16 weeks

That's how old Oli turned yesterday. That's how long it's been since I did anything to my hair. I went and got a trim right after he was born just so it would remain healthy. But, I wanted to grow it out and it had been a whole year before then since I had done anything to it. Well, it grew some but then starting last month, I started losing it by the clumps. Apparently, it's the 3 month postpartum hair loss that can continue till Oli's a year old. And I have been wearing it in a pony tail since I got back to work and with the loss, it started looking really raggedy. So, off I went yesterday and got it chopped off. The hairstylist was shocked at how much I wanted off (4-5 inches) but I told her to just do it. Here's a photo. I might update it tomorrow after I get a chance to wash and dry (who am I kidding? I never dry my hair, let the air do it) it.

A song from our shower

There was a playlist for our baby shower that I put on CDs and we gave to our guests. I found it in my car today and was listening to the songs and this one just struck a nerve: Child of Mine by Carole King.

Although you see the world different than me
Sometimes I can touch upon the wonders that you see
All the new colors and pictures you've designed
Oh yes, sweet darling
So glad you are a child of mine

Child of mine, child of mine
Oh yes, sweet darling
So glad you are a child of mine

You don't need direction, you know which way to go
And I don't want to hold you back, I just want to watch you grow
You're the one who taught me you don't have to look behind
Oh yes, sweet darling
So glad you are a child of mine

Child of mine, child of mine
Oh yes, sweet darling
So glad you are a child of mine

Nobody's gonna kill your dreams
Or tell you how to live your life
There'll always be people to make it hard for a while
But you'll change their heads when they see you smile

The times you were born in may not have been the best
But you can make the times to come better than the rest
I know you will be honest if you can't always be kind
Oh yes, sweet darling
So glad you are a child of mine

Child of mine, child of mine,
Oh yes, sweet darling
So glad you are a child of mine

Child of mine, child of mine
Oh yes, sweet darling
So glad you are a child of mine


Listening to it, I looked in my rear view mirror and watched Oliver coo to his little animals hanging over his seat. He is so precious. He woke us up 6 times last night, sometimes to eat and sometimes just for his paci. In the middle of the night, it was frustrating.

But, this morning, when he gives me this smiling face, I forget the night and just say to him, "Oh sweet Oliver, I am so glad you are a child of mine!"

I think I'll make this a few blog posts long because each one of the songs on that CD says something special to Jeff and me, and I'd like to share that with you guys and record it for Oliver to read it someday.

Growing up

Just wanted to post these two photos side by side for comparison. My baby boy is getting bigger!


5 weeks old





15 weeks old

Protect & Serve

Well, we got a couple inches of ice and snow last night and my work was delayed by 4 hours. So, I am sitting on the couch, Oli is napping next to me, I've got a mindless action/drama Death Sentence playing on TV where some cops and all of Kevin Bacon's family just got killed when my doorbell rings. I thought it might be UPS or Fedex so I buzzed the door and went outside.

It's a Howard County cop. I said hi, he said hi, I looked confused, he said, didn't you call? I say no, he verifies my unit number and states you called. I state no I didn't. He says, "but you came out here really fast like you were expecting somebody." In my head I am thinking, dude, what's it to you how fast I came out but out loud I said, "I thought it might be UPS or Fedex."

So, he calls dispatch to confirm the address and all I hear is the house number and the unit number which match mine. I am freaking out now thinking somebody called the cop to my house. I am also wondering if the smoke alarms I set off earlier warming up my aloo parathas set some alarm off at the cop station. To verify again, I say the name of my street and he says, "oh I thought this was ABC (not my street), not XYZ (my street)." I heave a huge sigh of relief and say, "oh no, that's a different street, have a good day."

This is the sort of excitement I can live without!

Froggy in the water

Today was Oli's first swim lesson and he did GREAT! He wasn't ecstatic about the experience. He even gave us a few tears at getting water in his ears or over his head, up his nose, down his throat but he didn't cry for more than a few seconds and then just went through his half hour with a furrowed brow. Both Jeff and I got in the water with him and it was so much fun. He was the youngest there today but another lady with a year old said she's been bring hers since she was 3 months old.

We tried getting some good photos but we waited till the end and he was tired and cranky. We managed to get 1 where he's not crying.

P.S. How adorable is the turtle swim diaper?

*YAWWWWWN*



I love you Froggy!

  3 nights of the following sleep routine make mommy a very tired, slightly cranky person:

• go to bed between 8 and 9
• wake up between 1 and 2 as usual for a feeding *yawn*
• only drink 1 - 2 ounces instead of the usual 4 - 5
• wake up every hour either wanting the pacifier or another ounce of milk

*yawn* I even tried forcing the bottle in Oli's mouth (not hard, just not letting him push it out, come on people don't call the CPS on me yet) because he purses his lips tightly. But no, he just leaves the bottle there and the milk/formula dribbles out like booze out of a drunk in the gutter's lips. I can handle a lesser amount of sleep than a lot of people I know (coughcoughJeffcoughBrendacough) but this constantly interrupted sleep is killing me. Hope this is just a growth spurt thing (doubtful since he's not eating more as a whole through the day) or a passing fancy.

