Stress

Things are getting...umm..stressful around here. Ian is freaking out about me not having a job, even though I still have 2 months to find one and I have only really been looking for a couple of weeks. I think he is mainly irritated that I am not doing this 'his' way. He wants me to call the local CPA firms and ask if they have jobs available. That isn't something I'm comfortable with and I've told him as much.
Owen was up most of last night. I didn't get him to sleep until 1 am and then he was still up every 1.5 hours or so. Needless to say, I'm tired today. I got a very short nap in this morning, but I would love several hours of sleep.

Smile!

It looks like Ian might have the flu. He went to the doctor after work tonight with a fever, chills, coughing, and just generally feeling like crap. He can call tomorrow to find out the results of his throat swab to see if it's actually influenza. If it is, he has a bunch of prescriptions to get filled. And he is out of work until the fever is gone. So tomorrow, I will have 2 men to take care of! I hope Owen is in a good mood!! Thank goodness Ady is going to Becki's!

back to normal

The in-laws left this morning. My house is very quiet. It's weird. But nice. It was also nice to have some family around again. I cooked every night that they were in town, except for one and we went to eat dinner at the Hubbel House. Very good food. Lots of food.
Ady was a bit wild the week that her grandparents were here. I don't know why. But I know that she is calm and well behaved today. I'm thinking that if Owen will go to sleep I can get in the shower and do the dishes really quick, then we can walk over to the park and wear Ady out. Then it will be nap time! :) Mommies love nap time!
I've been really awful at taking pictures lately. Owen is smiling some now. It's at random times and I can't figure out anything particular thing that makes him smile. I will get a picture of it one day!
I spent most of the time that Ian's parents where here sick. Now Ian is sick. I blame it on all of the extra cigars he smoked while his 'old man' was in town. I hope he bounces back quickly. Ian doesn't get sick often but we all know how well men handle being sick ;)

good lord

It's the first week of the graduate program here at Mayo. There have already been two parties. Ian wasn't aware of the first one but I guess he plans to go to the party Friday night. A house party. That starts at 10. Good lord, I thought these were PhD students not a bunch of 21 year old college idiots.
I hope this isn't a pattern. My almost 30 year old husband needs to start behaving like an almost 30 year old instead of a 21 year old.

Baby smells

Ok, I'm going to share some here about the smells of my cute little man, Owen.
His farts are toxic!! I mean clear the room, put on your gas mask, toxic. His poo doesn't smell at all. Go figure.

Duluth Minnesota

On Friday, we went to the airport and picked up Ian's parents. Then we headed for Duluth. We had never traveled that far north before and we were excited to see what it held for us!
It was a longer drive than we had expceted. That was because we missed a turn. It was around 9:00 before we got into Duluth and our hotel room. We tried to book another night once we got there, but they were booked for the whole weekend. Bummer.
Ady was excited to see the pool. Ian, Ady, Rob, and Care changed into their suits and took Ady swimming. Owen and I happily sat in some chairs and watched Ady play and swim. Owen didn't sleep very well that night, probably because he had slept most of the day.
We were up and out of the hotel by just after 9 Saturday morning. We headed for the aquarium and got there about 30 minutes before it opened. There was a playground next door so Ady played for a while and then we walked around a park that is used for concerts and such right on the water. It was pretty nice. We watched the ariel bridge go up so a tour boat could pass underneath. While watching that we noticed a boat docked next to us with security guards. Rob started talking to one of the guards and found out that it was a cruise ship. The penthouse suite was going for $10,000 per person for the week!! Crazy!!!
By this time the aquarium was open so we headed in. It was a very nice aquarium that housed local fish. The bottom floor was very interactive and Ady had a blast playing with the boats that they had there.
When we left the aquaruium, we decided to go to the Canal Park area for lunch real quick and then we would go on a train ride. We walked around Canal Park for a while and ended up eating at a place that I have wanted to go to for over a year. Hell's Kitchen! The food was great!! I loved it all. I hope to go back again one day!
Then we went on our train ride. Ady had good time with it. It was nice to just sit back and relax for a while and look out the windows at the St Louis River. On the ride back to the station, Ady stretched out on the chairs and went to sleep!
It was still early in the day so we went back to Canal Park to explore the water front and shops some more. We saw a place called Owen's Yacht Sales:) We bought some very yummy chocolate at a store and found Ady a sweatshirt. By this time it was after 5 and we needed to hit the road.
It was a long drive back home. After 11 before we got back!!

