'mmie is gone

Cash started calling "grammy" by just the ending sound - 'mmie (sounds like Mee) and she probably wishes that he hadn't figured this one out because it was all 'mmie, all the time before she left. "Come on 'mmie", "Bye 'mmie", "Bite 'mmie", "moon 'mmie", and so on. Unfortunately, Cash was in a bit of a rotten mood on Sunday and had 2 good fits for no reason. I think he was working through a bit of a tummy ache because he didn't go to the bathroom as regularly as he usually does and then he woke up last night with a lot of gas. I think we are all suffering from a little too much fun this weekend - it was hard to get out of bed this morning and i'm writing this blog just so i don't fall asleep at my desk!
We had a great time and got some extra special bonus time with Grammy because her flights were cancelled! We all like having Grammy around and those of you who have her within arms reach or a car ride should feel very lucky!

Spoiled

Cash is getting a little spoiled! Grammy got him an awesome truck which he asked for first thing when he woke up this morning and didn't want to leave it to go to bed last night. I actually had to bribe him with his blanket and dummy. There is a little man that drives the truck who Cash calls "daddy" - i guess it looks like daddy. The funniest part is that the truck is a garbage truck and the little man is a sanitation worker! ha ha, daddy is a garbage man. Daddy is trying to convince Grammy and I that Cash is actually calling the little man "Danny" not "Daddy". Don't think so Chandler.
Cash also likes that Gammy provides him with an endless supply of yummy treats. He is enjoying bannana bread and red licorice.

Not so fast

Just after I was cleared from the Perinatologist's, Dr. Roberts (boy) care, i've been called back. Upon reviewing the tapes my primary OB wants me to go back for a check up in 3 weeks because it looks like the baby's got an "enlarged left ventricle" in his brain - whatever that means. The measurements are just at the upper limits of normal (what else is new) at 10.5 (normal is 10). I should have asked more questions but was a little confused at first so i'll gather my questions and ask next week when i go to see Dr. Roberts (girl).

Update to come...

The "Grammy" who shall remain nameless comes to visit

Grammy (the grandmother who shall remain nameless in the eyes of her grandson) has come to visit and we are all so excited. For some reason it gives us all a big sense of relief when Grammy comes. Its like the day-to-day stress melts away. Just having another set of hands around the house is a lot of fun and a big help. We picked her up on Saturday and went to have some lunch then came home for a nap. The rest of the weekend rushed by and we played a lot and watched as Cash entertained everyone. He is a real stinker, refusing to say "Grammy" although i know he can do it - he can say every word invented and when asked to say "Grammy" he says, "no" instead. I'm convinced he knows this frustrates us.
Grammy babysat while Chandler and I had lunch out. Which was really fun but we talked about Cash and the new baby the entire time...guess that goes with the territory. Its been a while since we've been out - just the two of us - so maybe with a little more practice we'll get better.
I took the day off work yesterday, which I must do more often. I had such a nice time with my baby and mother. I had to get a test run at the doctor’s office so Grammy watched Cash and then we went out to lunch and to the book store. Then I got to take a nap, in my bed, not on the couch! Amazing. In the late afternoon we went and watched Anna play volley ball and after a few minutes Cash warmed up and was the hyper kid running all over the bleachers. I’m back at work today but planning my next day off!
For the most part we've just enjoyed each other's company. Cash has really liked having someone else to show off in front of and color with. And Grammy is more than happy to oblige.

This week's theme: SLEEP

Since everyone is blogging about sleep in their households this week i thought i'd add my nightmare to the dicussion. Cash has woken up in the middle of the night, sometimes twice, 4 out of 5 nights this week, . At some point between 2:30 and 4:30 my little boy has woken up crying. Sometimes he is calling for me, sometimes he is just crying and last night he asked me for a bottle, cookies and a snack. As far as I can tell nothing is physically wrong with him. I've gone through all the usual suspects, dirty diaper, sick/fever, nightmare, hot/cold, noises, etc, but nothing fit. I thought maybe he was hungry because Chandler told me that he didn't eat much dinner one of the nights and i gave him some milk and he sucked it down very quickly. But I've settled on more of a phychological issue of missing his momma. I don't know how real this is but since i've been gone before he gets up and home after he gets to bed, maybe he is waking up because he misses me and wants to see. I know he misses me because Chandler tells me he asks about me and says, "momma work" in the mornings. Also, i got a little extra time last night and this morning to be home and he was really clingly - but i didn't mind clinging right back! Hopefully now that Market is over things can get back to normal for my boy and we'll be back to our usual routine of sleeping.

