I spoke to my supervisor and if we really can't find a sitter, I probably will be okay to go PT.  It'll have to be approved by the big boss director of the pharmacy...but he loves me, so I can't imagine he'd say no if I asked him.  I'll need to work 20+ hours each week to still get my benefits, which is fine...since I wouldn't work less than that anyway.

But it's good to know that if all else fails, we sort of have a backup plan...even if it's just temporary.

Baby Bear had two 5 hours stretches last night again.  I am liking his new schedule.  Too bad it starts at 7 PM and ends at 5 AM...i wish he would shift it a little later....but I'm not complaining!  I'll take it!

We also just switched to Costco brand diapers.  We've been using Pampers and Huggies, the two bigwigs of diapers...but they get pricey.  I liked the softeness of the Pampers and the cut of the Huggies.  We heard the Costco brand was basically like the Huggies, but softer.  So we gave it a try since he's finally outgrowing the newborn sized diapers (Costco brand only starts at size 1-2).  So far so good.....but it hasn't met one of his 3 in a row poopie explosions yet, so we shall see if it can contain the mess.

Btw, I always read that newborn poopie doesn't smell...and if it does, it has this sweet smell to it.  Whose poopies have they been smelling?  Baby Bear's poopies STINK....like fish or something.  I hear it just gets worse when solids are introduced.  I'm already gagging now sometimes (I know, I'm a wimp), I can't imagine how bad it'll get.  Luckily PB is pretty much immune since he works in the GI unit and according to him, the poopies there smell much much worse.

I decided to return the Moby Wrap because it seems like Baby Bear still doesn't like it.  Plus it takes me so long to put it on and by that time he's hysterical, so of course he wouldn't take to it.  Some mommies leave it on all day, but since I have to pump, I have to take it off, then put it back on, which is a pain.

After much research, I decided to get the Pikkolo baby carrier by Catbird.  I was really into the Babyhawk Mei Tai, but newborns have to be carried froggy legged (with the legs drawn up to the belly) since the base is too wide for them to sit legs down.  And Baby Bear hates sitting froggy legged since he likes to kick his legs out.  The Pikkolo is kind of in between a soft structured carrier (like the Beco) and a mei tai.  It's sort of like a buckled mei tai (which uses fabric ties to hold the baby in place). 

But the great thing about the Pikkolo is that there's a scrunchy adjustable part at the bottom so that you can make it narrower.  That way, a newborn can sit it in with his/her legs hanging down without overflexing the legs at the hips.  Also, it allows for an older baby to be carried facing forward (which you can't do with a wider based carrier).  You can also buy an attachable baby support belt that lets you transfer the weight down to your hips when the baby gets bigger (like the Beco).

So now I have two sort of similar carriers.  I contemplated returning the Beco.  But the Beco is much easier for back and side carrying since you buckle the baby into the carrier first...and then you can do whatever you want without the baby falling out.  With the Pikkolo (and the rest of the mei tai's), the baby sits in between you and the fabric holding the baby in...so you can't just swing the carrier onto your back.  I actually have no idea how you would put the baby on your back...I guess I'll see when I get the carrier.

I got the Pikkolo in "cloud", which I think is so cute!  And the hood is really good...it's like an actual hood!

Here's the cinching part...it's on the bottom, so you can make it as wide or as skinny as baby likes!

We got Baby Bear all bundled up and ready to go to Costco yesterday.  We were excited to take him somewhere different for him to experience new sights and sounds.  As soon as we get there, he falls asleep.  The entire shopping trip, he's asleep.  We tried putting fudge samples in front of his nose....still asleep.

He slept until we got to the checkout line.  Then he decides it's time to wake up crying because he's hungry.  He never  gives us a warning...it's always wake up...then scream.  So then I'm fumbling around trying to get his bottle ready while everyone is staring at us.  I scoot him away to the eating area and find an empty table. 

