When a baby cries

Before Evan was born, I thought all screaming babies sounded the same - loud. Having spent some time with my sister and Evan's older cousin, Logan, I now know that is not the case. Yesterday, was a bit of a girls' day. My mom, my older sister and her two kids, my sister-in-law and her son, and myself and Evan had a day out on the Plaza.

After walking around and window shopping for a bit, we hit the Cheesecake Factory for some dessert. Logan started to get hungry and fuss and I noticed how he sounds completely different from Evan. I shared this observation with Brian and we both agreed that we could stick Evan in a room with 100 other screaming babies and be able to pick out our son on just sound alone. Especially with his patented hyper-cry or his very cute - yet pathetic and heartbreaking - and succint "Wa's."

About a week ago a neighbor came over who was working to overthrow the long-reigning HOA president at the next meeting*. We went out on the balcony to discuss things as Evan was sleeping in his swing in the living room. I had to cut the conversation short when I heard him start to cry. She quipped, "You have mother's ears now! I didn't even hear him." I was surprised by the comment because I thought he was crying loud enough to hear him across the street!

*I am very happy to report that said neighbor won the election and during her very short tenure, she has already managed to get the HUGE parking lot pot holes fixed (a product of the multi-blizzard and freeze-thaw cycles of the past winter)**, a roof repaired, a light fixture for the outside of our building installed and a mirror to cover up the holes in the entry way from where the original building radiator use to be. Awesome.

** The potholes were absolutely ridiculous. Couldn't even use one of the driveways into the back of the complex. What was more infuriating than the actual potholes was the half-assed attempts to fill them. The previous president just had someone come in and fill it with loose gravel and dirt. That lasted until about four cars drove over it and threw all of the fill out.

My husband thinks I'm on crack

We are going to move. It may be soon, it may be later, but it is going to happen. We had a realtor come out yesterday to list our condo. Our fair market value is now about $20K less than what we paid for it four years ago. Awesome.

If it doesn't sell, we will probably rent it out after we find a place. If you are potentially interested in a 2 bed, 1 bath condo that is walking distance to the Plaza, Westport, Art Institute, UMKC and the art galleries, lemme know if you want to buy or rent.

Anyway, getting the condo ready to list was no easy task. Brian has long stated that he hates HGTV and all of it's programming because it usually means more work for him and me taking on projects that are a little bit beyond our skill level. I've watched several episodes of "Designed to Sell," which is all about staging.

The Cardinal Rule of Staging: Declutter, declutter, declutter. Our basement is now filled with all the random stuff like trinkets, keep-sakes, pictures and more. I would fill up boxes, and Brian took them down until he said there was no more room. Then I took them down because I can always make room for more crap.

Step two of staging: Clean, Clean, Clean. After removing 90 percent of the hanging wall photos, I patched the walls and had to repaint. I also repainted the bathroom. Brian wanted to help so I asked him to scrub baseboards and the walls. He thought I was on crack. He did it without complaining and claims he sees no noticeable difference. I do. They are all white now instead of white with a thick layer of dust and spots of whatever drink got splattered on them.

Truman has also been victimized by the staging. I bought a slip cover for the couch so he is no longer allowed on it. It's amazing how nice it looks in the living room once you get all the non-essential stuff out of there. The hallway seems wider now that it isn't lined with dark frames and the bathroom just looks fantastic (if I do say so myself). Whether or not it sells, it is a nice sense of accomplishment just getting the massive clean out and clean up project done.

An A-Bomb and a Heart Attack

This has not been an easy day. Evan had a bit of a milestone... his first atomic diaper blowout. A few hours later, Frankie Cat almost caused me to have a heart attack and he is now officially put up for adoption. Let me know if you want him. You won't have to buy any supplies, we'll give you everything you need.

A-Bomb

When we went to our first pediatrician appointment with Evan, the doctor told us that infants don't necessarily poop every day so don't let that worry you. He warned, however, that if they do go a day or two without going "number 2," it will be catastrophic when they do go.

