Want to get away from the city? Head to Hacklebarney Farm in Chester NJ

The best part about fall is going to the family farm in Chester, NJ.    The property has been in the family since 1860 when my great, great, great grandfather purchased 150 acres of land. What started off as a farm, complete with livestock now has focus  on apples, with a Farm Store, working Cider Mill (cloth and rack system) and Bakery (with Cider Donuts, Apple Dumplings, and Fresh Apple Pies – just to name a few…).    The Farm is still completely family-run (a rarity these days) by my Dad and his partner, Grandparents, Aunts & Uncles.

There’s nothing quite like a visit there.  It is truly one of the most charming places in the world (if I do say so myself) – even if they put me to work when I visit!

Hacklebarney Farm Cider Mill and Bakery is Open Wednesday – Sunday, now through Thanksgiving and weekends in December until Christmas.  Check out the new facebook page:

http://www.facebook.com/pages/Chester-NJ/Hacklebarney-Farm-Cider-Mill-and-Bakery/125228617529341?v=app_2373072738&ref=sgm#!/pages/Chester-NJ/Hacklebarney-Farm-Cider-Mill-and-Bakery/125228617529341?v=wall&ref=sgm

Stolen Time

It’s now.  Right now.  I’m sitting  on our couch (with coffee, of course) blogging.  You never know how long it’s going to last which makes it that much more precious.  Bruno tries to disrupt the stolen time, but I’ve steeled myself and his cute, little, pinned-back ears have no effect on me, “No, it’s not time for you to go on a walk yet, Bruno – besides, it’s Daddy that takes the morning shift  so go give him those Puss in Boots (from Shrek) eyes,”.

When I don’t have the privilege to indulge myself with these stolen minutes it definitely sets the tone for the day.   The day somehow feels more out of my control.  These minutes, whether they’re few (five) or plentiful (25 – yeah, that’s plentiful) are minutes that I treasure and crave.

And… ding ding ding – time’s up.  Good morning.

A little song I like to call, “Head, shoulders, knees & toes,” yeah, I made it up

Hangin' out waiting for the Dermatologist

Case at the Dermatologist

Just before being sedated for the MRI

Sedated

As I was thinking of what to call this post (an update on Case’s latest round of doctors’ appointments), this song kept popping in my head.  What’s even funnier about this particular kids’ song is that after hearing me sing it to Case a few times, Brian thought I’d made it up.

“That’s a really cute, and creative song, babe, – I can’t believe you made that up,”

To which my response was (for a week I had him going…),

“Thanks!”

And now to the meat of the post:

HEAD – On Tuesday, Case and I headed back to Womack for his MRI.   It was scheduled for 10 AM but we had to be there at 7:30 so that he could be sedated (you can’t exactly tell a 6 month old to, “be perfectly still or you’ll mess up the pictures of your brain they’re taking, ok sweetpea?”) meaning that he needed to be NPO (in latin it means, nil per os, or nothing by mouth) and sleep-deprived.    A sleep-deprived, hungry 6 month old isn’t really all that fun, but we made it through and only suffered a bit of grogginess for the rest of the day.  Dr. Cooper (the Peds Dev. Specialist who ordered the test) is  out of town until Friday, so we’ll expect to hear the results by Monday.  Crossing our fingers…

SHOULDERS,KNEES & TOES – I got nothing…

EYES – Yesterday Case and I went to Family Eye Care of the Carolinas in  Aberdeen, NC – it’s about an hour drive for us.  He saw Dr. Michael Bartiss, who dilated his eyes and told us that they’re not just good, they are great!  Yay for Case!  His father had horrible eyes up until he had LASIK, so we’re hoping Case keeps the ‘great’ vision up (my eyes are still 20/20!).

