Moving Update

Gosh what a week!! We got everything packed and by Monday we were more or less relaxing. We had no internet and only one movie to watch. We were actually bored! I went to bed early and Jason came up so Chris and Jason could plan the move for Tuesday.

Tuesday was moving day and quite possibly the hardest day of our lives since the first night home with Cooper. Chris and Jason got up at 6 am and I went back to bed for an hour or so. Then I was up for the day to get everything ready to get the new apartment by noon so the cable and internet guy could hook everything up. When I got to the new place I had nothing to do, nobody to talk to and nothing from home to help feel comfortable. It was awful. Then I had our new neighbor practically beg to watch Cooper while we moved in--hello?!? I don't know you and I won't be handing my 2 month old off to you!! Crazy.

Chris and Jason worked their butts off and ended up putting in a 17 hour day of moving everything. There wasn't anyone else to help because it was a weekday. We should have hired some of the Mexicans who stand on Slater waiting for work. It would have been worth it.

Wednesday was more moving and I started organizing the stuff at the new apartment. Yesterday was for running errands. Today we cleaned the old house. It was a huge chore to clean the kitchen and bathrooms, but the other rooms went quick. We have a few things to fix and we think the landlord is going to be a real stickler for everything since he is having money problems and can't afford to give us our entire deposit back. It's so irritating because the house has already sold. We found out today that the new owner put an offer in on the second day it was on the market. She's a real estate agent and wanted to buy in that neighborhood. We met her today and she said she is ripping out the carpet...our landlord told us he wants us to shampoo the carpet. Such a waste of our time!!!!

Chris has taken on most of the move stuff since I'm physically limited, plus I'm taking care of Cooper. We are tired and stressed and desperately want to get back to our normal life. I never made it to the Pompeii exhibit in San Diego...oh well, nothing I can do. I do plan to start going to a museum once a week until I go back to work. I also want to start a workout routine and I'm hoping Caren and I can go together and keep each other motivated. It helps that we live in the same apartment complex! We do really love being neighbors with good friends.

We ate pizza three days in a row and a bunch of other crap food. After always making our own food for the last 6 months and eating healthy, we felt awful after just a few days of fast food and junk food. I finally cooked spaghetti tonight and it was so tasty!

Scout has done reasonably well with all of the changes. She hates boxes--she's so afraid of them. This move was like torture for our little dog. But she's hanging in there...she loves the new apartment complex because of all the people and the new smells.

Cooper has also done really well with the move. His naps have been changed around a bit, but he is somewhat flexible. This is the first time I've really seen him cry because he is so tired. I hate pushing him to that point, it just breaks my heart to hear him cry like that! The good news is that he is sleeping 7-8 hours a night. He goes to bed at 8 pm on the dot and gets up at 3 or 4 am. Then gets up for about 20 min to eat and goes back to sleep for 2-3 more hours. It's great! I think the bedtime routine has really helped. I just wish I could go to bed at 8 pm, but it's too light, I'm not tired and I want some time by myself or with Chris.

Cooper loves when I sing to him. I have a terrible voice, but he loves it anyhow! His favorites are Patty Cake, Patty Cake and Hickory, Dickory, Dock. He smiles so big over and over and squeals, almost like a laugh, especially with Patty Cake. I love it!

I have some good news...work called this week and offered me a promotion to a supervisor when I return from maternity leave. I would be in charge of 2 geologists and 4 engineers. It includes a 20% pay raise, plus a guaranteed 15% yearly bonus with the possibility of double that depending on my performance. Besides the pay raise, this is a big deal for my career. Usually companies don't promote people to this position until they have 10-12 years of experience. I only have 6 years and I've had the General Manager of my business unit and the VP of the company call me to discuss this opportunity. This gives me the opportunity to use my MBA that I just got. The bad news is that if I decide to take it, we won't move back to Denver until next June. We don't know what we want to do. I have until Monday to make the decision.

Could my life be any busier?

