Baby Love!: My love/hate relationship with daycare

I can't believe it's been over a month since my last baby blog. Time sure does fly!

I'm back to work now. Sweet summer vacation has ended and school is back in session. I loved having my summer with baby Drew. To me, it was like a second chance at my maternity leave... except MUCH more enjoyable! I love that hubs and I are no longer in "survival" mode with Drew. We are truly enjoying every moment with him that we can.

We decided to send Drew to daycare part-time when I went back to work. My parents can no longer watch Drew during the week and we figured that a little socialization would do him good. We researched daycare facilites in our area for a long time and went on several tours to find the right one. I kept saying that I was going on a "feeling".... that I would know which one was "the one" when I left feeling peaceful. The minute we walked into Small Wonders, I knew it was the one! It was a teacher's dream.... his classroom was so organized and all the providers seemed so caring and friendly. We ended up enrolling him for 3 days/week, with Bill's parents picking up the other two days. Drew is so happy when we pick him up from daycare. I'm so glad that he seems so happy there!

Second day of daycare- "See ya later, Mom!"

On the flip side, the bad side of daycare is the germs. Little Drew had been living in a bubble for almost 7 months before going to daycare. His second day there, they called me to say he had a fever and needed to be picked up. I had a feeling it wouldn't take long for him to pick up someone else's "ickies"! So now, we can say that we've dealt with his first cold. A baby with a fever is never a fun thing. I hated seeing him with no personality. He was just listless and not himself. After some infant Tylenol and some TLC, the fever broke and his personality started coming back. We noticed symptoms that were lasting longer than a week though, and after 2 weeks of sniffles and a cough, we took him to the doctor. Lo and behold, there was an underlying ear infection too. He was put on an antibiotic and we started seeing improvements. The next day, daycare called me to say he had weird rashy welts all over his bottom. Immediately, I thought it was an allergic reaction to the antibiotic. We called the pediatrician, who agreed to see Andrew the next day. When it rains, it pours! The welts ended up being a skin reaction to the antibiotic, so we were given a different antibiotic ointment to apply to the skin reaction. Wowzers! We've been so busy administering medicine to the little guy lately! We just want him to be better and healthy. Oh daycare, how I love and and loathe you at the same time!

Mommy's first day of school... coming home to a sniffly but smiley baby!

The little man of the house is almost 8 months old now. The days are passing so quickly, that sometimes I actually have to stop and think about how old he is! When we took him to the pediatrician for his ear infection, he weighed in at 21lbs 10oz. Big boy! He's wearing 9 month clothes, some of which are getting pretty tight. He's still eating really well... 30oz. of formula a day, oatmeal cereal mixed with bananas, baby yogurt (which he loves... and when he burps, it smells like blueberries for several hours after eating the yogurt..lol), and stage 2 fruits and veggies. He still turns his nose up at the green veggies (peas and green beans), so I've started buying him the orange mixed veggies (with peas included) to trick him. So far, it's working.

We've also been experimenting with other foods too, since he's mashing foods in his jaw, almost as if he's chewing. He's tried mashed potatoes (loved), mashed banana (hated), canteloupe and watermelon (loved), yogurt melts and baby puffs (loved), and Cheerios (loved). As you can see... there's not much that this boy will not eat. He's definitely not a picky eater!

These things are great! Now, if I could only get them in my mouth....

I'm beginning to wonder if there has ever been a baby that never got teeth. This guy is still toothless! Those pearly whites are taking their time. Meanwhile, Drew is a drooling mess and has been gumming down on just about anything he can get in his mouth. The pediatrician says that the "nubs" are there. Time will tell when those little teethies pop through.

No signs of crawling yet, although he is now frequently rolling from back to tummy and from tummy to back. I attribute the difficulty crawling to his big head. The poor guy just can't lift it up long enough to get anywhere. By the time he's got his head and chest off the floor, he's so bone tired that he just flops himself back on the ground, rolls over and is done with the whole thing. We'll see if this crawling business ever gets going. He's still sleeping great, though (thank goodness!) He goes to bed at about 7 or 7:30pm each night and gets up around 6am. We've noticed the days of sleeping on his back are done. Drew is now a side and belly sleeper.

Sleeping on his tummy

These days are so fun, and now that I'm back to work, I am really cherishing my time with him. I had so many reservations about daycare- "They're going to raise my baby!", "They're going see him crawl before I do!", "He's not going to know who I am anymore!". I realized I don't have to worry about those things. When I pick him up from daycare, all the worries fade away. Drew hears my voice, looks at me, recognizes that I'm his mommy, and his whole face lights up in laughter. That's all I can ask for.