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My pretty

By • On • In Kids • 1 min read

Walks around the neighborhood have become so much fun for us now that people are starting to decorate for Halloween. You can tell already that everyone has totally upped their game this year.

Jackson especially loves searching for pumpkins and pointing them out to us. He likes finding other decorations, too — the inflatable dragons, the “Pumpkin man” (another inflatable), and ghosts.

There was one witch decoration down our street that just had the hat and broom smashed into a tree. At first he liked it and pointed it out every time we passed.

But then one day inside our house he kept talking about it and I could tell he was scared. First he was asking which direction the witch was and when I told him it was to the left, he asked if we could go to the right when we went for our walk later.

Then when I was upstairs I overheard him saying: “She’s not going to eat us.” Followed by, “Is she going to eat us?”

Poor thing has been thinking of this scary witch all day!

From then on, he was very insistent that we always went to the right whenever we went outside.

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Oops

By • On • In Kids • 1 min read

(Background context: I had been trying to get Jackson to come outside for a walk, and I tried enticing him by saying we could look for the pirate ship, a Halloween decoration at a nearby house that I remembered from last year. The only problem is we didn’t see it, and I wasn’t sure if it was because they just hadn’t put it up yet or that we were looking on the wrong street. So every day we’d circle around the area, trying to find it. In the meantime, we did find some cool inflatable dragons that he liked so sometimes he’d tell us he wanted to go see those, which was the opposite direction from where I thought the pirate ship might be.)

Justin: “We can definitely see the dragons or we can maybe see the pirate ship. Which do you choose?”

Jackson pauses. 

“Definitely see the pirate ship!” 

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Jackson’s first movie

By • On • In Kids • 1 min read

Definitely an oldie at almost 30 years old: The Land Before Time.

I was just trying to find something with dinosaurs and that’s the only one I could think of! He didn’t seem to mind the outdated graphics, haha.

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2020 Nightmares

By • On • In Pandemic • 1 min read

I had a dream last night that we were at a wedding and while I was in the bathroom washing my hands, I had put Beckham down behind me in his car seat carrier.

Next thing I knew, my cousin had picked him up and started kissing and playing with him.

Oh, the horror!!!!!!!!!

It’s crazy that this would set off a sense of panic — that these are the things of nightmares these days.

(Edited to add: I’ve since had other fearful COVID-related dreams:

  1. I was meeting up with a friend who was pregnant and — at my suggestion — we walked into a Starbucks that was jam-packed with people in line (not socially distanced). My friend ran outta there as fast as she could, and I felt awful for bringing her there.
  2. I was at my going-away party for work, and another friend tried to give me a hug. WHAT WAS SHE THINKING?!

Thankfully, I woke up from such horrible dreams! haha)

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Laundry day

By • On • In Kids • 1 min read

I was putting away laundry in my room and asked Jackson to take his clothes out of the dryer and put them in his room. To my surprise, he didn’t just drop them on the floor in his room — he also put them away in his dresser! haha

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Too close for comfort

By • On • In Kids, Pandemic • 1 min read

We learned that someone from Beckham’s therapy clinic tested positive for the coronavirus. It wasn’t his physical therapist, and no one we had direct contact with, but it still totally freaked me out. The place is so tiny, I worried it could have easily spread.

Plus they are only shutting down for cleaning for one day. Anybody who had direct contact with that person was told to stay home and quarantine, but I don’t understand why they wouldn’t make everyone get tested. I believe they are going by the guidelines that a direct contact is 15 minutes or more… but I wouldn’t be comfortable if our physical therapist had ANY contact with this person.

(Edited to add: The CDC did change the definition of a direct contact later to a cumulative 15 minutes even if it’s broken up — say, a few minutes here, a few minutes there. Yet another reason to not get comfortable! They are still learning how this works.)

I’m pretty sure it was a student observer because they updated their COVID protocols and the one change I noticed was that student observers are no longer allowed inside. I get that this is complicated, but why did they ever allow students in? We are bringing our newborn baby in — there shouldn’t be anyone in the office who is not necessary.

