A Delayed Blog

I know that it's been a while since I've updated the blog, but I have a good excuse. Really...

Last Sunday, I woke up in the middle of night with an infection in my breast. Now, I know that some women can deal with the pain, but I definitely could not (even though I tried for a couple of hours). Finally after about 7.5 hours, I decided that it was time to go to the emergency room to get some emergency relief! Ed and I packed up the car and Tate (of course) and headed for Fort Belvoir, which is about 45 minutes away (a very long 45 minutes for me). I met with the doctor and he prescribed some antibiotics and pain medication. Hooray for pain medication! Even though I went into the hospital for myself, some of the nurses paid Tate a visit. One of the nurses wondered how much he weighed and she suggested that we weigh him. We found out that Tate currently weighs almost 12 pounds! I couldn't believe that! He's only 7 weeks old. Now, I wonder what percentile Tate is in....

Okay -- now to the good stuff....

Two weekends ago, Tate’s aunt, Cherie, paid us a visit. Tate was very excited to see someone new. He was on his best behavior most of the weekend. Not only was he able to spend time with his Mutti (aka Ed’s mom), but he was also able to entertain his aunt. During the first night of Cherie’s arrival, we decided to take her to a Vietnamese restaurant near the airport. Unfortunately, Cherie isn’t too keen on ethnic food, but she braved our decision to go to the restaurant. Oh, and I must say that it was delicious! I still love Asian food and I miss all of the good Thai and Korean restaurants in Alaska (And yes, I do miss something about Alaska, but not the long, cold, and dark winter months).

Two Fridays ago, I had to go to my postpartum appointment on Fort Belvoir. Fortunately, Ed’s mom and sister were there to take and entertain Tate during my appointment. At the beginning of my appointment they took my weight – I am currently at my pre-pregnancy weight – hooray! At first I was dreading the weight scale, but when the numbers popped up, I did an internal dance for joy. Also, during my appointment, they asked about domestic violence, which I don’t get. It’s interesting because when I went to my appointments at Fort Wainwright, they constantly ask about depression and at Fort Belvoir they are fixated on domestic violence.

We spent most of the mornings at home, but were able to get out of the house during the afternoon (actually, everyone was waiting on me because I try to sleep most weekend mornings as Ed is able to take care of Tate during these mornings). Last Saturday, we tried to go to Charlottesville to see Thomas Jefferson’s house, Monticello, but they were working on the road that goes between Charlottesville and Northern Virginia. Needless to say, traffic was horrible! So, we had to change our plans. Instead, we decided to go to horse country, which is in Middleburg, VA. On our way to Middleburg, we stumbled upon a horse competition. It was fun watching the horses jump the various obstacles. Ed’s sister used to ride horses when she was young. So, I think that everyone enjoyed watching the horses.

While Ed's sister and mother were here, they had the privilege of bathing Tate. He even performed a urine ambush on them while they were bathing him. It was hilarious! He had a good time and, for once, didn’t cry while he was getting a bath. Maybe we should have Ed’s sister and mother bathe Tate more often.

These past few weeks, Tate has been pretty good (except for yesterday evening -- Sorry Mom! Yes, my mother had to witness one of Tate's fits.). I have finally figured out that if he doesn’t have a good 2-3 hour nap during the afternoon, he will have a bad evening. So, I do everything in my power to ensure that he takes a nice long nap. For instance, I drove him around in a car one day and on another day I rocked him for FOREVER to ensure that he would sleep.

New Tate-isms
· He’s grinning more often and has actually laughed for Ed
· He can hold himself up for a substantial amount of time
· He can roll onto his side
· He likes to wedge himself into the corner of his crib (that one kind of scares me, but I can’t stop him from doing it).
· He’s starting to imitate Ed and I in whatever we do
· He likes it when we read to him (I try to read at least two books to him a day – His favorite ones seem to be “Horns and Toes and In Between” and “Moo, Baa, Lalala” by Sandra Boynton – I think that he likes these books because he grins the most when I read them to him).

Now, more pictures of Tate with family...

Where's the Army Museum???

Sunday, we ventured to the National Museum of the Marine Corps. Yes, the Army still does not have a national museum even though Ed has been giving to the Army’s national museum fund for years. According to Ed, the museum is still a glimmer in the Army’s eye – it won’t be finished for another ten or so years. Can you believe that?

Okay – I have finished my critic of the Army’s inability to build a proper museum in the proper amount of time. Moving on…the National Museum of the Marine Corps is a very nice museum. They have some really cool exhibits. I really enjoyed the exhibits that showed what it was like during the various wartimes (i.e. temperature, noise, etc.). Of course we toured the various exhibits with Tate (he was asleep during our tour) and he jumped in his sleep every time he heard an explosion – it was very cute.

Someone needs to work on his pull-ups!

Pacifier Perfection & Picking Produce

Hello!

Well, we have an update on the pacifier dilemma. The other day, I purchased a Mam pacifier – I started with the Nuk, which Tate didn’t take at all. Unfortunately for me, I still haven’t been very successful with getting him to take the pacifier. I guess Tate knows where his meals come from. Even though I haven’t been very successful, Ed and his mother (she flew into DC this past Thursday night) have been able to get him to take it. Actually, his mother must be a pro at because she has been more successful than Ed at getting him to take it consistently.

