Thankfully, one of the craziest months is almost behind us... It was probably the most stressful time for us since we got married. In late August we lost our dog Charlie, then 2 days later my Mom came to visit from Russia for about 5 weeks. While she was here we bought a new house & sold our old house. We also found out we were pregnant, which is a stressor although a happy one. We enjoyed having my Mom here but 5 weeks was too long. We still had our jobs during the day & at night we would spend our time packing, cleaning & being with Gerritt. My Mom would spend all day watching Gerritt so at night she wanted some adult interaction & maybe to go out somewhere, however, I had no energy for any of that whatsoever. I could barely get something ready for dinner, play with Gerritt, get ready for the next day & drag myself to bed. My husband was tired of having to come home to 2 Russian-speaking women & felt like he lost me for the entire time of my Mom's visit. Such lengthy visits are definitely hard on our family life so I doubt we'll do it again. I've had 2 colds over last 2 months so my body is letting me know I am doing too much.
My Mom left back to Russia on October 7th. We got up around 3:30 am & were at the airport around 4:30 am. She was tired of her long visit as well so there were no tears this time for us when saying goodbye. To be honest, it was such a relief to walk to my car alone after my Mom's plane took off. No more lengthy explanations of when, how & why we do things the way we do. No more defending of our family and parenting styles. My husband & I can make decisions alone without my Mom's unsolicited opinion & advice. When I got home I waited for Gerritt to wake up, then took him to his daycare so that I could sleep. I slept for about 3 hours & it wasn't enough. I felt so achy & exhausted (mostly drained emotionally) I could barely move. However, there were a million things to be done to get ready for our move the following day.
On Wednesday, October 8th, I went to work after tending to the last-minute details in the house & loading up my hubby's car with fragile & valuable items. Unfortunately, he had to move without me. Wednesday was our only day to move since we closed on Tuesday & had only 3 additional days to get all of our stuff out. I worked till 7:15 pm that day & didn't get home until about 8 pm. It was our 1st night at the new house. I packed a box of essential items beforehand (formula, diapers, laptop, personal hygiene items, toilet paper, etc.) so we only had to open one box that night. The next day I took Gerritt to daycare & went back to our old house in Mountlake Terrace to clean & pick up left-over things. There were more things than I expected so it took 3 car-loaded trips during the day & 1 trip that evening for a house to be completely empty. I vacuumed the floors, cleaned out the freezer & refrigerator, dusted, got rid of the recycling & garbage, emptied the shed, and cleaned the bathrooms - too much! Mu hubby told me not to do any of it but I didn't feel right leaving a messy house to an 8-month pregnant woman & her husband. I wouldn't want to move into a dirty house so cleaning felt like the right thing to do. That Thursday we called our buyers & told them the house was theirs & we didn't need the full 3 days to move out after all.
On Friday, October 10th, I drove Gerritt all the way to Everett to the Snohomish County Health District for his mumps vaccine. There is so much controversy about the MMR vaccine out there, I've decided to give the MMR vaccine components to him separately (1 month apart). There is a shortage of mumps vaccine because Gerritt got the last dose they had (good thing I called 1 week in advance of our appointment & reserved it for him). Gerritt also got the flu shot that day. We are going back in 1 month for a Rubella shot & another flu shot (since 2 shots 1 month apart are necessary for young children). The measles vaccine has been back-ordered since June of 2008 & it is not known when it would be available. On Saturday, October 11th, Chris & Gerry came to visit us but left after a few hours since most of our stuff was still in boxes & they couldn't help much. I think they saw how stressed out were were & didn't want to be in our way.
We spent the next week unpacking & fixing things here & there. Our new house is livable but needs a lot of fixing (complete remodels of both bathrooms, guest room & kitchen, new paint inside & out, and redesign of landscaping to start). We've also started painting our living room to change the color from awful turquoise to oatmeal (the color we had in our Mountlake Terrace house). On Thursday, October 16th, I took Gerritt for his 1st dental check up with pediatric dentist Dr. Thomas. The doctor spent a lot of time discussing tooth decay prevention & showed me how to brush Gerritt's teeth. We've already been brushing twice a day since his first teeth appeared so it wasn't new to me. However, we did form a plan to wean Gerritt off the bottle-feeding for naps & night time. I am supposed to keep him awake after feedings (if one can separate the feeding time & bed time by even 15-20 minutes while the saliva is still being produced the chance of tooth decay decreases significantly) & then brush his teeth, which means I would have to put Gerritt to bed while he is still awake. Easier said than done... Dr. Thomas didn't see any decay on Gerritt's teeth & said whatever we were doing was working.
