Goodbye Summer

My last post was at the end of spring and the beginning of summer when my parents were leaving for Michigan. Since then, Aaron and I took a quick trip to Colorado to visit friends and experience our first trip away from Rohan.  Rohan stayed with Nana and Bapa who flew down to Florida. In August I flew up to New Jersey to visit friends and their babies.  September we all flew up to Minnesota, Rohan stayed at his cousins house while we went up north for a couples weekend.  This vacation turned out to be an emotionally exhausting roller coaster ride.  Unfortunately we lost our friend Clayton Houff who was in a tragic motorcycle accident when he hit a deer on the way to meet up with us for dinner.  He will be remembered for his love for life, sense of humor and smile. At the beginning of October I flew to Michigan to help my parents organize their house.  It was a quick trip but I was able to see a good friend and catch up. 

Rohan has changed a lot since our last post.  He is a little parrot and mimics almost all that is said.  He has started to sing lyrics to songs, which is so cute.  He loves La La songs.  He dances and skips around to music.  He is still in music classes on Sundays and last week he sang in the class for the first time.  It's amazing to see how far he's coming in music class - the first class we went to he screamed his head off - now he's running around to the music and feeling the beat.  He is still trying to understand how to share and why he is not able to do everything he wants to do.  We have started "timeout" with Rohan and we think he knows now what it means, although when he is in timeout so are we because he won't sit in timeout by himself.  He is fearless at times and runs off to explore the world and other times he stays close, puts his hand up to mine and says "walk".  He loves to climb and run.  He has a girlfriend at daycare who have a love hate relationship that involves biting at times.  For a while he was the bitee and he finally was the biter - after all the times he was bit I didn't feel so bad when he was the biter.  He's still sleeping in his crib and hasn't tried to climb out yet.  We've found him in the morning with his shirt off and in his hamper, and he's taking off his diaper and peed all over the crib mattress.  Today my fear came true and he had stuck his hands in his poopy diaper and had poop remnants all over his hands. 90% of the time he can tell us when he has pooped "poopoo".  His eating habits are nothing to brag about - he loves chicken, meatballs, cheeseburgers, hot dogs, french fries and mixed veggies, snacks and cookies in between.  When he doesn't want to eat he won't so we are trying to go with the flow. His sleeping habits have been great - 12 hours a night of sleep with a few spells of nightmares. 

Its crazy to think that Rohan turns 2 in 6 weeks! The time does go fast!  It makes me realize how I need to blog more and document the little things Rohan does because when I don't it all mixes together.  Here is hoping I get better at that! 

Tis the SEASON

The "winter" season is coming to an end here in Southwest Florida.  Easter I believe is the end of the season when the snowbirds migrate back north.  This season has been a unique season for the three of us.  We were joined by my parents, Nana & Bapa, for four months.  I will not sugar coat it, it was an adjustment when they first moved down because we were used to them coming and leaving.  We had to get used to the fact they weren't leaving next week.  They were adjusting to retirement and we were adjusting to extra arms to help and hearts to love on Rohan.  Rohan has learned who Nana and Bapa are and he runs to the door when I tell him we are going to see them.  We were surprised by my friends, Andrea, Dayna and Vanessa in December for my 30th birthday.  I was surprised and I loved it and at the same time I couldn't stand it.  I wish I had known so I could have taken more time off for them.  We spent Christmas with my brother Mike down here and Rohan instantly took to him and his facial hair.  In February we took a trip over to the east coast of Florida to celebrate Rohan's Great Grandmas 91st birthday with Chicago family.  We also had our annual Meek/Sustad gang meet up.  We spent the day at the pool at Miland & Myrna Meek's, Rohan played with his cousins, and we finished the day off with a trip to Moes.  In March, Uncle Mike was back to visit for his birthday trip before my parents sent sail on their first cruise.  Amber spent a short time with us while she was on a business trip in Florida and it was neat to see Rohan warm up to her.  We will close out the season with my mom's friend Vivian (she married Aaron and I) visiting with my parents.  My parents will head back to Michigan in the beginning of April and closeout the season.  We will miss them being in our lives but will always remember the time they spent with us down here.  We were lucky to have them close by for four months and watch them enjoy the beginning of retirement while helping with Rohan.  Until next season - we look forward to their return to Florida.  

My dinner date...

