Grocery Delivery!

I recently found out about a local and organic grocery delivery service called Greenling and I couldn't wait to try it out. Today was my delivery day and I eagerly awaited the stuff that Jack and I had chosen.

The prices seemed pretty comparable to say, Whole Foods or the organic stuff at HEB and we were cutting down on time and it's very convenient especially with a small baby in the house so I was optimistic.

This evening right around dinner time our bin arrived and they even follow instructions like "please knock once and leave the bin so you won't wake our baby"!

Well, I got the nice green bin full of goodies- and Max and I had lots of fun unpacking it.

Among the cold things (which are packed nicely in an insulated bag along with some frozen water bottles that you're supposed to return) was the goose egg that we ordered so that Jack could eat it and I could have the shell to decorate- it was packed in a little styrofoam cup with a drawing of a goose on it! How fun! Max was quite interested.

Here's all my pretty produce- the brown thing is a "sunchoke" or Jerusalem artichoke- it and the green beans were what we got for choosing the "surprise me" option as one of our purchases.

They did substitute blackberries for the raspberries I picked out- but they're so gorgeous- who would mind?

They also sent me a free yummy bevvy to try!

All in all it was a pretty successful venture- and we may be semi-converts- we'll see- it's definitely fancy to have your groceries delivered, and I like fancy.

The same day, Jack was gone from the house for about 13 hours yesterday because one of his co-workers fell off of a roof breaking one arm and the other wrist and getting concussed! Jack had to help out with packing up their tools and moving cars around and stuff afterwards because the HVAC company he works for simply doesn't have enough man-power and now they're down one at the beginning of summer.....looks like lots of overtime for Jack.

So, since he was coming home so late he picked up dinner from Central Market since it was on the way and they have the healthiest (in terms of naturalness- not calories or fat as will be evident soon enough) ready-to-go "fast food". Well, he did great! He brought home chicken pot-pies with twice baked potatoes and an awesome greek salad. Then he also got bread pudding for him and creme brulee for me for dessert!

It was all delicious.

And...sweet husband that he is- he brought me flowers since he was gone so much longer than he had told me he would be. I'd never gotten ginger or birds of paradise before! Fancy :)

Max had a rough night though- we finally got him to sleep around 10:30 or so but I think he wanted to go down closer to 8:30 but the stars weren't aligned for that to work out- I think he needed to vent from the day and we kept trying to soothe or amuse him in different ways which I think just made it worse. I looked around online and it seems that 3 month olds do need to let off some steam before they can relax enough to sleep. Apparently bedtime routines like massages or baths or singing or all three can help- so we'll see how that goes.

Max "talks"

I started to shoot this little video because Max was really going to town on his fists and I thought it was cute. All the noises were just bonus- but here's documentation that he doesn't just stare at people seriously all the time! :)

Rant

I know power outtages (sp?) happen- it's an inconvenience to reset all your clocks- but no big whoop OCCASIONALLY. However- for some reason the power at my house is acting craptacular. Not only do we have weird anti-surge things where the power sputters and drags for several seconds lately (at least SIX brown-outs in less than 2 hours the other morning). But we also keep losing power entirely. It has happened maybe 3 times in the past several days- it's only for a few seconds- (long enough to call my husband, tell him the power's out and then have it come back on before we've hung up, ) but it's highly annoying as it disables the baby monitors.

This morning around 5:30 am it happened and my sweet husband got up to go turn the base back on (for some reason the monitors will kick back on but not the receiver). The base is in little bear's room *natch* and it seemed like he'd been sneaky enough- but no. Max was awake again a minute or two later when he "normally" would have slept another 2 hours! I managed to get him back to sleep again but my sleep suffered greatly as I had already stayed up too late. boo.
TXU Energy was supposed to call my husband and set up a time for them to come out and check our connections but they didn't. Jack is calling back today.

On a lighter note- I am going to start my belly-dancing dvd today in an effort to get my core muscles back. My lower back just hasn't been the same since childbirth (among other things) and picking up the doughboy isn't getting any easier. Bellydancing seemed like the funnest exercise I could do at home while keeping my face out of the dog's reach. Thor and yoga do not mix. :)

Plus- I'll be learning a new skill! Wish me luck!

ch-ch-ch-ch-Changes

3 months old is a very exciting time for babies.

He's still a few days shy of the actual "birthday" but close enough....

Max can now:

1. pretty dependably sleep 9 or so hours a night in his crib (last night it was 10!)

2. take a few 30 minute or more naps during the day in his crib

3. click his tongue

4. blow tiny raspberries

AND....

5. roll up onto his right side!

This video is not the greatest- he can roll a bit further than this- but it's what I've got.

It's thrilling to watch him change and grow. He's making more and more sounds, his cry has slightly changed and he gets bigger all the time.

Grandparents Miller brought him a new playmat on Saturday and he likes it alot- especially the little mirror that he can look into. That same day, Jack and I put together a high chair that we received from his family so that Max can sit and watch us from a higher position. The chair leans back pretty good so even though he doesn't sit up it's still practical and comfy for him.

