Downs

• Calvin was a little cranky part of the day but it could have been much worse.

Ups

• Calvin started making noises around 5:30am but he didn’t wake up till 7:00am!!! Unfortunately, I kept expecting him to wake up so I didn’t get as much extra sleep as I could have.
• In spite of having Calvin home today, I did manage to get 4 hrs of work in. I did this mainly by working during his naps which ended up being about 3 hrs total and then checking email and doing piecemeal work. This meant that I didn’t get my exercise in during the normal time. However, when Jaeger came home, he gave Calvin his bath and nighttime bottle and I went for a brief walk. It wasn’t as intense as my normal workout but still helped clear my head.
• Oh Eve, I’ve missed you. On my evening walk, I started listening to Witness in Death, the 10th Eve Dallas book, by J.D. Robb. I’m always amazed how I can’t stand Nora Roberts’ books but like J.D. Robb (a pseudonym for Nora Roberts). I also vastly prefer listening to this series over reading it. I took a little break for a while but now I’m ready to continue the series. BTW, you can always see my current reading list by visiting my LibraryThing profile. Jaeger and I technically share the account but I don’t think he uses the “currently reading” collection.

Cute Calvin Moment

• Today Calvin was crawling all over the floor in his typical tireless fashion. At one point he crawled over me and I grabbed his foot and started massaging it. Much to my astonishment, Calvin just lay his head on the floor and let me rub his feet and legs for quite a while. I wouldn’t be surprised if his newfound ability to walk (while holding on to things) makes his legs a little sore and the rubbing feels good. Maybe I should pull out the infant massage book I was given. I gave up on it pretty quickly because he rarely stays still long enough to try it out.

Simplification

• More organization in Calvin’s room. I packed up his 6-9 month clothing and sorted his 12 month clothing. I have a distressing variety of summer clothes in the 12 month size but fortunately some longer sleeve items also.

Once again I realized I didn’t post anything for yesterday. However, I’m going to skip doing an official entry for it. Just briefly:
Our library system went down yesterday while I was eating breakfast. For some reason, the server had rebooted itself and the database hadn’t automatically started. I’m still not sure what the root cause was (though we suspect a UPS) but I got everything back online fairly easily. The clean-up of all the other dependent systems was a little more tiresome. I also was the church pianist this week but Calvin had to stay home since he’s still contagious. It was really weird going somewhere by myself. I felt like I had lost an appendage.

Downs

• Calvin’s still technically sick. He doesn’t seem unhappy but it looks like he is still contagious and needs to stay home from daycare tomorrow.

Ups

• Jaeger got up this morning with Calvin so I could sleep in a little bit.
• Jaeger and I went on a date! We went to see the Sherlock Holmes movie and then went out for ice cream afterwards. In the beginning, we budgeted for 2 dates a month + babysitter fees. However, neither of us like using the phone which is an essential part of hiring a babysitter. As a result, we’re lucky if we make it out once a month.
• Jaeger and I finished filling out our estate planning questionnaire and mailed it back to the lawyer.

Cute Calvin Moment

• Calvin really likes riding on his little car walker (it has a place for riding or he can use the back as a walker to steady himself). His cackle is hilarious when Jaeger or I push him really fast making VROOM VROOM noises. I have a feeling that he’s going to love entertainment parks once he gets older.

Simplification

• Cleaned out one of my food storage boxes downstairs and threw away some scary dried fruit that was starting to petrify.

I got to bed before I realized I hadn’t posted anything yesterday. At that point, I decided it wasn’t worth dragging myself out of a warm bed

Downs

• Nothing specific but for some reason I was in a bad mood yesterday.

Ups

• Jaeger stayed home and took care of Calvin while I worked and then he worked in the afternoon. Calvin woke up before 5am and I took care of him the first couple of hours and then Jaeger took him at 7 and I dozed an hour before starting work.

Cute Calvin Moment

• I don’t really remember enough of yesterday. This is why I need to write it down every night

Simplification

• Organized my main kitchen utensil drawer. I didn’t get rid of much but I did move a lot of the less used equipment, such as my 1 tsp scoop, down to storage in the basement.

Downs

• Took Calvin to the doctor today and she thinks he has a mild form of RSV. He has some wheezing but doesn’t appear to be struggling to breathe. Calvin started exhibiting symptoms of a cold on Sunday and the doctor said it usually peaks around day 4 so if we’re lucky, he should be on the downhill side. We’re suppose to watch him and call immediately if we see any dubious signs.

Ups

• Because Calvin is officially sick, I couldn’t take him to daycare today. In the past, taking care of Calvin when he’s sick was much like an endurance race. It was always a toss-up whether Calvin or the assigned parent would drop first. Fortunately, Calvin was in an incredibly good mood today. He’s technically sick but apparently wasn’t ever told he was suppose to act sick. He happily crawled, cruised, and walked (holding my hands) around the house all afternoon. He also went down for an afternoon nap with almost no fussing so I was able to get about 2 hrs of work done. Jaeger is going to take care of Calvin tomorrow morning and I will take the afternoon shift. Hopefully it goes as good tomorrow as it did today.
• During Calvin’s morning nap and before I took him to the doctor, I managed to clean house. I can’t believe how much I got done today with Calvin home. He’s definitely getting much easier to take care of than he use to be.

