I HATE BARF

Yep, I really hate barf. Honestly, it sort of scares me. In grade school whenever someone threw up and they had to come into the classroom and throw those "cedar chips" on it I immediately decided I wasn't talking to that kid anymore (even when that person happened to be my best friend in 2nd grade)... clearly they were gross. Once in the 1st grade my family attended a huge fireworks display in St. Louis on the 4th of July called the VP Fair. At the VP Fair I took my shoes off while I sat on a picnic blanket watching the fireworks. Well, somehow my brand new kicks were moved and by accident placed in throw up of someone near by (it was dark, and probably some drunk person's). Obviously I refused to put those suckers back on (despite my mom running water on them like a crazy lady) which caused my dad to carry me for like a mile back to the car.   I never out grew this disdain for vomit as I got older. Below is a picture from my college days... when one my dear friends got "the bottle flu" what did I do? Made a sign proclaiming my hate of barf and proceeded to take photos (I'm a really good friend, I swear, just keep your barfing to a minimum around me). 

This friend will remain nameless, but for those who know who this is....enjoy! :)

So what does this have to do with anything? Well, Ian barfed. Yep. Much to my dismay he threw up. 

My parents came in town this past weekend to "meet the parents" as Todd's family was also in town. Todd's family had rented a place up in Boulder for the weekend and our whole clan headed up to spend the day with them. Right after we got up to Boulder we made a quick stop and when we pulled into the parking lot my mom yelled out "Oh no the baby just spit up...wait, oh no! HE'S THROWING UP!" And just like that, without any warning he got sick in his car seat. John pulled over and there I was in a parking lot using baby wipes to clean him up (if a girl ever needed her "I hate barf sign" now was the time). Of course once we got him cleaned up he seemed as good as new. Onward we went with the day... we had lunch, met Todd's family at a brewery, and then went back to the house they had rented for some hanging out and dinner. 

We took this picture (post vom) at the house Todd's Fam was renting

See, does this look like a sick child?! Well you can imagine how shocked we all were when we were having dessert and my dad was holding baby Ian and he threw up again (all over my dad). Poor baby. It's funny but I suddenly stopped caring about my hate of barf as I wiped him down in the sink and Eddie (my sister and Todd's dog) licked it up. Oh dear. At that point we decided it was time to go. We were out of clean clothes and clearly had made an awesome impression on the Rais family "How's your carrot cake?" "BAAARRRRRFFFFF."  

The crazy thing is this came on without any warning...he was acting just as normal as ever (he is such a good baby)...no fever or anything. We thought make it was a fluke and he was car sick the first go-around but at this point it was becoming obvious he was actually sick. 

Since then it has been a random barf here or there, and he acts okay in between (minus less interest in food). I will think he is fine and then he will wake up in the middle of the night and barf. I took him to the doctor on Tuesday morning (after he had another bout throwing up in the middle of the night), and she said it is likely just a virus  As with any virus, it just has to run it's course. After going all day Tuesday without anything, he threw up again on Tuesday night so I decided to keep him home from daycare on Wednesday. This wasn't that successful because I ended up having to bring him into the office because we had a big presentation I was working on - just picture me holding my baby (praying he didn't barf) while typing on a laptop with my CEO sitting next to me (I don't lie).  Anyway, he made it through all of Wednesday and almost all of Thursday without another throw-up spell....and then I got a text at 4:30pm from Barb (his caregiver) saying he had gotten sick. Ugh. I freaked out, called the doctor, and the whole nine. I mean, I am exhausted it has been almost a week of barfing at random. It's the worst because the poor little buddy can't communicate, and I know he doesn't feel well, bless his heart. This is his first time getting sick :(  The doctor assured me that this is normal and he is likely fighting off this virus. Fingers crossed he feels better tomorrow.... I want him shoveling peas in his mouth again soon! In the meantime my fear of barf is wearing off....something about it being your own baby's (and wanting to protect him) makes it not so bad (though scrubbing the carpet at 3:30am on a Tuesday isn't ideal).

9 Months Baby!

Guess who is 9 months old?! This guy!!

Weight: 19 lbs 12oz -- 51st percentile

Height/Length: 30 3/4" -- 100th percentile

Head circumference:  18"  -- 67th percentile

He has been growing leaps and bounds! He's up 3lbs and 3 inches since his last wellness check-up.... so he's averaging an inch/lb a month. He's back up into the 100th percentile for his height, which didn't shock me since he is as big as some two year old's. 

Other notable things....