Brain growth must hurt

Today is the last day in our house.  I'm sad about it.  I guess because it has been my home for 5 years and this is where we have made a lot of memories.  I'm sad to be moving out of my familiar neighborhood, even if I'm only moving about 5 miles away.  I still think it is a great transition to move back to CO  though...after doing apartment living we will be running back to CO to buy a house as soon as we can!

Jason is coming up tonight to help us move tomorrow.  We can't be more thankful!!  The packing went quick and easy, so I hope the move and unpack are the same.

Chris and I are getting sick of seeing each other.  We spend too much time together.  I love being home with Cooper, but I am also looking forward to going back to work on July 30th.  Chris and I don't have much to talk about since we see each other all day.  After we move I'm going to start going out with my girlfriends on a weekly basis, taking Cooper to zoos, museums and shopping centers.  I just need new scenery!!  (If only gas wasn't getting so close to $5 a gallon!!)

Chris has started giving Cooper a bottle every day for the  feeding right before nap time.  This gives me more time to shower and eat after my walk/workout in the morning.  At first it made me a little sad, but now I look forward to some alone time and freedom without having to rush around.  Plus Chris is learning how to juggle Cooper and make a bottle.  He is also learning about Cooper's sleepy cues and the best methods to soothe him and prepare him for nap time.

I really couldn't believe I felt sad about it after how hard breastfeeding was in the beginning.  Now it's super easy, I don't flinch when he latches, and I look forward to feeding him!  I love how he smiles and smiles at me just before I feed him and how he smiles when he is done.  I think part of the reason I was sad about it, is that I really despise pumping.  I hate how unnatural it is and I really hate cleaning up afterwards.  At least I can get 5-7 oz in about 5 min, so I don't have to pump too long.  Guess I should get used to it since I'll have to do it at work.

Cooper seems to be coming out of his fussy baby period.  At about 6 weeks on the dot he was a lot more fussy than we were used to.  We did some reading on it and remember the lactation consultant mentioning the 6 week mark...his brain is developing more now.  Brain growth must hurt or at least be irritating.  He must be used to it now because he's full of calm and lots of smiles again.

Cooper is quite the character.  His personality is starting to show a bit.  When we put him down in his bassinet, he lays and talks to the polka dots before falling asleep.  He has also found his hair poof with his hands and seems to like to pull his own hair.  Then he gets mad or upset because it hurts.  He sticks his tongue out and will sit and do it in the mirror for an hour.  He will also mimic Chris and then smile big and almost giggle about it (not quite giggling...more like cooing/squealing). 

He is sleeping at least 6 hours every night, but since he goes to bed at 8 pm (on the dot!), I rarely can fall asleep at that time.  So I'm still only getting 5 hours of sleep in one stretch.  I've noticed I wake up before him because I'm hungry (wow, breastfeeding makes me so hungry and thirsty all the time!!) and I'm engorged.  These middle of the night feedings will be a tough cycle for me to break...more me than him.  I like getting up with him...it's all quiet and feels like just the two of us while the rest of the world is sleeping.  It's so peaceful even if it means I'm exhausted the next day.

The Weiner Dog Magnet

We got a lot done with packing today.  Chris and I have different styles of packing.  He likes to just pack everything, while I like to go through it and toss what we won't use or need.  I also like to clean as a I go.  I take twice as long to pack one box as he does.

I am a stuffer and just get as much to fit as possible.  Chris is very organized.  Everything has to fit just perfect like some sort of a jigsaw puzzle.  When he tapes my boxes, he laughs, removes 3 items from the top, squishes the box and tapes.  My boxes are busting at the seams and not quite a rectangle box shape anymore.  His are perfectly shaped and probably fit more stuff in them.

We did about 20 minutes of floor time with Cooper.  He's not often awake enough to handle 20 minutes, but he was today.  We alternated tummy time and back time flat on the floor, then we also used the Boppy.  He did pretty good:

And just what is he looking at??

Yep, a Chinese takeout menu.  He was intrigued by the colors and we only noticed because we were trying to decide what to have for dinner.  Guess he thought it looks yummy too!

