Colin 1 month

Our little man is now 1 month old! Hooray.

We weighed him on the home scale and he was over 10 lbs (which means he's grown about a pound and a half since his 2 week appointment at the pediatrician). He's just getting out of his NB sized clothes, which meant I had to return an Easter outfit I got him because of the whole mis-calculating when Easter was thing and had to get a 3m/o size.

The breast feeding thing has been totally worked out. I don't think I make much milk, but obviously he's eating well. He gets about 4oz of formula a day, in the evenings when I'm running a little low. I have not had mastitis and only a little trouble with engorgement if he decides to skip a feeding at night (but I'm grateful for the extra uninterrupted sleep when he does skip). He's had tons of trouble with not pooping though. We're lucky if we get 1-2 actual messy poops in a day; most days are just shi-farts. He's currently very constipated and bloated with gas. He's been farting like a little beany-Brussels sprout. His farts stink. He's definitely bloated. (Yes, I love you my smelly guy)
His eyes are definitely getting lighter and bluer every day. He looks more and more like Liam did at that age, every day. We're starting tummy-time now. I make him do about a minute for every week old he is; his neck is already so strong.

The cats are very cool with hanging out with him. Although, I'm sure Poppy is trying to show her dominance and annoy the hell out of me. She sleeps in his crib whether or not he's in it and she insists on being right next to him when I'm nursing at night.

The best . . . we're starting to get smiles and coos. They're still a little random and not really intentional. But I'll take 'em. :)

nosies

The cutest thing just happened. We live on a very public street corner. In fact, we're the only house on the corner. Across from us on the one street is the primary school. On another is the WIC office (kitty-corner was an abandoned warehouse until about a month ago when UPS moved some trucks in). There is also no sidewalk on one side, so people walk through the yard all the time. Liam loves to watch the cars and trucks go by and the occasional field trip of 1st graders walking in their little hand-holding duck lines. He sometimes gets the kids to wave back.

I had the window open and the curtains drawn back and was just sitting down in the recliner by said window putting Colin on the boob. I hear the distinct sounds of a family walking through our front lawn and then I hear "Gato! Gato!" and then the sounds of a parent telling her little girl to come back in Spanish. Poppy was in the window and I pull the curtain aside a little and see a little girl (maybe 3) standing on opur front porch looking at the cat. She was so intent on Poppy that she didn't see me looking at her. She's still talking to Poppy in Spanish. Then Liam noticed me looking out the window and went to the plaid chair, pulled the curtain back to look out, and said "hello baby" to the little girl. That startled her and she squealed (like an "I've been caught" scream) and ran back to join her mom, dad, brother, and baby who were all standing on the corner.

Ahh, gotta love the nosy neighbors.

TMI - cat hork!

Today was a long long day. It's day 3 of my illuminated manuscripts project at school and well, my 7th graders aren't doing the bestest on it. Some are pretty decent; they're calligraphy sucks, but I blame it all on the fact they are not practicing patience and attention to detail. Maybe I'll post the best looking ones when they turn them in tomorrow. But I've been sleepy all day and we have a union negotiation tomorrow afternoon which might get really ugly. Basically, the 2 days of work before Thanksgiving Break will be a long, winding road and no brother to carry me.

Okay, now on to the title of the blog post. Just as I'm walking in very late this evening, into the back door, Poppy runs past and I nearly step on a big pile of cat hork. It was full of biscuits and wet food. Well, Poppy was the most likely culprit as she's the one that horks most often. I ignored it and went in to eat, watch TV, and play with my boy.

Well, after Liam and I took a shower, I went into the laundry room to throw some towels and clothes in that I couldn't get to with yesterday's marathon scourge purge. As I walked in, I couldn't find the cat hork. Huh?! But there was a suspicious pile of 3 socks, a wash cloth, and a pair of my underwear on the floor. Ugh, seriously?! The cats (one of them) went back into the laundry room and literally hid the hork under a conspicuous pile of clothes. What little witches. I swear cats are like toddlers.

Fungus amongus

We've been sick here in the Rogers house. It all started with a little bug bite on my ankle one morning, mid-October, when I woke up. It was the kind that I scratched the hell out of (it even bled a little) and then never bothered with it again. Well, a couple days later it was starting to look like a pimple or an ingrown hair. Then I made the mistake of shaving over it --- stupid!!! Within 10 days, it had gotten to be a red spot the size of a quarter and had that distinct circular ring shape. Yep, I have Tinea corporis, aka ringworm! I had been suspecting it for about a week, even before the ring shape developed and had been treating with miconozole (which I knew from my previous pregnancy was safe for topical fungal/yeast treatment) but it wasn't helping and now my legion was hurting.