- He is crawling all over the place. He started to crawl a month or so back but it's transitioning from an army crawl to a full fledged crawl. 

- He is trying to lift himself up on the coffee table and sofa. 

- HIS TEAR DUCT UNBLOCKED!! Woohoo! Celebrate! That happened at 7 months.

- He LOVES his foodies... he eats just about everything, but I'm pretty sure his favorite thing is peas!

- He can sit in a "big-boy" highchair at restaurants, and he loves it because he can be a part of the action. 

- Just a few days before his 9 month b'day he started to get 2 teeth! His bottom 2 are working their way in simultaneously  And shockingly he hasn't been too fussy about it. 

- He is no longer the youngest baby at his daycare :( one of the other mom's had another baby in June who just started there last week.  

 - He is making all kinds of sounds and trying to "talk" 

- He loves to click his tongue and if you do it at him he'll do it back

- Big fan of "The Itsy Bitsy Spider"

- Eyes are still blue and beautiful! Hair is blonde/light brown. - His next wellness check-up will be when he turns ONE! Geez, time is FLYING.

I'm all dried up

Not to be confused with drying out. Last week I decided that the time had come to ween and put the pump away.  My goal was to make it to 6 months, and let's face it that is hefty goal for someone that has a baby who is actually breastfeeding the natural way, but for someone who is doing it all hooked up to a machine I think it's even more insane (good thing I'm crazy). Well, I made!! (Pardon me while I pat my own back) and at 9 months I was actually 3 months past my goal.  When I think back to my beginning nightmares with the whole breast feeding thing (you might remember this post) I cannot even believe I made it to 6 months let alone 9. Screw metals, I think I deserve a large piece of Yurman for this beyond noble effort. After blowing past my first goal, I was then thinking that maybe I could make it a year (cray-cray).

 Frankly though, by month 8 I was so over it and just about every day I thought "I'm not doing this anymore." I mean really do you know how annoying it is in the middle of a work day when you're wearing a dress and have 10 minutes to spare between meetings to have to go upstairs into a little closet (right outside of where our IT guy sits I might add), take off all your clothes, and pump. I'll tell you, it's REALLY annoying.  Equally annoying occurred just about every night lately when after a full day at work, cooking/serving dinner, cleaning up dinner, doing bathtime, and finally getting the baby to sleep, I had to  freaking strap "my puppies" onto the pump and deal with it for 15 minutes when all I wanted to do is go to bed (I fell asleep more than one time with those things sucking away, only to have John elbow me to wake up). Mornings had become a challenge when trying to get ready for work, while entertaining the baby, and pumping. The other night before bed per usual I was getting ready to pump while sitting on the edge of the bed, and John who was about to go to sleep saw the pump bag yelled out "NO! NO! No, NOT the pump! I don't want to hear it." As though it is just my favorite sound and I love it. Right. Clearly, we all loathe the thing at this point.

I actually started to ween a bit after Ian hit 6 months. I wanted to introduce Ian to formula for the first time after being exclusively breastfed for the first 6 months, and get him on board with the whole idea. He could have cared less, it was as though I was giving him the same thing I always did.   Most recently I'd dropped down my pumping to 3x per day (which might not sound like a lot but it trust me it isn't a walk in the park). Honestly doing any more than that had become impossible to do anymore with working full-time. Pumping is a full time job, don't be fooled. Since dropping down my sessions my milk output per session had dropped substantially too. I think it's the body's natural way of weaning - I swear the body is so crazy.  It makes sense though, as the body is further along postpartum, the baby starts to eat more solid foods your body knows to make less milk. Often times at this point some babies start to self-wean, because as they become busy-bodies they are not as interested in breastfeeding except for maybe the early morning feeding and the bedtime feeding when all is quiet.
So, point being, my supply has been on the decline and it had actually become stressful to have enough b'milk for each day at daycare (because you really have to make more than what the baby would actually drink because they always end up discarding some left in the bottle or heck probably even spill some from time to time). Just to put it in perspective back in the "hay-day" I used to produce like 12 oz per session and I was doing like 5-6 sessions a day (that's like 60oz a day), and now I'm doing 3 sessions and I'm lucky if I make 4 oz per session (that's a total of 12 pathetic oz's). I finally had the "ah-ha" moment last week when I realized all this effort for such little output really makes it pointless (especially when Ian is much less interested in his milk anymore... he's all about the real food now). Plus thinking about  having to travel for the holidays with the pump and all the extra crap (ie: bottles, coolers, ice packs, freezer bags, etc) gives me the shakes.

