bethysmalls

This month has been long.

Bruno’s 1st, 2nd and 3rd months seemed to fly by leaving me thinking I never really had an infant. I miss the sleepy scrunched up days of his (relative) tininess and the way he could fall asleep on his dad’s chest when the rest of the world was just too much.

Sigh. Month 4 has been long. Did I mention that? This month of teething and nap times and bed times and screaming. My baby screams now? WTF? I used to be able to take him and bounce him when he was screechy and fussy and he would quiet down within moments and now? Now he requires actual work. Ugh.

Don’t get me wrong. I’d much rather do the “work” that Bruno requires as opposed to the work I get paid for. My successes with BHH are much more rewarding and the smiles?

Fuggeddaboudit.

This month, Bruno’s 4th month, has been challenging. Car rides are no longer an automatic nap and nap times require coercing and cajoling. My baby now knows how to scream. And if it wasn’t for the fact that he was screaming, I’d think he’s enjoying it.

Along the way, he’s done some pretty amazing things that I think I’ve lost sight of due to, you know, all the screaming. He plays with TOYS now. He will actually reach out and grab a toy! And PLAY with it! And by “play with”, I of course mean “chew on.” Exciting, right? Also the spitting! I mean sure, it’s gross, but it’s a thing! That he DOES now! And there have been 5 or 6 times when he almost giggled. He hasn’t quite strung together a full force baby giggle fit but he’s sofreakingclose! Even still it’s awesome and it gives me a toothache.

Have I mentioned he has rolled over more than that one time he did it last month? Last week, he rolled over 3 times in one day! And the next day he did it in front of someone other than JUST ME! So we’ve got witnesses now! One witness actually, but who’s counting?!

(I’m working on catching it on video so bear with me, readers. Of course the 2nd to last time he did it Hoagey and I made such a big deal that he freaked a little and almost started to cry so it may be a while before he’s not scared to do it again… my bad.)

I’m tired. This month has seemed longer than his first 3 combined and it’s not even over yet. And I know the 1st month was challenging, too, but all I can seem to remember is the cuddling and the nuzzling and the nursing and the constant napping and the “OMG I have a baby and he’s the CUTEST!” I feel guilty admitting it but, yeah, this month has been hard and I hope I look back and only remember the almost giggles and smiles and rollings over.

***Tonight we go to our first Phillies game of the season and also the first Phillies game where we bring along Bruno. When we bought the tickets he could still sleep anywhere and I thought, “no big deal!” But as the hour approaches, ever so slowly, I’m thinking it might be a total freaking disaster. But who knows! The Ryan Hoagey in him might really emerge today and he’ll be SO happy to be at A BASEBALL GAME that he just sits and takes it all in. Keep your fingers crossed for me, Internet!

BASEBALL!

4 years ago, I worked for the SJU Baseball team. I had become friends with a few of the players and we would routinely chat on AIM (remember AIM?!) in the evenings while watching baseball or CSI or whatever.

4 years ago tonight, my friend Ryan came over to watch the Phillies game with me. I didn’t have cable at the time but the game was against the (stupid effing) Braves so we were going to watch it on TBS. When he arrived, we sat at opposite ends of my couch and turned on TBS only to find out that it was blacked out. Oops. It was a Saturday night so I suggested, half-jokingly, that we watch the Family Channel because there was a 3 hour block of Gilmore Girls on! Expecting him to be like, thanks but no thanks, he said, “Whatever you want to do is fine.” I kind of didn’t believe him cause, like, he was there with the expectation of watching baseball and was now okay with watching the Gilmore Girls? I put it on expecting him to come clean that he really had no intention of sitting through 1 let alone 3 episodes of GG. But he stayed. And we watched. And watched.

At some point my brother called and we talked for a few minutes and I mentioned that I wanted to watch the game but it was blacked out and he said, “I think it’s on channel 9 tonight.” I changed the channel to see and, sure enough, there was the Phillies game. On my TV. We had already watched a good deal of chick TV but Ryan just chuckled.

That night we also walked around the corner to Pat’s Steaks and had our first cheese steak together. The guy at the counter was chit-chatting with me and referred to Ryan as my boyfriend which he so totally wasn’t and I looked at him like, “uhhh, I can ignore that if you can.” But he was unfazed and not freaked out at all. I obviously didn’t know Ryan very well as he is generally unfazed and not freaked out at all, but at the time I was relieved because I was having fun hanging out and I didn’t want that to send him backing away like, “Ew we’re not ‘together’ dude!”

