Carrots and peas and pears, oh my.

More proof Steel is growing up too fast: he’s eating solids. Everything from oatmeal and bananas in the morning to beef and vegetables in the evening.

We haven’t found one thing he doesn’t like to eat. At first he didnt’ like peaches, probably a little too tart; but, he’s over that. He’s gobbling them down just like everything else.

We can’t give him rice cereal, not that he doesn’t like it, but we think it’s linked it to a rash on his chest. Once we stopped giving it to him, it went away. We’ve been told to let him try it once more to see if that’s what gave him the rash.

Other than that, he’s a good little eater. And I hope it sticks.

Oatmeal Time

Steve and I aren’t the greatest eaters. Both of us are pretty picky. The biggest thing I hope Steel doesn’t inherit, eating-habits-wise, is our dislike for fish. Neither one of us will eat it. Well, that’s not entirely true. I do eat some sushi, like salmon and tuna. I just don’t like the taste of cooked fish..too fishy. Steve will eat crab and shrimp, but that’s the extent of it. We’ll have to work hard at getting Steel to eat cooked fish because there’s so much nutritional value I want him to get out of it. “Do as we say, not as we do (or don’t do),” right? I hated when my parents told me that, but now I see why they did! “Because I say so,” is another one I can’t wait to use. Ha ha!

For now, we’ll enjoy him gobbling up anything we put in front of him, veggies and all. And for now, it’s still cute when he gets it all over the place!

I cannot not believe six months have gone by.. in a flash might I add.

6-months-old

Steel is six months old today, January 29. SIX MONTHS! Everyone I tell, from friends to family to viewers who see me and ask how old my little one is now, just can’t believe it has already been six months. I concur.

I really do remember being in the hospital like it was yesterday. I remember our first night home with him like it was last night. It was a hell of a night, excuse my language, but there’s just no other way to put it. Steel cried all night. Steve and I really didn’t know quite what to do.  We were both running on no sleep, so tensions and frustrations were high. Somehow, we made it through that night… and the past six months.

We’ve learned what works and what doesn’t work. For example, he HATES being cradled if he’s not tired. Don’t do it, don’t even try it. He will scream until you sit him upright..and then, like magic, he stops. Through trial and error we learned, okay, he seems not to like that position if he’s not tired. What I have learned is that when he is in one of his moods, screaming and what not,  if I walk into the kitchen, viola..again magic.. he stops. I don’t know why. I just know that most of the time it’s all I have to do to make him happy again because if I can walk back into the living room he will start to cry. It may have something to do with the kitchen being really bright, plus there are three windows that he can stare out. I told Steve, I think sometimes the baby just wants a change of scenery. Don’t we all?

On his way to his 2-week check-up

He may be six months old today, but his clothes say a different story. Up until he was three months old, he was fitting into his newborn-to- 3- month clothes just fine. Then, he had a growth spurt and zipped right past his 3-month clothes onto the 6-month. There were clothes he never wore, clothes he never even tried on, because he grew so fast we didn’t have time to move onto the next stage. Now, he comfortably fits into 9-month clothes. We can squeeze him into 6-month stuff, but it gets hard to close the buttons in his little bottom area. As we try to keep up with his growing, boxing up the clothes he no longer fits into and saving them in case we have another boy, it’s just amazing to us how little he once was and how much he has grown.

In fact, we watched a video the other day that Steve had made for my dad when Steel was just a month old. We were blown away at how tiny he was in the video. I told Steve, “we had no business taking care of something so little!” My mom just laughed.

I’m sure in another six months, we’ll be doing the same thing..looking back as he’s crawling and stumbling around, wondering where did the past six months go?

Just when we started to get into a walking routine, here comes the rain.

The whole fam enjoyed the break in the rain this past weekend, mostly because we were able to get out of the house without getting drenched or nearly blown away.

Steve, Steel, myself and Duke got out for a nice walk on Saturday. Sunday we were too busy running errands that we put off during the week because we didn’t want to go out in the stormy weather.. .okay, so we watched a little football, too.

It was so nice to get out and get some fresh air. I guess we start to take things like that for granted when we’re spolied with so many beautiful, sunny days.

On our walk, as usual, Duke tried to take the lead, while Steve held him back. “We are the pack leaders, not Duke…” as Dog Trainer Cesar Millan has taught us through his TV show Dog Whisperer. As Duke fights to be first, we are all also fighting for space on the curb. Since Duke can’t be in the front, he wants to be at our side, but this doesn’t work when we have a jogger that takes up nearly all the curbside. Plus, Steve and I want to talk to each other, so we are trying to walk side-by-side. It’s just a constant battle of all of us wanting to be near each other, which isn’t a bad thing, right? It’s pretty amusing, actually.

