California, Here We Come

We decided semi-last-minutely to drive to California for the 4th of July weekend. We got off work, packed up our baby girl and chased the sun toward the horizon.

I have to say how great June was on the ride. She slept the entire way, only waking up when we pulled her out of the car seat at a stop to grab some dinner.

Through a sweet hookup, we stayed for free in an empty college dorm suite. Free lodging is always a pleasure, and who could have foreseen that the very firm, near-waterproof mattresses (twins we had to push together) would be beneficial in repelling baby projectile spit up/vomit?
Our first morning in the Santa Monica area found us at a really wonderful local farmer's market. We were visiting Michael's sister, Lauren, and she bumped into a bunch of friends at this place.
We grabbed some food and sat at some little tables and watched the people go by. June was having a pretty good time.

We also went to Manhattan Beach. We had fish tacos at a brewery overlooking the ocean.
And then it was time for June to feel the sand in between her toes for the first time.
It's never too early to start protecting your eyes, folks!

We let June plant her feet in the sand before a little wave washed up over her toes. She did not like the cold water. She cried until we picked her up, when she immediately stopped crying. We tried again with the result of more tears. I'm still holding out hope that she will one day be diving into waves, but it might take awhile for us to get there.
That night we met up with some friends for dinner.
The Perrys, who we had over for Thanksgiving a couple years ago, also recently had a baby.
What do you think, folks? Future husband and wife?
Maybe.

Sick Baby Update

The bad news is that she has a double ear infection. We followed Michael's New Father Intuition and went to the doctor.

The other bad news is that it'll be a couple days before it stops affecting her sleep.

The good news is that she doesn't seem too bothered by it. Sure, her snarfling breaths wake her up, but she's still smiley.

It turns out that having a tendency toward ear infections is hereditary, and both Michael and I had them a lot as kids. Poor baby girl and her inherited bad ears!

My Baby is Sick (not in the good way, like people referring to awesome things as totally sick. Even though she is totally sick in the awesome way too)

June is sick for the first time and I’m totally bummed.

A part of me is like, “WTF, breastmilk!?! You were supposed to have magical powers that would keep my baby from getting sick until she’s 47 years old!” The other part is impressed that she doesn’t have the Plague, considering what she’s gone through in the past two weeks. She:

- Went to daycare, where she is the new shiny object of interest for the room at large, and two older twin boys with runny noses in particular.
- Drove to and from California
- Had her daily routine all messed up
- Had her feet dipped in the cold ocean
- Traveled in a festering box of recycled air with 150 other people of questionable health (an airplane)
- Changed time zones – 3 hours ahead, then two, then back to three, then back home
- Hung out in a nursing home

Baby’s got the sniffles. Her congestion is really the worst part of it, because my wonderful, magical, sleeps-through-the-night-every-night baby has been replaced with an entity who sounds like a grunting piglet whose rattling breath wakes herself up every few hours. June and I haven’t slept so well for the past few nights, but she wants to sleep all day (when her congestion isn’t as bad), which terrifies me that we’re on a one-way road to Reverse Cycling. (Baby sleeps all day and wants to play all night.)

She also is sneezing up a storm and gives these little cof cof cofs every once in awhile...after both she gives these sighs/coos that aren't necessarily from displeasure, they sound more like, "What a world!"

We’ve tried a few home remedies, including squirting breast milk up her nose. Fact of the day: it’s not the mucus that makes it hard to breathe, although it certainly doesn’t help. The cold virus inflames the membranes inside of the nostrils, and it’s the swelling that makes you feel like there’s a pinto bean stuck exactly where your nose connects to your face. Also: breast milk is the all-in-one medical fix for many baby problems. Eye or ear infection? Put some BM in it. (Not that BM.) A scratch? Put some BM on it. The problem with trying to get some BM up your baby’s nose is that the nose is so near the mouth. So whenever I try with June, her eyes get all wide and she starts squirming around, and I’m like, “Let me put this in your nostril,” but she’s like, “OMG BOOB!” and tries to get at it with her mouth and we end up wrestling around like a pair of eels. So yeah…that’s still a work in progress.

