I love taking Elijah to Mass with me. I think it's important for him to know this is something we do every week unless we have a very strong reason not to. I also like watching everyone else smile at him as he smiles at them.
Usually we leave around 8:20 for 9 am Mass and I give him his morning bottle in the pew before Mass starts. My problem is what to do when I want to go to confession. Those days I usually just leave him at home with Nathan, but I hate that.
For other Catholic moms or dads who go to Mass on their own, how do you handle this situation? Is it okay to take him into the confessional with me?
Sunday, June 24, 2012
Saturday, June 23, 2012
7 Quick Takes
one
One of the reasons I haven't posted much lately, apart from work and a baby who doesn't like napping, is because I've been trying hard to come up with a post topic that isn't baby-centric. And I honestly haven't been able to. I promise, I'm still my own person, but it seems like everything I do, with the exception of going to work, centers around Elijah. Not that that's a bad thing.
two
Earlier this week, my laptop's hard drive crashed, taking all of our pictures and all of my writing with it. Nathan rushed it to his good friend A., who is very handy with things like that, and I was told the information is still there, it is just inaccessible at this point. For a day or two Nathan and I shared his computer, which is never a good idea, trust me, there's a reason we have two computers. A. took the bad hard drive out and installed a fresh clean one and sent the computer back. So, we have to look into finding a data recovery service that isn't horribly expensive.
three
I'm never any good at cooking in the summer time. I like heavy rich foods, and I'm not overly fond of vegetables. I can never come up with any light recipes that sound good. I usually just resort to making the heavier foods in the crock pot so I don't overheat the house.
four
Elijah's first real baby food was carrots. He was undecided about them at first, but eventually got to the point where I couldn't get the spoon to his mouth fast enough. Today we started him on peas. He had no problems with peas, which was surprising to me, I have always thought of peas as an acquired taste.
five
My brother and sisters and their families are coming home this weekend! Unfortunately, I won't get to see Elizabeth because she's only going to be at the big family gathering tomorrow, which I have to miss. But Nate and his family and Anne are both going to be in town for several days! I'm very excited about this. Mom even has some free passes to the Shedd Aquarium so Anne and I are going to take Elijah downtown on one of my days off.
Six
We only have one month left to go before the adoption should be finalized! I'm sure we'll have some kind of party.
Seven
I know I talk about Elijah not napping, but I took this picture earlier this week during one of our morning naps, which have been getting shorter and shorter. It's one of my new favorite pictures.
Check out more 7 Quick Takes here!
Wednesday, June 20, 2012
Down on the Farm
The nursery is finally so much put together that I'm calling it done. And Elijah's only 4 months old.
Come on in.
A long time ago...like, back when we decided we were going to pursue adoption, I decided the nursery theme would be "farm animals." I love the wall appliques, they were just what I wanted. And the ducky on the hamper was actually a present to me a long time ago from a friend of Anne's.
The glider was a $25 garage sale purchase. The reason all the nursery furniture is white is: I wanted a white bookcase that I could paint with our favorite quotes from books. It turns out my painting skills kind of suck, but I love it anyway. The two quotes you can see are "Cry God for Harry, England, and St. George" from Shakespeare's Henry V, and "And the tree was happy," from The Giving Tree. There are also lines from Tale of Two Cities, Richard II, Hamlet, I Robot, The Story of Ferdinand, Peter Pan, Julius the Baby of the World, Jane Eyre, The Christmas Carol, The Princess Bride, Sharpe's Fury, Agnes Grey, Through the Looking Glass, and The Gunslinger.
For reasons I don't fully understand, when we brought Elijah home, I became a crafting machine. I blame Pinterest. I couldn't find a cute reasonably priced farm mobile, so I thought...I can knit, I'll just make the mobile. The pig, chicken, and sheep are cute. The cow looks like a giant weasel. When he's done with needing a mobile, I'm going to keep the first three as toys in his room, the cow's going in the trash.
The rocking sheep came from a garage sale as a birthday present from my in-laws, who also bought the bookcase for my birthday. I love it, seriously, a rocking sheep. The shelves are filled with farm animal stuffed animals. The top shelf has something which is actually directly from Pinterest, it is the alphabet framed with the 'E' in blue, and the bottom says "is for Elijah." I love it. Above the window to the left is his name in painted letters, but I couldn't get it in the picture. The wall to the right are 3 closets, the middle one has his dresser in it.
And that's Elijah's room. Hope you enjoyed the tour!