What was also pretty amusing was our first outing in  Jeep Jogger. First off, this thing is plush! My dad got it for us, and he gets nothing but the best! Steel gets to ride in comfort, while we get to rock out to music blaring from speakers on the jogger. This way we don’t have to use our headphones, allowing us to be aware of our surroundings. The big, rubber wheels also make the bumpy ride more smooth for little Steel and makes it easy to navigate through some bad road conditions. For moms who like to take their kids out on walks, it’s worth the investment!  

Now to the funny part.  A quick back story. Everytime, we blow in Steel’s face, he’s reaction is very dramatic. He gasps for air and lets out a big laugh. It’s hysterical and very adorable. But when we took him on his first, front-facing walk, I kept hearing this little noise coming from him. I then realized, the wind was hitting his face and he was having the same reaction as when we blow in his face. Poor little guy had to learn how to breath in the wind. I guess you forget babies have to learn just about everything once.

His next lesson: we don’t go for walks in the rain. Thank goodness the sun will come out tomorrow!

This is the picture I text to all my friends and family during this week’s rainstorm.

Our little monster is all set for the stormy weather. In fact, he doesn’t seem to mind it at all. Neither the rain, nor the thunder seem to bother him. In all actuality, he probably doesn’t know the difference between the rain and the sun… but I sure have noticed a difference. Just like many of us get in lazy moods when its cloudy out, he does, too! I came home the other day after working late and I was so exhausted. My husband had to run some errands, so it was just Steel and me. Well, Steel decided to take a 2-and-a-half-hour nap! I slept on the couch, he was in his crib..and we both woke up rested and ready to eat! When Steve got home, he couldn’t believe the baby actually slept that long during the day. Steel normally takes quick cat naps and rarely sleeps for that long during the day. The trade-off is that he’s now starting to sleep through the night. Woo-hoo!

The one who is not dealing with the storms very well is our great big dog Duke! A little rain turns this beast into a little baby. He hates, absolutely hates, the rain! He refues to go outside, which makes “potty time” a bit difficult. Steve or I have to drag Duke out to the backyard and stand there while he “takes care of business.” Honestly, it’s a bit ridiculous, but what are you gonna do, right?

Well, it’s Friday and it looks like the rain is headed out of the town for the weekend. Enjoy the dry weather while it lasts everyone.

Sorry it has been a while since my last post, but I plan to start blogging again regularly, so be sure to check back in with me next week!

Have a great weekend.

‘Twas the night before Christmas.. and I was hailing before the porcelain king. Translation: on Christmas Eve, I came down with the stomach flu.

Oh, it was awful. I started feeling sick when I was doing some last minute shopping. I didn’t think much of it. I just chopped it up to the stress of the holiday rush. Then when I got home, Steve told me that he also wasn’t feeling well. We thought maybe it was the tamales that we both had eaten earlier in the day, but when I called my mom to see if she, too, had gotten sick because she had also eaten them she said she was feeling fine. Within a couple hours, I was vomiting and it lasted through the night until about 5 a.m. Christmas morning. Somehow, Steve, who has a phobia of throwing up, never got sick. Go figure.

Christmas day was a day of recovering. I couldn’t eat, drink, and I tried my hardest to be merry. Opening my Coach diaper bag from my dad and my Wii from both my parents helped, a lot! But the tamales everyone was heating up and eating around me did not. Every time I got a whiff of the normally delicious smell of tamales, I was nearly running to the toilet.

Despite all that, Steel’s first Christmas was a wonderful time spent with family. He was showered with so much love.. and gifts! Grandpa Richard got him a jumper, that makes two because Grandpa Gordon also got him one. Great minds think alike! He also got pretty much an entire wardrobe and a few toys. I think Steel’s favorite, though, was the wrapping and ribbons, which, like everything else these days, went directly in his mouth. 

Most importantly though, Steel got to spend time with his grandparents, uncles, aunts and cousins on both sides of the family, which is what it’s really all about. And for that, I’m so fortunate.

This is Steel’s first Christmas picture. It was an interesting photo shoot, to say the least. Steve and I, the amateur photographers we are, tried to get a picture of him “sitting” in front of the Christmas tree. Yeah, that didn’t go well. Of course, we wanted it to look like our 4-and-a-half month old son was just adorably sitting there and waiting for his picture to be taken. So we tried holding him with just one hand while staying out of the shot. Problem is, our little bundle of joy can’t sit straight or still while we are barely  holding on to him, so in every picture he was out of focus or a blur. Steve had this ingenious idea of putting him on his stomach allowing us to get the shot we needed.

While Christmas isn’t until tomorrow, Steel did have an early Christmas last weekend at his Grandpa Gordon and Grandma Sandy’s home. They got him his first jumper! And we (Steel, Steve and me) absolutely love it! Steel’s at that age where he is intrigued by everything. He’s reaching and grabbing things, which then almost immediately go in his mouth. Nonetheless, when he’s in the jumper, he’s surrounded by toys. It keeps him fascinated for a good half hour at time. A heaven sent to Steve and me because Steel’s also at that age when he needs to be held every minute he’s awake. The jumper buys us some time when we need to get things done, but he needs to be entertained.

