Hecticness

Okay, I don't think that's actually a word. Sometimes I'm surprised UWM gave me my master's degree...

Christmas came and went in a flurry of activity. We had plans to take all sorts of pictures of Buster's first Christmas but both Jim and I were too involved in actually living in the moment to snap a photo. Oh well. We'll just add it to the long list of why we're terrible parents. But I can assure that Buster was ridiculously cute in his Santa hat and outfit. I think we made a wise choice. He also handled the Holiday like a rockstar despite severe sleep deprivation combined with teething pains.

This week saw a new addition to our home - a high chair! Okay, not a full highchair but more of a booster seat with a tray. We're very lucky to have friends who have kids who tell us what we really need and don't need. An expensive bulky high chair was on the list of "don't needs". The booster seat works great! It's like a highchair, only it attaches directly to one of our dining chairs and doesn't take up the entire room. And Buster loves it! It made feeding him so much easier yesterday!

We're all still trying to catch our respective breaths over here. This week has flown by so fast and we still haven't really had a chance to relax at all.

We're on the move!

Well, sort of.

This morning James was trying to reach a toy just out of his arm length. So he rolled over to it (from back to stomach no less!) Then he had so much fun he rolled back onto his back! Then he realized he could roll onto his stomach again! That's THREE rolls in a row! Then when he was on his stomach he was scooting himself forward (not quite a crawl, think inchworm).

Hooray! How cool is that!?

Buster and his girlfriend

Buster has decided that he likes the ladies. He really likes Uncle Patrick's girlfriend, Stephanie. I think Uncle Patrick has some competition!

This last picture of Buster is one of my favorites!

Food, glorious food!

All the books we've read (and being pseudo-academics we've read a lot of books) said that you'll know when your kid is ready for solids. How can this be, I would ask. It's amazing. You just know. Our first clue was when Buster would intently watch us eat. I mean intently. He was so into what we were doing. Our second clue was when he started eating 8oz every 3-4 hours. It seemed like all we were doing was feeding him! Our third clue came when Lori bought us some rice cereal. Still, we put it off. Solids are scary! That's like real eating! That's messy! We knew he was ready, but we weren't sure *we* were ready. But Buster comes from stubborn stock and eventually he won. So Friday was our first solids experience!


You can tell he's excited...look at the concentration on his face.

The first bite! I have to say, I was amazed that he knew exactly what to do. I don't know what I was expecting, but he seemed to have it down pat right out of the starting gate.

I think he's trying to decide if he likes it...

Success! Food is yummy! (Actually, it's not. In keeping with my trend of trying everything that Buster eats I can assure you that rice cereal is very reminiscent of wet cardboard.)

Oh, one other thing I wasn't prepared for? The mess! As you can tell from the above pictures the food gets everywhere. This is only compounded by Buster's insistence on a) helping to feed himself b) eat his hands c) eat his feet. I'm pretty sure we're in for nightly baths from here on out!

Saint Nick!

Okay, I know this is a little late but I present you pictures from Buster's first Saint Nick!

What's this stocking? I will use my newfound hand skillz to check it out...

Toys! Lots and lots of toys! (okay, not really - only 2 toys and some pacifiers)

Saint Nick is pretty cool!

Saint Nick also visited the Grandparents' homes this year (I think it's because Buster spends so much time over there that maybe Saint Nick gets confused ;) ). From those visits he got some diapers, a teething ring, a candy bottle, a bubble light nightlight, and a donation to his education/life fund. Thanks Saint Nick!

Baby Einstein

I remember when I pregnant and had grandiose dreams of being the perfect parent. No sugar, no junk food, no TV...

Yeah, as I type this Buster is watching a Baby Einstein video. Blessed silence...

It's not easy...

Being a baby. We came to this realization over the weekend. Our poor little guy is teething...and growing...and teething. Many of us can't remember what it feels like to have a tooth come in or to experience growing pains. I don't remember the teething, but I remember my growing pains from pregnancy and boy did they hurt! So we're trying to keep him happy and his mind off of things. Following some advice we got, once we figured out that he wasn't hungry, or tired, or bored we gave him some Tylenol figuring he must be in pain. It worked! Our cranky baby was a happy baby! He was so happy, that he didn't want to go to bed. Ah well. We didn't mind so much because he was a happy baby!

And many thanks to Allison for babysitting this past Saturday. It's so nice to have a clean house again!