So, yesterday was Valentine's Day. Before I tell you about our exciting V-day 2011, let's go over some of my past years of love days:

• 2004: 1st valentine's with Jeff so nothing before this counts hah ;-) He came over for brunch, I cooked, he did the dishes. I took photos of him doing the dishes so my parents would believe it when I told them. He gave me a wonderful smelling bottle of Coco Mademoiselle by Chanel.That was before I told him I was allergic to perfumes. He knows that now. Then, we had plans to go to the SF Museum of Art; this was before I told him I wasn't a fan of museums of art. He knows now. Back to the story, we were ready and he kept stalling. Then my doorbell rang and a huge bouquet of flowers showed up. That was before I told him I wasn't a big fan of cut flowers. He knows that now too. You would think this whole day would spell doom for our relationship, wouldn't you? But, history proves otherwise.
• 2005: I was away at college in MI and I have no blog post to remind me so I have no idea what we did this year! He probably sent me flowers again, I probably reminded him a month later that I think flowers are a waste of money. What an ungrateful badwordIwon'tuse I am, aren't I?
• 2006: We had a date with INS. Yes, it was on Valentine's day. But, that meant I got to fly from MI to CA and spend the day with Jeff (after canoodling a date (I looked up the meaning of that first word and uhh had to change it) with INS in the morning).
• 2007: How about that, I have no idea! This is the only post I could find and it's dated 2/13.
• 2008: Still no idea what we did but I had some strong thoughts about people who claim to hate the day.
• 2009: Hmm no clue
• 2010: I am sitting talking to Brenda and that reminded me that last year, Jeff, Suheir and I went out to lunch for Valentine's day to Indigma. There was snow everywhere, we couldn't find parking and Jeff let me out next to a mound of snow where I slipped and I was teary and upset by the time we got to lunch. Wonderful, eh?
• 2011: worked, cooked mac and cheese for dinner and passed out by 8:30 p.m.

I am a big fan of Valentine's day as well as all holidays through the year, so reading my own list, it's funny to me that I don't have more elaborate plans on there. I think the reason is we do things throughout the year. We have done weekends out at a Bed & Breakfast in Annapolis just because. We get dressed up and go out to dinner when we can. We go to the movies (before 12 at AMC on weekends when it's $5/6) when there's something we want to see in the theater. So, to me, yesterday was perfect becuase I woke up next to my husband (would have liked more sleep), got to snuggle a warm cuddly baby who smiles and giggles at us in the morning (way tooo early though) and sat down to dinner with all my boys (way tooo late becuase Jeff worked late).

I leave you with my newest love:

3 months old

Oliver turned 3 months old today. Already? Do I sound like a broken record when I say, "where's the time going?" Or do all parents go through this?

We had a weight check for him on Friday because Jeff and I are worried he's not eating enough. He weighed in at 12 lbs 4 ounces, which was at the 25th percentile. He was at the 25th at his 2 month check up too. So, he's gaining on his curve, he hasn't dropped so we are all happy. His daily intake is still not quite at the place the doctor would like it to be. She said he should be drinking close to 30 ounces a day. His average is 24-25 and some days it's as low as 19-20 ounces. But, once again, with the weight gain being where it's at, she isn't worried yet. Another month and we can start experimenting with foods, maybe that'll give him a good growth spurt.

Oli also watched his first Superbowl game yesterday and he wasn't overly impressed. In fact, he showed his unhappiness by spewing a whole feeding all over my head. Yay for new mommy milestones too. I have been peed on and now I've been puked on. I was playing with him, holding him over my head, like I do a dozen or more times a day. This time, he just didn't like it, I guess. I saw it coming and closed my eyes and mouth but I had to take a shower right away.

Speaking of the Superbowl, unless they change the date or time of the game or declare the following Monday a federal holiday, yesterday was the LAST Superbowl party Jeff and I will be throwing. Or attending. I am beyond exhausted and I cannot even imagine Jeff's mental state after 2 hrs of commute this morning. We didn't even stay up that late, I think we were asleep before 10:30. But, we just can't do this on a school night anymore. I woke up an hour later than usual this morning, which means I got to work an hour later than usual, which means I'll be fighting commuter traffic to get home today. And mommy don't like that.

Awesome customer service

I love Amazon's Subscribe & Save program. & I love their Amazon Prime for Mom program. Both save you money. With a lot of items, you get 15% for subscribing and then another 15% off for being an Amazon Prime member. Usually, the Prime membership costs $79.99 for the year, I think but they gave out free 1 year memberships to new moms and I signed up. I have also been getting wipes in bulk with their subscribe and save program because it's really cheap and I can control when they send the shipments. You have to initially select the frequency of shipment but you can cancel those at any time and then go back in and reactivate it when you need to.

So, I got an alert from one of the many websites I follow that these PopChips that I love were on sale on Amazon, they were also eligible for subscribe and save and for the prime discount. I ordered a box of them in the 3 oz sized bags, but then I saw they had smaller 0.8 oz bags and I wanted that size. I knew form previous experience that if you cancelled a subscription before it shipped, it would cancel the first shipment too. So, I cancelled the order for the 3 oz ones and ordered the 0.8 oz ones instead. And 2 days later, my box of 24 0.8 oz bags of yummy salt & vinegar Pop chips showed up.

And 2 days later, a bigger box of 12 3 oz bags of yummy salt & vinegar Pop chips showed up. I was unhappy. I didn't want this many bags of chips. So, I logged on and tried to process a return and it wouldn't let me. Now, I was getting annoyed so I sent customer service an email. I stated that I'd be willing to pay for return shipping but I didn't want these chips and I'd like a refund.

A day later, I received an email from them stating that food items cannot be returned. But, they were processing a refund for me in the whole amount of the transaction. And a day after that, I had an email confirming my refund. I really don't want all these chips (I'll probably bring them to work and give them away) but I didn't expect them to just give me my money back. This is just another example of the wonderful customer service I have always received from Amazon and it reaffirms my decision to keep shopping from them.