and ears, and MOUTH, and nose oh and SKIN  – At the Dermatologist appointment on Monday at UNC Chapel Hill, Dr. Burkhardt gave Case two topical steroid creams for his eczema ( Derma-Smooth/FS (Fluocinolone Acetonide 0.01%) and Triamcinolone Acetonide Ointment USP 0.1%) and indicated that he should see an Allergist to confirm his exact allergies (yes!). He also said it was a mild case of eczema (11.7 on a scale of 72 – I told him he was seeing Case on an exceptionally good day) and he scheduled a follow-up for a month from now.   While I had a captive audience, I asked him if he could (although I know it’s not his area of expertise) take a look at the growing mucous cyst on the floor of Case’s mouth (SIDENOTE  – I’ve brought up this mucous cyst at all of Case’s well-baby appointments (he’s had it since birth),  but in general the response has been pretty laissez-faire).  Dr. Burkhardt indicated that he would put in for a referral to the ENT because the cyst didn’t feel hard like other mucous cysts he’d seen and was a little concerned about issues with Case’s lymph nodes, he was also concerned to hear that it is growing.  I know it seems a bit crazy to worry about such seemingly small things, but my feeling is that if we can limit all the physical issues with the mouth that feeding/babbling will come easier (he’s not babbling yet and spoon feeding is little bit weird still and the kid will still not take a bottle!).

I left feeling relieved, except that on the drive home I remembered that Dr. Burkhardt wouldn’t actually  be able to do referrals (because all of our referrals need to come from within our system, at least that’s my understanding of the system).  So now we’re in the process of getting Case’s PCM changed from Clark Health Clinic (where we see a different indifferent doctor every time, to the Pediatric Clinic at Womack), and hopefully once we have an appointment there we’ll be able to get referrals to the Allergist and the ENT.  The recommendation to try to switch from Clark to Womack came from the attending doctor who oversaw Case’s sedation before his MRI (yeah, I’m talking to everyone about this little guy!)  The Army health care system is a  little like going around around your elbow to get to your thumb (as Kim Moser put it), but we’ll do what we have to do!

Next up? Ears (still awaiting an appointment to get his hearing checked) and the big switch to Peds to get referrals for the Allergist and ENT.  We’re also waiting with baited breath for his MRI results and then by the middle of September the metabolic and genetic testing results.  We’ll update!

Case Study

Case during his ECG

Spreading the word on facebook and the blog leaves much to be desired, and yet here goes:

Yesterday we met with Dr. Sharon Cooper (http://bit.ly/aYEQAe), a Pediatric Development Specialist about Case’s delay in meeting his motor skill milestones.  As many of you know, Case was referred at his 4 month well-baby checkup to Early Intervention for his poor head control, developmental delay, and overall hypotonia (low muscle tone).  We have been meeting on a bi-weekly basis with the Early Intervention Program Manager, Kim Moser, part of the Pediatric Evaluation and Treatment Team at Womack (PETT) and have also been seeing a Physical Therapist (Michele Hurley of Move With Me Physical Therapy) on a weekly basis since late July. As many of you also know, we began our own versions of physical therapy with Case around 3 months when we (mostly me, the worry wart) initially thought something was up.

We had heard great things about Dr. Cooper prior to our appointment and were not disappointed.  Our appointment consisted of an in-depth q&a starting from my pregnancy until now where she typed up everything we said  (no pre-made forms here) and then took a long look at Case.  We, of course, came well-prepared with a typed list of concerns and questions that we shared with her just prior to the appointment.  She took the time to go through each of our questions, line by line.  The result?  She ordered an intense workup of diagnostic tests to eliminate any of the major concerns (neurological/metabolic disorders mostly).  After the appointment, Case and I headed down to Cardiology where Case received an ECG, then to the lab to draw blood for a comprehensive metabolic panel, high resolution chromosome analysis (one form of cytogenetic testing – that will take a month) and a basic CBC and Differential (complete blood count and white blood cell count).  She also ordered referrals to Audiology for a hearing test (hasn’t had one since birth) , Ophthalmology for a vision test (to assure that his optic discs are normal because of a little bit of delay in his visual tracking) and an MRI.  Finally, she got us an appointment at the Dermatology clinic at UNC Chapel Hill to get his eczema under control.

And now we wait…

In the meantime, I’m scheduling his MRI (for which he will need to be sedated – poor buddy), his hearing and vision tests, and the derm appointment and cracking the whip at home with round-the-clock PT (slave-driver is Brian’s new pet name for me…sweet, huh?).  We are grateful for all the prayers and warm wishes.  We definitely have a journey ahead of us.  Fortunately, we have a lot of motivation (duh!) and a ton of support.

