Pink Eye Baby

Yesterday I got a massage.  It was divine.  After that and an energy healing session (yep, I'm totally into that stuff), I floated back out into the world, bought a small coffee and headed home.  I felt like a million bucks.  I was away from The Boy for 3 1/2 hours--the longest I've ever been away from him, ever.  I'm still learning of the benefits a new mommy can get when she takes breaks here and there from being new mommy.  We all need to recharge after all.

It's a good thing I had such a rejuvenating morning.

By the afternoon, The Boy's eye started getting all goopy.  And then red.  And then puffy and goopier.  By evening we headed to the Dr.'s office.  He has an eye infection.  We had to give him antibiotic drops every hour for 4 hours and then every 4 hours.  Needless to say, the night was quite the exciting time.  But he's looking much much better as a result and now his mommy and daddy can breathe again.  It's been terribly stressful to us and yet he's happy as a clam!  Thank god.  

For Jeff Griggs

I imagine The Boy will be looking quite similar when he is The Old Man.

This Blog Is Now Just About THE BOY

I'm getting nervous...

The Boy is huge.  HUGE!  He's 4 1/2 months old and easily nearing 20 lbs.  I could live in oblivion over this ("Aren't all babies this size?" I'd think), however, even people who don't have kids have been commenting on it.  Yesterday I took a walk with my dad and two gay men commented on how big he was.  I may be making an assumption here but I'm thinking they don't have children to compare him to.  And then more frightening is when my friends who do have kids comment on how big he is.  

I better have arms like Angela Bassett as Tina Turner by the year's end.  

Night Moves

The good news is that The Boy has begun to sleep longer stretches at night.  Hooray!  The bad news is that he is still a night owl at heart and, therefore, does not go to bed until around midnight.  We've read all kinds of books on infant sleep and they all say something different.  

At some point you just have to put the darn books down and wing it.  And realize that this baby is the most perfect baby for your family.  How perfectly matched are we that a night owl baby was born to two night owls?  Either that or we've created this night owl behavior!  Well either way, we're trying to figure out what works for us and some nights are more of a struggle than others.  

Right now the three of us are enjoying "Baby Einstein" and it's midnight.  We have a new version of night moves these days.  :+)  

Boxer Baby

See the cute little boy posted all over this blog?  Yes, well tread lightly!  That same boy clocked me one in the eye while nursing one morning and, wow, did it hurt.  Unfortunately, I did not notice until around noon that he REALLY clobbered me.  Mr. Jarcy insisted I go to the eye dr. and for good reason.

HE SCRATCHED AND BRUISED MY EYEBALL!  

Oh man, it just got worse over the day.  It's been a bloody mess since Friday.  Today I had to go to a follow-up visit and the Dr. said it's still pretty bad.  So I have ANOTHER follow-up visit scheduled for Thursday!  

SO WORD OF ADVICE TO NEW MOMS--WATCH THOSE LITTLE FISTS UNTIL BABY IS ABLE TO GAIN CONTROL!  I'm going to wear nursing goggles from now on.

On a positive note, the bruisin' was enough straw that broke the co-sleeping camel's back.  I am not into sleeping with a flailing infant if I can help it because I like my eyes and teeth way too much.  So fortunately Baby Jarcy has been doing really, really well sleeping solo all swaddled up again (think baby straight jacket) and laying in his pack and play crib.  (Knock on wood).  

Evening Festivities

The Boy and his father are in the above photo.  One is a night owl and one is a reformed night owl now that he's a parent and exhausted from his days.  Can you see the night owl's little peepers peering out from the blanket?  This was at 11pm and he was happy and ready for action.  As a last ditch effort we decided to drive up and down Lake Shore Drive for almost an hour in an attempt to lull the boy to sleep.  And it worked!!!  It worked so well that he slept for 4 hours after the ride still buckled into his car seat and placed next to our bed.  5 hours!  5 hours!  Mr. Jarcy and I slept for almost 4 hours continuously!  If we have to do that more often we may have to purchase a hybrid vehicle just to cut down on our carbon footprint.  

Now tonight I am completely perplexed--The Boy has been sleeping in his pack and play for almost an hour and a half.  I am not in there with them.  Instead I am out in the living room wondering what the heck I should do with myself while he sleeps.  So far I have done several things--tried on old clothes, organized my closet, stretched on the floor, etc--but of course all I can think about is my little friend.  I miss him!  Ridiculous.  I've been dying for some free time and now I'm lost without him.  

Up

See this joker?  He's a cutie, isn't he?  Yep, he is.  

Well it's 10:34pm and he's wide awake.  Almost 4 months old and wide, wide awake at night.  The books and his Dr. assure me that he should be asleep right now.  It's as if I'm doing something wrong because he's not.  That's how I feel anyway.  Well guess what?  We've tried to get him to bed at 7pm when he presents early tired signs.  And almost 4 hours later here we are with him cooing and chatting and smiling and playing.  

So enough, we've given up here.  He's not overtired like the "experts" tell me--he's simply a night owl like his mom and dad and is not tired.