We had such a wonderful time visiting family during Steel’s first Christmas. He even got to see  his great grandma Dixie, who really is an angel on earth. She just adores her great grandson, too. And get this, she not only had one great grandchild lighting up her life last weekend, but two! Steve’s cousin, Candice, has a little girl, Eleanor, who is just two weeks younger than Steel. They were in town visiting from New Mexico. As you could imagine, Dixie was just in heaven with her son, her grandkids and great-grandkids surrounding her!

Steve has such a wonderful family. I truly feel honored to be apart of it and so fortunate Steel has caring grandparents and great grandparents who just love him to pieces.

As for Christmas, it’ll be filled with more great times with family. The Corrals will be coming up from Southern California. We’ll also be spending time with my mom and Steve’s mom. And Steel will see more of his great grandparents when we visit great grandpa Jim and great grandma Gail in Arroyo Grande.

They say Christmas is truly about spending time with the ones you love and this year it couldn’t be more true as we prepare for our little love’s first Christmas.

Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays everyone! Be safe and check back in with me for a post on how our weekend was spent. I’m sure there will be plenty of funny stories to blog about.

Despite all my efforts, sanitizing and vaccinations, I still got sick. Hence this picture of me covering my face with tissue… Steve knows better than to try to take a picture of me when I’m sick!

It all began on Saturday. We were spending the day getting things done before we were to start getting ready for a Christmas party. Around 3:00, I told Steve I wasn’t feeling well and that I wasn’t sure if I should go. By 7:00, I was in bed, feeling absolutely miserable. Sunday and Monday I felt even worse. Tuesday my fever finally broke. I went to work Wednesday half day. And by Thursday I was feeling better than I had all week.

But let’s rewind to Sunday. This was my first time being sick while also having a child. And it’s no fun. During my childless days, I was able to sit on the couch, loath in self pity and whine to whoever would listen. Now, there is no loathing or whining (well, maybe a little whining). Steel still needed to be fed, changed and cleaned, whether I was sick or not. Steve was amazing and let me rest when he could, but he was still working and thus, needed to sleep. He gets his sleep during the day because he has to be at work at midnight. So it was interesting to say the least. In Steel’s defense, he was a little angel for his sick mom. He slept a lot and wasn’t cranky, for the most part. He is such a sweet baby.

I was convinced Steel was sick because he was sleeping a lot and had a runny nose. Plus, as I told Steve, if I’m sick Steel hasto be sick. If I’m nursing him and in constant contact with him, how could he not be sick. Steve said, “he has his own immune system. Just because you’re sick doesn’t necessarily mean the baby’s sick.” Because I wasn’t feeling well and being and cranky, I rolled my eyes as to tell him clearly you don’t know what you’re talking about and said “stop being so argumentative” as I went into the bedroom to take a nap. (I should’ve known the germ-a-phob knew what he was talking about) Later, as my concerns about getting Steel sick grew and as I started feeling worse and wanted to know what I could take, I called Steel’s pediatrician. One of the women who works in the office told me that babies usually don’t get sick when their moms do because they have their own antibodies that can fend off the virus. She also told me what meds to take that are safe for the baby and wished me well. When I hung up, Steve was right there, “so what did she say? ” After I told him he then said, “go ahead, say it.” “You were right,” I mumbled. I hate it when that happens! I should’ve known better than to argue with a man who NEVER gets sick. Darn it.

Well, it’s Friday… and Friday’s always make me feel better I’m happy to report Steel’s doing just fine and Steve never got sick, either.

Looks like we made it through our first bout of sickness as new parents, even though I was the big baby!

Okay, so remember a couple of posts ago when I wrote about being concerned that Steel might be too small? Yeah, scratch that.

We took him in for his 4-month check up and the kid is just about off the charts. He weighs 16.2 pounds, which puts him in the 90th percentile for kids his age, and he is 25 inches in length, which puts him the 75th percentile in height. The nurse said, “What are you guys feeding him, rocks?!” And Dr. Bravo said, “I’m telling you right now, he’s going to be a big kid!” When I hear this I think.. starting pitcher for the Dodgers!!!! He already has his official jump suit

Since he’s at the 4-month mark, we are supposed to start introducing him to solid foods. Dr. Bravo was laughing with Steve and me because we were so clueless as to how to feed rice cereal to Steel. We were asking him, what do we do with it, how do we feed it to him, what is it like, Froot Loops? He patiently told us what it is and what to do, then instructed us to get a camera ready because introducing him to solids is pretty cute. And he was right! Steel wasn’t quite sure what to do with this foreign food. For those of you who are clueless like we were, rice cereal is actually rice flakes that you liquify by adding breast milk, water or formula. He kept trying to push it out of his mouth with his tongue, but once he got the hang of it, whoa nelly! He practically ripped the spoon out of our hands so he could feed himself. “He’s going to be a big kid” keeps ringing in my ears. I have a feeling this kid is going to eat us out of our house. Overall, the “introduction” went well; however, he was “stopped up” for a day. Nothing a little prune juice didn’t fix.  

