Drivin' and Laughin'

We had a great holiday weekend surrounded by family from the Garrett side and the Scott side. Grammy and Grampy Garrett drove from down from Charlotte and Uncle Rob, Aunt Kim, and Rose drove down from Atlanta on Thursday. They arrived just in time for the fireworks at UF. Check out Davis in his super cute First Fourth outfit that Uncle jim and Aunt Janice gave him. Uncle Chase drove down on Friday. We had a wonderful time visiting with everyone and hope to see them again soon.

Uncle Chase took some super cute videos of Davis in his car. Tim was tickling Davis and he loved it. Davis has been in a pretty good mood since we abandoned all sleep tactics and schedules. His sleep is a little better- actually pretty good considering all the visitors and excitement we have had around the house lately. I guess Tim and I will just wing it for a while and see what happens.

In other news, Davis has two new friends on this planet. Colvin "Cole" William Caldwell is now two weeks old and Emily Lauren Fenn was born just last night. We have already visited with Emily in the hospital and she is so precious. We can't wait to meet Cole who lives just outside DC- hopefully we will see them before the year is over.

With all these friends having babies I have been introduced to some cool products that I didn't know about when Davis was born.

Flip Video Mino- My friend Amanda, who I've mentioned before, has been raving about this video machine and I got a chance to really try one out when I borrowed my brother's this weekend http://www.theflip.com/. I took the videos in this blog with the Flip and it was great. It is super small and you can jam it in your purse/diaper bag without fear of breaking it. It was so great that I'm wondering why we bought the JVC Enverio, but then my bro reminded me that the Flip wasn't out when we bought the JVC. Tim says we will user the JVC for holidays and major events because it holds lots of memory and is higher quality- the Flip only holds an hour's worth of video, but is perfect for catching Davis's super cute laughs and posting them to the net for y'all to see. We will be getting one soon.

Smilebox- Josh and Betsy used this email to announce Cole's big arrival. To see their announcement click here and scroll down to announcement http://www.zoomcaldwell.blogspot.com/ It was so special- the backgrounds were super cute, you can add captions and I liked the music background. I have not yet made a video of my own, but I plan to and I will let you know how it goes. This seems like a way better choice for digital announcement than the email with attachment that we sent. We sent the announcement out to so many people that most email systems thought it was spam. i think that would be avoided by using Smilebox.

Orbitz Carseat- I saw this at church the other day and it looks pretty cool. The couple that was using it for their 6 week old said that they really liked it and it was worth the splurge http://www.orbitbaby.com/, but but I suspect that if I was going to go for a $900 stroller it would be the bugaboo. This one does have a rocking bassinet option that looked interesting and it has the capability of docking into the carseat- two options that Bugaboo doesn't have. Aesthetically speaking, I prefer the bugaboo, but the orbits isn't bad if you are looking for a super nice travel system.

Titan 5 Carseat- Davis, on the other hand, hates travel systems. The car ride screaming had gotten so bad that I went ahead and bought him a full size carseat and abandoned our Graco Infant seat/carrier. The convenience of being able to move the carrier from the car and take it with us was lost on Davis. He doesn't usually fall asleep in the car and he disliked the snug, laid back fit of the infant carrier. He is still not thrilled about being snapped into the full-size seat but I think he gets better air flow (he sweats like his dad). He has been in it for about two weeks and I can already tell you that the cover washes well- we had a very unfortunate explosion on the way to the mall the other day. Tim used his master science and detective skills to disassemble and reattach the carseat cover- those things are really complicated!

So why the Tital 5? I was looking into the Britax Convertible System (Convertible systems generally work for infants up to toddlers and they switch from rear facing to forward facing- follow weight limits) because most of my friends have that system and I've seen some pretty groovy covers for their seats. I found the Marathon on sale online for $219 at Albee Baby and I figured that $200+ was ok to spend on the seat because Davis could use it until he weighed 65 pounds. It has a built in booster seat. But when I was at my mom's meeting the other day, one of the car seat specialists said that her child had been teased about their big "baby" seat when they were in Kindergarten. Ok, so maybe we would want to buy a smaller booster seat rather than keeping that gigantor seat until D is 65 pounds. By the way, I'm pretty sure my niece was in middle school before she weighed 65 pounds. When I think about what it will be like when Davis will be in middle school ...

A- it scares me. I will be in my 40's by then and I hate it that he will have to endure that weird part of life called puberty. He is far too cute for that.

B- I kinda thought they (scientists?) would have some crazy new kind of transportation and I was hoping to not have to have a car and carseat.

