Swappin' Spit

Two weeks ago K.T. and I joined a Parent/Baby Group at our hospital.

On Thursday of every week, parents and their 6 to 9 month old babies get together and talk about, what else, baby stuff.

Let me tell you, I should have joined a looooooong time ago!! I remember the staff at the hospital telling me about it right after we had K.T. They actually let you join the 0-3 month group for free.

At the time, I thought that I would be too overwhelmed to get out of the house. While I was right, it was hard to get out and about, I realize now that I would have learned a lot if I did go. It would have totally been worth the hassle.

Anyways, it was great to go and hear how all these other moms are having the same issues that I am. I guess you could call it a support group of sorts. It helped me relax a little bit. I realized that I am not going insane. That it's just par for the course.

Another cool thing is that K.T. gets to hang with other babies. Some of the little tikes are already crawling. She really likes looking at the other babies and interacting with the ones that crawl by for a visit. Her first week she played with another little girl and petted her on the head like a puppy. This past week she met a handsome gentleman by the name of Matthew. She's such a flirt.

The room gets pretty noisy with all the babies in there. They scream, cry, babble, coo, giggle all at the same time. Sometimes, the discussion leader will stop and have the group sing a song. I remember thinking to myself, "Yeah. Like a song is really gonna stop this racket." Well, sakes alive, as soon as we started to sing ALL of the babies (and I do mean ALL) stopped what they were doing and listened. It was the weirdest thing.

I also breastfed semi-publically for the first time. All the moms in the group just seem to whip out their boobs and start feeding. I mean, they are really good at doing it without showing anything. I decided to give it a try and did a feed behind some chairs. K.T. wasn't very cooperative. She kept grabbing at my shirt and pulling it up so that the whole world could see my boob. Ha, ha. Very funny kid.

On our first day of the Parent/Baby group, we were invited to join a local "playgroup". Last week was our first date. We packed up and headed out to another mom's house. There were about 6 other moms there with babies in tow. Most of the kids were in the 7-9 month range, with a few that were a tad bit older. K.T. got to play with all the kids and I got to get out and interact with adults.

It was weird to be part of this mommy club and I tried to be as 'normal' as I could. Most of the moms just put their kids down and talked the entire time. I'm not the most outgoing person in the world and I really find it hard to insert myself into conversations. So, I tried to keep the nerd in me at bay, but it snuck out every now and then. Instead of gabbing about teething, I was too busy putting the stuffed doggie in the dump truck to go for a ride. Beep, beep! Woof, woof!

Our next playgroup is in April. The mom who is hosting is having a Mary Kay lady come to give us all facials. I don't think I have ever gotten a facial in my entire life. I didn't want to come off as weird, so I told them that I couldn't wait. You know, sometimes it feels like I'm the dork spying on all the cool kids.

A funny thing happened this weekend. K.T. came down with her first cold. Hmmmmmm. I wonder why? Could it be that she swapped spit with about a dozen other babies in the past two weeks? Sigh. I guess it was inevitable.

She's pretty miserable. Saturday night, I was up pretty much all night trying to get her to sleep. She can't breath out of her nose, and this means that she can't suck on the binky. She uses the binky to fall asleep. I would have to say that a horrible time was had by all.

Last night, I just put her in her swing all night long so that she was upright. It seemed to work out okay. She ended up sleeping for about 11 hours.

The good news is that right now she is sleeping in her crib with her binky.

The bad news is that my throat hurts.

Act Now!

Available for the first time ever....

Songs Inspired by Baybee K.T.
as sung by Mommy

Oh, this is the compilation you have been waiting for!

If you're a fan of corny childrens songs, then this is the album for you!

Don't worry, you'll get all your old favorites folks.

In this set you'll find such hits as:

Twinkle, Twinkle Little Star!
Humpty Dumpty!
Pat-A-Cake!
Hey Diddle Diddle!
Baa Baa Black Sheep!
Old MacDonald!
This Little Piggie!
Soooooo Big!
Itsy Bitsy Spider!
If You're Happy and You Know It!

And that's just to name a few!

Feel free to sing along many, many, many, many, many times!

As all babies know, these songs just aren't the same unless they are sung at LEAST three times in a row!

Oh, but that's not all folks!

As a one time deal, not only will you get all these tried & true classics, but you'll also get these rare songs inspired by the one, the only Baybee K.T.!!!!