I don’t think four months of my life has ever gone by so quickly; it was a blur, yet each moment was so precious.

The swine flu, or H1N1, vaccine is a tricky subject among parents, on several levels. First, whether to get it; second, where to get it; and third, how it’s being distributed. As a new mom and journalist, I’ve had experiences in all three of these categories, so here’s my take:

I got vaccinated. I was stuck twice, with the seasonal flu shot and then again with the swine flu shot. I’m in the “high risk” group because I have a child under the age of 6 months. My OB-GYN, Dr. Heidi Freeman, recommended I get both shots, that way Steel would be protected through my breast milk. Steel’s pediatrician, Dr. Renee Bravo, also recommended I get the swine flu shot. Some parents don’t agree and have opted not to get the swine flu vaccination. Their feeling is that it’s just too new, it hasn’t been tested enough and that it was made so quickly that we just don’t know the negative health effects, if any, it will have on our children. I’m not disagreeing with their concerns, but on the recommendations I got from two of my trusted sources, I decided it was safe for Steel and me.

So where did I get “stuck?”  Well, I stood in line at a local pharmacy to get the seasonal flu shot. I just happened to be shopping and noticed the line. So, I figured, why not? I was told to do it anyway, no time like the present, right? Now, the swine flu shot was a little harder to come by. I didn’t realize I could go to Steel’s pediatrician for the vaccine, which is who ended up giving me the vaccination. Dr. Freeman was only giving it to her pregnant patients because of the scarce supply.. and I don’t blame her one bit. And since I don’t have a family doctor, YET (I know, shame on me), I really didn’t know where to turn. I was hoping a clinic would be open to the public in SLO County, but they seemed to be only offered in the schools. That is until recently, when  SLO County Public Health started holding vaccination clinics to the public, by appointment only. People had been lining up in Santa Barbara County for public clinics, but I figured you had to be a SB County resident to be eligible. It just so happened I was in Dr. Bravo’s office doing a story when he told me he’s trying to offer the shot to all his parents of newborns… as they become available. Problem solved. But the problem of  distribution , isn’t.

The problem comes down to supply and demand. The manufacturers can’t make the vaccines fast enough to keep up with demand. There’s also a lag time in getting the vaccine out to the public. For example, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s website, as of  Thursday December, 3,  8.3 million doses have been allocated to California, nearly 8 million have been ordered and only 7 million have been shipped here. See the problem?

Recently, public health department officials have said the lines are starting to dwindle at local clinics as  the rate of infection has slowed down. BUT they stress, “the prevalence of  H1N1 flu is still at epidemic levels and continues to cause severe illness in some residents. ”

With all that said, to be or not to be, vaccinated: that is the question.

I spent my first night without my little guy and I sure did miss him.

Steel had a sleep over at Grandma Lily’s house last night. When I found out earlier in the day that he would be sleeping over at grandma’s house, I instantly started to miss him. When I got home from work, all I wanted to do was hold him; but he was napping, so I had to wait awhile.

Once he woke up, we had a nice afternoon. He was being his happy little self, smiling and laughing and cooing. Then, we gave  him a bath, which he loves, and for the first time he started kicking his feet in the water and splashing around. It was adorable.  Then, before I knew it, it was time to start packing up his overnight bag. That in itself is always such a process. For such a little person, he sure has a lot of baggage!

When my mom drove away and I knew I wouldn’t see him until the next day, I have to admit I was pretty sad. Not that I was worried about him, not in the least. Let’s be honest, my mom has done this three times. He’s probably in better hands! Plus, no one loves him more than we do than his grandparents. It was just so weird to not have him near me. I mean, I’ve gone a whole day without him when I met my brothers and dad in Los Angeles to go to the last Dodger game of the season.  But never a night without him.

In all actuality, my mom left a couple hours before I went to sleep. And for the most part, when I leave for work at 2:30am, Steel is still sleeping. So, in reality, I went about two hours without him. But for those moms and dads out there… you know what I mean. I think the first night is always the hardest.

On the flip side, I gotta say, I was able to get to bed on time and get some stuff done before I called it a night. There’s always a trade-off, isn’t there?

I’m glad to report, I made it through the night. And so did Steel.

Grandma was in heaven having her first grand baby sleep over and says he was a perfect angel.