There has been a growing trend since Rohan has been able to eat dinner with us.  I am always sitting by his side.  I am the one who is attending to his needs at the dinner table.  Rohan is always my dinner date. My dinner date eats before everyone else and is ready to leave as soon as his date gets her food.  He can sometimes be distracted with toys but he usually is on his way out of his dinner chair seconds after he has pushed all his food on the floor signally he is done.  My date puts me to work by chopping up all his food and making sure he stays entertained.  As fast as I pull apart his food he has it all stuffed in his mouth.  We take a break to take a few drinks and remind him to chew chew chew and we start all over again.  Making sure he doesn't get a hold of the glasses on the table or daddy's knife.  And Rohan almost always has his sippy-cup tether so we can eliminate the headache of sippy-cups thrown on the floor game.  My ear always strains to stay in touch with the adult conversation at the other end of the table but by the time I strain to make adult conversation, my dinner date has started throwing food on the floor or is bending backwards in his chair. Adult conversation over. With each mealtime I try again and again to multitask and I realize I need to give up wanting it all and cherish my time with my dinner date.  My dinner date will one day be taking me out to dinner.  

Tangents.

They are not kidding when they say being a parents is the hardest job because it is the one job that you are always doing.  You don't get to leave and sleep on it.  You are ON the job 24/7.  Constantly thinking, preparing, rocking, feeding, entertaining, worrying, changing (clothes & diapers), cleaning (bathing, butts, faces, highchairs, strollers, floors, houses, clothes, pacifiers, bottles, etc.), picking up (toys, from daycare, babies, etc), carrying (babes and diaper bags), organizing, making appointments, shopping (takes a lot of talent), and pushing (strollers, trikes, wagons etc). I enjoy being a mom but it is one hell of a job.  And no one knows what they are getting into until they jump right into it.  Some do it better and more smoothly than others... I am not one of them.   Maybe that is because it's my first try at it but I am still jealous of those moms who can pull it all off - or seem to anyway.

What I noticed before I was even pregnant was that our society needs to be more kind to one another and for some reason I had in my head that people are always kind to pregnant women and women with strollers (move out of their way, hold the door etc...).  HA! Not for this lady.  Yes there were few acts of kindness but honey when I would push my stroller at the farmers market no one cared a lick that I had a  newborn sleeping and needed to get in and out and MOVE OUT OF MY WAY and put down the last red pepper!  I guess because most of the people at my farmers market are over 60 and have forgotten what it is like to lug a baby around and push a stroller on little sleep when you really should be at home sleeping because the baby is sleeping but you need to get out of the house.  And then the men don't get it because unless you have been pregnant and have a mothers brain you JUST DON'T get it.  PERIOD.

Rohan is teething again.  His molars are coming through and those bad boys are ruthless - his gums are so swollen.  Between that and him waking up with what we think are night terrors the poor boy was helpless the other night.  We have been used to little to no crying at night it brought me back to the nights when it was every night that it seemed to never end.  It is hard to go back because in the moment it feels like it will never end.  As I kept telling myself this will end he will tire out (because our comforting him wasn't working either), Aaron kept giving ME the evil eye like how come you don't know what to do "MOM".  That brings me to another topic - moms are just supposed to know it all.  I mean we do know what works for our children... but why don't the dads know?  I'm not saying Aaron doesn't know what Rohan likes or how to take care of Rohan because he does he is a great dad.  But there is that extra something moms have when they say "try this, he needs this, give him this" that comes seconds before Dad knows. It is a blessing but it is also a curse sometimes because its always on us.

I started a new job this past week.  I have joined the Monday through Friday club.  I am adjusting. I am still tired but not EXHAUSTED as I was prior. I can still think at the end of the day, so far. I have already found out that making appointments will be quite the game.  I will be looking into crock-pot recipes. I am enjoying the time I have before bedtime with Rohan - time I lost before and will not be able to get back but I can try and makeup for it now.

My parents have been in Florida for a month now and it has been great to see them interacting with Rohan on a frequent basis.  They have been spoiling us with their helpfulness.  I'm not really sure how they will be able to leave after the next 3 months.  So we are taking advantage of all the time we can together.  No they are not here to babysit either.  They are adjusting to retirement together while enjoying time with their grandson and Aaron and I wouldn't have it any other way.  Rohan still enjoys daycare and all his friends there (mostly girls) and will be moving up to the toddler class in a short time.


To all the moms that came before me and to all the moms after me...you are beautiful hard-working people and basically we rule the world.

Where does the time go?

It has been two months since I posted last and yet again I ask myself where has the time gone?

October was filled with Rohan's first trip to Minnesota.  Rohan met his girl cousins, Sydney & Chloe, and his Aunt Marnie and Uncle Brock for the first time.  Rohan was happy to see Jude and Jasper again, the first time they met Rohan was 6 weeks old.  We were able to meet up with our good friends Mike & Jeri Lommen (plus bump - due soon!) at Granite City in St. Cloud.  Rohan took a liking to them right away - we wish we lived closer.  We headed to Marnie's house and surprised Sydney and Chloe with our arrival.  It is always fun to be part of a surprise, either end of a surprise fills my heart with happiness. We ended the long day in Moorhead.  Rohan did well on the plane and on the road trip to Moorhead until the last hour - he had enough, and I didn't blame him. 