So over the past weekend, I dropped down another session. Then on Monday I only pumped once. And GET THIS... on Tuesday I didn't pump at all and haven't looked back!!! Woohoo! I am a free woman! My body is now MINE again, and I am no longer a slave to that little *!?$%#@! black pump bag. I cannot even tell you how liberating it is. I feel like I have regained hours worth of free time in the past 6 days since I'm not having to constantly undress, clean pump parts, bottles, etc.   After almost 1 full week we are officially....

Actually it's sort of funny every few hours I have this sinking feeling of panic that I've forgotten something (much like how I felt after I stopped having to wear a retainer in the 5th grade and I'd freak out about an hour after eating that I'd thrown my retainer away and then I'd remember I didn't have it anymore).  Just the other night I sterilized all the parts and pieces and packed the pump away... I still hear it's sucking sound in my head from time to time...and soon enough it will just be a distant memory.  I can't say it isn't bittersweet (though I'm sure it would be much more emotional had we done it the natural way)...I am so happy to have feed little Ian for for 9 months, it's an awesome (and not easy) thing. And it's crazy to think that for the first 6 months of his life he solely lived off of what I produced for him. Despite all the struggles I'm happy I stuck with it and can't believe how quickly time has gone. While it's sad to think that we're moving onto the next phase (and my baby is getting bigger!) I'm pretty damn excited  to say "I'm dried up."   Equally exciting... I can once again take a decongestant when I get a cold, drink freely without having to "dump" anything & can hook the caffeine iv back into my arm...bring it on!

Fall Weekend

We had a great fall weekend here in Denver. On Saturday we went dress shopping with my sister for her wedding dress and Ian was impressively pretty darn good as we drug him from shop to shop. Meggie was even able to come meet us for a little bit too!

After shopping Ian, John and I had a BBQ to attend at my Martha's (she just built a place in Stapleton, and was having a few people over to see the new digs). However, last minute John got a brewers VIP pass to the GABF (which after Ian's birth was hands down the highlight of his year), so it ended up just being me and little man, but I was so glad that we went....

Since Martha and her family just moved into their new casa 2 weeks ago her furniture is all on-order, which made the entire family room an empty space for all the kids to play. Actually, I take that back, she had 2 "pieces" in her living room - a one eye'd sheep and a big horse, ha. Anyway, this evening was for sure telling of what my new life will entail, and I'm more convinced than ever that we will fit in just fine. All us adults hung around, gabbed, drank, & toured the house, while the kids play.  And really could these kids be any cuter?

Ian, Martha's son (Will), and the one-eye'd lamb
We were laughing because Will is 2 and is the same size as Ian

All the kiddos having fun
Please note: Martha's daughter, Emma Lou, was wearing her Halloween costume

Then on Sunday morning we got up bright and early to run a few errands,and we accidentally stumbled upon the final farmers market of the season; which was awesome! They had a whole pumpkin patch set up and you got a "coupon" for a pumpkin when you bought something from one of the stands. So here are a few pics of Ian picking out our pumpkins.... 

Housing Debates

We must be crazy building a house. 1 designer wife + 1 financial services husband = recipe for disaster. Plus you add into the mix that we are both opinionated and stubborn and things just get extra interesting. Did I forget to mention that John is also a sports crazed individual who is fixated on how his new house is going to work as a sports watching heaven? Yes, he has even decided that we will be calling the den/office (which he claims will be his space) the “dugout.”  The thing that might surprise you is that John actually wants/likes nice finishes (thank God) he just doesn't always like the number attached to them. Since we signed the papers on this place he has been surfing websites like “houzz.com” (I wouldn't be surprised if he signed up for a pinterest account too) and has been bring his ideas to to me. Thankfully for the most part our tastes align... I really don't think this would be feasible if he was coming to me with some Queen Anne legged chairs, balloon drapes, and cabinetry with rope details. Gag. So we're at least on the same page with our tastes, whew!  His big hot button is the master bath…he hates whirpools/bathtubs and thinks they are a huge waste of money/space, so we've essentially redesigned the master (eliminating the tub) and pimping out the shower. In this re-design we've also created an area for mama to sit and do her make-up and hair, because that is our other big issue with our current bathroom - I end up “in the way” when getting ready. So lots of wise choices and upgrades happening with the bathroom.  The living room continues to be a bone of contention. I’m planning to move the fireplace from where the builders plans call for it to be located (in the corner of the room, all designers HATE corner fireplaces; so that has been a domino of how that will affect the furniture arrangement (or should I say placement of the TV).