After some debating back and forth, we are going to skip our next session so that two full weeks have passed before we go back. It’s hard because you don’t want to make things worse for Beckham’s physical therapy by skipping. But I also didn’t want to risk that our PT might have caught it and was asymptomatic.

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Must bring snacks

By • On • In Kids • 1 min read

At the time, I didn’t think anything of it. But later when I got home and unpacked my bag, I realized I probably didn’t need to pack peanut butter crackers, two fruit bars and a package of graham crackers for my brief visit to the park to meet a friend. (And no, Jackson was not with me.)

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Look on the bright side

By • On • In Kids • 1 min read

Jackson is always trying to find solutions/make me feel better whenever things go wrong. Here are just a handful of recent examples:

After I accidentally left my (blue) water bottle at the park: “Don’t worry Mommy. We can use the green one.”

After Luc jumped up on the chair and ate Jackson’s fruit bar off the table: “Don’t worry, we can get a new one.”

After the lights wouldn’t work on a toy, and we didn’t have any replacement batteries: “Don’t worry, Mommy. We can get new batteries.”

After food spilled on the floor: “Don’t worry, Luc will clean it.”

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Womp womp

By • On • In Kids, Pandemic • 1 min read

For some reason I was talking about germs, and Jackson, who has started asking “why” to anything and everything we say, began asking a bunch of questions.

“Why?”

“What does that mean?”

“How does it work?”

I was feeling like it was a productive explanation, especially given the times we’re in.

Until Jackson capped it all off by putting his hands up to his face and, in slow motion, licked them over and over. 

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Memory slip

By • On • In Kids • 1 min read

Jackson, heard through the monitor after waking up from his nap: “Oh dear. I forgot to put Soldier Teddy Bear in his crib. Oh dear. I forgot!”

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COVID casualty

By • On • In Pandemic • 1 min read

This is so sad. Southport Lanes is closing down after nearly 100 years in business.

It was a super fun bar that had a small, old-fashioned bowling alley inside. It was right by our old condo in Chicago and we used to go there frequently. It’s also where Justin and I had our second date!

I just can’t believe it has been around for almost a century, but now can’t survive COVID.

Another place that has shut down that I was so bummed about was Cozymel’s in Wheaton. This was a Mexican restaurant where we had my wedding shower, and maybe baby shower, too. And one of Kelly’s showers, too. It was our go-to for events — so fun and festive.

Boo hoo!

https://www.chicagotribune.com/columns/ryan-ori/ct-biz-southport-lanes-closing-coronavirus-ryan-ori-20200917-zk63ogvki5hzzio4v3cspe6q7m-story.html

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COVID or postpartum?

By • On • In Pandemic • 1 min read

Pretty much every week I’m convinced that I have COVID.

I never have a soar throat but I always feel like one is about to start, as strange as that sounds, haha. And my whole body is just sore and tired. So. Tired.

“Those are the symptoms of being a mother to a 3-month old,” Justin tells me.

But what if it’s COVID?!!?!

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Ewwwwww

By • On • In Pets • 1 min read

Soooooo Luc ate a bird today.

It was dead already, laying in the yard, when he found it and picked it up in his mouth. I started chasing him around trying to get him to drop it, and he just ate extra fast in order to spite me.

The WHOLE thing.

So gross. I can’t get the image out of my head!

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Mother load of blowouts

By • On • In Kids • 1 min read

I am not exaggerating when I say Beckham poops like crazy.

I still don’t even understand how this happened, but today he had a blowout that not only seeped out of his diaper and onto his clothes, but legitimately exploded all over the couch.

It just so happens he was laying on top of the crack in between two couch cushions, and thus his poop oozed into that crevice covering the sides of both cushions and the bottom of the couch.

What in the world!

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Taskmaster

By • On • In Kids • 1 min read

Jackson was on a roll today making Justin do chores outside, and let’s just say I was loving every minute of it!

“Get the branches down.” (Branches that had fallen on top of the garage.)

“There’s more.” (After Justin stopped, but missed a spot.)

“Put the ladder back in the garage.” (After Justin sat down at the table, as if he was done.)

“What should we do next?” (And by “we” he means Justin.)

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Apple a day

By • On • In Kids • 1 min read

Me: “Time for your bath.”