Updates as we know more…

Laundry

This post about laundry could go anywhere and could easily be titled, “Endless Laundry”, or even “Why Doesn’t My Husband Just Throw His Dirty Socks Into the Hamper” – yes, I could write a few sentences about that…but we’ll just leave it at “Laundry” so I can include the myriad of stories/tips I have involving the topic.

Like any new mother, I find myself doing AT LEAST one load of laundry a day.  If it’s not his clothes/bedding/car seat cover (double ugh), it’s my clothes because of what came out of him.   All you new mothers can sympathize with me when I briefly tell you about a laundry kind of day I had last week.

Case woke up in a pleasant, happy mood only to decide he now favors the right breast and by no means will he settle for the left.  This problem is pretty common  and after excessive Google ‘ing  pretty much the only advice I could find was, don’t worry he’ll get over it.  And, he did, by the way…  Anyway, after fussing for 10 minutes, I finally got him on (I sneakily turned him in the other direction on the boob I wanted him to be on…) and after a nice long feed I sat him up to burp and there it all came.  All of it.  All over me, him, the chair and the boppy (the cover of which I had just washed).  First load of laundry for the day.  About an hour passed and he was hungry again (because we ended up wearing that first feeding), so he ate again.  This time I waited after the feeding, kept him in the same position and then after a half hour decided I was safe and put him in his car seat.  Don’t  you know it? Whamo!  Projectile, again – on me, the car seat, him (obviously), and ooo lucky us, the leather sofa. Word to the wise – buy two infant car seat covers so that if your child throws up, shits through, etc…the one, you have another one that you can put on so you can actually leave the house!  The next two feedings went swimmingly and we had a nice afternoon until his 4 pm feeding (the one right before Dad gets home…).  He ate, we waited, and I put him in his infant carrier seat (again) to take Bruno on a walk before Brian got home so we could head out to eat (that’s right, I didn’t cook – I’d been doing laundry all day, feeding/re-feeding, and waiting -remember?).  “One more time…” (I’m singing that awful techno song in my head…).  We’re halfway around the block and Bruno’s excited, and I’m excited that Brian’s coming home, and we’re all clean and the car seat’s clean and we’re all happy and…WHAMO.  Projectile, AGAIN! Same recipients – me, the car seat, and Case.  Where am I going with this?  I’m very happy we invested in the new Maytag front loaders two years ago.

Speaking of the front loaders washers reminds of the detergent issue.  At first we used Dreft  for his clothes and Tide for ours.   But we’ve found that Case isn’t affected at all by Tide, so we’re back to using just one detergent and sometimes, just to save on an extra load, I wash his clothes and our clothes together (although if you read any of the parenting books they tell you this is a definite no no…whatever.)

Related to laundry, I do recommend (even without being a Mother, I did this and it comes in super handy) that you put a Tide stain remover stick anywhere possible (diaper bag, purse, car, your husband’s pocket…).  You never know when your little one will get poop on someone’s nice shirt, or on your sort-of-nice shirt (because you’re not wearing anything but yoga pants and shirts that make your boobs easily accessible, and, ahem… not for anyone but your child), or your husband  will get a mysterious red stain on his white shirt while out (twice!).  Anyway, those little Tide sticks are like magic wands.  J’adore.

So to recap, here’s a short list of our must-haves/must-dos regarding laundry, etc. :

1.  Invest in two infant carrier covers.

2.  If you haven’t made the plunge into the wonderful world of front loader washing machines and are in the market, spend the extra cash and do it.  It’s worth every penny.  Ours saves water, time, and things come out of the washer practically dry (yep, that’s right, I said washer – the spin cycle is crazy!).  We did our fair share of research before deciding on the Maytag MHWE400WJ.  I believe ours is an older version of this, but the features are the same. It is divine!  One tip though, if you are using a front loader – keep the door open on the washer after the cycle to prevent mildew and make sure to check the rubber lip (baby socks are notorious for getting trapped in there).

