Trimesterly tribute: The car ride over to the hospital when I was having contractions every five minutes was fortunately after midnight on a weekday when there was no traffic. Multiple times I asked my husband to pull over so that I remove my seatbelt, squirm painfully in my seat for a half-minute before returning to normal. Hopefully my baby will not make similar requests during our long roadtrip.
Baby bit: I once said that baby illnesses aren't created equal. This is especially true with pink eye. She is not allowed at her daycare (because it's very contagious), but so long as we're not attempting to put eye drops in her eyes or wiping away eye crusties, she is as happy, active and napping as ever. And she still loves doctor's office crinkle paper.
Mommy moment: Do mothers count down the days till kids have to go back to school? I am counting down the days until she can eat more solid foods. The breast pumping just isn't carrying her through the week. However, like chapped, bleeding lips, a little bit of Laolin is all it takes to get back in the game... on injury. Ow.
Althea's previous entries:
Sept. 10: Motherhood misconceptions and baby mythsSept. 3: When a baby can't sleep and won't stop crying (possibly due to her first cold)Aug. 27: Baby's appetite changes can make breastfeeding more difficultAug. 20: Mom's hospital stay after the baby arrivesAug. 13: Returning to work after maternity leaveAug. 6: Life as a single, working mother with a babyJuly 30: Dealing with a baby's first sick timeJuly 23: Delivering a baby by Cesarean sectionJuly 16: Introducing a new baby to your pet cat and dogsJuly 9: Breastfeeding a baby is a challenging decisionJuly 2: Baby airport travel requires patience and timeJune 28: Baby means there's never an awkward silence
Althea Peterson is the proud mother of a six-month old girl. Althea returned to work at the Tulsa World in May after two months of maternity leave. Baby advice, baby questions or baby words of encouragement can be sent to althea.peterson@tulsaworld.com. Also, follow Althea and other parents on Twitter at twitter.com/twbecauseisaid.
A work day's worth of meals - everything I pumped from the work day before (about 9-10 ounces), plus a bag from the freezer that's been stored since July (back when I was pumping more and baby was eating less)
A typical day's dishes. I hand-wash every breast pumping bottle each morning (or the night before if I have energy) with a specialized wand (milk is a bit creamy so a dishwasher doesn't clean as well as by hand). The Packer glass? I am really vigilante about staying hydrated in order to produce more milk.
Baby toys are different than when you and I were infants. On the left is a light-show-music-box-bubbles-in-water thing that baby loves to watch. On the right is one of many giraffe toys we received at a baby shower, which makes womb noises to soothe a fussy baby. No, it really doesn't seem to soothe her.
"KEEP AWAY FROM FIRE," this Tottenham Hotspur (an English soccer team that my husband loves) onesie tag reads. Seriously? Keep my baby's clothes away from fire? OK, then!
The froggie is on a nightstand next to our bed. It's a humidifier, one of many ways we've tried helping our baby breathe in this dry summer air. The baby bed folded up next to it was our daughter's sleeping quarters until last week, when we finally transitioned her to her crib and out of our bedroom.
Don't have room for picture frames at your desk? The next-best thing is setting your computer's homepage screen to a photo of your two favorite people.
Where do pre-natal vitamins, nipple laolin cream (like I said, breast pumping has been awful lately) and infant gas medicine come together? Our main bathroom. Eventually, stuff will have to be put out of the reach of children, but for now, baby can't even crawl yet.