We’ve also tried getting rid of some of the mucus, which found Michael and me standing over our little snotty darling this morning trying to suck out her mucus with what looks like a tiny turkey baster. “There’s still one up there…” “You’re not doing it right, let me…” “I think this one is plastered to the nostril wall…” “Ooh, that sounded juicy! Nice one!” Who have we become?!?!

Pumping at Work: The Highs and Lows

CON: Everyone knows your bid-ness. Standing up to go take 15 minute breaks, having to grab the key to the designated empty office off the wall, carrying my pumping bag, cleaning the parts in the bathroom or kitchen (if empty), break times on my outlook calendar (to reserve said empty office) mysteriously labeled “Julie.”

PRO: Boss being totally cool about it. Not only does she allow me to take my “breaks,” she defends it righteously. I offered to work while pumping (the empty office has a computer) and she insisted I take the time to really break. “No, that time should be stress-free, ‘you time,’ you can read a magazine or something.” And she made a reference to smokers getting all the breaks they want, which I adore about her because I’ve always noticed that smokers seem to get more breaks than everyone else.

CON: Having to rinse off/wash pump parts over and over again.

PRO: I can now say I’ve been topless in my work place.

CON: When you take a phone call with someone who has a “quick question” even though you were supposed to start pumping a half an hour ago, and the phone call lasts 45 minutes, and oh shoot, my boobs are tingling and I’m leaking now. Great.

PRO: A forced break from work.

CON: Wondering if your male boss’s boss can hear the pump through the walls of the office.

PRO: Observing my coworkers maneuver around my pumping. “So, guys, what time should we meet? Julie…ah… when is your next…when are you next…?” “Doing my thang?” “Yes, when are you…doing your thang?”

CON: Battling oversupply issues. Wanting to pump a lot to get relief, not wanting to pump a lot to regulate your supply.

PRO: Feeling connected to my little one. I can’t be with you right now, June, but I can make sure you’re getting the best.

3 Months Old

Likes:

Waking up
Sitting up
Making a noise that sounds like this: "Ggggkkkkch"
Planting her feet and "standing"
Blowing spit bubbles
Dancing to "Head, Shoulders, Knees and Toes," and its renegade cousin song, "Toes, Knees, Shoulders, Head"
Kisses
Staring at her hands while making them move
Milk
Baths and showers

Dislikes:

Being cold
When her pacifier falls out when she's trying to fall asleep
Getting out of the shower or bath (see Dislikes item #1)
Being held in the classic baby "cradle"position
Dipping her toes in the Pacific Ocean (see Dislikes item #1)

When did my newborn turn into a funny, smiling baby?

Gelato Envy

I see you eyeing my gelato, June!

Sorry, you're still on the milk diet. Hey, they say it tastes like melted vanilla ice cream, right?

Back to Work

In short: it was fine.

In length:

Dropping June off at the daycare was the hardest part, of course. Michael and I both went and carpooled to work so I would be free to bawl my eyes out the whole way. (I didn't quite bawl, more stared out the window in silent misery.) The head teacher in the infant room is understanding and kept saying how June will be fine, I will be fine, we all will be fine. I handed June to Michael because I couldn't be the one to hand her off for good.

Returning to work was...nice, actually. It was fun. It was an ego-boost to hear peoples' delighted exclamations of "You're back!" It was fun to get caught up in all the news around the office and in the lives of my coworkers. They even made me a gigantic card, bought me balloons and a few welcome back treats.

Remember the pumpkin face cake? Well...

And it was kind of nice to just focus on me, you know? Like to turn off my Mommy mode and concentrate on adult issues. Does this make me a terrible mom? I hope not. If anything, this little break allowed me to fawn all over my baby when I got home.