Come on in.
And that's Elijah's room. Hope you enjoyed the tour!
Elijah update
Elijah is almost five months old now, and baby boy has changed a lot.
At his doctor's appointment at the beginning of this month we found out he weighed 14.5 lbs and was 25 inches long. I think he's probably closer to 15 lbs now.
He can sit fairly straight with minimal support.
He eats baby oatmeal and carrots now. We'll start him on something else later this week.
He has a real belly laugh.
He sleeps reliably through the night.
He eats very well.
He has favorite toys: Baby Einstein musical panda and Baby Einstein music box.
His favorite person is probably still Mama.
He will roll from his back to his tummy, but not the other way.
He still hates tummy time.
He loves to play chase. I hold him and we "run" while Nathan chases us, then he tickles Elijah's tummy and turns around and we chase him.
He spends a lot of time outside and loves it. But not this week.
His least favorite thing is probably napping. (Seriously, he does NOT nap well. Which is probably why it's taken me a month to get this blog updated.)
It seems like he has just noticed Hecate and Hyperion. He watches them a lot these days.
He's a lot of fun.
At his doctor's appointment at the beginning of this month we found out he weighed 14.5 lbs and was 25 inches long. I think he's probably closer to 15 lbs now.
He can sit fairly straight with minimal support.
He eats baby oatmeal and carrots now. We'll start him on something else later this week.
He has a real belly laugh.
He sleeps reliably through the night.
He eats very well.
He has favorite toys: Baby Einstein musical panda and Baby Einstein music box.
His favorite person is probably still Mama.
He will roll from his back to his tummy, but not the other way.
He still hates tummy time.
He loves to play chase. I hold him and we "run" while Nathan chases us, then he tickles Elijah's tummy and turns around and we chase him.
He spends a lot of time outside and loves it. But not this week.
His least favorite thing is probably napping. (Seriously, he does NOT nap well. Which is probably why it's taken me a month to get this blog updated.)
It seems like he has just noticed Hecate and Hyperion. He watches them a lot these days.
He's a lot of fun.
Monday, May 21, 2012
Awkward...
This is something that never even crossed my mind when Nathan and I were in the midst of the adoption process. Here's a scenario which has played out several times since we brought Elijah home:
Random Stranger sees Pretty Lady with Adorable Newborn and decides to ask Pretty Lady questions about her pregnancy. I really never even considered this happening. Was I being naive?
Mom and I went shopping in Rockford the other day and had lunch at Olive Garden. Seeing that I had ordered a Diet Coke, the waitress, who was very nice, asked if it was true that drinking caffeine during pregnancy makes for less calm babies.
We then went to the mall where we stopped at Victoria's Secret because I needed new bras. The floor attendant got ready to measure my bust and asked me if it was the first time I had been measured "since baby."
It's not so much a problem that this is catching me off guard, the problem is I don't know how to respond without telling everyone in the world that Elijah is adopted. It's not a bad thing that he is, but I don't want people seeing him as my "adopted son," just my son.
I've also run into a similar problem with people I know, but don't see as often. I don't know why, but ever since we made the decision to adopt, I assumed everyone we knew would know that's what we were doing. Turns out, not so much. Every time I see someone whom I haven't seen in a while and don't interact with on Facebook, they see Elijah, get really excited and say, "I didn't know you had a baby!"
Well...I didn't, but I do.
If there are any other adoptive moms out there who have run into similar situations and have advice how to handle this, I'd appreciate it. Any non-adoptive moms with advice would be welcome, too. :)
Random Stranger sees Pretty Lady with Adorable Newborn and decides to ask Pretty Lady questions about her pregnancy. I really never even considered this happening. Was I being naive?
Mom and I went shopping in Rockford the other day and had lunch at Olive Garden. Seeing that I had ordered a Diet Coke, the waitress, who was very nice, asked if it was true that drinking caffeine during pregnancy makes for less calm babies.
We then went to the mall where we stopped at Victoria's Secret because I needed new bras. The floor attendant got ready to measure my bust and asked me if it was the first time I had been measured "since baby."
It's not so much a problem that this is catching me off guard, the problem is I don't know how to respond without telling everyone in the world that Elijah is adopted. It's not a bad thing that he is, but I don't want people seeing him as my "adopted son," just my son.
I've also run into a similar problem with people I know, but don't see as often. I don't know why, but ever since we made the decision to adopt, I assumed everyone we knew would know that's what we were doing. Turns out, not so much. Every time I see someone whom I haven't seen in a while and don't interact with on Facebook, they see Elijah, get really excited and say, "I didn't know you had a baby!"
