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As Jack reached his 9-month milestone and with a recent addition to our extended family, I’m quite reflective and excited. Nine months ago, much like my friend/Jeff’s cousin did a week ago, I was doing this. Almost a week overdue, I was so done. Last September, I was toasted with exhaustion and filled with anxiety.
To say the least, so much has changed over these past 9 months. We brought home an adorable bundle of sweetness who has quickly morphed to a bundle of energy. Little did we know just how much this boy would fill our hearts.
At Jack’s 9 month well baby visit last week, we learned that his weight and height have definitely tapered to the point where he’s back on the charts. He’s very healthy, weighing in at 24lbs. and measuring at 29.5 in. For weight he is in the 90th percentile and for height he’s in the 75th percentile. Though big, he’s definitely back on the charts! He’s still wearing size 4 diapers and large cloth diapers. Depending on the brand, he wears anywhere from 18m-2T clothes. His hair continues to get lighter and longer, and he still resembles both of us equally– at least we think so!
At the dr’s office, Jeff reported that Jack was his usual active self. Because he’s much taller and so much more curious, in one visit, he was able to singlehandedly create enough destruction to turn off the lights, knock over almost all of the dr’s tools on the walls and destroy the paper on the examining table to the point where the nurse had to change it 4 times. Yup. He’s a boy in ever sense of the word.
He’s crawling on all fours like a madman. He’s quick like a bunny; if you turn your head to grab the remote, he’s probably dumped out his entire toy basket or found a 2 inch entrance to his closet nursery that we’ve temporarily barricaded with his exersaucer or is turning off the DVD player, despite the fact that there are 10 pillows, an ottoman and a fan blocking his path. He’s quickly becoming a pro at pulling himself up on all the furniture. He’s had his fair share of falls, but practice makes perfect. He’s definitely working on mastering the whole cruising thing. Though he hasn’t taken any steps on his own, he frequently stands on his own, but isn’t quite sure where to go from there.
It’s becoming so much easier to communicate with Jack. We call him Jack more often than Jackson, but he knows his name. Every now and then when he’s being wildman Jack, I’ll flip on this show and he just dances and giggles. Every time he hears his name, he smiles. He must think the show is talking to him. We’ve been continuing to introduce some basic signs to him, especially while he’s eating. He’s catching on, at least I thought he was…Just the other day, I signed “all done?” to him. He waved “bye bye” back. haha. We’re getting somewhere!
His personality is so fun now. He’s very cognizant of our daily routines, and who does what and when. He’s caught on that if mommy is carrying him a certain way, it usually means we’re going somewhere. More often than not, if I’m carrying him to a different room, he likes to wave bye bye, as if we’re off to another trip to the park. He knows that if Jeff picks him up and says uh oh, that it usually means he’s getting kisses on his belly. When Jeff says uh oh, Jack is already giggling and pushing Jeff’s face away from his belly. He enjoys dancing and grooving. Anytime he hears music, even if it’s a commercial, he’ll wave his arms like he’s conducting or does this pelvic thrust thing. The dancing doesn’t stop him, even if he’s sitting down. He’ll dance regardless of his positioning. It makes me crack up every single time!
Jack is quickly becoming such a copycat. Our reading routine is very regular, so he knows what to do with the books. He’ll sit in our laps and follow along. He gets it: he points and follows the words, just like I do. I’m not sure if this should be in the copycat category or the City Baby category, but whenever Jack hears a siren–whether it’s an ambulance, firetruck or police car–he loves to squeal along with it. haha.
His curiosity is very much like his father’s. He continues to examine and study objects, as if he needs to get behind why stuffed bear rattles. He enjoys banging things together almost as much as he enjoys stomping on his toys. But as playful and active as he’s become, Jack is still quite the lovey boy. He has this puppy puppet that we like to play with that he loves to kiss. Whenever he sees it, he has to stop what he’s doing in order to give it a few smooches. In the middle of bashing his blocks together, he’s known to turn around and crawl over to Lola just to give her a little open-mouthed smooch. His way of letting you know that he’s content involves petting your arm and lovingly pinching you. My upper arm is all blue and purple, and I’m so o.k. with it.
With all the sweet smooches comes the tears of defiance. We’re still working on the soft discipline. Serious faces and “no Jack, that’s not for you,” often illicits a giggle, but we’re staying stern. Like most kids, he will vocalize when he’s bored, hungry or tired. You know, the usual. But when it’s time to change, he still unleashes shrills of terror. This kid still does not like clothes! (It’s such a shame, especially when I have an obsession for buying him clothes!) When he’s upset and crying, like if I need to put him down to make his dinner, he now does this exasperating slump to the floor. It’s so dramatic! Not sure where he would’ve learned that. 