3.  Each child is different so do a one clothing item test to make sure, but it seems using your regular old detergent to wash baby clothes is just fine.

4.  Equip yourself (and everyone else you care about 🙂 ) with Tide To Go stain remover sticks.

5. Always put a towel down before feeding, if you don’t want to wash your seat cushion covers on a regular basis and more importantly (and the greater annoyance) put the seat cushion covers back on!  Better yet, feed your spitty baby on leather!

Off to fold…

Beach Baby

Off to the beach

I thought I’d post a photo of Case and I  getting ready to head down to the beach as a placeholder for a big post I’m working on with tips for beaching it with an infant. When I say I’m working on it, that actually means that I haven’t started writing it out yet, but notes are mentally jotted in my mind and I’m trying to find the time to sit down and type!

Speaking of finding time, I have a friend who gave birth to three boys in four years and she recently said, “Lots of people are trying to stretch a dime to make things work for the family, well I’m doing that and trying to stretch a minute.”  So true!  Time is a definite luxury.  I only have one kid and he’s pretty low maintenance, heaven help me when we have more!  I am in awe of those who are juggling two, three and four! On another side note, speaking of having three in four years – we  just found out Brian’s brother Kurt and his wife Catherine are expecting their third (in three years!) in August!  Congrats!  Can’t wait to meet Baby #3 🙂

On a third and final side note, my Dad thinks Case looks like Carl Reiner in Ocean’s 11 in his beach hat…Unfortunately for Case, I agree…

The one on the left

Running in Fayetteville

A few months back I decided to sign up with all my best girlfriends for a half marathon (The Virginia Beach Rock ‘n’ Roll, to be exact) and since then, ahem,  I haven’t done much running – mostly because of this cute little two and a half month old that’s been hogging most of my time – but also because I no longer have any running buddies here in Fayetteville and don’t feel comfortable doing the routes we used to do together, by myself.   However, I would like to get back into a regular running schedule and thought I’d share some of the research I did:

1.  Check out Fayetteville Running Club on Meetup.com (http://www.meetup.com/Fayetteville-Running-Meetup-Group/)  Unlike some other running clubs with steep fees, the fee to join this (what seems like) a great group of runners is only $15 (one-time fee) and you can get daily emails on where everyone  is getting together to run.  I have yet to make it out to meet up with this group, but I’m looking very forward to it (being able to put Case in the jogging stroller will be a huge help too!).  Also, from the looks of it, this group is very diverse (from very experienced ultra-marathon runners to people who just want to run a few miles every now and then) making the runs diverse and perfect for marathon or half marathon training!

2.  If you’re just looking for routes, check out the link below with a listing of some great loops in the area.  Be careful to look at them carefully before embarking, however because some areas are definitely not safe by yourself, or after dark.

http://www.mapmyrun.com/find-run/united-states/nc/fayetteville

3.  Finally, I’ve found that you can always meet other runners at the Cape Fear River Trail, and if you’ve never been there for a run – you’re missing out.  The trail is paved and is nearly 4 miles from one end to the other.  It’s a great place for a long run (if you do the whole thing there and back) or even just a walk with your dog/kids.  Brian and I try to make it there together at least once every two weeks  and now’s the perfect time to go, when it’s not too hot!  To learn more about the trail visit: http://www.fcpr.us/cape_fear_river_trail.aspx

Case Update

Case had his two month well-baby check-up yesterday and we found out he now weighs: 10 lbs. 15 oz. and is 22 inches long.  He’s at just about the 50th percentile in all areas.  His head  measured 15.5 inches (big ol’ head like his Dad) and he was above the 50th percentile for that.  He got his 2 month vaccinations as well.  Poor thing!  As much as its difficult to watch (and hear him scream),  I’m all for the vaccinations and we’ll table that conversation!

He’s doing just fine!

The Difference between a Pood and Poo’ed

On Sunday I asked my, oh-so-fit husband, if he could show my friend, Lea, and I some CrossFit workouts in the gym he’s created in our garage (Yes, that’s right, we no longer use our garage for our vehicles it’s now a fairly well-equipped CrossFit gym, although Brian would say it’s not THAT well-equipped).  Anyway, he started off with some easy stuff, you know, box jumps, pushups, burpees, etc.   Then he picked up the lightest of his three kettle bells and said,

“Now this is a pood.”