This week, we're trying this new thing where we burp him after each ounce to drag out his feeds.  We think that because he gulps down the milk so fast, he never gets a chance to feel full, so he always seems hungry even after we give him large amounts of milk.  So actually, he's back down to 4 oz...but we feed him every 3.5 hours, instead of 4.  And he seems pretty content with that.  Actually, the past two days, we've given him 5-6 oz spread out from 5 PM to 8 PMish (his evening fussy time/cluster feeding time)  and after that he's been out for 5-6 hours for the next two feeds until he wakes up at 6-7 AM!!!!  I hope I didn't just jinx it by posting this.

Anyway, so of course when we stop feeding him after each oz to burp him, he goes nuts and starts screaming.  We've done this so many times and he still doesn't get that we're going to put the bottle back in his mouth.

So I'm sitting there at Costco and I stop to burp him...and he start screaming bloody murder.  And now everyone in the eating area is staring at me.  The little girl at the table next to me asked her grandma why I'm making the baby cry.  So finally, he finishes his feed and I'm mortified and even people passing by have stopped to stare.  And we put him back in the car seat to leave...and he's asleep!!!

But we scored two great boxed set of books.  We got a Baby Einstein learning series....and the complete Beatrix Potter collection!!!!  I loved the Peter Rabbit books growing up...my favorite was Tiggy-Winkle...and it made me want a hedgehog as a pet.  We  Costco!

So in one of my protected posts, I was contemplating going PT since our original childcare plan may not work out.  But after talking things through with PB and crunching the numbers, we decided that both of us staying on FT would be the better choice since my pay cut would be too drastic...plus our weekend schedules wouldn't match and we'd only have every 6th weekend together to spend as a family and probably no days during the week.  We didn't want to sacrifice that much family time.  The way our schedules work out now, we would only need a baby sitter several times a week anyway with both of us working FT.  And with my going PT, we'd still need a babysitter on some days...so we're only talking 1-2 days difference.

So we're both going to still work FT.  Luckily I have a very set 40 hour week schedule.  I never work more than 40 hours/week....except for rare occassion when I'd have to stay to finish stuff up (applicable only if I work certain positions)...and even then, the evening shift is always there to help me finish, so I never stay more than 30 minutes more than I'm supposed to.  Plus, we're not salaried, so we get paid by the hour....which I should take more advantage of....but I'm lazy...so on my paychecks, I never have more than 1-2 hours of OT per 2 week period.  hahaha.  Anyway, the point is, I know pretty much exactly when I'll be home, which makes looking for childcare a little easier...plus on the weeks when PB works nights, it allows for Baby Bear to be handed off from him to me...so we wouldn't need a sitter at all on those weeks.

Now the question is...how the heck do we find one?  Everyone at work has relatives in the area.  I have no idea where to start looking.  Do I go with one of the babysitting/nanny agencies?  Or try to find one myself?  Anyone philly Xangans have any recs?!

We went home for my sister's wedding this weekend.  We were so worried that Baby Bear would be Mr. Cranky Pants the entire time since we knew he was pretty much going to be mauled by the guests.  But he was sooo good...he didn't cry during the ceremony (although we heard from brother-in-law that he pooped quite audibly twice).  And he only cried at the reception when he was hungry...and he slept through most of it (a 10 piece band, no less!).  Everyone kept saying how good he was.  And we were telling people how he was making a liar out of us since he can get pretty cranky at home.

On Sunday, we went to C-town to eat with the relatives, and he was good then as well!  We ended up having to change him twice on the floor of the restaurant (that's probably something I never thought I'd have to do)...but minimal crying and he slept the entire car ride back to Philly.

And then as SOON as we pull into our parking space, he let loose.  We got home at 5 PM and he didn't stop crying until 9PM, when he finally fell asleep.  We fed him, changed him, held him, swung him, bathed him (the only few mintues where he stopped crying)...nothing worked.  It was like he had tried sooo hard all weekend to be a good boy and now he could let loose and just be himself again. 