We spent the next few nights in Moorhead. We spent the days shopping, at a pumpkin patch, Hibachi restaurant, and playing at Gramma Karen and Poppa Lyles house, all of course between naps.  Saturday was Aaron's cousin Mike's wedding and in the morning we took family pictures in Karen & Lyle's backyard.  Rohan was not used to the cold weather, pink little nose was running like a faucet, but was a trooper. We were able to get great shots of the family taken by Aaron's other cousin Nate.  We were all appreciative for him coming to town early to capture the family.  Rohan stayed and played with his cousins while I met up with my girlfriends (wives of Aaron's friends) to get pedicures and hair done for the wedding.  It was a nice relaxing way to spend the day, and I didn't know it but I was going to need those moments of relaxation. 

Rohan's runny nose quickly turned into a cold.  Anyone knows that means crabby, whiny, needs as much sleep as possible baby.  He wouldn't sleep for his aunts before the wedding until they had him in the car seat in the car.  So we had to wake him up for the BIG family picture at the church, but I knew that he needed that nap desperately, so Aaron helped me whisk Rohan away to the car so he'd fall back asleep.  I drove around town and picked up some Tylenol at Karen's house to give to Rohan when he woke up. I originally did not plan on him being at the church because I knew he wouldn't last, but I knew how much it meant for other family members to see him who never do, so we went along with it.  He didn't wake up so I put his car seat on the stroller and wheeled him into the church.  As soon as we made it into the elevator he woke up, I figured he'd fall back asleep like he used to in his car seat.  Wishful thinking, but I wasn't going to take him out of the stroller until absolutely necessary.  So I was the one person in the church with my son and a stroller as my date and we only fit in the handicap pew - which was the last one to fill with guests.  I definitely got the looks like "I don't want to sit at her table at lunch" before people committed to sitting in the pew.  We were doing OK until I exhausted all the toys I had brought - and trust me I had at least 10 toys - you really can't fit many more in a diaper bag.  Rohan would throw the toys on the floor and start crying.  I took him out of the car seat trying to bounce him and that would only last for so long. I hardly got support from the ladies around me - it was evil eyes "keep your child quiet" and then finally a lady behind me started talking to Rohan in a sweet voice and I was thinking - oh thank you so much for helping me distract Rohan - until the words came out of her mouth were  - "Ohhhh...did your mom not bring any toys for you???".... This was a moment in my life where I find myself in SHOCK and wished I had really told her what I felt.  The wedding party has made it up the aisle and the organ starts playing here comes the bride - thank god everyone stood up - I made it my opportunity to walk to opposite direction down the side holding Rohan who is still crying and pushing the stroller with the other hand that is weighed down by my diaper bag.  I couldn't do anything to calm him - and of course he had just had a bottle.  So his crys are echoing through the church corridors and all I can do is join him.  If you can't beat them join them right?  At this point the wedding planner for the church came by and so nicely reminded me that children never do good at this time of day - DING DING - and we are an hour behind!  I decided this was ridiculous - I am all dressed up with my hair done, crying, while missing my cousin-in-laws wedding ceremony (who married an awesome and gorgeous bride), that my husband is a groomsman in because I choose other peoples wishes over what was best for my son.  I walked away with tears in my eyes but another lesson learned in motherhood.  Thankfully Aaron's bestfriend's mom is an angel/baby whisperer and she so graciously agreed to watch Rohan so Aaron and I could enjoy the reception - our first night away from Rohan.  She gave me a pep talk and I was back in check to make it a great night celebrating with our friends and new family!  These times are special to us because we live so far away from our friends and family. When we do travel we never have enough time to see everyone and when we do we cherish it. 

We ended the week with an awesome dinner at Jay & Jenn's house with The Marcottes.  Rohan met his new friends Ethan, Piper & Hunter and Knox & Dax.  Once again it was too short of a visit but I loved every minute of it and every bit of the food!  Jenn is an awesome cook/hostess!  Jenn & Jennifer made me realize that all moms are going through the same thing just in different ways - I can always count on them to be realistic and not sugarcoat life.  

So we left Minnesota with colds and exhausted.