We packed Cooper's room today.  We also packed all of his books.  This presented a problem since reading a book is part of the bedtime routine.  I remember Caren and Richard reading Cecily stories from the Disney page online.  So we grab the laptop, curl up on the couch, and quickly get frustrated with the Disney homepage.  So we turn to our old friend, Google, and look up online children's stories.  Chris clicked on the second item to come up.

We get to a plain website and click on Children's stories.  The first story is called "The Weiner Dog Magnet."  We thought it was an intriguing name for a story, so we click on it.  It's 21 pages long.  I don't even know what to say about it.  We laughed through almost the entire thing.  I don't know what lesson it was teaching, other than to teach kids to eat their broccoli, but it was a funny story.  Guess we'll have to try some others on the website since we have a few more nights before we move.

Burp Button

Chris seems to know where Cooper's burp button is.  This darn kid won't burp for me no matter what I do!  I hand him over to Chris and voila, the kid is burping up a storm.  I try sitting him on my knee and holding his head with one hand and patting/rubbing his back with the other hand.  I try laying him across my legs and rubbing/patting his back (Chris' mom said this worked every time for Chris when he was a baby).  I try the magic arm waves when he is laying on his back (Chris swears by this...sort of like doing bicycle legs, only with his arms) and then pick him up and put him on my shoulder and pat/rub his back.  I've tried all of the above one after another.  Seriously this kid doesn't burp for me.

Guess what happens when a baby doesn't burp??  You guessed it, spit up!  Chris has been spit up on twice.  I, on the other hand, have been spit up on too many times to count.  It's in my hair, on my face, between my fingers, all down the inside of my shirt and bra, on my pants, down the front of my shirt, down the back of my shirt.  That's so not fun at 2 am.  Any other ideas out there to help me, help him burp??

Cooper is slowly finding his hands...he likes to suck on them now.  He has also learned to bat the nose sucker away.  It's fun to watch all the things he learns.

This is how we lay Cooper down to sleep in his swaddle:

This is how we find Cooper when he wakes up:

Maybe it is time to stop swaddling him?

We are busier than ever with all the packing and moving stuff.  We feel pretty good, though, since we've finished both bathrooms, the living room, garage, and guest room.  Now we need to do Cooper's room, the office, and the kitchen.  At least I've finished Ursula's stuff for the time being (I still have programs and thank you cards to finish, but she won't need those until the 30th), so I'm not stressed about that anymore.  Packing and moving is so much more difficult with a little baby.  I can't wait to be done with it all!

Mary had a little sheep

Jason and his new girlfriend came to visit from San Diego yesterday.  It was really great to see him and to meet his girlfriend.  The last time we saw Jason was the Sunday before I had Cooper.  It was fun to introduce him to Cooper.  He gave me a fantastic compliment and said I look great and don't even look like I had a baby!  Such  a better comment than that rude guy at Babies R Us.  His girlfriend is awesome...I'm glad he found me a new friend.  We had tons in common and it was easy to chat with her.

We went to dinner at Fred's Mexican restaurant down near the pier.  Cooper was such a good baby all day and at the restaurant.  We had to squeeze into a booth, but I guess as a parent you have to get creative when it comes to eating with a kid.  Both Jason and his girlfriend were impressed with Cooper and the fact that he didn't cry all day they were here.  I guess we really are lucky...he is such a laid back baby and doesn't cry for things.  I hope it stays this way and I hope future children are the same!

Last night Chris and I picked out a book to read Cooper.  I am so glad Jessica had people bring a book in lieu of a card to my baby shower....we have tons of books to read Cooper!  We chose the book of nursery rhymes.  We each took turns reading the nursery rhymes.  My turn included Mary had a little lamb...

Me:  Mary had a little lamb, little lamb, little lamb.  Mary had a little lamb, its fleece was white as snow.  And everywhere that Mary went, Mary went, Mary went.  And everywhere that Mary went, that sheep was sure to go.

Chris:  Um, hon, it's a lamb.

Me (to Cooper):  Ok, Cooper, Mommy needs some practice.

We both got a good laugh.