Things Are Better Now

In the 2 weeks since I last posted, things have improved around here. My mom came to stay with us over the Labor Day weekend, which was heavenly. Paul had to work pretty much the entire weekend, but with her here, I was able to get a ton of stuff done around the house. I made a list of about 15 or so things that had been piling up and annoying me for weeks now, and managed to cross of all but about 2 or 3 of them while she was here. I was able to file and organize to my heart's content while she took care of Nathan. She helped me harvest stuff from the garden - some of which we froze and some of which went straight into one of several batches of baby food I made that weekend. She also helped organize, fold, and pack away all the baby clothes that Nathan has outgrown so far. Paul was able to take apart the swing, rock 'n play, bouncy seat, and a few other things we are no longer using. So with all of that disassembled and put into storage bins, the house is feeling much less chaotic and overwhelming!

With Mom here, I also got to sleep in a couple of mornings. I still got up with and nursed Nathan for his one early morning feeding, but after that Mom took him when he got up for the day and I was able to sleep another couple of hours. Even though he's a pretty decent night sleeper these days (whenever shots or teething aren't interfering!), it's amazing how much of a "sleep debt" I still have. Just those couple days of getting some extra sleep here and there have really helped!

This past weekend, Paul stayed home from work one day (something he rarely does) and we were able to get some more stuff done, and more importantly, spent some quality time together as a family. We went for walks, built towers out of blocks, and visited a nearby fair a couple times. I worked from home both Friday and Monday, so Paul and I took turns sleeping in each morning, which was great. And yesterday, Nathan was so wiped out from spending Sunday at the fair, he let us both sleep in until 8:40! The rest of September - well really, the rest of the year actually - is going to be pretty busy, so it was nice to have some time at home with just the three of us.

In other news, we have a couple more "firsts" to report, both in the category of Injuries. While Mom was here, I had my first experience of falling down the stairs while carrying the baby. It all happened so quickly that I'm not really sure what caused it - I think maybe I missed the last step? Thankfully, Nathan was fine (other than it scared him). I was a little banged up though. Nothing that required an ER visit or anything like that, but I did see my physical therapist and chiropractor afterwards. I landed (hard) on my knees after rolling my left ankle and slamming my shoulder into the banister. The bruises have all mostly faded other than this weird one on my ankle that also scabbed. So all in all, nothing serious, just a bit scary at the time.

The other incident we had resulted in Nathan's first fat lip. He was standing (with help) and suddenly decided to bend over to get a toy, and in the process slammed his little face into the edge of another toy (one of those boxes with the cut-outs for different shapes). It sounded worse than it was - I screamed because it was kind of loud, and I think that scared him even more. He did bleed a tiny bit, and his little lip was swollen some. But he was a champ and only cried for a few minutes. The first, but definitely not the last, I am sure...

I am in the office on my lunch hour and should probably think about getting back to work (or at the very least, should pay some bills online or something else responsible). I'll just close with a couple of pictures:

 He loved the petting zoo at the fair!

 Poor little fat lip :( 

Thankfully he was wearing his Superman outfit to help toughen up :)

 

Watching the monster truck demonstration at the fair. Such a boy!