Cute Calvin Moment

• Today Calvin learned to feed himself cheerios! We’ve been feeding him cheerios for several weeks now. However, up to this point, he’d always open his little mouth and look at us hopefully indicating we should put a cheerio on his tongue. Today, Calvin grabbed a cheerio and miraculously managed to insert it into his mouth. Currently, he only gets about 25% of the cheerios he attempts into his mouth. The rest either end up in the high chair seat or on the floor. However, it’s a very promising start. Emboldened by this new skill, I also encouraged him to try to eat peas and chopped up bananas. I think some ended up in his mouth but I’m not entirely sure.

Simplification

• Packed up Calvin’s 3-6 month clothing and printed beautiful labels for the boxes.

Downs

• Calvin’s still pretty fussy. Also, when I brought him home from daycare, I noticed he was wheezing. Called the doctor and they said if I thought he wasn’t getting enough oxygen to go to urgent care, otherwise make an appointment tomorrow. It seemed particularly bad right after he was outside in the cold air. By bath time, the wheezing was still there but was much less prevalent so I decided I could wait to see how he’s doing tomorrow.

Ups

• Today was our district’s benefit meeting that every staff member is required to go to. Since I get almost everything from Jaeger, it would typically be a huge waste of my time . However, IT needed to work on my computer so I scheduled it during the benefits meeting. At least that way my computer was working even if I wasn’t and I wouldn’t have to go without my it later
• Discovered that Carbon Valley now has a subscription of Vegetarian Times. The library allows patrons to check out all but the newest issue so I picked up the January issue to browse at home (the February issue is already out).
• I just ordered a Beca Baby Carrier for Calvin. Up till now, I’ve been using the Baby Bjorn. However, Calvin has almost outgrown it but still shows sign of wanting to be carried everywhere. Sometimes carrying him is the only thing that will calm him down. The Beca is rated till 45 lbs at which point he’s just going to have to learn how to walk.

Cute Calvin Moment

• He’s been cranky enough recently that it’s hard to think of any particularly cute he did. However, we did have a fairly pleasant 1/2 hr after his morning nap. He continues to work on standing unaided for seconds at a time.

Simplification

• Continued working on Calvin’s closet.

Downs

• Calvin was a little cranky today but nowhere near as bad as the last couple of days.

Ups

• I got everything done I had scheduled today. Calvin took a long nap which helped (and also immensely improved his mood ).
• I managed to stick to my food plan today. The problem with working from home is any time I get a little hungry, I can just wander to the kitchen and eat something. Today I allowed myself one piece of candy for lunch and 2 for supper. By mid-afternoon, I was craving more but managed to distract myself. One might think that the obvious solution would be to not have candy in the house. However, if I don’t indulge my sweet tooth a little bit, I go crazy the next time I have the option. Plus, I tend to eat the strangest things, like raw sugar, if I can’t find anything else.

Cute Calvin Moment

• Now that Calvin can crawl out of his bouncy seat, I’ve been putting him in his crib while I get his night time bath ready. Tonight I put him in his crib and then went into the bathroom to get everything ready. I heard a ruckus from the bedroom and peaked in to see what was happening. Calvin doing laps in his crib. He would rapidly crawl to one side of the crib, stand up and then throw himself down into the middle of the crib which would then bounce a little bit. The crib wasn’t bouncing a huge amount as they aren’t really designed to bounce but Calvin managed. He would then rush to the other side of the crib and repeat. Calvin was cackling the entire time he raced back and forth. It reminded me of TJ when he would get hyper.
• During bath time, Calvin practiced standing without any support. He would pull himself into a standing position by using the edge of the tub. Then he’d let go, hold his arms out to the side for a moment while he stood, and then lose his balance and sit down in the tub. He didn’t appear to be having much fun doing this but he kept doing it over and over again.

Simplification

• Cleaned out part of Calvin’s closet. I’ve been trying to figure out what to do with the leftover newborn disposable diapers. I finally decided it would make sense to pack them with the 0-3 month clothing.

Downs

• Calvin was cranky most of the day. He had a pretty restless night and cried several times but always managed to put himself back to sleep fairly quickly. After Calvin got up, he insisted I hold him constantly or he started crying. When I dropped him off at daycare he started screaming and wouldn’t stop (which is really rare because he likes daycare). Miss K, one of his primary daycare providers, told me the rest of the day wasn’t too bad but he clung to her a lot also. He was also gnawing on everything in sight which is yet another sign we’re dealing with a teething issue. This evening he was in a decent mood until bath time.

Ups

• I took a short nap while Calvin was sleeping. I was hoping to take a quick nap and get in a bit of exercise before he woke up but he woke up after only an hour (normally he sleeps 1 1/2 to 2 hrs). However, I still felt much better after my nap.

