Watched Shawn of the Dead . ..

We watched Shawn of the Dead and laughed our butts off. Highly recommend it as a comic zombie movie (not scary). Maybe we shouldn't have let Tam watch it too :-)

Hormones

I had thought I was done with the wacky hormones and having no control over my body a couple of months ago. Nope. This past week, I've been weening Tam from the boob juice to mostly formula. This lack of lactation has totally thrown me through an emotional loop. One minute I'm fine and smiling...and with what seems like the next minute, I'm nearly in tears over the slightest thing. Heck, I can't watch any touchy commercials on tv = tears. (Like the animal shelter one with the angel song in the background). I can't hear touchy stories about families and babies = tears. I can't think about Tam growing up too fast = tears. I can't think about family members getting sick = tears. I'm a wreck! I've taken to keeping Kleenex in my pocket most days, like a little old lady. Poor Brian doesn't know what to do about it either except give me a hug and secretly hope that I'm back to predictable normal soon.

And no one told me that stopping breast feeding hurts! Though, on the flip side, my boobs are finally back to their old size and shirts fit once more. Brian is quite disappointed :-)

I'm mostly ok with the parent guilt for stopping. Thankfully there are lots of support mommy groups out there to talk with/gripe with. I'm glad we could do it and that I had few problems so that Tam could get all its great benefits for nearly 6 months. I am definitely sad to stop having this private little bonding time with him. As I was feeding Tam last night at what I think will be his "last" feeding, I couldn't help but try to capture the moment perfectly in my mind for future reference. I wanted to remember how soft he was and how much he spmelled like baby (soap, outside air, sweet poop). I ingrained the look of content on his face and how his little hands flail around to grasp my fingers as he feeds. I just try to tell him with my soft touch how much I love him and how much I want him to be happy and healthy.

Damn...now I'm weepy again. I love our little boy!

Magic of Gloworm

I'm not shamelessly plugging a toy but I have to give props for this one. Tam's favorite toy by far is the musical gloworm that Shelly purchased for him. It has to be on our top 20 best baby gifts list.

This little gadget has a face that glows oddly reddish and plays several lullaby songs. Tam is fascinated with this stuffed toy! If he hears the music from anywhere in the room he turns his little head frantically to try to find it. We aren't sure if it the light or the music or both that grab his attention but it does seem to mesmerize him. He hasn't got the strength yet to press the belly for the sound/lights yet...he mostly just noshes on the nose :-)

Gloworm has calmed Tam when he's fussing for little reason. He plays when him when I need to occupy his attention while I'm busy in his bedroom. And gloworm is there when he's on his way to dreamland in bed. What great baby magic!

Random population questions

Last night Brian asked how many people are there in the United States. He guessed 5 million and I said at least 10 million. Off to Google to find the Government website to let us know the answer. . .

Take a guess . . .


As of last June, there are 303,824,640 people in the US!

Then we linked to a website to let us know about how many people in the US have the same name as us.
I guessed that Brian's name was pretty popular and about 10,000 people share it...but I was feeling pretty unique about my name and Tam's. Now these numbers are based on past censuses and is only somewhat accurate.

Check out the link to try your name: How many of me?

Brian = More than 1 million people
Brian's last name = 950,000 + people
Brian's first AND last name combo = 3,511 estimated

Summer = 26,000+ people
Summer's Last name = 337 people (do we know them all?)
Summer's first AND last name combo = 1 . . . THERE IS ONLY ME!

Tamlin = 1532 people
Tamlin's first AND last name combo = 5 or fewer

Our kid's on a schedule ?!

Those of you that know Brian and me, know that we are pretty laid back people. We usually have a plan as to what we are doing, but rarely is it set in stone or have much of the details flushed out. For instance, driving across the country to Yellowstone. We knew when we had to get there and I knew what roads we were taking. However, every day we decided spur-of-the-moment where to eat, what to visit, and where to stay the night. This habit has continued to today. We have our work schedule, but the rest of the time we sort of "wing it". Pre-baby, we were usually up by 9am and our dinner late by 9pm.

Then along came Tam the Spam . . .

After reading several baby books (Dr. Spock, What to Expect the First Year, Nursing Guide to Children), I have found that Tam is very, very, average and predictable! Whenever the books say "your baby should be doing this"...Tam is usually spot on with this. With the exception of having no interest in rolling over :-)

AND the Goober has self-regulated his own schedule! Little dude's internal clock is way more rigid than Brian or mine's. He's up in the morning 'tween 6:30 and 7am (Gawd help us!). He's hungry by 7:30-8am. Down for first nap by 9am. Up and playing between 10-10:30am. Lunch better be on time between 11:30 and noon or we here the screams. Down for 2nd nap by 1pm for which he sleeps 1-2hours. Dinner by 4:30. A third nap most days by 5:30ish. Bed routine started 'round 7:15 and last bottle and bed by 8pm. He's still waking once during the morning for a 4-5am feed...but otherwise sleeps pretty peacefully. The bugger gets more sleep than Brian and me combined! But it makes him such a happy baby when he is awake and we rarely have scream fits (knock on wood).

I have found that deviations from the schedule are severely frowned upon by Tam. I have fed him a breakfast bottle late (9) and he still wants lunch by 11:30! Just like if he hasn't eaten just a couple of hours ago! Oh, please do not let this be the beginning of anal-retentive tendencies...which is SO not like his parents :-)