“A what?,” I asked with a smirk on my face.

“A pood.”

“A pood, ”  I repeated.

“It’s a Russian unit of measurement equivalent to 16 kg or about 35 lbs.”

“Oh, of course, a pood.  Not to be confused with what I did this morning in our guest bathroom…”(I like going in there more than our own, mostly because I usually have to go immediately after Brian’s just had to go…)

Well, as you can imagine, Lea and I had all sorts of fun the rest of the workout referring to our kettle bells as poods.

Brian was not as amused as he does not share our affinity for bathroom humor.

Speaking of bathroom humor.  My son will likely share my affinity as he almost always smiles when he farts.  He knows even at 7 weeks that farts are always funny.

You’ve changed, you’re thriving, there’s something about …childbirth

When you get pregnant it seems that everyone and their mom (and in this case, that overly-used exaggeration line is true) wants to share their birth story with you.  Well, don’t worry, I’m not going to share all that.  If you want to know, you’ll ask.  If you don’t, you won’t have to read it here.

What I will share are some of the results of that experience, the most important result being my now seven-week old baby boy.  However, I’ll do plenty of talking about him in the future – it’s the physical and psychological results that I want to talk about now.  Most of you are fully-aware of the basics and, particularly if you’re a mother yourself, you’re very well-aware of the physical side effects of giving birth.  To be honest, I wasn’t all that prepared for how different your body actually is after pushing what felt like a watermelon through a lemon-sized hole!  For one thing, things down there are very different  (I’m humming “A Whole New World” ), like someone did some spring cleaning and rearranging of the furniture-different.  For another, it feels like my hips just may pop out of their sockets at any moment.  As I’m planning to run a half marathon at the end of the summer I’m hoping this hip-popping feeling ends sooner rather than later.   And, the last physical result worth mentioning (besides my gi-normous breastfeeding-pamela anderson-boobs – which Brian loves but cannot touch) is the fact that, because my hips have noticeably widened, it actually appears as though I have a waistline!  I was the queen of the boxy, no hips, no waist before Mr. Case arrived – not so anymore! Yay for me and for spring DVF wrap-dresses!

But all those physical side effects pale in comparison to what childbirth does to your psyche.  It’s  as if all at once you’re no longer this self-absorbed pregnant woman used to being the center-of-attention (Side note on the pregnant lady voodoo: How true is it, right?  When you’re pregnant people fall all over themselves for you – I can’t tell you how many deals I got while I was showing that bump off, and forget about all the, “how far along are you”s and “you must be so excited”s, and “let me get that door”s), you become a mother – a mother whose instincts are completely different from the pregnant woman’s instincts.  I remember the first week we brought Case home and he was sleeping in the Pack ‘n’ Play in the living room and I was in the kitchen and I heard him start to cough (I of course thought he was choking) and bolted so fast from one room to the next to check on him (I’d never moved so fast!  I ran into the coffee table and stepped on Bruno).  It was so primal, so instinctual, a mother protecting her child.  It was awesome.  I had all these visions of Discovery Channel shows  I’d seen where lioness’  fearlessly attack hyenas trying to get at their cubs.  I’m now that lioness.

It’s not only the primal, instinctual stuff that’s different either,  it’s like now that you’ve done this awesome thing (carrying and giving birth to someone else, I mean), you can do anything.  It’s so empowering knowing that you (and your husband – it does take two, I suppose) are responsible for bringing another life into this world.  And, although women having been giving birth for thousands of years (some without books and online newsletters, even – gasp), its still amazing being one of those women.

So those are just some of the results of childbirth and its aftermath.  I thought I’d start the blog out with a positive, non-griping, non-complaining, post.  For as much as it’s fun to vent about the craziness, it’s much more therapeutic  for me to write about the good stuff.

(Kudos to those of you who recognized the title of this post as obscure Sondheim song lyrics from Into the Woods.)