For the past few days, Brian and I started to worry that Evan was a bit constipated and were even thinking about calling the doctor's office tomorrow if it didn't improve. This morning, our worries were relieved by a massive bowel movement that makes all other movements look like informal social gatherings.

I fed Evan at about noon. He promptly fell into a milk coma so I took him back to his room and laid him down in his crib so I could start some cleaning. At about 1:00 pm, I heard him start to cry. When I went back there, I picked Evan up and noticed the huge wet/brown spot on the sheet. His back felt wet... no it was covered in poo.

I started to take him over to the changing table but stopped when I realized that would just get that dirty too. So I put him down on the clean side of the crib to strip him from his clothes. Thankfully, he was in a snap-up onesy so I didn't have to pull it over his head. Otherwise, I think I would have grabbed some scissors and cut him out of it. Yes, it was that bad.

I removed the onesy and the diaper but this mess was too big for mere baby wipes. I grabbed a clean diaper and used that to wipe off as much of the mess from his back and butt as I could. Then, I went into the kitchen and cleared out one side of the sink and turned the water on to get it to an appropriate baby washing temperature. Next, I went back, grabbed Evan (who had now peed all over himself, the crib, the wall, the nightstand...) and took him into the kitchen. With one arm I held him (like a football, only with his head in my hand) while I used the other to grab the sprayer and shower him off. Once all the visible soil was eliminated, I grabbed the baby soap and rubbed it over his back side, rinsed with the sprayer and flipped him over and did it again.

Not putting him on the changing table was a good idea because now I needed to towel off and dress my wet (and now screaming) baby. Once dried and dressed, I transferred him into the living room where he had his swing. I strapped him in there and went and got his play pen out and set up, then I went back into his room and grabbed the soiled sheets and onesy and all the other clothes and promptly through them into the washer with my soaked and soiled clothes. Baby poop stains almost instantly, so I went ahead and threw some Oxyclean in there with everything. Once it stops washing, I'll just run it again with regular baby detergent so no risk of allergic reactions. Go back into Evan's room to wash down crib, wall, nightstand and anything else he managed to mark.

Ok. Evan is still screaming. Go back into the living room and turn on some music. Thank God for Apple and iTunes and to us for making Evan's very own playlist. Baby boy loves "Chicken Fried" by the Zac Brown Band. So we danced, he mellowed out and we chilled together on the couch until he needed to be fed again at 3 pm.

The Heart Attack

After I fed Evan, I put him into his play pen. He was wide awake, but I needed to get his stuff in the dryer and our house was considerably messy, so I decided I needed to work on that. I had just cleaned off of the coffee table to dust it when I turned and saw the $#%^ cat jump from the dining room table into the playpen. It looked just like something you would see on the Discovery channel. The lion stalked a gazelle baby and then leaped out of the tall grass and onto the unsuspecting baby. That's exactly what Frank did. He didn't just casually jump in there. It was a straight up pounce.

I promptly screamed, "CAT!" and just as quickly as he was in the play pen, Frank was out of it and down the hall. The five feet that separated me from the play pen was covered in one large step as I quickly grabbed Evan to check him over. He was fine, thankfully. If I could move faster and had scratch resistant arms, I would have been tempted to throw that cat out into the rain. For now, he is holed up behind our bed.

Frankie is usually a pretty good cat. He uses his liter box and likes to sit on laps - so long as he is the one that decides its lap time (a trait that is pretty common among cats). If you want him, he comes with a covered liter box, a full box of liter, a full bag of cat food and a nice large storage container for the cat food (to keep from attracting ants). Let us know if you are interested. We're serious. If you are looking to adopt a cat, please contact us.

One Month!

Today is Evan's one month birthday. We've learned quite a bit about our little guy and how to take care of him during that time. It helps that he's a pretty easy going baby boy. He only really fusses a little at night before his last bottle and when he is HUNGRY!