Sick sick sick

Life is not fun here at the Mason house. Both myself and Buster are sick and poor Jim is left to care for us both (not an easy task, I assure you.) Buster actually seems to be faring pretty well except for the fact that his nose is so plugged he can't breathe. This wouldn't be such a big deal, but he doesn't quite get that you have to breathe through your mouth. And further compounding the problem is that he can' t fall asleep without a pacifier. So he demands a paci only to find he can't breathe, making him spit out the pacifier and thus he begins to cry. The good thing about both of us being sick at the same time? We both need much cuddle time so we cuddle each other. Together we will make it through this!

But a new "first" to add to the list - first cold 11/25/07

Happy Thanksgiving!

How fast the time has flown - I can't believe Buster is already almost 5 months old! We've almost survived a half a year! It's so fun to watch him learn and become more and more aware of the world around him. As I type this he is intently watching me - "what is mommy doing with her fingers? How does she make that noise?" He even stopped playing to watch me. I can see the wheels turning in his mind.

This year we have much to be thankful for - it was such a hectic, stressful year I'm just thankful we survived it! So in honor of Thanksgiving here is my list of 20 things I'm thankful for (in case you couldn't tell, I really like making lists :) )

1. I am thankful for our house. It's more than I ever dreamed we would get.


2. I am thankful that Buster is healthy.


3. I am thankful that Buster is happy!


4. I am thankful for Buster's goofy red mohawk.


5. I am thankful that I finally finished my thesis!


6. I am thankful for Saturday mornings (I get to sleep in).


7. I am thankful for Big Jimmy.


8. I am thankful for the Nintendo Wii - quite possibly the best gaming platform ever.


9. I am thankful that Buster is beginning to be able to entertain himself so I can take these 5 minutes and blog about him.


10. I am thankful that my cats have stopped pooping on the couch.


11. I am thankful for all the help we received right after Buster was born.


12. I am thankful for anesthesiologists.


13. I am thankful for Buster's laugh.


14. I am thankful that Classic Slice pizza is right by my house and oh so yummy! (I am also thankful that Chris told us about Classic Slice).


15. I am thankful for my friends who have stood by us during this crazy crazy time.


16. I am thankful for Buster's smile - it lights up a room.


17. I am thankful that Buster smiles when he sees me. I think it's his way of communicating that he loves me


18. I am thankful for pacifiers and swings


19. I am thankful for my cats.


20. I am thankful for my family without whose help we woudl surely be lost.

Now I challenge all of you to make your own Thanksgiving lists!

Gratuitous Buster picture:

Just a couple of guys

Watching some football.

Santa ridiculousness

I know this is supposed to be a blog about my son and my life as a new mom. But I just read something that I feel compelled to comment on. Apparently, in Australia Santa's can no longer say "ho ho ho" but must say "ha ha ha" instead (article located here http://news.yahoo.com/s/afp/20071115/wl_asia_afp/lifestyleaustraliachristmasoffbeat). The reasoning is that "ho ho ho" may be seen as degrading to women since "ho" is a derogatory slang term for a prostitute in the US. Why Australia is worried about what the US says, I'll never know. Especially since Santa's here are still free to say the dreaded "ho" word. As a liberal and a feminist I'm usually all for political correctness to make sure that no one is inadvertantly offended. But this is going too far. "Ho ho ho" has always been what Santa said. He did not say it originally to be offensive to women. Therefore, I think it should stay. Censorship/political correctness should be used to right past wrongs and past derogatories. It should not be used for imaginative things. I've never heard a woman complain that Santa's calling her a "ho". But that's just me. Maybe I'm not liberal or sensitive enough.

4 month well check-up!

Well, that time has come yet again. Vaccine time! We saw the doctor this morning. Little Jimmy was in a stellar mood, which was totally awesome. He was smiling and laughing at the doctor and the physician's assistant. It made me feel really good. He has a little cradle cap, but that's it. Otherwise he's the picture of perfect health! He's progressing exactly where she should be and he even showed off his tummy time skills. The doctor was quite impressed with his strength. Now that he's 4 months old (4 months! Where did the time go!?) we can start solids if we so choose. There's no reason to and no reason not to. So, as long as he's happy we're going to wait it out. Maybe after Christmas we'll start...
The shots themselves went well, too. Hardly any crying - he was a little upset but then Big Jimmy held him and he seemed to calm down. And now the moment you're all waiting for - the 4 month stats!

Head = 16 inches (50th percentile)
weight = 14.1 pounds (50th percentile)
height = 26.5 inches (90th percentile)

He definitely takes after his dad - long and lean!

Poll: Who drools more

Poll: Who drools more, Little Jimmy or Slimer from Ghostbusters???

