Category: Gage

Sundays with Gage-Sleep

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During my 10 months as a mother I’ve learned many things, but some of the most important lessons are labeled, tried this-big mistake  We snuggle Gage to sleep in our bed.  Always have.  At first because we loved the special time and then because it was good for his acid reflux to at least fall asleep elevated, on a pillow.  We have stuck with this because it works and we do enjoy the time together.  At night we sneak him into his crib within an hour with about 90% success.  Sometimes we repeat the process after he cries for an hour in the crib.  This can lead to a few long nights for me, but mostly he sleeps through the night like a champ.

The problem is the napping.  The only way he’ll nap is if he stays in our bed.  I try to move him to the crib he starts crying just before his accusing eyes pop open.  How dare I disturb his nap.  On the rare occasion he doesn’t wake up right away he might last 20 minutes in the crib.  So, for the most part I’ve been letting him nap in our bed as I read or put away laundry or whatever.  I’m a sucker.  I’m being played by a 10 month old!

So, this weekend I asked Jason to help me get him to sleep in the crib because I thought between the two of us we could manage it.  This photo is what happened on our way him from church today (bottle included).  Painless naptime. in the afternoon Jason did manage to get him to sleep in the crib for a little while after about an hour and a half of wearing him out.

My goal is to get him into his crib for naps by the end of the week.  I’m not feeling confident but it must be done.  Is there a child rearing lesson that you learned the hard way?

I really enjoyed reading everyone’s comments about where they live from last week’s Gage post 🙂

 

Sundays with Gage- Location, location, location

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I like big cities.  When Jason and I moved to Solon 11 years ago we expected it to be a relatively short stay so I accepted the suburb for what it was.  Well, we’re still here and I’m still accepting, if not the most enthusiastic cheerleader.  So, imagine my surprise when I saw the latest Money Magazine that named Solon the 3rd best small town in America.  Read the article here.

One of the reasons we have stayed is one of the reasons they listed.  Solon was the highest-achieving district in Ohio last year. Originally we thought investing in a community that invested in its schools was a no brainer.  Now that we have Gage we are very happy to be here.  It’s a little over half a mile to the elementary school and we’ve been walking there every evening because Gage loves the swings.

Living in a suburb I give up some things I love about big cities, but I reap the benefits too.  So what about you.  What’s your favorite thing about the place you live?

Sundays with Gage – The Eyes Have It

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Gage, like most white babies, was born with dark blue eyes.  This week he’s turn 10 months old (can you believe it?!) and I was wondering if his eyes would stay the color they are now, a hazelly color.  2 grandparents and mom have brown eyes.  One grandparent and dad have green eyes.  Remaining grandparent has blue/green eyes.  Here’s what I found, (link here)

Q. When will my baby’s eyes change color?

That is a common question from parents of infants.  Will their baby’s eyes stay gray, which many babies are born with, or will they turn brown, green, or blue?

Most experts think that your baby’s eye color will either stay the same or will darken over the first six to nine months of her life. So gray or blue eyes can turn brown, green, or hazel, but brown eyes likely won’t lighten and become blue.

Unfortunately, you will likely just have to wait and see what they do.

Genetics and Eye Color

Another common question is how does a baby end up with blue eyes when both parents have brown eyes.

That can happen because the gene for blue eye color is recessive, which means that you need two genes for blue eyes to actually have blue eyes. On the other hand, the gene for brown eyes is dominant, so you only need one gene for brown eyes to have brown eyes. Therefore, if someone has one gene for blue eyes and one gene for brown eyes (we usually have two genes for most things like eye color, hair color, or height, getting one from each parent), the baby will have brown eyes.

But even if two parents have brown eyes, they could both have one gene for blue eyes. If they each pass this gene to their baby, then the baby will have two genes for blue eyes and will actually have blue eyes.

The gene for green eyes is also dominant over blue eye color, but is recessive to brown. So what color eyes could a baby have if one parent had green eyes and the other parent had brown eyes? Since the genetics of eye color is quite complex and poorly understood, the real answer is that the baby could have almost any eye color from hazel to blue.

So, it’s anybody’s guess.  His eyes do look dark in photos, but they are not a true brown.  Yet.

 

Compare these 2 pics I took on Friday. I’m thinking they may end up closer to my color than Jason’s.

