rolling over and then some

Baby Doodle not only rolls over onto his stomach via his left side, he can now roll to the right. And he pulls his knees under him, sticks his butt into the air, and pushes up with his arms. Does this sound like crawling position or what? I think he'll crawl within a week or two. He was really working out last night in the co-sleeper and this morning on the blanket on the floor of the bathroom. Did I mention he can also roll himself back over onto his back? He doesn't do this routinely, but he's done it a few times now. His four month birthday is tomorrow.

Dear Anonymous,

I have a few things to say in response to your comment to my breastfeeding post.

First, if you are breastfeeding and supplementing with formula because you just can not produce enough milk to sustain your baby, then I do think you are doing the best thing for your baby -- not that you need my approval. Baby Doodle had formula when he was 3 days old because he hadn't latched on right for many, many hours and his pediatrician said he needed some supplementation so he wouldn't starve. I was fine with it, what ever is best for my baby is what I want. If you are unable to produce enough milk for your baby to thrive then by all means give that child some more food!

Second, I agree with girlfiend's response to your comment on her blog. I was referring to women who don't really want to breastfeed in the first place and use milk production issues as an excuse.

the lump part two

We went to CHOP this morning to have the lump looked at. Baby Doodle smiled at every single person he could lay his eyes on and charmed the hell out of the nurse and receptionist. He sure knows how to work a room.

Okay, on to the lump, it is nothing serious. The doctor has seen many such lumps on babies and toddlers. It is a mass of artery and/or vein cells that will likely get absorbed into baby Doodle's body and go away on its own. It might get bigger before it gets smaller. We have another appointment at the end of October to have it looked at again. If it doesn't go away by the time he's one year old we might have to have it removed. But his one year birthday is a long way off. The doctor said that the chances that it is anything serious are close to zero, that includes cancer. He said that lumps of this nature usually come in three varieties. They can (1) appear at birth, get bigger, then peter out and go away; (2) appear shortly after birth, get bigger, then go away; or (3) appear later around one or two years and not go away. We have variety number two. There is a chance that none of the varieties goes away and the lump needs to be removed, but we're hoping for the more common scenario.

We are relieved to say the least. I feel like celebrating. Maybe drinking a glass of wine and eating some fine cheese from Trader Joe's. It is only 10:00 in the morning. Maybe I'll wait until lunch time.

the lump

Well, I wasn't that worried about baby Doodle's lump until last night when something came over me. I don't know what, but I started to approach thoughts of the worst. I don't think it's possible for me to actually think the worst because that would be too awful to entertain and I might have a breakdown. So this morning I changed our appointment at CHOP to tomorrow morning at 8:30. Now we won't have to wait through the weekend.

I have noticed that baby Doodle does not eat smoothly from my left breast when he's lying on his right side -- where the lump is. He'll start eating normally but then he'll delatch and either scream for a split second and then go back to sucking, then repeat until I take him off and switch sides, or he'll delatch and talk, then go back to eating. On the right breast he latches on and stays there until he's fallen asleep or has had enough. I am going to continue monitoring, but I think his lump might be distracting him from a eating a relaxing meal.

strike a pose

a flower
















happy

















professional model

90210

Steve Sanders was actually wearing a fanny pack in the 1993 90210 episode I watched this morning. I have 24 episodes stored on TiVo -- there are two every day on SoapNet -- and it's hard to keep up. It was the same episode where Donna has decided that she is going to sleep with David, but then her parents unexpectedly show up on her doorstep and David greets them in his underwear. Donna goes to church with her parents the next morning. Surprise, surprise she has decided she can not sleep with David.

Baby Doodle's woes

Baby Doodle had an episode a week ago today. By episode I mean that he lost all the color in his face, felt cold and clammy and was extremely lethargic. He didn't respond to me or his pacifier. It looked as though he was going in and out of consciousness, which he very well might have been doing. I put him in his crib (he was on the changing table) and ran downstairs to get the phone and the doctor's phone number. Luckily, the nurse answered which meant I didn't have to leave a message and wait for a call back. If that had happened I probably would have called 911. The nurse waited on the phone with me while I took his temperature (under his arm). He did not have a fever. She told me to put him in a bath of room temperature water and see if he woke up. If he didn't I was to call back. He did wake up slowly. I called back anyway to see what I should be doing to make sure this doesn't happen again. "Stay cool" is what she told me. The high for that day was 101 degrees and we only have one air conditioner installed (the other is sitting in our closet, ask Mr. Doodlebug why that is). Baby Doodle and I spent the rest of the day in our bedroom (the room with the AC) and at King of Prussia Mall where we walked around in the lovely air conditioning for hours. He has not had another episode.