Too close to call. :)

Things I never thought I'd say

Inspired by a recent parents.com article I read (http://www.parents.com/parents/story.jsp?sssdmh=dm17.282585&storyid=/templatedata/ab/story/data/AB0904MomQuotes_09172004.xml&esrc=nwaspo&email=1079394494 if you're interested) here is my own list of sentences I'd never dream I would say:

1. That's a nice looking penis!
2. I think I like Huggies diapers the best
3. This is my son, James.
4. Did you make sure to wipe under his scrotum?
5. Who's the baby??? You're the baby! Yes, you are! You're the cutest little baby! (said in a ridiculous babyspeak voice)
6. I can't believe he peed in his ear.
7. Ben was right, breastmilk is really sweet! Like honey milk!
8. We should get a family photo taken.
9. What type of bottle do you like best?
10. Come here you little shit.
11. I wish you were a girl. Girl clothes are so much cuter.

I'm sure there will be plenty more where that came from!

Sad days

Why is that whenever we have company James decides to act like a yahoo? (Aside - note I said James and not Buster. Here's the problem - he thinks Buster is his real name. Whoops! No more nicknames for a while!) Our friends Kyle and Molly came over on Sunday for a day of football (yea Packers! Boo Colts!) All morning James was in a solid mood - we napped on the sofa for a while, we played, we laughed, we cooed. Then at 11:00 all hell broke loose. I'm not kidding. It's like a switch was flipped. One minute he was laughing and playing in his exersaucer, the next he was determined never to be happy again. So...Jimmy and I spent the rest of the day (all 8 hours of it) trying to get him to stop crying for more than 10 minutes and simultaneously trying to convince Kyle and Molly that parenthood is indeed fun. I'm pretty sure we failed on both accounts...

Hot Dog!!!

We survived our first trick or treat adventure in the View By the Bay (otherwise known as Bay View). It was crazy!!! About an hour into it we ran out of candy (I had bought 5 of those really huge bags of candy - you know, the ones that cost $8!!!) Jimmy had to make an emergency run to Walgreens where the pickings were slim. Of course, I got my revenge on the teenagers who didn't even bother to dress up. They got ONE jolly rancher. I snickered each time they walked away. You know, I'm amazed my house hasn't gotten egged yet...Of course, the trick is to just put the candy directly into their bag so they don't know what you gave. All total I think we got over 300 trick or treaters. I know this because our neighbors put together 300 little goody bags and they ran out at about 6:30-7:00. Even though we did run out of candy (and Jimmy bought 8 more bags!!!) it was a ton of fun. We had spooky sounds playing and I got dressed up as a biker chick. I got many compliments on my tattoo sleeves. And we got Buster dressed up!! Guess what he was...a Hot Dog (thanks Becky and Adam!!) He was the hit of the night of course :)

So far he seems unamused...he was definitely not happy at having to wear the costume...I think we enjoyed the costume more than he did

But then things seemed alright after he saw his reflection in the mirror. He got a kick out of the goofy baby wearing a hot dog costume.

Happy Halloween every one!

We love him again!!

Rather than just telling you the negative sides we are learning about parenthood, it's time for good news! The growth spurt is over! (knock on lots and lots of wood.) We have our beautiful baby boy again! No more crying for no reason (there are still cries, but at least we have a sense of what's wrong.) I am happy to report that we've had just about nothing but smiles and laughs since Monday! I wish I had a sound clip for you guys to hear Buster's laugh, but oh boy is it amazing! He gets himself so excited he actually squeals. And he'll laugh at the smallest thing - for example, he loves when I wag my tongue at him. Loves it. Let me repeat - LOVES IT. To him, this is the most funny thing he could ever see. It makes me giggle just thinking about it :).

We watched football on Monday (Go Peyton!) It was so funny because it almost seemed like Buster knew what was going on (let me aside here and refer you to the previous blog http://lifewithbuster.blogspot.com/2007/10/exception.html where I mention I was a better parent before I had kids - yes, we watch TV with our 4 month old.) Everytime a big play happened, he would squeal and bounce up and down and kick his little legs. Believe me when I tell you that he loves watching football with his dad.

Pictures forthcoming!

The exception

A dear and wise friend of mine often jokingly (or not so jokingly) says "I'm surprised that child abuse is the exception and not the norm." When I was a DINK (dual-income, no kids) I laughed along although I had no idea what he actually meant. Now I know. Oh boy, do I know. I think Buster cried for about 18 hours yesterday on and off. We tried everything. We fed him. We changed him. We took him out. Nothing helped. It was hellish to say the least. When I went in at 8:30 to put him to bed (again) Jimmy had to gently remind me "it's not his fault. be nice." This is just to give you an example of both of our mental state.
Which leads me to the next wise thing said by a dear friend - "I was a better parent before I had kids." Never were words spoken that are more true. Jimmy and I always said "we won't give our kid Tylenol to get him to sleep. That would be unethical and selfish!" Well...last night he got the Tylenol. It was hard for me not to give him double the dosage, actually. All we wanted was an hour of blissful silence. Of course, we didn't get it anyway. So then Jimmy decided just to lock Buster in his room in the hopes that he would cry himself to sleep. He didn't. Let's just say I've never been more glad to be at work!