Cluck Cluck (or bock bock as CR would say)

Its market week and i'm out of the house by 6:30 am and not home until after 7:30pm so dinner this week is going to be a little different. All meals can be made ahead of time and/or reheated.
The first thing i did was buy 2 rotisserie chickens and shred them into a large zip lock bag so have I have a chicken reserve. This chicken will show up in lots of places this week.

White Chili - so easy and so good and so easy to reheat - over and over and over. Both my boys love it. Oil in large spaghetti pot, garlic, green chilis (mild), (chopped onion if you like) a few cans of white kidney beans (northern beans will work to but they aren't as good but easier to find) and ground clove. Then toss in some of the shredded chicken - as much as you like. If you like it hot, add jalepenos and/or red chili flakes (you can do this to individual bowls if tastes are different or if you are serving at a party). Serve with montery jack cheese, corn chips, sour cream, etc. I have already made this so CJ can reheat and serve.

Puffed Pastries (if you like Top Chef you can call this a deconstructed chicken pot pie) - Pillsbury puffed pastries (in freezer section by frozen pie crust and philo dough) cooked to directions on box. Cut up celery, carrots and saute (i cut them ahead of time and they are just waiting to be cooked). Heat up a couple cans of cream of chicken soup, throw in cooked veggies and frozen peas, add shredded chicken. Pile on top of hot pastries. All these pieces are made (or staged) so there is just putting it together and making it hot left to do.

Chicken Tacos - duh. use shredded chicken, warm through in taco seasoning + water. add taco stuff (lettuce, tomato, cheese) . Everything is made already, all i'll need to do is put the pieces together

Chicken Parmesean - Chicken tenderloins (these cook really fast and are easier for me than the whole breast) breaded and pan fried. I cooked these already so they are waiting in a bag in the fridge. I'll just pour some tomato sauce over them, season with oregano and basil, cover with shredded mozerella cheese - bake until bubbly.

I also have ground beef and ground pork to make a meatloaf since that was such a hit a couple weeks ago. takes a long time to cook though so maybe i'll get brave and try it in the crock pot if i get home early enough one night...i'll keep you posted since i know you all look forward to these food blogs the most!

I also cooked up a big bunch of green beans and have them waiting in a zip lock. green beans will get eaten in my house and seems they reheat well without getting mushy. we'll have these with a few of the meals.

This morning i also made a huge smoothy and brought it with me to work. the Dole Smoothie mix of frozen fruit at Sam's Club is awesome. Mango, Strawberry, Pineapple - add orange juice - blend.

I'm hoping by being prepared and eating well i'll keep myself from getting run down this week.

Life and stuff

I know that i am a better mother because i work.
I would probably be very frustrated and frazzled if i didn't work and stayed at home with Cash. I like to work and I am very good at my job and really like to know that we have money in the bank if we want to go out to dinner or if we want to fly to see our family but sometimes i get really jealous of other stay at home moms. I think its a classic case of "the grass is always greener". Almost every one of my high school and college friends who have babies is a SAHM. There are a bunch of ladies in my neighborhood who are SAHMs. The problem is I find myself having a really hard time relating to them. We spend a lot of time outside in the evenings now that the weather is cooling off and Cash is much more mobile and social. We run into Devin and Riley and Jack almost every night. Their moms talk about meeting up at the park at 10am the next day or going to the play gym on Tuesday's at noon and i just have to pack my baby off to daycare each day. They always try to include me but i must decline.
I tell myself that I am going to take a day off each month to do these things with Cash but there is never a good time - and frankly the corporate culture at my business is not one that fosters personal time off. I wont be in this job forever and maybe my next job will allow for more time with my children. I think i do a pretty good job at quality time when i am home at night and on weekends. I think i'm just missing Cash right now because i've been working much longer hours lately. And because he is making such developmental strides that i want to be around to see everything.