Liam developed one ring spot on the back of his leg just before Halloween. We stopped by Target on November 1st and asked the pharmacist (they're great people, they know their shit, use them as a resource). She suggested clortrimozole; apply 2x daily like the package says. Well, my legion started to go away right away and is now practically gone. Two weekends later and Liam's spot is bigger and looks, to quote my husband, "angry." Over the weekend, we also noticed that Poppy has a bald spot on her ear and it's inflamed. Monday night Jon emails a photo to the doc; Tuesday found us racing to catch the last appointment.

Doc looks at both legions and says "yup it's ringworm." But apply 4x daily and expect it to take 4-6 weeks to clear up. Has to do with the compromised immune system of children. Add to that we've had head colds and mild congestion the last week and then I mentioned that Liam's cradle-cap is back. "Yup, more evidence of immature immune system. Perfectly normal."

How did I get it? you ask. Well, my coworker (and landlord's girlfriend) had a major outbreak of ringworm in her house this summer. I then roomed with her on a business trip while she was treating it. Any physical contact with her or her things could have caused it. But that was August!!! you exclaim. Yes, but ringworm is a fungus and can live dormant for a long time. I basically gave it to my cat, who gave it back to me, and that fateful morning I scratched that bug bite until it hurt-so-good I transferred it back from my hand (and the cat) to my leg.

As for treating the cat . . . the same clortrimozole cream on her ear a couple times a day. Rub it in really good so she licks as little as possible off. Her ear already looks better in the last couple days.

Stay healthy!

4-day weekend (day 3)

It's been pretty uneventful today. I never got back last night to update at the end of day 2, but it was bad for Jon. :( Poor guy seemed to have picked up a mild case of food poisoning on top of the cold that the family is sharing. His tummy was bothering him all day and he was beat-up exhausted. He threw up 3 bites into dinner, and that was after sleeping for about a 6 hour nap. That was the second time he vomited yesterday too. I'm trying to decide if my new meds are keeping me up or knocking me out. Just need to figure out when to take them. Liam was adorable all day yesterday and we enjoyed a super long, hot shower to try and break up our phlegm before he went to bed (I think that worked).

Today I sat my ass on the couch for the majority of the day. It was nice to sleep in until 7am (yeah, I know, but that's sleeping in for a teacher). I would love to say I'll make Jon get up tomorrow, but I do actually enjoy waking up at 5:30 on weekends now . . . it's the only me alone time I get and I usually catch up on my girly television shows like ANTM and Gossip Girl and 90210.

I started to think of some Christmas crafting ideas I'd like to do. But who am I kidding. We have NO $$$. Last night Mom and I talked for a little bit and I agreed to make green bean casserole and a sugar-free apple pie for Thanksgiving (which will be on Friday this year as my mom is working on Thursday). Then I got to thinking about the bedding set I really want for the new little one, but how it's damned expensive (my mom got Liam's bedding at a garage sale for $25!) and then I really want to decorate their room in castles and dragons and knights but there's nothing like that for kids right now - poo!

Liam was super chatty and rather cuddly today which leads me to believe that his cold is affecting him. He's never been sick-sick and we are so very thankful for that, especially since I work in a school and my students are ALWAYS full of snot and coughs and gross (they're 12). I made pot roast for dinner. It wasn't much work; I got one of those bag-n-season kits. Then I threw together a little roux and made a kick-ass gravy (because *horn toot* I'm awesome at gravy). Liam didn't eat much which is his modus operandi lately. But he drank a lot of juice and milk all day so he might have been full of liquid.

Now, Jon and I are hanging here while he gets some MAN TV time and watches a MMA fight. I played a little Puccini on the piano and finally figured out why I was having to read bass clef (it's my cello book for Puccini - did you know I used to play cello . . . and was a well-trained mezzo-soprano, and am self-taught on piano *toot toot*). We cranked on the pellet stove for the first time this season and now have learned that our cat Lily is completely fascinated by the stove. She has been sitting in front of it since I left the room and turned the light off. Although she did stop for a few moments because I think she was embarrassed that I got the camera out to catalog her looniness. So far, we're liking the thing and I hope it helps us keep cozy this winter (of course, we won't be using it until we get a cage to put around it or the toddler is in bed).

kitchen helper

Little helper is too much in kitchen.
Baby-proofed but not spit-polished so we never let him in.
Cat's water...led to fall. Dishwasher...plates rescued.
Pantry door...locked Poppy in.

Unexpected tickles

He loves tickles in unusual circumstances. This evening my hair on his bare belly got him guffawing. A precious heart tickling moment; I witnessed Liam's first kiss back from Lily.