Grandparents Miller also brought a few new clothing items- including these rad little shoes- we took him to the store in them but he managed to rub them off of his feet against his car seat on the way there- we'll try 'em again soon when his feet are just a smidge bigger.

Here's Jack ready for combat with his new man-at-arms

Here's a random cute pic of mother and baby followed by a photo of Max entranced by the ceiling fan/light combo in his nursery- babies love ceiling fans- who knew?

Mother's Day #1!

My very first Mother's Day! Yippee! I was outfitted in NEW shorts and a semi-new nursing top and NEW floppers- feeling pretty cute- which doesn't happen as often anymore. Had the kiddo dressed in some overalls and nothing else in case we go outside. Jack and I loaded up the car with an impossible amount of just-in-case baby crap and headed over to Mum and Da's for a big family brunch.

It was fun- Mum played with Max-o on her bed for a bit and he managed to intimidate Charlotte (the cat that ate Tokyo). BSD arrive and we all chat and get settled with babies while Mum finishes brunch-which is breakfast soft taco heaven! Every fixin' you could possibly imagine in great quantities- yum

.

Selah made this cool medieval Simnell cake with giant yummy home-made marzipan balls on top- it's kind of a cross between carrot and fruit cake- very moist and sweet.

Mum gave us our gifts which are binders of her stream-of-consciousness-style writing documenting all of "Grandmother's Stories" which range from sweet little recountings of raising bunnies in a sunken banana pit in the courtyard of their home in Tripoli, to horrific stories of our college-age mom foolishly going in some dude's house for "milk and cookies" only to discover that he has his dead wife's body laid out all shrine-like in there! There are blue stories and really awful stories of bad things that happened to her as a child- I'm thinking these "Grandmother's stories" will have to be meeted out very carefully to the kiddos as they are ready. Awesome, priceless gift though.

As soon as Jack and I get home I get a call from Selah who sounds a bit frazzled and at her wit's end 'cause Dicey is real tired but not going down to sleep. I can't let my sister feel this low on Mother's Day so Jack and I load up again and head to her place- making a stop on the way for a little plant to cheer Selah up. When we get there both ladies are asleep- but Selah wakes up with a headache and Jack gives her a really good back massage- complete with Swedish accent- he cracks us both up and Selah feels much better.

My present from Jack is a wee bit late but that hardly matters as it's an embarrassingly generous gift certificate to Avant spa!!!! It's enough for me to have TWO trips and get more than one service per visit! Sooooo excited!

Jack and I also have a big gift certificate at McCormac & Schmick's because he has done some late night on-call duties there for their A/C and they love him- as soon as Max is taking bottles dependably again we'll go for dinner while BSD babysit- yay!

Max is getting more and more fun everyday. Last night he sucked on the outside of my hand for 2 or 3 minutes-it was so funny and tickled a little and I just laughed and laughed. I think he's sucking on his bottom lip now too which is kind of funny- like his occasional tongue clicks. He's growing out of his clothes -I'm busting out all the stuff I had put away as too-big. It's very exciting.

It feels a little like everything's coming up Milhouse because Jack and I just recently paid off ALL our credit card debt AND the last of our car loan! I feel like we are right on the verge of getting a house which will be the realization of my most fervent wish (aside from motherhood) for the last SEVEN plus years!!! Everyone keep their fingers crossed for us and if anyone has any tips or advice- please pass them along- we don't know what we're doing. :)

Baby Days

Max cracked me up with this single toe popping out of his weird little sack booties that were hand-me-downs from someone. How did he do that? Another conundrum is how his fingernails get so dirty- he's inside all day and he mostly just makes little fists out in front of him- maybe it's dead skin? Who knows....




Max fell asleep on me yesterday and he was so sweet and waddy that I had to take a bunch of pictures :)

There are more on Flickr if anyone's interested besides me! :)

Max has been on and off sleeping through the night pretty successfully. The first night was 10 hours, the next was 8 or so, then I think 7.5 and then he woke up three nights in a row due to gastrointestinal activity and/or swaddle malfunction. Night before last he slept for 9 something hours and last night he was up at 5:30 am and then went down again until 7:30 at which point we did Mommy and Max nappy/nursey time in my bed until around 9:30.

On another note entirely:

I kind of hate my newish neighbors and want to move when my lease is up in August but I can't make another lateral move- it has to be upward from here on out.

Anywho, back to the neighbors- the 'hood that I live in is not so great but used to be okay if you stayed inside because no one really bothered you. We share a duplex with a nice single dude who has two dogs that bark and incite our dog to do so as well- but other than that living here used to be just fine.

Now we have some lady next door who claims not to speak English when her old-enough-to-know-better kids THROW ROCKS at our front door apparently with the reason that they had lost a ball over our back fence! Don't ask.

Also, my brother-in-law is convinced (and rightly so) that this lady may be running an illegal daycare out of her "home"- I would not be a bit surprised. We are both moms but when we are in the front yard at the same time- checking mail or whatnot- she refuses to acknowledge me- no nod, no smile, nothing. RUDE.