Lots of stuff going on these days. Grown up stress–you know, the usual. But because I write about our lives in a way for the whole world to see, I often have to censor the good stuff. Since humor is cathartic and I need to laugh to stay in good spirits, I have to share these sites.
Not that I’m passive aggressive all the time, but I do love having a platform to unleash some veiled frustration. But better yet, I stumbled upon this hysterical site and found myself laughing and pointing at my computer screen. I’ll admit, I’ve written my fair share of passive aggressive notes.
My husband could’ve written this one. He’s given me a stern talking-to about my careless microwave-time-leaving. To love Jeff is to love his OCD charm.
*
Postcardsfromyomama.com is another site that I love. This one makes me laugh so hard, I cry. My mom doesn’t email, but if she did, I’d be sending in entries daily. If I could only record our conversations…
But thank God there are other moms who do send such awesome emails! Thank you funny mamas. I hope I am you one day.
Offspring – I am cancelling the reservation to Arun’s restaurant. People are losing everything to the flooding in Iowa; people are losing their homes from bank foresclosures (USA Today highlighted a family who took out a home equity loan for $100,000 – their house is now worth $60,000); the price of oil is making travel via car or air prohibitive yada yada yada and I am going to have my hard working princess daughters spend $100 each for a fancy dinner – food we consume, digest then poo? I would rather spend money supporting the local restaurants. Mama
and there’s more:
Barricades
and fuzzy pink slippers
This, folks, is what our life has become.
…time to sit back and unwind.
If there was one, considering the repetitious plays on the radio, that old Fresh Prince song must be the official anthem for summer.
Ah! Summertime.
We started the first official weekend of summer like we do other weekends– with tons of activities–and ended on a relaxing note– with naps all around.
After running our usual, tedious errands, we had a chance to experience the joy that was Cupcakefest. Jack rocked out to the tunes of our friend’s band, Junkpunch, while I inhaled a handful of delicious cupcakes courtesy of one of the event’s hosts– Sweet Avenue Bake Shop. As a huge cupcake fan, I have to say, those cupcakes were damn good. I couldn’t keep my eyes off the oversized trays of freshly baked mini cupcakes that they kept bringing out. Delicious.
Perhaps one of the best parts of the weekend was the fact that our babysitter search landed us with a very nice night out to help celebrate a friend’s 30th birthday. Over the course of a few months, we’d been interviewing potential weekend babysitters, so that we could somewhat have our social lives back. Well, I should rephrase that. Jeff and I are fortunate enough to be able to get out almost every Thursday evening. It’s sort of like our Friday night where we reconvene after a workweek where we pass like ships in the night. But besides that, understandably, we haven’t really had a chance to see our friends–together–sans Jack. I guess all of our stars were aligned on Saturday because the babysitter situation worked out perfectly.
I put Jack asleep, we repositioned the video monitor and wheeled his crib out to his closet/nursery. By 8:30, we were in a cab and made a dash for a childless evening. It was so nice to be out with friends, sipping beers and high-fiving the bday boy.
By 11:30, Jeff and I were quite anxious about the baby, knowing that he’d probably be up screaming looking for us. By then, our short-lived evening was over and we found our way back home.
I walked in to find the babysitter, who is an au pair for another family, sitting on the chair reading a book–exactly the same way we left her. I asked her if she had any problems and she said the words I was hoping for: nope, he never even woke up.
As I told Jeff earlier in the evening, the first night with a new babysitter would either go horribly wrong or really well.
I’m so glad it was the latter.
Sunday was my favorite kind– a lazy Sunday. Jack and I spent the morning at the park, but after a few laps around the playground and swing rides, the three of us were homebound for almost the rest of the day thanks to the on and off storms. We all took advantage of our plan-free day and napped intermittently. That was definitely my kind of summer weekend– enough fun with an equal mix of nothingness and naps! Let’s hope the rest of the summer can live up to that.
It is estimated that a baby uses six to ten diapers each day, which translates to about 2,000 to 3,000 diapers each year. That’s a lot of diaper changes.
When Jack was a newborn, I previously reported that we ran the gamut of various conventional diapers. Thanks to gifts from friends and family, we had the opportunity to try out all the big brands like Huggies, Pampers and Luvs. But unfortunately like many newborns, Jack exhibited the traditional signs of super sensitive skin. After those endless diaper changes throughout the day, I’d notice that his butt was bright red by evening. I knew it wasn’t just a diaper rash; I was convinced it was more. Could it be the long list of chemicals in those conventional brands?