(Sung to the tune of If You're Happy....)
She's the cutest baybeeee of alllll
She's the cutest baybeeee of alllll
There are many other babies
But they're not as cute as K.T.
She's the cutest baby of alllll!

Punchin' and a-kickin'
Kickin' and a -punchin'
That's what K.T. doooooooeeeeesss!
(substitute first & second line with these catchy phrases: fussin' and a-cryin', laughin' and a-cooin', eatin' and a-poopin')

Whoooooooooooo's the cutest baybeee in the worrrrrrld?
Baybee
kiss, kiss, kiss (sound effects)
K.T.!

Quantities are limited, folks.

This opportunity only comes once in a lifetime!

Here's wishin' a Happy St. Paddy's Day to Everyone and a Happy Birthday to my Grumpa!

Seven. Yep, Seven.

I think the year is speeding up or something. Didn't I just post an entry, like, yesterday? Jeez.

Here's a rundown of my mad crazy seven month old baby skillz:

I can stay in a sitting position with only an occasional head plant.

I can grab just about anything. I've also mastered the two-handed grab.

If the item that has peaked my interest is not within arms length, I can stretch my way out to it.

I can roll over now. I did it four times in a row yesterday. I didn't like it, but I did it.

I can wave to people. My wave is so cool that it has multiple meanings: Hello, Goodbye, Come Here, Gimme That, etc.

If my binky falls out, I can grab it and put it back in. I even do this in the middle of the night.

I can sometimes sleep through the entire night. No diaper change, no crying, no feeding. Just me. Sleeping.

I babble a lot now. I also like to blow an occasional raspberry to mix it up a bit.

I can look up and throw my arms out wide as if to say, "Pick me up!"

I like to sleep on my side.

Remember how I said in one of my last entries that I hated carrots? I've decided that NOTHING can be worse than green beans. I'll take carrots any day.

Mommy and me do some crazy things nowadays. We go to a place to listen to stories and sing songs once a week. Today, we went and hung out with other babies! Mommy spent the entire time talking and listening to other Mommies. Sounds boring, right? Nope! I got to play with the other kiddies the entire time. It was pretty cool.

I had some visitors this past weekend. Grumpa, Auntie Onion-Dip and Uncle Junior came to play. We had a ball. I think Grumpa had more fun playing with my toys than I did!

So, there you have it. This month seemed to be all about eating, grabbing stuff and playing.

My Mommy says that I get cuter by the day. I bet all Mommies say that though.

Oh yeah! I've got some pictures to share.

Here's me hamming it up for the camera. Thhhhhhhhbbbbbbppppppp!

What's he doin' back there? Does he know that I just pooped on him?

Here's me and Mommy hangin' in the bathroom. She never lets me play with the camera. It's just not fair.

Ooooooooooo! What's this thing? A Hammer? Just THINK of the damage I could do with this thing once I get mobile! Maybe I should start working on that crawling thing.

I saw something called The Sun the other day. Mommy says that it doesn't visit very often this time of year, so we had to go outside to play with it. I'd like to make a shout out to Mr. Sun. Dude, come back soon!

How do I look? Smashing, eh?

Mommy bought me this cool hat to wear when we go out to see Mr. Sun. Guess he can sneak up on you and give you the burnies. The last place I want burnies is on my head. 'Nuff said.

I found that the hat is also good for just hanging around in. It gets me a lot of attention.

Come on. Admit it. I'm so cute it makes you want to cry, doesn't it?



Check this dude out. Bad-ass.

Here's another video sampling of the Baybee KT experience. Put on your seatbelts kids, it's gonna be one heck of a ride!!!

XXXOOO.

Until next time, my peeps!

Bunch o' Stuff

Don't get me wrong, I like cats. I really do.

But, why do they have to POOP and SPRAY all over my friggin' yard?!?!?!?!?

I can't stand it. It's pissin' me off.

This morning, I ran out into our back yard in my PJ's to chase away some damn neighborhood cat using our lawn as his litterbox.

He was lucky he was so fast or he'd have my foot up his ass.

Moving on.

We got a visit from Grumpa, Auntie Onion-Dip and Uncle Junior this weekend. K-T had a blast. She loved all the attention and play time. She even decided to show off by starting to wave at people.

We even - GULP - were able to LEAVE her with them.