Today I took baby Doodle to the doctor to find out what the lump is between his right shoulder and neck. The doctor said it is very unusual which made me worried, but she also said that she doesn't think it's cancer. It might be left over tissue from when his neck was forming and it might get absorbed by the time he's a year old. That would be ideal. But it might be extra cells and tissue that shouldn't be there and might need to be removed. That would be bad. The doctor told me to have it evaluated by a surgeon at CHOP so we have an appointment Monday. They will likely give baby Doodle's lump an ultrasound and if they can't determine anything from that then he'll likely have to have an MRI which, when you're 4 months old means you have to have general anesthesia. I'm hoping they can tell what it is and what we should do about it from the ultrasound.

My poor baby Doodle. He's had a rough time of it lately.

Vermont politics

My mother is running to be a state representative in Vermont. I think it's great. She was married to my father for 26 years, 14 of which he was a state rep. She helped with the mailings, driving people to and from the polls, and worrying about the outcome, but now she's running, in a different district than my father's and my old one. Her Republican opponent? My ex-boyfriend. We dated for 2.5 years beginning my senior year in high school. He is 10 years older than me, and when you're in high school, that's a lot. Now he's almost 40. He told me when I saw him in June that he was considering running as a Libertarian and was going to ask my father for advice. How funny that a month later it's my mother who is running against him and my father wouldn't be giving Jeff any advice (my parents are still friendly).

I took a course at UVM called Vermont Politics and I thought I would easily ace it, but it turns out it was more like Vermont political history and my years as the daughter of a State Rep didn't mean anything. Especially when the VT legislature is pretty democratic -- there are 180 legislators for the less than 600,000 people living in Vermont -- in fact, there was another daughter of a state rep in my class.

Anyway, I hope my mother beats my ex in November.

Breastfeeding

A few weeks ago I read an article in the New York Times on the benefits of breastfeeding and the federal government's new ad campaign to promote breastfeeding. The government is running public service announcement-like ads likening riding a bucking bronco while pregnant to feeding your baby formula instead of the all-curing breast milk. On the one hand I totally agree. Breastfeeding should become the norm in this country. There are innumerable benefits including reducing the risk of ear infections, repiratory infections, asthma and even leukemia. Not to mention that it reduces the risk of some cancers in the mother. It's also free and extremely convenient to always have fresh, moderate temperatured milk in the exact right quantity wherever you are, whenever your baby needs it. I am breastfeeding baby Doodle.

On the other hand I feel bad for those mothers who for one reason or another are not breastfeeding their babies. I only really feel bad for the mothers who aren't doing it because they have to go back to work and pumping every few hours is so daunting and sometimes impossible depending on the employer. I have come to realize that mothers who say they can't breastfeed because of over or under production of milk are really just not that dedicated to it. If you are really dedicated and really want to breastfeed you can work to correct your milk production. It is a lot of work, I've heard, but it can be done. I had a lot of trouble breastfeeding for the first six weeks of baby Doodle's life. I was sore, my nipples had blisters on them and occassionally bled, but I stuck with it and now baby Doodle nurses without incident.

This morning on Good Morning America Kate Snow interviewed the editor of Baby Talk magazine about breastfeeding in public and what Americans think of it. It turns out that 57% of Americans think that it is not right to breastfeed in public! And 74% think it should never be shown on television. They interviewed a few random people on the street in Manhattan. One woman said, and I'm paraphrasing here, "no one should breastfeed in public, it's disgusting and should only be done in the privacy of one's own home." So I guess she thinks all mothers, especially mothers of babies younger than 6 months, should never leave their houses. Young babies eat every two hours during the day! I can't imagine not being able to feed baby Doodle at the park, or at a restuarant, or in a cafe.

It has been proven that breastmilk is the food of choice for babies, and babies need to eat often. Babies should be able to eat in places other than their homes, and mothers shouldn't feel like prisoners. I breastfeed in public and have the right to do so.