On Friday, October 17th, I took Gerritt for his 1 year check-up with Dr. Carol Doroshow at the Kids Clinic. Gerritt weighed 24 lbs 6 oz (75th percentile) & was 31.5 inches tall (75th percentile). His growth has definitely slowed down now that he so physically active. The bad news is that we need to see a pediatric urologist for Gerritt's foreskin that hasn't healed properly after his circumcision. I suspect there may have been too much foreskin left & when the scar tissue formed it constricted leaving most the glans penis covered. Poor baby! I wish I would have left his penis alone & let him make the circumcision choice when he was older. I didn't want to do the circumcision in the first place, however, I was too fatigued & in pain after my C-section to argue with my husband who wanted it done. The 1st available appointment with the urologist was on January 7th so we have to wait until then.
On Saturday, October 18th, I've asked my husband to take Gerritt to his Mom for the whole day so that I could organize our new house. It was just a nightmare to get anything done since there were boxes & things everywhere & Gerritt was getting into everything he could get his little chubby hands on. I was spending most of my time chasing him around, feeding him, putting him to sleep for naps, etc. (the usual daily activities) to have much time left for putting things away & unpacking. I really wanted to paint the living room because the color was too depressing. I think I painted from 10 am until 8 pm when mu hubby & Gerritt got back. It wasn't just painting that took so much of my time, it was all of taping prior to painting, waiting for paint to dry, then taking the masking tape off, unscrewing the curtain rods & taking the curtains down, unscrewing all of the light switch face plates off & then putting them back on, unpacking boxes, vacuuming & cleaning along the way. When my husband got home, he was shocked how nice our living room looked, however, I was so tired I couldn't lift my arms. It wasn't a surprise to me that I got another bad cold the next Monday. I barely made it through work on Monday sneezing & blowing my nose every 15 minutes. I took a day off on Tuesday to sleep & rest while Gerritt was at his daycare. I think the stress of moving, now long commute to work (about 1 hour each way instead of my usual 25 minutes), looking for a new daycare for Gerritt, & taking care of 4 dogs (Ardie, Spike & 2 dogs we agreed to babysit for 2.5 weeks for a friend prior to our move) among other ongoing daily stressors took their toll. One of the hardest parts has also been not to be able to rest as much during this pregnancy since we have to do something every single day. Chasing a busy toddler around has not helped matters. I've been nauseous starting at about 2 weeks of my pregnancy & it's been difficult to pull myself together to do errands & house organization when all I want to do is sleep.
On October 23rd I've finally had my 1st prenatal visit with my midwife, Sally Avenson. I was supposed to see her last week but missed her since she was at labor. She checked my weight & blood pressure & I've heard baby's heart sounds for the 1st time. Sally recommended I take 1800-2000 IU of vitamin D per day. Those are the latest guidelines. It turns out vitamin D acts as a hormone in the body targeting over 1000 genes in the body. I found some great info on Vitamin D Council. Since I was past 11 weeks pregnant, I also got referrals for 1st trimester OB ultrasound & blood work. I wanted to repeat the nuchal cord translucency screen to rule out Down's syndrome. I was able to get the ultrasound appointment today, October 24th, & mu husband was able to join me. He didn't see Gerritt's 1st ultrasound so I really wanted him to be around for this one. The baby was about 5 cm long & active. We took a few photos home - I can't tell the difference between Gerritt's & this baby's ultrasounds. They look so similar at this stage!
Gerritt has been battling a cold since Tuesday. Poor baby! He can hardly sleep. His nose is so congested he can only do mouth breathing. His mouth often gets dry & he wakes up crying. It is his 2nd cold over last 2 months. I got sick first but then passed it on to him since I am his main caretaker. So it's back to Simply Saline nasal spray, bulb syringe for nose suctioning, Eucalyptus essential oil & hot mist vaporizer. No other medications are recommended for children under 4 years old now, so no decongestants for him. It seems that Gerritt has had a cold every 1.5-2 months ever since he was a baby. I am definitely planning on starting him on vitamin D drops!
For the last 2 months Gerritt has really grown attached to his blanket. It is a small soft green blanket I bought at a Goodwill store when I was pregnant. I used to wrap Gerritt in it when he was just born. Now he takes it everywhere with him - to eat, to fall asleep for naps & at bedtime & into the car. He even drags it with him on the floor when crawling or playing with his toys. It is really funny to watch... Don't even try taking it away - a major tantrum! When we get ready for bed I give it him & he grabs it with both arms, puts it close to his body & buries his face in it. I should find a Teddy Bear or some other soft toy instead... I have to wait until Gerritt is asleep to wash it. It is convenient for the night time though because when Gerritt wakes up he snuggles with his blanket & goes back to sleep instead of waiting for me to come in & hold & rock him.
