Motherhood is glorious

We just got back from spending a week with family in Chicago. It was great! Everyone was so in love with our little one. It was so great sharing my joy with my extended family. My godsister was especially tickled pink to see him. We stayed with my grandmother which was so cool. When my mom was there, we had four generations in the house. I think that is incredible. Our little one is my grandmother's first great grandchild. I am so happy she has lived to see him. She is a young granny so I hope that she will be around to even see him graduate high school. So the flying with an infant experience was pretty good overall. The baby slept pretty much the whole flight on the way to Chicago. On the way back to NYC, he was awake most of the flight but pretty calm. We fed him right before boarding and he fell asleep. Then he work up shortly after take-off, fussing, so we fed him a little bit more and he calmed down. I think pressure was building in his ears. I purposely chose seats in the last row of the plane going both ways. I did some internet research and some parents say the back of the plane is good because you are right near the bathroom and galley so you have room to walk around a bit. This was good on the way there when I had to walk around with him in the baby wrap to lull him back to sleep. Also what's great about the back is that when you deplane, you have lots of time to get all your stuff together and you don't feel the pressure of a huge line of impatient people behind you waiting. I can already tell that he is going to be a great traveler. I am hoping he will be just as good this summer when we go visit friends in Matinik. Everyone was so nice to us in the airport and on the plane. Except for one TSA guy at the security who did not understand that shea butter is NOT a liquid, cream, lotion or gel. I kept telling him that it was a butter that was solid but he didn't understand. The other guy knew what shea butter was and kind of diffused the situtation. You know the whole "3 ounce" rule over liquids, gels and pastes. Somehow we got through with so much water for the baby's formula. And yes I am breastfeeding but I just have to still supplement, although I am working on increasing my supply. Anyway, happy new year!

This Blog WILL Continue!

I am definitely going to continue blogging on this site. I have not blogged in over a week because I have been just admiring my little one and enjoying the ups and downs of motherhood. Right now I have a spare moment because both of my guys, my husband and the baby, are sleeping. The baby is sleeping for like 5-6 hours straight at night so I am feeling renewed and regenerated. We are currently preparing for "Baby's first flight" to Chicago. I am hoping everything goes well. Traveling with a baby can be challenging but I am up to the challenge. I want to take my little one all over the world so I am considering this a little test run. I plan on going to the French West Indies to visit a friend in July, by then it will probably be easier to travel with him; he will be 8 months. Or maybe he will be a terror! There is no way to be certain. I am wondering about what seats we will be getting. Check-in is available 24 hours in advance so I will be right in front of the computer tonight like 10 minutes in advance waiting to check-in. Anything to avoid those lines! And it sucks that you have to pay to check in luggage now! So I am consolidating all three of our baggage into one checked bag and one carry-on. It's 15 dollars to check one-bag one-way. So it's a whopping 30 bucks round trip. It would be 80 if we chose to check two bags. Thank goodness we are staying with my Granny and Granddaddy. I plan on bring maybe 4 outfits and doing laundry! The little one's clothes won't take up too much room. I figure 5 outfits, pj's, diapers, wipes, lap pads, a couple of blankets, his bottles, burp cloths and a hooded towels and we should be good. I did a little research and apparently just back of the wing on the plane is the best place for a family traveling with an infant. We'll see. Anyway I hope everyone has a safe and happy holiday!

Baby Hair, Weight Watchers, the News

My little one is currently asleep on my chest in the Moby Baby wrap. He loves being carried. Babywearing rules! Now back to the subject at hand. My little one started losing his hair at about 3 weeks. And I mean he was really balding. He looked like a middle aged man with male pattern baldness! The front and middle of his head was completely bald and shiny! The pediatrician said it was normal with cradle cap and babies sometimes lose their hair anyway. But now at almost 7 weeks, it has grown back. He still has some original hair in the back though that hasn't fallen out yet. I am wondering if his hair is going to keep growing. My mom and I were looking at my brother's baby pictures and he had a full head of hair from birth! Like more hair than alot of adults! LOL!

So today is my first day of Weight Watchers. I am following the Core program where you do not have to write down everything you eat. You just choose foods from the list and eat until you feel satisfied, not hungry, but not stuffed. It's a pretty much fat-free, sugar free plan with an emphasis on whole, nutrious foods. No crazy diet food, just whole grains, veggies, fruits and dairy/dairy substitutes. I had a fruit smoothie this morning, so far, so good. I went to my first WW meeting this past saturday. It went well. It was great seeing everyone else there, all with the goal of getting to a healthy weight. My first weight loss goal is 10% of my weight. I think it will probably take me a few months to lose it. I just want to lose slow and steady; that way it is more likely to be real weight loss, fat and not water and muscle. Once you get to 10%, they give you a little key chain as a reward for your success. You also get to stand up in front of everyone and talk about what you are doing to get to your weight loss goal. I like the camraderie of the meetings. And the meeting leader is really cool. She actually lost 85 pounds, 215 pounds to 130!!! 50 of those pounds were with Weight Watchers. This week I am really going to get it together. I plan on going to the gym this week 5 times. I am going to go today after B gets home from work. It's so hard getting back into working out when you have a new baby. I just want to spend all my time with him and it's so hard to leave the house. I am just trying to cherish every moment. I know I am probably going to cry the first time I drop him off at the childcare provider. But I digress, if I want to get my body back together, the gym is a must along with the healthy diet. I was so gung-ho about getting back to the gym, but the sleepless night, the crying, the diaper changes and everything else made me pump the brakes a bit. And plus staying with my parents for the week of thanksgiving kind of slowed me down too. But I am determined and motivated. I know consistency and clean eating are the key. I look forward to getting back into running and being a yummy mummy by spring time.

On another note, I find it hard to watch the news these days. I feel like everytime I watch it, something horrible is happening to a child. Now that I have a child, it hits home...HARD! I just feel so bad for the family and cringe at the thought of anything happening to my little one. B said if anyone did anything to our little one, he would end up in jail. I said I would end up in the psych ward. I just can't even imagine it...

The Papa's role

My little guy just went down for a nap after a harrowing morning of crying and screaming. B tries to soothe him while I sleep BUT after like an hour of crying and screaming, I had to give him an A for effort and take over. For whatever reason, he hasn't quite mastered his role as a soother. It's natural for a mother to soothe her baby but for some men it can be a challenge. I was reminded of a poster on a forum I frequent saying that she delayed having a baby for awhile because she couldn't get over the inequality of responsibility between mother and father. I mean purely by biology, the baby depends on the mother more from day 1. Breastfeeding as a prime example. I am realizing this more and more. My own mother makes little remarks sometimes about my father's minimal role in our childhood and how he now has "finally joined the family". She even commented that he probably only changed me and my brother's diapers twice. B claims the baby just feels more comfortable with me as his maman. That I am softer and he is just is more attached to me naturally. I think I am going to develop a 30 minute rule: If B can't successfully soothe the baby in 30 minutes, I will take over. Because an hour of screaming, fussing and crying is horrible. I mean, the stress that put on the baby's nervous system and the stress on me and B... B is getting some well deserved sleep right now. Oh parenthood... Last night we rushed to finish dinner before the baby woke up from his nap. Sometimes we take turns eating while one of us holds the baby. He looks like such a little angel when he sleeps...no one would guess he would be capable of raising such a ruckus! Anyway he is up now so I better hurry up and eat breakfast!