Evan at one day old and at one month

Before jumping into our tales of the past month, let's take a break to go back to the beginning. Many have asked about the name of our blog, Unplanned Parenthood. He wasn't planned. It doesn't mean he wasn't/isn't wanted. While we were initially taken off guard when we found out Evan would be joining our family, but can't imagine life without him now.

So where did the name come from? Well, like I said, Evan wasn't planned. We weren't focusing our efforts on getting pregnant. See, when Brian and I got married, we took the attitude of "if it happens, it happens." And, because I had concerns about taking birth control, we decided that since we were married, we didn't need to worry about that. After nearly four years "without a goalie," you don't really think about or worry about pregnancy. So we were caught off guard when I found out I was pregnant. He wasn't planned. So the whole title is just a funny little reminder that the best things in life aren't planned - and I thought it was hilarious when a friend suggested it after I told her I was pregnant.

Sleeping: Everyone always asks how Evan is sleeping. Well, I think he's doing great. He will sleep anywhere from 4.5 to 6 hours in a night. Now, Brian and I working on getting him on solidifying an evening schedule, so he wakes up at a more consistent time in the morning. This will be great for when I go back to work next month.

The fact that Brian and I keep different hours is a good thing, too. He takes the last feeding which is around 11:30 or midnight right now and I usually go to bed around 9-10ish. Evan will wake me up anywhere between 4:00 and 5:30 usually. This is a great schedule because when I do go back to work, I can feed him, put him back to bed, get ready for work and leave and then Brian will have him when he wakes up again around 9.

Eating: Baby boy has made the transition to straight up formula. During the day, he eats between every 2.5 to three hours. Thing that alarms me the most. We started feeding Evan formula and when we would make formula, we would do it a bottle at a time, following the directions on the package. Well, he only eats about 1/2 a bottle's worth of formula in one setting, so we would put the rest in the fridge and use it for the next time he was hungry. We received a babycenter.com update and when I started reading it was going on and on and on about how you absolutely should not, under any circumstances, keep formula in a bottle your baby has drunk out of. Apparently, it can build up bacteria and make your baby sick. WHY DIDN'T THEY HAVE THIS ON THE FORMULA CAN?

Parents: I've finally relaxed. I've figured out that if he starts crying because he is hungry, we don't have to run to pick him up and then try to get everything ready. He's going to keep on crying whether he is in his crib or not. So go ahead and start warming up the bottle, go to the bathroom or use the 10 minutes to sweep some floors or change out laundry real quick. You have to multi-task!

It is hard to go to sleep though. I still hear the phantom baby sometimes. I still can't nap during the day, but don't really need to since I'm getting a full night's rest most nights. I also figured out that there is a reason you are not cleared to go back to work for at least 6 weeks. I get tired fast!

My body seems to be mostly healed and feeling back to normal - except for the whole fatigue thing. I have managed to injure my left shoulder since bring Evan home and my back still hurts quite a bit. However, we keep going on our daily walks (if weather permits) with Truman and if my back hurts too much, its a shorter walk using the stroller. If it doesn't hurt too badly, then I'll use the Baby Bjorn and really wear Truman out! The shoulder isn't anything incapacitating, it just hurts to lift my arm above my head sometimes.

Intellectually and emotionally, I think I'm doing okay. I don't think I've had any of the post-depression issues, but Brian would be a better judge of that. I know I was and still am moody/irritable, but I attribute that mostly to nights when Evan wakes up earlier than what we have become accustomed to. - Is it possible a one-month-old baby can spoil HIS parents? - Besides, if I can sweep the floors, change laundry, do the dishes, fold laundry, sterilize bottles, make a new batch of formula and catch up on the latest episode of Grey's Anatomy during ONE of his naps, shouldn't everyone be just as productive? :)

On days when I don't have the opportunity to interact with other adults, I think I start going a little crazy. Evan isn't exactly a great conversationalist yet and he is not too interested in discussing current events. You will know which days I am going crazy because I am imitating The Muppets' Fozzie Bear nonstop.

Wacka Wacka Wacka!

For month two, I'll probably do Bunsen and Beaker!

So far, so good. We'll see what the next month has to offer!