Jackson: “But I want to eat. I’m pretty hungry.”

Me: “Noooo, we already ate.” 

Jackson: “Should we eat fruits and vegetables?” 

Oh, you’re good…

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My sidekicks

By • On • In Kids, Pets • 1 min read

You wouldn’t think you could be especially productive during this time, but during our hours on the couch together I’ve actually been able to watch a decent amount of my photography-related online courses.

(Edited to add: Oh, the good ol’ days when both boys would sleep…)

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Pandemic play

By • On • In Pandemic • 1 min read

I drove by a school today with kids outside for recess. Each kid was standing on their marked spot on the blacktop. All equally spaced out. And no one was moving except to kick a ball back and forth to each other. It was the strangest sight! So sad!  

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Brilliant!

By • On • In Kids • 1 min read

“Is he talking in a British accent?” my nephew Alex, probably confused, asked after he overheard Jackson talking last weekend.

Why yes, yes indeed.

Thanks to his Peppa Pig obsession, Jackson has pretty regularly been speaking with a British accent — and using British phrases, too.

He talks about going “on holiday” and to the “seaside.” Whenever he wants me or Justin to take our turn, he tells us, “you have a go.” He frequently uses “a bit,” “lovely” and “off we go then.”

Some of them require a bit (ugh, he’s got me talking like this now, too!) more work to translate. He kept referring to “plaster,” which I think may be a band-aid?

Sooooo weird! haha

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More birthday fun

By • On • In Kids, Pandemic • 1 min read

The celebrations continued for Jackson’s birthday — this time my family came over for a pandemic-style party.

And we finally got to do our “birthday safari,” which I originally planned for his actual birthday but that got delayed by the rain. Basically I hid a bunch of inflatable jungle animals all around our yard for Jackson to find.

We did this over and over again all weekend, along with more and more cupcakes!

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COVID baby

By • On • In Kids, Pandemic, Pregnancy • 4 min read

I have been in a couple of community web boards through the What to Expect app that I joined at the beginning of my pregnancy. They’re basically forums for pregnant women and moms to ask questions and talk amongst each other. One of my groups was specifically for babies due in June 2020, so it was a collection of women who were all going through the same stages of pregnancy.

It was crazy to see the number of coronavirus-related posts in the first few months of the pandemic. There were so many that they ended up creating a new board specifically for COVID, and I read it religiously every night, lol. It was interesting to see what was going on in different places and what people were experiencing. And somewhat helpful, too, since the policies and advice for pregnant women were all over the place.

These days those posts have decreased dramatically. There’s not too much virus-related activity any more I think because there’s just more information now and we have a better idea of what to do and how to protect ourselves.

A new post in the June Babies group, though, caught my eye. One mom wrote a poem about the pandemic — apparently while rocking her baby to sleep?! Ummm what? I wish I could be so productive and creative at that time!

I’m sharing it here because it is so relatable, having a June baby myself. Reading it reminds me of how totally insane that all was at the beginning. I still sometimes can’t believe that this is real life!

COVID Baby; A “poem” about having a baby during a pandemic

CCiaEllenSep 9, 2020 at 4:05 AM

Hello mommas! I wrote this one night while I rocked my little pandemic baby to sleep. I thought some other moms might be able to relate to it! I know we are so blessed to have these little ones, but I also wanted to recognize the challenges of having a baby during such an uncertain time. I say “poem” because it’s really just all my thoughts scribbled down. 😅
COVID Baby

It started with your family will have to wait in the waiting room
Then they said absolutely no visitors
No hospital introductions
Meeting through a window

Moments missed
Memories put on pause

No baby showers
No social gatherings
No in person celebrating
No hug from my mom when I’m feeling overwhelmed and scared at 39 weeks pregnant

Virtual maternity care
In person OB appointments alone
Did I ask the right questions?
Did I miss anything the doctor said?
It sure would be nice to have another set of ears here…I need my support person
Hearing baby’s heartbeat, a sacred sound shared between the OB and the momma to be

What will my labor be like?
Wear a mask?
No support person allowed?
Separated from the baby?
Feeling alone and anxious about all the unknowns