But back to Davis dislike of cocoon carseats. While I was considering the Britax seat, the people at Safe Kids spoke at the mom meeting about car seat safety and their program. They provide free carseat inspections at the Farmers Market on the corner of NW 34th Street and 441. They also sell the Evenflo Titan 5 Convertible Carseats their for $45 and they will install it correctly for free. They said it was a really good seat and they have no complaints about it, but that they had a tough time installing the Britax seat correctly. I figured that for $45 I would try the Titan 5. As I talked with the lady that installed my seat I asked if she was sure that she didn't want to charge me more- I didn't want to take advantage of a program if it was really meant for low income moms. (Umm- don't tell Tim I'm going around town offering to pay more for stuff. That tends to really irritate him.) She said no, but I was welcome to give donation if I would like- that way I would pay for my seat and for someone who couldn't usually afford one. So that's what I did. I paid about what I would have paid for the seat at a store, but it was installed by an expert for free and I paid for a seat for a mom in need AND I can deduct the donation on my taxes. Not bad and Tim was happy that we could provide a seat for someone in need.

Combi Urban Carrier (update)- This is an update to my previous posting on this product. Davis is now big enough and has enough head control to fit into this carrier. Tim used it the other day to take Daivs on a morning walk with Amino and Napoleon. The good thing about this carrier is that it fits Tim and it fits my Dad. They look so adorable in it. The bad news is that that I quickly found out that this is truly a carrier only for men. I tried it on, fitted the straps and slipped Davis in only to notice that he thought it was some kind of easy-access nursing device. It was like he was thinking "Well, I wasn't really hungry but since you offered...". Tim quickly lifted Davis out of the carrier but it was too late- I had Davis drool all over my shirt. So I've been using the Baby bjorn and sometimes the sling as a side carrier and Tim and Dad use the Combi.

That's it for now- Tim is headed home early so we can celebrate our 7th anniversary. I can't believe its been so long, but it has been such a great journey. When we said "for better and for worse, in sickness and in health, in plenty and in want" I had no idea we would experience them all in the first seven years. But, overall, the last seven years have been so good that I would live through the lows all over again just to experience the highs one more time.

I love you, Tim.

jenn

What I Do All Day

Its 9am on a Tuesday and I am still in my PJ’s. Last night was rough- Davis is not a great sleeper and it is really starting to wear me down. I’m planning on writing another post sometime on that issue, so I won’t expound on it here. I am constantly wondering what the heck happened to my day, so I thought I would go over it here. This should be good insight for those of you, like my bro, who wonder what on Earth I could be doing at home all day. I’ll start with the first feeding of the morning yesterday.

5am- Seriously, he couldn’t possibly be up again. But he is and he is hungry- Tim brings him to me. I choose to feed him in our bed and I fall asleep with him in my arms. I love to fall asleep with him in my arms and I am not currently accepting opinions from other as to whether that’s a bad thing or good thing. Even in my sleep deprived state I treasure those moments, and in the word of Mr. T, “I pity the fool” that tries to take them away from me.

7:30am- Tim just got back from taking the dogs on their morning walk. He is moving to the shower. Davis is up and hungry again, so I feed him and flip on Good Morning America. Note that if it has been a really bad night, Tim will sometimes give Davis a bottle and put him in his bouncy seat so I can get a few more minutes of sleep.

8:15 am- Tim is headed out the door as Davis and I hobble to the front of the house. I’ve been having some early morning joint pain lately that is probably due to my muscles tightening back up. Apparently they go loose when you are pregnant because of a certain pregnancy hormone. Tim has usually already made a pot of coffee and I love him for that. I try to put Davis in his swing and check my email and my Ebay bids. I am so into Ebay and this one company that is based in Gainesville. I can’t say anymore about that company because I fear that I have already told too many people about them and I think that my friends are starting to outbid me. I did snag this amazing giant ultra-kitschy fork and spoon on there the other day. It’s so perfect for our house- I love the juxtaposition of our beautiful antique Bavarian Marriage armoire next to the couldn’t-be-tackier fork and spoon. It’s the metaphor of our life.

9am- As I hear Ty Treadway announce, “Welcome to Merv Griffin’s Crosswords” I’m usually on my second cup of coffee and Davis is taking a nap. I write a posting to this blog (in Word bc my poor spelling has proven to be too much for the blogger spell check) or my Junior League Miracle on Main Street blog http://www.jlgmoms.blogspot.com/. Today I am writing this posting, but tomorrow I will focus on a writing exercise about how I make big decisions in my life, a recommendation from my coach. Yes, I have a great business/life coach Wade Arnold who I’ve been working with to make the transition from the working world to stay at home mom. I am trying to find more time to do my sculpture work. I had a hard time making the decision to stay at home after Davis was born, even though I had always thought I would be a stay at home mom. Working with Wade really helped me be confident about my choice and I work with him to try to keep sculpture a priority in my life and work towards what I really want in life for myself and my family. If you want more information about coaching you can visit his website at http://www.wadearnold.net/. I can’t say enough great things about it- it has been so helpful, especially during this big transition. No, you don’t have to do a bunch of writing. I chose to do that because I wanted to keep up my writing skills. You set goals with the coach and discuss your progress. It helps to keep me focused on what is really important to me and helps me to work towards my long term goals while balancing my new role as mom.

