Quattro Vita

Rare Moments

This a rare moment in our house: my workaholic husband is in bed before me. And to top it off Baby has nodded off in his swing (Note to self: I’m royally screwed when he grows out of it or reaches max weight capacity). Oh, and the dog is having a sleep over at my mom’s house. What can I say, this is feeling slightly like a mini-vacay! LOL

Of all things I chose to do, I started with the dishes. I’m still not sure why I loathe the “easier” house work jobs, dishes and laundry. Any one else on that bandwagon? Anyways, they’re done, they’re drying. Voila!

So while I’m in my feel good, male-less euphoria at my dining room table, it’s time to catch up on some writing, Facebooking and my latest “addiction”, Pinterest. I know for a fact I’m not alone on that one. I secretly find myself battling  the urge to hit the “Like” button everytime  I see one of those “Pinterest Addict” or “…Up til 3AM…” pics. my husband likes to give me a hard time about this new found hobby of mine, but little does he know he’s secretly benefiting from this “crap”. And so is Baby! New recipes. New ideas. Shopping Tips. Party Ideas. You name it, it’s on there.

Which brings me to this: my other “addicition”. A perfect blend of two beautiful things in life. HAHA

28

I’m officially a day well into being 28, and something feels different about this one. Not sure if I can explain it in such detail that I’m thinking. Simply to sum it up: This year has to be about big changes.

I’m at a place in life where I feel like it’s now or never. No, it’s not because I’m so close to 30, and having a mid-life crisis. But this birthday has really made reflect on the things I’ve been blessed with in 2011 and the unfinished “business” I have with myself.

First and foremost. I have swallowed a big pill and have accepted that I’m not the greatest and finishing the plans I dream up for myself. This blog is clearly an example: Did not post more as I have been saying. The end. Having a kid does give the word “busy” a whole new meaning. And I feel guilty devoting time to this when I have the time to be playing, interacting and teaching Baby M. As it is, I’m already wondering where the past 7 months have went, and am planning a decked out First Year Birthday bash for my sweet prince.

This same issue touches on my businesses. My husband loves to compare me to a family member who starts on a business venture, but by the time it has time to take off, they’re already on to something new. As much as I hate to admit it, he is right (on that matter at least). I have to set a plan of action and take them somewhere they haven’t gone this year. Whether it’s my design work or my training business, one of them has to be a priority. I have many passions, yet they are very different from one another that it’s really not an option to meld them into some sort of hybrid, that is my biggest situation to tackle. One minute I’m so psyched about an idea I have, but the next minute I’m over it because it doesn’t happen overnight or fast enough. Teaching myself patience is going to be tough.

My body is a whole other part that is a work in progess. I have bragging rights to say that I have lost all the baby weight. However, things just aren’t the same, and I’m still heavier, less toned, etc. than I want to be. My mission is to get this ass back to the way it was before I got married. As a trainer, I know what it takes, but I’m on a mission to find that “jump start” I need to get this going. I’m on to something, but I will leave that for a later post.

As blessed of a year 2011 was, especially with the birth of my son, it wasn’t a very good one for my personal development. I understand that as a new mom you have to adapt to the fact that the “you”, you knew has to be put on the back burner. It’s time to change it though. Baby steps, but it will happen.

Looking for That Slow Motion Button…

My little man is 4.5 months already! I feel like yesterday I was just coming home with this new little person. I was overwhelmed and elated…a very weird mix if you ask me, but in a good way. I feel like time is flying even as much as I try to slow myself down and really stop to savor what is going on within my little family. Well I know time is flying, who am I trying to kid. I used to think time flew by before I had a baby, but now with a baby there is a whole new level to this notion. Every minute that goes by is a minute that this little person is growing, changing and absorbing the world around him. I used to think I was busy, but this is a whole new kind of busy. A busy I would not trade for anything in the world. I’m still looking for that slow motion button on this this period in my life.

Sadly I know I’m not going to find it. I know I will blink and he will be 18 and heading off to college. 