After we came back, we ate our cheese steaks on my corrugated board coffee table and flipped back and forth between GG and Phils v. Braves. It was super fun and the first of many baseball games and Gilmore Girls episodes we would watch together.

Happy Cheese Steak-iversary, Hoagey Bear. I heart you!

Hoagey @ CBP

During Bruno’s 1 month check-up, we sat in the tiny Dr’s office and I asked her when I might expect Bruno to start teething. She answered with a question, kinda, “Do you mean cutting teeth? Because he’s teething now.” I said, yes even though I didn’t know what that meant and secretly rolled my eyes at her, like, of course that’s what I mean. Come to think of it, he was gnawing on his hands pretty vigorously at that exact moment so she was right, of course. The act of ‘teething’ happens as soon as they learn how to bite down, I guess. But it doesn’t hurt all the time. When it does, it’s like, a horror movie.

So, yes, Bruno has been teething since he was 2 weeks-old, apparently but last weekend, oy, he finally realized it.

I got a call a few weeks ago from United Cerebral Palsy. They put together a basketball event to raise money called the All-Star Labor Classic. For the past few years I’ve volunteered for this event which has been held at Saint Joe’s but seeing as how our field house is under construction, it was at LaSalle this year. They thought they had an ATC to cover the event but LaSalle dropped the ball, as they are oft to do, and Julie Ciciarelli called and emailed me in a panic hoping I was available to help out at short notice. I was happy to help, it’s a wonderful cause and I always feel good about being there. And since I was in a position to ask for things, I asked if I could bring my husband and son as I was still nursing and it would just be easier (They gave me 4 tickets last year so I figured it wouldn’t be a big deal). “Of course!” she said and told me about her little boy who would be coming to the event as well. It was all good! And since my baby is SUCH a good sleeper and naps whenever we take him out of the house it was going to be NO problem AT ALL. YAY!

OM-effin-G, y’all. The Friday before this event (which was on a Sunday) my little boy developed a touch of fussiness. No more 3 hour naps. No more sitting in his bouncy seat cooing and staring around. What was once a disposition that I abashedly bragged about turned into, well, screaming. We couldn’t put him down in his crib without writhing and yelling and ANGER!!!! Most of the time being held was enough to keep him content but then other times he’d just scream despite all the tricks up all the sleeves of every g-dang shirt in our repertoire.

This is particularly hilarious because just the other day I was reading on some quack-tastic website like WebMD that at the 3 month mark, babies’ crying drops off significantly. Oh really, WebMD, why don’t you just tell that to my inconsolable child, please, because I keep telling him that and his response continues to be, “Screeeeeeeeeeeeeeeech!!” Then I figured out what was going on and promptly apologized to WebMD, cause I need him more than he needs me.

So, back to my story, Bruno at the All-Star Labor Classic: On the way to the event – Screaming. At the event – Screaming. After the event – Screaming. I fed him 2 times while keeping watchful eye of the participants and after the second time, Bruno was so  inconsolable that Hoagey took him out hoping that a walk would calm and soothe him. The last game was almost over so I met them out by the car about 15 minutes later and he said, “At least he stopped crying.” “When?” I said. “Just now.”

This was very hard for me to handle. I had prided myself on being able to soothe my baby and nothing I did, not one blasted thing, seemed to help him that day. I had read in the booklet that came with my Moby Wrap that babies like the low humming from a man’s voice so have your husband or father hold your baby in the wrap. My husband is anti-baby-carrier so I tried holding Bruno close to me and hummed every Johnny Cash song I could remember (which was 2 by the way, I was in quite a state) and tried to comfort my boy. This worked for the most part but I was so sore from my neck and back being in a constant state of STRESSSSSSS for the past few days that I could only do it for about 10 minutes and then I had to give in and let him be pissed off.

Things have gone back to normal for the time being and I’m confident that next time around we will be better prepared for the shit storm. No teeth so far (though stupid WebMD told me that symptoms will last for 3-5 days before a tooth pops through, lies!) so I’m sure we’ll be back in this pergatory again any day now.

Some things I learned:

1. Teething makes sucking hurt so feedings are not as productive as they might be otherwise so nurse more often! Duh!

2. Tylenol is not the enemy ( I have this fear that it would make Bruno develop Asthma. I’m still not over that fear but the screaming was enough to make me feel like taking the risk was in order. )

3. 3 month-old babies can’t really control their hands enough to use teething rings and frozen washcloths.

4. If you brag about how good your baby sleeps, you’ll get your comeuppance.

Dis humming iz not halpin mah teef