Don’t go out, pregnant women are high risk…
…actually you are okay, just don’t go out close to your due date because they will separate you from your baby if you test positive after labor and delivery

Trying to prepare for baby’s arrival
Baby essentials are backordered
Nothing will arrive for months
Will the crib come in time?
Will I have a car seat ready for my baby?
The store is out of wipes
Diapers are running low too
Formula is limited to 3 per customer

The time is drawing near
Only your significant other is allowed in
You must take a COVID test
Wear a mask
Don’t leave your room
Wear your badge that says “screened”
“Hi I’m your nurse, Becca” muffled behind the barrier of a mask

5 masked faces helping me deliver
I sure wish my mom was here, she is waiting in the parking lot…that’s as close as she can get…she was suppose to be here
I guess COVID didn’t read my birth plan 😒

“Good news, you tested negative for COVID!”
…Oh good, I can hold my baby

I did it!! He is here!
My world is complete
Newborn snuggles in the safe bubble of the hospital
“Here comes the sun” plays in the background as COVID patients are released

Wow I love my husband
He is my only support
This must be hard on him, I can tell he needs a break from it all…but he stays by my side because he’s all I have right now

“Good news! It’s time to go home!”
Woohoo! It’s time to go home! But…
Oh no…it’s time to go home…
Do I let them hold the baby?
Do I let them in the house?
Should we introduce the baby to grandparents through the barrier of a window?!
Please wash your hands!!
On the outside I say “yes come visit”…on the inside I am riddled with fear and anxiety

Appointments with the peditrician alone
Making decisions about our child…alone
My husband and I are a team, can he come too?
“No, we only allow one parent due to COVID”

Updating the proud father after well-baby visits
“Yes dear, the doctors appointment went well. No, I forgot to ask that…I forgot to ask that too…I guess I was distracted by holding the baby and juggling it all by myself.”

The baby might be getting sick…
Do I take him to the doctor? Do I risk exposure? Has he been exposed? He just coughed…could it be COVID?!

Am I too anxious?
Do I have PPD or PPA?
Is this amount of anxiety normal when you have a baby during a global pandemic?

No mommy support groups
Limited visits from family and friends
No outings with the baby
Just stay at home…it’s safer there

This isn’t what I had in mind when I saw those little blue lines…but many women don’t ever get to see those lines…God has blessed me so much
Feeling guilty for wishing this was different…but it’s okay to recognize that this is hard, right?

Oh my little COVID baby
I will rock you
I will hold you in this bubble until the storm passes
And it will pass
And then we will emerge from our safety net called home and face the world together

We will be stronger, because we only had each other for the start of your life
We will cherish these memories, the months where we were forced to slow down and stay home
Someday you won’t want to stay home with me
Someday we will get so busy that we are barely at home

I am blessed to have you in my life
I would do it all again a million times if it meant I got to hold you in my arms at the end of it all

So tonight, I’ll hold you tight, rock you a little longer, and keep you safe…my little COVID baby

Written by Ciara S.

https://community.whattoexpect.com/forums/june-2020-babies/topic/covid-baby-a-poem-about-having-a-baby-during-a-oandemic-101002880.html?xid=dd_june-2020-babies_b&utm_source=nl&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=dailydigest&utm_content=june-2020-babies_20200910

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Note-taking

By • On • In Home • 1 min read

While I may not immediately post things on this blog as they happen, I do take notes every day, or at least for every moment that I know I will want to write about later.

I’ll jot down little details in my phone, and quotes verbatim. As a journalist I would have it no other way. (So yes, Jackson really does say those things! haha)

That’s all to say that I got to my notes for today’s entry and I was a little perplexed. It only read: $35.25 Walmart order.

What in the world?! I thought.

Not enough info! What did I buy? Why did I want to blog about it? WHAT DOES IT MEAN?!

Then it finally dawned on me: You need to spend $35 to qualify for free shipping. Of course in all my online shopping I always add things to my cart to get the free shipping. So here I was so proud of how I was able to get my grand total so close to that threshold.

Only over by a quarter? New record!!

Even funnier that I deemed this worthy of recording.

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