10am- Davis is usually awake again, ready to get out of his PJ’s and of course to eat again. If I was wise, I took a quick shower while he was asleep, but if not, I park him in his bouncy seat right outside the shower door so I can keep an eye on him while washing my hair. He is not so crazy about this scenario, but he does seem to enjoy the hair drier that comes next. He loves white noise which is why you will see my rolling all over town blasting the AM station static.

11am- If it’s Monday, I’m headed to Mom Pool Day. A few of us that had babies at the beginning of the year started this great pool party club that meets every Monday at 11:30 at different neighborhood pools. We really look forward to it- Davis LOVES the water and it’s a great time chat it up about mom stuff. We chill there until around 2 when the other moms get their babies back home for a nap.

2pm- Since Davis prefers not to sleep, we just head home or sometimes over the mom and dad’s for more pool time, or maybe even a nap for me. Don’t start with the napping/sleeping advice. We were accepting advice but had to stop because we have now tried everything and none of it really worked. My new approach is to do what I want and at least I won’t be all stressed that I’m not “doing it right”. I’m done with doing it right- I rarely do other things the “right way”, so why start now. I appreciate your concern and I know you just want to help, but we are simply too tired to listen right now. I have found that when you are new mom, people know it can be hard at times and they just want to help. But you get to a point where you just want to figure it out on your own and I think we are there.

4pm- We are back at home and I think, “Oh man, what magic trick will I be able to pull off for dinner?”. Davis is eating again while I check to see what Oprah is up to. It’s more of her usual new age junk, so I flip over to the food network for inspiration. Some days Davis finishes up and I get into my running clothes, pile up in the Bob Stroller for a jog to Publix to pick up ingredients for whatever spectacular feast (sense the sarcasm here) I have planned to whip up. But today, Davis does the Afternoon Freak-Out routine where he wants to eat for about 2 hours.

4:30- Its one of those Freak-Out days, and I call Tim demanding to know the exact second I can expect to see him pop through the kitchen door. Thank heavens it’s a 5:45 day. I move to the bedroom to feed Davis in the hopes he will fall asleep before I do.

6pm- Davis falls asleep just about the time Tim rolls in, just so Tim wonders what the heck the big rush was. I've included photos of Davis sleeping to document the rare occasion. By then I’m too tired to run and I will go to the store and pick up the ingredients I needed from the store via the car.

7pm- Back at home and cooking. Davis wakes up and Tim takes the lead giving him a bottle. Tim plays with Davis as I get dinner wrapped up.

8pm- Bath time for Davis. We have completely stopped using the baby bath and instead, either Tim or I will get in the big pink bathtub in the Miami Vice bathroom with Davis. It’s usually me- Tim is always afraid that Davis will have the big one while he is in there. I have conquered many natural disasters from Davis and I am not afraid, although thankfully I have never had to face one while he has been in the tub. (Note: Thanks to my friend Amanda we now refer to Davis’s natural disasters as “a@#plosions”). Tim doesn’t want to eat alone so he joins us briefly to talk about his day while Davis splashes and giggles in the water with me. I hand the dripping wet boy off to Tim for drying.

8:30- Tim gets Davis’s PJ’s on while I get mine on. He has time to read a quick Curious George Story while I get the cuisine out of the oven.

9pm- Tim hands Davis off to me for one last feeding. Davis falls asleep in the middle and I put him to bed. Tim and I manage to eat dinner together without Davis waking up and we hope that tonight will be better than last night.

So being a stay at home mom is really fun, even if you are totally sleep deprived. I can say with confidence that I have not been bored a single moment. I love it, even though some days are rough. And I just can’t believe how fast each day goes by. There are some days where Davis actually does fall asleep when we are at home. When this happens I have the following antibordom options.

- Fart around on the Internet. I can’t get enough of Best of Craigslist and GraphJam. I actually had two friends email me this one from Craigslist

http://www.craigslist.org/about/best/sfo/540076210.html
Let me tell you, when you have two different friends email you that clip you have to really start to wonder about how other people perceive you.

- Clean the house (Boo)

- Laundry (Boo)

- Give Napoleon a haircut- I did this one last week. Davis woke up in the middle of it so I parked him in his Bumbo seat next to me to enjoy the show. It was bad- really bad. Apparently sculpting skills are NOT helpful in poodle grooming. He actually looks worse than the photos show. Tim couldn’t stop laughing at him when he got home.

- Call Mom/Kathy/Holly/ or another friend who I can count on for an hour+ of conversation

- Take a nap- this is a guaranteed way of getting Davis to wake up.

- I’ve started baking bread again. I have included photos of my first braided loaf and of the rustic baguette that I made the other day. Tim was impressed by skills and has considered making an outdoor wood burning oven our next big project- after the remodel of the Miami Vice bathroom, of course.

Thanks to Cindy Fraser for the super cute Chicks Dig Me shirt for Davis. Thanks also to Uncle Jim and Aunt Janice for the too cute 4th of July outfit that will appear in my next posting.

Jenn