How long did it take for you or your child’s eyes to reach their permanent color?

 

Sundays with Gage – What did I miss?

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Being a stay at home mom has many advantages.  The one that comes to mind this week is the fact that I don’t miss many firsts.  First smile, check.  First laugh, check.  First da-da, check.  But yesterday during the one hour he was at My Gym with Jason I missed a first.  His first crush.  Apparently, Gage made his big boy moves by taking the hand of the girl next to him, Mallory, and the two of them stared into each other’s eyes for few minutes.  Aww.  At nine months that’s like a first date!

I do need the few hours I get for myself, but then I miss some fun moments.

So, do you remember the first ‘first’ you missed?  Or do you remember your first baby crush?

 

Sundays (almost) with Gage- A weekend of firsts.

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This post would be very long if I tried to recap our entire Friday-Monday trip so, I’ll try to highlight the basics with some pictures.

For Gage’s first time out of Ohio we headed up to Michigan where we met up with Grandpa and Kris for Gage’s first RV trip.  We headed further north to Northport where we went to the yearly fly-in & pancake breakfast at the Woolsey Airport.

We parked the RV at the airport the night before.  This airport is named after Clinton F. Woolsey, Gage’s great-great grandpa, a pilot who earned a Distinguished Flying Cross (details here about Woolsey & the airport).  He died while performing in an air show.  Here’s the link from Time magazine in 1927.

We met some Woolsey relatives who still own property on Grand Traverse Bay.  This cabin was built by Gage’s great-great-great grandfather. 

They invited us to hang out on their beach and go swimming. Gage LOVED skinny dipping 🙂  Since I want this to be PG blog I am not including the cutest pics, but this one isn’t bad.

When we camped out at the airport we made friends with Lawrence, a pilot who had flown in for the day.  He took the men of the family for rides in his Cessna.  Gage was not allowed to go, but he did get a sneak peek.

The love of flying must be in the blood.

Lawrence took Jason for a two hour trip and let him fly and land the plane.  How small was this plane?  Let’s see how it compares to Jason and Lawrence.

No, I wasn’t worried at all while they were gone.  Uh huh.

After we headed south we stopped in Flint so Gage could meet his grandma and great-grandpa for the first time.

We had a fun time at the park before heading home today.  It was a long weekend, but Gage had so much fun.  It was a great weekend with family and learning about Gage’s heritage.

Sundays with Gage – Can I see some ID, please?

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Who says you have to be 21 to go bar hopping?  My cousin, Bill, turned 40 last week and his wife and parents threw him a surprise party at one of his favorite haunts, Weasel Boy Brewing Company in Zanesville.

Gage wasn’t a big fan. I think the live music was too loud for his little ears and all the people just made too much noise.  And the air conditioning was off, so it was hot.  We were in a big private room, but it was connected to the bar.

Gage toughed it out for an hour or so before he headed home with the grandparents so the parents could enjoy a little more time out.  We arrived home at 12:00 on the dot, so we made curfew 😉

Gage at his first bar and birthday party with Bill.

(and yes, Gage’s grandparents were against this being on Sundays with Gage)

 

 

Sundays with Gage – Baby Mozart

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A few weeks ago my uncle Larry and aunt Mary Jane gave Jason and I my great-grandmother’s old piano.  My great-grandmother, Sarah, supported herself in her later years by taking in tenants and giving piano lessons, so I am very happy to have this piece of family history.  This was her last piano.

Jason and I do not play any instrument, but both wanted Gage to have lessons on an instrument early and those lessons can’t start early enough!  Jason sat down and taught himself 3 songs over the first week (he’s really awesome/annoying that way) and Gage has finally started to warm up to the idea.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

How cute are my guys?  So did you or your kids take music lessons?  What age did they start?

Sundays with Gage – Time

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Alone time is something I’ve always enjoyed and needed.  Growing up as an only child I am used to some quiet time to do solitary things (reading, writing…) and I thought I was prepared for that time being shared by two.  I was not.

The first few months babies do nap a lot.  A half an hour here, an hour there, so there were always a few stolen minutes to do necessary things.  Now that we  are down to two naps a day (and I think one very shortly) my alone time has shrunk.  I should admit that Gage and I co-nap so not much gets done there but a re-charge and a shower.

