new things, going back to work, and a birthday.

Things Baxter has been doing lately:

* Excessive drooling: I feel like we have a rather large bib stash, but when you're changing out his bib every two hours because it's soaked with either spit up or drool, you tend to go through all 50 kajillion of them fairly quickly.  Just another reason to do more laundry.

* Taking naps (!):  Hallelujah!  I can tell when Baxter needs a nap and will do certain things to encourage mid-day shut-eye.  Sometimes they work, sometimes they don't.  Baxter likes to fight sleep.  Usually wrapping him in the Moby with a binky and listening to lullaby renditions of U2, No Doubt, and/or Jack Johnson works.  He'll sleep for 2-3 hours in the Moby.

* Figuring out he has hands: I've noticed him staring at his right hand a lot in amazement.  He'll stare at his fist, then try to cram the whole thing in his mouth.  As a bonus, he'll touch my face afterwards with his saliva-soaked hand.  Aww, sweet baby.

* Wearing scrubs: (See picture.)  I'm brainwashing him early.  I'll have to find a pilot outfit next.  :)

* Playing with toys: If we lay him down and he has hanging toys above him, he will swat at them and giggle.  He especially likes this orange elephant that has chimes in it that his Grandma Kae gave him.  I think that's his favorite.  He also likes to put things in his mouth, whether it be Sophie the Giraffe, a froggy blanket, or his binky turned sideways.

* Peeing on his parents: You'd think that after 14 weeks of having a baby boy, we'd be better prepared for getting peed on during diaper changes.  Lately I've been getting the golden shower every day.

...

I went back to work last week.  I'm only working two 12-hr days per week now so that I can stay home with Bax most of the week.  On the days that I'm working, either Mike or my mom will babysit.  Since my mom and dad are currently in the Philippines  because of a family tragedy (Tita Susan had a massive hemorrhagic stroke in Israel that she didn't recover from), Bax gets to spend time with his Grandma Kae and Tita BeeBee while Mike and I are at work.  We're so lucky to have willing family members nearby to help babysit and generous managers at work who allow us flexibility in scheduling so we can take care of our family.

My first day at work was super busy.  I was off and running 30 minutes into my shift dealing with a rapid response call on the medical floor, then transferring that patient to our unit and assisting with placing a central line in them.  The action never stopped, with multiple back-to-back admissions.  I was trying to keep up but had a couple "duh" moments here and there.

Mike stayed home and babysat for my first couple shifts at work.  He told me he has a better appreciation for me taking care of Baxter at home by myself now.  I'm glad he understands why the house is still in shambles when he gets home from work and why I'm hungry all the time.

Mike had to celebrate his 31st birthday with me at 6 am because I was scheduled to work.  We traded Valentine's Day gifts and I gave him his birthday gift while he was feeding Baxter.  I got him a couple of magazines I thought he'd like to read and tucked in tickets to Cirque du Soleil's Kooza show in one of them.  He and Baxter went to Poulsbo later in the day to celebrate with Bob, Kae, and Mikki's family, where they had red velvet cheesecake from Cheesecake Factory for the Valentine birthday boy.

Go Bree Go!

A good friend of mine from high school, Bree Schaaf, is competing in the Olympics!  I'm so excited for her; I know how hard she's worked to get to this point.  I'm spreading "Bree Glee" everywhere at work, and I've self-proclaimed her the official St. Anthony ICU's Favorite Olympian.  All my co-workers are rooting for her now, along with the rest of Kitsap County.  I wish her all the best - be safe, be fast, be golden!

Here are links to other websites that have more information and video on Bree and bobsledding:
- NBC's 2010 Olympics Athlete Profile: Bree Schaaf
- BreeSchaaf.com
- Kitsap Sun coverage

Three Months!

Baxter is now three months old! My, how the time has passed by. He continues to amaze us with how fast he's growing. I swear, he'll gain inches overnight. He's now wearing size 6 months clothes. Our little preemie is a big boy now!

In the last month, Baxter's definitely become more social. He smiles and coos whenever he sees Mike or I, and loves LOVES loves having no diaper on. He's the most talkative and active at diaper changes. As soon as you lay him down on the changing pad, it's like gets all excited and lets out these little screams of happiness and starts wiggling his butt from side to side. So funny.




He's also a little bit easier to put down for sleepy time, which has definitely helped us. We can tell when he's cranky because he's fighting sleep vs. any other issue. He's eating better, spitting up less, and generally just a great baby. He still doesn't like tummy time, but maybe it's because he tries to do push ups when he's on his belly.





Last weekend we went to Portland, OR to visit Matt's family and get out of Gig Harbor. It was Baxter's first long road trip out of state and hotel stay. I'd say he did pretty well! He slept nearly the entire time driving over to Portland (but we did take him out halfway just to jiggle his legs) and was conked out for most of the hotel stay (see picture below). He did kind of have a big hissy fit at Matt and Angie's house, but I think it was because he was tired. Max and Chance (Bax's cousins who are 3 and 1 years old) were so interested in him. Max was especially sweet, giving him hugs when he was crying or trying to give him his binky. Aww.

Here's some more pictures of Baxter in some fun shirts.  He's promoting the green agenda already.  :)

I go back to work next Tuesday after four months of maternity leave.  Part of me is excited to be a member of working society again and to see all my friends there, but another part of me is afraid I've forgotten how to do my job.  I'll be changing some significantly bigger diapers, that's for sure.  Mike will get his first taste of day-long babysitting on Feb. 9, and I hope I don't come home to both of them crying.