According to the Journal of Pediatrics,
54% of one-month old babies using disposable diapers had rashes, 16% had severe rashes.
I’m neither a scientist or an experienced mom, but in my effort to be both, a hypervigilant parent and educated consumer, I wanted to seek out the alternatives.
According to ecobaby,
the super absorbent chemical in disposable diapers, sodium polyacrylate, absorbs and holds fluids in the diaper.
Wired reported that
Sodium polyacrylate was removed from tampons in 1985 because of its link to toxic shock syndrome, a bacteria-caused illness. But no such connection has been proven for outerwear, including diapers, incontinence products and feminine napkins, which all contain the super-absorbent gel, said Celeste Kuta, an environmental scientist with Procter & Gamble, the leading seller of disposable diapers in the United States.
Grasping the environmental impacts of diapers, even before Jack was born, I was adamant about using eco-friendly diapers– including going the cloth route. Diapers made up 3.4 million tons of waste, or 2.1 percent of U.S. garbage, in landfills according to older stats from the Environmental Protection Agency. Like other new conscientious moms, I wanted to at least attempt to balance environmental impacts with convenience and baby’s comfort.
But given our apartment dwelling scenario, cloth diapering and its requisite frequent laundering would be quite trivial. So, following Jack’s cousin’s lead again, we set out to try out the many alternative diaper brands.
So I decided to post our experience (in installments) with the various brands we’ve tried, including cloth diapering. Since we were welcomed home with a big box from Tendercare last night, I’ll start with those.
**
A few weeks ago, our favorite baby store was out of our usual diapers in Jack’s size, so we decided to pick up a pack of Tendercare diapers. When we visited Jack’s cousin earlier this year, Katarina was wearing Tendercare diapers. I think Karen and Nick told us they were just trying them out.
On initial appearance, the diaper was thinner than the other brands we’ve tried. I liked how it was much softer in texture as well. The Tendercare diapers have the refastenable tabs, which is key for Wiggle Mcwiggleson. I think I have to refasten diapers at least 5 times before I can get it right, since this child flips and wiggles like a fish out of water. More on the refastenable tabs later…
I like how the Tendercare brand uses non-chlorine bleached woodpulp from sustainable, renewable forests. The fit on Jack, however, wasn’t as snug as other diapers. It turned out, he leaked right through the diapers a few times, too. On the otherhand, Jack IS a heavy wetter. Quite honestly, I’d much rather do extra laundry and deal with a few leaks than make him wear diapers filled with chemicals that irritate his skin.
The fact that these diapers are Chlorine Free is quite significant. The presence of dioxins in conventional diapers has been linked to a laundry list of side effects. Eco baby says:
Dioxin, the most toxic of all cancer-linked chemicals, according to the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), is a byproduct of bleaching paper. Even in the smallest detectable quantities, dioxin has been known to cause liver disease, immune system suppression, and genetic damage in lab animals.
Back to the refastenable tabs, the second time we bought a pack of Tendercare diapers, we had the misfortune of picking up a bad batch. Basically, every single diaper in this pack had some sort of problem with the tabs– either the tab was hanging off or it was detached all together. The day after bringing home that pack of diapers, I forgot to replace the bad batch. So when I went to change Jack after dinner, he was sealed shut with packaging tape. Apparently, my mom refused to let the bad diapers go to waste and found the packaging tape (and went to town.)
Yes, Jack was wrapped like a 27-lb. package ready to be delivered– in a bad diaper with faulty tabs, no less.
Since an opened package of diapers can’t be returned, Jeff called the company to tell them about it. After a nice conversation with a lady in customer service, she asked Jeff to send the batch number and they would gladly replace them.
We got the box yesterday, a week after calling. They not only replaced the diapers but they gave us another pack and wipes too. Needless to say, we’re pleased that they promptly rectified the issue and with their stellar customer service.
The company touts other Tendercare features such as,
♥ Moisture Barrier Cuff
♥ Refastenable Tabs
♥ Breathable Sides
♥ Latex-Free
♥ Perfume-Free
♥ TBT-Free
♥ GMO-Free
♥ Hypoallergenic Top Sheet
♥ No Recycled Materials
The large size was $7.99 for 22 diapers, which calculates to about .36/diaper.
Despite the tab issue and the occasional leak, we’ll definitely use these diapers as often as we can. Tendercare diapers can be purchased at Amazon, Diapers.com, Buy Buy Baby, as well as other locations.