I appreciate when Jason comes home at 6:15 and ‘takes over’ until 8:30, but that time is not mine because we still eat dinner together, I still help with the bath and we take a family walk in that time. I take over again once Gage hits the crib around 9:30 or 10 with the baby monitor.

It takes its toll after months of the same routine with little time taken for yourself.  Being a stay-at-home mom is great but it isn’t easy to maintain your adult identity.  I heard myself mention a Gage bowel movement to a friend and knew that I had lost it.  So, I have to find ways to carve out a little time for myself.

Our community center offers babysitting for $2 an hour (the best bargain ever!) and the only requirement is that I have to stay at the center.  So far this has meant a half an hour of cardio and 15-30 minutes of reading time for me.  The first week we did this a few months ago I started to feel some sense of calm return.  We go a few times a week.

We also started going to My Gym, a rec center for babies and kids.  Last week Gage got bumped up the next age level and this one is 2 classes a week, one on Saturday mornings.  Jason has committed to this hour for guy time and I already have big, fancy plans for that one hour break.  These pics are from yesterday.  Yes, I went for the first one, just so I could take pictures!

I just met with a neighbor girl who is going to start babysitting for us. I’ve asked her to come for 2-4 hours during the week so that I might get some appointments made and shopping done, quickly sans baby.

Even these few hours a week are a huge help for my peace of mind and I know I am a better mom for it.  I never had plans to be a stay-at-home mom, but it is an adventure I’m glad I decided to sign up for.  I have less alone time, but I appreciate the hours I do get all that much more.  And I’m pretty sure that Gage enjoys the change of scenery too 🙂

Sundays with Gage – Freedom

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This weekend we celebrate our Independence from England.  As a new mom I don’t have a lot of independence these days.  Here are a few of the freedoms that have come and gone in the last 8 months.

The ability to have long hair and wear it down. Those little hands can still reach around and grab a fistful, but I try to make it as challenging as possible.

Indulging in a long, hot shower without company waiting on the other side of the shower curtain.

Wearing lotion. (This freedom has just come back!  Yea for everything else being more tasty than mom :))

Wearing earrings or necklaces.

Being able to go to the movies without having to plan around a grandparent visit.

Eating out with friends, stress-free.

Making plans knowing that they could all be ruined by a nap out of your control.

An 8 hour night of sleep (even if he’s doing it, that doesn’t mean you are)

And the last, but at the beginning the most surprising, is the ability to go to the bathroom without pre-planning.

Here’s another new mother.  This family arrived on our deck this week.

Hope everyone is having a great holiday weekend here in the States.

Sundays with Gage – A Weighty Issue

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My weight didn’t become a real issue until we moved to the Cleveland area in 2000.  I had never had a real problem with my weight.  So, when we moved here for Jason’s job and I decided not to transfer with Barnes & Noble and became unemployed for the first time, it is no big surprise that the pounds found their way on to my short body.  I took on several part-time jobs over the years but none of them kept me on my feet and away from the refrigerator like B&N did.  I gained weight.  And then I joined Weight Watchers online and lost 20 pounds.  I still wanted to lose a little more but I was happy.  Who knew that those 20 less pounds would provide fertile ground for a pregnancy.

And then I gained 42-45 pounds and a baby.  And stress, due to colic and his health, had me not caring what went into my body as long as it made me feel better.  This usually involved chocolate and wine on weekends.  And lots and lots of easy to pick up junk food.

Then one day I saw a few pictures and was horrified. No, really.  I turn 40 in October.  (Wow, that was quite a confession ;))  And I want to be at pre-pregnancy weight.  Which means I have to lose about 26 pounds. This picture from last weekend will serve as my before picture.

I will probably try to use Weight Watchers because it works for me and I will be joining the .  I committed to 100 miles from July 1-Sept 30, but I’m hoping to walk lots more than that.

Being a mother has not been easy, but the extra weight is not making it any easier or me any healthier.  I will not be giving you regular updates, but I will provide an after picture on my birthday.  I’ll have to see what I can get done in the next 15 weeks.

Any tips for losing pregnancy weight?  Except for the boring eat less, move more?

Here’s a picture I took of Gage (and Max) an hours ago…

It’s nice to know that no matter how much I weigh, Gage still loves me 🙂