Playing in the Grass!

It has been unseasonably warm here in Wisconsin, so we have been doing our best to take advantage of the nice weather.  Drying the diapers and clothes on the line, spending time with neighbors, and, yes, our first chance to play in the grass at Nana and Papa's house this weekend. 

Giovanni seemed to love it as long as he was on his back.  However, putting him on his tummy prompted quick tears, as usual.  Luckily, we snapped a few pictures before he had a complete meltdown.

  

We also got to spend some quality time with Uncle Jon and Aunt Amanda.  They both love playing with him!

In other news, we had our 4-month appointment on Friday and immunizations yesterday afternoon.  He's growing well, measuring in at 14lb 4oz (50th percentile) and 25.25" (70th percentile).  Tall and skinny?!  Where did he get those genes?  Oh well...glad he's growing at a healthy weight.  And the Dr confirmed...we are teething.  Let the drooling and screaming commence.  Or continue...

The Early Days-Thanksgiving

We had plans for Thanksgiving 2011. We knew we didn't want to drive far enough to spend the holiday with our family, so we had planned on joining our neighbors Brian and Andi for "Pie Night" at their church Wednesday night and dinner at their house on Thursday. (Seriously? A church with "Pie Night"? Sounds like winning to me!) My parents were hosting Thanksgiving on Saturday and Cousin Tricia and her daughter Olivia were riding in with Kym and Eric.

Then I went into labor Wednesday morning.

A call to my Mom when we headed to the hospital got her quickly tying up loose ends at work. (Her boss already knew that her daughter was pregnant and she intended to be there for the delivery. She was really understanding.) By the time we got admitted 2 hours later, Nana was already on the road. She arrived just a couple hours before Giovanni was born at 6:20pm. (Yup, I got by with just 11 hours of labor. You are allowed to be angry.)

All three of us fell in "love at first sight" with Gio. Papa joined us on Thursday. Giovanni watched his first Packers game in the hospital. (Yay for beating the Lions on Thanksgiving!) We were discharged around noon on Friday after a brief scare with Gio's bilirubin levels. Fortunately, they decided that he wasn't too jaundiced to go home. 

(Note to self: don't tell your daughter that "the hardest thing I ever had to do was leave the hospital without your brother because he was too jaundiced" before her chid has been cleared to go home!)

There was no way Nana was leaving her precious grandson to serve dinner at her house on Saturday, so we relocated Thanksgiving Dinner to my house. It was a shorter trip for Kym, Eric, Tricia and Olivia coming up from Chicago. Nana and Papa paid for a hotel room for them so the house wouldn't get too crowded but they could still be close. The only downside was that Jon and Amanda couldn't come because Amanda had to work that weekend. But they got a one-on-one visit with Gio two weeks later.  So it all worked out, just not completely according to our plan!

Great-Grandparents

Last night Nana and Papa drove to our house.  We didn't have much time to visit as they didn't get in until nearly 11pm.  And just for fun, Giovanni was up at 4am to eat.  Where did this come from?!  First time in two months that he hasn't slept through the night.  Hope we're not starting a new trend.
Today we woke up at 6 so all 5 of us could road-trip to Michigan to see Papa's parents, Giovanni's great-grandparents.  We had a great visit with them.  From the minute we walked in the door, they had eyes for no one but Giovanni.  He was enamored with them, too...making noises in mimic of Grampa's.

Cousin Tricia and Olivia as well as Papa Bill came over to visit too. Olivia was so cute with her cousin, giving him lots of kisses. 

We also discovered that Giovanni is a variation on the name John.  Don't tell Uncle Jon...we'll never hear the end of it!  He already brags about being Gio's namesake since they share the same middle name (Papa's first name, no coincidence).

Gramma is 88 and Grampa is 83.  They still live at home, but Gramma's back problems prevent them from travelling much anymore.  So we were excited when, upon our departure, both said "We'll see you in May."  Meaning they plan to come out for Jon and Amanda's wedding.  Yay!!

3 months? Already?!

Three months ago today I gave birth to our son.  Hard to believe how fast the time has gone and how much our lives have changed.  Papa laughs at how our priorities have changed since Giovanni entered our lives.  Suddenly, a night spent cuddling Gio is my idea of heaven.

Unfortunately, we're all sick tonight.  I fear that we have our first case of pink eye.  (Though advice from friends on Facebook indicate that it might be something else.  *fingers crossed*)  His right eye has been yellow-goopy all night.   If this is still going on in the morning, we're going to call the doctor and have to keep him home from daycare.  Guess this is the price we pay for both continuing to work.  

The bright side of tonight is that Gio seems to be in good spirits.  He had a great time in his bath tonight.  He loves when I sing to him.  I have started making up my own songs for him.  The current one is sung to the tune of "Frere Jacques":
Giovanni, Giovanni,

You're so cute, you're so cute!
Mama loves you so much, Mama loves you so much.
Yes I do, yes I do!