Well...I didn't, but I do.
If there are any other adoptive moms out there who have run into similar situations and have advice how to handle this, I'd appreciate it. Any non-adoptive moms with advice would be welcome, too. :)
Monday, May 14, 2012
Screen Time
This is the biggest parenting dilemma I have come across so far.
If you know Nathan and I, you probably know we don't watch television. We have a TV and it is hooked up to the power so we can watch movies, but not to any source of TV programing. The only things I really watch are Dr. Who on Netflix and The Big Bang Theory occasionally on CBS.com or the DVD seasons we have and Pushing Daisies on DVD. Nathan watches even less than I do.
And since we've brought Elijah home, I get really uncomfortable any time he is around any screens. Occasionally, we watch vintage clips of Sesame Street or Mr. Rogers on You Tube. But even children's shows make me uncomfortable. And this really isn't just television, this is any screen. I get antsy when he looks at the computer, too. But, usually when I check my e-mail in the morning, he's sitting on my lap.
I don't even know why it bothers me so much. We watched TV growing up and so did Nathan and his sister. But for some reason, any time Elijah is in the room and there is a screen on, I have to fight the urge to pick him up and go elsewhere.
The only exception was last week, there was a day when it was so hot, Elijah did not want to be held or cuddled and I was getting tired of being screamed at. So I put him in his bouncy chair and pointed it at the TV and we watched Disney's Robin Hood, the one with the foxes. I tried watching a movie we ordered from Netflix while we were playing on the floor, but every time he looked at the screen, I felt a surge of panic and ended up turning it off after about ten minutes.
Instead we listen to a lot of music around here, and we read a lot of books. We go for long walks, and play on the floor.
I realize this complete avoidance of television is probably not good for him, either. I just haven't been able to make myself okay with exposing him to it yet.
**Please understand I am not trying to pass judgement on anyone whose children watch TV. I'm just trying to figure out how things will work for us.**
If you know Nathan and I, you probably know we don't watch television. We have a TV and it is hooked up to the power so we can watch movies, but not to any source of TV programing. The only things I really watch are Dr. Who on Netflix and The Big Bang Theory occasionally on CBS.com or the DVD seasons we have and Pushing Daisies on DVD. Nathan watches even less than I do.
And since we've brought Elijah home, I get really uncomfortable any time he is around any screens. Occasionally, we watch vintage clips of Sesame Street or Mr. Rogers on You Tube. But even children's shows make me uncomfortable. And this really isn't just television, this is any screen. I get antsy when he looks at the computer, too. But, usually when I check my e-mail in the morning, he's sitting on my lap.
I don't even know why it bothers me so much. We watched TV growing up and so did Nathan and his sister. But for some reason, any time Elijah is in the room and there is a screen on, I have to fight the urge to pick him up and go elsewhere.
The only exception was last week, there was a day when it was so hot, Elijah did not want to be held or cuddled and I was getting tired of being screamed at. So I put him in his bouncy chair and pointed it at the TV and we watched Disney's Robin Hood, the one with the foxes. I tried watching a movie we ordered from Netflix while we were playing on the floor, but every time he looked at the screen, I felt a surge of panic and ended up turning it off after about ten minutes.
Instead we listen to a lot of music around here, and we read a lot of books. We go for long walks, and play on the floor.
I realize this complete avoidance of television is probably not good for him, either. I just haven't been able to make myself okay with exposing him to it yet.
**Please understand I am not trying to pass judgement on anyone whose children watch TV. I'm just trying to figure out how things will work for us.**
Wednesday, May 9, 2012
A Few Things
Things that are hard:
Keeping up with this blog while working third shift and taking care of my son. Can you tell? I've been back to work since my last post and in all that time I haven't found a moment when I had the time and energy to update. We've just come through the two most trying weeks of life since we brought Elijah home. And my least favorite part about them has been:
When other people have to step in to help take care of Elijah. We are really lucky to live close to both my parents and Nathan's parents. We are also lucky that they are all crazy about our little guy and don't mind watching him for us. That said, I hate it when I have to ask them to. If being back at work has done anything it has made me more aware of time. I only have so much time at home with him now, and I want it all. So what if I've only slept 2 hours in the last 24? I want my baby, damn it.
