Breastfeeding on Sesame Street

How amazing is this! We've reverted in acceptance of public breastfeeding for some reason. I don't think this would EVER get on Sesame Street today! Weird, right? Anyway - I should have posted this last week, as it was World Breastfeeding Week, so a little late - but in honor of that, here's an amazing video from Sesame Street in 1977.

executive decision

For the past few months, I have been setting an alarm and getting up to pump in he middle of the night. This was not a problem when Angus was sleeping 10 hours straight, as I would go to bed at 10, wake up around 1 or 2 to pump and go back to bed and still get 3 hours of sleep. Unfortunately for about a month + he has been waking up anywhere between 1 and 4. Most days it seems that I get up to pump, and he either wakes up while I'm still pumping, or a short time after I go back to bed. I'm exhausted. It's really catching up with me. I have made an executive decision to not set an alarm to do this while he's not sleeping through the night. I will probably start again once he starts sleeping better, but right now it's not worth the sleep loss. So... I'm going to stop torturing myself!

so insane

WOW. I haven't posted in ages. Does adding my twitter stuff count? Well, it's been a bit nutty. We had a little New Jersey shore beach vacation, and my mom has been in town. Hopefully things will start to improve! Oh yeah, and Angus is still waking up every night (knock on wood as I say this - it's 3am, I am pumping and he is still asleep!). I've been very tired and it's been hard to focus on life, let alone blogging!

Anyway - let me try to catch you up.

Angus: I don't know if it's a growth spurt (he'll be 6 months very soon), or if it's his teeth (has bottom 2, maybe more are coming?) , or if he's just hungry (he is very distracted during his feedings). Whatever it is, I hope it stops! Last night I put him down and he woke up within that hour and then again within the next hour, then at 2am and then I gave up and brought him to bed with me and just let him nurse. I don't mind the "co-sleeping" but sometimes I get scared and worry that he's going to get smothered or something. I try to remain mostly awake and aware of where he is and position any sheets or blankets away from him, but there's always that part of me that worries - but I guess that's good. I am being careful!

Beach: The New Jersey shore is no place for a baby. Actually it was fine...maybe it's no place for a husband! Actually Angus is just way to little for the beach. He needs to be held all the time since we didn't really have anywhere for him to sit and it was windy, so any flat surfaces were very sandy, and I just didn't want to deal with that. (SIDE NOTE - HE'S WAKING UP! I HEAR CRYING!!! OH CRAP). I have to end this here!

so many changes, mostly good.

Angus has realy changed so much in the last few weeks. To start, his tooth has a brother! He now has his bottom two teeth! He also really loves being on his tummy and trying to crawl - scooting I think they call it. He can mostly hold his own bottle. He has a crazy squack that he has figured out how to do. He has new things that make him giggle. He's almost 6 months old!

The one change I don't like, is that for a week now he's been waking up at 2 or 3am. Nothing manages to console him other than my boob. I don't know if he's teething again and waking because he's uncomfortable. I don't know if he's just having a growth spurt. I don't know if he's hungry and ready for solid food. I just don't know! What I do know, is that I'm tired. We got so spoiled with many months of him sleeping 8-10 hours straight. I even felt bad when people said "oh you must be so exhausted" because I wasn't! About a month ago I decided that I really needed to get up in the middle of the night to pump. It was crucial to my supply. I've been trying to do this for the past week, but his waking up has really screwed that up. So now, it's 3:15...he got up around 1:45, and I just got him back down, and now I'm pumping the breast he didn't eat from. Thank god it's the weekend, but still - I really hopw this is just a phase that will end soon!

city baby

I think one of the best things about NYC is the subway. It takes you just about anywhere you want to go. I won't get into the fare hikes and the potentially corrupt system of management, but the subway here is a necessity. HOWEVER - there is not much worse than riding the subway with a screaming baby.

Turns out, the subway is LOUD. I mean, I knew that, but imagine what it must be like to the little sensitive new ears of a baby! Angus slept his first few times on the subway, but as of late he has chosen to scream instead. I had purchased some baby ear protectors, since I work in the music business and I figured it wouldn't be long before I took him to his first show. These seem to be the protector brand of celebrity babies, so I figured if they were good enough for Gwyneth Paltrow's babies they are good enough for mine (not that Coldplay is "loud" haha). Instead of being used at a concert, they had their initial run on the subway - and they were magic! Angus didn't cry and seemed somewhat oblivious to what was going on. We were very relieved since daily life in NYC revolves around the subway - although he probably won't be going on it more than once a week, it's a relief that we have found a way to do it that doesn't upset him. Now if someone can just sell us a bubble to put around him to stop strangers from touching him!

5 months!

Wow - I am really slacking at posting. I promise I will get better. I am starting to be in more of a routine, as is Angus, and I will be able to add a consistent time in for blogging.

Angus is 5 months old today! I can't believe how fast it's all going. In 1 month he'll be half a year, and that sounds crazy to me. I met a 7 month old the other day and he was just sitting on the floor, reaching into a toy box and playing with toys...amusing himself and leaning forward on his arms and rocking back and forth on his knees thinking about crawling. Angus has a ways to go before that happens, but he really only seems interested in rolling from his back to his tummy and lifting his head up and stretching his arms out.

It's so crazy to me how babies work. We get emails every month from babycenter.com about his development, and they're spot on. It will be fun when he can sit up without falling over. It will be insane when he crawls. It will be funny when he eats real food. We can't WAIT for all these so-called milestones, but there's also some part of us that will miss his baby-ness very much. Right now, we're the boss of him, but soon enough he's going to be telling us what he wants to do and where he wants to go and when. It will be so much fun, and so tiring. I'm sure that's when we'll say "remember when he was a baby and we could put him in his stroller and take him wherever we wanted to go? And make him do whatever we wanted to do?"

father's day tooth!

Johnny was away for a few days and came home on father's day eve. The day before, I found a very exciting surprise in Angus' mouth....a TOOTH! His bottom left tooth is in. SO awesome! All the drooling and hand eating finally rewards us with a cute little chomper! I did my very best secret holding in and manager to not tell Johnny, and instead, I wrote out Angus' father's day card with a note to say he could find his present in his mouth. He didn't get it at first, and I pretty much had to tell him. It was quite a surprise! It came in without much fanfare - I didn't notice too much crankiness, but then again he was with sitters all week, but none of them reported any extra fussiness. I hope the rest of them come in that smoothly!