November Rohan started taking steps on his own! We were so excited and every time we'd get loud and say " you can do it.." he'd drop to the floor.  About a week before he turned one he took off walking.  Little ones walking is the cutest thing.  He claps a lot, waves bye bye and waves hi and says hi.  He is still saying dada, mama, nana, baba... and babbling.  He loves the song If you are happy and you know it clap your hands. :)

Rohan's Birthday was on Thanksgiving this year, last year it was the day before, and we were surprised by my brother who flew in from Oklahoma City.  I haven't been surprised in a long time - I usually catch on but I was bummed there wouldn't be family here for  Rohan's birthday and Mike surprised me.  It was a wonderful surprise that touched my heart because he was thinking of me.  Rohan's birthday party was nice - he had little ones here to celebrate - but he didn't really care much for the cake or opening his presents - maybe next year he will be more interested.  It makes you realize that he has a good point - that isn't what it is about - its about the people he can play with and the new adventures he can get himself into - that is life.  He was ready for a nap at the end of the party and so was I.  :)

My mom has joined us in Florida and my dad arrives tomorrow after his first day of retirement!  They will be in a rental for 4 months in a community down the road from us.  It will be nice to have family close and it will be fun to see them on their journey of retirement.  JEALOUS!

December is moving along steadily and the holidays always fill the month with parties and guests.  I turn 30 in a few weeks and I am ready to see what the next year has to offer!

A first for everything....

Aaron and I experienced our first "throw up all over self and carseat" experience.  Along with adding many "feeling like a horrible parent" moments to the list.  The three of us had made it out of the house fully prepared for a day trip to the east coast of Florida to visit a good friend who was in town.  Aaron had put Rohan in a cute outfit including khaki cargo shorts (which ended up being too small and too tight).  Rohan had oatmeal and bananas with a bottle like usual, had his morning poopy diaper, and we were ready to go. While on alligator alley (90 minute ride through the everlgades on I-75 with 2 barrien exits and rest areas filled with picnic tables and trash cans underneath the hot Florida sun along a canal full of alligators) I kept getting a whiff of baby spit up that would come and go. I couldn't justify it because Rohan didn't make any sounds like he had spit up and he had been sleeping for quite some time.  I thought I must be crazy and must be smelling the peels from our bananas we ate.  I finally mentioned something to Aaron (at this point we were about 15-20 minutes from the hotel our friends were staying at).  Aaron said I should take a look at Rohan if I was worried about it.  I could not believe my eyes when I leaned over the front seat to take a look at Rohan in his car seat.  He had dried oatmeal and bananas all over him.  The only comfort (if you can call it comfort) in this was Rohan was sleeping so it must not have bothered him too much???  For heavens sake.  Soon after this Rohan did wake up and we pulled to the nearest roadside stop.  Aaron took Rohan and cleaned him off and I took on the carseat.  Normally I use gloves (at work) for jobs that involve emesis but I did not have a choice (it was do or die, my child had to sit in a cleaner car seat) and it was my child's puke (somehow I tried to tell myself it wasn't as bad??).  So there we were at a reststop on alligator alley (feels like the middle of nowhere) cleaning up throw-up.  I think Aaron and I were more disturbed than Rohan.  He got through it with smiles and giggles.  After debriefing in the car Aaron admited that Rohan's shorts were probably too tight for him (12  months).  As prepared as we thought we were you are never prepared for that.  One outfit less, an empty wet ones container, a cleaner car seat and baby with new outfit we were on our way to meet our friends. 

Thankfully car seat covers come off.  It is ironic (chalk this up to being a bad mother) it takes throw-up for me to figure out how to take the carseat cover off and wash it.  Rohan will be in his big boy (convertible) car seat in a couple weeks (after our MN trip) and his baby carseat now looks brand new all from one trip in the washing machine. 

***Rohan was immediately bathed at the hotel****

Ten months and counting....

Was it really ten months ago Rohan was born into our lives?  It is cliche but it does go fast.  I couldn't imagine the day Rohan would be crawling or babbling while I was sleep deprived feeling like I had lost my identity.  Now he is clapping, saying dada, baba, mama, nana, still drooling at times because now he has 8 teeth (some are just peaking through - but that counts!) and learning more and more everyday.  It is amazing what he remembers and what he picks up on.  Gone gone gone are the days he would eat sleep poop.  We can't get enough of his giggles and love love love when he starts laughing because we are laughing - it's the best. I am coming to terms with always wondering if he should be doing something more or when he will do the "bye bye" wave or blow kisses.  He does everything on his own time.  As soon as we give up on trying to show someone that he claps he will do it right before they say goodbye.  If anything he gets that from me - doesn't like to be told what to do.  I can't wait to see what his stats are at his one year appointment.  We had a play date last week and Rohan was babbling back and forth with his new girl friend Alexandra (8 months) - it was the cutest thing.  It's the first time I've seen him "communicate" with someone his own age.  Adorable.  Holidays are approaching and I'm still trying to figure out where to put our Xmas tree and what to do with it so Rohan doesn't climb it.