The Early Days - New Year's Eve

This is the first of what I hope will be several posts recalling our adventures before I started the blog.

For New Year's Eve, we continued my family's tradition of ringing in the new year with our "other family": Barb & Dave, Kevin & Debra, Adam & Robyn, and Darren. Nana & Papa and Jon & Amanda were there as well. Robyn had her tonsils removed a couple days beforehand, so she was not feeling so great. At one point, she fell asleep on the couch. We rested a sleeping Giovanni on her chest and they were too sweet for words.

Kevin and Debra brought a new game, Castle Panic. I think they found it at GenCon and it was a lot of fun. The premise is that you are defending the castle from attacking orcs, trolls, and goblins. All the players work together to defend the castle, with the individual winner being less important than the team's success. We also played a couple rounds of Hand & Foot as teams, boys against girls. It was going well until we convinced the guys (who were losing badly) to play a third round. Big mistake! They skunked us and went out before we were even down. Ooops! This was also one of the first years that I can remember where we didn't split up into "parents" and "kids" groups.

Of course, we stood outside in a freezing drizzle to watch the fireworks at midnight. Nana stayed inside and took advantage of some extra snuggle time with Gio. The festivities broke up not long after midnight as we wanted to get home before the freezing rain got any worse.

As long as we were travelling, we made it into a long (5-day) weekend, driving out on Thursday and returning home on Tuesday morning. We exchanged Christmas presents during the trip and Gio got SPOILED! Among the books, clothes, and toys, he also got his first wagon. Looking forward to the warmer months when we can use it to tote him off to concerts in the park and other fun events. Nana and Papa were lifesavers when Gio woke up at 5 or 6am. They relieved me after the feeding so Mama could go back to sleep. It was a great visit and Nana was definitely an hour late to work on Tuesday morning...she just didn't want the time with Gio to end!

This is where it gets real

Yes, I'm still awake at 12:30 in the morning.  And stone sober.  The diapers are still rinsing.

We had our regular theater tickets with Danny and Susan tonight, so we didn't get home until nearly 11:00.  Great dinner at EE Sane Thai and an amazing production of "To Kill A Mockingbird" at the Rep.  This was our second show since Giovanni was born, the first since I returned to work.  It was harder than I expected this time because Luciano took him straight from daycare to the baby-sitter's.  Boy was I happy to hold my Little Man at 10:30 tonight!

Of course, after one week in daycare, all three of us are sick.  Luciano has it the worst so far, but I can tell that Gio's and my symptoms are getting worse.  Ugh.  Who takes care of Mom when she gets sick?!

"Oh what fresh hell is this?"  My milk supply is dwindling.  I used to get 7-8 ounces total per pumping session.  Now I'm lucky to get 3.  We're having to rely heavily on our meager frozen stores.  Some web research today informed me that I need to pump more often to get my supply back up and pumping never works as well as feeding directly from the breast.  Oh, joy.  Guess I'm going to be visiting the safety office every two hours and working weekends to get caught up on work.

And yet, when Gio looks up at me with those big blue eyes and smiles, my heart melts and I have no doubts that this is all worth it.

Time to put the diapers in the dryer.

Back to work

Today was my first official day back to work.  Giovanni spent his second day at daycare and is doing great.  When I picked him up yesterday, all the babies were content and he was happily playing in a bouncy seat.

I can't help but wonder if there is something wrong with me as a Mom.  I fell back into my routine at work, plowing through the 600+ e-mails that had accumulated during my 12-week leave, catching up with my team and co-workers, and almost forgetting that I needed to pump.  Yes, at the end of the day I was excited to go home and see my Little Man.  But I did not spend the whole day pining over him, counting the minutes until I could leave.  I went about my day and the time flew by.  (Ever notice how that happens when you're busy?)

I'm hoping it's just a reflection of my attempts to be a laid-back, low-drama person.  As my Mom reminded me tonight, I know I can be a better Mom to him by working.  It will keep me sane and allow us to provide some of the opportunities we want him to have in life.  I guess it's just the inevitable pressure of only having one chance to raise him right.

On a lighter note, I got a full evening of snuggles when I got home.  Dinner for Giovanni, a lot of screaming while Mom & Dad ate dinner (why does that always happen when we're ready to eat?!), then a little more snuggling while he napped on my chest.  Hungry cries around 8:30 spelled dry drawers, pajamas, and a nightcap before he fell asleep in my arms.  He was so adorable lying there, that I just held him for another 45 minutes, kissing his sweet little head and thinking of what a blessing he is!  Maybe I'll be an okay Mom after all...

This is how I spent my night