Baby C update

Seems all is well with Baby C. I have been cleared from the perinatologist's care and can just go back to seeing Dr. Lisa full time. That kind of sucks because the peri's office is so quiet and fast and Dr. Lisa is more popular than the opening night of the Jonas Brother's concert.
The baby is about 2lbs right now - that's about 1/2 pound more than average for this age. He is measuring about 27.5 weeks (I am 25 weeks today). That is about the same as Cash - he was always about 10 days to 2 weeks bigger. All the parts and pieces are still there and he seems to be very happy to kick me in the cervix every few minutes. He is really busy in there and the US tech had a hell of a time trying to catch him before he flipped around. Much like his brother he keeps his hands in front of his face - all the better to punch me with.
WARNING: GIRLY STUFF FOLLOWING...
The big question was about the placement of the placenta. For the previous 20+ weeks my placenta and the ventricals have been dangerously close to growing into my previous uterine incision and threatened the blood flow into the uterus. The good news is that today we noticed that my placenta has shifted across just enough for all of this to be a fuzzy memory. There is no longer any threat or reason to be concerned. The doctor still recommends a c-section rather than a vbac and that works best for me as well. But there will - baring any further complications - be no need for extra blood, extra surgeons, extra prayers, removal of any body parts, etc. during the delivery. yay! bring on #3.

For the most part Cash is happy to do anything - anything he wants. Ride in the wagon, go for a walk, play, read books, sit on the coffee table, climb on things, steal cookies out of the pantry, flush the potty over and over, open the back door, chase the dog...
He really, really, really doesn't like a few things these days. He hates to put a diaper on or get dressed. If you can get his diaper on he is much easier to get dressed but getting the diaper on is just about enough to stop everything and potty train him NOW. He will kick and squirm and scream and cry and it is awful! He has gotten a few good kicks to my face and body - enough so that i just have to walk away and let him be naked. I don't know why he doesn't like to put his diaper on, once its on he is just fine and it doesn't bother him or anything he just hates to lay down and get it strapped on. Sometimes i can distract him with a book or a toy but mostly its a battle.
Also, he hates to get his teeth brushed. He turned a very scary shade of blue the other night because he was screaming so hard to not get his teeth brushed. i wish this was the kind of thing that i could just ignore or say, we'll do it tomorrow but i just don't want his teeth to rot out of his mouth - especially when he is eating more and more interesting things these days - and loving ice cream and frozen yogurt with cookie dough bites and lollipops. I've gotten him all sorts of fun toothbrushes with characters and cars on them but they all have the evil bristle end that mommy shoves in his mouth. He will cooperate for about 1 second - about as long as it takes to suck the bubble gum flavored toothpaste off the end. After that its all over. I tried going back to the finger brush but he bit me really hard and that was that.
Eating dinner also hasn't been very fun lately. Cash is a good eater but he has just preferred to play over sitting in his chair and eating dinner and now that he has learned to say "down please" it takes him about 60 seconds to figure out that he'd rather chase Chachi around the backyard than sit and eat dinner. So out comes the "down please" and i try to make him sit for "one more bite" but that doesn't happen.
For the most part he doesn't need much discipline - i'm sure that will change. The occassional slap or hit gets him a dirty look from Mom and that is usually enough. But i feel he is really testing his waters with these things.

nigh-night

when Cash goes to bed he says "nigh-night" to everything he knows a word for. Chachi, Doggie, Daddy, Choo-Choo train, bike, ball, motorcycle, car, truck, big truck, colors, moon, chair, seat, shirt, shoes, and the list goes on and on.
His new favorite thing is to make mommy do things. "Go Mama" "sit Mama" "come Mama". Today he had me climbing all over a playground like I was 2 years old. He has a pretty strong grip and will grab your hand and drag you if you aren't cooperating.
He loves big kids too. Last night we were in the driveway drawing with the chalk and all the big kids were in the street playing. Cash just stood at the end of the driveway watching them kick the soccer ball around.
I think Cash is a really big dude - not oddly big just proportionately big. There are so many other kids I see and i think they are much younger than they are because i compare them to Cash's size. Most year olds look about 9 months to me. And Cash compares with most 2 year olds.
He's been sick and now i'm sick - that's the way it goes. I have to work on Monday so i'll miss daddy daycare, lets hope there isn't more playing with cleaning tools.