Four generations – isnt that a special thing

Four generations – isnt that a special thing

Its not everyone who gets to put a smile on their grandparents face by simply walking in the door.  I am no longer the cause of the smiles which is ok (kind of), but their smiles now come from their great-grandchild Marc. I always love spending time with both sides of my grandparents, but there is this special bond I share with my grandfather maybe because we look a like see the mini me post, if you need photographic proof.

There were moments of this trip that I was just beaming with pride the fact that Marc is now speaking a couple of words and he follows along with the hand songs like Itsy Bitsy Spider.

I have a few memories of my great-grandparents and as I get older they seem to get a little hazy but none the less I knew my bubby and zadie.  At some point I need to start digging around in the basements for photos of me with my great-grandparents to show Marc one day.  When he needs to do a report on his family history but hopefully he’ll be able to write great stories about spending time with his own great-grandparents.

Dealing with the family thats under the weather

Dealing with the family thats under the weather

It sucks to be under the weather, it sucks for your wife/partner to be under the weather, it sucks even more to have your kid(s) be under the weather, and the worst is when more then one member of the family is sick.

With the change of seasons this is more then likely to be case these days.  I know it hit our house two weeks ago and I doubt we handled it well. I’m thinking that next time around we need a better plan because one sick person should make 2 other sick before they’re even better.

I came home with a sore throat innocent enough, didn’t even think twice about it. It was the beginning of the end, two weeks later and I’m still hacking up half a lung at times.  Suzanne feel to it 24 hours later and Marc maybe 30 hours. It was rough! I don’t handle being sick well, there are those that pop some pills and are good as new. That is so not me, I’m like rolling in the bed – chanting I’m dying I’m dying… Usually Suzanne is helping me out with chicken soup and water but when she’s right next to me rolling around saying I’m dying I’m dying, that relief isn’t coming.

On the other side of the country my in-laws are still recovering for the bug they picked up from my brother-in-law and sister-in-law.  My BIL and SIL got a really bad stomach to the point they asked my Father-in-law and Mother-in-law to take care of their kiddo.  Within 36 hours they had the bug as well and some good stories to share.

I started thinking what would I do next time, should I sleep on the couch (a self imposed medical quarantine)? Should I sleep under the desk in the office (just kidding)? Do I just keep up the normal routine and hope for the best? Do you ship the kid(s) off someplace of hopes of not getting them sick? How do you deal with it?

Rock-a-bye Baby – Sweet Dreams and Goodnight

Rock-a-bye Baby – Sweet Dreams and Goodnight

I don’t want anyone to think I’m an expert on this topic at all… so consider yourself warned.

When Marc was first home from the hospital, I didn’t think too much of the first night or two. I was used to not getting much sleep but this getting up every three hours wasn’t fun.  After a week I started to think my ears were about to bleed and about a week after that I’m pretty sure I was sleep walking in and out of meetings at work.  I was drained but in some crazy way I started to get used to it.

After a while I was totally able to function on about four hours of sleep.  We got a routine down – we started by feeding Marc dinner, followed by 20-30 minutes before bath time, followed by getting him ready for bed, and finally a bottle of formula/milk. 

Marc would wake up in the middle of the night for a bottle at 2am and 4am until he was 5 months old. Then just at 2am until he was 9 months old.  At that point our doctor started giving us the advice better do it now then later, he was referencing ferberizing. I’m the big softy here I couldn’t do that to him just let him cry.  Thankfully Marc didn’t need much encouragement to start sleeping though the night, I started by giving him half of his normal 6oz of formula with only 4oz then 3oz and then switch him to water alone. That was the trigger that made him no longer wake up. 

Fast forward till now 18 months old, We haven’t altered his routine at all.  Of course we had our moments of growth spurts and teething (wow that was the worst). His little colds that kept him up from time to time, but overall we’ve keep it on track.

He now gets his binky only at bedtime (or in the car or when we’re out in public – we’re still working on that one) and he has a few stuffed animals in the crib and his favorite blanket that he snuggles up with (its very cute). We do have a play blanket that is different from the sleep blanket many to put some cues that play and sleep are different (I’d like to think that helps).

In no way am I solely responsible for this success alone, without my wife I’m pretty sure Marc would still be falling asleep on my chest, like he did when he was first born. (I still kind of miss that too)

Bathy Bath time!

Bathy Bath time!

One of the best times of the day for me is bath time, but its not my bath time it’s Marc’s bath time.  It’s a true bonding time for us.  Marc wasnt always in love with the Bath, he was actually kind of hating it. My wife and I worked at it for about a week before I started to get half undressed and stand in the bath and start to splash him in the tub.  Soon enough he was having a ball and now he just sits in the tub and just plays for 20 or so minutes.

I love this time because its simply me and him – no distractions. We high five each other, play with these bathroom Yo Gabba Gabba wall stick toys, and splash each other. We both laugh, usually because Marc’s laugh is so cute and it makes me laugh.

We have a few other bath toys like a rubber ducky and some squirting fish toys but he doesnt seem to mind them much attention. I’m looking forward to the days of drawing on the bathroom walls with those special bath crayons (cause I’m such the artist :P).

Even when its not bath time he is super excited to get in the bath and most of the time even when its not his bath time he’ll still try to get into the tub.  Which I dont know if my wife or I really enjoy an sudden game of peek-a-boo in our birthday suites, but we laugh it off for now.

Huggies commercial funny on so many levels

Huggies commercial funny on so many levels

Once you have a baby boy you will come to understand the power of the water hose.  I have a great personal story from first days of my son’s life. My Mother-in-law [MIL] has two children one being my wife and the other being my brother-in-law (he has a child that is 5 days older then Marc). She was able to spend a little time with him before coming to New York for our child Marc.  She was our baby nurse (for lack of a better term). It was the second day of being home when a scream came from Marc’s room. My MIL screaming (in that funny yet upset way) He pee’d on me… I walk into the room to find her shirt covered in pee and seeing her have a look of disgust on her face (since a little actually got in her mouth). It was a rolling on the floor laughing moment for me (not so much for her). Today we still kid about it…

At this point I’ve been pee’d on more times then I have fingers and toes… I’ve learned the tell-tale signs of when he’s about to go.  I consider it a parenting badge of honor (other then the fact that I’m adding to the laundry pile) but really its part of the passage into parenthood.

Here is the Huggies commercial thats been running again on TV.

Here is a funny behind the scenes look at the making of this commercial.