Another cold, another snow day

Today we had a snow day. We got about 8 inches of heavy wet snow, which makes things look magical and peaceful, and makes the Bob happy he has a new snow blower. Cooper and I spent most of the day, in between naps, (his, not mine) playing with various toys, eating snacks and reading books. He has now gotten to a place where he will sit and look through a book by himself now. He used to demand we turn the pages on a book. He didn't need us to read the words, although if we read fast enough he will tolerate it, but generally he just wants to look at the pictures. Now he will look by himself, which is awfully cute and makes his parents very happy and proud. Bob's older kids don't get why anyone reads books. We are book-aholics so I am encouraged by Cooper's interest in them. I feel that books have provided countless hours of escape, diversion, education and basic entertainment and enrichment to my life; I couldn't imagine a life without them.

In the meantime, Cooper has been dealing with yet another cold. Someone said this is good, he is developing his immune system. I said yes, but there are something like 400 cold viruses, so we have a long way to go toward complete immunity. Since I still get colds at the age of 43 I am guessing one never develops complete immunity. This time Cooper has a cough and a mild fever in addition to the constant supply of mucus oozing from his nose. Bill Cosby has a bit he does about the Glazed Donut Monster, i.e. a toddler with a cold. This is a perfect description of what we are dealing with. I have to say that since warm humidifiers are now frowned upon (one of those things I grew up with that apparently can cause any number of terrible diseases) the little Vicks plug into an outlet waterless vaporizer is a godsend and works! And when you throw out the used pads into the diaper pail it helps make it smell good in there.

You and me and the bottle makes three

No, I am not up late hitting the juice. I am referring to the latest occurrence in our lives where, after almost 6 months of sleeping through the night faithfully, our dear little sweet pea has begun waking in the middle of the night. We figured out after a few nights that he doesn't need to be up for long, but he does seem to need to be up. We try waiting him out, to see if he will just go back to sleep, but since our room is approximately 10 feet from his, when he goes full tilt boogie with the screaming, there is little chance of him relaxing back into sleep. So we get up, get him a bottle or actually sippy cup now, and sit up for roughly 20 - 30 minutes.

We have tried keeping him up later to see if that would mean he would go the whole night, but he is so tired at the end of the day that it is almost cruel and unusual punishment to try to keep him up past 6:30. So for now, we are seeing where this goes. I suspect that once we get through the worst of his teething - he is sprouting the molar equivalent to the Dolamites - he will settle back into his routine of being the most perfect child and will sleep through the night again.

I have this book a friend lent me, Healthy Sleep Habits, Happy Babies. The author tries to suggest at one point that it is an old wives tale that babies wake up because of teething or gas. I don't know about you, but I know I wake up if I am experiencing gastrointestinal distress, and I am pretty sure that if I was pushing hard bone-like growths out through my gumline I would not only be awake but drinking heavily and I don't mean milk. As it is a sinus headache will wake me up, so I have decided to stop reading this book.

The old and then new

Well, a lot has happened since the last time I blogged. I tend to get caught up in my life and like with my diary when I was a teenager, months will go by before I remember to put anything into writing.

Since the last time I wrote, Cooper and I went on a cross country adventure, to visit my family in Oregon in late August. A few days before we were to leave, Cooper came down with the runs, so he was immediately put on an applesauce, rice cereal and Pedialyte diet. We managed to get to survive what is by the end of it all a 10 hour trip, without any poopy explosions. Cooper was voted the most well behaved baby on this trip. I am not so sure he would get the same accolades now that he is walking. We timed the trip just right in terms of mobility - just crawling and still sleeping many hours of the day away.

He had a fabulous time getting aquainted with his cousins, my brothers' kids, who are 14 and 11, his grandparents and great grandparents as well as various other extended family members. I am not from Oregon, but my family keeps moving out there so there are many people to visit and be adored by.

Then in September we started at a new day care center. This one is on campus where I work, so drop off and pick up is easier for me. I was concerned about the change, since he was loved and adored at the prior center, and Cooper is the oldest kid in the infant room by 3 months at least. I needn't have worried. He quickly acclimated and became a rock star at the center. Because he is older and more mobile, he spends time with the next level class on occaision, which allows him to participate in music class and go out on the play ground more.

October brought Coop's first Halloween. His father liked the little devil costume, so that is what he was. He didn't go trick or treating, as he is in a coma by 6pm most nights, but he wore it to school.

