Adventures in the Big Apple

Last weekend was the perfect autumn weekend in NYC! The air was crisp and the sun was shining. We were excited to go out and about for some fun family-friendly activities.

On Saturday, we ventured to Brooklyn for the Brooklyn Local - a collection of local vendors selling their products and offering food and wine tasting. 

We took the baby on the subway for the first time for his first trip to Brooklyn. This was a real team effort to carry the stroller up and down the stairs to get in and out of the subway. Some subway stations have elevators but not all, so it was good to have more than two hands to get baby up and down. I wouldn't try the subway by myself with the stroller unless I knew for sure there would be an elevator. Seriously, help a sister out if you ever see a mom with a stroller trying to get up and down stairs in a subway station!

Once across the East River, we strolled to Brooklyn Bridge Park where the event was taking place. There was mandatory stroller parking, so Dad ended up holding baby the whole time as we walked through the rows of vendors. A baby carrier would have been more convenient but Dad didn't mind holding the little bug. The baby loves being able to look around at anything and everything and being a part of the action. He loved the hustle and bustle. Eventually, he fell asleep on Dad's shoulder. It was sweet...

We tasted really great local wine from upstate New York and Long Island. There were spicy pork sausage sliders, mini hotdogs topped with macaroni and cheese, green bean salad, cheesy foccacia bread, bacon bourbon flavored popcorn, and cookies and chocolates galore! It was a sweet-tooth's paradise!

To top it off, I crossed paths with a girl I knew from college who is now the founder of her own bakery out of Brooklyn called The Good Batch. She makes the most delicious ice cream sandwiches I've ever tasted! Sea salt is the magic ingredient... if you've ever dipped french fries in a Frosty, you know what I mean.

I really had fun for the first time in a while! It was nice to do something that was fun for adults and also included the baby. Plus, we also brought a friend and my grandma with us so it was a good company. 

After the market, we strolled around the Brooklyn Heights Promenade along a street of old Victorian mansion townhomes overlooking the water and southern part of Manhattan before heading back to NYC.

Sunday was another fabulous relaxing day. We packed up the family and took the subway to Columbus Circle (which has a great elevator by the way) en route to Central Park for a picnic. First, we stopped by the Whole Foods in the Time Warner Center to pick up our picnic lunch. The Whole Foods is AH-mazing! And fun fact from my husband: it's the highest grossing Whole Foods in the nation (I see why). I'm glad we stopped there because it also made me realize the TWC is the closest thing to a mall we have in NYC which may come in handy on cold days this winter when I want to walk around somewhere.

Then we found a grassy spot in Central Park to eat our lunch, drink a bottle of wine, and doze off! Ahhhhhh... Before heading home, we walked the Park taking in the nice weather and scenery. It's so quiet in the park. Even near the surrounding streets, the trees and kids playing really muffle the typical NYC traffic. A true oasis in the middle of the crazy Big Apple!

11 week milestones

I can already tell my son is going to be hell on wheels! He is so strong and determined. At 11 weeks old, he started doing crunches when in his car seat or bouncer. He'll pick his head up and try to sit up as if planning his escape... "if... I... could... just... get... outta... here...". I can't believe how fast he is growing!

He also must be looking around at all times. No more cradling a tiny baby in our arms. He has to be held upright over the shoulder so he can look all around. He is super curious about his surroundings. He loves to look at photos or artwork around the house. So we put a photo slideshow on our TV using Apple TV for him to watch (it's better than gossip TV). When he can hold his head a little steadier, I can't wait to put him front facing in the carrier to see the city whirling around him.

Since he loves the lights and images on the TV, I downloaded a baby flash cards app on my iphone/ipad. He will stare at the phone without blinking as I flip through about 40 animals. The app says the animal name and the noise the animal makes. It's pretty cool to watch him make different expressions at the animals. I think the rhinoceros is his favorite. He likes the transportation flash cards too. I'm sure he recognizes the sounds of a train and firetruck.

Another thing that started this week is using his legs to stand or push up. If you hold him on your lap, he likes to put pressure on his legs to push himself into a standing position. He'll be ready to run before he crawls!

And oh boy, the hand obsession has majorly set in. He loves to eat his hands! So much in fact, he gets frustrated and starts to cry when he can't get the whole fist in his mouth. I've offered him toys to chew on but nothing tastes better than hands (except for a little boob of course). He has no interest in Sophie the Giraffe at the moment (the number one baby toy on amazon.com)! However, my dog has a secret plan to catch Sophie one of these days and chew her to bits. I can tell he is getting hungry now when he starts chewing his hands right before feeding times.

He also likes to stare at his feet since I started putting colorful socks on him. I wonder what he's thinking and does he know his feet aren't permanently argile?!

Maybe I'm biased but he is so smart! I don't see a mindless baby. He seems to understand when I talk to him. He knows my voice. He smiles when he sees my face. It's super sweet! I also have gotten smarter over the last 2 months in understanding when he is communicating with me. His dad and I have caught on to his hunger cries versus tired cries versus pain cries. He's good at telling us what's wrong (most of the time).

It's amazing to think that in a few months he will be teething, sitting up, and crawling. Shoot, it's hard to just imagine him with hair! The first year is full of crazy milestones and he's already accomplishing so much.

Cry it out or not to cry it out

I hate people who say they love nighttime feedings! (If my mother-in-law is reading this, I don't hate you!) Seriously, who the hell likes waking up in the middle of the night for any reason, let alone to have someone suck on your boob? Like quality bonding time can't happen during daylight hours?!

