Bye Bye Charlie

This last weekend we spent Thanksgiving with my parents in Green Bay.  We had a wonderful time, but we came home with one less family member.  Don't worry, we remembered the boys but Charlie didn't make the trip home. 

It all started a few months ago with the "we should get rid of the dog" conversation Chris and I had.  He'd been part of our family for over four years, but between the constant barking that woke the baby, the peeing on the floor and jumping up when guests came to visit and him tripping our son this summer that required a trip to the dentist with x-rays, I just couldn't take any more.  He was a good dog, but not really a good fit for our family any more.  And since we now had two children to take care of, the poor pooch was constantly being pushed off the couch, pushed out of our laps and in general, just pushed away.  And as much as that dog annoyed me, I knew he deserved better than that.

So we put out an ad on Facebook.  Free dog to a good home.  Then my high school friend Jenny (who now lives in the Chicago area) called and said she works with some folks who are daschund enthusiasts.  Frankly I never knew such people existed.  Everyone I talked to who had owned a weiner dog said they would never own one again!  But one gal, Bonnie was interested and we started e-mailing back and forth - her asking questions and me sending pictures.  And after some correspondence she said she would LOVE for Charlie to come live with her.

Ok.  So this was really happening.  We'd always talked about getting rid of the dog but now here we were really doing it.  So I met up with Jenny over the weekend and she took Charlie down to his new home in Chicago.

And just like that he was gone.  For good.  We'd had several (I mean, several) conversations about this and we'd agreed over and over that this was what's best for our family.  But I have to admit, it was a sad moment.  Brooks took the transition in stride, but even he was a little sad.

And now it's quieter around here.  (And I say quiet-ER because with two boys this house is never truly quiet)  And that was the goal, I will admit.  But we're still getting used to not having him around.  I'm still conditioned to hearing barking when someone knocks on the door.  And I half expect to hear our tap dancing dog (hardwood floors) scamper up the stairs to bed at night.  And I never realized just how messy Brooks was when he ate.  The best thing that dog ever did was clean up crumbs from under the table.

And even though that dumb dog peed in my shoe the last day we had him, I kinda miss the little guy.  But from what Bonnie tells me, he doesn't get put in a kennel during the day, he gets to ride in the car to the dog park and he sleeps on her bed.  Um, yeah.  He's totally loving it there!

Watch Me Grow: 2 Months

those are not bunny ears by the way ...  they're my feet :)

My sweet baby boy is 2 months old!!  Can you believe it??  I keep thinking that the 8 weeks leading up to his birth took forever and the 8 weeks since have flown by.  Here's what's new in life with Carter.

•  This month Carter earned a new nickname.  Captain Fussy Pants.  But after a chiropractic adjustment and cutting dairy out of my diet (sad), I'm happy to say he's doing much much better.  Now he's the sweet and smiley boy that I always knew he was.
• He's nursing about every 3 hours or so.  Sometimes less, usually more.  He's a pretty efficient eater now.  We can be done in less than 10 minutes.  
• Carter is sleeping longer stretches at night, usually only waking twice to eat.  And after eating, he'll go right back to sleep.  Awesome!  Despite his fussy-ness during the day, he's always slept well at night.  And after our early morning feeding, he just stays in bed with us and snuggles.  I love it!
• He's getting stronger every day.  He can hold his head up really well and when supported can put all his weight on his legs.
• Speaking of legs, they're super chubby and cute!  He's really filling out and I love his pudgy little rolls.
• When you look at Carter and smile, he'll smile right back and coo at you.  Melts my heart every time.  What mother doesn't love those huge toothless grins?  Usually when I pull out the camera Carter just stares at it in amazement rather than smiling.  But Chris was able to capture these few smiles before we headed out one evening.

Isn't that hat just adorable?  It's ok, you can say it.  He's pretty much the cutest kid ever!

No More Cheese

Wow, it's been a whole month since I've posted anything. I've wanted to, believe me, and I have several posts already written ... in my head. But given that Carter's new nickname is Captain Fussy Pants, most all of my time lately has been rocking, nursing and in general holding baby C.  I'm ok holding him.  Really.  In fact, I prefer to hold him rather than just set him in a chair for most of the day.  But even while holding, rocking, swaying, wearing, swaddling, bouncing, walking, and shushing him, he would still cry.  The only time he wasn't crying was when he was eating (all the time) and when he was sleeping (hardly ever).  Oh, the frustration.  And during this time his poops have been ... well ... let's just say less than lovely.  My purely breastfed baby is supposed to have sweet smelling diapers and his were anything but.  Something wasn't right.

So after a few weeks of this I took him to the chiropractor.  I figured I'd start there.  Dr. Marsh adjusted him and then suggested I start limiting my dairy intake.  I had thought that maybe my diet was contributing to the problem, but didn't really want to believe it.  I mean, do you know how hard it would be for this Wisconsin girl to stop eating cheese??  But it was worth a try.  So starting that day (which was exaclty two weeks ago now) I stopped consuming dairy.  No milk. No cheese.  No yogurt.  No sour cream.  No butter.  No cottage cheese.  No nothing.  (ok, I know that's not grammatically correct, but you'll have to forgive me ... I'm dairy deprived!)

I was hoping for an immediate improvement but we all know that didn't happen.  But Carter did seem to get a little better.  In fact he was on an every other day schedule.  One day crabby and fussy as usual.  The next, smiley and happy.  And then back to crabby.  This went on for a week.  Then this last week he's had more and more happy days.  And finally two weeks later, I believe we've solved the problem.  Carter has been an amazing napper!  He's smiling and cooing and it's fun to be around him again.  Oh and his poop??  (because you were all dying to know)  Yep, back to normal.  Which makes risning and washing diapers much more pleasant.

So I guess that makes giving up my favorite food group worth it.  And as an added bonus, I'm dropping the baby weight faster and saving money to boot.  Milk is expensive!  Now my my only problem is ... what do I make for supper????