Taking care of the house. Not in general, mind. Just while I was on thirds. I would get home from work, feed the baby and take a nap with him. After that, the days are kind of a blur of playing with him and wishing Nathan would get home. Then, when Nathan got him, I dragged myself up to bed to sleep until I had to wake up for work. House chores kind of fell away. I washed bottles only when we didn't have any clean and the laundry definitely piled up untended.
Admitting how happy I am to be on seconds. I love third shift...love it. I love the hours, the work, the people. Everything about third shift is great. Or was. But now, I can't even begin to tell you how excited I am to be working from 3 to 11. I get to sleep like a normal person, and wake up at a normal hour. I get to play with my son and not have a haze of exhaustion keeping me from enjoying myself. I am so happy to be on seconds.
Things that are great:
Elijah's progress. We went out for a birthday dinner tonight and as we sat at the table, me holding Elijah, my plate started sliding towards me. I looked down and his tiny hand was clamped around the edge. He has started rolling over and can sit relatively straight for periods of time, while he's supported. He laughs--my favorite sound ever. He has started vocalizing a lot more and we think he might be starting to get a tooth. And he sleeps through the night for the most part. He's just great.
Nathan. I have Nathan. How lucky am I?
Getting books for my birthday. All Our Worldly Goods by Irene Nemirovsky and Your Personal Penguin by Sandra Boynton. Yes, that last one was for Elijah, but I don't care. I love it.
Doctor Who. Nathan used to tell me I should watch Doctor Who. He said I'd love it, but I ignored him, because it seemed like such a strange show. But he was right. I started watching it when Elijah was about a month old and we were still spending quite a bit of time in the sun room. I love it. More than I've loved any show for quite a while, I love it. And in case you have any Doctor Who background and you're curious: 9 is by far my favorite, but I also love 11.
English folk music: Kate Rusby, June Tabor, Seth Lakeman, Eddi Reader, Smithfield Fair, all great. Can't get enough of them.
Keeping up with this blog while working third shift and taking care of my son. Can you tell? I've been back to work since my last post and in all that time I haven't found a moment when I had the time and energy to update. We've just come through the two most trying weeks of life since we brought Elijah home. And my least favorite part about them has been:
When other people have to step in to help take care of Elijah. We are really lucky to live close to both my parents and Nathan's parents. We are also lucky that they are all crazy about our little guy and don't mind watching him for us. That said, I hate it when I have to ask them to. If being back at work has done anything it has made me more aware of time. I only have so much time at home with him now, and I want it all. So what if I've only slept 2 hours in the last 24? I want my baby, damn it.
Taking care of the house. Not in general, mind. Just while I was on thirds. I would get home from work, feed the baby and take a nap with him. After that, the days are kind of a blur of playing with him and wishing Nathan would get home. Then, when Nathan got him, I dragged myself up to bed to sleep until I had to wake up for work. House chores kind of fell away. I washed bottles only when we didn't have any clean and the laundry definitely piled up untended.
Admitting how happy I am to be on seconds. I love third shift...love it. I love the hours, the work, the people. Everything about third shift is great. Or was. But now, I can't even begin to tell you how excited I am to be working from 3 to 11. I get to sleep like a normal person, and wake up at a normal hour. I get to play with my son and not have a haze of exhaustion keeping me from enjoying myself. I am so happy to be on seconds.
Things that are great:
Elijah's progress. We went out for a birthday dinner tonight and as we sat at the table, me holding Elijah, my plate started sliding towards me. I looked down and his tiny hand was clamped around the edge. He has started rolling over and can sit relatively straight for periods of time, while he's supported. He laughs--my favorite sound ever. He has started vocalizing a lot more and we think he might be starting to get a tooth. And he sleeps through the night for the most part. He's just great.
Nathan. I have Nathan. How lucky am I?
Getting books for my birthday. All Our Worldly Goods by Irene Nemirovsky and Your Personal Penguin by Sandra Boynton. Yes, that last one was for Elijah, but I don't care. I love it.
Doctor Who. Nathan used to tell me I should watch Doctor Who. He said I'd love it, but I ignored him, because it seemed like such a strange show. But he was right. I started watching it when Elijah was about a month old and we were still spending quite a bit of time in the sun room. I love it. More than I've loved any show for quite a while, I love it. And in case you have any Doctor Who background and you're curious: 9 is by far my favorite, but I also love 11.
English folk music: Kate Rusby, June Tabor, Seth Lakeman, Eddi Reader, Smithfield Fair, all great. Can't get enough of them.
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