At my son's two month check up with the pediatrician, she told us we could let him cry it out now and after three nights he would sleep through the night. That means put him to bed at 8pm and come back at 6am without going to the baby if he cries for any reason during the night. She said drink a big bottle of wine and pass out on the couch so you can't feed him anyway. (I swear she has credentials). It's hard for a new mom to stomach. I couldn't buy in to the idea of letting him cry for potentially hours and hours! What if he took a big poop? I would cry too if I had to lay in my crap for ten hours!

For the record, I'm not against SOME crying like when going down for a nap or bedtime. I think it's healthy to blow off some steam. Everyone needs to cry sometimes!

If he was older... six months maybe... then yes, I might allow him to cry his head off so I could sleep. I told myself if he wasn't sleeping through the night on his own by three months, I'd reconsider. A lot of my mom friends reported that by three months, their babies were sleeping around ten hours at night. So I had hope and told myself to be patient.

By the way, Dad was all about cry it out. Why is it easier for dads? Dads don't get up out of bed. And yet, moms are the ones tortured by the idea!

Starting around six weeks my son's routine became go to bed around 8pm and sleep six hours until 2am when he would wake to eat. Not bad! He would eat again at 5am then wake at 8am for the morning. Thankfully, he goes right back to sleep after eating (typical man!). I don't have to rock him to sleep or listen to him cry. Nighttime is dark, quiet, and boring. No funny business! Having two predictable night time feeds with no crying was really nice but still by 5pm the following day I was exhausted. Should I really let him cry it out?! I felt like crying it out myself some evenings!

Then on the eve of his ten week birthday, he slept through his 2am feed. This is seriously the day all new moms must dream of. The day you turn a major sleep corner! Traditionally when I hear him fussing around and stirring from sleep, I offer the pacifier first to try to buy myself another thirty minutes before I have to fully get out of bed to feed him. And this time it worked until 6am! I literally felt giddy as I fed him. And then he slept in until 9:30am! My husband and I were literally sitting in our living room in the dark at 8am waiting for him to wake up. It was marvelous!

His dad accidentally aided in this sleep transition (he was in charge for the evening) by putting him to bed an hour later than usual. Well if that what it takes so be it. Over the last few days, we've been  making bedtime closer to 8pm again and he has continued to sleep until about 5am and then 8am. Yippie!

I am still putting the pacifier in his mouth 2-3 times at night before the early morning feeding. Eventually, he will have to self soothe and fall back asleep on his own if he wakes up in the middle of the night. But for now, it's too easy to put the plug in when he is two feet from our bed.

Although, I never resorted to the cry it out method that's not to say that I won't have to one day. Like in developing real nap times. Like when he moves from our room to his own room. Or when he spits out his pacifier and I'm not there to pop it back in. Or when he stops being swaddled and punches himself in the face. He may have to cry a little. And that's okay too!

P.S. That's not really my kid in the photo. I just found it on the internet.

Adjusting to motherhood

Okay, I know, it's been way too long... I just read my last post. Haha... "After the initial adjustment period (for me about 2 weeks), I needed to get out." Hilarious! Little did I know once the adrenaline wears off and after 10 weeks of not sleeping, the real exhaustion kicks in fun begins.

At 10 weeks, motherhood is still an adjustment! It's way harder than I expected. There is a new challenge everyday (that I overreact about). Right now it's naps, chronic 45 minute naps and no longer. How do I follow my sleep schedule book if he doesn't sleep the allotted 2 hours?! I'm really stressing over it. Let's face it, it's hard to be a mom when you have perfectionist tendencies.

First of all, I'm a planner. I like to have a schedule and plan my day, week, month and year. But no matter how many times I read and reread my parenting books, my little one decides whether he will or will not participate in my schedule. If he doesn't want to take more than a 45 minute nap, guess what!? Neither am I. If he has a blow out (aka poops out of diaper) during his baby photo shoot, guess what!? He's not wearing that knit sailor suit that grandma bought for him in the photos. If he wants to have a growth spurt filled with crying and constant eating, guess what?! My husband better not go to the U.S. Open and get his ass home to help me.

Second, I love getting things done. I make a list of things I've already done just to cross them off. Seriously, I love the feeling of accomplishment. I'm not accomplishing much these days. Just ask my husband the last time he came home to dinner waiting on the table for him. Ask me the last time I shaved my legs (that's a real brain teaser). Or the last time I really played with our dog. The fact of the matter is my baby takes up all my time right now. I can't imagine moms who have infants AND older kids to care for or jobs to go to. Kudos to you!

Third, I'm a control freak. I like being in control. I like taking the necessary precautions or making preparations to create the best possible outcome. And with a baby, there is just no way of knowing how the day will go. It could be good, bad or ugly.

Lastly, I just need sleep. Sleep is a magical thing. If you are reading this, go to sleep right now. Just do it for me. Okay, it could be worse. My baby is actually pretty easy at night. He wakes twice to feed between bedtime and morning. It's more MY problem. I have a moms ear. I hear every little grunt and fuss and coo. He's in our room so how could I not (I'll have to ask my husband since he appears to sleep like a log at night). And why can't I sleep during the day when I have the chance. Everyone says sleep when they sleep. I just don't get much sleep and I may never again.

And so I'm adjusting... I'm learning to not be a perfectionist, planning, accomplished, control freak who needs sleep.