Huzbend and I went out for ice cream. It was the first time in almost 7 months that we had gone someplace sans baby. It was a nice little break, even if we did talk about her for the entire 20 minutes that we were gone.

But, alas, all visits must end. It was a sad, sad time. Sniffle.

I swear the next day she was looking for them. When I brought her downstairs in the morning, she automatically scanned the room. Then later on she kept looking at the couch to see if there was anyone there. When I was holding her she would try to peak around my shoulder to see if Grumpa was going to jump out and tell her to "Go 'ta bed!".

Who knows. Maybe it was just my imagination.

Next.

Last week we went to Storytime at the public library. There was this lady sitting on the floor breastfeeding her baby. I was actually a little embarrassed sitting there right next to her. This was a very strange reaction to have since I too breastfeed my baby. It was just dumb.

The lady was there again this week and doing the same thing. I noticed this time that she didn't even have a nursing bra on. I guess it just makes for even easier access. Hmph.

I wish I was brave enough to just whip out a boob to feed my kid in public.

One more.

Daylight savings time sucks.

It's totally destroyed my progress towards an earlier bedtime for KT. I had just gotten her to go to bed at around 9:30 and we were slowly working towards 9:00. Then the clocks leap ahead and now she's going to bed at 10:30/11:00 again! Dammit.

Sigh. Now, I gotta start all over again.

Last one, I swear.

For you video game freaks.

The "Ship Date" does not mean that the game will be in the store on that specific day. It's just the day that it ships from the manufacturer. The retailers get it the next day and you have to wait until then to buy it.

Bogus.

Until tomorrow, my beefy, bald and bad-ass Spartan friend.

What the HELL is THIS?!?!?!


Green Beans?!?!? GREEN! BEANS! Look at it! I don't think I have ever seen anything so UNappetizing in my entire life!!!


For cryin' out loud! You expect me to eat this slop?


You do, don't you?


Is there anything I can do to make this NOT happen? Perhaps a little less crying at night? Maybe I could put a tad more effort into the whole rolling over and crawling thing? What's it gonna take?!?!


Bribes won't work, eh? You're one tough broad. Hmmmmm. What are my options here?


Eat my green beans OR eat my green beans. Well, that isn't too many options now is it? How 'bout if you let me outta this chair, we can go read a book or two? Reading makes me smarter, you know.


Damn. You're on to me. This is so UNFAIR.


Looks like I have no choice but to eat these so-called Green Beans. That doesn't mean I have to like it though.



Okay. I'm ready for another try.

Gulp.

*SHUDDER*

Stranger Danger

K-T and I were able to visit Huzbend at work yesterday.

As I rolled her down the hallway towards his office, a myriad of people came out to take a peek.

One person, then two people, then three people were all leaning over the stroller commenting about how cute she was.

And then, BAM!

She screwed up her face in the most awful looking pout and began to cry. Tears and everything.

She had never done that before. I had to pick her up to get her to stop crying. If I tried to put her down (I needed to change her soggy diaper) she would start crying again. I would say it took about ten minutes for her to get back to normal.

I guess I should have seen this coming. Last month, when my Mom came to visit, K-T was a bit wary of her. She cried when my Mom picked her up. But, as the weekend went on, K-T allowed a snuggle or two.

Today, we went to the University of Washington to participate in an Infant Hearing study. The researchers play different sounds for the babies and then gauge their reactions to them. If the babies react to the correct sound, the researchers activate motion/sound toys as a reward. It was pretty cool.

Anyways, we were waiting in the lobby before our appointment. A lady came in to take us back to the lab. She stood about two feet away from the stroller, looked down at K-T and said, "Hi."

On came the pout, then the crying and then the tears.

Supposedly, "stranger anxiety" at this age is a good thing. It means that she is getting smarter and developing emotionally. It means that she realizes that there is only one Mommy and one Daddy.

It's official. We have become the most important people in her life. I think I'm okay with that. No, I KNOW that I'm okay with that. I've been waiting for this moment for six months! Now, I'm really THE MOMMY. Things have changed. I might not like that fact that she cries when approached by "The Others" but, I do like the fact that she knows who I am and how much I care for her.

So, this is a word of warning to any visitors. She's gonna cry. It's not because she doesn't like you. It's because you're not Mommy and you're not Daddy. I guess that's just the way it is. All kiddies go through it. Don't take it personally. It'll pass.