He is starting to become more responsive to the world around him.  He will look directly at you when you speak to him and he'll make noises back in response.  He has two main noises now...this sqeaky noise (sounds almost like a doggy squeaky toy) and this sighing noise (which we take as a sign of contentment since we often hear it towards the end of a feed).  He smiles more, which is soooo cute.  And he's starting to touch things more...I'll find him stroking the fabric of my clothes/skin or grabbing onto the collar of my shirt. 

However, he is getting harder and harder for me to handle.  It's starting to get a little hard to get him onto my shoulder to burp him since he has better upper body and neck control....so now he's all over the place, throwing himself from side to side.  And diaper changes are harder too since his legs are now stronger than my hands.  I used to be able to hold onto his ankles and hold a towel over his pee pee with my left hand....that's near impossible now with him kicking the way he does.

He reminds us of a little puppy now.  He loves to push up on our chest and look at us with his puppy eyes and just pant.  For some reason, he likes to breathe through his mouth with his tongue hanging out...so he looks just like a dog! 

And our big boy is now up to 5 oz per feed.  This kid can take down so much milk...from what I've read, most kids don't take down this much until several months later.  He was on 4.5 oz last week, but that wasn't cutting it anymore...after he finishes the bottle, he's still trying to suck down more and he gets mad when there's nothing left.  But I keep hearing that you can't overfeed an infant.  If they've taken more than they can handle, they'll throw it up, which he hasn't (only when he gets the hiccups while he's feeding...that always makes him spit up).  So he probably just has a big stomach in there.

*see protected*

I got my hospital statement today...my delivery & hospital stay cost about $36,000!  I was actually expecting higher since my co-worker's wife's costs were $40,000 and she had a smooth delivery needing just pitocin and a few ibuprofens afterwards (but at a different hospital).  I thought with my c-section, antibiotics and copious amounts of percocets, that it would be much higher.  Either way, I only have to pay my $200 hospital co-pay! 

But it was my room and board that cost the most...totalling  almost $14,000!!!  I guess since I had a private room...but it's not like I needed much more.  I was on a liquid diet for most of my stay, so I just drank water and juice and ate jello.  Everything else on the statement is just listed as "hospital incidentals"...i wish it itemized what each cost was...I'm curious to know!

My 6 week post partum check up is next week...and my steri strips are still on.  I've started taking them off, two per day...one from each side.  I have 14 left...I may have to suck it up and take of 3-4 on certain days.  They're so friggin sticky...I'm so scared I'm accidentally going to rip open the incision.  But the incision healed really nicely...it doesn't look like I had stitches.  It just looks like I got a really big paper cut...there's no skin puckering or anything.  I  my doctor for using the steri strips instead of the staples!

This weekend will be Baby Bear's first semi-road trip.  We're going up to North Jersey for Chrissy's wedding.  We're staying at a nearby hotel tonight since I have to get my hair and makeup did early tomorrow morning.  It's an estimated 2.5 hour drive with no traffic.  It's so much trickier to travel with a baby.  You have to plan around meals and I packed like a million outfits because you just don't know how many you'll go through in a day. Some days one will last you the entire day and other days, it won't last one second (this morning, I've gone through 3!!!).  And then we have to shlep the diapers, milk, bottles, etc.  Good thing he's not into toys yet because then we'd have to bring those too!

We gave Baby Bear his first real bath after his umbilical cord fell off yesterday (finally!).  So far we've been doing sponge baths and it just wasn't cutting it.  We decided to do it during his evening fussy time.  We figured, it may relax him a little...and if not, he's already crying so it doesn't matter (this is also usually when we do his booger removal time because we know he hates it).  But he LOVED it!  We used J&J's nighttime body wash and lotion, which were gifts from a co-worker and mother of 3.  It smelled so good (albeit a tad girly).  We put him in the water and just waited for him to cry.  But he didn't!  He just sat there, lounging around the whole time as if he were at the spa.  Unfortunately, that meant he cried when it was time to take him out  

My two boys:

Getting stripped down for his bath (look at that double chin and pot belly!)

Enjoying bath time with mommy (look at the new belly button)

Getting dry:

Btw, look at the size of his head compared to his torso.  They're almost the same size!

