Today I am the mother of a 10-month old boy.

10 months ago I had no idea what today would be like. What do 10-month olds eat? Do they talk? Do they walk? I had a lot to learn.

9 months ago I was wondering what Spencer’s personality was going to be like? Would this colicky squawking baby ever be happy? Could I make him happy? I had my doubts.

When I watch him now, I can’t help but think we must have done something right during those first difficult months. Or maybe we just got lucky. But, my non-stop crier has grown into the happiest little boy. He’s got a big smile for everyone he meets. He’s full of spunk and energy. And my heart grows fuller every day.

Where’s Spencer?

Uh oh, mama found me!

Mama – Look what I did! Aren’t you proud? Come on – clap for me!

I know you’re worried I’m going to pinch my fingers, but you have to let me explore. Don’t come get me. I can do this all by myself!

See! I told you! I’m a big boy!

 

Pity Party Complete with Entertainment!

Welcome to my pity party everyone! I’m sick.  My nose is dripping.  My throat is scratchy. My head feels like it weighs 3 tons. After a good weekend that included a visit to the Central Park Zoo, buying a new car(!), AND a trip to the gym, I woke up yesterday feeling like ASS. I suspect allergies are the culprit.

So, pull up a stool, grab a bottle of cough syrup, and party with me. Now, I know it wouldn’t be a party without some entertainment, so here’s some funnies for us to watch. Don’t forget to turn up the volume so you can hear it over all the sniffling.

Lumpy & Frumpy

I’ve been feeling a bit down lately because of my appearance. My 9-month style reprieve has now expired and I can’t use pregnancy or childbirth or (thankfully) sleepless nights as an excuse anymore. The excuses have run out, so it’s time for a plan of action.

1. De-forest the eyebrows. Done! I went today at lunch and had the threading woman work her magic. There are now 2 distinct patches of hair above my eyes.

2. Lose the belly blubber.
Option A: Diet (Give up cookies? Nooooooooo!)
Option B: Exercise (I could maybe possibly maybe (do I have to?) join the gym.)
Option C: Both (Ha, ha, ha, ha – You sooo crazy!)

3. Acquire slightly more professional wardrobe for fall & winter. Shopping is fun, but not when nothing fits and thinking that you have to wear that next size makes you break out in hives. So, we’ll start with bags & shoes and work our way to pants after we give #2 some time to work.

4. Lose the ponytail. Every morning the hair gets pulled back, still wet from my shower, into a pathetic little pony tail. I got a haircut a few weeks ago to help with this issue, but apparently I’m going to have to find my blowdryer if I’m to acheive any sort of progress in this area.

5. Change my world view. My glasses have been through a lot lately. They really were never the same after that whole childbirth thing. (Note to self: Wear your contacts next time you push out a child.) And Spencer gets a kick out of ripping them off my face and eating them. So, it’s time to get new spectacles. I’m going to branch out and go slightly funkier. I think. Results at the end of the week.

This makes me happy

Confession: I’ve got baby fever

I belong to an Oct 2006 Moms online group. A lot of the chatter these days is about moms getting pregnant, thinking about getting pregnant, or dealing with the fact that they will never be pregnant again. While, I’m in the "thinking about getting pregnant again but not for at least a year" category, I understand where all this chatter has sprung from. I feel the baby fever, too.

I think it’s this age. Spence is showing signs of independence and shedding his wee baby skin. Last night when I gave him his bedtime bottle, he was so tired he couldn’t keep his eyes open. So, instead of our usual somewhat-raucous nighttime routine with songs and books and giggles, he lay there with his eyes closed holding tight onto my finger. He fell asleep eventually and I lifted his sweet, sleeping body and carried him to his crib. Then I got all teary. I’m such a sap, but it was so sweet and I haven’t held him asleep like that in so many months. As much as I love the little boy my baby is growing into, it’s sad to see him growing up so fast. I’m going to miss my baby.

So, what’s a girl to do? I did the only thing I could think of. I called my OB and got a prescription for birth control pills. Seriously, the temptation is just too much. I don’t trust myself.

Rain Day!

Today is officially a wash-out. New York City is a total mess because of some freakishly strong rainstorm last night. I only vaguely remember hearing some thunder. Apparently a tornado even touched down in Brooklyn. Who knew you could have a tornado in Brooklyn?

I tried in vain to find a way to work this morning, but literally every subway line was shut down. Sometimes the trains would go one or two stops and give people hope that things were getting back to normal, but then they’d stop in their tracks (literally). I tried for 90 minutes to find a solution, then gave up, came home, and showered the sweaty ick off me that you get after spending time outside in this crazy humid hot.

It’s definitely the worst shape I’ve ever seen the city in. Between this and the steam pipe explosion a few weeks ago, I have serious concerns about this city’s infrastructure. But, on the bright side, I couldn’t get to work so I have declared a “Rain Day”. Apparently so did everyone else because the coffee shop I’m in now is PACKED with other worker bees on their laptops. God Bless Wi-Fi!

Now with fewer words and more flavor!

I have more photos to share because complete sentences feel like too much lately. Life is such a delicate balance between motherhood, work, marriage, friends, and family that when things go a bit wrong, everything is thrown out of whack.

Despite the luscious full nights of sleep, I just feel very, very tired. I wish we had family nearby who would just pop in and watch Spence for a few hours. Parenting is such a non-stop all-encompassing "thing". There is no break. This weekend we’re going to go visit my family which will give us a bit of downtime since grandma will undoubtably scoop up Spence the minute we walk in the door and we might need to call the authorities to get him back. But, for that repreive we’re driving 4 hours each way.

Still, it’s not all doom and gloom. When I scrape away the layer of tiredness, there is joy underneath. And then there is this – where we’ll be going next month while grandma stays with Spence.

That was more words than I expected to write. But, I’ll still share some photos. These were from the weekend. Friday I had to take Spence for some bloodwork (routine, lead testing — is this a NYC thing or do they do it everywhere?) which was a not fun at all experience for either of us. So, afterwards I took him for his first ice cream. But, I didn’t have my camera with us, so here are some photos that have nothing to do with a delicious face covered in delicious vanilla ice cream:

Does this mean I take too many photos?

Spence gets so excited when he sees the camera and puts on his biggest, cheesiest grin. Is it normal for a 9-month old to already know how to pose? Either way, it’s really frickin’ cute.

In other updates, our car is still broken. Our nanny is still sick. And, no we didn’t fire her. We interviewed nannies last Saturday and then we heard from her later in the day while we were still debating what to do. So we went to visit her. And Spence showed her so much love. And she showed him so much love. And we lost our will to fire her and agreed to use a backup she helped us find for the next 3 weeks while she fully recovers. Softies maybe, but if you’d have seen have Spence reacted to seeing her, you would have done the same. We did give her a stern talking to about communicating better, etc. Hopefully it’s going to work out.