. So, I left him smiling at the animals on his bumper and then called in reinforcement (aka Ken). Ken went in and had the same situation - smiling and laughing. He finally rocked Kieran to sleep (BTW mom, thank you for that glider - has come in SOOO handy) but he said it was hard to do. This was the first time that we didn't have tears when we tried to get him to go to sleep.

That's about all the cute Kieran news for now. We've been using the heck out of our stroller, took him for a nice long walk down to the Inner Harbor yesterday when the weather was nice and Ken's been taking him out every time the weather is good. It's also where we store the car seat and where he naps. It's been fun and amazing to watch this little person grow. Hope everyone is doing well.... more blogging sometime soon.

Friday, March 23, 2007

A New Life

Our new life has begun. Mine as a working mom, Ken's as a stay-at-home parent (until the bar exam results are in). We're all adjusting. The weirdest thing for me right now is pumping at work. The only place to do it is the ladies' room which sits right by a slate of cubicles. While the pump is quiet I don't think it's that quiet. Every time I leave the ladies I'm mentally thinking "moo".

Anyway - Kieran continues to grow and amaze us. He's cooing up a storm right now. He's refusing his afternoon nap (making Ken nuts and anxious for me to be home). We're getting on a better schedule but we're not 100% there yet. Once all of this is done, I have to figure out when I have time to exercise. This pregnancy weight needs to go!

That's about everything that's new. If you want to see some photos of the Naming Ceremony, Ken put them up on a website. Hope you enjoy. None of the photos are labeled but feel free to make a comment and ask me who is who.

Oh, one last thing about the naming which I forgot to mention - one of my cousins found my father and mother's wedding album. For those who don't know my folks divorced in 1979, I was about 6. They got married in 1968 and the hairdos alone are worth the look. It was neat to see my grandparents and parents so young. Everyone enjoyed looking at the album - it was a neat trip down memory lane and was nice to see great-grandparents too. It was a fluke that the thing turned up, but it was a good time to look back on. I'm still not sure what inspired the beehive hairdo, but I am glad that cat glasses are back in style.

Love to all, will blog again sometime...

Tuesday, March 20, 2007

Bigger Than Life

Pediatrican's appointment went well today. Kieran now weighs 10 lbs and 0.5 oz. He is 22 inches long and has a head circumference of 14 1/2 inches. He has jumped from the 10th and 5th percentiles to the 25th percentile for weight and length. His HC went up from 3 to 5 percentile.

No fun stories right now, back at work and trying to adjust to the new life of a working mom while Ken adjusts to his in-between life of waiting on bar results and being a full time parent. Kieran had a bad first day with dad when he refused to nap in the morning and had several poopy diapers throughout the day (usually he saves up for 3 days and poops all at once - yesterday he went 3 times).

Sleeping is going well, though we don't have a set bedtime yet. We're working on that now.

Finally I wanted to thank everyone for their well wishes during his naming ceremony. For those who don't know a Naming Ceremony is where a Jewish child gets his or her Hebrew name. Kieran is named after my grandfather and my "Uncle" Irv. His name means "the lion who loves life or the lion who loves to laugh". I can't type it here because I don't have a Hebrew keyboard.

Ok, back to work, sorry for the quick post, I promise to say more later on this week or this weekend.

Friday, March 09, 2007

Down to the Wire

Getting down to the last few days before we are visited by our in-laws. My father-in-law and step-mother-in-law will be here Wednesday and Thursday. My brother-in-law and nephew come either Thursday or Friday and my mother-in-law will be here Friday-Monday.

Why all the visitors? Well, Ken asked that his family wait at least a week after the Bar Exam to come visiting -giving us a chance to acclimate a bit to our new life with a baby and his life without any school or studying (plus a little decompression time). Also, we've got the Oneg and the Naming Ceremony coming up next weekend. The Oneg (essentially just some food after a regular service at the temple) is in Friday and the Naming is on Sunday. Lots going on and we're hoping everyone can make it.

Not much else is new - we're still not having any luck getting Kieran to sleep in his crib. We've got all kinds of advice and we'll be asking the pediatrician at the next appointment - the 20th. Right now I'm pumping as much as I can so that we'll have an adequate supply of breastmilk while I'm at the office. I know I'll need to pump a few times during the day as well to keep my supply going. We'll see how well I can do this for another month. I'd like to take him all the way to when he begins eating solids (about 5-6 months) but we'll see how well it goes. Mostly the "experts" say that so long as he gets a good 3 months of breastfeeding in he's got a leg up in that department. I feel that I went through all this trouble to actually breastfeed - so now he must drink it, damnit!

On the "it's just funny" front... Kieran has decided that when I have his diaper off, and I'm focused on something else (like wiping his poopy butt) it's fun and exciting to pee. Ken has seen him do his fountain impression, he's also gotten himself in the face a few times (more funny for me than him, I think). I'm getting better but usually I let Ken take care of the poopy diapers if I can help it. For some reason, Kieran does not seem to pee for Ken the way he does for me. Peeing on mommy is funnier, I guess.

Looking forward to seeing everyone next weekend. Hope the blog continues to be entertaining.

Sunday, March 04, 2007

The Great Outdoors

We've been trying to get out as much as possible now that the bar is done. On Friday we took Kieran to his first trip to the National Aquarium here in Baltimore. He loved the first 10 minutes then promptly fell asleep. Ken and I had a nice time wandering through and spending time together.

The bar - well, it's over and Ken is now freaked out about his pass or fail. We won't know until May - so don't ask him how he thought he did (please) because it just makes him obsess. Kieran and I spent the week before the bar exam with my brother, his wife and their three kids. The four kids got along wonderfully - Kieran was facinated by them and they were facinated by him. It was really nice of them to put up with me for an entire week - my sister-in-law did a LOT more for me than was necessary so, if we win the lottery (big jackpot is up to $200 million plus) we'll pay for their house :-).

The kids who got the biggest kick out of Kieran were Pete and Becca (3 and 5 respectively - or they will be in just a few weeks). Pete loved talking about "baby Kieran" and making him pretend food from playdough. Becca just wanted to touch Kieran's head and make him hold her hand. All of the kids were surprised by breastfeeding (Becca to her mom: "You mean, I sucked your boob?!?") but they got used to it.

So that's about all for now, we're just moving right along, trying to figure out the next few weeks and how things will work once I'm back at work. Kieran still refuses to sleep by himself for more than a little bit - but we're working on it slowly but surely.

Hope all is well, talk with you soon.