margaretyagan

This was my first full week in Chicago with Mom back at work on her regular full-time schedule.  It was helpful to have few days last week to get used to the new routine and the long holiday weekend  let me get all caught up and ready for my new pattern.

Monday was a bit special because Dad worked from home.  Nana and Grandpa were still in charge of taking care of me, but it was nice to get to see Dad when he came upstairs to get a snack or take a break.  Monday morning I sat in our front yard with Mom.  The grass really needs to be cut!  But it was nice no to have to go the park to be outside.  I’ve heard rumors that we have a nice roof deck, but I’ve never been up there! 

Dad had to run an errand that he let me join him on.  He had to run to the bank a few blocks away.  I hadn’t been outside too much because of the rain, so he just threw on the Baby Bjorn and off we went!  It was a fun little break, even though it was pretty hot and muggy.

I was in an especially good mood on Tuesday morning and Nana and I spent more time than usual out in the front yard.  Nana and Grandpa had yet to experience on my Super Poops, but that all changed right before lunch when I unloaded quite a large on.  They did a great job cleaning me up and seemed to cheer me on to do even bigger poops in the future!  I reached a new milestone today, grabbing my left foot with my left hand while laying on my back.  Not sure if I have a right foot yet…my right hand is still groping around!

My sleeping schedule has been quite erratic since the move back to Chicago, and the travel last weekend didn’t help much.  On Wednesday I took two really long naps (2 hours and 2.5 hours) and had a big poop.  Not sure what anyone can ask for in a day, but I felt like I accomplished a lot today.

On Thursday I got a special bonus: Mom stuck around until 7:45 am because she had a retreat downtown and didn’t have to drive out to the office.  I got an extra feeding with Mom in before she left and she ended up coming home earlier (4:30) so I had a really short day.  I ate and got a bath from Mom, but then Mom had to go to a dinner for work, so for the first time ever, Nana and Grandpa did my goodnight routine!  They did a great job, and I slept in my bassinet until Mom came home.

Tomorrow I turn four months old!

Thursday morning was pretty cool.  I woke up and ate with Mom as usual, but I was surprised to see that Dad was home, too.  And I was really confused when Mom didn’t get dressed and rush out the door after my second feeding of the morning.  To top it all off, when I got downstairs, Nana and Grandpa were ready to play with me.

Mom and Dad went down the office to work and my morning was pretty much like any other weekday, except that I ate with Mom instead of out of a bottle.  Around 2:15, Mom started running around the house, putting her clothes and all of my stuff in suitcases and boxes!  Were we moving back to New York!? 

Dad put me in my carseat and took me out our car which had been filled up with all my stuff.  The traffic was really bad and I was pretty fussy for about 45 minutes, until we got to Romeoville, where we stopped and I ate with Mom.  Right after our stop, traffic cleared up pretty nicely and we “made great time” (which I think means that Dad broke the law!).  I slept the entire way from Romeoville to Dow, which gave Mom and Dad plenty of time to catch up — which they needed since they hadn’t spent much time together over the last 10 days.

When I woke we up, I was in Dow and was greeted by Grandpa Droste and Aunt Sarah.  Despite having just slept for over four hours, I fell right to sleep after Mom fed me.

On Friday (July 4!), I hung out of most the day with Aunt Claire (who got in after I fell asleep) and Aunt Sarah, while Mom, Dad, and Grandma Sherry worked in the kitchen.  In the afternoon, I took a nap in the big bed with Dad.  After I woke up, I went to the mall with Mom & Grandpa.  I assumed I’d be going shopping with them, but as soon as we got there, I got handed off to A/C and A/S who took me to meet Aunt Sarah’s friend Tyka and her kids.

On Saturday, Grandma Sherry hosted a party — where I was the guest of honor!  I met so many new family members:  Great Uncle Michael, Great Aunt Karen, 2nd-cousin Nicholas; great great aunt Phyllis; great great uncle Ronald & great great aunt Maxine; 2/c Stephen and his fiancee Stephanie; Sandra & Nellie Roberts; and Joyce Goetten with her granddaughters Holly and Heather.  Whew!

But my favorite was great grandpa Harris!  He made really cool noises that made me laugh so much.  We also took a Harris family 4-generation picture to go with the Droste family 4-generation picture I took back in March.

As if it wasn’t enough meeting a dozen new people today, we then headed off to my second-cousin Scott’s wedding.  My great aunt Bonnie is pretty cool.  Right before the ceremony started, great aunt bonnie swiped me out of Dad’s arms and  hung out with me in the hallway throughout the whole time.

After the ceremony, we went to great grandma droste’s house until it was time for the reception.  I took a nap with Grandma Sherry and then we headed out to the reception.

The reception was a ton of fun.  I can’t even begin to list the relatives I met because I think there were about 1,000,000,000 of them (I think Dad doesn’t even know all of them…maybe not Mom!!).

It was really cool to see Great Grandma Droste and Great Aunt Debbie for the second time.  And I finally got to meet my Great Aunt Jackie who I’ve heard so much about!

Other highlights included going into the picture booth with a few different people and Dad took me out on the dance floor.  The biggest lowlight was being stabbed by a corsage worn by the mother of the bride!  It felt like I was getting vaccinated!

Sunday was pretty boring; we had breakfast at Hickory Grove and then hit the road.  I slept most of the way, except for a quick stop at the McDonald’s in Bloomington, IL.  The night was pretty hectic as Mom got ready for a week at work, Dad got ready for some business meetings, and Nana and Grandpa arrived for another week of hanging out with me!

This week was one of the craziest of my life — right up there with our move from Chicago to New York when I was just three weeks old!  Dad was still at his friend’s bachelor party, so Mom and I made our first trick to Dominick’s together.