I used to stress out about not being “on top” of my blog, having entries almost daily to share with the world. Don’t get me wrong I still have a part of me that does. But I read something today in one of my parenting magazines that really hit a nerve. We’re so trained to celebrate the big milestones and rush onto the next one (First Birthdays, the First Bath, Crawling, Walking, etc) in our kids’ lives, that we often overlook the small ones, like the day your baby’s first tooth pops out is also the moment you will have lost the times enjoying you baby’s sweet, gummy smiles. This article reassured me that I was doing the right thing. Taking the time to spend with my baby and enjoy all his little moments, instead of taking time to update my blog while he entertains himself under his play gym or even naps (his 20 minute cat naps are dedicated to catching up on housework). I don’t need to blog everyday religiously about the funny stories in my parenting adventures, about the latest mom friendly recipe I just tired or to review the latest baby gadget to feel fulfilled about staying on top of my blog. There’s enough of those blogs out there. Instead I’m going to beat myself up about not writing as much as I’d like. I’m going to make sure to enjoy the little things that will be gone before I know it.

Family Fried Goodness

I finally made some homemade Potato Pancakes… just like my grandpa used to make them. Even when I swapped out the shortening for coconut oil for the frying, it took me back to the Fridays he would make a batch for my Aunt and I after we got out of work and came to visit him. I was really impressed with how they came out.

If there was anything I could do to have my grandparents around to meet Baby M, I would not hesitate. I think they would have adored him, and I know that he would of loved them! But I know that they’re looking down and enjoying every moment of him.

My husband and myself think it’s really important to share our cultures with our kids. We come from a pretty good blend of different cultures: Polish, Filipino, Sicilian and Lebanese. I look forward to sharing customs, traditions and recipes with my family so that hopefully when they get older, they can reminisce with their kids the same way.

I’d love to share the recipe on this one folks, but this is one of those “Family Secrets”. Hope you all are enjoying your Labor Day Weekend.

Hoping I Don’t Speak Too Soon… My 9PM Drama Con’t

I know it hasn’t been long since I have written about my issue with my Meltdown Munchkin and his 9PM “awakening”. But after I really evaluated patterns of what’s been going on in my life, I took a stab tonight at what I thought could be the problem: my kid is the kind that (possibly) craves a routine.

My evenings tend to be non-routine. Some nights I’m at the gym late with my husband and brother, meaning I’m usually not at my house by 9. Some nights I’m hanging out at my mom’s. While some nights I would be home at 9, thus giving “me” (this is a keyword) the chance to give him a bath, get him into his PJs and then nurse him minutes before the clock strikes 9. Those are the nights he ironically is calm to hardly fussing at all. This however doesn’t make an exception for Friday nights when my mother in law is over for her “Night with Nuna”. But that could easily be because I wasn’t the one giving him his nightly bedtime routine.

Then it dawned on me, I remember reading books and hearing from other parents that babies crave routine. They like to know when to look out for food, a time to play, etc. I’m not saying all kids are like this, but this is some information that I neglected to take seriously. This evening I made sure i was in the car right before 8PM, so I could head home and get him started on his bed time routine before the clock hit 9. And here I am able to actually hop on the computer while Meltdown Munchkin is fast asleep.

So could it be possible that my Meltdown Munchkin just wants to have his bed time routine with his mom? Maybe. Does that make him a “Momma’s boy”? Nope. Luckily I don’t feel like the odd one out since there are many other people out there that deal with this. I found this article, “Sleep and Fussy Babies” to be reassuring that I could be on to something.

Until then, my little 9PM Curfew experiment will continue. Next I have to find out a way to get it so that anyone besides me can help him get the message that it’s time to sleep and be chill. If you have any advice on that, I’d be happy to hear!

Catching My Breath & Crossing My Fingers at 9PM

Most days fly by thanks to feeding the bambino every two hours, in addition to trying to do things around the house while he catches a 20 minute cat nap. And at night it never fails that when I reach for my laptop (when I have so many great ideas floating around in my head) after getting the bambino into his swing, he wakes up. This also happens during the day when I think we’re getting somewhere on the naps when it hits around 30 minutes (I know wishful thinking), and suddenly his little blue eyes pop open with that “JUST KIDDING MOM” look on his face (thank God it’s usually followed by his precious gummy smiles). So here I am at 1:30 AM, when I should be sleeping, trying to keep my blog alive! (Insert a big deep breath here)

Today, he turned 10 weeks. He has hit double digits. My little baby is going to be 18 before I know it. There is no joking behind it, when people tell me to enjoy every minute because if I blink it will all be over and he will be an adult. I’m really tempted to insert a spot where I list all his current accomplishments, but I’m not even going to go there with mom overload.

