Firsts

There's a first time for everything, or something, and some of those firsts are exciting.  You get the first tooth, the first steps, the first words, the first time you get a phone call asking to bail you out of jail...  We here in Adventureland experienced our first illness.  I think Mr. Adventure brought it home from school and we were all pretty sick, though I was the only one that had a fever.

Taking care of a sick baby when you are sick is one of the worst thing in the world.  He made all the crying and whimpering sounds I wanted to make and he sounded so darn pathetic.  His face was all snotty and he needed lots of extra love, which was fine.  He was all snuggly which worked well with my inability to move more than a couple feet without needing a nap.  One of the other worst things in the world is taking care of a healthy baby (or a baby who is feeling better) when you are still sick.  I felt like I was dying and Hamburglar felt well enough to get into everything.  He had his first taste of dog food.  He didn't seem to mind it and Rupert didn't get mad that someone else was eating out of his bowl.

Fatty McTwochins is almost 8 months old.  Dr. Soulpatch's office called me yesterday to schedule his nine month appointment.  She was trying to get me to schedule it for the end of this month.  She said that you can have the nine month appointment as early as eight months, and I told her that would make it an eight month appointment.  I know he won't be getting vaccines or anything at this appointment, but I just thought it was weird.  So I scheduled it for mid-June, when Hamburglar will be 9 months old.

Mr. Adventure got a great video of Chumbercules making Chewbacca sounds last night.  He was also making weird gurgly sounds that made it sound like he was under water.  It was hilarious.  And it was nice to have fun with him before he STAYED UP NEARLY ALL NIGHT SCREAMING LIKE HE WAS GOING TO DIE.

Every hour and a half.  I was so tired, I brought him to bed with me where he proceeded to spit up everywhere.  Then I changed him and he peed everywhere.  Finally, after I got him back to sleep, I was faced with the choice of showering or sleeping for another hour before work.  I chose sleep and I still smell like baby pee.  I'm hopeful that the chemicals in the lab will mask the smell.  Or I may go take a whore's bath in the lab bathroom.

I was supposed to go to Seattle last weekend for a baby shower and to visit friends, but because I was so sick and missed two days of work last week, I had to postpone/cancel my trip.  I'm still trying to recover, paid time off-wise, from maternity leave.

I've had to switch up Hamburglar's bathing routine.  I've traditionally just brought him into the shower with me, but with his wiggliness combined with his desire to grasp everything in sight (or at least flail his baby arms about and knock everything down), it is becoming dangerous.  And slippery.  So, during a mid-night baby soothing/Amazon shopping session, I ordered an inflatable duck tub.  And Chumbercules LOVES it.  Or, at the very least, he loves splashing in it and making a giant mess.  I like being able to set the tub on the kitchen counter and bathe him standing up.  No stooping!  And it was super easy to inflate.  We have a pump, but I just blew it up and it didn't take long at all.  Of course, I have no concept of time whatsoever anymore because most days feel like they have lasted several weeks.

Speaking of things I would like the baby to do that he is not doing: I would like him to not bite me.  He grew two more teeth and has bit my nipple a couple of times.  I've read various ways of how to deal with it.  My boss's boss warned me this would happen and told me to just flick him on the cheek.  Other things I've read have suggested putting him down/ending the feeding session.  I'm trying the latter one and it seems to be getting better already.

And you know what else?  It's been almost 8 months and I'm still breastfeeding.  Hamburglar McCloud has never had formula and I bet I've saved a ton of money.  So that's nice.  Though, I think we should probably start feeding him solids regularly at some point soon.  We give him tastes of things, but feeding solids hasn't really become part of our routine quite yet.

And I think that's all.