Sleep Part II...Or why I hate growth spurts

Well sleep, we had a good run of it. We were both enjoying our 8 hours of uninterrupted bliss. Then a tornado hit. A tornado called "the dreaded three month growth spurt." No longer is Buster content to sleep through the night - not when there is eating to be done! So, we're on a pretty consistent 6 oz every 4 hours schedule. He lives his life one bottle at a time. During the evenings we feed him at 7:00pm, 11:00pm, 2:00am, and 6:00am.

What else is bad about the growth spurt? Oh my is he crabby! He's so tired (again, because he's growing and humans do all of their growing while they sleep) but he fights sleep at every turn. I think he's convinced that if he sleeps he's going to miss out on THE most exciting thing he will ever see in his life. I don't think he quite realizes he has decades of life to live so he can sleep and should sleep. Often!

So, my deepest and most sincere apologies to all who have and will experience Buster's latest reign of terror. It can't last forever, right? RIGHT?!?!

Pajama Time!

Buster decided to help put on his pajamas today.

"Okay, I've got it, now what do I do Mama?"

"Maybe if I try to put my hands here? No wait...that doesn't seem to be working..."

"How do I get it over my head like Mama does?"

"A little help here please?"

"Hooray! I (we) did it!"

Toys!

Have you ever been to a rummage sale or flea market and you see a toy that you used to have as a kid? Do you ever feel a wave of nostalgia run over you and you think "I remember that! I loved that toy as a kid!" Well, reason number 52 to have a kid - now you get to actually buy those toys and relive your own childhood! Huzzah! We went antiquing with Grandma and Grandpa Neumann today when I saw three of my favorite toys from when I was a kid. So naturally, I had to buy two of them (the third was missing most of the pieces - what's the point?!) So, even though it'll be a while until Buster plays with them - I'm most happy with my finds.

The first is a playdesk with a chalkboard and magnetic letters. You put stencils of words down (like dog) and fill it in either with the chalk or with the letters. Amazing! i didn't even realize I was learning with this toy when I was a kid...but when I saw it, I knew Buster had to have it:

The second toy I found is the coolest record player ever known to man. Both Jimmy and I had it. It comes with 5 multicolored records. You wind up the record player and presto! Instant music!

I'm so excited, I can't wait until Buster can play with these toys! And best of all - they don't require batteries! Now, how many toys can you say that about these days??

Pictures!!

Just taken today!!!! We're very happy campers!

Look at that smile! What a goof!

Okay, maybe I'm bragging a little bit, but I think we have a future in baby modeling!!

Yes, his hair naturally does this.

This is the look we perpetually see on Buster. We can't quite figure out what he's thinking, but it looks pretty intense.

Sleep and Poop

Any new parent can tell you a strange thing happens when you have a baby. Your life seems to revolve around two main things - sleep and poop. Ask me on any given day how the baby is doing and I'll likely respond with "Well, last night he slept X amount of hours, but the night before it was only X amount." The reason for this one is simple - the more he sleeps, the more I get to sleep. But it's strange nonetheless. Even stranger is my newfound fascination with poop. I'm not kidding when I tell you that Jim and I have had 15 minute long conversations about our son's poop (I'll save you the details, but let's just say it was a truly awesome and physically impossible poop.) The first question I ask when I pick him from the babysitter "Did he poop? What did it look like? Did he sleep at all???" This fascination with sleep and poop is probably one of the stranger things that have happened to me since having a baby.

A kind of baby book

Taking the idea of the baby book one step further, I have created this blog for Buster. I figure it's got to be fun for him to look back when he's older and read all about his adventures in babyhood. It'll also be fun for us. From what every other parent has told me - "enjoy it now because it goes by so fast you'll forget." Well, this is my way of making sure we don't forget. And I can post pictures (which I will as soon as I figure out how ;))

At the current time Buster is nearly three months old (will be tomorrow!) and weighs about 12.5 pounds, which puts him in the 75th percentile for weight. He's about 24 inches long, which puts him in the 95th percentile for height. Who does he take after? Hint...I'm 5'6" with heels and Jimmy is 6'0".

So...hold on to your seats as you enjoy Life with Buster with us!