But, I am going to talk about how he has 9 O’clock PM meltdowns. Holy cow does this boy have a set of lungs!!! And most nights around 9PM, he likes to remind us so! When he first started doing this a few weeks ago, I instantly thought he was colicky, just because it was at a predictable time (and in the evening). But after Google-ing the hell out of Colic, I was happy to find out that wasn’t the case. His little meltdown lasts around 20 minutes if it’s just my husband and I around. Sometimes longer if it’s with one of his grandma’s when my husband and I attempt to go out for a little. Last week, at his 2 month well visit the pediatrician reassured me he wasn’t colicky, too. PHEW! And the more I talk to people, this is the case for a lot of babies. (Again, thank you for NOT warning me about this books and  some fellow moms out there! LOL) Apparently when these little people have to let out some tension from their busy days, they typically have a breaking point at night to get it all out (I also think the cat-napping is to blame, since my kid fights his sleep hard). So we’re working on helping bambino “woo-sah” it out.  Until then you’ll find me crossing my fingers every night around 9PM, hoping that it’s one of those days he doesn’t feel like unleashing his inner beast. Or as my husband likes to say, “He’s about to go H.A.M. !”.

8 Weeks

It’s been 8 weeks since I gave birth to my beautiful baby boy. Every day has had it’s ups and downs, but when that kid shoots me a smile everything is perfect! He makes my heart melt. The End.

I have learned quite a lot from the past 8 weeks of life being a new mom (in addition to trying to maintain my “self” and keeping the flame alive as “wife”. It is not easy, and I’m not going to be one of those moms who glorifies every moment. I’m not going to touch on all the many little adventures I’ve been on in this post. I’ll save it for future posts. But to just get one thing off my chest: Breastfeeding sucks (pardon the pun). And the fact that I feel like every moment of my life is determined by the little “time bomb” that goes off about every two hours to eat doesn’t make everyday tasks easy (like getting dressed, going to pee, eating, etc.). But would I trade it for anything in the world? Absolutely not.

Aside from not getting to my blog and my long list of to do’s because of this big change, I was sick for 2 weeks in the middle of it all. That was just the cherry on top. But thankfully, besides my slight cough, I’m starting to get back on track. Slowly but surely, and that’s all that matters. I’m somewhat kicking myself in the ass for all the times I’ve said when I was childless, that I never understood why moms still couldn’t do the things they used to do (I assumed that every kid was completely portable at this young age and there was no excuse why a mom couldn’t take their baby out for a coffee/lunch date). Yup. I see where they are coming from now. I’m just now getting comfortable taking out the baby to meet people for lunch. Before I was a frazzled mess knowing that sometime in between our outing, my son would start to scream with his shrill newborn cry because he wanted to eat or just wasn’t comfortable enough.

My advice to new moms out there: Just remember to breathe. The mood swings come and go. The good moments make all the moments where you want to rip your hair out disappear. You will survive. There’s no other way to deal with it, than to accept it and become stronger so you can handle the next hard moment coming your way.

And for all those who don’t have kids (and all people in general): Don’t pass judgement on anyone until you have been in their shoes…

This is important.

kateburton:

The Obama administration said today that it plans to require insurance companies to provide birth control services to women at no extra cost starting a year from now.

“Just another day of your life…” The Day Baby M Was Born!

Those were the words my OB/Gyn said to me at one of my last appointments, when I expressed my anxiousness about delivering a baby. Needless to say, I was a bit taken back by how she presented and handled my concern, but I just reminded myself that some Doctors don’t have the bed side manner in them and brushed it off…

On June 7th, 2011, at around 7:30 AM, my “Just another day of my life…” had begun!  I remember feeling slight cramps come around 4:30 earlier that morning, but I had just thought that these were those practice ones every one had told me about, since before that I didn’t have any kind of cramping. So I went back to sleep, but three hours later these “cramps” had only five to four minute between each other. I woke up my husband and he immediately started to help me keep track of them. We knew that after two hours of this it was going to be the real deal. My husband finalized the finishing touches of the bag and by the time he went to take out our dog for his morning walk, the two hour mark approached and I had made the call to my Doctor’s office. The receptionist said, “Yep, head over to the hospital. Dr. T will be notified for when you guys arrive”.

It only took us about 5-7 minutes to get to the hospital, and by that time the contractions were more intense than earlier. My husband and I got into it about the parking situation, but that was easily over shadowed by the fact we’d meet our baby in a few hours. They took us immediately into Triage, where I was examined: 5 cms. and fully effaced. It was really happening! They asked if I wanted to start pain medication, but I thought I could hold off a little longer (and in the back of my mind, I was going to try to still go ALL natural, with no meds).  An ultrasound had shown that Baby M was head down as it was supposed to be, but instead of facing back towards my back, it was “sunny side up”, with it’s face facing towards my belly. From all the birth stories I had been told in the past 10 months, I immediately knew that I was most likely going to have back labor. Dum dum DUM!