Cute Calvin Moment

• Every so often I worry that Calvin doesn’t have enough stranger anxiety. I know it sounds weird but I’ve read several sources claiming that stranger anxiety indicates the baby has a good bond with their primary caregiver. (Babies with a bad bond don’t have as much obvious stranger anxiety because every person, including their parents, are an unknown factor to them.) Even though Calvin’s clinginess today was a inconvenient, it was also a reassuring sign that he isn’t growing up maladjusted.

Simplification

• Cleaned out one of my bathroom drawers.

Downs

• Calvin/I had a very bad night. After Jaeger put him down to sleep for the night, he cried 1-2 times every hour until 1am. At one, he gave up crying and devolved into screaming. I gave him some more ibuprofen and then left him since, as I’ve mentioned before, if I stick around, he usually won’t fall back asleep. However, he continued screaming. He hadn’t eaten as much as usual during the day (also normal for teething) so I thought he might be hungry. I fixed him a 6oz bottle and fed it to him. He did stop screaming but was wide awake. After finishing the bottle I tried to convince him he was sleepy but he was having none of it. He burbled happily in my arms. I held him that way for about an hour because I didn’t have the emotional energy left to listen to him scream. Eventually, I transferred him back to his bed around 2:30am. He did cry for a little bit but thankfully settled down fairly quickly. He started making noises again around 6am but didn’t completely wake up (and stay awake) until 7:30. Not surprisingly, I have been exhausted all day.
• Calvin was refusing to drink his bottle today. This is pretty typical when he teethes but it’s also frustrating as he’s usually crankier without calories.
• Jaeger was trying to give Calvin his bath this evening but Calvin was really unhappy and again started crying. I think he was just tired but it’s so exhausting listening to him cry

Ups

• Jaeger got up with Calvin this morning so I was able to stay in bed until almost 8:30 (which I really needed).
• Jaeger also took Calvin in the afternoon so I could have a nap. I’m not sure I ever got to sleep but it was still good to try to relax in bed for a bit.

Cute Calvin Moment

• We met a couple of other babies today that were right around Calvin’s age. I was impressed by how much more Calvin moved than the other babies. At least for one of the babies, I don’t think it was a skill issue, he was just happy to sit in his mom’s lap. Calvin, on the other hand, must explore as much of the world as possible and was always squirming around.

Simplification

• Didn’t get around to working on this at all today.

Downs

• N/A

Ups

• Calvin was in a pretty good mood today. He didn’t take as much energy as usual. I also learned that Calvin likes pasta but does not like grapefruit.

Cute Calvin Moment

• Calvin spent most of the church service flirting with the balcony ladies. I like sitting in the balcony because there’s a bit more room for him to move around so he doesn’t get too stifled during church. Plus, there are quite a few women with grown or almost grown children who miss having a baby so they spoil Calvin. First one lady would hold him and then another. He would shriek during the quietest parts of the service and they all just smile benignly at him.

Simplification

• Started going through another kitchen storage box and put more containers an an old kitchen scale in the thrift store bin.

Downs

• I have a tendency to find things to panic about. Unfortunately, this usually happens when I’m trying to fall asleep at night. Last night I went to bed at 9:30 but didn’t actually fall asleep until sometime after 11. Fortunately, Calvin only woke up once before 5 so I did get some sleep.

Ups

• Today we went to a lawyer’s office to discuss official wills and guardianship documents! We had every intention of getting this stuff formalized before Calvin was born. However, I went into preterm labor before we managed to make an appointment with the lawyer. At long last, we’re finally dealing with it. We went and talked to a lawyer and received a form to fill out so they have an idea of the scope of the documents we need. The lawyer mentioned that if we can avoid dealing with a trust, the whole thing will be much cheaper but he needs a better feel for our situation to know whether or not that is feasible. Jaeger and I need to fill out the long form we were given and email it back to the office and then we’ll set up another appointment to talk details.
• Since we went to visit the lawyer today, I didn’t have time to make supper so Jaeger got sushi takeout. The restaurant must not be use to sushi being an entire meal as they gave us dozens of soy sauce packs and at least 7 chopsticks. The sushi was pretty interesting. One of the variations had fried vegetable tempura in the roll. I’m not sure it’s my favorite but it’s definitely memorable. Another one had daikon sprouts which were tangy/spicy.

Cute Calvin Moment

• During bath time today, Calvin and I played a variation of catch/fetch. Calvin would pick up one of his bath toys and throw it out of the tub. I would pick it up and drop it back into the tub where Calvin would carefully sit down, find it, and then repeat the process. Each time he threw an item out, he’d get this big grin on his face like he was so proud he could throw things. Is was a little repetitious until Calvin started throwing his sieve containers out still half-full with water. I’m afraid I inadvertently encouraged him by laughing each time he did this. By the end of bath time, the bathroom floor was quite wet.

Simplification

• Got rid of more water bottles and containers.