Originally uploaded by jen_rab
With my head buried in my hands, I could feel the shower of saliva on my toes. No, it was a WATERFALL of saliva. Make that monsoon.
Why?
Let me tell you why. Jack, like other babies his age, loves to blow raspberries. He just so happened to be sitting at my feet during his latest raspberry blowing frenzy. Sometimes, after he purses those lips together and lets the drool fly, he has no idea what he’s done. All he knows is that it feels good on his sore gums and he makes us crack up. Sometimes he’ll forget this cool trick and then surprise himself by remembering the coolness of it all. And then the endless raspberry blowing ensues.
Enter my husband. My darling husband has many idols including Albert Einstein, Leonard Bernstein, George Hopkins, Lenny Dykstra and Doug Heffernan.
Yes, I said Doug Heffernan–the overgrown manchild portrayed by Kevin James in the now defunct show, “King of Queens.”
Doug Heffernan is this overdramatic, very opinionated, sports-loving dude’s dude who always seems to find himself in the most obscure predicaments. Perhaps this is why Jeff strikes a chord with his fictitious hero, but every episode, Doug’s angsty wife yells at him for well, being Doug.
In the show, Doug disagrees with Carrie A LOT. He always has a way to punctuate his point, but most notably, he loves to fake flatulate with his hands.
WITH HIS HANDS.
So, let’s do the math folks: Jack loves to blow raspberries. Jeff loves to imitate Doug Heffernan. Jack loves to imitate his daddy. So what do we have?
Lots of fake farting.
Jeff summed it up best, “You better get used to it. You have a lifetime of farting ahead of you.”
so true.
I’ve accepted the lifetime of farting, which makes me love my fake-farting duo even more.
Happy Monday, all. Despite the rain and unbearable humidity, it was a nice weekend all around! As usual, I didn’t finish half of the chores on my ongoing weekend list, but we did get to see some girlfriends from home and enjoy a nice day in the City.
Jeff’s request for nothingness allowed for a lazy Sunday filled with intermittent naps while we hid from the rain. By the end of the day, Jack and I were both whiny and cranky, but nothing a trip to the park couldn’t cure. Jack must be getting another new tooth very soon because he keeps grinding his teeth and was especially irritable yesterday afternoon. While the crying and restlessness is nothing new, combine that with futile attempts at sleep training and you get one bitchy mama. Though I missed celebrating with my own dad, Jack and I did what we could to ensure Jeff had a nice first Father’s Day.
And the Pièce de résistance of the weekend… Anyone a fan of Jackson Pollack? Wouldn’t you know, we have our own expressionist artist also named Jackson.
Jack “made” Jeff a shirt for Father’s Day. Inspired by something I saw online, I thought I’d channel my forgotten dreams of being a studio artist through my son. Letting an 8month old go nuts with some fabric paint is always a good idea. He likes to destroy things anyway, so why not capture it on a t-shirt. Since Jeff bleeds NY Mets pride, we chose a fine spectrum of blue, orange and white. As someone who was only allowed to play with Play Doh in the kitchen, it was liberating (and crazy), I must say. It was fun letting the kid get filthy in the name of “art.” That’s what baths are for, right?
In between snatching the non toxic paints OUT of his mouth and thus, getting the paints on my fingers (legs and hair, too) and avoiding disaster on our already stained carpet, most of the pictures are blurry. I forgot to upload all the pix and the final outcome, but I’ll be sure to post them tomorrow.
Jeff smiled and politely thanked the baby artist “Aw buddy, this is exactly what I’ve been looking for.” I’m completely biased, but the final result was chaotic perfection.
When I was reading the Sunday Times last weekend, I found an amusing little piece in the Styles section. The Styles section, usually my most favorite part of the Sunday Times, always has these interesting human interest pieces or man on the street sort of photo montages. Since it was the weekend before father’s day, they had a half page photo spread on famous dads and what they were hoping for for Father’s Day.
Among those featured were famous directors, financiers, clothing designers and other well known celebrities. These famous dads that were profiled hoped for luxurious vacations, overpriced gadgets and unattainable sports memorabilia. You know, the things that are just a little over my budget. Just a little.
I may speak for myself here, but I love reading the Times Style section to see how the other half lives. I’ll color it as curiosity and admiration, rather than the greenish shades of jealousy. It’s not about what you don’t have, but it’s about what you DO have.
The half that we do know, namely, Jeff, is the antithesis of those other dads.
Jeff laid the law even before we turned the calendar to June and demanded that he wanted “nothing” for his first Father’s Day. I was compelled to plan a family outing to a ball game or City trip to somewhere he’d enjoy. But alas, Jeff wants none of that. Nada.