This world that you live in

Whenever my father is annoyed with new technological devices like a computer or a cell phone (let alone an iPod, TiVo, or God forbid a blackberry) he will say to either my brother or me "it's this world that you live in." As if he too doesn't live in this world and use this world's technologies. This morning he was frustrated by our home computer. He asked me how to turn it on. I said the on/off button. He said he tried that and it asked him if he would like to continue shutting down. It was obvious to me that that meant it was already on and when he hit the power button it was turning off. He insisted that it was not already on. I pushed the power button and it started up just fine. Funny how that works.

During his ten day visit he has mentioned several times that he loves email. "It's so convenient. I can communicate with people in Senegal. I can do some of my Senegal work right here in Philadelphia." It's amazing that he is still in awe of email, but I guess that is his generation, though certainly not all of his generation is like him.

The other day Mr. D and I were sitting outside Friendly's enjoying a fabulous ice cream sundae. At the table next to ours were three teenagers, I would guess about 15 years old. The two girls were eating ice cream, the boy didn't want any. At one point I looked over and all three of them were text messaging other people on their cell phones. And I felt like saying "oh it's this world that you live in" to them. I felt like a middle aged woman who finds it sad that the three friends couldn't or wouldn't enjoy spending face-to-face time with each other, but would rather communicate with people who weren't there. Probably giving the absentees a minute-by-minute play of what they were doing. "Now I'm taking a bite of my ice cream. Sean is texting Lisa. Now I'm wondering what Sarah is texting and to whom. I'm taking another bite of ice cream. I wish there was more hot fudge on my sundae."

I will definitely feel old and out of it by the time baby Doodle is old enough to text message people, but by then it will be some new way of communicating that doesn't exist yet.

the shed is finished

My father finished the shed this morning. He put the roof on yesterday -- it has real shingles like a house -- and today he cut the door to fit the opening and put the hinges on. It looks great. Now I'm going to have to paint it. I hope Mr. D helps me and doesn't complain too much.
















A baby Doodle update: Last night I woke up at 4:30 am to the light grunting sounds of baby Doodle. I looked over in his co-sleeper and saw that he had turned himself around and rolled over. He was not satisfied with his face in the matress and was complaining about it. He had rolled over for the first time on July 4th, but was having trouble doing it again, until last night. I put him back on his back, put his pacifier in his mouth and tried to fall asleep. I heard him grunting again a few seconds later. He had rolled over again. I did the same things, and he rolled over for a third time. I could see now that this was a game that he wanted to play in the wee hours of the morning. So I put him in our bed between us so he couldn't roll any more and we all fell back asleep until 7:30!

God I am so tired

I wrote this post two days ago and saved it as a draft because I was going to post some pictures with it but I haven't gotten around to downloading them and I want to get this up before it is completely irrelevant.

I woke up this morning before 6:00 to feed baby Doodle. The routine is that I feed him in the early morning and then we both go back to sleep for a few hours. I feed him again and we're up for the day. So when I woke up at 5:45 I thought I would be able to get a few more hours of rest, but my father, who is back from Senegal (small country in West Africa) to meet and get to know his grandson, came upstairs to ask me to help "clear some brush" to make a place for the shed Uncle Doodlebug and he are building today. I reluctantly dragged myself out of bed, threw some clothes on, swept my hair up in a greasy ponytail and went out to drag small trees across the lawn to the side of the house where they will probably sit for weeks until Mr. Doodlebug and I get our act together and bring them to some weird place that takes shrubs and trees and weeds. Meanwhile, Mr. Doodlebug and Uncle D were at Lowes buying the supplies for the shed. It is 8 x 7 feet and ran us $600 in lumber and plywood (maybe plywood is considered lumber -- I have no idea). My father and brother have been building the shed all day. It is now 7:30 pm and they expect to work until the sun goes down and they can't see any more. I have made dinner and it is ready to be eaten, but we have to wait for the workers to be finished for the day, which is fine with me since we had a big, fatty lunch.

Tomorrow is baby Doodle's christening. I am not Catholic, but as I understand it he will be cleansed of his original sin of being born and will receive the first sacrament. Family and friends are coming to the church for the ceremony and then to our house for a party. The future Godmother and I went to Costco this afternoon to buy large quantities of food for the party.

I tried to take a nap in the late afternoon but couldn't sleep with the baby crying, nails being hammered, the saw ripping through wood and the phone ringing (it was Verizon seeing if we got our damn phone books).

I can't wait to go to sleep tonight.