Her kids, or at least the ones we presume to be hers, left a bunch of their toys in our part of the yard the other day and overnight and Jack was so irritated (they are constantly setting off the alarm in his work van) that he just threw them all away! Ha! He called me later that day to tell me what he'd done in case they came asking about their toys- but they never did. These kids leave their bikes in the yard overnight! I think it serves them right to have their toys taken.

One last gripe- there's also now this possibly crazy lady in another duplex in our cul-de-sac who told Jack a bunch of stuff about our neighbor threatening her little girl with his dogs just for walking through his grass. I don't really think our duplex-dude is this kind of fellow, there must be more to the story. Anywho, she spoke to Jack and now feels like she can talk to me and told me the other day when she caught me checking the mail that she'd been wanting to meet me!

Yuck. I need to move.

Plus.......She touched my baby without permission. Gross.

Okay I'm done.

mish-mash

Bunch of little things in this post:
Max likes his stroller much better if we put a big padded blanket underneath him in the carseat to cover the buckles- it's really sweet to see him cuddled up with blankets- since you can't have babies sleep with blankets you don't get to see it very often- at least not in Texas where it's too warm to bundle up your baby all the time. Swaddling isn't cute in the same way because they're all tight like a burrito. So- here's a pic of him being sweet with a really soft blanket- just for fun. :)

I have a dilemma that I don't think alot of moms face and that is that my husband is a very toasty man- this is why he and I sleep with separate blankets. However- I never foresaw it causing difficulties with a baby- but it does. Jack sometimes gets so hot when holding the baby that Max gets upset and sweaty and starts crying. I looked around online a bit but so far have not seen any ladies talking about how their husbands are too hot to hold the baby. Max does like his baby bjorn carrier thingy though and he fell fast asleep in it the other day- so cute! Look at those little arms- he's dead to the world!

Baby's First Camo! There were crisper pictures but this one is the cutest :)

I have started to try out some hats on him since it's so sunny outside and so far this is one of my very favorites. It has a chin strap so it stays on- I wish more of his hats had chin straps- maybe I'll sew some on......

Max loves bath time and sometimes it's one of the only things that will calm him down- he kicks really hard and splashes water all over the place and it's something that Jack can do with him without fear of overheating him. We like to keep his head warm during the bath and he always makes me think of those man-on-the-street characters from Monty Python with the knotted handkerchiefs on their heads.

These are the feet of my favorite sleeper suit of his. It's my favorite because it's long and lean and it zips instead of snapping but especially because the feet have elasticized ankles so they really stay on his feet- it's just extra cute. However- I think this onesie is cursed because EVERY time he sleeps in it his diaper leaks. It's happened THREE times so far!! His diaper really doesn't leak very often. It's a shame really- he's growing out of things so fast- it's exciting but it makes me sad to not be able to put him in certain clothes anymore.

Growth!

Maximus just had his 2 month check up- he was about 9 weeks at the time and it went great! He has now "lapped" his 4 month old cousin Dicey and is bigger than her in every way (well except for cuteness and personality- Dicey has those in spades) So, here are the stats:

Head: 16 1/8 " -75th%

Length: 24 1/4" - 90th%

Weight: 13.56lbs. - 88th%

He picks his head up real well, smiles frequently, is starting to make lots of different sounds for different feelings- he's right on track and on the big side sizewise- very exciting since he's solely breastfed! (They tend to grow a little slower than formula fed)

We had a couple of outings yesterday and it went pretty well- he was, of course, a bit fussy when I really wanted him to be happy- but such is life with a 2 month old. He was in his carseat quite a bit and in and out of the car and the heat and stuff and really did great- he mostly slept in the car.

That brings me to last night- which started out normally with him getting put down once or twice to then go down for good right at 10:00 pm. I woke up at 4:40 am because my husband had a nightmare and I expected Max to wake up shortly thereafter but continued dozing until he really meant his little noises. Well- the next time I woke up (boob info alert) was when I leaked a little bit- it felt like sweat rolling on my chest- and no wonder I was leaking because it was 7 AM and my poor boobs were rock hard Barbie boobs after about 9 hours without feeding my son. So I woke up and pumped a little just to stop the leakage and he STILL didn't wake up until nearly 8!!!!

That's TEN HOURS of uninterrupted sleep- yippee!

He woke up and helped me out with my boob problem and now he's playing happily- it's amazing how quick they change and how different day to day is. He has started to stick out his tongue more and he actually clicks it at least once a day or so- his little fine new baby hair is uber soft and he likes to have his face and cheeks played with- which is good because I really like to :)

Here's a shout out to everyone who gave or lent me something that I use everyday- Selah and Bryan introduced me to my new Brest Friend that I use constantly, Teresa is indefinitely lending me a very nice electric dual breast pump which has been great, my sister's neighbor gave me a glider with an ottoman that I love along with a playmat and Kalena gave me a little vibrating rocking chair that greatly extends Max's playtime- I cannot thank you enough ladies and gent- you all have helped to make these 2 months go by much more smoothly and pleasantly :)