Dad, Nana, & Grandpa Yagan arrived at amost the exact same time, right before dinner.  It was definitely a stressful night, because the next day was Mom’s first back at work, Dad had to travel for work, and I was going to be spending the whole day with Nana and Grandpa.

When Monday morning came around, Mom and I executed the plan we had practiced the previous week.  Mom fed me and I hung out with her while she got ready to go to work.  I made it a little bit easier for her to leave by going back to sleep after I ate.  When I finally woke back up – Mom was gone!  I was sad at first, but excited to get to hang out with Nana and Grandpa.

They definitely put a lot of energy into learning my schedule and making sure to keep me active and entertained all day.   Nana and I went for a walk to Wicker Park (during which I took a nice nap)  in the morning and Nana was all over tummy-time (I thought I’d get out of that!).   It was definitely strange to get used to a new feeding schedule, both since I ate from a bottle all day and because we’re all still trying to figure out how much I’m supposed to be eating!

All-in-all, the week ended up going much better than anyone could have expected!  Nana and Grandpa seemed to really enjoy hanging out with me and I really enjoyed having so much attention.  I’m so lucky to be in such good care.

Mom got home and was expecting me to jump up and down to see her, but since I can’t jump and down, I pretty much just kept going with my day rather than giving her the props she was hoping for! 

Tuesday morning was a bit harder for Mom to leave because I was up and happy when she had to walk out the door.  Nana and I headed out to the park at 7:20!  Talk about being a morning person.  The day went pretty smoothly otherwise, as did Wednesday.  The week definitely went really really well and I think everyone involved is relieved and relaxed to have it behind us and excited to get into a routine.

I owe all of my loyal bloggees, a deep apology.  It’s been about three weeks since my last post.  Many of you have have checked in on me … and many of you have wondered whether the blog was dead.  Well, it’s back!  I missed everyone!

So, a few housekeeping issues.  Both to get caught up and going forward, I’m going to be doing a blog post for groups of days that are pretty similar.  So, sometimes a whole week will be grouped together, and other times a day will get it’s own post (like my 4 month birthday!).

Here we go!

I spent these days getting settled back in to my house.  I totally forgot that I had my own room after sharing Mom’s and Dad’s room for the last three months.  On Tuesday, Mom and I took a trip to Target and made sure we bought enough stuff so I could officially take over the entire first floor of our house.  Because Mom was going back to work the next week — and Nana and Grandpa Yagan were going to be taking care of me — we wanted to make sure that I had all the things I need to spend an entire day on the main floor without Nana or Grandpa having to carry me up or down the stairs.  Generally, Mom and I tried to use this week to practice getting into a routine that we’ll follow next week when she’s going back to work.

Also on Tuesday, I met Mom’s friend (and former co-worker) Kyle.  Kyle and Mom and I went for a walk.  She’s super nice and I was pretty well-behaved until the very end when I got really fussy.  Kyle came in for a bit, I was pretty hysterical until after I ate.

The big event on Wednesday was a trip to Mom’s office.  It got off to an inauspicious beginning when we pulled out of the driveway without a pacifier!  Luckily, Mom quickly realized it pretty quickly and we turned around to get it.  I still wasn’t used to the whole car thing.  I hated the fact that I have to ride backward and that I can’t see Mom.  So, I cried a bunch, but Mom cheered me up by singing all the way there — at least until I fell asleep.

I really liked Mom’s office and all the people I met there.  We hung out for about an hour and I was on my best behavior.  It was good to see where Mom will be when she’s not around next week!

When we got back home, I perched on the back of the couch, looking out the window.  And right before my eyes, Mom’s friend Kyle, her friend Tim, and Tim’s sister all walked right by our house!  We invited them in for a bit and I got to meet two more people.

The highlights of the next couple days included two new seat/toy contraptions that look like a lot of fun.  The first is a bumbo chair, which is designed to help me learn how to sit up (and more neck practice!).  The other is the Rainforest Jumperoo. (If you ever want to amuse yourself, read some of the parent reviews of the jumperoo!  One parent writes “My son wants to be in it from the time he wakes up until we put him to bed at night.”)  The Jumperoo itself isn’t new (Aunt Sarah put it together before I was even born!), but Mom just decided I was big enough to give it a try.  I like ’em both a lot, but I’m still getting used to them.

Dad had a bachelor party to go to, so Mom and I got to hang out alone on Saturday.  We took a walk to La Pasadita,  a local Mexican joint. Can’t really tell you much about the food, other than that it tasted good as milk a few hours later.

The day ended with a bath.  Since I had outgrown the bath sling I used in New York, I have a new foam bath thingy.  I like it a lot more because I get to be a lot closer to the water and actually feel wetness other than just from the washcloth.  The bath got a little complicated when I pooped in it! (And you thought I was going to write my first blog post in three weeks and NOT talk about my poop?  Please!)

Well, Mom was quick on her feet and immediately grabbed me out of the soapy, poopy water.  She held me in one hand and tried to rinse me off with the other.  Problem was, I pretty slick and I slipped out of hands!  I didn’t fall, but I kind of slid down the side of the bathtub a bit.  Mom freaked out a lot more than I did and must have apologized a hundred times.  She felt so bad that she didn’t enforce my bedtime and I got to hangout and play with her much later than usual.

In fact, I was in such a good mood, that Mom thought I was delirious as a result of the slip.  She called Nana Yagan, who told her that unusually good spirits is not something she should worry about.

All in all, it was a very good week.  I had a pretty irrgeular sleeping schedule, but by the time Sunday rolled around I was pretty well settled in.