My Labor & Delivery nurse came to pick me up from Triage, so we could walk to our Labor & Delivery room. On our short walk, things had really picked up in intensity. I remember telling everyone that I had to stop while one of the contractions hit pretty hard. Surely by the time we got to the room, I was miserable. The pain was intense. (My husband likes to tell me that since I have never experienced pain like a broken bone or a “sports injury”, it was obvious that my pain tolerance was not high…well guess what this pain trumps broken bones or all those so called sports injuries…we’re talking about a baby coming out of a opening that has never been opened that big before!!) After trying to hang on longer, I was begging for an epidural. The back labor was something I don’t wish on anybody. My body would convulse at every contraction, and the only thing that offered my any kind of relief was sitting atop a “birthing ball”. Ice chips and silence at each contraction was my only relief until the drugs came. And, I’m not sure why they pick this timing, but in the middle of me shaking, sweating and gripping the sheets, my nurse asked me to sign over waivers about the whole labor, delivery and epidural process. My signatures were not even legible, and I’m sure as hell they didn’t match on any of the forms. Like seriously? Did I look like I was right in my mind to make those kind of decisions?

Finally, the anesthesiologist showed up. I don’t even remember what he said his name was. I was just all about the goods he was about to shoot into my spine. All my fears of getting an epidural went out the window. I was feeling really, really good from that point on. People could actually hold a conversation with me!

I felt it a little weird that the nurses pretty much let me determine when I wanted to be examined after this point.  Dr. T kept coming in to ask if I had the urge to push, and in all honesty I didn’t. I was feeling pretty amazing. Well at this point the staff realized that the baby, after successfully being turned facing the right way, was starting to make its way back to facing upward.  So, the nurse had me lay back on my side and Dr. T said he was going to turn down my epidural so that I can feel the urge to push.

Wonderful. I had no problem telling the nurse anesthetist to go as little as possible. And she said she’d only go a little bit, BUT then all of the sudden the pain came back. Maybe not as hard as without, but I felt it. So here I was at a 10, ready to go. After about two and a half hours of pushing with some F-bombs (not directed at anyone!), “I thought you said I wasn’t going to feel anything”, “Help me” and some serious grunting and crazy positions…BABY M ARRIVED at 6:30 that evening.  At 19.5 inches and 6 pounds 11 ounces, with his lungs working at full capacity, I immediately felt a love it has never felt before. I had always imagined that I would cry like a banshee when I saw my baby, but I didn’t. All I could do was smile, and be in total amazement of what just happened. After 11 hours of labor, 10 months of baking and about a year of trying…our prayers were answered!

As soon as he came out, all the pain was erased out of my head. I was in awe that my husband and I made this tiny miracle. It was all so, so worth it! I could not thank the nurses enough in between the commotion that was happening in the room, for all the help they provided. Even thought I don’t think I went crazy on them, I didn’t think I could really tell them how grateful I was. I could not believe that I did that. I can proudly brag that I didn’t have any tearing, stitches or need for an episiotomy.Without my husband, my mom and great nurses I’m not sure how I would of been able to do it.

My husband did wonderful! I can look back and laugh now about how I kept telling him, “Don’t look! Don’t look!”. He constantly made sure that my cold washcloths were kept cold, and the oxygen mask was somewhat on me (I had no desire to put that damn mask on). I could tell that he was so proud of his new son, as soon as he saw him. I can still remember the way his face lit up when the nurse commented on how big my son’s feet were saying, “Looks like we have a soccer player here!”.

Our little prince is here. Let the journey begin…

2 Days Left

Well, the weekend is officially over and I’m still pregnant. Yes, I know, I’m really due on June 8th, only two days away. But…I was really anticipating meeting this baby this weekend. I had my last Doctors appointment on Friday, and I got what seems like great news: 3 cm dilated (it’s been progressing a centimeter each week), (still) 80% effaced, head’s low and engaged and to get my hopes up more she said that the chances of me having a “good”/fast labor seem favorable. So now here I am, the Human Time Bomb. I’m always wondering, “Is my water going to break?” or “When are the contractions gonna come?” Personally, I’m hoping I get the first of the two. Let the waiting game continue…