First Day

SO much for writing more often. It used to be that Id have some time whilst Raf ate and snacked. Alas, he is now a very inquisitive little guy when he eats, and stops so many times mid feed t look around, check things out, that there's no time at all to properly write. How sad I am to communicate with people nowadays via my facebook status updates!

But a few updates:

1) Rafi found his feet! When he's sitting on my knee he'll actually bend over and attempt to pop his toes in his mouth. Clever boy :)

2) He is obsessed - absolutely obsessed - with solid food. No, we haven't given him any yet (and don't plan to until 6 months), but he grabs, stares, mouths, sticks his tongue out when he sees food. Just this morning in Panera he tried to eat my toast. He has licked my apple, though, and thought it was hilarious. Funny little boy,

3) The biggest thing is that Raf went to his sitters for the first time today. The physical therapist I saw for prenatal massages when I was pregnant happened to be pregnant herself. She was due the day after me. In the end there's around 2 weeks difference in the ages of her son and Rafi. She is really lovely, and after Raf arrived we kept in touch. We were chatting on the phone about childcare and we got to talking about the idea of a nanny share. She was planning on having a nanny for her son, but it is very pricey so we had the thought that perhaps we could share a nanny. Well, that's exactly what we're doing. We hired a nanny and she started looking after my friend's son a month ago. While we won't start with Rafi full time until next January - when I return to work (sob), Raf went today for a trial run. Just a couple of hours.

It went well, I think. I ended up returning to pick him up before the 2 hours was up, although I had just popped to Whole Foods. He did just fine, of course! He was overly tired and so had a bit of a meltdown for N, the nanny, but when I got there he was asleep. He wasn't all that happy to be rudely awoken, either.... Poor little poppet.

4) Finally, I should add that Raf keeps on being mistaken for a 9 month old. Really, almost everyone thinks he is much older than he is... Random people exclaim in amazement when I announce that he's 4.5 months. i think it's his hair.. though it might also be the size of his head. Comparing him to my friend's little guy, H, and Raf definitely has a rather large noggin :)

5) okay, so finally, really finally, here's a pic of Raf in the ergo carrier... his first time riding on my back!

some recent photos

Hi all, some recent photos of the boy. I can't keep up with the changes - developmental and physical. He is just so sweet. Here are a few from different walks, naps, couch time, and tummy/play time!

Hello!

Well I am a horrible blogger lately. Must do better... as there's so much to report, but by the time I come to do it I've forgotten what it is that I wanted to write! So a quick list:

1) Rafi rolled from his front to his back a few days ago. He kept on doing it... though today he wasn't really into it :)

2) I'll write a post about this properly (tomorrow...) but Raf is partly sleeping with us, partly in the Amby that Angie and Dennis gave to us. We're all sleeping better because of it (especially the little guy), but I feel sad, too, because i do live snuggling up with him. He's still in our room, of course, and as soon as he's not wanting to sleep on his own we bring him into bed with us. So he's sleeping with us from around 1-3:30am. Around 3:30 he wakes up all wriggly.. I used to take him downstairs and he'd feed and nap in the swing, but putting him back in the Amby after a quick snack is working really well... so far. We keep reminding ourselves that there's plenty of time for cosleeping.

3) So many changes in Raf. he is more social, mobile, cheeky :) We're just adoring him.

4) Stressful too. And between Rich's full time job, part time masters, and me trying to get some work done and attend meetings with students and colleagues, it's been hard. it's even more of a challenge not to take out the stress and frustration on Rich (and for him, on me), but we both have to remember that whilst this is a lovely time, it is extremely stressful.

5) I had my first day at work yesterday. I had to go in for a big meeting. Rich brought Raf in between meetings so I could feed him, so I wasn't away from the little guy for more than 3 hours, and he and Rich had a nice time together, but I got a glimpse of my life when I return to work and I am somewhat anxious about it. The biggest challenge may be pumping at work. Eek.

6) For some reason blogger isn't letting me upload pics, but Ill try again later. Hope I have some readers left :)

One Year On

Eek, our internet has been on the blink for a week.. with spotty reception here and there. I'll try and update tomorrow, but I wanted to quickly point out a few things:

On November 1st, 2008 we discovered we were expecting a baby! I peed on a stick at 4am one Saturday, the day we were heading with Ren to meet Fia and Laur for the Boston Veg Fest. They must have thought me terribly rude as I was desperate to retest and thus to leave our day together very early. We stopped off at the Target on Route One in Boston to test again.. such a faint line. The next day, still unsure, I tested again in Hannafords as I went to meed Kim, Bistra and Meghan for lunch... another positive - 9 in fact - but then a negative digital. Oh... the anxiety. On the Tuesday I tested with a digital again and got a positive. En route to my 8am class I stopped off at Jen's office - with pregnancy test in pocket - to share the early news. I am not goos at keeping things in :)

And so Raf is 4 months old now (this past Saturday). We saw Deb for his 4 month wellness check up. he's 15 pounds 1 and 25 inches long. His weight gain slowed down and he's had a height spurt. His head, though, is quite big... 95th percentile big :) He did have a shot, though, and that night he was just miserable.. as were we as he cried inconsolably for HOURS. Eek. We're currently dealing with the 4 month sleep regression, which I hear is pretty common. Oh my, I am going sort of loopy from the lack of sleep.

And on that note I'm heading to bed - hopefully.