Pictures

Getting Ready

I've spent today getting ready for the arrival of the in-laws. This morning was a bit rough because Owen was tired and clearly needed a nap, but refused to go down for it! He's finally asleep now!
I took that opportunity to clean up the house a bit and take a shower. Now I'm packing for our overnight in Duluth. I'm excited about it. A chance to see something different!
The plan is to take Ady to the aquarium and to walk around the Canal Park area. We also talked about a train ride, but I don't know if we want to do that much since we have a 3+ hour drive back home Saturday night. We'll see.

From day 1 Owen has looked like an angry old man when he sleeps. I finally got a picture of it this morning!!

New Pictures

Determined

I'm going to do a real post. Not pictures. Not telling you that I'm too tired or busy to write anything!!
Last night I gave Owen formula. That's right. Formula. He's still alive. It's not poison. Let me tell you what led us to this.
During the week, I'm on my own when it comes to night feeding and diaper changes. Owen will go to bed around 10 or so and sleep for the next 4 hours. Then he wakes up for a bottle and new diaper. But he doesn't go back to sleep. He will fall asleep and as soon as I put him down he's awake and ready to party some more. So most days, I'm running on about 4 hours of sleep. Suckfest. That means that during daylight hours, the last thing I want to do is housework. I have a load of laundry that's been sitting in my room, waiting to be folded for a week!!
Ok...back to the reason. My mom went to a family reunion last weekend and talked to her sister in law. Karen told my mom that when she was nursing her boys, she would give them a bottle of formula at night so they would sleep longer. Mom passed that pearl of wisdom onto me. I gave it a shot. Owen slept!!
I woke up at midnight to pump. Owen woke up at one to eat. So I gave him formula. I told him how sorry I was and gave him extra kisses. He so didn't care. He was just happy that there was something coming out of his bottle! :) Then he went right to sleep when I put him down. Here's the best part..are you ready for it??
He didn't wake up again until 4:50 am!! I got up around 4 to pump again but all was quiet from his room!! YAY! Mommy got some sleep!!!
Ian's mad about this of course. He is convinced that I am going to stop giving Owen breast milk. And already gripping about how much money it's going to cost him to buy formula. Well, you know what, when Ian is getting up for every single feeding then maybe he will understand how tired I am. And I don't have a problem buying formula to give Owen one bottle a night. Especially when that means I'm a happy momma and wife instead of a very grumpy tired momma and wife.
Ok, Owen has had enough of this blogging stuff...
Time to strap him on to me and do some housework!

More pictures

Yay for pictures!!

Broken promise

I know I said I would provide a real update today BUT Owen decided that last night was a really great night to not sleep. AT ALL. He woke up around 1 am and didnt go back to sleep until after 4. I had to get up just after 5 to take my sister to the airport. Awesome. Ian and I are zombies and he had to go to work today! Poor guy.
I will say this b/c I've been meaning to say it and just haven't been able to get it. Ian has been incredible since Owen was born. I was so nervous about Ian getting up and helping me out with late feedings and diapers and all the other things that go along with a new baby. He never let me down. I never had to beg him to get up and take a feeding or change a pooey diaper. He even got up once last night b/c he knew I was at the end of my rope after being up for so many hours.
I love him. he's been a good husband and father!

Back to the real world

Ian goes back to work tomorrow and Ady goes back to day care. It will be an adjustment. I've enjoyed having them both around. Especially having Ian around to help with the middle of the night feedings!!
So tomorrow I'll try to put up an actual update of the things that have been going on here lately!