But it was hard, too. Absolutely. I was okay doing my job...and then I'd think about June. I'd wonder if she was crying and no one could settle her because no one knows her little tricks like I do. I'd wonder if she was being smiley and cute and I was sad I was missing her smiles. I'd wonder if somewhere in her mind she was wondering where I was. These are the times it was tough.

As the afternoon passed, the minutes were only creeping by.

But my husband, wonderful man that he is, sent me some flowers to help me get by. Aren't daisies such a friendly flower? (Kathleen Kelly would agree.)

Since we carpooled, poor Michael had to put up with my "suggestions" as we drove home. ("Couldn't you maybe drive a little bit faster?") At least we got to drive in the HOV lane! After sprinting into the daycare, we were rewarded with smiles from our baby girl who was waiting for us. She'd done fine on her first day.

Traveling with Baby

In a couple of weeks we are doing le tour de grandma. Which is to say, we are traveling to the homeland (the Midwest) to visit family! We will see both sets of parents, four grandmas and one grandpa. And possibly a couple of aunts, uncles and cousins. All in four days.

I'd love any advice you may have for traveling with an infant. June will be 3 months old, so I'm not too worried about toys or keeping her entertained or anything like that. I'm breastfeeding, so I don't need to worry about packing food or bringing bottles through security, etc.

Here's what I have so far:

• I'll feed her on the way up and down in the plane to help regulate the pressure in her ears
• We won't try adjust her to the time change
• We're not bringing a stroller. We use the Moby so much that we wouldn't use it and it would just be a hassle to pack
• We will be bringing the car seat

What I still haven't figured out completely:

• How many outfits to pack
• To pack diapers or buy some once we get there
• Her sleeping location situation
• How diaper changes on the plane will work (I know to bring only one dipe and wipes back to the bathroom instead of the whole diaper bag, but still. Have you seen the size of those air-port-o-johns? Are they regulation size or what?)
• What I'm going to wear on the flight (to be warm enough on the plane, cool enough in both Phoenix and Indy, be able to wear the Moby AND have easy boob access for feedings.)

In addition to a four-hour flight, we'll also have two 1.5 hour drives. June's pretty great in the car (as long as she's not due for a feeding) so I'm not too worried about this. I'm mostly worried about fussiness and screaming on the plane. I'm not one of those people who think "DEAL WITH IT" to strangers...I'm the kind to be very self-conscious, embarrassed and apologetic. Maybe the Moby will work its wonders and we'll get some good sleep from her.

So, once again, I'd love any baby-related travel advice!

June's First Swim

June had her first swim in the pool on Saturday! She did really well! There was a little crying, but I'd say it was a great first experience.

View June's First Swim video on Youtube.

First, she got dressed in an adorable bathing suit my mom got her. Me modeling at my baby shower:

June modeling in person:

We dipped her toes in the pool, but it was pretty chilly.We moved to the hot tub, which is smaller and therefore warmer.
Her sunhat was a tad oversized, but look how cavalierly she wears it.

Michael was there to towel her off when it was time to get out.
She was so tuckered out after her swim! After a bath, she fell asleep all wrapped up in her towel in Daddy's arms.

I can tell that we've got the next Michaela Phelps. (Minus the whole pot-smoking scandal, obviously.)

First Post-Baby Date Night

Because Judy was in town, she offered to watch June one night so Michael and I could have our first date night! Our first time out alone since before June was born!

First we went out to RA to get a cocktail and some sushi. How strange to find it strange to eat dinner without worrying about dropping food on the baby (in the Moby), worrying about the baby getting fussy (hanging out on the floor or in her seat) or worrying about the baby waking up (napping in the other room). Pure adult conversation!
After that we got some ice cream and walked around a pretty outdoor shopping area.
We considered going out for another drink after that, but decided to head home. We'd had a great night and couldn't imagine any next step as being nicer than going home, putting June to sleep and then changing into our PJs. Is that so bad?

We found June getting some cuddle time with Grammy in the Moby.
Thanks, Grammy, for giving us a night out on the town!