From heeding to my every beck and call last summer at my most pregnant state, to the encouragement in between contractions in the delivery room, to not skipping a beat when my body was in so much anguish after the 20-some hours of labor and the subsequent c-section, to acting as the resident therapist/firefighter as the hormones flared and the flames spiraled around him, to the instant bond and lifelong friendship with his son, to the over-protectiveness and anal tendencies where safety is concerned, to making sure our family is alright, Jeff has superseded every vision I’d ever had of him in this role as dad.
It was a given that he’d be a natural at fatherhood because Jeff is, like those who know him best know, great at everything he does. Undoubtedly, from the beginning of my pregnancy to all the trips back home, much of the focus has always been on Jack and me. Like most dads, Jeff is always standing strong in the background in that stealth-like way the best of them do.
Jeff’s triumphs as a dad are best characterized every evening in between 6:35 and 7:00 p.m. Every time the door knob jingles and Jeff flings that door open and says, “hey buddy!” even though he can’t walk yet, Jack practically jumps out of his seat with every intention to run and hug his dad. Those few seconds of our daily routine showcase the love our son has for his dad.
That enthusiasm and joy transcends the stress of life, the sleepless nights and everything in between.
I know we’re only into his 9th month of fatherhood, but in our eyes, he’s one awesome dad.
So, yes, how does one show gratitude for someone who expects nothing but has done absolutely everything?
Per usual, I have a few tricks up my sleeve 
Happy first Father’s Day, Jeff.
And of course, Happy Father’s Day to my own awesome dad and Jeff’s dad too.
What a week it’s been. Aside from living out of Styrofoam cooler for a good part of the week since our fridge died and the usual work craziness, the boy has continued to blast through the milestones. Just last weekend, Jack started to actively pull himself up and “big boy crawl,” or crawl on all fours and transition to sitting up from the crawling position. Other than from sitting positions, he initially started to stand when he was digging through his toy basket. (Because, the 100 other toys on the floor just weren’t enough.) From the toy basket, he’s moved on to the ottoman. It’s kind of mind-numbing to see him so persistent on being so mobile. Everyone’s predicted that he’d be walking earlier rather than later, but regardless of when it actually happens, it’s fun seeing this whole cruising stage develop.
He’s completely into everything, even more than he was a few weeks ago. Shoes, magazines, specks of dirt on the floor, the remotes, electrical wires– you name it, he’s all about it. While we’ve tried to be as diligent as possible in the childproofing department, he’ll find a loophole and get into things anyway.
He’s had several crash landings over the past few days as he pulled himself up to the ottoman. But nothing crazy. If anything, he’ll get shaken up from the initial fall and look around to see if it’s ok. Once he sees either Jeff, Lola or me, and realizes he’s ok, he’s back to climbing and pulling himself up. He’s built like a tank and can seemingly handle the falls like one too. It’s hard not to freak out about him hurting himself, but at the same time, he needs to learn on his own. My mom’s usually the first to shriek (loudly) if he does fall. I’m always there to supervise to make sure he’s alright. But more often than not, I’m usually reminding my mom, “it’s ok. he’ll be fine. and you need to relax!” As much as I’d like to hover over him and make sure he’s safe and sound 24/7, we all know what that leads to…
Speaking of relax, we’re looking forward to a fun weekend. My girlfriends are visiting, so I get to have some fun with the ladies– at the Mets game, no less! Sunday is Father’s Day and we have an agenda full of nothing, which is exactly what Jeff ordered. More on that later
When we were at Starbucks over the weekend, a young dad sat near us with his own tot on his lap. Jeff and the other dad got to talking. Like other conversations involving parents we meet on the street, the first question is always, “how old.”
After answering with the Jack’s age, we usually get the big eyes and disbelief: “8 months! Wow, my kid is much older and he’s half the size!”
Every time, we answer something to the effect of, “yeah, he’s a tank. or yeah, he’s a big boy.”
We continued and made conversation with that dad. The dad went on and commented on Jack’s hair. “Wow, he has a full head of hair, too.”
Jeff lifted his cap revealing his blonde ‘do and peered over to me and my giant bouffant and says, “Well he certainly doesn’t get it from me.”
True. Jack does have a lot of hair, but not only that, he has a lot of crazy hair, just like me. We’re observing cultural tradition (my side) so, we’re not cutting it until he’s a year old, if not longer. All the little boys have long hair again these days anyway. Jack should fit right in
At the rate it’s growing, his hair will rival the locks of Celine’s kid. or a much cuter version of the Flock of Seagulls.
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