Our little Tyleroni is 4 weeks old today.  I can't believe it's been a whole month.  It flew by so fast...1/3 of my maternity leave is gone!!!  As of this point:

*He's grown to a whopping 10 pounds, 1 oz.  Our little man is in the double digits.  It seems like an awfully fast increase in weight...I hope it tapers out before we have a 50 pound 1 year old!  We are still sort of unclear on his actual length.  He was measured at 21.5 inches at birth...but at 20.5 inches at the doctor's office a week later.  It's hard to measure since he's still relatively all curled up.  Either way, his height and weight puts him at/above the 75th percentile for both.

*He's eaten his way up to 4.5 oz per feeding.  Luckily for us that can usually hold him for 3.5 - 4 hours...not too bad compared to other babies who are still feeding every 2 hours. We think he can eat more per feeding, but we're taking it slow...we don't want him throwing up my precious milk!

*He can't wait even 1 second after he realizes he's hungry.  He will start screaming immediately.  And if you dare remove the bottle mid-feed to burp him, he will scream in your ear the entire time until you put the bottle back.  And don't even think about trying to skimp him on any milk.  He knows when he's getting the full amount.

*He can see and track objects with his eyes

*He can lift his head and push up his body with his arms for pretty long periods of times if he wants to.  Sometimes he gets lazy and does the floppy head thing.

*He still has his Mr. Cranky Pants time of the day...usually late afternoon - evenings.

*He sort of has a schedule and will usually sleep from 9 PM ish until the early morning, 5-6 AM ish....with meal breaks in between

*As of today, he has a brand new belly button..since his umbilical cord just fell off!  He will be getting his first real bath tomorrow!

*See protected*

I'm a little ashamed to say that this year is the first time I've ever voted.  I was still in New York for all the other elections and basically knew we would be going democrat, so I didn't feel like it really mattered.  Now that I'm living in a swing state, my vote actually counts!  I was off to the ballots this afternoon and cast my vote.  I forgot that they also ask you to vote for state reps and county decisions and stuff like that.  So after the presidential vote, I just stared at a bunch of names I've never heard of before.  I just randomly chose people hahahaha.

Not related, but the pair of shoes I bought for my sister's wedding is now too big.  I bought it while I was pregnant thinking that my feet would still be slightly bigger after the baby arrived.  But they've returned to their normal size, so now the shoes are about 1/2 to 1 size too big.  I put in Foot Petals insoles and heel thingies, but the backs still sometimes slip out (they're pumps).  Is there anything else I can do to make them fit a little snugger?

I tried the Moby Wrap again with Baby Bear.  He still doesn't like it....I may have to return it...I think he feels too squished in it.  He likes to move around, so he feels too restricted.  I'm considering the Babyhawk Mei Tai...I'll have to do a little more research.

*EDIT* WOOHOO!!!!!!!!!!  I would like to think that my voted counted!  What I don't get with this whole race thing is Obama is 1/2 black....so he's just as white as he is black, but there's so much focus on him just being black.  This is America in the 21st century...get over it people!

They just broadcasted that the city of Philadelphia voted 83% in favor of Obama....more than his own home town!!!!

The mother in law is staying with us this week since my mom left.  She's only visited a few hours at a time on weekends...during which the baby is always sleeping (she usually comes at the same time at every visit).  So this whole time, she thought I had this perfect baby who just sleeps the entire day and never cries.  So today, she got her first full taste of Baby Bear. 

At the end of the day, she commented that he must've had a bad day because he was so fussy.  He's actually not even that bad for a baby...I think she must've just forgotten what it's like the first few weeks.  He cries when he's hungry, dirtied his diaper and wants to be held...pretty common.  He doesn't have gas/colic issues (knock on wood), so once he's held, fed and/or asleep, he's fine.

I was like, um...he's like this every day.  She was really shocked.  She was really expecting this perfect, quiet baby.

But it's weird...she shares the same exact views on baby raising as my mom....the generational difference is pretty big.