On a similar note: I finally broke down last Tuesday and had to give Tate formula (something that I really didn’t want to do, but had to). He had eaten twelve times for around twenty minutes each in less than a twenty four hour period. I was exhausted and Tate was crying incessantly. So, Ed suggested that we give him formula. I didn’t really want to, but felt that he still wanted/needed to eat. So…I relented. We’ve only given him formula one other time, which was Saturday. Now, I’ve been pumping steadily which has enabled me to stay ahead of the curve and give him breast milk instead of formula. Hooray!

On Saturday, Ed, his mother, and I went to a farm in Winchester to pick peaches, raspberries, and apples. Originally, we only wanted to pick peaches and raspberries, but their raspberries were sparse. So, we decided to pick a peck of apples instead. We had a great time picking. I think that Tate enjoyed it as well. It seems as though he loves being on the move. He seems to enjoy being in the car and watching the scenery go by – I understand that he can only see clearly a foot or so in front of him, but he likes to look out the window when we drive.

I'm embarrassed!

After we went picking, we had dinner at the Wayside Inn, which is where Ed and I had our wedding reception years ago. It was nice being back at the restaurant. Then we headed home via the Skyline Parkway. Originally, Ed thought that driving the Skyline would only add thirty or so minutes onto the drive, but then we arrived at the house 2.5 hours later (it was only supposed to take a maximum of 1.5 hours to make it home). Fortunately, Tate slept through most of the drive. I would’ve hated having a crying baby in the car for 2.5 hours.

Adventures and Trials with Tate

Ed and I are still having a lot of fun with Tate. This past Thursday we went to the Corcoran Art Gallery (http://www.corcoran.org/) for a lecture by Photojournalist Peter van Agtmael who was embedded with Ed’s unit in Iraq (http://www.petervanagtmael.com/main.php). He had a few pictures of people in Ed’s unit and a unit that he was embedded with in Afghanistan. Not only were there pictures from Peter, but another artist presented her pictures and lectured as well. The second artist decided to take pictures of drug addicts and followed them around. And yes, we took Tate to the lecture, but I did cover his eyes and ears during the drug addict lecture (I’m not too keen on looking at addicts as “art”). He was pretty quiet through most of the lectures except in the end when he started to get a little tired (the lecture lasted until 9:30PM and Tate usually goes to bed around 10:00PM).

Saturday, Ed and I had to run our usual weekend errands and we decided to venture into a small town called Clifton. Ed sees Clifton when he makes his daily commute via train to the Pentagon. He thought that the town looked nice from the train. Besides, they have a little children’s store near the train tracks. So…we decided to make a special stop at the small town and store. The town is really cute – it’s not too busy and they have a cute little playground for children. Hopefully one day, Ed, Tate, and I will be able to make a trip to the town and take advantage of the cool little playground.

We also had to take Tate to one of our favorite baby stores, Cradle and Crayon, (http://www.cradleandcrayon.com/) to let him try out a bouncer that we wanted to purchase. We decided on a Svan Bouncer by the same company we bought his bassinet from(http://www.svanusa.com/) because Tate likes to be bounced. Not only does he like to be bounced, he also enjoys suckling on my breast, which is somewhat irritating to me at times. Because he likes to suckle a fair amount at night, Ed and I decided to purchase a pacifier for night usage. Originally, I was against the pacifier, but I’m hoping that it’ll help him fall asleep easier. We may use it tonight. So, we’ll have to see if it works or not. I’m also contemplating using infant formula a few times (and yes, I’m not too keen on using either) so that I may be able to get some additional sleep on Saturday mornings (Ed likes to take Tate during Saturday mornings and it would be easier for him to take Tate if he was able to feed him formula. Besides, by feeding him formula once or twice, it should help me get ahead of the curve on breast feeding and allow me to breast pump a full bottle). I have purchased a small can of formula, but I’m still not sold on the idea. It’s hard to make a decision like that.

Sunday, Ed let Tate and I sleep in for most of the afternoon. I really needed the sleep and Tate really needed to snuggle with me. Late in the afternoon, Ed had cabin fever and wanted to get out of the house. He suggested that we go to the Manassas Battlefield/Park (http://www.nps.gov/mana/), which is only a few minutes away and we have a year parking pass for the Battlefield/Park. We had a nice walk through the woods and were able to see the typical wildlife (ie deer, birds, etc.). Tate enjoyed the walk and slept through most of our sightseeing.

Tate-isms:
· he consistently makes a “gross” face and sticks his tongue out when he’s finished eating
· he likes to make noises when he’s eating
· he’s a messy eater (somehow he gets milk all over his face when he feeds)
· he consistently smiles when he seems to be happy
· when he cries, he now sheds tears
· he seems to be able to notice when you’re paying attention to him
· even though he likes to be the center of the attention, there are times that I’ve caught him cooing and playing by himself
· he likes to go on drives (they seem to calm him sometimes when he seems to be inconsolable)
· his fingernails seem to grow even though his toe nails haven’t hardly grown
· he sleeps with his arms bent at 90 degree angles at all times
· he still enjoys sucking on his hands even when he isn’t hungry (according to the ultrasound taken when he was in the womb, he enjoyed doing this even before he entered the world)
· he still dislikes baths and really dislikes having his diaper changed

Quick Update:

We tried the pacifier last night. It didn’t work. Tate is not easily fooled! He literally spit out the pacifier and was not happy until I fed him to sleep. And yes, I tried several times and Ed tried as well. Oh well! I guess that we introduced the pacifier too late or maybe he’s just the type that doesn’t take to the pacifier.

Below are some pictures of Tate: