Two thumbs up!!

This morning Josh has been quite cranky... He didn't want to eat, he didn't want to be held, and he didn't want to walk around with me in the front front carrier. So I put him in a play gym, which he was not happy about either. Since nothing I could do made him happy I just let him sit in the play gym and be cranky while I ate lunch. He fussed in clear protest while playing with his toys :-P. But then something amazing happened...he found his thumb!!! He then sat quietly and sucked his thumb. He has been sucking on his hand or fingers for the last few days, so Julian and I have been waiting for him to find his thumb. Hopefully this is the beginning of a new found ability to self soothe :-)

On my mind...

After hearing the news of the bombs in Boston at the marathon, I first wanted to make sure my family and friends were all safe. My sister(E) had spent the weekend in Boston and although I knew she was at the airport at the time, I was happy to see a "I'm fine" text from her quickly after the incident.

Later I began thinking about how this incident will change the face of races forever. I don't know how you make a race course safe from this type of attack. I know one if the best things about BIG races is how much the city and community supports the runners. For 5 years I have participated in one of the races for the Baltimore marathon (never the full marathon, but the relay, half marathon and 5k events). The spectators for the event are one of the best parts. Throughout the whole course there are people cheering you on and towards the end there are lots of people that put out speakers, dress in costume or hand out snacks. I don't know how you make 26 miles of a city safe and I don't think that running a "closed" race would have the same joy.

Then when watching the news of the 8 year old boy who died waiting to give his dad a hug, I felt a deep fear and sadness. Having a child certainly changes your perspective on tragedies. I'm sure that the father worked very hard to qualify and train for the marathon, and his son must have been so excited to cheer for him that day. I know when we cheered for E's marathon I was very proud and excited to be there with her. As a parent I hate to do anything that would put Josh in harms way, and something like watching a race would never seem dangerous. Julian and I are signed up for a 5k in Baltimore in May and the plan is for my sister to watch Josh while we run. When I first asked E she suggested taking Josh on a walk to watch the race, which I thought was a great idea. I'm sure that is what others thought yesterday. It is so hard that there are so few things in the world that are safe.

Days like yesterday make me hold Josh tight and send my thoughts to others who are affected by this tragedy.

Boston!

When the World Synchronized Skating Championships were announced to be held in Boston, I knew I wanted to go! I had to get a ticket before Josh was born, and we decided that we would plan to fly Southwest so that everything was refundable if we had to cancel our trip. After Josh was born, life was much more difficult that we expected so Julian and I rethought the plan of going--particularly since flight prices had been really expensive. Just when I had accepted the fact that we probably weren't going, flight prices dropped (finally!) and Josh's personality and eating improved dramatically (thank goodness!). We decided that it would be nice to get away and see what traveling with a baby was like :-)

Hanging out at the airport

We were not sure what we would need so we decided to bring everything.  Some nights Josh goes through several outfits so we didn't want to not have enough.  We ended up with a large bag for Josh, a small one for Julian and I, a portable crib (since we didn't trust the hotels) and the stroller/infant seat. Fortunately we found out our infant seat can be used without the base, so we didn't need to bring that! Even though we could check 4 bags with southwest, we didn't want to have more stuff than we could carry.

Josh studying up before the flight

Overall Josh did really well!! Many people advised me to nurse him on the takeoff to help his ears adjust. I carefully worked out a feeding schedule to make that happen, only to find out our flight was delayed. I got a text message about the delay and was able to delay his earlier feedings to make up for it a bit. It seems the middle of the day is "traveling with kids" hour, so there were lots of parents and kids and very few angry businessmen. By the time we got on the plane Josh was a bit cranky and hungry, but I didn't want to let him eat too soon. He was fussy until I let him eat, but then he slept for the rest of the flight.

After checking into our hotel, we got a recommendation for a nice dinner place (that wouldn't be too nice to bring a baby) and headed out to eat. Because we are super cool, we arrived at dinner at 4:45 before the kitchen was open :-P  We ended up getting a table at the bar and enjoyed some happy hour specials until we could order dinner. Josh was so well behaved at dinner that even the manager was telling us how cute he was. After dinner I headed out to the Skating Competition and Julian and Josh hung out at the hotel watching sports. Unfortunately Josh was less than pleased to be given a bottle, and he and Julian had a rough evening.

We had been worried that Josh wouldn't sleep in the portable crib at the hotel, since he will not nap in it at home. But we were wrong and Josh slept through the night the first night in the hotel :-)  Sadly he did not keep this up for night 2 in the hotel.