The builder of course doesn't want to share the dimensions of the rooms, floorplans, etc., but being resourceful gal I am, I figured it all out and drew the entire plan in CAD.  How people build a house without doing that I just don't understand. Anyway, after I got the whole thing drawn up I sent a plan of the living room with my fireplace change to John via email and below is a copy/paste of that exact email exchange. I could not make this up.  

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Sarah: How do you feel about the fireplace and the living room arrangement with 2 swivel chairs?  (see attachment).

John: Dislike. Those two chairs are ridin’ dirty together. What are you supposed to be doing holding hands while you sit there? Why wouldn’t you get a love seat instead? How the hell are you going to “swivel” them?

Sarah: Riding dirty. What the hell? I was debating between those and a love seat, do you think people would prefer to sit in a love seat. I think people like their own chair better. Fine, what do you think about this? (see attached).

John: Horrible.

Sarah: What is horrible? Maybe this is more in line with your thinking. (See attached). 

John: Where does the dining room table go?

Sarah: Why would we need one? Clearly having a lot of people see the TV is the most important fact to consider in this room. In this plan we could easily have 12 people comfortably watching. We can just get some small tables to sprinkle around instead of a formal dining table. It's like a movie theater! We could get cup holders on the sofas too.

{Insert 2 hours passing w/ no email communication.  Hum, silence...clearly I'm winning :) However, I decide to send yet another option}

Sarah: Ok, here you go...you love sectionals. If you tell me something about the chair in the corner not being able to see the tv I am going to rip your ______ off. The chair is there for when you aren't watching tv and you want to curl up on your own and read a book, or play on your comp/ipad, or it is nice for when this is a conversation pit because that person can talk to those people on the sofa. Every seat is not going to be a tv watching place. Think about the model house, they have a sofa along the windows and 2 chairs facing the tv - do you hate that? (See attached).  

John:  Sooo...You have a family of 3. At most 4 people can view the TV. Bacon can see it if he really cranks his head to the right. (See attached).

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Oh you are just hysterical John, hysterical. The take away? I am designing a house for John, Ian, & our dear friend Adam Bacon  to watch sports while I make food in the kitchen. Welcome to 1920. This is when I stop replying and make the executive decision to do whatever I want to do with the plan. I might even go back to doing my ridin' dirty chairs, I thought they were lovely. 

Nom Nom Nom.

Ian is a full fledged Billy Goat.... he will grab a magazine and start to gobble like he's a fat kid with a birthday cake. This weekend I'll be throwing out all the magazines that he can get to.  Until then you can enjoy these pictures of him doing what he does best... eating paper.


Nothing to see here, just watching tv munching on a magazine. Totally normal.

Fine, you caught me.

"What? Yes, I am going to eat this page...don't judge."

Magazine inserts are just as tasty as the pages themself

I'll have it my way

If there is one thing this baby knows it's how he's going eat. From day one he has gone against the grain refusing to latch on and now that we've entered the world of introducing solids he has again proven to be a little pistol with is own agenda (I have no idea where he gets this attitude from). When I first stated giving him solids I tried countless times to entice him to take a spoonful of something "really delicious" and he was not interested. On rare occasion he would play the game, take one bite and then he would turn his head and refuse to open. So I started putting pieces of food in front of him... avocado, banana, etc. And guess what?! He would pick it right up and shove it in his mouth. Pure and simple he wants to feed himself. Don't try giving him some crappy baby mush, he wants real food and he wants to feed himself.  I mean I can't blame him... if I was picking between baby mush cereal or a piece of cheese I'd be all over the cheese. So it turns out he is independent not picky. Whew... that I can deal with.

While some babies are having pureed carrots Ian is have pizza

At first I was concerned with giving him little bits of soft food, especially since he doesn't have any teeth and is pretty much like an old man at the nursing home gumming his dinner. However, feeding babies like this is becoming more common practice and a lot of people are choosing this style of feeding their baby regardless because they get better nutrients and learn to chew early. It even has a name: "baby led weaning." Who knew?... Baby led weaning teaches the baby to experience food, textures, and tastes on their own. It increases their hand-eye coordination, and avoids the baby gagging and choking later on because they don't transition from purees to actual solid food since they start with small pieces of solid food.  Now I was NOT trying to be some ahead of the curve, trend setter with my baby lead weaning, it literally just happened and we are rolling with it. 

We're famous!

Well maybe not famous, but I think this is pretty darn exciting... Apartment Therapy... which is a well read & awesome blog especially for the designer type is featuring Ian's nursery! The post can be seen here.