November saw us celebrate Cooper's first birthday. All of his grandparents came to visit, and he discovered the absolute joy of wrapping paper. I always thought it was just a saying when someone would tell another person to "sit and spin" but Cooper actually does it. He was so excited about the presents he would grasp them in his chubby little fingers and spin around in a circle shaking the present. As for the cake, he was not really interested. He has been slow to try new foods, and chocolate cake just didn't flip his skirt. But we got the obligatory chocolate cake smeared on the face birthday picture. He also took his first steps right before his birthday and is now a champion walker. This is, as all parents know, a double edged blessing. You are so happy to witness the cognitive and physical development of your little baboo, and yet your life ends yet again as you realize that if not watched at all times you child might climb out the doggie door into the three feet of snow on the deck in your back yard.

Thanksgiving was quiet, we celebrated with friends. Christmas we fun. Again, Cooper discovered he loves unwrapping presents, although the concept of Christmas was lost on him. Next year will be very different I am sure.

On New Year's eve we spent an hour at a friend's house, but then Coop reached his witching hour and we went home to put him to bed. Then we went to bed around 11. We know how to live it up! I am not big on New Year's anyway. It is an arbitrary selection on the calendar, you might as well decide the new year begins on March 23rd. It is usually freezing and too many people are too drunk for it too be much fun. Now that I have a kid, I doubt I will ever be out on Dec. 31st.

I have added pictures that hopefully show how the last part of the year went.

We went on vacation

The family took it's first vacation together and it was a success. We went to stay with friends in a place appropriately named Friendship Maine. It is a lovely little town and Cooper got to experience the ocean for the first time, he began to crawl while there and all in all had a great time.

We went to Pemaquid Lighthouse, which was being worked on so it was not as pretty as it usually is, and then we went to Fort William Henry, Cooper's first visit to a historic site.

All in all it was a very good experience and we can't wait until next year when we can go again!

So this is how it started...

A little over a year ago I found out that my life, and that of my husband's as well, was taking a HUGE turn. It wasn't enough that in 2003 we had both gotten divorced from our respective previous spouses, had met each other and found love once again. Or that we had moved in together in my home in Marlborough MA and I decided to get a dog, then Buster the beagle moved in with us, and then we thought "Let's move closer to where we work" so we sold that house and moved to Waltham to a lovely little cape that had everything we could ask for, a doggie door into the fenced in backyard, an inground pool and walls that needed no painting whatsoever. We added yet another dog to our family. No, apparently the universe had other, bigger plans for us. In May of 2006, things took an even bigger turn, when we discovered that at the age of 41 I was expecting a baby. My first, (and only!), Bob's third.

At first I was a bit freaked. I mean, I had not expected to do this with my life, EVER. Bob and I had other visions for our future together, like traveling, sleeping late on weekends, coming and going almost whenever we pleased. That kind of thing. I suppose I am somewhat to blame here, and not in the way you are thinking. In January 2006, right after the new year, I had been thinking to myself, and offering up to the universe the thought that I would like to do something meaningful with my life. Or more meaningful than I was already doing working in higher education helping students achieve their educational and life goals. What I didn't do was get more specific. I thought things like "Hm, maybe Habitat for Humanity would be a good idea". What I should have said was "I think WORKING for Habitat for Humanity would be a good idea" so that the universe, in its infinite wisdome wouldn't decide I should BECOME a habitat for humanity. It is my advice to anyone who is trying to follow the teachings of The Secret, or any other sort of positive visualization practice that you be VERY specific when possible with your vision for your future, or else you may end up with results that on review closely resemble your life list, but are slightly off from what you were anticipating.

Now that I have said all that, I cannot say I am sorry that this has happened. I am still very shell shocked on almost a daily basis. It was a rough ride at the end of my pregnancy, when I had to have an emergency C-section at 32 weeks to prevent further health problems for me from developing. On November 11, 2006 Cooper Jackson Tanski arrived at 5am in the world at 4lbs 4oz. He spent 18 days in the special care nursery at Newton-Wellesley Hospital before he came home. He slept almost continually, taking a few breaks for food here and there, the first couple of months of life. 6 months into our adventure as Cooper's parents we have a mostly healthy son (two rounds of viral diarrhea in the last two months and two colds) who is very happy and laughs a lot. But it is hard getting up in the middle of the night for the bottles, and early in the morning when he decides it is time to start the day. I have given birth to a morning person, there is no doubt about it. Fortunately his father is also pretty good in the morning.

He has certainly changed our lives, and has provided the opportunity to do something so meaningful and fabulous that I couldn't even envision something more meaningful now. So what if I will be 60 when he goes to college. So what if I already feel like my knees are never going to survive his toddler years and he hasn't even begun crawling yet. I feel that I have the potential to be a much better mother now than I would have been had I done this 20 years ago. I am more financially, emotionally and spiritually stable now. I have found a fabulous husband who loves being a dad. Not that the guys I dated in college would not be or are not great dads, I just cannot imagine having had children at that age and with them. This is by far the best way for this to have happened.

So here is to going with the flow, going through that door when life presents you with the chance, and being courageous in the face of new and really scarey opportunities.