Josh is King of the bed!

Josh inside the footprint of a T-Rex

The next day we headed off to the Museum of Science. I had been to the museum on my 6th grade trip to Boston and have wanted to go back ever since. The museum was great!! While Josh is a bit on the young side for a science museum, he did enjoy looking around :-)  I would highly recommend the museum for others with kids (or without!). This was the first time Julian and I went to a "kid friendly" place since having Josh and we had a new appreciation for it. There were benches everywhere and the map of the museum said that nursing was welcome anywhere in the museum which made me feel much more comfortable.

Because Julian had such a hard time with Josh the day before, I decided to miss the first hour of day 2 of the skating competition. Sadly that meant missing Team Mexico, the team I hope to skate for in the future :-P. Julian and Josh had a better time this time, and since the competition started earlier that day I was home in time for bedtime for Josh. Although it seems he slept better when I wasn't there...

On Sunday we checked out and left our bags at the hotel to walk around Boston. We started on the Freedom Trail and met up with Rana. Rana found us a great brunch location and we got to hang out :-)  Rana met Josh when he was only 2 weeks old and was having trouble gaining weight, she was amazed at how big he has gotten. We then walked around a bit more until it was time to head to the airport.

The flight home went well too! This flight was full, so we were concerned for the person who ended up stuck sitting with us. Fortunately we ended up with a really nice resident at Hopkins in dermatology. Josh again slept for most of the flight and only started getting fussy when we were waiting to get off the plane because it was past his bedtime.

Overall it was really nice to get away! It also helped Julian and I feel more confident as parents having to be outside of our element and away from "all our stuff". I'm sure that traveling with Josh will change as he gets older and more mobile, but I'm glad we took the chance to go away before that stage!

Margaret,  Josh and Rana

March Madness

For those interested, here is our the first family bracket challenge ended :-)

3 months!!

We can't believe Josh is 3 months old today!! He doesn't have a 3 month checkup, so we don't have any stats to share. He has been gaining weight really fast and outgrowing some of his 3 month clothes already! His head control and eye contact are both really good, and recently he has started grabbing things. He loves to play with burp clothes or my nursing cover when he is supposed to be eating :-)

Josh has had some bad cradle cap on his head and face since his 2 month checkup, the Doctor had told us to use a bit of cortisone cream on his face if it didn't clear up in a few weeks. We started that about 2 weeks ago, and first his skin got much better, but then it started looking even worse. Last Thursday Julian mentioned that Josh's face felt worse (the skin was very dry), but we keep the lights dim until Josh is awake for good so he didn't get a good look at it before leaving. He was also having trouble sleeping and was very fussy when nursing, and just seemed a bit uncomfortable. When I turned on the lights I agreed that it looked really bad and decided to call the doctor. The nurse recommended that we come in and get it checked out to make sure that there wasn't an infection, we were going away for the weekend so I was really happy they were able to see us quickly. The doctor said it was eczema that might have gotten irritated and a bit infected and prescribed an antibiotic lotion and higher dose of cortisone cream for his face. His face started looking much better after only one day of using the creams, and Josh has been much happier! Josh has a bit of dry skin/eczema on his arms and back and the doctor recommended we use lotion. Does anyone out there have a kind they would recommend? We started with Aquaphor, but it doesn't seem to be helping much...

First Holidays

Last week Josh got to go to Passover and Easter.  First was Passover at Heather's parents house.  Josh was very nervous about the four questions since he was the youngest there.  Luckily he fell asleep before it came time for the questions to be read and he was given a pardon this year.

Then on Saturday we went to my mom's house for Passover.  Josh again avoided the four questions for this year.  Based on how well Margaret and I do at searching for the afikomen we expect Josh to be a pro but this year he decided to nap instead.

On Sunday we went to Margaret's grandma Nancy's.  Josh didn't get a chance to look for Easter eggs or an Easter basket but we think next year he might be able to help.  Hopefully Great-Grandma Nancy will not be quite as diabolical in her hiding places for Josh!

Josh is dressed and ready to go

Too tired for the four questions

Josh with cousin Liana

Great-Grandma Nancy holding Josh

Growth Spurt

Josh has regressed quite a bit in his nighttime sleeping skills, and has been cranky and eating a lot. It took Julian and I a few days to realize that this was probably a growth spurt. He hasn't really had one before (or we couldn't tell the difference between a growth spurt and normal before :-) ). Josh slept a bit better last night, so hopefully the growth spurt is almost over! I guess that is what I get for buying him some clothes for our upcoming trip to Boson. I hope they still fit!!